tual Eftate, as if God had withdrawn his Grace or the inward Influences of the holy Spirit from his Mind, but wholly with reference to some outward Calamity, fome outward Diftrefs, or Affliction,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 present fpeaking; it is not of God's forfaking them in this Senfe 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upon Account thereof; But they are afraid that God has forfa→ ken them, as to their fpiritual Conditions; that he hath withdrawn from them the inward Influences of his holy Spirit, and left them to themselves.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 Desertion, or God's forfaking

Man.

It cannot be denied but that God may, and fometimes doth, forfake Men, by withdrawing from them the inward Affiftance 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

D 3

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 fear'd 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 fill'd 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 under the Power of ftrong Delufions, and the like; but then it is to be remember'd,

Deus nunquam deferit nifi deferentem,

As St. Aufin fome where fpeaks, that God never thus forfaketh any Man that hath not long before for faken him; God is patient and long-fuffering, 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 these Means, if the Goodness of God doth not lead them to Repentance, but on the con

trary,

trary, they despise the Riches of his Grace, and Forbearance and Long-fuffering, and continue obftinate in their evil Courses, and ceafe not to put Affronts upon the holy Spirit of God; a Time will come, when this holy Spirit will no longer ftay with them, but he will return to his Place, and leave them to their own Hardness of Heart and Impenitency, to treasure up Wrath against the Day of Wrath, and the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God.

It is true that every Act of wilful Sin, and efpecially every Habit of fuch Sin, doth highly grieve the Spirit of God. But yet it is not for every fuch Act or Habit, that the Spirit doth ufually forfake Men. He ftill continues to knock at the Door of their Hearts, and to pursue them with his holy Motions, fo long as there are any Hopes of gaining them to Repentance; but if Men be unperfuadable, and, inftead of complying with God's Grace, and reforming their Ways, go on adding Sin to Sin, and growing more audacious and impudent in their Provocations, it is but juft with God to abandon such ungrateful Wretches, and totally to leave them to themselves.

But it is to be hoped there are but very few in Comparison among us, whom God hath thus forfaken. The greatest Part of Men, tho' they are far from being as good as they should, (nay far from being as good as they must be if ever they come to Heaven)

yet are not thus forfaken. The Spirit doth till ftrive with them, and, tho' he doth not dwell within them (which he doth in none but holy and fanctify'd Perfons) yet he often affords them his Prefence, and offers them his Affiftance, he often puts good Thoughts into them, and gives them many Opportunities of refcuing themselves from the Slavery they are under: If they will make ufe of that Affiftance, and comply with thofe Motions, and improve thofe Opportunities as they may do, there is no doubt in the World but they will be gained to Virtue and Happiness; God hath not forfaken them, and confequently there is Hopes of them, till they be hardned in their Sins, as we read Pharaoh was.

If this now be the true Notion of fpiritual Desertion, as without doubt it is, we may from hence learn thefe four Things, which I feriously recommend to the Confideration of all thofe afflicted Perfons amongst us, that I am now concerned with; and I conclude with them.

First of all, that they, of all others, have the leaft Reafon to imagine that they are forfaken of God, for they, of all others, are fartheft from that State which I have now reprefented as the true State of fpiritual Defertion: Their Hearts are fo far from being obftinately bent to the Purfuit of any evil. Course, that they abhor nothing more than' the Thoughts of it. They have a moft tender Senfe of their Duty, would not for the

World

World willingly do any thing that they know is difpleafing to God; all their Grief and Trouble is that they do not please him enough, that they do not perform that chearful uniform Obedience to his holy Laws, that they defire to do. Doth this now look like the Cafe of one that is abandoned of God, and left to himself? The Effects of God's forfaking Men, are Hardness of Heart, and Impenitence, and running on in a Course of known Wickedness without any Reluctance or Remorfe. No Man that is ever apprehenfive of God's forfaking him, that is ever fearful that he should, or troubled that he hath; no fuch Man, I fay, is really forsaken by him. Thofe, that are the leaft fenfible of such a Judgment, are the likelieft to have it inflicted upon them.

Secondly, thofe Perfons, whofe Cafes we are representing, as they are not at prefent forfaken by God, fo neither are they in Danger of it? For, whatever Apprehenfions they may have of themselves, they do not give God Occafion to forfake them, because they do not forfake him. For, I fuppofe, tho' they complain of great Dulnefs and Infenfibility, and can by no means fatisfy themfelves in their religious Endeavours and Performances, yet they have really as rooted an Averfion to every Thing that is Evil, and have as hearty a Defire and as fteddy Refolutions, and ufe as ferious Care to frame their Life and Converfation according to the Laws

of