7.  They may be so, as the sweet experience of others may yield them no supply of comfort at present, Ps. xxii. 4-6, “Our fathers trusted in thee,” said David, “and thou didst deliver them; they cried to thee, and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.”  But that gave him no present ease or comfort; for immediately he addeth, ver. 6, “but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men,” &c.

8.  Yea, all their own former experiences may yield them little solace; as we see in the same place, Ps. xxii. 9, 10, compared with ver. 14,15, “Thou art he,” says he, ver. 9, “that took me out of the womb,” &c.  And yet he complains, ver. 14, “that he was poured out like water, and his bones out of joint, that his heart was melted in the midst of his bowels,” &c.

9.  They may be brought near to a giving over all in despondency, and be brought, in their sense, to the very dust of death, Psal. xxii. 16.

If it be inquired, why the Lord dispenseth so with his own people?

We answer, and this is the second particular, that he doeth it for holy and wise reasons, whereof we may name a few; as,

1.  To punish their carelessness and negligence; as we see he did with the spouse, Cant. v.

2.  To chastise them for their ill-improving of his favour and kindness when they had it; as the same passage evidenceth.

3.  To check them for their security and carnal confidence, as he did David, Psal. xxx. 6, 7, when he said his mountain stood strong, and he should never be moved.  Then did the Lord hide his face, and he was troubled.

4.  To try if their obedience to his commands be pure and conscientious, and not in a sort mercenary, because of his lifting up upon them the light of his countenance; and to see if conscience to a command driveth them to duty, when they are in the dark, and have no encouragement.

5.  To put the graces of the Spirit to trial and to exercise; as their faith, patience, hope, love, &c.  Psal. xiii. 5, 6, 22, 24.

6.  To awaken them from their security, and to set them to a more diligent following of duty; as we see in the spouse, Cant. v.

7.  To sharpen their desire and hunger after him, as this instance cleareth.

Even in such a case as this, Christ is life to the soul, which is the third particular,

1.  By taking away the sinful causes of such a distance, having laid down his life and shed his blood for the remission of their sins, so that such a dispensation is not flowing from pure wrath, but is rather an act of mercy and love.

2.  By advocating the poor man’s cause in heaven, where he is making intercession for his own, and thereby obtaining a delivery from that condition, in God’s own time, even the shining again of his countenance upon them.

3.  By keeping life in, as to habitual grace, and by breathing thereupon, so that it becometh lively, and operative even in such a winter day.