the more solicitous that it do not falsely and rashly claim it as its own. True faith in God, while it generates and promotes a well-founded confidence, detests and expels all temerity and arrogance. It does not teach a man to say boldly to God, on slight grounds, Thou art mine. It is by degrees, that it reaches this height; and it is after having accomplished a thorough search, that, at last, it forms this conclusion, which is the foundation of all comfort.27 The marks, by which the believer is persuaded that the God in whom he believes, has become his own, are, principally, the following. IX. 1st, This sincere desire of God, and of the most intimate union with him, is never found, but where God has begun to communicate himself, in a saving manner, to the soul. Unless he first draw near to the soul to enlighten it with the glorious beams of his reconciled countenance, and to draw it to himself with the cords of his preventing love, it can neither know, nor desire, nor seek him. The desire of the soul panting after communion with God is not felt, where communion with God is not already, in some degree, enjoyed. Hence David joins these together, saying, "O God, thou art MY GOD, early will I seek thee."" The man who so earnestly seeks God that he regards all other things, in comparison of him, as nothing better than dung, gives evidence that he is already apprehended of God. He does not run, till he is drawn.w He does not love, till he is loved.x x. 2dly, When God communicates himself to the soul, he not only makes it happy, but also holy. He communicates himself in a manner suitable to his real character: с But he is the Holy One, and he is the LORD that sanctifieth Israel. He puts his law in the minds of his people, and writes it on the hearts of those whose God he is; and he gives them one heart and one way, that they may fear him for ever. Whilst he is pleased to become the Portion of his people, he still remains their Lord. The more intimate the fellowship with himself to which he condescends to admit them, the stronger, in proportion, are the obligations under which they are laid, reverently to adore his majesty, carefully to imitate his holiness, humbly to proclaim his goodness, and assiduously to cultivate his friendship. Nay, as, in the beginning, the Spirit of God, by moving on the face of the waters, rendered them wonderfully productive of life; so, when God takes up his residence in the soul, he makes it a partaker of his own life. The old and natural life of the soul is now gradually absorbed by the more excellent life of God; and it is not so much the man himself that lives, as God that lives in him.d This communication of vital holiness, is so inseparably connected with fellowship with God, that no man can truly glory, or sincerely exult in the latter, unless he is, at the same time, adorned with the former; and when the holiness of believers declines, the full assurance of their communion with God never fails at the same time to be impaired. e XI. 3dly, They who have JEHOVAH for their God, cannot bear his absence with indifference. When he hides his face from them,28 and withholds those gracious y Is. vi. 3. a Jerem. xxxi. 33. c Jerem. x. 16. e Ps. li. 12, 14. Ezek. xx. 12. b Jerem. xxxii. 38, 39. 28 See NOTE XXVIII. f influences, which produce a happy serenity of mind, and an alacrity and vigour in the various exercises of the spiritual life, they are so troubled that their soul in a manner fails, they are sick of love,s and can receive no consolation until he return.h This sorrow arises, if not from the sense and experience of former enjoyment, at least from a great esteem for familiar intercourse with God. None but one that has enjoyed this privilege, can form a just estimate of its value. Even those who are strangers to God can feel a kind of sorrow for their sins; but none excepting the children of the bridechamber lament the absence of the Bridegroom.i XII. 4thly, Those whom God has blessed with a special interest in himself, are often employed in devout and affectionate meditation upon him. Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. Accordingly they who gloried in God as their own God, have unanimously protested, that they thought of nothing with greater pleasure than of Him. The spouse rejoiced that her Beloved was her's;k but she added, "A bun"dle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall "lie all night betwixt my breasts." David struck his harp and said, "The LORD is the Portion of my inhe"ritance and of my cup ;"m but he added, "I have set "the LORD always before me."n My mind," says the pious Augustine,* "is devoted to thee, inflamed with "love to thee, breathing for thee, panting after thee, desiring to see thee, alone. It accounts nothing de 66 f Song v. 66 * Præfatio Manualis. 6. 6 66 lightful but to speak of thee, to hear of thee, to write "of thee, to converse about thee, and often to revolve thy glory in my heart; that the sweet remembrance "of thee, may afford me some respite and refreshment "amidst these calamities. Upon thee, therefore, do I "call, O thou most beloved of all objects; to thee I cry aloud with my whole heart. When I call upon "thee, too, I call upon thee as a God dwelling in my"self; for unless thou wert in me, I could not exist at "all. Surely, thou art in me, for thou abidest in my 66 memory; by this I recognise thee, and in this I find "thee, since I have thee in remembrance, and in thee, " and from thee, enjoy my supreme delight." From these and similar evidences, it is possible for the believer to attain assurance, that God has become his own God. XIII. When the soul knows this for certain, especially if she hear it from the mouth of God himself addressing her inwardly by the Spirit, and actually taste something of the Divine sweetness, she is filled with a great, an incredible Joy. Hence Peter says, "In 56 whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye "rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." Hence that sweet song of a soul rejoicing in God as her own: "The LORD is the Portion of mine inhe"ritance and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. "The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I "have a goodly heritage. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth." In another Psalm also, the two following expressions are conjoined, as if by the same stroke of the harp :-" God, my exceeding joy," and,-" O God, my God." 66 66 XIV. This joy, indeed, is not to be wondered at; for when any one knows that God is his own, he finds in Him the most powerful protection against all evil. "In the LORD JEHOVAH, is everlasting strength," (the Rock of ages.) "I will say of the LORD, he is my refuge, and my fortress, MY GOD; in him will I "trust." He finds in him, also, an inexhaustible fountain of all desirable good; not only what equals, but also what infinitely transcends his conceptions and desires. "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O "God! therefore the children of men put their trust "under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and "thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy plea66 sures. For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light." Both of these ideas are briefly, but strikingly, united, in the words of God to Abraham, “I am thy SHIELD, and thy exceeding great REWARD;"" and in the following expression of the Psalmist, "For the LORD God is a SUN and a SHIELD." 66 66 xv. The representation and enjoyment of so great a good, cannot fail to be delightful in the highest degree. If separate goods are pleasant, how delightful is that good, which contains the sweetness and quintessence of every good; and not merely such sweetness as we have experienced in created objects, but as widely different from these, as the Creator differs from the creature! All the beauty, all the glory, and all the joy of the material world, are nothing but resplendent beams, emitted |