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Seeking the Lord.

SERMON XIII.

MATT. XXVIII. 5.

Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified.

IT

was the angel of the Lord who descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door of the sepulchre, that spake thus to the women who had come early in the morning to see the place where the Lord lay: and similar to this is the language that may be addressed to every one who truly seeks a risen Saviour. Such may have many fears, but they are groundless: and did they know all, they would have reason to rejoice.

I shall first consider what is implied in seeking a crucified Saviour; and then, the groundless fears to which such as seek him are liable.

I. What is implied in seeking the Lord.

1. It supposes a distance from him, and that this is felt and mourned over. The good women whom the angel addressed had not seen the Lord for three days, and this affected them. The sinner also, when awakened to a sense of his undone condition and the excellency of Christ, not only laments his former

indifference and enmity, but would esteem no sacrifice too great, if he could but see the lovely face of the Saviour, and be assured of an interest in his distinguishing love. Yet he is so far from having obtained his desire, that he sometimes fears he never shall. Such also is the case of a believer who has lost the comfort he once enjoyed, and is now in a state of spiritual desertion. I go forward, says he, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. Seeking supposes the absence of the object sought, either total or partial, and this is implied in our seeking the Lord.

2. It implies spiritual life, and the existence of a holy principle in the soul. Christ may and does seek after those who are dead in trespasses and sins; but while in that state they will never seek after him. As the good Shepherd he came to seek and to save that which was lost, and but for his seeking it would have been lost for ever. If we are made willing to submit to him and seek after him, it is in the day of his power. As there can be no voluntary act without life, so neither any spiritual exertion without spiritual life. Hungering and thirsting are as much signs of life as eating and drinking, and spiritual thoughts and desires shew a work of grace begun. It is said their heart shall live that seek God, and we may say their heart does live; for those that seek are truly alive to him.

3. It implies strong desire. Seeking Christ supposes love to him; and love to an object distant and unenjoyed, exerts itself in a way of desire, which will be proportioned to the ardour of that love which produces it. Hence the anxious enquiry of the church: Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? The language of David is also that of every seeking soul: As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panfeth my

soul after thee, oh God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Oh God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. Nothing can calm the troubled conscience, or content the disquieted mind, but Christ: it longs for discoveries of redeeming love and grace. As Absalom was not satisfied to dwell in Jerusalem unless he saw the king's face; so neither duties, ordinances, nor heaven itself can satisfy a distressed soul without the presence of Christ. In the closet, in the public assembly, and at the table of the Lord, still this desire is uppermost: oh may I'meet with Christ! All the world cannot make me happy without him: but in poverty or affliction, in a wilderness or a dungeon, nay in death itself I am blessed, unspeakably blessed, if I enjoy him. Psal. xlii. lxiii.

4. If we seek the Lord aright, we shall seek him sorrowing, as Joseph and Mary did when they found him in the temple. We shall grieve on account of that distance there is between him and us, and for that sin which has caused it; also that he should hide his face, and lest we should see it no more. It should fill us with pungent grief to think of the awful condition into which we have brought ourselves by sin, and that in times past we have been so little affected with it: also how justly Christ may reject us while knocking at the door of mercy, seeing we suffered him to knock at the door of our hearts so long in vain. When we consider the great evils which surround us, and the still greater evils which await us, the words of the prophet may well be applied to us: Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God? And if we have now begun to seek him, let us grieve that we sought him no sooper, that we seek him with no more earnest

ness, and have as yet sought him to so little purpose.

5. If we seek Jesus who was crucified, it must be according to his own direction. When the officers from the chief priests came to take him, he answered in behalf of his disciples, If ye seek me, let these go their way and such must be out conduct in respect to every other object. We must seek him before all, and above all, renouncing every thing that stands in competition with him. We must abandon our idols, cast away our transgressions, forsake our sinful companions, and look upon the honours, profits and pleasures of this world with indifference and disdain. If our most intimate friends or dearest relations stand in our way, we must pass them by, rather than give up our pursuit. Thus is the church addressed : Hearken, oh daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him. With this also agrees the language of our Saviour: If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple: and whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. We must cast away the weapons of our rebellion, and lay our most valuable acquirements at the Redeemer's feet. We must count all but loss, if we would win Christ, and be found in him; not only our worldly enjoyments, but our good works and pleasant frames, and that self-righteousness in which we trusted, and which was the pride of our hearts, the source of our comfort, and the foundation of our hope: all these must be given up as dross and dung in comparison of Christ, and in order to our trusting in him for life and salvation. Psal. xlv. 10, 11. Luke xiv. 26, 27. Phil. iii. 8, 9.

6. We must seek him where he is to be found. Not in a multitude, amidst the hurry of business, or in places of amusement; but in an attendance upon his own institutions. Judas, with his band of officers, sought Christ in the garden, because he knew that he oftentimes resorted thither with his disciples: and where Jesus manifests himself to others we may hope to receive a visit from him ourselves. If we would be healed, we must lie at the pool, and wait for the moving of the waters. If we would gain the desired end, we must use the appointed means. And if we would seek the Saviour so as to find him, we must repair to the places of his resort. Tell me, oh thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, oh thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids besides the shepherds' tents. Can't. i. 7, 8.

7. We must persevere in seeking till we find him. This is not to be the employment of a few days or months, or any limited time, but of our whole lives. Not only when we are in a happy frame, or when the iniquity of our heels hath compassed us about; nor yet merely under the pressure of some heavy affliction, but at all times and in all places, until we find him whom our soul loveth. The sons of the prophets sought Elijah three days, and then gave over; but we must seek the Lord all our days. If he seem to withdraw from us, we must press after him; and if, like the woman of Canaan, we meet with a repulse, it should only encrease our importunity. Hath he already waited to be gracious? Let us wait till he is so. Have we tried his patience? No wonder that he exercises ours. Let patience therefore have its perfect work; for he hath never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. Let us not be

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