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choose thee, and delight in thee ; thou shalt be my God. If we have this returuiug spirit back again, we cannot have a better argument that God loves us, than by answering God's course.
This is that that St Peter hath in 1 Peter iii. 21. That that doth all in baptism, it is not ' the washing of the filth of the body,' but the e-Tn^uirri/Ma, ' the answer,' or the demand ' of a good conscience ; ' but * answer' is better. The answer of a good conscience cleanseth in baptism. What is that ?
In baptism, dost thou believe, saith the minister, in God the Father Almighty ? I do believe. That was the answer. Dost thou believe in God the Son ? I do believe. Dost thou believe the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting? I do believe. Dost thou renounce the devil and his works ? I renounce them. That is the answer of a good conscience. Where that is from the heart, there God hath spoken to that heart before, and there is obedience to purpose. 'Thy face will I seek.' It is that that brings comfort, not the washing of the water. It is not the eating of the bread, and drinking the wine, and hear- ing the word of God : when there is not the answer of a good conscience, when we say we believe, and we will do this, to do it indeed. Lord, ' I will believe ; ' I will go out of the church with a purpose to practise what I hear. Here is the answer of a good conscience, when we mingle what we hear with faith, and labour to practise it, or else it will do no good.
Our obedience must be suitable and answerable, as I said before : if it be a direction, to follow it ; if it be a command, to obey it ; if it be a threatening, to fear it ; if it be a comfort, a promise, to rest upon it. Let there be a suitableness of obedience to the word thereafter as the word is. Let us have a spiritual desire to these things, to imitate the holy man of God, as we desire to share in his comforts.
I will follow this point of the answerableness of obedience a little further, and then come to the particular of seeking.
Let our obedience be every way answerable first. Let the heart think what God saith, what God commands and promiseth ; let the heart take the word of God the second time and ruminate on it, and go over it again. Let us look into the word, and see what is commanded, and what is pro- mised, and then let the heart go over it again. And then upon that allege it to God.
(1.) Put case amnn he in twuhle. Lord, thou hast commanded, ' Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will hear thee,' Ps. 1. 15. Let the heart think of it and go over that encouragement. It is rather an encouragement than a command. Though indeed God lay a command on us to be good to our own souls, it is a duty to love ourselves. Therefore he commands us to go to him, to seek his face, as though we wronged him by disobedi- ence, when we injure ourselves by our peevishness, as indeed we do. God loves us better than we love ourselves. Let us think of the command and invitation ; thou hast commanded me. Lord, and encouraged me to come ; I am now in trouble, experience teacheth me. I come to thee. Thou hast said, ' He that sitteth in darkness, and seeth no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord,' Isa. 1. 10. I am in darkness, and see no light now, I trust in thy name. Let the heart think of the promise, and then allege it to God, and come with an obedient answer, and cast itself upon him, and trust in him.
(2.) We are in want, j^erhaps, and see no issue, no supply. Think of God's gracious promise, 'I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee,' Heb. xiii. 5. I come to thee and claim this promise ; I am in covenant with thee, &c.
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(3.) So we should take the promise. Thou hast said, 'At what time soever a sinner comes to thee with a repentant heart, thou wilt forgive his iniquities ; and though his sins were as scarlet, thou wilt make them as snow, and white as wool,' Isa. i. 18. My soul thinks of that command, and I come to thee.
Thou hast bid all that are weary and heavy laden in soul, that are troubled in conscience with the sense of their sins, to come unto thee. My heart thinks of thy command and invitation, I come to thee ; I am weary and heavy laden. First, let us think of the encouragement, that is our warrant, and then yield present obedience. And then what will be the issue ? What will spring from it when the heart and obedience join with the command, that there is a meeting, that they concentrate the heart and obedience ? God bids the heart obey. The heart saith, I do obey. When these meet, the issue must be exceeding comfortable. It cannot be otherwise, when the obedient heart meets God in his command, in his promise.