most satisfying of all Come on poor trembling Soul dont be discouraged stretch out the small weak Arms of thy Faith to that great and gracious Redeemer open thy Heart wide to receive him he will not refuse to come in he hath sealed thousands of pardons to as vile Wretches as thy self he never yet shut the door of Mercy upon a willing hungering Soul. It is a great matter to have the Way beaten and the Ice broken before thee in thy way to Christ. If thou wert the first sinner that had cast his Soul upon Christ I confess I should want this encouragement I am now giving thee but when so many have gone before thee and all found a welcom beyond their expectation What incouragement doth this breath into thy trembling discouraged Heart to go on and venture thy self upon Christ as they did what an Example have we in Manasseh 2 Chron. 33. from vers 3. to 12. An Idolater one that used Enchantments and Divinations familiar Spirits shed innocent Blood in the Streets of Ierusalem a Man might rake the World and hardly bring â—o sight a viler Wretch a greater Monster in sin and wickedness yet his Heart being broken and his Will bowed this Man found Mercy How great a sinner was Mary that came to Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee Luke 7. 39. So notorious a sinner that Simon took offence at Christ for suffering so vile Wretch to come into his presence If this Man were a Prophet saith he he would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner Yet Maries Heart being broken for sin and made willing to accept of a Saviour what a gracious demonstration of welcom did Christ give her and to all other sinners a singular encouragement in her Example Once more you have an eminent Example of the abundant welcom of another sinner to Christ who owned himself for the greatest of Sinners a Persecuter a Blasphemer Injurious but saith he I obtained Mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. And the Example of his gracious Entertainment with Christ is recorded on purpose for an encouragement unto all that should hereafter believe How many thousands are there now in Hell that never stood guilty of greater enormeties than the Corinthians did Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners such were some of them yet Sanctified Washed Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. If ever Christ would have shut the door of Mercy upon any if ever he would have been coy and shy of coming into any Souls certainly these were the Souls he would have disdained to come near O what a demonstration is here of that comfortable Point before us That Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when ones it is made Heartily willing to open to him IV. Evidence A further Evidence of this comfortable Truth shall be taken from the Scripture resemblances of the abundant Grace of God and riches of Mercy in Christ towards all broken Hearted and willing Sinners There are some chosen resemblances and excellent Emblems which bring down the Grace of God before the very Eyes of Men amongst which I will single out three glorious Resemblances of Free Grace chosen by his Wisdom on purpose for the incouragement of poor drooping Sinners A Resemblance from the Heavens a Resemblance from the Sun and a Resemblance from the Sea all such as the Wisdom of Men and Angels could never have chosen for such a purpose as this is I. A Resemblance from the Heavens those vast extended Heavens that cover and compass this Earth what an inconsiderable spot is the whole Terrestrial Globe to those high and all-surrounding Heavens and yet these Heavens are not at so vast a distance above the Earth as the pardoning Grace of God is above the guilt yea and the very thoughts of poor Sinners For of the pardoning Grace of God to penitent and willing Souls that precious Scripture speaks Isa. 55. 8 9. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon O saith the Soul I cannot think God will ever have Mercy on such a Wretch as I why saith he vers 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts and 't is well they are not but as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts You cannot take the height nor sound the depth of my pardoning Grace That 's one Emblem from the unconceivable height of the Heavens above the Earth II. Another is taken from the Sun in the Heavens a Creature of admirable Power and Vertue you know that anon this part of the World will be the Throne of Darkness the Sable curtains of the Night will be spread over all the beauties of this part of the Earth and it may be in the Morning a thick Fog or Mist will cover it thick and dark Clouds may darken the Heavens but behold this glorious Creature the Sun chasing before him the darkness of the Night breaking up the Mists and Fogs of the Morning scattering the dark and thick Clouds of Heaven they are all gone and there is no appearance of them Just so saith God shall it be with thy sins and thy Cloudy fears arising out of sin Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions and as a Cloud thy sins Thy Soul is beclouded thy fears have bemisted thee so that thou canst not see the grounds of thine encouragement but my Grace shall arise upon thee like the Sun in the Heavens and scatter all these dismal Clouds both of guilt and fear and make a clear Heaven over thee and a clear Soul within thee Vnto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. III. Another Resemblance you have from the Sea the great Abyss that vast Congregation of Waters whose depth no line can fadom Veer out as much Line as you will you cannot touch the bottom To this unfathomable Ocean the pardoning Grace of God is also resembled Mich. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea. If the loftiest Pyramid or highest Mountain were cast into the depth of the Sea it would never be seen more by the Eyes of Men. God hath on purpose chosen this Emblem of his Grace to obviate that common discouragement of Satan taken from the greatness and aggravation of sin and in that case thou art to make use of them and bless the Lord for them he
thee also that hast broken asunder the bonds of mercies vows and warnings provided thou wilt now hear the voice of Christ and thy Will open to him with an hearty firm consent Isa. 55. 4. You are great and heinous sinners but I shew this day a Great and Almighty Saviour One that is able to save to the utmost all that come unto God by him Hebr. 7. 25. There is a Sacrifice laid out and appointed for these sins O bless God for that They are no where excepted from the possibility of forgiveness Nothing but the impenitency of thy heart and obstinacy of thy Will can bar thee from a full and final pardon Jesus Christ can save thee to the uttermost Say not within thy self Can the virtue of his Blood extend it self to the remission of this or that sin He can save to the uttermost Look round about thee to the uttermost Horizon of all thy guilt and Christ can save thee to the uttermost that the Eye of thy Conscience can discern yea and beyond it too but then thou must come unto him You speak of the greatness of sin and you have cause to have sad thoughts about it but in the mean time you consider not that your Unbelief by which you stand off from Christ your only Remedy is certainly the greatest of all the sins that ever you stood guilty of against the Lord. This is the sin that binds the guilt of all your other sins upon you Let me therefore address my self 1 To you who cry out of the greatness of sin and that discourages you from going to Christ 2 To lesser sinners who because they are clear of great Enormities see not their need of Christ. 1. This Exhortation speaketh to you whose Consciences are â—eared with the horrid and hideous aggravations of your sins by reason whereof your own misgiving hearts assisted by the policy of Satan discourage you from all Attempts to gain Christ and Pardon in the way of Repentance and Faith. Let me at this time hint three or four Considerations to you by way of Encouragement 1 The sparing goodness of God till now gives some encouragement that God may have a reserve of mercy for so great and vile a sinner as thou art O what a mercy is it that thy life hath been spared hitherto Many of thy Companions in sin are beyond hope and mercy whilst thou art left I confess this is no sure sign of Gods gracious intention to thee unless the goodness and forbearance of God did lead thee to Repentance then the gracious intention of God in prolonging thy life would evidently appear But however it is in it self a very great mercy because without it no spiritual mercy could be expected 2ly 'T is matter of encouragement and hope That though your Disease be dreadful yet it is not desperate and incurable The Text takes it within the compass of mercy O bless God for that If any man c. 3ly As great sinners as you have been have found mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. and God would have it to be recorded for your encouragement If now the Lord shall make thy heart to break and thy Will to bowe whatever thy sins have been they shall not bar thee from mercy and forgiveness But if thou resolve to go on in sin or sit down desponding or discouraged and wilt not come in at the Invitation and Call of Christ then thy wound is incurable indeed and there is but one way with thee thy Mittimus is already made for Hell and that Scripture in 1 Cor. 6. 9. will tell thee whither thou art going But God forbid that this should be the Issue of Christs gracious invitations to thee and forbearance of thee Seeing mercy is tendred to any man that will accept it upon Christ's terms exclude not thy self when he hath not excluded thee 2. I will close up this Use of Exhortation to another sort of persons who are not of the notorious infamous rank of profane Sinners but their lives have been drawn more smoothly through a course of Civility These have as great need to be prest to Repentance and Faith as the most notorious Sinners in the world These are a Generation that bless themselves in their own eyes and thank God with the Pharisee Luke 18. 11. That they are not as other men They acknowledge Conversion to be the duty of the profane that such Sinners as I last dealt with stand in apparent need of it But as for themselves they scarce know where to find matter for Repentance nor do they feel any need of Christ. Now I would lay three Considerations before such persons to convince them that their Case is as sad and hazardous yea and in some respect more hazardous than the state of the most notorious Sinners in the world and that a Change must also pass upon them or else it had been good for them they had never been born I. Consideration Let the civilized part of the world lay this thought close to their hearts That though their sins be not so gross and horrid to appearance as other mens are yet continued in they will prove as mortal and destructive as those greater Abominations of other men No sin absolutely considered is small Every sin is mortal and damning without Christ Rom. 6. ult The wages of sin is death 'T is no great odds if a man be killed whether it were by a broad Sword or by a small Penknife The least sin violates the whole Law Iames 2. 10. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all The least transgression of the Law pulls down the guilt and curse of the whole Law upon the Sinners head And this is your misery that are out of Christ and stand under the rigorous terms of the first Covenant Moreover the Law of God is violated grosly and externally or spiritually and more internally Thus every unchast thought is Adultery And the very inward burnings of Malice and Anger in the heart is Murther Now if the Lord shall bring the spiritual sense of the Law home to your Consciences as he did to Paul's Rom. 7. 9. You will certainly give up that plea that you have not so much need of conversion as other Sinners have There are sins of greater infamy and sins of deeper guilt There may be more guilt in those sins that are stifled in thy heart and never defamed thee than there may be in some sins that make a louder noise in the world II. Consideration You are guilty of one sin how civil and blameless soever your lives are which is certainly more great and heinous than any outward act of sin can ordinarily be and that is your trusting to your own Righteousness as the Pharisees did Luke 18. 9. He spake this Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Here 's an Idol of Jealousie set up in the room of Christ 'T is true this sin makes not so loud a noise
â—ffigies of Iohn Flavell Aetatis suoe 59 AnÌ„o Dom 1689. Englands Duty Under the Present GOSPEL LIBERTY FROM Revel III. vers 20. Wherein is Opened The Admirable Condescension and Patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate Sinners The wretched State of the Vnconverted The nature of Evangelical Faith with the Difficulties Tryals and Means thereof The Riches of Free-grace in the offers of Christ Pardon and Peace to the worst of Sinners The invaluable Priviledges of Vnion and Communion granted to all that receive him and the great Duty of opening to him at the present Knocks and Calls of the Gospel with the danger of neglecting these Loud and it may be last Knocks and Calls of Christ discovered By Iohn Flavell Preacher of the Gospel at Dartmouth in Devon. Rom. II. 4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance London Printed for Matthew Wotton at the Three Daggers near the Inner-Temple Gate in Fleetstreet 1689. Licensed Septemb. 29 th 1688. AN EPISTLE TO THE READER Candid Reader THE following Discourse comes to thy hand in that Native plainness wherein it was Preached I was conscienciously unwilling to alter it because I found by experience the Lord had blessed and prosper'd it in that dress far beyond any other composures on which I had bestowed more pains Let it not be censured as vanity or ostentation that I here acknowledge the goodness of God in leading me to and blessing my poor Labours upon this Subject Who and what am I that I should be continued and again employed in the Lords Harvest and that with success and encouragment when so many of my Brethren with their much richer Furnitures of Gifts and Graces have in my time been called out of the Vineyard and are now silent in the Grave 'T is true they enjoy what I do not and 't is as true I am capable of doing some Services for God which they are not In Preaching these Sermons I had many occasions to reflect upon the mystical sense of that Scripture Amos 9. 13. The Plow-man shall overtake the Reaper and the Treader of Grapes him that soweth Seed Sowing and Reaping time trod so close upon one another that in all humility I speak it to the praise of God it was the busiest and blessedst time I ever saw since I first Preached the Gospel England hath now a day of special Mercy There is a wide door of opportunity opened to it O that it might prove an effectual door 'T is transporting and astonishing that after all the high and horrid provocations the Atheism Prophaness and bitter enmity against Light and Reâ—ormation this sweet Voice is still heard in England Behold I stand at the door and knock The Mercies and Liberties of this day are a new Tryal obtained for us by our potent Advocate in the Heavens If we bring forth fruit well if not the Ax lieth at the root of the Tree Let us not be secure Jerusalem was the City of the great King The seat of his Worship and Symbols of his presence were fixed there It was the joy of the whole Earth the House of Prayer for all Nations thither the Tribes went up to Worship the Tribes of the Lord unto the Testimony of Israel For there were set Thrones of Iudgment the Thrones of the House of David Psal. 122. 4 5. These priviledges she enjoyed through the succession of many Ages and had ramained the glory of all Nations to this day had she known and improved in that day the things that belonged to her peace but they neglected their season rejected their mercies and miserably perished in their sins for there ever was and will be found an inseparable connection betwixt the final rejection of Christ and the destruction of the Rejecters Matth. 22. 5 6 7. The contemplation whereof drew those compassionate Tears from the Redeemers eyes when he beheld it in his descent from the Mount of Olives Luke 19. 41 42. Let all that are wise in Heart henceforth depose their animosities sadly reflect on their past follies encourage and assist the Labours of their Brethren in the Lords Harvest and rejoyce that God hath set them at liberty by Law whose assistance in so great an opportunity is so necessary and desirable It is against the Laws of Wisdom and Charity to envy the Liberty and much more the Success of our Brethren 1 Cor. 13. 4. If the Workmen contend and scuffle in a catching Harvest who but the owner suffers damage by it If after so miraculous recent and common a Salvation as this we still retain our old prejudices and bitter envyings if we smite with the Pen and Tongue when we cannot with the Hand and study to blast the Reputations and Labours of our Brethren and still hate those we cannot hurt In a word if we still bite and devour one another we shall be devoured one of another let us not lay the fault upon others we our selves have been the Authors and Instruments of our own ruin and this must be the inscription upon our Toomb-stone O England thou hast Destroyed thy Self I am more afraid of the rooted enmity and fixed prejudices that are to be found in many against holiness and the serious Professors of it and inflexible obstinacy and dead formality in many others the tokens of a tremendous infatuation than I am of all the whispered fears from other Hands or common Enemies upon our borders To prevent these mischiefs and promote zeal and unanimity among the Ministers of the Gospel I have presumed to address to them in the following Epistle I judged it necessary on several reasons to write it in Latin as what allowed me a greater freedom of expression than might seem convenient in the common Language I am conscious of my own unworthiness to be their Monitor and of the defects their Iudicious Eyes will easily discern in the style wherein it is written and yet can promise my self a becoming reception of what is so faithfully seasonably and honestly designed for their good I am satisfied that no candid and ingenuous Person will put Words upon the Rack quarrel a Similitude or expose a Trifle when he finds the design Honest and the matter Good and Necessary As to the Treatise it self thou wilt find it a Persuasive to open thy Heart to Christ. Thy Soul Reader is a magnificent Structure built by Christ such stately Rooms as thy Vnderstanding Will Conscience and Affections are too good for any other to Inhabit If thou be in thy Vnregenerate state then he solemnly demands in this Text admission into the Soul he made by the consent of the Will which if thou refuse to give him then Witness is taken that Christ once more demanded entrance into thy Soul which he made and was denied it If thou hast opened thy Heart to him thou wilt I hope meet somewhat in this Treatise that will clear thy
applied to the Bleeding Wounds of Afflicted Saints 12 o. A Sermon Preached at the Publick Thanksgiving Feb. 14. 1689. for Englands Deliverance from Popery Books Printed for Matthew Wotton Smith's David's Repentance Great Assize David's Blessed Man. Dent's Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven Farnaby's Rhetorick Inet's Devout Christian in Three Parts first Prayers for a single Person secondly Prayers for a Family thirdly A Discourse on and Prayers at the Sacrament Winchester's Phrases Markham's Master piece 4 o. English Gardner 4 o. Salmon's Dispensatory Doron Medicum or Supplement to the Dispensatory Baker's Arithmetick York's Arithmetick Lucian's Dialogues Greek and Latin. ERRATA Si accentus Comma Colon Periodus omittantur vel id genus lelevior a occurr ant festinantis preli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tuam rogatam velim indulgentiam graviora quod attinet exhibeo tibi indicem ut videre est In the Latin Epistle PAge 5. line 9. after ita add neque ib. read Regimen p. 7. l. 6 for r. ut and l. 18. r. aperuit p. 10. l. 12. r. iniquiratum p. 13. l. 6. for quam quâ—â— p. 15. l. 4. r. judicium l. 23. for aliis r. alies p. 25. l. 7. for atques r. aqtue l. 19. r. Cognitionem Dilectionemque In the Book it self Correct thus Page 17. l. 23. r. how To. p. 26. l. 3. r. Co extended p 39. l. ult for but r. and. p. 40. l. 15. r. Angel of God p. 41. l. 14 for World r. Word p. 53. l. 4. r. a point p. 57. l. 24. r. the Doctrine of Free Grace p. 65. l. 23. for though r. because p. 95. l. 4. r. fell p. 142. l. ult r. home p. 159. l6 r. Four. p. 177. l. 19 for too r. some p. 192. l. 21. r. the Curse p. 216. l. 28. r. your p. 227. l. 21. r. hold p. 246. l. 1. r. once p. 251. l. 26. for by r. for p. 256. l. 20. r. Thousands p. 264. l. 9. for seem r. serve p. 268. l. 17. r. which p. 269. l. 17. dele the. p. 270. l. 29. r. scared p. 275. l. 23. for that r. the. p. 278. l. 1â— song p. 281. Marg. for est r. p. 284. l. 22. for have r. hear p. 291. l. 23. dele and. p. 305. l. 19. r. Word p. 311. l. ult r. strikes p. 312. l. 19. r. you p. 318. l. 7. for means r. signs p. 322. l. 5. r. Christ's p. 326. l. 17. r. gaining p. 329. l. 25. add not p. 342. l. 20. for in r. with p. 394. l. 7. r. to sit p. 414. l. 17. r. believers p. 417. l. 14. r. hides and l. 28. r. poured out P. 445. l. 3. r. first is this the. l. 19. dele a. In the Appendix Page 17. line 11. add to p. 41. l. 13. r. when it p. 54. 1. 27. r. by their p. 62. l. 18. r. abeneus SERMON I. Revel 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me THis day hath our compassionate Redeemer opened unto us a door of liberty liberty to us to preach and liberty for you to hear the glad tydings of the Gospel This is a day few looked for how often have I said in the years that are past God hath no more work for me to do and I shall have no more strength and opportunities to work for God And how often have you said in your hearts we have sinned our Ministers out of their Pulpits and our eyes shall no more behold those our Teachers But lo beyond the thoughts of most hearts a wide and I hope an effectâ—al door is now opened in the midst of us Oh! that it might be to us as the Valley of Achor was to Israel for a door of hope Hosea 2. 15. i. e. not only making the troubles they met with in that Valley an Inlet to their mercies as ours have been to us but giving them that Valley pignoris nomine as a pledge of greater mercies intended for them Upon the first appearance of this mercy my next thoughts were how to make the most fruitful improvement of it amongst you lest we should twice stumble at the same stone and sin our selves back again into our old bondage In the contemplation of this matter the Lord directed me to this Scripture wherein the same hand that opened to you the door of liberty knocks importunately at the doors of your hearts for entrance into them for union and communion with them It will be sad indeed if he that hath let you in to all these mercies should himself be shut out of your hearts But if the Lord should help you to open your hearts now to Christ I doubt not but this door of liberty will be kept open to you how many soever the Adversaries be that envy it and will do their uttermost to shut it up Ezech. 39. 29. The mercies you enjoy this day are the fruits of Christs intercession with the Father for one tryal more if we bring forth fruit well if not the Ax lyeth at the Root of the Tree Under this consideration I desire to Preach and even so the Lord help you to hear what shall be spoken from this precious Scripture Behold I stand at the door and knock c. These words are a branch of that excellent Epistle dictated by Christ and sent by his servant John to the Church of Laodicea the most formal hypocritical and degenerate of all the seven Churches yet the great Phisitian will try his skill upon them both by the rebukes of the rod ver 19. and by the perswasive power of the word ver 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock c. This Text is Christs wooing voice full of Heavenly Rhetorick to win and gain the hearts of Sinners to himself wherein we have these two general parts 1. Christs suit for a Sinners heart 2. The powerful Arguments enforcing his suit First Christs suit for a Sinners heart wherein we have 1st the solemn Preface ushering it in behold 2dly the suit it self The Preface is exceeding solemn for beside the common use of this word behold in other places to excite attention or exaggerate and put weight into an affirmation it stands here as a Judicious Expositor notes as a term of notification or publick record wherein Christ takes witness of the most gracious offer he was now about to make to their souls and will have it stand in perpetuam rei memoriam as a testimony for or against their souls to all Eternity to cut off all excuses and pretences for time to come 2. The suit it self wherein we have 1. The Suitor Jesus Christ. 2. His posture and action I stand at the door and knock 3. The suit it self which is for opening If any man open 1. The Suitor Christ himself I stand I that have a right of Sovereignty over you I that have shed my invaluable blood to
Adam which are as the Sand upon the Sea shore that not only so many persons but all that they have done must come into Judgment even the very thoughts of their Hearts which never came to the knowledge of Men their Consciences to be interrogated all other Witnesses fully heard and examined how great a day must this day of the Lord then be The Second Vse But the main Use of this Point will be for Exhortation that seeing all the offers of Christ are recorded and witnessed with respect to a day of account every one of you would therefore immediately embrace the present gracious tender of Christ in the Gospel as ever you expect to be acquitted and cleared in that great day take heed of denials nay of delays and demurs For if the word spoken by Angels were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2. 2 3. The question is put but no answer made How shall we escape The wisdom of Men and Angels cannot tell how to enforce this Exhortation I shall present you with Ten weighty Considerations upon the matter which the Lord follow home by the blessing of his Spirit upon all your Hearts I. CONSIDERATION Consider how invaluable a mercy it is that you are yet within the reach of offered Grace The mercies that stand in offer before you this day were never set before the Angels that fell no Mediator was ever appointed for them Oh astonishing mercy that those Vessels of Gold should be cast into everlasting Fire and such Clay Vessels as we are thus put into a capacity of greater happiness than ever they fell from Nay the mercy that stands before you is not only denied to the Angels that fell but to the greatest part of your fellow Creatures of the same rank and dignity with you Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his Word to Jacob his Statutes and his Iudgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Iudgments they have not known them praise ye the Lord. A mercy deservedly celebrated with a Joyful Allelujah What vast Tracts are there in the habitable World where the name of Christ is unknown T is your special mercy to be born in a Land of Bibles and Ministers where it is as difficult for you to avoid and shun the Light as it is for others to behold and enjoy it II. CONSIDERATION Consider the nature weight and worth of the mercies which are this day freely offered you Certainly they are mercies of the first Rank the most ponderous precious and necessary among all the mercies of God. Christ the first born of mercies and in him pardon peace and eternal Salvation are set before you it were astonishing to see a starving Man refusing offered bread or a condemned Man a gracious pardon Lord what compositions of sloath and stupidity are we that we should need so many intreaties to be happy III. CONSIDERATION Consider who it is that makes these gracious tenders of pardon peace and Salvation to you even that God whom you have so deeply wronged whose Laws you have violated whose mercies you have spurned and whose wrath you have justly incensed His patience groans under the burden of your daily provocations he loses nothing if you be damned and receives no benefit if you be saved yet the first motions of Mercy and Salvation to you freely arise out of his Grace and good pleasure God intreats you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. The blessed Lord Jesus whose blood thy sins have shed now freely offers that blood for thy Reconciliation Justification and Salvation if thou wilt but sincerely accept him ere it be too late IV. CONSIDERATION Reflect seriously upon your own vileness to whom such gracious offers of Peace and Mercy are made Thy sins have set thee at as great a distance from the hopes and expectations of pardon as any sinner in the World. Consider Man what thou hast been what thou hast done and what vast heaps of guilt thou hast contracted by a life of sin and yet that unto thee Pardon and Peace should be offered in Christ after such a life of Rebellion how astonishing is the mercy The Lord is contented to pass by all thy former Rebellions thy deep died Transgressions and to sign an Act of Oblivion for all that is past if now at last thy Heart relent for Sin and thy Will bow in obedience to the grâ—at commands and call of the Gospel Isa. 55. 2. 1. 18. V. CONSIDERATION Consider how many offers of mercy you have already refused and that every refusal is recorded against you How long you have tried and even tired the patience of God already and that this may be the last overture of Grace that ever God will make to your Souls Certainly there is an offer that will be the last offer a striving of the Spirit which will be his last striving and after that no more offers without you no more motions or strivings within you for evermore The Treaty is then ended and your last neglect or rejection of Christ recorded against the day of your account and what if this should prove to be that last tender of Grace which must conclude the Treaty betwixt Christ and you what undone wretches must you then be with whom so gracious a Treaty breaks off upon such dreadful terms VI. CONSIDERATION Consider well the reasonable mild and gracious nature of the Gospel terms on which Life and Pardon are offered to you The Gospel requires nothing of you but Repentance and Faith Acts 20. 21. Can you think it hard when a Prince pardons a Rebel to require him to fall upon his Knees and stretch forth a willing and thankful Hand to receive his Pardon Your Repentance and Faith are much of the same nature Here is no legal satisfaction required at your Hands no reparation of the injured Law by your doings or sufferings but an hearty sorrow for sins committed sincere purposes and endeavours after new obedience and a hearty thankful acceptation of Christ your Saviour and for your encouragement herein his Spirit stands ready to furnish you with Powers and Abilities Prov. 1. 23. Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my Words unto you and Isa. 26. 20. Lord thou hast wrought all our Works in us VII CONSIDERATION Again consider how your way to Christ by Repentance and Faith is beaten before you by thousands of sinners for your encouragement You are not the first that ever adventured your Souls in this path multitudes are gone before you and that under as much guilt fear and discouragement as you that come after can pretend unto and not a man among them repulsed or discouraged here they have found rest and peace to their weary Souls Heb. 4. 3. Acts 13. 39. Here the greatest of sinners have been set forth for an ensample to you
The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11. 12. Why should other Mens Souls be dearer to them than yours unto you What discouragements have you which other Men have not Or what encouragements have they which you have not Say not we have no assurance our pains shall prosper or our strivings be made effectual to Conversion if there were any promise in the Gospel that such endeavours should be seconded from Heaven and made available to Salvation then we would strive as long as breath and life should last but all this may be to no purpose we may be Christ-less and hope-less when all is done But yet remember it is possible God may bless these weak endeavours and come in by his Almighty Spirit with them Nay it is highly probable that he will do so and is a strong probability nothing with you Do you use to do no actions about your civil callings without an assurance of success When the Merchant adventures his Life or Estate at Sea is he sure of a good return Or doth he not adventure upon the meer hopes and probabilities of a gainful voyage When the Husbandman plows his Lands empties both his bags and purse upon it is he sure of a good harvest May not a blast come that shall defeat all his hopes Yet he ploweâ—h and soweth in hope and ordinarily God maketh him partaker of his hope but without such industry his expectations would be vain Away then with vain excuses up and be doing in the use of all appointed means and the Lord be with you Third Vse for Tryal Before I dismiss this Point let us try our selves by it whether God have opened our Hearts to Christ broken these Bars of Ignorance Unbelief Custom Prejudice c. and the Will stand wide open to receive Christ Jesus the Lord. This is a solemn Use the consequence of it great Oh that our faithfulness and seriousness in the trial might be answerable Try your selves by these following marks I. Mark. If your Eyes be not opened to see sin in its vileness and Christ in his glory suitableness and necessity then sure your Hearts were never yet effectually opened by the Gospel I confess Mens Eyes may be opened to see sin and yet their Hearts at the same time shut up by unbelief against Christ but no Mans Heart can be opened to Christ whilst his Eyes are shut Iohn 6. 40. This is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life The work of Faith is always wrought in the light of Conviction the cure of the Heart begins at the Eye of the Mind Acts 26. 18. To open their Eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. God opens Mens Hearts by shining into them 2 Cor. 4. 6. If therefore any Mans Eyes be still blinded with Ignorance Prejudice c. so that he apprehends not his own guilt and misery nor sees the worth and necessity of a Saviour that Mans Heart is still under Satans Lock and Bar sin is shut in and Christ is shut out of that Mans Soul. II. Mark. No Heart opens to Christ by Faith till it be first prickt and wounded by Compunction and Humiliation this Heart-wounding work is always antecedent to the work of Faith. I doubt not but your thoughts fore-run my Discourse to that famous Scripture Acts 2. 37. where Peter preaching to those that had crucified Christ and bringing up his Discourse close to their Consciences in the application of that Sermon convincing them not only what an horrid and atrocious crime the crucifying the Son of God was in it self but also charging it home upon them Whom you have taken and with wicked Hands have crucified and slain When they heard this they were pricked at the Heart and cried out Men and Brethren what shall we do Upon this outcry three thousand Souls opened in one hour to Christ Now consider whether your Hearts have been thus prickt and wounded Hath sorrow for sin pierced thy Soul Vain sinner that frothy Heart of thine must be made to bleed under Compunctions for sin or there will be no room for Christ in it Come Souls t is in vain to flatter your selves in your own Eyes reflect upon the frames of your Hearts call back the days that are past and say When was the Time and where was the Place when thou layest at the Foot of God sobbing and mourning upon the account of thy Sins Did ever God hear such a cry as this from thy Soul Ah Lord my Soul is distressed I rowle hither and thither for ease and comfort but find none O the insupportable weight of guilt Oh the bitterness of sin My Soul fails under it Lord undertake for me I do not say The degrees of Compunction and Humiliation are equal in all Converts neither their sins nor abilities to bear sorrows for them are equal but this I say Thy Heart must ake for sin or it will never open to Christ he binds up none but broken Hearts Isa. 61. 1. III. Mark. If Christ be come into thy Heart then the love and delight of every sin is gone out of thy Heart Christ and the love of sin cannot dwell together what Christ said to the Soldiers that apprehended him in the Garden the like he saith to every Soul that comes to apprehend him by Faith If you seek me let these go their way away with the sin thou most delightest in Christ cannot come in till these be gone Isa. 55. 6 7 8. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Here be the terms of your Acceptation and Salvation plainly laid down forsake thy ways and thoughts the way notes the external acts of sin and the thoughts the internal acts both of contrivance and delight in sin both these must be forsaken and that 's not all for this makes up but a negative holyness Let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy It is in vain for Men to make the door of Salvation wider than God hath made it we cannot bring down Christs terms lower than he hath set them if we will not come up to them Christ and we must part And this makes the great struggle the sharp debate in the Souls of Converts Oh t is hard to give up pleasant and profitable lusts but away they must go a Bill of Divorce must be signed for them or you cannot be espoused to the Lord Jesus This will be found to be a harder tug than to part with all externals for Christ sake IV. Mark. No Heart can open truly to Christ that is not made willing upon due deliberation to receive
of me for I am meek and lowly You are going to Meekness and Mercy it self he is the Lamb of God that is his name go on then poor trembling sinner dont stand any longer at shall I Shall I with Christ but make a bold but necessary adventure of Faith try him once and then report what you find im to be Certainly if he exercises such Patience towards the Vessels of wrath whilst they are sitting to destruction as he doth Rom. 9. 22 he will not want Patience for a Yessel of Mercy preparing by Humiliation and Faith for Christ and Glory Doth he forbear those that stand out in defiance and will he fall upon those that are mourning to him upon the Knee of submission Shall a damnede wretch that is preparing for Hell find so much forbearance and a poor broken hearted sinner none It cannot be If Jesus Christ forbare thee when thy Heart was as hard as a Rock and could not yield one Tear one Sigh for sin will he execute his Wrath upon thee will he shew thee no Mercy when thy Heart is broken all to pieces with sorrow and filled with loathing and detestation against sin and thy self for sin Did he forbear thee when sin was thy delight And will he destroy thee now it is thy burden It cannot be Moreover if the Lord Jesus had not a mind to shew Mercy to thy poor Soul Now now that thine Eyes are opened and thy heart touched to the quick why hath he forborn the execution of his wrath so long He might have taken his own time to cut you off when he would he might have made any day the execution day But sure among all the days of thy life the day of thy Humiliation the day of thy Faith is not like to prove that day Again as great and vile sinners as thy self have adventured upon the Grace of Christ and sound it infinitly beyond their expectation These the Lord Jesus hath set forth as incouraging examples to all the broken hearted sinners that are coming after that they seeing how it hath fared with their forerunners to Christ might be incouraged to come on with the more confidence 1 Tim 1. 16. But I obtained mercy that in me first Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern for them that should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Well then shut your Ears against all the whispers of Satan entertain no evil reports of Christ the Devil loves to draw a false picture of Christ and represent him in the most discouraging form to poor trembling sinners but you will not find him so What can Christ say more to convince and satisfie Souls than he hath done He hath left the bosom of the Father he hath taken union with thy Nature he hath poured out his Soul unto Death he hath told us Those that come unto him he will in no wise cast out Thousands are gone before us in the paths of Repentance and Faith and found it according to his Word you have been spared all your Life to this day of Mercy O do not stand off now upon such weak objections III. Inference The long-suffering of Christ toward Sinners instructeth and teacheth his Ministers to imitate their Lord in a Christ-like Patience and Long-suffering Christ is our pattern of Patience if he wait much more may we we think it much to stand from Sabbath to Sabbath Woing Pleading and Inviting and are apt to be discouraged when we see no fruit follw The want of success is apt to cast us under Ieremiahs temptation To speak no more in his Name and to lament with Isaiah That we have laboured in vain 't is a hard case to Study Pray and Preach and see all our labours return in vain 'T is not so much the expending as the returning of our labours upon us in vain that discourageth our Hearts Ministers would not dye so fast saith one of them nor be gray-headed so soon did they see the fruit of their labours upon their people But let us look to our pattern in the Text Behold I stand at the door and knock If the Master wait let not the Servants be weary The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be patient towards all wasting if at any time God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 4. 24. Though the beginnings be small our latter-end may greatly increase though we now fish with Angles and take but now one and then another the time may come and we hope is at the door when we shall spread our Nets and inclose multitudes Aretius a pious Divine comforted himself thus under the insuccessfulness of his Labours Dabit posterior aetas tractabiliores fortasse animas mitiora pectora quam nostra habent tempora Future days will afford more tractable Spirits and easier tempers of Mind than our present times afford Beside the fruit of our labours may spring up to a blessed harvest when we are gone Iohn 4. 37. One Man soweth and another reapeth but if not our reward will not be measured by the success but the sincerity of our designs and labours Our zeal for conversion of Souls to Christ will be accepted but our discouragement in his service will certainly displease him If Israel be not gathered yet shall we be glorious in the Eyes of the Lord. However let this be a caution to you that hear us that you cast not our Souls under such discouragements If I may speak the sense of others from my own experience then I can assure you that the fixedness of your Hearts in the ways of sin and your untractableness to the calls of God are a greater burden and discouragement to us than all the sufferings we have met withal from the World yet are we contented to Pray in hope and Preach in hope incouraging our selves the Lord grant it be not without ground that a crop shall yet spring up which shall make the Harvest-men laugh IV. Inference From the Patience and Long-suffering of Christ we may learn the invaluable preciousness of Souls and the high esteem Christ hath for them Though your Souls be cheap in your own Eyes and you are contented to sell them for a trifle for a little sensual pleasure and ease some of you will hazard them for a Shilling yet certainly Jesus Christ hath an high asteem of them else he would never stand knocking with such importunity and waiting with such wonderful patience for the Salvation of them Christ knows their worth though you do not he accounts and so should you one of your Souls more worth than the whole World Matth. 16. 26. The Soul of the poorest Child or meanest Servant that hears me this day is of greater value in Christ's Eye than the whole World and he hath given three great evidences of it 1. That he thought it worth his Heart Blood to redeem and save it 1 Pet. 1. 19. You were not redeemed with Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of
the Earth bringing Pardon and Salvation with him to stand so long unanswered let who will cry up the goodness of Nature I am sure we have reason to look upon the vileness of it with amazement and horror You could not have found in your Hearts to have made the poorest beggar wait so long at your door as you have made Christ to wait upon you VII Exhortation Seventhly and Lastly Let us all bless and admire the Lord Jesus for the continuation of his Patience not to our selves only but to that whole sinful Nation in which we live We thought the Treaty of Peace had been ended with us many good Men looking upon the iniquities and abominations of these times considering the vanities and backsliding of Professors the Heaven-daring provocations of this Atheistical age concluded in their own Hearts that God would make England another Shiloh Many faithful Ministers of Christ said within themselves God hath no more Work for us to do and we shall have no more opportunities to work for God. When lo beyond the thoughts of all Hearts the merciful and long-suffering Redeemer makes one return more to these Nations renews the Treaty and with compassions rolled together speaks to us this day as to Ephraim of old How shall I deliver thee Look upon this day this unexpected day of Mercy as the fruit and acquisition of the intercession of your great Advocate in Heaven answerable to that Luke 13. 7 8 9. Well God hath put us upon one Tryal more if now we bring forth fruit well if not the ax lyes at the root of the Tree Once more Christ knocks at our doors the voice of the Bridegroom is heard those sweet voices Come unto me Open to me your opening to Christ now will be unto you as the Valley of Achor for a door of hope But what if all this should be turned into wantonness and formality what if your obstinacy and infidelity should wear out the remains of that little strength and time left you and that former Labours and Sorrows have left your Ministers Then actum est de nobis we are gone for ever then farewel Gospel Ministers Reformation and all because we knew not the time of our Visitation What was the dismal doom of God upon the fruitless Vineyard Isa. 5. 5. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be troden down I will also command the Clouds that they rain not upon it The hedge and the wall are the Spiritual and Providential presence of God these are the defence and safety of his People the Clouds and the Rain are the sweet influences of Gospel Ordinances If the hedge be broken down God's pleasant Plants will soon be eaten up and if the Clouds rain not upon them their Root will be rottenness and their Blossom will go up as dust Our Churches will soon become as the Mountains of Gilboa therefore see that you know and improve the time of your Visitation III. Vse of Consolation I shall wind up this Fourth Doctrin in two or three words of Consolation to those that have answered and are now preparing to answer the design and end of Jesus Christ in all his Patience towards them by the compliance of their Hearts with his great design and end therein O blessed be God and let his high-praises be for ever in our Mouths that at last Christ is like to obtain his end upon some of us and that all do not receive the Grace of God in vain And there be three Considerations able to wind up your Hearts to the height of Praise if the Lord have now made them indeed willing to open to the Lord Jesus I. Consideration The Faith and Obedience of your Hearts makes it evident that the Lords waiting upon you hitherto hath been in pursuance of his design of Electing Love. What was the reason God would not take you away by death though you passed so often upon the very brink of it in the days of your unregeneracy And what think you was the very reason of the revocation of your Gospel-liberties when they were quite out of sight and almost out of hope why surely this was the reason that you and such as you are might be brought to Christ at last Therefore though the Lord let you run on so long in sin yet still he continued your Life and the means of your Salvation because he had a design of Mercy and Grace upon you And now the time of Mercy even the set time is come Praise ye the Lord. II. Consideration You now also see the Sovereignty and freeness of Divine Grace in your vocation your Hearts resisted all along the most powerful means and importunate calls of Christ and would have resisted still had not Free and Sovereign Grace over-poured them when the time of Love was come Ah it was not the tractableness of thine own Will the easie temper of thy Heart to be wrought upon the Lord let thee stand long enough in the state of Nature to discover that there was nothing in Nature but obstinacy and enmity Thou didst hear as many powerful Sermons melting Prayers and didst see as many awakning Providences before thy Heart was opened to Christ as thou hast since yet thy Heart never opened till now and why did it open now Because now the Spirit of God joyned himself to the Word victorious Grace went forth in the Word to break the hardness and conquer the rebellions of thy Heart The Gospel was now preached as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1. 12. With the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things saith he the Angels desire to look into Ah Friends it is a glorious sight worthy of Angelical observation and admiration to behold the effects of the Gospel preacht with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to see when the Spirit comes along with the Word the blind Eyes of sinners opened and they brought into a new World of ravishing objects to behold Fountains of Tears flowing for sin out of Hearts lately as hard as the Rocks to see all the Bars of Ignorance Prejudice Custom and Unbelief fly open at the voice of the Gospel to see Rebels against Christ laying down their Arms at his Feet come upon the Knee of submission crying Lord I will rebel no more to see the proud Heart centered and wrapt up in its own righteousness now striping it self naked loading it self with all shame and reproach and made willing that its own shame should go to the Redeemer's glory These I say are sights which Angels desire to look into Certainly your Hearts were more tender and your Wills more apt to yield and bend in the days of your youth than they were now when sin had so hardned them and long continued custom riveted and fixed them yet then they did not and now they do yield to the calls and invitations of the Gospel Ascribe all to Sovereign Grace and
now for no less than the prize of eternal Life 't is now for all or none for life or death for Heaven or Hell the powers of Hell are now all in Arms to destroy Convictions and secure the possession of the Soul against Christ as when a Granado falls into a Garison the first care of the Defendants is to stifle and choak it before it break Whilst Christ is speaking by his Spirit in one Ear the Devil is whispering in the other and the things he whispers to quench Convictions are usually such as these It is time enough yet what need such hast Enjoy thy pleasures a little longer thou maist come to Christ and be saved at last if that will not do then he changeth his voice to what purpose wilt thou go to Christ 'T is now too late the time of Grace is over hadst thou come to him in thy youth and obeyed his first call it had been somewhat but now it is â—o no purpose If this will not quiet the Soul then he saith Thy sins are too great to be pardoned there 's no hope for such a prodigious sinner as thou art If the Lord help the Soul to overcome this by discovering to it the riches of mercy pardoning the greatest of sinners then he represents the multitudes which are in the same case with the convinced sinner come fear not if it go ill with thee it will be as bad for millions of Men and Women if thou go to Hell thousands will go with thee but if the Soul be loath to be damned for company then he bids it look upon the train of troubles and afflictions that come along with Christ and will certainly follow him if the door be opened to let him in if Christ come in reproaches losses and sufferings will certainly come in with him troops of miseries and calamities follow him himself hath told thee so and art thou mad to ruine all thy comforts in the World and plunge thy self into a Sea of trouble for what thine Eyes never saw But if the Soul reply These are more tollerable than damnation better my flesh suffer for a time than my Soul be cast away for ever then he represents the insuperable difficulties of Religion what a hard thing it is to be saved how many painful duties and acts of mortification the Soul must pass through Thus you see what an allarm Conviction gives to the powers of Hell. 9ly Every effectual knock of Christ is followed on and new Convictions revive old and former ones and the Lord never leaves knocking till the door be opened if one Sermon will not do another shall if one wound be plaistered and healed by the art of Satan a fresh wound shall be made if a former Conviction vanish the next shall be sealed upon the Soul and when the Spirit of the Lord sealeth a Conviction upon the Conscience raze it out who can And here 's the difference betwixt special and common Convictions common Convictions come and go they put the Soul in a fright for a day or a month and then trouble it no more for ever but special Convictions will be continued one thing backs another for Christ is in pursuit of the Soul and will give it chase till at last he overtake and come up with it 10ly In the last place All the knocks of Christ cease and end when the sinners day of grace is ended This is of dreadful consideration when the time of Mercy is over no more strivings of the Spirit with a Man after that Christ saith to the drousie sinner as he spake to the drousie Disciples in the Garden Sleep on now and take your rest So here I called thee in such a Sermon but thou heardest not by such a providence but thou obeyedst not sleep on now and take thy rest My people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me So I gave them up to their own Hearts lust to walk in their own counsels Psal. 81. 11 12. q. d. I have done with them the treaty is ended I will make no more essays towards their Conversion and Salvation So I gave them up Methinks it sounds as much as this Take him Sin Take him Devil I will have no more to do with him So Hosea 4. 17. Ephraim is joyned to idols let him alone His Heart is glued fast to sin he is enamoured upon other Lovers let him a lone O beloved 't is a dreadful thing for God to say let this Man alone in his formality and that Man in his carnal security Let not this be misapplied by poor trembling Souls under Conviction I know the fear of this Judgment is upon their Hearts nothing makes them tremble more than lest the day of Grace be ended with them But there is no ground for this fear whilst the Spirit continues Convincing and the Soul trembling lest his Convictions should prove ineffectual Thus much of the nature instruments and manner of Christ's knocking at the door of a sinners Heart Our way is now opened to a fruitful Application of this Point which will wind up in divers necessary Uses I. Vse for Information And first The Point before us will be useful for Information in the following Inferences and Deductions I. Inference Into how deep a sleep hath sin cast the Souls of sinners that Christ must stand so long and give such loud repeated knocks before it will awake and open to him There is the Spirit of a deep sleep fallen upon Men like that into which God cast Adam God speaketh once yea twice but Man regards it not 't is the hardest thing in the World to rouze and awaken a Man out of his carnal security Look over Satans Kingdom and you shall find a general stilness and quietness among his Subjects There 's no trouble for Sin no strivings after Salvation no cryings out What shall we do to be saved Go into the crouds of carnal Men and Women and you shall find them all intent and busie about other matters How long shall you be in their company before you hear one groan for sin Or see one tear slide from their Eyes on that account Oh what a marvelous thing is here Do not their Consciences know the guilt that lyes upon them Are they not aware of a day of reckoning which approacheth Yes yes these things are not hid from their Consciences What art then is used to keep them so still and quiet Why there are divers Rattles to still the Consciences of sinners and they do it effectually There are five causes and occasions of this wonderful stilness in the Souls of sinners 1. Ignorance of the nature of regenerating Grace taking that for regeneration which is none of it thus did the Iews Ioh. 8. 55. confidently affirm God to be their God and yet they did not know him How many proor ignorant creatures think there is no need of any other Work of regeneration but what passed upon them in Baptism They were
the sincerity of Christ in those gracious offers he makes unto coming Souls Be satisfied he speaks his very Heart in them to thee the Devil labours to sow jealousies and beget suspicions in the Hearts of poor convinced sinners that they will not find such a welcom entertainment with Christ as he seems to promise them in those encouraging Scriptures Matth. 11. 28 29. Iohn 6. 37. But that something else lies hid in those Scriptures as a mystery which they understand not and so by shaking the assenting act labours to hinder the accepting act of Faith this is a case as common as it is sad the Lord help poor Souls to avoid this snare lest in stead of honoring Christ by a resolved adherence to him they make him a lyer and impute insincerity to the God of truth For he that believeth not hath made him a lyer IV. Direction Fourthly Look up to God for power to enable you to come to Christ in this supernatural and difficult work of Faith. Dont think Faith is of the growth of thine own Heart No Man can come unto me saith Christ except my Father which hath sent me draw him There is a legal Spirit working under Evangelical pretences in many Souls they look within them to find that which is quite above them the Apostle points you to the fountain of Faith in Eph. 2. 8. It is not of your selves it is the gift of God. 'T is one of the greatest difficulties in the World to believe For if the power of God must be owned as the cause of every new degree of Faith in the greatest believers in the World as is plain Luke 17. 5. The Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our Faith. How much more is the production of Faith it self and the first vital act thereof to be ascribed to the Almighty Power of God V. Direction Fifthly Keeping thine Eye of Expectation upon that Almighty Power pray and plead with the Lord assiduously and importunately for the exerting of that Power upon thy Soul and give not over thy Suit till thou feel that Power coming upon thee The time of believing is a time of earnest pleading thine own danger and necessity and the Spirit of the Lord improving them will abundantly furnish thee with Pleas and Arguments to enforce this Suit. Such as these 1. Lord I have thy call and invitation yea I have thy command to encourage me to believe it is not presumption therefore in thy poor Creature to come after thou hast invited and commanded me hadst thou not encouraged me I durst not have moved towards thee Lord whose Word is it 1 Ioh. 3. 23. is it not thine own This makes my Faith an act of obedience 2. Yea Lord I have thy promise as well as thy command made upon no other condition but my coming to thee blessed Jesus hast not thou said Iohn 6. 37. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out An invitation is much but thy promise is more 3. O my God I have not only thy command making it my duty to believe and thy promise to encourage me to that duty but I have the examples of other sinners that came unto thee long ago and thou didst not reject them nor do I abuse those examples in drawing incouragement from them for it was thy very design in recording them that they might be so many patterns to all that should hereafter believe on thee 1 Tim. 1. 16. 4. O my God I am shut up under a plain necessity I have no other way to take thus stands the case with me I am beaten off from all other refuges there is no help for me in Angels nor Men in duties or self-righteousness in thee only my Soul can find rest I am shut up to thee as to the only door of hope Gal. 3. 23. here I must speed or perish my Soul is burthened and wearied I know not how to dispose of it but into thy Hands nor where to lay the burden of my guilt but upon thee if I miss here I am gone for ever 5. Lord I am willing to renounce and abandon all other hopes refuges and righteousness and to stick to and rely upon thee only Duties cannot justifie me tears cannot wash me reformation cannot save me nothing but thy righteousness can answer my end I come to thee a poor naked Creature saying as the Church Hos. 14. 3. Asshur shall not save us c. for in thee do the fatherless find mercy Thus plead it with God and still remember you are pleading for Life yea for your eternal Life VI. Direction Sixthly Labour to make a resolved adventure upon Christ amidst all those encouragements let the issue be what it will resolve to venture though you have not the least degree of assurance that you shall be accepted and pardoned This is that brave and noble act of Faith which carries the Soul to Christ much as Hester came to the King Yet will I go in to the King and if I perish I. perish Hest. 4. 16. It pities me to think how the saving act of Faith is grosely mistaken in the World the generality think it is enough for them to believe that Christ died for sinners and therefore for them as well as any other but you see Faith is another matter O there are great difficulties and mighty wrestlings in the Work of Believing 't is a great matter for a poor convinced sinner in the face of so much guilt and viâ—eâ—ess and amidst such manifold damps and discouragements from Satan to cast and adventure himself upon Christ and that upon such self-denying terms but the pinch of necessity will bring the Soul to this for now it reasons with it self as the Lepers did 2 Kings 7. 4 5. If we go to the Camp of the Assyrians we can but dye and if we abide here we must certainly dye thus here if I sit still in the state of Nature and still continue demurring and delaying my damnation is unavoidable to Hell I must go and if I cast my self upon Christ I can but be rejected but he hath said He will not cast out those that come unto him in this way of Faith there is a possibility of Salvation yea there dawns from it a strong probability this therefore is my only way To him I will go and if I perish I perish VII Direction Seventhly Never measure the grace of God nor the mercy of Christ by the rule of your own narrow conceptions and apprehensions of him but believe them to be far greater than your contracted and narrow understanding represents them to you Our casting of the pardoning power and mercy of God into the mould of our own thoughts disfigures and alters them so that they look not like themselves but with a very discouraging aspect upon our Souls by this Satan keeps off many a Soul from coming to Christ the Lord knows how to forgive thee though thou scarce knowest how to forgive thy self for the
never designed them for encouragements to sin but for encouragements to repentance and Faith. That 's the Fourth Evidence of the Truth before us V. Evidence The Truth of this Conclusion will also evidently appear from the innate characters and properties of the Grace and pardoning Mercy of God towards penitent and hungring Sinners Now there are three glorious Characters of Divine Grace which do all assure such sinners welcom to Christ whatever they have been or done the Grace of God shines forth in Scripture in three illustrious Characters 1. As superabounding Grace 2. As Free Grace 3. As Grace exercised with delight First It is superabounding Grace Waters do not so abound in the Ocean nor Light in the Sun as Grace and compassion do in the bowels of God towards broken Hearted and hungry sinners Isa. 55. 6. Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon The compassions of our God inserted that word on purpose to relieve poor Souls fainting under the sense of their abounding iniquities Here 's abundant Pardon for abounding Guilt and yet left a desponding sinner should not find enough here to quiet his fears the Lord goes yet farther in the expression of his Grace Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound It overflowed all the bounds it rose quite above the high-water Mark of sin and guilt but these overflowings of Grace run only through that channel of all Grace Jesus Christ to broken Hearted and obedient Sinners Secondly The Grace of God to such Souls is free every way free it is the very design of the Gospel to exhibit it in this its glory It costs you nothing but acceptance its free without merit yea free against merit you can deserve nothing of God therefore his Grace is free without merit yea you have deserved Hell as often as you have sinned against him and so it is free against merit If a pardon were to be purchased by us we want a stock for such a purchase neither can we borrow from Men or Angels a sufficient sum for such a purchase Blessed be God therefore that it flows freely to us without money and without price Isa. 55. 2. Thirdly Grace glories in another property also which is very encouraging to the Soul of a drooping sinner viz. that it is the darling attribute which God greatly delights to exercise The tender Mother draws not out her aking Breast with such delight to her hungry crying Child as the Lord doth his Mercy and Compassion to broken Hearted and hungry Sinners in this attribute and in this property of it his people therefore admire him Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy You cannot put Jesus Christ upon a more delightful imployment than to bind up the Wounds and set the broken Bones of poor convinced humbled Sinners Let every such Soul come to Christ and welcom for he greatly delights in such imployments VI. Evidence Such sinners need not doubt a welcom reception with Christ for should he reject and turn back such as these then none can have the benefit of his Blood and consequently it must be shed in vain as Water spilt upon the ground The Blood of Christ is invaluably precious and it cannot be lost it were a desperate impeachment of the Wisdom and Goodness of God to think so yet so it must be if broken Hearted and willing Souls be rejected and turned back from him There are but two sorts of Sinners in all the World viz. hardned and broken Hearted Sinners willing and unwilling Sinners The whole World falls into these two ranks as for impenitent hardned and obstinate sinners 't is certain they can have no benefit by the Blood of Christ they shall dye in their sins the Gospel cuts them off so continuing from all expectation of pardon and mercy Now there is but one sort of Sinners more left in the World and they are convinced and humbled Sinners who are made heartily willing to receive Christ upon his own terms who stretch forth the Hands of their desires to him and pant after an interest in him Should Christ reject these also who then shall receive the benefit of his Blood Did Christ dye in vain Or can the Counsels of Heaven prove abortive No no fear not therefore to go to Christ thou broken Hearted Sinner thou poor panting longing Soul fear not he will not cast thee out VII Evidence Moreover for the encouragement of all such Souls mercy and pardon are designed by bestowed upon the greatest and vilest of sinners to enhance and raise the glory of Free Grace to the highest pitch God picks out such Sinners as you are on purpose to illustrate the glory of his Grace in and upon you he knows you to whom so much is forgiven you will love much Luke 7. 47. You that have done so much against his Name and Glory will excel others in zeal and obedience 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. You will go beyond others in service for God as you have done in sinning against him All these things laid together make up a full demonstration of the Point That Iesus Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when once it is made heartily willing to open unto him Which was the thing to be proved and now our way is open to the Application of the Point which will be exceeding useful for Information Exhortation and Consolation I. Vse for Information Learn hence what an invaluable Mercy it is to enjoy the Gospel in its light and liberty which is so great a relief to the distressed Consciences of sinners Here only that Balm is to be found that heals your spiritual Wounds The Gospel hath been a low prized commodity in England the Lord pardon the guilt thereof to us Ah Brethren if you were in the Heathen World with your sick and wounded Consciences what would you do There are no Bibles Ministers or Promises not a breath of Christ or the Blood of sprinkling which are the true and proper remedies of sick Souls that 's a pitiful cry Mich. 6. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Behold here the anguish of a destressed sin-burdened Conscience it would give up any thing in the World for peace and ease they would cast their Children their dearest Children their first-born into the burning flames if that might be an atonement for their â—ins O the efficacy of Conscience And the misery of an unrelieved Conscience But the
Gospel which you enjoy leads you to the Fountain of pardon and peace Iâ—a 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed The voice of the Gospel is peace peace to every one that believeth a rational peace founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here you see Justice and Mercy kissing each other God satisfied and the Sinner justified for Conscience demands as much to satisfie it as God demands to satisfie him if God be satisfied Conscience is satisfied O blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89. 15. And doubtless it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled Soul Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of them that bring good tydings that publish peace It is a Gospel worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. it brings with it a fulness of blessings among the People O England O Dartmouth Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light Great is our wantonness and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude Yet a little while the light is with you walk whilst ye have the light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth John 12. 35. Should God blow out this light whither will you go Who shall pour in Balm to your distressed bleeding Consciences ' II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows that the greatness heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing and accepting Christ upon Gospel terms Let no sinner be dismaid by the atrocity and heynousness of sins past from coming unto Jesus Christ for remission and peace I am awar what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage Souls from the work of Faith by heaping them together he raiseth up a Mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed Soul but behold this day Christ leaping over these Mountains and skiping over these Hills Could this objection be rouled out of the way sinners would go on in hope but certainly if God have given thee a broken Heart and a willing Mind the greatness of thy sin need not discourage thee from believing For 1. thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon whatever thy particular enormities have been there is a sufficiency in the impulsive cause the Free Grace and Mercy of God Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isa. 55. 7 8 9. It is well there is Mercy enough in God to heal and cover all and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon the Blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away all sin 1 Iohn 1. 7. 1 Iohn 29. And it must needs be so because it is Divine Blood Acts 20. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause the Spirit of God who hath already begun to work upon thy Heart and is able to break it and bow it and bring it home fully to Christ and to compleat the work of Faith upon thee with power thou complainest thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith Well then if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a Creature if the Blood of Christ the Treasures and Revenues of a King be able to pay the debts of a Beggar if the Spirit of God who works by an Almighty Power be able to convince thee of righteousness as well as sin Iohn 16. 9. I say if all the three causes of forgiveness be sufficient every one in its kind the first to move the second to purchase and the third to apply what hinders but thy trembling Conscience should go to Christ and thy discouraged Soul move onward with hope in the way of believing whatever thy former enormities have been 2. If God raises glory to his Name out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing but so God doth he raiseth the glory of his Name from the multitude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth Ier. 33. 8 9. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me And it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the good I do unto them And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it As a cure performed upon a Man labouring under a desperate Disease it magnifies the Physitian and spreads his Name far and near The Devil envies God this glory and thy Soul this comfort and therefore scares thee off from Christ by the aggravations of thy sins David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great iniquities and with that very argument moves him for a pardon Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquitie for it is great You see there are strange ways of arguing in Scripture which are not in use among Men this is one Lord pardon my sin for it is great he doth not say Lord pardon it for it is but a small offence no but pardon it because it is great and the greater it is the greater Glory wilt thou have in pardoning it And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in Scripture which is peculiar and that is to argue from former pardons unto new pardons when Men beg their pardon one of another they use to say I never wronged you before and therefore forgive me now but here it is quite otherwise Lord thou hast signed thousand of pardons heretofore therefore pardon me again such is that plea Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now 3. As great sins as those that now stare in the Face of thy Conscience have been actually forgiven to Men upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners under trouble of Conscience are apt to think there is no sin like theirs God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin but certain I am that Free Grace hath pardoned as great Sinners as thou art upon their repentance and faith What think you had you had a Hand in putting Christ to Death would not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you Yea certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin and yet behold that very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at the Heart and made willing to come to Christ Acts 2. 36 37 38. 4. If it be the design and policy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins to prevent the pardoning of them then certainly 't is neither your duty nor interest
to plead it to the same end the Devil doth to lay a confederacy and joyn with your mortal enemy in a plot against the honour of Christ and Salvation of your own Souls take heed what you do seal not Satans conclusions do you think it is a small matter to be confederate with the Devil Certainly this is his design he magnifies your sins on purpose to discourage you from faith while you were secure and carnal the Devil never aggravated but diminished your sins to you but now the Lord hath opened your Eyes and you are come near to the door of hope mercy and pardon now he magnifies them hoping thereby to ham-string and lame thy faith that it shall not be able to carry thee to Christ. 5. If thy sin be really unpardonable then God hath somewhere excepted it in the Gospel grant He hath somewhere said The Man that hath committed this sin or continued so many years in sin shall never be forgiven but now in the whole Gospel there is but one sin that is absolutely excepted from the possibility of pardon and that such a sin as thy sorrows and desires after Christ do fully acquit and clear thee from the guilt of this sin indeed is excepted Matth. 12. 31. But the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven This is that which the Scripture calls a sin unto death Let Apostate Professors transformed into Persecutors Scoffers and Haters of godliness and the Professors of it look to themselves the dreadful symptoms of this sin seem to appear upon such But the humbled thirsty Soul after Christ stands clear of the guilt of that sin 5. If there were no forgiveness with God for great sinners then great sinners had never been invited to come to Christ. The invitations of the Gospel are no mockeries but things of most awful solemnity Now such sinners are called and invited under the encouragement of a pardon consult Isa. 1. from vers 10. to 17. and see the horrid aggravations of that peoples sins and yet at vers 17 18. you may read the gracious invitations of God with conditional promises of a plenary remission so in Ier. 3. from 1. to 13. what a sad Catalogue of sins with their horrid aggravations do you find there and yet it said vers 12. Go and proclaim these words towards the North and say Return thou backsliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful 6. If thy sins had not been capable of remission God would never have given thee conviction and compunction for sin nor have drawn forth the desires of thy Heart in this manner after Christ. He hath tact remission to repentance Acts 5. 31. a blessing to gracious desires and hungerings Matth. 5. 6. There is therefore hope that when God hath given the one he will not long withhold the other This very wounding of thy Heart by compunction and drawing forth thy Will by inclination shew that remission is not only possible but even at the door 7. And lastly Let this be thine encouragement whatever Satan or thine own Heart suggests to discourage thee that great Sinners are moving in the way of repentance and faith to a great Saviour who hath merit enough in his Blood and mercy enough in his Bowels to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. The Lord open to the Eyes of your Faith that rich Exchequer of Free Grace Exod. 34. 6 7. and give you a sight of that plenteous Redemption and forgiveness that is with God Psal. 130. 4 7. that you may not at once cast reproach upon the most glorious Attribute of God impeach the precious Blood of Christ and stab your own Soul with a death-wound of desperation which is that the Devil designs and the whole strain of the Gospel designs to prevent III. Inference If the vilest of sinners stand as fair for pardon and mercy upon their closing with Christ by faith as the least of sinners do then certainly the pardon and salvation of sinners is not built upon any righteousness in themselves but purely and only upon the Free Grace of God in Iesus Christ. Dont think God hath set the Blood of Christ to sale and that those only are capable of the benefits of it who have lived the strictest and soberest lives No no though sobriety morality and strictness in Religious Duties be things commanded and commended in the Gospel yet no Man by these things can purchase a pardon for the least sin Rom. 11. 6. And if by grace then it is no more of Works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work See how these exclude one another thus Titus 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us No Man can satisfie God by any thing himself can do or suffer not by doing for all we do is mixt with sin Iob 14. 4. and that which is sinful can be no attonement for sin all we do or can do is due debt to God Luke 17. 10. and one debt cannot satisfie for another Nor yet by suffering for the sufferings awarded by the Law are everlasting and to be ever satisfying is never to satisfie So then by the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified in his sight The Saints in all generations have fled to mercy for remission Psal. 130. ult the two debtors Luke 7. 43 44 45. though there were a vast difference in the debts yet of the lesser as well as of the greater it s said they had nothing to pay nothing but the satisfaction of Christ can quit your scores with God. IV. Inference If the grace of Christ be thus free to the greatest of sinners then it is both our sin and folly to stand off from Christ and draw back from believing for want of such and such qualifications which we yet find not to be wroâ—ght in our Hearts Poor convinced Souls think O if they had more humility tenderness love to God spirituality of mind this would â—e some encouragment to believe but because they have no such ornaments to dress up their Souls withal they are not fit to go to Christ. Now to remove this great mistake let two things be considered 1. That such a conceit as this crosses the very stream of the Covenant of Grace where nothing is sold but all freely given this is the very Spirit of the Covenant of Works fain we would find something in our selves to bring to God to Procure his favour and acceptance but the Gospel tells us we must come naked and empty handed to be justified freely by his grace Rom. 2. 24. We must be justified as Abraham was who believed in him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted
of sin by are these 1. There be sins of infirmity committed out of weakness and there are crying sins in the Ears of the Lord of the former sort sins of infirmity you read Gal. 6. 1. where it is called an overtaking in a fault here 's no premeditation nor deliberate consent but a surprize these go not to the account of gross and heynous enormities called in Scripture crying sins such as are the sin of oppression Hab. 2. 10 11. The stones shall cry out of the wall aud the beam out of the timber shall answer it The meaning is that the injustice and oppression which Men have used in raising their own Houses shall cry in the Ears of the Lord for vengance The Stone in the Wall shall say I was digged out of the Quarry hewen and layed here by the unrewarded labours of the poor Mason and the Timber out of the Beam shall say I was hewn squared and placed here by the unrewarded Hands of the poor Carpenter This is a crying sin so also is the sin of Murder when our Hands have been defiled with innocent Blood this makes a dismal cry in Heaven Gen. 4. 10. The voice of thy Brothers blood cryeth unto me from the ground A sin that makes an horrid outcry in both Worlds at once in Heaven and in the sinners Conscience Such also is the sin of unnatural lusts the sin of Sodom made a cry which came up to Heaven Gen. 18. 20. Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grievous Compare these sins with the sins of common infirmity which come by way of involuntary surprize and what vast odds will be found in the weight and aggravations of them 2ly You find in Scripture a great difference put betwixt sins committed against the clear shining light of Knowledge in the sinners Conscience and sins of Ignorance which are committed for want of Knowledge Christ himself puts a great difference betwixt them Luke 12. 47 48. and so doth the Apostle Iames 4. 17. To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Sin with a witness 3ly There are single acts of sin and continued or repeated acts of sin Sins committed after Conviction Promises and Resolutions Now there is not so much of guilt in a single act of sin as there is in a repeated and continued course of sin called Deut. 29. 19. Adding of drunkenness to thirst and Isa. 30. 1. Adding sin to sin For as it is in numbring so it is in sinning if the first figure be one the second is ten the third an hundred the fourth a thousand and every addition makes a greater multiplication O what a dreadful reckoning will here be for the Consciences of poor sinners 4ly Contrivers and studiers of sin are always in Scripture placed in the first rank of sinners The best servant God hath in the World may be surprized by the deceitfulness of sin against the gracious bent and resolution of his Soul but the contrivance and plotting of sin is quite another thing therefore it is said of the wicked Iob 15. 35. They conceive mischief and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit That is sin like the Foetus in the Womb hath its time of conception growth and birth and all this by the deliberate consent of the naughty Heart and Will which fosters and cherishes it 5ly There are ring-leaders in sin and single personal sins which spread no farther than our selves a ring-leader in sin is in Scripture reckoned amongst the greatest of sinners so Revel 2. 14. Thou hast them that held the Doctrin of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the Children of Israel thus Ieroboam the son of Nebat made Israel to sin There is the same difference betwixt these and single personal sins as there is betwixt a chain shot and a single bullet Mind this you that have induced others to sin by your counsel or example 6ly There are sins in which men glory and take pleasure and sins for which men groan and mourn Now the more pleasure any man takes in sin the greater doth the sin arise in its aggravation We read of some Iob 20. 12. in whose mouths wickedness is sweet and they hide it under their tongue that is they draw a great deal of contemplative delight before and after the commission of sin as well as in the commission of it 'T is bad enough to sin and sigh to sin and weep but to sin and boast to sin and make a mock of sin what a prodigious way of sinning is this O Sinner what an heart hast thou that canst play and sport with that which grieves God crucified Christ and with without deep and sound Repentance will damn thine own Soul 7ly The more Bonds of Restraint any man breaks asunder to commit sin the greater and more aggravated always that sin is in the sight of God. There be some persons upon whom God hath laid more bonds of restraint to keep back their souls from iniquity than he hath upon others The more mercies he hath bestowed upon you the more restraints from sin So many mercies so many tyes Ier. 2. 5 6. especially spiritual mercies as light in your minds pardons sealed to your consciences love manifested to your souls Such also are your own Vows Promises and Resolutions Ier. 2. 20. Thou saidst I will no more transgress Didst not thou promise me saith God more care and circumspection for time to come And such are all the Examples and Warnings God hath given us by his Judgments upon others 1 Cor. 10. 11. These things put an Accent upon sin and make it out of measure sinful And now my Friends what have have I been driving at all this while in opening the greatness and aggravations of sin The design of all this is to shew you the indispensible need of Repentance and Faith to carry you to Christ. But I am the person upon whom these crying aggravated sins are found you tell me of going to Christ alas there is no hope of mercy for such a wretch as I am There it sticks Poor sinners think 't is to no purpose they had as good go on in sin for they conclude there 's no hope for them Come sinners give me leave to tell you you have a Text before you that the clears the way of your duty and salvation at once If any man be he what he will be his sins never so great yet if he hear my voice and open the door I will come into him saith Christ. There is mercy in Jesus Christ for thee who art guilty of crying sins For thee that hast added sinned against light and knowledge For thee that hast drunkenness to thirst For thee that hast contrived sin with deliberation For thee that hast induced others to sin by counsel or example For thee that hast taken pleasure in iniquity and made a sport of sin Yea and for
the exercises of our grace in Religious duties 3. In his various Providences In all these the Saints have communion with them First There is a sweet and sensible communion betwixt God and his people in the contemplation of the divine Attributes and the impressions God makes by them upon our Souls whilst we mediâ—ate on them As for instance 1. Sometimes the Lord discovers and manifests to the Souls of his people his immense greatness the manifestation of which Attribute makes an awful humbling impression upon the Soul makes them seem as nothing to themselves Thus when Abraham that great believer considered the greatness of that God with whom he had to do that sight of God seemed to reduce him to his first principles to crumble him as it were into dust and ashes again Gen. 18. 27. I that am but dust and ashes have taken upon me to speak unto God. He now looks upon himself as an heap of vileness and unworthiness so David Psal. 8. 12. When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy hands the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made from whence he inferr'd the greatness of the Creator Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him q. d. When I consider what a great God the Creator of the World is I am justly astonished that ever he should set his Heart upon so vile a thing as Man. When men compare themselves among themselves and measure themselves by themselves their Spirits are apt to swell with pride but would they look up to God as these holy men did they would admire his condescension And this is communion with God in the meditation of his immense greatness Secondly The representations and meditations of the purity and holyness of God working shame and deep abasement in the Soul for the pollutions and sinful filthiness that is in it This is communion with God and an excellent way of fellowship with him Thus when a representation of God in his holyness was made unto the Prophet Isa. 6. 3 4 5. There were the Seraphims covering their faces with their wings and crying one to another saying Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty the Earth is full of his glory The effect this produced or the return made by the Prophet to this manifestation of God in his holiness was deep abasement of soul for his unsuitableness to so holy a God vers 5. Then said I wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips c. And this is real communion with God in his holiness Thus Iob who had stifly defended his own integrity against men yet when God enters the lists with him and he saw what a great and holy God he had to do with cryed out Iob 40. 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further q. d. I have done Lord I have done I could answer men but I cannot answer thee thou art holy but I am vile Thirdly There are sometimes representations of the goodness and mercy of God made unto the Souls of his people When these produce an ingenuous thaw and melting of the Heart into an humble thankful admiration of it and an answerable care of pleasing him in the ways of obedience then have men communion with God in his goodness The goodness of God runs down to men in a double channel his goodness to their bodies in external providences his goodness to their Souls in spiritual mercies When the goodness of God either way draws forth the love and gratitude of the Soul to the God of our mercies then have we real communion with him Thus Iacob Gen. 32. 9 10. And Jacob said O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaac which saidst unto me Return unto thy Country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two â—ands Ah Lord I see a multitude of mercies round about me and the least of them is greater than I So David 1 Chron. I7 I6 I7 And David the King came and sat before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is mine house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes O God c. what can David speak more to thee You see in these instances what effects the goodness of God even in inferiour outward mercies useth to produce in sanctified hearts But then if you come to spiritual mercies and ponder the goodness of God to your Souls in pardoning accepting and saving such vile sinful creatures as you have been this much more affects the heart and overwhelms it with an holy astonishment as you see in Paul 1 Tim. 1. 16. The grace of our Lord was abundant I was a persecutor a blasphemer yet I obtained mercy So Mary that notorious sinner when pardoning grace appeared to her into what a flood of tears into what transports of love did the sight of mercy cast her Soul She wept and washt her Saviours feet with tears of joy and thankfulness Luke 7. 44. No terrors of the Law no frights of Hell thaw the heart like the apprehensions of pardoning mercy Fourthly Sometimes there are special representations of the veracity and faithfulness of God made unto his people begetting trust and holy confidence in their Souls and when they do so then have men communion with God in his faithfulness Thus Heb. 13. 5 6. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee There is a discovery of the faithfulness of God and what follows upon this See vers 6. So that we may boldly say The Lord is our God we will not fear what man can do unto us Here 's faithfulness in God producing trust and confidence in the believer This is that reciprocation that sweet fellowship and communion betwixt God and a believer with respect to his fidelity Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid Isa. I2 2. And truly friend this is what the Lord justly expects from thee even thy trust and confidence in him thy steady dependance on him in return to all the discoveries of his faithfulness to thee both in his Word and Providences Fifthly There are manifestations of the anger and displeasure of God by the hiding of his face from them and the frowns of his providence when these produce repentance and deep humiliation for sin an unquietness a restlesness of Spirit till he restore his favour and manifest his reconciliation to the Soul even here also is real communion betwixt God and the Soul Psal. 30. 7. Thou hidest thy face and I was troubled Nor will a gracious Soul rest there but will take pains to sue out a fresh pardon
and from enslaving fears The Spirit of Life which is in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 2. And here is freedom indeed If the Son make you free then are you free indeed John 8. 36. And here is freedom from fears Luke 1. 74 75. Those that will not endure any restraint from their lusts they will have their freedom to sin a freedom they shall have such as it is Rom. 6. 20. When ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness Let none therefore be prejudiced at the ways of Duty and strict Godliness The law of Christ is the perfect law of liberty James 1. 25. Not liberty to sin but liberty from sin XVII Excellency 'T is a Mercy purchased by the blood of Christ for Believers and one of the principal Mercies setled upon them by the new Covenant grant A peculiar mercy which none but the Redeemed of the Lord partake of a mercy which cost the blood of Christ to purchase it I do not deny but there are thousands of other mercies bestowed upon the unregenerate they have Health Wealth Children Honours Pleasures and all the delights of this Life but for communion with God and the pleasures that result therefrom they are uncapable of these No supping with Christ upon such excellent privileges and mercies as these till the heart be opened to him by faith you cannot come nigh to God until you be first made nigh by reconciliation Eph. 2. 13. Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. What would your lives Christians be worth to you if this mercy were cut off from you There would be little sweetness or savour in all your outward mercies were it not for this mercy that sweetens them all And there is this difference among many others betwixt this mercy and all outward mercies You may be cut off from the enjoyment of those you cannot from this no prison can keep out the Comforter O bless God for this invaluable Mercy XVIII Excellency 'T is Natural to the new Creature the inclination and instinct of the new Creature leadeth to Communion with God. 'T is as natural to the new Creature to desire it and work after it as it is to the new-born babe to make to the breast 1 Pet 2. 2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby There is a law upon the regenerate part which inwardly and powerfully obliges it to acts of Duty and converse with God in them Communion with God is a thing that riseth out of the principles of grace You know all Creatures in this lower World act according to the Laws of Nature the Sun will rise and the Sea will flow at its appointed time and the gracious Soul will make towards its God in the times and seasons of Communion with him They are not forced on to those Duties by the frights of Conscience and the fears of Hell so much as by the natural inclination of the new Creature Two things demonstrate Communion with God to be co-natural to the regenerate part called the inner-man and the hidden-man of the heart viz. 1. The Restlesness of a gracious Soul without it Cant. 3. 2. The Church in the first verse had sought her beloved but found him not doth she sit down satisfied in his absence No no I will rise now and go about the City in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my Soul loveth 2. The Satisfaction and Pleasure the rest and delight which the Soul finds and feels in the enjoyment of Communion with God plainly shews it to be agreeable to the new Nature Psal. 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied whilst I think on thee And when it is thus then Duties become easie and pleasant to the Soul 1 Iohn 5. 3. His commandments are not grievous Yea and such a Soul will be constant and assiduous in those Duties That which is natural is constant as well as pleasant what 's the reason Hypocrites throw up the Duties of Religion in times of difficulty but because they have not an inward principle agreeable to them The motives to Duty lie without them not within them XIX Excellency 'T is the Occupation and trade of all sanctified persons and the richest Trade that was ever driven by men This way they grow rich in Spiritual Treasures the Revenues of it are better than Silver and Gold There be many of you have Traded long for this World and it comes to little and had you gained your designs you had gained but trifles This is the rich and profitable occupation Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in Heaven Our Commerce and Trade lies that way so that word signifies There be few Christians that have driven this Soul-enriching Trade any considerable time but can shew some Spiritual Treasures which they have gotten by it Psal. 119. 50. This I had because I kept thy precepts As Merchants can shew the Gold and Silver the Lands and Houses the rich Goods and Furniture which they have gotten by their succesful Adventures abroad and tell their Friends so much I got by such a Voyage and so much by another So Christians have invaluable treasures though their humility conceals them which they have gotten by this heavenly Trade of Communion with God. Their Souls were weak and by Communion with God they have gotten strength Psal. 13 8. 3. I cryed and thou strengthnedst me with strength in my Soul. They have gotten peace by it a treasure inestimable Psal. 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them They have gotten purity by it Psal. 119. 3. They do no iniquity that walk in thy ways O what rich returns are here Nay they get sometimes full assurance by it The riches of both the Indies will not purchase from a Christian the least of these mercies These are the rich rewards of our pains in the Duties of Religion In keeping thy Commandments there is great reward XX. Excellency 'T is Oyl to the Wheels of Obedience which makes the Soul go on chearfully in the ways of the Lord Psal. 119. 32. Then will I run the ways of thy Commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Non tardat uncta rota Oyled Wheels run trig and nimble How prompt and ready for any Duty of Obedience is a Soul under the influences of Communion with God! Then as Isaiah having gotten a sight of God Here am I Lord send me Isa. 6. 8. Now the Soul can turn its hand to Duties Of 1. Active And 2. Passive Obedience I. Hereby the Soul is prepared and fitted for the Duties of Active Obedience to which it applies it self with pleasure and delight Psal. 43. 3 4. Then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy or as it is in the Hebrew the gladness of my joy It goes to prayer as an hungry man to a feast or as a covetuous man to his
unperswadable to comply with the difficulties and severities of Religion This is the first thing what the opening of the door or consent of the Will to receive Christ is Secondly The next thing to be opened in its order is How it appears that Jesus Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of any sinner be his sins or unworthiness never so great when once he is made heartily willing thus to embrace and receive Christ upon his own terms O sinner what good tydings are these to thy Soul that Christ will not disdain to be in union and communion with thee as vile as thou art if thy Will thus stand open to him The tydings are sweet and I hope thou wilt find them as sure and certain as they are sweet and comfortable when thou shalt have seriously perused and pondered the following Evidences I. Evidence The truth of this sweet assertion clearly evidenceth it self from the form and manner of Gospel invitations they are designedly put into large general free and most extensive terms to assure sinners that Christ will not be shy of the worst sinner in the World thus made willing to embrace him they are so framed on purpose to anticipate or take away all objections from sinners No other condition is put in the Gospel but this only Art thou heartily willing to take Christ upon his own terms The offers of Christ are extended to all that thirst and desire after him Iohn 7. 37. To the greatest of sinners upon this only condition that they be willing and obedient Isa. 1. 18 19. Go Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth shall be saved Mark 16. 15 16. 'T is extended to all Nations For in Christ Iesus there is neither Greek nor Iew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free Col. 3. 11. If there be any poor Soul of any quality or condition whatsoever under the cope of Heaven whose Will is wrought up to an hearty compliance with the terms of the Gospel Christ will not be shy of coming into that Soul though it have been never so vile and abominable the Heart of a Mary Magdalen which had been an Habitation of Devils the Soul of a Saul a Bloody raging Persecutor will make as delightful Habitations for Christ as the Soul of the most civilized person in the World when once the Will is thus opened II. Evidence The truth of this assertion further appears from the incouraging Promises made by Christ unto all who are thus made willing to come unto him All the Promises with one Mouth assure the willing sinner of a welcom with Christ so doth that glorious Promise to which so many thousand Souls have been beholding for encouragement and help at their first coming to Christ Iohn 6. 37 38. All that the Father hath given me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out For I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Note here 1. That this is not a Promise made to them that are already in Christ that they shall never be cast out by Apostacy or final desertion but it is a Promise made to coming Souls to such as are moving towards Christ under great discouragements fears and tremblings when a poor sinner looks to Christ sees his fulness and suitableness and feels the pinching need and want of him Oh saith he that I had an interest in him though I should beg my Bread in desolate places But looking into his own Heart and seeing such an heap of guilt and unworthiness there then saith he how can I think that ever Jesus Christ will come into such a Heart as this These are the persons upon whom this Promise casts an encouraging aspect 2. And because the fears of such poor Creatures are double to the fears that others have Christ hath put a double negative into this Promise for the Souls encouragement I will not not in no case or at any Hand cast out such a Soul as this 3. And to put all out of doubt he doth not only assure the Soul that he will not but condescends to gives it the reason why he will not cast it out for saith he vers 38. I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me As if he should say This was the very errand upon which I came from Heaven it was my great business to receive all that were made willing to embrace me for this I had my Fathers Commission Isa. 61. 1. To preach good tydings to the meek and to bind up the broaken Hearted and to comfort all them that mourn I cannot be faithful to the trust committed to me by my Father should I shut the door upon such Souls How can Christ comfort the Soul that mourns but by opening his Arms of mercy to receive it If Christ should say to a convinced mourning sinner hold thy peace Soul I will give thee Riches Honors and Pleasures in the World but as for me thou canst not have union with me I say this would never comfort the Heart of a convinced sinner 't is Christ and none but Christ can quiet it Like unto this is that Testimony and Promise made on purpose for the incouragement of willing Souls Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins This you see is a truth confirmed by the Testimony of all the Prophets who foretold what his gracious readiness to receive poor broken Hearted sinners should be and sure they neither did nor could conspire to deceive the World These gracious Assurances and Promises cut off all pleas against Faith from the greatness of sin and why should we except where God hath not excepted Had Christ said all sinners of such a size and degree may come unto me but let all others stand back the case had been otherwise but this Promise assures us all that are sincerely willing shall be truly welcom to Jesus Christ. Moreover these universal Promises take away all fear and doubt of presumption in coming to Christ. That 's the case of many a poor Soul I am affraid I am running out of despair into presumption I doubt I am an unbidden and therefore shall be an unwelcom guest to Christ. All this is prevented and cut off by those sweet universal Terms inserted on purpose in these Promises for our encouragement That 's the Second Evidence of this Truth III. Evidence The willingness of Christ to receive the willing Soul how many and great soever its sins and unworthiness be appears from the actual grants of Pardon and Mercy even to the vilest sinners that ever were upon the Earth when they thus came unto him Here you see how the Waters of Free Grace rise higher and higher an Invitation is much a Promise of welcom is more but the actual grants of Mercy is