the world shall not be drowned again, if man do not sin. No, but the covenant that the Lord made with Noah was thus but I promise the world shall not be drowned again, though men do sin again: this is the covenant the Lord made with Noah: it was so far from running upon a condition, that it runs cross to all conditions. So now the Lord says concerning a poor believer: I do take this soul into covenant with me: Yea, and though he do sin, yet notwithstanding I will pardon him, and this soul shall never lie under water again, shall never lie under water again: his sin shall not hinder my grace; he shall never lie under water again for as the covenant I made with Noah, such is the covenant I make with every believer. And beloved, if indeed that we could hinder Christ, when he comes to comunicate his grace; if our sins could hinder, then we might resist grace with an overcoming resistance. It is true, a man may resist the grace of God, with a gainsaying resistance; but he cannot resist the grace of God, with an overcoming resistance. Whatsoever is overcome, is overcome by a stronger; man, I say, cannot resist with an overcoming resistance. Pray do but consider well the covenant of grace: says the Lord in that: "I will take away the heart of stone, and I will give an heart of flesh: and I will cause ye to walk in my ways; and I will put my Spirit into you," Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. I will take away the heart of stone? What is that? a stone is hard, a hard thing does not yield to the touch, a soft thing yields. Pharaoh had a hard heart, and therefore he yielded not. When therefore, the Lord makes such a promise as this; I will take away the heart of stone: what is his meaning? his meaning is plainly, I will take away the Now unyielding, the resisting disposition that is in man. therefore, when the Lord makes such a promise as this: that" He will put his Spirit into them, and cause them to walk in his ways: Our resisting can be no hindrance: Why? because the Lord hath made a promise to take away our resisting. If the covenant had run thus "I will put my Spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my ways;" upon this condition, that you do not resist, then we could hinder : but the Lord in the same promise that he does say, "I will put my Spirit into them, and cause them to walk in my ways:" He doth also promise to take away the resisting heart, to

take away the spirit of resisting. "I will take away the heart of stone:" there is the resisting: "And I will cause them to walk in my ways." So that our sins cannot

hinder.

Now then, put all these together. There is an infinite treasury of grace and holiness in Jesus Christ. This he hath not received for himself, but for others. There is an infinite propension and willingness in him to give out this grace unto the children of men. And nothing either in heaven or earth can hinder him: surely therefore, there is the communication of the fulness of Jesus Christ unto all believers.

You will say unto me then, Why are believers then so empty of grace? It is the ordinary complaint: Oh! I am full of evil: Oh, my heart is empty of all that is good: Believers they complain thus: How can this doctrine be true, if this experience be good?

I answer: I. The fulness of grace which is in a believer, is many times hid from the world, and from himself. When you go to the sea-side, you see the water, you see abundance of water; and ye hear the water roaring, and raging, and making a noise; but you do not see the gold, and the silver that lies at the bottom of the sea : you see the water of the sea; but you do not see the wealth that is in the sea. So now, when you go and look upon a believer; you behold his troubles, you see his waves, and all the troubles that beat upon him. Oh! but the wealth of a believer, the fulness of a believer, the fulness of Christ that is in him, that you see not, it is hid from the world, and it is hid from himself, many times. And therefore, says the apostle, Our life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also glory," Col. iii. 3, 4.

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appear with him in

II. Though there be a communication of the fulness of Christ unto all believers, yet he does not communicate as a universal cause. The universal cause doth seldom or never

produce particular effects, but with a concurrence of particular causes. The sun is the universal cause of all the fruitfulness that is upon the earth: yet notwithstanding, it does produce the fruit, your corn, barley, rye, and wheat, with the help of man, the ground is plowed and sown. The river, or

the fountain is the universal cause of the water that ye have in your houses but yet notwithstanding, you have not this water, but by pipes, and conveyance; and when ye want water in your house, you do not say, There is no water in the Thames, there is no water in the fountain. No, but surely the pipe is broken, the pipe is stopped; or we want some pipe or other. So now, when you want grace, and when you are empty of grace; you are not to say; oh! it is because there is not enough in Christ, or Christ is not willing; but rather, surely the pipe is broken, or we want this or that ordinance the pipe is not clean, the pipe is stopped, and therefore we are so empty of grace as we are.

III. Though there be a communication of the fulness of Christ unto all believers: yet notwithstanding he does it in proportion. Mark, Christ does give unto every man according to the place he bears in his body. As the soul, the soul sends forth life and motion to all the members; but the soul does not give a hearing faculty unto the eye, and the soul does not give a seeing faculty unto the ear; neither can the foot say, I have nothing from the soul, because I cannot speak like the tongue; neither can the tongue say, I have nothing from the soul, because I cannot walk like the foot. So the Lord Jesus Christ, he doth observe what place every man doth bear in his body, and accordingly he doth give forth grace unto men. You cannot say thus. Surely, I have none of Christ, because I cannot pray, and do so as others do. But mark, what is the place that you do bear in the body of Christ, and you may go to Christ for strength for that: you may say thus, Lord, through thy grace thou hast given me such a place in thy body; and I want strength for that; Oh, let me have it from thee.

IV. Though there be a communication of the fulness of Christ unto all believers: yet it is according to their necessities and wants. The lace, you know, it is laid upon the seam; upon the seam there lies the lace: lace indeed may be laid upon the whole cloth; but ordinarily, your silken lace, your silver lace, your golden lace, it is laid upon the seam. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, he knows all the seams of your life, all the seams of your life: there he lays his golden lace on. Mark, therefore, what are the seams of thy life, and see if Christ hath not laid on something there.

Take but these four considerations together, and there is a sufficient answer to that objection.

I come to the application.

First. And whilst I stand upon this point: methinks here I see the transcendent excellency of the saints, and of believers; and the betterness of their condition, above the men of the world, though they be never so rich, or great. Beloved! every man is according to the fulness that he doth live upon : there is the fulness of the earth; "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof," 1 Cor x. 26. And wicked men, they are said to be filled with this: "Whose bellies thou fillest with hid treasures," Psalm xvii. 14. And there is the fulness of Jesus Christ: and of this fulness the saints and believers do all receive and partake. Look therefore what a difference there is between these fulnesses; the fulness of the earth; and the fulness of Jesus Christ: such a mighty difference in point of excellency, there is between a believer, though he be never so poor: and a wicked man though he be never so rich. Give me leave a little, to open the difference of these fulnesses to you; that so you may see the difference between men and men, and be encouraged unto a godly course.

I. The fulness of the world, it is a fulness made up of many things. "Martha, Martha," says Christ, "thou art busied about many things," Luke x. 41. It is a fulness made up of many things; and therefore not a homogenial fulness the fulness of Christ is a fulness made up of one thing, the Deity, in whom the Godhead dwells; and therefore it is a homogenial fulness; every part of it is fulness: every part of a homogenial body, hath the name of the whole : every part of water is called water, though it be but a drop: every part of fire, is fire, though it be but a spark: and every part of heaven, it is called heaven, though it be but a corner of heaven. And so, every part of the fulness of Jesus Christ, is fulness. As the philosophers say of the soul, Anima tota in toto, that the soul is wholly in the whole, and wholly in every part; so the fulness of Christ, it is wholly in the church; and it is wholly in every believer. Every believer may come and say, I have all Christ. But as for the fulness of the world, every one that hath the world's fulness cannot say so; I have all the world's fulness.

II. The fulness of the earth, is a fulness made up of the worser things. The world, it is a great body, and it hath in it some things that are of a grosser, more drossy nature, and some things that are of a finer nature. The fulness of the earth, it is of the drossy, and the grosser part of the world: oh! but the fulness of Christ, it is of the finer part; and the fulness that does come from him unto believers, the best of the best; wine of the lees; and marrow out of the bones; and wine well refined; it is of the finer part of the world: the other is but the grosser, the thicker, the dirtier, the more grosser part.

III. The fulness of the earth, is a fulness that runs into emptiness; a fulness that hath a hole at the bottom; like unto an hour-glass: if you turn it up, the upper part of the glass is full of sand; but because it hath an hole at the bottom, and there stands a glass beneath it as big as itself; it empties itself into that glass. Then you turn up the glass again, and that is full: but because that having an hole at the bottom, it runs out, having an empty glass beneath it, and this fulness runs into it. So now it is with the world's fulness: a man he hath a great estate, he hath his glass full of sand: aye, but because his children, and his family stand under him; his sand runs into them, and he is soon emptied; he is soon emptied into them. Then, when the father is dead, and gone; and hath emptied out his fulness into his children; the children's glass is turned up: but they having children under them, and house under them; their sand also, is soon run out, it runs out into emptiness. Thus, all the fulness of the world, it is but a fulness that hath a hole at the bottom, that runs into emptiness. Oh! but the fulness of Jesus Christ, the fulness of Jesus Christ it is a dwelling fulness; his fulness runs out into believers, and yet he is full himself: in him the fulness of the Godhead dwells, it dwelleth there.

IV. The fulness of the earth, it can never satisfy the better part of man, the soul, it can never satisfy that. All satisfaction and contentment arise from the conjunction of a convenient with a convenient; the conjunction of suitables. If a man have never so great an estate, if his heart be not suited to it, he hath no content. If a man have never so small an estate, if his heart be suited to it, he is content.