[7.] Seventhly, and lastly. The light of all bodies is (he most incom- pound light ; it will never mix with darkness ; no more will God : 2 Cor. vi. 14, 'What communion hath light with darkness V The na- ture of God is void of all composition. Light expels darkness, it never mixes nor mingles with it. By what has been said, you see that God is a pure and an unmixed light, and that in him there is no darkness at all.
But now all worldly portions are mixed with many troubles, sorrows, cares, fears, hazards, dangers, vexations, oppositions, crosses, losses, and oftentimes with many gripes of cor;science too. All earthly portions are mixed portions ; the goodness of all creatures is a mixed goodness ; our wine is mixed with water, our silver with tin, our gold with dross, our wheat with chaff, and our honey with gall, &c. Every bee hath his sting, and every rose hath his prickles; and this mixture speaks out all earthly portions to be 'vanity and vexation of spirit,' Eccles. i. 13.a
' See Justin, xviii. 8. — Q.
* All earthly riches are true gardens of Adonis, where we can gather notliing but tri- vial liuwers, surrounded with many briars and thorns.
Lam. Ill, 24] an aek for all god's noahs. 21
That great prince Xerxes was wont to say, You look upon my crown and my purple robes, but did you know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up.^ And who is there in this our English Israel that cannot with both hands subscribe to this ? The emblem of King Henry the Seventh, in all his buildings, in the windows, was still a crown in a bush of thorns f wherefore, or with what historical allusion he did so, is uncertain ; but surely it was to imply thus much, that great places are not free from great cares, that no man knows the weight of a sceptre but he that sways it. This made Saul to hide himself amongst the stuff, when he should have been made king. Many a sleepless night, many a restless day, many a sad temp- tation, and many a busy shift,^ will their ambition cost them, that affect such places of eminency. Besides, high places are commonly very slip- pery ; he that stands in them may suddenly fall, and wound his con- science, or easily fall and break his neck. But,
(6.) Sixthly, As God is a pure and unmixed portion, so he is a glorious, a happy, and a blessed portion, Ps. xvi. 5, 6. He is so in himself, and he makes them so too who enjoy him for their portion : Ps. xxxiii. 12, ' Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.' All the happi- ness and blessedness of the people of God stands in this, that God is their God, and that he is their portion, and that they are his inheritance. The Hebrew word ashrei, that is here rendered blessed, is. Oh the bless- edness ! or Oh the heaped up happiness of those whose God is the Lord ! The happiness of such is so great and so glorious, as cannot be conceived, as cannot be uttered. The words are a joyful acclamation for their felicity that have God for their portion : Ps. cxliv. 15, ' Happy is that people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of the people, from ver. 12 to ver. 15, at last concludes, 'Blessed are the people that are in suchacase ;' but presently he checks and corrects himself, and eats, as it were, his own words, but rather, ' happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' The Syriac rendereth it question- wise, ' Is not the people [happy] that is in such a case ?' The answer is, 'Ko,' except they have God to boot, Ps. cxlvi. 5. Nothing can make that man truly miserable that hath God for his portion, nor nothing can make that man truly happy that wants God for his portion. God is the author of all true happiness ; he is the donor of all true happiness ; he is the maintainer of all true happiness, and he is the centre of all tnia happiness and blessedness ; and, therefore, he that hath him for his God, for his portion, is the only .happy man in the world.*
But now all earthly portions cannot make a man truly happy and blessed, A crown, a kingdom cannot ; for Saul and other princes have found it so. Honours cannot ; for Haman and others have found it so. A high and noble birth cannot ; for Absalom, Amnon, and others have found it so. Riches cannot ; for the ,rich fool in the Gospel, and many thousand others, have found it so. Large dominions and great com- mands cannot ; for Ahasuerus, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and others, ■ ' Plutarch: Xerxes— G. * B. Hall. » ' Expedient'.— G,
* If a man should make a criticul inquiry after true happiness, from the highest angel in heaven to the lowest worm on earth, the joint voice of all the creatures would be, that happiness is not in them.
22 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24.
have found it so. Policy cannot ; for Ahithophel and other great coun- sellors have found it so. Glorious apparel and delicate fare cannot ; for Dives and others have found it so. Applause and credit among the people cannot ; for Herod and others have found it so. Learning and great gifts cannot ; for the scribes and pharisees, and many others, have found it so. No earthly thing, nor earthly creature, can give happiness nor blessedness to man. Non dot quod non habet, nothing can give what it hath not. If the conduit hath no water, it can give no water ; if the sun hath no light, it can give no light ; if the physician hath no remedy, he can give no remedy, &c.
But now it is a very true observation, though it be a very sad observa- tion, viz.. That every wicked Tnan's portion is cursed unto him.
Do but compare the scriptures in the margin together,' and then let conscience judge. All a wicked man's relations are cursed to him, and all a wicked man's contentments and enjoyments are cursed to him, and all his mercies within doors are cursed to him, &c. What though a man should match with one that hath many thousand bags of gold for her portion, yet if the plague should be in every bag, would you count him happy in this match ? Surely no. Verily this is the case of every man that hath not God for his portion. But