82 THE SOUL DRAWING NEAR TO GOD. [SERA/. V. self abasement doth the saint, considered merely as a creature, cast himself down at the foot of God, when he comes near to the seat of his majesty ! " Behold, saith Abraham, I now have taken upon me to speak un- to thee, I who am but dust and ashes ; Gen. xviii. f27. This is the language of a saint when got near to the seat of the majesty of God. " Before I had seen thee as such a sovereign, I was restive and stubborn : in times past I quarrelled with God because of difficult duties im- posed upon me, and because of the difficult dispensa- tions I was made to pass through; but now I behold God so infinitely my superior, that I can quarrel no more with any duty, or any difficulty. I submit to all his will: whatsoever he will have me be, that I am; whatsoever he bids me do that I do ; for it is fit he should be a sovereign, and I should be a subject. I give myself to him afresh, and for ever, that he may dispose of me according to his own will and for his own glory : I would be more regardless of myself, and more regardful of my God ; it is fit he should be the ultimate end of all that I can be, and all that I can do, for he is my sove- reign." Again, when a soul is near to God, God appears in the glory of his holiness; for the seat of his majesty is called the throne of his holiness ; Ps. xlvii. 8. And then the heavens are not clean in his sight: and the soul cries out with those worshipping.seraphims, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory : and joins with Isaiah, the worshipping saint, in that humble language, Wo is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, &c. You see the character of a saint get- ting near to God, and standing before the seat of his majesty ; Is. vi. 3, 5, where the angels and the prophet worship together with: the deepest humility. " I have heard of thy holiness before, says the soul, and I have heard before of thy glory afar off; but now mine eyes see it, and I abhor myself in dust and ashes ;" Job xlii. 6. 2. His seat is to be considered as a seat of judgment ; for God is not only a king, but a judge,: and Job has, without doubt, areference to this inmy text, because the language which he uses, seems suited to a throneofju- dicature, a throne of justice. ". If I could get near his
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