[5.] It is the end of the Spirit's motion: Ps. xxvii. 8, 'When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' God speaks to us by the injection of holy thoughts and the inspiration of his grace, and we should, like a quick echo, take hold of this.
[6.] Let me jDress you, because all the pretences that keep you from seeking God are in vain ; as (1.) That tliere is no need of seeking God ; or (2.) That it is in vain to seek God.
(1.) That there is no need of seeking God. We should always be seeking of God, till our loss by the fall be fully made up in heaven ; we should still seek God, till we enjoy him among his holy ones. We seek God on earth, but we find him in heaven : Ps. cv. 4, ' Seek the Lord, and his strength, seek his face evermore.' We need him every hour for direction, jirotection, strength, and comfort; we are in danger to lose him, if we do not continue the search : all the while we are in the world this work must be plied close.
(2.) As the devil saith to the secure, There is no need ; so to the fear- ful and troubled sinner, that it is in vain to seek God, especially when former endeavours succeed not — there is no hope for him. Oh, but seek him ! the God of Jacob hath not said, ' Seek ye me in vain,' Isa. xlv. 19. He hath engaged himself plainly, openly, and perspicuously, not in obscure and ambiguous terms, such as may bear contrary senses, that their fraud and ignorance may not be discerned ; and he perform- eth what he promised : Ps. xxii. 26, ' Tiiey shall praise the Lord that seek him : your heart shall live for ever.' Neminem tristem dimisit, He never sent any away sad, but will comfort them. Wisdom is light and knowledge to the soul : Prov. xxviii. .5, ' They that seek the Lord understand all things' — the meaning of all his providences. And it is comfort to the soul ; Ps. Ixix. 82, ' Your heart shall live that seek God ;' and protection, Ezra viii. 22, ' The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.' So that we shall have cause to praise God before the search be over : Mat. vi. 33, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, and all these things shall be added to you.' But besides this, if there were nothing in hand, there is much in hope ; it bringeth an everlasting reward : Amos v. 6, ' Seek ye the Lord and ye shall live ; ' and in the text, ' He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' They that do not seek his face shall never see his face ;
VeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 171
however, if we do not sensibly find him, yet we may comfort ourselves, that we are in a seeking way, and still in the pursuit : Fs. xxiv. 6, * This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.' This is the mark of God's chosen people, and we should be still wrestling through disappointments. Better be a seeker than G wanderer. But the wicked are described by this — that ' They are all gone out of the way,' Pt^. xiv. 3.
2. For the manner — seek him out.
[1.] Seek him early, whilst you have strength to serve him, and whilst you have means to find him. This is a work that must not be put off: I.^a. Iv. 6, ' Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.' God will not always put up with your frequent denials. There is a time when God will be gone, and seeking will be to no purpose : compare Prov. i. 28, ' Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me ; ' with chap. viii. 17, ' I love them that love me ; and they that seek me early shall find me.' There is a seeking out of self-love, and a seeking out of love to God. When death cometh and their day is past, many at last may seek God ; and their straits may drive them to him, who were never put to it by any sense of sin. While hot and eager in sin- ning, they are not sensible of it ; as Samson knew not that God was withdrawn while he slept in Delilah's bosom, till he knew the Fhilistines were upon him ; and then it was too late. The greatest contemners and despisers of God do at last see that there is no happiness but in God ; but then miss the blessing, as Esau did, though he sought it with tears. Therefore will you despise grace to the uttermost, and weary it out to the last gasp ? It may be by thy lamentations on thy death-bed, God will learn others to take heed of trifling with him. Oh then, if they could but call time back again ! What, Lord ! not give me one hour, or one day more ? There is no place without examples of this kind, of those that lament their time is out and opportunities lost, when God hath offered grace to them. Some instances there are, whom God sets forth to be terrors to the secure world, who are as good as men risen from the dead, to tell others of the vanity of their sinful courses ; who, look- ing upon time past, see it is irrecoverably lost, and gone away as a dream and a shadow. Upon time present they feel their souls naked, their accounts not made up, an end come to all their hopes and comforts here ; body sick, conscience trembling, heart hard, God departed, and the grave opened for their filthy carcases, and devils waiting for their secure souls, and for time to come think of nothing but hell and horror and judgment to come ; and so they lie complaining, that they had not improved their time. But much time is lost, wishing others to take warning by them, and saying to them. Oh, do not cast away mercy, nor let the precious blood of Christ, which is worthy to be gathered up by angels, run a wasting ; now I see the end of my joys, and the beginning of my torments ! Oh. then, seek God out of love to God : 1 Feter iv. 3, ' For the time past of our lives may suffice us, to have wrought the will of the gentiles ; ' Hos. x. 12, ' For it is time to seek the Lord.' Misspent time in neglecting or refusing to seek the Lord ought to be redeemed, and will be so in all that are sensible of their own case. When God maketh an offer, we should be so far from delaying or putting off our