The Morning Seeker Shewing the Benefit of being Good betimes With DIRECTIONS to make SURE WORK About EARLY RELIGION Laid open in Several SERMONS By John Ryther Minister of the Gospel Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Isa 55.6 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee Ps 63.1 LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry 1673. TO THE Honourable and truly Religious THE Lady Dorothy Norcliffe OF Langton in York-shire The Lady Elizabeth Bright The Lady Katharine Wentworth and the rest of her Vertuous Daughters MADAM I Have long waited for an opportunity to acknowledge the many and great Obligations I have been under by your Ladiship and your Family since Providence put such a Price into my hand as the mercy of your Acquaintance and this is one reason among many others why I Dedicate these poor papers to you yours 2 Joh. 1.5 When I considered how John wrote to the Elect Lady and her Children walking in the Truth One observs that St. John who was the beloved Disciple avas of a Noble stock in which regard he was so known of the High Priest that he did not fear the Jews so as the other Disciples did Where Nobility is enamelled with grace it renders it far mere illustrious and splendid I was much encouraged thereunto Besides upon these accounts I could not but lay hold of the present opportunities 1. The Care that I know you have many years conscientiously spent in the Education of those tender Branches the Lord hath honoured you with O what glory might have been raised up to God if in the Families of Honour and Quality there had been such diligence in training up their Posterities in the fear of that God whom it is a great Honour to serve 2. The great success that crowned your Ladiships endeavours herein that the Lord let you see your dear Children set upon seeking the Lord betimes that so many morning seekers in such a Family as I must confess I have not elsewhere known while the dew of Gods blessing upon your Education lay upon these Branches how did they while young grow up in Holy Affections and Desires after the Wayes and Truths of God! 3. And all this much in a time when the Power of Godliness in many great Families was much discouraged if not decry'd though Gospel duties reading the Word praying in Families a strict observation of Sabbaths did grow in to reproach and contempt in many Houses yet all that time the Lord helped you to Resolve with an Honourable and holy person of Old I and my house will serve the Lord. Josh 24.15 4. The great encouragement that you have given not only to me the meanest of those Servants of God acquainted with your Family but that you have given to many more in a dark and gloomy day O how many Families have you and yours refreshed in a day of straits I and is it any dishonour to testifie this before this uncharitable world 5. The Lord honouring you with solidity of judgment these giddy reeling times that in dayes and times when erroneous notions and principles as well as corrupt practices have overspread many Families you have been preserved in the truth and have taken great care that your Children should while they were young be trained up in the truth as it is in Jesus If I had no more reasons for my present tender of these poor endeavours to you and yours are not these enough But I am afraid you will say here is more than enough said though not so much as might I did not know upon serious thoughts how such a design as this might tend to encourage or promote good beginnings and breathings after God in your Family And though through the rich mercy and grace of God you be not a tender young plant in the Courts of God but grown up in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yet here may be some thing presented to your children that may prove through a blessing from above of use to them as to their further progress in the good wayes of God I remembred one thing when I thought of this Dedication how often * When I had the happiness of being conversant with them some of them did employ me to buy or acquaint them with what Books they should buy proper and useful for them and who are fitter to Dedicate an useful Book to than such if God will so please to make this poor Treatise There are Lambs your Ladiships know in the flock of Christ that need carrying as well as those that are with young that need leading there are Babes in Christs School who have need of milk as well as stronger Christians that need stronger meat If this may be milk sincere milk that any of Gods new born Babes may grow thereby yea any of your Children may grow up in grace thereby this will be the rejoycing of the Author Now Madam that God would cause your House to grow who hath made a sure Covenant with you and yours and that the dew of Heaven as well as fatness of the Earth may be the portion of you and yours is the prayer of Your Ladiships in all Humble and due Observance John Ryther Decem. 9. 1672. To all Young Ones whose hearts are set to seek the Lord before it be too late who are and desire still to be Morning Seekers WHen I considered the dangers that such a day as we live in exposes your precious Souls to I was willing for your Souls sakes to contribute my Mite to that Work which so many Reverend and Worthy Servants of Christ had gone before me in Yet we living in a sleepy Age and knowing we have sleepy hearts we must be often calling on and the more Calls and the more Cryers the more are Souls stirred and startled I have sadly observed several things since I with others of the Lords Servants have been under this present day and dispensation 1. That our great hopes and expectations that we have had of the Lords effectual working upon the hearts of Young Ones have often met with great disappointments and many of the poor Ministers of Christ have been like the Troops of Tema Job 6.19 20. and the Company of Sheba waiting for some good issue of the travel of their Souls but they were confounded because they had hoped they were ashamed and is not this cruelty to crush our hopes and cross our expectations who travel for you and all in hope Christ might be formed in you Will it be your gain if we lose our prayers our tears our studies our pains Will this be profitable to you if all our designs for your good be made by your selves miscarrying designs 2. That it is a great reproach to the wayes of God and name of God when such as have been for a time forward for God do go back again
to in the Text. The Text then runs thus There is both in time and out of time for your poor Souls there is an especial season of Grace you have and upon this depends the Eternal happiness and felicity of your poor Souls Let that slip and your Souls are undone for ever Lay hold of this especial time and you are happy for ever This is the meaning of the Text I will not always strive with you will not always call on you will not always wait with offers of pardoning grace therefore before I call in my Scepter O do you seek me Observations are these 1. The Lord Jesus is willing to be found of poor Gentile Sinners 2. There are especial times of finding the Lord Jesus while he is to be found 3. It is the duty of every poor Soul to observe his especial times to seek Christ in 4. There is a day and time in which Christ will not be found 1. The Lord Jesus is willing to be found of poor Gentile Sinners I must keep close to my Text and it speaks of such as have been before hinted 1. Let us make inquiry what a Gentile Sinner is In the general take this Answer A Gentile Sinner is the worst of Sinners the vilest of Sinners thus the Apostle describes them Gal. 2.15 We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles They were reckoned the greatest sinners Mark 16.15 Preach the Gospel to every Creature viz. Gentiles as though they were not worthy the name of men and women That we may set off the Free Grace of God in Christ to poor Sinners let us see a Scripture-map of Gentilism or Gentile Sinners that Christ is thus willing to be found of 1. They are said to be Idolaters Howbeit then when ye knew not God Gal. 4.8 9. ye did service unto them who were no Gods While they were in Heathenisme that is Gentilism God is willing to be found of such What though you have been Idolaters yet such may have mercy from God Jer. 14.22 In that black Catalogue of Sinners Idolaters are reckoned among the Corinthians such were some of you Idols are called the vanities of the Gentiles 2. Gentiles were poor slaves Tit. 3.3 For we our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures c. They were servants to their lusts their lusts did Lord it over them Know you not you are Servants to him whom you obey Yet of these poor Souls Christ is willing to be found O do not say then I am a poor Gentile too great a Sinner ever to find favour from the hands of God Luk. 15.15 The prodigal Gentile was a slave joyned to a Citizen to keep Swine and yet God took him to be a Son out of the field into the house 3. Gentiles are poor hood-winkt blind Souls Call in the blind and the halt viz. the poor Gentiles now become the Lord Jesus Christs guests and the Jewes are rejected The God of this world hath blinded their eyes they go muffled in ignorance of God and Christ from day to day yet God is willing to be found of them They are such muffled Creatures Acts 17. that they are said to feel after God 4. A Gentile is a poor perishing Soul The poor man that was wounded and lay perishing of his wounds is the poor Gentile Luk. 10.30 that Jesus Christ is the good Samaritan to and binds up his wounds and pours oyl into them We may say we are all poor Assyrians ready to perish and yet Christ is willing to be found of such Joh. 3.10 Whosoever believes on him Jew or Gentile might not perish but have everlasting life Doth thy poor Soul say as the poor prodigal did and I perish for hunger O Jesus Christ is willing to be found of such 5. A Gentile is a poor Soul that lies far from God They are the inhabitants of the far Countrey Eph. 2.13 14. You who were a far off are brought nigh by the blood of Jesus He is there speaking of Gentiles They are said by the Prophet to be far from Rightcousness Isa 46. ult Well poor Souls Christ is willing to be found of such Alas Sir sayes a poor Soul I am a great way from Christ O so were Gentiles there was a wall of partition betwixt Christ and them yet Christs blood took it away melted down the stones in this partition wall 6. A Gentile is a poor Soul without hope Without Christ Eph. 2.12 Without hope of being saved without Christ without hope can thou be worse Yet Christ is willing to be found of such Alas sayes a poor Soul I have no hope Thou art a Gentile a poor hopeless Soul Because they are without Promise they are without hope The Heathens feigned when all was gone yet Hope was in the bottom of Pandora's box implying that Hope is a good refuge in calamity 7. A Gentile is one that is a blasphemer of the name of God Rom 2.24 Christiani sanctè vixissent si Christus sancta docuisset For the name of God is blasphemed through you They did take all occasions to speak evil of God for the infirmities of his followers If Christ had taught them better they would have lived better was the brand of Gentiles cast upon Christ in Tertullians time Paul tells us he was a Blasphemer and yet obtained mercy It is the spirit of a Gentile to speak evil of his Name because of the miscarriages of his followers 8. A Gentile is one that seeks only after earthly things An earthly spirit is the spirit of the Gentiles After these things Mat. 6.32 saith Christ do the Gentiles seek It may be many poor Souls have made the comfort of the Creature their Summum Bonum never sought after any thing for their Souls in all their lives Yet Christ calls such to seek him yea is willing to be found of such What though thou hast been a poor earth-worm all thy dayes yet if now thou seek the Lord there is hope for thee if thy heart be in good earnest for Heaven Take these Scriptural descriptions of Gentiles to set off the Free grace of God to the worst of Sinners 1. Reason why Jesus Christ is willing to be found of poor Gentile Sinners 1. Because this was the end of the Fathers donations Christ is the great gift of his Father Now surely the Lord would never have parted with such a gift as his own Son but he had some great end in such a gift Well what was the Fathers design He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life That Gentile sinners might not perish to all eternity Eph. 2.18 Therefore we read of such Souls being made nigh by the blood of Jesus and through him we have both Access viz. both Jews and Gentiles to the Father c. Many poor Souls are under Objections concerning the
Christ and yet miss of him so nigh the Kingdom and never come at it O how it grieves a man to miscarry that had once a fair wind O had I but taken the opportunity of a wind how happy had I been Who can think of it but with dread to look back upon all the motions that you have lost all the breathings you have lost and to say under the sense of all these being lost Now your Souls are lost too 3. Especial finding time is in a time of universal calamities and judgments upon nations When the deluge is abroad upon the face of the earth then he is willing to ask Souls to let them have room in himself Psal 32.6 For this shall every one pray unto thee in a time when thou wilt be found and observe what follows Surcly in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh thee Some Expositors take it of a finding God in a time of general trouble and calamity Therefore we have that sweet counsel Seek ye the Lord Zeph. 2.3 seek meekness if that you may be hid in the day of the Lords anger When the Lords Judgements are abroad he calls upon poor Sinners to sue to him after an especial manner O poor sinners How can your hearts endure or your hands be made strong in the day that I shall deal with you saith the Lord. You will be like the man-slayer that had no City of Refuge to fly to when the avenger of blood was upon him And was not this a very sad case Well may it be said to such What will you do in the day of your Visitation and where will you leave your Glory Isa 10.2 3. and whither will you flee for help God would never have given that especial counsel when he was to march in his anger through Israel therefore prepare to meet thy God O Israel if he did not aime it should be an especial time of finding him O what a Christ seeking nay finding time was the plague when death and danger faced you every day nay every hour when the Grave and Hell opened their mouths wide to swallow you 4. Another especial time of finding is a time of personal affliction when sinners months are upon them in their months one shall find her Jer. 2.24 spoken of the wild Ass So it is with a poor Sinner He cannot be tamed cannot be brought to hand brought to the hand of Christ but when affliction is upon the sinner O then it is an Ephraim Thou chastisedst me and I was chastised Jer. 37.18 19. as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke but yet the Lord tamed the Bullock Manasseh as wild as he was was thus tamed and brought to seek the Lord when he was in the bryars and fetters Now is a time for the sinner to return from iniquity Job 36.9 so Job hath it In their affliction they will seek me early 5. Another especial time of finding Christ is when the Soul is under the sense of its bewildred lost estate and condition O then the Soul looks out after Christ sees it is undone without Christ a perishing lost Soul for ever This put the Prodigal upon returning to his Father and I perish by hunger The Lord allures the Soul into the wilderness it knows not what to make of its condition it is in a wilderness of doubts and objections but yet Christ now is found of it and speaks comfortably unto it Now the Soul doth as the four Lepers in the gate of Samaria they were under the sentence of death in their own apprehensions and therefore they conclude they could but dye So they resolve to go into the Assyrian Camp rather than dye in the Gate they would dye in the Field Thus sayes a poor Soul I can but dye therefore I will go out to Christ and if I dye I will dye at his foot if I perish I perish Now this is a time wherein the Lord is found of poor Souls 6. Another especial time is a time of violent and fierce assaults and temptations from Satan Paul looked upon this time to be an especial praying time Paul besought the Lord thrice 2 Cor. 12.7 8. and it was an answering time my Grace is sufficient for thee Satan he is the great Seeker after Souls seeking whom he may devour O now the Soul runs from Satan to Jesus Christ to take sanctuary in Christ. Some poor Souls have cause to bless God for their temptation-experiences upon this very account that Satan's assaults have hastened them to Christ Thus God out-shoots Satan in his own bow 7. When the Soul meets with disappointments from the Creature this is another especial finding time The poor Church speaks as a disappointed people Hos 6.1 Come let us return unto the Lord. We have been big-bellied with expectations and hopes from the Creature but all proves but a tympany come therefore say they let us return unto the Lord He will not disappoint us The Lord was resolved to make up a hedge of disappointments against the poor Church and now she resolves what to do Hos 2.7 I will return to my first Husband it was better with me then than it is now Disappointments have been the occasion of the conversion of many The Prodigal would fain have filled his belly with the husks the Swine did eat here was his desire no man gave him to eat here was his disappointment And what then does he resolve on O then he resolves to arise and go to his Father Application Is it so that there are some especial times of finding Christ then it is a word of counsel O then let no such times slip you Lay hold of the fore-lock of your especial times There is time and opportunity and we distinguish betwixt them opportunity is time filled up with seasons of Grace O be sure then poor Souls you redeem opportunities It is the same counsel that the Apostle gives them Eph. 5.15 16. Redeem the time and the reason is very cogent for the dayes are evil A man hath a fair wind he hath waited long for it and now it is come about he will not neglect it O when the wind presents be sure then you take it O poor Soul hast thou not laid long without a wind for Heaven Well now it is come about O then improve it O poor Soul put not off these precious gales say not come again to morrow 1. These especial seasons and times you must be accountable for And can you answer it before the Great God Sinners that you did trifle with those seasons that did concern your immortal Souls God puts every Sermon upon account every Sabbath upon account every Motion nay every Conviction upon account they are all bookt down in Gods book of Remembrance and though you have forgotten them yet he hath not O what horrour will fill your Souls and what confusion of face will be upon you when you shall be called
God say to them Jer. 4.18 These things have your own wayes and doings procured unto you O then will not every poor guilty Soul cry out O! O my self was the cause of all these O how often did Christ wooe me invite me call on me beseech me to be reconciled to him but wretch that I was hard hearted wretch that I was I had no room for him my heart was shut against him I shut him out of my heart and now for ever I must justify him for shutting me out of his Heaven 5. It informs us what a great evil it is to put off Christ when he is willing to be found O how many say of Christ and to Christ as he did to Paul Come at a more convenient time and I will hear thee They are too busie with the world they have no leisure no time and they desire to be excused O what if the Lord say to such as he did to them They shall not taste of his Supper O Sinners do you think Christ will be thus dallied with to say to morrow to morrow and Christs voice is to day to day Do you think Christ can be mocked or deceived It is true the Gospel is called the word of his Patience but do you think it is impossible to weary his Patience Do not we read the Prophet complaining of the Jews You have wearied man and will you weary God also Isa 7.13 O Sinner dost thou know what thou doest to delay thy striking in with Christ What if God take thee at thy word when thou sayest Depart from me for as yet I desire not the knowledge of thy wayes What if God should resolve as Moses said to Pharaoh I will never see thy face more Where wert thou then and what a sad condition would thy poor Soul be in then 2. Vse Is it so that poor Souls should observe Christs times in which he is willing to be found then it is a word of Reproof to such as put off Christ that observe not these times May not the case be expostulated with such poor Souls as God did with the people of Israel by the Prophet Ezekiel why will you dye O house of Israel O poor Sinners why do you neglect such great salvation why do you dally and delay in a business of infinite moment and eternal consequence Is the salvation of an immortal Soul a jesting matter are Heaven and Christ indifferences O why then poor Souls should ye not arise from your sloth and shake your selves and resolve to have a Christ how dearly soever you come by him May not Christ say to poor Sinners that loyter in their motion Heaven-ward as was said to them why stand you idle all the day long 1. Are not such poor Souls to be reproved This is the highest ingratitude and unthankfulness in the world that Christ should make offers and be willing to be found and you put a slight upon him and you not observe them Is this your kindness to your friend Will you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise 2. Are not such Souls to be reproved This speaks great infidelity and unbelief Is not this the reason why Christ and poor sinners make not a closure they do not believe he is willing to receive them to embrace them to pardon them This cross-iron bolt and bar of unbelief lies betwixt Christ and a poor Soul and was it not this that grieved Christ He was grieved because of their unbelief and hardness of their heart Their Souls were doubly bolted against the Lord Jesus O poor sinners after all Christ hath promised all he hath suffered all he hath done that you should slight Christ when he is willing to be found of you is not this sad 3. Are not such to be reproved You will observe times for your worldly secular advantages you will observe a Summer season to go into the Countrey for the air if your bodies need it you will observe times to take physick in you will observe your winds to sail in you will observe your marts and fairs you will observe your Change-time and all this for your outward advantage and alas you neglect your especial times and seasons for your Souls All these things are but your outward concernments but there are things that concern the peace of your immortal Souls and how do you look after them 3. Vse Is it so that the Lords finding times ought to be observed by poor Sinners Then it is a word of exhortation to poor Sinners that they would take especial notice of such times that it may not be said of you as is said in that case Job speaks The Lord passed by on my left hand and on my right hand and I perceived him not For God to be near a poor Soul in an Ordinance in a motion of the Spirit and the Soul see him not for the eyes of the Soul to be held that it knows him not O how sad is this O delay not to lay hold of Christ at such times 1. Your delayes will provoke and displease Christ Christ loves that Souls should close with him without delays We read of some that delayed the matter and fell to framing excuses and the Lord was angry with them and said They should not taste of his Supper The Spouses delay to open to Christ so displeased him that he did withdraw from her and she paid dearly for her delay Now did he stand waiting untill his locks were filled with the drops of the night 2. Your delays are dishonourable to Christ They dishonour him as though he were not to be trusted when he calls for Souls to close with him to open to him immediately as though there were no great danger as though it were but a dallying jesting matter and you could do it when you would even at your leisure 3. Your delayes will prove dangerous to your own Souls We say there is danger in delay and O how true is that in Soul cases What if God shut up his bowels in displeasure What if he will be gracious no more in visiting you in breathing upon you in knocking at your doors What if the Lord do withdraw from you and say he will wait no more upon you strive no more with you but pass that Sentence upon you Let them alone let them wander like a Lamb in a large place O poor Sinners you are in danger of all this and much more by your delayes to observe Christs times of being willing to be found 4. Your delayes will make your falling in with Christs finding times a great deal more difficult Yea every day it will be more difficult than other Sin and corruption will grow stronger Satans temptations will be more violent The longer a Soul is held in a snare the faster it is 1. It will be more difficult you will have fewer motions of the Spirit to call you out and thrust you out to close with Christ Delay to answer the Spirits
and shall not find me They shall not seek and be disappointed they shall not seek and go without but they shall find me who ever miss of Christ of all the Persons in the World they shall not miss of him O what Encouragement is here to young Seekers of Christ This word in the Text we have rendred thus Job 8.5 If thou would seek God betimes if thou wouldest morning God Shahar diluculare Deum diligenter sedulò magno studio quaerere The Observations are these 1. That young Inquirers after Christ are much upon his heart 2. That Morning Seekers shall be sure and certain Finders 3. That usually in Souls morning lookers after Christ they meet with much discouragement This is strongly implied because Christ gives them this Promise by way of Encouragement We will begin with this last Let us enquire a little what these Discouragements are what are great Hindrances of poor morning Seekers 1. From within there are discouragements 2. From without 1. Discouragements from within 1. Strong Corruptions for as soon as ever the Soul begins to look out and enquire after Jesus Christ then doth Corruption begin to work more strongly than it did before 〈◊〉 corruption is more strong in young ones than in others and upâ—â— this occasion says the Soul Will 〈…〉 poor soul get over this mounâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 Jesus Christ Alas there is 〈…〉 Lust betwixt me and Châ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 shall I not one day perish by the hand of Saul Will not these Sons of Zerviah be too strong for me O now says the poor Soul my Enemies are strong and lively as David said and thrust sore at me O poor Soul what though thy Corruptions be strong yet thy Redeemer is strong he is stronger than the strong man armed and that promise answers this discouragement He shall bring forth Judgment unto Victory Isaiah 42.3 though thou be but a poor smoak-ing flax and bruised reed yet thou shalt have the day over all thy Corruptions and will not such a day of Victory call for a day of thanksgiving I have read of a Victory called Victoria Hallelujetica upon this The Saxons here in England being to engage the Britains the Leader of the Britains being a * Germanus who came over from France to subdue the Pâ—lagian Heresie Godly Bishop having his Army in some Dales and Valleys ordered them to crie Hallelujah which they did and through the Eccho of the voyce in the Valleys the Enemy thought there was many more of them than there was and through fear fled O poor discouraged soul thou shalt have such a Victory over thy Corruptions as thou wilt for ever sing Hallelujah in Heaven for 2. Discouragement from within is weakness of Grace O! says the poor soul can such a weak Creature as I ever be able to seek Christ through so many difficulties every sin is too hard for me every duty too hard for me I may as well give over praying and hearing and contending against my sin for I find my self so weak I am ever and anon foyled O poor soul dost not thou know the Promise is made to truth of Grace and not only to the strength of grace bruised Reeds are within the Promise as well as strong Cedars the Lambs are under the Promise of his Bosome the weak of the flock this good Shepherd hath promised to strengthen the days of small things he will not despise weak ones are neither cast out nor cast off because of weakness if they be Children 3. Discouragement is sense of their own vileness and unworthiness O poor young ones at first setting out after Christ they are under their Humiliations for Sin a great piece of which Humiliation lies in the sense of their own Unworthiness thus it was with the poor Prodigal at his first coming home to his Father's House Lord Luke 15.19 I am not worthy to be called thy Son and as the Samaritan I am not worthy thou should come under my Roof O says such a poor soul Lord wilt thou be found of such a wrech as I such a vile wrech as I O poor soul dost thou not know that all sinners that come unto him though vile though wretched though miserable are to be welcomed by him And this as he is commissionated by the Father John 6.37 38. He will in no wise cast out them that come unto him and the strength and stress of all lies here this is the will of my Father Now Christ will be sure to act obedientially and faithfully to his Commission received of his Father Luke 14.21 Poor Souls were not the poor Gentiles who were Christ's Guests vile Hedgeway sinners High-way sinners the blind and maimed yet how doth Christ welcome such Guests to his Table Are you viler than these Alas poor souls you that are under the sense of your own vileness you come right to Christ unworthy of a Pardon of a good look of a good word as they came with Ropes about their necks to the King of Israel he usually accepts and pardons such 4. Discouragement from within is sense of former lost and buried Convictions While we are under Ordinances or we are under Afflictions O how ordinary is this and we are affected with these Convictions But one Temptation or other either within or without meets thee and the Conviction presently is buried the Soul hears no more of it it may be for a year or two but if the Lord have a gracious design upon thee he causes thy Convictions to rise again and walk again and O then the soul is troubled and discouraged Alas this Conviction is come again but will it not die as the last did It will not stay long O poor Soul yet this hath usually been the way of God to cause the second Convictions or the Return of convictions to do their work throughly O how many souls have found it so Though truly it is a wonder of mercies when first Convictions are smothered and extinguished that God ever blows them up and kindles them again 1 Sam. 3.7 God often doth with young Seekers as he did with young Samuel calls him again and again though we lie down and sleep again and again it is said he knew not the word of the Lord for he was young 5. Discouragement is fears of Non-perseverance that young ones meet with from within O say these poor souls what will become of us poor low Shrubs when we see such tall and strong Cedars fall Shall we ever be able to hold on in our way Shall we run and not be weary walk and not faint We shall never be able to continue to the far end to run the Race with patience that is set before us O poor Soul thy Perseverance in the ways of God is Jesus Christs Promise Purchase and Charge 1. He hath promised it Isaiah 40.31 they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength even so as they shall run and not be weary nay if they cannot
foundation there is no other foundation for the hopes of eternal salvation to be bottomed and built upon another foundation can no man lay says the Apostle and therefore the Rock the wise builders built upon was Christ O then be sure to let young ones get an interest in Christ be built upon him be bottomed upon him and then they will weather all their discouragements comfortably 2. There is a foundation as to Principles and Doctrinals after which young ones should look in their first seeking after Christ therefore we read of being built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone this foundation was the Principles and the Doctrine of the Apostle therefore we read of the twelve names of the Apostles of the Lamb being written upon the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem and alas how often do souls miscarry for want of Gospel Principles I never knew an unprincipled Professor but at one turn or other he would desert the Lord Jesus You young ones may have stirring desires some stirring affection and convictions but alas many times you neglect Principles When you meet with a discouragement you will fall back if you be not laid in with Principles Do not fish begin to stink first in the head If the Leprosie was in the head the High Priest was to pronounce him utterly unclean When Satan cannot keep youth in profaneness then he will labour to poyson them with Erroneous Principles 3. Direction to young inquirers after the Lord Jesus Christ is this Acquaint your selves with the promises of the Gospel and the way of Faith Mostly young ones over-look believing they follow humbling work so fast it is a piece of admirable skill to put them both together humbling work and believing work O but hard work is this to be humbled under the sense of sin and believe for the pardon of it at the same time Usually young Converts sorrow is too legal they are the sweetest tears for sin that flow from faith's eyes they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and mourn Young Seekers are all for mourning and little study the way of believing but go to the Promise and acquaint thy self with the fulness and freeness and sutableness and unchangeableness of the Promises these would be great helps to you in seeking after Christ. Let young ones acquaint themselves with two or three things in Promises 1. That Gospel Promises run to weak Grace They are prone to question whether the Promise belong to them or no why so O they are such weak Creatures have so little strength against sin so little power against corruption O but can thou say Lord here is truth of Grace and Lord I walk before thee with a true and perfect heart O poor Soul I tell thee the Promises run to uprightness in heart and truth in the inward parts 2. Let Young Ones acquaint themselves with this that Gospel Promises look over all unworthiness in their objects If thou be the object of Gods love Promises overlook all thy unworthiness how is his love free else therefore we see the Promises running down to the vilest of sinners O how doth this temptation of unworthiness stand in the way of many a Soul to Christ and hath kept many a Soul and Christ a long time at distance but we may see this answered in the Promise 3. Let them know that the accomplishment of Promises doth not depend upon any thing in the Creature but in God himself this hath been a great temptation to look for some qualifications in themselves and so they have been spinning some webb out of their own bowels but alas this can never be a garment to them God accomplishes his Promises for his own Names sake 4. Let Young Seekers 2 Cor. 1.20 under their discouragements know that all the Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus viz. they all receive in him a full ratification and accomplishment so that he is undertaker to see them all have their performance 5. Let Young Ones under their discouragements know that Gospel Promises will carry the Soul through all difficulties they can meet with in their way there is that in a Promise that will hold up the head when ready to sink in the very swellings of Jordan this made Jacob plead so hard with God in his difficulty that old Promise Lord did not thou say thou wouldst do me good therefore when Joshua had such hard service to go upon in the conquest of the Land of Canaan he gave him that Promise I will never leave thee and Abraham when to leave his Country I am God all-sufficient 4. Direction to Young Seekers under their discouragements study well the Righteousness of Christ This is very hard with young ones to get out of self O how many years are poor Souls before they get off the bottom of their own Righteousness they are prone to seek some things in themselves as Israel of old who sought to obtain Righteousness in a way of works but could not every temptation every objection is too hard for a poor Soul until it get acquaintance with the Righteousness of Christ but now when a Soul can call the Lord Jesus by that Name The Lord my Righteousness Jer. 23.6 in this Name every temptation every objection every doubt is answered in the Righteousness of Christ His Righteousness is opposed to our guilt If it be thy nakedness that is thy objection it is answered in Christ's Righteousness for it is the best robe if it be thy deformity here it is answered Christ's Righteousness is a Believers comeliness thou art comely with the comeliness that I have put upon thee this is the beautiful garment that a Believer puts on to go into the presence of God withall and now all deformity is covered The poor Infant in its blood thus was covered and rendred comely Is it thy filthiness that becomes an objection here it is answered the blood of Christ is cleansing blood who loved us and washed us in his blood 5. Direction to young Seekers under discouragements Let Jesus Christ hear often from you when should Jesus Christ hear from you but when discouragements are upon you these are to send you to Christ these are to bring you upon your knees We read of the Spouse crying to Christ 2 Cant. 14. where was she in the secret place of the stairs the Text tells us in a discouraged persecuted condition yet says Christ Thy voice is sweet and thy countenance comely O poor Soul under all thy discouragements Christ loves to hear from thee O but will he hear such a poor stubborn brutish creature as I have been Yea I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself poor Ephraim was discouraged and yet goes to God and cryes Lord I have a brutish heart Lord I have a stubborn heart as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke Jer. 31.18 yet Lord turn thou me here was his Prayer and O how
sisters and not to the rest of my relations 2. Vse Is it so that the Lord Jesus Christ is the encourager of poor morning Seekers after himself Then it is a word of Comfort to young Seekers Be of good cheer as they said to the blind man for the Lord calleth for the Lord encourages you O all you morning Seekers be of good courage and wait on the Lord and he will strengthen your hearts I say wait upon the Lord. 1. Be of good comfort you are the travail of Christs Soul and therefore he will look after you His suffering was his travail O the pangs and throwes of a travailing woman We say such have hard labour O you poor young Converts inquirers after Christ he hath had hard labour for you O the pangs of his Fathers displeasure that he hath endured My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Here was one bitter pang and his Soul was sorrowful unto death There was another pang and throwes came upon him so fast that he died travailing for the Salvation and Redemption of poor Sinners Therefore we read that sweet word He shall see his Seed Isa 53.10 11. he shall have Seed come out of his sufferings which are called the travail of his Soul And is not this a great comfort He will surely encourage his own travail O poor Souls he hath travailed for you therefore he will encourage you 2. Second word of Comfort to young Seekers is this you are his joy his delight He shall see the travail of his Soul and be satisfied viz. it shall be matter of great contentation and delight to see his sufferings issue in the bringing forth a Seed and Remnant that shall be saved As one delights in his children so doth Christ in his young Seekers Behold Heb. 12.13 I and the Children thou hast given me which is spoken of Christ and quoted out of the Prophets He rejoyces you see in his Seed O what joy was there when the young prodigal returned home to his Father's The whole parable preaches this Doctrine A man delights in his youngest children As a man delights in his nursery so doth Jesus Christ in his garden he hath his young nursery 3. Word of Comfort to young Seekers He hath accommodated Promises to suit with the conditions of such O what a care had Christ of such that he would give Promises on purpose to such As to their weakness in Grace he would strengthen such poor bruised reeds as to the dispensations of God which they fear they are not able to keep pace with He shall carry the Lambs in his bosome they cannot go they are so weak he shall carry them As for the temptations within or without Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings he shall ordain strength to still the enemy and the avenger There is not any condition but you may find a Promise accommodated for that condition 4. Word of Comfort to morning Seekers You are Christs charge Behold I and the Children thou hast given me Heb. 1.13 Spoken of Christ Now upon the Fathers donation and the Sons acceptation they begin to be his charge therefore he is the great Trustee for poor Souls He stands engaged to give his Father an account of them all at the last day and will not Christ be faithful to his trust nay to the trust God the Father hath committed to him Therefore he loses not a soul They pass under the hand of him that tells them again all that God the Father hath told out to his Son the Son tells back again to God the Father 5. Word of Comfort to morning Seekers is this This argues the great love God bears to your Souls to call you betimes to call you while you are young O how many go down to Hell while the milk is in their breasts and marrow in their bones though young in years yet old in sin c. O at what a rate do some young ones sin How expert are they grown in that cursed trade And that thou should'st be called to seek after Christ in thy young dayes O what a comfort is this Here is one taken and another left O but sayes a poor Soul Alas I can get no comfort as yet I am a poor troubled Soul much cast down and dejected They that sow in tears shall reap in joy it is thy seed-time now therefore thou must not expect a crop presently the Seed must lie in the ground Let your Seed-prayers and Seed-tears lie in Gods hand a while Light is sown for the Righteous and joy for the upright in heart O but sayes a poor Soul I am followed with temptations since that I begun to seek after Christ and I know not what to do Poor Soul his rage is great because his time is short now thou art coming out of captivity to him he is pursuing thee to reduce thee to the old house of bondage thy temptations do argue the Lord Jesus Christ is about casting out of Satan therefore he is angry O but I am a poor needy creature Psal 40. ult well but doth not the Lord think of thee O but I am a weak Creature He will perfect strength in weakness out of the mouth of Babes Heb. 5.3 c. O but I am an ignorant Creature Well he can have compassion on the ignorant and them that are out of the way The last Vse is of Exhortation to Young Ones to seek the Lord betimes and make supplication to him If thou seek early after God the Word is Thou shalt find him Remember your Creator in the dayes of your youth Job 8.5 The word Seeking we find used in several places Significat quaerere diligenter cum cura Daresh est summo judicio quaerere So Eccl. 1.13 c. Leave all for Christ sell all for the pearl of price Seek him while he is to be found The third Observation we are now come unto from the words is this That morning Seekers shall be sure and certain finders They that seek me early shall find me to be sure such find me whoever miss of me they shall not 1. By morning Seekers is meant Job 8.5 Shahar aurare seu diluculare signifies diligently to seek or rise timely in the morning Prov. 11.27 one that seeks the Lord betimes So Job phrases it If thou seek the Lord and make supplication unto him To remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth Our youth is our morning time to seek Christ in our age is our afternoon now it is not so good seeking in the middle of the day nor in the afternoon as it is in the morning 2. By morning Seekers are meant such as do earnestly seek the Lord Jesus Are there any poor Souls that do more earnestly seek the Lord Jesus than such as give up themselves betimes to Christ Hos 6.15 In their affliction they will seek me early viz. they will seek me earnestly they will seek me in
your repentance then will not go with God I think sinners you may well have such jealousies that your repentance is hypocritical while it is thus forced and extorted from you by reason of your fears and horrours that now walk in your consciences There is a great deal of counterfeit repentance that God will not take when you come to die late repentance is seldome true and is it not a pitty as one observes to play the Courtiers with your own Souls They do all things late they go to bed late and rise late and dine late and sup late and worst of all repent late 4. What if thy poor Conscience should now cry it is too late thou shouldst have done it sooner Many have thus cryed out O no there is no mercy for them they have stood it out too long and now they cannot expect any thing at Gods hand but a righteous sentence of separation for ever from his comfortable face 5. Poor Soul how will it sting thee to consider thou might often have done it in a fitter time when thou put it off Is not a time of health the fittest time for repentance O now how will the consideration of thy many calls and many refusals lie heavy upon thee 8. Eighth hinderance to poor morning Seekers against Christ is the prejudice that Satan labours to fill their Souls with against Christ this is very incident to young persons to take up prejudices against the Lord Jesus Christ 1. Satan labours to prejudice them by the paucity and fewness of those that seek after Christ they are but a few and why should you go from the way the multitude walks in O poor Sinner would you be pleased to consider it is Christs own Doctrine There be few that shall be saved why should then this be a stumbling block unto you Have you a mind to go to Hell for company Many are the travellers that go hells beaten road broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that find it 2. Satan prejudices many times young ones by the meanness and contemptibleness of those that are Seekers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This people that know not the Law are accursed few of the Rulers believed on him not many wise Nobles c. The Poor receive the Gospel O poor Souls know they are most honourable that are so in the account of God and not of man Isa 43.4 Since thou wert precious in my sight thou wert honourable The Righteous is more excellent than his neighbour They that honour God God will honour 3. Satan labours to fill Souls with prejudice against Christ by presenting them with the difficulties they shall meet withal It is true you may meet with discouragement in the way but you shall have the breaker up go before you and he will make the way easie and crooked wayes streight and rough wayes shall become plain 4. Satan labours to fill Souls with prejudice against Christ from the manifold infirmities that attend his followers and indeed this is a great objection that all Seekers after Christ do not walk so closely as they ought Well poor Soul know the wayes of God are the same and Jesus Christ is the same though it is sad there should be so much ground for this stumbling block lying in your way 5. Satan labours to fill them with prejudice against Christ from the Cross that attends them and the Cross of Christ hath been a Rock of offence to many poor Souls Well but poor Soul there is a Crown annexed to the Cross they that suffer with him shall raign with him Unto you I appoint a Kingdom who were they Such as continued with him in great temptations The next Vse If morning Seekers be sure and infallible finders then it is a word of Caution First Take heed of giving over of being too short breathed in seeking of Christ He that believes makes not hast To set on this Caution which is of great concernment to every poor Soul that hath set out to seek Christ although it was hinted the last Observation I will enlarge it now 1. If you give over your hearts were never truly in good earnest in the work It may be you had some flashes of affection or some gripes and pangs of conviction that for the present startled you but yet your hearts were not truly in good earnest in the work Ah poor Soul that truly sees its need of Christ the real worth and excellency that is in him its real misery without him this Soul will never give over untill it hath found him whom its Soul loveth Is that love in good earnest that because it meets discouragements gives over the pursuit of the object The Spouse was in good earnest therefore gives not over but still keeps up her enquiries after Christ Saw you him whom my Soul loveth 2. If you give over you lose the prize if the racers give over they lose 1 Cor. 9.24 therefore we have that Caution So run as you may obtain Is not this sad to be runners and losers seekers and missers at last Poor Souls if you give over you will go without He that continues to the end the same shall be saved We are to run with patience the Race set before us to run it and not give over 3. If you give over and so sit down short of Christ it will aggravate your guilt and condemnation What you that once were so forward in the ways of God what you that once gave such good hopes you were truly in love with Jesus Christ what you that were once praying young men and women and nigh the Kingdom as that Scribe we read of in the Gospel Luke 13.26 and to give over O how will this aggravate your miscarriage and you your selves shut out this aggravates all 4. If you give over seeking you will fall either into persecution or profaneness usually this is the end of such When young men while they have been Apprentices and under convictions they have sought Christ but afterwards fall off again they ordinarily prove either Persecutors of the wayes of God or else Profane this is in judgement upon them God suffers them to fall into these things punishing sin with sin and very sad hath been the end of such Would you ever think this hopeful praying young man would prove a drunkard a swearer a prodigal If you give over seeking Christ this I doubt will be your end 5. If you give over seeking Christ this will be a great discouragement to others you weaken the hands of others they will be afraid when they see you so sadly drawn back that they should do so too you hinder others seeking after Christ 6. If you give over seeking Christ you cloath your Ministers with shame and is this the love you have formerly profest to them O how once you were endeared to those spiritual Fathers How could you have pulled out your very eyes for them when they were first
instrumental to do your souls good and is this your kindness unto them to put them unto shame Disappointments bring shame Make me not ashamed of my hope sayes David O many Ministers had hopes of you and prayed for you and have hoped you would be their Crown and Rejoycing as Paul said and what now prove their shame O how near this will go to the hearts of Godly Ministers Have not they said of you as Paul said of them We live if you stand fast in the Lord. Secondly If morning Seekers be sure and infallible finders then take heed of a discouraged frame of heart in seeking Christ this is Satans work to discourage poor Souls to lay stumbling blocks in their way and tell them there is no hope no Christ will never be found of such as they are hope is perished from the Lord. O take heed I say of this frame of heart you know what they said to the poor blind man Be of good cheer the Lord calleth thee So do I say unto you poor morning Seekers be not discouraged the Lord will be found of you 1. A discouraged frame of heart will open a door to hard thoughts of God Usually discouraged Souls are jealous and suspicious Souls of God and alas this will weaken you exceedingly in your seeking after Christ O what a hard thought was that My God hath forgotten my God hath forsaken 2. A discouraged frame of heart grieves the Spirit of God what seek Christ with a discouraged frame of heart can this be pleasing to the Spirit of God who is the Comforter 3. A discouraged frame of heart opens a door to consult with Satan he loves to be fishing in troubled waters and ordinarily he sits by discouraged Souls helping them to conclude against Christ and their own Souls it is a very dangerous thing to be drawn in to consult with Satan 4. A discouraged frame of heart will weaken your endeavours in your pursuits after Christ the joy of the Lord is a believers strength but discouragements weaken exceedingly 5. A discouraged frame of heart in seeking Christ reflects upon Christ as though he were unwilling to be found of poor sinners This is dishonourable to Christ dishonourable to his design of coming into the world was it not to save Sinners dishonourable to his Promises hath not he promised He will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax Thirdly If morning Seekers shall be sure and certain sinders then take heed of delaying to seek the Lord Jesus do not put off Christ take heed of this because that you are young and hope you have time before you O this many times is a Rock that splits thousands of Souls they say they will seek Christ at a more convenient time 1. Take heed of losing your morning for the present time is only yours Alas poor Soul if thou layest not hold of the fore-lock of thy present time thou mayest be undone for ever O how the Lord calls on us to improve our present time Work while it is to day and if you will hearken to his voice while it is to day walk in the light while you have the light now is the acceptable time 2. Take heed of losing your morning You young ones you know not how short your morning may be and when mornings are short persons had need be up and doing How many young ones have been cut off in their morning in the prime of their time in the flower of their youth gone to the Grave in a moment while the milk was in their breasts and marrow in their bones 3. Take heed you lose not your morning it will be harder work to seek Christ afterwards when you have delayed time after time after you have lost the forenoon of your lives it will be hard redeeming the afternoon O how rare a thing is it to see a person wrought on in their afternoon not but some have been met with but this is not so ordinary 1. The more guilt there is upon the Soul the harder it will be to seek out after Christ the longer thou delayest the more guilt thou contractest upon thy Soul O what complaints have such Souls uttered O that I had come to Christ sooner but will he now receive me to mercy who have stood out so long Had I fallen in with Christ upon his first offers and tenders it had been more easie to have thought he would have accepted me And thou wilt find this a strong objection upon thee the heavier load of guilt upon thy Soul the heavier thou wilt find it to draw to Jesus Christ 2. It will be harder for you to seek after Christ after you have delayed because the sense of your unkindness to Christ will fill your Souls when you are awakened What stand out against Christ after so many knocks after so many calls after so many offers and invitations Thus it was with the Spouse when she arose to open to her Beloved there was a little myrrhe left upon the handles of the lock and then her bowels were moved viz. She was filled with shame and sorrow that she should use Christ so unkindly 3. The more a Spirit of sloth takes possession on the Soul the harder it is to shake off 4. Take heed of losing your morning for a dark night is fast approaching upon you in which you cannot seek Christ in which you cannot work it is bad seeking any thing in the dark I may say unto you as the Prophet to them Give Glory to God before he cause darkness Jer. 13.16 and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountaion This is the Doctrine that our Lord Jesus Christ preacht himself Work while it is to day for night comes when no man can work 1. Poor Souls what if a night of judicial darkness and blindness come upon you What if God give you over to a dark heart He suffered some we read of to walk in the wayes of their own heart 2. What if a night of temptation come upon you It is ill seeking Christ under temptation 3. What if a night of death come upon thee then thy seeking Christ is at end there is no work in the grave where thou goest What though young men you be now in your morning God can cause your Sun to set at noon-day and bring a night upon you before you are aware therefore lose not your morning 5. Take heed you lose not your morning your morning discoveries and manifestations will be your evening supports and consolations the evening of our lives is our declining time our old age And O what a mercy is this to be laid in with comfort when that comes What a sad thing is that to see one gray-headed and forsaken of God As David prayed many have cause to pray forsake me not when I am gray-headed If you seek him in your youth he will sit by you when you are old O that is a sad Text and the sinner an
hundred years old shall be accursed O but there are many gracious Souls that have sought him while they were young that comfort themselves with his loving kindness of old that remember the sweet love-stories and passages betwixt Christ and their poor Soul and at last go off the stage of this life triumphing To see an old Christian go comfortably to heaven leaning over the staff of the Promise and telling of nothing but his youth experiences of Christ O what a sight is this And on the other side to see an old man who hath nothing to remember but what a drunken wretch he hath been what a wicked company-keeper he hath been what an unclean filthy wretch he hath been what an oppressor of other men he hath been and such stories he can tell you all day O what a dreadful thing is this 6. Take heed you lose not your morning when God doth awaken you and get you out of your bed of sin and sloth it will grieve and cut you to the very heart that you got up no sooner that you have lost so much time already O how many Souls have been deeply wounded with the sense of their lost time O what complaints have such Souls groaned out That I should be so long in the service of sin and Satan O that I should spend so many years in gratifying the lusts of the flesh in making provision for the flesh and all that while put a slight upon the Lord Jesus Christ as not being worth seeking 4. Caution If morning Seekers shall be sure and certain finders of Christ then let them take heed of hasty and rash concluding against Christ and their own Souls this is an infirmity that young Seekers are mightily prone to in their first convictions O sure Jesus Christ will not be found of such poor sinful vile Creatures as we are we have been such Ephraims such Bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke such Sons of Belial so stubborn even from our youth up we cannot think he would be found of us though we should seek him 1. First O poor Soul do you think Christ doth not matter his word If under your temptations you should think he does not matter your Soul yet think he matters his word Cannot you say remember the Word Lord upon which thou causest me to hope Do you think Christ is indifferent whether his Promises be accomplished or no No no not one Jota of his Promise shall fail You may be discouraged but the Promise is in reference to bruised reeds and smoaking flax Ite 42.4 It is said He shall not be discouraged nor fail you may but he shall not 2. Secondly why Souls should you think he will not accept of you are not your names in his Commission He was sent to seek and save such as are lost and are not you lost Souls Lost in your selves lost prodigals This my Son was lost and do you think he will not then accept of you 3. Thirdly why think you so hardly of Christ doth not Christ call such He came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Be of good chear poor Soul the Lord calls on thee as was said to the poor blind man But something of this nature will fall in upon another use therefore I will forbear now 5. Branch of the Caution then let morning Seekers take heed they do not sit down short of Christ Why if he will be found of us should we sit down short of him As it is said in that case so may I say in this a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest let us not seem to rest short of it There are many things morning Seekers are prone to rest in on this side Christ. You may take up in your common convictions in your constitutional affections in your acquired gifts and parts in your restraining grace in a form of profession and so miss of Christ for ever 1. First take heed of resting short of Christ many thousands have done so We read of the Scribe that answered Christ discreetly and Jesus said unto him Thou art nigh unto the Kingdome of God But alas he was short of Christ for all this And also the young man in the Gospel rested short of Christ and also the foolish Virgins and the Children of the Kingdom we read of came short of Christ 2. Secondly take heed morning Seekers you do not rest short of Christ this will aggravate your misery exceedingly in missing of him What you that were within a little of Christ miss him What you that were in so fair a way for Christ you who set out so hopefully in the morning of your day O for poor Souls in Hell to sing such doleful ditties I was once convinced of my sin and I was once convinced of my misery without Christ and I was once convinced of the excellency of Christ But O my corruptions were too strong for my convictions and so my poor Soul sat short of the Lord Jesus Christ To miscarry within a little of harbour within sight of land O what a cutting aggravation is this to poor Seamen when almost at their Port So many Souls have done they have been almost perswaded to become Christians yet they have rested short of Christ 3. Thirdly take heed morning Seekers that you rest not short of Christ Satan if it be possible will keep you short of Christ this is Satans design if he can but perswade the Soul to take up in something on this side Christ in some notion some opinion Hence it is as soon as young people come under any convictions of sin and when any good Seed is sowen in the Soul then comes Satan with his Tares Then they get it may be some notion or opinion whereby Satan does divert them and hinder them from closing with Christ And when they are gotten hither here they rest Thousands have been eternally undone this way 3. Vse Is it so that morning Seekers shall be sure and certain finders of the Lord Jesus Christ then it is an Vse of Exhortation To set upon the duty and work in good earnest to loyter no more of your morning away to trifle no more of your precious time away but that you may have the comfort of the Promise O that you may be found in obedience to the precept if you would find you must seek O poor Souls do not you hear him Call Call upon him while he is near seek him while he is to be found What is not the Lord Jesus worth seeking he is then worth nothing 1. Motive to seek the Lord in your morning now is your seeking time seeking will not alwayes be in season You must do things in their proper season there is a time for every purpose now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation Now acquaint thy self with God and be at peace was good counsel by Jobs friend Now is thy only time to seek acquaintance with Christ Poor Sinner there is a
days How will thy poor Soul then grieve that thou made a friend of Christ no sooner against such a day as this 3. What if God towards the evening of thy day take away from thee the advantages thou once had for thy poor Soul It may be when thou wert young thou livedst in some Godly Family which is no small advantage as little as young persons matter it It may be thou livedst amidst some godly acquaintance it may be thou livedst under some powerful Soul-searching Ministry these helps may be removed from thee or thou from them and O then how thou wilt be grieved that thou sought Christ no sooner that now thou hast no more acquaintance with him 4. What if God should give thee but a little warning or time to look about thee for thy Soul if thou should die in four or five dayes time and then review thy lost time and look over thy life again O how will it grieve thee that thou struck no sooner in with Christ that now thou hast all thy work to do for Eternity that might have got it down long agoe Now thy work to do and no time to do it in Formerly thou hadst time and wantedst a heart and now thou hast a heart to it and wantest time 5. Seek Christ in the morning of your day and you shall dye triumphing at night You shall go gloriously off the stage of this present life Should not we be often remembring our latter end Is it not said of Jerusalem Lam. 1.14 she came wonderfully down because she considered not her latter end Is not this to be a wise Virgin to get your lamps and your vessels stored with Oyl that when the Bridegrome comes and the midnight-cry calls you may go out chearfully to meet him Is not this wisdome in Gods Book O that my people were wise Deut. 32.29 that they did consider their latter end And who is it that hath an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God but the diligent Believer and Seeker Add all diligence that you may be found of him in peace 1 Pet 1.5.3.14 O how many have died with this sad and doleful note in their mouths O it is now too late Had I sought Christ sooner there had been hope but I cannot believe he will accept of such a refuser of a day of Grace and tenders of Grace as I have been Lastly O seek Christ in the morning of your day others may be drawn to seek him with you and say as they did to the Daughter of Jerusalem when she had sought him diligently Tell us where thy Beloved is gone that we may seek him with thee Your being up in the morning to seek Christ may draw others on and O what mercy would this be Yob 23.3 But by this time methinks I hear some poor Soul say O that I knew where to find him I would come even to his seat but alas young travellers must have some directions and so must young Seekers how shall we then say poor Souls seek Christ 1. Luk. 2.45 Be sure you seek him sorrowing as the Parents of Christ after the flesh sought him Thy Father and I sought thee sorrowing Sorrowing under the sense of sin So must you seek him True mourners are the finding Seekers O that is a sweet word Jet 31.9 They shall come with weepings and with supplications will I lead them Jer. 50.4 They shall go weeping seeking the Lord their God Thus Souls must go to Christ in a through sense of their condition Who were they that sought to the Brazen Serpent but they that were stung with the fiery Serpent 2. Seek Christ with a high appretiation of Christ Mat. 13 4â— Who will seek him that doth not esteem him to be the pearl of price But when the Merchant man had found the pearl of price he sold all to buy it Why did the Spouse so seek Christ through all difficulties He was to her the white and ruddy one the chiefest of ten thousands Prov. 3.13 We read of the happiness of the man that finds wisdome why so this wisdom is Christ and the merchandize thereof is better than that of Gold c. 3. Seek Christ sincerely We read of some that turned feignedly to the Lord. O take heed of seeking of him feignedly If your hearts be not right God will discover them Simon Magus would be a Seeker yet he was discovered we was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity 4. Seek him perseveringly if you would seek him so as to find him She sought her lost groat untill she found it But this hath been largely insisted on before 5. Seek the Lord Jesus Christ through all opposition as the Spouse did when they took her veil from her and the watchmen smote her yet she gave not over The End of the first Sermon Isaiah 55.6 Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near THe words are the Call of Christ to poor Gentile Sinners It is clear the Prophet in the preceding verse is prophesying of Christ and when he had spoke of Christ 1. Under the notion of a leader 2. Under the notion of a witness 3. Under the notion of a Saviour so is meant by calling a Nation that knew him not and their running to him and God glorifying him viz. as the Messiah and Saviour of poor Gentiles as well as Jewes then the Prophet gives these poor Gentiles a Call which is the words of my Text. 1. In the Text we have a Call or Exhortation to a duty 2. We have a Motive or Argument backing that Call 1. The Call is Seek the Lord. 2. Motive is implyed in that while he may be found There is an especial season for the performance of this duty if let slip your Souls will repent it to all Eternity Let us inquire a little what is meant by this Call Seek the Loed 1. Here is this implyed in it This people and the Lord were strangers This is the description of a Gentile He is a stranger to the Lord Eph. 2.12 and to the Covenant of Promise Souls who lye far from acquaintance with God therefore expressed by another word Luk. 15.13 to be in the far Country So the Prodigal was which was the Gentile for the elder Brother was the Jew Now then by seek the Lord is meant get into acquaintance with him Seek acquaintance with him as a Saviour as a Leader He had been spoke of under these notions and set out to them 2. Seek the Lord viz. the willingness of the Lord to be found of poor Gentile Sinners He would never else have given them such a Call He first calls he is first in the motion who loved us first the business doth not stick at Gods door but at ours 3. Seek the Lord viz. accept of the offers of grace while he holds them forth to you in the Gospel This is the great Duty called
willingness of God to shew them mercy Do you think that the Lord would have parted with his own Son for you if he had not been willing to shew you mercy The Prophet tells us Isa 42.6 He is given for a Covenant to the people for a light to the Gentiles 2. Reason why Jesus Christ is willing to be found of poor Gentile sinners this is evident from the invitations that he gives them to come in to him O what an invitation is this very Call of my Text to such O how do the affections of Christ sparkle in his invitations 1. Consider his invitations are free There is no merit on our side there is no such thing as worthiness in the Creature Christ moves freely from Arguments springing up in his own bowels My Creature will be lost else this poor Soul will be undone for ever else And as Hester said in that case so sayes Christ How can my heart endure to see this evil come upon my people and kindred So O sayes Jesus Christ how can my heart endure to let this poor Soul go to Hell and eternally perish And thus his heart works freely in his invitations towards poor Sinners 2. His invitations are affectionate invitations invitations mixed with entreaties I beseech you be reconciled unto God Christ doth not only invite but becomes a suppliant to the sinner He comes to the Sinner which is obstinate and inexorable and upon his knees begs the Soul for his sake for its own sake to accept of terms of mercy and reconciliation 3. They are importunate invitations He doth not invite with an indifferency of Spirit whether we accept of his terms or no but he invites in good earnest and sets on invitations with pressing arguments sometimes taking an argument from the Souls danger if it close not with his invitations sometimes an argument from the Souls duty and sometimes an argument from the Souls benefit and profit these are importunate invitations 4. His invitations are daily and incessant invitations Poor Sinners are daily invited Christ is an every dayes Solicitor and Suitor he waits to be gracious If you deny him to day he comes again to morrow he doth not cast off for every present denyal 5. His invitations are universal therefore thou mayst say as he did I am invited also O poor Sinner God hath not excluded thee if thy unbelief exclude thee not 6. His invitations are upon the most solemn preparations that ever was All things are ready Hath he invited and prepared his guests and doth not this argue his willingness to entertain 3. Reason why the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to be found of Gentile Sinners because upon this account the Father enters into a Covenant with the Son to reward him There was a Covenant struck betwixt Christ and his Father that upon his undertaking the great work of Mans Redemption he would exalt him and glorifie him I will glorifie thee The Rewards of Christ for Redemption-work seem to consist in these things 1. The conversion of Souls Isa 49.6 Is it a small thing thou raise the Tribes of Israel I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles as if Christ should stand with his Father and say But Lord what will become of the poor Gentile part of the world Must they all dye in their sins and be damned O the heart of Christ was inflamed with love after the salvation of poor Sinners Well now the Lord gives him a Patent for Gentiles as well as Jews a Patent of Free Grace Tit. 1.2 this is covenanted for betwixt God the Father and the Son this is the promise of Eternal Life before the world begun He shall see the travil of his Soul and shall be satisfied 2. His exaltation is promised So he shall sprinkle nations viz. convert them Sprinkle them with his blood an allusion to the blood of the Paschal Lamb when the destroyer was to pass over Isa 52.15 And Kings shall shut their mouths at him Shall all be silent at the setting up of his Dominion they shall be convinced of his Kingly Office and Dignity Not a word to say against the Lord Jesus as King Isa 53 ult He shall conquer them and deliver the Elect out of their hands Therefore sayes another Text He shall divide a portion with the great Some read it I will give him a portion among the great He shall have his day of visible greatness among them Others read it He shall divide the Mighty as a prey This will be Christs work when he comes forth in Majesty to prey upon all that stand in his way to his Kingdome whether persons or things Now this clearly demonstrates the point in hand because God Covenants for this with him upon his undertaking Redemption and Salvation-work Application Is it so that the Lord Jesus is willing to be found of Gentile Sinners Then 1. It informs us of the unspeakable love of Jesus Christ to poor Sinners O how is it commended to us In this that while we were Sinners he died for us greater love than this hath no man 1. Is there not love in this to be willing to be found of such as have been professed Enemies proclaimed Traytors The Lord hath proclaimed us upon our first apostasie to be Traytors and Rebels to him but yet he hath sent out a proclamation of Peace and look to that blessed proclamation and lay hold of it by a hand of faith or Isa 27.5 Let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me and he shall make peace with me You see here is the proclamation to lay hold on And so poor Souls upon their falling in with Christ are at peace Is not here love shining love to poor dark Gentiles Let us see the Proclamation renewed Isa 55.1 2 I am found of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me behold me unto a Nation that was not called by my Name I have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people viz. to a company of poor obstinate Jews and lo therefore I turn to the Gentiles Behold here I am here I am so some read it as Christ holding out terms of Mercy Life and Salvation to poor Sinners If a man find his Enemy sayes Saul will he let him go well away O the love of Christ to Gentiles which were enemies 2. Is there not love in this to call these first to look after him Is not this preventing love Did I look after him said poor Hagar who here sees me Alas if the Lord had never found me out I had never found him He is called a Shepherd that seeks out his Sheep O here do we run into corners from this good Shepherd untill he follow us O what love is this 3. Is there not love in this to tell us there is a time coming when it will be too late to seek him See how
free and ingenuous as I may say Divine Love is it tells us the worst that we might be awakened to look about us If you neglect but a while follow your sins for a while set out your day of Grace for a while then it will be over and the bowels of the Lord will be shut up in displeasure against you and then you will say as he upon his death-bed I have told you now all is too late all is now too late Is there not great love in warning Souls of danger before it comes 4. Is there not love in this that the Rejection of the Jews the Cutting off them should be the grafting in of the Gentiles O that such wild Olives should be partakers of the sweetness of the fat Olive that ever such brambles should be inoculated into Christ Rom. 11.33 This raised up the spirit of Paul into a frame of admiration The casting away of the Jews was the reconciling of the world 5. There is love in this that Christ was so willing to come as his Fathers Gift as a Commander and Leader to his People as the words before speak See how Christs heart ecchoes to the heart of the Father in the work of the Salvation of poor Sinners In the volume of thy Book it is written I come to do thy will O God 2. Vse O then let us a little admire the condescention of Christ in this thing that he is so willing to be found of poor Gentiles It is no wonder if upon the head of this Divine Mistery be written a verily Verily he took upon him not the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but the Seed of Abraham That he should overlook them Glorious Creatures that Mercy should come to poor Gentiles over the head of Angels how few take notice of this 1 Pet. 1.12 Angels desire to look into these deeps and yet we do not look into them with an eye of holy inspection and heavenly admiration 3. Another word is this If Christ be willing to be found of poor Gentile Sinners it is then a Call to such to seek him Seek him while he may be found May not I say to poor Sinners as God argues the case with those Jews by the Prophet Ezekiel Why will ye dye O ye house of Israel So why do poor Gentile Sinners neglect seeking the Lord Jesus Is not this to go carelesly the ready way to your Eternal destruction Is not this the rode to your Everlasting ruine And will not the Lord say to you one day as the Prophet to them Your destruction is of your selves 1. Motive to seek the Lord. He first is suitor to you and seeks you And is not this a mighty motive This is that great loadstone that should draw the hearts of poor Sinners much in love with Christ He loves them first Who loved us first Christ is first in the motion He came to seek and to save that which is lost Take that Parable of the Prodigal his Father sent after him into the far Country sought him out This my Son was lost and is found Nay Christ is the Shepherd of the Gentiles and he seeks out his sheep in a dark and gloomy day Alas what is the Gospel but Christ sending after poor Sinners to wooe them to accept of terms of Grace and Mercy 2. Motive to seek the Lord Jesus His seeking you cost him dear He laid down his life for his sheep He sought you and where did he find you He found you slaves and he must pay your ransome for you I have found a ransome for him His death is our ransome We were prisoners and captives and could not be redeemed at a lower rate than Christs blood 3. Motive He comes from the Father to seek you The verses going before are a Prophecy of Christ proceeding from the Father I have given him for a witness And frequently when he is spoken of to poor Gentile Sinners then he is said to come by way of donation I have given him a light to the Gentiles He comes and brings commendations of his Fathers love to poor Sinners He is called the faithful and true witness of God 4. Motive He came from Heaven to seek you O what Glory he left to come and mind your Eternal concerns upon earth I cannot nay what Man or Angel can tell you what he forsook to seek you He stript himself of all his Glory of all his Royal Robes to wash your feet to wash you all over He left his Throne I remember it is storied of a King that found a sheep in a ditch and sate down on hands and knees and pulled it out with his own hands The Sheep is thy own Soul this King is the Lord Jesus the Ditch is thy Natural Condition in which thou hadst perished to all Eternity if he had not come from Heaven to have pull'd thee out 5. Motive He seeks as impatient of denyal He is an importunate Seeker he will not be said nay seeks like a beggar that will not be gone from your doors Christ will not be gone from the door of thy heart he stands and knocks he doth not knock as he passes by but stands waiting for thy coming out to accept of him and close with him Therefore he beseeches wooes waits to be Gracious He comes in Ordinance after Ordinance Providence after Providence Motion after Motion and Day after Day What sayest thou poor Soul wilt thou now close with me And as he did Wilt thou be made whole to the Leper And O how loth to go away when will it once be 6. Motive He is a Seeker that is grieved when he is denyed He was grieved because of their unbelief and the hardness of their hearts You cannot grieve Christ worse than deny him when he comes to make out love to your Souls and you slight him 7. Motive He seeks poor Sinners in their proper months Jer. 2.24 In their months one shall find them Christ knows the months to find Sinners in All these Motives are taken from Christ as the great seeker of Souls 3. Vse is of Reproof 1. to such as neglect to seek the Lord that seek him not at all Yet they are Seekers but not Seekers of the Lord. Gentiles are Seekers after these things the Gentiles seek They seek good trading good livelihoods c. But alas this is all they seek after Nay Lev. 10.31.20.6 we read of some that seek after Wizards they are so far from seeking after God But the Lord sayes he will set his face against such Do you think poor Seamen and you their wives that this is the way to have good voyages to go to ask the Devil his Counsel Some seek their lusts Prov. 23.30 like Solomons drunkard they say they will seek it yet again But all this while they seek not the Lord. O how few seek to the Lord What are these poor Souls seeking but the living among the dead 1. See the danger
of Christ though the Soul be not convinced of it 3. The misery of a Soul out of Christ is in this it is eternal misery The eternity of the misery is the sting of Hell and the very emphasis of damnation To be miserable a thousand years and then to come out of it the very thoughts of a better estate would be some kind of ease to the oppressed mind but their misery is like to be endless and this compleats the misery It is called everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord c. 2 Thes 1.8 This brings me orderly to the next head 4. Poor Sinners seek not out to the Lord Jesus because they are not convinced throughly of a future state of the Soul They are not under the powerful sense of the Souls immortality Who will seek out to Christ if they be not convinced that the Soul is an immortal being Christs errand from Heaven to Earth is in vain his whole series of suffering is in vain his whole undertaking of the work of mans redemption in vain if there be no future state of the Soul But because we live in a time and day that Atheism doth abound let me offer by way of conviction some few Arguments to prove the future state of the Soul Alas men look not out after Christ because they are not taken up with Eternity 1. Argument is taken from Christs death 1 Thes 1.10 which was to deliver from wrath to come Then there is such a thing as wrath to come which could not be if there were no future state of the Soul 2. Argument of a future state is from the horrour that wicked men feel sometimes in their consciences when they are awakened O what Magor Misabibs are they to themselves sometimes Crying out Wo is them that ever they were born to sin such wrath upon their own heads These are the sparks of Hell that are gotten into the Conscience in this life this is the gnawing of that worm that never dyes 3. Argument is taken from the wishes of the wicked that they might dye the death of the Righteous as Balaam desired 4. Argument is taken from the sufferings of Saints What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul which is brought in to the Disciples to caution them against Apostasie O say poor believers we may lose our Souls and therefore we may not apostatize from God and therefore they will suffer the loss of all The poor people of God make a sad bargain of it if they suffer and yet there should be no reward 5. Argument is taken from the great desires that sometimes Believers have to be dissolved as Paul did which if there were no enjoyment of God after would greatly be to believers loss because they enjoy something of God here 6. Argument is taken from the great joy that many Saints have had in their passage into another world How have they gone off the stage of this present life with triumph and died boasting and glorying in God 7. Argument is taken from Saints Communion with God If there be such a thing here then much more hereafter what we enjoy here is but a drop to the Ocean 8. Argument is taken from mens natural unwillingness to dye Certainly there some thing follows death that the Soul cannot endure to think on It is true the dissolving of the marriage-knot betwixt such two dear lovers as Soul and Body is tedious to think of yet there is some preapprehensions of eternity that trouble the Soul that it cannot think of death with any quiet or comfort 9. Argument is taken from the end of Christs appointments God hath appointed the means of Grace in reference to the salvation of poor Souls That thou may save thy own Soul and them that hear thee 10. Argument from the endeavours of Satan seeking whom he may devour or drink up as the word is Satan would spare his pains if there were no future state of the Soul Now it is no wonder if poor sinners seek not the Lord Jesus when they lay not their souls under the convictions of the state of the Soul after death 5. Poor Sinners seek not after the Lord Jesus Christ because they are diverted by their worldly enjoyments and employments We read of some that made excuses and all their excuses were from their worldly business they could not come I have observed that young persons who have been under some notable convictions and resolutions to close with Christ and seek after Christ if ever they have abated and cooled in their first love it hath been when they have entred upon the world changed their conditions set up for themselves the world hath stoln their hearts from God O how sad is this The world broke the bargain betwixt Christ and the young man in the Gospel O but sayes a poor Soul I know not how to seek Christ I am a poor Gentile Sinner that have sate in darkness and am in my dark state of Gentilism to this day and how shall I seek the Lord Jesus that is you say thus willing to be found of me 1. Seek the Lord betimes If you would be speeding Seekers of Christ Job 8.5 you must not be loyterers there is but in time and out of time Make no delay therefore poor sinner in seeking the Lord Jesus Christ take the present time by the fore-lock While it is to day hearken to his voice Now acquaint your selves with God We must take hold of the present time They that seek me early shall find me shall morning me the Hebrew is We must in our seeking give the morning to God It is observable in the morning Jacob got the blessing in the morning the Lord looked through the cloud and discomfited the Aegyptian Host Nay Christ himself is called the Hinde of the morning the morning-star and all to teach us to seek him in the morning The first fruits were to be dedicated to the Lord the firstling of every Creature was to be offered up in Sacrifice to the Lord but the firstling of an Ass being so dull a Creature God would not accept it in sacrifice 1. We should seek the Lord early because the present time is the only time to seek the Lord in Now is the acceptable time now is the day of salvation c. Upon this monosylable Now depends Eternity sayes one There is a present time and a present Truth for us to lay hold on It was a good saying of him when invited to dinner to morrow sayes he I have not promised myself a to morrow this many years Who knows sayes Solomon what to morrow may bring forth What is in the womb of to morrow What if thy death nay thy damnation should be in the womb of another day We read of death and what was at the heels of death and Hell immediately followed him 2. Seek the Lord early you cannot promise your selves any more seasons of Grace
his heart so that he breaks out thus the Godly shall pray unto thee in such a time in an especial time Luk. 19.41 42. O Jerusalem hadst thou known in this thy day It was an especial time in which they might have found the Lord he so sweetly offering himself to them in the Gospel Solomon tells us Eccl. 8.5 6. A wise mans heart discerneth time and judgment because to every purpose there is a time and judgment therefore the misery of man is great upon him So in this case there is a time an especial time to put your Spiritual purposes into execution to seek the Lord Jesus in Therefore that was good Counsel Job 22.20 21. Now acquaint thy self with God and be at peace and thereby good shall come upon thee Now seek the Lord. There are some especial Nows that we should all improve and lay hold on 2 Cor. 6.2 Now is the acceptable time now is the day of salvation c. I passed by thee and saw thee in thy blood and then it was a time of love c. The great question will be what are these especial times in which Christ is willing to be found 1. When he offers himself in the tenders of the Gospel O Jerusalem hadst thou known in this thy day It was a peculiar time in which the Lord Jesus was preached to them Now Christ is willing to be found of you What is the Gospel but Christ seeking out his Sheep his voice calling in his Sheep Christ following poor sinners with invitations and entreaties that they would return unto him and live We read of the Shepherd seeking out his sheep Would Christ offer himself but that it is an especial time of love O poor Souls take heed as you reject these offers 1. These offers of Christ are a fruit of his blood if he had not died he never had been tendred to you and for you to refuse these offers is for you to reject his purchase nay for you to tread his blood under-foot and account the blood of the Covenant an unclean thing And O how must this needs provoke the Lord as is said in the parable of the Supper when they all had refused the Lord was angry and resolved that none of them should taste of his Supper 2. These offers are offers of life and salvation O then take heed of rejecting them You will not come to me that you may have life Now is an especial time you may have life If a poor condemned Malefactor should but have his life offered him O how would he be transported with joy And this is the case of every poor sinner out of Christ he is under a sentence of condemnation and Christ comes and offers them their lives O then as we value the lives of our precious Souls let us not reject the offers of Christ 3. The offers of Christ are unasked unsought for by us therefore it is now an especial finding time Thou poor sinner dost not come forth and ask a Christ and cry for Christ and lament after Christ O no but Christ came out to offer himself to thy poor Soul when thou lay dying and perishing in thy blood then he said unto thee unasked Live 4. The offers of Christ are not only of his Grace but of himself He offers not only what he hath but what he is to thy Soul But my people would have none of me He that hath the Son hath life There must be an union with the Son a closing with the person of Christ as well as with the promise of Christ Now this is more than to offer Grace yea than to offer Heaven to poor sinners Therefore it is we read of the marriage of the Kings Son and shall we despise such a match as this God forbid 5. Surely this is a finding time in an especial manner he offers with entreaties and invitations to accept He doth not make an offer and away as careless whether poor sinners accept or no but he follows his offers with arguments if by any means he might prevail with poor Souls before it be too late 6. He offers all he hath O will neither his person nor his benefits take with the Souls of poor sinners All he hath may be yours If he have pardoning mercy it is yours if he have sanctifying mercy it is yours if he have comforting mercy it is yours He interests you in all his fulness upon your closure with him He bestows upon you a large joynture upon your marriage with him All is yours Then certainly this is an especial finding time 2. The second especial finding time is when the Spirit breaths upon sinners in their attendances upon God We read of a certain season in which the Angel came down and moved the waters There are some certain seasons that the Spirit of God doth breath more freely upon poor sinners than at other times and these times we are to make an especial improvement of The Spirit of God it is said came upon Sampson by times Certain briezes if you will give me leave to call them so that come from Heaven at certain times The wind blows where it listeth O but poor Souls be sure you lose not these winds when they stand fair for Heaven do not let them slip lose not a gale for Eternity for they are especial finding times 1. These gales once gone and they are irrecoverable There is no buying a wind for Heaven if you would give all the world for it one fair gale lost and thy poor Soul may lye wind-bound unto thy very dying day 2. These gales once gone and your hearts harden Sinners hearts harden as the gales of the spirit of God are abused and so suspended And O what a sad case will it be for a poor Sinner to lye upon a death-bed crying out this heart of mine as very a stone as it is as hard as it is now once was breathed upon by the Spirit to close with Christ but I sinned all those precious breathings from my Soul and so by degrees hardned for Hell apace 3. These winds will not alwayes blow upon you the wind will not alwayes stands here Say so when under the Spirits breathings The wind will not alwayes hold thus fair for Heaven it will not alwayes blow in this quarter My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with man You must not think of having a trade-wind for Heaven 4. These gales must you give an account for Why did not you move with such a fair wind when you had it This question one day will be asked your precious Souls O what answer will you give in that day Did not my Spirit strive with you but you resisted it and vexed it and quenched it Every motion you ever had and slighted will come in as an evidence against you another day 5. These gales once gone will fill your Souls with horrour that you have lost them that you were in so fair a way for closing with
breathings doth put him upon withdrawing When poor Sinners have so often quenched the Spirit the Spirit lets them alone and strikes sparks of holy motions and resolutions there no more 2. It will be more difficult your selves will have less heart to it The longer a poor Soul lies snoring in the bed of sin the less mind he hath to get up And indeed such souls seldome get up untill the cry of fire fire I mean hell fire get into their Consciences The longer a man sits upon a seat the stiffer he is and the unfitter he is to stir and rise so it will be in this case 3. It will be the more difficult because guilt is every day more contracted The more guilt the less mind to close with those times in which Christ is willing to be found It is with a Soul in this case as it was with our first Parents they were afraid when they saw they were naked and they hid themselves Guilt is for running away from God 4. It will be more difficult Satan will be stronger with his opposition His temptations and objections will get faster hold of you If you had sought Christ sooner if you had early in the morning looked after him haply he might have been found of you but now sayes Satan it is too late your day of Grace is past now his bowels are shut up in displeasure against you Such objections will make dreadful work with poor guilty Souls O it must needs be sad when Satans objections get into our Consciences 5. It will be the more difficult because the sense of former delayes will fill the heart for the present with jealousies and misgivings of God and Christ Alas I have stayed too long I doubt it is now past time will he be found of me at this time of the day will he receive me that come so late will he not tell me there is no room for one that hath dallied and delayed so long O such jealousies will exceedingly hinder the Souls falling in with Christ 5. Your delayes to observe Christs times in which he is willing to be found may in time bring a hardness of heart upon you and O how sad would this be Take heed your hearts be not hardned through the deceitfulness of sin You think you can close with Christ another time as well as this in another Ordinance as well as this in another duty as well as this and alas in a little time you come to be hardned by your delayes We are come now to the fourth and last Observation in the Text. There is a day and time in which Christ will not be found as well as a day and time in which Christ will be found Though Christ offer himself to poor Sinners now yet he will not alwayes do so his Golden Scepter of Free Grace will not alwayes be held out As there is a time to hold it out so there is a time to take it in Though he call long wait long knock long yet he will not alwayes stand at your doors Luk. 12.36 Therefore we read of opening to him immediately He will mark the door and be gone We read of a very sad judgement upon Israel They should come and seek the Lord with their Herds Or he hath made himself free from them Dutch but shall not find him for he hath withdrawn himself from them O what a sad case was that of the Spouse to seek her beloved and could not find him but yet at last she recovered a sight of him but it is far sadder to seek him and never find him but for a poor Soul to be sealed upâ—â— lost Soul to all eternity We read of Esau seeking the birth-right yea with tears Heb. 12.17 Gen. 27.36 but yet could not find it Christ lamented over Jerusalem under this consideration but now they are hid from thine eyes now it is past time But the great inquiry will be this What are these times in which Christ will not be found For as we have upon this Text shew'd the times in which Christ will be found so we must shew the contrary the times in which Christ will not be found 1. When Souls are shut up and sealed up under obduracy and judicial hardness of heart Give me leave to distinguish betwixt a natural obduracy of heart and a judicial obduracy of heart betwixt being under hardness of heart and being shut up under it This shutting up and giving up is an Act on Gods part so he gave up to their own lusts Psal 81.12 Rom. 1.23 I gave them over to the arbitration of their own hearts Some read it The Lord past an Act of Tradition upon them And now their time and day of Grace is over now the Soul is delivered up to the Gaoler and is shut up close prisoner sentence is past upon him and cannot be recalled But poor souls know this you first reject God and refuse the sweet offers and tenders of the Lord Jesus Christ you put God upon this by your sinning against him So the people of Israel did for God waits long and wooes long and exercises great patience before he thus give up poor sinners 2. Time in which Christ will not be found is when poor Souls seek him but they seek him feignedly as it is said of the children of Israel Jer. 3.10 they turned to him feignedly Poor Souls should seek the Lord with their whole heart and to such seeking there is a promise Jer. 29 1â— And you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your hearts therefore it is the Lord hath called for the heart in our seeking of him My Son give me thy heart not thy tongue nor thy head nor thy hand but thy heart The kidneys were offer'd in sacrifice to the Lord to teach us he regards the inwards the integrity of our hearts in our sacrifices Christ loves to be sought to in good earnest with all your hearts The divided heart was found faulty 3. When poor Souls seek him slothfully We are to seek him diligently We read to teach us this lesson that the Ass the firstling of an Ass was not offered to God in sacrifice and Snails those slow-paced creatures were unclean creatures We should not be slothful in seeking Christ Will he be found of the sluggard When the Spouse sought Christ in Bed he would not be found of her The Spouse at another time indulged her self in her sloth and then Christ would not be found 4. Another time in which Christ will not be found is when you have griev'd and quenched the motions of his spirit now he will withdraw from you and will not be found then he sayes his spirit shall not alwayes strive with man When do poor Sinners grieve the Spirit that Christ will not be found 1. When they refuse him though he hath stood long knocking at their doors and waited upon them Thus we see he did by the Spouse he waited