" Jonah 1:8, 9.
Indeed this answer is the highest and most noble in the world, nor
are there any, save a few, that in truth can thus express
themselves, though other answers they have enough: most can say, I
have wisdom, or might, or riches, or friends, or health, or the
like; these are common, and are greatly boasted in by the most; but
the man that feareth God can say, when they say to him, "What art
thou?" "I thy servant do fear the Lord:" he is the man of many, he is
to be honored of men, though this, to wit, that he feareth the Lord,
is all that he hath in this world. He hath the thing, the honor, the
life, and glory, that is lasting; his blessedness will abide when
all men's but his is buried in the dust, in shame and contempt.
Dost thou fear God? The least DRACHM of that fear giveth the
privilege to be blessed with the greatest saint: "He will bless them
that fear the Lord, small and great." Psalm 115:13. Art thou in
thine own thoughts, or in the thoughts of others, of these last
small ones, small in grace, small in gifts, small in esteem upon
this account? Yet if thou fearest God, if thou fearest God indeed,
thou art certainly blessed with the best of saints. The least star
stands as fixed as the brightest of them all, in heaven.
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