upon us,' &c. ; and that lsa liv. 7, 8, but now opened; and that Heb. xiii. ">, (5; and that Heb. ii. 3; and that Ps. v. 12, 'For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous ; with favour thou wilt compass him,' or crown him, 'as with a shield.' The Lord will compass the righteous about with his favour, as the crown compasses about the head, as tin- Hebrew Imports; and that Ps. cxii. 4, 'Unto the upright there ariseth Light in darkness: lie is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.' And that Jer. xxxi. 37, ' Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be m< asured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.'1 As sure as heaven cannot be measured, nor the foundations of the earth searched by the skill or power of any mortal man, so sure and certain it is, that God will not utterly cast off' his people, no, not for all the evil that they have done. Now at what a rate doth a deserted soul value these precious promises ? Well ! saith he, these promises are sweeter than the honey or the honey-comb ; they are more precious than gold, than fine gold, than much gold, than all the gold in the world ; I prefer t hem before my food, before my delightful food, yea, before my necessary food, before my appointed portion.2 As Alexander laid up Homer's J Had in a cabinet embroidered with gold and pearls ; so deserted souls will lay up these precious promises in the cabinet of their hearts, as the choicest treasure the world affords. Dolphins, they say, love music, so do deserted souls the music of the promises. That promise, 1 Tim. i. 1"), was music to Bilney the martyr; and that promise, John x. 29, was music toUrsinus; and that promise, lsa lvii. 15, was music to another; and that promise, lsa. xxvi. 3, was music to another; and that to another, Mat. xi. 28, &c. Promises that are suited to a deserted man's condition, make the sweetest music in his ear, and are the most sovereign cordials to bear up the spirits that God can give, or heaven afford, or the soul desire: Deut. xxxii. 13, 'He made him to ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the fruits of the field ; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.' Ah ! the honey, the oil that deserted souls suck of such promises that speak home and close to their conditions !
[4.] Fourthly, By God's hiding his face and withdrawing himself from thee, thou wilt be enabled more feelingly, and more experiment- ally to sympathise with others, and to have compassion on others that are or may be in the dark and forsaken of God, as now thou art, Heb. v. 2. Heb. xiii. 2, ' Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them ; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.' It is observed of the bees, that when one is sick they all mourn ;3 and of the sheep, that if one of them be faint, the rest of the flock will stand betwixt it and the sun until it be revived. In the natural body, if one member grieve and is in pain, all suffer with it. 'When a thorn is <jot into the foot, how doth the back bow, and the eyes pry, and the hands go to pluck the thorn out ! None so compas- sionate towards deserted souls as those who have been deserted and for-
1 And that John xiv. 21-23 ; and that Sam. xii. 20 ; lsa. Ix. 19-22. * Ps. cxix. 72, 10;{, xix. 10; Prov. viii. 11 ; Joh xxiii. 12.
3 Pliny in Nat. Hist. 1. xi. c. 17. [The remark is inadu concerning the ' king ' (queen) bee — G.]
PS. XXXIX. 9.] UNDER THE SMARTING ROD. 377
saken of God themselves. Oh ! they know what an evil and a bitter thing it is to be left and forsaken of God, and therefore then- bowels, their compassions run out much to such, yea, most to such. They know that there is no affliction, no misery, no hell, to that of being forsaken of God.
Anaxagoras, seeing himself old and forsaken of the world, laid him- self down, and covered his head close, determining to starve himself to death with hunger [Plutarch]. But, alas ! what is it to be forsaken of the world, to a man's being forsaken of God ? Were there as many worlds as there be men in the world, a man were better be forsaken by them all than to be forsaken of God. There is a great truth in that say- ing of Chrysostom, viz., That the torments of a thousand hells, if there were so many, come far short of this one, to wit, to be turned out of God's presence with a Non novi vos, 1 know you not, Mat. vii. 23.1 The schools have long since concluded, that poena sensus, the pain of sense, is far greater than poena damni, the pain of loss. What a grief was it to Absalom to see the king's face clouded ; and how sadly was Eli and his daughter affected with the loss of the ark, which was but a testimony of God's presence ! but oh ! how much more is a Christian affected and afflicted with the loss of the face and favour of God, the remembrance of which makes his heart to melt and his bowels to yearn towards those whose sun is set in a cloud?
[5.] Fifthly, Hereby the Lord will teach his people to set a higher price upon his face and favour when they come to enjoy it.2 Cant, iii. 4, ' It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him. whom my soul loveth ; I held him, and I would not let him go,' &c. iNo man sets so high a price upon Christ, as he that hath lost him and found him again. Jesus in the China tongue signifies the rising sun, and so he is, Mai. iv. 2, especially to souls that have been long clouded. The poor northern nations of Strabo, who want the light of the sun for some months together, when the term of his return approaches, they climb up into the highest mountains to spy it, and he that spies it first was accounted the best and most beloved of God, and usually they did choose him king; at such a rate did they prize the return of the sun. Ah! so it is with a poor soul, that for some months, years, hath been deserted ; oh, how highly doth he prize and value the Sun of right- eousness his returning to him, and shining upon him ! Ps. lxiii. 3, ' Thy loving-kindness is better than life,' or, ' better than lives/ as the Hebrew hath it [Chaiim]. Divine favour is better than life ; it is better than life with all its revenues, with all its appurtenances, as honours, riches, pleasures, applause, &c, yea, it is better than many lives put together. Now you know at what a high rate men value their lives ; they will bleed, sweat, vomit, purge, part with an estate, yea, with a limb, yea, limbs, to preserve their lives. As he cried out, Give me any deformity, any torment, any misery, so you spare my life. Now, though life be so dear and precious to a man, yet a deserted soul prizes the returnings of divine favour upon him above life, yea, above many lives. Many men have been weary of their lives, as is evident in
1 Chrysostom, ad Pop. Antioch. Horn. 47, and in Mat. Horn. 24.