Object. But his people complain of being forsaken : Isa. xlix. 14, 'But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.' Yea, Christ himself cried out, * My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' Mat. xxvii. 46.
Ans. 1. Many times the saints complain without a cause. Sense maketh lies of God : Ps. xxxi. 22, ' I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes ; nevertheless thou heardest the voice of ray supplications.' But there was no such matter: Ps. Ixxvii. 10, 'This is my infirmity.' The Lord may seem to a perplexed heart to cast off a man, and to suspend the course of his wonted favour, so as they may seem to be without all hope and comfort of the promises when there is no such matter.
SERMON UPON HEBREWS XIII 5. 447
2. Though a child of God may be forsaken for a while, yet not for- saken for ever : Isa. liv. 7, 8, ' For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee : in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer/ There may be some short interruptions of a christian's comfort. All things here are subject to changes ; there will be ebbs and flows, nights and days, in our condition. There will be changes, but it is but for a moment. Mercy will not come out of season, though carnal hopes may be spent : Isa. xli. 17, * When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.'
3. There are three kinds of forsaking —
[I.] As to our outward and inward condition. Outwardly God may reduce his people to great straits, and yet not forsake them. Every condition is sweet where God is, and he is with us in dangers and afflictions : Isa. xliii. 2, ' When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the fire kindle upon thee.' God preserves not only from fire and water, but in fire and water. He may exercise his people with trouble, but he will not withdraw himself from them in trouble, but will stay with them, and bear them company. Our worldly comforts may be gone, but God stayeth behind ; we may be forsaken out- wardly, but are preserved inwardly: 'persecuted but not forsaken,' 2 Cor. iv. 9. He giveth support still : Ps. cxxxviii. 3, ' In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.' God affords sweet refreshings to his people : 2 Cor. i. 5, ' For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.' And gracious visits and experiences : Kom. v. 3-5, ' And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.'
[2.] Inward desertion is either in point of comfort or in point of grace. Comfort may be withdrawn for the increase of grace. Kain is necessary, as well as sunshine. We need many times our thorn in the flesh. Grace is the main thing we should desire, though comfort should not be despised. We should be rather more humble and more diligent in a doubtful condition than in a settled.
[3.] In point of grace, there is a total desertion and a partial desertion. God's people may be deserted really, but not utterly. There is a seed remaineth in them, 1 John iii. 9, though they may lose much of their liveliness and alacrity in God's service : ' My loving- kindness I will not take from them.' David had brutish thoughts, yet some sustentation : Ps. Ixxiii. 23, ' Nevertheless I am continually with thee ; thou hast holden me by thy right hand.' He was kept from being utterly overcome by the temptation. They have a secret power to uphold them, as long as they have any tenderness left, with desires of former enjoyments, and sensibleness of their present incon- venience. The degrees of grace may be lost when the habit remaineth.
448 . SERMON UPON HEBREWS XIII. 5.
God's degrees of presence with us should be observed as well as his degrees of absence. David bewaileth his folly, acknowledges susten- tation.
4. The ends of this forsaking. There are three —
[1.] Sometimes to show us ourselves to ourselves : 2 Chron. xxxii. 31, ' Howbeit, in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.' While God is present, comforting, quickening, and guiding us, we do not know what pride and passion lieth hidden in our hearts. God doth show the folly of our wisdom, the weakness of our strength, and the imperfection of our graces by his forsaking us.