I have no need of thee ; nor again the head to the foot, I have no need of thee.' By the head and by the eye he means such saints as were eminent in gifts and graces, that were adorned more richly and that shined more gloriously in grace and gracious abilities than others. Oh these should not despise those that were not so eminent and excellent as themselves ; for God hath so tempered the inequality of the members in the natural body, that the more excellent and beautiful members can in no wise lack the more abject and weak members ; therefore shght not the weakest saints, for certainly, at first or last, the weakest will be serviceable to the strongest. A dwarf may be useful to a giant, a child to a man ; sometimes a little finger shall do that that a limb in the body cannot do; it is so often in Christ's spiritual body.' I will give you a very famous instance for this.
At the council of Nice there w^as 318 bishops, and by the subtlety of a philosopher disputing against the marriage of ministers, they gene- rally voted against it, that those that were single should not marry. At length up starts Paphnutius, a plain Christian, and in the name of Christ, with the naked word of God, he pleaded against them all in that case; and God so wrought by his arguments, that he convinced the 318 bishops, and carried the cause against them ; yea, and so convinced the philosopher of his error, that before all he freely confessed it: 'As long,' saith he, ' as men's words were only pressed, I could repel words with words ; but what is weak man to withstand the word of God ? I yield; I am conquered.'^
Weak Christians may be of singular use to the strongest ; those that know most may learn more even from the weakest saints.^
Junius was converted by discoursing with a ploughman ; * and, Acts xviii. 24 to 27, Apollos, though he was an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures as the text speaks, yet was he furthered and bettered in the knowledge of Christ's kingdom by Aquila and Priscilla. A poor tent-maker and his wife were instrumental to acquaint him with those things that he knew but weakly. He had not ascended above John's baptism, but they had, and so communicated their light and knowledge to him.
The sixth support is this:
Support 6. Where there is hut a little grace, there God expects less, and will accepjt of less, though it be accompanied with many failings.
Thou sayest, Oh ! I have but a little grace, a little faith, a little love, a little zeal. Oh know, where there is but a little grace, there God expects less obedience, and will accept of less service : 2 Cor. viii. 12, ' For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not.' The two mites cast into the treasury, Luke xxi. 3, by the poor widow, her heart being in the action, were more acceptable than two talents cast in by others. Noah's sacrifice could not be great, and yet it was greatly accepted by God. In the time oT the law, God accepted a handful of
' It was a saying of General Vera to the king of Denmark, that kings cared not for soldiers, until such time that their crowns hung on the one side of their heads. [See Sibbes, vol. i. 35. — G.] ^ Socrates, Eccles. Hist- : \^Sub nomine. — G.]
3 A little star hath light and influence, though not the glory which is proper to the sun. * As before, page 21. — G.
66 THE UNSEAKCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
meal for a sacrifice, and a gripe of goat's hair for an oblation ; and cer- tainly God hath lost none of his affections to poor souls in the time of the gospel : Cant. ii. 14, ' Let me hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet, and thy countenance is lovely.' The Hebrew word ethkolech signifies any sound such as birds or brutes make. Their chattering is like lovely songs in the ear of God, their mite is a sweet oblation. Parents, that have but some drops of that love and tender affection that is in God to his people, yet accept of a very little service from their weak children ; and will not God? In time of strength God looks for much, but in the time of weakness God will bear much, and overlook much, and accept of a little, yea, of a very little.'
One, writing of the tree of knowledge, saith that 'it bears many leaves, but little fruit.' Though weak saints have a great many leaves, and but Uttle fruit, little grace, yet that little the Lord will kindly accept of
Artaxerxes, the Persian monarch, was famous for accepting of a little water from the hand of a loving subject ; God makes himself famous, and his grace glorious, by his kind acceptation of the weakest endea- vours of his people, &c.
The seventh support is this:
Support 7. The least measure of grace is as true an earnest, and as good and sure a joledge of greater r)ieasures of grace that the soul shall have here, and of glory that the soul shall have hereafter, as the greatest measure of grace is-
' He that hath begun a good work, he will perfect it to the day of Christ,' Philip, i. 6. Christ is called not only the author, but also the finisher of our faith, Heb. xii. 2. In Mai. iv. 2, 3, ' Unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings, and he shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall' And so in Job xvii. 9, ' The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.'^ Zech. xii. 8, ' In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.' So in Hosea xiv. 5-7, I will be as the dew to Israel, he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his fruits as Lebanon : his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. Tiiey that dwell under his shadow shall return, they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine : the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.'
The tree in Alcinous's garden had always blossoms, buds, and ripe fruits, one under another. Such a tree will God make every Christian to be. * The righteous,' though never so weak, ' shall fiourish like the palm tree,' Ps. xcii. 12-14. Now the palm tree never loseth his leaf or fruit, saith Pliny.
' It is very observable that the eagle and fhc lion, tliose brave creatures, were not offered in sacrifice unto God, but the poor lamb and dove : to note that your brave, high, and lofty spirits God regards not ; but your j'oor, meek, contemptible spirits God accepts.
* Though men often lose their earnest, yet God will never lose his. His earnest is very obliging.
3 The Hebrew word '^^^, or way, signifies a distinct course from others, as the way fiom one town differs from the way to another. Here in Job it is taken for a coursj in plenty.
EpH. JII. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 67