,olwnommul 384 FOP,GIVENESS OF SIN. object of the waiting, soul; and then how it appears that waiting on him is so necessary a duty. It is not grace, mercy, or relief absolutely consider- ed, but the God of all grace that is the full adequate ob- ject of the soul's waiting and expectation ; only herein he is not considered absolutely in his own nature, but as there is forgiveness with him through Jesus Christ. As in him he hath round a ransom, and accepted the atonement for sinners in his blood ; as he is a God in covenant, so he is himself the object of our desire. All troubles, depths, entanglements, arise from the absence of God from the soul ; and from his displeasure. The absence of God from the soul, by his deparCure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally casts it into depths: "Wo unto them," saith the Lord, " when I depart from them." Hos. 9 : 12. And this wo, this sorrow attends not only a universal, a total departure of God from the soul, but a departure which is gradual or partial in some things., in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightening, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any ways or means whereby he hath formerly con'imunicated himself unto the souls of any, then wo to them, sorrow comes upon them, and they fall into depths and entanglements. Now, this condition calls for earnest waiting on God. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return? So saith the prophet : "I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him." Isaiah, 8 : 17. If God hide himself, this is the natural and proper duty of the soul, to wait and to look for him : other courses of relief it cannot apply itself to. What
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