3. When gone from hence are we to come

back no more, how much are we concerned before-hand, to make provision for, and send our best concerns before-hand into that state, in which we are to dwell for ever?

If our lives have been in danger and spared, let us endeavour to answer the end by labouring after strength necessary to our dying safely and comfortably : that when others upon receiving the sentence of death, cry bitterly, O spare; upon the notice that Christ is coming to call for you, you may say, Amen, Come Lord Jefus, come quickly.

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SER

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SERMON III.

PSALM XXIV. 10.

-------But they that feek the Lord shall not want any good thing.

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HE belief of God's taking a special care in his providence to fupply the wants of good men, conduceth highly to the comfort of such in their walking with him: and that they have ground for fuch a faith, it is evident from the words of the text.

Doct. God will so provide for those that fincerely feek kim, that they shall not want any thing that he their heavenly Father knows to be good for them.

And what more reviving news can be heard amidst the straits to which they are often reduced? That therefore we may apply comfort to whom comfort is due, I shall

I. Lay down the characters of the perfons here fpoken of, They that feek the Lord.

II. Open the endearing promise made to fuch, viz. That they shall not want any good thing. III. Shew by what this promise is to be meafured.

IV. The

IV. The grounds from whence its certain accomplishment may be inferred.

I. Let us lay down the character of the perfons here spoken of, They that feek the Lord. In general they that do this, are fuch as are born of God: and so seek him;

1. As one in whose favour their life is bound up. This is the sense of foul in which they are breathing after him. Pf. lxxiii. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I defire besides thee. Without God I cannot but be miferable, whatever else I enjoy: in him I have enough to my compleat felicity, though ftripped of all things elfe. I envy not their happiness who can fay of crowns and kingdoms, they are mine; while I can look to heaven, and fay of him that has his throne there, He is mine. Nothing short of him can fatisfy; and befides him, I can need no

more.

2. They that feek God, feek him in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone they can find him to their comfort; as in him alone he hath declared himself well-pleased.

3. They that feek God, do it in obedience to his command, and upon the encouragement of his promife, that he will not leave them to feck him in vain. A new heart is given them, the temper of which is this way discovered. Pfalm xxvii. 8. When thou faidst, Seek ye my face, my heart faid unto thee, Thy face, O Lord, will I feek. The word of God is their warrant for seeking after him: his word of precept makes it their duty, and his word of promife is the ground

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ground of their hope that it shall not be lost labour; as he said not unto the feed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain, Ifa. xlv. 19.

4. They that seek God, do it in the use of all the means he has appointed, and cannot be content or easy if they miss of him in the use of them. Ordinances in their account are valuable things, and what none can prize more than they; but these cannot be to them instead of God, and therefe, in attending upon them this is their language, expreffive of their inward sense, Pfalm xlii. 1, 2. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My foul thirsteth for God, for the living God. The duty, the ordinance, the time and place in which they meet with God, is sweet indeed, leading them to say in a holy transport, This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven: and afterwards to reflect upon it with a peculiar delight, And when they experience nothing of this, they truly mourn.

5. They that feek God, do it with the whole heart. This the Pfalmist professes for himself, who was one of them, Pfalm cxix. 10. And to this the promise of finding him is made, Jeremiah xxix. 13. And ye shall feek me, and find me, when ye shall fearch for me with all your

heart.

6. They that feek God aright, perfevere therein. Though he hide his face, or feem to frown, they seek him still, and are refolved to do fo. They are sensible they have as much need of God as ever, and he has as much

much to recommend him. From what acquaintance they have had with him, they would fain know him better, and love hirn more, and have fuller foretastes of his love to them; and they will never give over seeking after him for that end.

7. They that feek God, do it in dependance upon the grace and influence of his own Spirit; as knowing that they cannot draw nigh to God but by him.

Lastly, They that feek God here below, do it in faith and hope of feeing him above. This is that which animates all their endeavours, and keeps them from fainting, while put to wait. They bless God for all the instances of his goodness they here experience: But, believe that eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart to conceive, what God hath laid up for them that love him: Upon this therefore their hearts are ultimately placed, and after this their defires run.

It is the language of one of this temper, Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is better than life; and what I have fometimes found and felt of this, I would not have been without, for all the delights of time and sense: I esteem a day in thy courts better than a thousand any where else, and had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. But how often is my communion with thee interrupted, the light of thy countenance withdrawn, and my joy dashed; and when it is best with me, how far short is all of heaven? Now therefore, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee, my expectations from thee: