the house, are given up to the king to be at his dispose, at his service, then he is entertained as a king, and honoured as a king, and valued and prized as a king; and so when all the keys of the soul, and every room in the soul, and every faculty of the soul, are given up to God to be at his dispose, at his service, then God is entertained as a God, and honoured as a God, and valued and prized as a God, but not till then. And by these five hints, if you will not put a cheat upon your own souls, you may know whether God sits in the uppermost room of your hearts or no, and whether God be set up in your hearts above all, and whether he be indeed your great all, or your all in all. But,
(9.) Ninthly, If God be thy portion, then there is no loss in all the world that lies so hard and so heavy upon thee as the loss of thy God. There is no loss under heaven that doth so affect and afflict a man that hath God for his portion as the loss of his God. David met with many a loss, but no loss made so sad and so great a breach upon his spirit as the loss of the face of God, the loss of the favour of God : Ps. xxx. 6, 7, * In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong : thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.' The Hebrew word bahal signifies to be greatly troubled, to be sorely terrified, as you may see in that 1 Sam. xxviii. 21, ' And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled.' Here is the same Hebrew word bahal} Saul was so terrified, affrighted, and disanimated with that dreadful news that the devil in Samuel's likeness told him, that his very vital spirits so failed him that he fell into a deadly swoon. And it was even so with David upon God's hid- ing of his face. David was like a withered flower that had lost all itp sap, life, and vigour, when God had wrapped up himself in a cloud. The life of some creatures lieth in the light and warmth of the sun ; and so doth the life of the saints lie in the light and warmth of God's countenance. And as in an eclipse of the sun there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature, so when God hides his face, gracious souls cannot but droop and languish, and bow down themselves before him. Many insensible creatures, some by opening and shutting, as marigolds and tulips, others by bowing and inclining the head, as the solsequy'* and mallow-flowers are so sensible of the presence and absence of the sun, that'there seems to be such a sympathy between the sun and them, that if the sun be gone or clouded, they wrap up themselves, or hang down their heads, as being unwilling to be seen by any eye but his that fills them ; and just thus it was with David when God had hid his face in a cloud. And it is very observable that Job did bear up very sweetly, bravely, patiently, and nobly under all his great losses of children, estate, &c. ; but when the arrows of the Almighty were got within him, then he complains that his grief was heavier than the sands of the sea. Job vi. 1-5 ; and when the face of God was hidden from him, how sadly doth he lament and bewail the withdrawings of God : * 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
' And 80 this Hebrew word bahal you have again in that Dan. v. 9, to express the great nesa of Belshazzar's trouble and terror when ho saw the handwriting upon the wall, and wlien none of his wise men could read the writing, &c.
2 The early name of the ' aun-flower.' The solsequium of Linuseus.— G.
Lam. III. 24<.] AN ARK FOK ALL GOD'S NOAHS. 101
hand, but I cannot see him,' Job xxiii, 8, 9. You know there is no pain more grievous and tormenting than that of breaking the bones. Now David again and again pitches upon this, to hint unto you that dreadful smart and pain that his soul was under when he had lost his communion with God, and when his God was withdrawn from him, and had hid his face from him, Ps. xxxviii. 8, li. 8. And so the church sadly laments the loss of her beloved in that Solomon's Song, v. 6, ' I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul failed when he spake,' or, ' he was gone, he was gone.' Now this pas sionate duplication speaks out her very great grief and trouble. Like a sad widow, she sits down and wrings her hands, and cries out, ' He is gone, he is gone ;' ' My soul failed me ;' or, as the Hebrew hath it, Naphshi jatsa, ' my soul went out of me.' I was even as an astonished creature,! was even as a dead creature, to note how greatly and how deeply she was troubled and perplexed upon the account of his withdrawing from her. Oh ! the fear, the terror, the horror, the dread, the grief, the sorrow that fell upon the spouse's heart when her beloved had turned his back upon her. And so it was with Mary: John xx. ] 1-13, ' But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping ; and as she wept,she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at thefeet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they said unto her. Woman, why weepest thou ? She saith unto them. Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.' Of all losses, Mary was least able to bear the loss of her Lord. The loss was so great, and so heavy the loss, that she was not able to stand under it with dry eyes. Mary's mourning for the loss of her Lord was like that of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon, Zech. xii. 11. There is no loss that comes so near to a Christian's heart as the loss of his Lord. A Christian can a thousand times better bear the loss of his name, which next to his soul and his grace is the best jewel that he hath in all the world, the loss of his estate, the loss of his liberty, the loss of his nearest and dearest relations, yea, the very loss of his life, than he can bear the loss of his God.