Patience and its perfect work under sudden & sore trialsPatience and its perfect work under sudden & sore tryals

'Tis true, that in the Word [all Grace] he includes an outward Grace, of giving such an abundance of external Blessings, as they might [always] and [in all things] have enough for themselves, and to spare; yea to abound in every good work to others: But yet the main of that Grace h• Centres in, is an [inward self-sufficiency] in a mans own heart, as without which, they would never have satisfaction at home, much less an heart to scatter abroad: but a mans Natural self-unsufficiency (as oppositely I call it) would make his heart clung and narrow, never contented in himself, much less abounding to others, though he had all the whole world. So as indeed that is the Grace, which the Apostle puts the weight upon; THAT i• the Grace, he Predicates.

'Tis true, that in the Word [all Grace] he includes an outward Grace, of giving such an abundance of external Blessings, as they might [alwayes] and [in all things] have enough for themselves, and to spare; yea to abound in every good work to others: But yet the main of that Grace h• Centers in, is an [inward self-sufficiency] in a mans own heart, as without which, they would never have satisfaction at home, much less an heart to scatter abroad: but a mans Natural self-unsufficiency (as oppositely I call it) would make his heart clung and narrow, never contented in himself, much less abounding to others, though he had all the whole world. So as indeed that is the Grace, which the Apostle puts the weight upon; THAT i• the Grace, he Predicates.

So as the inference or Corollary ⟨p. 117⟩(as to our purpose) from thence may justly be. That if (on the other hand) a true Christian be in never so great want, or fallen into a condition of extreme poverty; Comparatively, either unto what himself once had (which is the case of many a good Soul now) Or unto others, who still abound; yet if God give him this [All Grace] of inward self-sufficiency, he may be, and is still as content and sufficient within himself, as those in that abounding condition which the Apostle wisheth unto those Corinthians.