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Show r, Rea[. Reafonr of the spoufer defim of People enforce him to it: but works of· mercy are his own, hi< proper work, there he appears like himfelf. The Spoufe begs her Beloved would return rn her as a ]rfiu, as a Saviour, as a Chri!l: Not as the Lznn nfthe 'Irzbe of'j11dah, but as the Lamb of God that takcrh away the !ins of the World: n·ot as the Son of God when be iJ angry, though it be a little, but as the Son of God becor. o the Son of mall, and God is in him reconciling the world to hrmfe/f, uot impHting their fins; Turning away his eyes from the tranfgrdlions of his people, and opening the arms of his grace, and love to receive Sinners running in unto him, and laying hold upon him, and .graeiouJ1y accepting Souls. Bm I ha~e enlarged enough in the Explication of the Doth~n;, Wl!h _wh1ch you fee I have alfo joy ned the proof, ~" to the ,.,., that 1C IS fo. Let me now come to !hew you the reafons of it, by which you will fee it cannot be but fhc mull de!ire fuch a return of her Beloved to her. 1 • Becaufe, Cbrifl cannot be "'itbdra"'n and abfint front tbe belirviug Soul, but it prtjently jufpearth fome _Mountam o(Betb<r; Some Mountain of Jiparatioll, of its o"'n throwtng up. It IS a very hard thing to perf wade an ~theil\kal wretch, that any Judgment comes upol) him for fin; no, rf Anamat artd Sa~htra drop down dead upon their telling a lie, if the Earth opens_ Its r:nouth and fwall oweth up Corah, Dothan and A hiram; yet 1t IS with then:, but allth~llgt fall alike to all men, 'I he wifi man and the fool d1e both ahke. On the other !ide, it is very ha'd to perf wade the Chtld of God upon any frowtl of Providence, that it is f~r a11~ othrr caufe but for fin, for the punifhment offome great mrfcarrtage ; · h ~n.ce fametimes it is as much troubled to lind out theAcha~t, as It IS to bear Gods afH tClive difpenfation: hence while the abfcnce of God contirues it concludeth the guilt of its fin a if<> cco tinuing, and hence no ~onder at all,ifit be importunate for1Chril!s returns to it, from which it concludeth, its peace again made with God. It is true, this may be a millake in the believers Soul : Forte ideo fub- 1raxit fr q11o flvidi& revoore~ur~ tent~etur f urttuJ_ ( faHh J?ernard on this Text.) Pra:ttriens tenero vult, abzens revocan: perhaps he therewith wi thdrew himfelt.that he might call more carnellly af~er him, and told him more fall when !he again recovered hrm. I wrll, fatth God by the Prr,phet Hofia , return to my place, thatth<ymay ack,_nowl• dg tbeir.fferms and (uk._my face;. ln thm ajJlr{iwn tbeywt~J~• b,.rm ear {)I; but though it be fo,yet this IS hard fox a Jealous Chnll1an to underl!and, that Chrifl jho11ld he tH a Roe. underlland and to dillinguilh betwixt trials a11d ch•,1ifeme~ts or punijhments for fin. So as there is the f•me reafon to be alligned for the Souls pallionate defire of Chrills return to rt alter any withdrawings, as there is for it to dcfire any token for good, any hope. or fenle for the pardon of its fin•; for it looketh_ upon rhela withdrawint.s, as toJitns of divine difpleafnre, and fufp1c1ous figns at leaH offome iniq uity not forgiven to rt. A Second Reafon of it may .be the great evil and fi>rro"' which 2. Rea[. naturally followeth all fuch withdrawings oJ;Chrifl from a S oul. This is more or lcfs according to the kj11d and degree ~t fuch withdrawing; the lowell degree of which is that, rtlatmg to tho influences of his common Providence;yet there foll ows enough of outward forrow and affliction upon this, when God had ~ut thus call oifthe Church of the Jews , there were perpetual defolati-ons, the Enemy did very wicJitdly in tbe S an{/uary, fire w•s caf/ m- Pfalm 74, to the S•n{/uary, the S)'nagogrees of God we~e burHt up, they faw not their- figns, &c. So it is to a fingle perfon, when the Lord hath but thus far withd rawn himfelf. What follows, but wafimg m the ell ate difeafes in the body croffcs in the managery of our affairs in ~he world? But now'when Gods prefenceis "ithdrawn from the inward man,, whether io the influences of [lrengthening, qukk!ning, or comforting grace, what followeth, bur that "'ormded Sptrit, which Solomon tells us none can bear, that fo_rr?w wh1ch he fpeaks of, which makes the heart to ]loop l Now th1s ts but. natural to us, being preffed with grief and forrow to delire rehef, ~nd therefore !he earnellly de !ires the return ofher Beloved, accordtng to the kind and degreeofhis dep1rting&om her, h~ being he who hath torn,and who alone can heal her; who hathfnuttcn, and who, alone can bind hex up, and revive her as the Church fpeaks, Hofia 6.1, 2. . . . A Third Reafon may be drawn from thefuU[atu[a[lwn whrcb 3• Re.J: theSpoufebathintheprefinc: of her Beloved,.,ith her. lf~Jil be fa-tisfied with thy liJitnefi, ( farth Davtd.) T n bu prefince u }''},and a fulnefiof j~y (faith he.) N<q~e enim Ji<bd~t{lo fibi tam dulci Spon- (•,fihi imerim aliquid a/iud non dico defiderare,Ji_d nedum cogrtare libebit (faith Bernard:) So f weet • Beloved betng ( fatth he) withd,rawn from her, !he was fo far from not de!iring that _fhe rould think of nothingelfe. Every believing Soul being fuffict-ently poffeffed that Chrill is the greateft good,cann ot but rhirll after the fullell enjoyments of him, and underlland how much her ~ap-pmefs |
