A77360:941
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation
Christ and the covenant the work and way of meditation. : Gods return to the soul, or nation; together with his preventing mercy. : Delivered in ten sermons, (viz.) 1. Christs personal excellencies, the object of our love. 2. Christ crucified, the object of our faith. 3. The new covenant of grace opened. 4. Christ the mediator of the new covenant. 5. The way and spirit of the new covenant, or New Testament. 6. The blood of sprinkling. 7. The sweetness and profitableness of divine meditation. 8. The work and way of this meditation. 9. Gods return to the soul and nation. 10. Preventing mercy. / By W.B.
London: printed for N. Ranew, 1667
Sermons › Sermon 9: Gods Return to the Soul or Nation. SERM. IX.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
5. What if God will, for the good and benefit of others, withdraw and absent himself, and depart from his own people? In the Book of the Cant. we find that when Christ doth withdraw from his Spouse, and she could not find him, Chap. 5.6. she searches after him, enquires for him, makes great complaint: Then the Daughters of Israel say, Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee? So long as he was present, others were not drawn on for to seek him with her; but now he is absent, and she looks after him, and complains for want of him, now others are drawn to enquire after him.
And why so? But to teach us thus much, that God will so over-rule the desertions of his people, that his with-drawment from them, shall draw others to him. And thus now you see, there is reason, and good reason, why God should some times depart from, forsake, and be absent, even from his own people for a time: And that's the first thing.
2. Secondly, The Saints and People of God, are very sensible of his displeasure: How long Lord? They are most sensible of this, they look upon it as a very tedious thing, and m•st afflictive, to lie under Gods departure: How long Lord?