the wrath of God for us!"* Again, the deeply experienced Thomas Goodwin says: "Though no creature was able to drink off Christ's cup to the bottom, yet taste they might, and Christ tells them they should: 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with,' that is, taste of inward affliction and desertion, as well as of outward persecution; and all to make us conformable to him, that we might come to know in part what he endured for us."‡ Sweet departure of Jesus, which thus enables us to approach the nearer to him! of all reasons for patience none can be more powerful than this.

3. Thus, in some men, the Lord works a preparation for eminent service. By the experience of sharp inward trouble, the Lord's mighty men are prepared for the fight. To them the heat by day and the frost by night, the shoutings of the war, the spear and the battle-axe are little things, for they have been trained in a sterner school. They are like plants which have lived through the severities of winter, and can well defy the frosts of spring; they are like ships which have crossed the deep and have weathered the storm, and are not to be upset by every capful of wind. To them the loss of man's applause is of small account, for they have endured the loss of Christ's smile, and have yet + Matt. xx. 23.

* Sibbs's Bowels Opened.

‡ Child of Light walking in Darkness

trusted him. To them the contumely of a world, and the rage of hell, are nothing, for they have suffered what is a thousand times worse-they have passed under the cloud of Christ's transient forsaking. They are wise, for, like Heman, they have been "afflicted and ready to die from their youth up,”* and therefore, like him, they are fit to compare with Solomon in some things, and are wiser than he in others. They are useful, for Paul saith of such men, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." There are no preachers in the world like those who have passed by the way of trouble to the gate of wisdom. Moses prized Hobab because he knew how to encamp in the wilderness, and so we value the minister who has learned as Hobab did, by living in the desert himself. Luther said Temptation was one of his masters in divinity. We will readily trust ourselves in the hands of a physician who has been himself sick of our disease, and has tried the remedies which he prescribes for us; so we confide in the advice of the Christian who knows our trials by having felt them. What sweet words in season do tried saints address to mourners! they are the real sons of consolation, the truly good Samaritans. † 1 Kings, iv. 31.

*Ps. lxxxviii. 15.

‡ Num. x. 31.

We who have a less rugged path, are apt to overdrive the lambs; but these have nourished and brought up children, and know how to feel for the weaknesses of the little ones. It is often remarked that after soul-sorrow our pastors are more gifted with words in season, and their speech is more full of savour: this is to be accounted for by the sweet influence of grief when sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Blessed Redeemer, we delight in thy love, and thy presence is the life of our joys; but if thy brief withdrawals qualify us for glorifying thee in cheering thy saints, we thank thee for standing behind the wall; and as we seek thee by night, it shall somewhat cheer us that thou art blessing us when thou takest away thy richest blessing.

By sad experience of apparent desertion we are some of us enabled to preach to sinners with greater affection and concern than we could have exhibited without it. Our bowels yearn over dying men, for we know what their miseries must be, if they die out of Christ. If our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is yet at times the cause of great heaviness, what must an eternal weight of torment be? These thoughts, begotten by our sorrow, are very useful in stirring up our hearts in preaching, for under such emotions we weep over them, we plead with them; and, as though God did beseech them by us, we pray them in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. For a

proof thereof, let the reader turn to the Address to the Unconverted appended to this chapter; it was written by one who for many years endured the gloom of desertion. May God bless it to sinners!

4. The Lord Jesus sometimes hides himself from us, because by his foresight and prudence he is thus able to prevent the breaking forth of evil. Perhaps pride would rise to an alarming height if the pining sickness of desertion did not somewhat abate its violence. If some men had all their desires the earth would need enlargement, for their pride would become intolerable to their fellows; and, certainly, while corruption still remains in our hearts, continual comfort would work somewhat in the same manner even in us. Because of the haughtiness, which so easily arises in the hearts of the Lord's people if they have a little too much feasting, "the Lord in his care and goodness is fain to hold them to hard meat, and to keep them to a spare diet."* Sometimes, also, high living would bring on carelessness of walk. We should forget that we walk by faith, and not by sight, if it were not for intervals of darkness in which sense is put to its wit's ends, and only faith is of use to us. Dependence is generally the mother of humility; as long as we feel the one we shall not be quite

*Thomas Hooker.

devoid of the other; therefore our Divine Lord, according to his own wisdom, gives us a bitter lesson in both, by stopping the supplies of joy and withholding his presence. The fact is, that in our present state much that is pleasant to us is not good for us. We are not able to endure the weight of glory, for our backs are weak, and we stagger under it. It is hard to hold a full cup with a steady hand. We are like the fire on the hearth, which can be extinguished by too much sunlight, as well as by floods of water; even joy can destroy us as well as grief. The Master said to his disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." The incapacity of the saint may account for the comparative fewness of his delights. "As it is with a little bark, if it should have a great mainmast and broad sailcloths, then, instead of carrying it, it would be overthrown by them; therefore men proportion their mast according to their ship or bark; and if it have skilful mariners, they strike sail when they come into the shallow or narrow seas. This is the reason why the Lord so deals with us: the soul is like the ship, and the sense of God's love and mercy is like the sail that carries us on in a Christian course; and if we get but little sail of mercy and favour, we go on sweetly and com

* John xvi. 12.