LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Nineteenth SERMON. (Book 19)

ISA. LV. 6.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.

THE withdrawing of every thing from its original, from that which it was made to be, is like the draw∣ing of a straight line, which the further you draw it, the weaker it is; nor can it be strengthned but by being redoubled, and brought back again to∣wards its first point. Now the Wiseman will tell us,* 1.1 That God hath made man upright, that is, simple and single and sincere, bound him as it were to one point; but he hath sought out many inventions, mingled himself and in∣gendered with divers extravagant conceits, and so run out not in one, but many lines, now drawn out to that object, now to another, still running further and further from the right, and from that which he should have staid in and been united to as it were in puncto, in a point and so degenerated much from that natural simplicity in which he was first made. This our Prophet observeth in the people of Israel, that they did their own wayes,* 1.2 and erred from God's wayes, run out, as so many ill-drawn lines, one on the flesh, another on the world, one on idolatry, another on oppression, every man at a sad distance from him whom he shoud have dwelt and rested in as in his Centre. Therefore in every breath almost and passage of this Prophesie he seemeth to bend and bow them, as it were a line, back again, to draw them from those objects in which they were lost, and to carry them forward to the rock out of which they were hewen, to strengthen and settle and establish them in the Lord. All this you have here abridged and epitomized; — Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.

The words are plain, and need not the gloss of any learned interpre∣ter. If we look stedfastly upon the opening of them, we shall behold the heavens open, and God himself displaying his rayes and manifesting his beauty, to draw men near unto himself, to allure and provoke them to seek him, teaching dust and ashes how to raise it self, to the region of happiness, mortality to put on immortality, and our sinful nature to make its approches to Purity it self; that where he is we may be also. The parts are two. 1. A Duty enjoyned Seek ye the Lord. 2. The Time prescribed when we must seek him, while he may be found. But because the Object is in nature before the Act, and so to be considered; we must

know what to seek before we can seek it: and because we are ready to mistake, and to think that we seek God, when we seek something else, that we seek him, when we sit still, and that we may seek early enough when it is too late: We shall therefore commend to your Christian con∣sideration these three things; first, the Object, Whom we must seek; se∣condly, the Act, What it is to seek; and lastly, the Time, When we must seek. Of these in their order.

We told you, the Object is in nature first, and first to be considered. And could we take a perfect and exact view of the object here, did we behold God so far as he hath made us capable, we should not miscarry so often and so dangerously as we do, we should not have those turn∣ings and windings, those stops and pauses and intervals, those unsteady motions in our search. Quantò magìs appropinquat Deo cognitio nostra, tantò praecellentior ejus videtur majestas, saith Ambrose: The nearer we draw to God to see him, the more we admire his Majesty. All the dul∣ness and hesitancy in our seeking, all our coldness and lukewarmness proceedeth from no other fountain then our ignorance and mistake of God. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Justine Martyr; The manifold errors and impieties of our life arise from our manifold mi∣stakes of God. To let pass the Epicure, who brought in 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a brutish sensuality; the Cynick, who professed an open ferity and sa∣vageness; the Peripatetick, who as he circumscribed the providence of God, so confined our happiness within this span of life; and Plato, who indeed made it our happiness 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to become like unto God, but, as S. Paul speaks, held the truth in unrighteousness, and placed his ce∣remonious piety upon a multitude of Gods. All these were vain and restless in their imaginations, tossed on a tumultuous sea, where they saw no port to sail to; or, if they did, it was but through a mist, and then, as Nazianzene speaks, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, making a se∣cond adventure they were shipwreckt, where they thought to harbour. To let these pass; We Christians, who profess we know the true God,* 1.3 do nevertheless in our works every day deny him, and for no other reason but because we know him not, or are willing to mistake him. We put out the eye of his Providence by our distrust, we circumscribe it by seek∣ing out our own inventions; we make him like unto our selves, and in that likeness worship him: And though we acknowledge but one, yet we fall down and worship many Gods, even our own imaginations: That Diagoras his religion might seem as firm and safe, who would have no God, as ours, who acknowledge but one, and yet make so many. For as we may make some objects greater and fairer then they are, and so fix our desires upon those things which in themselves are not worth a thought; so we may in a manner contract God, who is infinite, and make him lesser then he is; and so either not seek him, or seek him but faintly, without whom all these great things we so hunt after, aut nihil sunt, aut nihil prosunt, are either nothing, or nothing worth. With Asa, we seek,* 1.4 not to the Lord, but to the Physicians, as if God could not heal: We put our trust in our armies, as if God were not the Lord of hosts: And we sweat for wealth, as if the earth were not his, nor he all-sufficient. One∣ly we are content to make use of his name: and when we have used all art and cunning and deceit, when we have consulted with the Devil him∣self to compass our ends, when we have left God behind us in the pursuit of these things, we are bold to say that God hath raised us from our beds, hath made us rich, hath crowned us with victory. In our Physician we can see a Deity, in our armies victory, in our wealth security; but God, who is indeed our health, our strength, our sure rock and foundation,

appeareth to us but at distance: Nor do we behold the beauty which alone is able to ravish our souls, which alone can provoke and satisfie our desires, as through a glass, darkly, but through the mist and fog of our own unwarranted desires, which make him like unto us in all our defor∣mities and irregularities. And thus we multiply those objects which are nothing, and colour that over with eternity which is but rottenness; but are blind to that which is immense and infinite, to that light which shi∣neth in full perfection of beauty. We must be careful then to fix and settle our thoughts on the right object, to contemplate it as it is in its own nature, without any addition or defalcation; we must consider God as sufficient in himself for eternal happiness, and as an everlasting and o∣verflowing fountain of goodness to make his creature happy; as a light in himself, and as the Father of lights to enlighten them that sit in dark∣ness. As St. Augustine speaks, Bonum hoc, & bonum illud; tolle bonum hoc, & illud, & vide bonum ipsum, si potes, & Deum videbis; This is good and desireable, and that is good and desireable; but take away that, and this, and behold Happiness in it self, and thou seest the face of God; thou beholdest that Good which is an object large enough for thee and all the world to look upon. Count nothing evil with him, and count nothing a blessing without him. Without him a horse, an army, are but vain helps, honour but a bubble blown up and lost in the making, wealth but the food of the moth and canker: But with him one man shall chase a thousand, with him he that sitteth in the dust is as honourable as the highest, and Lazarus richer then Dives. Without him the greatest good is destructive; but with him the greatest curse shall crown us. Esto tu Dei, & erit tuus Deus; Make God alone thy object, and he will be thy God. Quaerite quod quaeritis, sed non ubi quaeritis: Seek that you do seek; seek for peace, for health, for victory, for content; but not there where you commonly seek, in plants and herbs of the earth, in an arm of flesh, in the heaps that you have raised, but in God alone.

And here we must observe, 1. That God hath made himself an object to be sought; 2. That he is the sole and adequate object of our desires: That we may seek him; That we must seek him alone.

First, God hath appeared and manifested himself in his creatures, in the works of his hands, and is better known by them then Apelles was by his curious line. Every one of them hath this inscription, He hath made us,* 1.5 and not we our selves. This S. Paul calleth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that which may be known of God. Hence we may conclude that he is a powerful and infinite Essence,* 1.6 and hath power over all things. For the invisible things of him are clearly seen by the things which are made. And the same Apo∣stle telleth the Athenians,* 1.7 that God made the world, and all things there∣in; and made of one bloud all nations, that they should seek the Lord, if hap∣ly they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us, not far from us, if we will seek him. The Schools call it ve∣hiculum creaturae, the chariot of the creature, by which we may be car∣ried up as Elijah was, to Heaven; by which Man, who amongst all the creatures was made for a supernatural end, is lifted up nearer to that end. For as the Angels have the knowledge of the Creature in the Creator himself, saith Bernard: (for what a poor sight is the Creature to an An∣gel, that seeth the face of him that made it!) so Man by degrees gaineth a view of God by looking on the works of his hands. Secondly, As God manifesteth himself in his creature, so he appeareth as a light in our very souls.* 1.8 He hath set up a candle there: Solomon calleth it so, The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly; a light to all the faculties of the soul, and to all the parts of the body, to

guide and direct them in the seeking after God. By this light it is that thou lookest upon thy self, and art afraid of thy self. By this light they that are in darkness, they that are darkness it self, the profanest Atheists in the world, at one time or other behold themselves as stubble, and God as a consuming fire, behold that horror in themselves which striketh them into a trembling fit. This candle may burn dim, being compassed about with the damp of our corruptions; but it can no more be put out then the light of the Sun. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. I am a Saint of God, a man of blessings, guided, assisted, applauded by God himself: Here the candle burneth dim. But when Fortune, or ra∣ther Providence, shall turn the wheel, and throw me on the ground, then it will blaze, and by that light I shall behold God my enemy, whom I called my friend and fellow-worker. Whilest we are men, we have rea∣son, or we are not men; and whilest the spirit remaineth, it is a candle, though we use it not as we should, but are guided rather by the prince of darkness. Thirdly, to quicken and revive this light, God hath sent another Light into the world; God was made manifest in the flesh,* 1.9 saith S. Paul. The Word was made flesh, not onely to dwell amongst us, but to teach us, to improve the light of nature, and all those principles of the knowledge of good and evil with which we were born.* 1.10 He declared his father's name, he made him visible to the eye, and set him up as an en∣sample of purity and justice, of mercy and love; His Flesh being the window through which Immortality and Eternity and God himself was discovered to mortal men; that so he might joyn finem principio, the end to the beginning, Man to God; that so we might seek him in the light of his face. God being made thus conspicuous in his Gospel,* 1.11 shining in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face and person of Jesus Christ, who is the brightness of his glory,* 1.12 and the express image of his person. And indeed to seek God is not to seek his essence, which is past finding out, but his will, which Chirst hath fully manifested in his Gospel. This true light hath made God an object indeed, hath gi∣ven us a more distinct knowledge of him then the light of Nature could do, hath declared his attributes, revealed his will, rent every veil, clear∣ed all obscurity, scattered every mist and cloud, made him of an unknown a known God; hath revealed his arm, his power, to punish us, if we seek him not; hath opened his bowels, proclaimed a jubilee, a re-instating of all those who will forsake their old wayes, and seek him with their whole heart. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,* 1.13 which God hath ordained before that we should walk in them, that so we might be new creatures, that, as he created the world out of a rude heap or mass without form, to bring forth fruits, so he might make us of diso∣bedient and disorderly men, composed and plyable to his will; that he might draw us out of the chaos of our own confused imaginations, and redeem us from bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons of God; which liberty consisteth alone in seeking and serving him. Thus then you see, though God be invisible and incomprehensible, yet he hath discovered himself so far as to draw us after him; we may see so much of him as to seek him, so much as to make us happy and unite us to him. And is not this enough? Is it not enough for us to be happy? Unhappy we, if we neglect this delight by desiring more! Unhappy we, if we do not seek him because he is not as visible as our selves! This were indeed to make him like unto our selves, to confine and limit him, that is, to de∣ny him to be God: this were to be the worst Anthropomorphites in the world, to give God hands, and eyes, and voice, and not believe he is un∣less he object and offer himself to our very senses. And yet see, he doth in a manner present himself to thy very sense. For why shouldst thou not hear

him in his thunder, see him in his miracles, feel him in every work of his hands? Or rather, why canst thou not hear him in his Word? for that is his voice: see him in thy self? for thou art built up after his image; and no hand but that which is Almighty could have raised such a structure. Why canst thou not feel him in his sweet and secret insinuations, in the inward checks he giveth thee when thou art doing evil, and in his in∣citements to piety? When we feel these, we may truly say, Est Deus in nobis, that God is in us of a truth. Hold up then the buckler against this temptation, against this fiery dart of Satan, which is of force, if thou re∣pellest it not, to consume and wast thy soul; this temptation, I say, That God and Divine things appear not in so visible a shape as thou wouldst have them. What folly is it to aim at impossibilities, and to desire to see that which cannot be seen? It is plain, they are the worst and meanest things that are open to the eye. Who ever saw Vertue, saith Ambrose: who ever handled Justice? And wouldst thou, dust and ashes, have thy God appear in such a shape as thou mayst behold him? Walk then by faith: For that is the eye thou hast to see him with whilest thou art in this mor∣tal body. And by the light which shineth in his works, in thy self, and in his word, quasi porrectâ manu, as Lactantius speaketh, as with a hand stretched out, he beckeneth to thee, to raise thee from the dust and out of thy bloud, that thou mayst lift up thy head to look up and seek him, who is so manifest to the eye and so willing to be found.

For in the next place, as God is an object to be sought, so he is the sole and adequate object of our desires. For howsoever they may wan∣der, and with the Bee seek honey on every leaf and plant, yet they are unquiet and restless, and never satisfied, but in God. Therefore as he hath graciously condescended to open and discover some part of his beauty and majesty, that we might love him, and fall down and worship him; so he hath also made the mind of man a thing of infinite capacity, utterly unsatiable in this world: There is not any finite thing which can possibly give it full content. Covetousness is not filled with riches, Am∣bition is not dulled or taken off with honours, nor Lust quenched with pleasure. These daughters of the horse-leach, when they are full and rea∣dy to break, still cry, Give, Give. Hoc habent, non respiciunt; They never look back upon what they have, but still drive forward for more. If these things were fit objects to seek, they would no doubt do what at first sight they promise, satisfie the desire: But Desire maketh haste, and flyeth towards them; and when it hath overtaken them, is as restless as before. Sitis altera crescit: Still, as one desire is satisfied, another ariseth. Nay the same desire multiplyeth it self. We wander from one object, from one vanity, to another, and many times back again unto the same: and that befalleth us which befalleth unskilful builders, quibus sua sem∣per displicent, ut semper destruant quod semper aedificent, who are alwayes displeased with what they do, and what they build they destroy, and then build again: We will, and we will not, and we will again, and in∣deed know not what to will. Or it fareth with us as it doth with some men who have queasie stomachs; our appetite cometh by eating; majora cupere ex his discimus; the obtaining of some is the way and means to de∣sire more. Now we cannot think that this 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, this infinite appetite, of a soul is a thing that befalleth us by chance: For then certainly it would not be alwayes, nor would it be in all. For those things, saith the Philosopher, which fall out alwayes, or for the most part, cannot be ca∣sual, but have set and constant cause. And if this vast appetite be not casual and by chance, then it must needs be implanted in the soul by God himself. And if so, then it must necessarily have something to which it

tendeth. For it is a known axiom in Philosophy, Deus & natura nihil frustra faciunt, God and Nature make nothing in vain. Look into the body of man; so many parts, so many passages, so many desires, yet none of them in vain. He that hath made hunger, hath made bread to stanch it: he that hath made thirst, hath made drink to quench it: he hath fitted some object to every look and inclination, to every motion and desire. And we cannot think but that the same God hath proporti∣oned something to this infinite Thirst and Hunger in the soul, to allay it: Which if we cannot find here, neither in the seat of Honour, when it is built highest; nor in our barns and granaries, when they are most filled; nor in the field of Pleasure, when it yieldeth most variety; neither in the Throne, nor in our Treasures, nor in Dalilah's lap; seeing the whole world is not large enough for the heart of man, nor can afford any thing that can fill it, though we walk about it, and double Methusalah's age, nay though we should not end but with it, we shall be forced to confess that we must seek satisfaction somewhere else, even in God, who can alone satisfie this infinite appetite of our souls, in whose presence there is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore So having presented to you the true Object, and shewed you what you must seek, to wit God a∣lone, I pass to the Act, to teach you what it is to seek him; which is my next part; Seek yee the Lord.

Having discovered the beauty and majesty of the Object, one would think our desire should be on the wing, nor should there need the voice of a Prophet to quicken us and bid us seek him. The Prophet David,* 1.14 telleth us there is a generation of them that seek the Lord. Some seek him in lectulo, in their bed, have peradventure a pleasant dream of God, talk much of him, as men may do in a dream; and when judgement shall a∣wake them, behold it was but a dream, to be interpreted, as dreams use to be, by contraries. Some seek him in plateis, in the wide and open streets, think to find him with ease, with hearkning after him; but then it followeth, quaerunt, sed non inveniunt eum, they seek him, but they do not find him. Some seek him, and sit still, and gaze; some seek him, and gad and wander; some seek him, and are unwilling to find him, as St. Augustine in his Confessions telleth us that he prayed to God against sin, but was afraid God should hear him too soon, especially in the sin of lust, quam malebat expleri quàm extingui, which he had rather should be satisfied then quenched. Every man is a severe Justitiary against ano∣ther mans sin, but a patron and protector of his own. Sin! oh it is an ugly monster; and every man is ready to fling his dart at it. Sin! it is that for which the Land mourneth, by which the Church is rent, and the whole world put out of frame This the worst sinners breathe forth with as much ease as they commit sin. But In my rebellion, saith the traitour, In my lust, saith the wanton I•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 oppression, saith the covetous, In this sin the Lord be merciful to m•••••• m••••••ful unto me, though I love it, and love to commit it. Some sin or other there is to which our natural temper and complexion swayeth us, which we can willingly hear reviled, and which we can disgrace our selves, and yet are unwilling to leave it behind us when we seek. Nay, we may say as the Disciples did to Christ in the Gospel, A multitude there be that throng and press upon God, as if they could not overtake him soon enough: How doth their zeal wax hot as an oven! how do their words fall from them, not like dew, but like hailstones and coales of fire! how do they mourn for Zion, and cry down the iniquities of the time, when no mans iniquity cryeth louder for vengeance then theirs: how do they monopolize the Spirit, appropriate Assurance of salvation, and entail the inheritance of Heaven on them∣selves

and them of their own sect! Putares eos jam in coelo esse, You would think they were in heaven with God already. Is there not a kind of competition and holy emulation who shall be nearest to God, who shall find him soonest? This is the generation of them that seek the Lord, that is, a generation of vipers. For let me tell you; For all this stir and noise, for all this pressing and thronging, we may be far from God. And if we bring our endeavours to the ballance, we shall find that our seeking com∣monly falleth short and is too light. Take all those parts which make it up, and we shall find peradventure some approches, some elevations of the mind, theoricos animi conatus, as the Schools call them, some thin and airy speculations, the busie but fruitless labour of the thoughts, similes co∣natibus expergisci volentium, as St. Augustine speaketh, like to the turnings and strivings of men who would awake when sleep is heavy on them; they strive to rise, and then fall down upon their pillow fast asleep. All our seeking is for the most part but the sudden flight of the soul, the bu∣siness of the mind, the labour, nay the lust, of the ear, verbum abbrevia∣tum, a short word, a profer, an ejaculation, a breath, an intention, a thought: & inanibus phantasmatibus tanquam pictis epulis reficimur; These phantasms, these vain imaginations, these dreams of God, are but as a banquet in a picture. For as painted junkets may delight the eye, but not fill the sto∣mack (A painters shop is but a poor ordinary:) so do these weak but glorious conceptions of the mind tickle and please the phansie perhaps, (A Saint is sooner canonized in the brain then in the heart) but bring leanness into the soul, and leave it empty and poor. A great errour there is in our lives, to argue à parte ad totum, to take the part for the whole, and from the superficial performance of some particular duty to conclude and vainly arrogate to our selves an universal obedience; as if what Tiberius the Emperour was wont to say of his half-eaten meats, were true also of our divided duties, our parcel and curtail'd seeking of God, Omnia eadem habere quae totum, every part of it, every motion and inclination to it, had as much in it as the whole body and compass of obe∣dience; and as if there were that mutual agreement and sympathy of du∣ties in a Christian which Physicians say there is of the parts of a living crea∣ture, the same sapor and tast in a disposition to goodness that is in a habit of goodness, the same heat and heartiness in a thought or word that is in a constant and earnest perseverance, in a velleity as much activity as in a will, as much in a Pharisee's exterminated countenance as in St. Paul's se∣vere discipline and mortification, and, as Hippocrates speaketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in the least performance all the parts of our obedi∣ence; in a mere approbation, desire; in a desire, will; in a displacen∣cy, repentance; and in a wish, our seeking. Saepe sibi de se mentitur mens ipsa, saith Gregory; We never lye more often and more foully then to our selves. The mind is made the Devil's forge, in which he worketh and shapeth those pleasing errours which destroy it; so prone we are to deceive our selves. Where our seeking of God is defective and lame, we underprop it with a thought; a thought that we run the wayes of God's Commandements, when we lye weltring in our own bloud. We call a sight of God, a seeking of God; a looking after him, an embrace; nay our very running from him, a cleaving to him, and our covenant with hell, our peace with God; as erring men call opini∣on knowledge, and hereticks anathematized all others as so; as we commonly call the dawning or first appearance of light the Day, though the Sun be not yet up. And this is nothing else but, in the Fa∣ther's phrase, texere operibus vacuis araneae telam, to spin out these empty and thin speculations as the spider doth his web, which every breath

will sweep away, or, as Basil speaketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to be broad awake, and yet to see visions, or, which is more true, to dream dreams. You will ask me then, What is it to seek the Lord? I deny not any of these; but these are not all. Lectio inquirat, contemplatio degu∣stet; Let us search the Scripture, to find him there; let our contem∣plation tast and feed upon him; let our thoughts be full of him; and let us sing his praises every day: But nisi vim feceris, coelorum regna non capies, saith Hierome; God is not found, the Kingdom of Heaven is not taken but by violince. To win God, we must first overcome our selves, quantum possumus, imò plus quàm possumus, as far as we can, nay, if it be possible, more then we can. In a word, we must seek him in those wayes in which he is pleased to lead us: For if we should chuse our own wayes, we should straight be in his Cabinet, and in his Throne, ordering and marshailing his decrees; when it will be far safer for dust and ashes to keep its proper station, to move in its own sphere, and to walk below, and seek him here on earth, its allotted place. We are all sick of our fa∣ther's disease, and, instead of seeking, desire to be as God, but not in that which will make us like him. We would know as God, foresee as God, when this knowledge is too high for us, this prescience and foresight would make us never a whit the wiser. For what profit were it to foresee that evil which I cannot avoid? or what could this bring but a mere vexation of spirit? And if we had his power, (which is impossible) it would undo us. Omnipoteney in a mortal would be the most incongruous and dan∣gerous thing in the world. If man had an illimited power, certainly the world could not subsist; we should soon be raining down fire and brim∣stone; we should never be seen but in a tempest round about us, in thun∣der and lightning. We see that little power, that derived power we have, what desolations it hath made on the earth. No, to desire these, the knowledge of things to come, or a power to do what we will, is not to seek the Lord. Let the Prophet then interpret himself in the verse im∣mediately following my Text, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un∣righteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord. This is to seek him, not a thought, not knowledge, not an inefficacious faith, not a vain and empty speculation, but an universal obedience and conformi∣ty to his will; not when we cry, Lord, Lord, but when we do the will of our Father which is in Heaven, then we seek him. For our seeking of him is nothing else but a bowing of the will, and conforming it to his law, a∣gainst those assaults and tentations which as so many winds beat upon it to drive it from that object to which God hath confined it; to that indeed which it may cleave to, being a free faculty, but that there is a Veto, a prohibition, writ upon it, to dull, and by degrees to take off that inclination. For talk what we will of seeking him, (as who talk more then they that scarce look after him?) yet we never seek him till we have lost, denied, and hated our selves. Yet by the surrendry of our wills we do not lose them, but make them more ours. For herein consisteth the beauty and rectitude and true liberty of the will, in that it conformeth to his will who is Wisdom it self, and followeth his im∣perious command. Multum est abnegare quod habes, sed valde multum est negare quod es, saith Gregory: It is much for a man to renounce what he hath; but it is very much, and more praise-worthy, to renounce what he it; and yet he is not truly till he doth renounce it. For as St. Bernard telleth us, nihil ardet in inferno praeter propriam voluntatem, nothing sink∣eth us to hell but our own will; so is it most true, nothing bringeth us to God but denial of our selves and renouncing of our wills. That is the best holocaust when our will is sacrificed. For as they who lay siege

to cities, when they have taken the chief and principal fort, soon make themselves masters of the town; so it fareth in our spiritual warfare and search. Till we have given up our will unto God, taken it from those vanities and forbidden objects which we most hunt after, and sacrificed it to him, we seek him not, though we call upon him louder then those idolatrous priests did upon their Baal. Till he hath taken that, we are none of his. For though he fetter our hands, and put out our eyes, and tack up our tongues to the roof of our mouths, yet we may still stand out and fight against him, by murther without a hand, by blasphemy without a tongue, by lust without an eye. For though the Will be fru∣strate of its effect, yet it remaineth a will still, and may finish and deter∣mine its act, and make us guilty as evil-doers, when nothing is done. But when this principal fort, this commanding faculty, is taken and captiva∣ted, then God taketh possession of all, entereth with all his graces, dwel∣leth there, and reigneth as King for ever: All the faculties of our soul, all the parts of our body are ready at his beck; we seek him, and we find him; the Understanding is open to saving knowledge, the Memo∣ry faithful to retain it, the Phansie catcheth not at shadows, but beco∣meth an elaboratory and workhouse of wholsom thoughts, which are winged to flye after God. Then we do not onely seek, but run after God, totâ fidei substantiâ, as Tertullian speaketh, with the whole strength and power and substance of our faith: our Eye seeketh him, whilest we wait on his providence; our Ear seeketh him, whilest we hearken to his voice; our hands seek him, whilest we cast our bread upon the waters; our Tongue seeketh him, by being an instrument of his glory; our Faith layeth hold on him, our Hope attendeth him, our Patience waiteth up∣on him, and our Love embraceth him, and will not let him go. You may call it what you please, Obedience, or Holiness, or Repentance, or Denial of our selves and Renouncing of our wills; but this is truly to seek the Lord.

That we may thus seek the Lord, we must make use of that light which God holdeth up unto us, and those means which he hath graciously afforded us to help and forward us in our search. Some duties there are which look further then those acts vvhich seem to perfect and accom∣plish them; and if they attain not that end, they are nothing, yea, vvhich is vvorse, they are sins; but being rightly performed, they expe∣dite and facilitate those actions of our life vvhich being linked and uni∣ted together are as an ornament of grace unto our head, and chains about our neck, in vvhich dress and glorious habit vve make our approches unto the Lord. I name but three; Hearing and Reading of the Word, Fa∣sting, and Prayer. Exercising our selves in these is commonly called seek∣ing the Lord by those vvho either do not or vvill not understand what they speak. Many thus seek him vvho nevertheless run from the presence of the Lord further then Jonah did, not to some Tarshish, or to the bot∣tom of the ship, but to Hell it self. They hear, and run from him; fast and run from him; pray, and run from him. They hear, that they may sin; fast that may continue in it; pray, that it may prosper: and, as if it vvere some head corner stone, they bring it out with shoutings, and cry, Grace, Grace, unto it. But vve must remember, these are means appoint∣ed, but not to this end; and next, that they are the Means, and not the End. For, first, the Word of God, as it is the mother vvhich begetteth this desire in us, so is it the nurse to cherish it: as it first began that moti∣on vvhich tendeth to God, so it improveth every day our activity in seek∣ing, keepeth every vvheel in its ovvn place, fitteth and applieth it self to every one of the generation of seekers, of vvhat state and condition soever.

But novv, If all be hearing, where is our smelling? vvhere is our eye, and hand? And if to hear of him be to seek him, there needeth no Prophet's voice to rowse us up, there needeth no Moses to bid us, Hear. Oh Israel. For they who are lame and impotent criples, and so lye at the beautiful gate of the Temple, and cannot move at all, when he biddeth them take up their cross, and follow him; without the help of a Peter, without a mira∣cle, will walk, and leap and be as swift as a roe to run to a sermon to hear of him. But this indeed is to abuse those helps and means which God doth plentifully afford us. For Hearing of it self is of singular use, if it drive to a right end; and therefore it was wise coun∣sel which Demosthenes gave, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to work the first cure upon our ear, that it may be fit to receive the Word of God; and conveigh it downward into the heart, and so beget a new creature, a child of God; that we may not count Hearing seeking, but so hear that we may seek the Lord.

Secondly, that our ears may be purged, that we may have clean ears, and so have pure hands, we must beat down our body, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, bring it into subjection, by Fasting and abstinence, make it a servant, that eve∣ry part may be ready at the beck of Reason. For to this end Fasting is enjoyned, not to a politick but spiritual, not a natural but a supernatu∣ral end. God forbid that a fast should either keep us evil or make us worse. It is but as a stage-play, as the Anabaptists call it, if it be not levelled to its right end; which is, not to afflict, but to purge and refine us, to withdraw us from the present momentany pleasures, that we may be fitted for the future; for those which are not seen, which are eternal; that we may so abstain from meats ut solo Deo alamur, as Tertulli∣an speaketh of Moses and Elias, that we may feed on God alone, which is to seek him.

Last of all, Prayer is of great force and availeth much, saith Saint James. It is the best guide and conduct to lead us in our way. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nyssene, it addeth wings unto us, even the wings of a Dove, that we may fly after God, and be at rest. It is impossible that it should return empty, if we ask for grace, not wealth, that we may do God's will, and not that we may bring our own purposes about, and then say it is his will. The wicked are not heard; for God regardeth not their prayers, but loatheth them as an abomination: And yet they are heard, and have that which they request granted them, but for another end, even as God gave the Israelites a King, in his wrath and indignation, and to their fur∣ther condemnation. But when we bow before God, and desire power and ability to seek him, that is, to walk in his wayes, we pray for that which God is alwayes ready to give. We pray that we may seek him who beseecheth and commandeth us to seek him, who sendeth his Pro∣phets to call upon us to seek him. Such prayers are as musick in the ears of the Almighty, and our diligence in seeking him is the resultance. We may call Prayer with Dionysius the Areopagite 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a bright and radiant chain, by which we ascend unto God, and God descendeth unto us, by which we are drawn to follow and seek the Lord. To con∣clude this part then, these three, Hearing, Fasting, and Prayer, as they are helps to forward our repentance, so are they signs of a troubled spi∣rit, probable symptoms of a heart thirsting and panting after God; and yet through the corruptions of our hearts they are nothing else but bare signs and types and shadows. Signs, but such as signifie nothing; Types, but such as have no Antitypes; Shadows, of which the substance was never seen. For, as it was observed of the Jews, that the greatest sa∣crifices, so it may be amongst Christians, that the most frequent hearers, the

greatest fasters, and they that are longest and loudest in prayer, may be the greatest sinners. It is well we can be brought to these, if it be in God's name: but commonly some other wind driveth us to the Temple; some other hand putteth on our sackcloth; and our love, nay the Prince, of this world may bring us on our knees; and then in these our devoti∣on is terminated, and if we can well pass over these, (as we may well, for we delight and pride our selves in them) we think we have God in a chain, and bound him with our merits, that we have past through as ma∣ny punishments as they did who were to be consecrated to Mithras the God of the Persians. In a word, in these three, Hearing, Fasting and Prayer, our devotion, our seeking is at an end; We please and content our selves with the service of the ears, of the body, of the lips; with a Sermon, I should say, many Sermons; with a Fast, and that is not com∣plete without something which they call by that name; with the labour of the lips, with a Prayer, and that too must have something of the Ser∣mon, and something of the Libel: when as indeed our turning to God is the best commendation of a Sermon; to loose the bonds of wickedness, of that wickedness we now stand guilty of before God and men, is the best sanctifying of a Fast; and to seek the Lord with all the heart, the most ef∣fectual Prayer we can make. To this end are these duties enjoyned, and to this end alone they are useful and serviceable, that we may seek the Lord.

We have beheld the Object which we must seek, the Lord, who is the sole and adequate object of our desires, in whom alone they may rest. If we desire Wealth, the earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is; if Strength, he is the Lord of Hosts; if Wisdom, he created her, and pour∣ed her out upon all his works; if Life, he is the living God; if Immorta∣lity, he onely is immortal. And if we seek not him, our riches are snares, our greatest wisdom the greatest folly, our strength will overthrow us, and our momentany life will deliver us over to eternal death. We have also seen what it is to seek the Lord; namely to seek him in Christ, to seek him in those wayes of obedience and humility which he hath drawn out unto us in his Gospel; in a word, to bow our wills, and receive him into our hearts that God in us may be all in all. Now we pass from the Act to the Time, when we must seek the Lord; while he may be found; my last part.

And do we ask when we should seek the Lord? We do not well to ask it, because we should not stay so long as to ask the question before we seek him. Huic rei perit omne tempus, quodcun{que} alteri datur; All time is lost to this which we bestow in any thing else. For shall we prefer our pleasure, our profit, our health, our life before God? Nor is there need of deliberation in that action wherein all the danger is, not to do it. Fides pura moram non patitur. If we love God, and truly believe in him, we cannot be so patient as to endure the least delay. We may miss of happiness, but certainly we cannot meet it too soon. I know God may be found at any time which we can call ours, at any time of our life, in the morning, or at noon, in the heat of the day, or in the cool of the e∣vening: But a great presumption it is to promise to our selves to seek and find him when we please. He may be found in our old age; but it is most safe to remember him in our youth: he may be found in affliction; but it is not good to stay till the rod be on the back: he may be found in war; and yet it is hard to find the God of peace in war; and therefore it is a folly to delay seeking him till we see the glittering spear, and hear the noise of the whip and the prauncing of the horses. If we will determine and fix a time, we must take the first opportunity, lay it to the first beam and dawning of our reason. The second or third opportunities, though

they come not peradventure too late to find him, yet they come too late for us to begin to seek him, because we lost the first, which for ought we knew might have been the last. To morrow may be; but Now is the while and time. Care not for the morrow; let the morrow care for it self. There is no time to seek him but Now. For

1. It is the greatest folly in the world thus to play with danger, to seek death first in the errours of our life, and then, when we have run our course, and death is ready to devour us, to look faintly back upon life. For the endeavours of a man that hath wearied himself in sin, can be but weak and faint, like the appetite of a dying man, who can but think of meat, and loath it. The later we seek, the less able we shall be to seek; the further we stray, the less willing to return. For Sin gathereth strength by delay; devoteth us unto it self, gaineth a dominion over us, holdeth us as it were in chains, and will not soon suffer us to slip out of its power. When our Will hath captivated it self under sin, a wish, a sigh, a thought are but vain things, nor have they strength enough to de∣liver us. One act begetteth another, and that a third; many make up a habit; and evil habits hold us back with some violence from God. What mind, what motion, what inclination can a man that is drowned in sensuality have to God, who is a spirit? a man buried in earth, (for so every covetous man is) to God, who is in Heaven? he that delighteth in the breath of fools, to the honour of a Saint? Here the further we go, ••he more we are in. That which is once done hath some affinity to that which is done often; and that which is done often is next to that which is done alwayes. We say Custome is a second nature; and indeed it imi∣tateth natural motion: It is weak in the beginning, stronger in the pro∣gress, but strongest towards the end. Our first engagement, our first on∣set in sin is with fear and reluctation; we then venture further, and pro∣ceed with less regret, we move forward with delight; delight continu∣eth the motion, and maketh it customary; and costome at last driveth and bindeth us to sin as to our centre. For though God in Scripture be said to Harden our hearts, and some be very forward to urge those Texts, as if Induration were not our fault, but God's, and would be comfort e∣ven in hell, if we could say his hand threw us in; yet Induration and har∣dening of the heart is the natural and proper effect of continuance in sin. For every man is shaped and configured to the actions of his life, whether they be good or evil. An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit; nor can a good tree bring forth evil. Virtue constraineth us, and Vice constraineth us. One sin draweth on another, and a second a third; and at last we are carried 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, of our own accord, and as it were by natural inclina∣tion, and brought to that extremity of sin which the Philosopher calleth ferity or brutishness; and the Apostle 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a reprobate mind, to de∣light in sin, to triumph in sin, to consecrate sin, and call it virtue and religi∣on, to that difficulty of seeking God which the Lawyers call Impossibility in things which may, but yet seldome, come to pass. For though God may be found even of these, yet we have just cause to fear that few thus disposed ever seek him.

2. It is dangerous in respect of God himself, whose call we regard not, whose counsels we reject, whose patience we dally with, whose judge∣ments we slight, to whom we wantonly turn our backs, and run from him when he calleth after us to seek his face, and so tread that mercy under our feet which should save us, and will not seek him yet, because we pre∣sume that, though we grieve his Spirit, though we resist his Spirit, though we blaspheme his Spirit, yet after all these scorns and contempts, after all these injuries and contumelies, he will yet sue unto us, and offer himself,

and be found at any time in which we shall think convenient to seek him. It is true, God hath declared himself by his servant Moses, and as it were become his own Herald to proclaim his own titles. The Lord, the Lord God,* 1.15 merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Manasseth was the most notorious offender of all the Kings of Ju∣dah, and wrought much wickedness, saith the Text, even above all the A∣morites; and this he did not for a little space, but even till he was grown old; and yet we see that patience attended his return, and accepted his person, when he prayed and humbled himself. So loth is God to withdraw himself whilest there is any hope that we will seek him. For he is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, most lovingly affected to man the chief and prince of his crea∣tures; he wooeth him, he longeth after him he waiteth on him, he wisheth he were so wise as to seek him. His glory and Man's salvation meet and kiss each other; for it is his glory to crown him. Nor doth he at any time leave us himself till we dote on the world and sensuality, and divorce him from us; till we have made our Heaven below, chosen other Gods, and think him not worth the looking after. In a word, he is alwayes a God at hand, never goeth from us till we force him by vio∣lence. When he went to lead his own people through the wilderness, how many murmurings and rebellions did he endure ere he left them? Till they committed that intolerable sin in Horeb, in which it seemeth they were resolved to try the strength of his patience he did himself in person conduct them in the way.* 1.16 And after, he telleth them he would not himself go before them, left he should destroy them, but he sendeth his Angel, his vicegerent, to supply his room: so that even when he left them, he left also room for mercy; and he forsook them, that he might not forsake them; forsook them in some degree, that he might not be constrained to forsake them for ever. Since therefore God is so loth to hide himself from us or cast us off, till we have cast off all care and thought of seek∣ing him, I would be very loth to wrong that property of his in which he seemeth so much to rejoyce, or set bounds to his mercies, which are infinite. Yet, as Tertullian speaketh, non potest non irasci contumeliis misericordiae suae, we cannot imagine but God must needs wax angry at the contumelies and reproches which by our dalliance and delay we fling upon his mercy, vvhich is so ready to cover our sins. For how can he suffer the Queen of his attributes to be thus prostituted to our lusts? What hope of that souldier that kicketh away his buckler? or of that condemned man that flingeth his pardon into the fire? or of that sick man who loveth his disease, and counteth his physick poison? The Prophet here, when he calleth upon us to seek the Lord while he may be found, gi∣veth a fair intimation, that a time there may be vvhen he vvill not be found; unless vve be so vvise as by prayer and repentance to prevent it. I shall therefore be bold to deliver a doctrine to you, somewhat harsh, I confess, but very profitable (for that that troubleth a sick man, cureth him:) And therefore if ye will be unvvilling to believe it, because you are vvilling to stay out a little longer; and be absent from your God; yet it is good to be jealous of it, and think that there is great possibility it may be true, lest he withdraw himself and depart for ever. We have a saying in our civil businesses, that it i•• good to forecast the worst; for the best will mind it self. Let us but apply this rule to our spiritual business, and to the point in hand, concerning our late seeking and God's forsaking us; and the doctrine which I shall commend to your Christian considera∣tion is this, That though God do long expect, and hold out his hand un∣to us, as himself by his Prophet speaketh, yet at length he pulleth it in

again, and his patience is at an end; That there is a Donec, a While, a space and compass of time set to every one of us according to the wisdom of Almighty God, to some more, to some less, to all sufficient, in which if we return and seek him, we are accepted, but if we let it slip and pass by, we have broken our day, our bond is forfeited, and God may take the forfeiture, may from thenceforth withdraw his grace from us, and give us over to a reprobate sense, to a heart that cannot repent; That then there will be no more room for repentance, remain no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful expectation of vengeance to consume the adversary. We see he did so with the old world before the Floud; he prefixed a time, set them an hundred and twenty years, wherein he looked upon them,* 1.17 stayed for them, and waited their amendment; as if he should have said, An hundred and twenty years I have left you to seek me in. But when they ceased not in this time to trespass against his patience, as soon as the time prefixed was expired, he brought in the floud upon them, and swept them away. And as it was in the beginning, so it may be with us now: For God doth nothing at one time which he may not do at any time. As it was with them, so it is very probable it may be with every one of us: Our time is set, it may be so many years, it may be so many moneths, it may be so many dayes, and if we return not before our glass be run, there can remain nothing but an expectation of a floud, and wrath to be poured down upon our heads. Caesar knew that if he passed the river Rubicon with his army, there was no remedy but he must be proclaimed a traitour to his country. Solomon told Shimei, that if he passed the river Kidron, he should surely dye; and so it was. And so hath God confined us, we have our Rubicon, our Kidron, our bounds, our limits, which if we pass we shall surely dye, our bloud shall be upon our own heads. Not but that God would even now be found if we did seek him; for whensoever we seek him, he will be found: but that when God doth upon our long trifling with him withdraw his grace, it will be impossible for us to seek him. It is ill colluding, ill trying conclusions with a Deity. I do not deliver this unto you as an article of your Creed; and yet I may; and I know no danger in believing it: but it may prove fatal to disbelieve it, or to look upon it as an errour, and place it in our catalogue of Heresies. Which that we may not do, I shall commend unto you some parts of Scripture which seem much to enforce it.* 1.18 God telleth Abraham that he will bring his posterity into the land of the A∣morites; but yet he will stay to the fourth generation, till their iniquity be full; and when it is full, he will strike.* 1.19 Our Saviour thus bespeaketh the Pharisees, Fill you up the measure of your fathers; which is not a com∣mand, but a prediction that they should fill up the measure of their sin, and then be ripe for punishment. For when wicked men have run out the full length of their line, when their time is run out to the last sand, then is Gods time to give the check, and pull them on their backs.* 1.20 When our Saviour Christ drew nigh to Jerusalem, and wept over it because of the exceeding hardness of their hearts; he brake forth into a very passio∣nate strain, Oh that thou hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace, VEL IN HAC DIE TUA, even in this thy day! A day they had; but when their Sun was set, then followeth NUNC AUTEM, but now they are hid from thy eyes; which is that night that ushereth in the blackness of darkness for ever. Oh that thou hadst; then was liberty of choice: but now, thou art bound and fettered under a sad impossibility for ever. Which speech is a passion of Christ's Humanity; his bowels of compas∣sion yearned within him, and at the very sight of Jerusalem he could not but pour it forth: And he may seem to have spoken it in the very mo∣ment

in which God's patience was tired out, and his set determination of Judgment first began. This he spake at the very time when the de∣cree came forth. For it is not hard to observe how Christ doth tye to∣gether the last instant of Jerusalem's possibility of returning and the first instant of the impossibility of her reclaim. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Judg∣ment followeth Mercy at the heels, to take revenge upon those who wantonly abuse her.* 1.21 God is merciful and just. These two are alwayes joyned together. Mercy alone would beget in us a supine carelesness; and the terrour of judgment without a fair hope of mercy would soon fright us into despair: therefore Mercy to whom mercy belongeth, and Justice to whom justice belongeth. When the rayes of Mercy cannot melt us, when Mercy cannot do its work, make us capable of mercy, she withdraweth and hideth her self, and Judgment maketh its approch in a tempest, cometh upon us as an armed man, and cannot be resisted. God will not be found, and you may seek him; that is the dialect of Mercy: God may be found, but you shall not be able to seek him; that is the voice of a despised and angry God. Oh that thou hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace, VEL IN DIE HAC TUA, even in this thy day! See Mercy gave Jerusalem a day, and shined in it; by which light she might have seen the things that concerned her peace. NUNC AUTEM, But now, now it is past; are as the black lines of reprobation, drawn out by the hand of Justice. Oh that thou hadst known now: whilest I speak, whilest the word is in my mouth; yet it is time; hitherto is thy day. NUNC AUTEM, But now the word is spoken, that time is past, and cannot be recalled. Hitherto was DIES TUA, thy day: but now the night is come. Hitherto the light did shine, and thou mightest have seen it: but now, omnium die∣rum soles occiderunt, thy Sun is for ever set, and darkness is come upon thee, and that which might procure thy peace is hid from thy eyes for ever.

Beloved, compare Jerusalem's state with the age of a man, and you shall find as in that so in this there is a HAEC DIES TUA, a This thy day, in which thou mayest seek God and work thy peace; and a NUNC AUTEM, a Now, when they shall be hidden from thine eyes. Every man hath his day, his allotted time, in which he may seek and find God;

Hic meus est, dixere, dies.

And this day may be a feast-day, or a day of trouble; it may beget an eternal day, or it may end in the shadow of death and everlasting dark∣ness. Oh that we men were wise, but so wise as the creatures which have no reason, so wise as to know our seasons, to discover saltem hanc diem nostram, this our day, wherein we may yet see the things of our peace! Oh that we could but behold that decretory moment in which mercy shall forsake us, and justice cut off our hopes for ever! But though there be such a day, such a moment, yet this day, this moment, like the day of Judgment, is not known to any: and God hath on purpose hid it from our eyes, that we might have a godly jealousie of every moment of our life to come, lest peradventure it may be the NUNC, the Now, wherein those things which concern our peace may be hidden from our eyes.* 1.22 For as the long-sufferance of the Lord is our salva∣tion, so is every day, every hour of our life. On this hour, on this mo∣ment Eternity may depend. And who would perfunctorily let pass such an hour, such a day, which carrieth along with it eternity either of pain or bliss? Flatter not thy self, that thy day may be a long day, or that thy last day may be that day. Think not in thy heart, that the NUNC AUTEM, the decretory Now, is yet afar off; that whensoever thou

seekest the Lord, he will be found; that when every action of thy life hath its proper season, thy seeking of God hath none but what thou thy self appointest; that thy failing in an hour may forfeit thy estate on earth, but thy prodigally mis-spending of many years can no whit en∣danger thy title to Heaven. Repentance indeed hath a blessing when∣soever it cometh. Pharaoh, Judas, Julian the Apostate, could they have repented, might have been saved. But God, who hath promised to Repentance a blessing at all times, hath not promised repentance, or power to repent, when we list. He that hath promised to be found at any time that we seek him, hath not promised that we shall seek him when we please. If thou pass thy NUNC, thy Now, thy allotted time, he may give thee 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a heart that cannot repent nor seek him. And it is justice with God to punish continuance in sin with final impeni∣tency, and to leave that heart which will not be softned unto it self, till it be harder then the neither milstone. Ephraim is joyned to idols:* 1.23 let him alone. And if the heart be alone, it will soon turn stone, and harden of it self. The examples of Manasseh, of him that was called at the e∣leventh hour, of the thief on the cross, are solatia poenitentium, non sub∣sidia rebellium, saith Augustine; These are left as comforts to the truly penitent, not to chear and strenthen the heart of a rebellious sinner. These becken to us, and call upon us, If you will enquire, enquire; return, come,* 1.24 but put no dispensation into our hands to seek when we please. It will be good then for us, if we will not believe this doctrine, to be at least jealous of it, as if it were most true; to make every Now the last, now to cast away our sins, for fear that they may cleave as fast unto us as the leprosie did on Gehazi and his seed, even for ever. Pietas etiam tuta per∣timescit; It is the part of a pious mind sometimes to fear where no fear is, and in the most plain and even ground to suspect a stone of offense. Nor can we possibly be too scrupulous of our own salvation. That thou mayst therefore meet with the Lord IN INVENIRI SUO, whilest he may be found, think that a time may come when thou mayst not be able to seek him. Such a thought, if it improve it self into a resolution, will enlarge thy feet to seek and run after him. Fear lest the measure of thy iniquity be almost full, and perswade thy self thy next sin may fill it; such a fear will make thee as bold as a lion in the wayes of God. Such a per∣swasion that thou mayst fail and fall, is far more safe then a groundless, phantastical faith that thou shalt stand fast for ever. Think that there is a Rubicon, a river Kidron, set thee, which if thou pass thou shalt dye the death. Think this is thy day and time of seeking, and, though it be not, yet think it the last. If it be an errour, it is a happy errour that hasteneth thee to thy God. If it be not the last, if thy day have yet more hours, more Nows in it, yet the night will come, when thou canst not seek him; a night on thy understanding, that thou shalt not have light to seek him; a night of spiritual dulness, when thou shalt have no mind to seek him; and thy last night, Death it self, when thou canst seek no more. And therefore let us seek him in this our day, whilest he call∣eth upon us, before our measure be full; for then he will speak no more: before we are past our bounds; for there Death waiteth upon us ready to arrest us: before our glass is run, our day spent; for then time shall be no more. Let us seek him IN INVENIRI SUO, whilest he may be found.

And here if you expect I should point out to a certain time, the time is Now. Now the Prophet speaketh, now the word soundeth in your ears. To day, now, if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts. For why is it spoken but that we should hear it? Seek him now, is an

exhortation; and if we obey not, it is an argument against us that we deserve to hear it no more. We are willing that what we speak should stand; not a word we utter must fall to the ground. If we speak to a friend, and he turn away the ear, it is a quarrel: If we speak to our servant, and say, Go, he must go; if we say, Do this, he must do it; and he must do it now, dicto citiùs, as soon as it is spoken. A delibe∣rative, pausing obedience, obedience in the future tense, to say, I will do it, strippeth him of his livery, and thrusteth him out of doors. And shall dust and ashes take a convenient time to seek the Lord? Shall our Now be when we please? Shall one morrow thrust on another, and that a third? Shall we demur and delay it till we are ready to be thrust into our graves? If the Lord say, Now, this Now is it, and no other: For all other Nows, as our dayes, are in his hands; and he may shut them up, if he please, and not open them, to give thee another. Do∣mini, non servi, negotium agitur; The business is the Lord's, and not the servant's, and the time is in his hands, and not in ours. Now then, now the word soundeth in thy ears, now is the time. Again, now that thou hast any good thought, any thought that hath any relish of salva∣tion: For that thought, if it be not the voice, if the whisper of the Lord. If it be a good thought, it is from him who is the fountain of all good, and he speaketh to thee by it, as he did to the Prophets by visions and dreams; In a dream, in a vision of the night, in a thought, then he openeth the ears of men,* 1.25 and sealeth their instruction. And why should he speak once, and twice, and we perceive it not? Why should the Devil, that would destroy us, prevail with us more then our God, who would save us? Why should an evil thought arise in our hearts, and swell, and grow, and be powerful to roule the eye, to lift up the head, to stretch out the hand, to make our feet like hind's feet in the wayes of death; and a holy thought, a good intention, which is it were the breath of the Almighty, be stopped, and checked, and slighted, and at last chased away into the land of oblivion? Why should a good thought as a bubble vanish as soon as it is seen, and an evil thought increase and multiply, shake the powers of the soul, command the will and every ••a••••••y of the mind, and every part of the body, and at last bring forth a Cain, an Esau, a Herod, a Pharisee, a profane person, an hypocrite, an adulterer, a murderer? Why should vve so soon devest our selves of the one, and morari, stay and dvvell in the other, as in a place of pleasure, a Seraglio, a Paradise? Let us but give the same friendly enterteinment to the good as vve do to the bad, let us as joy∣fully embrace the one as vve do the other, let us fix our heart on the things above as vve do on the things belovv, let us be as speculative men in the vvayes of God as vve are in our ovvn, and then vve shall seek the Lord.

I appeal to your selves, and shall desire you to ask your selves the question; How often do you enjoy ravishing thoughts? Hovv often do you feel the good motions of the Spirit, and seem as it vvere 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to vvalk on the pavement of heaven, to converse vvith Seraphim and Cherubim, and to be lull'd in your Saviour's lap? Hovv often are you so composed and biassed by these svveet and heavenly insi∣nuations, that heart and hand are ready to joyn together as part∣ners in the seeking of the Lord, the heart ready to endite a good matter, and the tongue and hand to be as the pen of a ready writer? Hovv of∣ten art thou the Preacher, and telleth thy self Vanity of vanities, all is vanity? that there is no rest but in God? I speak to those vvho have any sense and feeling of a future estate, any tast of the powers of the

world to come, (for too many, vve see, have not: I speak this to our shame) novv is the time;

—nunc, nunc properandus, & acri Fingendus sine fine rota;

novv thou must turn the vvheel about, and frame and fashion thy self into a vessel of honour consecrate unto the Lord, make up a child of God, the new creature. Now nourish and make much of these good motions: They are fallen upon us and entred into us, but how long they will stay, how long we shall enjoy them, we do not know. A smile from the world, a dart from Satan, if we take not heed, may chase them away. Let us now run, and meet our Saviour, whilest he knock∣eth, and lay hold on him; lest if we seek him not whilest he cometh crowned with all his rayes and beauty, whilest he may be found, he with∣draw himself that we shall not find him, or, which is worse, so forsake us that we shall not seek to find him, or, if we do, then seek him when we shall find nothing but despair. This is the DONEC, the While, the time, the Now. For at another time, being fallen from this hea∣ven, our cogitations may be from the earth, earthy; such durty thoughts as will not melt but harden in the sun. Our Faculties may be corrupt, our Understandings dull and heavy, our Wills froward and perverse, that we can either not will that which is good, or so will it that we shall not act it, approve, incline to it; look towards it, and then start back as from an enemy, as from that which suiteth not with our pre∣sent disposition, but is distastful to it. Now, now let us close with it, whilest it is amiable in our eyes, whilest our heart is towards it. For another time Vanity it self may appear in glory, and Obedience may be a monster. Now God is God, but anon the World will be our God, and we shall seek and worship that. The first Now, the first opportunity is the best; the next is uncertain; the next may be ne∣ver.

But now if we will stand to distinguish times by the events, by the several complexions they receive either by prosperity or adversity, cer∣tainly the best time to seek the Lord is when he seeketh us, when he shi∣neth upon our tabernacle, when he wooeth us by his manifold blessings. The best time to call upon him is when he calleth upon us, and loadeth us daily with his benefits; cùm prata rident; when our vallies do stand so thick with corn that they do even laugh and sing; when God speaketh to us not out of the whirlwind, but in a still voice; when Plenty crowneth the Commonwealth, and Peace shadoweth it; when God appeareth to us, not as the Poet's Jupiter to Semele, in thunder, but as to Danae, in a showre of gold; whilest he standeth at the door, and knocketh as it were with his finger, by the motions of the blessed Spirit; and not stay till he knock with the hammer of his judgments, till he break in upon us with his sword: Because then t•• seek him in this brightness will rather be an act of our love then of our fear, and so make our seeking a free-will-offering, a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour unto God, and make it evident that we understand the language of his benefits, the miracle which he worketh, which is to cure our blindness with this clay, with these outward things, that we may see to seek him. And this is truly to praise the Lord for his goodness,* 1.26 this is to fear the Lord and his good∣ness, to bear our selves with that fear and reverence that we offend not this God of blessings. Negat beneficium qui non honorat; He denieth a benefit that doth not thus honour it, and is contumelious to that God that gave it. Ingratitude is the bane of merit, the defacer of vertue, the sepulchre, the hell of all blessings; for by it they are turned into

a curse: It loatheth the land of Canaan, and looketh for milk and ho∣ney in Egypt. Oh beloved, dare we look back upon former times? What face can turn that way, and not gather blackness? God looked favourably upon us, and we lifted up the heel against him: He gave us light, and we shut our eyes against that light: He gave us wealth, and we abused it to pride and avarice and vanity: He made us the envy, and we were ambitious to make our selves the scorn of all nations: He gave us milk and honey, and we turned it into gall and bitterness: He sent the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, the blessings of the right hand and of the left, plenty and peace; the one we loathed, as the Jews did their Manna, the other we abused: He sent peace, and we desired war: He broke the sword, and we furbished it: He placed and setled us under our own vines and figtrees, and we were in trouble till we were in trouble, till we were in a posture of war: He spake to us by plenty, and we an∣swered him by luxury: He spake to us in love, and we answered him by oppression: He made our faces to shine, and we ground the poor's: He spake to us by peace, and we beat up the drum: He spake to us in a still voice, and we defied the Holy one of Israel. Every benefit of his spake, Give me my price: and lo, instead of seeking him, running from him; instead of sanctifying his name, profaning it; instead of calling upon his name, calling it down, and forcing it to countenance all the imaginations of our heart, which have been evil continually. This was the goodly price that he was prized at of us.* 1.27 And then our Sun did seem to set, our day vvas shut up, that Now, that Then had its end; vvhat can vve expect, but that the next Now, the next time he should come in thunder, give us hail for rain, and flaming fire in our land?

But such a Then, such an opportunity we had, and thus we lost it. And if we have let slip this time of peace, this acceptable time, yet at least let us seek him now, when if we seek him not, we shall find nothing but destruction; seek him in the storm, that he may make a calm; call upon him in our trouble, that he may bring us out of our distress: Seek him now, when our Sun is darkned, and our Moon turned into bloud; when the knowledge of his law and of true piety beginneth to wax dim, and the true face and beauty of religion to wither; when the stars are fallen from heaven, the teachers of the truth from the true profession of the truth; when the powers of the heaven are shaken, when the pillars of the Church are shaken and broken asunder into so many sects and divisions; (which is as musick to to Rome, but maketh all walk as mourners about the streets of Jeru∣salem;) vvhen RELIGION, vvhich should be the bond of love, is made the motto in our banners, the title and pretense of vvar, the nurse and fomenter of that malice and bitterness vvhich putteth it to shame and treadeth it under foot: Novv vvhen the sea and waves thereof do roar, vvhen vve hear the noise and tumult of the people, vvhich is as the ra∣ging of the sea, but ebbing and flovvi••g vvith more uncertainty and from a cause less knovvn; vvhen nation riseth up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, nay vvhen kingdomes are divided in themselves, in this draught and resemblance of the end of the vvorld; vvhen he thus speaketh to us in the vvhirlvvind, vvhen he thus knocketh vvith his hammer, vvhen he calleth thus loud to us to seek him, vve should novv bovv dovvn our heads, and in all humility ansvver him, Thy face, O Lord, will we seek.* 1.28 For as our Saviour speaketh of offences, so may vve of these afflictions and terrours vvhich God sendeth to fright us, It must needs be that they come, not onely necessitate consequentiae, by a necessi∣ty of consequence, supposing the condition of our Nature and the chan∣ges and chances of a sinful vvorld, but necessitate finis, in respect of the End for vvhich they are sent, for vvhich God, in vvhose povver both

men and their actions are, doth not onely not hinder them by his migh∣ty hand, but permitteth them, and by a kind of providence sendeth them upon us, partly for our tryal, but especially for our amendment, that finding gall and wormvvood upon every pleasure and vanity of the world, finding no rest for our feet in these tumultuous vvaves, vve may fly to the Ark, and seek him vvith our vvhole heart. For vvhen nei∣ther the oyl of God's grace vvill soften and supple our stony hearts, nor his Word, vvhich is his sword, pierce them, when we cannot be re∣strained by the ••pi••it of meekness, then Cedo virgam, then he cometh with his rod, that, if we will not make our selves the children of perdition, the smart of that may drive us unto him. And certainly if afflictions work not this effect, they will a far worse; If they do not set an end to our sin, they are but the beginnings of punishment, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Na∣zianzene, a prologue to that long and lasting Tragedy, the sad types and fore-runners of everlasting Torments in the bottomless pit. As yet they are but an argument of Gods love, the blows of a Father, to bring us to his hand. O felicem servum cujus emendationi instat Dominus, cui dignatur irasci, saith Tertullian, O happy servant, whom the Lord is care∣full thus to correct, whom he loveth so well as to be angry with him, to whom he giveth so great honour and respect as to chastize him! But if we lose this affliction, make no advantage of it, lose that profit which God intendeth by it, then he is no longer a Father, but a Judge; and this punishment is no longer Correction, but Execution. He hath spent his rods, and now he will take his axe in hand; and, as the Prophet speaketh, he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,* 1.29 and for the o∣ver-spreading of abominations he shall make the land desolate, untill the consummation, and that determined shall be poured out upon it. For the judgments of God are like to those waters which came out of the Tem∣ple, at first they are shallow, and come but to the ankles;* 1.30 anon they are deeper, and come up unto the loins; but at length they are so deep that they give no passage over. And therefore let us beware of God's judgments betimes whilst they are yet foordable, when they are come but to the ankles, when they are but corrections: but if we stay till they come to the loins, let us haste and pass them through; for if we tempt his patience longer, and wade yet a little further, we shall find no pas∣sage at all by which to fly and escape from the wrath to come, but it will swallow us up everlastingly.

And here (to make some Use of this) we may cry out with the Prophet Jeremiah, Be astonished, O you Heavens, at this,* 1.31 and be ye hor∣ribly afraid, be ye very desolate: For Men, who have understanding, are become more unreasonable then the beasts, more senseless then the Hea∣vens, then stocks or stones, then Idols; who have eyes, yet see not the judgments of the Lord; eares, and yet hear not his voice when he is an∣gry; hands, and yet feel not the scorpions of a Deity.* 1.32 God hath strick∣en us, yet we are not sick; he hath beaten us, and we felt it not. Our wickedness hath not corrected us, and our backslidings have not repro∣ved us. God hath been jealous of us, and we still provoke him to jea∣lousie, and would be stronger then he; we strive, and try it out with him, as if he had no arme to strike, or we had skill and activity to avoid the blow. Nay the sword is latched in our sides, and we walk delicately with all his judgments about us, feel it not, though he hath sent a fire into our bones. He hath clothed himself with vengeance, and we strut in purple; he is angry, and we are wanton; he frown∣eth, and we smile; he hath hewn down thousands of us with the sword, and we walk about drest up like coffins with herbs and flowers, car∣rying

our own funerals about with us. He hath threatned to remove our candlestick, and we so little fear it, that it is our study to prevent him, and do it our selves; to send us false Prophets, and we are rea∣dy to receive them as angels of light; to destroy our Sanctuary, and it is our religion to beat it down. What can God do to us to make us be∣lieve he is angry? what worm can gnaw us, what fire scorch us, but that of Hell; Should he appear visibly before us with all his artillery in his hand, unless he struck us dead, we should attempt to besiege and invade him. For what can he almost do in this kind which he hath not done? What hailstones and coals of fire hath he which he hath not rain∣ed down upon us? He may seem even to have emptied his quiver, and drawn at several times all his judgments out of the treasury of his wrath, yet we are still the same. As it was in the dayes of Noah, we eat, and drink, and be merry, and the same profane, sacrilegious, covetous, malicious, proud, unmerciful men, the same giant-like sin∣ners, till the general floud, till judgment sweep us away. Like Cali∣gula, that monster of men in Seneca, we threaten and challenge Jupiter himself to battel;

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

If thou trouble me, I will trouble thee. So mad, saith Seneca, that he thought Jupiter could not hurt him; or, if he did, that he could revenge it, and return it back again upon Jupiter. We do not indeed speak it, (for what Atheist will profess he is so?) but in effect we do it, even fight against Heaven, and bid defiance to God himself, thinking it hu∣mility enough to hearken after him, and honour enough to mention his name, though it be with the tongue of a Pharisee. When were there more symptomes and indications of an angry God; when were there more demonstrations of a gainsaying people? When was there more mi∣sery? when was there more vanity? When was there more cause of hu∣mility? when was there more pride. It was no great wonder that this horrid monster Pride should find an entrance and room amongst those spiritual substances the Angels, because in heaven there could no cala∣mity approch near unto them or seize upon them to allay and abate that tumour. SED QUID SUPERBIS, PULVIS ET CINIS? Why art thou proud, dust and ashes? which could not be said to Lucifer. And therefore, as we began, so we must end, Be astonished, O Hea∣vens, at this, be horribly afraid, be ye desolate: For Desolation it self cannot humble mortal Man, whose breath is in his nostrils. For when God's judgments are near us, when they are about us, when they are entred into out very bowels, we put them far from us, place them o∣ver our heads, out of our sight. Yet run over all the flying book of curses, look back and contemplate all the fearful judgments of God, with which he used to redeem his glory, and avenge him upon a proud, and stubborn people, Famine, Plague, Sword, the Burning of Sodome, the Drowning of the old world, and you shall not find so great a judge∣ment as this, Not to be sensible of God's judgments. What is it then, not to be bettered? what is it, to be hardned by them? Let us pray then to God with the Prophet David,* 1.33 Create in us new hearts, and renew a right spirit within us; or, as it is Ezek. 11.19. Take away these hearts of stone, and give us hearts of flesh; or rather, with Bonaventure, that God would take from us these hearts of flesh, such as they are, and give us hearts of stone: for were they stone, they would be more sensible then ours; and God by these his judgments, as he did once by the hand and rod of Moses, may strike our hearts, more stony and obdurate then the rock, and the waters of true contrition may flow out in such a stream which may first carry away our sins, and then his judgments.

We will conclude with the speech of our Saviour to the women of Je∣rusalem when he was going to his cross, with some little change,* 1.34 Daughters of Jerusalem, saith he, weep not for me, but weep for your selves and for your children. If we will not seek God for his own sake, who is the foun∣tain of goodness, and onely to be sought, yet let us seek him for our selves; and if not for our selves, yet for our wives and children, for our City, for our Country, for our Church. For Sin is as the Dragon's tail in the Revelation, which sweepeth down many stars along with it, involveth millions of those who committed it. Let God's mercy allure, let his judg∣ments terrifie us. If we seek him, he will be found, though it be through his rayes, or through the storm, by his blessings, or by his judgments; yet if we seek him, he will be found. Let us have as much feeling as the Cedars of Libanus, which are shaken with his voice. Let us seek him, for there may be more wrath yet left in his vials; let us seek him, that he poure it not forth; that our gold become not dim,* 1.35 that the pretious sons of Sion become not as earthen pitchers; that the tongue of the suckling cleave not to the roof of his mouth for thirst; that they amongst us who are brought up in scarlet, embrace not the dunghils; that our Jerusalem be not made a heap of stones: And therefore let us with one heart and mind make a covenant to seek the Lord,* 1.36 who now seemeth to stand behind the cloud and hide himself from us. This is a Holy League, a blessed Covenant indeed, and we never yet read of any other. Let those who have lost him by pride, bow and seek him by humility; those who have lost him by luxury, seek him by tempe∣rance and severe discipline; those who have lost him by profaneness, seek him by reverence and devotion. Let all seek him, that he may be found of all, and return to the many thousands of his Israel; that we may be found in him in peace, without spot and blameless; and he may be found to us as light shining upon our Tabernacles, but as a consuming fire devou∣ring the adversary; that the tryal of our faith, which is much more pretious then gold that perisheth, though it be tryed with fire, may be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,* 1.37 and he may be found to us our exceeding great and everlasting reward.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Eccles. 7.29.
• * 1.2

  Chap. 58.13. Chap. 63.17.
• * 1.3

  Tit. 1.16.
• * 1.4

  2 Chron. 16.12,
• * 1.5

  Rom. 1.19.
• * 1.6

  Vers. 20.
• * 1.7

  Act. 17.14, &c.
• * 1.8

  Prov. 20.27.
• * 1.9

  1 Tim. 3 16. John 1.14,
• * 1.10

  John 17.26.
• * 1.11

  Psal. 89.15.
• * 1.12

  2 Cor. 4.6. Hebr. 1.3.
• * 1.13

  Ephes. 2.10. 2 Cor. 5.17.
• * 1.14

  Psal. 24.
• * 1.15

  Exod. 34.6, 7.
• * 1.16

  Exod. 32.
• * 1.17

  Gen. 6.
• * 1.18

  Gen. 15.16.
• * 1.19

  Matth. 23 32.
• * 1.20

  Luke. 19.4••
• * 1.21

  Psal. 116.5.
• * 1.22

  2 Pet. 3.15.
• * 1.23

  Hos. 4.17.
• * 1.24

  Isa. 21.12.
• * 1.25

  Job 33.15.16.
• * 1.26

  Psal. 107. Hos. 3.5.
• * 1.27

  Zech. 11.13.
• * 1.28

  Matth 18 7.
• * 1.29

  Dan. 9.27.
• * 1.30

  Ezek. 47.
• * 1.31

  Jer. 2.12.
• * 1.32

  Prov. 23.35.
• * 1.33

  Psal. 51.
• * 1.34

  Luke 23.28.
• * 1.35

  Lam. 4.
• * 1.36

  2 Chron. 15.12
• * 1.37

  1 Pet. 1.7.