poor, and blind, and naked? He will both suit his gifts to our necessities6; and make the very depth of our misery the measure of his own mercy.]
2. According to the riches of his own grace —
[Let us survey all the tokens of his bounty on earth, and contemplate all the expressions of his love in heaven; let us go farther, and consider the incomprehensible fulness of all the good that is in him as the fountain ; and then shall we find the true measure of his liberality to his children. If any partake of his goodness in a lower degree, it is, " not because they are straitened in him, but because they are straitened in their own bowels."]
That none may lose these blessings through igno- rance, we proceed to state III. By what channel they shall be conveyed to us —
With man in innocence God communed face to face : but, whatever he bestows upon us in our fallen state, he communicates it,
1. Through Christ as our mediator —
[" God in himself is a consuming fire ;" nor is it possible for us to approach him but through Jesus our mediator. Neither our piety towards him, nor our liberality towards his saints, can render him our debtor, (yea, rather, the more we do for him, the more we are indebted to him) ; if we receive any thing from God, it must come as the purchase of Christ's blood, and as the consequence of his prevailing intercession.]
2. By Christ as our head —
[It is " in Christ that all fulness dwells." He has " re- ceived gifts for the rebellious," and imparts them to whom- soever he will : and it is " out of his fulness that we must receive." He is the head of the Church, and his people are his members ; and as every member is nourished by its union with the head, so it is by grace derived from him that we are to increase with the increase of Godf.]
This important subject may teach us,
1. Contentment in ourselves —
[What cause can he possibly have for discontent, who has God for his God, and an express promise that all his need shall be supplied? God has not only engaged to give his people whatever they need, but on many occasions has inter- posed in a miraculous manner to fulfil his word. And, rather than violate his truth in any instance, he would feed them with
• Rev. hi. 18. f Col. ii. 19.
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