7-18 Book I:V. Part+ Looking unto:fe[tM. Chap.1.Se6t.5 -------+--------------------------------- fl!!/.ft· Anfw. Jeq 1.3. Pfalm 84. 1 r. lfa·54·7,8• But doth Chrifr ever leave- his totally ? I anfwer, not indeed, but onely in apprchenfion. In defertions a Chrifl:i:tn may to his own apprehcnGon finde nothing of Chrift. and this was the cafe of Mary /Wagdalen : or ifChrift defert ~foul indeed, and truth (for defertions are fometimes in appearance, and fometime real) yet never doth he forfake his own both really and totally: the Lord ~viii not wholly forfalze his people,for h,;, great 7:{am~ (~kt, the acts ?f.his love may be withdrawn, but his love is ihh the fllme, tt 1s 11n everflljlinlf love. thofe acts which are for well- being may be withdrawn, 'bu t hi~ acts of Jove that are for being, fhall never be removed, no {uch good thing..s will God withhold from them tbat wal~ up-rightly. Or Chrift may go away for a feafon, but not for ever; for a moment haveiforfo'<fnthee, butwithgreatmercies ~il!lgather thee; in aJitt /e 'l!'frath I have hid my ft~ce from thee for a moment, hut with everlafting k.tndneffe will I have mercy on thee faith the Lord thy Redeemer'; It was Chrifl:s promife to his Difciples, I will not leave youcomfortleffe, or do Orphans, bttt I will come agm'ne. Though his compaffions may be refl:rained, yet they cannot be ex.• tingui{hed ; as the Sun fets to rife againe, and as the tender mother !ayes down her child to take it np againe, fo deales Chrifl: with his, only for the pre fen~ it is a fad thing i 0 ir is a lamentable thing to lofe all Chnft; though but 111 our own apprehenGons. To hear~ .!vi aries pitiful complaints, they have tak,pn away my Lord, and I /znow not where they h11ve laid my Lwd, it would make a flint to weep ; methinks I heare her cryes , o my Lord what• sbecame of thee ? time w.u that myJotsl w.u an enclofed . garden, and the chiefeft of te~ thoufands did r:'al}z in the foadow of the trees, but now the fence u down, my love u gone, and Sharon is become a defert : time wiu ,that I fate at the feet of my Lord, and I received dayly Oracles from his mouth, but now he hides himfelfo t~nd wilt not come at me; I pr.:<y a11d he heares not, I hearkfn after him but he ffieak.J not, I call but he anfwers not. 0 my Lord, if I had never kpown thee I could h11ve Jived without thee, but this u my mifery, not fo much that I am without thee, as that I have loft thee; ma1ry are well without thee, becaufe they never enjoyed thee, the children ofbeggar.s wmt it not th:ir miftry thPit they are not Princes, but oh the grief whenfhe chiidrw ofPrinces foal! be turned to beggars ! 0 my Lora, once I had thee, but now 1 have loft thee, yea
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