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forth the praises " of God and of the Lamb." They are filled, indeed, with a sense of the benefits which they enjoy : but they are lost in wonder whilst beholding with unveiled face the glories of their God.
Such is the fi'anie which the saints are privileged to enjoy on earth : they should " rejoice and be glad in the Lord ;" but at the same time they should be saying continually, " Let God be magnified."]
But, as all do not live in the enjoyment of this frame, I will,
IL Give some directions to those who have not yet been able to attain it —
We see, from David's own experience, that this joy is not universal amongst the saints of God. There are times and seasons when, from a variety of causes, the mind of a pious person may be depressed : and when this occurs, I would say to the drooping soul. Follow the example of David in our text :
1. Lie low before God in the deepest humiliation —
[" I am poor and needy," was the confession of that holy man, the man after God's own heart. And well does the same language become us all. They who know most of themselves, will be the most ready to acknowledge that they are " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." And never are we in a frame more pleasing and acceptable to God, than when we abase ourselves before him in dust and ashes. We are told, that " the broken and contrite heart God will not despise ;" nay more, that he will select, for his more immediate and delightful habitation, the humble and contrite soul^ Then shall we be prepared to exalt our God, when we feel disposed to humble and abase ourselves.]
2. Importune him, with all earnestness, to grant you this frame —
[There is a holy impatience, which God approves ; not indeed an impatience connected with murmuring, but that which arises from intensity of desire. This feeling you may carry to its utmost possible extent, " panting after God, even as the hart after the water-brooks," And vinder this feeling, you may cry with a boldness almost bordering on presump- tion, " Return to me, O Lord ; make haste unto me : O Lord, make no tarrying." We may go farther still ; and say, with David, " Awake ; Why sleepest thou? pluck thy hand out of thy bosom. Arise, and plead thine own cause^." Such is the
a Isai. Ivii. 15. ^ Ps. xliv. 23. and Ixxiv. 11, 22.
614. J THE christian's FRAIME OF MIND. 517
importunity recommended to us in the parable of the unjust judge. The widow, purely by the urgency of her petitions, prevailed over one who cared not either for God or man. " And shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily." All who wrestle, like Jacob, in supplication with God, shall assuredly be partakers of his success.]
3. Plead with him your entire dependence on his power and grace —
[" Make haste unto me, O God : Thou art my help and my deliverer : O Lord, make no tarryuig." This is a plea which God, if I may so express myself, cannot withstand. If he withhold from us the light of his countenance, it is in order to make us more simple in our dependence on him : and when we renounce every other help or hope, and trust in him with our whole hearts, then are we as sure of succour as if it had already arrived : " for his goings forth are prepared as the morning ; and He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and the former rain upon the earth*." " They that trust in the Lord are even as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abide th for ever*^."] Application —