The Incomparableness of God, Treatise · Chapter 27
CHAP. XXVII. Comfort to them that have the incomparable God for their portion.
THirdly, This Doctrine may be uſeful by way of comfort to all the people of God: If God be an incomparable God, then they are incomparably bleſſed who take him for their God, who have him for their happineſs. Every perſon or people is happy, or miſerable, as the God is whom they ſerve, as that is in which they place their felicity; for nothing can give out more happineſs to another, than it hath in it ſelf. That good muſt of neceſſity be firſt in the cauſe, either eminently or formally, which is conveyed from it to the effect. Thoſe who ſerve the fleſh as their God and chiefgood, muſt needs be miſerable, Philip. 3.18. Rom. 16.18. Becauſe the fleſh is a baſe and vile, Pſal. 49. ult. a weak and impotent, Iſa. 31.3. a fraudulent and deceitful, Jer. 17.9. a fading and tranſitory God, Pſal. 73.25. 1 Cor. 6.23. So they who own, and prize, and love the world as their God and chief good (of ſuch we read, the covetous man is call'd an Idolater, and covetouſneſs Idolatry, Eph. 5.5.) are miſerable, becauſe their God is vain and empty, Eccleſ. 1.2, 3. piercing and vexatious, 1 Tim. 6.9, 10. uncertain and unſatisfying, Eccleſ. 5.10. 1 Tim. 6.17. frail, and not laſting, 1 Cor. 7.29, 30. Prov. 23.5. Thus they who have Idols for their Gods are miſerable, becauſe their Gods are poor pitiful, blind, deaf, and impotent Deities; They have eyes, and ſee not the wants of their worſhippers; They have ears, and hear not the ſupplications of their ſuppliants; They have hands, and work not for the relief of their Servants neceſſities, or their deliverance out of their diſtreſſes: and thence the Prophet infers, the miſery of their makers and adorers; All that make them are like unto them, blind and deaf and impotent as they are, (falſhood, & a lie, and vanity, and nothing, as they are, 1 Cor. 8.4. 1 Sam. 12.24.) and ſo is every one that truſteth in them, Pſal. 115.5. to 9. But the perſon who through Chriſt hath an intereſt in this great God the Almighty, all-wiſe all-ſufficient God, is happy. Happy is the people whoſe God is the Lord. Pſal. 144. ult. And incomparably happy, becauſe that God who is his portion and happineſs is an incomparable God. Therefore as the Scripture mentions God to be incomparable in excellency, it alſo mentions his people to be incomparable in felicity, and infers their incomparableneſs from his incomparableneſs who is their God.
The holy Ghoſt tells us, None is like God, he hath no equal in worth and perfection. Who is a God like unto thee? Exod. 15.11. Among all the Gods there is none like to thee, Pſal. 86.6. And the holy Ghoſt tells us alſo, that no people is like the people of God, and that becauſe God is theirs. Happy art thou O Iſrael, who is like unto thee? (why whence comes their incomparable happineſs? truly from the incomparable God,) ſaved by the Lord, who is the ſhield of thine help, and the ſword of thine excellency. Again, What Nation is ſo great which hath God ſo nigh unto them, Deut. 4.7. Iſrael at this time, to fleſh and ſenſe, ſeemed a moſt unhappy people, they were in a barren and howling wilderneſs, without an houſe to hide their heads in; without food, but what a miracle ſent them in; without raiment, but what was on their backs; without any dealings or converſe with other people, nay, in the midſt of cruel and potent enemies, they muſt fight their way to Canaan againſt walled Towns, and ſturdy Giants; and yet even in this plight they are the happieſt people under the cope of heaven; Becauſe the God of heaven, the incomparable God, was nigh to them. David aſſerts Gods incomparable Majeſty, and thence Iſraels incomparable felicity, 2 Sam. 7.22, 23. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord, there is none like thee, (what followeth thence?) And what Nation at this day is like unto thy people, even like Iſrael? Reader, if thou art once effectually called, if thou art a regenerated ſanctified perſon, know to thy comfort, and rejoyce therein, that this incomparable God is thine. 2. That all his incomparable excellencies are thine. 3. That this incomparable God, with all his incomparable perfections, will be thine for ever.
1. This incomparable God is thine. That God who hath no ſuperiour, no equal, no fellow, is thine. He that is, and there is none elſe, Iſa. 46.9. is thine. He that is that he is, Exod. 3.14. is thine: Thou haſt a propriety in him, and a title to him. This is the great priviledge of heavens favourites. Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they ſhall be his people, and he will be their God, Revel. 21.3. This is the great promiſe, the ſum, the ſubſtance of all the promiſes, I will be their God, and they ſhall be my people, Jer. 31.33. This is the great prayer of all that know how to pray, or what to pray for, Pſal. 80.12. Pſal. 4.6. Exod. 33.15. Jer. 14.8. This is the great purchaſe of the Son of God, 1 Pet. 3.18. His name is therefore Immanuel, God with us.
This is heaven it ſelf, the very heaven of heavens; for it is not the place, but his preſence which makes heaven to be heaven. In thy preſence is fulneſs of joy, and at thy right hand are pleaſures for evermore, Pſal. 16. ult. Once more; this is the higheſt, the chiefeſt, the greateſt gift, which the infinite God can give to thee. When he giveth thee riches and honours and friends and relations, he can give thee greater things; when he giveth thee Sacraments and Sabbaths and ſeaſons of grace, he can give thee greater things; when he giveth thee pardon of ſin, peace of conſcience, the graces of his Spirit, he giveth thee great things, but yet he can give thee greater: but when he giveth thee himſelf, he giveth thee the greateſt gift that himſelf (though infinite in bounty) can give. O how ſweet is that term of propriety, My God, My God. The Redeemer himſelf rowl'd in his mouth over and over, as if he could never ſuck out the ſweetneſs in it, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the houſe of my God, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the City of my God, which is the new Jeruſalem, which cometh down from my God, Rev. 3.12. David dwels on it as one unwilling to leave it, Pſal. 18.1, 2.
Reader, O what cauſe haſt thou to triumph in thy happineſs, that the infinite God is thine. Fear not, I am thine, Iſa. 41. Scepters, and kingdoms, and honours, and poſſeſſions, and friends, and relations, and liberty, and peace, and health, and ſtrength, are not thine poſſibly, but God is thine; He that is all theſe, and more than theſe, is thine; He is thine own God: even (mark) our own God ſhall bleſs us, Pſal. 67.6. Thou canſt not call any thing outward thy own; thy eſtate is not thine own, I will take away my corn, and my wine, and my oyl, Hoſ. 2.9. Hag. 2.8. Thy relations are not thine own, Ezek. 16.20, 21. My children which thou haſt born to me. Thy credit is not thine own, no, thy very graces are not thine own, Cantic. 4.16. Nay thou thy ſelf art not thy own, 1 Cor. 6.20. Ye are not your own. Thy body is not thine own, 1 Cor. 6.16. nor your ſouls, Ezek. 18.3, 4. All ſouls are mine. But God is thy own God, thy own glory, thy own exceeding joy, Pſal. 43.4.
2. All the incomparable excellencies of this God, his incomparable word and works are thine. As all he is, is thine; ſo all he hath is thine, all he can be is thine, all he hath done is thine, all he can do is thine, 1 Cor. 3.22. All is thine: All his incomparable attributes are thine: His incomparable power is thine to protect thee, Gen. 15.1, 2. Exod. 15.9, 10, 11, 12. His incomparable wiſdom is thine to direct thee, Pſal. 73.23. His incomparable mercy is thine to pity and relieve thee in thy miſeries, Judg. 10.16. His incomparable grace is thine to pardon all thine iniquities, Micah 7.18. Exod. 34.6, 7. His incomparable love is thine to refreſh and delight thy ſoul, Pſal. 21.5, 6. His incomparable juſtice is thine to accept thee as righteous for the ſake of his Son, Rom. 3.24. His incomparable faithfulneſs is thine to fulfill all the gracious promiſes which he hath made to thee, Pſal. 89.33, 34. His incomparable Majeſty and beauty and glory are thine, to make thee great, and render thee comely and glorious for ever. Ezek. 16.14. Iſa. 43.4. His incomparable joys and pleaſures are thine to feed on, and be filled with, Pſal. 36.8. Mat. 25.21. His incomparable works are thine. His works of Creation, Pſal. 37.11. Mat. 5.4. His works of Providence, Rom. 8.28. For your ſakes I have ſent to Babylon, Iſa. 43.14. and Iſa. 43.4. His work of Redemption is yours, Joh. 10.15. Gal. 2.20. Rev. 1.5, 6. His incomparable word is thine, indited for thee, ſanctified to thee, making thee wiſe to ſalvation. It's therefore called their word, the word of their teſtimony, Rev. 12.11. Whatſoever things were written were written for our inſtruction, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, Rom. 15.4.
3. This incomparable God, and all his incomparable excellencies, will be thine for ever. His incomparable eternity will be thine; and ſo long as he is God, he will be thy God. When the ſenſualiſts God is gone, thy God will remain: when the worldlings God fails him, thy God will not forſake thee: when all thine honours, riches, friends, relations leave thee, thy God will abide with thee. This God is our God for ever and ever, Pſal. 48.14. Not for a day, or week, or month, or year, or Age, but for ever and ever; Not for a thouſand years, or a thouſand generations, or millions of millions of generations, but for ever and ever; Not for as many millions of ages, as there are ſtars in heaven, drops in the Sea, creatures great and ſmall in both worlds, but for ever. O happy Conjunction of Propriety with eternity, this God is our God for ever and ever. Thine immortal ſoul hath an immortal God, an immortal good; Thou ſhalt ever be with this incomparable Lord. Comfort thy ſoul in the midſt of all the perſecutions and afflictions that befall thee in this world, with theſe words, 1 Theſſ. 4.16, 17, 18. For the Lord himſelf ſhall deſcend from heaven with a ſhout, with the voice of the Arch-angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Chriſt ſhall riſe firſt. Then we which are alive and remain, ſhall be caught up together with him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and ſo ſhall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with theſe words.
FINIS.
End of the text · George Swinnock, The Incomparableness of God (1672)