* all in all ;' and to encourage you to go to liim, remember there is in him not only ful- ness, but freeness. " O every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters !" Christ is not only full as the honey-comb, but he drops as the honey-comb.
5. If Christ be all, see here the Chris- tian's inventory, how rich is he. that hath Christ ! He hath all that may make him completely happy. Plutarch reports th.at the wife of Phocion being asked where her jewels were, she answered, " My husband, and his triumphs are my jewels !" so, if a Christian be asked, where are his riches, he will say, " Christ is my riches." A true saint cannot be poor ; if you look into his house, perhaps he hath scarce a bed to lie on, 1 Cor. iv. 11., "Even to this present hour, we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and have no certain dwelling-place." Come to many a child of God, and bid him make liis will, he saith as Peter, Acts iii. 6., " Silver and gold have I none :" yet he can at the same time make his triumph with the apostle, 2 Cor. vi. 10., " As having no- thing, yet possessing all;" he hath Christ V ho is all. When a believer can call no- tliing his, he can say all is his. The tabei'- nacle was covered with badgers' skins, Exod. XXV. 5., yet most of it was of gold : so a saint may have a poor covering, rag- ged clothes, but he is inlaid with gold,
* Christ is formcil in liis heart,' and so he is all glorious within.
6. How could a Christian sit down satis- fied with Christ ! ' Christ is all.' What though he wants other things, is not Christ enough ? If a man hath sunshine, he doth not complain he wants the light of a can- dle; hath he not enough who hath ' the un- searchable riches of Christ ?' I have read of a godly man, who being blind, his friend
asked him if lie was not troubled for the wajit of his sight ; he confessed he was ; " Why," saith his friend, " are you troubled because vou want that which flies have, when you have that which angels have ?" So I say to a Christian, Why art thou trou- bled for wanting that which a reprobate has, when thou hast that which the glori- fied saints have? Tliou hast Christ with all his perquisites and royalties ! Suppose a father should deny his son furniture for his house, but should settle all his land upon him, had he any cause to complain ? If God denies thee a little furniture in the Avorld, but in the mean time settles his land upon thee, he gives thee the field wherein the pearl of price is hid, hast thou any cause to I'epine ? a Christian that wants necessaries, yet having Christ, he hath the one thing needful. Col. ii. 10., " Ye are complete in him." What ! complete in Christ, and not content with Christ ? Luther saith, the ^ea of God's mercy should swallow up our par- ticular afflictions ; surely this sea of God's love in giving us Christ, should drown all our complaints and grievances; let the Christian take the harp and the viol, and bless God.
7. If Christ be all, see the deplorable condition of a Christless person ; he is poor, he is worth nothing. Rev. iii, 17., " Thou art wretched, miserable an<l ])oor," &c. The sadness of a man that wants Christ, will appear in these seven particulars.
(1.) He hath no justificuition. AVhat a glorious thing is it when a poor sinner is absolved from guilt, and is declared to be rectus in curia ! hut this privilege flows from Christ ; all pardons are sealed in his blood, Acts xiii. 31)., " By him all that believe are justified ;" so that he who is out of Christ is unjustified ; the guilt of sin cleaves to him; he must be responsible to justice in his own person, and the curse stands in full force against the sinner.
(2.) He that wants Christ, wants the beauty of holiness; Jesus Christ is a living spring of grace, John i. Ik, "Full of grace and truth." Now a Christless person, is a graceless person, he hath not one shred of holiness. The scions must first be ingraft- ed into the stock, before it can receive sap and influence from the root; we must first
CHRIST ALL IN ALli.
651
be inprafted into Christ, before we can " of his fulness receive grace for grace," JoJin i. 16. A man out of Christ is red witli guilt, and black with fdth ; lie is an unhal- lowed person, and dying in that condition, is rendered incapable of seeing God, Ileb. xii. 14.
(3.) He that wants Clirist, hatli no true nobility; it is through Christ that we are a-kin to God, — of the blood-royal of hca- ven ; it is through Christ that " God is not asliamed to be called our God," Ileb. xi. 16. But out of Christ we are looked upon as ignoble persons; the traitcu's' blood runs in our veins ; a man out of Christ is base born ; whoever is his natural father, the devil is his spiritual father, John iv. 48.
(4.) lie that wants Christ, wants his freedom; John viii. 36., " If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed." A man out of Christ, is a slave, when he sins most freely.