52 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LaM. III. 24.
that are in the highest authority, and that great oppressors, cruel tyrants, and crafty politicians shall be impoverished, and brought to penury, beggary, and misery. And this we have often seen verified before our eyes.
O Christian ! what though thou hast but a little of this world, yet the God of all mercies, and all the mercies of God, the God of all com- forts, and all the comforts of God, are thine ; and what wouldst thou have more ? In God is fulness, all fulness, infinite fulness ; and if thi.s, with a little of the world, will not satisfy thee, I know not what will. If a God for thy portion will not content thee, all the world will never content thee. Shall Diogenes, a heathen, be more content with his tub to shelter him, and with his dish to drink in, than Alexander was with all his conquests?' And shall not a Christian sit down contented and satisfied in the enjoyment of God for his portion, though he hath but a tub to shelter him, bread to feed him, and a dish of water to refresh him ? I shall conclude this head with a weighty saying of Cato's, Si quid est quo utar utor, si non seio quia sum ; mihi vitio vertunt, quia multis egeo, et ego illis, quia nequeunt egere. I have neither house, nor plate, nor garments of any price in my hands ; what I have I can use ; if not, I can want it : some blame me because I want many things, and I blame them because they cannot want.* Oh let not nature do more than grace ! Oh let not this heathen put Chris- tians to a blush ! But,
(3.) Thirdly, If God be the saint s portion, the sinners are much mis- taken, that judge the saints to be the most unhappy men in the world. There are no men under heaven in such a biassed and happy estate as the saints are, Baalam himself being judge, Num. xxiii. 5-11. A man that hath God for his portion, is honourable even in rags, Ps. xvi. 3. He liath some beams, some rays, of the majesty and glory of God stamped upon his soul, and shining upon his face, and glittering in his life; and he that is so blind as not to behold this, is worse than Balaam the witch. Though the blind Jews could see no form, nor comeliness, nor beauty in Christ that they should desire him, Isa. liii. 2 ; yet the wise men that came from the east could see his divinity sparkling in the midst of the straw ; they could see an heavenly majesty and glory upon him when he lay among the beasts, when he lay in a manger, Luke ii. 7. Witness their tedious journey to find him, and witness their worshipping of him, and witness those rich and royal presents that they brought unto him, Mat. ii. 11. So though the blind sots of the world can see no lovehness nor comehness,.no beauty nor glory, in the saints, or upon the saints, that should render them amiable and desirable in their eyes, yet God, and Christ, and angels, and those that are wise in heart and wise to salva- tion, can see a great deal of divine beauty, majesty, and glory upon all those that have God for their portion. There is no happiness to that of having God for a man's portion : Ps. cxliv. 15, ' Happy is that people that is in such a case' (but give me that word again), *yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.' He that hath not God for his portion
' The immortal ' tub,' belonging to the Metroum or temple of the mother of the gods. Cf. Seneca, Ep. 99. Lucian, Quomodo Conscr. Hist. ii. p. 364. Diog. Laert. vi, 23 ; Jnvenal xiv. 308; also Plutarch, Alexander, c. 14 — G.
* Aulus Gelliua. [Cato, sub Indice. — G.]
Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 53
can never be happy, and he that enjoys God for his portion can never be miserable. Augustine, speaking of one who, passing by a stately house which had fair lands about it, and asking another whom he met to whom that house and lands belonged, he answered, to such an one. Oh, says he, that is a happy man indeed. No, says the other, not so happy as you think; for it is no such happiness to have that house and land, but he is happy indeed that hath the Lord for his God, for that is a. privilege that exceeds all things whatsoever. Fch-, saith he, he that hath honour and riches may go to hell for all them, but he that hath God to be his God, is sure to be everlastingly happy. According as a man's portion is, so is he. Now, if God be a man's portion, who is the spring, the fountain, the top of all excellency and glory, then certainly that man must needs be an excellent man that hath God for his por- tion ; and upon this score it is that the righteous man is more excellent than bis neighbour.' Let the righteous man's neighbour be never so great, and never so rich, and never so mighty, and never so noble, yet if he hath not God for his portion, the righteous man is more excellent than he. And the reason is evident, because he hath that God for his portion that is most eminent and excellent. O sirs ! if God be most excellent, if God be alone excellent, then they must needs be most ex- cellent that have God for their portion. It is very observable that, according to the excellency of God, the excellency of the saints is in some proportion hinted at in Scripture ; as in that Deut. xxxiii. 26, 29, ' There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun ;' and presently it follows, 'Happy art thou,-0 Israel; who is like unto thee?' or. Oh the happi- nesses of thee, O Israel ! Oh the multiplied happiness, the heaped-up happiness, that attends Israel ! The saints that have God for their por- tion are the world's paragons; they are worthies 'of whom this world is not worthy ;' they are such great, such noble, such worthy worthies, that this world is not worthy to think on them, to look on them, to wait on them, or to enjoy their company. One saint that hath God for his por- tion, is more worth than all the millions of sinners in the world that have not God for their portion. God delights to reflect his glory upon his saints; for as there are none like to God, so there are none like to the people of God. Look, as God is a nonsuch, so his people are a nonsuch ; and so in that 2 Sam. vii. 22, 23, ' Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God ; for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears; and what one nation in the earth is like thy people V Look, as the excellency of God rises, so in a proportion the excellency of the saints rises ; and look, as there are no gods in all the world that are so excellent as God is, so there are no people in all the world that are so excellent as the people of God are. Every one that hath God for his portion resembles the child of a king, as Zeba and Zalmunna said to Gideon of his brethren. Judges viii. 18. If you look upon their divine and heavenly origin, you shall find that they are bom of the blood-royal, and that they are his sons who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords; yea, all the saints that have God for their portion are kings : Rev, i. 6, 'And hath made us kings