Front matter (continued, part 35)
and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price;" verse 3, "Incline your ear and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." And so Rev. 22:17, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him who hears say, Come; and let him who is athirst come; and whoever wills, let him take the water of life freely."
Likewise, Hosea 14:4, "I will heal their backslidings—and love them freely." Likewise, Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember your sins." Isaiah 57:18, "I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and comfort him and his mourners."
Oh, these have been comforting promises, and upholding promises, and refreshing promises to many, doubting, drooping souls. [The promises are the food of faith, and the soul of faith.] It is impossible that such a soul should ever drop into hell—who can cling fast to any of these promises—who can hang upon any of these promises—who can rest and lay the weight of their souls upon Christ in any of these promises. Reliance upon Christ in these precious promises—has ferried many poor, doubting, trembling souls to heaven! The promise is the golden cabinet—and Christ is the costly jewel which is laid up in it. The promise is the field—and Christ is the treasure which is hidden in it. All the promises point to Christ—lead to Christ—hang upon Christ. All the promises of God are yes, and amen in Christ," 2 Cor. 1:20. In the new covenant God neither makes any promises, nor fulfils any promises of salvation—but in Christ and through Christ.
Now, when any fears, or darkness, or doubts, or disputes, arise in your souls about your spiritual estates, oh, then—run to Christ in the promise, and plead the promise, and hang upon the breasts of the promise, and let your souls cleave close to the promise; for this is the way of ways to have your evidences cleared, your comforts restored, your peace maintained, your graces strengthened, and your assurance raised and confirmed.
The Best Wine Reserved Until Last
by Thomas Brooks
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24
Introduction
A Matchless Portion
What a Portion God is
Grounds of Title Unto God as a Portion
Practical Application
How shall We Know Whether God is Our Portion?
Incitements to See that God is Our Portion
Objections
Concluding Principles
"I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man who would know me, refuge failed me, no man cared for my soul, I cried unto you, O Lord, I said you are my refuge, and my portion in the land of the living"
Psalm 142:4-5.
EPISTLE DEDICATORY
To all the merchants and tradesmen of England, especially these of the city of London, with all other sorts and ranks of people that either have or would have God for their portion; may grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied.
Gentlemen—The wisest prince that ever sat upon a throne has told us, that "a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver," that is, rightly ordered, placed, and circumstanced. Such a word is, of all words, the most excellent, the most prevalent, most precious, most sweet, most desirable, and most delectable, and the most pleasant word that can be spoken. O sirs! to time a word, to speak a word to purpose, is the project of this book. Though all truths are glorious, yet there is a double glory upon seasonable truths; and, therefore, I have made it my great business in this treatise to hold forth as seasonable a truth, and as weighty a truth, and as comfortable and encouraging a truth, as any I know in all the book of God. The mother of King Cyrus willed, that the words of those who spoke unto her son should be in silk, but certainly seasonable words are always better than silken words.
Every prudent farmer observes his fittest season to sow his seeds, and therefore some he sows in the autumn and fall of the leaf; and some in the spring and renewing of the year; some be sows in a dry season, and some he sows in a wet; some he sows in a moist clay, and some he sows in a sandy dry ground. And so all spiritual farmers must wisely observe their fittest seasons for the sowing of that immortal seed that God has put into their hands; and such a thing as this is I have had in my eye—but whether I have hit the mark or missed it, let the Christian reader judge.
Augustine, speaking of the glory of heaven says, "That the good things of eternal life are so many that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure, and so precious that they are above all estimation," etc. The same may I say concerning the saint's present portion, for certainly the good things that are in their portion—in their God—are so many, that they exceed number, so great that they exceed measure, and so precious
that they are above all estimation.
The same author in one of his epistles has this remarkable relation, namely, that the same day wherein Jerome died, he was in his study, and had got pen, ink, and paper to write something of the glory of heaven to Jerome, and suddenly Augustine saw a light breaking into his study, and smelled also a very sweet smell, and this voice he thought he heard—"O Augustine, what are you doing? do think to put the sea into a little vessel? When the heavens shall cease from their continual motion—only then shall you be able to understand what the glory of heaven is, and not before!" Certainly, the glory of heaven is beyond all conception and all expression, and so is that portion that is a little hinted at in the following discourse. And, indeed, a full description of that God, who is the believer's portion, is a work too high for an Aaron when standing upon mount Hor; or for a Moses, when standing on the top of Nebo after a Pisgah prospect. Yes, it is a work too high and too hard for all those blessed seraphim that are still a-crying before the throne of God, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty." [Num 20:28; Deut 32:49; Deut 34:1; Isa 6:3] No finite being, though ever so glorious, can ever be able fully to comprehend an infinite being.
In Isaiah 6:2, we read that each seraphim had six wings, and that with two he covered the face of God, with two his feet, and with two he flew; intimating, as one well observes upon the place, that with two they covered his face, the face of God, not their own face; and with two they covered his feet, not their own feet. They covered his face, his beginning being unknown; they covered his feet, his end being incomprehensible; only the middle are to be seen, the things which are, whereby there may be some glimmering knowledge made out what God is.
The wise man hit it, when he said, "That which is afar off and exceeding deep—who can find it out?" Eccles 7:24. Who can find out what God is? The knowledge of him is so far off, that he whose arm is able to break even a bow of steel is not able to reach it; so far off, that he who is able to make his nest with the eagle is not able to fly unto it; and so exceeding deep, that he who could follow the leviathan could not fathom it; that he who could venture to the center of the earth, is not able to find it out! Who then is able to reach it? In a word, so far off and so deep too, that
"the depth says, It is not in me; and the sea says, It is not in me." It is such a deep to men and angels as far exceeds the capacity of both. Augustine speaking to that question, 'What God is?' gives this answer —"Surely such a one as he, who, when he is spoken of, cannot be spoken of; who, when he is considered, cannot be considered of; who, when he is compared to anything, cannot be compared; and when he is defined, grows greater by defining of him. If that great apostle—who learned his divinity among the angels, yes, to whom the Holy Spirit was an immediate tutor, did know but "in part," then certainly those who are most acute and judicious in divine knowledge may very well conclude— that they know but part of that part that was known to him." As for my own part, I dare pretend but to a spark of that knowledge that others have attained to, and yet who can tell but that God may turn this spark into such a flame as may warm the hearts of many of his dear and precious ones. Much is done many times by a spark.
O sirs! catch not at the present profits, pleasures, preferments, and honors of this world—but "lay up a good foundation for the time to come," provide for eternity, make sure your interest and propriety in God. It was an excellent saying of Lewis, emperor of Germany—"Such goods," said he, "are worth getting and owning, as will not sink or wash away if a shipwreck happens." How many of you have lost your all by shipwrecks! and how has divine providence by your multiplied crosses and losses taught you—that the good things and the great things of this world cannot be made sure! How many of you have had rich inheritances left you by your fathers, besides the great portions that you have had with your wives, and the vast estates that you have gained by trading; but what is become of all? Is not all buried in the deep, or in the grave of oblivion? Oh the fickleness and the grand impostury of this world! Oh the flux and reflux of riches, greatness, honors, and preferments! How many men have we seen shining in their worldly pomp and glory like stars in the skies—who are now vanished into smoke or comets! How has the moon of many great men's riches and honors been eclipsed at the full, and the sun of their pomp gone down at noon!
"It was," says the historian Justinian, "a wonderful precedent of vanity, and variety of human condition to see mighty Xerxes to flee away in a
small vessel, who but a little before needed sea-room for his navy." The Dutch, to express the world's vanity and uncertainty, have very wittily pictured a man with a full blown balloon on his shoulders, and another standing by pricking the balloon with a pin, with this motto—How soon is all blown away! I am not willing to make the porch too wide, else I might have given you famous instances of the vanity and uncertainty of all worldly wealth, pomp, and glory, from the Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms, whose glory now lies all in the dust. By all this, it is most evident that earthly portions cannot be made sure, they "make themselves wings, and they fly away," Prov 23:5.
Oh! but God is a portion that may be made sure. In the time of the Marian persecution, there was a woman, who, being convened before bloody Bonner, then bishop of London, upon the trial of religion, he threatened her that he would take away her husband from her—says she, 'Christ is my husband!' I will take away your child; 'Christ,' says she, 'is better to me than ten sons!' I will strip you, says he, of all your outward comforts; 'but Christ is mine,' says she, 'and you cannot strip me of him.' A Christian may be stripped of anything but his God; he may be stripped of his estate, his friends, his relations, his liberty, his life—but he can never be stripped of his God. As God is a portion that none can give to a Christian but God himself; so God is a portion that none can take from a Christian but God himself; and, therefore, as ever you would have a sure portion, an abiding portion, a lasting portion, yes, an everlasting portion, make sure of God for your portion.
O Sirs! that you would judge that only worth much now, which will be found of much worth at last—when you shall lie upon a dying bed, and stand before a judgment-seat. Oh that men would prize and value all earthly portions now, as they will value them when they come to die, and when their souls shall sit upon their trembling lips, and when there shall be but a short step between them and eternity. Oh, at what a poor rate, at what a low rate do men then value their earthly portions! Certainly, it will be their very great wisdom to value their earthly portions now—as they would value them then. And oh that men would value this glorious, this matchless portion that is held forth in this treatise now, as they will value it and prize it when they come to die, and when they come to launch out
into the ocean of eternity!
I have read of a stationer, who, being at a fair, hung out several pictures of famous men, among which he had also the picture of Christ. Upon which divers men bought according to their several likings—the soldier buys his Caesar, the lawyer his Justinian, the physician his Galen, the philosopher his Aristotle, the poet his Virgil, the orator his Cicero, and the divine his Augustine. But all this while the picture of Christ hung by as a thing of no value, until a poor man, who had no more money than would purchase that, bought it, saying, Now every man has taken away his God, let me have mine too! O Sirs! it would make any gracious, any serious, any ingenious, any conscientious heart to bleed, to see at what a high rate all sorts and ranks of men do value earthly portions, which at best are but counterfeit pictures, when this glorious portion which is here treated of, hangs by as a thing of no value, of no price!
Most men are mad upon the world, and so they may have much of that for their portion, they care not whether ever they have God for their portion or not. Give them but a palace in Paris, and then with that French duke, they care not for a place in paradise; give them but a mess of pottage, and let who will take the birthright; give them but manna in a wilderness, and let who will take the land of Canaan; give them but ground which is pleasant and rich, and then with the Reubenites they will gladly take up their rest on this side the Holy Land; give them but their bags full, and their barns full, and then with the rich fool in the Gospel, they can think of nothing but of taking their ease, and of eating and drinking, and making merry, Luke 12:16-22. So brutish and foolish are they in their understandings, as if their precious and immortal souls were good for nothing but as salt to keep their bodies from rotting and stinking.
Oh that these men would seriously consider, that as a cup of pleasant wine, offered to a condemned man in the way to his execution, and as the feast of him who sat under a naked sword, hanging perpendicularly over his head by a slender thread, and as Adam's forbidden fruit, seconded by a flaming sword, and as Belshazzar's dainties, overlooked by an handwriting against the wall; such and only such are all earthly portions to those who have not God for their portion.
Well, gentlemen, remember this, there is no true happiness to be found in any earthly portions. Solomon, having made a critical inquiry after the excellency of all creature comforts, gives this in as the ultimate extraction from them all, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." if you should go to all the creatures round, they will tell you that happiness is not in them. If you should go to the earth, the earth will tell you that happiness grows not in the furrows of the field. If you go to the sea, the sea will tell you that happiness is not in the treasures of the deep. If you go to the beasts of the field, or to the birds of the air, they will tell you that happiness is not to be found on them. If you go to your bags, or heaps of gold and silver, they will tell you that happiness is not to be found in them. If you go to crowns and scepters, they will tell you that happiness is too precious and too glorious a gem to be found in them.
As it is not the great cage which makes the bird sing, so it is not the great estate which makes the happy life, nor the great earthly portion which makes the happy soul. There is no true comfort nor no true happiness to be drawn out of the standing pools of outward sufficiencies. All true comfort and happiness is only to be found in having of an all-sufficient God for your portion. Psalm 144:15, "Happy is that people that is in such a case, yes, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." And therefore, as ever you would be happy in both worlds, it very highly concerns you to get a saving interest in God, and to be restless in your own souls until you come to enjoy God for your portion.
A man who has God for his portion is a paragon; he is the rarest and the happiest man in the world; he is like the morning star in the midst of the clouds; he is like the moon when it is full; he is like the flower of the roses in the spring of the year; he is like the lilies by the springs of waters; he is like the branches of frankincense in the time of summer; he is like a vessel of gold that is set about with all manner of precious stones.
Nothing can make that man miserable, who has God for his portion; nor nothing can make that man happy, who lacks God for his portion. The more rich—the more wretched; the more great—the more graceless; the more honorable—the more miserable that man will be, who has not God for his portion. The Sodomites were very wealthy, and who more vile and
wicked than they? The Egyptians and Babylonians were very rich, great, and potent in the world, and what greater oppressors and persecutors of the people of God than these? Oh the slavery, the captivity, and the woeful misery of the people of God, under those cruel tyrants! Have not the Nimrods, the Nebuchadnezzars, the Belshazzars, the Alexanders, and the Caesars, etc., been commonly the lords of the world; and who so abominably wicked as these? No men for wickedness have been able to match them or come near them.
It has been long since observed, that Daniel sets forth the several monarchies of the world by sundry sorts of cruel beasts, to show that as they were gotten by beastly cruelty, so they were supported and maintained by brutish sensuality, craft, and tyranny.
Well, Sirs! you may be the lords of this world, and yet you will certainly be miserable in another world, except you get God for your portion. The top of man's happiness in this world lies in his having of God for his portion. He who has God for his portion enjoys all; and he who lacks a saving interest and propriety in God enjoys nothing at all.
Gentlemen, I have read of an heathen who, seeing a sudden shipwreck of all his wealth, said, Well, fortune, I see now that you would have me to be a philosopher. Oh that you would say under all your heavy losses and crosses, Well! we now see that God would have us "lay up treasure in heaven," Matt 6:19-20; we now see that God would have us look after a better portion than any this world affords; we now see that it highly concerns us to secure our interest and property in God; we now see that to enjoy God for our portion is the one thing necessary. Have not many of you said, nay sworn, that if you might but see and enjoy the delight of your eyes—that then you would have a sweeping trade, and abound in all plenty and prosperity, and grow rich and great and glorious in the world, and be eased of everything that did but look like a burden, etc. If it be indeed thus with you, why do you so complain, murmur, and repine? and why do many of you walk up and down the Exchange and streets with tears in your eyes, and with heaviness in your hearts, and with cracked credits, and threadbare coats, and empty purses? and why are so many of you broke, and so many prisoners, and so many hide, and so many fled? But if it be otherwise, and that you are sensible that you have put a cheat
upon yourselves, I say not upon others, and that as you have been selfflatterers, so you have been self-deceivers, the more highly it concerns you to do yourselves, your souls that right, as to make sure of God for your portion. For what else can make up those woeful disappointments under which you are fallen?
It is a sad sight to see all the arrows that men shoot to fall upon their own heads; or to see them twist a rope to hang themselves; or to see men dig a pit for others and to fall into it themselves. And it is but justice that men should bake as they brew, and that those who brew mischief should have the first and largest draught of it themselves. Now the best way to prevent so sad a sight and so great a mischief, is to get God for your portion—for when once God comes to be a man's portion, then "all things shall work together for his good," Rom 8:28, and then God will preserve him from such hurtful and mischievous actings.
The whole world is a great bedlam, and multitudes there are that think madly, and that design madly, and that talk madly, and that act madly, and that walk madly. Now as you would not be found in the number of those bedlams, it highly concerns you to get God for your portion, so that you may be filled with that wisdom that may preserve you from the folly and madness of this mad world.
Gentlemen, the following sermons I preached in 1660, and God blessed them then to those Christians that attended on my ministry, and I hope he will bless them also to the internal and eternal welfare of your souls, to whom they are now dedicated. They are much enlarged; the profit will be yours, the labor has been mine. I judge them very seasonable and suitable to present dispensations, else they had not seen the light at this time. Curiosity is the spiritual adultery of the soul; curiosity is that greensickness of the soul, whereby it longs for novelties, and loathes sound and wholesome truths; it is the epidemic distemper of this age and hour.
And therefore, if any of you are troubled with this itch of curiosity, and love to be wise above what is written, and delight to scan the choice mysteries of religion by carnal reason, and affect elegant expressions and seraphic notions, and the flowers of rhetoric, more than sound and wholesome truths, then you may ease yourselves, if you please, of the
trouble of reading this following treatise. Only remember this, that the prudent farmer looks more and delights more in the ripeness and soundness and goodness of the corn that is in his field, than he does at the beauty of the cockle; and remember, that no man can live more miserably than he who lives altogether upon sweets; and he who looks more at the handsomeness than he does at the wholesomeness of the dishes of food which are set before him, may well pass for a fool.
Well, gentlemen, for a close, remember this, that as Noah was drunk with his own wine, and as Goliath was beheaded by his own sword, and as the rose is destroyed by the canker that it breeds in itself, and as Agrippina was killed by Nero, to whom she gave breath; so if ever you are eternally destroyed, you will be destroyed by yourselves; if ever you are undone, you will be undone by yourselves; if ever you are scourged to death, it will be by rods of your own making; and if ever the bitter cup of damnation be put into your hands, it will be found to be of your own preparing, mingling, and embittering.
Behold, I have set life and death, heaven and hell, glory and misery, before you in this treatise; and therefore, if you will needs choose death rather than life, hell rather than heaven, misery rather than glory, what can be more just—than that you should perish to all eternity? If you will not have God for your portion, you shall be sure to have His wrath for your portion, and hell for your portion!
Well, sirs! remember this at last—Every man shall only thank his own folly for his own bane, his own sin for his own everlasting shame, his own iniquity for his own endless misery!
I have now no more to do but to improve all the interest that I have in heaven, that this treatise may be blessed to all your souls, and that you all experience what it is to have God for your portion; for that will be my joy as well as yours, and my crown as well as yours, and my glorying as well as yours, in the great day of our Lord Jesus; and so "I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified," Acts 20:32; and rest, gentlemen, your souls' servant, Thomas Brooks.
A MATCHLESS PORTION
"The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore
I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24.
Certainly if Ennius could pick out gold out of a dunghill, I may, by divine assistance, much better pick out golden matter out of such a golden mine as my text is—to enrich the souls of men. The best of painters Apelles, to draw an exquisite Venus, had set before him an hundred choice and selected beauties, to take from one an eye, another a lip, a third a smile, a fourth an hand, and from each of them that special lineament in which the most excelled; but I have no need of any other scripture to be set before me to draw forth the excellency of the saints' portion, than that which I have now pitched upon; for the beauty, excellency, and glory of a hundred choice scriptures are epitomized in this one!
The Jewish doctors and other writers differ about the time of Jeremiah's penning this book of the Lamentations; but to be ignorant of the circumstance of time when this book was made, is such a crime as I suppose will not be charged upon any man's account in the great day of our Lord Jesus.
Doubtless this book of the Lamentations was composed by Jeremiah in the time of the Babylonian captivity. In this book the prophet sadly laments and bewails the grievous calamities and miseries that had befallen the Jews, namely—the ruin of their state, the devastation of their land, the destruction of their glorious city and temple, which was the great wonder of the world, the profanation of all his holy things, the contemptible and deplorable condition of all sorts, ranks, and degrees of men. And then he complains of their sins as the procuring causes of all those calamities that God in his righteousness had inflicted upon them. He exhorts them also to patience under the mighty hand of God, and stirs them up to repent and reform, as they would have their sins pardoned, judgments removed, divine wrath pacified, their insulting enemies suppressed, and former acts and grants of favor and grace restored to them.
But to come to the words of my text, "The LORD is my portion, says my
soul; therefore I will hope in Him." Lamentations 3:24
The LORD Jehovah, from havah, he was. This name Jehovah is the most proper name of God, and it is never attributed to any but to God.
1. First, Jehovah sets out God's eternity, in that it contains all times, future, present, and past.
2. Secondly, It sets out also God's self-existence, coming from havah, to be.
3. Thirdly, When either some special mercy is promised, or some extraordinary judgment is threatened, then the name of Jehovah is commonly annexed; to show that that God whose being is from himself, and who gives a being to all his creatures both on heaven and on earth— will certainly give a being to his promises and threatenings, and not fail to accomplish the words that are gone out of his mouth.
4. Fourthly, This name Jehovah consists only of quiescent letters, that is letters of rest, as the Hebrews call them, to show that there is no rest until we come to Jehovah, and that in him we may safely and securely rest, as the dove did in Noah's ark.
"Is my portion." the Hebrew word signifies to divide. He alludes, as I take it, to the dividing of the land of Canaan among the Israelites by lot. "The Lord," says he, "is my portion," my part, my lot; and with this portion I rest fully satisfied, as the Israelites were to do with their parts and portions in that pleasant land. It is true, says Jeremiah, in the name of the church, I am thus and thus afflicted, and sorely distressed on all hands; but yet "the Lord is my portion," and that supports and bears up my spirits from fainting and sinking in this evil day.
"Says my soul." The Hebrew word has nine various senses or significations in the Scripture. But let this suffice, that by soul here in the text we are to understand the heart, the mind, the spirit, and the understanding of a man. Well, says the prophet, though I am in a sea of sorrow, and in a gulf of misery, yet my heart tells me that "the Lord is my portion;" my mind tells me that "the Lord is my portion;" my spirit tells
me that "the Lord is my portion;" and my understanding tells me that "the Lord is my portion;" and therefore I will bear up bravely in the face of all calamities and miseries.
"Therefore will I hope in him." The Hebrew word that is here rendered hope, signifies both hoping, expecting, and trusting; also it signifies a patient waiting upon the Lord. [Gen 8:10; Isaiah 42:4; Psalm 31:25] The prophet Jeremiah had not only a witness above him—but also a witness within him, that the Lord was his portion; and therefore he resolves firmly to hope in the Lord, and sweetly to trust on the Lord, and quietly and patiently to wait upon the Lord, until God should turn his storm into a calm, and his sad winter into a blessed summer.
In my text there are three things observable:
First, An assertion or proposition in those words, "The Lord is my portion."
Secondly, A proof of it in those words, "says my soul."
Thirdly, The use or inference from the premises in those words, "Therefore will I hope in him."
The words being thus opened, the proposition that I intend to insist upon is this, namely:
Doctrine. That the Lord is the saints' portion.
I shall call in a few scriptures to witness to the truth of this proposition, and then I shall further open it to you. Psalm 16:5, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup—you maintain my lot." Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart may fail—but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." Psalm 119:57, "You are my portion, O Lord—I have said that I would keep your words." Jer 10:16, "He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance—the Lord Almighty is his name."
Now for the further opening and clearing up of this great and glorious,
this sweet and blessed truth, I shall endeavor to show you,
First, What a portion the Lord is to his saints, to his gracious ones.
Secondly, The reasons or grounds whereupon the saints have laid claim to God as their portion.
WHAT A PORTION GOD IS
Now the excellency of this portion I shall show you by an induction of particulars, thus:
(1.) 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, Psalm 48:14; Isaiah 25:9. And so does that Psalm 46:1, "God is a very present help in trouble." The Hebrew word is in the plural number troubles, that is, God is a present help in many troubles, in great troubles, and in continued troubles. It signifies 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. "But now, O Israel, the Lord who created you says—Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3.
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. Psalm 142:5, "I cried unto you, O Lord—I said, You are my refuge and my portion in the land of the living." God is a portion in present possession, and not a portion only in
reversion. The psalmist does not say, You may be my portion in another world—but "You are my portion in the land of the living;" nor he does not say, You will be my portion in another world—but "You are my portion in the land of the living." Look, as Elkanah gave Hannah a worthy portion in hand, 1 Sam 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; yes, their patience is oftentimes wore so threadbare in waiting, that they wish their parents in Abraham's bosom; yes, and sometimes in a worse place, that so they may inherit their honors, lordships, lands, treasures, etc. Look, as a bird in the hand is worth two, yes, ten, in the bush—so a portion in possession is worth two, yes, 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.) 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 Tim 6:15, "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 heaps up many words together, to show that in greatness God excels all. Isaiah 40:15-17, "Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing." Not only one nation—but many nations; yes, 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? yes, they are nothing, they are less than nothing. And though Lebanon was a very great spacious forest, and had abundance of animals in it, yet God was a God of that infinite greatness, that though all the
animals harboring 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 Psalm 147:5, "Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite," or as the Hebrew has 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. Psalm 145:3, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable," or as the Hebrew has it, "of his greatness there is no search." God is infinitely above all names, all notions, all conceptions, all expressions, and all parallels! Psalm 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 Deut 10:17, "For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and awesome, who regards not people, nor takes 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 outside all things, and above all things, and this speaks out his immensity, Psalm 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 donkeys, 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 donkeys," Job 42:12. Cattle are only instanced, 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, says 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. Dan 5:18-19, "O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the peoples and nations and men of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled. " And so in that Jer 27:5-8, "With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him." The portion that here God gives to Nebuchadnezzar is an amazingly 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—compared to a saint's portion!
When Alcibiades was proudly boasting of his spacious lands, Socrates wittily rebukes his pride by bringing him a map of the world, and wishing him to show 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 compared to the vast continents which are in other parts of the world; and what then is your palace, your lordships, your manors,
your farm, your house, your cottage—but a little speck—but a prick of a pin—compared 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 count 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 until then, will you be able to declare what a great, what an immense portion God is. If "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the great things that God has laid up in the gospel" (for so that 1 Cor 2:9 is to be understood), oh how much less, then, are they able to declare the great things that God has 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. Gen 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 perfect. I am God Almighty," or as some carry the words, "I am God all-sufficient, or self-sufficient." God has self-sufficiency and all-sufficiency in himself. Some derive the word Shaddai, that is here rendered almighty or all-sufficient, because God feeds his children with sufficiency of all good things, as the tender mother does the sucking child.
Gen 15:1, "After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram—I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward;" I will be your shield to defend you from all kind of mischief and miseries, and I will be your exceeding great reward to supply you with all necessary and desirable mercies; and what can a saint desire more?
Psalm 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 those who 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 chief, notes all manner of protection whatever. 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 allsufficient 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, Psalm 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 a house to shelter him, and food to nourish him, and a bed to ease him, and friends to comfort him, etc. But this is the excellency of God, that he has 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, yes, 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 worshiping of God to all eternity, yet they shall never be able to add anything to God, who is blessed forever.
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 allsufficient 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 grace is all-sufficient to adorn you and enrich you; and his Spirit is all-sufficient to lead you and comfort you! What can you desire more? O sirs! God has within himself all the good of angels, of men, and universal nature; he has all glory, all dignity, all riches, all treasures, all pleasures, all delights, all comforts, all contentments, all joys, all beatitudes in himself. All the scattered excellencies and perfections that are 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 epitomized in God, according to that old saying, all good is in the chief 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! 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 ciphers 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 creature in the world are not sufficient to make it sunshine with the soul, etc. There is not enough in the whole creation to content, quiet, or satisfy one immortal soul. He who has most of the
world would have more, and he who has least of the world has 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 lack of an earthly portion may trouble me—but the lack 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 go 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 ash-heap in this world, Job 1, etc. But I can never be happy here, nor blessed hereafter, except God is 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 forever and ever undone.
"At that time you were without Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." Eph 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 people must needs be in a most sad and deplorable condition!
[1.] First, In relation to the soul, and in relation to salvation, God is the most absolute necessary portion. If God is not my portion, my soul can never enjoy communion with him in this world; if God is 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, yes, 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, Mic 6:6-7, "thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil; yes, they would give their firstborn, 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 Sam 19:2930. Under distress of conscience, poor sinners will cry out, Oh! let who will—take all our honors, 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 does 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, who has God for his portion, above a wicked emperor in his royal robes, who has 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 despise and undervalue the saints, Lam 2:14-15; Zeph 2:810, etc.; 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 honor and happiness to change conditions with those who have God for their portion! Num 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 did not have
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!
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 does all this speak out—but that high esteem and value that they set upon those who 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 has 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, Deut 32:4; Hab 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, yes, 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 impurity, no unloveliness, no bitterness, nor any darkness at all in God. The moon when it shines brightest has 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 being, 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 merely represents 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. Hab 1:13, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." There are four things which God cannot do:
(1.) He cannot lie.
(2.) He cannot die.
(3.) He cannot deny himself,
(4.) He cannot look with a favorable eye upon iniquity. He is a God of such 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. [Psalm 41:12; 1 Sam 2:1,3; Psalm 16:8; Psalm 119:168] Heb 4:13, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." The Greek word 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 anatomizing of such creatures, wherein men are very cautious and curious to search out every little vein or muscle, though they lie never so close. All agree in this, that all men's
insides and outsides are anatomized, 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 sees all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." "If you cannot hide yourself from the sun, which is God's minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide yourself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun!" says 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 which comes down from above; a man cannot see Christ without first being enlightened by Christ; a man cannot see heaven —but in that light which comes from heaven, James 1:17; 1 Cor 2:10,12,14-16. Were it not for the sun, it would be perpetual night in the world, notwithstanding all the torches that could be lighted, yes, 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 starlight 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. Eccles 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 lack 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 who spies it first was accounted the best and most beloved of God, and they chose him king. 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 does the presence and goodness of God, Psalm 139. But,
[6.] Sixthly, The light is a creature of a most resplendent BEAUTY, LUSTER, 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, Light is the most UNMIXED substance; it will never mix with darkness; no more will God. 2 Cor 6:14, "What communion has 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, etc. Every bee has his sting, and every rose has his prickles. And this mixture speaks out all earthly portions to be "vanity and vexation of spirit," Eccles 1:13.
That great king Xerxes was accustomed 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 pick 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; why, 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 scepter but he who sways it. This made Saul to hide himself among 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—who aspire to such places of eminency. Besides, high places are
commonly very slippery; he who 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. Psalm 16:5-6. He is so in himself, and he makes them so also—who enjoy him for their portion. Psalm 33:12, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance." All the happiness and blessedness of the people of God consists in this—that God is their God, and that he is their portion, and that they are his inheritance! The Hebrew word which 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—who have God for their portion.
Psalm 144:15, "Happy is that people that is in such a case; yes, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of the people, Psalm 144:12-15, 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 renders it question-wise, "Are not the people happy, who are in such a case?" The answer is, "No," except they have God to boot, Psalm 146:5. Nothing can make that man truly miserable, who has God for his portion; nor can anything make that man truly happy, who lacks 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 center of all true happiness and blessedness; and, therefore, he who has 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. Honors 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. Human
wisdom cannot; for Ahithophel and other great counselors have found it so. Splendid apparel and delectable food 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 or blessedness to man. Nothing can give what it has not. If the conduit has no water, it can give no water; if the sun has no light, it can give no light; if the physician has no remedy, he can give no remedy, etc.
But now it is a very true observation, though it be a very sad observation, namely, That every wicked man's portion is cursed unto him.
Do but compare these scriptures together, [Deut 28:17-20; Job 20:22-29; Job 24:18; Prov 3:33; Mal 2:2; etc.] 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, etc. What though a man should have as many as a thousand bags of gold for his portion, yet if the plague would be in every bag, would you count him happy? Surely not! Verily this is the case of every man who has not God for his portion. But
(7.) Seventhly, As God is a glorious portion, so he is a SPECIAL portion, he is a portion particular to his people, Psalm 142:5-6; Jer 10:16. This is evident in the text, and in all the scriptures cited to prove the point, Psalm 16:5, and so in that Psalm 67:6, "Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us." And so Psalm 68:20, "He who 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 has all sorts and ways of salvations; he is not only powerful —but also skillful, 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 Savior and my portion; [John 20:28; Job 19:25; Luke 1:47] Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart fails—but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." In Gideon's camp every soldier had his own pitcher, Judg 7:16;
among Solomon's men of valor, every man wore his own sword, 1 Chron 26:30; and the five wise virgins each had oil in her own lamp, Matt 25:4. Luther was accustomed to say, that there lay a great deal of divinity couched up in the personal pronouns, as in mine, yours, his—and so faith's appropriating of God to the soul, as its own portion, is all in all.
God is a portion particular to the saints; he is the hidden manna, the new name, the white stone, the bread to eat, which others know not of. There is never a hardened Pharaoh in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a murdering Saul in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a painted bloody Jezebel in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a cunning Ahithophel in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a proud Haman in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a tyrannical Nebuchadnezzar in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a crafty Herod in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a rich Dives in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a treacherous Judas in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a hypocritical Simon Magus in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever an apostatizing Demas in the world who can truly say, "The Lord is my portion;" nor is there ever a persecuting scribe or pharisee in the world who 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 particularly and specially his—he is only his.