72 THE SOUL DRAWING. NEAR TO GOD. There is a zeal for God enters into the soul at such a season, and the soul is more desirous to lay out itself for the glory of God at such a time. Moses had drawn near to God in the mount, and had been with him forty days ; when he came down from the mount, he beheld thepeople filledwith idolatry, and he brake the tables of stone in an impatience of zeal ; his zeal for Godwas so great, he hardly knew what he did, his zeal for God was kindled high, because he had been so near to God, and just conversing with-him. So, Isaiah vi. 8. whenthat great saint had been near to God, and had seen him in the glories ofhis holi- ness,and had some courage and confidence in his love; "Now I will go, says he, upon anydifficult message ;, Here am I, send me, though it be to fulfil the hardest service." There will be generally all these attendants of great nearness to God, viz., power against temptation, strength against sin, zeal for the glory of God in the world, and ability to perform difficult duties. V. Therewill bea spiritual frame introduced into theheart and a distance from all carnal things. "Stand by, saith the soul to all this world, whilst I go to seek my God ; but when I have found him, then the world of itself, as to all the temporal concerns of it, vanishes and goes out of sight. When I get so near to heaven, this earth is so small a point, that it cannot be seen, and these comforts among the creatures, that were fair as the moon, or bright as the larger stars, are vanished and lost, and disappear under the brighter light of this Sun." Created beauties, with all their little glimmerings, tempt the soultoward them, when God is absent; as a twinkling candle entices the silly flyat midnight to hover about the rays ofit ; but thecandle faints under the broad beams of rising day-light ; it has no power to attract those little buzzing animals in the morning, and it is quite invisible at noon. So the very approachof God makes creatures appear more. contemptible and worthless in the esteem of a de- vout christian ; a God near at hand will drive.the creatures afar off; and a present God will command the world to utter ab- sence. None- of the temptingvanities of life come in sight, and sometimes not the most important concerns of it remain before the eye of the saint, when God appears and fills the view and prospect of his spirit. The soul is taken up with spiritual things, therefore carnal ones vanish ; it is entertained and filled with the majestyof God, the riches of grace, redeeming grace ; with the glory of Christ Jesus, the beauty of his person, the honour'of his characters, his various excellencies, and the super-eminence of his offices, both in the constitution and discharge of them ; the soul is then warmedwith a zealous concern for the church of Christ, and big withthe designs of the honour of God, while it forgets the world.
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