And he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Let our faith plead these things, and may we rejoice in him who is the faithful God—he never can leave or forsake his dear Children, his Bride, his jewels, his crown, his honour, his glory, his own flesh and blood. This is our security and our triumph. His love cannot change; his nature is immutable; his purposes cannot be broken; the bond of union cannot be dissolved; he is one with them, he is in them, and they are engraven on his heart, on his arms, and on the palms of his hands; and he has sworn, _Because_, or _As I live you shall live also_. Yet there may be some apparent forsakings, these are chiefly imaginary; yet they have caused these sad complaints—_Why hidest thou thy face_, _O Lord_? Zion said, _The Lord hath forsaken me—my God hath forgotten me_! The Lord may depart from his people, in the suspensions of his keeping hand; and the light of his countenance, the sense of his favour, and the divine comforts of his spirit—this may be seen in the sad tale of the fall, of the children of God, especially in the history of Sampson, of whom it is written, that he went out to shake himself, as at other times, and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him: the Lord may seem as if he had forsaken his people when he delays answering prayer; when the soul is shut up for a season; when sin prevails; when no power is felt under the word; when providences are dark; when temptations are strong; when the Church is under long persecution; and when distress abound. Thus we may be partially forsaken; but faith can still triumph in this—_What shall separate us from the love of Christ_? David still loved his Absalom, though he refused him the sight of his face. The loss of the light of God’s countenance, loudly proclaims the direful effects of the believer’s sin, sloth, and unbelief—O! for grace to fly from sin as from the face of a Serpent—O! for grace to cleave to Jesus continually. But the Lord may be said to leave a man, when he withdraws his sustaining, creative, providential hand, as in the case of some who are lunatic; of others who push into dreadful crimes, and suffer for them; and of others, who are left to their own pride and despair, and who rush headlong, by their own hands, into an awful eternity. It is a mercy for a natural man to be kept by the almighty power of God, even as the God of nature. The Lord may be said to leave a people, when they have slighted the Gospel, rejected his servants, despised his ordinances, and wholly cast out his messages of love to his people. This we all know was the case with the Jews, which is to be seen to this day: God has given them up to their own blindness, pride, prejudice, and enmity; and no doubt they will remain so till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Hence he has said, _I will drive them out of my house_. _Yea_, _woe is to them when I depart from them_. _Your sin remaineth_. _Behold your