2. The season : buy it whatever it cost you. The season of receiv- ing good and of doing good.
[1.] Of receiving good, and that —
(1.) From God. God's seasons and opportunities must not be over- slipped. There are special times when God, by a fair concurrence of all circumstances, maketh nearer approaches to a sinner than at other times : Isa. Iv. 6, ' Seek the Lord while he may be found ; call upon him while he is near.' God's times are not at the beck of our desires ; he will be observed in his near approaches, as when he is ministerially near by pressing exhortations ; this season must not be carelessly past over : John xii. 36, ' While ye have light, believe in the light, th t ye may be children of the light.' Christ speaketh there of his own personal ministry. So when God is preparatorily near by the checks of conscience and the convictions of his Holy Spirit : Prov. i. 23, ' Turn ye at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you ; I will make known my words unto you.' It is dangerous to let such con- victions die away in our hearts, as Felix stifled gripes of conscience. No iron so hard as that which hath been often heated and often •quenched, and none so hardened in sin as they that have lost the advantage of a sound conviction. So when he is savingly near by the
364 SEBMONS UPON EPHESIANS V, [SeR. XIX.
drawings of his Spirit, we should not delay and put off such a work of concernment as our return to God is ; his treaty of peace may soon break up, and the covenant be out of your reach. When he draweth you should run, Cant. i. 4 ; when he knocketh, you should open. Rev. iii. 20. And sometimes we feel that he knocketh hard and loud. Wlien the wind blows, we should loose the sails, John iii. 8 ; when the waters are stirred, we should put in for cure, John v. 4. Set about the business before these motions cool, and lose their efficacy. When the spouse would not open to her beloved, it cost her afterwards many a weary step and bitter sigh, Cant. v. 6, 7. Many times God doth as it were call us by name, by speaking to our case and condition. Now it is dangerous to let that time sli]) when God doth as it were single thee out to make thee an object of his grace. Remember the Spirit doth not always strive with sinners : Gen. vi. 3, ' My Spirit shall not always strive with man.'
(2.) To receive good from men ; as when God in his providence casteth you upon the company of wise and holy persons, and you have excellent advantages of being built up in your most holy faith ; as when the disciples had Christ's company and personal presence with them : John xii. 35, ' Yet a little while is the light with you ; walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.' And elsewhere he chideth them for profiting no more by his converse with them : John xiv. 9, ' Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? ' That they knew so little of the dignity of his person and office. So elsewhere he reproves Martha, who was so busily employed about the service of the entertainment, while Mary sat at his feet (the posture of hearers) and heard his gracious words, Luke x. 41, 42. In good company Ave have a fairer opportunity of exhorting and quickening one another, of getting doubts resolved, and scruples answered. Solomon telleth us, Prov. xx. 5, ' Counsel in the heart of man is like a deep water ; but a man of understanding will draw it out.' We must improve these seasons of receiving good to our souls : Rom. i. 12, ' That I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you and me.'
[2.] Of doing good. There are special seasons of performing our duty to God and man.
(1.) To God. Many times we are strangely influenced and acted by the impulsion of the Spirit ; now upon such occasions we should not hang off : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst. Seek ye my face ; my heart said unto thee. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' God speaketh to us by the injection of holy thoughts and the secret excitations of his grace, and we speak to him by real and ready returns of obedience.
(2.) For doing good to men, to their souls and bodies. We should take all occasions of drawing others from their sins, and gaining them to Christ. If we lose time, we should not lose opportunity. Some- times providence puts an opportunity in our mouths, as Nehemiah had of speaking to the king concerning Jerusalem that lay waste : Neh. ii. 6, ' And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that tliou wouldst send me into Judah, unto the city of my fatliers' sepulchre, that I may build it.' So Esther iv. 14, ' Who knoweth but thou art come to the kingdom