Page images
PDF
EPUB

SERM ON III.

PSALM XXIV. 10.

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

HE belief of God's taking a fpecial care

TH

in his providence to fupply the wants of good men, conduceth highly to the comfort of fuch 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 fo provide for those that fincerely feek him, that they shall not want any thing that be 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 fhall

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

II. Open the endearing promife made to fuch, viz. That they fhall not want any good thing. III. Shew by what this promife 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 fpoken of, They that feek the Lord. In general they that do this, are fuch as are born of God: and fo feek him,

1. As one in whofe favour their life is bound up. This is the fenfe of foul in which they are breathing after him. P. lxxiii. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I defire befides thee. Without God I cannot but be miferable, whatever elfe I enjoy in him I have enough to my compleat felicity, though ftripped of all things elfe. I envy not their happinéfs 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 fhort of him can fatisfy; and befides him, I can need no

more.

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

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 faidft, Seek ye my face, my heart faid unto thee, Thy face, O Lord, will I feek. The word of God is their warrant for feeking after him: his word of precept makes it their duty, and his word of promife is the

D 4

ground

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

4. They that feek God, do it in the use of all the means he has appointed, and cannot be content or eafy if they mifs 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 inftead of God, and therefe, in attending upon them this is their language, expreffive of their inward fenfe, Pfalm xlii. 1, 2. As the bart panteth after the water-brooks, fo panteth my foul after thee, O God. My foul thirfteth for God, for the living God. The duty, the ordinance, the time and place in which they meet with God, is fweet 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 Pfalmift profeffes for himfelf, 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 feek him ftill, and are refolved to do fo. They are fenfible they have as much need of God as ever, and he has as

much

[ocr errors]

much to recommend him. From what acquaintance they have had with him, they would fain know him better, and love him more, and have fuller foretaftes of his love to them; and they will never give over feeking 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.

Laftly, 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 blefs God for all the inftances of his goodnefs 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 sometimes found and felt of this, I would not have been without, for all the delights of time and sense: I efteem a day in thy courts better than a thousand any where elfe, 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 fhort is all of heaven? Now therefore, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee, my expectations from

thee:

thee: O let me not always be left in fo dark and imperfect a ftate. I am waiting for thy falvation, and defirous to fee it: Odraw me nearer to thee; refreih my foul with clearer difcoveries of thyself: and when by grace thou haft fitted me for heaven, from imperfect communion with thee here, receive me to the full, everlafting and fatisfying enjoyment. This is the generation of them that feek him, that feek thy face, O God of Jacob, Pfal. xxiv. 6. Having feen the characters of the perfons that be faid to feek God.

may

[ocr errors]

II. Let us guide our thoughts to the endearing comprehenfive promife made to fuch: They that feek the Lord fhall not want any good thing.

This is the mind of their heavenly Father, whofe power is infinite, whofe goodnefs is boundlefs, and whose mercy endureth for ever.

Here I might confider fuch as feek God, as to the variety of cafes they may be in, and fhew how abundantly their heavenly Father hath provided for them, in performance of his promife that they shall not want any thing that is good.

(

[ocr errors]

1. They fhall not want the light of God's countenance any longer, or to any forer degree than he fhall fee to be good for them. This is what they highly value, defire, and seek above all things in the world. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, Pfal. iv. 6. And herein their defires fhall be anfwered, The righteous Lord loveth righteoufnefs, and his countenance doth behold the upright, Pfal. xi. 7.

As a fun he will reveal himfelf to holy fouls, and by fhining into them, put more gladness in their hearts than others experience, in the time

that

« PreviousContinue »