So David doth here, "O forsake me not utterly;" that is, O strengthen me in this work. Three reasons for this.

1st, We are weak and mutable creatures. 2ndly, Our strength lies in God's hands.

3rdly, God gives out his strength according to his own pleasure.

They

1. We are weak and mutable creatures. When we were at our best, we were so. Adam in innocency was not able to stand without confirming grace, but gave out at the first assault. And still we are mutable, though we have a strong inclination for the present. When the precepts of God are propounded with evidence, and backed with promises and threatenings, and a resolution follows thereupon, the fruit of rational conviction and moral suasion, which is not for the present false and hypocritical, yet it will not hold without the bottom of grace. It hath not supernatural, yet it may have moral sincerity. Such a resolution was that of the Israelites after the terrible delivery of God's law. promised universal obedience, and did not lie in it; for God saith, "They have done well" in their promise; there was a moral sincerity, but there wanted a renewed, sanctified heart. And those captains which came to Jeremiah (chap. xlii.), intended not to deceive for the present, when they called God to witness that "they would do according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us." And Hazael, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Certainly he had abomination of it, when the prophet mentioned that cruelty of ripping up women with child. But suppose the resolution to be a fruit of grace and regeneration, yet we have not full power to stand of ourselves; still we are very changeable creatures in matters that do not absolutely and immediately concern life and death. Lot, that was chaste in Sodom in the midst of so many temptations, you will find him committing incest in the mountains, where were none but his two daughters. What a change was here! David, that was so tender, that his heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment; one would wonder that he should plot lust, be guilty of murder, and lie in that stupid condition for a long time. Peter, who had such courage to venture upon a band of men, and to cut off Malchus's ear, should be so faint-hearted at a damsel's question! So, while the strength of the present impulse, and the grace of God is warm upon the heart, we may keep close to our work, while the influence continues; but afterward, how cold and dead do men grow! as vapours drawn up by the sun, at night fall down again in a dew. The people were upon a high point of willingness, mighty forward and ready to offer whole cart-loads of gold and silver: what saith David? "O Lord God, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee" (1 Chron. xxix. 18). We are not always in a like frame.

2. Our strength lies in God, and not in ourselves. When the Apostle had exhorted the Ephesians to all Christian duties, he concluded thus: "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (Eph. vi. 10). This might is in God; he is our strength. And again, "Be strong in the grace that is in Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. ii. 1). God would not trust us with the stock in our own hands, now we have spent our portion, and played the prodigal, but would hav us wait upon him from morning to morning: "Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths; lead me in thy truth, and teach me" (Ps. xxv. 4, 5). We are apt to embezzle it,

or forget God, both which are very mischievous. When the prodigal got his stock in his own hands, he went into a far country, out of his father's house. God would not hear from us; there would not be such a constant communion and correspondence between him and us, if our daily necessities did not force us to him. Therefore that the throne of grace might not lie unfrequented, God keeps the strength in his own hands. We need to consult with him upon all occasions.

3. God gives out his strength according to his own pleasure. God many times gives the will, when he suspendeth the strength that is necessary for the performance. Sometimes God gives soire, a sense and conscience of duty; at other times he gives velle, to will, to have a purpose: and when he gives to will, he doth not always give posse, to be able, not such a lively performance. It is possible he may give the will, where he doth not give the deed; for it is said, "he worketh both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Phil. ii. 13). And Paul certainly doth not speak as a convinced, but as a renewed man, when he saith, "To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.” He had received the will, and not the deed; finding presupposeth searching; when we have done all we can, yet how to bring our purposes into actions, we cannot tell. Peter had his resolutions (and no doubt they were hearty and real); yet, when he came to make them good, what a poor weakling was Peter! Putabat se posse, quod se velle sentiebat, "He thought he could do that which he could will," saith Austin. "Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake" (John xiii. 37). We look upon the willing spirit, and not upon the weak flesh. It is possible we may lean upon recent dispositions and affections, as if they would carry us out, without dependence upon God. Therefore for all the parts of spiritual strength he must be sought to.

USE.-To press you to beware of presumption and self-confidence, when your resolutions are at the highest for God, and your hearts in the best frame. Resolution is needful, as was said before; but all our confidences must arise from God's promises, not from our own strength, if we mean not to be left in the dirt. This self-confidence in spiritual things, I shall show,

1st, How it discovereth itself.

2ndly, How to cure it.

1. It discovereth itself (1.) Partly thus, by venturing upon temptations without a call and warrant. When men will lay their heads in the lap of a temptation, and run into the mouth of danger, they tempt God, but trust to themselves. Peter would be venturing into the Devil's quarters, but what is the issue? He denies his Master. Dependence upon God is ever accompanied with a holy solicitude and cautelous fear (Phil. ii. 12, 13). When we go out of God's way, it is a presuming upon our own strength: for he will keep us in viis, in his ways; not in præcipitis, when we run headlong into danger.

(2.) When men neglect those means whereby their graces or comforts may be fed and supplied. A man that is kept humble and depending, will be always waiting for his dole at Wisdom's gates (Prov. viii. 34). We cannot regularly expect anything from God, but in God's way; they who depend upon God, will be much in prayer, hearing, and taking all opportunities. But when men begin to think they need not pray so much, need not make such conscience of hearing; when we are more

arbitrary and negligent in the use of means, then we begin to live upon ourselves, and our own stock, and do not depend upon the free grace of God to carry us out in our work.

(3.) When you go forth to any work or conflict, without an actual renewing of your dependence upon God, it is a sign you lean upon the strength of your own resolutions, or present frame of your heart. The Ephraimites took it ill that Gideon would go to war, and not call them into the field when they went out against the enemy (Judg. viii. 1.) O may not God much more take it ill that we will go forth to grapple with the Devil and temptations, and go about any business in our own strength? Therefore still a sense of our weakness must be upon us, that we may "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col. iii. 17); that is, by help and assistance from him.

(4.) When we boast of our courage before we are called to a trial. They that crack in their quarters, do not always do most valiantly in the field. Peter's boast, "Though all men should leave thee, yet will not I," came to very little. And you know the story of Mr. Saunders, in the Book of Martyrs. "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast, as he that putteth it off." A temptation will show us how little service that grace will do us, which we are proud of, and boast of.

2ndly, To cure carnal confidence, remember your work, and your impediments. (1.) Consider your work. A full view of duty will check our rash presumptions. Can you deny yourselves, take up your cross, maintain and carry on a holy course to your lives' end? And (2.) remember your impediments, partly from a naughty heart; you are to row against the stream of flesh and blood. Satan will be sure to trouble you, and will assault you again and again; though he be never so fully foiled, he will not give over the combat: "He departed from Christ for a season" (Luke iv. 13); he had a mind to try the other bout. And the world will be your let; many discouragements and snares arise from the love and fear of it. "He that loves God, keeps his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous," and presently he saith, "And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John v. 3, 4); implying, there is no keeping the commandments without victory over the world. Now, can you do all these things in your own strength? The young man was forward in resolving in keeping the commandments, but he went away sad, for he had great possessions (Matt. xix. 22): therefore consider these things, that you may flee to the Lord Jesus.

DOCTRINE III.-Though we fly to God's help, yet sometimes God may withdraw and forsake us.

Here I shall speak of the kinds of desertion, and then of the reasons. 1st, For the kinds, take these distinctions.

1. There is a real desertion and a seeming desertion; Christ may be out of sight, and yet you not out of mind. When the dam is abroad for meat, the young brood in the nest are not forgotten nor forsaken. The child cries as if the mother was gone, but she is but hidden, or about other business. "Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me" (Isa. xlix. 14). In the misgivings of our hearts, we think God hath cast off all care and all thought of us. But God's affectionate answer showeth that all this was but a fond surmise. "Can a woman forget her sucking child?" &c. (verse 15). So again: "I said in mine haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless, thou

heardest the voice of my supplications, when I cried unto thee" (Psalm xxxi. 22). We are never more in God's heart many times, than when we think he hath quite cast us off. Surely when the heart is drawn after him, he is not wholly gone. We often mistake God's dispensations: when he is preparing for us more ample relief, and emptying us of all carnal dependence, we judge that that is a forsaking; as "When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up" (Psalm xciv. 18). Sometimes in point of comfort we are at a loss, and filled with distractions and troubles, and all is, that God may come in for our relief. So in point of grace: "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. xii. 10). There is also a real desertion; for God grants his people are forsaken sometimes: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee" (Isa. liv. 7). And Christ, that could not be mistaken, complaineth of it; and the saints feel it to their bitter cost.

2. There is internal and external desertion. Internal is with respect to the withdrawings of the Spirit: "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psalm li. 11). Now external desertion is in point of affliction, when God leaves us under sharp crosses in his wise providence. These must be distinguished: sometimes they are asunder, sometimes together. And when they are together, God may return, as to our inward comfort and support, yet not for our deliverance. "In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul" (Psalm cxxxviii. 3). David was in great straits, and God affords him soul-relief; that was all the answer he could get then: support and strength to bear the troubles, but not deliverance from the affliction. Sometimes the ebb of outward comfort doth make way for a greater tide and influx of inward comfort: "As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ" (2 Cor. i. 5). Cordials are for a fainting time. When children are sick and weakly, we treat them with the more indulgence. God may return, and may never less forsake us inwardly, than when he doth forsake us outwardly, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor. iv. 16). God makes sickly bodies make way for the health of the soul; and an aching head for a better heart. When he seems to cast us off in point of our external condition, it is to draw us into a more inward communion with himself; that we might receive greater supplies of his grace.

The

3. There is a desertion as to comfort, and a desertion as to grace. children of God may sometimes loose the feelings of God's love: " My soul refused to be comforted, I remembered God, and was troubled. My spirit was overwhelmed" (Psalm lxxvii. 2, 3). O what a word was that! remembering of God, revives the heart; but to think of God, and to think of his loss, that was his great trouble. Yet all this while God may hold communion in point of grace. "Nevertheless, I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand" (Psalm lxxiii. 23). He had been under a conflict, lost his comfort, yet he acknowledgeth supports: God held him in his right hand. Trouble and discomfort have their use: want of comfort makes way many times for increase of grace; and, therefore, though a man may be deserted as to comfort, yet he may have a greater influence of grace from God. How often doth it fall out thus with God's children, that their right is more confirmed to spiritual blessings, when their sense is lost; then they are more industrious and diligent to get a sense of God's love again. A summer's sun that is clouded, yields more comfort an

warmth to the earth, than a winter's sun that shines brightest. These cloudy times have their use and their fruit; and Christians have the less of a happy part of communion with God, that they may have more holiness; and less of sweetness and sensible consolation, that they may have more

grace.

4. There is desertio correctiva et erudutiva, a desertion for correction, and a desertion for instruction. Sometimes the aim of it is merely for correction for former sins; it is a penal over-clouding for our unkind and ungracious dealing with him. God may do it for sins; nay, many times for old sins long ago committed, he may charge them anew upon the conscience, "Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?" (Job xiii. 24.) compared with "Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth' (verse 26). An old bruise may trouble us long after, upon every change of weather. Many that have grieved God's Spirit in their youth, after they have been converted, God will reckon with them about it in their age. A man will smart for his ungracious courses first or last. Sometimes it is merely for instruction; it instructs us chiefly to show us God's sovereignty, with the changeableness of the best comfort on this side Heaven. To show us his sovereignty, that he will be free to go and come at his own pleasure. He will have his people know he is Lord, and may do with his own as pleaseth him. The heavenly irradiations and outshinings of his love, are not at our beck; God will dispense them according to his pleasure. A mariner hath no cause to murmur and quarrel with God, because the wind bloweth out of the east, when he desireth a westerly gale. Why? Because it is his wind, and he will dispose these things according to his pleasure. So the comfort and outshinings of his love are his, and he will take them, and give them as he thinks good. Again, to show us the changeableness of the best comforts on this side Heaven. When Christ hath been in the soul with a full and high influx of comfort, this doth not remain long with us, God may withdraw. Observe it often, after the highest enlargements there may be some forsaking. In Cant. v. 1. we read of a feast between Christ and his beloved: "Come eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved." Here they are feasted with love; presently we read of desertion, the spouse waxeth lazy and drowsy, and Christ is gone; then she is forced to go up and down to find him. Paul had his raptures; then a messenger of Satan to buffet him. The same disciples that were conscious to Christ's transfiguration, Peter, James, and John, (Matt. xvii. 1.) are chosen also to be conscious to his agonies. He took with him Peter, "and the two sons of Zebedee: " (Matt xxvi. 37). First, they had a glimpse of his glory, then a sight of his bitter agonies and sufferings. Jeremiah, in one line is singing of praise, and in the next cursing the day of his birth (Jer. xx. 13, 14). After the most ravishing comforts, may be a sad suspension. Jacob saw the face of God, and wrestled with him; but his thigh halted. There needs something to humble the creature after these experiences.

5. Desertion is either felt, or not felt; when not felt, it is more dangerous, and usually ends in some notable fall; as Hezekiah, (2 Chron. xxxii. 31.) God left him, and he was not sensible, and then he runs into pride and vain-glory, and draweth wrath upon him and his people. God's children, when they do not observe his comings and goings, they fall into mischief; it begins their woe. We do not observe what experiences we have of God; then we faint; we do not observe his goings, then that makes way