HlB. XII. 14] AND^BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 257
and sense of his wound takes off the sweet of all : and so does a wound in the conscience take off the sweet of all a man's enjoyments and con- tentments. A guilty conscience, like Prometheus's vulture, lies ever gnawing. 1 What the probationer-disciple said to our Saviour — viz., ' Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,' Mat. viii. 19 — that a guilty conscience says to a fallen sinner : if thou fast I will follow thee, and fill thy mind with black and dismal apprehensions of God, of justice, of hell ; if thou feast I will follow thee, and shew thee the handwriting on the wall that shall make thy countenance to change, thy thoughts to be troubled, and thy joints to be loosed, and thy knees to be dashed one agaiust another, Dan. v. 5 ; when thou goest forth I will follow thee with terrors, and when thou returnest home I will follow thee with horrors ; when thou goest to board I will follow thee with stinging accusations, and when thou goest to bed I will follow thee with terrifying and affrighting dreams. Job vii. 14. Now what joy can be in such a man's heart ? what gladness can be in such a man's face ? Surely none. I remember a saying of Luther, Una gutiula rmilce conscientice totum mare mundani gaudii absorbet, One drop of an evil conscience swallows up the whole sea of worldly joy.^ Oh, it is better with Evagrius to lie secure on a bed of straw, than to lie with a guilty conscience on a bed of down, having the curtains embroidered with gold, and the fringes bespangled with pearls. Sin brings such a stain and such a sting with it, as spoils all a man's joys and delights. And if this be the present case of a Christian, as it may, then never wonder to see him hang down his head, and to walk mournfully before his God. Or,
[2.] Secondly, This may arise from some great and heavy afflic- tion, which for the present may sadly distress and oppress a saint's spirit ; as Job's did his, or as Hezekiah's did his, or as Jacob's did his, &C.3 The disease may be so violent, the physic may be so strong, the wound may be so deep, the plaster may be so corroding, the melt- ing pot may be so hot, the iron chains may be so heavy, the gall and wormwood may be so bitter, that a Christian may be so far from joy and rejoicing, as that he may for the present be so shut up under trouble and amazement, and under sorrow and grief, as that he may not be able, if you would give him all the world, to open his case unto you ; his eyes may in some sort tell what his tongue can in no sort utter, Ps. Ixxvii, 4. Usually they are the smallest miseries, when he that hath them can presently teU all the world of them. The greatest sorrow hath for the most part the deepest silence attending on it. What Christian ever had joy in his heart or gladness in his face, when God was carrying of it harshly and roughly towards him ? Or,
[3.] Thirdly, It may be they are deserted, happily ^ God is with- draion from them, and he that should comfort them stands afar qff.^ Ah, what Christian can rejoice when the countenance of God is not towards him as of old ? who can be pleasant when God is dis-
^ Desperare est in infernum descendere. — Isidore.
' It was guilt that made that despairing Pope say that the cross could do him no good, he had so often sold it. " Job iii. 38 ; Isa. ix. 16 ; Gen. xxxvii. 30, to the end.
' Lam. i. 16 ; Gen. xxxi. 2, 5 ; Ps. xxx. 7 ; read the 77th and the 88th Psalms ; Iga. viii. 17 ; Micah vii. 7-9, 17 ; Ps. iv. 6, and xlii. 5, 11, &c.
258 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, KARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
pleased ? who can smile when God frowns ? who can sing when God sighs ? who can be merry when God is sorry ? Surely none that have ever experienced what the shinings of his face means ! 0 sirs, the proper work of a deserted soul lies not in joy and rejoicing, but in mourning and waiting, and in seeking and suing at the throne of grace, that God would lift up the light of his countenance, and cause his face to shine, and his favour to break forth, that the bones that he has broken may rejoice : as Hudson the martyr, when he was deserted at the stake, he slipped from under his chain, and praying earnestly, he was comforted immediately, and suffered valiantly. ^ Look, as when Samson's locks were cut off, his strength was gone ; so when God is gone, a Christian's locks are cut off, his strength is gone, his strength to joy and rejoice in God is gone, his strength to delight and to take pleasure in God is gone ; and as Samson, when his locks were cut off, and his strength was gone, fell to prayer, Judges xvi. 28, ' And Samson caUed unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, only this once, 0 God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes ; ' so when God is gone, the work of a Christian lies more in praying than it does in rejoicing. Though Joseph's heart was as full of love to his brethren as it could hold. Gen. xlii. 7-25, yet when he looked sourly upon them, and spake roughly to them, they were much afflicted and distressed ; so though the heart of Jesus be as full of love to his people as it can hold, yet when he looks sourly, and speaks roughly to them, they can't but be grieved and sadded.2 But,
[4.] Fourthly, It may be they are sadly tempted and strangely huf~ feted hy Satan, as Paul luas, and from thence their present sadness may arise, 2 Cor. xii. 8-10. Tempted souls can tell you that it is one of the hardest works in the world to rejoice in the school of temptation, and to be merry when Satan's fiery darts stick fast in the soul. Adam's tempting-time was not his rejoicing-time, but his sinning-time ; and David's tempting-time was not his rejoicing-time, but his miscarrying- time, 1 Chron. xxi. ; and Job's tempting-time was not his rejoicing- time, but his complaining-time, Job iii. ; and Peter's tempting-time was not his rejoicing-time, but his cursing and blaspheming-time. Mat. xxvi. ; and Paul's tempting-time was not his rejoicing-time, but his humbling-time, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8.3 The best men are most tempted, and oftentimes they are followed with the saddest, darkest, vilest, basest, and most amazing, affrighting, tormenting, and astonishing tempta- tions ; and how is it possible that they should be able to rejoice and be glad, when such dreadful storms beat upon them ! Certainly the work of a Christian in the day of temptation lies in his putting on the whole armour of God, Eph. vi. 10, 11, 16-18, and in a prudent handhng the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith, and in ear- nest praying and vigilant watching, and a stout resisting of all Satan's fiery darts; for he who thinks, by disputing and reasoning, to put Satan off, does but shoot with him in his own bow, and wUl find to his cost that Satan will be too hard for him. It is open defiance, it is downright blows that makes Satan fly, and that secures the victory,
^ Clarke, as before. — G. ' See the 3d and 5th chapters of Solomon's Song.