512 BAXTER'S FAREWELL gERMON, Hos. ix. 12. When God goeth, all goeth ; grace and peace, help and hope, and all that is good and comfortable, is gone when God is gone. Wonder not, therefore, if holy souls cry after God, and fear the loss of his grace and ordinances ; and if they lament the loss of that which dead-hearted sensualists are weary of, (Luke viii. 47.) and would drive away : it will be the damning sentence, (Matt. xxv. 41.) " Depart from me, all, ye workers of iniquity ;" ll'latt. vii. 23. And,therefore, all that is but like it, is terrible to them that have any regard of God, or their salvation ; Luke xiii. 27. Doct. III. The sorrows of Christ's disciples are but short. It is but now that they have sorrow ; and hew quickly will this now be gone ! Reas. 1. Life itself is but short, and, therefore, the sorrows of this life are but short. Man that is born ofa woman is of few days, and full of trouble ; he cometh forth like aflower, and is cut down ; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not; Job xiv. 1, 2. Though our days are evil, they are but few ; Gen. xlvii, 9. As our time maketh haste, and posteth away, so also do our sorrows, which will attain their period together with our lives. As the pleasure of sin, so the sufferings of the godly, arebut for a season; Heb. xi. 26. "Now, for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness throughmanifold temptations.; " 1 Pet. i. 6.' Thepleasures and the pains of so short a life are but like a pleasant or a frightful dream : how quickly shall we awake, and all is vanished ; If we lived as long as they did before the flood, then worldly interest, prosperity, and adversity, would be of greater signification to us, and yet they should seem nothing in comparison of eternity; for where now are all the fleshly pains or pleasures of Adamor Methuselah? Much more are they inconsiderable in so short a life as one of ours. Happy is the man whose, sorrows are of no longer continuance than this short and transitory life ! Reas. 2. God's displeasure with his servants is but short, and, therefore, his corrections are but short; Psalm xxx. 5. " His anger endureth but for a moment, but in his favor is life; " Isa. liv. 7, 8. " For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercy will I gather thee. Ín a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer ;': Isa. xxvi. 20. "Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee ; bide thyselfas it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." Thus even in judgment doth he remember mercy, and consumeth us not, because his compassions fail not ; Lam. iii. "He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever; for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust;"
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