ever " resist the proud, and give grace only to the humble." He is determined " to abase those who walk in pride ;" and therefore he never vouchsafes the former tokens of his love, till he has brought the soul to an open and ingenuous con- fession. We have a remarkable instance of this in David : he had grievously offended God in the matter of Uriah ; but his proud heart would not humble itself before God. What was the consequence? God forsook him; and instead of speaking pardon and peace to him, he left his soul to be incessantly harassed with fruitless remorse and anguish; nor ever restored peace to his conscience, till he had humbled himself for his iniquity : thus David says, in Psalm xxxii. 3, 4. " 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 moisture was turned into the drought of summer." This was his state while he persisted in impenitence : but as soon as he made confession, behold the change! " I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid : I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin:" and he who began the psalm with such a deplorable account of his experience, concludes it with saying, " Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous ; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."
A further end which God has in view is, to stir up the soul. His people are but too apt to grow remiss; and sometimes, when they profess to be seeking God with their whole hearts, they are secretly inclining to some earthly vanity. This, if suffered to prevail, would effectually alienate them from the life of God ; they would soon be entangled again in the cor- ruptions of the world; and " their last end would become worse than their beginning:" and therefore God in mercy withdraws himself from them; and hides his face, till they seek after him again with their wonted ardour. In this he acts, if you will permit me for once to use a very familiar illustration, as earthly parents do : the little child perhaps is loitering behind, and amusing himself with some trifling vanity : the parent calls and commands in vain : at last the parent, wearied with fruitless calls, conceals himself; and then the child is filled with anxiety, seeks his parent with tears, and is more solicitous to keep close to him in future. This is an humble illustration, I readily acknowledge : but it is a natural one ; and our Lord himself did not disdain the use of such, for the confirmation of his doctrine : if it convey to you the idea more clearly than a plain statement would, my end is answered : let it shew you, what we are at present concerned to declare, the real end for which God hides his face from his children. We may however confirm this statement from the