dew, and his locks with the drops of the night, and they put him to the back of the door when he called for entry, Song v. I. A fin fo circumftantiated and aggravated, doth jufily procure great diflance. A deferted foul, when it tampers with temptation and folly, may think little of it; yea, the bride of Chrift may think the will fleep, and have her heart waking; yea, but this carriage holds him out, and keeps him at the door, Song v. 2, 3. Samfon may think he will fleep in the lap of Delilah; and imagine when the Philiftines come upon him, to beftir himself as at other times; but when he awakes, he finds his locks cut, and God departed from him, Judges xvi. 19, 20. The fluggard may think he will take a little fleep; if that be too much, he will take a little flumber; if that be too much, he will take a little folding of the hands to fleep; but he confiders not that that brings poverty upon him, as one that travels, and his want as an armed man, Prov. vi. 10.

(2.) The fenfe of the deferted foul when awakened to apprehend the diftance, partly by love, and partly by unbelief, will make the mount of diftance appear the more. Partly, I fay, by love, and affection, and languor to be at Chrift; and this languor checked and choaked with the fenfe of guilt, that caufed the defertion, O this makes the diftance and impediment feem the greater. Why, nuch affection and languor will make every hour a day to be at him; and the leaft distance a journey of a life-time. Whatever reality of distance and impediments guilt makes, love will look upon that distance in a magnifying glafs, and upon the mountains in a multiplying glafs, it would fo willingly be at that which it loves. Partly alfo by unbelief, the fenfe of the deferted foul will magnify the diftance, and. multiply the impediments: confcience of guilt, magnified by unbelief, makes the diftance very great, and the mountains many, unbelief itself being a great mountain in the Lord's way, Mat. xiii. 58.; yet even over all this range of mountains, that appear betwixt him and the deferted foul, he comes, while for the abounding of fin and guilt, he hath fuperabounding grace, to make grace much more abound; for fre

quently

quently renewed provocations, he hath endless compaflions that fail not. When he hath a mind to rend the heavens and come down, mountains of guilt and provocation flow down before him, Ifa. lxiv. 1. And for unbelief and defpondency, he hath invincible and ftrong confolations, to bear in against both; "For, who hath despised the day of fmall things? for they fhall rejoice," Zech. iv. 10.

3dly, As to the qualities of thefe mountains, I fhall obferve shortly,

1. That fome of them are greater and fome less; hence called mountains and hills. David faw the mountains of his fins to be great mountains; "For thy name's fake, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.". High aggravated fins are great mountains; and it is a great matter when love comes skipping over them.

2. They are high mountains, in respect that the guilt of fin and the cry of it reaches to the very heavens; and if mercy were not higher than the heavens, it would never come over fuch high mountains of fin and guilt, heaped up above the clouds.

3. They are fome of them lofty mountains: not only high, in refpect of fin's heinoufnefs; but lofty, in respect of its haughtiness and pride. The pride of man is as hard to level as a mighty mountain; but when the Lord comes graciously, "The loftinefs of man is brought down, and the haughtinefs of man laid low, that the Lord alone may be exalted," Ifa. ii. 17.

in

4. Some of them are fiery-burning mountains. Chrift had the burning mountains of God's wrath and of the fiery law to come over, which could not be done without quenching that fire with his precious blood, which is the blood of God. He had the burning mountain of the wrath of men and devils to come over, this conflict; "He came from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah," Ifa. lxiii. 1. He hath still men's fiery paffions and burning lufts in his way to impede him in his coming; but that that may not hinder him, he brings water in his hand to quench that fire: he opens the fountain of living waters; and, as it were, the

foun

n

fountains of the great deep, to drown a world of burning lufts and corruptions in his way; and he pours water o the thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; fuch powerful floods, as to cover or carry down the mountains with them.

5. Some of the mountains are dark mountains, fuch as we read of, Jer. xiii. 16. "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he caufe darkness, and before your feet ftumble on the dark mountains; and while ye look for light, he turn it into the fhadow of death, and make it grofs darkness." Our Lord Jefus, in coming over thefe mountains, to redeem by price, had the dark valley of the fhadow of death to go through, which may be called a mountain as well as a valley, as it was an impediment in his way; and when he comes to redeem by power, he hath the grofs darkness of ignorance to come over, and in this mountain, he bath the face of the covering caft over all people to deftroy, and the vail caft over all nations," Ifa. xxv. 7. So dark and mifty are the mountains at the best, that even his bride cannot fee him upon the top of them, till he come very near, fo as fhe may hear his voice, and the found of his feet upon the mountains; The voice of my Beloved! bebold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the bills.

6. They are strong, mighty, and unmoveable mountains, fo as no power of angels or men can move or remove them; they are ftrong-holds that cannot be caft down with carnal weapons, but by fuch as are mighty through God. It is only the coming of Chrift, the prefence of the Lord, the presence of the God of Jacob, that can make thefe mountains to ikip like rams, and the little hills like lambs, Pfal. cxiv. 4. Which leads me to the last thing on this head, viz.

4thly, The impaffability of thefe mountains, as infuperable by us, and fuch as none can overleap but himfelf, who is like a roe, or a young hart, leaping and skipping upon them. The bride of Chrift here admires his grace and love, in coming over thefe difficulties, that were impoffible for her to furmount. And, indeed, his discovering them to be fuch to us, is but a preparing of his way to coming over them. It is with

the

the believer, at a distance from Chrift; when brought to a difcerning of that distance, as it is with a weak perfon, that hath a journey before it, and is not only weak, but clogged with impediments, and hath mountains and hills in the way, that it is impoffible for it to get over; therefore the poor creature is ready to ly down and give over. Whence, indeed, four things here

are to be obferved,

1. That all fhould beware of laying impediments in the way betwixt Chrift and them; for, in the time of fecurity, and fpiritual fleep, men are ready to think that but a mote, which, when God reckons with them, in order to recovery, they will fee to be a mountain; therefore, there should be no bourding or dallying with that which may provoke him to withdraw and abstract his company. You that know any thing of fellow fhip with Chrift, entertain it tenderly, as you would not raise a mountain betwixt Chrift and you; and, as you would not, with Samfon, have your eyes put out, and be put to grind in the prifon little do many mind this, till they be brought to lofe Chrift's company in the croud, and be put to feek him forrowing, and to many fad thoughts, whether he and they fhall ever meet together again.

2. Whence, likewife, here is a touchftone for fhewing your awakened and fenfible condition. They that are at a distance from Chrift, and fee many mountains. betwixt him and them, if they would know whether there be a token for good in it, let them fee,

(1.) If they difcern the distance, and the reason of it and that they be not, like Samfon, that know not when the Lord was departed from them: fee if they can fay, as Ifa. lix. 12. "Our iniquities are multiplied before thee, and our fins teftify against us; for our tranf greffions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them." And,

(2.) See whether or not diftance be bitter, even as impaffable mountains are afflictive to a traveller; and when you cannot poffibly recover former proofs of the Lord's kindness, when thy wickednefs corrects thee, and

thy

thy backflidings reprove thee, then thou art finding it to be an evil and bitter thing, that thou haft forfaken the Lord thy God, and that his fear was not in thee, Jer.

ii. 19.

3. Yet after all, though it is juftly humbling, when we ufually raise mountains between Chrift and us, that are impaffable and infuperable by us; yet it is alfo encouraging, and contributes to the reviving of hope, that when he fhews the mountains to be infuperable, he is fo far on his way to come over them, and preparing us for his coming, and making out that word, Zechariah viii. 6. that what is marvellous in our eyes, fhould not be marvellous in his eyes. His difcovering and holding out the infurmountable difficulties and impediments that we can never get over, is but to make way for the magnifying of his free grace and mercy in removing them, and remedying what is hopeless as to us, and defperate. Therefore,

4. We would ftill be encouraged to give him the glory of what he can make out of our hopelefs conditions, and to put them in his hand, in expectation of a good iffue: when you are fo difficulted with a multitude of mountains and impediments, that you have given over hopes of meeting with him, upon your part, the mountains and hills being fo many and fo high, that you fee you will never win over them; yet leave room for what he can do, leave room to him and his power, and pity, and promife give him this glory that he can get over them to you, though you cannot get over them to him: put the cafe that is defperate in itself, and as to what you can make of it, over upon him, who can foon come leaping on the mountains, and fkipping on the hills.This leads me,

III. To the third general head of method, viz. To fpeak a little of the manner of his coming, imported in his leaping on the mountains, and fkipping on the hills. Much of the beauty and fweetnefs of the text lies here; and therefore, I fhall endeavour to hint at the import of this manner of his coming. And,