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
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
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
in the 24. verse O wretched man that I am who shal deliver me from this body of death that is the remaining corruption that was in his heart Marke the very next words that follow I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. As if he should say the deliverance that I must have from this body of death it is from God but how through Jesus Christ our Lord The Apostle doth not only thank God for it and say al grace must come from God but he thanks God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus we must understand how grace comes unto us indeed God is the fountain of al but it must come from God through Jesus Christ our Lord as al mercies that we have for the pardon of our sins Now it is not from God immediately as the first person or as Creator of heaven and earth but it is from God through Jesus Christ So al the holiness that we have now it is from God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then take one scripture more and then we shal come to the third particular which is the cheif we aimed at and that is in the 26. of the Acts. the latter end of 18. verse That they may receive remission of Sins and inheritance amongst them which are Sanctified by faith that is in Christ It is a speech of Christ unto Paul when he sent him to preach and tels him to what end it should he To open their eyes and turne them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ Multitudes of scriptures there are for this purpose CHAP. XXXVIII Sheweth how our sanctification commeth from Christ in six particulars 1. It was the end of his coming to destroy the works of the Divel 2. He is the great Ordinance appointed by God to sanctifie his people 3. His death is appointed to mortifie sin 4. By him the curse upon the heart is taken away 5. By his union with beleevers being the head of the second Covenant 6. In Christ are the strongest arguments for holiness that can be THirdly And especially we are to enquire how Christ is the rest of sanctification come to me and I wil give you rest I will give you power against your corruptions and you shall have sanctification in and by me For that 1. We are to know That a special end why Jesus Christ came into the World it was to dissolve the works of the Devil that was a special End of Christs coming into the World In 1 John 3.8 He that committeth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the begining for this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin c. It is a strange scripture whosoever committeth sin is of the devil you say you defie the Devil but the holy Ghost saith if you commit sin that is walk in any way of sin For you wil say who is there that commits not sin Well but the words are thus He that committeth sin is of the Devil Therefore it is apparent there is a kind of commission of sin that is an argument they are of the Devil for they are the words of the Holy Ghost And for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil It was the end why he came into the World yea it is a special thing that Christ is anointed to by God the Father to deliver Souls from the bondage of their corruption and to work Holiness in them That you have in Isa 61. and the beginning that notable prophesie concerning Christ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me that is upon Christ for it is a prophesie of him because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives to Spiritual Captives that are under Spiritual bondage And then in verse 3. That they might be called Trees of Righteousness the planting of the Lord So that that is the first consideration of Christs giving the rest of sanctification that it is the end for which Christ was born and it is the end for which he was anointed by God the Father to Sanctifie the hearts of those that he shall redeem So that Christ is our Sanctification by attaining the end of his own coming into the World by fulfilling of that that God the Father hath anointed him for Secondly Christ is our Sanctification as the great ordinance that God hath set up for the Sanctifying of the hearts of his people I say Christ is set up as the great ordinance oppainted by God for this end the Lord hath set him up and filled him ful of holyness that holyness might be conveyed through him unto the souls that do belong unto him And therefore it is said in that known place As in John 1.16 Of his fullness we receive Grace for Grace Of his fulness Jesus Christ is filled ful of holiness as a cistern fild ful of precious liquor and grace must come through him unto the souls of all those that are Godly that are beleevers Faith draws grace from him grace for grace that is grace answerable to grace as print for print in a seal there is print for print in the wax look what print there is in the seal the same print is in the wax So look what grace is in Christ there is answerably in some measure the same grace in the Saints Of his fulness we receive and al the beleevers that ever were in the world have received al the grace that ever they have had from him out of his fulness and from him as the great ordinance that God hath set up for the dispensation of the graces of his spirit for the working of Sanctification in al those that shal be saved Yea Christ is such an ordinance appointed by God the father for holyness and sanctification as indeed there is so much virtue in him that the very looking upon Christ hath a power to sanctify the heart the very looking upon him As the brazen serpent in the wilderness you know was the great ordinance of God appointed for the healing of those that were stung with serpents and being the ordinance appointed for their healing those that did but look up to the brazen Serpent received virtue presently and were healed of their sting of the deadly disease that was upon them by the stinging of Serpents now this was by virtue of that ordinance Now then I reason thus if when God makes but a piece of brass an ordinance there shal be such a virtue in it that the very looking upon it shal have power to heal the body then if God shal make his own son Jesus Christ God blessed for
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
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
yet all this will not satisfie for what is past many when they have sinned and their Consciences are a little awakned for it then they think to live better and to do otherwise afterwards as if they would make amends for what is done before but you must know that this is a meer deceit and wil not satisfie you must come to me saith Christ you must come to Christ and beleeve in him or otherwise all that you can do wil never make amends you wil say If we cannot make amends what shal become of us it is true if there were not a Savior a Christ our condition were sad Certainly amends must be made but it is impossible that ever you can make amends and this you must think of you must not only think of what you are bound to do for the time that is to come but how the breach of the law shal be made up for that which is past when the sinner comes to think of these two together I have thus sinned Lord what shal I do for time to come I what shal I do to make up the breach of the law for that which is past this wil burden the soul and the soul wil feel upon this such a burden that nothing in the world can give it rest tel it come to Christ If we did apprehend this we would see that our Condition out of Christ were a restless condition and this invitation of Christ would be very acceptable Now because I was loth to tel you of rest before I had opened a little this burden for otherwise you might say as those Jewes did to Christ in an other case when Christ told them If the Son made them free they should be free indeed why Say they are we bound to any man it is in John 8.32 why do you talk of freedom to us If I should have gone on in the invitation Come to me and I wil give you rest come to Christ Why what restless Condition are we in you might have said But now when you see your restless condition then I suppose you wil be willing to harken to the invitation Come to me and I wil give you rest those things wil make you to know what it is to beleeve and to come to Christ when you come to understand what you are in being out of Christ 8. An eighth particular is this That the Law accepts of no repentance as it wil not be made amends for so it wil not accept of repentance Let the Sinner be never so sorrowful for what he hath done and lament his sin never so much if he could bewail his sin with teares of blood the Law would not accept of this You wil say this is a strange doctrine that our repentance should not be accepted of I do not say absolutely that God wil accept of no Repentance but I say that the Law wil accept of no Repentance Repentance is the doctrine of the Gospel the Law preacheth no such doctrine as the doctrin of Repentance it is an evangelical doctrine but now repentance that is merely trouble of Conscience that I see my self in such danger of the Law this may be a natural repentance and not evangelical that is I see I have undone my self by reason of my sin and now am troubled and so go no further I say this is a natural repentance and not evangelical When you do think of repenting of your sins this is a saving meditation for you to think of your Repentance thus I am now sorry and Repent and am humbled for my sin I but this is through a second Covenant through a covenant of grace that this can be accepted it is infinit mercy in God and that in Christ it is purchased by the blood of Christ that any Sorrow for any sin shal ever be accepted of God you must thank Christ for that and therefore when you come to the work of mourning for sin you should come to it as a work of the Gospel as an evangelical work and so come freely to it for that which is a work of the Gospel is a fruit of the blood of Christ and it is a great mercy of God unto you that you may be admitted to come before him to sorrow for your sins in such a way as you may be saved al your tears and trouble for sin except it be through the grace of the gospel it is not accepted and yet how many thousands of poor souls never think of this in the work of their repentance perhaps when they lie upon their sick or death beds their consciences tels them that there is a hel and misery for sinners and there they lie roaring and Crying out but the truth is they never understand the way of God in the Covenant of grace and how the Lord hath looked upon the Children of men under the Covenant of works and now hath entred into a second Covenant through his Son and there hath provided a way for their salvation which could not be in the other covenant we are to know that the law doth accept of no repentance now O! what a bondage is this that when I am sorrowful for my sins and think that God wil pardon me then I am curst by such a Law that wil accept of no repentance but when we come to Christ there Godly sorrow is accepted of and it is said to be Sorrow unto life but that is the priviledg of those that are under the covenant of grace in Christ therefore consider seriously of this point that you may make a difference between a covenant of works and a covenant of grace I know nothing in al divinity that is greater for you to understand then these two things and those people that are not acquainted with these two covenants they understand but little in those misteries of religion that may bring Salvation I say little or nothing of true divinity is understood by people that do not understand the difference between the first and the second covenant between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace and the right understanding of the difference between these two would let in abundance of knowledg I dare undertake that after people come to have the understanding of these two and to know the difference of them in one quarter of a year they wil come to have let into their hearts more knowledg in the main principles of religion then they had in many years before and for want of knowing this one thing people do most grosly mistake in abundance of points of Religion and never come to understand and to know christ at al in that way that is propounded in the Gospel And that is the eighth thing Ninthly In the Ninth place the burden of the Law appears in this that it only opens to man his misery and there leaves him as if a Chyrurgeon should open a wound and there leave it as it were in the open aire The Law tels not
first opening of the text is the interpretation of Chrisostom upon this text You that are weary and heavy Laden that is you that are laden with the burden of seeking righteousness under the Law Come unto me and I wil give you Rest First I wil shew unto you what I mean by the burden of Legal Performances Secondly What a great burden this is and how much evil there is in it and so apply my self to those that are under this burden to shew to them how Christ cals them here in this text to come to him that they might have Rest First that which I mean by the burden of Legal Performances is this the performing of duties that are required by the Law meerly out of conscience because conscience puts men and Women upon those duties and doing them in the strength that they have of their own and looking upon what they do as the Righteousness which they must tender up to God as Righteousness for life now this is a Legal performance to perform duties in a Legal way is this to do what the Law requires meerly out of conscience because conscience tels me I must do it and to work in mine own strength though it be that that God gives yet but a natural strength and to make account of this to be as my Righteousness and to tender it up unto God for Righteousness unto life here is a Legal performance and this is to performe duties in a meer Legal way and those that do thus wil find that this will be a very great burden to their spirits it is a burden unto the Spirits of those that do thus unto the spirits of such as are conscientious indeed for we look not now upon men and Women as performing Duties out of Hypocrisie to be seen of men to make a show of what they have not in their Hearts we do not speak of such but we speak of those that have got into a higher form beyond such kind of Hypocrites such as perform duties out of conscience and yet rise no higher then looking at the Law that binds them to those duties and so tender them up to God as their Righteousness and do them for life making account that this is the thing that must bring them to life such as do this and are not acquainted any further with the mystery of the Gospel they do go under a most grievous burden all the daies of their lives I do not say that it is a burden to perform Duties that conscience requires when we do them to the Honor of God in the strength of Christ as a work of the sanctification of this spirit and as a fruit of our thankfulness for the Grace and mercy of God in Christ to us that is not a burden that is no burden at al but to do them meerly as being forced to them by conscience and as our Righteousness for life this is the burden and though there be no other principles that men and Women have but this yet they may be very conscientious so as not to dare to commit any known sin in secret they may make conscience of secret duties yea they may be aboundant in duties that is do perform many duties In the 6. of Micah and the 7. what shal we do say they Shal we give Rivers of Oyl and thousands of Rams and the fruit of our bodies for the sin of our souls there you have the expressions of those that are Legal they would know what they should do professing that they would be willing to do any thing for to save their souls offer thousands of rams and Rivers of Oyl for a sacrifice so one that is meerly Legal may perform many Duties yea he may be conscientious of every Duty that he knoweth there may be a kind of universal obedience in him to obey in al so far as he knows for the outward action he may make conscience of every thing that he knows to be the mind of God and yet do al this in a legal way and his performance may be rather a burden then that which shal do him good in the conclusion and bring him to life and except he doth come to know furher then yet he doth to know the evangelical performance of duties he cannot have true rest in his soul Now this as the other is a poynt of great consequence to many it may be divers that read this book may not so cleerely understand what this is they may not feel any such thing in their one experience but I suppose I shal speake to some even to their hearts and open their conditions to them whereby they shal say that they have not taken a right course to procure rest to their souls and to this end I speake that they may hearken to the blessed invitation of the gospel to come unto Christ that they might have rest as thus you perceive a little what I meane by legal performances now then we are to come to shew the burden of legal performances that they are very burdensome to those that are acquainted with nothing but to performe duties meerly from the law The first Burden of Legal Performances 1. Because now they are put upon duties that they have no principle to do to be put upon a work where there is no inward principle to do the work that must needs be burdensome conscience puts me upon the duty and that is right but I have no principle to do it yet I must do it conscience saith so whether I have a principle or no and though it is true I have no principle to do it so as the Law requires yet I may doe some outward performances now for me to goe about such a work to endeavour and strive to do al the work that the Law requires not onely the outward part but the wole worke and to be put upon to strugle and strive to do that which I have no inward principle to do that must needs be burdensome Al motions of nature that are from an external principle are violent and so tedious heavy and troublesome so this motion to duty that comes not from an inward principle of heart but is meerly legal conscience stands to put the soul upon duty but doth not put any principle into the soul to do it this is a violent motion and those that have the experience of this find it tedious heavy and troublesome Now here lieth the burden for it is not according to those vain conceits of men that the duty ought not to be done because they have no inward principle to do it but here is the burden that conscience binds you to do it you must do it though you have no principle in you to do it The second burden of Legal performances 2. Legal performances have a great burden in them because there is in al men that are but under the law before they come to be true beleevers sanctified by the spirit of Christ a contrary principle a principle
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
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
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
thee but know this that it is the priviledg of a beleever it is not the priviledg of every one there is a generation of men that are under the Law whose desires shall not be accepted as I shewed in opening of the burden of the Law But the man that doth these things shall live by them So runs the Tenure of the Law but here is ease for thy Soul if thou doest understand how the Law runs thy Heart cannot but sink within thee but this is that that gives ease to the Soul I am now come under another condition I being in Christ Christ gives Rest and ease unto the Souls of those that come to him that their desires and endeavors shal he accepted of God as performances now this is a blessed estate Fifthly The Rest of the Soul in Christ as it hath reference to deliverance from the burden of the Law consists in this That now al the Duties that God requires at thy hand are required in a sweet and a gentle way the services that God requires are required of thee in a gentle and a loving way God indeed comes and requires the same things that the Law requires of thee I but he comes to draw thy Soul with the Cords of Love We beseech you saith the Apostle by the mercies of God Rom. 12.1 That you give up your selves a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service We beseech you by the mercies of God Now the bond-slaves that are under the Law they have not Duties required of them by such cords and bonds of Love but if thou dost these things thou shalt live if not thou shalt die do and live sin and die so the Law requires duties at your hands that are under the bondage of the Law but now beleevers in Christ their duties are required by the mercies of God We as Embassadors beseech saith the Apostle And if there be any Love any Consolation Such kind of arguments are used to them and were it that we preached only to beleevers these kind of arguments were only necessary and it becomes those that are drawn by the Gospel to be drawn by such arguments and it is a good argument that your Souls are drawn by the power of the Gospel and are come to Christ if you find the Lord doth draw your Hearts that way and that those Duties of obedience that formerly you were put upon in a rigorous way meerly by the terror of your consciences your consciences flashing Hell fire in your Faces if you did not perform them if now you find that the Grace of God in the Gospel draws your Hearts more powerfully It is true every way you should give to God obedience upon any tearms but now when you find that God draws your Souls this way it is an argument that you come to have Rest in Christ We read in the History of the Ceremonial Law a type of these things that I am now speaking of that the Book of the Law was laid under the mercy seate you shal find in the story that the Book of the Law was laid under the mercy seate between the Cherubins under the mercy seate there the Book of the Law was laid that was the place that God appointed for it to shew that even thus doth the Law of God come now upon the Hearts of beleevers it comes upon them as it were under the mercy seat in the mercy seat beleevers look upon the Book of the Law lying at the mercy seat that is every Commandement comes unto them in a gracious alluring way together with abundance of mercy to draw their Hearts unto the obedience of it Sixthly Coming to Christ you have rest from the Law in this that the Grace of God in Christ doth much melt the Heart and when it hath melted the Heart to milk out the flagons of it then this melting of Heart is accepted exceedingly by God is very precious in the Eyes of God now this comes from the Grace of God that we have in Christ and it is a mighty Rest of Soul to know this As I told you before It is not enough for any of you to say it is true we are all sinners but God knows I mourn for my sins I am troubled for my sins that is not enough for thee friend but art thou one that art delivered from thy natural condition From being under the Covenant of works Art thou one that is come to Christ and brought to Christ Art thou one that is in the state of beleevers being a member of Christ Then thy repentance and mourning is acccepted As now it is in many Cases between Men and Men some men are in such a Capacity that if they do such a thing it is accepted but if another man that is not in the same Capacity do the same thing he will not be accepted so it is here those men that are in this Capacity in Christ and have together with the sorrowes for their sins the sorrows of Christ presented to the Father Canst thou when thou art sorrowing for thy sins present the sorrows of Jesus Christ by Faith unto the Father Then thou art accepted but know this that no sorrow for sin is accepted but such as is joyned with the presentation of the sorrows of Christ unto the Father Now what an ease is this to the Soul That now the Heart hath a means to melt it for the Heart was hardened before the sorrow for sin is such that the Heart remains hardned it is no other sorrow but this as it is with Marble-stones the Marble-stone is hard but yet in wet wether it will give and be very moist but stil it is as hard as it was it is a stone stil So it is with many that are troubled for their sins being only the trouble that comes from the Law they are troubled but yet there remaines much hardness in their Heart much peevishness and frowardness against God and against men You shall find in many people who have trouble of conscience yet there is much peevishness and frowardness in them against God and against man now when you see this in the Hearts of people manifested in their expressions waies and conversations remember the stones that you see upon pavements in wet wether they give and may be water trickles down from them and yet they remain hard still But now when the Gospel comes it doth not only cause some sorrow but the Heart melts and this is accepted as very precious before God and that is the Reason that we have in Scripture so many expressions of Gods high esteem of broken Hearts and contrite Spirits and how God looks at them He that dwels on high yet looks to him that is of an Humble and contrite Spirit and that trembles at his word and let me speak this one word for the ease of them that are troubled and are come to Christ those tears that come from thy melted Heart through the
now this is a special thing to be spoke of in this point how beleevers should improve this and what it is that they should learn by this and how helpful this will be to them and somthing for the satisfaction of those that doubt that they are not beleevers but we cannot do all things at once this shall suffice for the present the meer presenting to your Souls what Rest there is in Christ from the load of the Burden of the Law from the load that many feel to be upon their Souls through the burden of the Law CHAP. XXXI Containeth divers Consequences from the Rest beleevers have from the Burden of the Law And Lessons they are taught from thence TO proceed now There are divers things that follow from hence from the rest that we have in Christ from the Burden and load of the Law I shall speak very breifly of them and so pass to what remaines in the next burden and rest to that From hence follows exceeding help unto beleevers against divers temptations that do exceedingly trouble the peace and Rest of their souls if they be delivered from the Law in those several respects as at large hath been opened to you 1. Then first from the Meditation of this their delivery they may have Rest and ease from this temptation that because of some imperfections weaknesses and distempers of Heart and sins that they are guilty of therefore they have no interest at al in Christ they have no interest to beleeve in Christ because of that The strength of this temptation cannot stand with the right knowledg of Christ as delivered from the Law if Christ delivers from the Law then an interest in Christ may stand though we be not able to keep the Law Yea And further we know this that it is usual with beleevers upon the breach of the Law in any thing to call their estates into question all into question Certainly if we know that we are to deal with God not by the Covenant of works not to be cast by the Law we would never be so ready to cal all into question upon any breach of the Law that our conscience tels us we have been guilty of 2. Further This would marvelously help against this temptation likewise That God accepts not of what we do because it is not perfect because it is not compleat when beleevers look upon their duties that they do perform and see so many imperfections in them they dare not tender them up to God God is an infinite Holy just God and they are ashamed of what they have done so as they dare not tender them up to God now the right knowledg of our deliverance from the Law would help us against this temptation likewise Remember O thou beleever that thou hast to deal with God in a Covenant of Grace thou hast to deal with him in Christ through a better Covenant then the Covenant of the Law 3. Further This would help against this temptation also that many times is in the Hearts of the Saints That because they hear of divers that have seemed to have more then they have that have had more ability then they have had have been able to do more for God than they have done yet for all this have fallen away and so it may be have perished for ever Now saith many a poor Christian if such Eminent men of such excellent abilities that were able to do such great things if they that go thus far fall away what shal become of such a poor creature as I am Now by the understanding of our deliverance that we have from the Law by Christ we come to have help against this temptation for let a man have never such abilities and be able to do never so much work yet this man may fall away when one that is a thousand times weaker in regard of abilities that hath the least dram of true Faith which brings him into the Covenant of Grace will stand such a one shall stand when the other fals If indeed thy standing did depend upon what strength thou hast in thy self then thou hadst cause to lear that seeing such as did stand fel away what shal become of thee But we are to know that we are to deal with God in a way of the Covenant of Grace our standing or falling doth not depend upon any thing in our selves but upon Christ that hath undertaken for al those that are his members Thou hast to deal with God in the Covenant of Grace and being once brought into the Covenant that will uphold thee though thou art weak when thousands of others that have a great deal of Natural abillity and common guifts of Gods Spirit yet being not brought under this Covenant may vanish Yea Had they the strength of an Angel yet if not brought under this Covenant of Grace made with beleevers in Christ they would fall and come to nothing Whenas the weakest beleever that hath to do with God through Christ and not through the Law such a one shal stand and not fal Now the being delivered from the Law in Christ will mightily help beleevers against these temptations and divers others I know nothing that doth help beleevers more then this in being delivered from the Law in that sence as hath been shewed before Likewise from hence there are a great many Lessons to be learned as The First Lesson First From this deliverance we are taught to entertain the hearing of the Threats of the Law I speak to beleevers though others may make an ill use in hearing the deliverance from the Law yet they must not miss their Portion I say beleevers are hereby taught how to receive the Threats of the Law you hear dreadful threates of the Law out of Gods word against sin Now how shouldest thou entertain these threates The way is this when thou hearest such threates know that God by this would have thee to consider what his mercy is in delivering of thee from what thou hast deserved God would have thee to consider what the evil of sin is in it self and to consider what Christ hath done God would have thee to be driven to Christ by this meanes to see thy need of Christ to bless his name for Christ and to prize Christ who hath delivered thee from these threatnings A beleever when he heares the threates of the Law is like a man that stands upon the shoare when there is a greivous tempest and storme he sees the waves rise high heares the winds blow and the waves roare but he stands safe upon the haven indeed he was in the storme and tempest but God hath brought him to the haven and there he stands and blesseth God It may be he sees other ships a great way off ready to be split upon the rocks or swallowed up but he is safe on the shoare so it should be with al beleevers when they heare the threatnings of the law they should entertain them with blessing
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
eternal life it self and therefore there is rest in it it is so far from getting eternal life by it as it is rather eternal life it self then so much as any way to eternal life for this may be said though I performe duty it is true God hath taught me so much that now under the Gospel we must not think to get eternal life by our duty by our works this is popery yet it is the way to eternal life the way that tends to it it is via ad Regnum the way to the kingdom though not the cause of Raigning Nay I wil shew you a further thing then so the wayes of obedience and holiness in a Christians course they are rather eternal life it self then the way to it they have more excellency in them then being the way to life It is true it were a great deal of ease and rest to ones spirit to consider of holy duties but as the way to heaven if a man were going a journy and knew the ende of his journy should be very glorious to him if it were to receive a crown a kingdom though it were a boysterous day and stormy weather and the way were very foul he would not be troubled at it but he would account it very comfortable to know that he is in the right way for he thinks this wil lead me to my journeys end and when I come there that wil make amends for al. And the truth is there were ease and rest enough in the waies of God if God did reveale no more unto a soul then this these are the wayes that lead thee to life and salvation that lead thee to a kingdom to glory especially considering that before we were out of the way we were wandering in the wayes of death and destruction and God by his Almighty hand hath brought us into the right way When a man is going a Journy of great consequence and he is gone out of the way and God by his providence hath brought him into his right way O! what ease is in his spirit Before when he was out of the way what distraction and disquietness of heart but now when he comes into the way Oh! what ease and quiet is in his spirit so I say this were ease and rest enough of spirit to know that whereas before the soul was wandering in the path of death now it is in the path of life But I tel you further then so that when thou art performing of holy duties and exercising of the grace of God in the performance of those duties thou art not only in the way of eternal life but thou art in eternal life it self not only in the way to the kingdom but in the kingdom not only in the way to heaven but in heaven it is eternal life This is eternal life to know thee the true God and thy son whom thou hast sent into the world And that place in the Epistle of St. John he speakes of a murderer one that did hate his brother in the first of John 3.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him Then it appeares that one that loves his brother and is Godly and gracious hath eternal life abiding in him for that must needs follow if this be the evil condition of a wicked man that hates his brother that he hath not eternal life abiding in him then by the rule of contraries it must needs be a truth that he that hath holiness and loves his brother he hath eternal life abiding in him and therefore such a one he hath eternal life already to come downe to him he is in heaven already So the scripture makes grace but the beginning of glory it is no other but the very beginning of heaven in the soul And therefore in that golden chain in Rom. 8.30 Whom God hath predestinated them he also hath called whom he hath called them he hath justified whom he hath justified them he hath also glorified Marke but where is the link of sanctification It is not whom he hath predestinated he hath called and whom he hath called he hath sanctified and whom he hath sanctified he hath glorified One would have thought the chain should have gon along in that linke but there is no mention of sanctification Why because sanctification is nothing else but glorification begun and glorification is nothing else but the perfecting of sanctification Now I beseech you observe this as a most special thing that belongs to a Christian the best duties that we performe are nothing else but the life of heaven to us nay the truth is it is the life of God And therefore it is said of ungodly men before they come to Christ they are strangers to the life of God therefore when thou art come to Christ thou hast the life of God in thee and the life of heaven in thee and the beginning of Glory Glory and eternal life thou doest live whilst thou art in performance of holy duties What is the happiness of heaven but for the Saints and Angels to be exercised in magnifying the riches of God and of Christ now thou beginnest it here and therefore if thou knowest what this is thou art not I say to look upon any duty that thou performest meerly as a duty but thou art to look upon it as a priviledg yea as part of thy wages That is a certain truth that Gods work it is wages and the improving of that principle would help us very much in our Christian course if thou didst live and account every duty that thou performest to God to be wages Oh! with what sweetness wouldest thou go on in the performance of those duties that God requires of thee thou art receiving thy wages when thou art performing of duties In Rom. 6. and the last The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ At the 22. verse it is thus But now being freed from sin and become servants unto God you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. You have your fruit unto holiness it is the fruite unto holiness which is the gift of God and holiness it is nothing else but the gift of God and the beginning of eternal life the fulness of eternal life that indeed is the end of it but the fruit that you have for the present it is holiness and that holyness that is the gift of God it is the beginning of eternal life here in this world Then indeed is a christian wel improved in Evangelical obedience when he doth account duties to be mercies and when mercies are turned into duties as when we turne Gods mercies into duties that is an argument we receive Gods mercies from a Covenant of grace and there wil be linkes of Gods mercies towards