a further ground for the complaint, that she is for- saken and forgotten of her God. St. Paul, aware that there was in appearance some reason for such an ap- prehension, states the question, " Has God cast off his people?" and then, hy an appeal to fact, he esta- blishes the truth which is asserted in our text, in opposition to ita.
But it is in reference to individuals, and not to the Church at large, that we shall consider the complaint. It is common for persons under the Christian dispen- sation to adopt the language of our text. We will therefore state,
1. The occasions that most generally give birth to it —
[Among the various causes of such a desponding appre- hension, the first to be noticed is, a long continuance of some temporal affliction. Little as we think of God in a state of prosperity, and little as we are inclined to mark his hand in the earlier stages of adversity, when we have long been oppressed with trials, our mind almost of necessity reverts to him as the author of them ; and that too, not in a way of meek submission, but in a way of murmuring and discontent. Thus did the Church in David's days: she complained that God had cast her off b ; and adduced all her trials as proofs of her assertion0: and then, as though God were asleep, and had altogether forgotten her affliction, she entreats him to " awake, and arise" for her relief d. Thus also did Job, though on the whole a perfect man, sink at last under his troubles, and be- come the accuser of his Gode. And perhaps, if we inquired diligently into the first causes of despondency, we should generally find that it has originated in temporal afflictions, which have put the soul off its balance, and disposed it to entertain hard thoughts of God.
Another occasion of such apprehension is, a long continuance of guilt upon the conscience. After we are sensible that we have sinned, we are frequently a long time before we can humble ourselves before God as we ought to do : and whilst that hardness of heart continues, it is impossible but that we must be harassed with much disquietude. Thus it was with David, after his sin in the matter of Uriah : " When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long: (for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:) my
a Rom. xi. 1—5. b Ps. xliv. 9. <= Ps. xliv. 10—14, 22.
d Ps. xliv. 23—26. e j0b Hi. 03, 24. and vi. 2—4.