THE Fading of the Flesh AND Flourishing of Faith OR One CAST for Eternity WITH The only way to Throw it VVell AS ALSO The Gracious Persons incomparable Portion By GEORGE SWINNOCK M. A. Preacher of the Gospel late at Great-Kimbel in the County of Bucks Eccles 5.15 As he came forth of his Mothers womb naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labour which he shall carry in his hand Vides viventem cogita morientem Quid hic habeat attendis quid secum tollat attende Quid secum tollit multum auri habet multum argenti multum praediorum multum mancipiorum moritur remanent illa nescio quibus Aug. in Psal 49. v. 17. Incertum est quo te loco mors expectet itaque tu illam omniloco expecta Sen. Epist 26. LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Three Crowns in the lower end of Cheap-side over against the great Conduit 1662. There is extant of this Reverend Authors these Five other Treatises The Christian-mans Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones Business wherein the Nature and Necessity of it is discovered as also the Christian directed how he may perform it in Religious Duties Natural Actions his particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration or a Treatise containing the Nature Necessity Marks and means of Regeneration as also the duty of the Regenerate Heaven and Hell Epitomized or the true Christian characterized The beauty of Magistracy in an Exposition of the 82 Psalm where is set forth the necessity Utility Dignity Duty and Morality of Magistrates There is in the press the Second Part of that practical Piece of Divinity entituled The Christian-mans Calling Containing Directions for our dealings with all men carriage in all conditions whether in prosperity or adversity in all companies good or bad in solitariness on the week day from morning to night in visiting the sick upon a dying bed To the Courteous Ms. Jane Swinnock WIDOW OF Mr. Caleb Swinnock LATE OF Maidstone Deceased Honoured Couzen THe whole World is fitly termed by the Holy Ghost a Sea of glass Rev. 4. A Sea for its tempestuousness all the passengers who sail on it are sure to be driven too and fro with the surging waves and high winds of sorrows Man entereth on this stage of the World crying goeth off groaning and the part which he acteth is chiefly Tragical his whole life being little else from the Womb to the Tomb but a chain of crosses and a circle of sufferings he is tost like a Tennis Ball from hazard to hazard till at last he fall to the Earth A sea of Glass for its brittleness Glass is soon broken be it never so much Guilded The fashion of this World passeth away all its carnal comforts perish with it The possessions of it are corruptible Gold and Silver are liable to that rust which will consume them The Relations in it are mutable whilst we are refreshing our selves with those pleasant flowers and embracing them in our breasts and sticking them in our bosomes they wither The Jews at this day have a custome saith one when a Couple are married to break the glass wherein the Bridegroom and the Bride have drank thereby to admonish them that though at present they are joyned together yet ere long they must be parted asunder The Saints of God themselves are not priviledged from such arrests nay those vessels which are most richly laden go often deepest in these waters The howling Wilderness is the direct way to the heavenly Canaan The late Providence which removed your loving and beloved Husband I hope to Heaven hath taught you the truth of these particulars The loss of such a relation must needs be a sore affliction The nearer the union is the more difficult the separation Husband and Wife are one flesh therefore to part them cannot but be painful but Grace will help you both to submit to that blow which is so grievous to Nature and to be the better for it It was some comfort to me to observe your Christian carriage under so great a cross The hour of affliction is an hour of temptation Satan loves to fish when the Waters are troubled He would bring us to hard thoughts of God by the hard things we suffer from God Touch him and he will curse thee to thy face In such stormy weather some Vessels are cast away A corrupt heart in adversity like Water boyling over the Fire then most of all discovereth its froth and filth Isa 8.21 But though frosty seasons are hurtful to Weeds yet they are helpful to good Corn. A sanctified person like a silver bell the harder he is smitten the better he soundeth Faith is a special Antidote against the poison of the Wicked one It can read Love in the blackest Characters of Divine dispensation as by a Rain-bow we see the beautiful image of the Suns light in the midst of a dark and waterish Cloud Gods Rod like Jonathans is dipt in Hony Our daily bread and our sharpest rod grow upon the same root Every beleiver may say in affliction as Mauritius when his Wife and Children were slain before his eyes Righteous art thou O Lord and in very faithfulness hast afflicted me Dear Couzen Since Gods Rod hath a voice as well as his Word and like Moses his Rod in Egipt worketh wonders in and for his people Let me beseech you to hear it and to know him that hath appointed it O how highly doth it behove you to labour that as Aarons Rod it may bud and blosome with the fruits of holiness Two Lessons principally God would teach you by it First That your affections be taken off from Earthly possessions Dying Relations call for dying affections When Israel doted on Egypt as a pallace God made it an Iron furnace to wean them from it and to make them weary of it The creature is our Idol by nature we bow down the knees of our souls to it and Worship it but infinite Wisdom makes it our grief that it may not be our God When Children fare well abroad they are mindless of home but when abused by strangers they hasten to their Parents The World is therefore a Purgatory that it might not be our Paradice As soon as Laban frowned on Jacob he talks of returning to his Fathers House Every rout the World puts us to sounds a retreat to our affections and calls off our heart from the eager pursuit of these withering vanities Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Prov. 23.5 much less thine heart I have read of a young Hermit who being passionately in love with a young Lady could not by any Art suppress the fury and violence of that flame till at last being told that she was dead and had been buried about fourteeen days he went
no labour too great wouldst thou think for such a peerless and inestimable portion How willingly should the Ziba's of the world take all so thy Lord and King would but come into thy soul in peace How earnestly how eagerly wouldst thou cry with Moses after he had known somewhat of Canaan O Lord God thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what God is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works and according to thy might I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan that goodly mountain and Lebanon Lord though others be put off with common bounty let me partake of special mercy though they feed on husks give me this bread of life Let me not for this whole world have my portion in this world but be thou the portion of my cup do thou maintain my lot whatsoever thou deny to me or howsoever thou deal with me give me thy self and I shall have enough Though strangers and enemies to thee scramble for the good things which thou scatterest here below and desire no more yet let me see the felicity of thy chosen rejoyce with the gladness of thy nation and glory with thine inheritance O Friend it is eternal life to know this only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 Were I able to set this God forth in the thousandth part of that grace and glory wherewith he is cloathed as with a garment could I present him to thee in any degree sutable to his vast perfections and give thee eyes to behold him it were impossible but that thou should choose him for thy portion but Alas all the Angels in heaven cannot draw him at length surely then we who are clogged so much with flesh know lesse of this Father of Spirits Simonsdes being askt by Hiero What God was required some time to consider of it and as much more at the end of that time and double at the end of that Of which delay Hiero asked a reason he answered Quo magis inquiro eo minus invenio The farther I search the more I am at a losse There can be no finding God out there being no equal proportion between the faculty and the object If I had been in heaven and seen him face to face I should know him to my perfection but could not know him to his perfections But suppose I had been there and seen those infinite beauties and glories according to the utmost of my capacity yet my tongue would not be able to tell it thee nor thine eares to hear it O what an unspeakable losse am I at now I am speaking of this infinite God! my thoughts run into a labyrinth I am as a little cock-boat floating on the Ocean or as an infant offering to reach the Sun My meditations please me exceedingly O how sweet is this subject I could dwell in this hive of honey and happiness Lord let me whilst I have a being How pleasant are thy thoughts to me O God thou true Paradise of all pleasure thou living Fountain of felicity thou original and exact pattern of all perfections how comely is thy face how lovely is thy voice While I behold though but a little of thy beauty and glory my heart is filled with marrow and fatness and my mouth praiseth thee with joyful lips My soul followeth hard after thee O when shall I come and appear before thee When wilt thou come to me or when rather will that blessed time come that I shall be taken up to thee Sinners misse thee walking in the mist of ignorance Ah did they know thee they would never crucifie the Lord of glory When they come once into that blackness of darkness where they shall have light enough to see how good thou art in thy self and in thy Son to immortal souls and to see their misery in the losse of an eternal blessed life how will they tear their hairs and bite their flesh and cut their hearts with anguish and sorrow for their cruel folly and damnable desperate madness in refusing so incomparable and inestimable a portion Saints blesse themselves in thee and rather pity then envy the greatest Potentates who want thee for their portion having not seen thee they love thee and in whom though now they see thee not yet believing they rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory But Reader Whither doe I wander I confesse I am a little out of my way but I wish as Austin when preaching forgat his subject he was upon and fell to confute the Manichees by which meanes Firmus at that time his Auditor was converted so that my going a few paces astray may be instrumental to bring thee home What shall I say unto thee or wherewith shall I perswade thee Could I by my prayer move God to open thine eyes as the Prophet did for his servant 2 Kings 4. to see the worth and worthinesse the love and lovelinesse of this portion thou shouldst not an hour longer be alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in thee But be of good comfort Read on he that made the seeing eye is willing to open the eyes of the blind and thou mayst possibly before thou art come to the end of the book meet with that eye-salve of the Sanctuary which may doe the work What I have farther to offer to thee in relation to this choice shall be to encourage thee to it by four properties of this portion In the handling of which I shall put the world in one scale with all its mines of gold and allow them as many grains as can be allowed them and put this One God in the other scale and then leave thy own reason to judge which scale is most weighty CHAP XVIII God is a satisfying and a sanctifying portion Motives to choose God for our portâ—on God is satisfying FIrst God is a satisfying portion The things of this vvorld may surfet a man but they can never satisfie him Most men have too much but no man hath enough As ships they have that burden vvhich sinks them vvhen they have room to hold more He that loveth silver is not satisfied with silver nor he that loveth gold with increase Eccles 1. Worldlings are like the Parthians the more they drink the more they thirst As the melancholy Chymist they vvork eagerly to find the Philosophers stone rest and happiness in it though they have experience of its vanity and it hath already brought them to beggary The world cannot satisfie the senses much lesse the soul The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing As the Apes in the story finding a Gloworm in a frosty night took it for a spark of fire gathered some sticks and leaped on it expecting to be warmed by it but all in vain so men think to find warmth and satisfaction in creatures but they are as the
the end of this City will be the same with all her Predecessors What he spake of places is as true of persons though men may admire them for a while yet the stateliest and most curious buildings of their bodies will fall to the ground as their Ancestors have done before them Job 3.15 This storm will beat on the Princes Court as much as on the Peasants Cottage What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Psal 89.48 The interrogation is a strong negation The Prophet challengeth the whole World to find out a person that can procure a protection against Deaths Arrest The Psalmist was gracious yet grace gave way to nature death will like hail and rain fall on the best gardens as well as the wide wilderness The Wheat is cut down and carried into the Barn as well as the Tares A godly man is free from the sting but not from the stroke from the curse but not from the Cross of death Holy Hezekiah could beg his own life for a few years but could not compound for his death he did obtain a reprieve for fifteen years but not a pardon the best fruit will perish because it is wormeaten The gold and the dross the good and the bad go both into this fire the former to be refined the latter to be consumed The whole World is a charnel house and the several inhabitants thereof so many walking carcasses The voice said Cry and he said what shall I cry All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Isa 40.6.7 The words speaks mans mortality He is grass withering grass a flower a fading flower Secondly Its certainty the voice said cry The Prophet had a charge in a Vision given him to proclaim so much from God to his people surely the people is grass Thirdly the Vniversality the flesh of Kings and Counsellors the flesh of Saints and Martyrs the flesh of high and low rich and poor All flesh is grass Man is sometimes compared to the flower for its beauty but here for its frailty a flower will quickly fade if it be not cut down by an instrument of Iron nor cropt by the hand yet the gentle breath of Wind quickly bloweth off its beauty Besides an Expositer observeth t is to the flower of the field not of the garden flowers of the garden have more shelter and are better lookt to then flowers of the field these are more open to hard weather and more liable to be pluckt up or trod down Naturalists tell us of a Flower called Ephemeron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. ad Apol. because it lasteth but a day Man is such a Flower his life is but a day whither longer or shorter a Summers or a Winters day how quickly do the shadows of the Evening stretch themselves upon him and make it night with him Pliny speaks of a Golden Vine which never withereth The bodies of Saints shall be such hereafter but at present the best Hearbs wither as well as the worst Weeds Neither the Dignity of a Prince nor the Piety of a Prophet can excuse from enrting the List with this Enemy Against this Arrest there is no Bail CHAP. III. The Reasons of the Doctrine Mans Corruptibility Gods fidelity and Mans Apostacy from God Reasons of the Doctrine I Shall onely lay down in the explication of the point two or three Reasons and then proceed to that which will be practical 1 Man corruptibility The first ground of the Doctrine is the corruptibility of mans body It s called in Scripture an house of clay Job 4.18 and an earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 The body of man at best is but a clod of clay curiously moulded and made up The Greek Proverb hath a truth in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is but an earthen Vessel Some indeed are more painted then others in regard of dignity and place others are stronger Vessels then the rest in regard of purity of constitution Profecto omni moda vanitas Iun but all are earthen Surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity Psa 39. All Adam is all Abel Man nay every man when most high in regard of his hopes and most firm in regard of his foundation is even then the next door to and but one remove from corruption What the great Apostle said in a proper every one may say in a common sense I die daily We carry our bane every moment about us The very food which preserveth our lives leaves that be hind it which will force our deaths It s holden for certain saith one that in two Years space The Netherland cure there are in the body of man as many ill humours ingendred as a Vessel of a hundred ounces will contain Ipsa suis augmentis vita ad detrimenta impellitur inde deficit unde proficere creditur Greg. Against some these enemies appear in the open field often skirmishing with them but against all others they lye in ambush and wait for an opportunity to fall on and destroy them In the best timbered body they are but like fire raked under the ashes and reserved to another day when they will flame out and burn it down We are all like the Apples of Sodom quae contacta cinerescunt Tertul. Apol. cap. 40. which being touched crumble into dust or as the Spawn of Locusts which being handled dissolveth Arist Hist Animal according to the Philosopher God needs not bring out his great Artillery to batter down the building of mans body a small touch will tumble it down nay it s every moment decaying and will at last fall of it self There is rottenness at the core of the fairest fruits Our flesh is no match for the Father of spirits An ordinary Besome will sweep down the Spiders Web. Though it hath accurate weavings and much curiosity yet it hath nostability As it was with the Gourd of Jonah so it is with the Children of men we breed and feed those Worms which will devour and destroy us Every Mans passing Bell hangs in his own Steeple The second Reason is Gods fidelity 2 Reas Gods fidelity The righteous and gracious God hath threatned eternal pains to the wicked as the wages of their sins and hath promised endless pleasures to the godly as the reward of Christs sufferings now the place of payment where these threatnings and promises shall be accomplished is the other world to which death is the passage Man dieth that Gods Word may live and falleth to the earth that Gods Truth might stand Sin though it be finite in regard of the subject as being the act of a limited creature In peccaeto duo sunt Quo cum unum est aversio ab immutabili bono quod
5.17 When a few leaves blow off his comfort is he hath the fruit and the tree still As a man worth millions he can rejoyce though he lose some mites Pliny Nat. hist lib. 2 cap. 103. In the Salentine country there is mention made of a lake brim-full put in never so much it runneth not over draw out what you can it s still full Such is the condition of a Christian he hath never too much and take away what you will having God he is still full Augustine out of Varro alledgeth 288. several Opinions about happiness but those Philosophers were vain in their imaginations I shall cleerly prove The strength of Mans happiness to flow from another spring CHAP. X. God must needs be Mans happiness because he is an Alsufficient Good THere are some things in God which speake him to be the Saints happiness and chiefest good First because of his perfection and alsufficiency That which makes man happy God is mans Happiness because an al â—ufficient gâ—od must have no want no weakness in it It must be able both to secure him against all evil and to furnish him with all good The injuries of nature must be resisted and the indigencies of nature must be supplyed Now this Sun of righteousness as the great Luminary of the world when it mounteth above the Horizon doth both cleer the air of mists and foggs and chear the inhabitants with his light and heat And according to the degree of our enjoyment of him such is the degree of our happiness or freedome from evil and fruition of good Those that enjoy God perfectly in heaven know no evil they are above all storms and tempests and enjoy all good In his presence is fullness of joy Psal 16. ult They have a perpetual spring a constant summer never understanding what an antumn or winter meaneth The Christian who enjoyeth God but imperfectly as all Saints on earth doth but in part enjoy these priviledges His life is a Vicissitude of day and night of light and darkness of good and evil Evil cannot hurt him but it may fright him He may taste of the cheifest good but his full meal is reserved till he comes to his Fathers house 1. God is able to free a man from evil 1 Able to fâ—ee the soul fâ—om evil the Greeks call an happy man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that is not subject to death and miseries That which is the happiness of man must be able by its power to secure him against all perills but creatures cannot afford this help therefore cannot be our happiness He that trusteth to second causes is like him that being on the top of a tree setteth his feet on rotten bough's which will certainly break under him or like the passenger who in windy stormy weather runs to some tottering out-house which falls upon him But God is the almighty guard The Schoolmen tell us the reason why Adam in his estate of innocency felt no cold though he were naked was because of his Communion with God God is the Saints shield to protect their bodies from all blows Gen. 15.1 He is therefore compared in Scripture to such things and persons as shelter men in storms defend them in dangers Sometimes he is called a wall of fire because Travellers in a Wilderness by this means are secured from wild beasts 2 Zach. 5. those creatures fly from fire Sometimes to a River of broad waters because a City well moated and surrounded with waters is thereby defended against enemies Isa 33.21 A good Sentinell is very helpful to preserve a garrison in safety God is therefore said to watch and ward I the Lord do keep it least any hurt it I will keep it night and day Isa 27.3 And though others when on the Guard are apt to nod and sleep and so to give the enemy an advantage He that keepeth Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth Psalm 121.4 he is so far from sleeping that he never slumbereth Some Naturalists tell us that Lions are insomnes possibly because their eye-lids are too narrow for their eyes and so they sleep with their eyes partly open but it s most true of the Lion of the tribe of Judah As Alexander told his Soldiers He wakes that they might sleep in safety He is compared to a refuge Psa 142.5 Thou art my refuge and my portion A Metaphor from a strong hold or Castle to which Souldiers retreat and in which they are secure when beaten back by an over-powering enemy But instead of all he is called the Lord of Hosts or General of his people because a faithfull Commander goeth first into the field and cometh last out of the field God looketh danger in the face before his people and seeth them safe out of the field before he departeth The Lord will go before you and the God of Israel will be your rereward Isa 25.10 Travellers tell us that they who are at the top of the Alps can see great showres of rain fall under them but not one drop of it falls on them They who have God for their portion are in an high Tower and thereby safe from all troubles and showres a drift-rain of evil will beat in at the creatures windows be they never so well pointed All the garments this world can make up cannot keep them that travell in such weather from being wet to the skin No creature is able to bear the weight of its fellow-creature but as reeds break under and as thorns run into the sides that lean on them The bow drawn beyond its compass breaks insunder and the string wound above its strength snaps in pieces such are outward helps to all that trust to them in hardships But Christians being anchor'd on this rock of ages are secure in the greatest storm They are like Sion which cannot be moved The Church according to the Motto of Venice Immota manet In time of trouble he hides them in his pavillion and in the secret of his tabernacle he sets them upon a rock Psal 27.5 Gods Sanctuary is his hidden place Ezek. 7.22 and his Saints are his hidden ones Psal 83.4 and there he hides them from whatsoever may hurt them therefore he calls his children when it rains abroad and is stormy to come within doors out of the wet Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors upon thee and hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be over past Isai 26.20 The Christian therefore is encouraged against evils because God is his guard he knoweth whilst he hath this buckter he is shot-free not to be pierced by any bullet He covereth him with his feathers and under his wings doth the Saint trust Psal 91.4 As the Hen secureth her young from the Kite and ravenous fowls by clucking them under her wing and sheltering them there so God doth undertake to be the protection of his people and through his strength they can triumph over
he might have gone lightly under it but when Enemies approached and God depaated he must needs be greatly distressed The Creature may well be full of frights and feares that stands in the open fields where bullets flie thick and fast without any shelter or defence Davids foes had proved their conclusion to the full had their medium been true Persecute and take him for God hath forsaken him Psal 71.11 If God leave a man dangers and Devils may quickly find him No wonder that Micah cried out so mournfully Ye have taken away my gods and doe you ask me what I ail At the loss of his false God much more will the loss of the true God make men mournful As t was said of Coniah Write this man childeless Jer. 22. ver ult It may be said of every godless Man write this man comfortless helpless hopeless and that for ever Vast is the difference betwixt the case of the good and bad in distress the former as cloaths died in grain may keep his colour in all weathers the latter like quick silver may well be ever in motion and like a leaf tremble at the smallest wind Naturalists observe this difference between Eagles and other Birds are in want and distress they make a pitiful noise but the Eagle when in straights hath no such mournful note but mounteth aloft and refresheth her self with the warm beames of the Sun Saints like true Eagles when they are in necessity mount up to God upon the wings of Faith and Prayer and delight themselves with the golden raies and gracious influences of his favour but the sinner if bereft of outward comforts dolefully complains The snail take him out of his shell and he dieth presently the godless person is like the Ferret which hath its name in Hebrew from squeaking and crying because he squeaketh sadly if taken from his prey when the godly man as Paulinus Molanus when his City was plundred by the Barbarians though he be robd of his earthly riches hath a Treasure in Heaven and may say Domine ne excrucier ob aurum argentum tu enim mihi es omnia Lord why should I be disquieted for my silver and gold for thou to me art all things having nothing yet He possesseth all things 2. Cor. 6. CHAP. XIV The Difference betwixt the Portions of Gracious and Graceless persons in this World 2. IT informeth us of the difference in their portions The wicked man hath a portion of goods 2. Use informeth the difference betwixt the sinners and Saints Portion Father give me the Portion of goods which belongeth to me Luke 15. and 12. But the godly man only hath the good portion I shall instance in three particulars wherein the Portion in this world of a sinner differeth from the Saints First Their Portion is poor The Sinners Portion is Poor It consisteth in toys and trifles like the estate of mean women in the City who make a great noise in crying their ware which is only a few points or pins or matches But the portion of a Saint lieth though he do not proclaim it about the streets as the rich Merchants in staple commodities and jewels The worldlings portion at best is but a little airy honour or empty pleasure or beggarly treasure But the Christians is the beautiful Image of God the incomparable Covenant of Grace the exceeding rich and precious promises of the Gospel the inestimable Saviour and the infinitely blessed God The sinners portion is nothing ye have rejoyced in a thing of nought Amos 6.13 a fashion a fancy 1 Cor. 7.29 Acts 25.23 but the Saints portion is all things All things are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.22 23. As Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his Concubines and sent them away but he gave all he had to Isaac so God giveth common gifts of riches or friends or credit to wicked men which is all they crave and sendeth them away and they are well contented but he gives grace glory his Spirit his Son himself all he hath to his Isaacs to the children of the promise Gen. 25.5 6. He giveth earth into the hands of the wicked Job 9.24 All their portion lyeth in dust rubbish and lumber all they are worth is a few eares of corn which they glean here and there in the field of this world but he giveth heaven into the hearts of the godly their portion consisteth in gold and silver and diamonds the peculiar treasure of Kings in the love of God the blood of Christ and the pleasures at his right hand for evermore Others like servants have a little meat and drink and wages but Saints like sons they are a congregation of the first-born and have the inheritance O the vast difference betwixt the portion of the prodigal and the pious the former hath something given him by God as Peninnah had by Elkanah though at last it will appear to be little better then nothing when he gives the latter as Elkanah did Hannah a goodly a worthy portion because he loves them 1 Sam. 1.4 5. Their portion is piercing 2. Their portion is piercing as it is compared to broken cisterns for its vanity so to thornes for its vexation Jer. 2.13 Matth. 13.22 A sinner layeth the heavy lumber of his earthly portion on his heart and that must needs oppress it with care and fear and many sorrows whereas the Saints portion the fine linnen of his Saviours righteousness lying next his flesh is soft and pleasing The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Eccles 5.12 his portion hinders his peace his riches set him upon a wrack His cruelty in getting it his care to increase it and the secret curse of God accompanying it do like the importunate widow allow him no rest day or night When the Godly mans portion makes his bed easie lays his pillow soft and covers him warm I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord makest me to dwell in safety Nay such an excellent sleeping pill is this portion that by the vertue of it David when he was pursued by his unnatural son and was in constant danger of death when he had the earth for his bed the trees for his curtains the stars for his candles and the heavens for his canopy could sleep as sweetly as soundly as ever he did on his bed of down in his royal pallace at Jerusalem Thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of mine head I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me Psal 3.3 and 5. Psal 4. ult The sinners portion is termed wind Hos 8.7 If wind get into the bowels of the earth it causeth concussions and earthquakes his riches and honours and friends lie near him are within him and thereby cause much anxiety and disquietness of spirit his portion like windy fruit fills his belly with pains It is smoak in his eyes
showers to bring forth corn and wine Is the voice of thy heart Who will shew us any good or is it Lord lift up the light of thy countenance on us Physitians can judge considerably of the state of their Patients bodies by their appetites they who long only for trash speak their stomacks to be foul they who hunger after wholsome food are esteemed to be in health Thou mayst judge of the state of thy soul by thy desires if thou desirest chiefly the trash of the world thy spiritual state is not right thy heart is not right in the sight of God if thou canst say with David Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Blessed art thou of the Lord thou hast a part and lot in this boundless portion Observe therefore Friend which way these wings of thy soul thy desires flie He who thirsteth after the kennel water of this world hath no right to the pure river of the water of life but he who hungreth after the dainties of the Lambs Supper may be sure the scraps of this beggarly world are not his happiness The true Wife longeth for the return of her Husband but the false one careth not how long he is absent 2. What is the feast at which thou sittest with most delight Is it at a table furnished with the comforts of this world Are the dishes of credit and profit of relations and possessions those which thou feedest on with most pleasure Or is it a Table spread with the Image of God the Favour of God the Spirit of God and the Son of God are those the savoury meat which thy Soul loveth If this Sun of righteousness only causeth day in thine heart when he ariseth and if he be set notwithstanding all the candles of creatures it is still night with thee then God is thy Portion O how glad is the young Heir when he comes to enjoy his Portion with what delight will he look over his woods view his grounds and walk in his gardens The Roman would tumble naked in his heapes of Silver out of delight in them but if thy affections only overflow with joy as the water of Nilus in the time of wheat harvest when the world floweth in upon thee the world is thy Portion He who like a Lark sings merrily not on the ground but when he is mounting up to Heaven is rich indeed God is his but he who like an horsefly delighteth in dunghils feedeth most on rellisheth best these earth ly offalls is a poor man God is none of his God it s an undeniable truth that that is our Portion which is the Paradise of our pleasures The fool who could expect ease on his bed of Thorns Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years had his Portion in this life but Moses whom nothing could please but Gods gracious presence had him for his Portion If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence I beseech me shew me thy glory Thirdly What is the calling which thou followest with greatest eagerness and earnestness Men run and ride and toyl and moyl all day they rise early and go to bed late and take any pains for that which they count their happiness and portion The Worldling whose Element is Earth whose Portion consisteth like the Pedlars pack in a few pins or needles or peuter-spoons or brass-bodkins how will he fare mean lodg hard sleep little crowd into a corner hazard his health and life and soul too for that which he counteth his Portion like a brutish spaniel he will follow his Master the world some hundred of miles puffing and blowing breaking through hedges and scratching himself with thorns and briers running through ponds of water and puddles of dirt and all for a few bones or scraps which is all his hope and happiness The Christian who hath the blessed God for his portion strives and labours and watcheth and prayeth and weepeth and thinks no time too much no pains too great no cost enough for the enjoyment of his God As the wise Merchant he would part with All he hath all his strength and health all his relations and possessions for his noble Portion Reader how is it with thee thou travellest too and fro thou weariest thy self and wantest thy rest thy head is full of cares and thy heart of feares and thy hands are alwaies active but whether doth all this tend what is the market to which thou art walking thus fast Is it gold that thou pursuest so hot The people labour in the fire and weary themselves for very vanity 2. Habbak 13. Or is it God that thou pressest after as the Hound the Hare so the word signifieth Phil. 3.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with so much deligence and violence My soul followeth hard after thee Ps 63.6 Thus have I laid down the characters briefly of such as have God for their Portion Thy business is to be faithful in the tryal of thine estate If upon tryall thou findest that God is thy Portion rejoyce in thy priviledg and let thy practices be answerable Like a rich Heir delight thy self in the thoughts of thy vast inheritance Can he be poor that is Master of the Mint Canst thou be miserable who hast God for thy Portion I must tell in thee that thou art happy in spight of Men and Divells If worldlings take such pleasure in their counters and brass farthings what joy mayst thou have in God to whom all the Indians Mines are worse then dross nay if all the gold of Ophir and of the whole world were melted into one common stream and all the Pearls and precious stones lay on the side of it as thick as pebbles and the quintessence and excellencies of all other the creatures were crumbled into sand and lay at the bottom of this channel they were not worthy to make a Metaphor of to set forth the least perfection in this Portion Shall Esau say he hath enough and be contented when the narrow field of some creatures was the utmost bounds of his estate and wilt thou complain as if thou wert pinched with poverty when the boundless God is thy Portion Art not thou an unreasonable Creature whom the infinite God will not satisfy for shame Christian bethink thy self and let the world know by thy chearfulness and comfort that their mites are nothing to thy millions Consider though the whole world turn bankrupt thou art rich for thy Estate doth not lye in their hands Do not â—ine thy self therefore with feare of penury but keep an house according to thy estate which will afford it in the greatest plenty Let thy practices also be sutable to thy portion Great heirs have a far different carriage from the poor who take almes of the Parish Thou ough'st to live above the world Eagles must not stoop to catch flies the stars which are nearest the Pole have least circuit Thou
of dirt his earthly portion hath possession of it but the heart of a godly man is worth millions because its the Cabinet where this inestimable jewell is laid up The righteous is more excellent then his neighbour Pro. 12.26 because he partaketh of the divine nature God like gold enricheth whatsoever he is joyned to hence it is that things which excell in Scripture are usually said to be things of God as the garden of God Ezek. 28.13 The hill of God Ps 61.15 The mountains of God Ps 36.6 a city of God Jonah 3.3 the cedars of God Ps 80.10 That is the most excellent garden hill mountain city and cedars God is the perfection of thy Soul and therefore would if thy portion advance it to purpose O what an height of honour and happiness wouldst thou arrive at if this God were thine Now like a worm thou crawlest on and dwellest in the earth the meanest and basest of all the Elements that which brutes trample under their feet but then like an Eagle thou wouldst mount up to Heaven contemning these toys and leaving those babies for children and as an Angel alwaies stand in the presence of and enjoy inspeakable pleasure in him who is thy portion Thy life at present is low little differing from the life of a beast consisting cheifly in making provision for that which should be thy slave the flesh but thy life then would be high and noble much resembling the lives of those honourable Courtiers whose continual practice is to adore and admire the blessed and only Potentate Dost thou not find by experience that earthly things obstruct holiness and thereby hinder thy Souls happiness Alas the best of them are but like the wings of a butterfly which though curiously painted foul the fingers but if thine heart had but once closed with God as thy portion it would be every day more pure and nearer to perfection Thou hast it may be gold and silver why the Midianites camels had chaines of gold and were they ever the better Judg. 8.26 Many Brutes have had silver bells but their natures brutish still but O the excellency which God would adde to thy Soul by bestowing on it his own likeness and love CHAP. XIX God an universal and eternal portion 3. Gâ—d a perfect or univâ—â—sal portion Operaâ—i seqâ—tâ—r esse THirdly God is a universal portion God hath in himself eminently and infinitely all good things and Creatures are bounded in their beings and therefore in the comfort which they yeild Health answereth sickness but it doth not answer poverty Honour is an help against disgrace but not against pain Money is the most universall medicines and therefore is said to answer all things but as great a Monarch as it is it can neither command ease in sickness nor honours in disgrace much less quiet a wounded spirit At best Creatures are but particular beings and so but particular blessings Now man being a compound of many wants and weaknesses can never be happy till he find a salve for every sore and a remedy which bears proportion as well to the number as nature of his maladies Ahab though in his Ivory Pallace upon his Throne of glory attended with his noble Lords and swaying a large Scepter was miserable because the heavens were brass Haman though he had the favour of the Prince the adoration of the people the sway of 127. Provinces yet is discontented because he wanted Mordecai's knee If the worlds darlings enjoy many good things yet they as Christ told the young man alwayes lack one thing which makes them at a loss But God is all good things and every good thing he is self-sufficient alone-sufficient and all-sufficient nothing is wanting in him either for the Souls protection from all evill or perfection with all good Reader if God were thy portion thou shouldst find in him whatsoever thine heart could desire and whatsoever could tend to thy happiness Art thou ambitious he is a crown of Glory and a royall Diadem Art thou covetous he is unsearchable riches yea durable riches and righteousness Art thou voluptuous He is rivers of pleasures and fulness of joy Art thou hungry He is a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow Art thou weary He is rest a shadow from the heat and a shelter from the storm Art thou weak In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Art thou in doubts he is marvellous in counsell Art thou in darkness He is the Sun of righteousness an eternall light Art thou sick He is the God of thy health Art thou sorrowfull He is the God of all consolations Art thou dying He is the fountain and Lord of life Art thou in any distress His name is a strong tower thither thou mayst run and find safety He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an universal Medicine against all sorts of miseries Whatsoever thy calamity is he could remove it whatsoever thy necessity he could relieve it He is silver gold honour delight food rayment house land peace wisdome power beauty father mother wife husband mercy love grace glory and infinitely more then all these God and all his creatures are no more then God without any of his creatures Quid quaeris extra illum quid desideras praeter illum quid plâ—cet cum illo Bern. serm de misce com As the Jews say of Manna that it had all sorts of delicate tastes in it it is most true of God he hath all sorts of delights in him This tree of life beareth twelve manner of fruits Revel 22.2 every month There is in it both variety and plenty of comforts The former prevents our loathing the latter our lacking One being desirous to see the famous City of Athens was told Viso Solone vidisti omnia see but Solon and in him you may see all the rarities and excellencies in it Reader wouldst thou see all the wealth and worth of sea and land wouldst thou be upon the pinacle of the Temple as Christ was and behold and have the offer of all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them nay wouldst thou view heavens glorious City the royal Pallace of the Great King the costly curious workmanship about it and the unheard of rarities and delights in that Court which infinite embroydered Wisdome contrived boundless Power and Love erected and infinite Bounty enriched thou mayst both see and enjoy all this in God See but God and thou seest all enjoy but God and thou enjoyest all in him As a Merchant in London may trade for and fetch in the Horses of Barbary the Canary Sacks the French Wines the Spanish Sweet-meats the Oyles of Candie the Spices of Egypt the artificial Wares of Alexandria the Silks of Persia the Embroyderies of Turkey the Golden-wedges of India the Emeraulds of Scythia the Topazes of Aethiopia and the Diamonds of Bisnager so mightst thou were but this God thy portion fetch in the finest bread to feed thee the choicest wine
be blackness of darkness for ever There will be no end of his misery no exit to his tragedy He will be fetterred in those chains of everlasting darkness and feel the terrors of an eternal death But the portion of a Saint is like the wine which Christ provided for the wedding best at last he shall never know its full worth till he appears in the other world and then he shall find that as money answereth all things so his portion will protect him from all misery and fill him with all felicities and answer all the desires and necessities of his capacious and immortal soul The cup which he shall drink of is filled out of the rivers of Gods own pleasures and how sweet that wine is none can tell but they who have tasted it The thought of it hath recovered those who have been dying and recalled them to life what then will a draught of it do All the men in the world cannot describe the rich viands and various dainties which God hath for his own provided diet Nay the most skilful Cherubim can never count nor cast up the total of a Saints personal estate Till Angels can acquaint us with the vast millions that the boundless God is worth they cannot tell us the utmost of a Saints portion It is said of Shusa in Persia that it was so rich that saith Cassiodorus the stones were joyned together with gold and in it Alexander found seventy thousand talents of gold This City if you can take saith Aristagorus to his souldiers you may vie with Jove himself for riches But what a beggarly place is this to the new Jerusalem where pure gold is the pavement trampled under the Citizens feet and the walls all of precious pearles who entereth that City may vie with thousands of such Monarchs as this world can make and with all those heathenish Gods for Riches The Infinite God quantus quantus est as boundlesse a good as he is to whom Heaven and earth is lesse then nothing is their portion for ever But of this more in some of the following Chapters CHAP. XVI A Vse of Tryal whether God be our portion or no with some marks 2. The second Use by way of Tryal whether God be our po tion or no. THe Doctrine may be useful by way of tryall If the comfort of a Christian in his saddest condition be That God is his portion then Reader examine thy self whether God be thy portion or no. I must tell thee the essence and heart of Religion consisteth in the choice of thy portion nay thy happiness dependeth wholly upon thy taking of the blessed God for thine utmost end and chiefest good therefore if thou mistakest here thou art lost for ever I shall try thee very briefly by the touchstone which Christ hath prepared Where your treasure is there will your heart be also Matth. 6. Now Friend Where is thy heart is it in earth is it a diamond set in lead or a sparkling star fixt in heaven Are thy greatest affections like Saul's person among the stuffe and rubbish of this world or do they like Moses go up into the Mount and converse with God Do they with the Wormes crawl here below or like the Eagle soar aloft and dwell above A man that hath his portion on earth like the earth moveth downward though he may be thrown upward by violence as a stone by some sudden conviction or the like yet that imprest vertue is soon worn out and he falleth to the earth again but he who hath his portion in heaven like fire tendeth upward ordinarily though through the violence of temptation he may as fire by the wind be forced downward yet that removed he ascendeth again It may be when thine enemy Death beats thee out of the field of life thou wilt be glad of a God to which thou mayst retire as a city of refuge to shelter thee from the murdering piece of the laws curse but what thoughts hast thou of him now whilst thou hast the world at will Dost thou count the fruition of him thy chiefest felicity Is one God infinitely more weighty in the scales of thy judgement then millions of worlds Dost thou say in thy prevailing setled judgement of them that have their garners full and their floeks fruitful Blessed is the people that is in such a case or yea rather happy is the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.13 14 15. Every man esteemeth his portion at an high price Naboth valueth his earthly inheritance above his life and would rather die then part with it at any rate God forbid that I should sell the inheritance of my fathers saith he O the worth of the blessed God in the esteem of him that hath him for his portion His house land wife child liberty life are hated by him and nothing to him in comparison of his portions he would not exchange his hopes of it and title to it for the dominion and soveraignty of the whole world If the Devil as to Christ should set him on the pinacle of the Temple and shew all the honours and pleasures and treasures of the world and say to him All this I will give thee if thou wilt sell thy portion and fall down and worship me Who can tell with what infinite disdain he would reject such an offer He would say as a Tradesman that were bid exceedingly below the worth of his wares You were as good bid me nothing and with much scorn and laughter refuse his tender This man is elevated to the top of the celestial orbes and therefore the whole earth is but a point in his eye whereas a man who hath his portion in outward things who dwelleth here on earth heavenly things are little the glorious Sun it self is but small in such a mans eye earthly things are great in his esteem Reader let me perswade thee to be so much at leisure as to ask thy soul two or three Questions 1. In what chanel doth the stream of thy desires run Which way and to what coast do these winds of thy soul drive Is it towards God or towards the world A rich Heir in his minority kept under by Tutors and Guardians longs for the time when he shall be at age and enjoy the priviledge and pleasures of his inheritance Thou cravest and thirsteth and longest and desirest something there is which thou wouldst have and must have and canst not be satisfified till thou hast it Now what is it Is it the husks of this world which thou enquirest so earnestly for some-body to give thee or is it bread in thy Fathers house which thou hungrest after Dost thou pant after the dust of the earth according to the Prophets phrase Amos 2.7 or with the Church The desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Thou art hungry and thirsty unquiet unsatisfied what is the matter man Dost thou like the dry earth gape and cleave for