that they are now brought back again to the State of worldly fenfual Men, yet, as it appears from what has been faid, it is not even yet to be concluded that they are forsaken of God, or in a State of Desertion truly fo call'd; for tho' the Spirit doth not now any longer dwell with them, but has quitted their Souls from being his Temple, his Habitation, (because they have expelled him thence) yet it is to be hoped he hath not quite given them over; as God affords them ftill many outward Means of Grace and Reconciliation, fo he affords them many inward Motions to make those Means effectual to their recovery: And, tho' their Condition be infinitely more hazardous than it was, and their Repentance more difficult, yet ftill they may repent and recover. For, as I faid before, no Man is forfaken of God that is not given up to hardness of Heart; (I do not mean fuch hardness of Heart as fome melancholly People fancy they are troubled with). but I mean a wretched Stupidity, and unconcernednefs about fpiritual Affairs, so that he lives in Sin and knows that he doth so, and is content with his Condition, and thus continues to live without defigning or endea-. vouring to return to God, and his Duty; which certainly is a fad Condition, and God Almighty deliver us from it, &c.

SER

SERMON III.

PS AL. XLII. 6, 7.

According to the Translation of our Liturgy. Why art thou fo full of Heaviness, O my Soul, and why art thou difquieted within me? Put thy trust in God, for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his Counte

nance.

Am now fpeaking to the Cafe of those People, who are under great Afflictions, upon account of the lofs of their fpiritual Comfort, which they used to feel in the performance of their Religious Exercises, and which they attribute to Gods forfaking them, and leaving them to themselves. Time has been (fay they) when they have taken great delight in the Ways of God, and have experienced the comfortable Influences of his Spirit upon their Minds. They were then full of life and vigour, and could meditate, could read, could pray, could receive the Sacrament, with a great deal of Devotion, and a great deal of Satisfaction: But now they find a great abatement of their Affections towards God:

45.

God: All their religious Exercises are performed very heavily: They find no manner of Sweetness in them. On the Contrary, they are very troublesome to them; their Hearts are like Pharaohs Chariots, either they cannot move at all in the Way of God, or they move with wonderful difficulty: Is not this a plain Indication that God hath forfaken them, and withdrawn his Presence and Affiftance from them?

This is the Cafe I am now upon, and in fpeaking to it I proposed to do two Things.

First, To give an Account of Desertion truly fo call'd, or what it is for God to forfake a Man, and to fhew that these People have no reason in the World to apprehend that they are in that State.

Secondly, To give a true Account of those Effects, which melancholly Perfons are wont to afcribe to God's forfaking them, and withdrawing his Grace from them: And withal to offer fomething both for the Direction and Comfort of Perfons that are in this Condition.

The firft of thefe Points I dispatched the laft Time. I now proceed to the other, which is to give an Account of these Effects which melancholly People are wont to ascribe to Gods forfaking them, and withdrawing his Grace and Spirit from them, and likewife to offer fuch Things as may be of use in order to their Cure.

The

The first Thing I have to reprefent is this. What if all the abatement of their Affections towards God, all this dulnefs and deadness of Heart in their Devotions, which thefe good People complain of, do arife purely and folely from the Temper of their Bodies? I must confefs I think it doth fo in all these Cafes, where the Man hath not brought this Indifpofition upon himself, by a wilful neglect or difufe of his fpiritual Exercifes, and giving himself up to a careless, worldly, or

fenfual Life.

I touched upon this Head, and fpoke fomething about the Influence of the Body upon the Mind, in my laft Difcourfe, where I fpoke of religious Melancholly in General: And here my Argument leads me to treat a little more particularly of it. You all know, that we confift of two Parts, a Soul, and a Body, which, tho' they are diftinct Substances and capable of fubfifting feparately, the one from the other, yet, while we live in this mortal State, they are by the wonderful Power of God fo closely united, that they do strongly affect one another. Tho' it be our Minds, or our Spirits, or our Souls properly, that can be faid to think, or to reflect, or to perceive, or to remember, or to hope; or to fear, or to enjoy, and the like; yet all thefe Operations are influenced by, and do receive a kind of Tincture as I may fay from, that State, and Condition, and Plight that the Body is in. For it is plain, by manifold

Experi

Experience, that our Souls, in this World, cannot act at all, without the help and ministry of the purer Parts of our Bodily Subftance; which purer Parts (let them confift in what they will) we call by the Name of Animal Spirits. Now, as thefe Animal Spirits, which the Soul makes use of as her Inftrument in all her intellectual Operations, I fay, as these are well or ill difpofed, fo will all the Acts of our Minds proceed accordingly: Sometimes, when they are quite stifled and oppreft, as in a Fit of an Apoplexy, and fuch like Diftempers, our Minds, how vigorous foever they have been before, cannot think at all, but we are quite without Sense and Perception. Again, at another Time, when their Motion is not quite damped, but yet, thro' a Diftemper, they move irregularly and tumultuoufly, as in the Cafe of a violent Fever, why then, tho' we do think, yet we think wildly, and extravagantly, and inconfiftently, even to that Degree, that we call it Deliroufnefs or Frenzy. Again, at another Time, when the Animal Spirits do move regularly, and are a fit Inftrument for the Soul to work with, yet, as there is greater or leffer Plenty of them, as they are finer or groffer, as they are more or lefs agitated; fo, accordingly, are the Operations of our Souls more lively, or more dull, performed with more Eafe or with more Difficulty; with greater, or with lefs Pleasure and Satisfaction to our felves. We cannot think fo freely,