SERM. A SERM BEFORE The KING'S HOUSHOLD, at Hampton-Court, October 3, 1731. MATT. vi. 11. Give us this Day our daily Bread. HE Comforts and Conveniencies, which God's Providence difpenfes for the fupply of our worldly Wants, tho' diftributed by him with the greatest Wisdom, and carrying with them the highest marks of Goodness, are nevertheless, through the paffions and mistakes of Men, the cause of great diforder in the World. The want of them is attended with uneafinefs and discontent, tempting us to repine at God's gracious Providence, as if we were not kindly dealt with: The poffeffion of them is accompanied with Arrogance and Pride, caufing us to repofe too great a trust in them, forgetting who it was that gave them. Sometimes they are gained by unlaw-SERM, ful Methods; fometimes withheld from those who XXII. have a right to them; and fometimes they are employed in the Service of our Lufts, and made the inftruments of luxury and excefs. To obviate these Evils, wife Men have thought that a middle State of Life is beft, as being least exposed to those dangerous Temptations, which arife, on the one hand, from too great Abundance, and on the other hand, from Indigence and Want. And indeed if a good Man might be allowed to choose, or had the liberty of asking for fuch a ftate of Life, as he should think to be the moft convenient, he could not ordinarily make a better Choice. But it is not for us, who are dependent Creatures, to measure out our own Happinefs for ourselves; but to be content with that Station, which God's Providence has affigned us, to conform ourselves to it, to be eafy in it, and to rely on his Bounty for fuch a fhare of good things, as will be most proper and convenient for it. It is therefore a much better and more reasonable Request, which we are taught by our bleffed Lord to make, not that our condition may be chang'd from what it is, but made comfortable and convenient for us, by a conftant Supply of those outward Bleffings, which are fuitable to our respective Stations. For fo, I fuppofe, we are to understand this Petition; Give us this Day our daily Bread. Bread is the best and most useful Viand, that God has given us for the fupport of Life; the great prefervative of Health and Strength, by the help of which we can make a shift to live, though deftitute of all other Nourishment, and without which our Tables are but ill supplied in the midst of all other Plenty. For this Reafon it is ufed very properly to SER M. exprefs fuch a competency of Provifion, as is indeed XXII. fufficient, but no more than fufficient for us. For the fame reason it is also called daily Bread, from which we are to understand, how little fhould content us; even fo much as is fufficient for our present Needs, and may just answer the occafions of the Day; without taking thought, or being over-much concerned about the Wants, which another Day may bring. Laftly, it is called our Bread, not as it were our Property, or as if we had any Title to it, but as Specifying what share we ask for; even fo much as is fuitable to our circumftances and condition, and to the present state of our Fortune in the World. So much may we call ours, because God has given it; and to be deprived of this, be it more or less, would be a Lofs and a Difappointment to us. It is evidently God's Will, as appears from his Difpenfations, and from the courfe of his Providence in the World, that there fhould be great difference in the Circumftances of Men. Some he has advanced to high Dignity and Honour, and fome funk in the lowest Offices of Life. The Wants and Neceffities of thefe Men are different, according to their different Figure in the World; not only their imaginary, but their real Wants; not only thofe Wants which they create to themfelves, by their own wild and irregular defires, but also thofe Wants which are created for them, by the rank and station in which Providence has placed them, and which they may lawfully defire to be fupplied. A multitude of Attendants, and a great Retinue, may be neceffary for those who bear rule and authority, or who are in any eminent or confpicuous Station, forafmuch as they help to fecure obedience, and tend to promote reverence and refpect. There is also a a certain decency 7 cency in domeftick Furniture, in Diet and Apparel, SERM, to be obferved by those who are poffeft of much XXII. meaner Fortunes, in proportion to the Wealth wherewith God has blessed them, provided it be conducted by the rules of Frugality, and provided it be free also from Oftentation and Vanity, as well as from Luxury and Excefs. Our Wants may likewife be very much increased by the relation which we bear to others; by the neceffity of providing for our immediate Offspring, or those who for other causes, of which there may be many, can have any reafonable expectations from us. All these are reafons for enlarging our requests beyond the bounds of our own natural defires; fo that That, which is allowed to be enough for one, may be far fhort of what is neceffary for another; and therefore, when we all join in our requests to God, that he will give us our daily Bread, we may very reasonably have different meanings. He whom God's Providence has appointed to perform the meaneft Offices for the ufe of others, may perhaps ask no more, when he makes this Petition, than the ufe of his Limbs, the enjoyment of his Health, and God's Bleffing upon his honeft Labours, that he may earn his Living by the Sweat of his Brows, according to the intention and defign of Providence, which has placed him in that humble Station, and can as easily advance him from that low condition to a state of everlasting Happiness, as from the higheft pitch of human Greatnefs; and in the mean time, can make even that condition to abound with as much folid and substantial Happinefs, as can be had from the highest station upon Earth. But he, who was either born to a more exalted Fortune, or, by the Bleffing of God upon his good Endeavours, has acquired it by his own art or labour, may SERM. may be allowed to include more, in his Petition for XXII. daily Bread, than those who are of meaner Substance. Thus we fee, that to pray for our daily Bread is, to pray for such a share of all outward Bleffings, as is neceffary for our well-being in the World; and that, not only a mere maintenance or fubfiftence, but fuch a fuitable Provifion, as though it cannot be sufficient to make us independent for the future, may nevertheless be enough to make us eafy for the prefent, in a way fuitable to our respective Stations. But whereas it was faid above, that by daily Bread is meant no more than such a competent Provifion, as may juft answer the occafions of the Day; and whereas it is implied in the Petition itself, that we should ask for no more at once, being directed to pray only, that he will give it us this Day, exclufive of all future Wants; we are not to understand, that we are hereby prohibited to make Provifion for ourselves against a time of Need, or to lay up for others as much as can be fpared from the Store wherewith God has bleffed us. This is no more than we all know to be a Duty, and no more than is confiftent with the Petition in my Text for the fupply of our present Exigencies only. For though it may be proper, for the fake of others and ourselves, to provide more than we ftrictly want at prefent; yet it may not be proper to ask more of God, of whom the less we ask, the more Humility we fhew, and the more Confidence do we place in his bounty to us; confeffing withal, that every Day we live, we depend only on his gracious Providence, not only for those things, which are then to be bestowed, but for those alfo, which we have received already. And hence it is, that the rich and great, who never want a competent Provifion for themfelves, do nevertheless, as often |