View source for A BELIEVER UNDER THE HIDINGS OF GOD'S COUNTENANCE

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<p>&quot;Your  observations, my dear brother,&quot; said another, who sat at the corner of the  room, &quot;are truly refreshing to my soul. I have been long exercised under  the hidings of the divine countenance, and sometimes tempted to cry out, with  the church of old, 'My hope is perished from the Lord.' But I perceive, from  what you have been saying to our friend, mourning under the unbelief of his  heart, that the same arguments, by a parity of reasoning, are applicable to my  case also. Spiritual darkness and spiritual doubting are but too nearly allied,  and proceed from the corruption that dwells within. It may be said of both, 'It  is your iniquities which have separated between you and your God, and your sins  have hid His face from you;' and when this is the case—when, as in Paul's  voyage, 'neither sun nor stars for many days appeared, and no small tempest' is  added to the darkness of the horizon, faith will be at a low ebb, and all hope  that the soul is then in a state of safety, will for a time be taken away. <br><br>
  &quot;But blessed be  God, when I can find no comfort in myself, I know that Christ  is the same. I still see a loveliness in his person, and a suitableness and  all-sufficiency in his power to save—when I cannot say that I see my interest  in him to be clear. 'When will you come unto me?' is frequently the language of  my heart, though I cannot always call him mine; and the recollection of past  experiences is sometimes a lift to me during the passing cloud. I call to mind  the time and place, and the gracious manner and means, when, where, and by  which the Lord has heretofore comforted and refreshed my soul; so that, like  the wife of Manoah, I am led to conclude, 'if the Lord had not intended mercy,  he would not have showed me all these things;' and I always find that sweet  text of the prophet to be consolatory during the heaviest night of this kind of  trial—'Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him  who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely  on his God.'&quot; <br><br>
  &quot;I rejoice,  truly, my dear brother,&quot; replied the poor man, &quot;in the testimony you  bear to the faithfulness of your God under your sufferings. It is an easy thing  to speak a word for God's goodness, when the Lord is surrounding us with the sunshine  of his blessings; but it must be a gracious soul indeed, to rejoice in God,  when he has nothing but his word to trust in; and when God hides his face from  his people—stands at a distance from their prayers—seemingly thwarts all their  desires—gives no answer by&nbsp;<em>Urim</em><em>&nbsp;</em>and&nbsp;<em>Thummin</em>—<em>then</em>&nbsp;to  hold fast by God, and to lie passive before him. This is what the Prophet felt,  and what none but those who are taught of God the Holy Spirit can say with him,  'Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the  vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren;  even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I  will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The  Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and  bring me safely over the mountains.'&quot; <br><br>
  I had entered with so  much earnestness of participation into every man's case, as they related their  several experiences one after another, that I was unconscious of the lapse of  time, and felt not a little distressed, when I heard one of the company say,  &quot;Our hour is finished—it is past eight o'clock.&quot; The following hymn  was then given out and sung; which appeared to be a very suitable conclusion to  the solemn service— <br><br>
  No more, my God, I  boast no more&nbsp;<br>
  Of all the duties I have done;&nbsp;<br>
  I quit the hopes I held before,&nbsp;<br>
  To trust the merits of your Son.&nbsp;<br>
  <br>
  Now, for the love I bear his name,&nbsp;<br>
  What was my gain I count my loss;&nbsp;<br>
  My former pride I call my shame,&nbsp;<br>
  And nail my glory to his cross. <br>
  Yes, and I must and  will esteem&nbsp;<br>
  All things but loss for Jesus' sake&nbsp;<br>
  O may my soul be found in Him,<br>
  And of his righteousness partake! <br>
  The best obedience of  my hands&nbsp;<br>
  Dares not appear before your throne;&nbsp;<br>
  But faith can answer your demands,&nbsp;<br>
  By pleading what my Lord has done! <br><br>
  But, if I felt myself  pleased with the hymn, my mind was more abundantly refreshed and delighted with  the concluding prayer which followed it, in which the person who prayed, did  not confine himself to general expressions; but, more or less, included therein  the needs and desires of all the Lord's tried family; and in particular, the  several cases which had been spoken of during the evening. Neither, as a  stranger and visitor in this little society, did the leader in prayer forget to  mention&nbsp;<em>me</em><em>&nbsp;</em>at  the mercy-seat; that the Lord would supply all my needs, whatever they might  be, out of the abundant riches of his grace, which are in Christ Jesus. <br><br>
  After withdrawing  from the room, and taking leave of the friend who had conducted me there, I  retired to my closet to meditate upon what I had seen and heard; and the  conclusion I formed upon the whole was this—I had discovered in the Scriptures  of truth, that in all ages of the church, the Lord has had a seed which served  him. I no less discovered also that this seed were distinguished from the rest  of mankind by certain marks and characters. <br><br>
  I observed very  clearly in the little circle to which I had now been introduced, that its  members were widely separated from the unawakened world—in all their pursuits,  complaints, and desires. I remarked yet farther, that although their complaints  and desires differed in their degree of earnestness, yet, like a family  feature, there was a sufficient similarity in all to manifest their relationship  to each other; but what became my highest gratification, was the discovery  that, however unconscious of it before, their situation was my own; and I felt  that union of soul which the mind feels in a state of nature on the discovery  of affinity, so as to be drawn towards them in the warmth of a lasting love and  affection. I resolved therefore to cast in my lot among them, and to have the  same portion. <br><br>
  The sweet language of<em> Ruth</em><em>&nbsp;</em>to&nbsp;<em>Naomi</em><em>&nbsp;</em>exactly speaks the feelings of my heart—&quot;Don't  ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever  you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will  die where you die and will be buried there. May the Lord punish me severely if  I allow anything but death to separate us!&quot; <br><br>
  My mind has been much  exercised through the night, in reflecting upon what I had seen and heard at  the prayer-meeting; and the morning had but just opened upon the earth, when I  arose to prayer and meditation. <br><br>
  I felt the influence,  and having &quot;bowed the knee before the God and Father of our Lord Jesus  Christ,&quot; I entered upon the meditation of the subject which had engaged my  attention so much the preceding evening. The more I considered it, the more I  stood convinced that there is a seed in the earth which the Lord has  distinguished from the world; and I felt no less conviction also, that it is  divine grace alone which makes all the difference between &quot;him who serves  the Lord, and him who does not serves God.&quot; But that I should be the object  of his grace when I sought it not, nor was even conscious of the need of  it—here appeared the greatest mystery! <br><br>
  I found my eyes  overflowing in the contemplation of such unmerited goodness of my God towards  me; and was lost in the thought, when a call at the door roused me from my  meditation. It was the&nbsp;<em>traveller, </em>whom  I have before mentioned, who had kindly introduced me to the prayer-meeting,  and who was come to enquire what were my sentiments concerning it; and to offer  me that assistance which I had requested of him at our first interview. <br><br>
  I very frankly opened  my whole heart to him upon the subject, and hesitated not to tell him how much  I felt interested in what I had heard, and particularly in the case of&nbsp;<em>one</em><em>&nbsp;</em>who had spoken, from the similarity of his experience  to my own. &quot;How, or when,&quot; I said, &quot;or by what means, the Lord  has begun the work of grace in my heart, I know not; but, like the poor man we  read of in the Gospel, I trust I can say that 'whereas I was blind, now I see.'  It is, indeed—but a confused and ill formed view of things which I have at  present, in looking at the bright objects of divine truth. I see but  indistinctly&nbsp;<em>men as trees walking;</em>&nbsp;yet,  I cannot but hope that He who has graciously touched my eyes, will touch them  again, and make me see clearly.&quot; <br><br>
  &quot;Doubt  not,&quot; replied the traveller, &quot;the divine faithfulness. The 'pledge of  the Spirit' becomes no less the 'pledge of the promised inheritance;' (Compare  2 Cor. 5:5, with Ephes. 1:13, 14.) and an Apostle says, 'We may be confident of  this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in us, will perform it until  the day of Jesus Christ.' As nothing under divine grace will tend to open your  apprehensions more clearly to 'the truth as it is in Jesus,' than the  possessing right notions of the covenant of grace, on which the whole system of  the Gospel is founded, I have brought with me a sermon, written upon the  subject, and which, according to my conception, places the doctrine in the  plainest point of view possible. If it be agreeable,&quot; he added, &quot;I will  read it to you.&quot; <br><br>
  &quot;Nothing,&quot;  I answered, &quot;can be more desirable to me.&quot;—He accordingly took it  from his pocket, and read as follows: </p>

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