44 -Chap. i3. An Expofition upon the Book of loll. Verf. i 6. out any fence of thefe. He doth nothing with God, while he hath to dowith him : and here is his punifitment though he be not fenûble of it now, but he shall be fenfibleof it in thelife to come. As he Ihall not come before God for ever, fo hé íhall know the meaningof it, what it is not to come before him. Carnal men lightly efçem the prefenee and enjoyment of God, yea,they are glad when theyare out of his pretence. Few know when God is near themor when he is faroff, what his departures mean,or what his returnings. They who know thefe things,count his pretence their greatetl gain,and his abfence their greatetllofs. When God fentenced Cain for the murthering of his brother,he complains chieflyof this (Gen.4,14.) Thou haft driv n me out this 'dayfrom thy face,or from thy prefence.Andwhat was that ? It was but thecommon pretence ofGod inordinancesfeinhad beenof- fering facrifice,and Goddid not accept him;he couldnotgo from the univerfal pretence of God, and he was not at all admitted tohis comfortable pretence, yet he looked upon it as his great- eft mifery, that hewas deprived of his common pretence in pub - likeworíhip, fromwhich he was as a perfon excommunicated. I am driven out from thyface : When Saul could not get an an- fwer fromGod, neither by dreams,nor by urim,nor by prophets. This he reprefents as the wortt of his affliaions (a Sam. 28.) To be íhut out from the fight or focietyof a man whom we much efleem, is exceeding afflitlive. Though Abfalomwas reconciled to David his father; fo far as to be admitted tocometo the city, yet becaufe David gaveorder that Abfalomlkould not fee hisface, nor come to court, he could not bear it, butrefents this retlraint fo patlionately, that he fends toloeb, and befpeaks him thus: Wherefore am I come from Gefhur ? It had been goodfor me to have been there/fill; now therefore let me fee the Kings face, and if there he any iniquity inme let him kill me (2Sam.4.24.34.) as if he had faid, I cannot fatisfiemy felf with my liberty in ferufalem, if I fland excluded from the Kings pretence. I had rather die then endure this piece of banifhment. How thenwill hypocrites be tormented with an eternal baniíhment from the face of God l It is the greatefl tryal that the Saints have in this life, when they lofe the fight of God by faith, when they come before God ,and cannot find God, when God covers himfelf with a cloud (as the Church complains) that they cannot come at him, that is the hardefl exercife of theSaints in this life. And O how they are
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