(3.) Thirdly, As God is an immense portion, a large portion, so God is an all-sufficient poHion : Gen. xvii. 1, * And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God : walk before me, and be thou perfect. I am God Almighty,' or as some carry the words, ' I am God all-suffi- cient, or self-sufficient.'' God hath self-sufficiency and all-sufficiency in himself Some derive the word Shaddai, that is here rendered almighty or all-sufficient, from Shad, a dug, because God feeds his children with sufficiency of all good things, as the tender mother doth the sucking child: Gen. xv. 1, 'After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram : I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward ;' I will be thy buckler to defend thee from all kind of mischief and miseries, and I will be thy exceeding great reward to supply thee with all necessary and desirable mercies ; and what can a saint desire more ? Ps. Ixxxiv. 1 1, * For the Lord God is a sun and shield ; the Lord will give grace and glory : and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' The sun, which among all inanimate creatures is the most excellent, notes all manner of excellency, provision, and prosperity ; and the shield, which among all artificial creatures is the chiefest, notes all manner of protection whatsoever. Under the name of grace, all spiritual good is wrapped up ; and under the name of glory, all eternal good is wrapped up ; and under the last clause, ' no good thing will he withhold,' is wrapped up all temporal good : all put together speaks out God to be an all-suffi- cient portion. Before the world was made, before angels or men had a being, God was as blessed and as glorious in himself as now he is. God is such an all-sufficient and such an excellent being, that nothing can be added to him to make him more excellent. Man in his best estate is so great a piece of vanity, Ps. xxxix. 5, that he stands in need of a thousand thousand things ; he needs the air to breathe in, the earth to bear him, and fire to warm him, and clothes to cover him, and an house to shelter him, and food to nourish him, and a bed to ease him, and friends to comfort him, &c. But this is the excellency of God, that he hath all excellencies in himself, and stands in need of nothing. Were there as many worlds as there are men in the world, and were all those worlds full of blessed saints, yea, were there as many heavens as there , ' Jn quo nihil desiderari possit boni. — Zanchius, de nat. Dei, lib. iv. cap. i. qu. 1.
16 AN AEK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. [LaM. III. 24.
are stars in heaven, and were all those heavens full of glorious angels, yet all these saints and angels together could not add the least to God ; for what can drops taken out of the sea add unto the sea ? what can finite creatures add to an infinite being ? Though all the men in the world should praise the sun, and say, The sun is a glorious creature, yet all this would add nothing to the light and glory of the sun ; so, though all the saints and angels shall be blessing, and praising, and admiring, and worshipping of God to all eternity, yet they shall never be able to add anything to God, who is blessed for ever. O Christians ! God is an all-sufficient portion : his power is all-sufficient to protect you ; his wisdom is all-sufficient to direct you ; his mercy is all-sufficient to pardon you ; his goodness is all-sufficient to provide for you ; his word is all-sufficient to support you and strengthen you ; and his grace
s all-sufficient to adorn you and enrich you ; and his Spirit is all- sufficient to lead you and comfort you ; and what can you desire more ? O sirs ! God hath within himself all the good of angels, of men, and universal nature ; he hath all glory, all dignity, all riches, all treasures, all pleasures, all delights, all comforts, all contents, all joys, all beati- tudes in himself All the scattered excellencies and perfections that be in the creatures are eminently, transcendently, and perfectly in him. Look, as the worth and value of many pieces of silver are contracted in one piece of gold, so all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth are epitomised in God, according to that old saying, Omne honum in sumTno bono, all good is in the chiefest good.' God is one infinite perfection in himself, which is eminently and vir- tually all perfections of the creatures. All the good, the excellency, the beauty and glory, that is in all created beings, are but parts of that whole that is in God ; and all the good that is in them is borrowed and derived from God, who is the first cause, and the universal cause, of all that good that is in angels or men. God is a sufficient portion to secure vour souls, and to supply all your wants, and to satisfy all your desires, and to answer all your expectations, and to suppress all your enemies, and, after all, to bring you to glory ; and what can you desire more ?
But now all earthly portions are insufficient portions ; they can neither prevent afflictions, nor support the soul under afflictions, nor mitigate afflictions, nor yet deliver a man from afflictions ; they can neither arm the soul against temptations, nor comfort the soul under temptations, nor lead the soul out of temptations.^ All the creatures in the world are but as so many cyphers without God ; when God frowns, all the creatures in the world are not sufficient to cheer the soul ; when God withdraws, all the creatures in the World are not suffi- cient to sustain the soul ; when God clouds his face, all the creatures in the world are not sufficient to make it day with the soul, &c. There is not enough in the whole creation to content, quiet, or satisfy one im- mortal soul. He that hath most of the world would have more, and he that hath least of the world hath enough, if his soul can but groundedly say, ' The Lord is my portion,' But,
* God is omnia super omnia ; and many of the very heathens counted God optimum maximum, the best and greatest.
« A golden crown cannot cure the headache, nor a purple robe cannot fray away a burning fever, nor a bed of gold cannot give ease to a distempered body, nor the velvet slipper cannot take away the paiu of the gout.
Lam. III. 24).] an ark for all god's noahs. 17