Quest. Whence comes this in God, the attribute of goodness, the spread- ing goodness in his nature, that he desires to impart and commmiicate himself ?
Ans. There is no envy in God. He hath none above him, and there- fore he labours to make all good. There is a mystery in it; but if some be not good, the fault is in themselves. As it is a prerogative in him to make some more and some less good, so there is a fault in them ; that I am no better, it is my own fault. The prerogative belongs to God. We must not search into that. But every man may say, I might have been better and more enlarged ; I did not seek his face, that he might take occasion to * That is, ' choose ' = love. — G.
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enlarge himself towards me. Would we be like our heavenly Father ? Let us labour to have large affections, to have a spreading goodness.
Two things make us very like God, that much concern this point: to do things freely of ourselves, and to do them far. To communicate goodness, and to communicate it far to many. The greater the fire is, the further it burns ; the greater the love is, the further it extends and communicates itself. There are none more like God than those that communicate what good they have to others, and communicate it as far and remote as they can to extend it to many. Our Saviour Christ, you see what a world were beholding to him ; heaven and earth were beholding to him. And the nearer a man comes to Christ, the more there is a kind of self-denial, to do good to others. Saint Paul had a gi-cat measure of Christ in him. He was content to be bestowed for the good of the church ; the care of all did lie upon him, 2 Cor. xi. 28. A public mind is God's mind ; a public mind is a mind that loves to do good freely and largely to others. Therefore God saith, ' Seek my face,' that I may have better opportunity to empty my goodness to you. ' Seek my face ;' that is, seek my presence. The face is the glass of the soul, wherein wo see the mind of a man. * Seek my face ;' that is, seek my mind, seek my presence, as we shall see afterward. I will speak no more of that point, God's warrant or command, but go on.
* My heart said unto thee, Thy face. Lord, will I seek.'
Here is the work and obedience, 'My heart said unto thee,' &c. David's heart was set in a good and sanctified frame by God ; it was between God and his obedience. The heart is between God and our obedience, as it were an ambassador. It understands from God what God would have done, and then it lays a command upon the whole man. The heart and con- science of man is partly divine, partly human. It hath some divinity in it, especially if the man be a hoty man. God speaks, and the heart speaks. God speaks to the heart, and the heart speaks to us. And ofttimes when we hear conscience speaking to us, we neglect it ; and as St Augustine said of himself, * God spake often to me, and I was ignorant of it ' (a). When there is no command in the word that the heart directly thinks of (as in- deed many profane careless men scarce have a Bible in their houses), God speaks to them thus ; conscience speaks to them some broken command, that they learn against their wills. They heed it not, but David did not so. God said, ' Seek ye my face ; ' his heart answers, ' Thy face, Lord, will I seek.'
The heart looks upward to God, and then to itself. 'My heart said.' It said to thee, and then to itself. First, his heart said to God, Lord, I have encouragement from thee. Thou hast commanded that I should seek thy face. So his heart looked to God, and then it speaks to itself, ' Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' It looks first to God, and then to all things that come fi-om itself.'
' My heart said.' It said of that point, concerning the thing thou saidst, * Seek my face.'
' My heart said to thee.' David saw God in all his commandments : ' Thou saidst to me. Seek my face ; my heart said to thee.' I know the command is from thee ; I have to deal with thee in the command and encouragement, and in the warrant. I look not to the words, but to thee ; the authority and strength of them comes from thee.
' My heart said to thee. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.'
Between the answer of David and God's command and warrant, the heart comes to think seriously upon the command, and then to enjoin the
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duty. This is to be considered, because there is no knitting of these two together but by the heart, the serious consideration of the heart. When God saith, ' Seek my face,' he answers, ' I will seek thy face.' How comes this return ? The soul considers the ground of the return before the return. A man, when he doth an5'thing, he doth it from the principles of a man. A holy man, when he doth a thing, he doth it from the principle of a holy man ; and what is the principles and foundation of the practice of a holy man ? A sanctified understanding to tell him what God hath said, and what he hath promised, and wherein God hath discovered himself.