[3.] Thirdly, If God be thy portion, then thou wUt holdfast thy portion, and rather part with anything than part with thy portion. Naboth would not upon any terms part with his inheritance ; he would rather let all go, yea, his very life go, than let his inheritance go, his portion go : 1 Kings xxi. 3, ' And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee ;' or, as the Hebrew hath it. This be abomination to me from the Lord ; that is. The Lord keep me from this as from an abominable thing. To alter or alienate the property of inheritances was expressly forbidden by God in his law, Lev. xxv. 23 ; Num. xxxvi. 7 ; Ezek. xlvi. 18 ; and therefore Naboth looks upon Ahab's offer and motion as a detestable and an abominable thing, and resolves to hold fast his inheritance, whatever it cost him. So a Christian will hold fast his God, whatever comes on it ; he will let anything go, rather- than let his God go or his Christ go : Cant. iii. 4, ' It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth ; I held him, and would not let him go, until I Jiad brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of
88 AN AEK FOR ALL GOD's NOAHS. [LaM. III. 24.
her that conceived me/* The Hebrew word that is here rendered Jield is from aehaz, which signifies to hold, as a man would hold his posses- sion, his inheritance. The word signifies to hold with both hands, to hold with all one's might and with all one's strength ; and thus the spouse held the Lord Jesus ; she held him with both hands ; she held him with all her might and with all her strength ; she held him with a holy violence, with an holy force ; she held him as a man would hold his prisoner that had a mind to escape, or as a man would hold his sword or buckler when his life is in danger. So Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 26, * And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, •except thou bless me.' When Jacob was all alone, and in a dark night, and upon one leg, and when his joints were out of joint, and he very much over-matched, yet then he holds God fast, he wrestles and weeps, and weeps and wrestles, he tugs and sweats, and sweats and tugs, and will not let go his hold, till, like a prince, he had prevailed with God, Hosea xii. 4. Ruth, you know, was so glued to her mother Naomi, that no arguments could prevail with her to leave her mother. She was fully resolved in this, that whither her mother went she would go, and where her mother lodged she would lodge, and that her mother's people should be her people, and her mother's God her God, and that where her mother died there she would die, and there would she be buried, Ruth i. 14-19. So a man that hath God for his portion is so glued to his God, that nothing can take him off from fol- lowing of God and from cleaving to God. When David was in his ■ wilderness condition, yet then his soul followed hard after God, then his soul stuck close to God : Ps. Ixiii. 1, 2, ' O God, thou art my God ; early will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.' Ver. 8, ' My soul followeth hard after thee ;' or, as the words may be read, ' My soul cleaveth after thee.' David's enemies did not follow harder after him than he followed hard after God. The wife in a man's bosom could not cleave so close to him as David's soul did cleave close to God when he was in a wilderness estate, when he was in an afflicted condition. It is nothing to follow God in a paradise, but it is rare to follow God in a wilderness ; it is nothing to follow God when the way is strewed with rose-buds, but it is the glory of a Christian to follow God when the way is strewed with thorns and briars ; it is nothing to follow God in a crowd, or with the crowd, but it is the excellency of a Christian to follow God in a wilderness, where few or none follows after him ; it is nothing to follow God in the midst of all encouragements, but it is wonderful to follow God in the midst of all discouragements. Oh the integrity ! oh the ingenuity ! oh the strong intention ! oh the deep affection ! oh the noble resolution, of that Christian that hangs upon God in a wilder- ness, and that cleaves to God in a wilderness, and that follows hard after God in a wilderness ! Look, as Shechem's soul did cleave to Dinah, and as Jacob's soul did cleave to Rachel, and as Jonathan's soul did cleave to David in the very face of all hazards, dangers, difficulties, troubles, trials, and distresses, so the very soul of a man that hath God for his portion will cleave to God in the very face of all hazards, dangers,
' The motto of a Christian, whilst he is in the wilderness of this world, is self-diffi- dence and Christ-depeudence, Cant. viii. 5.
Lam. III. 24.] an ark for all god's noahs. 89
difficulties, troubles, trials, and distresses that he meets withal, Ps. xliv. 8-23. It is neither the frowns of men, nor the reproaches of men, nor the scorns of men, nor the contempts of men, nor the oppositions of men, nor the treacheries of men, nor the combinations of men, that will work him to let go his hold of God. A man that hath God for his por- tion knows that, whilst he holds his God, he holds his life ; and that, whilst he holds his God, he holds his comfort, his crown, his heaven, his all ; and therefore he will rather let all go, than let his God go. And so much the several leave nots that are scattered up and down in the blessed Scripture doth clearly evidence ; as that in 1 Kings viii. 57, * The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers : let him not leave us, nor forsake us ;' and that Ps. xxvii. 9, ' Hide not thy face far from me ; put not thy servant away in anger ; thou hast been my help ; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.' And so Ps. cxix. 121, ' I iiave done judgment and justice ; leave me not to mine oppressors.' And so Ps. cxli. 8, ' But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord : in thee is my trust ; leave not my soul destitute,' or leave not m}'^ soul naked, as the Hebrew word signifies. And so in that Jer. xiv. 9, ' Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save ? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name ; leave us not,' Now in these five scriptures you have five leave ^ls nots, and what do they import ? Certainly nothing less than a marvellous unwillingness in the people of God to part with God, or to let go their hold of God. »