Richard Sibbes (Works, Vol. 4, p. 20):
[W]hat a great man a Christian is. He is master of what he hath, and of what he hath not. And is not this a wonderful prerogative that a Christian hath, that turn him to what condition you will, raise him or cast him down, kill him or spare his life, you cannot harm him? If you spare his life, this life is his; if you kill him, ‘death is his.’ Kill him, save him, enrich him, beggar him, his happiness is not at your command. There is a commanding power to rule all things for the good of God’s people. It is not at the devotion* of any creature in the world, either devils or men. God overturns and overpowers all, and all is and shall be theirs.
The state of grace is higher than any earthly condition, therefore it cannot be tainted or blemished by earthly things. Nothing that sense suffers hath power over reason, for it is above sense. If a man be sick he hath the use of reason; if health, reason also manageth it. No inferior thing can manage a superior. Let a man’s estate be what it will, grace will master it, because it is a condition above, a ruling commanding condition.
The state of grace is higher than any earthly condition, therefore it cannot be tainted or blemished by earthly things. Nothing that sense suffers hath power over reason, for it is above sense. If a man be sick he hath the use of reason; if health, reason also manageth it. No inferior thing can manage a superior. Let a man’s estate be what it will, grace will master it, because it is a condition above, a ruling commanding condition.
