742 Chap. 34.. An E.vpefition aspen the Beolc,ofJ o B. Vedas,. Gods pretencewith them)being removed,was not foon; eftor'dto irsproper place; yea it was zo. years more after that,before it was fet in its placebyDavid,(z Sam. 6. r 7.)Andwhereas it isfaid,that in thole lirfttwenty years, they lamented after the Lard, this lig- niieth, that all thofe years Godwas (comparatively to what he had fomsimes,been) butas a ftranger in the land, leaving them under the cruel oppreflïons of the Phililiines : nor did they re- cover his favourable prefence, till they fölemnlyrepented and re- formed, putting away their ftrange gods, and Afhteroth, prepa- ring their hearts unto the Lord to ferve him only, as Samuel ex- horted them to do at the third verfe of that chapter. The Jewifh" Nation in afterages had fad experience of this in the Babylonitli captivity ; when Godhidhis face from them, it was feventy years before he lookt upon themagain and Pnce that Nation provoked him (by their rejedionof the Gofpel) to lay them afide, God bath hid his face from them above thefe fixteen hundred years, and they are to this day a fcattered unfetled people,and wander- ers among the Nations, having their hearts hardned, and their eyes (lout againft the light of the glorious Gofpel. Andas the )ewes, fo manyChriflian Churcheshave for a long time felt the iad effe&s of thefe Divine hidings and withdrawings. Thofe fe- ven famous Churches inAfia, mentionedin the fecund and third chapters of the Revelation, Ephefeas, Smyrtta, &c. have beenun- der this woful Eclipfe many hundred years; nor have thofe an- cient Churches inAfrica, whereTerrullian and Atsgss,ineonce ilourifhed, recovered the prefence of the Lord to thisday. Let the Nations and Churchesabroad remember this, and tremble to provoke the Lord to fuck, departures and defertions. Godhath long hid his face from the BohemianChurches,& fubje&ed them again to the Papal yoke ; feveral parts of Germany are under the fame hidings the light isdeparted from them, and they are lefc inmuch darknefs ; their Rate isvery deplorable, and theirformer purity, both as todo&rinesoffaith,and praetife of worfhip (as to humanehelp) irrecoverable. And fhould not the dealingsof God with them, awaken us in thefe Nations and Churches, to remem- ber and confider the wonderful patience of God in continuing our peace, notwithftanding all our provócations, left at left he hide his face from us alfo,and thenwho can behold him ? A throng of evils and mifchiefs will foon appear tous with openface,ifonce God
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