of the Lord ; and why then should any of you be afraid to enter into an afflicted condition, where you shall be sure to meet the singular presence of the Lord, that will certainly turn your afflicted condition into a comfortable condition to you? Kev. xii. 11, and Heb. xi. 36-38. The great design of the Lord in afflicting his people is to meet with them, and to draw them into a nearer communion with himself. It is that they may see more of him than ever, and taste more of him than ever, and enjoy more of him than ever ; in order to which he subdues their corruptions by afflictions, and strengthens their graces, and heightens their holiness by all their troubles and trials, Isa. i. 25, xxvii. 8, 9 ; Heb. xii. 10, 11 ; Hosea ii. 14. Whenever he leads his .spouse into a wilderness, it is that he may speak friendly and comfort- ably to her, or that he may speak to her heart, as the Hebrew runs. The great design of the Lord in bringing her into a wilderness was that he might make such discoveries of himself, of his love, and of his sovereign grace, as might cheer up her heart, yea, as might even make her heart leap and dance within her. Or, as some sense it, ' I will take her alone for the purpose, even into a solitary wilderness, where I may more freely impart my mind to her,' that she having her whole desiie she may come up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved. Cant. viii. 5, and so be brought into the bride-house with all solemnity. By all which it is most evident that there is no such evil in a wilderness estate, in an afflicted condition, as many imagine. But,
[8.] Eighthly, Will the Lord be signally present with his people in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers ? Then what a high encouragement should this he to poor sinners to study Christ, to acquaint themselves ivith Christ, to embrace Christ, to choose Christ, to close with Christ, to submit to Christ, and to make a resignation of themselves to Christ, and to secure their interest in Christ, that so they may enjoy his signal presence in their greatest troubles, deepest distresses, and most deadly dangers, John i. 12 ; Ps. cxii. 2, 3, and ii. 12 ; 2 Cor. viii. 5. Oh, how many mercies are wrapt up in this mercy of enjoying the singular presence of the Lord in all the troubles and trials of this life ! Ps. xxiii. 4. It is a mercy to have the presence of a friend, it is a greater to have the presence of a near and dear relation with us in a day of distress, in a day of darkness ; but what a mercy is it then to have the presence of the Lord with one in a dark day ! That is excellent counsel that the wisest prince that ever swayed a sceptre gives in that Eccles. xi. 8, ' Remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many.' When light shall be turned into darkness, pleasure into pain, delights into wearisomeness, calms into storms, summer days into winter nights, and the lightsome days of life into the dark days of old age and death ; oh, now the singular presence of the Lord with a man in these days of darkness will be a mercy more worth than ten thousand worlds ! To have a wise, a loving, a powerful, a faithful friend to own us in the dark, to stand by us in the dark, to uphold us in the dark, to refresh us in the dark, to encourage us in the dark, &c., is a very choice and singular mercy, Ps. Ixxi. 20, 21. Oh then, what is it to have the presence of the Lord with us in all those dark days that are to pass over our
WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THEIR GREATEST TROUBLES. 555
heads ! What David said of the sword of Goliath in another case, ' There is none like that/ 1 Sam. xxi. 8, 9, that I may say of the divine presence with a man in the dark, ' There is none like that.' The psalmist hit the mark, the white, when he said, ' My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.'i When his ' flesh,' that is his outward man, and when his * heart,' his courage, that is his inward man, failed him, then God was ' the strength of his heart,' or ' the rock of his heart,' as the Hebrew runs. At the very last gasp God came in with his sovereign cordial, and revived him and recovered him, and brought new life and strength into him. When a saint is at worst, when he is at lowest, when he is even overwhelmed with troubles and sorrows, and when the days of darkness so multiply upon him that he seems past all hope of recovery, then the divine presence does most gloriously manifest itself and dis- play itself in supporting, strengthening, comforting, and encouraging of him. In the Kev. iv. 6, you read that the world is like a sea of glass, ' I saw before the throne a sea of glass.' The world is transi- tory, very frail and brittle as glass, and it is unstable, tumultuous, and troublesome as the sea. Here the world is shadowed out to us by a sea of glass ; and how can we stand on this sea, how can we live on this sea, how can we walk on this sea, if Christ don't take us by the hand, and lead us and support us and secure us ? 0 sirs, we can- not uphold ourselves on this sea of glass, nor others cannot uphold us on this sea of glass ; it is none but dear Jesus, it is no presence but his singular presence that can make us to stand or go on this sea of glass. And if this world be a sea of glass, oh what infinite cause have we to secure our interest in Christ, who alone can pilot us safe over this troublesome, dangerous, and tempestuous sea ! Oh that I could pre- vail with poor sinners to take Christ into the ship of their souls, that so he may pilot them safe into the heavenly harbour, the heavenly Canaan. No pilot in heaven or earth can land you on the shore of a happy eternity, from off this sea of glass, but Jesus. When on this sea of glass the winds blow high, storms arise, and the bold waves beat into the ship, oh then the sinner cries, ' A kingdom for a Christ,' a world for a pilot to save us from eternal drowning ! Oh that before eternal storms and tempests do beat upon poor sinners, they would be prevailed with to close with Christ, to accept of Christ, and to enter into a marriage-covenant, a marriage-union with Christ ; that so they may enjoy his singular presence with them whilst they are on this sea of glass, Ps. xi. 6, and ix. 17 ; Hosea ii. 19, 20 ; 2 Cor. xi. 2. There is no presence so greatly desirable, so absolutely necessary, and so exceeding sweet and comfortable, as the presence of Christ ; and there- fore, before all and above all, secure this presence of Christ by match- ing with the person of Christ, and then you will be safe and happy on a sea of glass. But,