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little, no fire appears there; but when some drops of water fall on it, it makes a hiffing noise.

But the objector ftill fays, " On the contrary, I find Providence very favourable to me." Anf. Is it in fpiritual good things? findeft thou that because he lives, thou liveft alfo? Is Providence kind to thee in influences of grace, communion with God? furcly, then, Christ has taken away the feparationwall. But is it in external things? then know that thefe are no diferiminating marks of nearness to God; fee Job xxi. 7. God is kind to you as ye are to him, Levit. xxvi. 27. "And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury." He tells them they walked with him by accident, by the by, when they chanced to light on him; and he fays he will walk with them fo too. What good the wicked does, is for another end than the glory of God; and what good he does to them, is oftentimes in wrath.

Now this feparation is twofold: 1. Total, agreeing to the wicked only, to whom, in refpect of their ftate, God is an enemy. This is that state of separation from God in which we are born, produced by Adam's fin, Rom. v. 12. "Wherefore, as by one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin; and fo death paffed upon all men, for that all have finned." This, to fome, even to the elect, is only temporary, the feparation-wall being pulled down, and they brought near by the blood of Christ applied by faith at their converfion, Ephef. ii. 13. To others it is eternal, who living and dying in a state of distance from God, are feparated from God, foul and body in hell for evermore; according to that, "Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlafting fire." This eternal feparation is not meant in the text, but it is a certain confequent of the other, if it is continued

continued in, for none are brought near to God in glory, who are not, by grace, first brought near to

him here.

2. There is a partial feparation, which agrees to the godly, who have the root of the matter in them. Sometimes the Lord is provoked to withdraw from his own people: "I opened," fays the spouse, Song v. 6. "to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself; my foul failed when he fpake; I fought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer." Sometimes Christ's garden is left, fo that there is no blowing of the Spirit there, Song, iv. 16. Hence the faints are fo often praying to God to return to them. Often may we see the King's children, having their white robes fullied with tears, and rolled in the duft, because of a departed God. What a mournful voice has the sweet finger of Ifrael often, under defertions and hidings of God's face! Heman looks upon himself as a burgefs of the land of darknefs, not only forfaken, but forgotten, Pfal. viii. 8. This makes them, with Job, cry out, "O! that it were with me as in months paft, when the candle of the Lord fhone on my head!"

II. I SHALL evince the greatness of the evil of feparation from God, which many go fo light under. Alas! many reign like kings with God; they be like king Saul, when God departed from him; but how fad a thing this is, will appear, if we confider,

1. What God is. Every thing in God speaks terror to those that are separated from him. I fhall only take notice of thefe following: (1.) God is the chief good; and therefore, to be feparated from God is the chief evil. Our native country we look on as good; and therefore, to be banished from it is a heavy trial. Relations are good, life and liberty are good; and therefore, to be depri

ved of them is very afflicting. But God is the chief good; all these petty good things disappear, and dwindle into nothing, when compared with God. How dreadful, then, muft it be to be separated from him! If the enjoyment of him is the higheft pinnacle of happiness, feparation from him is the lowest step of mifery. It is often obferved as an aggravation of the fufferings of the primitive Chriftians, that they fuffered not only from the Emperors who were accounted monsters of men, but also from those who were admired by the people for their virtues. Surely, then, to be caft off by Goodnefs itself in infinite perfection, must be very diftreffing. (2.) God is all-fufficient in himself, and to the creatures. The enjoyment of him makes truly happy; and therefore, to be feparated from him is a dreadful evil. While David thinks on God as his portion, his heart leaps for joy: "The lines," fays he, "are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage," Pfal. xvi. 6.-9. While Cain fees himfelf driven from his prefence, his punishment appears intolerable. The frowns of those we depend upon, and cannot live without, are very grievous. To forfake the "fountain of living waters," Jer. ii. 13. is held forth as a great evil of fin; and to be partially separated from it, must also be a great punishment. (3.) The omnipotence of God. Job takes notice, that "the arrows hot against him were arrows of the Almighty," Job, vi. 4. Let all the men on earth, and devils in hell, let the angels come down and help to draw the bow, ftill it is but finite power against the man; but how terrible would it be, to be a mark to these arrows! how much more, when the Omnipotent God pursues the quarrel! (4.) The abfolutenefs of God. Let men and devils work against the finner, let them do their utmost, there

is one that can ftay their hands, and fay to each of them, "What doft thou?" but God is a King against whom there is no rifing up. There is none who can stay his hand, or fay unto him, "What doft thou?" Dan. iv. 35. Can the pots hinder the potter to dash them all in pieces? Or can worm man shake off the yoke of God's abfolute dominion, and live in a separate state from him? (5) God is eternal. If a great man be our enemy, we know always death will end the quarrel; if we have fuch an one to be our friend, yet death will tie up his hands, that he can give us no more favours: but God endures for ever. Had a man not only the earth, but the heavens for his portion, yet "the earth fhall be burnt up, and the heavens wax old as a garment;" thieves may fteal away the covetous man's treasures out of his barns and coffers; moths may confume what remains, the devil in wicked men may take away all he has in the world; only God is an everlasting friend and portion. It must, then, be very fad to be separated from fuch an one.

2. All created things are empty and unfatisfactory. They are a lie, alluring afar off, but when men come near, they anfwer not their expectations. The world, that bulky vanity, that great round nothing, can no more fill the heart, than a triangle a circle. All created things ftand as two lame legs under vanity and infufficiency. He was a fool, indeed, that laid up for his foul in his barns, as if his fwine and his foul could have fed at one trough. Cain had the broad world to find himself fepport, but all was fapless: His punishment from God's face was greater than he could bear. Where God is wanting, there is a void which a thousand worlds cannot fill up and therefore, if you know the truth, ye would fay to your fins, to your lufts, "Ye

have taken away my God, and what have I more?"

3. To be feparated from God is the faddeft plague out of heil. When God departs, he leaves a burden on the foul behind him, which, when felt, will make the foul to roar: "Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them," Hof. ix. 12. Who can tell the ills the finner is exposed unto, when once fin separates between God and him. Saul felt a total feparation; and what a defperate project did it set him upon! Job felt a partial separation, which was fo heavy, that his foul choofed "ftrangling and death, rather than life," Job, vii. 15.

4. Nay, it is a very hell to be feparated from God. Therefore David complains, "that the forrows of death compaffed him, and that the pains of hell got hold upon him," Pfal. cxvi. 3. Even coals of hell are caft upon the godly in this world, when their fins have made this feparation; only they are foftened with love, whereas thofe caft upon the wicked are dipped in the poison of the curfe. Men by their fins now greedily fue out a feparation from God. What will hell be, but a giving them their will? For the torments of hell are fummed up in that, " Depart from me, I know you

not."

5. I fhall only add, that thofe that continue in a ftate of feparation from God, have no quarter to which they can turn for comfort in an evil day. We know not what fad trials we may live to fee. When men that are seeking great things for themselves now, may think they are come well to, if they get Baruch's part, their life for a prey; but for a man to be in Sampfon's cafe, the Philiftines upon him, and God departed from him, must be heavy indeed. We must all die: this we know. Let a man fqueeze his cifterns, then, with which

he

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