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Show What ufe to make ofChri.ft'r /ookJng through the /,mice. will Chrili be at thlt day! at that day when the Lattice !hall be brol<en, and you Ou\1 fee your Beloved in a full body, and be able to bear the glorious light of him; what !hall that da-r bel !hall ic not requite you for all your believing, and for all your doing~, for all your tears, yc.ur prayers, yea for all your fulferiltgs for his name? Obf.:rve alfo che difference of Saini! from S"i~t1, yea of one Saint from himlelf as to this Life, and the caufe of it: you fee the difference, one is chearly, another is fad: one wallis in the dark and fees no light, another is full of Light; what makes this difference? here it is Chrif\ is plcafed to be in the honfe with lome of his people, and at fome times, upon ochers of his Saints; yea upon the fame Saints at other times, he is pleafed to look throvgh the Lattice. In rhe fecond place, Of whatexceeding comfort rnpy tbis notion (if well digelled,) be unto the Church of Chri]t, and to every gracious Soul. I fay, this notiop, That in that day when Chrill in jullice, or wifdom thinks not fit to be in the ho"fe as at other times, yet he even thtn looks in upon rhem throllgh the Lattice, Non defirit ttiamfi defmrevidt~tt~r. Though the Lord doth feem to forfake, yet he doth never utterly forfake his ~eopl~. He never utterly forfakes his Church, nor the Souls of hrs Sarnts. The Affemblies of his people may be fcattered, their Liberties dillurbed their eyes may not fee their Teachers, but yet they !hall not be ~tterly for fa ken. If they go into Babylon, the Lord will _be with them there to 1\rengthen and to uphold them. Ir was Chrrtls Promife to his Difcipleswhcn rhey were to lofe his bodily prefence and his outward Minillry, 7ohn 1-l-· I tr>ilt not leave ym comfortlefi; how then? I will fend you the Comforter. When the Lord doth no more for his people, he will even then fend them the Cmnforter : If they have not their outward Liberties, they !hall have more inward freedom and fpiritual Uberty; if rhey have not the comforts of the Cre~ture, they !h1ll have the comforts of his Spirit. If he doth not meet then; in ~ublick fol~mn Ordinances as formerly, he will meet them m pnvate Dunes more than formerly ; they may lofe a llream, but t~ey !hall nev~r lofe the ·F"unrain ; jf he looks on them no otherwrfe, yet he w1ll fee them through rhe Lattice. . He may forfake them with a great for[akjng for their fins, but he will never utterly forf, kc rhcm, Pfalm 89-33· My loving kjnduefs wiU 1 not . rmerly tak, frw tbetn. 2.Nor-fecondly is it m.~tter ot ltfs coofolanon to the peoplr •fGoa, • confidw Whatufe to mal<.,e ofChrifi's /ookj"g through the lattice. con!idered feverally. God may leave his people in a f•d condition, they may not lind that fpiritual Strength, nor that fpirimal Life, nor that jpiritual comfort which others feel, ot themfelves have felt at other times, they may walk in the dark and f<e no lil(ht ; but yet even at that time Chtill will be looking on 1 hem rhrough the Lattice , he will be inwardly tlrcngthening and upholding them, that their Spirits !hall not fail before him. A way chen Ciui · llians with vour unwarrantable fears and dejellions ! lay not, God hath 11tte~ly cajl you off, or that he J,.tb Jor7,otted to be graciour. Chril\ never fo lorfakes his Spoufe,but he l<ioks upon her rhrough the La trice, and if thou feell hiin not, it is not becaufe he is not there, but becaufe chou hall an ill eye of fairh and canll not dif-cern him. There may indeed be but a little meal in the Cruife, a littkoil in the Barrel, a little comfort, a little 1\rength, or but a little fpiritual Life ; but yet the Oil Ollll not fail from the Cruile nor the meal from the Barrel, tiU tbere jhaU be plenty it< Samaria, till the life of Grace !hall be fwallowed up in the life ofGlory.Where· fore comfort your [elves in thefe words. The !all life !hall be a word gf Exhortacion, in two or rhree particulars. In the fir II place, Labot<r to difcern yoHr Belov,d loo~ing tbro11gh V[<-. Exb. the·L•ttice. Our happinefs lies in chis , that let our condirion be 1, Branch. what it will, yet Chrill in it looks upon us, and is good, very good to us : But our comfort lierh in our knowledg and difcern-ing of this. This is that which good people will fay, ay, if we could but fee Chrilt looking upon us, though it were but through the Lattice, yet we lhould rejoice, but we cannot difcern that;ho1v !hall we knc>w that. Chrill through the Lattice looks upon us? in-deed Hiclabor, hocop11s eft. I anfwer generally, They had need • have· a good and dillinll knowledg of their friend , that will know him at a dillance and only looking out at a Lattice. It is the fame cafe here. The Soul that hath not a dillingui01ing know-ledg of its Beloved and his influepces, will hardly know him' through the Lattice. The Hypocrite calls Narure Grace, and the child of God is often in an Errour on the other hand, and will have theeffellsof Grace to be but the workings of Natmc. Now until the Soul can be naade to d_iflinguifh thef.:, it will never be able to diicern Chril\ through the Lattice. See the Church,Lam. 3, 2 2. It is of t>he Lords mmieJ that we are n<tconjmned, b<eatt[e hir compaffions fail not. If you look into the former part of 1h1t Chapter, you will fee it was the time of Gods abfence as ro his duach: |
