fhall do him no Harm, fo long as he doth not confent to them: That he is never the worse for them; that they fhall never come into his Account, at the Day of Judgment. But this is all he can do; he cannot, I doubt, put him into a Way of getting rid of thefe Thoughts, which is the main Thing he defires; for that cannot be done, but by the Alteration of the State of his Body, from the ill Difpofition of which, all thefe Thoughts do arife, But now, the Man being ignorant of this, and having no Notion how his Body fhould thus affect his Soul, as to the making her think after this or that Manner, (which yet it certainly doth) cannot readily entertain any Advices that are given to him, with relation to that; tho' yet he will find, upon Trial, that it is from hence only that his Cure must be perfected.

And now, having premised this, in order to the fhewing what Sort of Relief the Application of theological Remedies will afford to Perfons in thefe Cafes, I come to speak to the Cafes themselves. And these indeed are various, as various as are Mens Tempers, and the Opinions they have taken up about Religion. Two of the moft common ones, namely, those two that I have already given a Hint of, I mean to speak to, in this, and the following Difcourfes, that I defign to make upon this Argument; deferring the others to future Opportunities, as they come in my Way.

The

The first is the Cafe of thofe that are in the State of Defertion, as we commonly call it, that are deprived of all the spiritual Comforts they used to find in their Duty, and thereupon think that they are forfaken of God.

The fecond is the Cafe of those that think themselves given up to the Power of the Devil, upon Account of a Multitude of wicked blafphemous Thoughts and Fancies which do continually haunt their Minds, do what they can to the contrary.

Now, both these Cafes I fhall endeavour to give fuch an Account of, that the Perfons concerned in them may be fatisfied, that they may, and ought to apply David's Words in my Text to themfelves, and to fay with him, Why art thou caft down, O my Soul? why art thou fo difquieted within me? Put thy Trust in God; for I fball yet give him Thanks, who is the Help of my Countenance, and my God.

I begin with the firft; the Cafe of Defer tion. Many pious and devout People we have known, that are under terrible Apprehenfions that God hath forfaken them, and withdrawn his Presence and Affiftance from them, and left them wholly to themselves.

If we ask them, what makes them think fo? Why, they tell you, they have loft all that Joy and Comfort that used to fill their Souls: They cannot pray, nor give Thanks, nor réceive the Sacrament, with that Devotion and Satisfaction they used to do; their Hearts are altogether dead as to all fpiritual Exercife:

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Whence

Whence now, fay they, can this proceed, but from God's forfaking them, and withdrawing his gracious Influence from them, that he was pleafed formerly to vouchfafe them?

Two Things I fhall do in fpeaking to this Cafe.

First, I fhall fhew what it is for God to forfake a Man, and that they have no Reason to believe that they are in that State.

Secondly, I fhall give an Account of the true Causes from whence these Effects do proceed, which they attribute to God's forfaking them.

I begin with the firft. Two Notions of God's forfaking Men we meet with in the Scripture. The one with refpect to their outward Circumftances, and it confifts in God's withdrawing his outward Bleffings from them. The other is with refpect to their fpiritual Condition, and confifts in God's withdrawing his inward Grace from them.

It is in the first of these Senfes, I do verily believe, that David fo often, in the Pfalms, complains of God's forfaking him; of his hiding his Face from him; of his absenting himfelf, and shutting up his loving Kindness in Difpleasure; and, if any one will carefully perufe the Pfalms, where thefe and fuch-like Expreffions are used, and mind upon what Occafion they come in, I dare fay, they will be convinced, from the Scope and Defign of the Discourse, that David doth not make these Complaints, with reference to his fpiri

tual

tual Estate, as if God had withdrawn his Grace, or the inward Influences of the Holy Spirit, from his Mind, but wholly with reference to some outward Calamity, fome outward Distress, or Affliction, or Perfecution, that he, or the Church of God, was then under: But now this is nothing to the Cafe of these Perfons among us that I am at prefent fpeaking; it is not of God's forfaking them in this Sense that they complain: Let God exercise them with as many outward Afflictions and Adverfities, as he pleaseth, they will bear them as well as they can, and they will not murmur or complain upon Account thereof; but they are afraid that God has forfaken them, as to their fpiritual Conditions; that he hath withdrawn from them the inward Influences of his Holy Spirit, and left them to themselves.

But now what little Grounds they have, for fuch Fears as thefe, will fufficiently appear, from confidering the Nature of this fecond Sort of Defertion, or God's forfaking Man.

It cannot be denied but that God may, and fometimes doth, forfake Men, by withdrawing from them the inward Affistance of his Grace and Spirit, and this is Desertion properly fo called; and a heavy Judgment it is, upon whomfoever it falls: And this I take to be that which David fo earnestly prays againft, in the 51ft Pfalm, after he had fo grievously provoked God, and wounded his

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own

own Confcience, by his foul Adultery and Murder; Caft me not away, faith he, from thy Prefence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. God, I fay, may, and, it is to be feared, doth fometimes forfake Men, in this Senfe He withdraws from them his Grace, both that preventing, and affifting, and even that reftraining Grace, which he had formerly afforded them; and leaves them intirely to themselves, to be filled with their own Ways, and to commit all manner of Sin with Greedinefs; and thus, for Inftance, he forfook Judas Iscariot; upon which the Devil enter'd into him. And this State is that which the Scripture expreffeth by Darkness of Heart; by Hardness of Heart; by being given up to a reprobate Mind; by being un der the Power of ftrong Delufions, and the like but then it is to be remember'd,

Deus nunquam deferit nifi deferentem,

As St. Austen fomewhere fpeaks; that God never thus forfaketh any Man, that hath not long before forfaken him; God is patient, and long-suffering, and is not eafily provoked thus to give up a Man. Long doth he bear with the Ingratitude and Perverseness of his Creatures; and many and various Ways doth he ufe, to bring them to a Senfe of their Sin, and of their Duty, But, if they refift all thefe Means; if the Goodness of God doth not lead them to Repentance, but, on the con

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