free and ingenuous as I may say Divine Love is it tells us the worst that we might be awakened to look about us If you neglect but a while follow your sins for a while set out your day of Grace for a while then it will be over and the bowels of the Lord will be shut up in displeasure against you and then you will say as he upon his death-bed I have told you now all is too late all is now too late Is there not great love in warning Souls of danger before it comes 4. Is there not love in this that the Rejection of the Jews the Cutting off them should be the grafting in of the Gentiles O that such wild Olives should be partakers of the sweetness of the fat Olive that ever such brambles should be inoculated into Christ Rom. 11.33 This raised up the spirit of Paul into a frame of admiration The casting away of the Jews was the reconciling of the world 5. There is love in this that Christ was so willing to come as his Fathers Gift as a Commander and Leader to his People as the words before speak See how Christs heart ecchoes to the heart of the Father in the work of the Salvation of poor Sinners In the volume of thy Book it is written I come to do thy will O God 2. Vse O then let us a little admire the condescention of Christ in this thing that he is so willing to be found of poor Gentiles It is no wonder if upon the head of this Divine Mistery be written a verily Verily he took upon him not the nature of Angels Heb. 2.16 but the Seed of Abraham That he should overlook them Glorious Creatures that Mercy should come to poor Gentiles over the head of Angels how few take notice of this 1 Pet. 1.12 Angels desire to look into these deeps and yet we do not look into them with an eye of holy inspection and heavenly admiration 3. Another word is this If Christ be willing to be found of poor Gentile Sinners it is then a Call to such to seek him Seek him while he may be found May not I say to poor Sinners as God argues the case with those Jews by the Prophet Ezekiel Why will ye dye O ye house of Israel So why do poor Gentile Sinners neglect seeking the Lord Jesus Is not this to go carelesly the ready way to your Eternal destruction Is not this the rode to your Everlasting ruine And will not the Lord say to you one day as the Prophet to them Your destruction is of your selves 1. Motive to seek the Lord. He first is suitor to you and seeks you And is not this a mighty motive This is that great loadstone that should draw the hearts of poor Sinners much in love with Christ He loves them first Who loved us first Christ is first in the motion He came to seek and to save that which is lost Take that Parable of the Prodigal his Father sent after him into the far Country sought him out This my Son was lost and is found Nay Christ is the Shepherd of the Gentiles and he seeks out his sheep in a dark and gloomy day Alas what is the Gospel but Christ sending after poor Sinners to wooe them to accept of terms of Grace and Mercy 2. Motive to seek the Lord Jesus His seeking you cost him dear He laid down his life for his sheep He sought you and where did he find you He found you slaves and he must pay your ransome for you I have found a ransome for him His death is our ransome We were prisoners and captives and could not be redeemed at a lower rate than Christs blood 3. Motive He comes from the Father to seek you The verses going before are a Prophecy of Christ proceeding from the Father I have given him for a witness And frequently when he is spoken of to poor Gentile Sinners then he is said to come by way of donation I have given him a light to the Gentiles He comes and brings commendations of his Fathers love to poor Sinners He is called the faithful and true witness of God 4. Motive He came from Heaven to seek you O what Glory he left to come and mind your Eternal concerns upon earth I cannot nay what Man or Angel can tell you what he forsook to seek you He stript himself of all his Glory of all his Royal Robes to wash your feet to wash you all over He left his Throne I remember it is storied of a King that found a sheep in a ditch and sate down on hands and knees and pulled it out with his own hands The Sheep is thy own Soul this King is the Lord Jesus the Ditch is thy Natural Condition in which thou hadst perished to all Eternity if he had not come from Heaven to have pull'd thee out 5. Motive He seeks as impatient of denyal He is an importunate Seeker he will not be said nay seeks like a beggar that will not be gone from your doors Christ will not be gone from the door of thy heart he stands and knocks he doth not knock as he passes by but stands waiting for thy coming out to accept of him and close with him Therefore he beseeches wooes waits to be Gracious He comes in Ordinance after Ordinance Providence after Providence Motion after Motion and Day after Day What sayest thou poor Soul wilt thou now close with me And as he did Wilt thou be made whole to the Leper And O how loth to go away when will it once be 6. Motive He is a Seeker that is grieved when he is denyed He was grieved because of their unbelief and the hardness of their hearts You cannot grieve Christ worse than deny him when he comes to make out love to your Souls and you slight him 7. Motive He seeks poor Sinners in their proper months Jer. 2.24 In their months one shall find them Christ knows the months to find Sinners in All these Motives are taken from Christ as the great seeker of Souls 3. Vse is of Reproof 1. to such as neglect to seek the Lord that seek him not at all Yet they are Seekers but not Seekers of the Lord. Gentiles are Seekers after these things the Gentiles seek They seek good trading good livelihoods c. But alas this is all they seek after Nay Lev. 10.31.20.6 we read of some that seek after Wizards they are so far from seeking after God But the Lord sayes he will set his face against such Do you think poor Seamen and you their wives that this is the way to have good voyages to go to ask the Devil his Counsel Some seek their lusts Prov. 23.30 like Solomons drunkard they say they will seek it yet again But all this while they seek not the Lord. O how few seek to the Lord What are these poor Souls seeking but the living among the dead 1. See the danger
what shakings of earth and heaven may come Therefore it is wisdom to seek Christ before such dayes come that the Lord may not be a terrour to us in an evil day Therefore it is that Jesus Christ is prophesied of to be a covert from rain and from storm and a refuge He is the only City of refuge to fly to when pursuers are abroad 2. Is it not wisdom to seek Christ while he may be found this will fit you for death Is it not great wisdom to consider our latter end This is that which God wished his own people might do Was not it wisdom in the five wise Virgins that they prepared for the Bridegrooms approaching O how much wisdom appears in this It is the property of a fool to say non putâram I had not thought O how many then have died fools saying I never thought an interest in Christ was so difficult a thing to obtain I never thought of any times in which Christ would not be found 3. Is it not great wisdom to seek Christ while he may be found your eternal happiness depends upon it Is it not wisdom to provide for eternity every man thinks it wisdom to provide for his own family what then is it to provide for his own Soul 4. Is it not wisdom to do that now which else your Souls will repent to all eternity Wisdom consists in preventing after-repentings O how many Souls are repenting the loss of their time in hell and saying O if they were to live on earth again and had their opportunities to seek Christ again they would never be such loyterers and sluggards in the matters of their Souls 5. Is it not wisdom to do that which you came into the world to do Was not this to seek the Lord while he may be found to look about for your salvation Did you come into the world to eat and drink and rise up to play What needed you immortal souls for such sensual employments 6. Is it not wisdom to do that God gives you time on purpose it might be done Why doth God exercise so much patience Why doth he hover over Souls and continues thus to be gracious but that he would still have them seek the Lord Jesus 7. Is it not wisdom to do that now which we have only means now to do it in No means of seeking Christ after this life no means then of acquaintance with God Now our dayes are filled up with means and Gospel advantages to this end 2. Vse Is it so that there are times in which Christ Jesus will not be found then it is a word of Exhortation to improve your present time in seeking Christ Redeem the time The Apostle gives us the exhortation to walk as wise and not as fools redeeming the time because the dayes are evil 1. Time is precious It is a precious commodity in hell sayes one where a damned Soul would give all the world for one inch of time It is precious time for it is filled up with precious advantages for precious souls It is precious it is your working-day for eternity O then while he is to be found seek him 2. You must be judged according to the precious opportunities you have now for your Souls The word sayes Christ that I speak shall judge you at the last day 3. Seek him in your present day it will lie heavy upon you that you lost so much time in which you might have sought Christ O how doth it cut to the heart to consider what a day a poor sinner once had only he wanted a heart to look after Christ O what wringing of hands will there be in hell one day under this very consideration 4. Seek him in your present day if others had enjoyed such Golden Scepter-seasons they would have kissed the Scepter and have submitted to the terms of the Lord Jesus they would have believed they would have repented yea in sack-cloth and ashes as is said of Tyre and Sidon 5. Seek him in your present day the damned Souls that have lost him for ever if God should priviledge them to have another day of Grace to seek Christ in O how would they seek him how would they mourn for him Would they hear as you do pray as you do sweal a way their time upon which eternity doth depend as you do Would they mis-improve precious seasons for their souls as you do If you did but know what the loss of an immortal Soul meant is it possible you could sleep away play away Sermons of Christ Heaven and Salvation 6. Seek him in your present day your Enemies seek you because you seek him To be sought after by Enemies and found by them as you must reckon of one time or other and yet not to find Christ O how sad is this Methinks our enemies should stir us up to lay hold of all seasons to seek Christ Could you young ones or old ones go to prison and have not yet found him whom your Souls love Can you suffer and not have found Christ 3. Vse Is it so that there are times in which Christ will not be found It is then a word of terrour to all such as live in their neglects to seek the Lord Jesus Christ What poor Souls if his bowels shall cease yearning towards your Souls What if they should be shut up in displeasure If the Lord Jesus Christ should strive with you no more O what a dangerous condition were your Souls in then 1. Your danger that live in neglects of Christ is much in this your offers and tenders of Christ will never be forgotten by you in another world O they will stick by your Consciences in hell Nothing will aggravate poor sinners condemnation so as this they slighted the offers of life and salvation by Christ How can you escape if you neglect such great salvation It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for Chorazin and Bethsaida Why so the one had Christ preached and offered to them and so had not the other 2. There is no possibility for your escape that neglect to seek Christ whoever escape you cannot How can you escape c. O poor Souls can you contend with the wrath of an Omnipotent God Can your hearts endure or your hands be made strong in that day he shall deal with you If you cannot escape it nor contend with it O how miserable are you This is a great piece of hell that you are in already 3. You that neglect Christ now must never come under a possibility of a tender of Grace after death If there could but be hope in hell of a possibility of a tender of Grace this poor hope would relieve the Souls that are in that pit of misery A very peradventure or it may be would be some comfort to them if they might ever come under the tenders of Christ again No their condition is now unalterably stated for ever 4. You that neglect Christ now know this is a degree of despight to the Spirit of Grace And is not this a dangerous thing Heb. 10.29 That Text in the Hebrews will tell you so Is not this to use Christ despightfully and O how can Christ bear these sleights time after time 5. You that neglect Christ now are every moment under condemnation There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Then others are under condemnation O now what if death should smite thee in this condition Would not thy poor Soul sinner be struck dead and damned at a blow O then see thy danger and tremble to continue in it Continue no longer in thy neglects of Christ but seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near FINIS
The Morning Seeker Shewing the Benefit of being Good betimes With DIRECTIONS to make SURE WORK About EARLY RELIGION Laid open in Several SERMONS By John Ryther Minister of the Gospel Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Isa 55.6 O God thou art my God early will I seek thee Ps 63.1 LONDON Printed by E. T. and R. H. for Dorman Newman at the Kings-Arms in the Poultry 1673. TO THE Honourable and truly Religious THE Lady Dorothy Norcliffe OF Langton in York-shire The Lady Elizabeth Bright The Lady Katharine Wentworth and the rest of her Vertuous Daughters MADAM I Have long waited for an opportunity to acknowledge the many and great Obligations I have been under by your Ladiship and your Family since Providence put such a Price into my hand as the mercy of your Acquaintance and this is one reason among many others why I Dedicate these poor papers to you yours 2 Joh. 1.5 When I considered how John wrote to the Elect Lady and her Children walking in the Truth One observs that St. John who was the beloved Disciple avas of a Noble stock in which regard he was so known of the High Priest that he did not fear the Jews so as the other Disciples did Where Nobility is enamelled with grace it renders it far mere illustrious and splendid I was much encouraged thereunto Besides upon these accounts I could not but lay hold of the present opportunities 1. The Care that I know you have many years conscientiously spent in the Education of those tender Branches the Lord hath honoured you with O what glory might have been raised up to God if in the Families of Honour and Quality there had been such diligence in training up their Posterities in the fear of that God whom it is a great Honour to serve 2. The great success that crowned your Ladiships endeavours herein that the Lord let you see your dear Children set upon seeking the Lord betimes that so many morning seekers in such a Family as I must confess I have not elsewhere known while the dew of Gods blessing upon your Education lay upon these Branches how did they while young grow up in Holy Affections and Desires after the Wayes and Truths of God! 3. And all this much in a time when the Power of Godliness in many great Families was much discouraged if not decry'd though Gospel duties reading the Word praying in Families a strict observation of Sabbaths did grow in to reproach and contempt in many Houses yet all that time the Lord helped you to Resolve with an Honourable and holy person of Old I and my house will serve the Lord. Josh 24.15 4. The great encouragement that you have given not only to me the meanest of those Servants of God acquainted with your Family but that you have given to many more in a dark and gloomy day O how many Families have you and yours refreshed in a day of straits I and is it any dishonour to testifie this before this uncharitable world 5. The Lord honouring you with solidity of judgment these giddy reeling times that in dayes and times when erroneous notions and principles as well as corrupt practices have overspread many Families you have been preserved in the truth and have taken great care that your Children should while they were young be trained up in the truth as it is in Jesus If I had no more reasons for my present tender of these poor endeavours to you and yours are not these enough But I am afraid you will say here is more than enough said though not so much as might I did not know upon serious thoughts how such a design as this might tend to encourage or promote good beginnings and breathings after God in your Family And though through the rich mercy and grace of God you be not a tender young plant in the Courts of God but grown up in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yet here may be some thing presented to your children that may prove through a blessing from above of use to them as to their further progress in the good wayes of God I remembred one thing when I thought of this Dedication how often * When I had the happiness of being conversant with them some of them did employ me to buy or acquaint them with what Books they should buy proper and useful for them and who are fitter to Dedicate an useful Book to than such if God will so please to make this poor Treatise There are Lambs your Ladiships know in the flock of Christ that need carrying as well as those that are with young that need leading there are Babes in Christs School who have need of milk as well as stronger Christians that need stronger meat If this may be milk sincere milk that any of Gods new born Babes may grow thereby yea any of your Children may grow up in grace thereby this will be the rejoycing of the Author Now Madam that God would cause your House to grow who hath made a sure Covenant with you and yours and that the dew of Heaven as well as fatness of the Earth may be the portion of you and yours is the prayer of Your Ladiships in all Humble and due Observance John Ryther Decem. 9. 1672. To all Young Ones whose hearts are set to seek the Lord before it be too late who are and desire still to be Morning Seekers WHen I considered the dangers that such a day as we live in exposes your precious Souls to I was willing for your Souls sakes to contribute my Mite to that Work which so many Reverend and Worthy Servants of Christ had gone before me in Yet we living in a sleepy Age and knowing we have sleepy hearts we must be often calling on and the more Calls and the more Cryers the more are Souls stirred and startled I have sadly observed several things since I with others of the Lords Servants have been under this present day and dispensation 1. That our great hopes and expectations that we have had of the Lords effectual working upon the hearts of Young Ones have often met with great disappointments and many of the poor Ministers of Christ have been like the Troops of Tema Job 6.19 20. and the Company of Sheba waiting for some good issue of the travel of their Souls but they were confounded because they had hoped they were ashamed and is not this cruelty to crush our hopes and cross our expectations who travel for you and all in hope Christ might be formed in you Will it be your gain if we lose our prayers our tears our studies our pains Will this be profitable to you if all our designs for your good be made by your selves miscarrying designs 2. That it is a great reproach to the wayes of God and name of God when such as have been for a time forward for God do go back again