Hosts Isa 9. 13. And so in a manner baffle him by their perverseness in a most gracious design 5. This is the design of Christs undertakings wherein he should not be Frustrated Christ became EMMANUEL God with us that God might be in us He assumed the Humane nature that we might be Partakers of the Divine which cannot be without our finding God He suffered for sins that he might bring us unto God 1. Pet 3. 18. The Bloud of Christ was for making those that were a far off nigh unto God Ephe. 2. 13. Which cannot be without seeking him It is their Concern also for 1st If men find God in him they will find two great Advantages which they will but in vain seek for any where else These are 1st Salvation from evil things as lust sin with all the Mischevous Consequences of it Gods wrath the Laws Curse the Miseries of this life the Terrours of Death and the Torments of Hell From evil Persons Enemies without as wicked men and cruel Devils the great enemy within our Carnall selves In all these cases it is palpably evident that Salvation belongeth unto the Lord Psal 3. 8. 2ly Satisfaction in God The Soul was made for God at the first and only God can fit it and fill it answering its vast Capacities and fulfilling its numerous desires Whatever is besides and below God all worldly Enjoyments are unsuitable to a Soul which is Spirituall unproportionable to a Soul which is immense Eternall Without God himself there cannot be that peace of God which passeth all understanding Phil. 4. 7. There will not be that Joy unspeakable and full of Glory that Fullness of Joy which only is in Gods presence Psal 16 11. 2ly If men finally miss of finding God 1st They sustain great loss their Souls will be lost the most noble and durable part of man the immediate workmanship of Gods hands the purchase of Christs Bloud which is of more value then many worlds will be utterly and Irrecoverably lost Not that it will cease to be but it will be so miserable that it had better never have been It will be an extream Burden to its self being without God for it can never possibly enjoy it self if it find not God 2ly Heaven will be lost and all the joyes and Glories of it There is no being in Heaven without God who makes the main of Heaven into which men enter not so much by changing their place as by changing their state 3ly Their Lives will be unprofitable they will live like Brutes or Devils and want the honour and pleasure of doing service to God and good to themselves and their brethren being Blessings to the places where they are cast Without finding God no good will be got or done for without him we can do nothing S John 15. 5. It is he who works all our good works in us and for us 4ly Their Death will be terrible When men are about breathing out their last their Friends weeping and mourning over them but not able to Comfort or help them unless they be stupid and senseless what horrour and anguish must they needs be in then if they have God to seek when they are quite leaving the world and all its delights wherein they have so much pleased themselves and when they are entring into an Eternity of Woes and Miseries Alass They cannot say with David Psal 23. 4. Though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no Evill For thou art with me 5ly Hell will be altogether unavoidable the Horrours torments whereof are unspeakable unconceivable and unsupportable being to continue unto all Eternity without Remission or Intermission The Soul once out of the Body if without God needs no other Hell than what it Carries about with it For then it will be continually upbraiding it self with â—â—s sin and folly and its own desires will Torture it by their Eager and Impetuous Cravings which are never like to meet with the least satisfaction Vse 1. Expostulation 1st Why do we not what we may and ought yea and must do unless we resolve to be extremely endlessly miserable What! have we found God already It is well if we have But let me tell you there are not many that have found him neither is he soon and easily found and Men have no reason to presume that they have found God unless they have uncontroulable Evidences that they have found him Thou who sayest thou hast found God what Extraordinary Wisdome and Grace and Comfort hast thou to Demonstrate that God is in thee of a Truth 2ly Is he not worth seeking If he be not he invites us to our loss when he calls on us to seek him And good men have all along been very Fools who have imployed their time so unprofitably if men may do well enough when they come to die though their Souls have nothing to live on for they are like to Enjoy the world no longer If happiness everlasting happiness be worth seeking God is for only by finding God we are like to find that 3ly Do we expect to find him without seeking We may expect and see what will come of it But if we miss God it will be in vain to wish we had sought him when the time of seeking him is over And it will be little Comfort to us when we feel our selves miserable beyond all Expression for want of God to say we thought we might have found him without seeking And what grounds have we for such Expectations Did we ever know any that found God without seeking Or do the Scriptures mention any way of finding God without seeking Or have we heard from any that are come to God that they know any other way Vse 2. Exhortation Let us all set about this work which we are so much obliged to and concerned in which is the main 〈◊〉 business of our Lives and which 〈…〉 come to die we shall all wish we 〈…〉 applyed our selves unto all 〈…〉 set about it forthwith or 〈…〉 severall Hazards which few in their 〈◊〉 â—â—uld venture upon in matters of far less 〈◊〉 We say we will in good earnest set about seeking God after such a time when we have dispatched such a Business or Enjoyed such a pleasure But how if that time never come Thou in the mean time being snatched away by suddain Death as many are unexpectedly in the midst of their health and strength Suppose the time come and thou hast no leisure being pressed by the importunity of Friends to settle thy Worldly affaires and to make provision for thy Wife and Children How if though thou shouldest have never so much Leisure yet thou hast no such Composure as a 〈◊〉 of such weight which will take up a mans whole thoughts doth require Is a man in due Temper of mind for seeking God when he is fit for nothing else his mind being inwardly Distracted with câ—res about his Temporall concernes and feares of Death and outwardly disturbed with the Lamentations and discourses of these about him How if thou shouldest want neither leisure nor Bodily Health and strength and yet want 〈…〉 Are not many in their life 〈…〉 very Sâ—â—s Are not some Distressed with 〈◊〉 or Melancholy Some 〈…〉 with stupid lethargies 〈…〉 Now are such as 〈…〉 my Tolerable Capacity for seeking God What it thou shouldest wâ—nt a will to seek God at that time which thou proposest to thy self to do this in If nothing else be a wanting this will be enough to hinder thee from doing any thing to purpose herein Now when thy will is already so averse from this necessary work is it likely it should be more inclinable to seek God when longer Custome in sin has further perverted it worldly Affaires have more Entangled it fleshly pleasures have more inveagled it Satans Cunning and power has more inslaved it How if thou neither wantest will nor any of the forementioned Requisites for seeking God and yet want power to do it to purpose If God has given over seeking thee thou canst not seek him Once thou hadst Providences and Ordinances and mightest have had the Influences of Gods Spirit to excite thee to and to direct and assist thee in seeking God but thou wouldest not make use of them and now God is resolved thou shalt have no more offers of any such help You see then such a Resolution of putting off the seeking of God for a while is very unsafe It is also very unmeet and inconvenient If thou wert never so sure that thou couldest afterwards seek God so as to find him yet by delaying to do so now thou art like to be a loser for the longer thou puttest off seeking God the later thou wilt find him and so in the mean time thou wilt be deprived of all those gifts graces and Comforts wherewith God once found would have enriched adorned and refreshed thee Moreover it is to be feared that such a Resolution is unsound how plausible so ever it seems Men often pretend they will seek God when they intend nothing less but only use this pretence as a specious Excuse for their not seeking God for the present thereby to stop the Clamour of their own Conscience which so long as it is awake will be very frequently and sharply reproving them for their gross Negligence in a business of so great importance Thou who sayest thou wilt seek God hereafter if thou dost not say this meerly out of Form but hast a real design to perform it and dost verily believe that God is worth finding why dost thou not forthwith set about this Work of seeking him For thou hast now the same Motives and Inducements to excite thee to seek him and the same or rather greater Opportunities Helps and Assistances of Gods Spirit than thou canst ever expect to have at any Future Time which thou canst propose to thy self For the longer thou continuest in a Sinfull Course the more thou wilt grieve the Holy Spirit and the more thou wilt be hardened in Sin and so make thy Finding of God the more difficult FINIS
those frightfull Shrinks which are to be discerned in some dying Persons it is very probable are not so much the result of Vehement Pains of Body as of extream Anguish on their Spirit when they are made indeed to see whither they are going Sometimes their Peace and Hope continues untill the very last breath and their Amazement must needs be very Horrible when they feel themselves in Hell before ever they thought of it It is certain all these Advantages must come to nothing at Death For 1. Some of them are of that nature that they are of no use in another world as Credit and Worldly advantages Those in Heaven are so filled with Joy and Glory that these are below them Those in Hell are so filled with anguish and horrour that if they could have these still they could not heed them they would find no Ease by them Even during this Life a man in the Gout Stone or Cholick may have such Vehement pains upon him that it will be but poor Comfort to hear that he has lived in good Credit has scraped together much Wealth or purchased many Friends 2. Some of them are of that Nature that they Continue not after this Life Common Grace is but the working of Gods Spirit upon a man to bring him to Saving Grace in the 〈◊〉 or else to keep him from doing that mischief in the World which otherwise he would do Now there is no use of this after Death Gifts are but the Spirits working on a man to Raise his Parts that he may be more usefull to the Church Now the Spirit makes to further use of a man after he is called out of this Life 3ly Some of them are of that Nature that they cannot continue when the Truth is discovered and when Experience shews the Vanity of them as peace and hope God suffers them sometimes to fall here that those who rest in them may take warning not to Content themselves with that which may fall lest their Condition should be as sad as theirs is who fall away The Fall is Great in it self It is Totall whatever men have Raised to themselves by their Religion all comes down together It is Finall the Ruines of this usually are never raised again If it fall not till Death it is impossible to raise it if it fall before it is difficult Those who have got into a Form and rest there who have had great helps to get further and have been much a wanting to God and their own Souls they have Sinned much against Light and Grace or else they had got further Vsually their Fall is then when God leaves them wholly to themselves as despairing to do any good upon them Now there is no hope of that Soul which has Triffled away its Season of grace and is now left by God unto its self The fall is great as to its Consequences There is great Amazement by reason of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it There is great Horrour when all the false Peace and Hope is gone there is then nothing but a fearfull Looking for of Judgement and fiery Indignation Heb. 10. 27. Use 1. We should be greatly afraid lest what we Build should fall also and thereby we be put to great Shame to Build so Foolishly when we should be Building for Eternity Thereby we come to great loss we lose our Souls we undergo unspeakable unconceivable Mischeif which we can neither bear up under nor run away from The way to avoid this falling is to make use of Common grace in order to the getting of Saving grace to press through the Form of Religion to the power of it to nourish in our selves Apprehensions of the Danger of resting in such Attainments as we may utterly and everlastingly fall away from to be frequently enquiring what we have attained to in Religion which these Temporary Christians came short of to be earnest with God in Prayer that he would not suffer us to rest in such common Attainments as we may wholly lose during this Life or such as we shall never be Advantaged by when we come to die Use 2. The greater the Fall is let us be the more afraid of it and bend our Endeavours and Prayers so that we may escape it The nearer we come to Heaven the deeper shall we be plunged into Hell if we come short of Heaven Isaiah 55. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be Found Call ye upon him while he is Near. THese words under a different Aspect may admit of a different Construction View them on one side and they seem to lay before us an Exhortation to a great Duty with a Direction how this may be most advantageously Discharged The Duty Exhorted to is the Doing the utmost that in us lieth for the Finding of God The Rules directing how to manage this Duty aright prescribe that this be set about 1st Diligently Men ordinarily when they find and feel great need of the Guidance and Assistance of some Person of eminent Prudence and Power whom they have high hopes of do not content themselves with Idle Wishes neither do they lazily sit down vainly Expecting that he should designedly come to them or that they should Accidentally meet with him in good time No but they consider with themselves where is the Place of his usual Residence or Resort and thither they forthwith betake themselves to seek him out and if haply they do not find him where they Expected they go about calling and enquiring after him till at last they find him With such Care and Diligence must those seek who desire and hope to find God 2ly Speedily Men if they know that one whole help they greatly need cannot be found at all times let never so much Care and Diligence be used in seeking him will not dare to put oft one moment their seeking and calling upon him considering with themselves that for any thing they know that may be the only Moment wherein the Person needed may be found which Opportunity if they let slip they may be at abundance of Cost and Tâ—il in seeking him and all to no purpose Now these that would find God must set about this great work of seâ—kâ—ng him with as little Procrastination View the Words on the other side and they seem to set forth to us an Exhortation to this Duty with an 〈◊〉 Inducement and Encouragement faithfully to set about it Let a Business be of never so great Importance men will but slackly apply themselves to 〈…〉 they either doubt of the 〈…〉 tho' it should be effected or the Feasableness of it that it ever will be effected Therefore to excite men to do their utmost for finding of God he lets them know 1st The Advantage which will certainly accruâ— â—â— God bâ— but once Found he being THE LORD he having not only a Right of Dominion over all Persons and affairs but a Right of Propriety in them Now what may not men expect from this LORD who
does this Gate brings into this Way of Life whereas no other Gate does None can be careless whether he make Ingress and progress here but he who sets light by Life that Life which for permanency and privileges doe exceedingly transcend this Or 2ly Of the difficulty of going in and going on here A threefold difficulty is here mentioned 1st There is a difficulty in finding this Gate and this difficulty is so great that there are few overcome it Most drop into destruction before they know where the Gate of Salvation lies 2ly There is a difficulty in entring this Gate when it is found it being a strait Gate and so not to be entred with any bulk in any posture a Man must strip himself of all unnecessary lumber and compose his body into the most advantageous posture if he would get in at this strait Gate 3ly There is a difficulty in holding on in the Way which we have entred into through the Gate this Way being a narrow Way such as will not leave us at liberty to do as we list but will confine us within bounds and tye us to good behaviour so that we shall be necessitated to conform our Steps unto our Ways Doct. 1st There is a way which leads unto Life This is so clear a truth and so generall acknowledged that Christ does not think it needfull to prove it no nor so much as to assert it neither he only supposes there is such a way all that he does directly assert is touching the narrowness of this Way and the Straitness of the Gate which admits into it Here we must enquire what this Life is which has a Way to it what this way is which leasts unto this Life how this Way leads unto this Life Quest 1st What is this Life which has a Way leading to it Answer Man has a double Life 1st A Life of the Body in this World 2ly A life of the the Soul which is either inchoat and begun in this World or consummate and perfect in the other Now this Life of the Body consists in the conjunction of the Soul and Body together and exerts its self in natural vital Animal operations whereby we Eat Drink and Grow and Breath See and Hear Smell and Feel and Talk and Walk c. But this is not rhe Life which we have to do with here for we are speaking of a Life which Men generally are without yea are at a great distance from and cannot arrive at but by passing through a long Way but such a Life is not this present bodily life for all on this side the Grave have this Life The life then which we have to Enquire about is the Life of the Soul this men are without unless they be born again to it and they are but few who are born again nay men are at a distance from this life neither prizing this nor desiring it nor knowing the way to it Nay it is not the life of the Soul while it is yet in the body this vile body which we here Enquire after For though these two lives that of the Soul here and that of the Soul hereafter do agree much in their natures and Qualitys they have the same subject the immortall Soul which once was dead in trespasses and Sins Eph. 2. 1. The same principle Christ who saith of himself Job 14. 6. I am the way The truth and the Life whom St. Paul professes to be his Life Gal. 2. 20. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Col. 3 4. When Christ who is our Life c. The same effect influencing upon all the faculties of the Soul to raise and enlarge them bettering both mind and heart in all their operations The same excellency putting upon noble designes such as concern the Glory of the great God and the welfare of precious Souls and furnishing with Satisfactory delights such as are the result of Gods presence in the Soul and the Testimony of our Conscience that according to our power we have kept close to God in obedience The same permanency neither of them ever having any end yet these two Lives differ much in degrees more than the life of a man differs from the life of a new born Child yea more than the life of a grown man differs from the life of a Child in the womb It neither has such high operations nor such high comforts it is oft so secret and so hardly discernable either by the man who enjoyes it or by others that Christ rather counts it a tendency to life than life it self it is so exceedingly below that life which shall be in righteousness peace Joy and Glory the great perfections of this life that it scarce deserves to bear the same name the life then which we are here enquiring of is the life of the Soul after it is uncased of the body this is the great life whereunto the life of grace received in regeneration serves but as a way this is that which all Gods People find feel a want yea a need of which they all pant and breath after it makes the Soul happy immediately after death and the body too as well as the Soul soon after the resurrection 2ly What is this way which leads to this life Ans The way it self is obedience and self-denyal complying with Gods will and denying our own It is but going back the same way which man took when he fell from this life we had not been to seek for this life if Adam had continued in the state wherein he was created had he thus done both he himself had been confirmed in holiness and Righteousness and all his posterity after him had probably been born in the same state but he being Tempted by Satan closed with the Temptations and instead of complying with Gods will gratified his own and thereby ruined not only himself but us too Thus we are told by one man Sin entred into the World c. Rom. 5. 12. A double death entred by Adams Sin 1st A death of the Soul as to eternal life this was the immediate result of his Sin for by it he did as it were cut his own throat and thereby utterly stript himself of Spiritual life 2ly A death of the body as to this Temporal life this Followed upon his Sin also yet not so speedily for the seeds of death was only then sown which must have time to ripen Now the way to get out of this death into which we are plunged and to attain again that life which we have through Sin and folly lost is to take a quite contrary Course and whatever Temptations we have to do with either from the World or Satan more to consider what is Gods will then our own and rather to do what God bids us than what our own lusts incline us to This is the way the onely way though Christ when inwardly received into the Soul as a new life is the principle inclining and enabling us
to Love and chuse and keep this way And Faith is the Instrument whereby we Receive Christ as a principle of inward life and strength Quest 3. How do's this way lead to this life Answer This obedience and selfdenyal has a tendency to advance us unto this life 1st Not as matter of merit whereby we deserve at Gods hands that he should advance us unto this life The begger who comes to the door for alms by coming do's not deserve it though without coming he were never like to get it That a Creature should merit from God from whom it has and to whom it owes all that it has and is is both a proud opinion and a senseless one also Especially if we consider in what a pittiful depraved condition man is in whom this merit is supposed and boasted For 1st Were we born with as great moral perfections as Adam himself was created with and did we improue these with the utmost care diligence and Faithfulness unto the greatest advantage so as at no time to omit any duty or to commit any Sin yet we should by thus doing do no more then we were bound to for we owe our whole beings and Lives whatever we are have and are able to do unto that God from whom we received them and by whom we are preserved in them And is there any so Foolish as to fancy that there can be any great merit in paying of debts 2ly As we are darkned in our minds and depraued in our hearts we neither do nor can do half of that which we ought to do we either fail in the matter doing somthing which is unfitting to be done or not doing somthing which is fitting to be done or we fail in the manner doing what we do when we do the best with undue hearts and for undue ends So that we are alwayes affronting and provoking God either by our Sinful omissions or Commissions either in the thing practised or Neglected or in the manner of our Practising or Neglecting it And would it not be an unparalleld impudence in any to claime as due the least reward for such unworthy Carriages how much lâ—ss so great a reward as eternal Life is 3ly As we do not do all the good we might and the good we do we do not with that exactness which we ought even when we do it in the greatest Sincerity so the good we do it is not we who do it but the grace of God which is in us as St. Paul Modestly acknowledges 1. Cor. 15. 10. Not I but the grace of God which was with me So that were there never so great merit in the action we have little reason to lay Claime to it who are at the best but the instruments God being the principall authour for this is certain all the Evil of our Actions is from our selves and all the good of them from God 4ly The good which we do we do rather for ourselves then for God it is certainly so in the issue and ordinarily it is so in our intentions Whether we do well or ill it neither increases nor lessens Gods happiness Job 35. 6. 7. So that what we do we doing for our selves unto whom the advantage of what we do do's solely redound we have no reason to claime any reward from God till we can shew what we have done for him But 2ly As a means whereby we are fitted for this life such a course is both prescribed by God and has in it self a natural tendency to bring us unto the life which we need and are concerned to seek after Psa 50. 23. To him that ordereth his Conversation aright c. By setting our selves about this obedience and selfdenyall 1st We come to understand really and experimentally how much we are without this life For Obedience Would not be so diffcult a Task had we that life unto which this is Naturall we should Love and delight in Obedience were this agreeable unto the frame of our Spirit and were our wills as Conformable to Gods will as they should be and would be if we were not degenerate There would be no more room for selfdenyal in us then there is for it in Heaven among Angels and Saints who find nothing in them to thwart Gods holy Righteous and good will The first step unto true life is to be brought to a sense that we are without it 2ly We come to understand the worth of this life For we cannot but know that to obey God in his holy and Righteous prescriptions is very much our duty we owe this both to God and to our selves and to our Brethren and we can never have quiet in our selves while our Consciences testify against us that we walk contrary to our duty yet this we shall unavoidably do so long as we want that life which alone can make duty gratefull to us while we force our selves to duty as a thing that we are tasked to and which we may in no wise Neglect unless we will run the hazard of beating for our sloth or while duty goes down with us against the stomack we meddle with it as People do with Phisick which they abhor yet take to prevent a greater mischief while we have no Love to duty we are in Danger of a double trouble from it Trouble in Discharging it contrary to our Inclinations trouble in a total Neglecting of it or a superficial slubbering it over when our conscience takes occasion hence to upbraid us with a want of fear of God and care of our own Souls Now those who know how greivous it is ever to lie under one of these Troubles cannot but count that life precious which will totally free us from both and perfectly reconcile our Consciences Inclinations and duties together that there shall be no jarring among them And when once we come to know the worth of this life we are made to Prize Love Desire and seek it 3ly We Subdue that which in its being and workings is most Contrary to this life That which ties us fast in Death is our owne lusts these are the cords whereby Satan and the World do keep us at a distance from God the Fountain of life these like mud in the head of a spring cause such Obstructions that a source of Living water though it be Just at hand cannot gush out Now obedience gives a check to these lusts it hinders them from working while it finds the Soul a far different Imployment it hinders them from thriving by diverting the sap of the Soul some other wayes While men Neglect Obedience and give the reins unto their lusts they bring themselves more under the power of their Lusts and they have the less Command over themselves to refuse doing what their lusts promp them to neither can they so easily exert themselves into their former liberty But if we deny our lusts and discharge duty in spite of them we famish them and thereby weaken them that they cannot have that Rule
Israelites in the Wilderness which can neither get backward unto the Garlick and Onyons of Egypt nor forwards unto the Milk and Honey of Canaan So that here is want of inward Comfort unto the renewed Soul that Comfort which it is used to in God and which it has only a Relish for and then there is a sense of what do's greive as stirrings of Corruptions omissions of dutyes Commissions of sins it being left by God unto its own darkness and weakness whereby Notwithstanding its utmost Resolution and Exactest Caution it is overcome by Temptations easily overcome by slight ones Afterwards when the old nature gets more up the Motions of the new Nature growing faint and low and he who was Formerly Heavenly brings to be Earthly and becomes somewhat taken with the Follies and Vanities which are in the World he meets with abundance of Vexation in and by them Crosses of strong desires Frustratious of the fairest hopes various Occasions of greif and sorrow by what befalls him in his Body or Estate or good name or Relations 2ly Allurements unto seeking happiness in the Creature when wee miss of finding it in God for the present and allowing ourselves in such sinfull Courses as are most agreeable to our sâ—x Age Constitution and Condition that hereby we may attain the Satisfaction which we find a want and need of and desire this made Soloman to traverse the whole world over and to turn from one Creature to another for having lost that rest which he once found in God he could not rest any where untill he said to his Soul return unto thy rest How do these Temptations work as to the overthrowing the Spirituall Building The strength of this Building lies in the firmness of the Foundation and the Closeness of the Souls union unto this Foundation Now the Foundation it self is such as cannot be moved by all the Artifice and power either of the World or Hell or both The main danger then of the Ruine of this Building lies in the loosness of its union to the Foundation if this can be dissolved the Building must needs fall This union is made by an ardent love to Christ and a Confident faith in Christ If therefore a mans Affections to Christ can be any way alienated from him if his Expectations from Christ can be utterly Discouraged his Building on Christ is like to fall Here then is the Tryall which is made of the Building if the Soul will still persist to love Christ and that life Righteousness Holiness and goodness which is to be found in him and got from him so that it longs after these Prizes these above all worldly Enjoyments whatsoever seeks for these in the use of all means cannot be content to be without these upon any Termes is resolved not to lose these whatever they Cost when it finds for the present little but Trouble on every side by making this Choyce it neither finds Comfort in God nor in the Creature God forsakes and Friends forsake every one is ready to despise and Reproach and persecute us profane Persons because we are for some Religion and formall Persons because we are not for theirs We cannot rest in any form be it what it will be we find a need of an inward life and power for our Satisfaction and this we must have let it cost us our Estates our liberties our very lives If thus the Soul has an unquenchable love to Christ such a love as is spoken of Cant. 8. 6. 7. Which is as strong as Death and many Waters cannot quench it c. When nothing will move it to disgust Christ though it suffer never so much by him and for him nothing will allure it from Christ though you present it with all the Pleasures Honours Riches of the World Here is an unparaled love to Christ If the Soul will still persist to hope in Christ when Christ seemes not only to Neglect but oppose it when it gets nothing from him but frowns Rebukes and blowes when all its Endeavours and Prayers seem in vain and all Christs promisses and our Expectations fail when lusts continue in their strength after all that we have done to pull them down and grace continues in its weakness after all that we have done to raise it it s with the Soul as it is with the Church Isa 26. 18. We have been with Child we have been in pain c. And Psa 74. 9. We see not our signes there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long and yet still the Soul will hold the begining of its Confidence stedfast to the end Heb. 3. 14. It will hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto it at the Revlation of Jesus Christ 1. Peter 1. 13. It will not lissen to the Misgivings of its own heart nor to the Discouragements it meets with from men but will as David did in another case 1. Sam. 30. 6. Encourage its self in the Lord its God and when it walkes in darkness and hath no light will trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon its God Isa 50. 10. But why do's God who could easily prevent these Temptations permit them seeing he is Enclined by his nature engaged by his love Obliged by his promiss to do his utmost for their good whatever his wisdome can Contrive and his power Effect Yea seeing he has Instructed them in particular to beg this of him that he would not lead them into Temptation Nay why does he lay a Foundation for these Tryalls and make way for them by removing those inward Comforts of his Spirit which while the Soul enjoyes it has little sense of all outward Afflictions whatsoever be they never so grievous it was the sense of these which made the fire to be as inoffensive as delightfull as a bed of Roses to the Tryvmphing Martyr's it has little relish for all other delights little Ambition for any other glories it can easily despise them as it do's disgust them having these to satisfie it self with No Adversity can weary it no prosperity can inveagle it so that it shall be willing to quit Christ to break its Union to him its Communion with him As to the latter why God do's desert it after the Foundation is surely laid It is 1st That by withdrawing his powerfull presence corruptions might recover strength and Act and by Acting discover themselves to the Soul For it is imposible a man should believe himself to be so Exceedingly polluted as he will find himself when he veiws himself in the light of God and is in a great measure deprived of Restraining grace You will say may not the Remembrance of his Former Enormities before he was savingly wrought upon by God sufficiently convince him No partly because he did not much observe these as making no great Conscience of his ways and not obliging himself greatly to keep a Constant watch over his heart that
The Condition of lost man would be very deplorable if that God in whose Enjoyment his Happiness consists could in no wise be found The Undertaking of Christ also would be altogether in vain whatever he he has done or suffered even that Painfull shamefull Execrable Death upon the Câ—â—ss would be wholly to no Purpose if men could not be brought to God so as to find him for S. Peter tells us this was the great End of all That he might bring us unto God S. Pet 3. 18. Doubtless then God may be Found if he be but Sought 1. Duly If men seek him out of a feeling sense of their want need of him and out of a sincere desire to find him if they diligently enquire after him faithfully follow the guide which leads to him and carefully use the means whereby he is drawn nigh unto He hath promised Jer. 29. 13. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your Heart Which is as true of Gods readiness to be found when rightly sought to deliver from the Bondage of Sin as from the Captivity of Babylon 2ly God must be sought timely while he may be found before the Proper season of finding him be over Prov. 8. 17. Those that seek me early shall find me For The fifth thing implied in the Proposition is that the Time of finding God by seeking him will not always last And 1st It will certainly be ended at Death Indeed there is a Presence of God according to which he will be found after Death unsought for and undesired A Terrible furious presence which fills the Conscience of the Impenitent Sinner with a sense of Guilt and wrath and his heart with anguish and Horror Perplexity and Despair It is this Presence which kindles That fire that shall never be Quenched and which so affrights the greatest and stoutest that they are not able to abide it but Call to the Mountains and Rocks to fall on them and hide them from it Rev. 6 16. When the Soul is once separated from this Lumpish Body which straitens its Capacities and dulls its senses and greatly unfits it for Converse with any thing but this Gross world then it comes immediately to have to do with God himself whom it has so much despised and hated and his presence they can in no wise possibly avoid although by reason of the Contrariety which is between Gods nature and theirs it be extremely Tormenting to them like a fire that doth continually scorch Isa 33. 14. Who among us shall dwell with Everlasting Burnings But as for the Amiable and Gracious Presence of God that Presence which the Soul needeth and desireth with which it is so refreshed and ravished this if it be not sought here can never be found hereafter After Death the state of the Soul is unalterable it is with men then as it was with the Devils immediately after their Fall their Wills are Immutably fixed to their former Choice so that those who will not seek God now cannot then There is no such Work as seeking in the Grave whither we go Besides if there could be any seeking God after death there could be no finding him then seing there is then a Vast Gulf fixt between God and Sinfull Souls S. Luke 16. 26. The Romanists who suppose a Purgatory after death and a seeking and finding God out of Purgatory only assign this Purgatory for those in the state of grace who have been sincerely seeking God during this Life but have not found him being not sufficiently purified and so not prepared for him 2ly It may possibly be ended during Life There are those who have outlived the day of Grace in which God offers himself to be found Thus it was with Pharoah whom God after the sixth Plague reserved alive till he should have a more seasonable opportunity for the Glorifying of himself in his destruction Thus it was also with Judas of whom Christ gave this Character some time before his death that he was a Devil S. Joh. 6. 70. A Devil not only for the Wickedness of his heart but also for the desperateness of his state Devils might as soon find God as he There are those who while alive sin the Sin unto Death S. John 5. 19. Opposing the Spirit of God so obstinately and contumaciously in its saving work that at last it fully and finally Resolves to leave them to themselves to go on to their own Destruction God can never be found but when he sets himself to be found saying Behold me Behold me Isa 65. 1. Nay while he himself Seeks his Servants Psal 119. 176. And this is only so long as there is any Hopes that a Sinner may be Reclaimed by any Methods of Grace which Gods Wisdome and Justice will allow to be used towards him But if after a Tryall of all these in spight of Instructions and Reproofs of mercy and Judgement of what God can do mediately by his Ministers and of what God thinks fit to do immediately by his Holy Spirit the Sinner persist obstinately and Incorrigibly in neglecting and rejecting of God God saith of him as he said of Ephraim Hos 4. 17. He is joyned to Idols let him alone I see he will have none of me and I am resolved he shall not And let me tell you this is one of the greatest Judgements a sinner is capable of on this side Hell to be herein by God Iudicially condemned to his own sinfull choice After this there can be no seeking God so as to find him let a man live never so long Having shewn you those things that were implied in the first Proposition I come now to the Proposition it self and shall shew you That it is the Duty and Concern of all to seek God so as to find him It is their Duty for 1st It is the Precept of God whom we ought to obey Psal 25. 4. Seek ye the Lord and his strength Seek his face evermore 2. It is the Practise of the Saints whom we ought to imitate This is the Generation of them that seek him Psal 24. 6. It need not be Explained whom God speaks to Isa 51. 1. Ye that seek the Lord for it is to them that follow after Righteousness 3. The Promises of God encourage to it and they ought not to be slighted The Promise assures of us that we Shall find God if we search for him with all our heart Jer. 26. 13. And together with him every good thing besides Psal 34. 10. They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 4. The Providences of God call to this and they ought to be complied with Mercies are therefore vouchsafed to men to this purpose God hath set men The bounds of their habitations that they should seek the Lord. Act. 17. 46. 27. Judgements are inflicted for this purpose upon this account God ill resents it that People turn not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of