I°ltS Ai'r5A A Act 5ErolE 'non. bave any thing to do with God : Their chief motive is the fear of bell, and therefore they drudge on in toilsome and undelightful religion. And indeed this is onegreat reason why so many true Chris- tians feel no more longing after God, either in public or in pri- vate worship ; because, though they have some faith and some cold hope, yet they are contented to abide in this state of uncertainty, without joyer assurance, and do not make it their business to advance in christianity : They cannot rejoice in God as their father, or their friend, witha-lively soul ; and they find but little pleasure in his house. But it is a divine pleasure, and a-kin to heaven, when a child of God, with a lively faith and joyful spirit, comes before God as his God, And entertains him- self with all the blessed discoveries that he makes of his wisdom and grace in his churches, with all the promises of the covenant, with all the words oflove that God hath written in his book, or publishes in his ordinances by the ministry of men. He feeds upon heavenly provisions in Father's house ; and whenhe departs, he maintains on his soul a sweet savour of heaven. But alas ! there is a great Withdrawment of the Spirit of God from his churches; a deadness of heart has seized believers in our day; and they grew carnal : O pray that the Spirit may return to the sanctuary again L II. Remark. HowComfortable a thing would it be, to feel our souls longing for divine ordinances more earnestly after re- straint ! We should learn the language of Jonah, when in the belly of the whale; .Lord, I am lost out of'thy sight, yet Iwill look again toward thy holy timple; Jonah iì. 4. I will look while I am at a distance, and pray toward the mercy-seat, in hope and desire to come nearthe 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, yetsometimes it is not much re- gretted:. This is a frequent distemper of the soul. When fasting increases aregular appetite, it is a sign of a healthy constitution; but weaklynatures are so overwhelmed with a little fasting, that their appetite isgone too. Many chsistians 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 toendure the firstmonths of confinement, yet a longrestraint has brought me under the spiritual disease, that my appetite and desiregrow feeble, and myheart too indifferent to public worship. NOW hi order to enquire into the temp ref our spirits, and to awakenusto greater longings after divine ordinances, let us rom-
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