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Q38
APPEARANCE BEFORE
GOD
rSERM.
ICITI.
that
he makes
of
his
wisdom
and grace
in his churches,
with all
the promises
of
the covenant,
with all the words
of
love
that God
hath written
in
his
book,
or
publishes
in
his
ordinances
by
the
ministry,
of
men.
He
feeds
upon
.heavenly provisions
in
his
Father's
house
;
and
when
he
departs,
he
maintains
on
his
soul
a
sweet
savour
of
heaven. But, alas
I
there
is
a great withdrawment of
the Spirit
of God
from
his
churches; a
deadness
of
heart
Lias
seized believers
in
our
day,
and they grow
carnal
:
o
pray
that
the Spirit
may
return
to
the sanctuary
again
!
II.
Remark.
How
comfortable
a
thing
would
it
be,
to
feel
our
souls longing
for divine ordinances more
ear-
nestly after
restraint
!
We should learn the language of
Jonah,
when
in
the
belly
of
the
whale
;
Lord,
I
am
east
out
of
thy sight,
yet
I
will
look
again toward
thy
holy
temple,
Jonah
ii.
4.
I
will
look
while
I am at a
distance,
and pray toward
the mercy-seat,
in
hope and desire
to
corne
near
the
sanctuary.
We are too ready
to grow
indifferent,
and
think
we
can do
well
enough without
this
appearing
before
God
!
We
grow, as
it
were,
strangers
to him
by
long absence
;
and
.though
the sacred correspondence in public
be lost,
yet
sometimes
it
is
not
much
regretted
:
This
is
a
fre-
,
fluent distemper
of
the
soul.
When
fasting increases a
regular appetite, it
is
a
sign
o
a
healthy constitution
;
but
weakly
natures
are
sp
overwhelmed
with
a
little
fasting,
that
their appetite
is
gone
too)
Many
christians
may complain
of
this,
and
say,
" Though
I
find some
relish
of
pleasure
when
I
am
in
the
house
of
God, and
amongst
his
saints;
and though it
was
very
painful
to
me
to
endure
the
first
months
of
confinement, yet a
long
restraint
has
brought
me
under
the
spiritual
disease,
that
my
appetite
and
desire
grow feeble,
and
my
heart
too
indifferent
to
public worship."
Now
in
order
to
enquire
into the
temper of our
spi-
rits, and
to awaken
us
to
greater
longings
after
divine
ordinances,
let
us
consider what
are
the
two
chief
ends
of
a christian
in
his
appearance
before
God
:
It
is
either
to
do
something for
God
by
a public profession of
his
tame
among
men,
or
to
receive something from
him
in'
order
to
our
'own
comfort and salvation.
If
we
hope
to
receive, this calls
faith
into.exercise;
if
we
endeavour
to