'What am I? An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry.' — In Memoriam, liii.
(6) P. 96. — ' As Tertullian saith, ..." "When men join together, they offer a holy kind of violence to God."' In his ' Apology ' the sentiment is found, e.g., c. xxxix. : ' We are a body united in the profession of religion, in the same rites of wor.ship, and in the bond of a common hope. We meet in one place, and form an assembly, that we may, as it were, come before God in one united body, and so address him in prayer. This is a violence which is well-pleasing to God.' Cf. Temple Chcvallier's excellent edition of the post-apostolical Letters and Apologies {8vo, 2d ed., 1851), in loc.
(c) P. 96. — ' Take away prayer, and take away the life and breath of the soul. Take away breath, and the man dies ; as soon as the soul of a Christian begins to live, he prays.' This recalls the beautiful hymn of James Montgomery —
' Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,' &c. G.
THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKEE.
THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER.
NOTE.
'The Successful Seeker' appeared originally in 'Evangelical Sacrifices' (4to., 1640). Its separate title-page is giveu Lelow.* For general title-page of the volume, see Vol. V. page 156. G.
*THE SYCCESSEFVLL
SEEKEK.
Ill two Sermons, on
r s A L M E 27. 8.
BY
The late Learned and Reverend Divine,
liICII. SiBBS.
Doctor in Divinity, Mr. of Kathebine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne.
1 Chron. 16. 11. Seehe yee the Lord, and his strength : seeke his face continually .
■ LONDON, Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Royall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the guilt Bible in Queeneshead Alley in Pater-noster-Piow. 1639.
THE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, ivill Tseek.—'Ps. XXYII. 8.
In the former verse, David begins a prayer to God, ' Hear, 0 Lord ; have mercy upon me, and answer me.' This verse is a ground of that prayer, ' Seek ye my face,' saith God. The heart answers again, ' Thy face, Lord, •will I seek ;' therefore I am encouraged to pray to thee. In the words are contained,
God's command and David's obedience.
* Seek my face ; thy face, Lord, will I seek.' God's warrant and David's work answerable, the voice and the echo : the voice, ' Seek my face ; ' the rebound back again of a gracious heart, ' Thy face. Lord, will I seek.'
' When thou saidst.' It is not in the original. It only makes way to the sense. Passionate speeches are usually abrupt : ' Seek my face ;' ' thy face. Lord, will I seek.' The first thing that I will observe from the encouragement is, that,
Ohs. God shews himself to his vnderstandiny creature. God begins you see, ' Seek my face.' He must open his meaning and shew himself first. God comes out of that hidden light that he dwells in, and discovers himself and his will to his creature, especially in the word. It is our happiness now, that we know the mind and meaning of God. What is the ground of this ? What need God stoop thus ? There is the same ground for it as that there is a God. These things go in an undivided knot, God : the reasonable, understanding creature ; and religion, that ties that creature to God ; a discovery of =:= God what that religion shall be.
For in the intercourse between God and man, man can do nothing except he hath his warrant from God. It is extreme arrogance for man to devise a worship of God. Do we think that God will sutler the creature to serve him as he pleaseth ? No. That were to make the creature, which is the servant, to be the master. It belongs to the master or lord to appoint the service. What master or lord will be served according to the liberty and wisdom and will of his servant ? And shall the great God of heaven and earth be worshipped and depended upon as man pleaseth, or from any encouragement from himself? Shall not he design his own wor- ship ? He that singles out his own work makes himself master in that. * That is, = ' hi/ God.'— G.
112 TUE SUCCESSFUL SEEKER.
Therefore God begins with this command, ' Sock my face ;' and then the heart answcrcth, ' Thy ftice, Lord, will I seek.' God must first discover his mind, of necessity, to the creature.
Scriptures might be forced hence to shew the duty owing from the creature, man, to God. For the creature must have a ground for what he doth. It must not be will-worship, infi-'nujit, &c. It is a rule, it weakens the respect of obedience that is done without a cause. Though a man doth a good deed, yet what reason, what ground have ye for this ? And that we may do things upon ground, God must discover himself; therefore he saith, ' Seek my face.'
It may be objected that everything proclaims this, to seek God. Though God had not spoken, nor his word, every creature hath a voice to say, ' Seek God.' All his benefits have that voice to say, ' Seek God.' Whence have we them ? If the creature could speak, it would say, I serve thy turn that thou mayest serve God, that made thee and m^. As the prophet saith, the rod and chastisement hath a voice. ' Hear the rod, and him that smiteth,' Micah vi. 9. Everything hath a voice. We know God's nature omewhat in the creature, that he is a powerful, a wise, a just God. We see it by the works of creation and providence ; but if we should know his nature, and not his will towards us — his commanding will, what he will have us do ; and his promising will, what he will do for us — except we have a ground for this from God, the knowledge of his nature is but a confused knowledge ; it serves but to make us inexcusable, as in Eom. i. 19, seq., it is proved at large. It is too confused to be the ground of obedience, unless the will of God be discovered before ; therefore we must know the mind of God.