was Anointed when on Earth to be a Saviour Luk. 3. 22. 3. He did the Works of a Saviour As First He Fulfilled the Law and became the End of it for Righteousness for them that believe in him Rom. 10. 3 4. Secondly He laid down his Life as a Saviour He gave his Life as a Saviour He gave his Life as a Ransom for many Mat. 20. 28. Mar. 10. 45. 1 Tim. 2. 6. Thirdly He hath Abolished Death Destroyed the Devil put away Sin got the Keys of Hell and Death is Ascended into Heaven is there accepted of God exalted of God and bid Sit at his Right Hand as Saviour and that because his Sacrifice for our Sins pleased God 2 Tim. 1. 10. Heb. 2. 14 15. Ephes. 4. 7 8. Joh. 16. 10 11. Acts 5. 30 31. Heb. 10. 12 13. Fourthly God hath sent out and proclaimed him as Saviour and tells the World that we have redemption through his Blood that he will Justifie us if we believe in his Blood and that he can Faithfully and Justly do it Yea God doth beseech us to be reconciled to him by his Son which could not be if he were not Anointed by him to this very End and also if his Works and undertakings were not accepted of him as considered a Saviour Rom. 3. 24 25. 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Fifthly God hath received already Millions of Souls into his Paradice because they have received this Jesus for a Saviour and is resolved to cut him off and to cast him out of his presence that will not take him for a Saviour Heb. 12. 22 23 24 25 26. I intend brevity here therefore a word to the Second and so conculde How it appears that he hath Power to cast out This appears also by what follows First The Father for the service 〈◊〉 he hath done him as Saviour 〈◊〉 made him Lord of all even Lord 〈◊〉 Quick and Dead For to this 〈◊〉 Christ both Died and Rose and Revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living Rom. 14. 9. Secondly The Father hath left it with him to quicken whom he will to wit with saving Grace and to cast out whom he will for their Rebellion against Him Joh. 5. 21. Thirdly The Father hath made him Judge of Quick and Dead hath committed all Judgment unto the Son that all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father Joh. 5. 22. Fourthly God will Judge the World by this Man the day is Appointed for Judgment and he is Appointed for Judge He hath Appointed a day in the which he will Judge the World in Righteousness by that Man Acts 17. 31 32. Therefore we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive for the things done in the Body according to what they have done If they have closed with Him Heaven and Salvation if they have not Hell and Damnation And for these Reasons he must be Judge First Because of his Humiliation because of his Fathers Word he humbled himself and he became Obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross Therefore God hath highly Exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow both of things in Heaven and things on Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father This hath respect to his being Judge and his Sitting in Judgment upon Angels and Men Phil. 2. 7 8 9 10 11. Rom. 14. 10 11. Secondly That all Men might honour the Son even as they honour the Father For the Father Judgeth no Man but hath Committed all Judgment unto the Son that all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father Joh. 5. 22 23. Thirdly Because of his Righteous Judgment this work is fit for no Creature it is only fit for the Son of God For he will reward every Man according to his Ways Rev. 22. Fourthly Because he is the Son of Man He hath given him authority to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of Man Joh. 5. 27. Thus have I in brief passed through this Text by way of explication my next Work is to speak to it by way of Observation but I shall be also as brief in that as the Nature of the thing will admit All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. ANd now to come to some Observations and a little briefly to speak to them and then conclude the whole The words thus Explained affords us many some of which are these First That God the Father and Christ his Son are two Distinct Persons in the God-head Secondly That by them not Excluding the Holy Ghost is contrived and determined the Salvation of some of fallen Man kind Thirdly That this contrivance resolved it self into a Covenant between these Persons in the God-head which standeth in giving on the Fathers part and Receiving on the Sons All that the Father giveth me c. Fourthly That every one that the Father hath given to Christ according to the mind of God in the Text shall certainly come to him Fifthly That coming to Jesus Christ is therefore not by the will wisdom or power of man but by the gift promise and drawing of the Father All that the Father giveth me shall come Sixthly That Jesus Christ will be careful to receive and will not in any wife reject those that come or are coming to him And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out There are besides these some other Truths implyed in the Words As Seventhly They that are coming to Jesus Christ are oft-times heartily afraid that he will not receive them Eightly Jesus Christ would not have them that in Truth are Coming to him once think that he will cast them out These Observations lie all of them in the Words and are plentifully confirmed by the Scriptures of Truth but I shall not at this time speak to them all but shall pass by the first second third fourth and sixth partly because I design brevity and partly because they are touched upon in the Explicatory part of the Text. I shall therefore begin with the Fifth Observation and so make that the first in order in the following discourse First Then Coming to Christ is not by the will wisdom or power of Man but by the gift promise and drawing of the Father This Observation standeth of two parts First that coming to Christ is not by the Will Wisdom or Power of Man Secondly But by the Gift Promise and Drawing of the Father That the Text carrieth this Truth in its bosom you will find if you look into the Explication of the first part thereof before I shall therefore here follow the Method propounded First That coming to Christ is not by the will wisdom or power of man this
himself thus to shew that the Father hath not only given him this portion in the Lump before the world was but that those that he hath so given he will give him again that is will bring them to him at the time of their conversion for the Father bringeth them to Christ Joh. 6. 44. As it is said She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needle work That is in the righteousness of Christ for it is God that imputeth that to these that are saved Psal. 45. 14. 1 Cor. 1. A man giveth his daughter to such a man first in order to marriage and this respects the time past and he giveth her again at the day appointed in marriage And in this last sense perhaps the Text may have a meaning that is that all that the Father hath before the world was given to Jesus Christ he giveth them again to him in the day of their espousals Or Thirdly In that Christ saith giveth instead of hath given he may do it to shew that this gift of the Father to him is now as new as sweet as pleasant and desirable as if it had never bin given before Things that are given among men are oft-times best at first to wit when they are new and the reason is because all earthly things war old but with Christ it is not so this gift of the Father is not old and deformed and unpleasant in his eyes and therefore to him 't is always new When the Lord spake of giving the Land of Canaan to the Israelites he saith not that he had given or would give it to them but thus The Lord thy God giveth thee this good Land Deut. 9. 6. not but that he had given it to them while they were in their Fathers Hundreds of Years before Yet he saith now he giveth it to them as if they were now also in the very act of taking possession when as yet they were on the other side Jordane What then should be the meaning Why I take it to be this That the Land should be to them alway as new as new as if they were taking possession thereof but now And so is the gift of the Father mentioned in the Text to the Son it is always new as if it were alwayes giving All that the Father giveth Me. In those words you find mention made of two persons the Father and the Son the Father giving and the Son receiving or accepting of his Gift This then in the first place clearly demonstrateth that the Father and the Son though they with the Holy Ghost are one and the same Eternal God yet as to their personality are distinct The Father is one the Son is one the Holy Spirit is one But because there is in this Text mention made but of two of the three therefore a word about those two The Giver and Receiver cannot be the same person in a proper sence in the same act of giving and receiving He that giveth giveth not to himself but to an other the Father giveth not to the Father to wit to Himself but to the Son the Son receiveth not of the Son to wit of Himself but of the Father so when the Father giveth Commandment he giveth it not to himself but to another as Christ saith He hath given Me a Commandment Joh. 12. 49. So again I am one that beareth witness of my self and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me Jo. 10. 18. Further here is something implyed that is not expressed to wit that the Father hath not given all Men to Christ that is in that sence as is intended in this Text. For then all should be saved He hath therefore disposed of Satan another way He gives some up to Idolatry He gives some up to uncleanness to vile affections and to a reprobate mind Now these he disposeth of in his Anger for their destruction Acts. 7. 42 Rom. 1. 24 26 28. that they may reap the fruit of their doings and be filled with the reward of their own ways But neither hath He thus disposed of all men he hath even of Mercy reserved some from these Judgments and those are they that he will Pardon as he saith for I will pardon them whom I reserve Jer. 50. 20. Now these he hath given to Jesus Christ by Will as a Legaey Hence the Lord Jesus sayes This is the Fathers Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day Joh. 36 29. The Father therefore giving them to Him to save them must needs by so doing declare unto us these following things 1. That he is Able to answer this designe of God to wit to save them to the uttermost Sin the uttermost temptation c. Heb. 7. 25. Hence he is said To lay help upon me that is Mighty Mighty to save And hence it is again that God did even of old promise to send his people a Saviour a great one Psal. 89. 19. Isa. 63. 1. To save is a great work and calls for Almightyness in the Undertaker hence he is called the Mighty God the Wonderful Counseller c. Sin is strong Satan is also strong Death and the Grave are strong and so is the Curse of the Law therefore it follows that this Jesus must needs be by God the Father accounted Almighty in that he have given his Elect to him to save them and to deliver them from these and that in despite of all their Force and Power Yea he gave us Testimony of this his Might when he was imployed in that part of our deliverance that called for a Declaration of it He abolished Death He destroyed him that had the power of Death he was the Destruction of the Grave he hath finished Sin and made an end of it as to its Damning effect upon the Persons that the Father hath given him He hath vanquished the curse of the Law Nailed it to his Cross Triumphed over them upon his Cross and made a shew of these things openly 2 Tim. 1. 10. Heb. 2. 14 15. Hos. 13. 14. Dan. 9. 24. Gal. 3. 13. Col. 2. 14 15. Yea and even now as a sign of his Triumph and Conquest he is alive from the Dead and hath the Keys of Hell and Death in his own keeping Revel 1. 18. 2ly The Fathers giving of them to him to save them declares unto us that he is and will be faithful in his Office and that therefore they shall be secured from the fruit or wages of their Sins which is Eternal Damnation And indeed it is said even by the Holy Ghost himself That he is faithful to him that appointed him that is to this work of saving those that the Father hath given him for that purpose as Moses was faithful in all his House Yea and more faithful too for Moses was faithful in Gods house but as a Servant But Christ as a Son over his own house
and hold not thy peace for I have much People in this City Joh. 10. 16. Act. 18. 9 10. The People that the Lord here speaks of were not at this time accounted His by reason of a Work of Conversion that already had passed upon them but by Vertue of the Gift of the Father for he had given them unto him Therefore was Paul to stay here to speak the Word of the Lord to them that by his Speaking the Holy Ghost might effectually work out their Souls to the causing them to Come who was also ready with Heart and Soul to receive them Thirdly Christ by these Words also suggesteth That no more came unto Him than indeed was given him of the Father For the Him in this place is one of the All that by Christ was mentioned before All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me and every Him of that All I will in no wise cast out This the Apostle insinuateth where he saith He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ Till we All come in the Unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of God unto a Perfect Man unto the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. Mark As in the Text so here he speaketh of All Untill we All come We All All who Doubtless All that the Father giveth to Christ. This is further insinuated because he calleth this All The Body of Christ the Measure of the Stature of the Fulness of Christ By which he means the Universal Number given to wit The true Elect Church which is said to be his Body and Fulness Ephes. 1. 22 23. Fourthly And Christ Jesus by these Words further suggesteth That he is well content with this Gift of the Father to him All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out I will heartily willingly and with great Content of Mind receive him They shew us also that Christ's Love in Receiving is as large as his Father's Love in Giving and no larger Hence he thanks him for his Gift and also thanks him for hiding of Him and his Things from the rest of the Wicked Mat. 11. 25. Luk. 10 21. But Secondly and more particularly And him that cometh And him This word Him By it Christ looketh back to the Gift of the Father not only in the Lump and whole of the Gift but to every Him of that Lump As who should say I do not only accept of the Gift of my Father in the General but have a special Regard to every of them in Particular and will secure not only some or the greatest part but Every Him every Dust Not an Hooff of all shall be lost or left behind And indeed in this he consenteth to his Father's Will which is That of All that he hath given him he should lose Nothing Joh. 6. 39. And him Christ Jesus also by his thus dividing the Gift of his Father into Hims and by his speaking of them in the Singular Number shews what a particular Work shall be wrought in each one at the time appointed of the Father And it shall come to pass in that Day saith the Prophet that the Lord shall beat off from the Channel of the River to the Stream of Egypt and ye shall be gathered one by one O ye Children of Israel Isa. 27. 12. He shews also hereby That no Lineage Kindred or Relation can at all be profited by any Outward or Carnal Union with the Person that the Father hath given to Christ. 'T is only Him the Given Him the Coming Him that he intends absolutely to secure And him There are divers sorts of Persons that the Father hath given to Jesus Christ They are not all of one Rank of one Quality Some are High some Low some are Wise some Fools some are more Civil and Complying with the Law some more Profane and averse to Him and his Gospel Now since those that are given to him are in some sense so divers and again since he yet saith And Him that cometh c. He by that doth give us to understand that he is not as Men for picking and choosing to take a Best and leave a Worst but he is for Him that the Father hath given him and that cometh to him He will not alter nor change it a Good for a Bad or a Bad for a Good Levit. 27. 9 10. There is many a sad Wretch given by the Father to Jesus Christ but not one of them all is despised or slighted by him It is said of those that the Father hath given to Christ That they have done worse than the Heathen That they were Murderers Thieves Drunkards Unclean Persons and what not But he has Received them Washed them and Saved them A fit Emblem of this Sort is that wretched Instance mentioned in the Sixteenth of Ezekiel that was cast out in a Stincking Condition to the loathing of its Person in the day that it was Born A Creature in such a wretched Condition that no Eye pittied to do any of the Things there mentioned unto it or to have Compassion upon it No Eye but his that speaketh in the Text. And Him Let him be as red as Blood let him be as red as Crimson Some men are blood-Red sinners Crimson sinners Sinners of a double die dipt and dipt again before they come to Jesus Christ. Art thou that readest these Lines such an one speak out man Art thou such an one and art thou now coming to Jesus Christ for the Mercy of Justification that thou mightest be made white in his Blood and be covevered with his Righteousness Fear not for as much as this thy coming betokeneth that thou art of the number of them that the Father hath given to Christ for he will in no wise cast thee out Come now saith Christ and let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be as Red as Crimson they shall be as wooll Isa. 1 18. And him There was many a strange him came to Jesus Christ in the days of his flesh but he received them all without turning any away Speaking unto them of the Kingdom of God and Healing such as had need of healing Luk. 9. 11. Chap. 4. 40. These words And him are therefore words to be wondered at That not one of them who by vertue of the Fathers gift and drawing are coming to Jesus Christ I say that not one of them what ever they have been what ever they have done should be rejected or set by But admitted to a share in his saving grace 'T is said in Luke that the people wondred at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Luk. 4. 22. Now this is one of his
And this is the Promise by the vertue of which thou shalt be effectually brought to him It was said to Abraham At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a Son this Son was Isaac Mark Sarah shall have a Son There is the promise and Sarah had a Son there was the fullfilling of the promise And therefore was Isaac called the child of the promise Gen. 17. 19. Chap. 18. 10. Rom. 9. 9. Sarah shall have a Son but how if Sarah be past age why still the promise continues to say Sarah shall have a Son But Abrahams body is now dead why the promise is still the same Sarah shall have a Son Thus you see what vertue there is in an absolute promise It carrieth enough in its own bowels to accomplish the thing promised whether there be means or no in us to effect it wherefore this promise in the Text being an absolute promise by vertue of it not by vertue of our selves or our own enducements do we come to Jesus Christ for so are the words of the Text. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me Therefore is every sincere commer to Jesus Christ called also a Child of the promise Now we brethren as Isaac was are the Children of the promise Sal. 4. 28. That is we are the Children that God hath promised to Jesus Christ and given to him yea the Children that Jesus Christ hath promised shall come to him All that the Father giveth me shall come Fourthly This word shall-come engageth Christ to Communicate all manner of Grace to those thus given him to make them effectually to come to him They shall come that is not if they will but if grace all grace if power wisdom a new heart and the holy spirit and all Joyning together can make them come I say this word shall-come being absolute hath no dependance upon our will or power or goodness but it ingageth for us even God himself Christ himself the Spirit himself When God had made that Absolute promise to Abraham that Sarah should have a Son Abraham did not at all look at any qualification in himself because the promise looked at none but as God had by the promise absolutely promised him a Son so he considered not his own body now dead nor yet the barrenness of Sarah's Womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully perswaded that what He had promised He was able to perform Rom. 4. He had promised and had promised absolutely Sarah shall have a Son Therefore Abraham looks that He to wit God must fulfill the condition of it Neither is this Expectation of Abraham disapproved by the Holy Ghost but accounted good and laudable it being that by which he gave Glory to God The Father also hath given to Christ a certain number of Souls for him to save and he himself hath said They shall come to him Let the Church of God then live in a Joyful Expectation of the utmost accomplishment of this promise for assuredly it shall be fulfilled and not one thousandth part of a Tittle thereof shall fail And now before I go any further I will more particularly enquire into the nature of an Absolute Promise First We call that an Absolute promise that is made without any condition or more fully thus That is an absolute promise of God or of Christ which maketh over to this or that man any Saving Spiritual blessing without a condition to be done on our part for the obtaining thereof Secondly An Absolute promise therefore is as we say without if or and that is it requireth nothing of us that it self might be accomplisht It saith not They shall if they will but they shall not they shall if they use the means but they shall You may say that a will and the use of the means is supposed though not expressed But I answer No by no means that is as a condition of this promise If they be at all included in the promise they are included there as the fruit of the Absolute promise not as if it expected the qualification to arise from us Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. That is another absolute promise But doth that Promise suppose a willingness in us as a condition of Gods making of us willing they shall be willing if they are willing or they shall be willing if they will be willing This is ridiculous there is nothing of this supposed The promise is absolute as to us all that it ingageth for its one accomplishment is the mighty power of Christ. The difference therefore betwixt the absolute and the conditional promise is this First They differ in their terms The absolute promises say I will and you shall the other I will if you will or do this and thou shalt live Jer. 31. 31 32 33. Ezek. 36. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33. Heb. 8. 7 8 9 10 11 12. Jer. 4. 1. Ezek. 18. 30 31 32. Mat. 19. 21. Secondly They differ in their way of Communicating of good things to men the absolute ones Communicate things freely only of Grace the other if there be that qualification in us that the promise calls for not else Thirdly The absolute promises therefore ingage God the other ingage us I mean God only us only Fourthly Absolute promises must be fulfilled Conditional may or may not be fulfilled The absolute ones must be fulfilled because of the faithfulness of God the other may not because of the unfaithfulness of men Fifthly Absolute promises have therefore a sufficiency in themselves to bring about their own fulfilling the Conditional have not so The absolute promise is therefore a big-bellied promise because it hath in it self a fulness of all desired things for us and will when the time of that promise is come yeild to us mortals that which will veryly save us yea and make us capable of answering of the demands of the promise that is conditional Wherefore though there be a real yea an eternal difference in these things with others betwixt the conditional and absolute promise yet again in other respects there is a blessed Harmony betwixt them as may be seen in these particulars First The Conditional promise calls for Repentance and the absolute promise gives it Acts 5. 30 31. Secondly The Conditional promise calls for faith the absolute promise gives it Zeph 3. 12. Rom. 15. 12. Thirdly The Conditional promise calls for a new heart the absolute promise gives it Ezek. 36. Fourthly The Conditional promise calleth for Holy Obedience the absolute promise giveth or causeth it Ezek. 36. 27. And as they Harmoniously agree in this so again the Conditional promise blesseth the man who by the absolute promise is endued with its fruit As for instance First The absolute promise maketh men upright and then the Conditional follows saying Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the
I am coming and that I could not be but that the Father draws me and I am coming to such a Lord Jesus as will in no wise cast me out Further Satan were I not elect the Father would not draw me nor would the Son so graciously open his bosom to me I am perswaded that not one of the non-elect shall ever be able to say no not in the day of judgement I did sincerely come to Jesus Christ. Come they may feignedly as Judas and Magnus did But that is not our question Therefore O thou honest-hearted coming sinner be not afraid but come As to the Second part of the Objection about sinning the sin against the Holy Ghost The same argument overthrows that also But I will argue thus First Coming to Christ is by vertue of a special gift of the Father but the Father giveth no such gift to them that have sinned that sin therefore thou that art coming hast not committed that sin That the Father giveth no such gift to them that has sinned this sin Is evident 1. Because such have sinned themselves out of God's Favour They shall never have Forgiveness Matth. 12. 32. But it is a special Favour of God to give unto a Man to come to Jesus Christ because thereby he obtaineth Forgiveness Therefore he that cometh hath not sinned that Sin 2. They that have sinned the Sin against the Holy-Ghost have sinned themselves out of an Interest in the Sacrifice of Christ's Body and Blood There remains for such no more Sacrifice for Sin But God giveth not Grace to any of them to come to Christ that have no share in the Sacrifice of his Body and Blood Therefore thou that art coming to him hast not sinned that Sin Heb. 10. 26. Secondly Coming to Christ is by the Special Drawing of the Father No Man cometh to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him But the Father draweth not him to Christ for whom he hath not alotted Forgiveness by his Blood Therefore they that are coming to Jesus Christ have not sinned that Sin because he hath alotted them Forgiveness by his Blood Joh. 6. 44. That the Father cannot draw them to Jesus Christ for whom he hath not alotted Forgiveness of Sins is manifest to Sense For that would be a plain Mockery a Flam neither becoming his Wisdom Justice Holyness nor Goodness Thirdly Coming to Jesus Christ lays a Man under the Promise of Forgiveness and Salvation But it is impossible that he that hath sinned that Sin should ever be put under a Promise of these Therefore he that hath sinned that Sin can never have Heart to come to Jesus Christ. Fourthly Coming to Jesus Christ lays a Man under his Intercession For he ever Liveth to make Intercession for them that come Heb. 7. 25. Therefore he that is coming to Jesus Christ cannot have sinned that Sin Christ has forbidden his People to pray for them that have sinned that Sin and therefore will not pray for them himself But he prays for them that come Fifthly He that hath sinned that Sin Christ is to him of no more Worth than is a Man that is Dead For he hath Crucified to himself the Son of God Yea and hath also counted his Precious Blood as the Blood of an Unholy Thing Heb. 6. chap. 10. Now he that hath this low Esteem of Christ will never come to him for Life But the Coming-Man has an high Esteem of his Person Blood and Merits Therefore he that is coming has not Committed that Sin Sixthly If he that hath sinned this Sin might yet come to Jesus Christ then must the Truth of God be overthrown which saith in one Place He hath never Forgiveness and in another I will in no wise cast him out Therefore that he may never have Forgiveness he shall never have Heart to come to Jesus Christ. It is impossible that such an one should be Renewed either to or by Repentance Heb. 6. Wherefore never trouble thy Head nor Heart about this Matter He that cometh to Jesus Christ cannot have sinned against the Holy Ghost Sixthly Thy Fears that Christ will not Receive thee may arise from thine own Folly in Inventing yea in thy Chalking out to God a way to bring thee Home to Jesus Christ. Some Souls that are coming to Jesus Christ are great Tormentors of themselves upon this account They conclude that if their Coming to Jesus Christ is right they must needs be brought Home thus and thus As to instance 1. Sayes one If God be bringing of me to Jesus Christ then will he load me with the Guilt of Sin till he makes me Roar again 2. If God be indeed a bringing of me home to Jesus Christ then must I be assaulted with dreadful Temptations of the Devil 3. If God be indeed a bringing of me to Jesus Christ then even when I come at him I shall have wonderful Revelations of him This is the way that some Sinners appoint for God But perhaps he will not walk therein yet will he bring them to Jesus Christ But now because they come not the Way of their own Chalking out therefore they are at a loss They look for Heavy Load and Burden but perhaps God gives them a Sight of their lost Condition and addeth not that heavy Weight and Burden They look for fearful Temptations of Satan but God sees that yet they are not fit for them Nor is the Time come that he should be Honoured by them in such à Condition They look for great and glorious Revelations of Christ Grace and Mercy But perhaps God only takes the Yoke from off their Jaws and lays Meat before them And now again they are at a loss yet a-coming to Jesus Christ I drew them saith God with the Cords of a Man with the Bands of Love I took the Yoke from off their Jaws and laid Meat unto them Hos. 11. 4. Now I say if God brings thee to Christ and not by the Way that thou hast appointed then thou art at a loss and for thy being at a loss Thou mayst thank thy self God hath more ways than thou knowst of to bring a Sinner to Jesus Christ But he will not give thee before-hand an Account by which of them he will bring thee to Christ Isa. 40. 13. Job 33. 13. Sometimes he hath his Way in the Whirlwind but sometimes the Lord is not there Nah. 13. 1 King 19. 11. If God will deal more gently with thee than with others of his Children grudge not at it Refuse not the Waters that go softly lest he bring upon thee the Waters of the Rivers strong and many even these two smoaking Fire-brands the Devil and Guilt of Sin Isa. 8. 6 7. He said to Peter Follow me And what Thunder did Zacheus hear or see Zacheus come down said Christ and he came down sayes Luke and Received him Joyfully But had Peter or Zacheus made the Objection that thou hast made and Directed the Spirit of the Lord as