express testimony of God himself: " Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart ; and I will be found of youc."]
We come now to shew, III. The effect it will produce —
[Would to God that the effect were the same on all ! but, alas! there are many who are hardened by it more and more, till God " swears in his wrath, that they shall never enter into his rest : " nevertheless, where the proper effect is produced upon the soul, it is that which is mentioned in my text ; " In their affliction they will seek me early." This part of our subject is in a measure anticipated by what has gone before : nevertheless, it is of such importance as to deserve further and more distinct consideration. Prosperity does but ill suit with our fallen nature. Not only temporal ease, but in some sense even spiritual pleasure, becomes a source of evil : not that it is so in itself; " the joy of the Lord is our strength ; " but our corruption takes occasion from it to unfold itself. Sometimes a long season of spiritual delight, and peculiar manifestations of God's love, shall foster pride. Even Paul himself, from the abundance of revelations which were made to him, was in danger of " being exalted above measure," and needed " a thorn in his flesh" to keep him humble. So peculiar sensa- tions of joy are sometimes the means of begetting security. We see daily that professors of religion are apt to look back upon former experiences, and to conclude that all is well, because it once appeared to be well : therefore God counter- acts this propensity, and consults the good of his people, in withdrawing his sensible presence from them : he stirs them up to a holy vigilance against their spiritual enemies, and to a diligence and circumspection in his ways. See what was the effect produced upon the Spouse in the 5th chapter of the Song of Solomon : in the 2d verse, Christ, the Husband of the Church, is calling to her for admission ; saying, " Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled ; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night." She, not being disposed for heavenly communion with him, makes frivolous excuses : " I have put off my coat ; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?" Thus she provoked him to depart. Presently, however, she rose to let him in; but behold, he was gone: in ver. 5, 6. " I rose up to open to my Beloved : I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone." And now observe the effect of this desertion ; " My soul failed when he spake : I sought him, but I could not find him ; I called him,
c Jer. xxix. 13, 14.