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THE
SOUL
DRAWING NEAR
î0
GOD.
[SER9I.
V.
mate
view
of
every outward
and
inward wound,
we
should
acknowledge
their
stroke
was
heavier than
their
groan-
ing
;
and
especially when
God
is
in such a
measure ab-
sent
from them too,
that
they
are
at
a loss,
as
Job
was,
how
they
should
come
at
him
or
converse with
their
heavenly
Father
:
then their souls break
out
into vehe-
ment
desires,
O
that I
knew
where
I
might
find him
!
A child
of
God,
who
is
wont
to
maintain a
constant
and
humble correspondence
with
heaven, does often
re-
ceive such sensible influences
of
instruction and comfort
froth the
throne
of
grace,
that
he
is
led on sweetly in
the
path of
daily duty,
by
the guiding
providences
of
God,
and
by
the
secret
directions
of
his
Holy Spirit.
He
finds
divine
pleasure
in
his
morning addresses
to
the
Mercy-
seat,
and returns
to the
throne
in the evening
with
joy
in his
heart, and praise upon
his
tongue.
He
has
some-
thing
to
do with the
great God,
in
a
way
of
humble de-
votion,
in all
his
important concerns; but if God retire
and
withdraw
from
him, he feels
and bemoans
the divine
absence,
and
his
heart
meditates
grief
and
complaints;
and
when
at
the
same
time he
is
pressed
with
other bur-
dens too,
he
breathes after God
with
a sacred impa-
tience, and longs to
know
where he may
find him
:
then
says
the soul,
"
O
if
I
could
but
come
near to
the seat
of God
in my
addresses
to him,
I
would
order
my cause
before
him,
and
fill
my
mouth
with
arguments." This
brings
me to
the doctrine, which shall
be
the
subject
of
my
discourse.
Observation.
When
a
christian
gets
near
the seat
of
God
in
prayer,
he
tells him all his sorrows,
and
pleads
with him
for
relief.
In
discoursing on
.
this
doctrine
I
shall consider
four
things.
I.
How
may
we
know
when a soul
gets
near
to
God
in
prayer or
what it
is
to
get near the
seat of
God.
II.
What
are the
particular
subjects
of
holy converse
between
God
and the
soul.
III.
Why such
a
soul tells
God
all
his
sorrows.
IV.
How
he
pleads with
God
for relief.
First, How
may
we
know when
a soul gets near
the
seat
of God
in
prayer.
I
answer,
there
will
be some
or
all
these
attendants of
nearness
to
God.
_.