that is one good means to help the soul towards Christ the very stopping of it in the course of sin Thirdly This is the means in a Rational way to make the soul attend to any call of Christ for before Christ may call to sinners out of his Word Come to me and beleeve in me but they do not feel the burden of their sin and therefore they do not come if a man be under a heavy burden in a dark night if he hears the least noise of the feet of any man then he cries out for help So the soul under the heavy burden of sin doth rejoyce to hear of any direction out of the Word to come to Christ Fourthly The soul comes to prize mercy and mercy will take a deep impression upon the heart that is burdened when the heart is burdened with sin Oh how dear and sweet and precious are mercies then Fiftly And further When the soul is burdened with sin it is in a Rational way prepared to take the yoak of Christ Before it did cast it off but now feeling sin to be a heavier burden than any other whatsoever it is more prepared to take upon it the yoke of Jesus Christ now when the soul is under this burden then Christ calls in love to ease and give rest to those souls that are under such a burden CHAP. V. The Reasons of the former Doctrine 1. Christ hath all mercy in him 2. The end why he came into the world was to give rest to burdened souls 3. Christ himself was once under some kind of this burden 4. He is to have the glory of all the ease which is given to sinners THe Third thing is Reasons why Jesus Christ doth desire and invite souls to come to him REASON I. First Because that all is given to Christ Christ hath all the mercy of the Father in him for the fulness of the Godhead dwels in him and therefore he must needs pitty such a soul There is a Law in Deuteronomy That if a Beast be under a burden and ready to perish God requires that you should not withdraw your self from the Beast though it be the Beast of your Enemy but to help it Now if God would have us to be so merciful who have but drops of mercy in us when we see a beast and that of our Enemies under a Burden Then surely the Lord Christ that hath the fulness of the mercy of the infinite God in him when he shall see an immortal soul under such a burden and ready to perish and it cries to him for Help certainly Christ will ease and help that soul REASON II. Secondly We know that Christ came into the world on purpose Christ was anointed and sent for that end to bind up the broken hearted and give them ease Christ is designed by God the Father for this very work and therefore he wil do it he is appointed by God the Father for to ease burdened Souls it is his work therefore when Christ sees any poor soul burdened under sin saith Christ here is work for me He came not to cal the Righteous but sinners to Repentance Here is that that I came from Heaven for it is the very business that I was sent from my Father to do it is the work my Father sent me into the world for REASON III. Thirdly Christ himself once felt some burden of this kind and he knows what it is to be burdened with Sin He was made sin for us So the Scripture saith in the 2 Cor. 5.21 He was made Sin Christ had the weight of al the Sins of the Elect upon him and did feel what the weight of sin was Christ hath experience what it is to be burdened with sin and with the wrath of God the Father for sin Certainly when Christ lay groveling with his Face upon the ground and sweated drops of blood then he was under a great burden Christ had the great burden of mans sin upon him and of the wrath of God that was due to mans sin and he had it upon him til he sweat under it Now Christ himself having been under it certainly he cannot but pitty poor burdened Sinners REASON IV. Fourthly It is Christ that is to have the Glory of the ease of sin and those souls that are burdened for sin if ever they have ease they wil give the Lord Jesus al the Glory Now first Christ having al the Mercy of God the Father and being sent into the world to bind up al broken hearts and having experience of the burden of sin And fourthly knowing that he shal have al the Glory in delivering and easing of Souls certainly Christ doth account it worth al his sufferings that he might have the Glory in easing of troubled Souls as many Chyrurgions account it to be their Glory to have the Honor of curing desperate cures the Lord Jesus wil Glory in this to al eternity When al the poor burdened Souls that ever he did ease shal be brought before him and shal be acknowledged before God and his Angels Oh! here are those many thousand Souls that were under their burdens and were ready to perish and I have eased them and here they shal rest from al their labors for ever Christ cals Sinners upon these groâ—ds CHAP. VI. The Application Exhorting Sinners to come unto Christ with Answers unto certain Objections APPLICATION NOw for a word of Application doth Christ cal for burdened Souls to come to him that they may have rest Then those that are burden'd should harken to what Christ saith in this Congregation this morning Is there any poor soul that is ready to perish under the weight of sin that goes under the Load of it Christ cals to that Soul to come to him It were a grievous thing for Christ to come and cal into such a Congregation and there should be none there Nay I cannot but think there may be many in this Congregation that shal hear the cal of Christ Christ many times cals where there are none to answer we may say in this case as our Saviour Christ said in another the harvest is great but the Laborers are but few So we may say the harvest of sin is great but the Laborers under the burden of Sin are but very few many there are that would cast the burden of sin upon Christ but they do as the Pharisees did cast heavy burdens upon others but they themselves wil not touch them with one of their fingers So many would cast the burden of sin upon Christ but they will not feel it themselves O! let me speak to you What Chamber or Closet can witness that you have been sending strong cries unto God as being under that grievous burden A beast if it lies under a burden it wil roar and cry out for help So certainly if your souls were prest with the burden of sin there would be mighty cries to God to ease you of that burden But to most people in
that is his very soul his life his peace his comfort al his happiness he had committed to him and so left al with him Now then take al these together and when Christ cals the sinner to come to him that is O! Sinner first beleeve this that I am the great redeemer that is come into the world to stand between Gods wrath and your soules and to make up peace between God and you and let there be an unsettling of your hearts from whatsoever heretofore your Souls did Rest in Creature comforts your own Righteousness Duties self respects and ends whatsoever they are let your hearts be taken off from them all and let your hearts now be in a stirring working disposition towards me let all your whole Souls be stretching forth to me and come and cast all your burdens upon me and leave your Souls with me and I will take care of them thus come to me Now then when any soul that is thus Laden shall answer to this cal of Christ and shal say Lord I come here is the very voice and answer of Faith when the Soul can say Oh! Lord I come I see thee to be the blessed Mediator between God and my Soul and for whatsoever my heart hath setled in heretofore Oh! Lord it shal be no more and my heart begins to stir after thee and I stretch forth my Soul to thee O Blessed redeemer and here I cast my burdens upon thee none can ease me but thy self and I leave my self with thee I commit all to thee and betrust all that I have or can do my eternal estate with thee Lord I come here is the soul that comes to Christ Then may the Soul be said to come to Christ when there is an answer in these five Particulars All this is contained in this word COME though you cannot apprehend it til it be unfoulded as a piece of needle work when it is foulded up there is all the work indeed within but we cannot see it til it be laid open and spread before us then we can see all that is in it So though there be many expressions in the Scripture that we understand not yet there they be but this is the work of the Ministry to spread them and to lay them before you and lay them open to you that you may see the Grace of God in another manner when they be unfolded now thus doth Christ call those that are Laden to come to him CHAP. XIX How Christ calls Sinners unto him set forth in two Particulars Namely 1. By an outward and general call 2. By a Particular call to Particular Sinners And how to know the voice of Christ YOu will say how and in what manner doth Christ call to me Christ is in Heaven I cannot hear Christ call to me Now for the call of Christ First There is a general cal in the word there Christ calls under the sound of the Gospel to come to him but this call is rather a command of Christ then an invitaion to shew unto al what is their Duty to do rather then to invite them But now there is a more special call unto those whom the Father hath given to Christ and though they make use of the general call in the word yet there is a special call to them that is Christ by his Spirit doth open the Riches of the Gospel of the Grace in him to their Souls by his Spirit inwardly he doth shew them to their Souls Others come and hear the outward cal that is when a Minister of God shal come and open the Gospel and there shew how God hath given his Son to us he hath taken our Nature upon him and died for sin and tel them that God requires all here in the Gospel to beleeve in his Son they hear his outward cal I but they whom the father gives to Christ have the Spirit of God sent together with the word to open the Riches of Christ that though they have heard it a hundred times before Yet when the spirit comes there is a shewing of the beauty and Riches of the Gospel more then ever that allures their Souls to come to Christ Secondly Not only this but the Lord when he cals such as shall indeed have mercy by Christ and have his invitation to be effectual he doth give a Particular cal unto that Soul besides the general cal God doth not only in the word cal sinners and saith Christ came to save Sinners and those that were lost but Christ comes in Particular to such and such Souls and cals them in a Particular special manner For the Ministers of God they are bound in the Preaching of the Gospel to give a general invitation to come to him but God beside the general hath a Particular cal there is a voice of God in Particular to the Soul that he intends to bring to his Son such a one hears a voice behind him as the Scripture speaks saying this is the way to Salvation the way you have gone all this while is not the way to life you will perish in that way Christ is the right way As thus I will open it in the general and Particular call by this similitude A Prince that hath had many of his subjects Traitors yet he is pleased to send forth a general Proclamation makes a Proclamation to those subjects and makes it in general tearms that though you have been thus and thus Traiterous against me yet I am content every one that will come to such a place at such a day and submit himself he shall have a pardon here is the general Proclamation and this is incouragement to come But now suppose there were some poor Traitor that because sensible of his wickedness and how unreasonably he hath dealt with his Prince and may be sits alone bemoaning his condition and troubled in his spirit and thinks with himself how shall I be able to see the Face of my Prince Oh! woe to me for the wickedness of my waies Suppose the Prince should come by and behold such a one take notice of him that is got into some corner or other and is there smiting of his Breast and lamenting his condition that he should so provoke his Prince as he hath done And should call this poor creature and say to him Oh thou poor Creature that art in such a place come thou to me For so is the work of faith God comes in particular to the soul doth not only come in general but after his general Call when he doth see the soul troubled the Lord doth give a particular Call to him and saith O! thou poor Creature thou art under this burden and thus sensible of it and lamentest that thou hast lived thus and thus and made such a breach between me and thy soul do thou come to me And the truth is till God speak in particular to the soul the proclamation of God in general will not bring in sinners so Christ doth
out against this invitation it is that that wil aggravate al your sins It may be some of you may think wel this is an incouragment to sinners we are called to Christ and we are tould that the vilest may come to him and Christ wil receive them This is wel but yet if thou wilt reject this invitation and shalt yet let out thy heart to other vanities and to the satisfying of thy sinful lusts this I say this invitation of Jesus Christ wil be the greatest aggravation of al thy sins that ever thou Committedst in al thy life thy whoredome thy drunkenness thy swearing al thy sabbath breaking wil not be so heavy upon thee wil not be so deep upon the score as one rejection of Jesus Christ calling thee to come to him and therefore take heed of abusing the grace of Christ in calling you to come to him For know if there could be any sign given to know who are Reprobates and who not I would rather pitch upon this signe one that should go away after the grace of God is opened to him and he invited to come to Christ one that should go away notwithstanding hardned in sin I say I should rather pitch upon this than any other signe There is no sin hardeneth the heart of God more than this I wil give you one Scripture for this In Luke 14.16 17. When God as the master of the great feast sends his servants and invites men to come to the wedding that is in truth to do that that I have been doing al this while to invite poor sinners to come to Christ Now divers make excuses some had bouhgt oxen others had bought farmes and others had married Wives wel marke at the 24. verse the doom of those that did not come in upon their invitation Verily saith God those men that were bidden shall never taste of my supper What! saith God to his servants have ye invited them to come in and wil they not No they have other things in their heads their Farmes their Yoke of Oxen their profits and pleasures what wil they reject such grace and favour when I invite them to come to the marriage of my son verily saith God they shal never have any good by Jesus Christ Oh! it were a dreadful doom to be past upon any soule God forbid it should be past upon any soul and yet when we come to open the grace of God in Jesus Christ in the ministry of the Word we cannot speake of it without trembling hearts without feare least some should be hardened and so God provoked by their resisting of thiâ— grace of his this man and this woman that sits upon such a stool that is not taken with this grace of God offered in Jesus Christ they shal never tast of my supper Beloved Sermons of mercy are more quicker than any other sermons whatsoever men and women may sit under a minister of the word that may preach many wholsome points of Divinity and many moral truthes against drunkenness swearing prophaning the sabbath deceit cozening and cheating they may sit along time under such a minister and God may be patient with them though they do not obey the voice of the minister but now when the Lord comes to invite men and women to come to his son let them look to it then God expects that they should fal down before that infinite grace of his and should admire it and their hearts should be taken with it and they should joyne with him and say Oh! Lord we come and our hearts do close with this bountifulness of thine in thy son the neglect of our not profiting by such sermons and casting out what we heare letting of it pass from us doth the quickest seal up mens hearts to condemnation Ye wil not come to me that ye might have life Wherfore take in what hath been spoken to you and labor to work it upon your hearts Quest You wil say Here are many things that have been spoken to poor sinners to come to Christ if these things be so what is the reason then that there is no more that come to Christ how comes it to pass that the hearts of men and women can stand out against such offers as these Ans Would you know the reason Christ himself gives it you in John 6.43 after he had been inviting some to come to him and told them that he was the bread of life Jesus answered and said unto them murmur not among your selves there were some murmured against Christ â—nd Christs words did not prevail with them no marvel that the ministers of Christ do not alwaies prevaile when Christs words Christs own preaching did not prevail with many but they did murmur at him and went away from his sermons and did reject his sermons at the 44. verse saith Christ There can no man come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him Quest You wil say then why are you speaking al this while to exhort people to come to him we are dead and you had as good speake to dead men Ans To that is answered God the father doth use to draw those soules that belong to his eternal election by the ministry of the word by such exhortations as these God the father doth make use of the ministry of man to set before poor miserable souls the excellency of Jesus Christ and so to draw their soules to him and therefore if you do belong to Gods election God wil make use of his ministry to draw your hearts to come to Christ Doth God begin to draw you by the ministry of his word have you found God by the ministry of his word begin to draw your soules Oh! do not you draw back again as loth to leave your sins to leave such a sweat pleasure such a profitable lust but if God hath taken hold of your hearts to draw you to him Oh! do not you draw back again Indeed the scripture saith many are called but few are Chosen few do come to Christ but you are al called to come to Christ Oh! let not that scripture be made true that many are called but few chosen if thou findest God drawing thy heart and thy heart ready to answer unto the Lord that is an argument that thou art not onely called but one of the Chosen ones of the Lord. There are three waies that God the father drawes those to his son that he intends shal be saved for ever by him First he draws them by the cord as I may so speak of Illumination by enlightning their minds by shewing them what his son is Secondly He draws them by the cords of mercy Thirdly he drawes them by setting conscience upon them to put them forward when the Lord is drawing the soul to Christ he makes use of the consciences of men and women to put them on to come to Christ O! thou wretched soul is not that that thou hearest in the word the truth of God is
not only say in general Come to me but cals them in particular 3. You will say How shall we know it is the voyce of Christ that is the third particular Christ doth by the Spirit secretly perswade the soul that it is his voyce and not the voyce of delusion according to that in Cant. 2 8. The voyce of my beloved As it is when the Soul is departed from God and comes again to him the Lord Christ makes the Soul to know his voyce So when he was in this world after his Resurrection he confers with Mary a while and she thought it had been the Gardiner and Christ he speaks but a word speaks to her and saies Mary Rabboni saith she Master presently Christ did not tell her he was the Christ but he said Mary and presently Mary knew it was the voyce of Christ And so when the Spirit of Christ speaks to the soul there is such a secret instinct a perswasion and manifestation of God to it that it doth know indeed that it is the voyce of God I have been often at a Sermon and heard many good men preach Christ but I hear the voyce of Christ this day in my soul and I know it is the voyce of Christ Thus doth the soul that comes to Christ effectually 4. And further The invitation of Christ when it is indeed effectual as I know it is Christs voyce Christ comes and knocks at the door and the soul knows who it is that is to be applyed to his particular Call As Christ saith I stand at the door and knock that is to be referred to the second particular I stand and knock at the door and if any man will open to me I will come in to him and sup with him God doth not only proclaim pardon but comes to the door of the soul and stands at thy door particularly you cannot but find this by experience you that have the work of Grace upon you you have lived under the means a long time but God comes and knocks at your doors also which is a mighty condescention of a Prince that doth not only send sorth a Proclamation but knocks at the poor Traitors door and so doth Christ and when that is done before the soul doth indeed come and cast himself so upon Christ and commit himself to Christ there are some secret items and intimations that God doth intend love to it in particular that he hath thoughts of love and mercy to the soul though I have been very vile and very wretched yet partly I gather it by the way of God towards me that there is thoughts of mercy to me Quest You will say How doth that appear that there is any such intimation of Gods goâ—ness to a soul in particular when it is called to come to Christ Answ I will give you this Ground When the soul comes to Christ and casts it self upon Christ it doth it not at a meer venture and knows not whether he shall have mercy or no. It is true I come to Christ and there is no other help but I know not whether I shall have mercy or no or whether there be any mercy or no for me this is not the work of faith this way is neer to faith indeed when the soul can say thus It is true in the way I have been there is no mercy to me and I know not whether there be mercy for me but I wil try it it hath not the reflect act of faith but some secret perswasion of the soul whereby it doth cast it self upon God though not by a reflect act it can certainly say God intends mercy for me but though it be very weak yet some intimation the soul hath that there is mercy from God towards it because Faith is not a bare venture but Faith hath some kind of certainty though very weak for to say I will cast my soul upon God but I may perish I have no ground to think why God should save me this is unbelief the work of Faith according to the degree of it hath some kind of certainty in it though the soul for the present be not able to discern it 5. The invitation of Christ when it comes to be effectual hath together with the voyce of Christ an inward effectual power that goes along with it a prevailing power to draw the heart to him Christ doth not only speak to the heart and say to it Come but with the voyce he lets out a power upon the heart to come to him I express it thus When Christ was in the flesh he goes and calls Disciples to him comes to Matthew that sate at the receit of Custom saith he Come and follow me presently Matthew leaves his sitting at the Custom House leaves all his Friends and leaves all he had and comes to him presently And so when Christ comes to Peter and Andrew his Brother that were a fishing and saith to them Come to me they leave their old Father leave their Nets leave their Ship leave all and follow Christ Certainly we cannot but apprehend that there was a secret vertue went out from Christ with this his Word that did thus prevail upon their hearts As the poor woman in the Gospel that had the bloody issue she did but touch the hem of Christs Garment and she finds a secret vertue to cure her so where ever Christs invitation comes to be effectual it comes with a mighty power a secret vertue that goes together with his word to the soul to prevail upon it Come to me say many Why doth Christ call me am I able to come to him Christ saith Come to them as he did to Matthew Peter and others Christ did not call them and say Come only but he put vertue into his word and look what vertue was then the same is now in the ministry of the word when he speaks and saith come to Christ together with this word there goes a secret power to prevaile upon the Soul that they must come Now it may be the Father or Mother or friend of a poor yong man perswades him not to come but he must come to Chirst for all that the truth is it 's as strong a work of God to come to Christ now as it was then to cal Matthew and Peter to come to Christ Lastly He not only calls them but he reacheth out his hand before he comes to be joyned with Christ to have union with him Christ when he sees the Soul making after him he reacheth forth his hand to draw the Heart You will say what is that for Christ to reach forth his hand and invite that way By that I mean those gracious incouragements that Christ gives to all the beginnings of the working of the Soul after him the Lord Christ not only invites such but gives forth his hand to reach forth strength unto them he will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the Smoaking Flax. Thus you see what the second
acknowledg that it is through grace that he hath but somewhat which God works through him that is the most natural to a rational creature to rest upon somewhat that he doth to make up his peace with God and to be his righteousness before God And it is a mighty work of God to beat off the heart from this especially The heart comes thus far to say it is true I can do nothing of my self but it is by the grace of God that I do al now for the heart not to rest upon this as its own righteousness this is the hardest thing in the world And although men may be convinced in their judgments that they should not rest in any such thing but go out of themselves to another principle yet it is the hardest thing in the world to come off from it and it is that makes the work of faith the most difficult thing in the world because it carries the soul out of it self from its own bottom from its own principles and the mistake of this thing is that that is the undoing of thousands of those that live under the sound of the gospel that when they have somewhat reformed their lives and think they are able to do thus and thus yet here they rest and go not out of themselves to look for rest out of themselves and do not come to Christ Quest You wil say What not rest upon what we do and are inabled to do upon Gods grace Faith it self is a resting upon Christ Ans No but this you must observe in your comming you must not rest upon your comming but upon Christ that you come unto for their may be a deceit in that too There be some that rest upon works of humiliation mourning for sin reforming their lives and they think that is their rest and peace Others go further and think they must beleeve in Christ but they wil rest upon their beleeving so they rest upon their comming and not upon the object that they come unto but we must be taken off from resting upon our comming upon our very beleeving and Christ must be all in all to have true rest in Therefore faith is a Supernatural grace because by that we are taken off from what we are in our selves and carryed on to somewhat else 6. Upon this follows likewise That faith is an humbling grace it is that that must needs humble the soul where it is for indeed it is the greatest self denial in the world for a creature to come to be willing to rely upon free grace for the soul to be so emptied of it self as to acknowledg there is no worthiness no good at al in it self and yet it is content to live eternally upon meere almes and to give God the glory of al. Is there any thing more hard to any of you then to live to be beggers al your daies to be beholding to others so as to live upon meer almes and nothing else al the dayes of your lives Now for the creature to be so emptied of it self as to live upon meere almes to al eternity upon nothing but meer free grace and upon a principle of life without our selves this is a mighty work of emptying of our selves and of self denyal And therefore in Rom. 10.3 It s spoken of the Jewes For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God This plainly shewes that the bringing the heart to rest upon the righteousness that is of God by faith for that is meant here requires a submission of the heart a laying down the heart and a humbling of the heart and indeed this is the very ground why the Lord doth so humble the spirits of men and women when he brings them to Christ because that the Lord knows that the very act the coming to Christ is an act of the greatest self denial in the world because the heart must be emptied of it self in that that is so much against the pride of mans heart to live eternally upon meer free grace and nothing else For there is nothing that man doth more desire then to have somewhat some stock of himself to live upon And indeed herein man comes to be more humble then Adam in innocency could be for Adam had a stock to live upon in his own hand to live upon in himself not but God was the principle of it but then God gave it him to live upon the stock of Grace he had in his owne hand But now in the second Adam the way of God towards us is otherwise the second Adam keepes the stock of life and grace upon which our soules must live eternally in his own hand I say they are in Christs hand not in our selves and therefore our life is a better and safer life then that was and thereby we cannot fal from God because we live by the principle of life that is in him It is a great mistery and almost impossible to unfould only some glimmering we have in the word that this is so 7. If there be nothing required but to come then another consequence wil follow from hence and that is this Hence then beleevers that come to Christ may learn this lesson to be willing to do and to suffer very much for Christ after they come because there was nothing required of them to the pardon of their sins but only to Come I strengthen the inference thus If God had said thus indeed I have sent a mediator to pacifie my wrath and to pardon your sins and before you come to Rest I require that you should suffer so many hundred yeares of torment in fire and that should be a preparation to come and then after you have suffered so much then you shal come and have rest suppose this had been the condition of the covenant now had it been so we had al had cause to have fallen upon our face and have blest his great name that we can have peace on any termes and we should have been not only willing to accept of these termes but to magnifie Gods grace that we can be thus saved at last But the Lord hath not required that first we should suffer such and such hard things and then Come to Christ but he calls upon us first to come and requires nothing before And therefore before we are able to do the Lord any service the Lord wil first accept of us and pardon us and heale us and interest us in himself and be our God and take us to be his Children and make us heirs of heaven and eternal life this at first before we shal ever be able to do him any service What an infinite grace of God is this how is he beforehand with us for he calleth to the greatest sinner that knowes what his sin is and is Laden saith God I require nothing before the receiving you to mercy but meerly to
God but there is somthing comes between God and you all things are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods so that God himself is the infinite Fountain of all good Christ is as it were the Cisterne into which all the mercy and goodness of God is to be conveyed and beleevers by Faith have every one a Pipe as it were put into this Cisterne so they come to have conveyed all good the fullness of the divine Nature they are united unto Christ and so have all Mercy conveyed from God unto them here is a strong argument to draw the heart to come to Christ because Christ is the great conveyance of all good from the â—her unto the Soul is not the mercy of God sweet unto a Soul that is Laden with the Burden of Sin This mercy you must have in me saith Christ or else you shall never have a drop of it We are to know therefore that by our sins the conduit Pipe of all the Mercy in God is stopt so as not one drop of saving mercy for eternity can be let into the Soul and though we should cry for mercy never so much and shreeke out yet we are to know that the Pipe is stopt by sin and there is no other way to open this pipe but only by Jesus Christ he is the opener of the pipe of Gods infinite Grace let out to the Children of men Now if we look upon the Grace of God we are first to consider that by our sins we have stopt the current of al the Grace of God and it is only Christ that lets out this current and now Christ saith come to me all you that would have mercy Would you have Mercy O yes it is true we would have mercy but we find this Mercy of God is stopt by our sins Now saith Christ come to me and by me all the sluces of the Grace and mercy of God are opened to poor Souls we know God is a God of mercy the God of all consolation in himself the Father of mercies he is infinitly merciful so that when we come to God we come to the God of mercy the God of all consolation we come to the Father of mercies we come to him who is infinite in mercy whose Nature is mercy to him that is imfinitely above all creatures in mercy All the merciful creatures in Heaven and Earth in comparison of him are nothing Yea take all the merciful Saints in the world the most merciful dispositions that were in all the creatures in the world and put them into one man you would say this were a merciful man If all the mercies in all the bowels of all the Saints that ever were from the beginning of the world were put into one man would not you think him to be a merciful man if he called you to come to him for mercy would you not come Such a man that hath all mercies of all the Saints that ever were in the world put into him yet this man would be a most cruel man in comparison of the infinite mercy that is in God If we were in cruel straites and had to deal with such a man that had the bowels of the mercy of all the men in the world those that are in misery they go to their friends and say Oh! it is wel I did fal into such a merciful mans hand But now thou that art a poor troubled sinner if thou comest to Christ thou comest into the Arms into the bowels of the infinite God that is infinitely above the bowels of all mercies that are either in Heaven or Earth and therefore come to him Secondly Further not only come unto the bowels of mercy but by coming to Christ thou comest to God as a Father Come to me saith Christ thou shalt not only come to the Father but the first moment you come to me I shall present you to God as a Child and God to you as a Father the infinite God is a deadly enemy to all out of Christ but by coming to Christ there is peace with him you come to have union with him and you come to be made one with God into the neerest union with God next unto the Hypostatical union There is divers sortes of union with God there is the Hypostatical union but next unto that is a Mistical union and such a union have the Saints the Soul that was before an enemy unto God and cast out from him the first moment that such a Soul comes to Christ it hath such a union with God that is the neerest union that any creature can have next unto the human Nature of Jesus Christ Thirdly Yea Not only to be united to him but thou shalt come presently to have his Image stamped upon thee his Spirit put into thee to live the Life of God to have communion with him here and thou shalt be saved the very moment thou comest to him thou shalt have Righteousness to stand in the presence of the infinite Holy God I You will say if we come to God we come by Christ but God is a Holy and a Righteous God and how shall we be able to stand before him being a Righteous God and we such sinners Therefore this is answered by this that the first moment thou comest to Christ he will put the holy Robes of his Righteousness upon thee that shall make thee able to stand before the infinite God so that whatever thou art in thy self it is impossible but God should be wel pleased with thee and should take delight in thee as his own thou may'st walk up and down in the presence of God and all because He sees thee in the Robes of Christs Righteousness Fourthly And further The first moment thou comest to Christ thou shalt be safe to eternity for all the hazard of miscarrying to eternity is over at the first moment thou comest to Christ this thou shalt have in the first moment of thy coming to Jesus Christ this is for the comfort of those that come to Christ More of these Particulars we shall have when we come to the promise that is here made in the Text And you shall have Rest ARG. VI. Sixtly For a further argument of drawing the Heart unto Jesus Christ when he cals to come to him consider what a poor wretch thou art in thy self a vile base forlorne Deformed Miserable Succourless Helpless Shiftless Creature a Beggar If a Prince as he goes along in the Streets seeing a poor Beggar lying upon the ground in the durt should be pleased to call to such a creature and say to him come to me would it not reviue his Spirit If one should tel him the King the Prince cals how would he stir himself Now thou art the poorest Creature in the world never any poor creature that lay groveling in the durt ful of Sores and wounds was in a worse condition then thou art when thou seest such a one think that thy condition is far
it not the word of the Lord hast thou not now a gracious offer Is it not a mercy that thou art out of hel this day and is it not a mercy that thou art not drowned in the sea that thou art brought to land to heare one more offer to come to Christ Wilt thou yet go on in thy sins Wilt thou yet prize thy lusts before al that infinite good that is in Jesus Christ dost thou think this wil be peace in the end How wilt thou be able to look God in the face another day It s mercy thou needest and Mercy thou must have or else thou art for ever miserable and wilt thou reject this mercy Oh! that the Lord would cal in your consciences to help on this work There hath been I hope by al that hath been said some Illumination about Christ yea and some cords of Mercy have been fastened upon your hearts Now if God would but stir up conscience give a command to conscience and say never suffer this man or this woman to be at quiet til they come to my son til their hearts be taken off from al things that hinder them from coming to my son let them never be at quiet til then it were a happy thing if God would give this command to conscience that so many might answer to this invitation of Christ that when Christ saith come to me ye that are laden the soul answers Lord I come Quest I but you wil say Suppose God hath been calling me and I have rejected him I have been in some forwardness to come to Christ and my lusts have drawn my heart back again for you tel us that the Lord useth to be quick with sinners when they have rejected his grace now have you any word of comfort for such if these shal come that have abused Gods grace and mercy and turned back upon him have you any comfort for such Ans I wil onely give you one scripture for those and that is in Jeremiah 3. and the 22. verse and Oh! that the Lord would fasten this scripture upon your hearts Returne ye back-sliding children and I wil heale your back-slidings Mark here is the answer Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God This scripture in the name of God do I present to you that have drawn back from the grace of God that once were in a good frame and now are back-sliders once more in the name of God do I cal to you Oh! returne thou back-slider the Lord Jesus Christ is ready now to healthy back-slidings now then secretly say Lord I come and when thou comest into thy closet in a more solemn manner and art al alone resigne up thy soul to Jesus Christ and say Lord thou hast invited me this day to come to Christ now Lord I give up my self and all that I have and am to thee my estate my Body my honor and all that I have to come to thee and then not only those good things shall be made good but the promise likewise then Christ shall give you Rest These times are times of distress and therefore seasonable to hear of Rest whatever troubles fal out yet if thou come to Christ thou shalt be safe thy self Christ doth ingage himself to give Rest unto thy Soul And so much for the Invitation it self CHAP. XXIII The Doctrine arising from the dependance of the promise upon the Invitation That God will have us when we are coming to Christ to have respect to our selves NOw the next thing that follows is the promise that Christ makes to poor Laden sinners that do come unto him He will give them Rest And I will give you Rest It is too much for any creature to say thus Yea it were too much boldness and presumption for all the Angels in Heaven to make these words as their own for them all to say thus Come unto us all ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and we will give you Rest Yet here in this text there is not only one that is greater than Solomon but one that is greater than all the Angels in Heaven and men that ever lived upon the Earth that saith Come unto me all ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and I will give you Rest They are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father that is equal with the Father God blessed for ever He saith Come unto me ye that Labor and are heavy Laden and I will give you Rest This is that that now we are come unto The gracious promise that Christ makes to draw Souls unto himself he will give them Rest And I will give you Rest And what more fit Argument and seasonable can there be at this time this time we know is a time of trouble a time of disturbance there is much perplexity and distress in our Nation and what will be more acceptable unto us than this to hear of Rest this is that that Christ doth promise to al them that come to him that beleeve in him he saith he will give them Rest Before I come to open this gracious promise which is exceeding ful of marrow and fatness as we shall find when we come to the opening of it I shall first give you one note briefly from the connexion of these words with the former Come to me ye that Labor and I will give you Rest You see Christ that he might draw sinners to himself makes a gracious promise of that that he knows will do good to sinners at the Heart he will give them Rest From hence the note is this in the general That God would have us even when we are coming to Christ have some respect to our selves and Christ encourageth us in coming to him even to have some aime at our own good That is the note cleerly from the Connexion of the words Before we open the promise I will give you Rest saith he if you come to me in that Christ doth propound that which he knows will take the Hearts of sinners as a great good unto them to draw them to himself hence I say the note it cleer That in our coming to Jesus Christ it is lawful for us to have some aime at our own good Yea not only lawful for us but we ought so to do for we are to look upon Christ so as Christ propounds himself unto us not only lawful I say to look upon Christ so as he propounds himself to us but it is our duty so to look upon him Now when Christ propounds himself unto us as an object to draw our Hearts to him he doth propound himself as one wherein our souls shal gaine abundance of good one that we shall get much by Now though it is true we should Labor to be above our selves as much as may be we should Labor to deny our selves in some sence yet not so but that we are to look at our own good even in our coming unto Jesus Christ
afterwards that there is no rest nor peace to any wicked men in the world though they seem to others to live in never so much ease rest and peace Further there is no peace to the wicked saith my God it is not I saith the prophet but God that saith it wherby he would teach us this note That when any ministers of God preacheth that which is hard to us we should consider that it is not their words but Gods that speakes to them that God that wil make al good that he speakes by them which is according to his word according to what he saith in his word there is no peace saith my God Further there is no peace saith my God it may be that many would flatter you and say there is peace and these ministers do but trouble people trouble consciences and what needs so much stir what needs so much a doe no question the prophet did aime at these false prophets as there were many that we reade of in Isaiah and Jeremiah that cryed peace peace when there was no peace There was many false Prophets that lived in those times that said the prophet Isaiah preacheth to you things that are too hard God is merciful and have we not al infirmities and therefore it is but trusting in Gods mercy and do we not do as others do and we hope it shall be with us as with others at the last and it is but repenting at last now in opposition to al these saith the prophet Isaiah there is no peace saith my God let all the fals prophets plead what they will let them say what they please yet my God saith to every wicked and ungodly man and Woman there is no peace to their Souls Further It may be there are some that their own Hearts would say peace peace as many men and Women that when they hear out of the word those things that are very dreadful and do come very near to their Consciences their Consciences tel them this word of God neerly concernes them yet they will be ready to bless themselves in their own thoughts and say notwithstanding it shall be peace to them just as we read in 29. of Deut. 19 and 20. verses saith the Lord It shal come to pass that if any man when he heares the words of this curse shall bless himself in his Heart and say I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine own Heart the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his Jealousie shal Smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this Book shall lie upon him and the Lord shall blot out his Name from under Heaven How dreadful doth God speak and to whom To that Soul that shall hear out of Gods word that there is no peace no Rest unto them in that condition in the way that he is now in yet it may be saith the Lord when you shall hear pronounced this day in my word against them you shal have many in your auditory shall say I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my own Heart Now we do not find such a dreadful expression in all the Book of God against any as we do against those that shall say they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their own Heart Now hear saith the prophet may be some of you will say in your own Hearts I shall have Rest I shal have Peace but saith the Prophet there is no Peace to the wicked saith my God though your own Hearts say you shall have Peace and what need we trouble our selves with the Ministers words but my God saith there is no peace to the wicked methinks here we have a place that speakes of wicked men directly in opposition to that which the Church speaks of her self in Lamen 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soul therefore wil I hope in him Now let us observe at this time when the Church speakes this and saith the Lord is her portion she was in a very afflicted estate and condition and it may be that her enemies would say that the Lord had forsaken her and neglected her I but against al the enemies in the world her faith prevailes and sayes Let al the devils in hel say what they wil let al the world say what they wil yet my soul shal say the Lord is my portion that is that faith that Gods spirit hath wrought in my soul shal inable me to say that the Lord is my portion So on the contrary when wicked men are in prosperity and feel not the hand of God upon them perhaps friends may flatter them false prophets wil flatter them may be their own hearts wil flatter themselves but now to answer al saith the prophet there is no peace to the wicked saith my God my God saith it Further there is no peace saith my God no rest to any out of Christ this is to note from whence it comes that wicked men can have no peace why they can have no rest it is from God it is God that wil not give it God is against them There are many wicked men and women whose consciences are begun to be inlightened and they many times have trouble of spirit and when they awake in the night they are troubled and when they go about their business in the day they are troubled and when they come home they are troubled and so troubled as they scarce know what it is that troubles them Now perhaps you have not known what it is that troubles you but this text in Isa 57 and the last verse tels you what it is that troubles you it is the Lord that is out with you it s the anger the displeasure of the almighty that is upon you in those wayes that you have walked in and therefore it is that the prophet brings the name of God to shew whence it is that wicked men can have no peace Further It is observable that he adds it is My God he doth not say there is no peace that God saith though that had been enough but my God that is thus as if the Prophet should say through the mercy of God the Lord hath revealed this mercy to me and my Soul hath some interest in this God and since I knew God in Jesus Christ my soul hath found peace and Rest in him and he is my God and hath revealed himself to me he whose mind my soul is in some measure acquainted with my God saith there is no Peace to the wicked And though however others may think it is a strange thing to tel ungodly men that they are in a condition wherein they can have no peace when they hear of the dreadful wrath of God against all ungodlyness to be revealed out of the word yet those who are acquainted with the waies of God those who know the holiness and justice of God those who understand the mind
shal say then what need we regard what we do if any shal say so we need go no further with this man but say unto him Thou hast no part nor portion in this thing thou hast no part in the deliverance from the Law by Christ shal we sin because grace abounds God forbid the Lord forbid that there should enter any such thought into any of our Hearts They that are godly have the Spirit of God in them and will not Reason after such a manner however this is certaine that in Christ we do not depend for life and Death upon the works of the Law and therefore the way of the Gospel is a high way a supernatural way it is a way beyond that that most people imagine most people upon Earth look no higher for a way of Salvation but meerly through the works of the Law and they will certainly miscary by what you have heard You see that the way of Salvation is a higher thing than Nature The Fourth Lesson Fourthly We may learn from hence that if Christ have given Rest to beleevers by delivering them from the rigour and severity of the Law that now they are not to be cast by it for their everlasting estates then they need to be so much the more faithful with God to do what possibly they can to serve the Lord in an evangelical way Thou wert in such a condition that thou wert under such a Law as if thou didst fail in any one point thou wert cast for ever but now thou art under such a Law as God accepts of thee in Christ hadst thou not need be more faithful and industrious in thy endeavors in that thou hast received so much mercy to be under such a Covenant The truth is the other might discourage thee to think that let me do what I can my Soul is cast for my everlasting estate but now if thou beest brought under the Covenant of the Gospel and the Lord Christ hath made thee to know that thy Rest is in him how careful shouldest thou be to walk with him in all well pleasing to give up the strength of thy Soul to walk in his waies I wil appeal to thee suppose thou wert in the condition again that the Lord looked upon thee with a strict Eye and required such absolute obedience that if thou failest in any thing nothing that ever before thou didst should be accepted poor soul if the Lord should say to thee what if thou shouldest be delivered from this Law and be brought under the Law of Christ First that thou shalt not depend for thy everlasting estate upon the Law And Secondly that whatsoever thou doest shal be accepted though with much imperfection how wouldest thou prize this and even Covenant with God and say Oh! Lord bring my soul under this Covenant and I hope I shal for ever endeavour to walk in al wel peasing before thee this shal not by any meanes in the world quench my endeavors and make me more sluggish but more strengthen my heart As suppose now one should be in such slavery under the Turke that let him do what he can he shal be beaten and a Prince shal come and ransome him and take him into his owne house and expect no more obedience from him then the obedience of a Child adopting him for his Child and al the obedience that he wil expect shal be a childlike obedience and he wil be his father Now were it not a vild and unnatural thing for such a one to be careless of giving contentment to this Prince that wil accept of him as a Child when he hath delivered him from such a slavery and bondage that he was under before Thus it was with beleevers thou wert under a dreadful bondage under the Law and thou art brought to Christ and he makes thee to be a child of God and be procures that thy obedience shal be accepted that is filial and Child-like shalt thou be more negligent now then before now thou servest God upon better termes then ever before and wilt thou be more sluggish The Fifth Lesson Fifthly from our being delivered from the Law we are to Learne this That we are not to judg our coming into Christ nor to judge our faith by the Law by our coming to Christ we are delivered from the Law therefore I say we are not to make up any judgment of our coming to Christ nor to judge our faith by the rules of the Law Though the propounding of this it may be is a little obscure at first yet you wil find it of marvellous use to help beleevers in their way some beleevers very ordinarily especially weak ones judg of their coming to Christ or their faith by the Law they make the law a rule of their faith which certainly should not be for if by faith we are delivered from the Law then it must needs follow that the Law cannot be a rule of our faith You wil say what is that to make the Law a rule of our faith That is thus Beleevers think that because their faith is weak and ful of doubts ful of imperfections and doubtings therefore they have none at al. Now what is this but to make faith it self a legal thing for indeed if faith were legal then it could not be accepted where there were any mixture of imperfection a legal faith could never be accepted with any mixture of doubting and with any imperfection But an evangelical faith can be accepted This I may meet with perhaps afterwards but for the present it follows more fully and immediately from what hath been delivered from our rest from the Law and I desire to suggest it now to beleevers as a marvellous help to them that they do not make their faith legal as thus Come to many beleevers that are ful of doubts and feares and why do they not beleeve It is true say they there is rest to be had in Christ and much to be had in this I but this is to beleevers and I am afraid I am not a beleever And why art thou afraid thou art not a beleever because of such and such sins and because I cannot do as I would Now what is this but to make faith legal now faith that delivers us from the Law of al graces that must be evangelical our mourning for sin is to be looked upon as evangelical and yet some beleevers look upon their mourning for sin as legal they think God wil not accept of their mourning Why Because they cannot mourne as much as they would That is true if thou wert under the Law then no mourning at al would be accepted as under the Law but now thou must look upon it as evangelical and thy obedience as evangelical It is an il thing that beleevers look upon their mourning for sin and obedience and the like as under the Law and not as evangelical this is a great hindrance to them but now much more is it to
poor troubled souls whose consciences pul them on to duty but why do they performe them because conscience accuseth them for their sins and they know what need they have of Gods mercy they stand guilty before God and therefore they perform duties that they might get a pardon and they know that they were made for eternity and therefore they make conscience of duties that they might get eternal life by them as I when I opened shewed the burden that there was in legal performances But now when the soul comes to Christ it hath rest in this for the very first thing that is done in Christ is that al thy sins are discharged the pardon is granted and thou art put into an estate safe for thy eternal life and al the hazard of eternal life is now over Now then that that is required of thee is only as the fruit of the pardon of thy sin and as a fruit of thy safe condition that thou art put into for thine eternal life and here is a great deal of difference between performing of duties that I might have pardon that I might get eternal life by it and performing of duties as a fruit of my pardon and as a fruit of the assurance of my wel being to al eternity As for instance a man that is in danger of his life stands before the judg and there is no way for pardon for him but he hath his book given to him as you know the way is to have the benefit of the Clergy as we use to cal it now when he knows if he reads he shal have his life but life lies upon it and the judg is strict and sets one by him that the ordinary shal not prompt him and he wil have him read out and his life lyes upon it I suppose you have heard of some that were able schollers and able to reade wel enough at other times yet at such a time were not able to read one word for a world But suppose this man now have his pardon and you then put him to read then he can read with delight he hath freedom enough now to read his eyes that were bound before are loosned Now suppose he were to read a Psalm of mercy before he had his pardon and when he had his pardon there is a Psalm of thankfulness for his life given him to read he could read it then with delight just thus it is with those that performe duties in a legal way they stand before God as their judg and look upon what they performe as that which their souls depends upon that if I do not do such and such things that is commanded me my soul lyes upon it alas this straitens the heart and it is put into a condition of feare But now when the soul is come to Christ and the Lord hath granted pardon to it and hath quieted it by the blood of his son now sayes God read performe duties and let al the duties you performe be in way of blessing my name and praising of me for giving of you your lives And indeed this is the principal ground of al that God requires of such as are come to Christ meerly that thou shouldest go out before the Lord in way of thankfulness for pardoning thy sins and accepting of thee in his Son And so likewise if so be a man were amongst his enemies and should be set to do some work and business and is set so to it that if he do not do it he is a dead man they wil have his life if he doe not do it alas he goes about it with a great deal of dread and fear But now if this man should come home to his fathers house and his father sets him about a work and he doth it so that though he would not do the work yet he should not loose his life he should go about it with a great deal more freedom of spirit Thus it is with beleevers when they come to Christ they come to their fathers house and their father sets them about workes but so as he wil not lay their lives upon it their soul doth not ly upon their duties thy eternal estate doth not lie upon duties as heretofore you have heard in being freed from the Law so now make use of it in deliverance from legal performances That the Lord though he wil be strict to mark what is done in every duty he wil not be strict to take advantage of thee It is true it is said that the Lord spared not his owne son but he wil spare thee In Malachy 3.17 The Lord wil spare them as a man spareth his own son hat serveth him And so in the Romans it is said God did not spare his own son and yet in Malachy that he wil spare thee as a man spareth his only son that serveth him What should be the meaning of this That God should not spare his only begotten son the Lord Jesus Christ he wil not spare him but thee This is the reason he did not spare him that he might Spare thee here is the reason why God wil so spare thee in the performance of thy duties because he would not spare his son he was so exact to him that he might not be so exact to thee Indeed when Christ came to performe duties the life of al the world lay upon that that if Christ had failed in one thing the life of al the world lay upon it yet so they lay upon him that they were not grievous to him because he was most able to perform it But thou must make use of Christs performances in way of obedience so as to give thee rest ease in performance of thy duties think thus I come now to performe duties and thankes be to God my life my eternal estate lyes not upon it but Christ what he performed my soul and al the world lay uyon what he did and the weight that Christ was willing to take upon him in his obedience is that which makes any obedience so easie and comfortable to me I remember we read in the Law that in peace offerings a female was accepted in other cases ordinarily God required the male but in peace offerings the female now peace offerings was for thanksgiving and indeed the whole life of a Christian is nothing else but a peace-offering his whol conversation al the duties that God requires of any christian it is nothing else but a peace offering to offer an offering of thanks-giving for the mercy he hath received from Christ in this peace offering the Lord accepts of a female though it be but weake And this is the sixth thing wherein the rest of the soul in the performance of holy duties when it is once come to Christ doth consist Seventhly As the soul doth not performe duties that it might get life thereby it is not in that way now so the performance of duties when the soul is come to Christ is a part of
Treatise of the Rickets being A Disease common to Children wherein is shewed 1 The Essence 2 The Causes 3 The Signs 4 The Remedies of the Disease Published in Latin by Dr. Glisson Dr. Bates and Dr. Regemorter translated into English And corrected by N. Culpeper 33 Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the Common People 34 Health for the Rich and Poor by Dyet without Physick The London Dispensatory in Folio of a large Character in Latine The London Dispensatory in twelves a smal Pocket Book in Latine Six Sermons preached by Dr. Hill Viz. 1 The Beauty and Sweetness of an Olive Branch of Peace and Brotherly Accommodation budding 2 Truth and Love happily married in the Church of Christ 3 The Spring of strengthening Grace in the Rock of Ageâ— Christ Iesus 4 The strength of the Saints to make Iesus Christ their strength 5 The Best and Worst of Paul 6 Gods Eternal preparation for his Dying Saints A Commemoration of King Charls his Inauguration In a Sermon By William Laud then Bishop of Canterbury Abrahams Offer Gods Offering Being a Sermon by Mr. Heâ—le before the Lord Major of London Mr. Spurstows Sermon being a Pattern of Repentance Englands Deliverance from the Northern Presbitery compared with its Deliverance from the Roman Papacy In a Sermon on the 5 of Nov. 1651. before the Parliament By Peter Sterry The Way of God with his People in these Nations Opened in a Thanksgiving Sermon preached on the 5 of Novemb. 1656 before the Right Honorable the High Court of Parliament By Peter Sterry Mr. Sympsons Sermon at Westminster Mr. Feaks Sermon before the Lord Major The Best and Worst Magistrate By Obadiah Sedgwick A Sermon A Sacred Panegyrick By Stephen Marshal A Sermon The Craft and Cruelty of the Churches Adversaries By Matthew Newcomen A Sermon The Magistrates Support and Burden By Mr. John Cardel A Sermon Mr. Owens stedfastness of the Promises A Sermon Mr. Phillips Treatise of Hell of Christs Genealogy The Cause of our Divisions discovered and the Cure propounded King Charls his Case or an Appeal to al Rational men concerning his tryal A Relation of the Barbadoes A Relation of the Repentance and Conversion of the Indians in New-England by Mr. Eliot and Mr. Mayhew THE CONTENTS OF THE Treatise on Math. 11.28 CHAP. 1 Wherein There 's 1. The Dependance of this verse upon the former with the Scope of the Holy Ghost herein 2. The Meaning of the words 3. The Division thereof into three parts Page 1 Chap. 2. Containing a Description of them whom Christ invites to come unto him which is laid down in this doctrine That they whom Christ calls to come unto him are such as Labor and are heavy Laden whether 1. Vnder the burden of the righteousness of the Law or 2. Vnder the weight of their sins Or 3. Vnder the power of any corruption Or 4. Vnder any outward trouble or Affliction Page 6 Chap. 3. The Burden under sin laid open in nine Particulars 1. When the Soul not only apprehendeth but is sensible of the Evil of Sin in the reality of it 2. Finds all the comfort that did attend Sin before to vanish and come to nothing 3. Looks upon it self as loathsome and is in Some measure bowed to God 4. Trembles at the least thoughts and Temptations to Sin 5. Feel Sin heaviest where it is indeed heaviest 6. Feels the weight of Sin to be such as that no Creature is able to remove it 7 Had rather be under any burden then the burden of Sin 8 Doth notwithstanding the weight thereof justifie God 9. Doth not lie sullenly and despair under it but attend for direction from God how it may befreed there from Page 15 Chap. 4. Two Cautions touching the Burden of Sin 1. That 't is no condition of the Covenant of Gace 2. That it doth not interest the Soul in Christ nor gâ—ve it rest in him Whereunto certain Consequences are annexed Page 21 Chap. 5. The Reasons of the former Doctrine 1. Christ hath all mercy in him 2. The end why he came into the world was to give rest to burdened Souls 3. Christ himself was once under some kind of this burden 4 He is to have the glory of all the ease which is given to sinners Page 24 Chap. 6. The Application Exhorting Sinners to come unto Christ with Answers unto certain Objections Page 26 Chap. 7. The Burden under the Law laid open in Eleven particulars 1. The Law Requireth of us such things which we are unable to perform 2. It Requireth absolute perfection 3. It Accepteth not of any of our Endeavours 4. Vpon any one breach of the Law the sinner looseth al ability for ever keeping any part of it afterward 5. Vpon any breach thereof it presently bindeth over the sinner to eternal death 6. It requireth constant obedience 7. Being once broken it cannot be satisfied with any after obedience 8. It accepts of no repentance 9. It only lays open a mans misery and there leaves him without shewing him any remedy 10. There is no appeal from it nor repealing of it 11. The more it cometh to be revealed the more are our corruptions Stirred up Where some Objections are answered or Doubts resolved Page 31 Chap. 8. Three Conclusions arising from the former Doctrine concerning the Burden under the Law Namely 1. That man by Nature is in an evil case 2. That it is a mighty work to save a Soul 3. That those vain thoughts wereby men think to pacifie their Consciences will stand them in no stead Page 47 Chap. 9. Of the Burden of Legal Performances What it is With the burdensomness thereof laid open in twelve Particulars 1. There is no inward principle of doing 2. In men that are only under the Law there 's a principle contrary to the performance thereof 3. Such are wearied with doing getting no supply of strength to perform duty 4. By their performances they stil contract more Guilt upon their Souls 5. What they do in Obedience unto the Law is only out of fear 6. And with much straitness of Spirit 7. Nothing comes of such Performances 8. They that perform Duty in a meer Legal way never attain their end which is peace with God 9. They know not whether God accepts of them or rejects them 10. They are forced unto Duties instantly presently and upon the sudden though to the hinderance of other Duties of greater concernment Which God requireth of them at the same time 11. Though they go on toyling yet know they not whether they shal hold out unto the end 12. Their Humiliation and trouble for not doing what they ought to do hinders them from doing what God requires Page 50 Chap. 10. The Sad condition of such as are under the Burden of Legal Performances set forth in Six Particulars 1. That which should be accounted their happiness is their Misery 2. It is a means to cause hard thoughts of God 3. It causeth great discouragement 4. They bring an evil
the world sin is very light Well know That as Christ himself felt sin to be a heavy burden so one way or other they must feel it either here or hereafter but blessed is that man or woman that feels the weight of sin while he may be delivered from it that he be not hereafter prest under the weight of it We read of Pharoah when the people of Israel came for ease he bids them go to their burdens that that he did unjustly Christ might do to many righteously hereafter when you upon your sick beds or death beds hereafter shal cry for mercy Christ may say to you go to your burdens when any thing of the Word came to press sin upon your souls you cast it off O! 't is a dangerous Condition when men and women cannot only sin enough but now when any truth of God should lay sin upon their hearts they cast it out and they think hardly of those Truths of God that would come and â—ind their sins to their Consciences and so burden them with their sins but it should be otherwise with us If those that be thus laden with their sins be those that Christ doth call to him we should not think so hardly of those Truths of God that doth reveal the evil of sin unto us but rather let us joyn with those Truths of God and labor to burden our own hearts for you see that those that are burdened Christ cals them to him that they might have rest there is no other burdens that we are to bring upon our selves but rather seek to avoid them but as for the burden of sin we are to burden our hearts with that and to labor to lay our sins to our hearts and to press them there and to charge them upon our own Spirits with all the aggravations we can and to joyn with the work of Gods Spirit when the Spirit of God comes to lay sin upon the soul to joyn with it and to say Lord I begin to be more sensible of my sins than I was before Lord humble me through it let me be under thy hand as long as thou pleasest only work thy good work upon me Object But you wil say We may sink under the burden of Sin Answ O no those that cast off the burden of sin they are most like to sink under it now can you think that the Lord wil Suffer such a soul to sink under the burden that doth burden it self that God might have glory But those that are unwilling and are forced to be burdened that never are sensible of the burden of sin til al the props and Comforts of the creature are taken away Upon their sick beds and death beds then men are burdened with Sin and why because the props are taken away before they had comforts and estates and such things which are as so many props but now God comes and takes the props and down they fâ—l upon us That is the reason that many upon their death beds lie Roâ—ring and Crying out so bitterly for their sins and why because the Lord hath cut asunder the props and now it lies heavy upon their hearts Now Christ cals come to me you that are weary and heavy laden come to me saith Christ Know that you are in a faâ— better condition than you were when you went on with delight in sin you are now in the way that God doth use to bring them in that he hath a purpose to do good unto I remember in the Gospel where the poor blind man cryed to Christ O Son of David have mercy upon me and stil cryed at length Christ heard the cry of the blind man and asked what it was Now those that were by him they go to the poor blind man and say to him be of good comfort he calls he might say I but my eyes be not opened I but be of good comfort he calls So I say to al burdened Sinners be of good comfort troubled soul Christ calls thee he saith come to me al ye that are weary and heavy laden he doth not say thou that art so much laden Christ cals thee to him Object I but thou wilt say I have no ease if I were sure that my sins were pardoned I should be saved then I should have ease and comfort Answ I but poor soul be of good comfort thou art called he doth not say thou art a wretched wicked creature and depart from me thou cursed as he wil say to sinners hereafter that might have been thy condition but thou didst not heare the voice from Christ this day depart from me but thou doest heare this voice this day from Christ Come to me al you that are weary and heavy laden Christ is neer to you the Lord is neer to the broken heart he is neere to the contrite spirit And know this the longer thou art under the burden of thy sin there wil come the more comfort hereafter Now there is a burden of sin upon thee and there wil be a weight of glory hereafter So the Scripture speakes of a weight of glory as wel as of a weight of Sin be willing to beare the weight of sin quietly say with the Prophet I wil be willing to beare the indignation of the lord because I have sinned against him So say thou 't is fit my soul should beare a burden be content to wait now do you the same thing that Christ did when he was under his burden mark what he did in Heb. 5.7 See how the heart of Christ was affected when he felt the weight of our sins upon him In the dayes of his flesh he offered up prayers and supplications with strong Cryes and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he Feared Goe thy way O Soul and get into the presence of God and tel God of thy burdens that thou feelest make thy moan unto him and let it be with praiers and supplications and strong Cryes and tel him Lord I fear least my soul should be prest down to eternal death under this burden tel him of thy feares this way and it is very probable that thy soul shal be heard and according to this invitation here surely there is rest for thee as wel as for any while thou art crying out under thy burden for ought thou knowest or any Angel in heaven the pardon of thy sins may be sealling in heaven and therefore do not make any desperate Conclusion against thy own Soul for thy pardon may be a sealing and then the Lord wil send a messenger to tel thee of this Nay do I tel thee that theâ—e wil a messenger come Behold here in this text the Lord Jesus Christ comes the Angel of the Covenant cryes to thee Come O Come come freely though thou hast no good at al in thee there is enough in me to give rest unto that soul that doth most labor under the greatest burden of sin that ever
man of any way of Redemption of any way of deliverance but meerely shews unto us our misery and so leaves us I do not mean the law that is in the book of the old testament for there is Gospel mingled I do not say that Moses doth not tel us of any way of Redemption but I mean the Law of the Covenant of works so far as that is revealed in Moses and that is revealed in the new Testament in a great pâ—rt of it that only shewes us our misery and there leaves us but grace and truth and mercy that comes in by Jesus Christ Tenthly A tenth particular wherein the greivous bondage under the law appeares is this That it is such a Law as there can be no appeal from it no nor no repealing of it though it be thus strict and thus severe yet I say there is no appeale from it nor no repealing of it there are many Laws that we may appeal from one to another or if that Law be hard it may be called in again we cannot appeale from the Authority of this law nor can it be repealed You wil say this excluds us from al help though there be many hard Laws made by men and as long as they stand in force people are in a very sad Condition yet there may be meanes to repeal them but as for this Law there can it seems be no appeale from it nor repealing of it May we not appeale from Gods justice to Gods mercy seat I have indeed spoken of such an expression but that expession must be warily understood for the truth is there is no proper appealing from the justice of God to his mercy when the sinner comes to Christ it hath the pardon sealed in the Court of justice as wel as in the Court of mercy there is no soule that is saved but Gods justice is as wel satisfied as his mercy is glorified nor no repeale of this law What must the law stand in force then yes the law shal stand in force and yet there shal be thousands of soules saved How is that you wil say This is the mistery of the Gospel that the law shal stand in force and yet men shal be saved there shal be a way to save men for al this Certainly if the Law went on in its course one would think that it would carry on al mankind to eternal destruction yea and so it would have done but onely for this great Saviour and redeemer Jesus Christ that cals Sinners to him that they might have rest He comes and puts himself under the Law and what the Law requires he doth and he Suffers so that here is al the alteration the Law goes on and hath its course onely whereas it might have required to have had the course of it upon our selves in person now God is content that it should have its course upon our security When a man oweth a debt the Law requires performance it s one thing to have the law repealed and an other to have the debter delivered if a sureâ—â— wil come and undertake the debt he is delivered though he hath not paid it yet the law hath its course for the surety dischargeth what the debter should have done so the way of salvation for any soul it is not either by appealing from the law or by the repealing of the law but we must look upon the Law to have its course only to have its course upon Christ our surety who hath fully satisfied the law and Christ looked thus upon is the true object of our faith and except we apprehend Christ thus as one made under the Law as the Scripture saith and one that did indure the law to have its course upon him and so to satisfie the law except we look upon Christ thus we look not upon him as the right object of our faith and Christ he thus cals upon you that are weary and heavy laden to come to him as if he should say poor Sinners that are under such a Covenant as this is you know that though it be not repealed I have come and put my self under this law it hath had its course upon me come to me and the law shal be sattisfied it shal have nothing to say against you but you shal have through rest in me come therefore to me Eleventhly The Eleventh thing in the Law is That it is so far from inabling us to perform that obedience which it requires that in regard of our own wretched condition that we are now in the more it comes to be revealed the more are our Corruptions stirred up it doth through our fault not from any fault in the Law stir up our Corruptions so much the more Luther compares it to Water cast upon Lime the Law coming into the heart being in its Natural Condition till God oovercomes it by the Grace of the Gospell is stirred up so much the more You have a notable expression for this in the example of Paul who felt it thus in himself in Rom. 7.5 For when we were in the Flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death and again in ver 8. For sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me all manner of Concupiscence It took occasion by the Commandment there are many people that are the worse by hearing the Law revealed unto them until God pleaseth to overcome their hearts by the grace of the Gospel Now put all these together and the soul that comes to be enlightened to understand these do you not think that such a soul wil be burdened Is it not a burden to be in this Condition Is it possible that the soul can have any rest in this Condition You will say these things are hard in themselves But first if you did but understand the infinite holiness there is in God and the infinite Justice of God with whom you have to deal And if you did but understand the perfect Condition that God did make man in at the first present before your souls the infinite Holiness and Justice of the great God with whom you have to do and then present before your souls that perfect state that God did make man in Innocency and then these things wil be clear unto you And if these things were only preached to you and nothing else they would seem to be hard but it is all in order to this Invitation of Christ CHAP. VIII Three Conclusions arising from the former doctrine concerning the Burden under the Law Namely 1. That man by Nature is in an evil case 2. That it is a mighty work to save a Soul 3. That those vain thoughts whereby men think to pacifie their Consciences will stand them in no stead NOw upon the hearing of these things we may truly draw such Conclusions as these First That certainly man is in an ill case by Nature It is observed of the people of Israel when
Pharoah did increase their bondage the Scripture tels us that the people saw that they were in an ill case so when we understand what a condition we are in under this bondage we may conclude that verily man is in an ill case by nature Secondly And a second Conclusion may be drawn hence That it is a mighty work to save a Soul it is not a slight thing for a Soul to come to be saved there must be great things done by God to save a soul Many people they confess it is true they are sinners but they cry to God to have mercy on them and so they think it is presently done but did you consider of the condition that you are in naturally and of the Righteousness of God you would then conclude it is a mighty work of God to save any soul and that you had need fal upon the seeking of your Salvation betimes And then Thirdly Hence wil follow this Conclusion also That those vain thoughts of men that they have had for pacifying their Consciences and the quieting of their hearts wil stand them in no stead As thus Many they reason thus I am not so bad as others What if you be not if you be under the Law you are cast a thousand thousand times over You wil say that you do some good thing and somtimes come to Church and pray to God but what is this to the keeping of the Law if thou beest in thy natural estate thy reasoning after this manner does argue that thou dost look after Salvation by what thou hast done and for men to say I do what I can and I am sorry with all my heart that I can do no better these are not reasonings that wil inable thee to stand with comfort before the infinite Righteous God thou must know in what state thou art in under the Law and how thou art cast by the Law these are not arguings that can bring rest to thy soul if it could Christ would never have called in this manner But you must know that such is your condition that all the Angels in Heaven and men in the world cannot give rest to your souls and if you did understand this you would thereby go away convinced of this truth wel I see that there is a burden upon me howsoever I have not been sensible of it and it is such a burden as wil press me down to eternal misery and I see now by this that I have need of a Christ Certainly if congregations were sensible of this burden of the Law Oh! How would their souls rejoyce in this and praise the Lord that their eares are blessed to hear such a sound of the Gospel as this Come to me and I wil give you Rest I appeal to you whether the opening of the Law be not of use to make you come to Christ there are a great many wanton spirits that cal those Ministers of God that seek out of Conscience to do good to Souls and to draw them out of their natural estates Legal men Legal preachers and the like I appeal to your consciences upon the knowledg of these things whether you wil not come to know the way of coming to Christ better then you did before if I should have named the name of Christ five hundred times over and over again would you have come to understand the mistery of God in Christ so much as by hearing what the difference is between the first covenant of works and being under the Law and to tel you that Christ came into the world to deliver us from this first covenant he comes and takes our Nature upon him and puts himself under the Law that he might free us from such a heavy yoak and bondage and in this blessed Scripture he calls all souls that do feel this yoak and burden to come to him that so they might have rest And thus much for this first Particular what the bondage is that the soul is under that is under the Law are you sensible of this Christ cals you perhaps some of you may say we have not been sensible of this do you begin to understand it Doth God begin to let in some light to you Do you begin to feel it somthing weighty upon your Hearts Blessed be God for it you are so much the fitter to hear of the covenant of Grace Now when you come home let the Husband say to the wife we hear of two covenants as you have it in the 4. of the Galla. 22. Here are two covenants and these two are set out in this Allegory of the bond-woman and the free-Woman now til we come to understand what the other covenant is we are under the former covenant the covenant of works this is that you should labor to understand the Husband and wife to aske one another of the difference between the two covenants ask but what the covenant of works is and upon what tearms that runs and the covenant of Grace and upon what tearms that runs and so you will come especially to understand that that follows in this text with more profit and advantage to your Souls CHAP. IX Of the Burden of Legal Performances What it is With the burdensomness thereof laid open in twelve Particulars 1. There is no inward principle of doing 2. In men that are only under the Law there 's a principle contrary to the performance thereof 3. Such are wearied with doing getting no supply of strength to perform duty 4. By their performances they stil contract more Guilt upon their Souls 5. What they do in Obedience unto the Law is only out of fear 6. And with much straitness of Spirit 7. Nothing comes of such Performances 8. They that perform Duty in a meer Legal way never attain their end which is peace with God 9. They know not whether God accepts of them or rejects them 10. They are forced unto Duties instantly presently and upon the sudden though to the hinderance of other Duties of greater concernment which God requireth of them at the same time 11. Though they go on ioyling yet know they not whether they shal bold out unto the end 12. Their Humiliation and trouble for not doing what they ought to do binders them from doing what God requires NOw there is one thing more that is as an Appendix unto the Burden of the Law flowes indeed from and is tyed unto the burden of the Law and that is the burden of Legal performances not only the burden of the Law in regard of what the Law requires the perfect obedience that the Law requires that burden comes from the Law it self but now there is a burden that many are under a very heavy and grievous burden and that is the burden of Legal performances and this is that that is to be the subject of this Chapter I intend to go no further then to speak of that burden to open it a little to you and that as I told you at the
peace w th God making up their peace with God avoiding the occasions temptations to sin recovering themselvs again when they have been overcom by sin I say this must needs make them ful of care when a man hath a great business upon him he is ful of care there is no men in the world that have so much business upon them as such a man and Woman that is godly they know that they have greater business that lies upon them then al the world besides the care of the whol world lies upon them yea and they have not only business of great consequence upon them but multitude of business the life of a Christian is a busie life a life of a great deale of business a Christian Woman hath abundance of business to do and therefore it is a most vild thing for one that professes heâ— self to be a Christian to be idle and to spend her time vainly hast thou nothing to do you speake of passing away time a godly man or woman hath enough to do they have to provide for eternity and to make their peace with God And besides there is multitudâ— of business upon them they have multituds of hindrances too if you have great business multitude of business and multitudes of hindrances and especially if you are undone if you should miscarry this now wil make you very careful A man though he should miscary in the world it is not so great an evil as for a Christian to miscary in any one duty that he doth performe a Christian when he goes to performe a duty he thinks thus I must now cause al the faculties of my soul to be working in every duty that God cals for wel and if I miscarry in the duty I look upon it as a greater evil then if I were undone in my estate or body and I find abundance of hindrances that wil indanger me to miscarry therefore I must needs be very careful now in Christ there is a great deal of ease in this respect those that are acquainted with the way of Christ they are mightily eased of the burden of care now those that do performe duties and do not come to Christ so much as they are kept off from Christ so much the more wil the burden of care be not only those that performe duties in a legal way have the burden of care upon them but the Godly also The Fifth Burden of Corruption Fifthly The Corruption that remaines in us it brings a burden of Labor and toil for there is no such intensiveness in any labor in the world as a Christian hath against his corruptions he doth not onely say as many slight and vain spirited men and women do Lord have mercy upon me and we are al siners and I would do otherwise I have good desires no but a Christian knowes that he must draw forth al the faculties of his soul and bend them against his corruption and if ever he Toil Labor and spend his strength it must be in this way against his corruption now there is ease in Christ for this burden too Why because Christ gives power against corruption the way of rest in him is by comming to him so that we shal not need to toil and Labor in them as before now if grief be a burden shame a burden Feare a burden care a burden and if Laboring and Toiling be a burden then those that are Godly are under a great burden in regard of their Corruption this five-fold burden CHAP. XII The Burden of Corruption set forth in eight particulars 1. It is a soul burden 2. It hath al other burdens in it 3. It is a Continual burden 4. It makes al other things to be a burden 5. It is a burden to God himself 6. It makes the sins burdensome to al others 7. It makes him burdensome to himself 8. How greivous soever we cannot be rid of it in this life FUrther for the properties of this burden what a kind of burden it is that the people of God fell under their corruptions The First property of the burden of Corruption First it is a soul-burden other burdens are rather bodily it is easier for a man to beare a burden upon his shoulders then to beare a burden upon his conscience their it lies with torment and the burden of corruption it is a burden upon our very consciences Many heretofore have said that people must be content to beare though things were required of them that ought not to be if they went under them as a burden they thought they were wel enough many things that were in the worship of God false worship they would say for their parts they could be content they were otherwise they went under them as a burden they thought that was enough It is true if it was only a burden of our estates that it was only in outward things it was somthing but when it comes to the burden upon our consciences we must learn to distinguish between the burden upon our shoulders and between the burden upon our consciences and so many Christians they could beare burdens upon their shoulders aswel as others but they could not beare any burdens upon their Consciences The Second property of the burden of Corruption Secondly It containes in it almost al other burdens as thus is poverty a burden sin makes us poor is dishonour a burden sin brings dishonor is debt for a man to be in debt a burden sin brings that too forgive us our debts saith Christ he teacheth us so to pray sin therefore hath al other burdens in it and therefore a great burden The Third property of the burden of Corruption Thirdly Sin is a burden that is Constant night and day continually it is upon the soul of the godly a burden if men have other burdens upon them sometimes they have ease porters that carry burdens al the day yet they have dinner times and at night they go to bed and rest themselves so they have ease that way but now sin is alwaies a burden upon the Godly night and day they cannot get off this burden to lay of a burden a quarter of an houre it were some ease but now sin is so great a burden as it is continually upon the saints The Fourth property of the burden of Corruption Fourthly it is such a burden as makes al other burdens to be a burden as it contains in it al other burdens so sin is that which makes al other things burdensome that are burdensome as now a man or woman that is poor poverty is a great burden I but if there be sin with poverty that makes it a burden indeed sickness is a burden I but so far as sin is mixt therewithal so far it is a greater burden and so loss of estate and the like as thus I would compare al other burdens to this as water in a tankerd when your tankerd-bearers carry water it is a burden to
so much as they do It is troublesome to fight with an enemy but it is a great deale more troublesom to have an enemy prevail and get the day and though it is true that corruption shal not get the day fully that is though it may prevail for a while in some skirmishes it may prevail Praelio but not in Bello as an enemy may in some skirmishes have the better of it but yet the other may Conquer at last and may get the day the day that is when it comes to a pitcht set Battel that is the Bellum and there he prevails if I can but prevail and get the day to be mine then it is not so much It is true the Saints of God they shal get the day at last but here as long as they live their corruptions often prevail and foiles them which is very grievous and burdensome to them CHAP. XV. The Reasons of the former Point 1. Because coruption when it prevailes weakens the heart 2. By it God is dishonoured 3. By it our holy profession is scandalized 4. By it they over whom it prevailes are made useless in their places 5. Thereby the meanes of grace are made unprofitable 6. Thereby our peace with God is disturbed 7. Thereby the assurance of our Salvation is shaken NOw for that to open it a little in the particulars to shew how burdensome it is to the hearts of the Saints when they do prevaile in any measure they do not put it off as carnal people do with this we are al sinners and it is Gods grace to keep us and Lord have mercy on us and the like no but they account the prevailing of corruption the greatest burden that they can goe under in the world and that in these respects I First Because whensoever corruption prevailes in what degree soever it weakens the heart it weakens the soul it may stir in the heart and if the heart doth repulse it and get strength against it the heart is not weak as before but if it prevail in any degree it weakens the heart now we know that which is weak is sensible of a burden quickly a sick man is a burden to himself and every thing is a burden to him now when any corruption prevailes it makes the soul sick and every thing is a burden to it and I beseech you consider here is a reason why you are so weak and are able to beare no other burdens If any body crosse you when you come home wife Children or servants cross you you cannot beare it if neighbours cross you you are able to beare nothing there is a reason in this that you do not think of you have weakened your hearts by some sin or other and broke your peace with God it may be and now your hearts come to be weake you are like a sick man that cryes out upon any thing one that is sick cryes out upon every thing wheras if he were strong healthful he could bear a hundred times more so you have brought a sickness upon your souls there is some sin that hath prevailed w th you prevailed over you and by that hath weakened your heart and your spirit now being weake you can beare nothing every thing is a greivous burden to you so that the prevailing of corruption comes to be burdensome in this respect because it weakens the heart and makes every thing burdensome to them II Secondly The Saints and people of God they account the priviledge of corruption to be the greatest burden in this respect because they know that now they dishonor God especially if it prevail so as to breake forth outwardly that it comes to an outward actual sin then it must needs be burdensome to one that is gracious for the name of the blessed God suffers by this my sin that hath prevailed al the while sin was but stirring in my heart and did not prevail the name of God hath not that dishonor as now it hath now when sin hath prevailed it dishonors God and therefore it is a burden unto the Saints III Thirdly It is a burden because it may be my holy profession is scandalized by it and is not this a burden howsoever many wretched men and women wil say they care not let others say and think of them what they wil but now Godly men and women when rhey think of this they cry out O What wil the wicked say of this how wil they blaspheme the name of God and dishonor the name of God and this wil be a burden to them because thereby their holy profession is scandalized IV Fourthly ' It s a burden because hereby they come to be made useless in the places where they live many though they may have some soundness of grace in them and may go to heaven at last yet their corruption prevailing over them they come thereby to be very useless in the places where they live they may live but themselves wil be burdens upon the earth for they are never like to be used to do any great service for God in the world they have so scandalized their profession by the prevailing of Corruption V Fifthly When corruption prevailes over the Saints as it makes them unprofitable so it makes the meanes of grace exceeding unprofitable too it hardens there hearts and they come to prayer hearing the word and Sacraments and find little good many of you complain you find not profit by prayer and hearing the word and Sacrament what is the reason such and such corruptions have prevailed over you it may be there are some sins that you live in that have prevailed over you and therefore no marvel you do not profit as you desire VI. Sixthly The prevailing of Corruption is a grievous Burden in this regard because it is that that doth extreamly disturbe ones peace between God and our Soul though there be many temptations yet if the heart can conquer them it hath more peace by that means never hath the soul so much peace as when there hath been strong temptations unto sin and a conquering over those temptations but if temptation conquer then there wil be a disturbance of our peace and that is burdensome to those that do know what peace with God doth mean VII Seventhly The prevailing of Corruption is a grievous Burden because it is that many times that shakes the assurance of those that are godly I know not what those men would make of the Lords Prayer Forgive us our Sins if so be that they think whatsoever sin they fal into yet stil they can keep up their assurance as much as before I say what would they make of that petition Lord forgive us our Sins at least to pray thus Lord cleer up the evidence of the forgiveness of our sins then it must needs follow that the falling into any sin and the prevailing of any Corruption must needs shake our assurance while we live here in this world now is not this a
and Earth upon the Frame or keeping it in being the Lord doth not appear more to be an almighty God in keeping Heaven and Earth in being then he doth appeare to be an Almighty God in keeping grace alive in the heart notwithstanding al the remainder of Corruption so that in this God hath Glory in another way then he hath from the Angels in heaven the power of God appeares in upholding of the Angels for if he did not uphold them they would fal into evil as Adam and the other Angels did but therein appeares Gods glorious power to uphold the Angels but the glorious power in upholding the Angels doth not so much appeare as the glorious power of God in upholding the hearts of the Saints in the midst of their corruptions this shal be a special argument that the Saints shal praise God for to al eternity when they shal look back and see what a condition they were in before their conversion yea in their conversion that though God granted them some grace yet what abundance of Corruption was in their hearts al that time and what a deal of stir they had to maintain that little grace they wil stand and admire to consider that it should be kept alive in the midst of sin that a little sparke should be kept alive in the midst of the Sea not only in the midst of the Sea but when the sea is tempestuous you yil say it is no great wonder that the fire be kept burning when the sea is calme but when al is in a storme and yet a spark of fire shal be kept alive in the midst of al the tossings of the waves you wil grant here is a mighty power now the keeping alive of grace in thy heart in the midst of so much corruption doth argue as mighty a power in God 2. The Lord doth so order it that stil his own people shal be under the burden of much coruption in this regard because that hereby the Lord draweth forth the exercise of faith in his son in which his soul takes infinite delight the soule of God takes infinite delight in beholding the working of the glorious grace of faith in Jesus Christ But you wil say wherein doth it appeare to be so glorious in regard of our corruption Thus for the Angels in heaven to believe in God that he wil be eternally good to them it is not so much as for a poor soul in the midst of al his corruptions yet to be able to Triumph in the free grace of God in Jesus Christ notwithstanding I am so vild filthy loathsome and abominable to myself and justly God and his Saints may count me a burden to them and cast me off for ever yet for al this my soul shal cling to him I wil cast my self upon him and look upon him as a gracious father a merciful God a God that loves me a God that rejoyceth in doing Good to me for the soul to exercise faith in the Grace of God in Christ it is a glorious thing only take heed you do not mistake it for presumption Object You wil say For men notwithstanding al their sin to beleeve in Gods mercy this is rather presumption then faith Answ True it is presumpion in many they mistake themselves but in others it is true faith and God delights in it and you shal know it by this it doth draw the heart to God and the soul never finds such a prevalent way to overcome those corruptions that are in it as to exercise their faith in the grace of God in Christ I beseech you mark the difference between presumption and faith in Christ presumption wil trust in Gods mercy notwithstanding their sin but that doth indeed foment their sin and makes them secure in their sin makes them the more secure in their sin but now when the soul shal by the true geminine act of faith rest in the free grace of God notwithstanding corruption if it be right such a soul feels no means in the world of greater efficacy to cure and prevail against corruption then this to trust in the free grace of God notwithstanding corruption and if thou findest it thus thou hast no cause to feare trust in Gods grace with confidence for it is that which is wel pleasing unto God and that which the Lord delights in and that which gives as much content to Gods heart as the exercise of any grace whatsoever and in that regard because the Saints shal never exercise such an act of Faith in Heaven â—s this God wil have this in this world 3. This is that that God sees doth drive his own people to him in prayer nothing drives the Saints to God with more earnestness in prayer then the feeling of the weight of Corruption upon them then they goe to God above al God never heares such strong cryes come up to heaven in regard of any affliction as this and by the way you may find by this how your hearts are when the hand of God is upon you in afflictions then you wil cry to God but I put this to you hath there not come as strong cryes to heaven upon the sence of your Corruptions as upon the sence of any Affliction whatsoever 4. The Lord hath glory in this in the exercise of the work of repentance and humility the keeping the Souls of his people in humility and the contrition of their Spirits that is exceeding pleasing to God the Lord is neer to a broken contrite heart a melting mourning spirit the Lord doth delight in the evangelical workings of repentance this pleaseth the Lord the work of humiliation mourning and sorrow for sin in an evangelical way is a grace that is acceptable to God God shal have none of that in heaven and he hath it therefore here 5. God hereby exerciseth his wisdome exceedingly in bringing light out of darkeness God doth many times turne not only the afflictions of his people to their good but he workes good many times out of sin not that hereby we should be bold and presumptuous in our sins we must take head of tempting God yet know this that God doth many times work exceeding much good unto the Saints even out of their sins by occasion of sin though their sin hath no efficacy in this but God takes occasion in this in otherwaies of his providences and workings of his grace to work good unto them 6. There is Gods justice in it also to lay a stumbling block before wicked and ungodly men for when they shal see that the godly that have the most grace they have much corruption in them stil they rejoyce perhaps in it and they little think that God aimes at the execution of his just judgment upon them that it should harden their hearts many wicked men they think their condition to be very good because they see so much corruption in the hearts of the godly and they are hardened therby but they little think
It implieth an unsetledness upon the Creature 3 A stirring of the heart after Christ 4 A laying of all our burdens upon Christ 5 A leaving of the Soul with Christ for life NOW then we come to the Invitation it self Come to me saith Christ Come to me that is Beleeve in me For among many other expressions of beleeving in Christ or of accepting of the Condition of the Covenant of Grace the Holy Ghost doth express this beleeving and acceptation of the Covenant of Grace by coming to Christ Beleeving in Christ is exprest very often by coming to Christ In John 5.40 You will not come to me that ye might have life They did come to Christ in his outward presence Christ conferred with them and they with him but yet saith Christ ye will not come to me that ye might have life And so in John 6.37 Those that the Father hath given to me come to me and I will in no wise cast them out All that the Father hath from Eternity given me to redeem they come to me that is they beleeve in me And in verse 44. None can come to me except God the Father draw him That is none beleeves in me except my Father draw them and so He that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me That is beleeves in me And that is the meaning of the 55. of Isai Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters buy wine and milk without money and without price that is beleeve in me that is the meaning All you that labor under al these several Burdens come to me beleeve in me and I wil give you rest But this must be opened more largely And in this Invitation there are these Five things that I desire to open unto you and to work them upon you First What Christ would have us do more particularly when he bids us Come to him Secondly What kind of Invitation it is that Christ doth make to those that the Father gives to him that shal indeed come to be saved by him what kind of invitation they have from Christ how Christ calls them to him for this is a calling and an inviting Thirdly That all that Christ requires as a Condition of the Covenant of Grace for rest unto our souls is to come to him nothing else is the Condition of the Gospel by which we come to have Christ to be ours but this to come to him Come to me saith Christ that is the great Condition of the Gospel only to come to Christ Fourthly There are some Rules to be propounded and observed for our Coming unto Christ Fiftly The Laboring to draw your Souls unto Christ For the first Come to me what is that what would Christ have you to do For the opening of that in particular it is this When Christ calls you to come to him you are to know this notes a motion from Christ to come to him First It implies a beholding a looking unto Jesus Christ as being the All-sufficient Savior to save our souls from al the evils that are upon us and to supply unto us al good we stand in need of As if Christ should say when he saith Come to me That is O! poor troubled sinners that are under these burdens Do you behold me to be the great Mediator that is come into the world to stand between all the wrath of my Father and your souls and to bring life and salvation to you that is imployed when I would go I must know whither I must go to whom I must go so saith Christ I am the greaâ— redeemer sent into the world by my father to that very end that I may ease poor soules of their burdens and such soules as you are look unto Christ therefore as the great reconciler of God and man the great mediator between God and man having the fulness of al mercy and goodness in him the great meanes of conveyance of al the grace and riches of God the father to sinful souls that is the first work of beleeving in Christ for to look unto him to be such a one as God the Father hath tendred unto us that is imployed but yet the soul comes not Secondly But then the second is this which goes further To come to Christ implies an unsetledness when we come to a thing there is the Terminus a quo and the terminus ad quem we come from something so saith Christ you have setled your hearts upon creature comforts and you have looked upon them heretofore as those things wherein your good and happiness doth consist but now your hearts must be taken off from those you must come to me that is there must be a removing from that station you were in from that kind of settlement you were before in I cannot go to another place and stay in the place where I was too and so the heart cannot come to Christ and stay in the state it was in before therefore that implies that whereas you poor creatures have settled your hearts upon creature comforts and setled your hearts upon sinful things heretofore O! now let your hearts be taken off from al those things know that your good your happiness your peace is not here if you abide here and settle here you are lost and undone creatures for ever Let it not grieve your souls to part with the comforts that are here below in the creatures for certainly you mistake here doth not lie your good and happiness so that when the soul is beginning to stir after Christ it is taken off from the creature taken off from al creature comforts looks upon every thing as vanity O! Saith the soul I am cleerly convinced that my happiness lies higher then the things here below these are the reasonings of the heart that is in motion to go to Christ And not onely to be unsetled from the creature but I must be taken off from my self too from al my righteousness and duties I must not think to satisfie God by any thing that I can do no but I must be convinced that there is a greater thing required to make up my satisfaction with God then any thing that I can do and therefore my heart must be taken off from these things Heretofore I rested in duties that I was not so bad as others but now I see there is another manner of righteousness that I must have in a mediator these though they be good in themselves yet they are not the things that can ever save my soul but if ever I have peace with God and stand before him at the great day it must be through another meanes then ever yet I have had if I had gon on and had thought to make up my satisfaction with God by what I have done I had been an undone creature yea my heart must be taken off from mine one bottome not to rest in any thing that is in my self but I must go out and deny my self and so look
for the principle of life out of my self This is the second thing that is here noted Come to me that is first behold me see and beleeve that I am the great mediator that is come into the world to save your souls and then secondly let there be an unsetling of your hearts a taking your hearts off from whatsoever you were setled upon heretofore that so you may be removed from thence and that you may take another course for your life in Christ and happiness in him Thirdly Come unto me that is let there be a working and a stirring of your hearts after me Christ calls for the heart of sinners after he comes to be revealled to them they should be in a working stiring disposition making after the Lord Jesus Christ for union with him to the utmost that possibly they can the thoughts should be working and the conscience working and the wil opening it self to receive in the grace of God and the affection should he stirring and the whole soul should be in a working disposition after him Incline your eare and come as if Christ should say though you are under great burdens yet do not you sink under them in a discouraging way and lie down in a dul and a heavy way No but let your hearts be stirring working and acting after me continually have a care of this to keep your hearts in a stirring and working way after Christ and the grace that is offered to you in Christ this is that which young beginners should observe in a special manner if God be beginning to work upon your hearts you should have a great care to keep your hearts in a stir-working acting frame and disposition after Christ and above al things in the world take heed of a dul heavy dead spirit at this time when God cals you to come to Christ as the Apostle saith of himself in Phil. 3.14 I press hard after the mark so it should be with every poor soul that God is drawing after Christ it should be alwaies in a comming disposition and they should press hard toward the mark of the high prize of the calling that is set before them Christ is set before thee God sets his son before thee with the treasure of grace and thou shouldest press and follow hard after God as it is the expression of David in one of the Psalmes 63 8. a hard following stirring and working of the soul after the Lord as David said to his son Solomon in 1. Chron. 22.16 Vp and be doing and the Lord wil be with thee so I say to al unto whom the grace of God is offered they must not be dul and sullen but up and be doing As the Apostle speakes in 1. Phil. 20. According to the earnest expectation the word that is translated earnest expectation in the original signifies to stretch out the neck to look after some good that I would fain have come that is the propriety of the word in the original text so this should be comming to Christ that is when Christ is propouned in the gospel there should be the stretching out of the soul in looking after the Lord Jesus and a working of the soul after Jesus Christ keeping the soul working and stirring after Christ Many poor souls whom God is beginning to work his grace upon loose abundance of time and comfort for want of this of keeping their hearts in a working and stirring frame after Christ they spend their time in the afflicting of their soules but they do not keep their hearts working towards Jesus Christ As Jacob said to his sons when they wanted bread in Cannaan saith he We have heard that there is corn in Egipt and why do we stand looking one upon an other saith Jacob to his sons had you gon saith he you might have been come back again and brought us bread by this time so I say to many burdened souls hast thou not heard that there is grace and mercy in Jesus Christ had thy soul bin working stirring and kept in an acting frame after Jesus Christ thou mightest have bin returnig and have gotten rest to thy soul by this time thou standest looking unto this thing and the other thing and poring upon thy corruptions hadst thou kept thy heart continually stirring in a working frame after Christ the work might have been done by this time Fourthly Come to me that is saith Christ come and lay al your burdens upon mee come and role your hearts upon mee whatever burden it is either of your soules or afflictions outwardly what ever your feares and troubles are yet come and do you cast al your burdens upon me I am content to beare them al. That is a special work of faith for the soul to role it self upon Jesus Christ to cast it self with al its burdens upon the infinite rich free grace of God in Jesus Christ as if Christ should say is it the burden of sin I have borne the burden of sin already Is it the wrath of God that is a burden to you come and cast this burden upon me I have born the wrath of God Or is it the burden of the Law I have borne that burden for you I was made an offering for you I was made under the law to deliver you from under the law Is it the burden of any affliction That was upon me It is true the burden of corruption was not upon him but Christ wil deliver us from that too Come to me and whatever burden is upon your souls cast it upon me role your souls al your burdens upon me saith Christ and I wil give you rest Fifthly and lastly Come to me that is come and leave your soules with me and commit them to me for life for salvation for peace for whatsoever good you would have be willing to betrust me with your souls be willing to betrust me with al your comforts be willing to betrust me both with your present and with your eternal estate in al your transanctions with God and dealing with God trust me withal that is comming to Christ When Christ bids us come to him it is as much as if he should say come to me and leave your souls leave al your care and commit to me al that you have and whatsoever you are commit your selves wholly to me to be disposed of by me for al good whatsoever and I wil take charge of you I wil ingage my self and al my faithfulness to have a care of you and suply you in al your wants and strengthen you under al your burdens and carry you through al difficulties and bring you at length to life and salvation and perfect rest together with my Father and my self that is the meaning of Christ when he saith Come to me So the Apostle in 1. Tim. 2.12 I know in whom I have beleeved and that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him That which I have committed to him what is that
come and cast your souls upon me You may say Lord we that have been guilty of so many sins so many years might it not be just that God should require and say I but you shal live so many yeares to my honor live so many yeares to my service and then I wil pardon and accept of you no but saith God I wil receive you and accept of you upon your comming before ever you are able to do me any kind of service no saith God come to me and you shal have first my favour and you shal be first accepted and first pardoned and then indeed I expect service from you then I expect that you should live as the redeemed ones of the Lord and al that you shal do afterwards shal be but in way of thankfulness to me for my grace And indeed thus do beleevers live in the world though they look upon what they do in a way of duty but they do it in a way of thankfulness that is the special thing that carries them on the grace of God in his son and that is a stronger argument to al kind of duties that now God requires of them then what they had before God doth not cal upon you to suffer first and then he wil pardon your sin no but saith God I wil bestow my favour first upon you and try whither you wil suffer afterwards God wil not do as men try them whether they wil suffer and deserve their favours before they bestow them on them but saith God I wil first bestow my favours upon you and then I wil try whether you wil suffer for me and do me service And therefore the less God requires as a condition before we come to Christ the more should we be willing to do for God after we are come to Christ As a man that shall receive a poor child into his family and make him his heir the less that was procured to the favour of the man the more if the child be ingenious wil he do to him in way of thankfulness Indeed if the friends of the Child come and indent with the man and promise him a hundred pound the Child thinks he is not so beholding to his master for their was money given with him I but now if you should ly at the dore and no friend to look after you and not a rag upon you and if then he wil take you in and teach you his trade and make you the heir of al he hath Oh! now how infinitely ingaged are you to him that how my master doth al this for me and there was nothing done before to procure his love Thus Jesus Christ is a forehand with us Come to me only come to me that you might have Rest 8. Hence follows another note of very good use seeing nothing is required first but only coming to Christ here is a strong ground of assurance that those that are once in Christ shall not be cast away but shall have eternal life for there is not so great a distance between eternal life and the members of Christ as there is between one that is in his Natural estate and a member of Christ Now God hath done more for thee in bringing thee unto Christ then he shall do for thee when he brings thee unto Heaven For there is a geater distance between thee and Christ than there is between thee a Member of Christ and a glorified Saint in Heaven and if God bring thee over this great distance meerly out of free Grace and nothing required but coming that now thou art a member of Christ and therefore hast right to Heaven and thou canst challeng Heaven through the Righteousness of Jesus Christ and God hath put a principle of life into thee to live unto Jesus Christ a principle of everlasting life into thee when there was no principle at all God brings thee to Jesus Christ meerly out of free Grace Now if thou comest so freely to him surely thou shalt not be shut out of Heaven and therefore it may be a mighty incouragment What if when we were enemies we be Reconciled to Christ much more now shall we be saved by his life If when I was in the Gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity God gave me mercy upon coming to his Son surely he will not cast me out of Heaven 9. Another note that we may learn from hence is this That those that are beleevers if at any time through their negligence sluggishness or fals they loose the assurance of Gods love in Christ loose their Rest in Christ here they have a direction to know what to do Look how thou did'st at first when thou attainedst first Rest in Christ it was not by any Righteousness of thine own nor by thy humiliation though that might make some way towards it So now when thou art a beleever and hast lost the assurance of Christs Love and the comfort of Rest in Christ now thou must go and take the same way again Christ cals those that are beleevers to come to him those that have lost the assurance of Faith that is the way for Rest to renew the act of thy coming to Christ just as thou did'st before Though God did humble thee yet the thing that did bring thee Rest was the coming to Jesus Christ so much more should'st thou do now being a beleever When thou hast not the Rest in Christ thou desirest thy way is to renew thy act of coming of going to Christ and so you may sooner come to have Rest that way than by thinking thus I know not whether my evidences be right or no and I had need look to them and therefore I had need to look whether my humiliation be right and my Sanctification be right or no. I say the renewing the act of thy faith in coming to Christ will bring Rest sooner and safer Rest and therefore thou shalt come to see thy Sanctification better too by renewing the act of thy Faith in coming unto Christ and thou wilt have thy Rest sooner that way it follows from hence because at first conversion there is coming Thus much for the Consequences that follow from the point of Christs requiring only to come CHAP. XXI Nine Rules to be observed in right coming to Christ 1. Rest not in outward means that lead to Christ before Christ himself be enjoyed 2. Pitch rather upon Christ himself than upon the good things of Christ 3. Come with the whole Soul 4. Keep Christ continually in thine Eye 5. Be convinced that whatsoever keeps thee from Christ comes not from God 6. Take heed and beware of al discouragements and hinderances 7. Keep the Heart stil tending to Christ 8. Give up thy self to Gods Spirit 9. Often renew the act of coming come often to Christ NOw there is only two things remaine and that is some Rules to be propounded about our coming to Christ And then some means to draw the Hearts of sinners to come
saith to it regard not the stuff let your Heart be wholly taken off from all Creature comforts that are most dear unto you it is all but stuff here is Heaven here is the Riches of Heaven the Riches of Christ is yours and then doth the Soul come to Christ indeed when it laies all upon Christ and is satisfied with him alone RULE IV. Fourthly When thy Soul is making towards Christ labor to keep him continually in thine Eye and look upon him in his excellency Glory and beauty keep the object before thee all the while thou art coming towards him As it is in any journey if I am going to a place and I can see the journeys end it is in mine eye I can see the steeple before me of the place that I am going unto when the Marriner can see the harbour that he is going unto this is comfortable So the Soul that comes to Christ must resolve and say I must keep him in mine Eye in his lustre Beauty and Glory that so I may see a greater good in Jesus Christ than in all things else that the goodness that is in him doth out-bid all good whatsoever Now this is a great help to come to Christ for one of the greatest hinderances of the Soul in coming to Christ is this that it looseth the sight of Christ in coming and the Devil propounds other spectacles before its Eyes in coming and so it lookes into the deep pit of its own Heart and sees no other matter but discouragement whereas it should keep up its Eyes upon Christ the Son of God who is opening his Arms ready to imbrace it And there is a secret power and influence that comes from Christ unto the Soul to draw the Soul to him So long as the Soul keeps Christ in his Eye as the poor Woman said If I can but touch the hem of his Garment Nay you may go further then so and have a degree of Faith Nay If I may have but a sight of Christ I say there is that in the sight of Christ that will draw the Heart unto Jesus Christ As they say of some kind of creatures the very sight of them will kil a Man that if they do but see you or you them there will come poyson from them that wil kill you say the Naturalists But I am sure it is true of this that if you can keep Christ in your Eye the very sight of the excellency of Christ wil be of excellent vertue to draw the Soul to Christ And therefore you that are coming to Christ observe this some that are coming to Christ it fares with them as with the Children of Israel when they were going to Canaan they had gone a pretty way and made some progress but then they fel into discontent when they found a little discouragement and upon that they were brought back again and wandred forty Years up and down in the Wilderness and this was the punishment of their murmuring and discontent So it is with many that are going out of their natural State unto Jesus Christ they are come very near to him many times and then fal into fits of discontent pining fretting and discouragement and so are brought back again and made to wander in the Wilderness of discouragement for many Years together RULE V. Fifthly Labor throughly to convince thy Soul of this thing that whatsoever sorrow for sin whatsoever humiliation whatsoever trouble of spirit keeps thy Heart from Jesus Christ it is not of God but rather from thine own corruption it is not of God in thee except you will say it 's of God as an affliction it is not of God but suffering the Devil to try thee but whatever sorrow it be for thine own wretchedness or unworthiness if this keep thee off from Christ and discourage thee from coming to Christ convince thy Soul of this that it is not the gracious work of God in thee but the troubling of the Devil in thee The truth is many poor sinners when they are once troubled for their sins they take a kind of Satisfaction in this they think this is a good thing and they are glad of it I grant you trouble for sin is a good thing and you are to be glad of it but if your trouble for sin hinder you from coming to Christ and makes you think because you are so unworthy you may not come to him this trouble is not mixt with godly sorrow be convinced of this RULE VI. Sixthly Take heed of all kind of discouragements and hinderances in your coming to Christ but then take heed especially of all determinations take heed of insnaring your Souls by determining against your selves as saying surely the Lord will never shew mercy to me the time is past the Lord hath forsaken me I have used so much meanes so long time and God is not yet come to me No The Lord never intends good to me Oh! Take heed of these determinations for they are sinful wherever they are there can be no just cause in thy Heart be it as vile as it will for such determinations as these are and know when thou givest way to such determinations as these thou dost but insnare and fetter thy Legs by this and then thou sayest thou canst not come to Christ Christ calls to thee and thou art infettered with thy own thoughts for so one may lay fetters upon ones own Legs by ones own thoughts to hinder this spiritual coming to Christ As if a man should tie fetters about his Legs and say when he is called to come to such a place I cannot come Do not sit down and say I shall never have Mercy and I am one that belongs not to the election of Grace and I shall never come to Christ take off such thoughts when thou art about coming to Jesus Christ RULE VII Seventhly At those times when thou canst not feel thy Heart active as thou desirest to go after Christ yet keep thy Heart stil towards Christ keep it tending that way Why cannot I go to Christ Christ calls me to go to him Oh! I have a dead Heart and a heavy dull Heart yet I know I am neerer Christ there than if I should neglect his Ordinances I wil present my Soul where Jesus Christ is and may be he may cast in some Vertue into my Heart to make it more stirring after him but however I am resolved upon this I will not turne away from Christ I will keep my Heart where I am howsoever If I can go no further and here I will stand and here I wil look and I will cry to him and cry to God as the Church doth Draw me and I will run after thee and though I cannot beleeve yet here I will stand and sigh and cry and cal and if I perish I will perish crying to God that God would draw my Heart Oh draw draw our Hearts and we will run after thee Blessed Redeemer dost thou cal us
It would seem a strange thing that if a king should come to a woman and tel her he would be married to her and she should say no if I were a Queene I would take him but she must first be married to him and that makes her to be a Queen So here the soul must not first say if I were first sanctified and had overcome such and such corruptions I would come to Christ no but by coming to Christ renewing thy act of coming to Christ that sanctifies thee That is a rule that I would leave with al young beginners spend more time and more strength in renewing the very act of beleeving of rolling thy soul upon the grace of God in Christ and casting thy burden upon him then in any other worke what soever there is no other thing that thou canst spend thy time thy strength more profitably in then the renewing the act of coming to Christ Come saith Christ saith the soul I had thought I had come but I was deceived saith Christ yet come again and come again and again this is the onely way to overcome any corruption in thy heart So that when Christ cals thee to come remember these rules Oh! that you would lay them up to make use of them at al times When you heare such things out of Gods word remember what hath bin said in this text what is implyed in the coming what way you would come and O! that the Lord would help poor soules thus to come to him and know for your incouragement that if God give you a heart to answer to his cal to come to his Son this is an evident signe of your predestination for whom he cals he hath elected yea do but think thus with your selves what an infinite mercy is it to me that I am in such a condition as that God calls me to come I might have had my eares filled with this depart from me ye cursed Thus many are cast off from God and God bids them depart from me ye cursed thou art as great a sinner may be as they are now whereas God might have said depart from me thou vild soul thou passionate soul thou filthy unclean soul I say this sound might have been in thin eares but instead of that sound there is the spirit of Jesus Christ in the ministry of this word calling to thee come to me yea he doth not onely cal thee but he hath given thee many rules how thou shouldest come to him If a Prince shal first make a proclamation for a rebel to come to him for pardon and shal send to him and make out many rules how he shal come and direct him to such a place what a mighty incouragement would this be to such an one to come in Now this the Lord Christ hath done to thee he hath not only proclaimed that he is mediator between God and thee but he hath sent his spirit to cal thee and he hath sent his messenger to give thee rules how to order thee that thou shouldest take heed of such a by way and such a turning and observe these and these things for thy help thus Christ hath done for thee If the Lord doth give thee a heart to answer to Christs cal know that this calling to thee by Christ in his word wil be no other but a forerunner of that cal that Christ shal make to thee another day There 's a cal come to me al ye that are weary and heavy Laden and I wil give you rest Inherit the kingdome prepared for you This is worth ten thousand worlds and when the soul answers to his cal such a soul may go away and be comforted that Christ wil cal you after another manner He cals the poor laden soul to give you now rest but he wil cal you afterwards before men and Angels to receive the inheritance Come not to rest only but come to an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you before the beginning of the world CHAP. XXIII Nine means to draw Sinners to Christ namely That 1. He that cals us is the Son of God 2. He is our neer Kinsman wherein three strong arguments are included First The terror of Gods glory is taken away Secondly He is infinitely inclined to do good unto the Sons of men Thirdly In uniting the divine nature with the human he hath done a greater work than to save a soul 3. He is the mediator 4. He deserves that we should come to him 5. The soul gets infinite good by coming to Christ instanced in four particulars 6. We are miserable in our selves 7. Christ wil certainly receive them that come to him which is opened in three particulars 8. We stand in great need of Christ 9. The not coming to Christ wil aggravate all other Sins With an answer unto some Objections NOW that which followes to be spoken unto in this second part of the text the invitation it self is the drawing of the hearts of sinners to come to Christ the work that we have to do is that in Luke 14.17 He sent his servants at supper time to say to them that were bidden Come for al things are now ready There the gospel is set out unto us by a rich mans making a great wedding supper and when he had prepared al his dainties he sends his servants to invite the guests saying al things are ready this wedding is nothing else but the excellent things in the Gospel the excellent things that are in Christ and the servants are the Ministers of the Gospel they are sent out to cal sinners to cal the guests to come for all things are ready So then in the name of Christ I cal unto al laden sinners to come to Christ And for the drawing of the soules of those that are thus laden these several things are to be propounded ARG. I. First consider who Christ is that calls and what he is Come to me saith Christ What is Jesus Christ that doth cal you to come to him The very knowledg of him what he is would be a mighty argument to prevail with the heart to come to him he that cals you to come to him is the Son of God the second person in the Trinity the brightness of the glory of God the character and image of his person as he is said to be in Heb. 1.3 He is equal with the Father he hath the glory of the Father in him he is the glory of heaven and earth the adoration of Angels he hath al fulness of al good in him If a great Prince should cal to you as you go in the streets and say come to me would not you presently adress your selves to make towards him to go to him know when Christ calls you to come to him it is more than if al the Angels in heaven should stand together to cal you to come to him When once the soul comes to know who it is that cals to know the voice of Christ and
Christ what dost thou think that mercy is worth that cost the Blood of Christ Thou thinkest thou art a great sinner and that it must be wonderful mercy that must save thy Soul It s true and it 's well thou thinkest So but now consider further sinner what dost thou think of the mercy that shall be as much worth as the Blood of the Son of God For him to be made a curse for sinners will that do it If that will do it thou mayest come to him How much dost thou think the mercy of Christs coming to take Mans Nature upon him is worth to take our sinful Nature upon him If he will do it thou mayest come to Christ Yea Further know That the Lord Jesus Christ never receives any that come to him but Beggars none but Beggars none but miserable creatures none but those that are wretched that are vile and Christ did never yet from the beginning of the world receive any man upon these tearms because he was not so vile as another man as thus here is one that is thus vile here is another that is not altogether so vile I will receive him upon this ground because he is not so vile this was never the ground but when he receives them he receives them upon free Grace and therefore it is not how vile thou art for that is the Glory of Christ to save vile creatures and he saves none but those that come as Beggars those that come and do see themselves as vile wretched worthless unworthy miserable damned dust and Ashes in themselves Only such are objects for the Heart of Christ to be set upon rather make it an argument to drive thee more to him as David did in the 25. Psalm O Lord have mercy upon me pardon my Sin for it is great So Lord I am vile I am wretched I am unworthy and therefore Lord receive me Lord therefore I come unto thee do not say as Peter once did Master depart from me I am a sinful Man No but the truth is he should rather have said thus Master Come to me or Master I come to thee because I am a sinful man So thou shouldest not say O Lord depart from me because I am a sinful creature Or Lord do thou come to me because I am a sinful wretch And know that upon thy coming to him thou wilt have wonderful welcome wonderful great entertainment above all that thy Heart can think of O the great imbracing by Jesus Christ of those Souls that come to him and this is the very Reason why poor sinners at their first conversion have their Hearts so filled with joy because at their first coming to Christ Christ doth give them such wonderful imbracements til they come to be more Strengthened and then perhaps Christ will have them live rather by Faith than by sence It is in the new Birth as in the Birth of Nature Children when they are first born they shoote up mightily take a Child that comes very little out of the Womb come to it a quarter of a Year after the Child is shot up a great deal you may see it a great deal taller and bigger every Limb increased but take it at ten years Old and it grows not so much then as at the first and the Reason is because it coming out of the worm Womb it could not subsist if Nature did not hasten to strengthen it self at first so men when they come to Christ at first they shoote up and grow to such inlargement of Spirit and they do so sensibly perceive Yea and others do so sensibly perceive a greater growth at their first coming than afterwards because when they first come Christ will Strengthen them against all discouragements Christ will use you tenderly Christ will not upbraid you for your former sins and say What! you that have lived a prophane life a prophaner of my ordinances a scorner at my waies and at my people Christ will not upbraid the Soul but he wil be render of you he will pass by your sins and heal your weakness He will not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax. ARG. VIII Eightly Further Consider The infinite need thy Soul hath of Jesus Christ and therefore that should drive thee to him if the other Arguments do not draw thee Oh! Let that drive thee to Jesus Christ thou art an undone creature for ever without Jesus Christ all the mercy in Heaven can do thee no good without Christ all the Ordinances can do thee no good without Christ all the duties thou performest can do thee no good without Christ for before thou comest to Jesus Christ there is no Prayer no Duties that ever thou tenderest up to God that can be accepted and this is a sad condiâ—ion that all my Duties my Prayers my services are all cast away till I come to Jesus Christ Certainly this is so for thou must know that Jesus Christ is not only the great conveyer of all good from God to us but also all that comes to us from God must go through him and therefore there is cause thou shouldest hasten to Christ and never be at quiet all thy Life til thou hast some comfortable evidence that thy Heart hath closed with Jesus Christ there is an infinite necessity because al Ordinances Duties services whatever thou dost doth thee no good til thou come to Christ ARG. IX Ninthly Yea Further Christ is such a one as all the creatures one day will see a need of him Yea all that live under the sound of the Gospel they shall see a need of him and they shal curse themselves that when they lived under the sound of the Gospel and were called to come to Jesus Christ that yet notwithstanding they would satisfie themselves in the lusts of their spirits Christ came from Heaven once to us in the daies of his flesh but know that Jesus Christ shall come again in his Glory with all his Angels all his Saints about him and then how happy will those appear that in the time of their lives when they were called by the Ministery of the Gospell did come to Jesus Christ When Christ comes thus in his Glory perhaps you would then all go to Jesus Christ no friend if you will stay till then you will heaâ— another voice from Christ he will not come to call sinners to come to him then but he will come to bid them depart from him for all that the father gives him do come to him before then ARG. X. Yea and yet further let me tel you this that while you have heard the word of God by a poor minister in the name of Christ to cal you unto him to draw you to come unto him if you shal reject this invitation and other invitations that you have by the ministers of the Gospel know that of al the sins that ever you committed in al your lives this wil prove to be the greatest that you have stood
of God those who are acquainted with the secrets of the mind of God those men know that there is a reality in what is declared against such and such wicked men they can say that to such there is no Peace they can wonder how it is possible that such men can go on quietly in their way they wonder how they can eat their meat in quiet they wonder how they can sleep in quiet they that know what a breach sin hath made between God and the Soul and know what a wonderful work it is to make up the breach between God and the Soul that sin hath made those men can understand this and so wonder at their security That is the meaning of the prophets words in Isaiah There is no peace to the wicked saith my God as he instanceth in those words in the relation he hath to God saith my God because he knew the way of God he knew a wicked man could have no peace others that know not the way of God they think wicked men may have peace as now come to some men and speak of the natural mans Estate and how we are all Children of wrath and of sin and of the severity of Gods justice and holiness now a carnal heart who knows not God he thinks strange of this and thinks people are troubled more than needs but now come to another that understands what the way of God is and knows what the way of God is in making peace between God and them come to one to whom God hath made himselfe known in Christ such a one wil presently subscribe to al that is revealed of the wrath of God and of the holyness of God and of the righteous judgment of God thus the prophet doth My God that God that hath revealed himself to me he saith there is no peace to the wicked Further there is yet a further note there is no peace to the wicked saith my God there is this note from it That it is a sad thing when such as are wise Godly and gracious that are acquainted with the wayes of God shal think others conditions to be naught when such men shal be suspicious of it much more if they were able to say certainly what their estates are but when such as are wise and holy and walk close with God when they shal say to you there is no peace you had need look to it is there any godly friend of yours whom in your conscience you beleeve is truly godly that walks close with God and faithfully with him and enjoyes communion with him if such a friend shal but think your condition to be naught it is a sad thing thus it is when the prophet saith there is no peace to such and such wicked men saith my God that is through Gods mercy I have an interest in him and in his name pronounce this that there is no peace to such and such wicked men CHAP. XXV Six Reasons of the former Doctrine 1. The soul out of Christ is departed from God 2. Every man by nature is an enemy to God 3. Every man by nature is bound over to the justice of God to answer to what he can charge him with 4. In a man out of Christ there is every thing to disquiet him 5. Every one out of Christ is condemned 6. Such every moment may be Plunged into a Gulf of Wrath. WELL Because this text hath taken up some time in the opening of it and hath much in it I wil name no other than this for this indeed is sufficient to prove that al out of Christ can have no peace nor rest unto their soules Would you know why and how it comes to pass that None that are out of Christ can have Rest unto their soules I shal not spend much time in opening what I have to say but those that are to be delivered for the opening of this point are exceeding dreadful they speake dreadfully to those that are out of Christ but now because you have already heard so much of the willingness of Jesus Christ to be reconciled to you and his invitation of you to come to him and I have so much afterwards to deliver to you about the true rest that a beleeving soul hath in Jesus Christ therefore I may take the more liberty to shew unto you the restless condition that every soul is in that is out of Jesus Christ I wil do it very breifly in these particulars First Certainly a soul out of Christ can have no rest because it is departed from God know this and Oh! that the Lord would make you to know it that every man and woman naturally is departed from God is gone from God from the womb we have departed from him there is a great distance between God every one of our souls naturally al the union we come to have with God it is in his son it is in Christ therfore til we come to be in Christ there is a great chasma a gulf a depth a vast distance between God and al our soules and this is one of the first things that the Lord is pleased to shew and to convince a soule that he is about to save of the great distance that there is between God and the soul natturally now it is impossible for a soul to have rest that is departed from God for God is the proper Centre of an immortal soul as Moses saith in Psalm 90. Thou art our habitation the soul can have no rest but in God for God is the proper place of an immortal soul the true good of an immortal soul it is the injoyment of an infinite good now if the soul be separated from that which is the true good and proper place of it it is impossible it should have any rest In the 12. Psalm the latter end it is said of the wicked The wicked walk round about the words are termed in the old Latin in a circuit up and down but now a godly man walkes in a strait line he goes to the center in a strait line to God as the center and there it finds rest but when it is in its natural condition it walkes in a circle up and downe seeking for rest and finding none as it is said of the uncleane spirit in the Gospel that walks up and down seeking rest but finds none so it is with men in the world they would fain have rest and seek somewhat that is good but finds none for they are departed from God that is the only rest of an immortal soule Secondly not only so but every man by nature is an enemy to God and therefore cannot look upon God the infinite eternal first being of al things without terror if he knowes him no man or woman that knowes what God is that is able to look upon him without terror in his natural estate and therefore it is not possible they can have any rest so long as they continue enemies to God
to him Do but stay a quarter of an hour or may be an hour or two then you wil find him in his scalding burning fit then he burnes ten times more than he did before and it is like to cost him his life but he finds trouble and disquiet and that gives him ease and therefore he drinks it down and this indangers his Life afterwards So it is with men that seek after ease and Rest unto their Souls in any way of sin thy pleasure in thy sinful waies take all the pleasure of thy Life from thy youth to the day of thy death and put it altogether yet in respect of eternity it is but just like the ease that a poor man in a Feaver hath while the water is going down his Throat all thy pleasure is no more and thou art like to be scalding and burning in Gods wrath to al eternity for that one draught of thine for the ease and Rest that thou hadst in the way of sin I am sure when Christ had the burden of our sins upon him he found it no Rest and therefore it cannot be ease to thy Spirit Secondly There are others though not so vile yet they Rest not in the act of sin but in the creature if they can have good trading quick voyages and have as their neighbors have then they are ready as the rich man in the Gospel to say Soul take thine ease eat and drink for thou hast goods laid up for many yeares and this is the rest that most people in the world do seek after they think that if they might have as such and such have then they had rest enough but be it knowne unto you that this is an argument that thou doest not understand nor savor the things of God if thou thinkest that al the creatures in the world yea if God should give thee the possession of al the creatures in heaven and earth if thou shouldest think that they would give thee rest I say thou dost not savour at al the things of God but those that understand what God is yea those that have but one sparke of true saving grace this spark of grace doth so inlarge the soul that al the creatures in heaven and earth cannot give rest cannot give quiet but stil it hath a higher good to seek after than al the creatures in al the world There is a notable text of Scripture which we have in the book of Job in the 26. of Job and 7. verse He Stretcheth forth the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing Wilt thou seek thy rest in that which hangs upon nothing the whole earth hath nothing to rest upon and therefore nothing in the earth can be rest unto thy soul In Micah 2.10 as it is said there in that place so I may say of creatures Arise ye and depart for here is not your rest The whole world is as a wheel in a continual motion and therefore in James 3.6 Where the text speakes of the course of nature or the wheel of nature the whole world is as a wheel running up and down and therefore there can be no rest in the enjoyment of the creature Wel but there are some yet would fain have rest there having got good estates some of you have got good voyages and God hath prospered you in your young dayes and having got great estates now you would have rest that is to live idlely and to live uselesly and to keep at home and let al things go which way they wil it is good to be quiet in ones old dayes when God hath delivered you from many dangers at sea now you think the only way is to live quietly at home and to meddle with nothing and this is the rest of your souls this is the rest that many men have after their yonger time is past and how then to live and do nothing this is their rest now Oh! that God would but speak to the hearts of these men 1. Do but consider this That by living thus idlely and unusefully thou comest to have al thy parts and thy spirits to corrupt just as a standing water as waters in a pond do corrupt and putrifie by their standing so men that live uselesly and are not active for God and for the publique good according to the opportunities that God puts into their hands their hearts do putrifie and grow corrupt there is a corruption that comes upon al their parts the beauty the excellency the quickness the liveliness of their parts are taken away and they begin to putrifie more and more because they are not imployed for God what ever we have that we imploy not for God and are not active in for God it putrifies and however many men think it a great happiness because they have estates and they may live and do nothing there is not a greater misery to a gracious heart than to be useless for God and for God to lay them aside as such as are useless not to use them in his service it is the greatest affliction to a Godly heart in the world if God should take away their estates it would not be such a great affliction as to lay them aside and do nothing for God and therefore let no man think because he hath got a great estate that therefore he may ly stil do nothing Oh! what wil this man do when he shal be called to account for al his time for al his opportunity for al his estate certainly this wil not be sufficient that he can say he did no hurt no but thou shouldest have been active for God God is active for thee in saving thy soul al the Atributes of God is working for thee and al the passages of his providence is working for thee if thou be saved and therefore this is a wretched condition for men to think no higher rest but meerly freedome from outward trouble and if there be any whose conscience tels them this is the truth this is my condition and God speakes to my heart this day this is the rest that I have sought after know that thou art not acquainted with the wayes of God for certainly the rest of an immortal soul is a high thing Jesus Christ came into the world from the bosom of his father and laid down his life to purchase rest for the soul and dost thou think that Christ did this only to purchase this that thou mayest be freed from some outward trouble in this world and that we might sit in the â—himny corner and do nothing Oh! there is another rest for the Children of God than this Object I but some go further some wil say We trust in the mercy of God for rest for our soules Answ Now for that though this be better than al the other yet a man and woman may mistake in this thou trustest in Gods mercy for rest to thy soul what hath God revealed to thy soul concerning the mediator
of the covenant this may seem difficult to some and that is this that al the mercy of God in heaven cannot be sufficient for the rest of any soul but through a Mediator in Christ the soul must be brought to this mercy by the hand of Christ the mediator thou must first come to Christ the mediator before thou canst have any rest even in the mercy of God it self You must know and if you know any thing of the mistery of the Gospel you must know this that though God be an infinite current of mercy yet al the current of Gods mercy is stopt by mans sin so as it can only be opened by the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore thou must know God in Christ and you must know how you come unto God in and through Christ before you can rest upon the mercy of God this is that which doth undo many soules those that are of the better sort they think to rely upon Gods mercy think to rest in that and that is a sure rest to their soules but they little understand how al the current of the mercy of God is stopt and there is no coming to it but by the hand of a mediator between God and man Others they wil say they do many good things they do many good actions they serve God and they rest in this they do not commit the gross sins of the world and they do performe duties they pray in their families and in their closets this is that they rest in but the rest of an immortal soul must have a better foundation than this than al the duties than al the sorrows for their sins than al that God himself works in them it must be somewhat without them that must be rest to their souls and nothing wrought in us no not the grace of God in us can be rest to our souls it must be the perfect righteousness of a mediator though it be wrought in us by faith can be rest to our souls yet nothing in us So that you may mistake and performe duties in a formal manner but suppose you performed them in a gracious manner yet you must not rest in them you must go higher than al the best duties that ever you performed Wo to Abraham Isaac and Jacob if they had no other rest but what their duties brought them you must look higher than whatever you are or can be inabled to do for your rest You wil say what is there that can be higher than what we are inabled to do by God There is a righteousness in Jesus Christ by which you must come there is an insufficiency in al the creatures in the world to give rest and yet the truth is the greatest part of the world make al their rest in these things much might be spoken concerning the danger of this and much of the signes when our soules have true rest in Christ but we shal meet with that in the other point in handling the Rest that we have in Christ I wil therefore pass over this about the insufficiency of the Rest in al other things only with this one thing Know this That that Heart that is touched with Jesus Christ as the Iron is with the Load-stone can never be quiet either in creature comforts or in hope of mercy or in any Duty or performance it can never be quiet til it gets union with Jesus Christ Just as it is with a Needle that is touched with a Load-Stone shake it which way you wil it wil never be at Rest til it come to the North and when it gets North then it stands there so it is with a heart that is touched with Jesus Christ there is the touch of the spirit of Jesus Christ upon the Heart of a beleever and when the Heart is but touched with Jesus Christ it shakes is ful of fears and doubts and offer it this creature comfort and the other creature comfort it wil not do it the Heart is not at rest But now when there is the manifestation of Christ unto the Soul let them come to a Sermon where some blessed promise to the Gospel is opened to them and Jesus Christ presented to them and they find this to be the Rest of their Souls their Hearts come presently and close with this and they are able to lay the weight of their eternities upon the promise of the Gospel upon the free Grace of God in Christ they are able to lay the weight of their eternal estates here however others think that the promise of the Gospel is but a notion yet here they are able to lay the weight of their eternal estates and they can say with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Here I see Rest for my Soul my Heart was ful of Terrors fears and doubts and I sought for Rest and ease in this and the other creature comfort and could not find it But now Christ is made known to me and here is the Rest of my Soul It is true Godly people may be troubled for a while but it is as the trouble of the shaking of a Needle in the compass and other men they are troubled too there are some people troubled in conscience for their sins they come to a Sermon and hear the evil of sin opened and God meets with their Particular sin some secret sin that they live in they are troubled and they shake too I but they are like a fals Needle not rightly touched that shakes as the other doth but it wil stand at any point do but put it this way or that way and it wil stand here and there would marriners give any thing for such a Needle that would stand at this point and the other point So it is with wicked men when they are troubled the Devil the world and their corruptions come and quiet their consciences out of Christ and so indeed this hinders them from coming to Jesus Christ because they find quiet some where else The Saints they are troubled but their trouble and shaking in the world is like the trouble of a ship that is in the Haven at shore that lies at Anchor a ship that lies at Anchor though the waves toss it up and down yet it is tost up and down at Anchor So here is the difference for al the world between al the troubles of the Saints and the trouble of ungodly men Now when you have a ship at Sea and have no Anchor and the storm drives it any way when there comes a mighty Tempest and hurries it up and down and you do not know but you may light upon a Rock and be split you are troubled But the Saints they are at Anchor and you count your selves at Rest though you are tost by the Waves when you are at Anchor CHAP. XXVIII Of the Rest that a Beleever hath by Christ from the Guilt of Sin laid out in ten Particulars 1.
in case thou fearest any of thy sins should come up in the presence of of God to accuse thee Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of his Father to be thine advocate what is the office of an advocate But if there be any accusation brought against such a man the advocate stands to answer to the accusation Jesus Christ he stands at the right hand of his father thus to do In John 2. and the first verse My little Children these things I write unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous A comfort it is to have one stand to plead at the right hand of the father to be thine advocate Christ is as real an advocate at the right hand of God for al beleevers as ever any had any advocate in this world I find often in scripture this if you read in the 4. chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews you shal find there that the holy Ghost speakes of a rest of God the rest of the saints of God Gods people and mark what is the first incouragment he gives and what ground he makes of the rest they have in two or three places he speakes of the rest of Gods people now the foundation of it is For we have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in al things tempted like as we are yet without sin let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need for we have a high Priest that is the ground of the rest of the saints of God V. Fifthly Come to me saith Christ and I wil give you rest from al the trouble that you have by the guilt of sin thus I wil sprinkle your consciences by my blood that you shal be able to give an answer to al temptations that can come to you not onely I wil stand before my father but you shal have your consciences sprinkled with my blood that you shal be able to give an answer to what accusation shal be made by Satan to disturb your rest to disquiet your soules In Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a pure heart in ful assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience whereas before you came to me you had an evil conscience that was ready to fly in your face and that did fear you vex you and trouble you I appeale unto you that understand what God is and what it is for the creature to have to do with God have not your consciences kept you from sleeping a nights an evil conscience that hath layen grating within you you have layen upon your beds and could not sleep when your wife was asleep by you now to such is this said Let us draw neer upon this ground here is the ground Let us draw neer with a pure heart in ful assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience that is the blood of Christ comes now to be sprinkled upon our soules and consciences and that is it that takes away the worme of our conscience perhaps other things may trouble conscience for a while but now the blood of Christ can wash you from that now when you come to Christ the conscience comes then to be able to answer what shal be laid to its Charge Perhaps those who are beleevers and are come to Christ the devil wil be ready to object and labor to disturb them usually after they first come to Christ there is as great a disturbance in the heart of a sinner as before But mark that text you have in the first of Peter the 3. and the 21. The like figure whereunto even baptisme doth also now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ Through Christs Resurrection a beleever comes to have a good conscience having been sprinkled by his blood before through this resurection he is able to answer the conscience that is whatsoever accusation the Devil shal lay against the soul the soul that is sprinkled with the blood of Christ is able to answer it and this is the comfort that such have that we find our conscience satisfied in the blood of Jesus Christ perhaps at the first coming thou doest not feel it but at the first coming thou beginnest to be able to do it VI. Sixthly the rest that is to be had against the trouble of the guilt of sin is this That upon the first coming of the soul to Christ it is made as perfectly just before God as ever Abraham Isaac and Jacob as al the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs thou comest off as cleerly from the guilt of thy sin as ever Abraham Isaac and Jacob did It s true thou hast not at thy first coming to Christ thy sanctification made perfect but this I dare avouch that at thy first coming to Jesus Christ thou hast thy Justification made as perfect as ever the Justification of Abraham Isaac and Jacob was and what a mighty ease and rest is this what I a vile creature so defiled I that have had such a dreadfulness upon my Spirit now to be able to see my self stand as clear before the Throne of God as Abraham Isaac and Jacob did and as the Apostles and Prophets did Oh! this is a comfort We ought to labor to come to be equal with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in sanctification as we are equal with them in Justification this is the ease that the soul finds that comes to Christ VII Seventhly The rest that is to be had in Christ in point of Justification in freedome from the trouble that ariseth from the guilt of sin it is that Christ undertakes not only for that thou hast done but for whatever thou shalt commit al thy life O! that none but those that are believers might heare me did I say so But this is a certain truth You wil say though I by coming to him might stand Justified before my father yet I am a poor creature I shal sin again and again and bring guilt upon my conscience Yet come to Christ here is free Grace in Christ and know that Christ laies in pardon for thee against whatsoever guilt thou shalt again contract unto thy Soul There is mercy with thee that thou maiest be feared with thee there is forgiveness Christ laies in for the Guilt of sin that thou shalt afterwards contract to thy Soul so as thou shalt never be condemned Perhaps thou shalt deserve condemnation a hundred times over and over again but Christ will take care that thou shalt never enter into condemnation thou shalt never be in the state of Condemnation Oh the Rest that here is VIII Eightly When the Soul comes to
Law a bondage unto those that are Godly being the law of God Ans It is a bondage not in it self but in regard of our inabilâ—ty for it requires of us now considering what estate we are in such things as we cannot do and that is a bondage to be put upon more than we are able to do as the Israelites were by their taskmasters but yet stil God is righteous in this because it is not more than God did at first inable us unto in our first Creation but in regard of that estate that now we are in it is a bondage in that it puts upon us what we cannot do and that upon pain of eternal death too Thirdly we are delivered from the binding over power as I may so say the power of binding over the soul to the justice of God upon every breach of the Law Now the binding-over power the power of binding them over to answer to Gods justice upon the breach of it that beleevers are delivered from in Christ as a man that is bound over to the assize and sessions to answer afterwards when he comes to take out his bond he thinks himself at much ease and at quiet when the bond is taken out by which he was bound to answer so Christ comes and takes out the bond by which beleevers were bound to answer to Gods justice for al their sins Fourthly They are delivered from the condemning power of the law that the law hath not now power to bring a beleever that sins through frailty unto condemnation this is cleere from scripture as I might shew several texts as we go along You are not under the law saith the Apostle And there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Lastly we are delivered from the Law as the covenant for life the law at first was given as the covenant that God made with mankind for life for God deales with the rational creature according to the nature of it because it is capable of a covenant with God therefore God deals with it in the way of a covenant and as soon as man was made the Lord entered into a covenant with mankind now the covenant was no other than the law Do and live that was the covenant that God did enter into with mankind and made our first parents Adam the head of that Covenant Do and live upon thy doing shal thy life depend saith God thy present and thy eternal life Now we are delivered from the law by Christ that is that now it doth remain no more unto beleevers to be the covenant of life unto them they being once in Christ but they are brought under another Covenant a better Covenant So that in these five respects we may be said to be delivered from the Law by Christ from the rigor of it from the bondage of it from the binding-over power that is in it from the condemning power and from it as the Covenant of life Now here is enough one would think if so be that the spirits of Men were not very wild and wanton for the quieting of the soul in the deliverance of it from the law CHAP. XXX The Rest that beleevers have from the Burden of the Law by coming to Christ laid out in Ten particulars 1. They do not stand or fall for life by the Law 2. The Law-giver is the Redeemer 3. The least spark of Grace is accepted 4. Their wil shal be accepted as the deed 5. Obedience is required in a sweet and gentle way 6. The Grace of God in Christ doth melt the heart 7. Their sins make them an object of Gods pity 8. They have Christ to undertake for them as a surety 9. They are delivered and yet satisfaction is made to the law 10. They have assurance that they shal never forfeit the covenant of Grace they are under by Christ NOW then from al these we shal lay downe several propositions wherein you may see what is the ease and rest that beleevers have in Christ in being delivered thus from the law Take the ease that comes by Christ from hence in these several particulars O! thou beleever that art under the load of the law and come to Christ First Know That thou dost not stand and fal for thy eternal estate by the law that is the first Ease and Rest the law indeed may threaten thee and dreadful things may be revealed by it against thee but be of good comfort in this thy eternal estate shal not be cast by it it is ful of severity but thou art so far free that whereas before thou didst depend and rely upon that for thy eternal condition now thou art out of the power out of the reach of it so far that it hath not to do with thee to cast thy soul for thy eternal estate we would not be at the dispose of any man that we look upon as ful of severity and rigor in matters of great consequence but we do desire rather to be in such cases at the dispose of men who are ful of pitty and compassion know O! thou beleever who art in Christ that thou art not at the dispose of the Law that is ful of severity for thy everlasting condition but thou art at the dispose of the Gospel of the covenant of grace that is fild as ful with mercy and compassion as an infinite wisdom could devise it hath that fulness of compassion more then possibly al the wisdom of the angels in heaven and men upon earth could ever have devised or thought on beyond their imagination Now for one to be at the dispose of a man in matters of the greatest concernment that hath as much mercy in him as ever man had in this world yea as much mercy in him as were in al the men in the world If al the mercy that were in al the men in the world were put into one the heart of one man and you were to be at his dispose in a matter of the greatest concernment you would think your selves wel whereas before you lay at the mercy of a man that is very rigorous and ful of severity now you come to ly at the mercy of a man that hath al the bowels and tender compassions of al the men in the world would you not think this a good change this is the change and the rest that thou hast when thou comest to Christ wheras thy soul thy eternal estate lay at the dispose of the Law that is ful of rigor and severity now thy eternal estate doth depend upon a Covenant that is as ful of grace and mercy as thy soul could desire thy soul cannot desire a covenant to be fuller of grace and mercy then that covenant that thy everlasting estate depends upon and must be cast by and is not here rest now for a beleever if he doth understand this aright that is the first thing wherein the rest of a beleever consists by Christ as being freed from the Law 2
curse shal be removed but there shal be this blessing upon it that there is no affliction shal befal thee but such as may stand with Gods love yea such as shal come out of Gods love and from Gods love love shal be the great principle not only of thy affliction but from thy affliction to know this that though there are these and these afflictions upon me yet I thank God there is no want of Gods love upon me for I would not know any thing of Gods love then if any spiritual judgment were upon me but these are no other but what may stand with the love of God Yea but that is not so much that they may possibly stand with the love of God but this that they come out of Gods love and come from Gods love they come as really from the love of God as any thing that thou dost injoy in this world Thou thinkest if thou hast a prosperous voyage that God loves thee if thou beest recovered out of an affliction that God loves thee but I say that the Lords bringing thee into affliction may stand with greater love to thee than deliverance out of affliction to another The afflictions that are upon the Saints now they do not come out of revenge as they do upon the wicked the same affliction that comes from the principle of love to thee may come from the principle of hatred to another and although therfore in the outward view they be the same yet they are infinitely different in the principle It is not so much what we see or what wee feel but from whence that comes that we see or feel and indeed a gracious heart is ever sollicitous about the principles of those things that do befal it if it be an outward mercy I but what is the root of it is the root of it the love of Christ to my soul there is an affliction upon me but what is the root of it is the root of it Gods displeasure Gods wrath Gods hatred Oh that were dreadful Although the affliction were vast if there were a hundred temptations if the root of it were Gods displeasure Oh that were terrible I but then when he shal come to know that the root of it were not from Gods wrath but his love that is joyful You wil say doth not God sometimes chastise his people for their sins what if the affliction comes to me for my sin can I have rest then It is true if the affliction come to me for my tryal then the root may be from his love but I have sinned against God I have abused my estate my conscience tels me I have not honored God with my estate and therefore the Lord hath taken it from me and spoiled me of al and can I look upon this as the root of Gods love Now to that I answer though this be a certain thing and will and must hold notwithstanding all the late wanton conceits of men and all the vanities of their thoughts which shal come to nothing yet this shal hold that God doth chastise his people for sins and offences that is not a part for me to enter upon yet stil it holds forth this That at that time when God chastiseth for sin at that time their afflictions come out of love from a principle of Love even when God chastiseth them for their sins But you wil say hath not Christ suffered This derogates from the sufferings of Christ when he hath suffered For this it is true Christ hath suffered and so hath swallowed up al Gods revenging wrath and the curse I but doth Gods wrath hinder me from having the fruit of Gods Love You wil say it comes from Love therefore God chastiseth not for sin No Why all Gods revenging wrath may be gone and yet God may chastise for sin and chastise out of Love too at the same instant You know it is said of Zachary because he did not beleeve the Scripture saith in Luke 1. For this Cause thou shalt be Dumb For this Cause because thou didst not beleeve And so therefore because of their sin they may be chastised Cannot a Father chastise his Child and yet do it out of Love not only it may stand with his Love but because of Love he would not meddle with him but let him go if he did not love him Certainly affliction may come out of Love though for sin but for God not at all to chastise them would be an argument of hatred therefore for him to chastise is an argument of Love rather than hatred If ye be not chastised you are bastards and not Sons so that you are to look upon him though God be displeased yet stil it is out of love These two may stand together he may be displeased with thy sin and with thee and yet he may love thee in the very act wherein he manifests his displeasure against thy sin and he may manifest his displeasure against thee and against thy sin out of love to thee And therefore the people of God may have Rest in all their afflictions because it is out of Love Here is an affliction but from whence doth it come It comes from Love now I am at Rest If thou canst exercise Faith in Christ in thy affliction that I know that through Christ God Loves me and this is the efficacy of the merit of Christ that in al thy afflictions thou shouldst injoy the Love of God this wil give Rest unto thy Soul and until this be al the arguments in the world will never do it Come to those that are afflicted and seek to pacifie and quiet them with any argument in the world it will not do it until they exercise Faith upon Christ and that makes them to know here is the love of God to my Soul in this affliction and then it is no matter whether I be in prosperity or adversity If God give me an estate there is love in that if he take it away there is Love in that if he give me health there is Love in that if he cast me into sickness there is Love in that and this indeed is the great mystery of godliness that the heathens were not acquainted with this Mystery of godliness Fourthly We have Rest in all afflictions through Christ because in his merit it is that al afflictions are proportioned both for the time of coming and the time of continuing and the measure and the manner of them they are proportioned by the infinite wisdome of God for the good of a beleever God proportions all so as shal be suitable to the condition that thou art in As a wise Physitian knows the ful condition of thee that art his patient at all times therefore he doth weigh every dram and take care that there be not one drop put into thy cup that he gives thee to drink more than shal suit with thy condition for thy good and takes care it shal be given at a seasonable time and