246 Renew your Application to Christ; Chap. 24. ment, may as it were create a Heaven in your Soul at once. Go to the Table of the Lord. If you cannot rejoice, go and mourn there. Go and mourn that Saviour, ahom by your Sins you have pierced (a); go and lament the Breaches of that Covenant, which you have there so often confirmed. CHRIST may perhaps make himself known unto you in the Breaking of the Bread (b), and you may find, to your Surprise, that He hath been near you, when you imagined He was at the greatest Distance from you; near you, when you thought you were cast out from His Presence. Seek your Comforts in such Employments as these; and not in the vain Amusements of the World, and in the Pleasures of Sense. I shall never forget that affectionate Expression, which I am well assured broke out from an eminently pious Heart, then almost ready to break under its Sorrows of this Kind? "Lord, If I may "not enjoy Thee, let me enjoy nothing else; but go down "mourning after Thee to the Grave!" I wondered not to hear, that almost as soon as this Sentiment had been breathed out before God in Prayer, the Burden was taken off, and the Joy of GOD's Salvation restored. §. 12. I shall add but one Advice more, and that is, That you renew your Application to the Blood of Jesus, "through whom the Reconciliation between GoD and "your Soul has been accomplished." It is He that is our Peace, and by His Blood it is that we are made nigh (c): It is in Him, as the Beloved of His Soul, that GOD declares, He is well pleased (d); and it is in lim, that we are made accepted, to the Glory of His Grace (e). Go therefore, O Christian, and apply by Faith to a crucified Saviour: Go and apply to Him, as to a merciful High-Priest, and pour out thy Complaint before Him, and shero before Him thy Trouble (f). Lay open the Distress and Anguish of thy Soul to Him, who once knew what it was to say, (O astonishing! that He of all others should ever have said it), My GOD, My GOD, why hast Thou forsaken me (g)? Look up for Pity and Relief to Him, who himself suffered, being not only tempted, but with Regard to sensible Manifestations deserted; that (a) Zech. xii. 10, ((b) Luke xxiv, 35, (c) Eph. ii. 13, 14, (e) Eph. i. 6. Chap. 24. who is able and ready to succour. 247 that He might thus know how to pity those that are in such a melancholy Case, and be ready as well as able, to succour them (h). He is Immanuel, GOD with us (i); and it is only in and through Him that his Father shines forth upon us with the mildest Beams of Mercy and Love. Let it be therefore your immediate Care, to renew your Acquaintance with Him. Review the Records of His Life and Death: Hear His Words: Behold His Actions: And when you do so, surely you will find a sacred Sweetness diffusing itself over your Soul. You will be brought into a calm, gentle, silent Frame, in which Faith and Love will operate powerfully, and GoD may probably cause the still small Voice of His comforting Spirit to be heard (k), till your Soul bursts out into a Song of Praise, and you may be made glad according to the Days in which you have been affiicted (1). In the mean Time, such Language as the following Supplication speaks, may be suitable. An humble Supplication for one under the Hidings of GOD's Face. B LESSED GOD! with Thee is the Fountain of "Life (m), and of Happiness. I adore Thy Name that I have ever tasted of Thy Streams; that "I have ever felt the peculiar Pleasure arising from the "Light of Thy Countenance, and the shedding abroad "of Thy Love on my Soul. But alas, these delightful "Seasons are now to me no more; and the Remem "brance of them engages me to pour out my Soul within me (n). I would come, as I have formerly done, and call Thee with the same Endearment, my Father and my GOD: But alas, I know not how to do it. Guilt and Fear arise, and forbid the delightful Language. I seek Thee, O Lord, but I seek Thee in vain. "would pray, but my Lips are sealed up. I would "read Thy Word, and all the Promises of it are veiled "from mine Eyes. I frequent those Ordinances, which "have been formerly most nourishing and comfortable "to my Soul; but alas, they are only the Shadows of Ordinances: The Substance is gone: The animating Spirit (h) Heb. ii. 18. (i) Matt. i. 23, (k) 1 Kings xix. 12. (m) Psal. xxxvi. 9, (n) Psal, xlii. 4, 248 An humble Supplication for one Chap. 24. "Spirit is fled, and leaves them now at best but the "Image of what I once knew them; "But, Lord, hast Thou cast off for ever, and wilt "Thou be favourable no more (o)? Hast Thou in awful Judgment determined, that my Soul must be left to a perpetual Winter, the sad Emblem of Eternal Dark66 ness? Indeed I deserve it should be so. I acknow. "ledge, O Lord, I deserve to be cast away from Thy "Presence with Disdain, to be sunk lower than I am, much lower: I deserve to have the Shadow of Death upon my Eye-lids (p), and even to be surrounded with the thick Gloom of the Infernal Prison. But hast "Thou not raised Multitudes who have deserved like "me to be delivered into Chains of Darkness (q), to the Visions of Thy Glory above, where no Cloud can ever interpose between Thee and their rejoicing Spirits? Have Mercy upon me, O Lord, have Mercy " upon me (r)! And though mine Iniquities have now "justly caused Thee to hide Thy Face from me (s), yet "be Thou rather pleased, agreeably to the gracious "Language of Thy Word, to hide Thy Face from my "Sins, and to blot out all mine Iniquities (t)! Cheer my "Heart with the Tokens of Thy returning Favour, and say unto my Soul, I am thy Salvation (u)? 3 Remember, O LORD GOD, remember that dreadful "Day, in which JESUS Thy dear Son endured what my Sins have deserved! Remember that Agony, in "which He poured out His Soul before Thee, and said, "My GOD, My GOD, why hast Thou forsaken Me (x)! "Did He not, O Lord, endure all this, that humble "Penitents might through Him be brought near unto "Thee, and might behold Thee with Pleasure, as their "Father, and their Gop? Thus do I desire to come "unto Thee. Blessed Saviour, art Thou not appointed "to give unto them that mourn in Zion, Beauty for Ashes, the Oil of Joy for Mourning, and the Gar. "ment of Praise for the Spirit of Heaviness (y)! O. wash away my Tears, anoint my Head with the Oil of Chap. 24. under the Hidings of GOD's Face. 249 "of Gladness, and clothe me with the Garments of Sal❝vation (z)! turments of "Oh that I knew where I might find Thee (a)! Oh "that I knew what it is, that hath engaged Thee to de part from me! I am searching and trying my Ways (b): "Oh that Thou wouldst search me, and know my Heart, "try me, and" know my Thoughts; and if there be any "wicked Way in me, discover it, and lead me in the Way "everlasting (c); in that Way, in which I may find "Rest and Peace for my Soul (d), and feel the Disco"veries of Thy love in Christ! "O GOD, who didst command the Light to shine out "of Darkness (e), speak but the Word, and Light shall dart into my Soul at once! Open Thou my Lips and "my Mouth shall shet forth Thy Praise (f), shall burst out into a cheerful Song, which shall display before "those whom my present Dejections may have discou ❝raged, the Pleasures and Supports of Religion! "Yet, Lord, on the whole, I submit to Thy Will. "If it is thus that my Faith must be exercised, by walk ing in Darkness for Days, and Months, and Years to 66 come, how long soever they may seem, how long so<< ever they may be, I will submit. Still will I adore "Thee, as the GOD of Israel, and the Saviour, though "Thou art a GOD that hidest Thyself (g): Still will I "trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay myself upou "my GOD (h); trusting in Thee though Thou slay me "(i): and waiting for Thee, more than they that watch for the Morning, yea, more than they that watch "for the Morning (k). Peradventure in the Evening "Time it may be Light (1). I know, that Thou hast "sometimes manifested Thy Compassions to Thy dying "Servants, and given them, in the lowest Ebb of their "natural Spirits, a full Tide of Divine Glory, thus turn"ing Darkness into Light before them (m). So may it "please Thee to gild the Valley of the Shadow of Death "with the Light of Thy Presence, when I am passing "through (h) Isai. 1. 10. 250 An humble Supplication, &c. Chap. 24. "through it, and to stretch forth Thy Rod and Thy Staff "to comfort me (n), that my Tremblings may cease, " and the Gloom may echo with Songs of Praise! But if "it be Thy Sovereign Pleasure, that Distress and Dark<< ness should still continue to the last Motion of my "Pulse, and the last Gasp of my Breath, Oh let it cease "with the parting Struggle, and bring me to that Light "which is sown for the Righteous, and to that Gladness "which is reserved for the Upright in Heart (o); to the "unclouded Regions of everlasting Splendor and Joy, "where the full Anointings of Thy Spirit shall be poured out on all Thy People, and Thou wilt no more hide "Thy Face from any of them (p)! "This, Lord, is Thy Salvation for which I am wait. "ing (q); and whilst I feel the Desires of my Soul "drawn out after it, I will never despair of obtaining "it. Continue and increase those Desires, and at length "satisfy and exceed them all, through the Riches of Thy "Grace in Christ Jesus! Amen." (D) Psal. xxiii. 4. (0) Psal. xcvii. 11. (p) Exek. xxxix. 29. (q) Ged. xlix. 18. CHAP. |