November 12

the chamber of sickness into the house of God and the gate of heaven—we shall be joyful in glory, and shout aloud upon our beds—

"Jesus, the vision of thy face Hath overpowering charms; Scarce shall I feel death's cold embrace, If Christ be in my arms.

"Then, while ye bear my heartstrings break, How sweet my moments roll! A mortal paleness on my cheek, But glory in my soul."

NOVEMBER 12.—"Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him."—Job 23:8, 9.

SOME have considered this allusively, and exemplified it thus—I go "forward;" forward to the promises. These abound in the Scriptures, are adapted to all our wants, and provide for a great while to come; and there was a time when I could claim them as my own, and plead them in prayer, and make them my songs in the house of my pilgrimage: now they seem only the property of others, and if they are not wells without water, they seem as springs shut up, and fountains sealed to me—I go "forward, but he is not there."—I go "backward;" backward to experience. I once thought that I had been convinced of sin, that I had trembled at his word, that I had rejoiced in his salvation, that my fellowship had been with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ: now my former views and feelings, my distresses and my comforts, and which I had supposed to be spiritual and divine, appear suspicious, and I fear I have no part or lot in the matter; and that my heart has never been right in the sight of God—I go "backward, but I cannot perceive him." I turn to "the left hand, where he doth work, and survey the operations of nature." These are his inferior doings, but they are the produce of his wisdom, power, and goodness; and all his works praise him. And there was a time when in the field, the meadow, the garden, I walked with God. I saw his sun rising upon the evil and the good, and his rain coming down, and his paths dropping fatness. Every thing seemed full of God. Yea, I saw my Redeemer in the rose and in the lily, and said, As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons: now creation seems a kind of blank—"I cannot behold him."—I turn "to the right hand," among his nobler works of grace. I think of the glories of redemption, the operations of his Holy Spirit; I mingle with his people in the sanctuary, I repair to the table of my dying Lord—"But he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him."

Now all this is true in itself, and many a reader perhaps may be able to make it his own. But evangelical spiritualizers have not a little injured the Scripture, by giving it meanings which are not its own. What is true in doctrine is not always true in the text, from which, by force or artifice, it is derived. A preacher is bound, however he may use it as an allusion or illustration, to inculcate the true and real import of every passage. Therefore we observe that Job here, by a fulness of phraseology, would express his ignorance and perplexity with regard to God's present dispositions and dispensa-

tions towards him: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him."

God may withdraw from his people; not indeed entirely. This would be inconsistent with his engagements; and were he thus to depart from them they would relapse into a state of nature, and sin have again dominion: but he may so withdraw himself as to elude their views and apprehensions. He may conceal from them the manifestations of his special favour; they may not see his smiles as before; he may seem to be an enemy, while yet he is their best friend; like Joseph, who made himself strange, and behaved himself roughly to his brethren, to humble them, and bring their sin to remembrance, while his bowels yearned within him, and he sought where to weep. And this applies much to his providential dealings with them: these are frequently so trying and mysterious, that they are unable to find out his meaning and design. He even derives a character from hence; "Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." And when we consider the vastness of his understanding, and the littleness of our own, is it wonderful that in many of his proceedings he should be far above out of our sight? and that requiring us to trust him instead of tracing him, he should often say, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter?" We now see only the beginnings, not the end; we only see parts, not the whole; and of these parts we see not the relations and the bearings; and the little we do see we see through crevices and in fogs.

We may however remark, that much of the difficulty of Providence results from our selfish and worldly feelings. We do not think Providence mysterious when we have all things and abound. We never heard Christians expressing surprize or perplexity when they had ease, and health, and business, and agreeable connexions—all is plain enough then: but as soon as the scene changes, and trials befall them, "his way is in the sea, and his path in the deep waters, and his footsteps are not known!" Yea, they do not think the conduct of God so incomprehensible, when losses and afflictions befall others. They can go to them, and say, All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth; he hath done all things well; as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens—But when these good talkers about afflictions become the subjects of them, how frequently do they draw upon themselves the remark, "Thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled!"

Many things too would no longer remain incomprehensible or unaccountable, if persons were willing to censure themselves; for the things which confound them are only the natural consequences of their own misconduct. "The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord." If persons eat freely, and lie late in bed, and take no exercise, ask a physician what right they have to complain of low spirits and ill health. If God, who knoweth our frame, has forbidden the widow to marry unless in the