A Discourse of the Two Covenants

SECT. I. The Alsufficience of God as made over to the Saints explicated and demonstrated.

§. 1. HAving spoken thus far of the great Promise of the new Covenant, which is called anima foederis, the soul of the Covenant, by Pareus; and Musc. calls it foederis caput, the head of the Covenant, unto which all the other promises are subordinate, even the gift of Christ himself is but to bring us to God, and that our faith and hope might be in God; and though we have formerly seen, that in this promise all the Attributes of the Divine Nature are made over unto the Saints, and what we have further to say might be included under that head: yet to be a God I find in Scripture doth in a special manner point us unto two things: (1) To be a God notes one that has an all sufficiency unto his own Being and blessedness, and an alsufficience to the Being and the blessedness of all the creatures. (2) It notes him to have a Sovereignty and Dominion over all the creatures, which are but the works of his hands: the first they take from Gen. 17.1. I am God all-sufficient, and I will make a covenant between thee and me, and the terms of that Covenant on God's part are, I will be a God to thee, and thy seed after thee; that as I am a God all-sufficient, so I will be thy God, thy God in my all sufficiency: and the other they do commonly take from that place Rom. 9.5. God over all blessed for evermore; so that he that is God is over all: as the first notes the Sufficiency, so the other notes the Sovereignty of God.

1. I am God all-sufficient, Gen. 17.1. I will in my all sufficiency be thy God; the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Shaddai, which has a double notation or derivation amongst Interpreters; some derive it from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which signifies vastavit, spoliavit, he hath destroyed, and so it signifies the omnipotent one, that is able to destroy all things; as he made all things of nothing, so he is able to reduce them unto their first nothing; and according to this derivation the LXX. render it sometimes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Esa. 13.6. Joel 1.15. It shall come as destruction from the Almighty; and sometimes it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he that made all things, Job 8.3. Doth the Almighty pervert judgment? And some of the Rabbins conceive that he adds this unto it, à vastatione mundi in diluvio, &c. from the destruction of the world by the flood: others derive it from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 sufficience; and they say it is, qui sibi & aliis sufficiens est, he that is sufficient for himself and others: and so the LXX. render it by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , he that has a sufficiency in himself, and so they make it to answer unto the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , self-sufficient. These and some other are the derivations of the word: but I conceive they do all coincidere or fall in with these two. (1) Some make it a title only given unto Christ as Mediator; so doth Pet. Galatinus de arcanis: Nomen hoc divinum proprie soli Messiae sit congruum, which he proves from that place Job 3.4. anima Shadai vivificavit me: and he saith, the Father has not a soul; animam solus Dei Filius habet, the Son of God only hath a soul: So Glass. in 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . pag. 33. which he proves from Gen. 48.16. The Angel Goel that redeemed me from all evil, &c. which though it be a notion that I shall not insist on, yet it doth prove the Godhead of Christ, having the glorious names of God given to him, as he is called Jehovah our Righteousness, and he is called God, Heb. 1. Thy throne, O God, endures forever, and Esa. 9.6. he is called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 also. But (2) we shall take it at this time as a term of all sufficiency, and so it takes in God's Omniscience, and all his other Attributes, I am God all-sufficient, and I that am so will be thy God in my all sufficiency.

[Doct.] The Lord who is a God in Covenant with the Saints doth make over himself unto them in his Alsufficiency.

In the opening whereof I must show, (1) What the all sufficiency of God is, and why he is called All-sufficient, and in what respect. (2) That by the Covenant of Grace he makes over himself in his Alsufficience unto the Saints, with the grounds thereof. (3) That this Alsufficience belongs unto none but unto his Covenant-people. (4) We must descend to the Application.

1. What is meant by the Alsufficience of God, or why is God called All-sufficient? A perfect good is an all-sufficient good. Now that is a perfect good which supplies all a man's wants, and does satisfy all his desires, both in this life, and in the life to come; which only can do it, if enjoyed alone, and without which nothing else can, if a man had all the enjoyments of Heaven and of Earth. 1. There is in God enough to supply all a man's wants: a man cannot stand in need of that blessing that is not to be found in the blessed God, and that is not only efficiently, as all good things come from him, but formally, as all good things are in him; for he doth make use of the support of the creatures, as he doth of all their operations, not to supply any defect that is in himself, and therefore sometimes he will make use of their assistance, and sometimes he will do it without them, to show that they are but instruments, and operantur ac si non operarentur, and this will appear, Psal. 84.11. The Lord God is a Sun, there is a double notion of a Sun in Scripture: (1) Ob splendorem, foelicitatem significat. (2) Ob aestum infoelicitatem, by reason of its splendor it notes felicity, and by reason of its scorching, infelicity: thy Sun shall no more go down, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light: the city shall have no need of the light of the Sun, for the glory of God shall enlighten it. It is not spoken (as some would wrest it) of the Scripture and Ordinances, but it is of all temporal prosperity and felicity, they shall have such a supply from God immediately, that though they shall have abundance, such as never was in the world, yet they shall have no need of it, by reason of the immediate supply that they shall have from God himself: and so Jer. 15.9. Thy Sun shall set while it is yet day; I will cause thy Sun to set at noon day, that is, all thy comforts and thy prosperity shall suddenly and unexpectedly depart, when you looked for nothing less: so that by the Sun is meant all happiness, all comfort, all prosperity; and there needs but one Sun, and when this Sun doth shine, there will be no need of the light of the Moon, or the Stars, and he that having God, doth take in any other comfort, it's but Lucernam ad Solem accendere, setting up a candle when the Sun doth shine: there is enough in him, there needs no more. And this will appear first in this life, and that by these three demonstrations. (1) He that hath God, has all things else: He that overcomes shall inherit all things, I will be his God; and it was all the portion that Christ looked for and gloried in, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup, the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place, &c. Mar. 10.30. He shall have an hundred-fold more in this present time; it cannot be in kind, and therefore cannot be understood formally, but eminently, that is, he shall have in God the comforts of all these, if they were an hundred times, nay if they were a thousand times multiplied. (2) It will further appear by this, if there were not an all sufficiency in God, he could never give a self-sufficiency unto the Saints; for they have no sufficiency in themselves, 2 Cor. 3.5. We are not sufficient of ourselves, as of ourselves; we have a sufficiency, but it's not in ourselves, as of ourselves, but it is that which we receive by grace, and is by God communicated unto us; but a godly man hath a self-sufficiency, Godliness is great gain, I know how to want, and how to abound, I am instructed in all things; yet this is not to be understood of self as divided from God, but of self as united to God, he hath his sufficiency in him alone: now he that can give a man a self-sufficience, must have in him an alsufficience. (3) It will appear, if we consider the particulars, whatever a man can in this life stand in need of, it is all to be had in God, in such a way as a man shall not need to go any whither else for a supply, but unto him alone.

[1] For Provision, he needs none else, he is the fountain of living water; for by water all good things are expressed that are necessary for the support of a man's life, and when we depart from God, we go from the fountain unto the streams, for all is in him, and from him; the creatures are all but streams, and they are supplied from him, and therefore it is far more glorious in him than it is in them, and far more sweet; and therefore it is well observed, that when Christ cursed the fig-tree, it withered by the roots, to show, that the growth and greenness of it did not depend so much upon its own root, as it did upon the blessing of God thereupon; and therefore take Moses for an instance, and he lived forty days without food upon the mountain; and so did Elijah in the wilderness: and if the bread that comes down from Heaven, which is Christ, can nourish the heart of man, much more the bread that is in Heaven; it is this that is the Angels food, upon him they live, and on him they feed unto Eternity.

[2] For Protection, they need none else, but he is a Shield as well as a Sun, Zac. 9.12. Return to your strong hold, there is safety enough in one God, they need no other defense but himself: it's true, that the Lord doth nourish us here by creatures, and he doth protect us by Angels, they pitch their Tents about us, &c. but it is not to supply any defect in God, for there is all protection in him, and 'tis in him that the Saints rejoice, and place their defense: God is the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God: it's taken from the City of refuge when the avenger of blood did pursue. Now I have no City of refuge to fly to, when the danger is eminent, but God alone; and therefore it may be that is meant by the Chambers spoken of, Esa. 26.20. Come my people, enter into your chambers: it is God and the several hiding-places that be in him, it's the secret of his pavilion in which he will hide me: I will be unto Jerusalem a wall of fire: it's true, that they had no walls, for the City lay waste, and in its ruins, but there is no wall like to that of fire. There is a story of an Island in Lycia, Ephestion incolae vocant, quam sine ullo damno ignis innocuus circuit, regio laeta & herbida, which is encompassed about with fire, &c. This is a fit resemblance of the shelter of the Saints in the God of their Salvation, they shall have salvation for walls and bulwarks, when the rest of the world are exposed to the wrath and the judgments of God, which shall burn and consume them.

[3] For Pleasure and Delight, they need none but in him; God is the Well of life to his people, and shall make them to drink of the river of his pleasure; and therefore the Saints are said to delight themselves in the Lord; thou shalt delight in the Almighty; and to delight themselves with God is the highest satisfaction a creature can be capable of; and then God gives us the desire of our heart, and we are exhorted to rejoice in the Lord always, and there are no delights amongst the best of the creatures that hold any proportion unto those that the soul takes in God; O they will sweeten all the bitterness of the creatures! In the multitude of my thoughts thy comforts delight my soul: it's true; may a poor soul say, that I have had great variety of troublesome thoughts, which have much perplexed me; for there is nothing disquiets a man so as the thoughts of his own heart do: Now there are comforts in God that do delight the soul, even then when there are multitude of thoughts that disquiet it. We are to consider the delight of the glorious persons one in another, Prov. 8.30. I was his delight daily; so it is with the Saints in God, he is their delight daily, for their portion and their happiness is laid up in him alone: all pleasure of the creature is but madness out of him; I have said of laughter, Thou art mad; there is more sweetness in the comforts that come into the soul by him, than there is in all the creatures in Heaven; and Psal. 4. Thou hast put more gladness into my heart, than when their corn, and wine, and oil increased. For as there is no comparison between the strokes of the creatures and of God, when he smites immediately, he will be a consuming fire to the creature; so there is no comparison between the comforts of the creatures, and those which God gives in immediately: and therefore the more it is mixed with any creature comfort, the less it influences the soul with consolation; it is like unto Physic given in the drug, it has the less vigor and strength: how much difference is there between the Spirit's comforting, and the comforts that do come in by meat and drink, &c? what though they that love God have no pleasure in the world, yet they have joy in God, and it's such a joy as no man can take from them, it is such a joy as a stranger cannot meddle withal.

[4] For Glory and Honor. In this world they need none else, they say to God, Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of my head: can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? but my people have forgotten me days without number: the Lord was their ornament and their glory; not only their praise is of God, but their glory is in God; and therefore they are called The Glory; Upon all the glory there shall be a covering; that as Mount Zion is the glory of the Earth, so are the children of Zion the glory of the sons of men, the only glorious ones, the only excellent ones; and because the Lord is their glory in the midst of them, the glory of the Lord is risen upon them, therefore they are the people that glory in God, and they are a people in whom the Lord doth glory.

[5] They need no Companions but God for matter of communion: their fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ. They are many times despised in the world, as Christ was rejected of men, and cast out of their society as hateful, when they have cast out their names as evil; but yet if Abraham go out of his own country, he must leave all his own friends, and go alone, I will be thy God, I will be with thee, when thou goest through the fire I will be with thee; yet sometimes thou must go in untrodden paths and alone, but I will be with thee; so says Christ, Ye shall be scattered everyone to his own, and leave me alone, yet I am not alone, but the Father that sent me is with me; so the Saints they may be scattered from their friends, and forsaken by them, but they are not alone, God is with them and his Son and Spirit to entertain them. The three Children in the fiery Furnace needed no other Comforter than the fourth man, who was like unto the Son of God. When they were in the Mount with Christ, they say, It is good to be here; when a man hath been with Moses in the Mount, and for some time conversed with God, he would never choose to come down to converse with men anymore, for he knows not how to converse with them again, their society is not set by, but the wisest company in the world is to him unsavory and unprofitable; a man that hath tasted old wine he desires not new, but says the old is better.

[6] He needs no other Pattern or Example: Eph. 5.1. Be you imitators of God, as dear children; be you holy as he is holy, and merciful as he is merciful. It's true, there are other patterns that he takes notice of, even the Saints of God, that make it their business to walk as God would have them walk; as the Apostle says, Be ye followers of us, and walk so as you have us for an example: We are to look upon Christ as the pattern of Holiness, as having left us a copy for us to write after; but all these are but to lead us to the Original of all Holiness, and that is in God; that in these glasses we beholding the glory of the Lord, may be thereby both in heart and ways transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord; and the truth is, the more immediately a man reads in God the rules of duty, the more immediately he fetches from God his motives unto duty; and the more perfectly any lays up his comforts in God, the more self-sufficient that soul is, and the more he doth partake of the all sufficiency of God, and that man is the happy man that hath his Heaven so far begun in this life, that as far as may be all his comforts concenter in the Lord.

[7] He looks for the reward of all his labors from God, who hath promised him to be his exceeding great reward; and this is the great gift that God bestows upon his precious ones, his reward is himself, and the soul says it is in God alone that he reaps all his wages, and he desires none other, none other will satisfy him; he will not be put off with a Kingdom for a reward, let the Nebuchadnezzar's of the world take that for their hire, he hath more high and noble aims than the enjoyment of this worlds goods, which is what Satan who is the god of this world often tempts them with, as he did their Lord and Master Jesus Christ, but he can despise it that hath taken employment under God, who he knows hath laid up for him an immortal crown and an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified; though he may be poor in this world, and without many of the comforts of it, yet he hath Treasure in Heaven laid up for him.

[8] It is God alone that satisfies his desires; he shall never thirst: it's true, there will be always thirsting for more of the same kind, My soul thirsts after God, even for the living God; and so, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for him; but for anything of any other kind he desires not, there is that satisfaction in God, that there is no room left for desires: which is not so with anything here, if a man have never so much of the creature, never so full satisfaction now, yet he will thirst again; yea there is that evil in the satisfaction of it, that it will increase the thirst, Deut. 29.19. It is adding drunkenness to thirst; but this doth allay a man's thirst forever, for there is in the man a well of water springing up to everlasting life: Jer. 31.14. I will satiate the soul of the Priest, and my people shall be satisfied with goodness; there are two words used, one is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifies to be satisfied even to drunkenness, in excess, as she did, Prov. 7.18. Come let us take our fill of love; it is the word that is used of Noah, He was drunken and uncovered in the Tent; and the other word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which signifies to be filled even to weariness and loathing, Esa. 1.11. I am full of the fat of well-fed beasts; it is such a fullness and abundance, that the soul cannot desire anymore, there is such an abundance to be found in God, not only to supply our wants, but to satiate our desires, that if we could extend them to the utmost, and as it is said of fear, Psal. 90.11. Extend your fear to the utmost, so it's true of desire also, extend it to the utmost, there is something that will fill it still and exceed it; for God says, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it, which none can do but God alone; there is such a satisfaction in God, that the soul can desire no more forever, Psal. 73.25. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and I desire nothing on earth in comparison of thee: having the Lord, the soul saith there is no place for desires.

2. As it is true in this life, so it is much more true in the life to come, when God shall be all in all immediately, and a man shall look upon his parting with the choicest contentments, as his happiness, they were, non in premium, but in solatium, and now having done their work, I gladly part with them as this worlds goods; and therefore it is, being unclothed, the soul seems loath to put on any earthly covering again, and the enjoying all more immediately in God, he doth rejoice in it, and is satisfied with thy likeness, O God, Psal. 17.15. he that did with joy sell all to buy the Pearl, surely will with greater joy leave all to possess the Pearl.

§. 2. This A sufficiency of God is by Covenant made over unto the Saints: he is their God as all-sufficient, and this will appear both by promises and by instances.

1. By promises, Psal. 84.11. The Lord God is a Sun, and a shield, and no good thing will he withhold from them that love him. (1) By Sun is meant all good things, all manner of prosperity, Solis lux prosperitatis nota; sicut Solis occasus metaphorice omnes calamitates significat, The light of the Sun is a note of prosperity, as the setting thereof notes all adversity, &c. Gloss. Rhet. pag. 225. See it also in Esa. 60.20. Thy Sun shall go down no more: it notes a constant and a lasting prosperity, a continuing, glorious condition: Esa. 30.26. The light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun sevenfold: it notes not only a great increase of spiritual light in the Church, but also great spiritual felicity; and on the contrary, when he speaks of the going away of all prosperity, he says, Amos 8.9. Their Sun shall go down at noon, as you have already heard. (2) What is meant by a Shield? by it is meant all manner of defense and safeguard, be the danger what it will be, Psal. 3.4. and 18.3. and it is not that he will provide all this, but he will be all things to his people, and there is no good thing that he will withhold or keep back from them that walk in their uprightness; it is being upright is the condition of the Covenant, and so it is as much as to say unto persons in Covenant, he will withhold no good, all good things shall have their free course and their full passage, there shall be no restraint upon any good thing unto such a one; to other men indeed mercies and good things have not their free passage, cessat gratiarum decursus, the Lord gives them some good things, the dew of Heaven and the fatness of the Earth, and plenty of corn and wine, &c. but there are some good things that the Lord withholds, for so the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 signifies, and they do not run out unto men with a full stream; but this is the portion of those that are in Covenant, they that walk uprightly: Psal. 34.10. The young lions do want, and suffer hunger; the old Lion may perish for lack of prey, being not able anymore to hunt for a prey, but the young Lion hath the greatest ability to make provision for himself; and therefore it's strange that they should want anything either for their hunger or humor. Now what is meant by these young Lions? (1) Wicked Rulers, or men of the greatest strength and of the highest authority; as the Lion is the King of the Beasts. Take up a lamentation for Pharoz, and say, Thou art like a young Lion of the Nations: Prov. 28.15. As a roaring Lion so is a wicked Ruler over a poor people; and Paul, 2 Tim. 4.17. I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion: it's spoken of Nero. (2) All the great men of the Earth they are compared to Lions for their power; for what is stronger than a Lion? a Lion is the strongest amongst the Beasts; and therefore the Devil is compared to a roaring Lion partly for his power, and partly for his cruelty. (3) All the subtle Politicians of the Earth that use not only their power, but their parts and their policy to oppress others; for the Lion is a subtle creature, as well as powerful, Ezech. 38.13. The merchants of Tarshish, and all the young Lions thereof, pro negotiatoribus argenteis minis, men that know how to take beasts for themselves, and to make the best of their market; He lies in wait secretly as a Lion; men that take the opportunity and the fit season to bring men to destruction, and yet men of the highest place, the greatest power, and the deepest policy they shall lack, they shall be brought to poverty and to want, they shall not have wherewith to supply themselves; but they that seek the Lord, and fear him, shall want no good thing, Who are they you will say? it is a promise made only unto the people in Covenant with God, and so much doth the expression imply, as Psal. 24.6. This is the generation of them that seek thy face, O Jacob. There is a generation of seekers in the world, and in that respect the name is honorable, though to be Skeptics in Religion is very hateful; and they that do in this manner seek him are the true Jacob, true Israelites indeed; many others may and do pretend to the name, to be of the same family, and of the posterity of Jacob, but they only are so indeed, that are those that seek the face of God: Hos. 14.5, 6, 7. He shall grow as the lily, which is the most beautiful of all flowers, Mat. 6.24. Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these; and she shall cast forth her root as Lebanon, that is, as they should have the beauty of the Lily, so they should have the stability of the Cedar, which is the strongest of all Trees, and is less subject to putrefaction; or that Lebanon, that is, as the goodly Mountain, that you may as soon remove a mountain as the Church of God; and her branches shall spread; there shall be a daily and a wonderful growth in the Church in all the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, yea and the members thereof also, they shall thrive and grow from strength to strength; for as wicked men grow, so do the Saints also: Mundus totus est in maligno positus propter zizania, sed Christus est propitiatio propter triticum, and their beauty shall be as the Olive; there is indeed (as you have heard) a great beauty in the Lily, but it will wither at winter, and it is but a beauty to the eye, for it is but for show, and no more, but it bears no fruit; but the beauty of the Olive is more, there is in it a greenness and a fruitfulness, it is green at winter, and it bears excellent fruit for light, and for food, and ornament; for it is oil makes the face to shine, &c. they smell as Lebanon: it's spoken of the sweetness and the acceptation of their graces, services, and persons; we are in ourselves, and all that comes from us gall and wormwood, Deut. 29.18. and the Lord will not smell in them; but the services of the Saints shall be a sweet savor unto God; and again, they that wait on him shall dwell under his shadow: there shall be safety and security in all dangers, for so much is intended by a shadow; so Num. 14.9. They are bread for us, for their defense is departed; the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 their shadow is departed from them: and they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; though the corn fall into the ground and die, though it lie under ground under the nipping frost and the winter snow, it will break through all, and revive again, and so shall the Church of God do in the worst affliction; as Tertullian saith, Omnia pereundo servantur, omnia de interitu reformantur, All by perishing are saved, &c. And the Vine doth not only, as other Trees, cast her leaves, but it is pruned and lopped, as if it should bear no more, but yet it doth spring forth and bear fruit more gloriously, and brings forth more abundantly; so the people of God, the more they are crushed and kept under, and lopped by persecution, the more they thrive, and the more fruitful they grow, &c.

Quest. But how comes all this to pass? Now he directs the soul unto his all sufficiency in two expressions. (1) Hos. 14.4. I will be as the dew, the dew is of a heavenly original, and it is the cause of all greenness, growth, savor, and fruitfulness that is in things below; now saith the Lord, I will supply the place, and perform the work of this dew, and ye shall find all these effects in me. It's true, that you are as the dry and barren earth that has no beauty, no fruitfulness, there is no savor, no reviving in your performances; but unto all these effects I will be all-sufficient, I will be as the dew unto thee; the dew doth produce all these things in the earth, I will be unto thee instead of the dew, and thou shalt find all in me. (2) I am a green Fir-tree, that is, as he is sufficient for their spiritual refreshment, so he will be the dew; and as he is sufficient also for their spiritual preservation, in opposition unto all other shelters and hiding-places whatsoever, so he will be the Fir-tree: the Fir-tree is arbor frigida, a cold tree, because of the thickness of its boughs, and therefore Drusius renders it frondosa, and the LXX. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , densam umbram praebens, affording a thick shade: and it's known by common experience, that it never casts its leaves, but yields a perpetual shade both winter and summer; and such a protection, saith the Lord, shall my people have in me, I am a green Fir-tree; from me is thy fruit, thou hast a beauty, a growth, a sweet smell, it is all from me as the dew, and thou dost bear fruit, it is from me also; for though it's true our works are ours, when they are done by us, yet it is he that works in us to will and to do; the duty is ours, but the efficacy is his; and thus is he all-sufficient; but unto whom is all this? it is unto none but unto his Covenant people; for it is, I will be as the dew to Israel; therefore he has in the promise made over his all sufficiency unto his Covenant-people; and upon this ground it is, that being in Covenant with God, is more than all earthly blessings from God whatsoever, because it does entitle a man unto God in his all sufficiency, I have heard thee for Ishmael, twelves Princes shall he beget, and I will make of him a great nation, but my covenant will I establish with Isaac: this is more than all the promises that were made unto the son of the bondwoman.

2. This will appear by instances also. There are mainly two: (1) Christ himself, he had nothing else to live upon but the all sufficiency of God; and when he was born he had not a house to put his head in, became poor for our sakes; so that it is said by some 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 & nihil erit illi, &c. Dan. 9. the Messiah shall have nothing, it was a wonder to see Verbum in fame, qui regit sidera sugit ubera, the Word in hunger, &c. but for him that was Heir of all things to have nothing, and for him that was Lord of the world, not so much as to have a foot in the world, nay not so much of his own as a burying place, which everyone doth challenge in the Earth; but he lived upon the all sufficiency of God, Psal. 16.4, 5. The Lord is my portion, the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, I desire no other portion but this, and 'tis as well as I could wish for myself, though I have nothing of the things below. (2) In the Saints; and because their condition in this life is commonly set forth by the state of the people of Israel in Egypt, let that be the instance to express it unto us; when they were come out of Egypt, they were in a barren and howling wilderness, death did a thousand ways present itself to them, and under as many shapes; they had neither bread nor water, nor provision nor protection, but what they had from God immediately, and yet having God in Covenant they had enough, because they were interested in the all sufficiency of God; and therefore if they want bread, he gives them Manna, and if water, he doth cause the Rock to yield it, if protection, if direction, he is a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night, in allusion to which the Prophet speaks, Esa. 4.4, 5. Now we shall see this set forth by Moses, who was an eye-witness of it, and a Leader of the people through the wilderness, Deut. 33.27. for their provision it's true, that he has a land of corn and wine, and the Heavens drop down dew, but it is from the fountain of Jacob; it's commonly expounded the posterity of Jacob, and so haply it may be understood; but there is yet a spiritual meaning in it, and so Cocceius observes: Fons Jacobi dicitur, quod est fons salutis, Psal. 68.27. The fountain of Jacob is the fountain of salvation: So that all these mercies they had from him that was the Father and the Fountain of mercy, he was the Fountain of Israel; and for protection, the eternal God is thy refuge; in danger you need fly to no other Asylum but to him alone, Esa. 26.20. Come my people enter into your chambers, and shut the door about you, it is the Attributes of God and his all sufficiency that are the chambers into which the Saints are called to hide themselves; and therefore it is to preserve them from dangers, that if they fall at any time, they may never fall to the ground; for under them are the everlasting arms, which notes two things: (1) Potentiae sustentationem, sustentation by his power. (2) Gratiae amplexum, the embracement of his grace: he doth carry them in his arms, and though they fall, yet still his arms are under them: and who is this that is in this manner all unto them? it is he that is all-sufficient, he that is thy God in Covenant, the God of Jeshuron for a habitation, they and thy fathers wandered up and down, having no settled dwelling place, incertis sedibus, but thou, Lord, hast been our habitation in all generations; and when they wanted Ordinances in the Captivity, they had neither Tabernacle nor Temple, but he was a Sanctuary to them, Ezech. 11.16. he did supply the want of public Ordinances in himself, and for their guidance; and Deut. 32.10, 12. The Lord alone led them, and there was no strange God with him, he did all by himself alone, he led them, and he fed them, and there was none other joined with him in the work, he was all-sufficient to them. But to come to the reasons and grounds of all this.

[Reas. 1] 1. The first and great ground of all this is his own love, it was only his love that brought him into Covenant with them; because the Lord loved thee, and made thee to be his people; it was looking upon them in the time of love, and this love is the womb in which the Covenant and all the mercies of the Covenant were bred: now the nature of love is bountiful, nescit nimium, it knows no excess. The Father loved the Son, and has given all things into his hand; the Father hath loved us, and given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. The great thing that God aims at in the second Covenant is his own glory, manifestative glory: now he cannot receive manifestative glory, but according to the measure of love manifested unto the creature, and his love therefore being the highest, he must find out an expression that is suitable to the manifestation of such a love; the gift must be such as may express the height, and depth, and breadth of his love; and therefore it must be in giving the greatest blessing, or else it could not have been an expression of the greatest love; if there had been anything greater or better to have been bestowed, that is in point of consolation, he would have given it, Heb. 6.13. If there had been a greater he would have sworn by it; so he doth in point of affection also, if there had been a greater he would have given that gift, but a greater than himself in his all sufficiency God had not to bestow.

2. It was necessary from the insufficiency of all things else to supply our wants; there is an insufficiency in all the creatures, and therefore a continual restlessness in the soul, while it is bottomed upon the creatures, they are but broken cisterns, that can hold no water; when once man departed from God, and forsook him the Fountain of living water, he sought a sufficiency in the creatures alone, they immediately became vanity, they have not a vanity in themselves, but it is the sin of man that fills the creature with vanity; if the Lord should give a man as he has done the Devil, the dominion of the world (for he is not only the Prince of the air, but he is the god of this world) yet all this would but leave a man in the Devils condition, and his soul would never be satisfied with it, there is still something wanting that all the creatures cannot supply; so that the soul saith as Austin, Quicquid nobis adest praeter Deum nostrum, dulce non est; nolumus omnia quae dedit, si non dat seipsum, qui dedit omnia.

3. Because the Lord would have the happiness of the creatures to concenter in him alone, which could never be, if he were not an all-sufficient God, Esa. 26.3. Trust in the Lord forever, trust perfectly in the grace that is revealed unto us by Jesus Christ; if there were anything wanting in him to be supplied and fetched in elsewhere, the soul could never trust in him alone; but he will have them have no other god, therefore surely there is no need of any other; he hath all good things in him: the happiness of the soul lies in the rest of it; and therefore when a man comes to Heaven, he is said to enter into his rest. Now God is the resting place of the soul, return unto thy rest, O my soul; wherefore if there were not an all sufficiency, but something wanting in God, the soul must needs be restless, till it know whither to go for a supply; but he being all-sufficient, he that desires nothing but God, need fear none but God, nimis avarus est, cui non sufficit Deus, he is too avaricious to whom God is not sufficient, who has a self-sufficiency in him for his own blessedness; for it is ones being a perfect good, that he goes not out for a supply to any other; nothing can add unto God to make him blessed, and surely the same will make the Saints blessed also; Blessed is the people whose God is Jehovah, &c.

4. He will have the creature perfect with him, Gen. 17.2. Walk before me, and be thou perfect; he will have you perfect in his obedience to serve him alone, and be unto him alone, he will have you forsake all for him; and this could not be required of the creature, if he were not all-sufficient and a full reward; sin is nothing else but the aversion of the soul à bono incommu •• tabili ad communitabile bonum, from the incommutable to a commutable good, as the School-men say, when a man doth not believe the all sufficiency of God, and so would go out to the creature to fetch in some supply to make it up: as it is in the Righteousness of Christ, when men go to their own duties to piece it out; so it is here in matters of comfort and supply; and so long a man is a double-minded man: but when a man's heart is fastened to the all sufficiency of God, so that he saith, If I have him I need no other, I need no friend if he be a friend, nor no honor but that which comes from God only, if I lose anything, he is able to make it up, he can give me much more, I desire no other God, even our own God shall bless us, he goes not out to the creatures to fetch in supplies, and it's the want of this that makes men to hasten after another God. The only proper ground of a man's perfection with God is laid up in this all sufficiency of God, that a man needs not go out unto anything else, he needs do service to no other, and they that do so, do proclaim that they look not unto him as all-sufficient; but when the soul is satisfied in this, that he has God, and can say, In that I have enough, then will he be perfect with him alone: so it was with Moses, the Lord would send him unto Pharaoh, but Moses tells him, I am a man slow of speech, I am not eloquent, and they that speak unto Kings must speak well, if they hope to be heard, must speak with silken words; if the subject is unpleasing, and the words also, if the message be disliked, and the delivery of it, what hope is there then to prevail? but the Lord made him this answer, Who made the mouth, did not I? I will be with thy mouth, in that thing rest upon me, and for words care not, I will be all-sufficient unto thee, as if thou wert the most eloquent Orator in the world. And so it is for all things else, a man that looks upon God as sufficient for any work or any comfort, so as he will be with him, he will rest upon him, and look no further, this is to be perfect with him. You will say, What is perfection with God? it's nothing else but when the soul looks upon God as an all-sufficient God, has an eye upon him alone, expecting all his happiness from him, and putting all his trust and hope in him. The School-men say, that God is objectum beatitudinis dupliciter, the object of blessedness two ways, (1) quia in ipso sunt omnes perfectiones simpliciter, because in him are all perfections simply: and so to cleave unto God is actus charitatis principalissimus, the principal act of love. (2) Ut suam perfectionem per ipsum consequatur, As the creature obtains his perfection by him: and both these are to be conjoined in our happiness, as God has all perfections in him, and so is all-sufficient unto us, when God takes up the whole soul; and Psal. 18.2. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, and my high tower; he is the fear of Isaac, the hope of Israel, the love of Ignatius, &c. when he takes up and possesses the whole soul, and a man looks no further, does not hasten after any other God, as they all do that join anything else with him, this man's heart is perfect with God, Hos. 3.3. Thou shalt be for me, says God to the soul, and thou shalt not be for another, so will I be for thee; and that's meant by a single eye, Mat. 6.22, 23. it is in opposition unto a double eye, that is, a double intention of spirit; a single eye looks but upon one object, but a double eye looks upon a double object, it is divided between God and the world, and knows not which to choose, but he would follow them both, he has an eye to God, and an eye to his pleasure, and his credit, and his profit, &c. that man's heart (whatever his possession be) is not whole with God, he is not perfect with him; and the ground of all is this, because there is in God an all sufficiency, that the soul may rest upon him alone, and have no other God. The Heathen multiplied their gods, because one god served for one end, and was good to them in one way, and another in another; but if there be a God that is sufficient for all things, then there needs no other; and therefore the soul is confined to him alone, and in this is said to be perfect with him, and if men go out unto anything else, they may truly be said to transgress without a cause, for there was no need of any other, but all good was to be found in him.

5. That by this means the Lord may make up the banks against that which is the greatest temptation that doth ordinarily befall men: it's true, that there are some motions that come from Hell immediately, that are purely devilish, a messenger of Satan, that immediately comes into the soul as Lightning, as thoughts of Atheism, and blasphemy, &c. but the ordinary temptations that prevail with men are by a bait, Satan taking the same course that his instruments and his messengers do, beguiling unstable souls, promising them liberty; there is some bait that he useth; for all sorts of sinners are not fit for that immediate touch from Satan, it belongs unto them most properly that have been much exercised in all spiritual wickedness, their hearts and tongues are set on fire of Hell immediately; but the way by which Satan deceives men is, he doth bait his hook with the creature, and therein lies the temptation; he did first tempt our parents with the forbidden fruit, it was fair to the eye, good for food, and desirable to make one wise, &c. There is not a creature in the world but Satan can make a bait of it; when you look upon the Sun, Moon, and Stars, take heed that your hearts be not enticed; and therefore we read of an enticing by a woman, who is many times Satan's bait to draw a man to wantonness; therefore Basil says, Plays are, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , hamus diaboli trahens ad ruinam, a hook of the Devil to draw men to ruin. Now to strengthen the soul against this, which is the great temptation of the god of this world, and in which respect really the creatures are made subject to vanity; for it is spoken of a vanity of service, Rom. 8.21. not only to serve the lusts of wicked men, but to serve the lusts of the Devil also; therefore the Lord has made over himself to a man in his all sufficiency, that he may have to answer these temptations: it is true, there is much good in the creatures, but yet it's no bait to me, because I have no need of it, I have all in God, my profit and my pleasure is in him, &c. and by this means is the world crucified unto the Saints; for when any sinful way is suggested, as baited with gain and worldly advantages, the soul can say, What need I gain or anything who want nothing, who do possess all things? and by this means the greatest offers take not with him; though the Devil come with an all this will I give thee; and if sufferings be suggested, as attending the way that is called holy, as everywhere bonds and afflictions abide them that walk in them, he shall lose all his friends, his honor, his estate, and life, yet he says, My sufficiency is not in these, and I may well lose all for him, who has undertaken to be all in all to me; and whatever I lose will be made up in him in a far more glorious manner; and therefore, si mundus exarserit cogitat se nihil habere, &c. and upon this ground temptations that are baited with the creatures do vanish; for he that has the all sufficiency of God made over to him, he can serve him both with patience and abstinence: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Suffer and abstain, saith the Stoic: if evil things befall him, he can bear them with patience, and if good things be offered in a way of sin, he has in himself a resolved abstinence, he is content to be without them. Now there is an innate desire in all creatures, planted in them by the Law of their Creation, to seek their own perfection, and if it were not to be had in God, then an offer of a supply anywhere else must needs be acceptable; but seeing it is to be had in God, and the soul hath chosen him in his all sufficiency, now he saith as a woman that is married must say, he must be unto me the covering of my eyes, I must not lift up my eyes upon anything else; but in every temptation a man must say, Shall I lift mine eyes unto the hills? shall I look for a supply from any of the creatures, which are but mountains of snow? from whence doth my help come? my help standeth in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and Earth; and by this means all such temptations are enervated, and they come not with strength and power upon the soul.

6. That upon this ground you may fear to lose God above all things, because your all sufficiency is in him, tolle Deum & nullus ero, take away my God and I am nothing, Austin. There are two things in sin, aversion and conversion, a turning from God unto something else that is not God; but the foundation of all sin lies in the turning away of the soul from God; and therefore the great aim of Satan is to draw away the heart, Jer. 1.14. It is forsaking God the fountain of living waters, and hewing cisterns that can hold no water: it is departing from the living God, Heb. 3.12. and therefore the main of temptation lies in this, in taking the soul off from God, and being once turned away from God, it will center upon anything else; and therefore the special care that the Lord takes, is to keep the souls of his servants close unto himself, and that's the great promise, Jer. 32.40. I will never turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall never depart from me: and one special argument to keep them and make them to cleave unto God forever, is this, because their all sufficiency is in him. As Peter said unto Christ, when he asked, Joh. 6. Will you also go away? Whither shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life: so says the soul, when anything would draw it from God, surely in his presence is life, and there is no departing from him, but a man departs from his own all sufficiency; and therefore adhaere fortiter, & inhaere suaviter, nescit ill deficere, si non incipias fastidire, &c. adhere strongly, and in here sweetly in God, who cannot fail, unless thou begin to loath; for a man with full purpose of heart to cleave unto God, and with full contentment of heart to rest and abide in God, it's the great work of a Christian; and the soul doth never depart from God so long as there is a through apprehension of his all sufficiency, and that's the reason that in Heaven they are impeccable, because there is a continual presence of the all sufficiency of God upon the soul; but when that apprehension begins to be clouded, then the soul begins to piece up a happiness with something else, and then unus & alter assumitur, one and another is added, &c. As when men depart from the rule of the word, they multiply inventions, and so make up a patched Religion: so when men depart from God, they do heap up creatures that make up a patched felicity: and it is this is the great and continual fear of the Saints; and therefore a great part of filial fear lies in this, and is a main difference between that and servile fear, which is well expressed by Austin, Haec ne veniat, illa ne discedat; haec ne puniat, illa ne deserat: and therefore he doth endeavor to keep up the thoughts of God's all sufficiency as his portion from day today.

7. That thereby creatures may be kept in their own place; for they were given but as servants to be subordinate, and no more, they are iniqui premium, but justi solatium, the reward of the unjust, but comfort of the just, they are but a viaticum for the way; yet it is a hard matter for a man to keep them in this place in which God has set them, but they will be Lord's, and men are brought under the power of them, they do over-power a man, that is, when a man looks upon them as if his sufficiency were in them, then immediately the creatures have left their place, and they have gotten the rule over the man; and this is an evil that many times befalls the best men, they do not keep the world at a distance, and confine it to its own place, as they ought to do: but when a man saith, The creatures are my comfort, but my sufficiency is not in them, my portion is not in them, ubi omnia mea sunt tu scis, this will keep the creatures from encroaching upon a man, and usurping authority over a man, and bring them into subjection unto his servants, which is contrary to the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free: hence it comes to pass, that men set their hearts too much upon them, contrary to Psal. 69.10. If riches increase, set not your hearts upon them. The more any man's heart runs out upon the creature, and the more he doth place his happiness in any of them, the more his soul departs from the all sufficiency of God. And hence if you take away the creature from a man, he saith you have taken away my heart, and therefore he sorrows as a man without hope: when another man can see the creatures departing and melting as ice under his feet, and he can rejoice in their departure, and bid them farewell with joy, because he has had the Moon under his feet, and these being gone, he knows he shall be restored unto that wherein more immediately his all sufficiency doth consist. And the way to cast off this weight, is to keep up the all sufficiency of God in the soul; all my sufficiency lies in him alone, and because he has made over his all sufficiency to me, therefore I will not look upon anything else as my sufficiency and happiness: the man whose eyes are opened to see his all sufficiency to be in God in the middle of the creature-enjoyments, is in a blessed condition.

8. That the soul may upon this ground live in God immediately, as in whom his all sufficiency doth consist: there is a being in God, and a dwelling in God; he that dwells in love, dwells in God; and a working in God; he comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God: and therefore Nazianzen speaks of grace, that it doth after a sort defy the man, not only begin a divine nature in him, but making him to live out of himself in the all sufficiency of the Divine nature; and the School-men speak of an illapsus Dei, a certain illapse or coming down of God into the soul: he is said to dwell in us, 2 Cor. 6.16. that is, cum infinita quadam opulentia, with a certain kind of infinite plenitude: and by this means spiritus nunc ab omni velle liber est, acsi in coelo aut terra, &c. as if there were nothing that he did stand in need of in Heaven and Earth; for when God's love dwells in us, it is in the manifestation of God; and when God in his sufficiency dwells in us, it is in the manifestation of it, &c. and therefore the soul looks upon God, ut mare quoddam infinitae magnitudinis, Harp. pag. 666. our sufficiency comes from him, and returns unto him again, but all is in him, and the soul looks upon all the creatures as things indifferent; but if he sin, he looks upon all sufficiency to pardon him; Who is a God like our God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin? and he looks upon all sufficiency for healing; and if he has a work to do for God, he looks upon all sufficiency for strength; and if he has a cross to bear, he looks for the support of everlasting arms; and if there be creatures either to work with him or against him, he saith, that they can do neither good nor evil, they work but as instruments in the hand of God, and the wicked man is but thy sword, Nebuchadnezzar that great King, is but the staff of mine anger; and if there be no creatures, he saith there is no need of any, for he is as able to save with few as many, and his supplies tarry not for man, he waits not for the sons of men, nor for any human concurrence in his work; and therefore his eyes are turned away from beholding vanity, and he lives upon God alone; for he saith, What is Heaven, and what have the Angels of God and the souls of just men made perfect to feed upon? they neither eat, nor drink, they marry not, all earthly comforts and relations cease, they are but for the time of this life, and no more, but then God is all in all: now if it shall be enough to live upon him in Heaven, and it shall be there my happiness and perfection, surely the more my heart is staid on him, and the more it is settled upon his all sufficiency, the nearer it comes to happiness, and the less shall my spirit be disquieted by the changes and uncertainties of things below; and unto this Christ did train up his Disciples, Do not say, What shall I eat, and what shall I drink? but say, There is an all sufficiency in God, which I have an interest in, and it shall be manifested for me, either for my provision or my protection; for he that hath made it over to me by Covenant, will lay it out for me, and therefore I leave myself with him, and cast my care upon him, for my sufficiency is in him alone.

§. 3. This Alsufficiency of God belongs unto none but unto his own Covenant-people: it's a joy that no stranger can intermeddle withal, it is the hidden Manna that they only do feed upon, who are fled for refuge to the hope set before them; Gen. 17.1, 2. I am God all-sufficient, walk before me and be upright, and I will make a covenant with thee to be a God to thee: and he is a Sun and a Shield not unto everyone, but unto them that walk uprightly: there is a secret river, the streams whereof do make glad the City of God, when the earth is moved, and the mountains cast into the middle of the Sea; there is an Olive-tree that doth drop oil into the golden Candlestick, Zac. 4.3. it is new Jerusalem that comes down from God out of Heaven, that has no need of the light of the Sun; but the glory of the Lord and of the Lamb are the light thereof: it is spoken of the light of creatures, and not of Scriptures, as some would interpret it, it's only upon the glory that there is a covering. (1) It is only by Covenant that he is thus made over; and therefore it can be only unto his Covenant-people: all men in Adam have forfeited their interest in God, and they can lay no claim to him; though it's true, that men in their necessity will put themselves upon God, and will lay claim to him in a presumptuous way, and they will cry to him, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth, though they have spoken and done evil things against him as they could, but it is but a false pretence, and they lay claim to him upon a wrong title; only there are some that are in Covenant with him, and unto them he has made over himself, and it is the Covenant that gives them a title to him, and he will be called their God; and as for other men, he will reject their claim, and say unto them, Depart from me, I know you not: when men at the last day shall say, Lord, Lord, then will the false claims to him be discovered, and all pretended titles rejected, and it will be made manifest in the great day of trial, to whom he is a God all-sufficient, it is called, Rom. 2.5. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a day of revelation: and the great thing that then will be manifested will be this, the false title upon which men have laid claim to God, and thereby have deceived their own souls. (2) To them only that are in Covenant with God, does his all sufficiency belong; for they only have chosen God for their portion, and placed their happiness in him; as Joshua speaks, You have chosen the Lord for your God; as for other men, their portion is in this life, in the sufficiency of the creatures, and no men have an interest in this sufficiency of God, but they that have rejected all other sufficiency, that can say, I have none in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I can desire in comparison of thee; other men follow lying vanities, and forsake their own mercies, the Saints only choose him, and choose the things that please him, and do trust perfectly in him; whereas other men stand partly upon the Sea, and partly upon the Earth; and therefore the Lord doth choose their delusions, Esa. 1.29. You shall be ashamed of the gardens that you have chosen. The folly of men is seen in nothing more than in their choice, and in that shall their greatest shame be. (3) The all sufficiency of God would not satisfy the desires of men that are out of Covenant, because they place their happiness in ways of sin, and in the pleasures of sin do the comforts of their lives come in, they eat the bread of wickedness, and they drink the wine of violence: there are two sorts of desires, some are natural desires, and these may be supplied in God; but there are some unnatural desires, as those that are lustings after the sensual life; and therefore Heaven would not be a satisfaction to an ungracious heart, that hath not a spirit suited to the things that are spiritual and of a heavenly nature; it would be a wilderness to them, and a land of darkness to be taken up to the heavenly Canaan; and hence it comes to pass, that in the midst of their sufficiency they are in straits, and yet in the middle of straits the Saints have a sufficiency, they walk upon the high places of the Earth, that are fed with the inheritance of Jacob his chosen, and they walk at liberty upon the high places of the Earth, because when they are weak, they are strong, and when they have nothing, they possess all things, because the all sufficiency of God is only theirs.

[Object.] But we see godly men that claim an interest in the Covenant to be in as great wants as other men, and are brought under as great straits and continual dangers, and if so, then how is God a Sun to them, and how is he a shield and all this that you now speak of? We find Job upon a dunghill, and poor even to a Proverb; and Paul (that great Convert and Apostle) is said to have nothing: Even to this present hour, says he, we are hungry and thirsty, and naked, and buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place, &c. God hath set us forth last; and the last sufferings of the Church are always the worst and the sharpest: We are made a spectacle even to men and Angels, that is, we are brought upon the stage as offenders did use to be, men condemned to death, to fight with wild beasts to make the people sport, and therefore the Proverb was then, Christiani ad Leones, and he saith it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not in one corner of the world, but their sufferings were spread and were famous even through the world, and all the wicked of the world did rejoice at them: and not only wicked men, but Devils also; for Satan being the god of this world, and ruling in the Rulers thereof, therefore he is described having seven horns, as he ruled the Roman Emperor; and therefore Rev. 2.10. The devil will cast some of you into prison; therefore it's great joy unto the Devil to behold the blood of the Saints in this manner spilled; for it's true, that in the time of this dominion of Satan, as he is the Prince of this world, ludit in humanis, thereby to drown the noise of the chai • s of darkness in which he is held, and it's true also of the good Angels, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , it is such a combat as it draws the eyes and the observation even of the Angels themselves, who with joy behold our patience and the constancy of our spirits therein; and we are counted the scum of the world, as if all the filth of the world had been emptied into them; and if we could barely look at the hand and malice of men in it, we could expect no other; for in the world we shall have tribulation, but God hath set us forth so to be, and hath made such a demonstration of us unto the world, and men are but instruments in the hand of God in what they do, the wicked is but a sword in the Lord's hand; yea we see it mainly in him that was the Prince of the Covenant, who yet was made a man of sorrows, whose life was a continual death, for he had nothing of this worlds goods: and I do the rather insist upon this, because the people of God in this day and time may consider what their portion is like to be in this Nation, notwithstanding this fair Sun-shine of liberty and prosperity that we now enjoy, and how soon a cloud of suffering may come upon all our glory, and the children of God may be exposed to primitive sufferings by walking in the steps of the primitive Saints, and following their Lamb-like Prince, who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and endured the contradiction of sinners, and was put to death by them. If this be so, that all that will follow the Lord fully meet with such hard usage from the world: How then is the all sufficiency of God made over to his people that are in Covenant with him? and if it be made over to them, as you have demonstrated, what use have they of it, when it doth neither bestow upon them good things, nor protect them from evil?

[Answ.] 1. The Lord doth it, that their sufficiency may be in him alone, and that they may trust perfectly in him: we read of men settled on their lees, therefore God empties his people from vessel to vessel, that so he may take them off from the lees of the creatures or sins, upon which they are apt to settle: men do think there is some sufficiency in God, or else they would not seek him at all. Now if they would look upon him as all-sufficient, then they would be content with him alone, and could say to God, Take all things else from me, so thou give me thyself, and it's enough; here therefore is the trial, when the Lord shall deal with a man as he did with Abraham, he promised to give him the land of Canaan for a portion, but he gave him not a hand-breadth in it, but only a burying place; God will have him to trust him without a pawn: so he will have thee to live by pure faith, and that is, when a man hath nothing of sight, but his dependence is upon God alone, and he hath nothing of the creature to look upon. It's a disposition that is apt to creep upon the best men, to serve God in the abundance of all things, but not in want. It's an ordinary accusation that the Accuser of the brethren hath, and he doth accuse them before God day and night, and (there is as much danger of Satan as to his accusations, as there is in his temptations) he doth commonly object, Doth he serve God for naught? Therefore to clear the sincerity of his servants, the Lord doth, as he did to Job; take all away from them, whatever riches they have here of this worlds goods, and give them himself, and they live upon him, and thereby he doth silence the wicked one; and by this means they have in their consciences a trial of their own sincerity with the Lord.

2. The Lord doth it, that they may be made partakers of the sufferings of Christ; the Lord did from Eternity ordain us to a conformity unto Christ, Rom. 8.29. that as he was, so should we be in this world. There is a double image we are to conform to: (1) Of God, and that is laid up in the Mediator. (2) Of Christ the Son of God: and our happiness is in being conformed unto both these images; and by this means having communion with both, when we come to Heaven we shall have the fruition of both. Now in this he did leave us 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an exemplar: there is a fellowship of his Suffering as well as of his Resurrection, and we must have a share in the one as well as in the other, in his sufferings as well as in his graces and his victories, Phil. 3.10. Now we know Christ was a man of sorrows, and one that had trial of all sorts of afflictions; the Lord took all from him that are the comforts of mankind in this life; though he were Lord of all, yet he did lay down all; for he that laid down his glory that he had with the Father before the world was, it was not much unto him to lay down all things else, that though the Earth were the Lord's to dispose of, yet his blessed Son had not so much of it as to set the soal of his foot upon in the earth: and by this was the Prince of your Salvation made perfect; for there is not only active but passive obedience required of us, and we must come to perfection the same way that Christ himself did: and if it lead us to perfection, it's no great matter though we be deprived here of what the world counts our perfection; and we may glory in the Cross, being it is the direct way to the Crown.

3. God is all-sufficient to them in the loss of all things, and in the want of all things; and it is better for any soul that their sufficiency be in him than in themselves, and they would choose it rather; and therefore 2 Cor. 6.10. it is said, As having nothing, and yet possessing all things. He was all-sufficient to the three Children in the fiery Furnace, and to Daniel in the Den of Lions; therefore the people of God are compared unto fatherless children, With thee the fatherless find mercy. It hath been the manner of men to provide Hospitals for children that are cast forth and forsaken by their parents; and so it was with David, When my father and mother forsook me, then the Lord took me up. In what a sad condition is a child, an infant cast forth and forsaken by the parents, that hath •• ne to take care of him, and to provide for him, &c. but the more perfectly they are fatherless, the greater assurance they have of provision from him, he is a most merciful Father, and therefore he must be compassionate to his children in misery, and the mercies we need are better in his hand than ours, he knows how to do it, when our wisdoms are non-plust, and we cry out, We know not what to do, but our eyes are unto thee; he knows how to deliver the just out of temptation, though they are often in such straits, that they know not how they should be delivered, but grope as blind men, they are utterly devoid of counsel to direct themselves: and he knows not only how, but when to do it; the season of mercy is much to be considered, as well as the season of duty, the one makes it acceptable to God, and the other sweet to us; the Lord is a God of judgment, and therefore blessed are those that wait for him: as God's way is best, so is God's time best, Joel 2.23. He will give you the former and the latter rain, pluviam justitiae, the rain of righteousness, that is, largam & copiosam, a large and copiose rain; and so Drusius expounds it, as Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness; but others understand justitiam, justice to be as much as in a just proportion, so much as shall be needful, and for your good, and no more: there shall not be excessive rain, and he will give you this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in primo, that is, as some render it, in the first month; but the word signifies not only primus ordine, sed & dignitate, that which shall be the choicest and the fittest for them, pluviam tempestivam, a seasonable rain, in the fittest season; it's a great mercy to be in the hand of God for the timing of mercy; for our hearts are hasty, and we would have them too soon, and so they would be unseasonable, and prove a curse, and not a blessing.

4. Because it is very sweet to God, when we follow him through a wilderness, and see nothing but an all sufficiency in him, through a land not sown, then you show your love to him, and he looks upon it as the day of your espousals; Hos. 9.10. I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness, it is a proverbial speech, when you have none to look to but God, when you are in a land of drought; it is never so pleasing unto God, as when we are brought into a wilderness, and yet there to follow him; and the Lord doth never speak so sweetly to us, as when he doth deprive us of these outward things, that our hearts may stay upon him alone; and therefore, Hos. 2.14. he says, I will allure her into the wilderness: what was there in the wilderness that might allure her? The wilderness has a double consideration. (1) It was a place of affliction, and so there was nothing to allure; for no affliction for the present is joyous, but grievous. (2) The wilderness was a place of manifestation, where God did show himself in his Ordinances and in his mighty works; and if the wilderness be so, there is an alluring in it; and then, saith God, will I speak to her heart. O when God brings into the wilderness, and gives discoveries of himself, there are the greatest comforts and the sweetest speakings unto the souls of his Saints: the Lord doth not fail them in their time of need.

5. God's great glory is to manifest his Attributes in the sufferings of his people, and it is the great work that he doth in the world, and the greatest comfort that the Saints have is to see the Attributes of God drawn forth, and to work for them: Jer. 2.31. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? It's true, says the Lord, I brought them into a wilderness, and did allure them thither, but when they were there, I was not a wilderness unto them; they found all in me, though the earth afforded them nothing, yet there was nothing wanting from Heaven, it was not a wilderness when they were in the wilderness. See an instance of it Jer. 29.22. there were two false Prophets that did strive to make provision for themselves, and they pleased the people, and said, The King of Babylon should not carry them away captive, they spoke lies in the name of the Lord, and we see what became of them; but Jeremiah that made no provision for himself, did not, as Baruck, seek great things for himself, we see how he is provided for even in the enemies hand, Jer. 39.11, 12. Look well to him, do him no harm, but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee: how good is it to look up to God for all our supplies, and not to distrust his goodness and power in any danger or strait that we may be exposed to!

6. As our supplies do come from God, so also there is a special token of love and interest discovered in his sufficiency, and that is sweeter than the mercy itself: the Lord loves to give unto his people every mercy that they need, and as it is lined with love, so it shall be faced with love, that the mercy shall come in according unto the promise, and he can look upon it as the birth of the promises, as a pledge and a fruit of interest in the all sufficiency of God: it's a great thing, and is much more than the blessing itself, if it were a thousand times multiplied, that all the promises lead a man to Christ the foundation of them all, 2 Cor. 1.20. they do lead a man as beams to the Sun; so when the mercy leads a man to his interest in the all sufficiency of God, that's more than the mercy itself: when a m • n sees it's given in to the bargain, when he seeks first the Kingdom of Heaven, all things in this world shall be added to him, though they are in themselves but small, yet they are magni amoris indicium; there is a great deal of difference between a kiss and a reward, though there may be a greater bounty in the one, but there is more love in the other: and so far as the people of God taste that the Lord is gracious, so far they taste his love is sweeter than all unto them; for if there were not love in the gift, there were no relish in it, we use to despise the gifts only of enemies; and indeed the hearts of all the Saints do so far undervalue them, as Luther, that they can tell God, Let thy gifts of this worlds goods only be to another, but let me have a smile from thy face, one kiss of thy mouth, and it shall cheer me more than corn or wine and oil: as for all other things, they are but, as Luther said of the Turkish Empire, mica canibus projecta, a mite cast to the dogs, because there was no love in it; therefore a little that the righteous hath is better than the riches of many wicked, as a little that the righteous doth is better than the pompous services of many wicked persons; because there is love in the one, and none in the other, and without this all is as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

[Object. 2] You say that none have an interest in the all sufficiency of God but his Covenant-people. But we see that the men of the world have great sufficiency, they have more than heart can wish, they enjoy all manner of abundance, that one would think the all sufficiency of God were made over to them rather than to the Saints; one would have thought it to have been the portion of Dives rather than Lazarus: For the wicked fare deliciously every day, &c.

[Answ.] It's true indeed, that many wicked men, who are strangers to God and his Covenant, have great sufficiency in outward things; but yet, (1) though it be from the all sufficiency of God, for he it is that is the Fountain of common mercies, he doth cause the Sun to rise upon the unjust, &c. he opens his hand and fills every living thing; it is he therefore that is said to fill their bellies with his hid treasure; but yet it is not from their interest in his all sufficiency, they have all from God, but they have no interest in God; it's one thing to receive mercy from God ex largitate, from an overflowing of his goodness, and another thing to receive it ex proprietate, from an interest in his goodness. There are some benefits by Christ that wicked men have that have no interest in Christ; there are many works that the Sun doth effect in the earth, when it never shines; and so it's with Christ, he vouchsafeth good things to many a soul in whose Horizon he doth never rise: there is a great difference in the manner of conveyance. (2) A sufficiency they have many times, but it is their portion, it's all that ever they must look for of good from the hand of God; Luke 16. Son remember that in thy life time thou hadst thy good things; never look for good more from God; their hope is as the giving up of the ghost, they breathe out their last hope with their last breath. Now who would have these to have their portion in them? As there is a difference between the sufferings of the Saints, and the sufferings of others, so there is also in their enjoyments; in the Saints sufferings is justi exercitium, the exercise of grace, but in the wicked injusti supplicium, the punishment of the unjust: and so it is of their good things also, it is unto one in premium, and to the other in solatium. (3) They are given as a snare to themselves and others: [1] To themselves, their table is made a snare, and they are taken in their own abundance, and are betrayed by it to the evil day, it doth but ripen their sins, and make them the greater enemies unto God, it is as a worm in the gourd, as Chrysostom observed. Riches are given for the hurt of the owner, to fat them to the day of evil; there is a fattening, and there is a killing time; and the man is but reserved all the while to the day of slaughter. [2] They are given as a snare to others; therefore many people fall to them, because waters of a full cup are wrung out to them; they that work wickedness are built up that is, they prosper, therefore they call the proud happy; the Lord doth lay snares for men in the world, that is, that which their corrupt hearts do make snares, and they are taken, even as many as are not written in the Lambs book of life. (4) In the middle of their sufficiency they are in straits, that is, when men are come to the height of the sufficiency in the creature, then they are at a loss, and find they are in straits; for it shall be said, Here is the man that made not God his help, but trusted in the multitude of his riches, and now shall the sufficiency of God be engaged against him, and he shall be in perplexity forever, and his sufficiency in outward things shall be but an inducement unto the enemy to straiten him the more.

SECT. II. The Application of God's Alsufficience made over to the Saints.

[Use 1] §. 1. FIrst, this doth justly reprove them who claim an interest by Covenant in the Lord, yet their hearts go out to expect a sufficiency in the creatures, who please themselves in a self-sufficiency, as if either they understood not the terms of the Covenant, or as if their sufficiency were not in God only, when in his all sufficiency he has made over himself.

1. For them that set their hearts upon the sufficiency of the creatures, and having the creatures in abundance, they think that there is a sufficiency in them, and when they want the creatures, they look upon themselves as being defective in point of sufficiency. I confess there is a curse come upon all the creatures, that they are become a snare to us; that which was made to be a servant, has with Reuben climbed up into his fathers bed, and ever since Satan has been the god of this world, which he never was until man sold himself unto Satan, and since man subjected himself to the evil one. God has subjected man in judgment unto Satan, and all the creatures unto the power of Satan, that were for man's use, which is the greatest part of the subjection unto vanity, that the creature groans under; that now Satan makes it a bait, and the soul is ensnared with it, and men are ready to place a sufficiency in the creatures, yet we have heard, that in the fullness of sufficiency he is in straits, it's spoken according to the esteem and conceit of the man, he thinks that he shall have a fullness of sufficiency in it, but he shall find a defect in the creatures; there are some wants that all the creatures will not answer, but the soul will be still strait in the middle of his all sufficiency; Cocceius expounds it of men whose lusts go out beyond their estates, and therefore they are but poor in the middle of all their riches and abundance, and such an esteem it is that Solomon intends, when he says, Wilt thou set thy eyes upon that which is not? the word in the Hebrew signifies, wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly on that which is not? The Scripture doth express much of the affection by the eye, that being the window at which the soul looks out, and at which the affections of the soul are discovered; as the desire of the eyes, the delight of the eyes, and pity in the eye, thy eye shall not spare them; and therefore we use to say, Ubi amor ibi oculus, the desires of the heart are much seen in the eyes; and to fly notes two things, hastiness and greediness, 1 Sam. 15.19. But didst fly upon the spoil: men's desires run out towards it with all hastiness and greediness, because they conceive, that there is a sufficiency to be had in the creatures: but it is not the thing that you took it to be, there is not that in it that you expected, it's an expression like that, Psal. 102.27. They all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture thou shalt change them, &c. 1 Cor. 4.8. the Apostle speaks it of the Corinthians, Ye are full, ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us; he speaks it by way of exprobration, what they were in their own vain conceit and apprehension; they pleased themselves in their outward prosperity, as if now the Kingdom were their own; and when the Apostle was suffering, and they enjoyed their peace and their estates, they pleased themselves in it; and therefore he says, That they did reign as Kings, not in ways of duty, for then it had not been without us; but it was in ways of felicity, in which they did satisfy themselves, as if they were now no less than Kings in their own conceits: and hence it comes to pass, that in the enjoyment of them their hearts are lifted up; and if they be deprived of them, their hearts die within them, and they be like unto them that go down to the pit. How unsuitable is this to the all sufficiency of God, to place your sufficiency in anything else? and whether is not this a staining of your glory? and will not this hinder the all sufficiency of God to be improved for you? for surely he will be all-sufficient unto none, but he will be all-sufficient to them alone.

1. Consider herein how exceedingly you dishonor God, and d • hereby proclaim to all the world, that there is something wanting in him that must be supplied by the creature; and so as Salvian saith of the Name of Christ, Dicimur Christiani in opprobrium Christi, We are called Christians to the reproach of Christ; it is true that the name of God is called upon us, but it is unto God's dishonor; the Lord takes it as a high dishonor done unto him, when his people dig to themselves broken cisterns, and forsake him that is the Fountain of living water; when they shall do suit and service to another god, and stretch out their hands unto a strange god, the Lord will search it out, it's a dishonor, and will be a great provocation to him; whereas they that have an eye to him alone, they do honor him: Daniel who said, The God whom I serve is able to deliver me from the den of lions; and David who says, There is no god save the Lord, and there is no rock save our God; these honored God in advancing him above all things: it's true, that men do fancy to themselves other Rocks to fly unto, but it is but in vain, for there is no other Rock, these are but the imaginations of men, but in truth and reality there is no such thing there is no Rock but our God; and Paul having nothing, but yet possessing all things; and so did Habakkuk, 3.17. For it was a true way of reasoning that Elkanah used, when Hannah was sad and discontented for the want of a son, he took it to be as a disparagement to him, that she thought not herself so happy in him, and in his love, as sometimes she had professed, and he conceived it was her duty to do, she should have counted him beyond ten sons; so doth the Lord reason with you, when your hearts go out to the creatures, and you are troubled in the getting of them, and disquieted in the losing of them, it is because you do not think him better than a world; for if you did, you would not go out so unto these things with such intenseness of spirit and affection. We read, Gen. 20.16. the husband is said to be unto the woman the covering of her eyes, not only that she lift them not up wantonly unto another man, but also that she should look upon no other for protection and for provision: if a woman should wait upon another, and apply herself wholly to another man, and neglect to please her husband, and to be a help unto him, might he not look upon it as a dishonor, and say to her, Is it not because there is something in me wanting towards you, that I cannot protect you, and provide for you, and therefore you go out in your heart, affection, and observance to another man? he looks upon it as the greatest dishonor that his wife could do him: Mat. 22.32. Christ proves the living of the souls of the Saints in statu separato, after death, and a resurrection from that place, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac: it's a great question, wherein lies the fullness of the argument; I conceive it to amount unto thus much; If God be of infinite power and goodness, then they that have an interest in him, and stand in a peculiar relation to him, they must have from him whatever is necessary to their happiness; it were else every way unworthy of God, and that upon which ground no man would seek or prize an interest in him; but happiness without life there can be none; and therefore if he will be the God of his people, he must be happiness to them; and if so, he must give life to them also; for he cannot be the God of the dead, but of the living. To make a people to have a special interest in him, and to say that they are dead for all their interest in God, and that he is the God of the dead, is a thing every way unworthy of him and dishonorable to him.

2. As it dishonors God, so it doth dishonor us also; for all the creatures were given unto man in his creation as servants, and he had dominion over them, they were all put under his feet: Gen. 1. therefore God brought them all unto man in their creation, as the lord of them, he gave them their names: now for a man to put his neck under the yoke of a servant, and to lay down his soul on the ground unto them that went over it, doth argue a great baseness in a man, and is a great dishonor to him: it's true, the creature will invite a man as the bramble, Judge. 9.13. Come and put your trust under my shadow, place your confidence in me; now would it not be a dishonor for a man to go and put his trust in the shadow of the bramble? And so are all the creatures in reference unto shelter and defense: if a Senator of Rome did marry a servant, and not a free woman, he did subire maculam infamiae, incur infamy; so it is when the soul will be married unto the creature, which is but the servant, there is a blemish that lights upon that man. And much more when it is done from a low spirit, and the soul doth choose it, that shows, that he is ad mancipium natus; as when a servant amongst the Jews would not go free, his ear was bored, not only as a token of perpetual servitude, which, as Cajetan observes, was not only done in perpetuam servitudinem, sed in poenam & ignominiam, neglectâ libertate. When the Lord has set men's spirits at liberty from the creatures, and if they will not go free, but they will be in bondage to their own servants still, it's a great reproach to them, and a sign of great baseness of mind; whereas the Spirit of Christ in his people is a princely Spirit, and that saith, I will not be brought under the power of anything; and therein properly doth a man's liberty consist, when he looks upon God only as necessary, and all things in the world tanquam adiaphora, as things indifferent, that he can enjoy them, or go without them, for his happiness is not in them.

3. Consider the creatures unto whom thou flyest for sufficiency, they can do neither good nor evil; it's spoken of Idols and all creatures in which we look for a sufficiency, they are but Idols; and we are exhorted, Jer. 10.5, 6, 7. Be not afraid of them, for they can do no evil, neither is it in them to do them good; for as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, for thou art great, and thy name is great in might, who will not fear thee? If the creatures could do us good, they might be sought unto, and they might be feared, if they could do us hurt; but it is not in the creature to do either; if they do us evil, it is because the Lord has bid them; as it's said of Shimei, The Lord has bid Shimei curse; and if Job lose all that he has, though by the hand of creatures, yet he saith, The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away; there is no evil in the city that the Lord has not done; and therefore Christ saith, Thou couldst have no power over me, unless it were given thee from above. Now as you look upon them as vain that worship an Idol, and stand in fear of it, though you know they do but bow down to the stock of a Tree, yet a deceived heart has turned him aside, &c. that he cannot discern the deceit, and say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Esa. 44.20. so when men fear creatures, it is but as if a man feared an Idol that can do him no hurt; and they can do you no good: though every man seeks the face of the Ruler, and they think that he is able to show them much favor in judgment, yet let him do what he can, and intend never so much good to you, all that is good to you is from the Lord, in his judgment; He doth fashion the hearts of men, and he considers all their ways, &c. they have the same apprehensions that he gives them, and the same affections and intentions; if they do thee any good, it is because the Lord has assisted and touched their hearts; for they have but such a fashion as he gives them, therefore he is said to ascend and descend, it's conceived by some to be an expression taken from Jacob's Ladder, in which there were Angels ascending and descending, as it is Joh. 1. ult. but yet in all the administrations of the best of creatures it is he that ascends and descends: for all the good of the creature is at his dispose, and he must give the creature a commission to do good as well as to do us evil: and will you fly unto that for sufficiency that can neither do good nor evil?

4. Will you place your sufficiency in the creature, when it cannot reach unto that which is best in the man? Every holy man doth take a measure of all things, as they relate unto his soul, and that which doth his soul most good, that he judges best for him, and that which doth the soul most hurt, that he judges worst for him; for Saints measure all prosperity by that of the soul; but all creature-comforts are but food that perishes; and therefore we are exhorted not to labor for them, for they will all die unto us; and therefore that men might not dote upon carrying them with them into another world, consider we brought nothing into this world, neither shall we carry anything out of this world; as soon as we have put off this Tabernacle, all the necessary supports thereof will be of use to us no more; for they are all in reference to the Tabernacle itself: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , He only can cure the heart that formed it: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Chrys. de poenit. hom. 4. when God establishes the heart in peace, no creature can move it.

5. The creatures have no good in them but what is borrowed. All the good that is in the creatures is either real or apparent. (1) If there be any real good in any creature, it is derived unto it from God: they are all cyphers, and they have no good in them of themselves, but what is put into them; if God will put much of his Spirit into a Magistrate, as he did into Moses, the abilities of many men shall be in that one man, he shall rule his people with great success; and if the Lord will afterward take it away, and divide it amongst men, it is as he will dispose of it, whether to fill the vessel, or empty it: and if the Lord will create the fruit of the lips peace, a Minister shall be able to speak peace, and administer a word that shall be in season unto him that is weary; but else though he speak with never so much eloquence, it will be to no purpose, there is no more in it than God puts into it. (2) There is appearing good, and that is put into the creatures by the subtlety of Satan and by the lusts of men. [1] By the subtlety of Satan; for he intending to make use of the creature to betray the soul of a man, doth put a fair gloss upon it and a varnish, as we see he did to Christ, when he represented to him the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them in a moment of time; so doth Satan represent the creatures to us in his own glass, and deceives us with the apparent good that is in them. [2] There is also something that the lusts of men do add, and that is a conceit, that there is some such excellency in it; it is a strong hold and a high wall, it's desirable for food, and pleasant to the taste, but it is but in his own conceit, and all the pomp of the world is but fancy, and all the great things of the world are not great in reality, but only that great affection and the high apprehension that men have of them, makes them seem so to be, but with God only is the fountain of life: by life is meant all good, and it is in God originally, as in a fountain; it is in the creatures but derivatively, as in a stream; and therefore it's the greatest folly for a man to leave the fountain to go to the streams, and to forsake the Sun to take our light from the Moon and the Stars, which shine only by a borrowed light; and upon this ground the Saints are not much troubled at the miscarriages in creatures, when they promise fair, but by and by their hopes are nipped, and it brings not the work to perfection; therefore they regard it not, and say it is but a bucket broken, and a stream dried up, a pipe stopped, but there is as much water in the fountain still as ever, and unto that he has immediate recourse.

6. A man's retiring unto creatures in any of his straits is that which doth cause God to leave him; for no man is to have a double dependence, because that argues a double heart; God will be all in all for supports and supplies, as well as Christ will be all in all for righteousness and salvation; and therefore it is said, That Uzziah was helped till he was strong, he was marvelously helped, but then his heart withdrew from God unto his own supports, and then the Lord left him to them, which proved his overthrow; for with him only the fatherless find mercy, they that are truly so in their own esteem and account, and have none to look to, or make provision for them anymore than fatherless children have, it is in him that they shall find mercy; but they that say unto the creatures, Thou art my father, and they have their help in them, there is no mercy for them in the Lord in an evil day, the creature then shall be so far from assisting, that it shall distress them; for the Lord rejects carnal confidence, and he says, Thou shalt be ashamed of Bethel thy confidence, and ashamed of Egypt as thou wast of Assyria, &c. for it doth engage God not only against the evil doers themselves, but against their helpers; and therefore the way for a people to find mercy from God, is to put away all carnal confidences and dependences whatsoever, and say (as they did, Hos. 14.3.) Assur shall not save us, neither will we ride upon horses; this is the way to mercy: Jer. 17.5. Cursed be the man that makes flesh his arm, and his heart departs from the Lord, he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, he shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness, &c. But blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, whose hope the Lord only is, he shall be as a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, nor be careful in the year of drought. There is no man in a worse condition in an evil time, than he that has had his heart resting upon creature-comforts, and his spirit has gone out to them, and not to the Lord, who then will send him to the gods whom he had chosen to himself; and there is not only the first and original curse upon the creature, as the fall of man left it, but also there is a more particular and immediate curse upon the creature by reason of the confidence of men, and that sets God against it, and blasts it before its time, which is like unto the curse of Christ upon the fig-tree; if it had stood, it would in time have decayed by reason of the first curse that came upon all the creatures, and so it would have withered away; but now Christ comes with a more particular curse immediately, and it is dried up by the roots: and so it is with all the creatures, that the vain confidence of man puts into the place of God, and expects a supply and assistance from: says the Prophet, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant: and he shall break it as the breaking of a potters vessel that is broken; so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sheard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

[Use 2] §. 2. As it is a just reproof unto all the Saints that place their sufficiency in the creature, so it is also unto them that do place any sufficiency in themselves; it is well observed by Aquinas, that there are two roots upon which all sin in a man grows, and from which they have their continual support and supply, ex parte aversionis à bono incommutabili superbia, ex parte conversionis ad bonum commutabile avaritia, the first thing in 〈◊〉 is aversion from God, and then the soul turns itself unto something else, and the thing that was next in order was self, and so men are turned unto themselves, and so self taking upon itself a Deity, it must have also a sufficiency. The first sin was pride: now pride is nothing else but an overweening apprehension of a man's own excellency, when a man doth think of himself above what he ought; and from thence there follows in the soul self-admiration, self-sufficiency, self-dependence, and a contempt of others, undervaluing all in comparison of itself: one that has enough within himself, he needs not go out unto any other, and there is nothing more ordinary than for men to do it, for they are ready to place their sufficiency in anything rather than in God. Now there is a twofold self-sufficience that the heart of man is apt to go out unto. (1) In respect of gifts and inward abilities either acquired or infused; and this the Apostle doth give a charge against, Rom. 12.3. That no man do think of himself above what he ought, but according as God hath given to every man the measure of faith: per fidem intelligit dona spiritualia. Now when men have received a spiritual gift immediately, they have a dependence thereupon, and place a sufficiency in themselves, and they are as if they had all knowledge in themselves, and think they need go out of themselves for nothing, and so the wise man glories in his wisdom, and the strong man in his strength, all such glorying is a fruit of pride and self-sufficiency: so we see how far Samson trusted in his strength, and Solomon in his wisdom, and their own sufficiency proved their snares. And that's the common use that the Devil makes of all abilities either infused or acquired, that they may, as we read in Ezech. 16. trust in their beauty, and boast themselves of what they have received, as if they had not received it. (2) There is also a sufficiency in respect of grace received, as we see in Peter, Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I, though I should die with thee, yet will not I deny thee; having received a principle of grace, he looked upon the acting of it in his own power, as if he had no more dependence upon Christ the Fountain of his grace, but could go out in his own strength against the temptation, and this makes men trust in themselves; for all self-confidence depends and is grounded upon a self-sufficiency, and this the Apostle denies to be in themselves, 2 Cor. 3.3. We are not sufficient of ourselves, to think anything as of ourselves, all our sufficiency is of God: for pride being an inordinate and high apprehension of a man's own excellency; therefore the higher the excellency, the greater is the pride, and the more will Satan surely put a man upon a dependence thereupon, that he that is able to do all things through Christ that strengthens him, and by the power of God, shall look upon himself as the fountain of his own sufficiency; which was properly the Devils sin, and it is the like Godhead that he strives to affect men withal, that whereas the proper end of grace is to carry a man out of himself, and to make him happy in another, and so sufficient in another, Satan persuades a man, that having received grace he should place this in himself, and in the grace that he has received, which is properly a Torch from Hell, 1 Joh. 5.19. which may and many times doth befall the heirs of Heaven, that they that place truly their happiness in God, yet may too far seek a sufficiency in themselves, and too much omit fastening upon the Lord Jesus, who is our Savior to the uttermost, &c.

Now we come to show the evil of a self-sufficiency in both these, more particularly.

1. In respect of gifts, for a man to look upon himself, and grow in love with his own shadow, and to depend upon them and glory in them, consider the evil of it in these particulars.

(1) They are another man's goods, they are not thine own, men are ready to think so of riches and honors, that which is without a man; but as for the abilities of his own mind, they think those are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , their proper goods, if anything be; but yet as it is said of riches, it's true also of gifts, and all those inward qualifications, they are another man's, and they are so in a double respect: (1) Because they are given thee from another, What hast thou that thou hast not received? he that doth boast of, or trust in anything that he has received, he doth thereby say that it is his own, and that he has not received it; for if thou hast received it, then thy dependence is upon another, and not upon thyself: mendax de proprio loquitur; cùm autem in bonis laudabilis vita ducitur, Dei est quod geritur, Dei est quod amatur. (2) They are another man's, as riches are, for they are given thee mainly for the good of another: grace is given a man for himself, and is properly his own; but gifts are given for the Church and for the edifying of others, the manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal, and therefore thou art but as a steward of every gift, and thou must dispense them, and lay them out for the good of the family, to give them their meat in due season, and if not, this will be the benefit that thou wilt have by thy gifts, that thy account will be the greater, and there will come a time that the same Spirit that is now thy Teacher will surely be thy Accuser, for wasting thy masters goods. There is a double difference between gifts and graces: [1] Grace is for a ma •• own salvation, but gifts are for the Churches edification; and therefore they are but pr • hoc statu, for this state, and there is an end; the gifts that the Angels have are but for the edification of the Church, Dan. 9.23. Rev. 19.10. & 1.4. He sent and signified it by the Angel unto his servant John; and when the Elect of God shall be gathered, and the Church of Christ perfected, and the Kingdom given up to the Father, then as the protection of Angels shall cease (for there shall be no more use of it) so these qualifications, this influence of the Spirit of Christ upon the Angelical nature, by way of gifts, shall cease also. [2] Some put this difference, that the Spirit to some gives gifts as a Spirit assisting only, but not dwelling there where he assists by gifts; but where grace is, there is a residence of the Spirit, and that not only according unto the gifts and effects, as in the other, but according to the essence; for we are said to be Temples of the Holy Ghost. Now to dedicate a Temple to another, is to give Divine honor, which is not to be done unto the gifts and graces of the Spirit; for they are but creatures; and therefore the Spirit doth not dwell in them barely by his gifts, but according to his essence: Habitat verus Spiritus in credentibus, non tantùm per dona, sed quoad substantiam, ne{que} sic dat dona, ut ipse alibi sit, sed donis adest, creaturam suam conservando, gubernando, addendo, The Spirit dwells in Believers, not only by gifts, but according to his essence, neither doth he so give gifts as to be absent himself, but he is present, &c. Luther.

(2) He doth give them unto wicked men; and therefore there is no sufficiency to be placed in that in which God puts no difference; Christ received gifts for men, yea for the rebellious also; not only those that were rebellious, and are now converted, but those that live still in rebellion; Christ received many gifts to dispense unto these: Christ is in the Scripture set forth as a Head and as a Root; he gives graces as Head unto the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all; but as he is a Root he spreads himself into a visible Church upon Earth, so he gives much sap and greenness unto those that bear leaves only; and therefore it was a good saying of Luther in one of his Epistles, Potentior est veritas quàm eloquentia, potior spiritus quàm ingenium, major fides quàm eruditio. A little grace is to be preferred before abundance of gifts, and a little of the Spirit of Sanctification above the fullness of the qualifications of the Spirit; for the Lord doth cause this Sun to shine upon the evil and unthankful, and doth continue it unto them for a while, as a Spirit of Qualification, to whom nevertheless he will be forever as a Spirit of Condemnation hereafter.

(3) When a man depends upon these, and places his sufficiency in them, he serves Satan in the highest way that can be, that is, with the gifts and the graces of the Spirit of God: we read Mat. 12.44, 45. there is a house swept and garnished, it's the house that Satan will choose to himself to inhabit above all other places in the world; and therefore he places a strong garrison there of seven Spirits; for there is no soul whom he takes so much delight in, and in which he doth love so much to dwell, as he doth in such a man; and therefore it was a great speech of Austin of Licentius, a man of a great wit, but of an unsound mind, Abs te ornari diabolus quaerit; Accepisti à Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum, & in illo Satanae propinas teipsum, The Devil seeks to be adorned by thee, &c. It was the abuse upon the vessels of the Temple that in Beltshazers time, they must be brought forth, and used in the worship of their gods, which was but the Devil instead of a God: the gifts that a man has are the utensils of the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and therefore above all others Satan loves to be served with those; and if the Devil do but puff a man up with either of these, that's the house he delights to dwell in: now for a man to serve Satan with his wealth or his honor is a great evil; but with the immediate works and gifts of the Spirit of God, is a far greater provocation.

(4) That which you place your sufficiency so much in, remember you cannot act without Divine aid: a man that has received gifts cannot exercise and use those gifts that he has received. The Apostle doth distinguish between all these three, there are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Gifts, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Offices, and there are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Effects or Operations of the same graces: now as the Spirit doth appoint every man his office, and gives unto every man his gift; so he doth give unto every man a success as it pleaseth him; and therefore though Paul may plant, and Apollo water, yet it is God that gives the increase; and the success is not always answerable unto the labor that is bestowed, even in the best, we see it in Christ himself, he did spend his whole life, and his very radical moisture in labor, Esa. 49.4. as the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 doth signify, and yet he doth himself complain, That he had labored in vain, and spent his strength for naught, &c. So when the Prophets had received a Spirit of Prophecy, and the Apostles a gift of Miracles, yet notwithstanding they could not act it when they would, but when the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, as it was with Samson; and therefore it's a kind of a Proverb that Luther has in Gen. 4.4. Spiritus Sanctus non semper tangit cor Prophetarum, The Spirit doth not always touch the Prophets heart: so the Apostles had a gift of healing, but they could not heal when they would; and therefore when Epaphroditus had been sick, and was nigh death also, Paul who had the gift of healing (for when they brought from him but handkerchiefs and aprons, the diseases departed from them) yet he cannot now heal him who was so dear to him, and whose ministry was so useful: it's not in a man's power therefore to act his own gifts, he cannot use his own abilities at his own pleasure: as there is an ability in a man to gather and know much of God by his works that are in the world, yet it is according as God did point and direct his understanding, or else he could never do it: Rom. 1.19. it is manifest in the creation of the world, for God has shown it unto them; and to know what seed to sow, and with what instruments to thresh, and when the ground is fit for seed, and when it is sufficiently plowed, &c. It is God that doth instruct him to discretion, Esa. 28.26. The men of might cannot find their hands; they were men of strength, and they were skillful in war, but they could not use it at such a time, they could not find their hands, it is unto them as if they had no strength, as if they had had no skill, for they have no use of them: therefore remember this when you place your sufficiency so much in these things.

(5) As they that have these gifts cannot act them of themselves without God's assistance, so neither can they give success to them, or make them in any measure effectual: the best men have but their measure, Rom. 12.4. God has not given all gifts to one man, and therefore the greatest and the best and most eminent member of the body shall have need of the gifts of the meanest; there is a supply of every joint unto the edifying of the body, there is something in the meanest Saint that thou mayest despise as weak-gifted, yet it is wanting in thee, and thou canst not give success to thy greatest endeavors, but he that gives the gift must give the blessing: mundus non potest esse sine personarum discrimine, there must be Princes, and Rulers, and Governors, sed dona non sequuntur illas differentias, &c. and so it is here; the effect doth not always follow the abilities, but a man of lesser gifts shall bring forth more fruit to God, than he that thinks himself most sufficient; For the Lord resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble; he will give the success there where he may have the glory, and many times a man of great ability is laid aside, though he labors, yet he brings nothing to pass, and a man of lesser parts is blessed exceedingly; and the reason is, the one is too great in his own eyes, or in the eyes of others; and therefore the Lord cannot use him, non patitur in regno suo superbiam, God cannot bear pride in his Kingdom.

(6) When we place our sufficiency in them, that will provoke the Lord to take them away from us; there are two things that provoke God exceedingly, one is being weary of our work, as it was in Moses, and the other is when we do exalt ourselves in our work, and put an excellency upon ourselves for our own actings; therefore says the Lord, From him that hath not shall be taken away, he will put thee out of thy stewardship, if thou waste his goods to maintain thy own pride; and there is nothing in the world doth blast the parts of men more, and provoke God to take them away in judgment, and the man dies besotted, he withers in all the greenness that did appear so fresh in him; he doth in this (saith Luther ) as Vespasian, when he saw there was no way to take men off from seeking wealth, aequo animo patiebatur eos ditari, with a patient mind suffer men to be rich; but he said, Divites spongiam esse, there would come a pressing time when men that gathered so much for themselves should go empty away; remember this ye that forget the Lord, and place a sufficiency in any gift that God has given you, the Lord will certainly deprive thee of it, and thy folly shall be made manifest.

2. When men do place not only sufficiency in their gifts, but in grace received, which a man also is very apt to do; and let me tell you, it is the highest spiritual pride in the world, and is an abuse of the highest gift and grace of God. (1) Consider it is quite contrary to the nature of grace, which is to live in another, and to fetch all from another, and therefore it is an unnatural sin. (2) No man can act his own grace, Deus agit immediate. (3) Grace is but a creature, and may decay in the degrees of it, and it doth oftentimes, I and in the essence it would also, if it were not preserved by an almighty power; for it is not in its own nature immortal seed. (4) It doth make grace an Idol, and so it provokes the Spirit to withdraw from his own graces, so that he shall delight to see the ruin of his own workmanship.

[Object.] But you will say, Do not we read in Prov. 14.14. That a good man is satisfied from himself, and that there is a sufficiency that the Saints should seek in themselves?

[Answ.] (1) Remember this is not in opposition to God, or apart from God, but in subordination to God. (2) There is a double sufficiency: [1] Not receiving an addition of good; so God only is sufficient. [2] As containing all things necessary; and so there is a sufficiency in grace, for it brings all things into the soul, and fills it.

1. There is a great proneness in the best men unto this great evil, that having received grace, they place their sufficiency in it, and that for matter of strength and matter of comfort. (1) As to matter of strength, a man that has received grace is apt to think, that he being made alive from the dead, is able now to perform those vital actions that flow from this life; surely now I can hear, I can pray, and can perform the duties of godliness as becomes a living man; or if by the power of sin and the strength of temptation the outward act be hindered and interrupted, yet they cannot hinder the inward workings of the Spirit; and as I am able to do that which is good, so I shall be able to resist that which is evil: so that as grace is in me a well of water springing up to everlasting life in the duties of holiness; so also it will of itself work out the mud of corruption that Satan and the old man doth cast into it from day today: and we see this in Peter, he had received a principle of grace, and his heart was warmed with a true fire, the principle of the love of Christ, whom he loved so greatly, that he thought it impossible that he should so far forget it as to deny him, and therefore he speaks for himself after the resolution or presumption of his heart; Whatsoever other men do, yet though I should stand by him alone, come what will come, I will confess him in the face of danger, I will never deny him; and so many a man doth by the strength of grace received promise himself security from some sins, and therefore they are secure in themselves, and exceeding censorious of others. It is true, men will say, I cannot resist rovings of heart, and vain desires, and sinful love, and carnal fear, and inordinate passions, &c. but for drunkenness and adultery, murder, persecution of the Saints, or Apostasy from Religion, and the Truths of God, I hope I am secure from these; and the man walks not in fear of them: and it's very common for young and weak Christians so to do, and they are exceeding bitter and censorious against other men, and they immediately question their estates, whom they see do fall into these sins, which they ignorantly conceive, that the very being of grace secures them from. And so it is in respect of duties, having received grace, he doth conceive, that he can pray, and hear, and perform the duties of God's worship in another manner than a natural man can, for he has received a new principle, and therefore having done a duty at one time, having trusted God, or shown forth an act of love to God, he thinks he can do the same at another time; and by this means a man is the less solicitous for an immediate supply for the discharge of such duties as he is to perform; he thinks that he has received a stock sufficient to defray the charge: It is true, says he, if I am put upon a greater temptation, or upon the performance of any higher duties, then I shall see reason to go unto Christ for a supply; but as for these ordinary things in both kinds, the grace that I have already received is sufficient for it, according unto that ordinary and natural way of concurrence of God with his own grace, which doubtless he will delight in, as he doth concur with the creatures in the common actions of their lives; and so a man's sufficiency in point of strength is much in reference unto the strength of grace that he has received, either to perform duties, or to resist sin. And (2) as it is for matter of strength, so it is for matter of comfort also, having received grace from God, men turn in upon themselves, and by a reflection upon their own graces they think to raise their spirits under any desertion or dejection whatsoever; and therefore when they walk in the dark at any time, they are immediately poring upon their own graces, to see what witness their own spirits will give unto them, and by the evidence of their own hearts they conceive, that they can comfort themselves at any time, when they are in a doubt in the matter of their estates towards God. Principale speculum ad videndum Deum est animus rationals inveniens seipsum: hoc speculum verus poenitens non cessat quotidie inspicere, Bernard. de inter. Domo, The principal glass of seeing God is the rational soul, which a true Penitent inspects daily. Now a man looks into his own spirit, and sees his own face in this glass, and upon this glass he that should see God sees himself, and by this means thinks to raise and quicken and comfort himself from day today, which is the true reason why most Christians spend much more time in looking upon the witness of water, than upon that of blood, or of the Spirit, on the witnesses upon Earth much more than to the witnesses in Heaven.

2. There is a great policy of Satan therein: if it were in the power of the Devil man should never receive any good from God; for he that envied the good estate of man at first in which he was created, touched him with the same devillishness that was in himself, and thereby became a murderer from the beginning; for he left no good in the man, In me, that is, in my flesh there dwells no good thing; and he doth as truly desire and endeavor from the same principle of envy to keep out all good, as at first he did to cast it out; but if the Lord will sow wheat, and the envious man cannot prevent the seed-time, then he will take the opportunity to sow tares also with the wheat, that he shall dishonor God with the grace that he has received from him, and with it sacrifice unto himself, who is under Satan the great Idol, and by honoring himself he doth sacrifice unto Satan all the while; and so a man placing his sufficiency in grace received, even grace itself, if it were possible, should tend unto his destruction, that was a special grace, and with special and eternal love was given for his salvation; for Satan looks upon grace in the Saints as being the image of God, and as his greatest enemy, and that which he hates more than he does the souls of men, or anything in the world; for his main malice is at godly men only, because they bear God's image; for his hatred is directly against God, it is unto us but collaterally, and in the second place; as the Saints love God, and they love grace for God's sake, so the Devil directly hates God, and he hates grace as being that by which God is most honored; therefore his greatest designs are to pervert grace in the Saints, he will keep men as long as he can to stand out against grace, and resist it as long as he can, that the strong man armed may keep the house; but if he cannot keep grace out of the heart, then his next design is to advance grace above a creature, and set it in the place of God and Christ, and make grace itself to be an Idol, and the man to place his sufficiency in it, and his dependence upon it; and he knows that God is engaged against the habits of grace in the man, though they be the works of his own Spirit, the Apostle saith that there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an occasion that sin will take from the Law of God written in the book; and so it will from the Law of God written in the heart also; and therein the devillishness and the wisdom of the flesh in a great measure lies, that as the wise God doth make advantage by sin, and temper the greatest poison into the most wholesome Cordial, as we see in Viper-wine, if it be not well mixed, it presently kills; so the richest Cordial, even the grace of God, Satan tempers with his ingredients into the strongest poison, that it may be occultum & profundum malum quod homo non malus bonis operibus sese vestiat & alat; sed & ipsius fidei titulo sese palpet & venditet, &c. Serpentis antiqui caput hoc est, Luther Tom. 2. Thus as the Lord works by contraries bringing light out of darkness, and the greatest good sometimes out of the greatest evil; so doth Satan also work by contraries, and delights to do it, to bring darkness out of light, and to bring the greatest evil out of that which is the greatest good, even grace itself, for quo quis sanctior, eo pejor, the better the worse, if he place his sufficience and dependence upon the grace he has received; for that is Idolum speciosissimum, the most specious evil. Now that I may take the Saints off from a dependence upon their own graces, and that their sufficiency may be placed in God alone, consider these particulars. 1. Though grace be the best of all the creatures, and the image of God, and a new Creation wrought by the Spirit of Christ, which the Lord takes more delight in than he doth in all the creatures, and without which he can take no pleasure in any of them; yet grace is but a creature, and therefore the common nature of a creature doth belong to it, and that is to be defectible and subject in its own nature to decay. It's true, that it is the same image that is renewed in us, which we lost in Adam. Now as the image in Adam was subject to decay, so in its own nature this is also. As it is with the Angels, though they be confirmed in grace, and can never fall away (so it is with the souls of just men made perfect) yet being creatures, there is a defectibility in them, a possible folly, though not actual, he charges his Angels with folly, &c. and so there is in grace itself, it's true, grace cannot decay, but it is not properly from anything that is in itself, but from a double ground: (1) Ex foedere gratiae, from the Covenant of Grace, in which the Lord has promised that he will keep them, it's an everlasting Covenant to put his fear in their hearts, that they shall never depart from him; For we are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation, 1 Pet. 1. and so we cannot fall away, not ex interna renatorum constitutione, not from the intern constitution of the renewed, but because the faithfulness, and thereby the power of God is engaged for their preservation. (2) Ex fonte gratiae, from the Fountain of Grace; for the fountain of it is not in a man's self, it is of his fullness that we receive grace for grace; it is the image of the Son, and so it is not from God immediately, but as being laid up in him. So there is a great deal of difference between the image of God in Adam and in the Saints, as Austin has well observed, De Corruptione & Gratia, there is non solùm posse quod volumus, sed velle quod possumus: if the fountain of it were in ourselves, it might decay; but it being laid up in Christ, and he being by virtue of the personal Union impeccable, so long as grace in Christ doth not decay, it cannot decay in the Saints; for he has said, Because I live, you shall live also, Joh. 14.19. Quàm hominibus impossible est mixtum fermentum à pasta separare, tam impossible est diabolo Christum ab Ecclesia separare, Luth. therefore place not your sufficiency in a creature, for grace received is no more.

2. It is contrary to the very nature of grace to be made the ground of a man's dependence, for grace in its own nature is properly to be dependent upon another, and the fountain of its sufficiency is in another; therefore God is called the God of all grace, and the Sprit is the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of faith and love and joy; for all graces are fruits of the Spirit, and a man is said to be born of the Spirit upon this ground; Christ is the root, and we are the branches, he is the head, and we are the members; and therefore the fountain of the life of grace is in him, and not in us, the fountain of our life is Christ, and we live by union with him a life of holiness, as well as a life of righteousness; all is by union with him. And therefore some very learned men have maintained, That there are no habits of grace in us at all, but that we live by an immediate influence from the Spirit of Christ, which dwelling in us, doth act our spirits sometimes in a way of faith, sometimes in a way of love, sometimes in a way of godly sorrow, &c. which I cannot consent to, as being an extreme on the other hand; we are said to be new creatures, and created in Christ, and we are said to have faith and hope as fruits of the Spirit dwelling in us; and therefore we are exhorted to stir them up, and to act them, and to grow in them; and they are said to decay in us, and to increase in us, which cannot be in respect of acts merely by the Spirit of God working upon us, but we have truly a life within us, that is, an inward principle that puts forth vital actions, but yet it is a life that is maintained by union; and therefore though Paul saith, I live, yet he looks off from himself immediately upon the fountain of his life, and the manner of the conveyance of it, and that is by union continually; and therefore Phil. 1.19. we read of a supply of the Spirit, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , est dux chori, or as some say, quod ornamenta suppeditat sacras choreas agentibus, and so is as much as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , publicum subire munus, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Gymnasiis praeesse; and therefore he says, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , pag. 147. and for the particle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , some render it by subministrare, and so it notes a sweet, but yet hidden and secret supply; some insuper suppedito, to supply, aid, and all to add something to what a man had before, and some make use of that rule 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in compositione intendit significationem, and so they read it abunde suppeditare: from all which there are these particulars in the words. (1) That the Spirit is not communicated unto the Saints as a Spirit of Grace all at once, but by degrees, and this in a secret and an unobserved way. (2) That the Spirit hath undertaken this work as a public office and administration in the Church of Christ. (3) That the supplies of the Spirit come in by the teaching of the Spirit. (4) That the Spirits supplies are rich and abundant supplies in all things necessary unto the salvation of the Saints. Now the more any sin is against nature, as we say murder is, and unthankfulness is, and disobedience to parents is, the more hateful it is, and there is a principle in nature that is against all such sins in a special manner: and so is this also an unnatural sin, for grace to be set up in a man by God the Author of it, and yet for a man to deal so unnaturally with God, as to make the grace he hath received from him his own sufficiency, and neglect the God who alone is all-sufficient.

3. No man is able to act the grace that he hath received. Christ tells his Disciples plainly, Without me you can do nothing; not only by virtue of our union with Christ is our grace acted, but there must be a daily and a continual influence from Christ also, 2 Cor. 3.5. and the Apostle says, We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, &c. As there is an immediate dependence of all creatures upon the first cause, so there is of grace also upon its first cause: now Deus agit immediate cum omni agent creato, God acts immediately in all; so it's here also, and if the Lord will suspend but his own actings, no creature can act or do anything; as we see it in the fiery Furnace, in which the King of Babylon put the three Children, the fire remained true fire still, for it immediately consumed the men that were thrown in, but yet the Lord suspended the actum secundum, the second act of the creature, and it could not burn the three Children: as it is in the creature, so it is in grace much more; but the one is a natural, and the other is a supernatural concurrence, and therefore hath a more special and supernatural dependence and influence: now the Spirit is a free Agent, he works where, and when, and in what manner he pleaseth, sometimes God doth as it were withdraw himself from us, and then all our grace is becalmed, for it is as wind to the sails, and therefore we read of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the plerophory of faith: it is taken from the wind filling of the sails; for the Spirit of God is compared to wind; when he will fill the sail, a man is carried on with a full gale, or else he cannot move, he can but lie in the harbor, so that though the man hath grace, yet he can never be able to perform one good duty, either inward or outward, without further assistance. It is true, that the Lord doth commonly concur with grace, according to the measure given to the soul, as he doth with the rest of the creatures according to their kind; but yet the Lord will sometimes withdraw to let them see where their strength lies, and where the fountain of all their grace is, he will use his Prerogative, and leave a soul to itself, and then resolve a Christian into his principles; and one would think, having such a good foundation laid, such a stock laid in a man, he can think well, or speak well, or do well when he pleases, and he may begin to rouse up himself as at other times, as Samson did, no, he hath not so much as a sufficiency to think a good thought, all the grace that he hath cannot procure it to him.

4. All the grace that a man hath cannot free him from temptations, nor secure him from falling into the greatest and the foulest evil that a godly man is capable of. (1) It preserves a man from no temptation; grace could not preserve Adam in Paradise, or Christ himself from being tempted, whose grace was perfect: Viatoris gratia neminem intentabilem facit, The grace of a viator makes no man intentable; and therefore we see what dangerous temptations the Saints have had; Satan stood against David, as he did against Joshua, Zac. 3. but it was against the one for temptation, and the other for accusation, and grace could preserve from neither. (2) It cannot preserve a man from the greatest and the foulest falls; as we see how David fell into adultery, and murder, and numbering the people; and Samson also to the same sin of uncleanness again and again; and Peter denied his Master, and began to curse and to swear, that he never knew him, he wisht upon himself the most terrible and dreadful curses, if he knew the man. There are only two sins that a godly man is secure from by the state of grace, and that is, the sin against the Holy Ghost, and final impenitency; but it is not the grace that is in a man that doth secure him from falling into sin, but the state of grace by reason of his Head Christ Jesus, to whom he is united, and by reason of the Covenant under which he stands; therefore there is no sufficiency in that grace that will not preserve a man from the greatest sins and foulest falls; and indeed how is it possible that it should preserve us, that cannot preserve itself? as Austin did deride and mock the gods of the Heathen, They that cannot keep themselves but are stolen away, much less could they keep others; so it is of grace also, &c.

5. This will certainly provoke God against thy grace; though it be his own work, yet he will let it decay, as he doth his own Ordinances of the Law, which are called beggarly rudiments, and Nehushtan, a little piece of brass: God will abase the excellency of all creatures that we make an Idol of, and the Lord will let you see, that your grace cannot preserve you: and therefore there are two reasons why God hath let the Saints fall, and hath set before you their example. (1) Ostendit infirmitatem nostram, ut timeamus. (2) Judicium suum, quod minus nihil ferre possit, quàm superbiam, He shows (1) our infirmity, that we may fear. (2) His judgment, how much he hates pride. For it is for this cause that he doth give up the Saints unto such gross and dangerous falls, either to prevent pride, or to cure it; and therefore Bernard demands, Why, when the people of God do pray for grace above all things, God many times denies them the degree of grace that they desire? Oportet ipsam gratiam temperari, ne in elationis vitium incidamus, pag. 521. interdum subtrahitur gratia, interdum retrahitur, To keep from pride, &c. all is grounded upon pride, vel superbia, quae jam est, vel quae futura est, &c. pag. 729. either the pride that already is in the heart, or that which may be.

6. The supplies of grace the more immediate they are, the sweeter they are; for they come with a greater favor from the fountain of grace, from which they flow; My grace is sufficient for thee: and a Saint hath more sweetness when grace comes in from God and Christ immediately, than if it were in his own power or hand, to lay it out upon himself at his own pleasure: and as in respect of creatures, a supply from God immediately is sweeter than all the second causes in the world, as the woman's meal was better than if she had it still in her own hand; so much more is the supply of grace, dulcius ex ipso fonte, &c. for hereby Christ is immediately honored, and there is a continued love testified: it was the first sin and the first temptation to be simile Deo, scilicet ut bonorum suorum ipse sibi sit fons, ipse sibi copia, to be like God, the fountain of good to himself, &c. a godly man hates it, and curseth it to Hell from whence it came: as God hath laid up all grace in Christ, as the Steward to dispense it, so a gracious soul desires and delights it should be in Christ's hand, rather than in his own, and he would not take it out of Christ's hand, or make himself the fountain of his own grace for a world; for he says, My life is in Christ, and because he lives, I shall live also.

[Use 3] §. 3. It serves also for exhortation unto all you that have chosen the Lord for your God, that you be content with him alone, though you have nothing else; for there is an all sufficiency in him; he that was sufficient unto himself before there was any creature in Heaven and Earth, his self-sufficiency shall be thy all sufficiency: it is your Election that gives you an interest in God, Josh. 14.22. you have chosen the Lord unto yourselves, the Lord will not put himself upon any man, but he doth enlighten their minds, and sets the will at liberty to choose him for himself; for every man's portion is of his own choice, he is in this sense, though not in the Arminian notion, propriae fortunae faber, &c. so Dagon became the god of the Philistines, and Chemosh the god of the Amorites, it was by their own election: and having chosen the Lord God Jehovah to be your God, O study him, let your heart be wrapped up in the contemplation of him; there is a kind of ecstasy in love, there is a rapture, which is nothing else but supremus contemplationis gradus & mentis excessus, the supreme degree of contemplation and excess of mind, and be exhorted to use all the means to know God. There are three ways by which we may know God: (1) Viâ negationis, by way of negation, denying all the imperfections that are in the creatures to be in him. (2) Causalitatis, in a way of causality, all the good that is in the creatures comes from him, as its proper cause. (3) Eminentiae, in a way of eminence, and therefore all is in him, and in him in a more glorious manner than is or can be in the creatures: a man should use to set God before him in his greatness and in his glory, see him as a Sea, as being without banks or bottom; this is life eternal, to know God. O it is good for a man to drown his thoughts in this Sea; to cast himself into it by a holy meditation, and think till his thoughts be at a loss, till he can think no more. As a poor troubled soul, when he looks upon the wrath of God, his soul is swallowed up with it, and he can think himself into an endless maze, till he lose himself; so you should do in the all sufficiency of God, they are the narrow thoughts that we have of God, that are dishonorable to him, and are also uncomfortable to us, my thoughts are not as your thoughts; he is able to do above all that we can ask or think; according to thy fear such is thy wrath: and when you have viewed him in this manner, and found that there is a good in him beyond all things, more than thy thoughts and desires can reach, and what thou canst desire is not to be compared to him, (and yet the heart of man can frame to itself vast desires) now say, This God shall be my God forever and ever, and in him alone will I place my happiness and hope, I will be content with him alone, though I have nothing else; and let this be the full resolution and bent of thy heart so to do, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. It's true, that all men will acknowledge that God is the Fountain of life and the chiefest good, but it is in ore tantùm, only in mouth; but the Church brings in her soul speaking it as verbum mentis, the word of her mind, it's that which my soul doth embrace and consent unto; and that will make a man to be contented with him alone, and he will go out to no other; and so it was with David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee, &c. Now wherein is this contentment of soul in God to be found and manifested?

1. The soul lays up all in God, in him alone, it hath nothing out of God, as it hath nothing apart from God; for a godly man enjoys all in God, and God in all things, so that there is nothing that is not to be found in him: Thou art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head; the Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, my high tower; the Lord is my light and my salvation; the Lord is the strength of my life: it's sweet to see all to be in God, it's glorious to see the fullness that is in Christ, the beauty of him who is our Husband; but it is much more to see it in God, he is objectum ultimatum fidei, the ultimate object of faith, in whom the soul doth ultimately rest; and the Lord is all these, (1) unitive, unitedly, all of them are united in him, they do all meet in him as lines in a center, they are scattered in the creatures, but they are one in him; as the Attributes of God are diversified according to their objects, but they are one in God, so are all the excellencies of the creature, and therefore he is a Sun; all the light that was scattered abroad all over the earth, the Lord united in that body of the Sun, and made it a glorious body, because all light is in it; so all the excellencies and sufficiency that are continued and scattered in broken rays in the creatures, are all united in him. (2) It is in God eminenter, eminently, so that he shall be unto us the end of all things in a far more glorious manner than any creature can be; their Rock is not like our Rock, there is no God like our God, there is no God that can save after this sort, he is deliverance, he is protection, provision, and consolation, and salvation in such a way as no creature can be fully: indeed the creatures are good in their kinds, and they do fetch in supplies to one another, but it's still but as a creature; but God doth it in the manner of a God, as having all eminently in him; there is something of infiniteness, something that manifests a God, wherein God appears. (3) Causative, causally; the Lord is all things as being the cause of them all. Who laid up all these things in the creatures? was it not the Lord? doth not all provision come out of his storehouse? and doth not all protection from the creature come from himself? I will be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem; they had no wall; but what is wanting, says God, I will supply it; and they were never so guarded, they never lay down in so much peace, though the enemies were enraged against them round about; the Psalmist saith, The Lord takes my part, therefore I shall see my desire upon them that hate me: and the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. It's true, that there is something in creatures, but they are but instruments in his hand, and there is but so much good as he will put into them, and no more; so much wisdom, so much power, and so much provision as he will put into them, and no more; and the same creatures that are now used for you, he can turn against you; Armies and Navies, and wise men, and great men shall all combine against you for evil, as they have appeared for your good, if you forsake God.

2. Having God, the soul doth not run out after other things in an anxious and a solicitous way; but having him he saith, I have enough, whether I have much or little. Esau seemed to have a kind of contentment in the creatures, but he says only, I have much, multum habeo; but there is another kind of speech of Jacob, Sunt mihi omnia, I have all: having God, the soul hath room for no more, for you can have but all, and he that hath the Lord for his God hath all things else; and so Paul saith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , I abound and am full, a little supply is fullness to him, because there is God in all he hath; and therefore he looks upon all things else as things indifferent, if he have them they are not his portion, and he doth not set his heart upon them; and therefore when other men are busied all their days in a traffick of creatures, yet there is to him but one Pearl of great price, Phil. 3.20. his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , conversation or merchandise is in Heaven, all things here below are dross, My heart panteth, my strength faileth me, saith David; but the wicked his heart runs to and fro from one market of the creatures to another, and hunts what he can get of them; for his treasure is in the things below, he hath all his good things in this life, and his hope in this life, and then a man is miserable; but while other men are hunting for the creatures, as it's said of Nimrod, He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, it was for a Kingdom that he did hunt: there is a prey that all such men do pursue, as the Lord threatens, Jer. 16.16. I will bring many fishers and hunters upon you, that is, the Chaldeans, men skillful to take all prey, and they shall be hot and fierce in the pursuit of it; but the prey that the Saints hunt after is this, Ego Deum venor meum, &c. I hunt after my God, he that hath drunk of this water, his thirst is allayed in respect of all creature-comforts forever; and therefore it is enough whether he hath little or much; and he can be content with the things that are present, as the exhortation is, Heb. 13.5. and who can be more happy than that man, cui omnia sunt ex voto? humiles sunt, hoc volunt, paupers pauperie delectantur. Allow them but the Lord for their portion, and they can easily spare the things of this world unto the men of the world, and leave the pursuit of these things to them that have no higher good to follow.

3. He only fears the loss of God; if he can but keep God with him still, he fears nothing else, Psal. 27.1, 2. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? so long as God is with him, there is no fear enters into him. What misery or affliction is there in this world, that I cannot object God against it all? tell me of poverty, and can he be poor that has an interest in him that is Lord of all? tell me of disgrace, the Lord is my glory, and the lifter up of my head; tell me of danger, the Lord is my rock, and my shield, my high tower, if I can but keep him to me, it's enough for me: only the soul remembers that the rule is, The Lord is with you while you be with him. Now when his soul departs from God, then he remembers that it may befall the Saints sometimes that their shield is departed, and the Lord will give them up; their rock has sold them; and therefore his great solicitude is to keep God with him, his fear is ne discedat, lest he depart, and this is the ground of a double fear that is in the Saints, they fear the Lord, and they fear sin, which provokes God to depart from them; and therefore Chrysostom speaks it of Paul, and it was the same Spirit that is recorded to be in himself, and therefore he did intimate it de laudibus Pauli, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and therefore it was the same message that he sent to Eudoxa, when she breathed out threatenings against him, and sought his life, tell her that I fear nothing but sin; and therefore, Rom. 8. If God be with us, who can be against us? All the creatures are reconciled when God is reconciled, and they can do neither good nor evil, but as they are acted by him; and therefore the creatures are never against us, till God arm them against us, for they are all of them at his dispose, and it's no matter who is against us if God be with us; for they are but as the briars and thorns in battle against the fire walking in the middle of stubble; and truly this is the very condition of Saints in this world, when God is with them, there is a fire that goes out of their mouths, and destroys their enemies, Rev. 11.6. and he that will hurt them must in this manner be killed: they are never in any danger while their portion is with them; but woe to them when the Lord departs from them; therefore all their care is to keep with God.

4. They are not much troubled with the loss of all other things. It's true, they know that they must part with them, and they can do it with comfort when it is to enjoy God. A man that has a yoke-fellow that is truly the wife of his bosom, whom he loves as his own soul, in whom he delights above all creatures, both in her person, and in her graces, yet he saith, Farewell, I can part with you with joy, as the Martyr said, My Christ is dearer to me than all; if I were to live here, I would choose you above all the creatures; but now my portion is in him that is all in all, farewell. A man can with joyfulness bid an everlasting farewell to many comforts here, having his heart born up with his interest in God and his all sufficiency; whereas other men, if you take away their estates and creature-comforts, you take away their hearts also: for as it was said of Jacob, That his life was bound up in the life of the lad; so it is with them, if a friend be taken away, they sorrow as men without hope, and will go down to the grave mourning: but it's not so with a Saint, when he lives upon his portion, he considers, when he loses a creature-comfort, there is a bucket broken indeed, but the fountain remains, the way of conveyance is changed, but the same God that was all to me in that comfort, will be the same to me in another; and therefore his soul is not troubled much at the loss of any of the creatures, for his portion lies not in them; he is as rich as he was before, for they are no part of his treasure, his treasure is in Heaven, Mat. 6.21. Moritur tibi pater, filius, uxor, amittis rem, gloriam, sed non Christum; & quid magni est quod uxor, quod liberi perierint, cùm non periit Deus? And therefore when a soul comes to die, his eye runs unto the recompense of reward, the glory that is set before him, and that makes him forget that which is behind, and what he doth leave behind also; the sight thereof is so alluring and ravishing to his soul, that it's a small thing to part with anything for it; he that can sell all for Christ with joy, when the glory of Christ is discovered in the Gospel, surely much more can he with joy part with all, when he has the glory of God set before him, and is now about to enter into his masters joy.

5. Do not envy at the prosperity of the men of the world; for he that doth envy another man's condition, it argues he is not content with his own: it's true, there is a spirit in us that doth lust unto envy, Jam. 3. and it may prevail far upon a godly man, as we see it did upon the Psalmist, Psal. 73. Because waters of a full cup are wrung out to him; and therefore many godly men's hearts are bitter, because of the prosperity of the wicked. Now compare thy portion with theirs; as it's said, Two Ambassadors met, the French and Spanish, and one boasting of the greatness of his Masters Dominions, he was King of Spain and King of Aragon, Catalonia, Portugal; the other answered to them all, That his Master was King of France, implying, that there was more worth and wealth in his one Kingdom, than in all the Dominions of the other, set them all together: and so it is here, one man hath wealth, but I have God, saith the Saint; and he hath honor and esteem here in the world, but saith the Saint, I have God; there is no compare between the portion of the wicked and the portion of the godly; nay we should rather pity them in two things. (1) They have their portion here, they have received their consolation, it is all that ever they are like to have from the Lord: as when you see a young man have a portion of money left him, and he flaunts it out, and is in all his glory, you say it will be spent, and he hath no yearly income, this is all, it hath no root that it may grow again, as all the contentments of the Saints have. (2) To have a fullness of all things here, and to have their eyes closed up by the creatures, and their spirits drowned in them, to go out of a great estate to meet nothing, and leave all behind them, as Dives from all his riches to want a drop of water, to go from all his glory to shame and everlasting contempt, to say as Adrian the Emperor did, Animula vagula, &c. what a misery is it? and it is a token of a man's content, when he would not be in another's condition, but thinks his own to be best, as Paul said to Agrippa, when he stood to be judged, he did not wish himself in the Kings condition, but the King in his, as the greatest Kings will do one day, O that I might die the death of the righteous!

6. Rejoice in God, Phil. 4.4. bless your souls in your choice: let thy soul go out to him with a holy kind of complacency from day today. As a man that hath chosen a yoke-fellow, and is pleased in his choice, he can delight himself in her, she is to him as the young Hind, and the pleasant Roe, Prov. 5.19. so it is with God much more; a Saint takes more comfort in the thoughts of God, and meditation of him, than in all the comforts of the creatures in Heaven or Earth, and therefore thoughts of God do secretly steal away his heart with a sweet and unspeakable delight: as it is with a man in the pleasures of sin, his soul is stolen away with the thoughts of them insensibly, much more is it so with the thoughts of God; as the Lord having chosen us, doth rejoice over us as a Bridegroom over his Bride, Hephzibath, much more should we rejoice in him as our portion. There are two things wherein joy is exercised: (1) Contemplation, when a man takes a view of the happiness of his own condition by reason of his interest, as Nebuchadnezzar doth, Is not this great Babel that I have built? and Jezebel to Ahab, Dost not thou now govern Israel? So a Saint, Is not the Lord my portion in the land of the living? (2) There is a dilatation in joy, it doth enlarge the heart, and thereby prepares it for the entertainment of the object; for it doth transport, or carry a man beyond himself; as we see in David's dancing before the Ark; and the Saints should be much in rejoicing in God, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

7. Make your boast of God, glory and triumph in him, My soul shall make her boast of God: as it's said of wicked men that boast themselves in their vain gods, &c. so a Saint should make his boast in God, and say, I have made a sweet choice, I have a goodly heritage; and undervalue all other Beloveds in comparison of your own, There is no God like unto our God. Make your challenge to the men of the world, and bid them bring forth all the gods of the world, and let them be compared with Jehovah; there is none like the Lord; therefore in thy choice bless thy soul that there is no rock like our Rock; this God is our God, and there is none besides him; triumph over all thy enemies and their opposition, In thy strength we shall tread down our enemies, bear yourselves high upon your God, despise them, say, The virgin daughter of Zion hath laughed thee to scorn; we care not though they be gathered together against us, they shall fall, for God is with us, At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth, &c. And this is to have a self-sufficiency, and to have a man's mind conformed to the greatness of his interest: these things can never be known but by experience and practice: nunquam futurum, ut quis speculative tantùm fiat Christianus, none ever became a Christian by speculation only.

[Use 4] §. 4. See and observe from hence the happy condition of the Saints, that they have an interest in the all sufficiency of God, Psal. 144. ult. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. It's a special duty that lies upon the people of God, to maintain in themselves high thoughts of their own interest, and the excellency of their condition; and a special step to bring men in to God, is to have their thoughts raised, and a high esteem of the blessed condition of them that have an interest in him: and here consider,

1. It's the highest way of honoring God that can be in this life. It's a great honor to God for a man to see so much excellency in him as to choose him at the first sight; but many a man that doth so, may afterwards fall from his former apprehensions, and then his former affections do wax cold; as there is many a man makes choice of Christ, and calls him the chiefest often thousand, and yet afterwards it may be said to him, Where is the blessedness you spake of? Gal. 4.15. it is still the same it was in itself, but it was not so in their apprehensions; it's said, many of the followers of Christ went back from him, Joh. 6. and the Apostle speaks of men that do draw back, Heb. 10.39. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , subauditur 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , so Grot. We are not subductionis filii, in which is an Hebraism, and it signifies two things. [1] Men excellent or eminent in anything, addicted or inclined unto it, are said to be the sons of it, as 2 Sam. 2.7. there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the sons of valor, men eminent in it. [2] It signifies a man destinated and appointed unto it, as 1 Sam. 20.31. Saul saith of David he is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a son of death, a man judged and appointed unto death. Now there are some men that are the sons of Apostasy, men that are of themselves addicted and inclined to it, and they are by God judged to it, of old ordained, Jude 4. and it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which is subductio, a secret withdrawment in an unobserved way, not an Apostasy from the profession of the Truth, but a receding of the affections, and the inward dispositions of the soul they recoil; for as Job 31.27. he speaks of a man's heart being secretly enticed, and so there is a secret withdrawment of the inward man, and blessed is that Christian who keeps up his esteem of spiritual things, and that his apprehensions of them rise rather than fall; for love is grounded upon esteem, and as a man's apprehensions do decay, so will his affections also. Now this is the highest love that can be, when a man upon second thoughts, reflex thoughts can approve and applaud his own choice, and can bless himself in his heart, and say, I would not have it otherwise: so doth Paul show his love to Christ, I have and I do, yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, &c. and so do the men of the world show their love unto the things of the word, Psal. 49.18. While he lived he blessed his soul; and they are looked upon as the blessed and happy men by all the world, &c. that if a man were to choose his own lot, he would be in such a man's condition; but a godly man, if he had all the estates and conditions of the world before him, yet he would choose and prefer this before them all, to have an interest in God: As reflex acts do most fully show the settling of the soul in a sinful way, that a man doth approve of it afterwards, as by continuing impenitent in it, it is manifest; as the Devil, non invenit locum poenitentiae, ergo nec veniae, Bernard. so there is nothing that doth show the establishment of the soul so much upon God as this doth, that a man can reflect and take a review, and say, I would not have it otherwise for all the world; as these reflex thoughts of our interest in God are most comfortable unto us, so they are most honorable unto God also.

2. It's this that doth make a man to set light by the scorns and derisions that are put upon him by the world: it's true, that such are counted the only fools, men of low thoughts and weak spirits, that cannot please themselves with the face and glory of the times, as other men do; but the Saint saith, when he makes comparisons, (and that is one way of exercising of faith) There is no Rock but our God, their rock is not as our Rock, the enemies themselves being judges: the soul dares to compare with them all; Are there any amongst the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 they are called vanity, quia non subsistunt, non prosunt, because they neither subsist nor profit; so the soul says, Look upon all the gods of the world, Can they do this? as Saul said in a brag when he had almost ruined the Kingdom (for David saith it was weak, he bore up the pillars of it) will the son of Jesse give you fields and vineyards? &c. is there any comparison between the happiness that you enjoy under me, and what you are like to do under him? 1 Sam. 22.7, 17. And so the Saints of God say; and therefore they are content, as a worldly man is, populus mihi sibilat, at mihi plaudo, and that's enough, let the men of the world take their portion, but they are not like the portion of Jacob, Jer. 10.16. and therefore whatever they are in other men's esteem, so long as they are blessed in their own, they are happy, Nemo aliorum sensu miser est, sed suo, & ideo non possunt cujuscun{que} falso judicio esse miseri, qui sunt vere suâ conscientiâ beati, &c. Salv. pag. 8. Although wicked men upon earth can see no happiness in God, it doth no way abate the happiness of the Saints in glory who enjoy it; nay it doth the rather heighten it, when they consider that so many thousands have their portion in vanity, and yet Esa. 44.20. cannot deliver their own souls, and say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? then a man doth bless himself, and saith, Who made me to differ? As this will be a special part of the misery of the wicked at the last day, to see Abraham and Isaac and many come from the East and the West, and sit down with them in the Kingdom of Heaven, and they themselves thrust out; for the happiness of the Saints is a great means to aggravate the misery of the wicked: In die judicii gloriam beatorum videbunt, & poena eorum non minuitur, sed augebitur: (1) Propter invidiam de eorum foelicitate dolentes: (2) Propter privationem, quod ipsi talem gloriam amiserunt, Aquin. sup. quaest. 98. art. 9. so it will be a special part of the happiness of the Saints, that they shall see the misery of the ungodly, poenas videbunt damnatorum; contraria juxta se; therefore they shall see the misery of the wicked, ut beatitudo illis magìs complaceat, &c. Aquin. sup. quaest. 93. art. 1. and the same happiness in a measure is in this life begun, that the people of God are so far from envying the happiness of the wicked, that they pity them, much more to consider how they are fed as a lamb in a large place unto the slaughter-time, and how their portion is in vain things, and they have made lies their resting place.

3. This gives unto the soul in all its necessities and straits a city of refuge; a place of retreat, when it is put upon any distress, or when it is under any pursuit whatsoever; and the Saints are sometimes greatly distressed, as 1 Sam. 30.6. David was, and then they make their retreat unto the strong holds, Zac. 9.12. satis praesidii in uno Deo. When a man is pursued by the thoughts of his own heart, then that which is his portion, the man retires to, and in the bosom thereof he lies down; as we see in Haman, his heart was unquiet, he needed a cordial, for lust is tender, and it can bear nothing, now he retires to something to refresh him, Hest. 5.11. he talks of the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the King had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the rest of the Princes, &c. and by this he doth make a recruit unto his unquiet spirit; for it is from a man's chief good that in any trouble a man's cordial must be fetched; and so it is with a godly man also, Prov. 18.10, 11. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; and the rich man's wealth is his strong tower, they have each of them in all difficulties and dangers a retiring place, suitable unto what is their chief good; and here is the misery of an ungodly man, that when dangers come, his retiring place will not support him, but the storm doth sweep away his refuge of lies, and the waters overflow his hiding place, Esa. 28.17. as a man that in a storm gets to a shelter, but there is an interpluvium, it doth drop upon a man, and haply wet him the more; in a storm he casts anchor, but the anchor comes home, and is not able to be a stay unto his tossed vessel; they do hang all their hopes upon a nail, and it's not fastened in a sure place, and so it doth not uphold the burden, Esa. 22.23. but it's never so with the Saints, when they are pursued with temptations, with guilt, with fears on the right hand and on the left, yet Prov. 18.10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe, the word is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 it doth signify to be exalted, that is, to be set on high, out of reach, and so out of the fear of danger; it is not only a strong place munitus, fortified, sed sublimis, very high, Rev. 21.12, 16. it is a great and a high wall that had twelve foundations, and therefore must needs be strong and impregnable, and for the height it was 12000 furlongs; and this wall is nothing else but that in Zac. 2.5. The Lord will be a wall of defense unto them, that he that is within this wall, and hath gotten under this shelter, need not fear.

4. It's this that will keep and guard the heart from going out unto anything else whatsoever it be, because a man hath high thoughts of his sufficiency in God alone; for the true reason why men do go out to anything else, is because they believe not the all sufficiency of God; and the reason why the Saints that do believe in truth, have sallyings of heart out to the creatures, is because there is something wanting in their faith in this particular, Phil. 4.7. there is a peace of God which is a quieting of the soul in the wisdom and all sufficiency of God, when in his way we have committed all unto him, it doth guard the heart, and nothing else, it sets a strong guard upon the whole inward man, this wall is as well that none should break out, as that none should break in, it defends from all enemies, it's this that makes the souls of the glorified Saints impeccable, visio beatifica reddit impeccabiles. Now what is there in the beatifical vision so advantageous to a soul? (1) Cognition; a man doth perfectly know all the glory of God; and the Saints that know most of him here, he will hereafter come to be admired of them, 2 Thess. 1.10. and we know that admiration is the overplus of expectation, they will say when they come to Heaven, the one half was not told them, Oh how little a portion is known of him! (2) Application; there shall be a perfect application unto a man's soul, that he shall know his own interest in him, that all this is his right, that it is his fathers pleasure to make it to be his portion, which doth here much abate all the joy of the Saints in this life, that many times the soul is not able to apply the portion he hath in God to himself. (3) There is Fruition, which implies both actual possession and glorious satisfaction. And he that finds this in the Lord and his all sufficiency, he cannot go out unto anything else; for his soul is filled with it,