God in the Covenant

Tax Lord God hath made over himself in this covenant. That is the great and comprehensive promise, “I will be their God,” Jer. xxxi. 33. Iam God, and what I am, it is all theirs; myself, my glorious incomprehensible essence, all my glorious attributes,

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7 °- God IfSAR COVENANT. 7, 9

my omnipotence, my omniscience, my wisdom, my righteousness, my holiness, mine all-sufficiency, my faithfulness, &c. I will make over myself to them to be henceforth and for ever theirs.

Their Friend, their Portion, their Sun, their - Shield.

I. Their Friend. I was angry, but mine anger is turned away; I was an adversary, I had a controversy with them, but I am reconciled; I have found a ransom, the quarrel is composed, my wrath is appeased, I am friends with them: “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more,” Jer. xxxi. 34. I will take away their iniquity and receive them graciously; ‘‘ I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from them,” Hos. xiv. 4. ‘‘ Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, goodwill towards men.” Fury is not now in me; favour and friendship, Jove and goodwill, is all they may henceforth expect from me. Sinners, what is there to be feared? what is there dreadful, but an angry provoked God? Thence is sorrow and anguish, thence is famine, and pestilence, and sword; thence is death and hell: he doth not know what the wrath of God means, who does not see in it all the plagues above ground, and all the vengeance of eternal fire. Whatever terrors or torments have seized upon thee; upon thy body upon thy soul; whatever losses, crosses, vexations,

“afflictions, plague thee on this earth; whatever horror and anguish, whatever amazing, confounding torments are like to meet thee, and feed upon thee in the lake beneath, thou mayest say of all, This is the wrath of God. That day the Lord says to - thee, Fury is not in me, he saith also, Fear shall be no more to thee. That hour the Lord saith, I am thy Friend, death and hell vanish The day is broken, the shadows fly away. And this is one thing included in that promise, I am their God, I am their Friend. a

II. Their Portion. Fury cease; fears vanish; friendship, favour, life granted. But what shall he have to live upon? Man was never intended to be a self-sufficient; he was created under a necessity of dependence on something without him, not only for the continuation of his being, but of the comfort of his being; he cannot live upon the air, though he hath escaped the fire: the soul of man is too big for all the world; like Noah’s dove, it can find no rest below, and where shall it find it, or on what shall it subsist? Why, God will not starve his friends; he who hath saved their lives will find them a livelihood; because there is no other to be found, he himself will be a livelihood to them; their portion, their maintenance, and their heritage for ever, As their deliverance is from him, so their dependence shall be on him; he is their substance, and on him is their subsistence; he writes himself, ‘* The portion of Jacob,” Jer. x. 16. and as such his saints accept him; ‘* The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance,” Psa, xvi. 5. he is their bread and their water, their stock and their store. The Lord gives portions to his enemies; not only the young ravens, but the old lions and tigers; the worst of men do seek their meat from God; they “have their portion in this life, whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasure,” Psa. xvii. 14. They have their portion; some of them have their portion in the city, others a portion in the field: to some he gives a por. tion of gold, to others a portion of worldly glory, to others a portion of pleasures; by all these he deals as the father of the prodigal, he gives them their portion, and sends them away. “But whilst he gives portions to these, he is the portion of his saints; he makes over and settles himself upon them, ag their inheritance for ever: they shall never be in want whilst there is in him to supply them; they shall never be in straits whilst there is in him to relieve them: all their wants be upon me. The Lord is their Portion, and he is a sufficient portion: “« With thee is the fountain of life,” Psa. xxxvi. “In thy presence is fulness,” Psa. xvi. The Lord God is all things to them, enough and to spare: “In my father’s house there is bread enough, and to spare.” He that hath all things below God, but not God, hath nothing; he that hath - nothing besides God, but hath God, hath all things; enough and to spare: filling up, and running over; there is still more to be had, if more could be held: the soul hath never enough, till it hath more than enough; is never full till it runs over: while it can contain and measure and number all that it has; this is its judgment of all.

In God is enough for filling up, and running over; enough there is in him to fill up all their faculties, “their understandings; there are infinitely beautiful

perfections where we may gaze and fill our eyes with unspeakable delight; but when we have looked the

- farthest into them, when the most searching eye, the most intense thoughts have searched and run their utmost, they come not near the end; they shall Jook, and look, and see, and see, and when they can reach no farther, then they shall wonder at those treasures of light and beauty, that are still beyond them. Admiration is the understanding full, and running over: when it is non-plussed, and can yeach ‘no further, then it wonders at what it perceives still beyond it. ‘The apostle tells us, Eph. iii. 18. that the gospel, which presents God in“flesh, hath in it a height, and depth, and length, and breadth; and T may tell you from him, it is a height without top, a depth without bottom, a length without limits, a breadth without bounds; in one word, immensity, unmeasurable, and therefore unspeakable, unsearchable glory. Whilst the blind world deride and despise the portion of the saints, looking on God, and all the things of God, as shallow things, that have no depth in them, they will be found by those who search into them, to be deep things, that have no bottom in them, “The deep things of God,” 1 Cor. ii.10. All the raptures and extasies of glorious joys of the saints in the other world are the running over of their eyes upon their hearts, and do break in upon them from their vision of God.

There is enough to fill up their wills and affections: there is infinite goodness, incomprehensible love, marvellous loving kindness, unspeakable delights, glorious joys. “Oh! how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee!” Psa, xxxi. 19, “Oh! how great is thy goodness!’’ It is the voice of exultation, an admiring’ word; great beyond expression, great beyond imagination; “Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man to con. ceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him:” and it is of a heart leaping for joy, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, which is laid up for his sats. Laid up! where? Why, laid up in himself; that is the fountain, that is the treasury; there is love, there is joy, there is satisfaction, our life is hid with Christ in God. O love the Lord all

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ye his saints, O bless the Lord all ye his saints. He that is mighty hath done for you great things: “Since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the:. eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him,” Isa. lxiv. 4. Or, as it is in the margin, “There hath not been: heard or seen a God besides thee, which doth so for him that waiteth for him.” There is enough to fill up our time; there is admiring work, and praising work for ever: there is matter for love and joy, to live and feed upon for ever; endless praises, eternal pleasures, everlasting rejoicings, “Everlasting joy,” Isa. xxxv. 10. “Plea-

- gures forevermore,” Psa. xvi. 11. There is enough to reward all our labours, and repay all our expenses:

- there is a full reward. “‘ Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, and exceeding great reward,” Gen. xv. 1. Christian, thou shalt not serve the Lord for nought,

he will reward thee, and it is little in his eyes, that thou shouldest serve him for corn and for wine, for sheep and for oxen; yea, for the crowns and kingdoms of this world; these shall not be thine hire; the everlasting God will be thy reward, thine exceeding great reward; exceeding not thy work only, but thy very thoughts also. A little is too much for thy earnings, but the whole world is too little for his bounty. Less than nothing might satisfy for thy Jabours, but less than himself will not satisfy for his love: the eternal God will be thy reward. Oh the ye unsearchable riches of the poorest of saints! Poor! - what! and yet hast a God! In want! what! and yet hast all things! Is hea God that is thine, and art

thou still in straits!. Would a few sheep and oxen, vineyards and olive-yards make thee a rich man,

and can a God leave thee a beggar? Is not a pearl more than pebbles? Milk and wine, than mud and water? Men use to say, money is all things: meat, and drink, and clothes, and friends, and land, virtually all things. And is not Ged more than money? Sure he hath said to his gold, Thou art my god, who cannot say, Let God be mine, and then go thou thy way. Hast thou a God, and yet poor? Nay farther, would the fatness of the earth, and fulness of heaven, if thou hadst both, be enough for thee? Would corn, and wine, and houses, and lands, and pleasures here, and eternal life hereafter suffice thee? And is not God alone as much as all this? Dost / thou want star-light when thou hast the sun? Is / the ocean more full for the rivers that run into it?) Or would there be any want there, if all these were stopped and dry? Can they contribute to it, which have their rise from it? Hath the almighty God a self-sufficiency, and hath he not enough to satisfy a poor worm? Is he blessed in himself, and mayest not thou be blessed in him? He that thinks any thing less than God will suffice, understands not a soul; and he that wants any thing more, understands not God. God alone is as much as God and all the world; and this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, God is their Portion.

If enough be not yet said, look awhile, and consider whence thou art taken up into this blessedness? What hast thou left? What an exchange hast thou made? Thou wert taken with the prodigal from the trough, with the beggar from the dunghill, yea, as a brand out of the burning; there thy lot had fallen, O where hast thou left the rest of the world? Blessing themselves in vanity, pleasing themselves with shadows and apparitions, feeding on ashes, “IANS

warming themselves at their painted fire, sporting

themselves with the wind, rejoicing in a thing of - nought; their crackling thorns, their glozing pleaer

sures, their drinkings, and dancings, and roarings,

their horses, and their dogs, and their hawks and

their harlots; making a shift awhile to make merry with these whilst they are hastening to the pit, to that fire and brimstone which is the portion of their cup. Consider man, what is the chaff to the wheat? What is a comet to the sun? What is the night to the day? What are bubbles and children’s toys to the durable riches? What are things that are not, to him whose name is, 1AM? But oh! what is death, and wrath, and the curse, which was once all

thine heritage, to that life, and love, and peace,

and joy, and glory, which thounow possessest in

that God who is thy portion? What a poor wretch

wert thou once, when thou hadst nothing but sin, and shame, and misery, that thou couldst call thine own? these thou mightest call thine, sin was thine, woe was thine, death, and the grave, and

the curse, and the pit were thine own; but that

was all thou hadst; thy good things thou livedst ‘upon, had they been of ever so great value, were none of thine; thy house and thy lands are none of thine; thy gold, and thy silver, and thy substance are none of thine; they are all but borrowed, or committed to thee as a steward, and all to be given up upon demand; and what thou hast spent of them thou must be brought to a reckoning for; a poor wretch thou wert, and hadst just nothing, all that thou hadst was none of thine.

But now God is thine own, all that he is, all that he has is thine; never couldst thou lay such a claim to anything thou possessedst; to house, or wife, or

B child, or body, or soul, as now thou mayest to thy God. God is as surely thine as thou art thyself: as sure as thou art a man, thou hast a God. Come christian, here is now thy portion, the light of thine eyes, the lifting up of thy head, the joy of thy heart, the strength of thy bones, thy stock, thy treasure, thy life, thy health, thy peace, thy rest, thine all: “‘ Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever,” Psa. Ixxili. 25, 26. Here is thy portion, know it for thy good, take it for thine own ;elive upon it, and live up to it. 1. Live upon thy Portion. Here thou mayest feed, herein thou mayest rejoice, herein thou mayest bless thyself for ever. “Let him that blesseth himself on the earth bless himself in the God of truth.” Let him that rejoiceth in the earth rejoice in the God of truth. Let the strong man live upon his strength, let the wise man live upon his wits, let the rich man live upon his lands, come thou live upon thy God; come enjoy God and thy soul; enjoy God in thy soul, enjoy thy soul in God. Thou hast possession, what should hinder thy fruition? In fruition the schools tell us there are three things which go to the making it up; knowledge, delight, and satisfaction. (1.) Knowledge: according to the clearness or cloudiness of our apprehensions of any good, we more or less take the pleasure or comfort of it; and therefore the full fruition of God is not till at last, when we shall know as we are known. ° Here we see as but in a glass, and darkly; we know but in part, and while we know but in part, we love but in part, and joy but in part; the dimness of our sight makes an abatement upon our joy. When the

vail shall be taken away, when we shall come to see

face to face, then we shall fully feel what it is to

have a God. Christian, know thou the God of thy ’ fathers; the more thou knowest the more thou hast.

The carnal world enjoy not God at all: God is not known in their tabernacles: in Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel; at Salem is his tabernacle, and his dwelling in Zion. But what of God in Edom, or Ammon, or Amalek, or Egypt; those dark regions wherein neither sun nor star appears? Leave them to their dunghill gods, to the gardens which they have desired, and the oaks which they have chosen. The Lord is before thee, know it for thy good. Study thy God, christian, roll over his sweetness in thy mind, as thou dost the sweet morsel in thy mouth; see what he is, and what thou hast laid up in him, read over daily his glorious names; walk through those chambers of his presence, his glorious attributes. Look into the chamber of his power, and see what thou hast laid up for thee there. Go into the chamber of his wisdom, and ‘see what that will afford thee. Look into the chambers of his goodness, mercy; faithfulness, holiness, and behold what treasures are laid up for thee in each of these. Enter into thy chambers, they are all thine; enter into thy chambers, let thine eye be there, let thy meditation be there, let thy soul be there every day; there is thy portion, search it out and know it for thy good.

(2.) Delight. Fruition is the taking the pleasure of what we have. We cannot enjoy what we do not

love, and love hath delight. We cannot enjoy that wherein we do not joy. “Delight thyself in the

Lord,” Psa. xxxvii. 4.“I sate me down under his B2

Fal shadow with great delight,” Cant. ii. 3. If his shadow be so pleasant, what will his sun-beams be! «“Q taste and see that the Lord is good,” Ps. xxxiv. 8. Our senses help our understandings; we cannot by the most rational discourse perceive what the sweetness of honey is, taste it and you shall

erceive it. His fruit was sweet unto my taste.

well in the light of the Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with his love. Get out the marrow and the fatness that thy portion yields thee. Let fools learn by beholding thy face, how dim their blazes are to the brightness of thy day.

Let thy delights in God be pure and unmixed delights. Let thy spirit be so filled with God, and so raised above carnal joys, and the matters of them, that it be no damp upon thee to have nothing but God. Thy wine is the more sprightful when not mixed with water. Live above in that serene air which is not defiled with earthly exhalations. Sickly bodies, and so sickly souls, cannot live in too pure an air. Be so wholly spiritual, that spiritual joys, spiritual delights, may be suited to thee, and sufficient for thee. Do not say, I want the joy of the vintage and of the harvest; I want the joy of the bridegroom and of the bride; I want the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle, to make my comfort full. Let the joy of the Lord be thy strength, and thy life; say with the prophet, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God — of my salvation,” Hab. iii. 17, 18.

(3.) Satisfaction. The quiet, or resting of the goul in its portion; therefore the schools say, it is ‘only the last end, that is the proper object of fruition. - The carnal world, whatever they possess, yet they

- cannot be said properly to enjoy it; though they be their gods that they live upon; as their drag is their

god, their yarn is their god, their plough, and their plenty, and their pleasure is their god; they burn incense to them, yet they cannot enjoy them; there is no rest for them in their god. ‘“What man is he that feareth the Lord? his soul shall dwell at ease,”’ Psa. xxv. 12,13. In the original it is “shall lodge in goodness.” The soul is never at ease whilst it is in want, every want wrings; it can never take up its lodging where it cannot take its rest. His soul shall be at ease, shall lodge, that is, shall take up its rest in the goodness of God: and when we find rest in our beds, then we enjoy them. Is thy soul lodged in God? O enjoy thy lodging: “Soul, take thine

ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years. Return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” As it was said to, so let it be said by; the church and every saint, “This is my rest,” here will I dwell for ever. Here thou mayest

find rest when thou hast no other rock to lean upon; thou mayest be at rest in thy God, in thy most restless state, in a weary land, in a barren wilderness, in a tempestuous ocean. However it was in the vision of the prophet, yet thou mayest say, If the wind rise,

a the Lord is in the wind; if after the wind, an earth he quake, the Lord is in the earthquake; if after the

earthquake, a fire, the Lord God is in the fire; and wherever thou findest God, thou mayest find rest.

If thou find God in a wilderness, thou wilt find

rest in the wilderness; if thou find God in the earthquake, or the tempest, or the fire, even there also B3 thy soul shall find rest. When thou canst not rest in thy bed, nor in thy house, nor in thy land, thou mayest still rest in thy God. Say, christian, say again, “Return to thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with me.” Though my helps fail me, and my friends fail me, and my flesh and my heart fail me, God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. This is my rest, here will I dwell for ever.

To these I might add a fourth thing wherein fruition stands; the making use of our portion. He enjoys who uses what he hath. We then enjoy our portion, when we have a power and heart to make use of it on all occasions. I am thine, soul, come and make use of me as thou wilt, thou mayest freelyg I have nothing but it is for thee; thou mayest freely come to my store, and the oftener the better welcome. Have thou not a God lying by thee to no purpose; let not thy God be as others’ gods, serving only for a show. Have not a name only that thou hast a God; since he allows thee, having such a Friend, use him daily: ‘‘ My God shall supply all your wants;” never want whilst thou hast a God, never fear or faint whilst thou hast a God: go to thy treasure, and take whatever thou needest; there is bread, and clothes, and health, and life, and all that thou needest. O christian, learn the divine skill to make God all things, to make bread of thy God, and water, and health, and friends, and ease; he can supply thee with all these; or, which is better, he can be, instead of all these, thy food, thy clothing, thy friend, thy life to thee. All this he hath said to thee in this one word, “I am thy God;” and, hereupon thou mayest say, I have no husband, and yet I am no widow; my Maker is my

hi

sth husband. I have no father, nor friend, and yet I am ‘neither fatherless nor friendless, my God is both my Father and my Friend. I have no child; but is not he better to me than ten children? I have no house, but yet I have a home; I have made the Most High my habitation. I am left alone, but yet J am not alone; my God is good company for me; with him I can walk, with him I can take sweet counsel, find sweet repose; at my lying down, at my rising up, whilst I am in the house, as I walk by the way, my God is ever with me; with him I travel, I dwell, I lodge, I live, and shall live fox ever.

2. Live up to your privilege. Live according to your rank and quality, according to your riches laid up for you in God. The rich men of this world live - like rich men, they sort themselves with persons of

their own quality, attend on the courts of princes,

are employed about the palace, you may read their estates in the whole way of their life, they wear them on their backs, spread their tables with them; - they live sumptuously, and fare delicately. Christians, feed not on ashes or husks, you have better meat; you have milk and honey, marrow and fatness, the hidden manna, the bread that comes down - from heaven, the water of life; you have blessed privileges, precious promises, lively hopes, living comforts, glorious joys, the fountain of life to feed - your souls upon; come eat, O friends; drink, yea,

drink abundantly, O my beloved; out-fare the rich man, Luke xvi. who fared deliciously every day; you have enough to maintain it; let every day be a glad-day, a feast-day with you. eke

Let your clothing be according to your feeding. Be clothed with the sun; put on the Lord Jesus.

2U j GOD IN THE COVENANT.

The King’s daughter is, and so let all the King’s sons be, all glorious within, let their clothing be of wrought gold, Be clothed with humility, put on love, bowels of compassion, gentleness, meekness 3 put on the garments of salvation.

Let your company and converse be according to your clothing. Live amongst the excellent, amongst the generation of the just. Get you up to the “general assembly and church of the first-born, to that innumeravle company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect.” Live in the courts of the great King, behold his face, wait at his throne, bear his name, show forth his virtues, set forth his praises, advance his honour, uphold his interest: let vile persons and vile ways be contemned in your eyes, be of more raised spirits than to be companions with them. Learn hence a holy elevation of spirit, Regard not their societies, nor their scorns, their flatteries or their frowns; rejoice not with their joys, fear not their fear, care not for their care, feed not on their dainties; get you up from among them, to your country, to your city, where no unclean thing can enter or annoy. Live by faith, in the power of the Spirit, in the beauty of holiness, in the hope of the gospel, in the joy of your God, in the magnificence, and yet the humility, of the children of the great King.

3. Their sun. He will discover and make mani-+ fest to them the riches and glory of their portion. He hath granted them himself for their portion, and he will reveal and make manifest to them what a portion he is. He will make manifest both the’ blessedness they shall enjoy in him, and the way to it, and also the dangers that lie in the way. ‘ The Lord God is a sun,” Psa. Ixxxiy. 11. The sun is the light of the world, it discovers itself, and all

things else. We cannot see the glory of the sun but by its own light; the moon, the stars, the fir- ‘mament, and all this lower world, would all disap-

pear if the sun withdrew its light. Beauty and deformity, safety and danger, the right way and the

wrong, are all brought to view by the light of the sun; the sun-light makes the day; night is spread over the world when the sun is set: God is glorious, but who would be ever the wiser did not this glory shine? “In thy light we shall see light,” Psa. xxxvi. 9. Why is the glorious God apprehended, understood, admired, by so few amongst the sons of men? Why, he is out of sight, the sun is not risen upon them, nor shines unto them: they have moonlight, or star-light, some dimmer reflections of this

glory at second-hand from the creatures, but they

see not the sun.

-. What is the reason that truth and falsehood, good

and evil, substances and shadows, things perishing, and things permanent, are no better distinguished?

“What is the reason that men are so mistaken and

misguided in their judgments, in their choice, in

their way? that they are at such a loss, such wanderers from their bliss? What is the reason that

“men’s own sparks, the light of their own fires, their

candle-light, or torch-light, their fleshly imagina-

tions, their carnal prosperity, their pleasures, their

ease, their earthly glory, and their carnal joys that hence flash up to them, are so adored and

- admired by them? Oh, they see not the sun. God

is out of sight, and thence are all their dotages, and

foolish mistakes and miscarriages. God will be a sun to his saints, their sun. ‘ Thy sun shall no more go down.” They shall have both the propriety and the comfort of this glorious sun; he will show them his face, he will cause his glory to appear, he will lead them into himself by his own beams; he will show them their end, and the means; the goal, and their way to it; he will show them the good part, and the right path; good and evil, duties and sins, realities and delusions, helps and hinderances, dangers and advantages, their’snares and their succours, will all be discovered to them by the light of the Lord. Hearken, thou poor and dark soul, that hast chosen, but thou knowest not what; that art going, but thou knowest not whither; that art wandering and stumbling on, but thou carest not how; that complainest thou canst not see, thou canst not value, thou canst not be affected with all the glory and joy of the invisible world: that findest thy husks and thy trash to be a greater pleasure to thee than all the riches of immortality; that wouldest fain mind, ard choose, and love, and relish, and seek God, and things above, but thou canst not: thou seest so little of the beauty of them, that they do not entice thine heart after them; and when thou art seeking, thou art at a loss, and in the dark, as to the way that thou shouldest take. Hearken, soul, thy God calls to thee; ‘‘ Come unto me, look unto me, and I will be thy sun: I will show thee all that glory, and the right way that will bring thee to it: I promise thee I will, trust me, I will be a light unto thee.” 4. Their shield. ‘ The Lord God is a sun and a shield,” Psa. lxxxiv. 11. The gods of the earth are so styled, “The shields of the earth,” Psa. xlvii, 9, much more the God of glory. Faith is called a shield: ‘‘ Above all taking the shield of faith,” Eph. vi. 16. it signifies the same, as God is a shield.

Faith is to the soul whatever God is. This is the grace that entitles the soul to God, and applies God

to the soul. “Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield,”

Gen. xv. 1. What is promised to the father of the

faithful, stands sure to all the seed, Rom. iv. 16.

The state of christians in this life is a militant state,

a state full of hardships and hazards; by reason whereof, as richly as they are provided for, they are

subject to fears of being undone, and spoiled of all. They are in fears about things eternal; they have spiritual adversaries that lie in wait for their souls,

that fight against their souls, that are tempting them,

and enticing them from their God; that watch their

opportunities to steal away their God, by stealing

away their hearts from him; and such dangerous at-

tempts of this kind they meet withal, that they often

- are in great doubt what the issue may be. They are” in fears about things temporal; their names are shot at, their liberties are invaded, their estates, with all

the comforts of their lives, are in danger to be made

a prey; to-day they are a praise, to-morrow a scorn; to-day they are full and abound, but to-morrow they - may have nothing left; they die daily; they are

killed all the day long. But whatever their dangers and their fears thereupon are, here is sufficient pro-.

vision made against all. God is their shield.

+

Christian, thou hast enough, and all that thou

hast is in safety. Thou art compassed about with a shield, secured on all hands, there is. no coming at thee. Whatever assaults are made, thy God is a

wall of partition betwixt thee and harm. They are

not shields of brass and iron thou art furnished with; —

the strong God is thy defence. Wherefore dost thou doubt, O thou of little faith? A christian, and yet afraid! shifting for thyself! taking care for the

asses, and oxen, and sheep! vexing, and loading, and losing thyself, in thy cares and fears from day today! Where is thy God, man? Doth not God take care for oxen, and asses, and all that thou hast?

But oh, what meanest thou in this, to be shifting thyself from danger, by shrinking back from thy God! securing thyself from affliction, by taking sanctuary in iniquity! What art thou doing, but throwing away thy shield to save thee from harm! making a breach in thy wall, to keep thee in safety! ‘« Walk before me, and be thou perfect,” Gen. xvii. 1. &c. follow thou me, stick to me, and then, “Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield,’ Gen. xv. 1. This now is the first and great promise of the covenant, ‘¢T am thy God,” and the second is like unto it.