(3.) It would follow that every holy man that is persecuted and left to the will of his enemies, might be said to be forsaken of God, which is contrary to Paul's holy boasting : 2 Cor. iv. 9, ' Persecuted, but not forsaken.' Therefore there was something more than to be left to the will of his enemies.
(4.) This desertion was a punishment, one part or degree of the abasement of the Son of God, and so belongeth to the whole nature that was to be abased, not only to his body but his soul. We read often of his soul-sufferings : Isa. liii. 10, He was to ' make his soul an offering for sin,' and to ' see the travail of his soul,' ver. 11. His soul was de- prived of consolation, and some effects of the Spirit as to joy and comfort.
[2.] As to the felicity of his inward estate, the state of his soul. Christ carried about his heaven with him, and never wanted sensible consolation, spiritual suavity, the comfortable effects of the divine presence, till now they were withdrawn, that he might be capable of suffering the whole punishment of sins, and feel not only pains and torments of body, but troubles of soul, such as we have when God hideth his face from us, but without sin. The divinity kept back those irradiations of heavenly light and comfort, or, for a while, suspended that joy and comfort which otherwise he felt in himself, though it gave out that virtue and strength which was necessary to support and sustain him under so great sufferings. As when the sun is eclipsed, the light of it ceaseth not, but is only hidden from the earth by the interposition of a dark body. So here, Christ had not the participation of that heavenly joy which before his soul felt by dwelling with God in a personal union, though there were no separation of the human nature from ihe divine ; the ground of it was not taken away, but only the sense suspended ; no dissolution of the union, but a ceasing of the comfort of it.
In short, I will show how this sort of desertion is —
1. Possible.
2. Grievous.
1. Possible, the union between the two natures remaining ; for as
270 THE NINTH SERMON. [MaT. XXVII. 46.
the divine nature pave up llie body to death, so the soul to desertion. Christ, as God, is ' the fountain of life,' Vs. xxxvi. 9, and j-et Christ couKl die. So tlie Godhead is the fountain of all joy and comfort, for he is called ' the God of all comfort,' 2 Cor. i. 3 ; and yet Christ's soul was troubled aud heavy unto death, the Godhead suspendins^ its virtue a nil operation. Both mii;:ht well consist, for thou<;h the presence of the divinity be necessary with the humanity of Christ, yet the effects are voluntary. God worketh not out of necessity, no, not in the human nature of Christ; all kind of communications are given out according to his own pleasure. The divinity remained united to the flesh, and yet the flesh might die ; so it remained nnited to the soul, and yet the soul might want comfort. The bond by which the two natures were united in one person remained firm and indissoluble, but the influx of sweetne.'^s and comfort was suspended. Some effect there is of the union, but not that which affords comfort and felicity, and this was suspended but for a time. There is a desertion, indeed, which agreeth not with the dignity of Christ. There is a total and eternal desertion, by which God so descrteth a man, both as to grace and glory, that he is wholly cast out of God's presence and adjudged to eternal torments, which is the case of the reprobate in the last judgment ; this is not compatible to Chri.st, nor agreeing with the dignity of his i)erson. There is a partial, temporal desertion, when God for a moment hideth his face from his people, Isa. liv. 7. This is so far from being contrary to the dignity of Christ's nature, that it is necessary to his office for many reasons.
2. That it is very grievous. This was an incomparable loss to Christ.
[1.] Partly because it was more natural to him to enjoy that comfort and solace than it can be to any creature. To put out a candle is no great matter, but to have the sun eclipsed, which is the fountain of liglit, that sets the world a-wondering. For poor creatures to lo.se their comforts is no great wonder, who, though they live in God, are so many degrees distant from him ; but for Christ, who was God-man in one person, that is a difficulty to our thoughts, and a wonder in- deed, for by this means he was so far deprived of some part of himself.
[2.] Partly because he had more to lose than we have. The greater the enjoyment, the greater is the loss or want. It was more for David to be driven fiom his palace, than a poor Israelite to be driven from his cottage. We lose drops, he an ocean. A poor Christian that hath some heaven upon earth in the fore-enjoyment of God, and the first- fruits and earnest of the Sj)irit, hath more to lose than another that hath hud only some vanishing taste in the offer of eternal life, and re- ceiving the word with joy. Proportionably judge of Christ, who was comprchensor, while he was viator, had the beatifical vision whiles on earth.