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II. In respect of enjoyments

If the Christian has much "bitterness of heart" with which others are unacquainted, so has he also much "joy, with which a stranger intermeddleth not"-He enjoys

1. Communion with God

[Before he was converted he knew nothing of fellowship with a reconciled God and Father-He performed perhaps many outward acts of worship, but never prayed from his inmost soul-He felt not the greatness of his wants; he knew not the excellency of spiritual attainments; he was not persuaded of the efficacy of prayer: no wonder therefore that he never cried to God in earnest, and consequently, that he never obtained an answer to his prayer-Not even Paul himself, notwithstanding all his zeal, had ever prayed aright, till Christ appeared to him in his way to Damascus-But the true Christian is enabled to "pour out his soul before God:" and to him is that promise fulfilled; "Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear"-Often does he go to God weak, weary, or disconsolate, and return from a throne of grace strengthened with might, and filled with peace and joy

Nor is this happy state a little promoted by his trials-When he is long at ease, he is too apt to relax his exertions, and to rest in a cold and carnal frame: but afflictions drive him to his God, and necessitate him to wrestle in prayer till he obtains the desired aidd-]

2. Confidence before God

[God is unspeakably gracious to the soul that seeks himHe will not only answer the prayers of his people, but will "shed abroad his love in their hearts," and give them such tokens of acceptance with him, as, in effect, to say to them, "Thou art mine"-He will "seal them with the holy spirit of promise," and set his mark upon them in such a manner, that they themselves may know their relation to him-Moreover, by these manifestations of his favour he will embolden them to claim him as their God-Like the church of old they shall make their boast of him; "My beloved is mine, and I am his," "This God is my God for ever and ever”—

This assurance too, no less than their fellowship with God, is advanced by means of afflictive dispensations-Their tribulation makes them apply to God for patience; the acquisition of patience gives them an experience of his truth and faithfulness; and this experience begets a lively hope,f yea, often

b Acts ix. 11.

e

e Isai. lxv. 24. Song ii. 16. Ps. xlviii, 14,

d Gen. xxxii. 24-26. Rom. v. 3, 4.

times an unshaken confidence in God, which is as "an anchor of their souls both sure and stedfast”—]

ADDRESS

1. Those who are but little conversant with trials

[Doubtless it is a mercy to be free from troubles, because "they are not joyous at the present but grievous"-But what do you find to have been the effect of this exemption? Have you not, like Jeshurun, "waxed fat and kicked?" "When you have eaten and been filled, have you not forgotten the Lord your God?"-Do you not find that your corruptions are unmortified? Are you not conscious that you have never yet experienced that exalted state of communion with God, and of confidence before him, which it is both your privilege and your duty to enjoy?-Guard then against these pernicious effects of ease; for the prosperity of fools, as we are told, will destroy them"-Let the attainment of an holy and heavenly frame be desired by you far more than any temporal comfort-In a little time all present things, whether pleasing or painful, will come to an end: and then they only will be found happy, who sought an interest in Christ, and "had the Lord for their God"-]

2. Those who are "tossed with tempests and not comforted"

[Though God brings his dearest children into the fire, he does not leave them there; he engages to bring them "through" it-While they are yet in it, he will be with them, that they may not be burned: yea, "he will sit by them as a refiner and purifier of silver," to watch the process which he has ordained for their good'-He knows what heat is requisite for the accomplishment of his gracious purposes; and, when their dross is purged out, he will bring them forth as "vessels of honour meet for their master's use"m-Be patient then under your trials, knowing from whom they proceed, and for what blessed ends he has appointed them: and be rather solicitous to have your troubles sanctified than removed-Only let them drive you to a throne of grace, and not, as they too often do, discourage you from drawing nigh to God-Let them make you more earnest in seeking an assured confidence in his love, and an increasing meetness for his glory-Then shall you in due time be numbered with those blessed Spirits, "who came out of great tribulation, and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb"-Nor need you fear but that the "eternal weight of glory" which you shall possess, shall abundantly compensate "the light and momentary afflictions" which you endured in the way to it-]

Deut. viii. 10-14. & xxxii. 15. h Prov. i. 32.
Isai. xliii. 2.
1 Mal. iii. 3.

i Ps. cxliv. 15.

m Job xxiii. 10.

DXXXVI. GOD'S SYMPATHY WITH HIS PEOPLE.

Zech. ii. 8. He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.

GOD makes use of the wicked as his rod wherewith to chastise his own children-But while he accomplishes his own gracious ends with respect to them he is not indifferent to the conduct of his agents, who unwittingly fulfil his will; he notices their motives, and will call them into judgment for the dispositions they have manifested:* and because they exceed their commission, and seek the destruction rather than the benefit of his people, he will vindicate the cause of the oppressed, and recompense upon their own heads the wickedness of their oppressors-This assurance the Prophet gave to those who yet remained in Babylon after that the greater part of the captive Jews had returned to Jerusalem: he exhorted them instantly to come forth from that wicked city; for that God had tenderly sympathized with them in the midst of all his chastisements, and had determined to visit with very signal judgments the Babylonish nation, for the needless and excessive severities they had exercised towards themeFrom these remarkable words we may observe

I. God sympathizes with his people in all their troubles No terms can more strongly convey this idea than those used in the text

[The eye is the tenderest part of the whole body; it not only is susceptible of injury from the smallest accident, but it feels most acutely any injury it may sustain-What exquisite concern then must God feel for his people, when their afflictions pierce him in so deep a manner; yea, when even that, which is but as a slight "touch" to them, inflicts on him so severe a wound!—Can our imagination conceive a more expressive image, a more astonishing declaration?-]

Nor is there any truth more abundantly confirmed in the holy scriptures

a Isai. x. 5, 6, 7, 12.

Zech. i. 15. and ii 68.

b Isai. xlvii. 69.

his

[Look we for examples of it? how pitifully did he regard the afflictions of his people in Egypt, and how was soul grieved for the misery of Israel" (though they were but ill-deserving of such mercy) when the Ammonites came up to fight against them!-Nor does he sympathize with them under temporal troubles only, but still more under spiritual afflictions-When Ephraim bemoaned his guilty state, how attentively did God listen to his complaints, and how compassionately did his bowels yearn over him!-Look we for promises of similar regard? how does God represent himself to us as "the comforter of them that are cast down," yea, as a "God of all comfort!" He calls himself the "God that pleadeth the cause of his people:" He assures us that he pitieth them even as a father pitieth his own children, and he illustrates his compassion by the most tender image that the whole universe affords, even by that of "a mother dandling upon her knee her sucking child," and striving by all possible methods to soothe and please it-Nor is he ever more ready to hear and answer our petitions, than when we plead like the church of old, "Where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels, and of thy mercies towards me? Are they restrained? doubtless thou art my father, though Abraham be ignorant of me, and Israel acknowledge me not"—]

This truth, glorious as it is, is far from comprehending the full extent of God's love to his people; for II. He has communion with them in all their interests God considers himself as altogether one with his people

m

[There is an union subsisting between him and them; yet not merely such as exists between an husband and wife, or a vine and its branches, but one far closer; for he is the head, and his people are his members;" he dwelleth in them, and they in him; he is one with them, and they with him; in short, they are so united, as to be one body and one spirit with the Lord-And when our Lord himself was pleased to illustrate this subject, in order, if possible, to convey to us some adequate idea of it, he set forth the union of the different persons of the Godhead as the truest pattern of that which subsists between himself and his people'-]

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Hence he participates in every thing which relates to them

[Are any of them relieved? he acknowledges the kindness as shewn to him-On the other hand, are they despised? he does not scruple to declare, that he will consider himself as the object of that contempt which is poured on them'We have a memorable example of this in the account which St. Paul gives us of his own conversion: he was going with a commission to Damascus to extirpate, if possible, the Christian-name: and, if he had been asked, Who were the objects of his rage? he would doubtless have branded the Christians with some name of reproach, and affirmed, that he was treating them as they deserved: little did he think that the Lord of glory himself was the person at whom his shafts were hurled: but Jesus stopped him in his mad career, and asked, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?""-Thus at this day every thing done to the Lord's people is done to God himself; or as the text expresses it, Whoso toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye-]

Nor is his a mere inactive sympathy; for

III. He will avenge every injury done to them

Often has he interposed to rebuke and confound their enemies

[What signal vengeance did he take on the Egyptians in ten successive plagues, and in the destruction of Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea!-And with what righteous severity did he command the Israelites to blot out the very remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, on account of the cruelties they had exercised towards them forty years before!* -Nor is it injurious treatment only that God notices, but even a neglect to succour them: he denounceth the bitterest curses against Meroz for refusing to help them, and bestows the highest encomiums on Jael for her exertions in their favoury-Indeed the Jews at this hour are a living monument of the indignation which God will manifest against all who hate his Christ, and persecute his people-]

And he will still plead their cause against all that injure them

[Doubtless "the blood of his saints is as precious to him" as ever-And, he accounts his own justice and holiness as pledged to render tribulation unto their persecutors2-He makes use of this as an argument why his people should for

S Matt. xxv. 40.
* Deut. xxv. 17-19.

t Luke x. 16.
y Judg. v. 23, 24.

" Acts ix. 4.

22 Thess. i. 6.

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