Selected quad for the lemma: city_n
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A30130
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Come & welcome to Jesus Christ, or, A plain and profitable discourse upon the sixth of John, 37 vers shewing the cause, truth and manner of the coming of a sinner to Jesus Christ, with his happy reception and blessed entertainment / written by J. Bunyan.
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Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.
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1678
(1678)
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Wing B5495; ESTC R30257
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120,042
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303
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thee up these Marks make thee these high heaps of the golden Grace of the Gospel set thine heart towards the high-way even the way that thou wentest when thou didst backslide turn again O Virgin of Israel turn again to these thy Cities Jer. 31. 21. And him that Cometh He saith not And him that talketh that professeth that maketh a shew a noise or the like but him that Cometh Christ will take leave to judge who among the many that make a Noise they be that indeed are coming to him It is not him that saith he comes nor him of whom others affirm that he comes but him that Christ himself shall say doth Come that is concern'd in this Text. When the Woman that had the bloody Issue came to him for Cure there were others as well as she that made a great bussle about him that touched yea thronged him Ah but Christ could distinguish this woman from them all And he looked round about upon them all to see her that had done this thing Mar. 25. 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. He was not concerned with the thronging or touchings of the rest for theirs were but accidental or at best void of that which made her touch acceptable Wherefore Christ must be Judg who they be that in Truth are coming to him Every mans way is right in his own Eyes but the Lord weigheth the Spirits It standeth therefore every one in hand to be certain of their coming to Jesus Christ for as thy coming is so shall thy Salvation be If thou comest indeed thy Salvation shall be indeed but if thou comest but in outward appearance so shall thy Salvation be But of coming see before as also afterwards in the Use and Application And him that cometh to me These words to me are also well to be heeded for by them as he secureth those that come to him so also he shews himself unconcerned with those that in their coming rest short or turn aside to others For you must know that every one that comes comes not to Jesus Christ some that come came to Moses and to his Law and then take up for Life with these Christ is not concerned with these this Promise hath not to do Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law ye are falen from grace Gal. 5. 3 4. Again some that came come no farther than to Gospel Ordinances and there stay they come not through them to Christ with these neither is he concerned nor will their Lord Lord avail them any thing in the great and dismal day A man may come too and also go from the place and Ordinances of Worship and yet not be remembred by Christ. So I saw the wicked buried said Solomon who had come and gone from the place of the Holy and they were forgotten in the City when they had so done this is also Vanity Eccles. 8. 10. To me These words therefore are by Jesus Christ very warily put in and serve for caution and incouragement for caution lest we take up in our coming any where short of Christ and for incouragement to those that shall in their coming come past all till they come to Jesus Christ And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Reader If thou lovest thy Soul take this Caution kindly at the hands of Jesus Christ. Thou seest thy Sickness thy Wound thy necessity of Salvation well go not to King Jareb for he cannot Heal thee nor Cure thee of thy Wound Hos. 5. 13. Take the Caution I say lest Christ insteed of being a Saviour to thee becomes a Lion a young Lion to tare thee and go away vers 14. There is a coming but not to the most High there is a coming but not with the whole Heart but as it were feignedly therefore take the Caution kindly Jer. 3. 10. Hos. 7. 16. And him that cometh To me Christ as a Saviour will stand alone because his own Arm above hath brought Salvation unto him He will not be joyned with Moses nor suffer John Baptist to be tabernacled by him I say they must vanish for Christ will stand alone Luk 9. 28 36. yea God the Father will have it so therefore they must be parted from him and a Voice from Heaven must come to bid the Disciples hear only the beloved Son Christ will not suffer any Law Ordinance Statute or Judgement to be partners with him in the salvation of the Sinner Nay he saith not And him that cometh to my Word but And him that cometh to me The words of Christ even his most blessed and free Promises such as this in the Text are not the Saviour of the World for that is Christ himself Christ himself only The Promises therefore are but to incourage the coming sinner to come to Jesus Christ and not to rest in them short of Salvation by him And him that cometh To me The man therefore that comes aright casts all things behind his back and looketh at nor hath his expectation from ought but the Son of God alone as David said My Soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him He only is my Rock and my Salvation he is my Defence I shall not be moved Psal. 62. 5. His Eye is to Christ his Heart is to Christ and his expectation is from him from him only Therefore the man that comes to Christ is one that hath had deep Considerations of his own sins slighting thoughts of his own Righteousness and high thoughts of the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ yea he sees as I have said more vertue in the Blood of Christ to save him than there is in all his sins to damn him He therefore setteth Christ before his Eyes there is nothing in Heaven or Earth he knows that can save his Soul and secure him from the Wrath of God but Christ that is nothing but his personal Righteousness and Blood And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out In no wise By these words there is somthing expressed and somthing implyed That which is expressed is Christ Jesus his unchangable Resolution to Save the Coming sinner I will in no wise reject him or deny him the benefit of my Death and Righteousness This word therefore is like that which he speaks of the everlasting damnation of the sinner in Hell-fire He shall by no means depart thence that is never never never come out again no not to all Eternity Mat. 5. 25. chap. 25. 46. So that as he that is condemned into Hell-fire hath no ground of hope for his deliverance thence so him that cometh to Christ hath no ground to fear he shall ever be cast in thither Thus saith the Lord If Heaven above can be measured or the Foundation of the Earth searched out beneath I will also cast away all the seed of Israel for all that they have done saith the Lord Jer. 31. 37. Thus saith the Lord
Fathers end would be frustrate For the Fathers will is that of all that he hath given him he should lose nothing but should raise it up at the last day in order next unto himself Christ the first-fruits afterwards those that are his at his Coming 1 Cor. 15 But this cannot be done if there should fail to be a work of grace effectually wrought though but in any one of them But this shall not fail to be wrought in them even in all that the Father hath given him to save All that the Father hath given me shall come to me c. But to speak more distinctly to the words They shall come Two things I would shew you from these words First What it is come to Christ. Secondly What force there is in this promise to make them come to him First I would shew you first what it is to come to Christ This word come must be understood spiritually not carnally for many came to him carnally or bodily that had no saving advantage by him multitudes did thus come unto him in the days of his flesh yea innumerable companies There is also at this day a Formal customary Coming to his Ordinances and ways of Worship which availeth not any thing I shall not now medle for they are not intended in the Text. The Coming then intended in the Text is to be understood of the Coming of the 〈◊〉 unto him even the moving of the heart towards him I say the moving of the heart towards him from a sound Sense of the absolute want that a man hath of him for his Justification and Salvation This Description of Coming to Christ divideth it self into two heads First That coming to Christ is a moving of the mind towards him Secondly That it is a moving of the mind towards him from a Sound Sense of the absolute want that a man hath of him for his Justification and Salvation To speak to the first That it is a moving of the mind towards him This is evident because coming hither or thither if it be voluntary is by an act of the will so coming to Christ is through the inclining of the will Thy people shall be willing Psal. 110. 3. This willingness of heart is it which sets the mind a moving after or towards him The Church expresseth this moving of her mind towards Christ by the moving of her bowels My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door and my Bowels were moved for him Song 5. 4. My bowels the passions of my mind and affections which passions of the affections are expressed by the yerning and sounding of the bowels The yerning or passionate working of them the Sounding of them or their making an Noise for him Gen. 43. 30. 1 King 3. 26. Isa. 16. 11. This then is the coming to Christ even a moving towards him with the minde And it shall come to pass that every thing that liveth which moveth whithersoever the water shall come shall live Ezek. 47. 9. The water in this Text is the Grace of God in the Doctrine of it the living things are the Children of men to whom this Grace of God by the Gospel is preached now saith he Every living thing which moveth whithersoever the waters shall come shall live Now see how this word moveth is Expounded by Christ himself in the Book of the Revelations The Spirit and the Bride say come And let him that heareth say come And let him that is athirst come And whosever will that is willing let him take the water of life freely Revel 22. 17. So that to move in thy mind and will after Christ is to be coming to him There are many poor souls that are coming to Christ that yet cannot tell how to believe it because they think that coming to him is some strang and wonderfull thing and indeed so it is but I mean they overlook the inclination of their will the moving of their mind and the sounding of their bowels after him and count these none of this strang and wonderful thing when indeed it is a work of greatest wonder in this world to see a man who was sometimes dead in sin possessed of the devil an enemy to Christ and to all things spiritually good I say to see this man moving with his minde after the Lord Jesus Christ is one of the highest wonders in the world Secondly It is a moving of the minde towards him from a Sound Sense of the absolute want that a man hath of him for his Justification and Salvation Indeed without this Sense of a lost condition without him there will be no moving of the mind towards him a moving of their mouth there may be with their mouth they shew much love Ezek. 32. Such a people as this will come as the true people cometh that is in shew and outward appearance and they will sit before Gods Ministers as his people Sit before them and they will hear his words too but they will not do them that is will not come inwardly with their mindes for with their mouth they shew much love but their heart or minde goeth after their Covetousness Now all this is because they want an effectual sense of the misery of their state by nature for not till they have that will they in their minde move after him Therefore thus it is said Concerning the true Commers At that day the great Trumpet shall be blown and They shall come which were ready to perish in the Land of Assyria and the out-casts of the land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in his Holy Mountaine at Jerusalem Isa. 27. 13. They are then you see the out casts and those that are ready to perish that indeed have their mindes Effectually moved to come to Jesus Christ. This sense of things was that which made the three thousand come that made Saul come that made the Jaylor come and that indeed makes all others come that come Effectually Acts 2. Chap. 8 and 16. Of the true coming to Christ the three Leapers were a famous Semblance of whom you read in 2 King 7. 3 c. The famine in those days was sore in the Land there was no bread for the people and as for that Sustinence that was which was Asses Flesh and Doves Dung that was only in Samaria of these the Leapers had no share for they were thrust without the City Well now they sat in the Gate of the City and hunger was as I may say making his last Meal of them and being therefore half dead already what do they think of doing why first they display the dismal colours of death before each others faces and then resolve what to do saying If we say we will go into the City then the famine is in the City and we shall die there if we sit sti here we die also now therefore 〈◊〉 and let us fall into the Host of the Syrians if they save us alive we shall live if they