Use. Well, if it be so, all the use I shall make is to put this ques- tion— Is this your case, yea or no ? There is nothing that conduceth to the safety and comfort of the spiritual life so much as observing God's comings and goings, that we may suit our carriage accordingly. Our Lord saith, Mat. ix. 15, ' Can the children of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them ? ' Is God present, or is he gone ? When God is gone, not to lay it to heart argues great stupidness. You are worse than that idolater, Judges xviiL 24. He thought he had reason enough for his laments and moans when they had taken away his images, his gods. So if God be gone, shall we digest and put up with such a loss, and never mind to lay it to heart ? Job complains of this, chap. xxix. 3, that the candle of the Lord did not shine ujion his head as it did of old. Surely they that have any respect to God, any tenderness left in their hearts, will be sensible of God's going. On the other side, if we get anything of God, liis grace and favour to our hearts, it should be matter of joy and consolation to us : Eom. v. 11, ' We joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ,
412 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. CL.
by whom we have now received the atonement.' Jesus Christ hatli made the atonement, hut we have received the atonement when we get anything of the blood of Christ upon our own consciences, when we have any sense of reconciliation. A little sunshine enliveneth the poor creatures, the birds fall a singing that were melancholy and sad before in cloudy weather, they are cheered and comforted when the sun shines. How should we observe the least glimpse of God's favour if he but show himself through the lattice ! Cant. ii. There is nothing keeps grace lively, and freeth us from a dead and stupid formality, so much as this. But when men are careless, and do not observe God's accesses and recesses, hardness of heart increaseth upon us presently, and losetli that worship and reverence and invocation and praise that is due from us to him. Therefore our eye should still wait upon the Lord, and as the eyes of servants are on their mistresses, Ps. cxxiii. 3, so should our eye be still on God's hands, and observe what he gives out in every duty, or what of God we observe in this or that ordi- nance.
Secondly, The children of God, that are sensible of this, cannot be satisfied with this estate ; but will be praying and always seeking the evidences of his favour and reconciliation : Ps. Ixxx. 3, 7, 19, three times it is repeated, ' Turn us again, 0 Lord of hosts ; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.' Their great happiness is to be in favour with God. They can dispense with other comforts, and can Avant them Avith a quiet mind; let God do his pleasure there, but they cannot dispense with this, with the want of his favour and manifested good-will to them. This is the life of their lives, the fountain of their comforts; this is the heaven they have upon earth, without which they cannot joy in themselves : ' Thou didst hide thy face, and I was trou- bled,' What are the reasons of this ?
1. Because of the value of this privilege ; the favour of God is the greatest blessing. It may appear in sundry respects. Take but that consideration : Ps. Ixiii. 3, ' Thy loving-kindness is better than life,' The favour of God is the life of our souls, and his displeasure is our death, A child of God values his happiness by God's friendship, not by his worldly prosperity ; and is miserable by God's absence, and by the causes thereof, his sin and offence done to God, Nay, his loving- kindness is not only life, but better than life. A man may be weary of life itself, but never of the love of God. Many have complained of life as a burden, and wished for the day of death, but none have com- plained of the love of God as a burden. All the world without this cannot make a man happy. What will it profit us if the whole world smile upon us, and God frown and be angry with us ? All the candles in the world cannot make it day ; nay, all the stars shining together cannot dispel the darkness of the night nor make it day, unless the sun shines; so whatever comforts we have of a higher or lower nature, they cannot make it day with a gracious heart, unless God's face shine upon us ; for he can blast all in an instant A prisoner is never the more secure, though his fellows and companions applaud him, and tell him his cause is good, and that he shall escape, when he that is judge condemns him. Though we have the good word of all the world, yet if the Lord speak not peace to our souls, and shine not upon our con-
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