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to die, to die for ever, thou art sending me the words of everlasting life, and calling me, as a backsliding child, tɔ return unto thee*. Behold therefore, O Lord, invited by thy word, and encouraged by thy grace, I come; and great as my transgressions are, I humbly beseech thee, freely to pardon them: because I know, that though my sins have reached unto Heavent, and are lifted up even unto the skiest, Thy mercy, O Lord, is. above the Heavens§. Extend that mercy to me, O heavenly Father; and display, in this illustrious instance, the riches of thy grace, and the prevalency of thy Son's blood! For surely, if such crimson sins as mine, may be made white as snow, and as wool, and if such a revolter as I am be brought to eternal glory, earth must, so far as it is known, be filled with wonder, and Heaven with praise; and the greatest sinner may cheerfully apply for pardon, if I, the chief of sinners, find it. And Oh that, when I have lain mourning, and as it were bleeding at thy feet, as long as thou thinkest proper, thou wouldst at length heal this soul of mine which has sinned against thee; and give me beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness**! Oh that thou wouldst at length restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and make me to hear songs of gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice++! Then, when a sense of thy forgiving love is shed abroad upon my heart, and it is cheered with the voice of pardon, I will proclaim thy grace to others; I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee: those that have been backsliding from thee, shall be encouraged to seek thee by my happy experience, which I will gladly proclaim for thy glory, though it be to my own shame and confusion of face. And may this joy of the Lord be my strength&S! so that in it I may serve thee hence-forward with a vigour and zeal far beyond what I have hitherto known!

"This I would ask with all humble submission to thy will; for I presume not to insist upon it. If thou shouldst see fit to make me a warning to others, by appointing that I should walk all my days in darkness, and at last die under a cloud, Thy will be done; But, O God, extend mercy for thy Son's sake, to this sinful soul at last; and give me some place, though it were at the feet of all thine other servants, in the regions of glory! Oh bring me at length, though it should be through the gloomiest

* Jer in 22. Isa. i. 18. Psal. li 13.

+ Rev. xviii. 5.
Psal xli. 4.
§§ Neh. viii, 10.

Jer. li. 9. **Isa. lxi. 3.

§ Psal. cviii. 4. †† Psal. li. 8, 12.

valley that any have ever passed, into that blessed world, where I shall depart from God no more, where I shall wound my own conscience, and dishonour thy holy name no more! Then shall my tongue be loosed, how long soever it might here be bound under the confusion of guilt; and immortal praises shall be paid to that victorious blood, which has redeemed such an infamous slave of sin, as I must acknowledge myself to be, and brought me, from returns into bondage and repeated pollution, to share the dignity and holiness of those, who are kings and priests unto God*. Amen."

CHAP. XXIV.

The Case of the Christian under the Hidings of God's Face. The Phrase scriptural, §. 1. It signifies the withdrawing the Tokens of the divine Favour, §. 2. chiefly as to spiritual Considerations, §. 3. This may become the Case of any Christian, §. 4. and will be found a very sorrowful one, §. 5. The following Directions, therefore, are given to those who suppose it to be their own: I. To enquire whether it be indeed a Case of spiritual Distress, or whether a disconsolate Frame may not proceed from Indisposition of Body, §. 6. or Difficulties, as to worldly Circumstances, §. 7. If it be found to be indeed such, as the Title of the Chapter proposes, be advised. II To consider it as a merciful Dispensation of God, to awaken and bestir the Soul; and excite to a strict Examination of Conscience, and Reformation of what has been amiss, §. 8, 9. III. To be humble and patient while the Trial continues, §. 10. IV. To go on steadily in the Way of Duty, §, 11. V. To renew a believing Application to the Blood of Jesus, §. 12. An humble Supplication for one under these mournful Exercises of Mind, when they are found to proceed from the spiritual cause supposed.

8. 1. THERE is a case which often occurs in the christian life, which they who accustom themselves much to the exercise of devotion, have been used to call the hiding of God's face. It is a phrase borrowed from the word of God, which I hope may shelter it from contempt at the first hearing. It will be my business in this chapter to state it as plainly as I can, and then to give some advice as to your own conduct when you fall into it, as it is very probable you may before you have finished your journey through this wilderness.

§. 2. The meaning of it may partly be understood by the opposite phrase of God's causing his face to shine upon a per

*Rev. i. 6.

son, or lifting up upon him the light of his countenance. This seems to carry in it an allusion to the pleasant and delightful appearance which the face of a friend has, and especially if in a superior relation of life, when he converses with those whom he loves and delights in. Thus Job, when speaking of the regard paid him by his attendants, says, If I smiled upon them, they believed it not, and the light of my countenance they cast not down*; that is, they were careful, in such an agreeable circumstance, to do nothing to displease me, or (as we speak) to cloud my brow. And David, when expressing his desire of the manifestation of God's favour to him, says, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me; and, as the effect of it, declares thou hast put gladness into my heart more than if corn and wine increased +. Nor is it impossible, that in this phrase, as used by David, there may be some allusion to the bright shining forth of the Shekinah, that is the lustre which dwelt in the cloud as the visible sign of the divine presence with Israel, which God was pleased peculiarly to manifest upon some public occasions, as a token of his favour and acceptance.-On the other hand, therefore, for God to hide his face, must imply the withholding the tokens of his favour, and must be esteemed a mark of his displeasure. Thus Isaiah uses it; Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear ‡. And again, Thou hast hid thy face from us, as not regarding the calamities we suffer, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities §. So likewise, for God to hide his face from our sins, signifies to overlook them, and to take no farther notice of them. The same idea is, at other times, expressed by God's hiding his eyes from persons of a character disagreeable to him, when they come to address him with their petitions, not vouchsafing (as it were) to look towards them. This is plainly the scriptural sense of the word; and agreeable to this, it is generally used by christians in our day, and every thing which seems a token of divine displeasure towards them is expressed by it.

§. 3. It is farther to be observed here, that the things which they judge to be manifestations of divine favour towards them, or complacency in them, are not only, nor chiefly of a temporal nature, or such as merely relate to the blessings of this animal and perishing life. David, though the promises of the law had a continual reference to such, yet was taught to look farther, and describes them as preferable to, and therefore

*Job xxix. 24.
§ Isai, lxiv. 7.

+ Psal. iv. 6, 7.
|| Psal. li. 9.

Isai. lix. 2.
Isai. 15.

plainly distinct from, the blessings of the corn-floor or the winepress*. And if you, to whom I am now addressing, do not know them to be so, it is plain you are quite ignorant of the subject we are enquiring into, and indeed are yet to take out the first lessons of true religion. All that David says, of beholding the beauty of the Lord †, or being satisfied as with marrow and fatness, when he remembered him on his bed, as well as with the goodness of his house, even of his holy temple§, is to be taken in the same sense, and can need very little explication to the truly experienced soul. But those that have known the light of God's countenance, and the shinings of his face, will, in proportion to the degree of that knowledge, be able to form some notion of the hiding of his face, or the withdrawing of the tokens he has given his people of his presence and favour, which sometimes greatly imbitters prosperity: as where the contrary is found, it sweetens afflictions, and often swallows up the sense of them.

§. 4. And give me leave to remind you my christian friend, (for under that character I now address my reader,) that to be thus deprived of the sense of God's love, and of the tokens of his favour, may soon be the case with you, though you may now have the pleasure to see the candle of the Lord shining upon you, or though it may even seem to be sun-shine and high noon in your soul. You may lose your lively views of the divine perfections and glories, in the contemplation of which you now find that inward satisfaction. You may think of the divine wisdom and power, of the divine mercy and fidelity, as well as of his righteousness and holiness, and feel little inward complacency of soul in the views. It may be, with respect to any lively impressions, as if it were the contemplation merely of a common object. It may seem to you, as if you had lost all idea of those important words, though the view has sometimes swallowed up your whole soul in transports of astonishment, admiration, and love. You may lose your delightful sense of the divine favour. It may be matter of great and sad doubt with you, whether you do indeed belong to God; and all the work of his blessed Spirit may be so veiled and shaded in the soul, that the peculiar characters, by which the hand of that sacred agent might be distinguished, shall be in a great measure lost; and you may be ready to imagine you have only deluded yourself in all the former hopes you have entertained. In consequence of this, those ordinances, in which you now rejoice, may grow very uncom

* Psal. iv. 7.

Psal. xxvii. 4.

Psal. lxiii. 5, 6.

Psal. lxv. 4.

fortable to you, even when you do indeed desire communion with God in them. You may hear the most delightful evangelical truths opened, you may hear the privileges of God's children most affectionately represented, and not be aware that you have any part or lot in the matter; and from that very coldness and insensibility may be drawing a farther argument, that you have nothing to do with them. And then And then your heart may meditate terror*, and under the distress that overwhelms you, your dearest enjoyments may be reflected upon as adding to the weight of it, and making it more sensible, while you consider that you had once such a taste for these things, and have now lost it all. So that perhaps it may seem to you, that they who never felt any thing at all of religious impressions, are happier than you, or at least less miserable. You may perhaps in these melancholy hours, even doubt, whether you have ever prayed at all, and whether all that you called your enjoyment of God, were not some false delight, excited by the great enemy of souls, to make you apprehend that your state was good, that so you might continue his more secure prey.

§. 5. Such as this may be your case for a considerable time; and ordinances may be attended in vain, and the presence of God may be in vain sought in them. You may pour out your soul in private, and then come to public worship, and find little satisfaction in either; but be forced to take up the Psalmist's complaint; My God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent† ; or that of Job, Behold I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. So that all, which looked like religion, in your mind, shall seem as it were, to be melted into grief, or chilled into fear, or crushed into a deep sense of your own unworthiness; in consequence of which, you shall not dare so much as to lift up your eyes before God, and be almost ashamed to take your place in a worshipping assembly among any that you think his servants. I have known this to be the case of some excellent christians, whose improvements in religion have been distinguished, and whom God hath honoured above many of their brethren in what he hath done for them, and by them. Give me leave therefore, having thus described it, to offer you some plain advices with regard to it; and let not that be imputed to enthusiastic fancy, which proceeds from an intimate and frequent

Isai, xxxiii, 18.

+ Psal, xxii 2.

Job xxiii. 8, 9.

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