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Show 254 The spoufejhaU he~tr the voice ofher Bclovedag~tin; 2 Cllron.rs.3. time there was no open. Vifion. Before Afa's rime Ifrael had for a long fe~fon been w~tbouts tracbing Priefl, and rPithottt the Lan>. In Ahab > ttme, Eliph complained that he was left alone. The Pfalmi.fi [peaking ot the time oft he BabyloJti{h Captivity, cryes out, There u no more "'!Y Propbet, n rith~r i< tbere amoJtg{l HI a»y that k._Howeth .hnw loug. A mot prophecred of a time , 'lim or 8. 1 1 , 12 • .When God would fend a /Jmine nf htaring hit Word , and when .men fho uld wander from Sea to Sea, from tiH North to the E•fl, And {hould run to a11d fro, to feel;. the Word of the Lord , and jhould not {t1td tt. 2. There may be fuch a time when God may by an F.xternal .Mini{lry fpeak tO his people, but {peak,_ very Jadly and terribly. So . ~e ?•d m the Jews of old by his Proohets that foretold the Capuvtty of Ba~J!O>t, and by h1s Apqllles, yea by his Son foretelling the dellrufr1on of HierufaJem. · So he did to Heze~iab by I{aiah. The Melfe~gers of God mull be faithful, and truly deliver their f11allers wrll: Ez. 3· 18. When people are wicked, and God in , h1s Word fatth, they jha~ die; th ey mull give them warning, or ~hey mull anfwer.for their blou?; Sa.,.uclmull tell Eli truth, let Jt be never fo ternble, and let !11m be never fo good and pious. B~lt 3 • '!_he chddmt of God fha/1 thus hear God Jfeall,. comfortably a~mt. !{arab was a teruble Melfenger of God in many parts of h1s Prophecy : but Chap. 40. r. he had a Commillion too which ran thus, Comfort y~u, comfort you my prnple ,faith yottr God: [peak,_ you comfort4bly to HurN{alem, a11d cry uHto her that her warfare if accomplifhetl, that her iniquity i< pardoned. God will [peak unto his people again by his Mini~e~s : ay, and they {hall fpeak corn: ort~bly unto them. ~~t thiS IS but the ·firll way of Gods ('peak· mg m the External M1mlhy, and by his Word. 1 • 2. A ~econd ~ay ?f Gods fpeaking to his Be/ovtd, is by his Spinr. Th1s fpeakmg IS by way cf Imprrf!im, more clofe and particular tharr" the other. God by hi~ written Word and by the minillry of tt, tpeaketh generally to hts Church and to all to whom the holy Scripture~'· or the pub lick Minill'ry oft he Word, doth come. By h1s. Spmt he fpeak5"morc clofely, and particularly tO the Souls of hrs peopl~ by way ofjecret imprrffioltJ, good motions and foggeftzonJ to the mward man : Now as to this way offpeak· ing alfo, 1 r. God may be filent to his Peoplu Souls, not fpeak ing that ~ace,that jirengtb,that comfort and cncourag~ment to his peoples ' Souls How God fpe~tk..eth to his spoufe. Souls which he hath formerly done: and this is t~lt Soltl-de{ertion which the Saints of God are capable of, of wh1ch I have had often occafion to (peak, and many of Gods people have bad, and have fad experience. 2 • God may thus fpeak to his peoples Souls,. ~ u t fpeak t<t · ribly. There is a fpirit of bandJge as well as a [putt of lldoptwn, a fpirit ofConv1Ifton,as ~ell as_a fpirit o[Co•fola.tion. Gods people may have without fightiHgt wllh men, and wzthm frars a11d fer· rourJ and thefe fears and tcrrours not ariling meerly from melanclwly or from the atfrightments ofSathan, ( as they oft do_) but from ;he Holy Spirit of God purfuing thefe m<ans, to humble and cafi down a Soul and to make it learn to prize and Vllue the fenfe of Gods Lo~e. But I fay, Thefe Souls that find this fh all alfo hear their Beloved fpeakfng again comfortably unto them. God will not utterly forfake, nor always forfake, there fhall be •· gain a time of Love, when he will ~peak co~fort & p~ace to .them• 3• A third way of Gods fpeaktng to hts people IS by h1s Pro~ vidence. 5t>eaking is a means by wluch we let ot.hcrs know our mind.. Now as God by his Providence may let >hts people know his mind fo he is faid by it to fpeak. The voice of the Lord cruth w the City, hear Y'" the R.od, and who bath appoilfted it. The Lord anfrt~ereth his people by temble th11~gs tH rzghrtoujhrfr. ~he Thunder and Lightnings and other teruble works of God tn ~ature, are called by the Pfalmill the Voice of the Lord:. Now. thus tn~ecd God' always fpeaks to his people, for his ~rovrdence IS n~ver 1dle, but ever working. Bllt I fay, God fomettmes fpeaks tembly, but though he doth fo yet he will again lj:>eak comfortably. Thus you fee the fenfe 'of the Propofition, and it is true in all thefe fcnfes and it {hall be true to the end of the World. Give me kave to evince the-truth of it to you. I. fr om an Evidence of f1fr, {hewing you that this God always ha.th done. 2. From fame PIDmifes fecuring you that thus God wrll do unto you. x. It appears from Evidence of fall, that God hath thus done always ; and SolomOH tells you, 'lhat the thmgr r~~hrcb have hem jhaU be, and there it Ho new thing undtr the s.un. God never had· any people in the wodd, fcncely any particular fouls, to whom at fame time or other he hath not been filent; or to whom at fome or other he hath not fpc ken terribly. I inight here run througlr the Scripture and tell you of the Jews: God feemed for many years to neglefr them, they were und er bondage, .and they had· DO> |