benefactors to heavenly affections. Where afflic
tions hang heaviest, corruptions hang loosest ; and
grace that is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose
leaves, is most fragrant when the fire of affliction
is put under to distil it out." *
Let each reader inquire whether this is in har
mony with his experience, and if it be so, let him
testify to his tried brethren that lie has tasted and
handled of the goodness of the Lord Jesus, and has
found him full of grace to help, and power to com
fort. Open thy mouth as wide in praise as thou
didst in prayer, and let thy gratitude be as lasting
as his love.
But if the reader cannot bear witness to the
faithfulness of the Lord in the day of adversity, let
him tremble. If his religion has forsaken him in
his distress, let him at once doubt its character.
* Samuel Clerk, preface to Martyrolagy.
JESUS IN THE HOTJR OF TROUBLE. 349
That is not from heaven which cannot endure the
fire. If the promises afford thee no comfort in thy
trials, if thy faith doth utterly fail, and thou h ndest
thy profession tottering about thine ears, look well
to thyself that thou be not deceived. We dare not
say that there is no grace in the man who finds no
comfort in the Lord in the day of evil, but we do
say, with much earnestness, there is very grave
cause for suspicion. The following sentences from
the pen of William Gurnall deserve much ponder
ing ; they will raise a vital question in the mind
of those who have never felt the sweetness of the
promises in the hour of need : " Promises are like
the clothes we wear. If there be heat in the body
to warm them, they warm us, but if there be none,
they give none. So where there is living faith, the
promise will afford warm comfort ; but on a dead,
unbelieving heart, it lies cold and ineffectual : it
has no more effect than pouring a cordial down the
throat of a corpse. Again, the promises do not
throw out comfort as fire throws out heat ; for then
we should only need to go to them in order to be
warmed: their heat is like the fire in the flint,
which must be struck out by force, and this force
can only be applied by faith."*
There is another explanation of the fact that a
professor in trial sometimes finds no comfort in the
* Christian Armour.
350 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.
promises ; and as it is a little more lenient, we add
it here, and desire all such persons to judge for
themselves. It may be that thou hast neglected
communion, and therefore thy troubles weigh
heavily. When a bucket is let down into a deep
well, and is under the water, it is easily wound up,
and seems to be light, but when once it is drawn
out of the water its weight becomes excessive : it
is so with our sorrows as long as we keep them
submerged in God and fellowship they are light
enough ; but once consider them apart from the
Lord, and they become a grievous and intolerable
burden. Faith will have to tug in earnest to lift
our adversities when we stand alone without our
Lord ; want of communion will rob the promises
of their comfort, and load our griefs with weights
of iron.
It seems, then, that thou hast one of two faults
to find with thyself, either thou art dead, and so
unable to feel the heat and comfort of the Lord s
presence ; or else thou hast been inactive, not improv
ing the means whereby the fellowship of the Mas
ter may be realised. Search thine heart and know
the reason. " Are the consolations of God small
with thee ? Is there any secret thing with thee ?" *
Look to thyself, for it may be thy soul is in an evil
plight, and if so, be sure to give good heed unto it.
* Job, xv. 11.
JESUS IN THE HOUR OF TROUBLE. 351
Go to the Lord at once, and ask a fresh supply of
life and grace. Do not seek to mimic the joy of
believers, but strive for the reality of it. Rely not
on thine own power. Trim thy lamp with hea
venly oil. If the fire of the Roman vestals were
ever extinguished, they dare not light it except at
the sun ; be sure that thou do not kindle a flame in
thy heart with strange fire. Get renewal where
thou didst get conversion, but be sure to get it, and
at once. May the Holy Spirit help thee.
TO THE UNCONVERTED READER.
Poor sinner, how great a difference is there
between thee and the believer ! and how apparent
is this difference when in trouble ! You have
trials, but you have no God to flee to ; your -afflic
tions are frequently of the sharpest kind, but you
have no promises to blunt their edge; you are
in the furnace, but you are without that divine
companion who can prevent the fire from hurting
you. To the child of God adversity brings many
blessings to you it is empty-handed ; to him there
ariseth light in the darkness to you there is the
darkness but no arising of the light ; you have all
its miseries, but none of its benefits. How dreary
must your heart feel when lover and friend are put
far from you, when your hopes are withered, and
your joys are removed ! You have no Christ to
cheer you; he is not the recompence of your grief;
he is not Jehovah Jireh to you. You have no
Almighty arms beneath you, no Eternal God to be
352
JESUS IN THE HOUK OF TROUBLE. 353
jour refuge, no Anointed One to be your shield.
You must bear your sorrows alone, or, if any
attempt to help you, their strength is incompetent
for the task.
Oh, wretched man ! for ever enduring the thorn,
but never reaching the throne ; in the floods, but
not washed ; burning in the fire, but not refined ;
brayed in the mortar, but not cleansed of foolish
ness ; suffering, but unsanctified. What misery to
have no foundation in the day of the tempest, no
covert from the wind, no shelter from the storm !
The saint can bear a world of trouble when the
strength of Israel doth brace him with omnipo
tence ; but thou, without the support of the Most
High, art crushed before the moth, and over
whelmed when evil getteth hold upon thee. Thy
present trials are too heavy for thee ; what wilt
thou do in the swellings of Jordan ? In the day
when the drops shall have become a torrent, and
the small rain of tribulation has given place to the
waterspouts of vengeance, how wilt thou endure
the unutterable wrath of the Lamb ?
Lay this to thy heart, and may the Lord enable
thee to cast the burden of thy sin upon the crucified
Saviour ; then shalt thou have boldness to cast thy
griefs there also.
X.
JESUS HIDING- HIMSELF.
" Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled." Ps. xxx. Y.
" Why dost thou shade thy lovely face ? oh, why
Doth that eclipsing hand so long deny
The sunshine of thy soul-enlivening eye ?
" Without that light, what light remains in me ?
Thou art my life, my way, my light ; in thee
I live, I move, and by thy beams I see.
" Thou art my life ; if thou but turn away,
My life s a thousand deaths : thou art my way ;
Without thee, Lord, I travel not, but stray.
" My light thou art ; without thy glorious sight,
Mine eyes are darken d with perpetual night.
My God, thou art my way, my life, my light."
QUARLES.
THE Lord Jesus will never remove his love from
any one of the objects of his choice. The names
of his redeemed are written on his hands and
graven on his side ; they are designed for eternal
851
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 355
felicity, and to that blessed consummation his,
hand and his heart are unitedly resolved to bring
them. The meanest lamb of the blood-bought
nock shall be preserved securely by the " strength
of Israel" unto the day of his appearing, and shall,
through every season of tribulation and distress,
continue to be beloved of the Lord. Yet this does
not prevent the great Shepherd from hiding him
self for a season, when his people are rebellious.
Though the Redeemer s grace shall never be utterly
removed, yet there shall be partial withdrawals
of Iris presence, whereby our joys shall be dimmed,
and our evidences darkened. He will sometimes
say, "I will go and return unto my place, until
they acknowledge their offences which they have
committed against me ;" and at other seasons, for a
trial of their faith, he will " for a small moment "
hide himself from them.
In proportion as the Master s presence is delight
ful, his absence is mournful. Dark is the night
which is caused by the setting of such a sun. ~No
blow of Providence can ever wound so sorely as
this. A blasted crop is as nothing compared with
an absent Redeemer ; yea, sickness and the
approach of death are preferable to the departure
of Emmanuel. Skin for skin, yea, all that a man
hath will he give for his life ; and more than that
would the sincere disciple be prepared to surrender
for a renewal of his Lord s presence. " Oh, that I
356 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.
were as in months past, as in the days when God
preserved me ; when his candle shined upon my
head, and when by his light I walked through
darkness !" Such will be the sorrowful complaint
of the spirit when groping its way through the
darkness of desertion. " God s hiding himself,
though but for trial s sake, will so trouble a
Christian that he will quickly be a burden to
himself, and fear round about, as it is said of
Pashur.* It will make him weary of the night,
and weary of the day ; weary of his own house,
and weary of God s house ; weary of mirth, and
account it madness ; weary of riches and honours ;
yea, if it continue long, it will make him weary of
life itself, and wish for death." f The effect is
always deplorable during the time of its duration,
but the cause of it is not always the same. There
are divers reasons for apparent desertions ; we will
enter upon that interesting subject in the next
chapter, and in the present meditation we shall
chiefly consider the ill effects of the absence of
Christ.
We would carefully distinguish between those
withdrawals which are evidences of an offence
given to our Lord, and those which are designed
to be trials of our faith. Our experience under
different varieties of forsakings will vary, and the
* Jer. xx. 3.
f Lockyer on Christ s Communion.
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 357
following remarks, although in the main applicable
to all desertions, are only intended in their detail to
refer to those which are brought about by our trans
gressions ; and even then it is not to be imagined
that each case will exhibit every point which we
shall now observe. Here we specially refer to
those hidings of God s countenance which are
brought upon us as a fatherly chastisement. And
we do not here dwell upon the ultimate and
blessed effects of the temporary forsakings of God,
but are only to be understood to refer to the ills
which, during the time, beset the soul.
Holy men may be left to walk in darkness.
" Sometimes Christians are guilty of acting a part
which is offensive to their dear Saviour, and there
fore he withdraws from them. Darkness spreads
itself over them, thick clouds interpose between him
and their souls, and they see not his smiling face.
This was the case with the Church when she was
inclined unto carnal ease, rather than to rise and
give her beloved entrance. He quickened her
desires after the enjoyment of his company, by an
effectual touch upon her heart ; but he withdrew,
departed, and left her to bewail her folly in her
sinful neglect. Upon this her bowels were trou
bled : she arose and sought him ; but she found
him not. It is just with him to hide himself from
us, if we are indifferent about the enjoyments of
his delightful presence, and give us occasion to
358 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.
confess our ingratitude to him, by the loss we sus
tain in consequence of it. His love in itself passes
under no vicissitude ; it is always the same ; that
is our security ; but the manifestation of it to our
souls, from which our peace, comfort, and joy
spring, may be interrupted through our negligence,
sloth, and sin. A sense of it, when it is so, may
well break our hearts ; for there is no ingratitude
in the world like it." * We would not be under
stood to teach that God punishes his people for sin
in a legal sense ; this would be a slur upon his
justice ; for, seeing that he has fully punished
their sin in Christ, to inflict any penalty upon them
would be demanding a double punishment for one
offence, which were unjust. Let the chastisements
be understood in a paternal sense as correctives,
and the truth is gained. Sin will be chastened in
the elect. " You only have I known out of all the
nations of the earth, therefore, I will punish you
for your iniquities." If we walk contrary to him,
he will walk contrary to us. The promise of com
munion is only appended to obedience. " He that
hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it
is that loveth me : and he that lovetli me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him." f Now if we walk scan
dalously, and indulge in known sin, no wonder
* Brine. John xiv. 21.
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 359
though the Lord withdraw himself from ns. The
joy of his salvation must not rest with his erring
ones, though the salvation itself is ever theirs.
Alas for us, that our corruption should so fre
quently mar our communion !
Many times between conversion and the rest of
eternity, the Christian, through sin, will have to
walk through a salt land, not inhabited, and find the
songs of the Canticles hushed by the wail of the
Lamentations. Yet we would fain believe that
there are some who have but little cause to write
their history in black letters, for their life has been
one continued calm communion, with only here
and there a hurried interruption. We are far from
believing that the despondency, coldness, and
misery produced by a loss of the visible love of
Christ ought to make up any considerable part of
the biography of a Christian. That they do so in
many cases, we readily admit, but that it should
be so we never can allow. Those men who glory
in what they proudly call a deep experience, by
which they mean great wanderings from the path
which Enoch trod when he walked with God, are
very prone to exalt the infirmities of the Lord s
people into infallible and admirable proofs of
grace. To them an absent Christ is fine stock in
trade for a sermon upon their own superlative wis
dom ; and a heart which mourns abundantly, but
loves most scantily, is to them what perfection is to
360 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.
the Arminian. As if the weeds of the field were
precious plants because they will grow in good
soil ; as if the freckles on the face of beauty were
to be imitated by all who desire to attain to loveli
ness ; or as if the rocks in the sea were the very
cause of its fulness. The deepest experience in
the world is that which deals only with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and is so sick of man, and of all
within him, and so confident of the Lord Jesus,
that it casts the whole weight of the sin and sinful-
ness of the soul entirely upon the Redeemer, and
rejoicing in his all sufficiency, looks above the
wants and woes of its own evil and ruined nature,
to the completion of the new man in Christ Jesus.
That eminent preacher, the late Rowland Hill, has
well said, " I do not like Christians to live always
complaining ; but I do not mind how much they
complain if they carry their corruptions to Jesus."
This is forgotten by many; but those who are care
ful to practice it will have many causes for gladness.
Blessed be God, the green pastures and the still
waters, the shepherd s crook and pleasant com
pany, are objects which are quite as familiar to
the believer s mind as the howling wilderness and
the brandished rod
" The men of grace have found
Glory begun below ;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground,
From faith and hope do grow."
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 361
Yet, to the believer s grief, seasons of absence do
occur, and those, alas, too frequently. It is our
business, as the Holy Spirit shall enable us, very
briefly to consider the subject of apparent deser
tion on account of sin, and may He make it useful
to us.
"We shall now proceed to review the mischiefs
which attend upon suspended communion. The
effects of the withdrawal of the face of Jesus are
the outward signs shadowing forth the secret sick
ness of the heart, which such a condition neces
sarily engenders. Although it be not fatal, yet is
it exceedingly hurtful to miss the company of the
Lord. As plants thrive not when the light is kept
from them, but become blanched and unhealthy,
so souls deprived of the light of God s counte
nance are unable to maintain the verdure of
their piety or the strength of their graces. "What
a loss is a lost Christ !
During this doleful season the believers evidences
are eclipsed j he is in grievous doubt concerning
his own condition before God ; his faith is become
weak, his hope well-nigh buried, and his love cold
and languid. The graces which, like planetary
stars, once shone upon him with light and radi
ance, are now dark and cheerless, for the sun has
departed, the source of their light is concealed in
clouds. Evidences without Christ are like unlit
candles, which afford no light ; like fig-trees with
16
362 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.
leaves only, devoid of fruit; like purses without
gold, and like barns without wheat ; they have
great capabilities of comfort, but without Jesus
they are emptiness itself: Evidences are like con
duit-pipes they are sometimes the channels of
living water, but if the supply from the fountain-
head be cut off from them, their waters utterly
fail. That man will die of thirst who has no better
spring to look to than an empty pitcher of evi
dences. Ishmael would have perished in the wil
derness if his only hope had been in the bottle
which his mother brought out with her from the
tent of Abraham ; and assuredly without direct
supplies from the gracious hands of the Lord Jesus,
the saints would soon be in an ill plight. Unless
the God of our graces be ever at the root of them,
they will prove like Jonah s gourd, which withered
away when he was most in need of it. In this
condition we shall find ourselves, if we lose the
presence of the Lord Jesus ; we shall be racked
with fears, and tormented with doubts, without
possessing that sovereign cordial with which in
better days our sorrows have been allayed. We
shall find all the usual sources of our consola
tion dried up, and it will be in vain for us to
expect a single drop from them. Ahab sent
Obediah upon an idle errand, when in the time of
great drought he said, " Go into the land unto all
fountains of water, and unto all brooks : peradven-
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 363
ture we may find grass to save the horses and
mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts ;" for
it was the presence and prayer -of Elijah which
alone could procure the rain to supply their wants ;
and if we, when we have lost our Master s society,
seek to obtain comfort in past experiences and
time-worn evidences, we shall have to weep with
bitter tears because of a disappointed hope. We
must regain the society of Christ, if we would
restore the lustre of our assurance. An absent
Saviour and joyous confidence are seldom to be
spoken of together.
"We know, however, that some professors can
maintain a confident carriage when the presence
of the Lord is withholden ; they are as content
without him as with him, and as happy under his
frown as when in the sunshine of his smile. Be
tween the outward appearances of strong faith and
strong delusion there is frequently so little difference
that the presumptuous boaster is often as highly
esteemed as the assured believer: nevertheless in
their inner nature there is an essential distinction.
Faith believes on Jesus when his comfortable
promise is not vouchsafed ; but it does not render
the soul indifferent to the sweetness of society.
Faith says, " I believe him when I do not feel his
love manifest towards me, but my very persuasion
of his faithfulness makes me pant for the light of
his countenance ;" but vain presumption exclaims,
364 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIODK.
" Away with evidences and manifestations, I am a
vessel of mercy, and therefore I am secure ; why-
should I trouble myself about grace or graces ? I
have made up my mind that all is right, and I will
not break my slumbers, whoever may seek to
alarm me." Happy is the man whose faith can
see in the thick darkness, and whose soul can live
in the year of drought; but that man is not far
from a curse who slights the fellowship of the
Lord, and esteems his smile to be a vain thing. It
is an ill sign if any of us are in a contented state
when we are forsaken of the Lord ; it is not faith,
but wicked indifference, which makes us careless
concerning communion with Him. And yet how
often have we had cause to lament our want of
concern ? how frequently have we groaned because
we could not weep as we ought for the return of
our husband who had hidden himself from us ?
"When enveloped in the mists of desertion, we
lose all those pleasant visions of the future which
once were the jewels in the crown of our life. We
have no climbings to the top of Pisgah ; no pros
pects of the better land ; no earnests of pure
delight; no foretastes of the riches of glory, and
no assurance of our title to the goodly land beyond
Jordan. It is as much as we can do to preserve
ourselves from despair; we cannot aspire to any
confidence of future glory. It is a contested point
with us whether we are not ripening for hell. "We
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 365
fear that we never knew a Saviour s love, but have
been all along deceivers and deceived ; the pit of
hell yawns before us, and we are in great straits to
maintain so much as a bare hope of escape from it.
We had once despised others for what we thought
to be foolish doubts, but now that we ourselves are
ready to slip with our feet, we think far more of
the lamps which we despised* when we were
at ease, and would be willing to change places
with them if we might have as good an opinion of
our own sincerity as we have of theirs. We would
give anything for half a grain of hope, and would
be well content to be the meanest of the sheep, if
we might but have a glimpse of the Shepherd.
The native buoyancy of spirit which distin
guishes the heir of heaven is in a great measure
removed by the departure of the Lord. The be
liever is spiritually a man who can float in the
deepest waters, and mount above the highest bil
lows ; he is able, when in a right condition, to keep
his head above all the water-floods which may in
vade his peace : but see his Lord depart, and he
sinks in deep mire, where there is no standing all
the waves and the billows have gone over him.
Troubles which were light as a feather to him, are
now like mountains of lead ; he is afraid of every
dog that snarls at him, and trembles at every
* Job, xii. 5.
366 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.
shadow. He who in his better days could cut
down an acre of foemen at a stroke, is affrighted
at the approach of a single adversary. He whose
heart was fixed so that he was not afraid of evil
tidings, is now alarmed at every report. Once he
could hurl defiance to earth and hell united, and
could laugh at persecution, slander, and reproach,
but he is now as timid as a deer, and trembles at
every phantom that threatens him. His daily
cares, which once he loved to cast upon the Lord,
and counted but as the small dust of the balance,
are now borne upon the shoulders of his own
anxiety, and are a load intolerably oppressive.
He was once clothed in armour of proof, and was
not afraid of sword or spear; but now that he
hath lost his Master s presence, such is his naked
ness that every thorn pierces him, and every
briar fetches blood from him ; yea, his spirit is
pierced through and through with anxious thoughts
which once would have been his scorn. How are
the mighty fallen ; how are the princes taken in a
net, and the nobles cast as the mire of the street !
He who could do all things can now do nothing ;
and he who could rejoice in deep distress is now
mourning in the midst of blessings. He is like a
chariot without wheels or horses, a harp without
strings, a river without water, and a sail without
wind. No songs and music now; his harp is
hanging upon the willows. It is vain to ask of
JESUS HIDING HIMSELF. 367
him a song, for "the chief musician upon his
stringed instruments" has ceased to lead the choir.
Can the spouse be happy when she has grieved her
bridegroom and lost his company ? No ; she will
go weeping through every street of the city, until
she can again embrace him ; her joy shall cease
until again she shall behold his countenance.