despair; and may be ready to say with the Church of old, " The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten US'*:" but he will ere long force us to acknowledge that such fears were the fruit only of " our own infirmity'^;" and that the very things which we complained of as " against us," were no other than his appointed means for accomplishing all his gracious designs towards us*^. Our dangers may be as imminent as those of Israel at the Red Sea ; but that shall be the time for Him to open for us a way to escape from them. Our wants may be as urgent as those of Israel afterwards in the wilderness ; but that shall be the time for giving us manna from heaven, and water from the rock. The time for any interposition may seem to have actually elapsed ; but still " in the mount the Lord shall be seen," precisely as he was when he arrested the uplifted arm of Abraham, and restored his Isaac to his embrace. " The vision may tarry; but never beyond the appointed and the fittest time^"]
2. By the communications of his grace —
[These are necessary for us, and must be renewed to us day by day : and if for one moment they be suspended, we must inevitably fall. But God will not withdraw from his waiting and praying people. He may indeed suffer tempta- tions to arise, such as shall threaten to plunge us into irre- mediable ruin ; and he may even permit Satan for a time to prevail against us ; but still he will not utterly forsake us ; but will restore our souls, and make our very falls subservient to the augmenting of our humility and watchfulness throughout the remainder of our lives, and to the qualifying of us for warning, and exhorting, and comforting others with increased effect*^. So also he may permit our trials to abide; and, though entreated by us ever so much, may not see fit to re- move them. But " his grace shall be sufficient for us," and shall be the more magnified in us, in proportion as our conflicts are severe, and our victories conspicuous^. He may, for wise and gracious purposes, hide his face from us ; but it shall be only for a little moment, that the riches of his grace may be the more abundantly displayed in the subsequent manifesta- tions of his love and favour'^. If it be asked, why he will thus continue his loving-kindness to them ? We answer, " For his own sake," and because " he changeth not';" as it is said, " He will not forsake his people ; because it hath pleased him to make you his people''."]
^ Isai, xlix. 14. <= Ps. Ixxvii. 7 — 10. 'i Gen. xUi. 36.
e Hab. ii. 3. ^ Luke xxii. 31, 32. £2 Cor. xii. 7 — 9.
h Isai. liv. 7 — 10. ' Mai. iii. 6. Jam. i. 17. Rom. xi. 29.
k 1 Sam. xii. 22.
2343.] god's presence encourages to duty. 497
That this promise may produce its due effects, let us consider, II. The use we should make of it —
Innumerable are the benefits to be derived from it : but we shall specify only two : it should encourage us to discard, as unworthy of us,
1. All inordinate desires —
[" Our whole conversation should be without covetousness or discontent." We should desire notliing which God has not seen fit to give us, nor murmur at any thing which he has ordained for us. For, what can we want, or what can we have to complain of, whilst he is with us ? Could any worldly good add to our happiness, or give any security to us for its con- tinuance ? Would treasures, however great, be a richer por- tion than he ? or would the loss of them be felt, if it led us to seek more entirely our happiness in him? " When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble'?" If we have but the light of his countenance lifted up upon us, nothing can aug- ment, nor can any thing diminish, our bliss. Many of these Hebrevi^s had " taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods :" and thousands in every age have been able to testify from their own blessed experience, that " as their afflictions have abounded, so also have their consolations abounded by Christ™." Let us only possess " the Lord for the portion of our inheri- tance and of our cup ; and have that lot maintained to us ;" and however small our portion be as it respects this world, we shall have reason to say, " The lines are fallen to me in plea- sant places, and I have a goodly heritage"."]