02. I. WHAT A PORTION GOD IS

I. WHAT A PORTION GOD IS

I. For the first, What a portion God is. Now the excellency of this portion I shall shew you by an induction of particulars, thus:

(1.) First, God is a present portion. He is a portion in hand, he is a portion in possession. All the scriptures that are cited to prove the doctrine, evidence this to be a truth, Psalms 48:14, Isaiah 25:9 . And so doth that Psalms 46:1, ’God is a very present help in trouble.’ The Hebrew word betsaroth is in the plural number troubles, that is, God is a present help in many troubles, in great troubles, and in continued troubles. Betsaroth is from צור, tsor, that signifies to straiten, and closely to besiege. It notes the extremity of affliction and trouble. When the people of God are in their greatest extremity, then God will be a present help, a present portion to them: Isaiah 43:2, ’When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.’ God will be a present help, a present relief, a present support, a present comfort, a present portion to his people, in all those great and various trials that they may be exercised under: Psalms 142:5, ’I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.’ God is a portion in present possession, and not a portion in reversion. The psalmist doth not say, Thou mayest be my portion in another world, but ’Thou art my portion in the land of the living;’ nor he doth not say, Thou wilt be my portion in another world, but ’Thou art my portion in the land of the living.’ Look, as Elkanah gave Hannah a worthy portion in hand, 1 Samuel 1:5, so God gives himself to his saints as a worthy portion in hand. Many men wait, and wait long, for their earthly portions before they enjoy them; yea, their patience is oftentimes wore so threadbare in waiting, that they wish their parents in Abraham’s bosom; ay, and sometimes in a worser place, that so they may inherit their honours, lordships, lands, treasures, &c. Look, as a bird in the hand is worth two, ay, ten, in the bush, so a portion in possession is worth two, ay, ten, in reversion. Now, God is a portion in present possession, and that speaks out the excellency of the saints’ portion. As he in Plutarch said of the Scythians, that although they had no music nor vines among them, yet, as a better thing, they had gods, so I may say, though the saints have not this, nor that, nor the other earthly portion among them, yet, as a better thing, they have God for their present portion; and what can they desire more? But,

(2.) Secondly, As God is a present portion, so God is an immense portion, he is a vast large portion, he is the greatest portion of all portions: 1 Timothy 6:15, ’Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.’ These words are a stately and lofty description of the greatness of God. The apostle heapeth up many words together, to shew that in greatness God excels all: Isaiah 40:15-17, ’Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.’ Not only one nation, but many nations; yea, not only many nations, but all nations, in comparison of God, are but as the drop of a bucket; and what is lesser than a drop? and as the small dust of a balance; and what is of lighter weight and lesser worth than the small dust or powder of the balance that hangs on the scale, and yet never alters the weight? yea, they are nothing, they are less than nothing. And though Lebanon was a very great spacious forest, and had abundance of beasts in it, yet God was a God of that infinite greatness, that though all the beasts harbouring in that stately forest should be slain, and all the wood growing on it cut down to burn them with it, all would not make up a sacrifice any ways answerable or proportionable to his greatness with whom they had to do. And so in that Psalms 147:5, ’Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite,’ or as the Hebrew hath it, ’of his understanding there is no number.’ Such is his greatness, that he knows not only all kinds and sorts of things, but even all particulars, though they exceed all number: Psalms 145:3, ’Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable,’ or as the Hebrew hath it, ’of his greatness there is no search.’ God is infinitely above all names, all notions, all conceptions, all expressions, and all parallels: Psalms 150:2, ’Praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness,’ or greatness of greatness, or abundance of greatness, or according to the multitude of his greatness, as the Hebrew and Greek carries it; and so in that Deuteronomy 10:17, ’For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.’ God is the original cause of all greatness. All that greatness that is in any created beings, whether they are angels or men, is from God; all their greatness is but a beam of his sun, a drop out of his sea, a mite out of his treasury. God is a God of that infinite greatness, that he fills heaven and earth with his presence; he is everywhere, and yet circumscribed to no place; he is in all things, and without all things, and above all things, and this speaks out his immensity, Psalms 139. Job had a very large portion, before God made a breach upon him: ’He had seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household,’ Job 1:3; but at last God gives him twice as much as he had at first, ’for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses,’ Job 42:12. Cattle are only instanced in, because the wealth of that country consisted especially in cattle; but yet, doubtless, Job had a great many other good things, as goods, lands, possessions, and stately habitations; but what is all this to a saint’s portion?

Certainly, had not Job had God for his portion, he had been but a rich fool, a golden beast, notwithstanding all the great things that God had heaped upon him. And so Ahasuerus had a very large portion, ’he reigned from India unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces,’ Esther 1:1-2; but what were all his provinces but as so many handfuls of dust, in comparison of the saints’ portion? The whole Turkish empire, saith Luther, is but a crust that God throws to a dog. Had a man all the world for his portion, it would be but a poor pittance. Nebuchadnezzar had a very great portion: Daniel 5:18-19. ’O thou king, the most high God gave thy father Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive, and whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down.’ And so in that Jeremiah 27:5-8, ’I have made the earth, the man, and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power, and by my outstretched arm; and I have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come; and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation andkingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.’ The portion that here God gives to Nebuchadnezzar is a wonderful large portion; and yet all these nations that God gave to him were but as so many molehills, or as so many birds’ nests, compared with a saint’s portion. All nations are but as a drop of a bucket, that may in a moment be wiped off with a finger, in comparison of God, nay, they are all nothing; but that word is too high, for they are less than nothing. Had a man as many worlds at his command as there be men on earth, or angels in heaven, yet they would be but as so many drops, or as so many atoms to a saint’s portion. When Alcibiades was proudly boasting of his lands that lay together, Socrates wittily rebukes his pride by bringing him a map of the world, and wishing him to shew him where his lands did lie; his lands would hardly amount to more than the prick of a pin. England, Scotland, and Ireland are but three little spots to the vast continents that be in other parts of the world; and what then is thy palace, thy lordships, thy manors, thy farm, thy house, thy cottage, but a little minum, but a prick of a pin to God, who is so great, so vast a portion! Oh, sirs! had you the understanding of all the angels in heaven, and the tongues of all the men on earth, yet you would not be able to conceive, express, or set forth the greatness and largeness of a saint’s portion. Can you tell the stars of heaven, or number the sands of the sea, or stop the sun in his course, or raise the dead, or make a new world? Then, and not till then, will you be able to declare what a great, what an immense portion God is. If ’eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the great things that God hath laid up in the gospel’ (for so that 1 Corinthians 2:9 is to be understood), oh how much less, then, are they able to declare the great things that God hath laid up for his people in another world! But,

(3.) Thirdly, As God is an immense portion, a large portion, so God is an all-sufficient portion: Genesis 17:1, ’And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect. I am God Almighty,’ or as some carry the words, ’I am God all-sufficient, or self-sufficient.’ God hath self-sufficiency and all-sufficiency in himself. Some derive the word Shaddai, that is here rendered almighty or all-sufficient, from Shad, a dug, because God feeds his children with sufficiency of all good things, as the tender mother doth the sucking child: Genesis 15:1, ’After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward;’ I will be thy buckler to defend thee from all kind of mischief and miseries, and I will be thy exceeding great reward to supply thee with all necessary and desirable mercies; and what can a saint desire more? Psalms 84:11, ’For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.’ The sun, which among all inanimate creatures is the most excellent, notes all manner of excellency, provision, and prosperity; and the shield, which among all artificial creatures is the chiefest, notes all manner of protection whatsoever. Under the name of grace, all spiritual good is wrapped up; and under the name of glory, all eternal good is wrapped up; and under the last clause, ’no good thing will he withhold,’ is wrapped up all temporal good: all put together speaks out God to be an all-sufficient portion. Before the world was made, before angels or men had a being, God was as blessed and as glorious in himself as now he is. God is such an all-sufficient and such an excellent being, that nothing can be added to him to make him more excellent. Man in his best estate is so great a piece of vanity, Psalms 39:5, that he stands in need of a thousand thousand things; he needs the air to breathe in, the earth to bear him, and fire to warm him, and clothes to cover him, and an house to shelter him, and food to nourish him, and a bed to ease him, and friends to comfort him, &c. But this is the excellency of God, that he hath all excellencies in himself, and stands in need of nothing. Were there as many worlds as there are men in the world, and were all those worlds full of blessed saints, yea, were there as many heavens as there are stars in heaven, and were all those heavens full of glorious angels, yet all these saints and angels together could not add the least to God; for what can drops taken out of the sea add unto the sea? what can finite creatures add to an infinite being? Though all the men in the world should praise the sun, and say, The sun is a glorious creature, yet all this would add nothing to the light and glory of the sun; so, though all the saints and angels shall be blessing, and praising, and admiring, and worshipping of God to all eternity, yet they shall never be able to add anything to God, who is blessed for ever. O Christians! God is an all-sufficient portion: his power is all-sufficient to protect you; his wisdom is all-sufficient to direct you; his mercy is all-sufficient to pardon you; his goodness is all-sufficient to provide for you; his word is all-sufficient to support you and strengthen you; and his graces all-sufficient to adorn you and enrich you; and his Spirit is all-sufficient to lead you and comfort you; and what can you desire more? O sirs! God hath within himself all the good of angels, of men, and universal nature; he hath all glory, all dignity, all riches, all treasures, all pleasures, all delights, all comforts, all contents, all joys, all beatitudes in himself. All the scattered excellencies and perfections that be in the creatures are eminently, transcendently, and perfectly in him. Look, as the worth and value of many pieces of silver are contracted in one piece of gold, so all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth are epitomised in God, according to that old saying, Omne bonum in summo bono, all good is in the chiefest good. God is one infinite perfection in himself, which is eminently and virtually all perfections of the creatures. All the good, the excellency, the beauty and glory, that is in all created beings, are but parts of that whole that is in God; and all the good that is in them is borrowed and derived from God, who is the first cause, and the universal cause, of all that good that is in angels or men. God is a sufficient portion to secure your souls, and to supply all your wants, and to satisfy all your desires, and to answer all your expectations, and to suppress all your enemies, and, after all, to bring you to glory; and what can you desire more? But now all earthly portions are insufficient portions; they can neither prevent afflictions, nor support the soul under afflictions, nor mitigate afflictions, nor yet deliver a man from afflictions; they can neither arm the soul against temptations, nor comfort the soul under temptations, nor lead the soul out of temptations. All the creatures in the world are but as so many cyphers without God; when God frowns, all the creatures in the world are not sufficient to cheer the soul; when God withdraws, all the creatures in the world are not sufficient to sustain the soul; when God clouds his face, all the creatures in the world are not sufficient to make it day with the soul, &c. There is not enough in the whole creation to content, quiet, or satisfy one immortal soul. He that hath most of the world would have more, and he that hath least of the world hath enough, if his soul can but groundedly say, ’The Lord is my portion.’ But,

(4.) Fourthly, As the Lord is an all-sufficient portion, so the Lord is a most absolute, needful, and necessary portion. The want of an earthly portion may trouble me, but the want of God for my portion will damn me. It is not absolutely necessary that I should have a portion in gold, or silver, or jewels, or goods, or lands; but it is absolutely necessary that I should have God for my portion. I may have union and communion with God, though, with the apostles, I have neither gold nor silver in my purse, Acts 3:6; I may be holy and happy, though with Lazarus, Luke 16:20-21, I have never a rag to hang on my back, nor never a dry crust to put into my belly; I may to heaven at last, and I may be glorious in another world, though, with Job, I should be stripped of all my worldly glory, and set upon a dunghill in this world, Job 1, &c.; but I can never be happy here, nor blessed hereafter, except God be my portion. Though I could truly say that all the world were mine, yet if I could not truly say that the Lord is my portion, I should be but miserable under all my worldly enjoyments. To have God for my portion is absolutely necessary, for without it I am for ever and ever undone, Ephesians 2:12. In this verse you have several withouts, and it is very observable that they that were without God in the world, they were without Christ, without the church, without the covenant, without the promise, and without hope in the world; and therefore, such persons must needs be in a most sad and deplorable condition, &c.

[1.] First, In relation to the soul, and in relation to salvation, God is the most absolute necessary portion. If God be not my portion, my soul can never enjoy communion with him in this world; if God be not my portion, my soul can never be saved by him in the other world. But,

[2.] Secondly, When sinners are under terrors and horrors of conscience, when their consciences are awakened and convinced of the vileness of their natures, of the unspeakable evil that is in sin, yea, in the least sin, and of their lost, undone, and miserable estate out of Christ, Oh then! what would they not give to have God for their portion? Oh, then they would give all the gold and silver they have in the world to have God for their portion; oh, then they would give, Micah 6:6-7, ’thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil; yea, they would give their first-born, they would give the very fruit of their bodies, that they might have God to be the portion of their souls; oh, then they would say, as Mephibosheth said unto the king, ’Let Ziba take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house,’ 2 Samuel 19:29-30. Under distress of conscience, poor sinners will cry out, Oh! let who will take all our honours, and all our manors, and all our treasures, and all our stores, and all our lands, and all our lordships, and all our bags, so we may have God for our portion. Oh! let us but have God for our portion, and we care not a straw who takes all. Now, what doth this speak out, but that, of all portions, God is the most absolute necessary portion? But,

[3.] Thirdly, Upon a dying bed, an awakened sinner sets the highest price, value, and esteem upon such as have God for their portion. Now he esteems a saint in rags that hath God for his portion above a wicked emperor in his royal robes, who hath only the world for his portion. What though wicked men, when they are in the height of their worldly prosperity, felicity, and glory, do slight the saints, and revile and scorn the saints, and contemn and undervalue the saints, Lamentations 2:14-15; Zephaniah 2:8-10, &c.; yet, when death knocks at their doors, and when their consciences are startled, and when hell fire flashes in their faces, and when the worm within begins to gnaw, oh now, if all the world were a lump of gold, and in their hands to dispose of, they would give it all, so they might have that honour and happiness to change conditions with those who have God for their portion: Numbers 23:10, ’Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.’ Though men who have their portion in this life do not love to live the life of the righteous, yet, when they come to die, they are often desirous that they might die the death of the righteous. And this many hundred ministers and Christians can witness from their own experience. Lazarus having God for his portion, when he died he went to heaven without a rag on his back, or a penny in his purse; whereas Dives, who had not God for his portion when he died, went tumbling down to hell in all his riches, bravery, and glory. Oh! it is infinitely better to go to heaven a beggar than to go to hell an emperor; and this the sinner understands when his conscience comes to be enlightened upon a dying bed, and therefore he cries out, Oh send for such a minister, and send for such and such a Christian, and let them pray with me, and counsel me, and, if it be possible, give out some drops of comfort to me. Oh that I had never derided nor reviled them! Oh that I had never opposed and persecuted them! Oh that I had lived at such a rate of holiness and exactness as they have done! Oh that I had walked with God as they have walked! Oh that I had laid out my time, my strength, my treasure, my parts, my all for God, as they have done! Oh that my estate was as good, as safe, and as happy as theirs is! Oh that I could as truly say that the Lord is my portion, as they can say that the Lord is their portion! And what doth all this speak out, but that high esteem and value that they set upon those that have God for their portion? So that upon this threefold account, we may safely conclude that God is a most absolute, needful, and necessary portion. But,

(5.) Fifthly, As the Lord is a most absolute, needful, and necessary portion, so the Lord is a pure and unmixed portion. God is an unmixed good, he hath nothing in him but goodness; he is an ocean of sweetness, without one drop of bitterness; he is a perfect beauty, without the least spot or shadow of deformity, Deuteronomy 32:4, Habakkuk 1:13. All other portions are a bitter sweet; but God is a rose without prickles; he is a good, in which there is not the least evil: 1 John 1:5, ’God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ There are no mixtures in God. God is a most clear, bright, shining light, yea, he is all light, and in him is no darkness at all. God is all light and all love, all sweetness and all goodness, all kindness and all graciousness, and there is no un-comeliness, no unloveliness, no bitterness, nor no darkness at all in God. The moon when it shines brightest hath her dark spots and specks; but God is a light that shines most gloriously without the least spot or speck; God is a most pure, clear, splendid light. It is very observable, that the apostle, to illustrate the perfect purity of God, adds a negative to his affirmative, ’in him is no darkness at all;’ that is, God is so pure, that not the least spot, the smallest speck of vanity or folly, can cleave to him. God is a pure, a most pure act, without the least potentiality, defectibility, or mutability, and therefore in the highest sense he ’is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ By this metaphorical description of God the apostle would not have us think that the nature of God is changed into the nature of light; but by this similitude the apostle would represent something of the purity and excellency of God to us. The sun is light, the moon is light, and the stars are light; but it would be blasphemy for us to imagine that the essence of God is the same with this of the creatures; but this, sirs! you must remember, that there are many excellent properties of light, for which God is often in the Scripture resembled to light. As

[1.] First, Light is pure, and so is God: Habakkuk 1:13, ’Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.’ There are four things that God cannot do:

(1.) He cannot lie.

(2.) He cannot die.

(3.) He cannot deny himself, nor

(4.) He cannot look with a favourable eye upon iniquity. He is a God of that infinite purity, that he cannot look upon iniquity but with an hateful eye, an angry eye, a revengeful eye, and with a vindictive eye.

[2] Secondly, All things are conspicuous to the light, and so they are to God: Hebrews 4:13, ’Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.’ The Greek word τετραχηλισμένα, is a metaphor, say some, that is taken from the priests, under the law, who when they killed the beasts for sacrifice, all things that were within the beasts were laid naked and bare before the priest that so he might see what was sound and what was corrupted. Others say, the apostle alludes to the anatomising of such creatures, wherein men are very cautious and curious to find out every little vein or muscle, though they lie never so close. Others say, that it is a metaphor taken from those that lie with their faces upwards, that all passengers may see who they are. All agree in this, that all men’s insides and outsides are anatomised, dissected, quartered, and laid naked to the eye of God: Job 34:21-22, ’For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.’ ’If thou canst not hide thyself from the sun, which is God’s minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide thyself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun,’ saith Ambrose. But,

[3.] Thirdly, Without light nothing can be seen; so without the beams of heavenly light no heavenly things can be seen. A man cannot see God, but in that light that comes down from above; a man cannot see Christ without he be first enlightened by Christ; a man cannot see heaven, but in that light that comes from heaven, James 1:17, 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16. Were it not for the sun, it would be perpetual night in the world, notwithstanding all the torches that could be lighted, yea, notwithstanding all the light of the moon and stars; so it would be perpetual night with poor souls, notwithstanding all the torchlight of natural parts, and creature comforts, and notwithstanding all the star-light of civil honesty and common gifts, and notwithstanding all the moonlight of temporary faith and formal profession, did not the Sun of righteousness arise and shine upon them. But,

[4.] Fourthly, There is nothing more pleasant than the light: Ecclesiastes 11:7, ’Truly the light is sweet, and it is a very pleasant thing to behold the sun.’ A philosopher being asked whether it were not a pleasant thing to behold the sun? answered, that that was a blind man’s question, because life without light is but a lifeless life. Now, as there is nothing more pleasant and delightful to the eye than light, so there is nothing more pleasant and delightful to the soul than God. The poor northern nations, in Strabo, that want the light of the sun for some months together, when the term of his return approaches, they climb up into the highest mountains to spy it; and he that spies it first was accounted the best and most beloved of God, they chose him king almost, as the Tyrians did Strato. Now the return of the sun is not more pleasant and delightful to those poor northern nations, than God is pleasant and delightful to all gracious souls. But,

[5.] Fifthly, The light shines and scatters its rays over all the world, over east, west, north, and south, and so doth the presence and goodness of God, Psalms 139. But,

[6.] Sixthly, The light is a creature of a most resplendent beauty, lustre, and glory; it dazzles the eyes of the beholders; and so God is a God of that transcendent beauty, majesty, and glory, that the very eyes of the angels are dazzled, as not being able to behold the brightness of his glory: Isaiah 6:2, ’God dwells in that light which no man can approach unto.’ But,

[7.] Seventhly, and lastly, The light of all bodies is the most incompound light; it will never mix with darkness; no more will God: 2 Corinthians 6:14, ’What communion hath light with darkness?’ The nature of God is void of all composition. Light expels darkness, it never mixes nor mingles with it. By what has been said, you see that God is a pure and an unmixed light, and that in him there is no darkness at all. But now all worldly portions are mixed with many troubles, sorrows, cares, fears, hazards, dangers, vexations, oppositions, crosses, losses, and oftentimes with many gripes of conscience too. All earthly portions are mixed portions; the goodness of all creatures is a mixed goodness; our wine is mixed with water, our silver with tin, our gold with dross, our wheat with chaff, and our honey with gall, &c. Every bee hath his sting, and every rose hath his prickles; and this mixture speaks out all earthly portions to be ’vanity and vexation of spirit,’ Ecclesiastes 1:13. That great prince Xerxes was wont to say, You look upon my crown and my purple robes, but did you know how they were lined with thorns, you would not stoop to take them up. And who is there in this our English Israel that cannot with both hands subscribe to this? The emblem of King Henry the Seventh, in all his buildings, in the windows, was still a crown in a bush of thorns;2 wherefore, or with what historical allusion he did so, is uncertain; but surely it was to imply thus much, that great places are not free from great cares, that no man knows the weight of a sceptre but he that sways it. This made Saul to hide himself amongst the stuff, when he should have been made king. Many a sleepless night, many a restless day, many a sad temptation, and many a busy shift, will their ambition cost them, that affect such places of eminency. Besides, high places are commonly very slippery; he that stands in them may suddenly fall, and wound his conscience, or easily fall and break his neck. But,

(6.) Sixthly, As God is a pure and unmixed portion, so he is a glorious, a happy, and a blessed portion, Psalms 16:5-6. He is so in himself, and he makes them so too who enjoy him for their portion: Psalms 33:12, ’Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.’ All the happiness and blessedness of the people of God stands in this, that God is their God, and that he is their portion, and that they are his inheritance. The Hebrew word ashrei, that is here rendered blessed, is, Oh the blessedness! or Oh the heaped up happiness of those whose God is the Lord! The happiness of such is so great and so glorious, as cannot be conceived, as cannot be uttered. The words are a joyful acclamation for their felicity that have God for their portion: Psalms 144:15, ’Happy is that people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.’ David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of the people, from ver. 12 to ver. 15, at last concludes, ’Blessed are the people that are in such a case;’ but presently he checks and corrects himself, and eats, as it were, his own words, but rather, ’happy is that people whose God is the Lord.’ The Syriac rendereth it question-wise, ’Is not the people [happy] that is in such a case?’ The answer is, ’No,’ except they have God to boot, Psalms 146:5. Nothing can make that man truly miserable that hath God for his portion, nor nothing can make that man truly happy that wants God for his portion. God is the author of all true happiness; he is the donor of all true happiness; he is the maintainer of all true happiness, and he is the centre of all true happiness and blessedness; and, therefore, he that hath him for his God, for his portion, is the only happy man in the world. But now all earthly portions cannot make a man truly happy and blessed. A crown, a kingdom cannot; for Saul and other princes have found it so. Honours cannot; for Haman and others have found it so. A high and noble birth cannot; for Absalom, Amnon, and others have found it so; Riches cannot; for the rich fool in the Gospel, and many thousand others, have found it so. Large dominions and great commands cannot; for Ahasuerus, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and others, have found it so. Policy cannot; for Ahithophel and other great counsellors have found it so. Glorious apparel and delicate fare cannot; for Dives and others have found it so. Applause and credit among the people cannot; for Herod and others have found it so. Learning and great gifts cannot; for the scribes and pharisees, and many others, have found it so. No earthly thing, nor earthly creature, can give happiness nor blessedness to man. Non dat quod non habet, nothing can give what it hath not. If the conduit hath no water, it can give no water; if the sun hath no light, it can give no light; if the physician hath no remedy, he can give no remedy, &c. But now it is a very true observation, though it be a very sad observation, viz., That every wicked man’s portion is cursed unto him. Do but compare the scriptures in the margin together, and then let conscience judge. All a wicked man’s relations are cursed to him, and all a wicked man’s contentments and enjoyments are cursed to him, and all his mercies within doors are cursed to him, &c. What though a man should match with one that hath many thousand bags of gold for her portion, yet if the plague should be in every bag, would you count him happy in this match? Surely no. Verily this is the case of every man that hath not God for his portion. But

(7.) Seventhly, As God is a glorious portion, so he is a peculiar portion, he is a portion peculiar to his people, Psalms 142:5-6; Jeremiah 10:16. This is evident in the text, and in all the scriptures cited to prove the point, Psalms 16:5, and so in that Psalms 67:6, ’Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us:’ and so Psalms 68:20, ’He that is our God is the God of salvation,’ or ’God of salvations,’ as it is in the Hebrew. God is a God of all manner of salvations; he hath all sorts and ways of salvations; he is not only powerful, but also skilful, to save his people from ten thousand deaths and dangers. Faith is an appropriating grace, it is much in appropriating of God to itself: ’My Lord and my God,’ and my Redeemer and my Saviour and my portion; Psalms 73:26, ’My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.’ In Gideon’s camp every soldier had his own pitcher, Judges 7:16; amongst Solomon’s men of valour, every man wore his own sword, 1 Chronicles 26:30; and the five wise virgins had every one oil in her own lamp, Matthew 25:4. Luther was wont to say, that there lay a great deal of divinity couched up in pronouns, as in meum, tuum, suum, mine, thine, his: and so faith’s appropriating of God to the soul, as its own portion, is all in all. God is a portion peculiar to the saints; he is the hidden manna, the new name, the white stone, the bread to eat that others know not of. There is never a hardened Pharaoh in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a murdering Saul in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a painted bloody Jezebel in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a cunning Ahithophel in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a proud Haman in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a tyrannical Nebuchadnezzar in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a crafty Herod in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a rich Dives in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a treacherous Judas in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never an hypocritical Simon Magus in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never an apostatizing Demas in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion;’ nor there is never a persecuting scribe or pharisee in the world that can truly say, ’The Lord is my portion.’ It is only the saint that can truly say, ’The Lord is his portion,’ for God is peculiarly his, he is only his. But now all earthly portions are common portions; they are all common to good and bad, to the righteous and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not, to him that sweareth and to him that feareth an oath, Ecclesiastes 9:1-3. Was Abraham rich? so was Dives too; was David a king? so was Saul too; was Daniel a great favourite at court? so was Haman too, &c. And indeed usually the basest and the worst of men have the largest share in earthly portions; which made Luther say, that the whole Turkish empire was but a crust that God cast to a dog. Abraham gave unto his sons of the concubines gifts, and sent them away, but unto Isaac he gave all that he had, Genesis 25:5-6. So all earthly portions, which are giftless gifts, God gives them to the worst and vilest of men; Daniel 4:17, ’This matter is by decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know, that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men;’ and so in that Daniel 11:31, ’And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.’ Interpreters do generally agree, that by this vile person in the text is meant Antiochus Epiphanes, that was so great and mighty a prince, that when the Samaritans did write to him, they write, Antiocho magno deo, to Antiochus the great god. And indeed his very name speaks him out to be some great and glorious person, for Antiochus Epiphanes is Antiochus the illustrious, the famous; and yet you see that the Holy Ghost, speaking of him, calls him a vile person Ah! how vile in the eyes of God are the greatest men in the world who have not God for their portion! Augustus in his solemn feasts gave trifles to some, but gold to others. God gives the trifling portions of this world to the vilest and worst of men, but his gold, his Christ, himself, he gives only to his saints: Galatians 2:20, ’And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ Haws, that are for hogs, grow upon every hedge; but roses, that are for men, they only grow in pleasant gardens; you know how to apply it. Though many have counterfeit jewels, yet there are but a few that have the true diamond; though many have their earthly portions, yet there are but a few that have God for their portion. But,

(8.) Eighthly, As God is a peculiar portion, so he is a universal portion. He is a portion that includes all other portions. God hath himself the good, the sweet, the profit, the pleasure, the delight, the comfort, &c., of all portions. There is no good in wife, child, father, friend, husband, health, wealth, wit, wisdom, learning, honour, &c., but is all found in God: Revelation 21:7, ’He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son;’ or as the Greek hath it, ὁ νικῶν, he that is overcoming, though he hath not yet overcome, yet if he be striving for the conquest, and will rather die than he will give up the bucklers, ’he shall inherit all things;’ that is, he shall inherit God in all and all in God: Genesis 33:9, ’And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself;’ as the Hebrew hath it, Li Rab, ’I have much, my brother.’ And indeed it was very much that an Esau should say he had much; it is more than many of the Esaus of these times will say. But Jacob speaks at a far higher rate in ver. 11: ’Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee, because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough;’ or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, Li chol, I have all. Esau had much, but Jacob had all, because he had all in God, and God in all. Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia, he hath all that hath the haver of all: 2 Corinthians 6:10, ’As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.’ There is in God an immense fulness, an ocean of goodness, and an overplus of all that graciousness, sweetness, and kindness that is to be found in all other things or creatures. As Noah had a copy of every kind of creature in that famous library of the ark, out of which all were reprinted to the world, so he that hath God for his portion hath the original copy of all blessings, out of which all may easily be renewed. All the good-linesses and all the glories of all the creatures are eminently and perfectly to be enjoyed in God. God is an universal excellency. All the particular excellencies that are scattered up and down among angels, men, and all other creatures, are virtually and transcendently in him, he hath them all in his own being, Ephes. 1:3. All creatures in heaven and earth have but their particular excellencies; but God hath in himself the very quintessence of all excellencies. The creatures have but drops of that sea, that ocean, that is in God, they have but their parts of that power, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, holiness, faithfulness, loveliness, desirableness, sweetness, graciousness, beauty, and glory that is in God. One hath this part, and another hath that; one hath this particular excellency, and another hath that; but the whole of all these parts and excellencies are to be found only in God. There is none but that God, that is an universal good, that can truly say, All power, all wisdom, all strength, all knowledge, all goodness, all sweetness, all beauty, all glory, all excellency, &c., dwells in me. He that can truly say this, is a god, and he that cannot is no god. There is no angel in heaven, nor saint on earth, that hath the whole of any one of those excellencies that are in God; nay, all the angels in heaven, and all the saints on earth, have not among them the whole of any one of those glorious excellencies and perfections that be in God. All the excellencies that are scattered up and down in the creatures, are united into one excellency in God; but there is not one excellency in God that is fully scattered up and down among all the creatures. There is a glorious union of all excellencies in God, and only in God.

Now this God, that is such an universal good, and that hath all excellencies dwelling in himself, he says to the believer, as the king of Israel said to the king of Assyria, ’I am thine, and all that I have,’ 1 Kings 20:4. Our propriety reacheth to all that God is, and to all that God hath, Jer, 32:38, 42 God is not parted, nor divided, nor distributed among his people, as earthly portions are divided among children in the family; so as one believer hath one part of God, and another believer hath another part of God, and a third another part of God; oh no, but every believer hath whole God wholly, he hath all of God for his portion. God is not a believer’s portion in a limited sense, nor in a comparative sense, but in an absolute sense. God himself is theirs, he is wholly theirs, he is only theirs, he is always theirs. As Christ looks upon the Father, and saith, ’All thine is mine, and mine is thine,’ 1 Corinthians 3:23, John 17:10, that may a saint say, looking upon God as his portion. He may truly say, O Lord, thou art mine, and all that thou hast; and I am thine, and all that I have. A saint may look upon God and say, O Lord, not only thy gifts but thy graces are mine, to adorn me and enrich me; and not only thy mercies and thy good things are mine to comfort me, and encourage me, but also thou thyself art mine; and this is my joy and crown of rejoicing. To be able to say that God is mine, is more than if I were able to say that ten thousand worlds, yea, and as many heavens, are mine; for it is God alone that is the sparkling diamond in the ring of glory. Heaven would be but a low thing without God, saith Augustine; and Bernard had rather enjoy Christ in a chimney-corner, than to be in heaven without him; and Luther had rather be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without him. It is God alone that makes heaven to be heaven.

Now God is so every particular believer’s portion, as that he is every believer’s portion: 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 ’Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours.’ As the sun is every man’s sun to see by, to walk by, to work by; and as the sea is every man’s sea to trade by, &c.; so God is every believer’s portion. He is a poor saint’s portion as well as a rich saint’s portion; he is the despised believer’s portion, as well as the exalted believer’s portion; he is the weak believer’s portion, as well as the strong believer’s portion; he was as much his portion who miscalled his faith, and who in the behalf of his son cried out with tears, ’Lord, I believe, help my unbelief,’ Mark 11:24, as he was Abraham’s portion, who, in the strength of his faith, offered up his onlyson, Genesis 22; he was as much Job’s portion sitting on a dunghill, as he was David’s portion sitting on a royal throne; he was as much Lazarus his portion, that had never a penny in his purse, as he was Solomon’s portion, who made gold and silver as plenteous in Jerusalem as the stones of the streets, 2 Chronicles 1:15. God is not my portion alone, but he is every saint’s portion in heaven, and he is every saint’s portion on earth. The father is every child’s portion, and though they may wrangle and quarrel, and fall out one with another, yet he is all their portions; and so it is here; and oh what a spring of joy and comfort should this be to all the saints. Riches are not every believer’s portion, but God is every believer’s portion; honour and preferment in the world is not every believer’s portion, but God is every believer’s portion; liberty and freedom is not every believer’s portion, but God is every believer’s portion; credit and applause in the world is not every believer’s portion, but God is every believer’s portion; prosperity and success is not every believer’s portion, but God is every believer’s portion, &c.

God is a universal portion, all things receive their being, essence, and existence from him, for the fulness of all things is in him, really and eminently. The heathen philosophers of old called God τό πᾶν, i. e. all or everything, and in that oracle ’great Pan is dead,’ of which Plutarch makes mention. Christ is called the greater Pan, because, say some, he is the Lord of all, and containeth all things in himself: Exodus 33:19, ’I will make all my goodness pass before thee,’ to wit, because in God are all good things, God is all things, God is everything. The cream, the good, the sweet, the beauty, and the glory of every creature, and of every thing, centres in God. But,

(9.) Ninthly, As God is an universal portion, so God is a safe portion, a secure portion. He is a portion that none can rob or wrong you of; he is a portion that none can touch or take from you: he is a portion that none can cheat or spoil you of. God is such a portion, that no friend, no foe, no man, no enemy, no devil can ever rob a Christian of. O Christians, God is so yours in Christ, and so yours by covenant, and so yours by promise, and so yours by purchase, and so yours by conquest, and so yours by donation, and so yours by marriage union and communion, and so yours by the earnest of the Spirit, and so yours by the feelings and witnessings of the Spirit, that no power or policy on earth can ever finger your portion, or cheat, or rob you of your portion: Psalms 48:14, ’For this God is our God for ever and ever, and he will be our guide even unto death.’ He is not only our God for the present, nor he will not be only our God for a short time longer; oh no, but he will be our God for ever and ever. If God be once thy portion, he will be for ever thy portion. It must be a power that must over-match the power of God, and a strength that must be above the strength of God, that must rob or spoil a Christian of his portion; but who is there that is stronger than God? Is the clay stronger than the potter, or the stubble than the flame, or weakness than strength? yea, is not the very weakness of God stronger than man? and who then shall ever be able to take away a Christian’s portion from him? Romans 9, 1 Corinthians 1:25, and chap. 10:22. But now a man may be easily deprived of his earthly portion. How many have been deprived of their earthly portions by storms at sea, and others by force and violence, and others by fraud and deceit, and others by hideous lying and hellish swearing? Many have lost their earthly portions by treachery, knavery, perjury, subtilty, robbery, &c. Some play away their earthly portions, and others with Esau fool away their earthly portions, and not a few, with the prodigal, sin away their earthly portions. Ahab’s fingers itched to be a-fingering of Naboth’s vineyard. 1 Kings 21:1-5. A man can no sooner come to enjoy an earthly portion, but other men’s fingers itch to be a-fingering of his portion, as daily experience doth sufficiently evidence. But God is a portion that the fire cannot burn, nor the floods cannot drown, nor the thief cannot steal, nor the enemy cannot sequester, nor the soldier cannot plunder a Christian of. A man may take away my gold from me, but he cannot take away my God from me. The Chaldeans and the Sabeans could take away Job’s estate from him, but they could not take away Job’s God from him, Job 1. And the Amalekites burnt Ziklag, and robbed David of his substance, and of his wives, but they could not rob him of his God, 1 Samuel 30. And those persecutors in the 10th and 11th chapters of the Hebrews plundered the saints of their goods, but they could not plunder them of their God. Till weakness can make a breach upon strength, impotency upon omnipotency, the pitcher upon the potter, and the crawling worm upon the Lord of hosts, a saint’s portion is safe and secure. It is true, sickness and disease may take away my health and my strength from me, and death may take away my friends and my relations from me, and enemies may take away my estate, my liberty, my life from me; but none of all these can take away my God from me. I have read of the men of Tyrus, how that they chained and nailed their god Apollo to a post, that so they might be sure of him, supposing that all their safety lay in the enjoyment of him. Certainly God is so chained, and so linked, and so nailed to his people by his everlasting love, and by his everlasting covenant, and by the blood of his Son, and by his oath, and by that law of relation that is between him and them, that no created power shall ever be able to deprive them of him. But,

(10.) Tenthly, As God is a safe portion, a secure portion, so he is a suitable portion, Psalms 4:6-7. No object is so suitable and adequate to the heart as he is. He is a portion that punctually, exactly, and directly suits the condition of the soul, that suits the desires of the soul, the necessities of the soul, the wants of the soul, the longings of the soul, and the prayers of the soul. The soul can crave nothing, nor wish for nothing, but what is to be found in this portion. Here is light to enlighten the soul, and wisdom to counsel the soul, and power to support the soul, and goodness to supply the soul, and mercy to pardon the soul, and beauty to delight the soul, and glory to ravish the soul, and fulness to fill the soul, &c. Health is not more suitable to the sick man, nor wealth to the poor man, nor bread to the hungry man, nor drink to the thirsty man, nor clothes to the naked man, nor balm to the wounded man, nor ease to the tormented man, nor health to the diseased man, nor a pardon to the condemned man, nor a guide to the blind man, &c. than this portion is suitable to all the necessities of man; and this speaks out the excellency of this portion above all other portions. Now there is no earthly portion that can suit an immortal soul; he is a fool upon record that said, ’Soul, thou hast goods laid up for many years, take ease, eat, drink, and be merry,’ Luke 12:18-20. If the man, saith Ambrose upon the words, had the soul of a swine, what could he have said more? for those things were more suitable to swine than they were to an immortal soul. Man’s soul is a spiritual and immortal substance, it is capable of union and communion with God; it is capable of a choice enjoyment of God here, and of an eternal fruition of God hereafter. A great shoe will not fit a little foot, nor a great sail a little ship, nor a great ring a little finger; no more will any earthly portion suit an immortal soul. The soul is the breath of God, the beauty of man, the wonder of angels, and the envy of devils. It is of an angelical nature; it is an heavenly spark, a celestial plant, and of a divine offspring. So that nothing can suit the soul below God, nor nothing can satisfy the soul without God. The soul is so high and so noble a piece, that all the riches of the east and west Indies, nor rocks of diamonds, nor mountains of gold, can fill it, or satisfy it, or suit it. When a man is in prison, and condemmed to die, if one should come to him, and tell him, that there is such a friend or such a relation that hath left him a very fair estate, a brave seat, &c., yet all this would not please him, nor joy him, because it doth not suit his present condition; oh, but now let a man bring him his pardon, sealed under his prince’s hand, oh how will this delight him and joy him! And so tell a man that is ready to starve, that such and such loves him, and that such and such intends well towards him, &c., yet all this doth not take him, it doth not satisfy him, and all because it doth not suit him; oh but now do but bring him food to eat, and this will joy him and delight him, and all because it suits him. That is the highest good, that is the most suitable good to the soul, and such a good is God; that is the most excellent portion, that is the most suitable portion to the soul, and such a portion is God. But,

(11.) Eleventhly, As God is a suitable portion, so he is an incomprehensible portion. No created understanding can comprehend what a portion God is, Psalms 147:5, Job 26:14. It is true God is not incomprehensible, in regard of his own understanding, for he perfectly understands himself, else he could not be God; but God is incomprehensible in regard of us, and the angels, who are no ways able to comprehend infiniteness: 1 Kings 8:27, ’But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!’ God is an infinite being, and therefore he cannot be contained in any place, nor comprehended by any created being. Such multiplied phrases and Hebraisms as are here, as heaven, and the heaven of heavens, do very emphatically set out the immensity and incomprehensibleness of God: Job 37:23, ’Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.’ We are as well able to comprehend the sea in a cockle-shell, as we are able to comprehend God. God is above all name, all notion, and all comprehension. God is so incomprehensible, that you shall as soon tell the stars of heaven, and number the sand of the sea, and stop the sun in his course, and raise the dead, and make a world, as you shall be able to comprehend the infiniteness of God’s essence: Psalms 145:3, ’His greatness is unsearchable.’ The most perfect knowledge that we can have of God is, that we cannot perfectly know him, because we do know him to be infinitely and incomprehensibly perfect: Romans 11:33, ’Oh the depth both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! When men and angels do search farthest into God’s perfection, they do then most of all discover their own imperfection; for it is utterly impossible for angels or men, by their most accurate disquisition, to find out the Almighty to perfection, 1 Timothy 6:16, ’who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.’ Here is a denial both of the fact and the possibility. It is a good observation of Chrysostom on the words, Diligentiœ Pauli attende, non dicit lucem incomprehensibilem, &c. Observe the diligence of Paul, he doth not say a light incomprehensible, but a light inaccessible, which is much more; for that which, being sought and searched for, cannot be comprehended, we say is incomprehensible; but that which suffereth not by any means the labour of searching after, and which no one can come near, that is inaccessible. There is infinitely more in God than the tongues of men or angels can express. There is much in God beyond the apprehension and comprehension of all created beings. The sum of all that philosophers and schoolmen have attained to concerning this great principle, amounts to no more than this, viz., that men and angels can never comprehend that perfection which dwells in God; for the perfection of God is infinite, and therefore incomprehensible. God, saith Dionysius, is a super-substantial substance, an understanding not to be understood, a word never to be spoken. When one was asked what God was, he answered, that he must be God himself, before he could know God fully. When the tyrant Hiero asked the poet Simonides what God was, he craved a day to study an answer; but the more he sought into the nature of God, the more difficult he found it to express; the next day, after being questioned, he asked two days, and the third time he craved four, and so went on, doubling the number; and being asked why he did so, he answered, that the more he studied the nature of God, the less he was able to define what God was. He being so incomprehensible in his nature, the more this poor heathen inquired, the more he admired, and the less he understood.

It was a notable observation of Chrysostom, who being very busy and studious in searching into the nature of God, saith, I am like a man digging in a deep spring; I stand here, and the water riseth upon me; and I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me. Indeed, this is a knowledge that passeth knowledge, Ephes. 3:19. The Turks build their mosques or churches without any roof, because they hold as we do, that God is incomprehensible. God is a circle whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere, all which speaks out his infiniteness and incomprehensibleness. But now all earthly portions are easily apprehended and comprehended. A portion in money, or plate, or goods, or lands, or jewels, is easily cast up, and so many hundreds or thousands a year are quickly told. There are few, except it be children or fools, but can readily give an account of all earthly portions. The child’s portion, and the wife’s portion, and the servant’s portion, and the soldier’s portion, and the poor man’s portion, and the rich man’s portion, are talked on all the city over, and all the town over, and all the country over; but God is such an incomprehensible portion, that there is not a man in town, city, or country that is able to comprehend him, Proverbs 3:15. But,

(12.) Twelfthly, As God is an incomprehensible portion, so God is an inexhaustible portion; a portion that can never be spent, that can never be exhausted; a fountain that still overflows; a rich mine that hath no bottom; a spring that can never be drawn dry, but continues always full, without augmentation or diminution: John 4:14, ’But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.’ If grace in the soul be such a perpetual flowing fountain, that it shall never be exhausted till grace be swallowed up in glory, then certainly the God of grace is much more an inexhaustible fountain that can never be drawn dry. Angels, saints, and sinners have lived upon this portion almost this six thousand years, and it is not in the least diminished, Colossians 1:16-17. God hath his city-house, and his country-house, where millions have been kept at his table, and lived upon his purse, his charge, even days without number, and yet God is not one penny the poorer for all this. This portion is like the meal in the barrel, and the oil in the cruse, which never failed: 1 Kings 17:14-16, ’For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah.’ God is such a portion as cannot be wasted nor diminished; he is such a portion as can never fail. Should all Christians now live to the age of the patriarchs, who lived many hundred years, and should they all live freely, and keep open house every day in the year, yet at the end, not a dram, not a penny, no not a farthing of this portion will be expended or diminished.

Though men have never so great a stock, yet if they still spend upon it they will certainly consume it; oh, but God is such a stock as can never be spent, as can never be consumed. If a sparrow should but fetch a drop of water out of the sea once a day, yea, once in a thousand years, yet in time it would be exhausted; oh but God is such a sea, such an ocean, that if every angel in heaven, and every saint and sinner on earth, should drink whole rivers at a draught, yet not one drop could be diminished. If a child should take but a cockle-shell of water out of the sea every day, the sea would be really the less, though not visibly the less, and in time it would be exhausted, and drawn dry; but let all created beings be every day a-drawing from God, yet they shall never lessen him, they shall never draw him dry. The mother’s breasts are often drawn dry, but the more you draw at the breasts of God, the more milk of grace and comfort will flow in upon you: Isaiah 66:10-11, ’Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be ye glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for thy joy with her, all ye that mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.’ God keeps open house for all comers and goers, for all created creatures both in heaven and earth; and though they are perpetually sucking at his breasts, yet the more they draw, the more the heavenly milk of divine joy, content, and satisfaction flows in abundantly upon them, Psalms 104:24. All creatures, both high and low, rich and poor, honourable and base, noble and ignoble, bond and free, Jews and Gentiles, are all maintained upon God’s own cost and charge; they are all fed at his table, and maintained by what comes out of his treasury, his purse; and yet God is not a pin the poorer for all this. It would break and beggar all the princes on earth, to keep but one day the least part of that innumerable company that God feeds, and clothes, and cherishes, and maintains every day upon the account of his own revenue, which is never the poorer for all the vast expenses that he is daily at. There is still in God a fulness of abundance, and a fulness of redundance, notwithstanding the vast sums that he hath, and doth daily expend. It were blasphemy to think that God should be a penny the poorer by all that he hath laid out for the maintenance of those millions of angels and men, that have had their dependence upon him, from their first creation to this very day. Look, as the sun hath never the less light for filling the stars with light, and as the fountain hath never the less water for filling the lesser vessels with water that are about it; so though God fills all the vessels, both of grace and glory, with his own fulness, yet he is never the less full himself; there is still in God plenitudo fontis, the fulness of a fountain. Look, as the overflowing fountain pours out water abundantly, and yet after all it remains full; so though the Lord be such an overflowing fountain as that he fills all, yet still he retains all fulness in himself.

I have read of a Spanish ambassador, that, coming to see the treasury of Saint Mark in Venice, that is so much cried up in the world, he fell a-groping at the bottom of the chests and trunks, to see whether they had any bottom; and being asked the reason why he did so, answered in this among other things, My master’s treasure differs from yours, and excels yours, in that his hath no bottom as yours have, alluding to the mines in Mexico, Peru, and other parts of the western India. All men’s mints, bags, purses, and coffers may be quickly exhausted and drawn dry, but God is such an inexhaustible portion, that he can never be drawn dry; all God’s treasures are bottomless, and all his mints are bottomless, and all his bags are bottomless. Millions of thousands in heaven and earth feed every day upon him, and yet he feels it not; he is still a-giving, and yet his purse is never empty; he is still a-filling all the court of heaven, and all the creatures on earth, and yet he is a fountain that still overflows. There be them that say, that it is most certainly true of the oil at Rheims, that though it be continually spent in the inauguration of their kings of France, yet it never wastes; but whatever truth is in this story, of this I am most sure, that though all the creatures in both worlds live and spend continually on Christ’s stock, yet it never wasteth. But now all earthly portions are frequently exhausted and drawn dry. The prodigal quickly spent his patrimony upon his harlots, Luke 15; and how many drunkards, and gluttons, and wantons, and gamesters, and roysters, &c., do daily bring a noble to ninepence! Proverbs 23:20-21. ’Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?’ saith God to Job, chap. 38:22, &c. Now, saith Gregory, the treasures of the snow are worldly riches, which men rake together, even as children do snow, which the next shower washeth away, and leaves nothing in the room of it but dirt. And ah! how many merchants, and shopkeepers, and others in these breaking times, have found all their riches and earthly portions to melt away as snow before the sun! how many of late have been very rich one week, and stripped of all the next, and set with Job upon the dunghill! All earthly portions are like water in a cistern, that may easily and quickly be drawn dry; but God is an inexhaustible portion, that can never be drawn dry; and this discovers the excellency of this portion above all other portions. But

(13.) Thirteenthly, As God is an inexhaustible portion, so God is a soul-satisfying portion, Psalms 17:15. He is a portion that gives the soul full satisfaction and content: Psalms 16:5-6, ’The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’ It was well with him as his heart could wish. And so in that Psalms 73:25, ’Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee;’ or as some render it, ’I would I were in heaven with thee’; or as others read the words, ’I have sought none in heaven or earth besides thee;’ or as others, ’I desire none in heaven or earth besides thee,’ or ’I affect none in heaven, nor none on earth like thee; I love none in heaven, nor none on earth, in comparison of thee; I esteem thee instead of all other treasure, and above all other treasures that are in heaven, or that are on earth.’ The holy prophet had spiritual and sweet communion with Christ to comfort and strengthen him; he had a guard of glorious angels to protect him and secure him, and he had assurance of heaven in his bosom to joy and rejoice him; and yet it was none of these, nay, it was not all these together, that could satisfy him, it was only an infinite good, an infinite God, that could satisfy him. He very well knew that the substantials of all true happiness and blessedness did lie in God, and his enjoyment of God, It was not his high dignities nor honours that could satisfy him; it was not the strength, riches, security, prosperity, and outward glory of his kingdom that could satisfy him; it was not his delightful music, nor his noble attendance, nor his well furnished tables, nor his great victories, nor his stately palaces, nor his pleasant gardens, nor his beautiful wife, nor his lovely children, that could satisfy him; all these without God could never satisfy him; but God without all these was enough to quiet him, and satisfy him: John 14:8, ’Philip said unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.’ A sight of God will satisfy a gracious soul more than all worldly contentments and enjoyments, yea, one sight of God will satisfy a saint more than all the glory of heaven will do. God is the glory of heaven. Heaven alone is not sufficient to content a gracious soul, but God alone is sufficient to content and satisfy a gracious soul. God only is that satisfying good, that is able to fill, quiet, content, and satisfy an immortal soul. Certainly, if there be enough in God to satisfy the spirits of just men made perfect, whose capacities are far greater than ours, Hebrews 12:23-25; and if there be enough in God to satisfy the angels, whose capacities are far above theirs; if there be enough in God to satisfy Jesus Christ, whose capacity is unconceivable and unexpressible; yea, if there be enough in God to satisfy himself, then certainly there must needs be in God enough to satisfy the souls of his people. If all fulness, and all goodness and infiniteness will satisfy the soul, then God will. There is nothing beyond God imaginable, nor nothing beyond God desirable, nor nothing beyond God delectable; and therefore the soul that enjoys him, cannot but be satisfied with him. God is a portion beyond all imagination, all expectation, all apprehension, and all comparison; and therefore he that hath him cannot but sit down and say, I have enough, Genesis 33:11 : Psalms 63:5-6, ’My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches.’ Marrow and fatness cannot so satisfy the appetite, as God can satisfy a gracious soul; yea, one smile from God, one glance of his countenance, one good word from heaven, one report of love and grace, will infinitely more satisfy an immortal soul, than all the fat, and all the marrow, and all the dainties and delicates of this world can satisfy the appetite of any mortal man. ’My soul shall be satisfied with fatness and fatness’; so the Hebrew hath it; that is, my soul shall be topful of comfort, it shall be filled up to the brim with pleasure and delight, in the remembrance and enjoyment of God upon my bed, or upon my beds, in the plural, as the Hebrew hath it. David had many a hard bed and many a hard lodging, whilst he was in his wilderness condition. It oftentimes so fell out that he had nothing but the bare ground for his bed, and the stones for his pillows, and the hedges for his curtains, and the heavens for his canopy; yet in this condition God was sweeter than marrow and fatness to him; though his bed was never so hard, yet in God he had full satisfaction and content: Jeremiah 31:14, ’My people shall be satisfied with goodness, saith the Lord; and ’my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus,’ Philip. 4:19, saith Paul, that great apostle of the Gentiles. The Greek word πληρώσει signifies to fill up, even as he did the widow’s vessels, 2 Kings 4:4, till they did overflow. God will fill up all, he will make up all, he will supply all the wants and necessities of his people. That water that can fill the sea, can much more fill a cup; and that sun which can fill the world with light, can much more fill my house with light. So that God that fills heaven and earth with his glory, can much more fill my soul with his glory. To shew what a satisfying portion God is, he is set forth by all those things that may satisfy the heart of man, as by bread, water, wine, milk, honours, riches, raiment, houses, lands, friends, father, mother, sister, brother, health, wealth, light, life, &c. And if these things will not satisfy, what will? It is enough, says old Jacob, that Joseph is alive, Genesis 45:28; so says a gracious soul, It is enough that God is my portion. A pardon cannot more satisfy a condemned man, nor bread an hungry man, nor drink a thirsty man, nor clothes a naked man, nor health a sick man, &c., than God doth satisfy a gracious man. But,

Now worldly portions can never satisfy the souls of men, Ecclesiastes 5:10. ’He that loveth silver shall never be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity.’ All the world cannot fill the soul, nor all the creatures in the world cannot stock the soul with complete satisfaction. As nothing can be the perfection of the soul but he that made it, so nothing can be the satisfaction of the soul but he that made it. If a man be hungry, silver cannot feed him; if naked, it cannot clothe him; if cold, it cannot warm him; if sick, it cannot recover him; if wounded, it cannot heal him; if weak, it cannot strengthen him; if fallen, it cannot raise him; if wandering, it cannot reduce him; oh how much less able is it then to satisfy him! He that, out of love to silver, seeketh after silver, shall love still to seek it, but shall never be satisfied with it. A man shall as soon satisfy the grave, and satisfy hell, and satisfy the stomach with wind, as he shall be able to satisfy his soul with any earthly portion. All earthly portions are dissatisfying portions, they do but vex and fret, gall and grieve, tear and torment, the souls of men. The world is a circle, and the heart of man is a triangle, and no triangle can fill a circle.2 Some good or other will be always wanting to that man that hath only outward good to live upon. Absalom’s beauty could not satisfy him, nor Haman’s honour could not satisfy him, nor Ahab’s kingdom could not satisfy him, nor Balaam’s gold could not satisfy him, nor Ahithophel’s policy could not satisfy him, nor the scribes and pharisees’ learning could not satisfy them, nor Dives’s riches could not satisfy him, nor Alexander’s conquests could not satisfy him; for when, as he thought, he had conquered one world, he sits down and wishes for another world to conquer; and Cyrus the Persian king was wont to say, did men but know the cares which he sustained under his imperial crown, he thought no man would stoop to take it up. Gilimex, king of the Vandals, when he was led in triumph by Belisarius, cried out, ’Vanity of vanity, all is vanity.’ Charles the fifth, emperor of Germany, whom of all men the world judged most happy, cried out with detestation to all his honours, riches, pleasures, trophies, Abite hinc, abite longe, get you hence, let me hear no more of you. And it hath been long since said of our King Henry the second, ’He whom, alive, the world could scarce suffice, When dead, in eight-foot earth contented lies.’ By all these instances, it is most evident that no earthly portions can satisfy the souls of men. Can a man fill up his chest with air? or can he fill up the huge ocean with a drop of water? or can a few drops of beer quench the thirst of a man in a burning fever? or can the smell of meat, or the reeking fume of a ladle, or dreaming of a banquet, satisfy an hungry stomach? No! no more can any earthly portions fill or satisfy the heart of man. If emptiness can fill the soul, if vanity can satisfy the soul, or if vexation can give content to the soul, then may earthly portions satisfy the soul, but not till then. When a man can gather grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, and turn day into night, and winter into summer, then shall he find satisfaction in the creatures; but not before. All earthly portions are weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, and they are found to be lighter than the dust of the balance; and this will rather inflame the thirst than quench it. A man that hath only the world for his portion, is like to Noah’s dove out of the ark, that was in continual motion, but could find no resting place; but a man that hath God for his portion is like the dove, returning and resting in the ark, The soul can never be at rest, till it comes to rest and centre in God. God himself is the soul’s only home, no good but the chiefest good can suffice an immortal soul. Look, as God never rested till he had made man, so man can never rest till he comes to enjoy God; the soul of man is of a very vast capacity, and nothing can fill it to the brim but he that is fulness itself. It is the breast, and not the baby2 nor the rattle, that will satisfy the hungry child; and it is God, and not this or that creature, that can satisfy the soul of man. But,

(14.) Fourteenthly, As God is a soul-satisfying portion, so God is a permanent portion, an indefinite portion, a never failing portion, a lasting, yea, an everlasting portion: Psalms 73:26, ’My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength, or the rock, of my heart, and my portion for ever.’ God is a fountain which the hottest summer dries not, a bottomless treasure that can never be expended. God ever was, and ever will be. He cannot borrow his being from anything, who gives being and well-being to all things. ’God is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, he is yesterday and to-day, and the same for ever,’ Revelation 1:8. God is the Almighty, which is, and which was, and which is to come. All the differences of time are united by some to connote the eternity of God, in that Exodus 3:14, ’And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.’ Some translate this text, according to the full scope of the future amongst the Hebrews, ’I am that I am, that I was, and that I will be;’ for the future amongst the Hebrews points at all differences of time, past, present, and to come; but others, observing the strict and proper signification of the future, translate it thus, ’I will be that I will be.’ This name of God imports two of God’s incommunicable attributes, First, His eternity, when he saith, ’I will be.’

Secondly, His immutability, when he saith, ’That I will be.’ The Rabbins, upon this text, express themselves after this manner: ’The blessed God said unto Moses, Say unto them, I that have been, and I the same now, and I the same for time to come,’ &c.; but others, more agreeable to the Chaldee paraphrase, express themselves thus: ’I, he that is, and was, and hereafter will be, hath sent me unto you.’ But it is observable, that the angel of the waters unites all differences of time in that great and glorious acknowledgment, Revelation 16:5, ’Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.’ God is a God of that infinite excellency and glory, that it is utterly impossible for him to be better, or other than he is. If God should in the least be alterable or mutable, he would presently cease to be God. God is a God of that transcendent excellency, that there can be nothing added to him, nor nothing subtracted from him. If you add anything to him, you deny him to be God; and if you take anything from him, you destroy his being, James 1:17; Psalms 90:2, ’From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.’ ’And Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall never be taken from her,’ Luke 10:42. God is eternal, as neither being capable of a beginning nor ending; and therefore the Egyptians used to signify God by a circle, and the Persians thought that they honoured God most, when, going up to the top of the highest tower, they called him the circle of heaven. Now you know a circle hath no end. And it was a custom among the Turks to go up every morning to a high tower, and to cry out, God always was, and always will be, and so salute their Mahomet. Some things have a beginning, but no ending, as angels and the souls of men; and some things have no beginning, and yet have an end, as the decrees of God in their final accomplishment; and some things have both a beginning and an ending, as all sublunary things; but God hath neither beginning nor ending. All creatures have a lasting, angels have an outlasting, but God hath an everlasting being: 1 Timothy 1:17, ’Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.’ God is without beginning and end, first and last, past and to come: Psalms 102:25-27, ’Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.’ Were there no other scripture to prove the eternity and immutability of God, this were enough. Whatever changes may pass upon the heavens and the earth, yet God will always remain unchangeable and unalterable. By what hath been said, it is most evident that God is an everlasting portion, that he is a never-failing portion. But now all earthly portions are very uncertain; now they are, and anon they are not: Proverbs 23:5, ’Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle towards heaven.’ Though the foolish world call riches substance, yet they have no solid subsistence. All earthly portions are as transitory as a shadow, a ship, a bubble, a bird, a dream, an arrow, a post that passeth swiftly away. Riches were never true to any that have trusted in them. In this text, riches are said not to be, because they do not continue to be; they will not abide by a man, they will not long continue with a man, and therefore they are as if they were not. All earthly things are vain and transitory, they are rather shows and shadows than real things themselves: 1 Corinthians 7:31, ’For the fashion of this world passeth away.’ The Greek word σχῆμα signifies a mathematical figure, which is a mere notion, and nothing in substance. All the glory of this world is rather a matter of fashion than of substance, it is a body without a soul, it is a golden shell without a kernel, it is a show without a substance. There is no firmness, there is no solidness, there is no consistency, there is no constancy in any of the creatures. All the pomp, and state, and glory of the world is but a mere piece of pageantry, a mask, a comedy, a fantasy: Acts 25:23, ’And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp.’ The original words, μετἀ πολλῆς φαντασίας, signifies great fantasy, or vain show. The greatest glory and pomp of this world, in the eye of God, in the account of God, is but as a fantasy or a shadow. It was a custom in Rome, that when the emperor went by upon some great day in all his imperial pomp, there was an officer appointed to burn flax before him, and to cry out, Sic transit gloria mundi, so the glory of this world passeth away; and this was purposely done to put him in mind that all his honour, pomp, glory, and grandeur should soon pass and vanish away, as the flax did that he saw burnt before his eyes. That great conqueror of the world, Alexander, caused a sword in the compass of a wheel to be painted upon a table, to shew that what he had gotten by the sword was subject to be turned about by the wheel of fortune;2 and many great conquerors, besides him, have found it so, and many now alive have seen it so.

Look, as the rainbow shews itself in all its dainty colours, and then vanisheth away; so doth all worldly honours, riches, and preferments shew themselves and then vanish away; and how many in our days have found it so! When one was a-commending the riches and wealth of merchants; I do not love that wealth, said an heathen, which hangs upon ropes, for if they break, the ship and all her wealth miscarries. Certainly within these few months the miscarrying of several ships hath caused several merchants sadly to miscarry. A storm at sea, a spark of fire, an unfaithful servant, a false oath, or a treacherous friend, may quickly bring a man to sit with Job upon a dunghill. Look, as the bird flies from tree to tree, and as the beggar goes from door to door, and as the pilgrim travels from place to place, and as the physician walks from patient to patient; so all the riches, honours, and glory of this world do either fly from man to man, or else walk from man to man. Who knows not, that many times one is made honourable by another’s disgrace? another is made full by another man’s emptiness? and a third is made rich by another’s poverty? How soon is the courtier’s glory eclipsed, if the prince doth but frown upon him! and how soon doth the prince become a peasant, if God doth but frown upon him? Now one is exalted, and anon he is debased; now one is full, and anon he is hungry; now one is clothed gloriously, and anon he is clothed with rags; now one is at liberty, and anon he is under restraint; now a man hath many friends, and anon he hath never a friend. There is nothing but vanity and uncertainty in all earthly portions. But,

(15.) Fifteenthly, and lastly, As God is a permanent and never failing portion, so God is an incomparable portion; and this follows clearly and roundly upon what hath been said; for, (1.) If God be a present portion, a portion in hand, a portion in possession; and, (2.) If God be an immense portion, if he be the vastest, the largest, and the greatest portion; and, (3.) If God be an all-sufficient portion; and, (4.) If God be the most absolute, needful, and necessary portion; and (5.) If God be a pure and unmixed portion; and, (6.) If God be a glorious, a happy, and a blessed portion; and, (7.) If God be a peculiar portion; and, (8.) If God be a universal portion; and, (9.) If God be a safe portion, a secure portion, a portion that none can rob or wrong us of; and, (10.) If God be a suitable portion; and, (11.) If God be an incomprehensible portion; and,

(12.) If God be an inexhaustible portion, a portion that can never be spent, that can never be exhausted or drawn dry; and, (13.) If God be a soul-satisfying portion; and,

(14.) If God be a permanent and an everlasting portion: then it must very necessarily follow, that God is an incomparable portion. But such a portion God is, as I have proved at large; and, therefore, beyond all dispute, God must needs be an incomparable portion: Proverbs 3:13-15, ’Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,’ (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ), ’and the man that getteth understanding: for the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared to her.’ All the gold of Ophir, and all the silver of the Indies, which are but the guts and garbage of the earth, are nothing, yea, less than nothing, compared with God. God is a portion more precious than all those things which are esteemed most precious. A man may desire, what not? he may desire that all the mountains in the world may be turned into mountains of gold for his use; he may desire that all the rocks in the world may be turned into the richest pearls for his use; he may desire that all the treasure that is buried in the sea may be brought into his treasuries; he may desire that all the crowns and sceptres of all the princes and emperors of the world, may be piled up at his gate, as they were once said to be at Alexander’s; yet all these things are not comparable to a saint’s portion, yea, they are not to be named in that day, wherein the excellency of a saint’s portion is set forth. Horace writes of a precious stone that was more worth than twenty thousand shekels, and Pliny valued the two precious pearls of Cleopatra at twelve hundred thousand shekels.2 But what were these, and what were all other precious stones in the world, but dung and dross, in comparison of a saint’s portion? Philip. 3:7, 9. I have read a story of a man, whom Chrysostom did feign to be in prison. Oh, saith he, if I had but liberty, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, if I had but for necessity, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, had I for a little variety, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, had I any office, were it the meanest, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, had I but a magistracy, though over one town only, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, were I a prince, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, were I but a king, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, were I but an emperor, I would desire no more! He had it. Oh then, were I but emperor of the whole world, I would then desire no more! He had it; and yet then he sits down with Alexander, and weeps that there are no more worlds for him to possess. Now did any man enjoy what he is said to desire, it would be but a very mean portion compared with God. We may truly say of all the honours, riches, greatness, grandeur, and glory of this world, compared with God, as Gideon sometimes said of the vintage of Abiezer, ’The gleanings of Ephraim are better than the vintage of Abiezer,’ Judges 8:2; so the very gleanings, yea, the smallest gatherings of God, are far better, and more excellent and transcendent, they are more satisfying, more delighting, more ravishing, more quieting, and more contenting than all earthly portions are or can be. What comparison is there between a drop of a bucket and the vast ocean? between a weak drop, which recollecting all its force, yet hath not strength enough to fall, and the mighty waters? Or what comparison is there between the dust of the balance and the whole earth? Why, you will say, there is no comparison between these things; and I will say, there is less between all finite portions, and such an infinite portion as God is. For this is most certain, that there must needs be always an infinite distance between what is finite and what is infinite; and such a portion God is. By all that hath been said, it is most evident that God is an incomparable portion. But now all earthly portions are comparable portions. You may easily and safely compare one earthly portion with another, one prince’s revenues may be comparable to another’s, and one great man’s lordships may be comparable to another’s, and one merchant’s estate may be comparable to another’s, and one gentlemen’s lands may be comparable to another’s, and one wife’s portion may be comparable to another’s, and one child’s portion may be comparable to another’s, &c., but God is an incomparable portion. There is no comparison to be made between God and other portions. And thus I have in these fifteen particulars fully discovered the excellency of the saints’ portion above all other portions.

And, therefore, I shall now come to the second thing, and that is, to shew you,