but he gave me no answer." She then went about the city, and inquired of all the watchmen respecting him : and failing of success here, she says, in verse 8, " I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell ye him that I am sick of love." This is a striking comment on the last words of my text, " In their affliction they will seek me early : " and it exactly agrees with the experience of God's people in all ages : when they, who have been favoured with the light of God's countenance, are for a season deprived of it, they put away their foolish and vain excuses ; they see that they must at all events get nigh to their Beloved ; they will spare no pains; they will rather rise at midnight, than not seek him at all : they will attend the ordinances with redoubled diligence : they will inquire of the ministers, the watchmen, how they may find him : they request the intercession of the saints : in short, they will never rest, till they have regained the sensible enjoyment of the Divine presence.]
Let us now come to a short application of the subject. 1. To the careless world —
[My Brethren, many of you must be sensible that you never seek after God : if you pray at any time, you rest satisfied with having performed a duty, and are not at all solicitous to obtain any manifestations of the Divine presence : yea, because you have never experienced any peculiar sensa- tions of God's favour, you are ready to think, that all hopes of such experience are groundless, and that all must be either hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to such things. But surely, your own want of experience in these matters is no more a ground for denying the truth of what others feel, than your ignorance of the concerns of others is a ground for denying what others know. Would to God that you would seek the Lord for yourselves ! you should soon find that it is not in vain to call upon him. If you would humble yourselves, confessing your sins, and crying for mercy through the blood of Jesus, you should soon find that God is " gracious, and full of com- passion, and rich in mercy unto all that call upon him:" he would be " a Father unto you ; he would come unto you, and dwell with you;" he would " manifest himself unto you as he does not unto the world ;" he would " shed abroad his love in your hearts ;" and he would " make you glad with the light of his countenance." O, then, " seek the Lord, seek his face evermore!" Remember, it will be an awful matter to be banished for ever from his presence ; to hear him say, " Depart, accursed — " how dreadful! On the contrary, how delightful to hear him say, " Come, ye blessed!" O " seek ye the Lord whilst he may be found ; call ye upon him whilst he is near."]