(6.) Sixthly, If the saints have such an excellent and such a trans- cendent portion, as hath been discovered, then away with all sinful shifts, ways, courses, and compliances to gain an earthly portion. Was it not horrid, yea, hellish baseness in Ahab, who had a whole kingdom at his devotion, to possess himself of poor Naboth's vineyard, by false swearing, hypocrisy, treachery, cruelty, and blood ? 1 Kings xxi. But, certainly, it is a far greater baseness and wickedness in those that have God for their portion, or at least pretend to have God for their portion, to be a-sharking,^ and a-shifting, and a-complying with the lusts of men, and with the abominations of the times ; and all to hold what they have, or else to raise themselves, and greaten themselves, and en- rich themselves, by others' ruin. These men might do well to make that Jer. xvii. 11 their daily companion : ' As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not ; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.' The crafty fox in the fable hugged himself to think how he had cozened the crow of his breakfast ; but when he had eaten it, and found him- self poisoned with it, he wished that he had never meddled with it. O sirs ! there is a day a-coming, wherein men shall wish that they had never laboured to sin themselves into honours, riches, preferments, high offices, and high places, when God shall let some scalding drops of his wrath to fall upon their spirits, who have sold all Christ's and Chris- tians' concernments, and their own consciences, to gain riches and high offices ! How will they curse the day wherein they were born, and be ready, by the knife or the halter, to put an end to their most wretched days ! Oh what a sad and lamentable thing would it be to see men worth many thousands a-year a-purloining from others ! But it is a far more sad and lamentable thing to see men who pretend to have God for their portion, to act all this, and more than this, and all to lay up an earthly portion for themselves and others. How many be there in these days who pretend very high towards God, and yet ' sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes,' Amos ii. 6 ; yea, that pollute the name of God, the worship of God ; and that slay the souls of men for handfuls of barley, and pieces of bread ; and that will say anything, or swear anything, or bow, or crouch to anything, for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, or to be put into one of the priest's offices, Ezek. xiii. 19, 1 Sam. ii. 36. 0 Christian, thou hast all honours and riches and preferments in that God that is thy portion ; and why then shouldst thou go about to sin thyself into the enjoyment of those things which thou hast already in thy God ? Hast thou forgot that
Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 59
Solomon got more hurt by his wealth, than ever he got good by his wisdom ? and that David was best in a wilderness, and that our sto- machs are usually worse in summer, and that the moon is furthest from the sun when it is fullest of light ; and that all that a man gets by break- ing with God and his conscience, he may put in his eye ; and that the coal that the eagle carried from the sacrifice to her nest, set all on fire.* Have you forgotten what is said of Abraham in that Gen. xiii 2, viz., ' That lie was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold ?" The Hebrew word cabbedh, that is here rendered rich, signifies heavy, to shew that riches are a very heavy burden, and oftentimes an hindrance in the way to heaven. Oh ! how vain, how uncertain, how vexing, and how divid- ing are the great things of the world ! How unfit do they make many men to live, and how unwilling do they make many men to die ! Oh what is gold in the purse, when there is guilt upon the conscience ! What are full bags, when sin and wrath are at the bottom of them ! O sirs ! you have an infinite fulness in that God that is your portion, and that fills all in all ; and whv then should you break the hedge to gain the world ? But,
(7.) Seventhly. If the saints have such an excellent, glorious, and incomparable portion, 1 Cor. i. 31, oh then let them glory in their por- tion, let them rejoice and delight thernselves in their portion. Man is a creature very apt and prone to glory in earthly portions, when he should be a-glorying in the Lord : Jer. ix. 23, 24, * Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteous- ness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord ;' Isa. xli. 16, ' Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel ;' and chap. xlv. 25, * In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Oh how should the saints, that have God for their portion, make their boast of their God, and rejoice in their God, and glory in their God ! Shall the men of the world glory in an earthly portion, and shall not a saint glory in his heavenly portion ? Shall they glory in a portion that they have only in hope, and shall not a Chris- tian glory in that portion that he hath already in hand ? Shall they glory in a portion that they have only in reversion, and shall not a saint glory in that portion that he hath in present possession ? Shall they glory in their hundreds and thousands a year, and shall not a Christian glory in that God that fills heaven and earth with his glory ? In all the scriptures there is no one duty more pressed than this, of rejoicing in God ; and indeed, if you consider God as a saint's portion, there is everything in God that may encourage the soul to rejoice in liim, and there is nothing in God that may in the least discourage the soul from rejoicing and glorying in him.^ O Christians, the 'joy of the Lord is your strength,' Neb. viii. 10 ; it is your doing strength, and your bearing strength, and your suffering strength, and your prevailing strength ; it is your strength to work for God, and it is your strength
' .^sop: [Balorius].— G.
* Compare these scriptures together: Philip, iii. 1, iv. 4; Ezek. x. 17; Joel ii. 23; Pa. xxxiji. 1, lixix. 12, 13, tjdix. 1, 2.
60 AN ARK FOR ALL GOD'S NOAHS. [LAM. III. 24.