your strength and ye would not O Sirs Matth. 23 37. Luk. 13.34 men shall be damn'd at last not for cannots but for will nots no man shall be damned because he could not do better but because he would not do better if there were no will John 40. there would be no hell At last sinners will finde this to be their greatest hell that they have wilfully destroyed themselves this is that which will damn with a witnesse and this will be that never dying worm I might have had Christ and grace but I would not I might have been sanctified and saved but I would not I might have been holy and happy but I would not Deut. 30.15 19. life and death hath been often set before me and I have chosen death rather than life heaven and hell hath been often set before me and I have chosen hell rather than heaven glory and misery hath been often set before me and I have chosen misery rather than glory and therefore 't is but just that I should be miserable to all eternity No man no Devil can undo thee O sinner without thy self no man can be undone in both worlds but by himself No man shall be damned for his unworthinesse but for his unwillingnesse and therefore never plead this Objection more But Fifthly and lastly I answer that if you will not seek after the Lord to be your portion till you are worthy to enjoy him as your portion then you will never seek after him then you will never enjoy him for your God and portion personal worthinesse is no flower that growes in Natures garden no man is born with a worthinesse in his heart as he is born with a tongue in his mouth 't is not the full but the empty 't is not the rich but the poor in spirit 't is not the righteous but the sinner 't is not the worthy but the unworthy soul that is the proper object of mercy and pity The poor Publican that cried out Lord be merciful to me a sinner Luk. 18 10-15 went home justified when the thank-God Pharisee returned as proud as he came The Centurion when he came to Christ sped well Matth. 8. notwithstanding his personal unworthiness And the prodigal son sped well when he returned to his Father Luk. 15.11 ult notwithstanding his personal unworthiness for he was readily accepted greatly pitied sweetly imbraced courteously received very joyfully and nobly entertained witnesse the best robe that was put upon his back and the gold ring that was put on his finger and the shoes that were put on his feet and the fatted calfe that was killed to make the company merry O Sirs if in the face of all your unworthinesse you will go to God and tell him that you are sinners that you are vile sinners that you are wretched sinners that you are very great sinners yea that you are the greatest of sinners and that you have deserved a thousand deaths a thousand hells a thousand destructions and a thousand damnations and earnestly beseech him to look upon you and to bestow himself on you though not for your worthinesse sake yet for his Names sake for his mercies sake for his promise sake for his Covenants sake for his Oath sake and for his Sons sake Certainly if you shall thus plead with God all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth cannot tell to the contrary but that you may speed as well as ever the Centurion or the Prodigal did I have taken the more pains to answer this Objection that so it may never have a resurrection more in any of your hearts into whose hands this Treatise may fall I know other Objections might be raised but because I have spoken largely to such in my former writings I shall pass on to the last thing proposed and that is to lay down some Positions that may by the blessing of God be of singular use to the Christian Reader As first That 't is one thing for a man to have God for his portion First Position Moses his face did shine and yet he did not see it and 't is another thing for a man to have an assurance in his own soul that God is his portion there are many that have God for their portion who yetare full of fears and doubts that God is not their portion Thus it was with Asaph in that 77 Psalm thus it was with Heman in that 88 Psalm and thus it is with very many Christians in these dayes Sometimes God exercises his children with such changeable and such terrible dispensations as raises many fears and doubts in them about their interest and propriety in God and sometimes their secret indulging of some bosome Idol their entertainment of some predominant lust raises strange fears and jealousies in their souls about their interest in God and sometimes their not closing with the Lord so closely so fully so faithfully so universally and so sincerely as they should without any secret reservation raises many doubts and questions in them whether God be their portion or no. The graces of many Christians are so weak and their corruptions are so strong and Satan is so busie with them and their duties and performances are so weak so flat so dull so saplesse so livelesse so fruitlesse and so inconstant that they are ready at every turn to say if God be our God why is it thus with us if God be our portion why are our hearts in no better a frame why have our duties no more spirit life and fire in them Look as the Sun may shine and yet I not see it and as the husband may be in the house and yet the wife not know it and as the child may have a very great portion a very fair estate setled upon him and yet he not understand it so a Christian may have God for his portion and yet for the present he may not see it nor know it nor understand it 1 John 5.13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God These precious souls had God and Christ for their portion and they did believe and they had eternal life in the seeds and beginnings of it and in the promise and in Christ their Head Ephe. 2.6 who as a publick person had taken possession of it in their steads and yet they had not the assurance of these things in their own souls Look as the babe that hath past the pangs of the first birth doth not presently cry out my father my father so the babe of grace the new-born Christian doth not presently cry out my God my God 't is one mercy for God to be my God and 't is another mercy for God to tell me that he is my God 't is one act of grace for God to be
and Authority as the Lion is the King of beasts Secondly By Lions they understand all cruel oppressours that are still oppressing and grinding of the faces of the poor Prov. 30.30 rich cormorants as the Septuagint renders it who live on the spoil of the poor and are never satisfied Thirdly By Lions they understand the Tyrants and the mighty Nimrods of the world which are sometimes called Lions Jer. 2.15 1 Chron. 11.22 Nahum 2.13 And lastly By Lions they understand all the crafty and subtil Politicians of the earth Ezek. 38.13 The Lion lurks very craftily and secretly for his prey The summe of all is this That wicked men that are in the highest authority and that great Oppressors cruel Tyrants and crafty Politicians shall be impoverished and brought to penury beggery and misery And this we have often seen verified before our eyes Oh Christian what though thou hast but a little of this world yet the God of all mercies and all the mercies of God the God of all comforts and all the comforts of God are thine and what wouldest thou have more In God is fulnesse all fulnesse infinite fulnesse and if this with a little of the world will not satisfie thee I know not what will If a God for thy portion will not content thee all the world will never content thee Shall Diogenes a Heathen be more content with his Tub to shelter him and with his dish to drink in than Alexander was with all his conquests and shall not a Christian sit down contented and satisfied in the enjoyment of God for his portion though he hath but a Tub to shelter him Bread to feed him and a dish of water to refresh him I shall conclude this Head with a weighty saying of Cato's Aulus Gellius Si quid est quo utar utor si non scio quis sum mihi vitio vertunt quia multis egeo ego illis quia nequeunt egere I have neither house nor plate nor garments of price in my hands what I have I can use if not I can want it some blame me because I want many things and I blame them because they cannot want Oh let not nature do more than grace Oh let not this Heathen put Christians to a blush But Thirdly If God be the Saints portion the sinners are much mistaken that judge the Saints to be the most unhappy men in the world there are no men under heaven in such a blessed and happy estate as the Saints are Psal 8.4 5. Balaam himself being Judge Num. 23 5-11 A man that hath God for his portion is honourable even in rags he hath some beams Psal 16.3 some rayes of the majesty and glory of God stampt upon his soul and shining upon his face and glittering in his life and he that is so blind as not to behold this is worse than Balaam the witch Though the blind Jews could see no form nor comlinesse nor beauty in Christ Isa 53.2 that they should desire him yet the wise men that came from the East could see his Divinity sparkling in the midst of the straw they could see an heavenly majesty and glory upon him when he lay among the beasts Luke 2.7 Matth. 2.11 when he lay in a manger witnesse their tedious journey to find him and witnesse their worshipping of him and witness those rich and royal presents that they brought unto him So though the blind sots of the world can see no lovelinesse nor comlinesse no beauty nor glory in the Saints or upon the Saints that should render them amiable and desireable in their eyes yet God and Christ and Angels and those that are wise in heart and wise to salvation can see a great deal of divine beauty majesty and glory upon all those that have God for their portion There is no happinesse to that of having God for a mans portion Psal 144.15 Happy is that people that is in such a case but give me that word again yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. He that hath not God for his portion can never be happy and he that enjoys God for his portion can never be miserable Augustine speaking of one who passing by a stately house which had fair lands about it and asking another whom be met to whom that house and land belonged he answered to such an one Oh sayes he that 's a happy man indeed No sayes the other not so happy as you think for it is no such happinesse to have that house and land but he is happy indeed that hath the Lord for his God for that is a priviledge that exceeds all things whatsoever for saith he he that hath honours and riches may go to hell for all them but he that hath God to be his God is sure to be everlastingly happy According as a mans portion is so is he now if God be a mans portion who is the spring the fountain the top of all excellency and glory then certainly that man must needs be an excellent man that hath God for his portion Prov. 12.26 A man that hath God for his portion doth as much excell and out-shine such as have only Mammon for their portion as the Sun excells and out-shines the Stars and upon this score 't is that the righteous man is more excellent than his neighbour let the righteous mans neighbour be never so great and never so rich and never so mighty and never so noble yet if he hath not God for his portion the righteous man is more excellent than he and the reason is evident because he hath that God for his portion that is most ominent and excellent Oh Sirs if God be most excellent if God be alone excellent then they must needs be most excellent that have God for their portion 'T is very observable that according to the excellency of God the excellency of the Saints is in some proportion hinted at in Scripture as in that Deut. 33.26 29. There is none like unto the God of Jesurun and presently it follows Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee or Oh the happinesses of thee Oh Israel Oh the multiplied happinesse the heaped up happinesse that attends Israel the Saints that have God for their portion are the worlds Paragons Heb. 11. they are worthies of whom this world is not worthy they are such great such noble such worthy worthies that this world is not worthy to think on them to look on them to wait on them or to enjoy their company one Saint that hath God for his portion is more worth than all the millions of sinners in the world that have not God for their portion God delights to reflect his glory upon his Saints for as there are none like to God so there are none like to the people of God Look as God is a none-such so his people are a none-such and so in that 2 Sam. 7.22 23. Wherefore thou art great O
are in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this one word like a King so all things are in this one word The Lord is my portion he that hath God for his portion hath all things because God is all things he is a good that contains all good in himself all the good that is to be found in honours in riches in pleasures in preferments in husband in wife in children in friends c. is to be found onely and eminently in God you have all in that great God that is the Saints great all Col. 3.11 But Eleventhly If God be the Saints portion and such a portion as I have at large discovered him to be then certainly God is no injurious portion no mischievous portion no hurtful portion no prejudicial portion surely there can be no danger no hazard no hurt in having God for a mans portion O but oftentimes earthly portions do a great deal of hurt a great deal of mischief they ruine mens bodies they blast and blot mens names and they lay men open to such sins and snares and temptations that for ever undoes their immortal souls O what a Trappan are worldly portions to most men yea what fuel are they to corruption and how often do they lay persons open to destruction Eccles 5.13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the Sun namely riches kept for the owners therefore to their hurt Though riches in themselves are Gods blessings yet through the corruptions that are in mens hearts they prove weapons of wickedness and engines to evil There is a sore evil the Septuagint reads it infirmitas pessima a sore disease Pagnin and Arias Montanus reads it mala infirmitas an evil disease others read it languor pessimus a sore weakness the Hebrew word Cholah signifies such a sore evil as sticks close and is not easily removed they are kept a thousand thousand wayes for their hurt Latimer in a Sermon before King Edward the sixth tells a story of a rich man that when he lay upon his sick bed some told him that came to visit him that by all they were able to discern he was a dead man he was no man for this world as soon as ever he heard these words saith Latimer what must I die said the sick man send for a Physician wounds sides heart must I die and leave these riches behind me wounds sides heart must I die and leave these things behind me and nothing else could be got from him but wounds heart sides must I die and leave these riches behind me Do you think Sirs that riches were not kept for this mans hurt without a peradventure in this mans heart was write the God of this present world And the same Father Latimer elsewhere saith that if he had an enemy to whom it was lawful to wish evil he would chiefly wish him great store of riches for then he should never enjoy any quiet As I have read of one Pheraulas a poor man on whom King Cyrus bestowed so much that he knew not what to do with his riches being wearied out with care in keeping of them he desired to live quietly though poor as he had done before than to possess all those riches with discontent therefore he gave away all his wealth desiring onely to enjoy so much as might relieve his necessities and give him a quiet possession of himself Queen Mary said when she was dying that if they should open her when she was dead they should finde Calice lying at the bottome of her heart implying that the loss of it broke her heart The Historian observes that the riches of Cyprus invited the Romans to hazard many dangerous Fights for the conquering of it When the Indians had taken some of the Spaniards who made gold their god they filled their mouths with it and so choaked them they melted their gold and poured it down their throats resolving that they should have their fill of gold who preferred gold before the lives and souls of men How many millions of bodies and souls have the Spaniards destroyed to possess themselves of the riches of the West Indies But let me a little further shew you how hurtful how dangerous and pernicious earthly riches earthly portions are oftentimes to their owners and this I shall do by a brief induction of these particulars First Not only the History of the ten persecutions but also all other Histories do very strongly evince this Riches incourage and advantage persons to make the strongest and the stoutest opposition against any thing that is good rich persons usually are the greatest opposers both of religion and religious persons James 2.6 7. But ye have despised the poor do not rich men oppresse you and draw you before the judgment-seats Do not they blaspheme that worthy Name by which ye are called and this you may see also in the rich Citizens of Jerusalem in King Herod the very same spirit you may run and read in the Scribes and Pharises who were the rich and the great men of the times and the very same opposing spirit lives and works strongly in the hearts of many great ones this day But Secondly Earthly portions do estrange the heart from God as you see in the prodigal Luke 15. and in those wealthy Monsters that say unto God Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21.13 14 15. But Thirdly As earthly portions do estrange the soul from God so they do often swell the soul and puff up the soul Salvian counts pride the rich mans inheritance Ps 10.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 c. mens minds ebbe and flow with their means their blood commonly rises with their outward good Pride saith Bernard is the rich mans Cousin it blows him up like a bladder with a quill it makes him grow secure and so prepares him for sudden ruine so that he may well sing his part with those sad souls What hath pride profited us or what profit hath the pomp of riches brought us All those things are passed away like as a shadow and as a post that passeth by Wisd 5.8 9. But Fourthly Earthly riches commonly cast men into a deep sleep of security thus they served David in that Psal 30.6 7. and thus they served the fool in the Gospel Luke 12 16-22 Amos 1.12 to the 18. ponder the words and thus they served the old world and so they did Sodome Gomorrah afterwards and so they did the two Kings of Midian Zebah and Zalmunna and their Hosts Judg. 8.11 12. and so they did the people of Laâ—sh in that Judg. 18 6-28 and so the peace plenty and prosperity of the Bohemians cast them into so great a security that they began to grow very loose and base in their lives and very cold and carelesse in the things of God and in all their
he will not Death be hired will money do nothing It is reported that Queen Elizabeth could not indure so much as to hear Death named Brasmus hit it when he said Timor mortis pejor quam ipsa mors and Sigusmund the Emperour and Lewis the eleventh King of France straitly charged all their servants that when they saw them sick they should never dare to name that bitter word Death in their ears Vitellius an Emperour of Rome a notorious glutton as you may easily judge by his having at one supper two thousand fishes and seven thousand birds when he could not flie Death he made himself drunk that he might not be sensible of the pangs of Death 'T was a very prudent and Christian speech of Charles the fifth to the Duke of Venice who when he had shewed him the glory of his Princely Palace and earthly Paradise instead of admiring it or him for it he only returned him this grave and serious Memento Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori These are the things which make us unwilling to die c. And by daily experience we finde that of all men wealthy men are most unwilling to die O but now God is such a portion as fits and disposes the soul to die yea as makes the soul look long for death and that makes death more desireable than life it self A man that hath God for his portion that hath God in his armes may well sing it out with old Simeon Lord Luk. 2.25 29 30. let thy servant depart in peace according to thy word Phil. 1.23 for mine eyes hath seen thy salvation and with Paul I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and with the Church Make hast my beloved and be thou like a Roe or to a young Hart upon the mountain of spices Cant. 8. ult and Come Lord Jesus come quickly Rev. 22.20 Did Christ die for me that I might live with him I will not therefore desire to live long from him all men go willingly to see him whom they love and shall I be unwilling to die that I may see him whom my soul loves Surely no. Augustine longed to die that he might see that head that was once crowned with thorns The dying words of my young Lord Harrington were these O my God when shall I be with thee Cyprian could receive the cruellest sentence of death with a Deo gratias and holy Andrew saluted the Cross on which he was to be crucified saying Take me from men and restore me to my Master And so Lawrence Saunders when he was come to the stake at which he was to be burnt he kissed it saying Welcome the Crosse of Christ welcome everlasting life But Twelfthly If God be the Saints portion O then let the Saints still think of God and look upon God under this notion A man that hath God for his portion should alwayes have very high noble sweet and precious thoughts of God It becomes not those that have God for their portion to be alwayes looking upon God as an angry God or as a displeased Father or as an incensed Judge or as an inraged enemy or as a bitter friend When God would make known his Name his Nature his Glory to Moses Exod. 34.6 7. he proclaimes himself to be The Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercies for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin And certainly to keep up such precious thoughts and notions as these are of God is that work of works that lies upon every mans hand that hath God for his portion O Sirs there is a very great aptnesse and pronenesse even in those that have God for their portion to have black dark hard dismal and dreadful thoughts and apprehensions of God Psal 77. Psa 88. Job 3. Psal 73.11 13 13 14. as you may see in Asaph Heman Job David c. By nature we are as full of hard thoughts of God as hell is full of sinne and where the heart is not mightily over-aw'd by the Spirit of God and over-power'd by the grace of God there all manner of dark and dismal apprehensions of God abounds Besides Satan knows very well that our corrupt natures are made up of sad and hard thoughts of God and therefore he will use all his power and crast to blow up every spark every hard thought of God into a flame especially when outward troubles and inward distresles are upon us what sayes Satan Dost thou think that God loves thee O Christian when he deals thus sharply and severely with thee doth he pretend kindnesse to thee and yet hide his sace from thee and set thee up as a mark to shoot at how can he be thy friend who hath cast thee down at thine enemies feet and given thee up into their pawes and jawes how canst thou think that he hath any pity and compassion towards thee who makes no better provision for thee what vanity is it to believe that he will give thee a crown that denies thee a crust and that he will give thee an house not made with hands and yet suffer thee to be turned out of house and home and that he will do so much for thee in another world who doth so little for thee in this world c. And thus Satan takes his opportunities to provoke corrupt nature to fill the soul with hard thoughts of God And certainly that Christian is a very great stranger to his own heart that is not able to say from experience that it is one of the highest and hardest works in this world to keep up good gracious thoughts of God to keep up honourable and noble thoughts of God in a suffering condition or under dark and dismal dispensations O but now those that have God for their portion they should abandon and abhor all hard thoughts of God yea how severe soever the dealings of God are towards them yet it is their duty and their glory to keep up very sweet precious thoughts of God Psal 73.1 O Sirs the more choice and honourable thoughts you keep up of God in your own souls the more you will love the Lord and the more you will delight in the Lord and the more content and satisfaction you will take in the Lord. Such Christians that take a pleasure to be still a representing of God to themselves in the most hideous terrible and amazing shapes they kill their love and their joy and they create a hell of torments in their own souls Well Christians let me put a cluster of the Grapes of Canaan into your hands at once and that by telling of you that the more glorious blessed thoughts you keep up in your souls of God the more spiritual the more frequent the more fervent the more abundant the more constant and the more unwearied you will be in the work of the Lord and the more all your graces will be
mourning and complaining O Christians till you come to see God to be your portion your doubts will lie down with you and rise with you they will talk with you and walk with you till they make your lives a very hell 'T was an excellent expression of Luther The whole Scripture saith he doth principally aim at this thing That we should not doubt but that we should hope trust and believe that God is a merciful bountiful and gracious God to his people And what will bring a mans heart over to answer to this blessed aime of the Scripture certainly nothing below an assurance that God is his portion It was a noble resolution of blessed Bradford who in one of his Epistles saith thus O Lord sometimes methinks I feel it so with me as if there were no difference between my heart and the hearts of the wicked my mind is as blind as theirs and my will as stout stubborn and rebellious as theirs and my affections as much disordered as theirs and my conscience as much benummed and stupified as theirs and my heart as hard and flintie as theirs c. shall I therefore conclude that thou art not my father nay I will rather reason otherwise saith he I do believe thou art my Father I will come unto thee that thou mayest enlighten this blind mind of mine and bend and bow this stout and stubborn will of mine and that thou mayest put order into these disordered affections of mine and that thou mayest put life and quicknesse into this stupified and benummed conscience of mine and that thou mayest put softnesse and tendernesse into this hard and slitie heart of mine And thus he nobly reasoned himself and believed himself out of all his fears and doubts There is no such way for a man to be rid of all his doubts as to live in the sight and faith of this truth that God is his portion Plutarch reports of one who would not be resolved of his doubts because he would not lose the pleasure in seeking for resolution like to him that would not have his Physician to quench the thirst he felt in his Ague because he would not lose the pleasure of drinking and like those that would not be freed from their sins because they would not lose the pleasure of sinning But I hope better things of all those that have God for their portion than to find them in love with their doubts or to be unwilling to be rid of their doubts Next to a mans going to hell it is one of the greatest afflictions in the world for a man alwayes to live in doubts about his going to heaven Next to damnation it is one of the greatest troubles that can attend a Christian to be alwayes exercised and perplexed with doubts about his salvation Next to being damn'd 't is the hell of hells to live in continual fears of damnation Now the onely way to prevent all this is to know that God is your portion But Thirdly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion will exceedingly sweeten all the crosses losses and changes that shall attend him in this world Habakkuk knew that God was the God of his salvation and that he was his poâ—tion and therefore he rejoyces though the Fig-tree did not blossome Hab. 3.17 18. and though there were no fruit in the vines and though the labour of the olive did fail and the fields did yield no meat and the stocks were cut off from the fold and there were no herd in the stalls And the same noble temper was upon those Worthies in Heb. 10.34 They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an induring substance they took joyfully the spoiling of their earthly portions being well assured in their own souls that they should enjoy an heavenly portion 1 Cor. 5.6 to her 2. an everlasting portion And so the Apostles knew that they had an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens and this carried them bravely thorow honour and dishonour thorow evil report and good report and thorow all weaknesses sicknesses distresses wants dangers and death and this made their heavy afflictions light 2 Cor. 4.16 17 18. and their long afflictions short and their bitter afflictions sweet this was that tree which being cast in the waters of Marah made them sweet Exod. 15.23 24 25. and this was that that did unsting all their crosses losses and reproaches and that made them rejoyce and sing under those very burthens and trials that would have broke the necks backs Acts 5. Ch. 16. and hearts of others When a man hath a clear personal evidence that God is his portion then no outward changes will make any considerable change in him Gen. 31.7 Though Laban had changed Jacobs wages ten times yet Jacob was Jacob still let times change and meâ— change and Powers change and Nations change yet a man that hath God for his portion and knows it will never change his countenance nor change his Master nor change his service nor change his work nor change his way under all changes he will still be semper idem alwayes the same Many great and dreadful changes past upon Joseph Gen. 49.23 24. but yet under all Josephs bowe abode in strength When a man knows that God is his portion whatever changes may passe upon him yet his bowe will still abide in strength Marcellus the Pope would not change his name according to the custome of other Popes to shew his immutability and that he was no changeling but how many are there in these dayes who were look't upon as better men who have changed their names their notes their coats their principles their practises and all for worldly advantages these changelings that change from better to worse and from naught to be very naught yea stark naught are the worst and naughtiest of men and deserve to be hang'd in chains and certainly when the wrath of God breaks forth Mal. 4.1 Heb. 10.38 these changelings shall be as stubble before it God abhors none as he doth those who run from him to serve other lords and who gad about to change their way Jer. 2.36 37. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria yea thou shalt go forth from him and thine hands upon thine head for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences and thou shalt not prosper in them There is nothing that will keep a man from apostacy and from making a defection from God his wayes his worship his glory c. like a blessed perswasion that God is his portion 2 Pet. 1 5-11 But Fourthly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion will exceedingly raise and advance the comfort and joy of a mans heart 't is not meerly my having of God for my portion but 't is my seeing 't is my
fruit was sweet unto my taste He brought me to the Banqueting-house and his Banner over me was love Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth imbrace me And Chap. 7.5 The King is held in the galleries The Spouse had a clear sight and a deep sense of her interest and propriety in Christ and O how high how close how full how sweet is she in her communion and fellowship with Christ 't is the sight and sense of propriety and interest that heightens and sweetens that communion that is between husband and wife father and child brother and sister and friend and friend so 't is the sight and sense of a mans propriety and interest in God that heightens and sweetens his communion and fellowship with God A clear sight of a mans interest and propriety in God will exceedingly sweeten every thought of God Psal 139.17 18. and every appearance of God and every taste of God and every smile of God and every communication of God and every ordinance of God and every work of God and every way of God yea it will sweeten every rod that is in the hand of God and every wrinkle that is in the face of God a man that sees his interest in God will hang upon him and trust in him though he should write never such bitter things against him and though he should deal never so severely with him yea though he should slay him as you may see in Job 13.15 He hit it who said A man whose soul is conversant with God shall finde more pleasure in the Desart and in death than in the Palace of a Prince Adam in vit Regii p. 78. Vrbanus Regius having one dayes converse with Luther said It was one of the sweetest dayes that ever he had in all his life But if one dayes communion with Luther was so sweet O how sweet must one dayes communion with God be and therefore as ever you would have high and full and sweet communion with God keep up a clear sight a blessed sense of your interest and propriety in God But Sixthly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion is a mans all in all O Sirs this is the life of your lives and the life of your prayers and the life of your praises and the life of your confidences and the life of your mercies and the life of your comforts and the life of your hopes c. A clear sight of your propriety in God is the very life of promises the life of Ordinances the life of Providences the life of experiences and the life of your gracious evidences it is a pearl of price it is your Paradise it is Manna in a wildernesse it is water out of a Rock it is a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night it is Jacobs ladder it is a salve for every sore it is physick for every disease it is a remedy against every malady it is an anchor at Sea and a shield on shore it is a star to guide you a staff to support you a sword to defend you a Pavilion to hide you a fire to warm you a banquet to refresh you a City of refuge to secure you and a Cordial to cheer you and what would you have more But Seventhly and lastly A clear personal evidence that God is a mans portion will exceedingly sweeten the thoughts of death and all the approaches of death and all the warnings and forerunners of death unto him it will make a man look upon his last day as his best day Eccles 7.1 Job 18.14 it will make a man look upon the King of terrours as the King of desires it will make a man laugh at the shaking of the spear at the sounding of the trumpet at the confused noise of the battel at garments rowled in blood at the sighs and groans of the wounded and at the heaps of the slain 'T was the Martyrs clear sight of their interest and propriety in God that made them complement with lions and dare their persecutors and to kisse the stake and to sing and clap their hands in the midst of the flames and to tread upon hot burning coals as upon beds of roses and divinely to triumph over their tormenters 't was this that made the primitive Christians ambitious of Martyrdome and that made them willingly and cheerfully lay down their lives that they might Eliah-like mount to heaven in fiery Chariots A man that sees his propriety in God knowes that death shall be the Funeral of all his sins sorrows afflictions temptations desertions oppositions vexations oppressions and persecutions and he knows that death shall be the resurrection of his hopes joyes delights comforts and contentments and that it shall bring him to a more clear full perfect and constant enjoyment of God and this makes him sweetly and triumphingly to sing it out O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.35 36 37. and O that these seven Considerations might prevail with all your souls to be restlesse till you have in your own bosomes clear and full satisfaction that God is your portion Now this last Inference leads me by the hand to an use of trial and examination O Sirs if God be the Saints portion the believers portion how highly doth it concern every one that looks upon himself as a Saint or as a believer to search try and examine whether God be his portion or no But you will say Quest how shall we know whether God be our portion or no O were all the world a lump of gold and in our hands to dispose of we would give it to know that God is our portion O the knowledge of this would be as life from the dead it would create an heaven in our hearts on this side heaven it would presently put us into a paradise of pleasure and delight but still the question is how shall we know it 't is an easie thing to say that God is our portion but how shall we come in fallibly to know that God is our portion Now to give clear and full satisfaction to this great and weighty Question I shall give in these following Answers by which you may certainly and undoubtedly know whether God be your portion or no. First If God be thy portion then thou hast very sweet Lord saith Austine the more I meditate on thee the sweeter thou art unto me Hierome calls meditation his paradise And Theophylact calls it the very gate and portal by which we enter into glory To think is to live saith Cicero precious high and honourable thoughts of God then thy thoughts will still be running out after God and thy meditations of him will be sweet a man that hath God for his portion is alwayes best when his thoughts and meditations are running out most after God Psal 104.34 My meditation of
primitive Christians did so couragiously and resolutely own God and stand up for God in the face of the most dreadful sufferings that many of the Heathens seeing their heroick zeal courage magnanimity and constancy turned Christians Domitian raised the second persecution against the Christians because they would not give the title of Lord to any but Christ nor worship any but God alone Among the many thousand instances that might be given let me onely give you a few of a later date whereby you may see how couragiously and resolutely the Saints have stood up for God and owned God in the face of the greatest dangers that hath attended them Luther owned God and stood up resolutely for God against the world Acts Mon. 776. And when the Emperour sent for him to Wormes and his friends disswaded him from going as sometimes Pauls did him Co said he I will surely go since I am sent for in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ yea though I knew that there were as many Devils in Wormes to resist me as there be tiles to cover the houses yet I would go and when he and his associates were threatened with many dangers from opposers on all hands he lets fall this heroick and magnanimous speech Come let us sing the six and fortieth Psalm and then let them do their worst And indeed 't was a brave couragious speech of the same Author who when one demanded where he would be when the Emperour should with all his forces fall upon the Elector of Saxony who was the chief Protector of the Protestants answered Aut in coelo aut sub coelo either in heaven or under heaven William Flower the Martyr said that the Heavens should as soon fall as he would forsake his profession or budge in the least degree from it Apollonius as Philostratus reports being asked if he did not tremble at the sight of the tyrant made this answer God which hath given him a terrible countenance hath given also unto me an undaunted heart When the persecutors by their dreadful threatnings did labour to terrifie one of the Martyrs he replied that there was nothing of things visible nor nothing of things invisible that he was afraid of I will saith he stand to my profession of the Name of Christ and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints When Bishop Gardiner asked Rowland Tailor if he did not know him c. he answered yea I know you and all your greatnesse yet you are but a mortal man and if I should be afraid of your Lordly looks why fear you not God the Lord of us all The Executioner kindling the fire behind Jerome of Prague he bad him kindle it before his face for said he if I had been afraid of it I had not come to this place having had so many opportunities offered me to escape it and at the giving up of the ghost he said This soul of mine in flames of fire O Christ I offer thee The German Knight in his Apologetical Letter for Luther against the Pontifical Clergy saith I will go through what I have undertaken against you and will stir up men to seek their freedome I neither care nor fear what may befall me being prepared for either event either to ruine you to the great benefit of my Countrey or else to fall with a good conscience When Dionysius was given up to the Executioner to be beheaded he remained resolute couragious and constant saying Come life come death I will worship none but the God of heaven and earth Thus you see by these instances that men that have God for their portion will couragiously owne God and bravely and resolutely stand up for God what ever comes on it The blood that hath been shed in most Nations under heaven doth clearly evidence this that men will own their earthly portions and that they will stand up stoutly resolutely and couragiously in the defence of them and so certainly will all those own God and stand up in the defence of God his glory and truth who have God for their portion Take a true bred Christian when he is himself take a Christian in his ordinary course and he cannot but own his God and stand up stoutly and couragiously for his God in the face of all difficulties and dangers But Seventhly If God be thy portion then thou wilt look upon all things below thy God as poor Ps 73.24 25 low mean and contemptible things a worldly man looks upon all things below his earthly portion as contemptible and so doth a Christian look upon all things below his God as contemptible Phil. 3.7 8. But what things were gain to me those I counted losse for Christ Yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dogs dung some interpret the word properly signifies such sordid course and contemptible things which are either cast forth by dogs or cast before dogs that I may win Christ And 't is very observable that after this great Apostle had been in the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.1 2 3. and had been blest with a glorious sight of God he look't upon the world as a poor mean low contemptible thing Gal. 6.14 God forb'd that I should glory save in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world Paul scorned despised and rejected the world and the world scorned despised and rejected him Paul cast off the world and the world cast off him he disregarded the world and the world disregarded him he was dead to the world and the world was dead to him the world and Paul were well agreed the world car'd not a pin for Paul and Paul cared not a straw for the world Heb. 11.24 to 27. And so when Moses had seen him that was invisible when he had taken a full prospect of that other world and when he had beheld God as his portion Oh how doth he slight scorn and trample upon all the honours preferments profits pleasures delights and contentments of Egypt as things below him and as things that in no respects were worthy of him It is a Rabbinical conceit Joh 〈◊〉 tavit â—lorileg Rabbinâ—cum that Moses being a child had Pharaohs Crown given him to play withall and he made no better than a Foot-ball of it and cast it down to the ground and kick't it about as if it were a sign of his future vilifying and contemning of temporal things I shall not much trouble my head about what Moses did when he was a child but of this I am sure having the word of a God for it Heb. 11.24 That when he was come to years or as the Greek hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being grown big Some conclude
soul went out of me I was even as an astonished creature I was even as a dead creature to note how greatly and how deeply she was troubled and perplexed upon the account of his withdrawing from her O the fear the terrour the horrour the dread the grief the sorrow that fell upon the Spouses heart when her beloved had turned his back upon her And so it was with Mary John 20.11 12 13. But Mary stood without at the Sepulchre weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the Sepulchre and seeth two Angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain and they said unto her Woman why weepest thou she saith unto them Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him Of all losses Mary was least able to bear the loss of her Lord that losse was so great and so heavy a losse that she was not able to stand under it with dry eyes Mary's mourning for the losse of her Lord was like that of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon Zech. 12.11 There is no loss that comes so neer to a Christians heart as the losse of his Lord A Christian can a thousand times better bear the losse of his name which next to his soul and his grace is the best Jewel that he hath in all the world the losse of his estate the losse of his liberty the losse of his neerest and dearest relations yea the very losse of his life than he can bear the losse of his God You see how sadly Micah takes on for the losse of his wooden gods in that Judg. 18.23 24. And they cried unto the children of Dan and they turned their faces and said unto Micah what aileth thee that thou comest with such a company And he said ye have taken away my gods which I made and the Priest and ye are gone away and what have I more and what is this that ye say unto me what aileth thee Now if Micah was so affected and afflicted upon the loss of his Idol gods his wooden gods what cause then have Christians to be deeply affected and afflicted when they come to lose their God which is the true God the living God the onely God and the God of Gods You know that when Sampsons locks were cut off Judg. 16.19 20 21. his strength was gone and therefore though he thought to go out and do as great things as he had formerly done yet he found by woful experience that he could not for now he was become as another man and it is just so with the choicest Saints when their God is gone their locks are cut and their strength is gone their doing strength and their suffering strength their bearing strength and their wrestling strength and their prevailing strength c. is gone when their God is gone yea when God goes all goes when the King removes all his train followes when God goes Qui te non habet Domine Deus totum perdidit Bern. comforts go vvhen God goes joyes go vvhen God goes peace goes vvhen God goes prosperity goes vvhen God goes friends go vvhen God goes all content and satisfaction goes and therefore it is no vvonder to see a Christian better bear any losse than the losse of his God for in losing of him he loses all at a clap A Christian counts it his only happinesse to enjoy his God and his onely unhappinesse to be deprived of him the constant language of a Christian is None but God none but God as it vvas once the language of the Martyr None but Christ None but Christ Outvvard losses to some men have been unsufferably afflictive one being turned out of his estate runs out of his vvits another hangs himself vvith the same hands vvith vvhich he had formerly told his portion Menipus of Phenicia having lost his goods strangled himself Dinarcus Phidon at a certain great losse cut his ovvn throat to save the charge of a cord When Henry the second had heard that his City Menze was taken he let fall this blasphemous speech I shall never said he love God any more that hath suffered a City so dear to me to be taken away from me Suotenius And Augustus Caesar in whose time Christ was born was so troubled and astonished at the losse and overthrow that Varus gave him that for certain moneths together he let the hair of his head and beard grow without cutting and sometimes he would run his head against the very doors and cry out Quintilius Varus deliver up my Legions again Quintilius Varus deliver up my Legions again c. I might give you many sad instances neerer home but that I love not to harp upon so sad a string But certainly no outward losses can lie so heavy upon the spirit of a worldling Compare the 77. and the 88. Psalms together as the losse of God lies upon the spirit of a Saint I have read of a religious woman that having brought forth nine children professed that she had rather indure all the pains of those nine Travails at once than indure the misery of the losse of Gods presence A man can better bear any losse than the losse of his box of Jewels and than the losse of his Writings and Evidences that he hath to shew for his estate and therefore when his house is on fire he doth not cry out O save that bed or that chest or that dish or that stool c. but he cries out O save my box of Jewels O save my Writings I care not though all be consumed so my box of Jewels and my Evidences be but saved Now God is a Christians box of Jewels he is a Christians grand evidence that he hath to shew for another world and therefore his greatest fear is of losing his God and his greatest care is of keeping his God If his box of Jewels be safe then all is safe but if they are lost all is lost and how then is it possible for a Christian to bear up bravely under the losse of all A man may bear up bravely under the losse of his Lumber and and under the losse of his houshold-goods so long as his Jewels are safe and his Writings are safe but if his box of Jewels should be lost and his Writings should be burnit why then he wrings his hands and cries out O I am undone I am undone I am undone So a Christian can bear up bravely under this worldly losse and that worldly loss and the other worldly losse so long as he enjoyes his God but when he hath lost his God O then he cannot but wring his hands and cry out I am undone I am undone I am undone I have lost my God and in losing of him I have lost my life I have lost my love I have lost my joy I have lost my Crown I have lost my heaven I have
overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful If these Scriptures do not clearly evidence that the interest of Christ shall swallow up all other interests I understand nothing Now mark the people of God are the interest of God and the Gospel of God is the interest of God and the Ordinances of God are the interest of God and the institutions and pure worship of God are the interest of God c. And therefore all you that have an interest and propriety in God evidence it by your ready and resolute falling in with the interest of God Believe it they that fall in with the interest of God fall in with the strongest side and will be sure to carry it against ten thousand worlds What is the stubble to the flames what is weaknesse to strength what is impotency to omnipotency what is folly to wisdome what is emptinesse to fulnesse no more are all the carnal interests in the world to the interest of God and therefore thrice happy is that man that falls timely and cordially in with the interest of God But now if upon trial and examination any of you shall finde that yet the Lord is not your portion and this I believe will be the case of many of you I would exhort all such persons to labour with all their might yea to labour as for life to get the Lord to be their portion O Sirs this is the one thing necessary this is the Sun among the stars this is the work of works that lies upon your hands when this is done all is done till this be done there is nothing done that will do you good in another world O Sirs your lives lies upon it your souls lie upon it eternity lies upon it your all lies upon it and therefore you had need be restlesse till you have gained the Lord to be your portion Now that I may the more effectually provoke you and stir you up to this great and glorious this necessary and weighty work give me leave to propose these following Considerations First Consider that thy present portion thy present condition is but miserable and cursed Levit. 26. Deut. 28. All the earth was curst upon mans fall and till fallen man comes to be interested in God all his earthly enjoyments are curst unto him his honours are curst and his riches are curst and his preferments are curst and his pleasures are curst the whole portion of his cup is nothing but a little cursed vanity Job 20.23 24 25 28 29. When he is about to fill his belly God shall east the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him while he is eating He shall flee from the iron weapon and the bowe of steel shall strike him through It is drawn and cometh out of the body yea the glistering sword cometh out of his gall terrours are upon him The increase of his house shall depart and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage appointed unto him by God And so Chap. 24.18 He is swift as the waters their portion is cursed in the earth he beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards Prov. 3.33 The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Mal. 2.2 If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my Name saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart There is a real curse and a secret curse an invisible curse and an insensible curse that lies upon all their souls that have not God for their portion Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them And as there is a curse upon all their souls so there is a curse upon all their comforts contentments and enjoyments that enjoy not God for their portion till a man comes to enjoy God for his portion all his earthly portions are curst unto him but when a man comes to enjoy God for his portion then all his earthly portions are blest unto him O Sirs there is no mitigating of the curse there is no reversing of the curse there is no altering of the curse nor there is no taking of the curse from off your souls nor from off your earthly portions but by gaining God to be your portion O Sirs you will live accursed and you will die accursed and you will appear before God accursed and you will be judged and sentenced by God accursed and you will be sent to hell accursed and you will remain to all eternity accursed if God be not your portion and therefore O how should this Consideration awaken every sinner to give God no rest till he hath given himself as a portion to him But Secondly Consider this that there is yet a possibility of attaining God to be thy portion Mark 14.36 Luk. 18.27 all the Angels in heaven and all the men on earth do not know to the contrary but that God may be thy portion even thine If thou art but heartily willing to be divorced from that wicked Trinity the World the Flesh and the Devil there is no doubt but God will be thy portion O Sirs why hath God laid open so clearly and so fully the nature and incomparable excellency of this portion above all other portions before you but to perswade your hearts and to draw out your souls to look after this portion and to make sure this portion as that wherein all your happinesse and blessednesse lies O that you were wise to consider that now a prize an opportunity is put into your hands that may make you for ever you have all the wayes and all the means and all the helps and all the advantages imaginable for the obtaining of God to be your portion so that if God be not your portion I shall be so bold to tell you Hos 13.9 that your destruction is from your selves O Sirs though God be a golden Myne Pro. 2.2 3 4 5 6 7. yet he is such a Myne that may be come at if you will but dig and sweat and take pains to purpose though he be a pearl of infinite price yet Christ can purchase this Pearl for you though he be a matchlesse and incomparable portion yet he is such a portion as may be yours as will be yours if you are not wanting to your own souls Why hath God sent his Ambassadours early and late and why hath he 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. even to a miracle continued them amongst you to this very day but that they should acquaint you with his wonderful readinesse and willingnesse to bestow himself as a portion upon you Psa 105.8 Ephes
call upon my Name and I will hear them I will say it is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God O Sirs as ever you would have the great and glorious God for your portion plead out this noble promise cordially with God plead it out affectionately plead it out fervently plead it out frequently plead it out beleevingly plead it out resolutely plead it out incessantly O Sirs this choice promise is an hive full of heavenly honey 't is a paradise full of sweet flowers 't is a breast that is full of the milk of consolation Isa 66.11 and therefore be still a sucking at this breast be still a pleading of this promise follow God with this promise early and late follow him with this promise day and night Luk. 18.1 to the 9. v. follow him with this promise as the importunate Widow followed the unjust Judge and give him no rest till he hath made it good to your souls that he is your God and that he is your portion and that he is your salvation and that he is your all in all O tell him that above all things in this world your hearts are set on this to have God to be your God to have God to be your portion O tell him that you cannot tell him that you dare not tell him that you may not and tell him that you shall not be satisfied with any thing without God with any thing below God with any thing on this side God with any thing but God and therefore humbly intreat him and earnestly beseech him to be your God and to be your portion But Fourthly If you would have God for your portion Deut. 32.9 Jer. 12.10 Zech. 2.12 then you must be willing to be his portion God is resolved upon this that he will be no mans portion that is not willing to be his you must make a resignation of your selves to God if ever you would enjoy an interest in God you must be as willing to be his people as you are willing to have him to be your God you must be as much at Gods dispose as earthly portions are at your dispose or else there will be no enjoying of God to be your God God will ingage himself to none that are not willing to ingage themselves to him he that will not give his hand his heart to God shall never have any part or portion in God O Sirs as ever you would have God for your portion it highly concerns you to give up your selves to God with highest estimations and with most vigorous affections and with utmost indeavours according to that precious promise Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand to the Lord and sirname himself by the name of Israel God stands upon nothing so much as the giving up of your selves to him nor he is taken with nothing so much as the giving up of your selves to him Seneca do Benesic l. 1. I have read of Aeschines who seeing his fellow-scholars give great gifts viz. gold silver and jewels to his Master Socrates and he being poor and having nothing else to bestow he gave him himself which the Philosopher most kindly accepted esteeming this present above all those rich and costly presents that his other Scholars had presented to him and accordingly in love and sweetnesse he carried it towards him So there is nothing that God accepts loves likes and esteems like the giving up of a mans self unto him this is a present that God prefers above all the gold silver and sparkling jewels in the world Well Sirs remember this Such as are not as willing to say Lord we are thine as they are to say Lord thou art ours such shall never have God for their portion But Fifthly If you would have God for your portion then you must take up Christ in your arms and treat with God upon the credit of Christ there is no acquaintance with God Ephe. 2.16 Heb. 2.17 Col. 1.20 21. Ephes 1.6 7. there is no reconciliation to God there is no union nor communion with God there is no re-admission into the presence and favour of God without a Mediator God out of Christ is incomprehensible God out of Christ is exceeding terrible Heb. 12.9 an absolute God is a consuming fire and therefore sayes Luther Nolo Deum absolutum Let me have nothing to do with God himself The blood of Christ the blood of the Covenant is that and onely that that can cement re-unite and knit God and man together Themistocles understanding that King Admittus was highly displeased with him took up his young son into his armes Plutarch in Vita and treated with the father holding that his Darling in his bosome and thereby appeased the Kings wrath O Sirs the King of Kings is offended with you and upon the account of your sins he hath a very great controversie with you Now there is no way under heaven to pacifie his wrath and turn away his displeasure from you but by taking up Christ in your armes and by presenting all your suits in his name There is no Angel in heaven nor no Saint on earth that can or that dares to interpose between an angry God and poor sinners 't is only Christ Isa 9.6 the Prince of peace that can make up a sinners peace with God John 14.6 Jesus saith unto him I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father but by me There is no way to the Father but by the meritorious blood of the Son Isa 33.14 there are none that can stand between everlasting burnings and us but Christ You shall not see my face except you bring your brother Benjamin with you said Joseph to his brethren so sayes God Sinners sinners you shall not see my face Gen. 43.3 6. except you bring Jesus with you except you bring Christ in your armes you shall never see my face with joy you shall never see my face and live There is a Writ of Vengeance that is issued out of the Court of Heaven against poor sinners and except Christ stops in they will certainly fall under an eternal arrest and be thrown into everlasting perdition and destruction But Sixthly If you would have God for your portion then you must break your league with sin you must fall out with sin if ever you fall in with God sin and you must be two or God and you can never be one there is no propriety to be had in God except your hearts rise against that which first dis-united and dis-joynted you from God sin and you must part or God and you can never meet You shall as soon make an accommodation between light and darknesse 2 Câ—â— 6.14 ult heaven and hell noon and midnight as ever you shall be able to make an accommodation between God and sinne So long
portion Look as they that are most wounded stand in most need of a Surgeon and as they that are most sick stand in most need of a Physician and as they that are in most danger of robbing stand in most need of assistance and as they that are in most peril of drowning stand in most need of a boat and as they that are most impoverished stand in most need of relief so they that are the greatest sinners stand in most need of having of God for their portion for no tongue can expresse 2 Thess 1 7 8 9 10. nor no heart can conceive the greatnesse of that wrath of that indignation of that desolation of that destruction and of that damnation that attends and waits upon those great sinners that have not God for their portion and therefore the greater sinner thou art the greater obligation lies upon thee to get God to be thy God and portion for till that be done all thy sins in their full number weight guilt and aggravating circumstances will abide upon thy soul But Sixthly and lastly I answer that God is a great God and he loves to do like himself Now there are no works no actions that are so suitable to God and so pleasing to God and so delightful to God as those that are great and what greater work what greater action can the great God do than to bestow himself as a portion upon the greatest of sinners It was a great work for God to create the world and it is a great work for God to govern the World and it will be a great work for God to dissolve the world and to raise the dead and yet doubtlesse it is a greater work for the great God freely to bestow himself upon the greatest sinners The love of God is a great love and the mercies of God are great mercies and the compassions of God are great compassions and accordingly God loves to act and therefore there is ground for the greatest sinners to hope that the Lord may bestow himself as a portion upon them But Secondly Object 2 Others may object and say hereafter we will look after this portion for the present we are for living in the world we are for a portion in hand we are for laying up portions for our selves and providing portions for our posterity we are first for laying up of earthly treasures and when we have done that work to purpose then we will do what we can to obtain this excellent and glorious portion that you have been so long a discoursing on c. Now to this Objection I shall thus answer First Thus to act is to run counter-crosse to Christs express commands Mat. 6.33 But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a casting in as an overplus as some over-weight measure or number And so ver 19 20. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves break through and steal But lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where theeves do not break through nor steal And so in that Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat which endureth to everlasting life O Sirs to act or run crosse to Gods expresse command though under pretence of Revelation from God is as much as a mans life is worth as you may see in that sad story 1 Kings 13.24 O Sirs 't is a dangerous thing to neglect one of his commands who by another is able to command your bodies into the grave and your souls into hell at his pleasure Shall the wife make conscience of obeying the commands of her husband and shall the child make conscience of obeying the commands of his father and shall the servant make conscience of obeying the commands of his Lord and shall the souldier make conscience of obeying the commands of his General and shall the subject make conscience of obeying the commands of his Prince though he be none of his Council and will not you make conscience of obeying his commands that is the Prince of the Kings of the earth 1 Rev. 5. But Secondly Who but children mad men and fools in Folio will pitch upon a lesse good when a greater good is offered to them what madnesse and folly is it for men to pitch upon bags of counters Children mad men and fools will part with a pearl for a pippin when bags of gold are laid before them or for men to chuse an hundred pounds per annum for life when rich inheritances and great Lordships are freely offered to be made over to them for ever What were this but Esau-like to prefer a messe of pottage before the birth-right and yet this is the present case of these Objectors God is that rich that great that glorious and that matchlesse portion that is held out and freely offered and tendered in the Gospel to poor sinners and they neglect slight and reject this blessed offer and fix their choice their love their hearts their affections upon the perishing vanities of this world O the folly of such that at a Feast feed upon kickshawes and never taste of those substantial dishes that are for nourishment O the madnesse of such that prefer the flesh-pots of Egypt before the dainties of Canaan Would not such a Merchant such a Tradesman be pointed at as he goes along the streets for a fool or a mad man that should neglect such a season such an opportunity such an advantage wherein he may be made for ever as to the world and all because he is resolved first to secure such a bargain of rags or such a bargain of old shooes which will turn but little to his advantage when he hath bought them Surely yes now this is the very case of the Objectors for they neglect the present seasons the present opportunities of grace and mercy and of being made happy for ever by enjoying of God for their portion and all because they are resolved first to secure the Treasures the Rags of this World Certainly in the great day of account these will be found the greatest fools that have fool'd away such golden opportunities that were more worth than all the world and all to secure the rags of the world But Thirdly and lastly How many thousands are now in hell Matth. 7.22 26 27. how many thousands have now their part and their portion in that burning lake which burnes with fire and brimstone for ever and ever Rev. 21.8 who thought when they were on earth that after they had laid up goods for many years with the fool in the Gospel that then they would look after heavenly treasures and secure God for their portion but before they could find time or hearts to set about so noble work divine vengeance hath overtaken them and justice
death to wit the favour of God reconciliation redemption and the remission of sins Now how can it possibly be imagined that so glorious an Ordinance should be instituted to so great and so glorious an end as to assure believers of their interest and propriety in God and yet this end should never be effected in them all their dayes for whose sake the Ordinance was instituted and appointed Certainly God never appointed any Ordinance to accomplish any end Isa 55.10 11. Ch. 45.23 but first or last that Ordinance did accomplish that end for which it was appointed and instituted Cy. l. 4. Ep. 6. The same Augustine reports Aug. in Joh Tract 27. Cyprian shews how the Martyrs in the primitive Church when they were to appear before the cruel persecuting Tyrants were wont to receive the Lords Supper and thereby they were so assured of their interest and propriety in God and so fired with zeal and fervour and fill'd with faith and fortitude c. that they made nothing of the greatest torments that those bloody Tyrants could inflict upon them And saith Chrysostome by the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we are so armed against Satans temptations that he fleeth from us as if we were so many Lions that spet fire The Jews in the celebration of the Passeover did sing the 113. Psalm with the five following Psalms which they called the great Hallelujah and it was always after that cup of wine which they called The cup of praise and thus it should be with the Saints at all times upon all occasions in all places they should sing Hallelujahs to God O but when they are at the Lords Supper then they should sing the great Hallelujah but how they will be ever able to sing this great Hallelujah except first or last more or lesse God gives them some assurance of their interest and propriety in himself I cannot for my life discern But Fifthly There is in all believers the choice and precious springs of assurance as 1. Union and communion with the Father and the Son 1 John 1.3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Now that union that is between the foundation and the building the head and the members the husband and the wife the father and the child the subject and the Prince the body and the soul is nothing so neer an union as that which is between a believer and God Besides 1 Cor. 6.16 17. that union that a Christian hath with God is an honourable union and it is an inseparable union it is an invincible union and it is an everlasting union Now how it is possible for a man to have such a neer and such a glorious union and fellowship with God from the day of his conversion to the day of his desolution and yet never come to any assurance of his interest and propriety in God is a thing not easily imaginable 2. Precious faith is another spring of assurance 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Now this spring is in all the Saints 2 Pet. 1.1 The faith of expectance will in time rise up into a faith of reliance and the faith of reliance will in time advance it self into a faith of assurance 3. Hope is another spring of assurance Coloss 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory Heb. 6.19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vail 4. A good conscience is another spring of assurance 2 Cor. 1.12 5. Real love to the Saints is another spring of assurance 1 Joh. 3.14 6. And lastly the Spirit of God is another spring of assurance Rom. 8. Now that a Christian should have all these choice springs of assurance in his soul from his new birth to the day of his death and yet in all that time never come to assurance of his interest and propriety in God is a thing I had almost said beyond all belief But Sixthly There is nothing in all the world that the hearts of the Saints are more frequently more fervently and more abundantly carried out after in all their prayers and supplications than this Psa 4.6 7. That God would tell them that he is their portion and that he would clear up their interest and propriety in himself the constant language of their souls is this Lord do but tell us that thou art our portion and then bestow earthly portions upon whom thou pleasest do but clear up our interest and propriety in thy self Psal 16.5 6. and then we shall say Our lot is fallen in a pleasant place and verily we have a goodly heritage Believers know that assurance that God is their portion and that they have an interest and propriety in him will ease them of all their sinful cares fears terrours horrours jealousies suspitions and sad apprehensions which makes their lives a very hell They know that assurance of their interest and propriety in God will make every bitter sweet and every sweet more sweet it will turn a Wildernesse into a Paradise an Egypt into a Canaan They know that assurance that God is theirs will raise the truest comforts the purest comforts the greatest comforts the surest comforts Isa 40.1 2. the strongest comforts the rarest comforts the sweetest comforts and the most lasting comforts in their souls They know that assurance of their interest in God will fit them for the highest duties in Christianity and for the hardest duties in Christianity and for the costliest duties in Christianity for the most neglected scorned and despised duties in Christianity They know that assurance of their propriety in God will most quicken their graces and act their graces and raise their graces and strengthen their graces and brighten their graces and put a lustre and a beauty upon their graces They know that assurance of their interest in God will wonderfully weaken sin and effectually crucifie their hearts to the world and sweetly moderate their affections to their neerest and dearest relations and powerfully arm them both against the worlds oppositions Satans temptations To conclude They know that assurance of their propriety in God will make death more desirable than terrible yea it will make the thoughts of death sweet and the approaches of death easie and all the warnings of death pleasant to their souls and therefore they follow God hard day and night with strong cries prayers tears sighs and groans that he would make it evident to them that he is their portion and that he would clear up their interest and propriety in him Now how can any man that is in his wits imagine that God should alwayes turn a deaf ear to the prayers of his people in this thing