fession of orthodoxy; it is the devotion of the heart. "Seek ye," then, "the LORD,"

"While he may be found." God is not always to be found. There are some seasons and opportunities more favourable than others for finding him; and if those seasons are allowed to pass by unimproved, the LORD may hide his face, or depart for ever. The Jews, for example, were in the Holy Land when Isaiah wrote; but, as the prophet had forewarned Hezekiah, all that the king had in hís house, and that his fathers had laid up in store, was about to be carried away into Babylon (ch. xxxix. 6). There, the privileges of the Jews would undoubtedly be far less favourable for "seeking the LORD." In a strange land, in the midst of heathenism and idolatry, without an altar and without a temple, in the midst of the scoffs of the pagan and the exultation of the conqueror, it would be no easy thing to seek God, and to find him. They were about to traverse the Syrian desert, as captives, on their way to Babylon, and therefore the warning voice of Isaiah goes forth, "Seek ye the LORD, while he may be found." And to the same effect was the exhorta

tion of Jeremiah: "Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains; and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness" (Jer. xiii. 16). And the warning thus given to the Jews may justly and in wisdom be taken by us all. In this busy age and commercial country of ours, when many run to and fro to the very ends of the earth, is it not very probable that some of you may be relegated to a land of Papists, or Mahometans, or Heathens? and if you "seek" not "the LORD" now, you may not then have the means to "find" him. Or, is it not very likely that in this "body of sin and death" disease may take up its habitation, and the loss of bodily strength, or the loss of hearing, or the loss of sight, may deprive you of the means of grace, and you may begin to mourn the loss of privileges, and may never regain the opportunities that you have previously misimproved? Or, may it not be that, hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, and given up to "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride life," the LORD may leave you to the devices of a

reprobate mind, and cast you off for ever? "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. vi. 2). "Seek ye the LORD, while he may be found;"

"Call ye upon him while he is near." This "calling upon the LORD" specially implies prayer in public, in the family, and in secret, and comprehends generally the sedulous use of all the means of grace, as vehicles through which we may hold intercourse with God. God's house is "an house of prayer for all people" (Isa. lvi. 7). The goings of our God and king are seen in the sanctuary (Ps. lxviii. 24). There rich and poor meet together; and those that neglect the assembling of themselves together forsake their own mercies, and dwell in the congregation of the dead. Again, "the calling upon God" in the family is a great and imperative duty. It is a good thing "to show forth his loving-kindness in the morning, and his faithfulness every night" (Ps. xcii. 2). "Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever” (Ps. cxlv. 2). And God has threatened that he "will pour out his fury on all the families that call not on his name "

(Jer. x. 25). And, once more, God's "hidden ones" delight in calling upon his name. "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matt. vi. 6). "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 1. 15).

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not" (Jer. xxxiii. 3). "Call ye upon him,"

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While he is near." And God is near whilst we have the means of grace in the sanctuary, whilst we have the Word of God in our hands, and whilst the brittle tenure of natural existence still remains unbroken. have the means of grace in the sanctuary. When "the abomination of desolation" is set up "in the holy place" (Matt. xxiv. 15), then the Lord departs. Unsound doctrine and unsound morals in the house of God grieve the Holy Spirit, and he retires; but "holiness," at once in doctrine and in life, "becometh thy house, O LORD, for ever"

God is near, I say, whilst we

(Ps. xciii. 5). Again, "God is near" whilst we have the Word of God in our hands, and we are able and willing to read it. Otherwise, it will be to us but as a sealed book; and the solemn and pertinent question may be asked of us, "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?" (Prov. xvii. 16.) But "the law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward" (Ps. xix. 7, 8, 11). Once more, "God is near" whilst the brittle thread of human life still remains unbroken. And how very brittle is that thread! It is like the down of gossamer, fragile as a spider's web. "Whatsoever," therefore, "thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest" (Eccles. ix. 10). But "the LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will