[2.] His seeking implieth his diligence and pains to reduce them : Luke XV. 4, ' What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and ; seeketh after that which was lost till he find it?' It require th time and pains to find them, and gain their consent. A lost soul is not so easily recovered and reduced from his straying ; there is many a warn- ing slighted, many a conviction smothered, and tenders of grace made in vain, till they are taken in their month : Isa. Ixv. 2, ' I have spread out my hands all the day long unto a rebellious people,' as requiring audience.
I evidence this two ways —
(1.) Christ is said to seek after us by his word and Spirit.
{\st.) By his word, he cometh as a teacher from heaven, to recall sinners from their wanderings. At first he came in person : ' I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' Mat. ix. 13.
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Besides his giving repentance as prince and lord of the renewed estate, or dispenser of the grace of the gospel, there is his calling to repent- ance ; and Christ was very painful in it, going up and down, and seek- ing all occasions to bring home poor creatures to God. Thus he was now calling home to God Zaccheus, a publican ; so the woman of Samaria, when he was faint and hungry, John iv. 34, he telleth her his 'meat was to do the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work/ To seek and save lost souls was meat and drink to Christ. So still he doth send ministers, giving them gifts, and inspiring them with a zeal for God's glory and compassion over souls, that ' with all meekness they may instruct those that oppose themselves, if peradventure God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,' &c., 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. Kow these are to be 'instant in season and out of season,' 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; as the woman lighted a candle to seek her lost groat, Luke xv. 8. So Christ causeth the candlestick of the church to be furnished with burning and shining lights, men of prudence, zeal, and holiness, and compassion over souls, that he may at length gain on a people. And indeed Christ never lights a candle but he hath some lost groat to seek.
(2d) By his Spirit striving against and overcoming the obstinacy and contradiction of our souls. By his call in the word he inviteth us to holiness, but by his powerful grace he inclineth us. Man is averse from God ; he resists not only external offers, but internal motions, till by his invincible grace he changeth our hearts, and so in the day of his power we become a willing people : Ps. ex. 3, ' Thy people are willing in the day of thy power.' It is the good shepherd that bringeth home the sheep upon his own shoulders rejoicing, Luke xv. 5.
(2.) This seeking is absolutely necessary ; if he did not seek them, they would never seek him. It is our great duty to seek after God ; the scripture calleth for it everywhere : Isa. Iv. 6, ' Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.' By the motions of his Spirit he urgeth us thereunto : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst. Seek ye my face.' The course of his providence inviteth us ; both afflictions : Hosea v. 15, ' In their afflictions they will seek me early ; ' and mercies : Acts xvii. 27, 28, ' That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us : for in him we live and move, and have our being.' And his people are described to be a generation of them that seek him, Ps. xxiv. 6. Yet if Christ had not by his preventing grace sought us, we could never seek after him : Isa. Ixv. 1, ' I am found of them that sought me not.' I prevented their seeking of me, by sending and seek- ing after mine own first. Christ beginneth with us first : 1 John iv. 19, ' We love him, because he first loved us.' He chooseth us before we choose him : John xv. 16, ' Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.' He seeketh us first before we seek him ; for we are fugitives and exiles, our hearts are averse from God, and there is a legal exclusion in the way. Sweetly Bernard to this purpose, Nemo te qucerere potest, nisi qui prius invenerit ; vis inveniri ut quoeraris, quceri ut inveniaris ; potes quidem inveniri, non tamen prceveniri. God will be sought that he may be found, and found that he may be sought. We cannot seek him till we find him ; we may return to him, but we cannot
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prevent him ; for he pitied our misery, and sought us, when we had neither mind nor heart to seek him,