liberty and efficacy of the Gospel that it may set no more in your days nor in the days of your posterity SERMON III. Revel 3. 20. Behold I Stand at the door and knock c. HAving finished Christs solemn Preface and cleared the manner of his Presence in his Churches and Ordinances I now come to a third Observation which is necessarily implied in these words Behold I stand at the door and knock and that sad Truth therein implied is this DOCTRIN That the Hearts of Men are naturally lockt up and fast barr'd against Iesus Christ their only Saviour If it were not so what need were there of all that pains and patience used and exercised by Christ in waiting patiently and knocking importunately for entrance into the Hearts of Men To keep a clear method in this point three things must be stated in the Doctrinal part 1. How it appears the Hearts of Men are thus shut up 2. What are those Locks and Bars that shut them up 3. That no Power of Man can remove these Bars First That all Hearts are naturally shut and made fast against Christ is a sad but certain truth we read Iohn 1. 11 12. He came unto his own and his own received him not c. He came unto his own People from whose stock he sprang up a People to whom he had been prefigured in all the Sacrifices and Types of the Law and in whom they might all clearly discern the accomplishment of them all His Doctrines and his Miracles plainly told them who he was and whence he came yet few discerned or received him as the Son of God. Christ found the Doors of Mens Hearts generally shut against him save only a few whose Hearts were opened by the Almighty Power of God in the way of Faith vers 12. these indeed received him but all the rest excluded and denied entrance to the Son of God. So again in Iohn 5. from 33. to 40. Christ reasons with them and gives undeniable demonstrations that he was the Messiah come to save them proves it from the testimony of Iohn vers 33. Ye sent unto John and he bare witness unto the Truth Tells them the design of his coming among them was their Salvation vers 34. shews them the great Seal of Heaven his uncontroulable Miracles vess 36. The Works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me And if that were not enough he reminds them of the immediate testimony given of him from Heaven vers 37. The Father himself which hath sent me bath born witness of me He did so at his Baptism Matth. 3. 17. And lo a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And so again at his transfiguration upon the holy Mount Math. 17. 5. While be yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him He bids them search the Scriptures and critically examine his perfect correspondence to them vers 39. Enough one would think to open the door of every Mans understanding and Heart to receive him with fullest satisfaction and yet after all behold the unreasonable obstinacy and resistance of their Hearts against him vers 40. Ye will not come unto me that you might have life Not a Soul will open with all the reasons and demonstrations in the World till the Almighty power of God be pur forth to that end If another come in his own name saith he vers 43. Him will ye receive Any body rather than the Son of God Every cheat can impose upon you easily 't is to me only your Hearts have such strong aversations Now there is a twosold shutting up of the Heart against Jesus Christ. 1. Natural 2. Judicial First Natural every Soul comes into this World shut up and fast closed against the Lord Jesus The very Will of Man which is the freest and most arbitrary faculty comeâ— into the World barr'd and bolted against Christ Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject unto the Law of God neither indeed can be Phil. 2. 13. 'T is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure This is a dismal effect of the fall who feels not strong aversations violent rebellions and obstinate resistances in his own Heart when moving towards Christ in the first weak and trembling acts of Faith Secondly There is a Iudicial shutting up of the Heart against Christ. This is a sore and tremendous stroke of God punishing former rebellions Psal. 81. 11 12. Israel would have none of me so I gave them up to their own hearts lusts This looks like a prelude of Damnation a very near preparation to ruine Israel would have none of me there 's the natural shutting up of the Heart So I gave them up there 's the judicial shutting up of the Heart they would not hear they shall not hear Oh fearful Judgment Thus the Lord gave up the Heathens Rom. 1. 26. they had abused their natural light and now their minds are judicially darkned given up to a sottish and injudicious mind not able to distinguish Duty from sin Safety from danger a mind that should elect the worst things and reprobate the best This was the reprobate mind unto which God gave them up What sadder word can the Lord speak than this unless it be take him Devil 'T is true those that God shuts up he can open and those whom Justice shuts up Mercy can set free but it is beyond all the power of Angels and Men to do it Iob 12. 14. He shutteth up a Man and there can be no opening These two closures of the Heart are not always found together in the same subject and blessed be God they are not Christ meets with many a repulse and indures with much patience the gainsayings of sinners before he pronounce that dreadful sentence upon them Isa. 6. 9 10. Go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat C. But when it comes to this once dreadful is the case of such Souls and none are in greater danger of this Spiritual Judicial stroak of God than those that have sat long under the light rebelling against it That 's the first thing The Hearts of Men by nature are lockt and shut up against Christ. Secondly In the next place Let us examine what those Locks and Bars are which oppose and forbid Christs entrance into the Hearts of poor sinners And they will be found to be 1. Ignorance 2. Unbelief 3. Pride 4. Custom in sin 5. Presumption 6. Prejudices against the ways of holiness Bars enough to secure the Soul in Satans possession and frustrate all the designs of Mercy except an Almighty power from Heaven break them asunder First Bar. The first Bar making fast
see Christ from the Cross casting forth a threefold cord which is not easily broken to draw the Hearts of sinners to him Fourthly to Conclude What mighty Demonstrations of the desires of his Heart towards us did our Redeemer give at and since his Ascension into Heaven As the whole Life of Christ upon Earth was a perswasive Argument to draw sinners to him so his Ascension to Heaven hath many things in it which are mighty attractives to the Hearts of Men. I will only mention two 1. The gifts he bestowed at his Ascension 2. The ends and designs of his Ascension 1. The gifts he bestowed on Men at his Ascension for this very end and purpose whereof the Psalmist gives this account Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them He alludes to the Roman Conquerors who in the day of their triumph did Spargere missilia scatter their largesses among the people Thus Christ at his Ascension shed forth the gifts of the Spirit in various kinds qualifying Men for the Work of the Ministry to enable them to plead with your Souls and carry on his suit when he should be in Heaven These gifts were extraordinary in the first Age as the gift of Tongues and Miracles c. and ordinary to continue to the end of the World Eph. 4. 8 9. To some he gives depth of Learning and Judgment to others a mighty Pathos a melting influence upon the Affections but all designed to win over your Hearts to Christ. This shews what care he took and what provision he answerably made for the success of his great design to draw the Hearts of sinners to him 2ly The ends of his Ascension as they are declared in Scripture plainly speak the vehemency of Christs desire to draw Souls to him Now the declared ends of his Ascension were 1 to make way for the Spirits coming to Convince Convert and Comfort the Souls of all that come unto him Iohn 16. 7. Nevertheless I tell yon the truth It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he will reprove the World of sin and of righteousness and of judgment Without the Conviction of these things no Man can come to Christ and no such Convictions can be wrought upon the Conscience of any Man without the Spirit and the Spirit could not come to effect these things upon Mens Hearts if Christ had not ascended Iohn 7. 39. But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Iesus was not yet glorified Thus Christ provided for the carrying on of his great design upon your Hearts when he was entring into his own Glory The thoughts of that Glory made him not to forget his great design upon Earth 2 Another end of Christs Ascension was to make Intercession with the Father for all and every Soul that should come unto him that their future sins might make no breach of the bond of the Covenant betwixt God and them A Privilege able to draw the Hearts of all sinners to him 1 Iohn 2. 1 2. My little Children these things write I unto you that ye sin not Mark it the intercession of Christ must incourage and embolden no Man to sin that would be a vile abuse of the Grace of God. But if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins i. e. If sin surprize and deceive any gracious Soul the bent of whose Heart is against it let him not be discouraged he hath a potent Advocate ascended into the Heavens to continue the peace betwixt God and that Soul. O what an encouragement is here to gain the consent of a sinners Heart to embrace Jesus Christ 3 Another declared end of Christs Ascension was to lead captivity captive as in the forecited place Psal. 68. 17. that is to captivate and triumph over Satan as a conquered Enemy who led us captive in the days of our vanity He conquered Satan upon the Cross Col. 2. 15. but he triumphed over him at his Ascension And without such a conquest and triumph no Soul could come to Christ. 4 In a word Christ ascended into Heaven to prepare Mansions of rest and glory for every Soul that should embrace him in the way of repentance and faith in this World Iohn 14. 2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you q. d. It satisfies me not to enjoy my glory in Heaven alone all that come unto me by Faith shall be with me where I am let them know for their encouragement that the glory which God hath given me I have given them Iohn 17. 22. All these things loudly speak the fervent desires of Christs Soul after union and communion with poor Sinners which was the thing to be demonstrated 2ly Having proved the Point that Christ is an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners we next come to shew the marvellous and admirable Grace and Condecension of Christ that it should be so And this will appear five ways to the astonishment of every considering Soul. 1. Though Christ be thus intent and earnest in his suit for your consent yet he gaineth nothing by you when you do consent the gain is to your selves but not to him He is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9. 5. above all accessions from the Creature What doth the Sun gain by enlightning and animating the lower World Or what doth a Fountain gain when Men drink and are refreshed by its Waters If any Soul that heareth me this day should presently resolve henceforth to break asunder all the tyes and engagements betwixt him and sin to subscribe the Articles of the Gospel to give away himself Soul and Body to Christ to live henceforth as an hallowed dedicated Creature to the Lord Jesus this indeed would turn to the infinite and everlasting advantage of such a Soul but yet Christ cannot be profited thereby 2ly And that which still encreaseth the wonder is this that though Christ makes no gain or profit by our Conversion yet hath he impoverished himself to gain such unprofitable Creatures as we are to him He hath made himself poor to make us rich so speaks the Apostle in 2 Cor. 8. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He expends his riches makes no advantage unto himself his incarnation impoverished his reputation Phil. 2. 7. How poor was Christ when he said Psal. 22. 6. But I am a worm and no man a
a draught When they Shall flee as a Cloud and as the Doves to their Windows God now opens a door of opportunity beyond expectation Oh that the Hearts of Ministers and People were suitably enlarged and the People made willing in the day of his Power Fourth Inference Hence we also infer the great dignity of the ministerial Office and the suitable respect and honour due to all Christs faithful Ministers The Lord Jesus himself is represented by them they stand in his stead 2 Cor. 5. 20. his authority is clothed upon them the honours and dishonours given them redounds to the person of Christ Luke 10. 16. The Galathians received Paul as an Angel of Gold even as Christ Jesus Gal. 4. 14. Yet how have their Persons and Office been vilified and despised in this degenerate age How many Learned Pious Laborious Peaceful Ministers of Christ have in this age been hunted up and down the World as wild Beasts been made the filth and off-scouring of all things unto this day I Cor. 4. 13. The Word signifies that dirt and filth which Scavengers rake together in the Streets to be carried to the Dunghil No doubt but Satan drives a great design in this to invalidate their Ministry discourage their Labours and break their Hearts but Jesus Christ will support us under all these abuses wipe off the dirt thrown at us for his Name sake and reserve some of us for better days Fifth Inference Is Christ Present in his Ordinances what a strong engagement then lyes upon you all to attend and wait assiduously upon the Ministry of the Word and to bring all yours that are capable there to wait upon Christ with you We read in the days of Christs flesh when he performed his miraculous Cures upon the Sick what thronging there was after him how Parents brought their Children Masters their Servants pressing in multitudes untyling the House to let down their Sick to him Luke 12. 1. Ah shall Men be so earnest for a Cure for their Bodies and so indifferent for their Souls 'T is true the Spirit of Christ is not tied by any necessity to act always with the World he acts as an arbitrary Agent Iohn 13. 8. The Wind bloweth where it listeth but it is engagement enough to wait continually upon his Ordinances that he sometimes graciously and effectually concurreth with them 'T is good to lye in the way of the Spirit and there is a blessing pronounced upon them that wait continually at his Gates Prov. 8. 34. Oh therefore neglect no season within your reach who knows but that may be the season of Life to thy Soul Sixth Inference What an unspeakable loss is the loss of the Gospel seeing the Presence of Christ comes and goes with it When the Gospel departs the Spirit of Christ departs with it from among Men no more conversions in Gods ordinary way are then to be expected well therefore might the Lord say in Hosea 9. 12. Wo to them when I depart from them The Spirit may in some sense depart whilst the Ordinances are left standing for a time among the People but then expect no such blessings or benefits from them But when God takes away Ordinances and Spirit too wo indeed to that People and are there not Sins amongst us presaging such a Judgment Oh England reflect upon thy barrenness under it where be the fruits answerable to such precious means The Gospel is a golden Lamp the graces of the Spirit communicated by it are golden Oyl as in that stately vision Zach. 4. will God maintain such a lamp fed with such precious Oyl for men to trifle and play by And no less ominous and portentous is that bitter enmity to the Gospel and the serious professors of it which I cannot speak without horror is every where found among us this great hatred brings on the days of visitation and the days of recompence with a swift and dreadful motion upon any people Hosea 9. 7. Seventh Inference If Christ be present by way of Spirit and energy in his Ordinances then there is no reason to despair of the Conversion and Salvation of the greatest of sinners that yet lye dead under the Gospel What though their Hearts be hard their Understandings dark and their Wills never so perverse and obstinate all must give way and open in the day of Christs power when his Spirit joyns himself with the Word This makes it an irresistable Word 't is glorious to observe the hearts of Publicans and Harlots opening and yielding to the voice of Christ Matth. 21. 31. What were those three thousand persons prickt at the Heart by Peters Sermon Acts 2. 36. but the very Men that with wicked Hands had crucified the Lord Jesus And what were the converted Corinthians but Idolaters turned from dumb Idols 1 Cor. 12. 2. Whoremongers Adulterers Effeminate c. 1 Cor. 6. 11. God hath his elect among the vilest of Men The Gospel will find them out and draw them home to Christ when the Spirit of Christ animates and blesseth it Well might the Apostle therefore say that the Gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven is an object worthy for Angels to behold with admiration 1 Pet. 1. 12. What though Satan have strongly fortified their Souls against Christ with ignorance prejudice and enmity yet the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to pull down these strong holds Despair not therefore of your carnal and dead hearted relations bring them to the Gospel upon the encouragement of these words of Christ Ioh. 5. 25. The hour cometh yea and now is that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live Eighth Inference Is Christ Spiritually present in his Ordinances oh then what an indeared affection should every gracious Soul bear to the Ordinances of God! They are the walks of Christ and his Spirit the appointed times and places for your meeting and Communion with him there your Souls first met with Christ there you began your acquaintance with him there you have had many sweet converses with him since that day they were the seed of your regeneration 1 Pet. 1. 23. The bread of life by which your Souls have been sustained ever since and therefore to be more esteemed by you than your necessary food Iob 23. 12. Here you have found the richest Cordials to revive and recover your drooping Spirits when ready to sink away in a faint fit under sin within you and afflictions upon you Psal. 119. 50. No wonder Davids Soul even fainted for the Courts of God and that Hezekiah desired a sign on his sick bed that he should go up to the House of the Lord. Here are the choicest comforts of the Saints upon Earth all our fresh springs are in Zion Psal. 87. 7. What a dungeon what a barren Wilderness were this World without them Prize the Ordinances love the Ordinances wait assiduously upon the Ordinances and pray for the
Ah sinner how canst thou grieve and dishonour that God that thus feedeth clotheth and comforteth thee on every side Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Yet all will not do neither Judgments nor Mercies can affright or allure the carnal Heart to Jesus Christ. T is his Spirit his Almighty power alone that opens these everlasting Gates and makes these strong Bars give way and fly at his voice I. Inference Behold here the dismal state of nature the woful condition of all unregenerate Souls Christ the Redeemer shut out Sin and Satan shut in This is the horrid state of nature shut up in unbelief Rom. 4. 32. Ah Lord what a condition is this We should certainly account it an unspeakable misery to be shut into a House haunted by the Devil where we should be continually scared and frighted with dreadful noises and apparitions but alas what is an apparition of the Devil without us to the inhabitation of the Devil within us Nay what is the possession of a Body to Satans possession of the Soul Yet this is the very case of the unregenerate Luke 11. 21. The strong Man armed keepeth the Palace till Christ dispossess him by Sovereign victorious Grace Poor wretch canst thou start at a supposed vision of a Spirit and not tremble to think that thy Soul is the habitation of Devils There is a twofold misery lying upon all Christless unregenerated persons Satan is 1. Their Ruler in this World. 2. Their Tormenter in that to come 1. He is their Ruler in this World the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience Ephes. 2. 3. Look as the holy Spirit of God dwells and rules in sanctified Souls walks in them as in hallowed Temples guiding and comforting the Souls of the Saints so Satan dwells in unregenerate Hearts actuating their lusts inflaming them with his temptations using their faculties and members as instruments of unrighteousness And then 2ly He will be their Tormenter in the World to come He that Tempts now will Torment then Matth. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Flee therefore and escape for your lives sleep not quietly another Night in so dismal and dreadful estate If the Son make you free then are you free indeed II. Inference What a glorious and admirable effect of Sovereign omnipotent grace is the effectual conversion of a sinner unto God! If every Heart by nature be secured for Satan under so many Locks and Bars then the opening of any Heart to Christ is deservedly marvellous in our Eyes You all acknowledge that the opening of the Graves at the Resurrection will be a glorious display of Almighty power and so it will it will be a wonderful thing to behold the Graves opened and the dead raised at the voice of the Arch-angel and the trump of God but yet give me leave to say That the opening of thy Heart poor sinner to receive Christ is a more glorious work than that of raising the dead It is therefore deservedly put into the first rank of the great mysteries of godliness that Christ is believed on in the World 1 Tim. 3. 16. He that well views and considers Christ may justly wonder that all the Hearts in the enlightned World do not stand wide open to embrace him and he that shall consider the frame and temper of the natural Heart and how strongly Satan hath intrenched and fortified himself in it may justly wonder to hear of a work of Conversion in an age Oh Brethren consider the marvels of Conversion the wonderful works of God upon the Soul that opens unto Christ by Faith. 1. There 's a new Eye created in the mind The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true 1 John 5. 20. Oh that Eye That precious Eye of Faith which shews the Soul as it were a new World a World of new and ravishing objects Eph. 5. 8. All the Angels in Heaven Ministers and Libraries upon Earth cannot create such an Eye give such an Illumination t is only he that commanded the light to shine out of the darkness that thus shineth into our Hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Iesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. 2ly And what a glorious supernatural Work is the conviction of the Conscience by the powerful stroak of the saving beams of light upon it Now the Conscience that lay in a dead sleep begins to startle and look about it with fear and horror Life and sense is got into it and now it cries ah sick sick sick at the Heart for sin sick for a Saviour 3ly And no less marvelous an effect of the Almighty power is the bowing of the stuborn Will so efficaciously so congruously and so determinately and fixedly to the Lord Jesus The Will is efficaciously determined so as no power of Hell or Nature can resist or frustrate that Mighty power which worketh effectually in all them that believe 1 Thes. 2. 13. Yet it works not by way of compulsion but in a way congruous and agreeable to the nature of the Will Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a Man with the bands of love Satan bids for the Soul Christ infinitely outbids all his offers Eternal Spiritual and unsearchable Riches instead of sensitive perishing enjoyments which determin the choice of the Will in its own natural method by the sight of the excelling glory of Spiritual things And thus the mighty supernatural power of God opens that Heart which Satan had secured so many ways against Christ. III. Inference Hence it also follows that Man hath no free will of his own to supernatural good The Will cannot by its own power open it self to receive Christ by faith When it doth open to him it is not virtute innata sed illata not by its natural power but by the power of God upon it The admirers of Nature talk much of the Sovereignty Virginity and Liberty of the Will as if it alone had escaped the fall and that no more but a moral swasion is needed to open it to Christ that is that God need do no more to save Men than the Devil doth to damn them But if ever God make you sensible what the work of â—aving Conversion is you will quickly find that your Will is lame its freedom to Spiritual things gone you will cry out of a wounded Will as well as of a dark Head and a hard Heart You will quickly find That it is God alone that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. That the birth of the new Creature is not of the Will of Man but of God Iohn 1. 13. IV. Inference Learn hence the necessity of Conversion in order to Salvation Christ and Heaven are shut up against you till your hearts be savingly opened unto him
and is not this matter of singular consolation If Salvation be not what is No wonder that the Eunuch went home rejoycing when he had received Christ by Faith Acts 8. 39. That the Iaylor rejoyced with all his House Acts 16. 34. Neither blame nor wonder at Men for rejoycing for 't is the day of their Salvation 'T is true their Salvation is not finished that day there be many things yet to be done and suffered by them before the compleating of it but it is begun that day the foundation is layed in the Soul that day and the Top-stone shall be set up with shouting in due time crying Grace Grace unto it VI. Consolation The opening of a sinners Heart to Christ makes joy in Heaven a triumph in the City of our God above Luke 15. 7. I say unto you likewise that joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance As when a young Prince is born all the Kingdom rejoyceth the Conduits run with Wine all demonstrations of joy and thankfulness in every City and Town 't is much more so in Heaven when a Soul is born to Christ under the Gospel 't is a satisfaction to the Heart of the Lord Jesus who now beholds more of the travel of his Soul and to all the Angels and Saints that another Soul is espoused to him Beloved when the Gospel is effectually brought home by the Spirit to the Heart of a sinner and wounds him for sin sends him home crying oh sick sick sick for sin and sick for Christ the news thereof is presently in Heaven and sets the whole City of God a rejoycing Christ never rejoyced over thee before thou hast wounded him and grieved him a thosand times but he never rejoyced in thee till now and that which gives joy to Christ may well be matter of Joy to thee that 's the Sixth Consolation VII Consolation And then Seventhly That day thy Heart is unlockt unbarr'd and savingly opened by Faith that very day an intimate spiritual and ever lasting union is made betwixt Christ and thy Soul from that day Christ is thine and thou art his Christ is a great and glorious person but how great and glorious soever he be the small and feeble Arms of thy Faith may surround and embrace him and thou maist say with the Church My beloved is mine and I am his for mark what he faith in the Text If any Man open to me I will come in to him That Soul shall be my habitation there will I dwell for ever that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith what Soul feels not it self advanced by this union with the Son of God Hereby the Believer becomes a Member of his Body Flesh and Bones this is an honour bestowed upon thy Soul above and beyond all that honour that ever God bestowed upon any Angel in Heaven to them Christ is an Head by way of Dominion but to thee by way of vital influence Angels are as the Barons and Nobles of his Kingdom but the Believer his Spouse and all the Angels of Heaven ministring Spirits unto such That 's the seventh Consolation VIII Consolation And then in the Eighth place The opening of thy Heart to Christ brings thee not only into union with his Person but into a state of sweet Soul enriching communion with him So he speaketh in the Text If any Man open the door I will sup with him and he with me Poor Soul thou hast lived many years in the World and never hadst any communion with God till this day Christ and thy Soul have been strangers till now 'T is true thou hast had communion with Ordinances and communion with Saints but for communion with Christ thou couldst know nothing of it till thou receivedst him into thy Soul by Faith. Now thou maist say Truly my fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. And thenceforth thy communion with Men is pleasant and desirable IX Consolation The opening of a Mans Soul to Christ by Faith is a special and Peculiar mercy which falls to the share but of a very few God hath done that for thee which he hath denied to Millions Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed i. e. to how small a remnant in the World Isa. 53. 1. And the Apostle puts the work of Faith among the great mysteries of Godliness among the wonders of Religion 1 Tim. 3. 16. Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World. The found of the Gospel is gone forth into the World Many are called but few are chosen There were many Widows in Israel in the days of Elias but to none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a City of Sidon unto a Woman that was a Widow Luke 4. 25 26. To allude to this there were many hundreds that sat under the same Sermon which opened thy Heart to Christ but it may be unto none of them was the Spirit of God sent that day to open their Hearts by Faith but unto thee thou wilt freely acknowledge thy self as unlikely and unworthy as the vilest sinner there Oh astonishing mercy X. Consolation And then lastly In the same day thy Heart opens by Faith to Christ all the treasures of Christ are unlockt and opened to thee In the same hour God turns the key of Regeneration to open thy Soul the key of Free-grace is also turned to open unto thee the unsearchable riches of Christ then the righteousness of Christ becomes thine to Justifie thee the wisdom of Christ to guide thee the holiness of Christ to sanctifie thee in a word he is that day made of God unto thee wisdom and righteousness Sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. All is yours for you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. ult And thus I have shewn you some of those great things God doth for those Souls that will but do this one thing for him Viz. open their Hearts to receive Christ upon the tenders and terms of the Gospel SERMON IV. Revel 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock c THE verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred I stand is of the praeter tense and would strictly be rendred I have stood but being joyned with a verb of the present tense is here rendred I do stand a frequent Hebraism in Scripture and it notes the continued patience and long suffering of Christ. I have stood and still do stand exercising wonderful patience towards obstinate sinners Which gives us this fourth Observation IV. DOCT. That great and admirable is the patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners Thus Wisdom i. e. Christ expresses himself Prov. 1. 24. I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hand and no Man regarded Here you have not only Christs â—arnest calls but suitable gestures also to gain attention The stretching out
slightly crying Peace peace where there is no peace Remember the foundation is now laying for Eternity and that this is the time of deep consideration Men and Women must ponder the terms and count the cost and deliberately accept and close with Christ before the Consolations of the Promises can be regularly administred to them III. Inference What a singular blessing is a rouzing faithful Ministry among the people By such a Ministry Christ knocks powerfully this is one of the greatest blessings God can bestow upon a people next to the saving effects of it when he sends among them Powerful Judicious Preachers of the Gospel under whose Ministry their Consciences cannot sleep quietly These are the proper Instruments Christ knocks at Men's Hearts by and as for those Prophets that sow pillows for drowsie sinners to sleep quietly upon the Lord owns them not for his Lam. 2. 14. Thy Prophets not mine but thine have seen vain and foolish things for thee they have not discovered thine iniquity 'T is true those Ministers that give Men no rest nor quietness in their sins must expect but little rest and quietness themselves What is it for Ministers to preach home to the Consciences of others but to pull down the rage of the World upon their own Heads But certainly you will have cause to bless God to Eternity for casting your lot under such a Ministry and the Lord accounts such a mercy sufficient to recompense any outward affliction that lyes upon you Isa. 30. 20. You fare richly under such Doctrine though the Lord should feed you with the bread of Affliction and give you the waters of Adversity to drink this makes amends for all Thine Eyes shall behold thy Teachers and they shall be driven no more into corners O blessed be God that Englands corners are this day emptied that its Pulpits may be filled with laborious faithful Ministers O that the knocks of Christ might this day be heard in all the Cities Towns and Villages of this Nation the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto us this mercy is invaluable pray that the Lord would continue it and make all your Ministers and Means whether more publick or private successful IV. Inference And then Lastly let all Men beware of those things that deafen their Ears and drown the sound of Christs knocks and calls in the Gospel What pernicious Enemies to the Souls of Men are all those persons and things that turn away Men's Ears from attending to the knocks and calls of Christ in his Word Such are 1. Prophane wicked Men who like Elimas the Sorcerer make it their buisness by wicked insinuations flouts and jeers to turn away Men's Ears from the Gospel Acts 13. 10. O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord All opposition of godliness hath a spice of Devilishness and no Child more resembles his Father than a scoffing Enemy resembles his Father the Devil But blessed be God for that good Providence which in a great measure hath stopt the Mouths both of the Father and his Children this day 2. Take heed of carnal and ungodly Relations which discourage and threaten their Children Servants and all that depend on them from attending upon on the means or giving way to the Convictions which God by them hath set on upon their Hearts Cruel Parents who had rather see their Children turned into their Graves than turning to the ways of serious godliness O that any should dare to quench the beginnings of Spiritual life in those to whom they were instruments to convey natural life 3. Take heed of the World its distracting cares and charming pleasures What a din what a confused buz and noise do these things make in the Ears of Men Mark 4. 19. The cares of this World choak the Word and it becometh unfruitful Tell not them of getting Christ they must study how to get bread These are some of those distracting and diverting sounds which drown the voice of Christ's knocks and calls in the Gospel As you value your Souls beware of them II. Vse for Exhortation Christ is now come near us in the Gospel Behold he stands at the door and knocks And I am here this day to demand your answer and in his name I do solemnly demand it What shall I return to him that sent me What sayst thou sinner Wilt thou open to Christ or wilt thou shut him out And with him thy own Pardon Peace and Salvation Once more let me try the force of a few more arguments upon your Hearts and refute your vain pleas to the contrary methinks no Heart should be able to resist such Motives and rational Perswasions as these following will be found to be First You are in exream need of Christ you want him more than Bread or Breath many things are convenient for your Bodies but Christ is the one thing necessary for your Souls Luke 10. 9. One thing is necessary Necessity is an Engine that will open any thing in the World that can be opened necessity will make all fly before it Now there is a plain present absolute necessity lying upon every one of you to open your Hearts to Christ and that without delay Necessity goes before the face of Christ to open the way for him into the Heart thou must have him or be lost for ever Christ and Faith are not among the may bees but the must bees to the happiness of thy Soul. A Man may be poor and happy reproached and blessed but he cannot be Christless and safe nor Christless and comfortable you must have Christ or you cannot have life Iohn 3. 36. You must have Christ or you can have no hope Col. 1. 27. Christ and life Christ and hope go together no Christ no life no Christ no hope sinner thou must have Christ or thou canst have no pardon for Christ and pardon are undivided Ephes. 1. 7. In a word you must have Christ or you can have no Salvation Acts 4. 12. Well then if thou canst have no life nor hope no pardon nor Salvation without Christ then a plain necessity goes before Christ to open his way into thine Heart methinks thou shouldst now say Then will I open to Christ whatever the terms be Come sufferings losses reproaches yea death it self all is one Christ I must have and Christ I will have necessity is layed upon me and my Heart is opened to Christ by it wo to me for ever if I miss of Christ. Secondly The Lord Jesus is this day come nigh to every one of your Souls I may say to you as Christ did to them Luke 10. 9. The Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you The Lord grant he be not as nigh to some of you as ever he shall be for he must come nearer or else you are lost for ever It is not Christ among you in the Means of
out of that Bosom of delights to suffer so many things for the sake of poor sinners Secondly Let us consider Christs temper and disposition towards union and communion with sinners within time and every thing done by Christ carries and confirms this Conclusion 1. His Assumption of our Nature plainly speaks it 2. His whole Life upon Earth evidently discovers it 3. His Doctrin is a clear proof of it 4. His Joy at the Conversion of Souls proves it 5. His Sorrows for Mens unbelief evidence it 6. His indefatigable Labours plainly shew it 7. His admirable Encouragements to coming sinners 8. His dreadful Menaces to obstinate sinners 9. His sending and encouraging Ministers to draw and gather the World to himself All these things which were transacted in the Life of Christ plainly demonstrate how greatly and earnestly his Heart did propend and incline towards this desirable union with the Sons of Men. 1. Christs Assumption of our Nature manifesteth his desire after union with us Herein he gave two incomparable proofs of his transcendent love to us and desire after us 1. In passing by a more excellent Nature 2. In marying our Nature to himself 1. He passed by a superiour and more excellent Nature Heb. 2. 16. Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels Angels were excellent Creatures but behold vessels of Gold cast into the fire and Earthen potsherds fitted for glory 'T is true the Angels that kept their integrity are Members of Christs Kingdom he is an Head to them by way of Dominion but unto us by way of Vital union Christ takes the believer into a nearer union with himself than any Angel in Heaven but for the multitudes of apostate Angels he never designed their recovery but left them as they were before bound in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day Iude vers 6. This preterition of Christ heightens his love to poor Man. 2ly In marying our Nature to himself and that after sin had blasted its beauty and let in so many direful calamities upon it Rom. 8. 3. He was found in the likeness of sinful flesh i. e. Flesh subject to weariness pains and death which though there be no sin in them yet are the effects and consequences of sin Such a Nature he assumed into a Personal union with himself not to experience any new pleasure in it but to capacitate himself to suffer and satisfie for us and therein to give a convincing proof of the strength of his love and vehemency of his desire to us His personal union with our Nature shews his desire after a mystical union with our Persons He would never have been the Son of Man but to make us the Sons and Daughters of the living God He came in our likeness that we by Sanctification might be made in his likeness Behold how near Christ comes to us by his Incarnation O what a stoop did he make therein to recover us Rather than lose us he was contented to lose his manifestative glory for a time for his Incarnation made him of no reputation Phil. 2. 7. Behold the desires of a Saviour after union with sinners II. The whole Life of Christ upon Earth was an evident proof and demonstration of the desiers of his Heart to be in union and communion with us Iohn 17. 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my self The Life of Christ was wholly set apart for us therefore it is said Isa. 9. 6. Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given What was the errand and buisness upon which Christ came into this World but to seek and to save that which was lost All the Miracles he wrought on Earth were so many works of Mercy he could have wrought his Miracles to have destroyed and ruined such as received him not but his Almighty Power was imployed to heal and save the Bodies of Men that thereby he might win their Souls unto him Acts 10. 38. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him When the Apostles desired a Commission from him to fetch fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans he rebuked them saying Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them Luke 9. 54 55 56. The whole Life of Christ in this World was nothing else but a woing drawing motive to the Hearts of sinners he rejected not the vilest of sinners Luke 7. 39. He rejected none that came unto him he would not have little Children forbid to be brought unto him Mark 10. 13. What his winning carriage should be was long before predicted by the Prophet Isa. 42. 3. A bruised Reed shall he not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench Lentulus the Proconsul in his Epistle ad S. P. Q. R. having Graphically described the Person of Christ gives this account of his carriage and deportment In his reproofs he was terrible in his admonitions fair and amiable chearful without levity he was never seen to laugh but often to weep his words grave few and modest c. Christ was in the World as a load-stone drawing all Men to him his deportment was every way suitable to his Commission which was to preach good tydings to the Meek to bind up the broken Hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Isa. 61. 1. III. As his Life so his Doctrin was a woing and inviting Doctrin a most pathetical invitation unto sinners Never Man spake as he spake whenever he opened his Lips Heaven opened the very Heart of God was opened in it to sinners the whole stream and current of his Doctrin was one continued powerful perswasive to draw sinners to him This was his Language Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11. 28. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood up and cryed If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink John 7. 37. Himself resembles it to the clucking of a Hen to gather her Chickins under her wings Luke 13. 34. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen doth gather her brood under her wings Certainly tâ—e whole stream of the Gospel is nothing else but the charming voice of the Heavenly Bridegroom IV. The Joy he always exprest for the success of the Gospel speaks him to be an earnest suiter for the Hearts of Sinners 'T is very remarkable that all the Evangelists who have recorded the life of Christ never mention one laugh or smile that ever came from him For he was a Man of sorrows yet once you read that he rejoiced in Spirit and you shall see the occasion of it in Luke 10. 21. In that hour Iesus rejoiced in Spirit And what was it
Fathers Face from Eternity before this time but now the smiling Face of God was hid and a strong impression of his Wrath made upon him And now Brethren you see what Christ hath endured both in his Body and in his Soul and all for the sake of Sinners What think you now is not Christ an earnest Suiter Doth not all this fully and plainly speak the ardours of his Love the fervencies of his desires after union and communion with us If this do not then nothing can demonstrate Love and Desire That 's the first thing the greatness of the Sufferings which he endured Secondly Let us next consider the Use and Intention of these Sufferings of Christ and how this also demonstrates the earnestness of his desires after Conjugal union with us Now there was a double Use and End of the Sufferings of Christ. 1. To make us free that we might be capable of Espousals 2. To win our Affections by the argument of his Sufferings I. One End of Christs death was to purchase our Freedom that we might be capable of being Espoused to him for you must know that we were not in a capacity whilst under the curse of the Law to be married unto Christ the Apostle Rom. 7. 2 3 4. compares the Law to a Husband to whom the Wife is bound as long as he liveth and not capable of a second marriage until her Husband be dead The Death of Christ was the Death of the Law as a Covenant of Works holding us under the bond of a Curse of it and so it gave us a manumission or freedom from that bond and a capacity of espousals to Christ as vers 4. Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead A Slave to another is not capable of being disposed in marriage until made Free you were in bondage to the Law the slaves of of Sin and Satan Christ bought out your liberty for his Blood is call'd a ransom Matth. 20. 28. and so put you into a capacity of being espoused unto himself here you see Christ loved you not for any advantage he could have by you for you had nothing to bring him nay he must purchase you and that with his own Blood before he can be united to you O incomparable love O fervent desires II. Another design and end of the Death of Christ was to win and gain our Hearts and Affections to himself by the argument of his Death this himself hath declared to be the very end and intention of it Ioh. 12. 32. And I if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all Men unto me this he said signifying what Death he should dye Christ endured all that you have heard and infinitely more than the Tongue or Pen of Man can express and all to draw thy Soul and win thy consent to come unto him the Lord Jesus by his sufferings casts a threefold cord over the Souls of Sinners to draw them to himself 1. The Death of Christ obtains compleat righteousness for guilty sinners and if any thing in the World will draw the Heart of a sinner this will the anxious search and enquiry of a convinced sinner is after a perfect righteousness to justifie him before God. O that 's it the sinner wants Conscience saith thou hast broken all the Laws of God and art therefore a Law condemned wretch the sentence of the Law casts thee for Hell Now what would a poor sinner give for a release from this sentence of the Law O ten thousand Worlds for a Pardon Why here it is saith Christ Come unto me and thou shalt receive a free full and final pardon my Blood cleanseth from all sin my righteousness answers all the demands of the Law. I have taken away the Hand-writing that was against thee and nayled it to my Cross Col. 2. 14. Come unto me and take up thy Bonds thy cancelled Bonds come unto me and that dreadful attribute of Divine Justice shall never scare or fright thy Conscience any more nay thou shalt build thy hope upon it you read Rom. 3. 25. That God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Iesus Here you see the justification and pardon of a sinner built upon that very Attribute which was so frightful and dreadful to him before Well then poor sinner is there guilt upon thy Conscience And doth thy Soul shake and quiver to think how it shall stand before the Just and Terrible God in the great Day Hearken to the voice of Christ crucified who calls thee to him to receive thy discharge which if thou refuse the Law still stands in its full force and vertue against thy Soul. This is one cord Christ casts from the Cross over the Souls of guilty sinners to draw them to him 2ly The Death of Christ purchases and procures perfect cleansing from the filth and pollution of sin to wash the defiled Souls of sinners from all their uncleanness For this is he that came by water and by blood not by blood only but by water also 1 Joh. 5. 6. He comes by way of Sanctification as well as by way of Justification Lord saith a convinced sinner what an unclean Nature Heart and Life have I O I am nothing but a heap of uncleanness an abhorence to God and my self how shall such an Heart as mine such an Augean Stable be cleansed Come unto me saith Christ I came by Water as well as Blood in me thou shalt find a Fountain for Sanctification as well as Justification come unto me and my Spirit shall undertake the cleansing of thy Heart he shall take away the pollutions of sin perfectly so that it shall be presented to God without spot 3ly And lastly The transcendent love of Christ shines out in its full strength upon the Souls of sinners from the Cross and there 's nothing like love to draw love when Christ was lifted up upon the Cross he gave such a glorious demonstration of the strength of his love to sinners as one would think should draw love from the hardest Heart that ever lodged in a sinners Breast Herein is love saith the Apostle not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 10. q. d. Here 's the triumph the riches and glory of Divine Love never was such love manifested in the World. There 's much of Gods love in Temporal Providences but all 's nothing to this this is love in its highest Elevation Love in its Meridian Glory before it was none like it and after it shall none appear like unto it And thus you
râ—proach of Men and despised of the people How poor in temporal comforts when he said Matth. 8. 20. The Foxes have holes and the Birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his Head. Yea how poor was he in Spiritual Comforts when that astonishing outcry brake from him upon the Cross Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me O let it astonish us that Christ should earnestly desire union with our Souls upon terms of such deep self-denial to himself 3ly Though Christ gain nothing by you and impoverished himself for you yet doth he endure many vile repulses delays and denials of his Suit and will not leave it for all that O astonishing grace One would think that the least delay and much more a refusal of an overture from Christ upon such terms as you have heard should make his indignation presently to smoak against such a Soul and that he should say Thou hast refused my offer so full of self-denying and condescending grace never shall another offer be made to so unworthy a Soul and yet you see he is contented to wait as well as knock Behold I stand at the door and knock 4ly Herein the admirable Grace of this heavenly suiter appears that Jesus Christ passeth by millions of Creatures of more excellent Gifts and Temperaments and never makes them one offer of himself never turneth aside to give one knock at their door but comes to thee the vilest and bafest of Creatures and will not be gone from thy door without his errands end Knowest thou not sinner that among the unsanctified there are to be found multitudes of Men and Women of more raised and excellent Parts nimble Wits strong Memory solid Judgments yea Men and Women of cleaner Conversations strict Morality adorned with excellent homilitical Vertues capable if called to do him abundantly more service than thou canst yet these are past by and he becomes a Suiter to such a poor worthless thing as thou art yea and rejoyces in his choice Matth. 11. 24. I thank thee Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Here is the triumph of Free-grace 5ly And then in the last place this justly increaseth the wonder That ever Jesus Christ should desire and delight to dwell in such an unclean Heart as thine which from the beginning hath been the Seat and Throne of Satan full of all uncleanness and abominations O that ever Christ should make an overture of love to such a polluted Soul That he should chose to erect his Throne where Satans seat was Look into thine Heart sinner and think what can Christ see here to be desired Thou knowest thy Heart hath been a sink of sin thy Conscience like the common shoar into which all the filth of thy life hath been cast yet Christ passeth by thee as thou liest in thy blood and filthyness and casteth love upon thee and desire towards thee as it is Ezek. 16. 6 8. All these things put together make it justly admirable and astonishing in our Eyes that ever Jesus Christ the Lord from Heaven should become an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners I. Vse for Information I. Inference If Christ be such an earnest Suiter for union and communion with the Souls of sinners then it follows That sinners can justly charge their damnation upon none but themselves Your blood must be upon your own Heads Salvation by Christ is not only freely offered but you are with great importunity perswaded to accept it Christ offers you life you chuse rather to dye than accept it upon his terms where now can your damnation be charged but upon your own wilful obstinacy Hos. 13. 9. O Israel thy destruction is of thy self Thou art the Author of thine own ruin I would have gathered thy Children saith Christ to Ierusalem but thou wouldest not your ruin therefore lies upon your selves and upon none beside indeed if the Ministers of Christ be negligent in their duty they may come in as accessories to your destruction but that 's a poor relief to you as for my self I hope I may with Paul take God to record this day that I am free from the blood of all Men now consider what a dismal aggravation of your destruction this will be that you perished by your own Hands this cuts off all plea and apology II. Inference Hence it also follows that distressed sinners have no reason to question Christs willingness to receive them when their Hearts are made willing to come unto him It were no less than a blasphemous imputation of insincerity to Christ himself to question his willingness to receive broken-hearted sinners after so many protestations as he hath made in the Gospel of his zeal and earnestness for their Salvation that Scripture Iohn 6. 37. puts it out of doubt He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out I know guilt breeds many fears and jealousies in the Hearts of sinners will Christ ever accept and receive such a one as I Try him Soul he hath said he will let him have but the deliberate consent of thy Heart to his terms and then if thou be rejected thou wilt be the first Soul in the World that ever met with a repulse from him III. Inference By Christs earnest Suit for the Souls of sinners you may estimate the invaluable worth and precious Nature of the Soul of Man. Were not the Soul a Creature of great value Jesus Christ would never be so deeply concerned about the winning and saving of it Sinners have a vile esteem of their own Souls they will sell them for nought but Christ knows their true worth and his solicitude to save them is answerable to his estimation of them he counts when he hath gained a Soul he hath gained a Treasure Therefore he pleads woos and waits so earnestly and assiduously for the Salvation of them Two things speak the great value of the Soul of Man. 1. That it is a marriagable Creature to Christ now 2. That it is capable of Glory with Christ hereafter I. It is a marriagable Creature to Christ now capable of espousals to the Son of God upon which account it is Christ so earnestly seeks its love and sues for its consent Now this is a dignity beyond all other Creatures in Heaven or Earth no Angel in Heaven no other Creature but the Soul of Man on Earth is capable of espousals unto Christ 't is a dignity above that of Angels for Christ took not on him their Nature and the Hypostatical union is the ground and foundation of the Mystical union They are Members indeed of Christs Kingdom and he is to them a Head of dominion but this honour was never conferred upon Angels to be Members of his Body Flesh and Bones as the Saints are Ephes. 5. 30. II. As the Soul is capable of espousals
never designed them for encouragements to sin but for encouragements to repentance and Faith. That 's the Fourth Evidence of the Truth before us V. Evidence The Truth of this Conclusion will also evidently appear from the innate characters and properties of the Grace and pardoning Mercy of God towards penitent and hungring Sinners Now there are three glorious Characters of Divine Grace which do all assure such sinners welcom to Christ whatever they have been or done the Grace of God shines forth in Scripture in three illustrious Characters 1. As superabounding Grace 2. As Free Grace 3. As Grace exercised with delight First It is superabounding Grace Waters do not so abound in the Ocean nor Light in the Sun as Grace and compassion do in the bowels of God towards broken Hearted and hungry sinners Isa. 55. 6. Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon The compassions of our God inserted that word on purpose to relieve poor Souls fainting under the sense of their abounding iniquities Here 's abundant Pardon for abounding Guilt and yet left a desponding sinner should not find enough here to quiet his fears the Lord goes yet farther in the expression of his Grace Rom. 5. 20. Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound It overflowed all the bounds it rose quite above the high-water Mark of sin and guilt but these overflowings of Grace run only through that channel of all Grace Jesus Christ to broken Hearted and obedient Sinners Secondly The Grace of God to such Souls is free every way free it is the very design of the Gospel to exhibit it in this its glory It costs you nothing but acceptance its free without merit yea free against merit you can deserve nothing of God therefore his Grace is free without merit yea you have deserved Hell as often as you have sinned against him and so it is free against merit If a pardon were to be purchased by us we want a stock for such a purchase neither can we borrow from Men or Angels a sufficient sum for such a purchase Blessed be God therefore that it flows freely to us without money and without price Isa. 55. 2. Thirdly Grace glories in another property also which is very encouraging to the Soul of a drooping sinner viz. that it is the darling attribute which God greatly delights to exercise The tender Mother draws not out her aking Breast with such delight to her hungry crying Child as the Lord doth his Mercy and Compassion to broken Hearted and hungry Sinners in this attribute and in this property of it his people therefore admire him Mich. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy You cannot put Jesus Christ upon a more delightful imployment than to bind up the Wounds and set the broken Bones of poor convinced humbled Sinners Let every such Soul come to Christ and welcom for he greatly delights in such imployments VI. Evidence Such sinners need not doubt a welcom reception with Christ for should he reject and turn back such as these then none can have the benefit of his Blood and consequently it must be shed in vain as Water spilt upon the ground The Blood of Christ is invaluably precious and it cannot be lost it were a desperate impeachment of the Wisdom and Goodness of God to think so yet so it must be if broken Hearted and willing Souls be rejected and turned back from him There are but two sorts of Sinners in all the World viz. hardned and broken Hearted Sinners willing and unwilling Sinners The whole World falls into these two ranks as for impenitent hardned and obstinate sinners 't is certain they can have no benefit by the Blood of Christ they shall dye in their sins the Gospel cuts them off so continuing from all expectation of pardon and mercy Now there is but one sort of Sinners more left in the World and they are convinced and humbled Sinners who are made heartily willing to receive Christ upon his own terms who stretch forth the Hands of their desires to him and pant after an interest in him Should Christ reject these also who then shall receive the benefit of his Blood Did Christ dye in vain Or can the Counsels of Heaven prove abortive No no fear not therefore to go to Christ thou broken Hearted Sinner thou poor panting longing Soul fear not he will not cast thee out VII Evidence Moreover for the encouragement of all such Souls mercy and pardon are designed by bestowed upon the greatest and vilest of sinners to enhance and raise the glory of Free Grace to the highest pitch God picks out such Sinners as you are on purpose to illustrate the glory of his Grace in and upon you he knows you to whom so much is forgiven you will love much Luke 7. 47. You that have done so much against his Name and Glory will excel others in zeal and obedience 1 Cor. 15. 9 10. You will go beyond others in service for God as you have done in sinning against him All these things laid together make up a full demonstration of the Point That Iesus Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when once it is made heartily willing to open unto him Which was the thing to be proved and now our way is open to the Application of the Point which will be exceeding useful for Information Exhortation and Consolation I. Vse for Information Learn hence what an invaluable Mercy it is to enjoy the Gospel in its light and liberty which is so great a relief to the distressed Consciences of sinners Here only that Balm is to be found that heals your spiritual Wounds The Gospel hath been a low prized commodity in England the Lord pardon the guilt thereof to us Ah Brethren if you were in the Heathen World with your sick and wounded Consciences what would you do There are no Bibles Ministers or Promises not a breath of Christ or the Blood of sprinkling which are the true and proper remedies of sick Souls that 's a pitiful cry Mich. 6. 6. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the high God Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with Calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my Body for the sin of my Soul Behold here the anguish of a destressed sin-burdened Conscience it would give up any thing in the World for peace and ease they would cast their Children their dearest Children their first-born into the burning flames if that might be an atonement for their â—ins O the efficacy of Conscience And the misery of an unrelieved Conscience But the
'T is true at the first instant the Soul may be amazed and at a loss as Peter when he was delivered out of Prison Acts 12 11. thought at first he had seen a Vision but when he was come to himself Now said he I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his Angel c. Thus it is with the Soul it is amazed and doubts what manner of Call or Power this is sure it is it never heard such a voice nor ever felt any thing like this before But the matter is quickly cleared up when the Soul hath reflected duly upon it and finds as it quickly doth such a wonderful change of the frame and temper of the heart following upon it I now speak not of those into whom Grace is distilled in the way of godly Education in their tender years but of adult persons and especially such as have been grosser Sinners IV. Character This spiritual internal voice of Christ is a surprizing voice altogether unexpected by the Soul that hears it I am found of them that sought me not Isai. 65. 1. Little do we foresee the designs God hath upon us in bringing us to such a place and under such a Sermon at such or such a time even as little as Saul thought of a Kingdom when he was seeking his Fathers Asses 'T is much with us as it was with the Apostles when Christ called them little did Matthew think when he sate at the Receipt of Customs or Saul think when posting unto Damascus upon the Devils errand that Christ and Salvation had then been so near them Some have come to scoff and deride the Messengers and Truths of God others to gratifie their curiosity and many in a customary course not knowing where else with peace to themselves or reputation with others to spend that hour But God's thoughts were not theirs the time of mercy was now come and whatever sinful or low ends brought them thither the Lord's design was then and there to manifest himself to them It is with such Souls in some respect as it was with the Spouse Cant. 6. 12. to whose expression I may here allude Or ever I was aware my Soul made me as the Chariots of Aminadab I went to the Congregation for Company I was fitting under the Word with a careless wandring heart as at other times when lo above all the thoughts of my heart an Arrow of Conviction was suddenly shot into my Conscience which so startled wounded and disquieted it as it is now beyond the power of any but Christ himself to settle and satisfie it V. Character Fifthly This spiritual internal voice of Christ is energetical great and mighty in power piercing the heart cleaving as it were the very reins full of efficacy to the Soul that hears it The power of God comes along with this voice of God. You read Hebr. 4. 12. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of the Soul and Spirit of the Ioynts and Marrow Now this efficacy is not inherent in the Word it self it works not thus as a natural Agent then all would feel this power that come within the sound of it No this comes from the Spirit of Christ speaking in it to the Sinners Conscience when it is the administration of the Spirit then it becomes thus efficacious You read in Psalm 29. from v. 3. to 10. of the wonderful efficacy of God's providential voice the voice of the Lord is powerful The voice of the Lord is full of majesty it breaks the Cedars divides the flames of fire shakes the wilderness maketh the Hynds to calve This the providential voice of God in the winds thunders and lightnings can do but alas what 's this to the efficacy of his spiritual voice What is the breaking of the Cedars of Lebanon to the breaking of the heart of a Sinner what is the shaking of the Trees in the wilderness to the fears of wrath to come which shake the Souls of convinced Sinners and make their very hearts to tremble Acts 16. 30. What is the dividing of the flames of fire to the dividing of a Soul from its beloved Lusts The weapons of our warfare saith the Apostle are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. Here be the glorious effects of this voice which plainly discover from whom it comes The voice of God is no less to be admired in its magniâ—icent effects in the new Creation than in the first Creation with which the Apostles compares it 2 Cor. 4. 6. God that commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts It was marvellous to see at the word of Christ Lazarus that was dead in his Grave to come forth bound in his Grave-cloths and no less to see a Soul dead in sin bound in the bonds of corruption at a word of Christ to arise and come forth with spiritual life Iohn 5. 25. The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear it shall live VI. Character This spiritual voice of Christ is so convictive to the Conscience of a Sinner that it puts a final end to all shifts and evasions Whilst Man only spake the Soul had a thousand shifts to evade and put off what was spoken but now all Disputes and Debates are at an end No more Subterfuges and cunning Evasions now The Spirit when he cometh he shall convince the World of sin John 16. 8. The word signifies to convince by demonstration and that is to shew a thing to be impossible to be otherwise than we represent it to be Formerly when the Terrours of God were threatned against sin the shuffling heart was wont to say This concerns me no more than others if it go ill with me it will go ill with thousands as well as me 'T is true this is my Evil and who is without them I have some evils in me but yet I have some good too But no sooner doth the Spirit speak conviction to the Conscience but all these pleas are out of doors It may be the state of the Sinner's Soul was doubtful to him before but it is not so now It had some fears of Hell but ballanced with some vain hopes of Heaven But now the Debate is ended the great Question determined Whatever I am or have whatever Duties I have done and whatsoever sins I have avoided I see I am not regenerated I am in my natural Christless state and except I be changed I must be damned This was the effect of Christs convictive voice unto Paul Rom. 7. 9. I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandment came sin revived and I died He had read the Law many a time and had the litteral
important a Concern And truly this Caution is no more than needs for Satan is never more busie with the Souls of men than when Christ gives them their first Call to himself O what a thick succession of Discouragements do impetuously assault the Soul at this time Art thou young then he insinuates that it is too soon for thee to mind the serious things of Religion This will extinguish all thy pleasure in a dull melancholy thou maist have time enough hereafter to mind these matters This Temptation Augustine confesseth kept him off many years from Christ. But certainly if thou art old enough to be damned thou art not too young to mind Christ and Salvation There are Graves just of thy length and abundance of young Sprigs as well as old Loggs burning in Hell flames Besides all those godly young ones which turned to the Lord betime as Iosiah Abijah Timothy and many more will be your Judges and condemn you in the great day Never any repented that they opened to Christ too soon Thousands have repented that they kept him out so long Art thou old then he scares thee with the manifold sins of thy youth and rouls them as blocks in thy way to Christ. And whether young or old he will be sure to present the Sufferings Reproaches and Persecutions of Godliness to discourage thee from hearkning to the voice of Christ. But what are the Sufferings of Christ here to those Sufferings from Christ hereafter what are the pains of Mortification to the pains of Damnation Besides all the Promises of Christ promises of strength comfort success c. go along with the Command of Christ to believe and shall surely be performed to the obedient Soul. See therefore that thou refuse not his voice III. Vse for Trial. But you will say All that hear this spiritual voice of Christ are said to live Iohn 5. 25. Now I am much in the dark whether ever this vital voice of Christ hath founded unto my Soul. Alas I feel little if any thing of the spiritual life in my Soul. I am dead and dark By what means doth the Life of Christ discover it self in the Souls of Men I Answer There are divers Signs of spiritual life and blessed is the Soul that finds them First There is a spiritual sense and feeling flowing from and accompanying the spiritual life I speak not only of the sense and feeling of comfort for many a Soul that is in Christ feels little of that but certainly there is a sense and feeling of the burthensomness of sin Rom. 7. 24. And 't is well that we can feel that for there are Multitudes in the world that are past feeling Isâ— 6. 9. 10. 'T is a sign Christ hath spoken to thy heart if sorrows for sin begin to load it Secondly Spiritual Motions towards Christ are a sign of spiritual life at least that God is about that quickening work of Faith upon thy Soul Iohn 6. 45. Every man that bath beard and learned of the Father cometh unto me The effectual voice of God sets the Soul in motion towards Christ the Will is moving after him the Desires are panting for him The voice of God makes the Soul that hears it restless As for others their Wills are fix'd there is no moving of them Iohn 5. 40. Now consider how it is with thee Reader Art thou one that art weighing and pondering the terms of the Gospel strugling through discouragements and temptations to come to Christ upon his own terms lifting up thy heart to him for power to believe crying with the Sponse Draw me I will run after thee This is a comfortable sign Christ hath spoken to thy heart Thirdly A Spirit of Prayer is an Evidence of spiritual life as the effect of Christ's voice to thy Soul. Assoon as ever Christ had spoken effectually unto Paul's heart the first effect that appeared in him as a sign of spiritual life was Prayerbreath Acts 9. 11. Behold he prayeth God hath no still-â—orn Children Measure thy self by this Rule Time was when thou couldst say a Prayer and wast very well satisfied with it whether thou hadst any Communion with God in it or no but is it so still Is there not an holy restlesness of spirit after God since the time that his Word came home to thy heart Surely thou eanst remember when it was not with thee as it is now Fourthly There is a spiritual relish a divine gust resulting from the spiritual life which is also evidential of it Omnis vita gustu ducitur If God have spoken life to thy Soul there will be in it an agreeable pleasure and delight in spiritual things Psal. 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness c. Now thy thoughts can feed with pleasure upon spiritual things which they nauseated before Fifthly Spiritual aversations as well as spiritual inclinations speak spiritual life Every Creature hath an aversation to that which is noxious and destructive to it Now there is nothing so destructive and dangerous to the spiritual life as sin that 's the deadly poison which the renewed Soul dreads Psal. 19. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins It cries out as a man that finds himself upon the brink of a Pit or edge of a Precipice Keep back thy Servant Such aversations to sin and tremblings under temptations tending thereunto are comfortable Sign Christ hath spoken life to thy Soul. Lastly Heavenly tendencies and propensions after God are an excellent Sign thy Soul hath heard his voice and been quickned with spiritual life by it Sanctification is a Well of water springing up into everlasting life Iohn 4. 24. If thou hast seen the beauty felt the power and heard the voice of Christ thy soul like an uncentred Body will be still propending gravitating and inclining Christ-ward When thou hast once heard his effectual Call Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me thy Soul will be continually echoing with the Spouse Rev. 22. 17. Come Lord Iesus The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say Come A sweeter Sign of thy hearing Christ's voice can hardly be found in the Soul of man than restless longing to be with Christ in a state of perfect freedom from sin and full fruition of the beloved and blessed Jesus SERMON IX Revel 3. 20. If any Man hear my voice and open the door THE powerful voice of Christ is the Key that opens the door of the Soul to receive him The opening of the heart to receive Christ is the main design aimed at in all the external and internal administrations of the Gospel and Spirit The Gospel hath two great Designs and Intentions One is To open the heart of God to men and to shew them the everlasting counsels of Grace and Peace which were hid in God from Ages and Generations past that all men may now see what God had been designing and contriving for their happiness
or that Minister time or place yet he hath tyed us to a diligent and constant attendance upon them Rom. 10. 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher I confess it seems a very unlikely means a weak and foolish method according to the dictate of corrupt humane wisdom yet by the foolishness of preaching it pleases God to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. That which the wisdom of Man derides God makes effectual unto Salvation And oh how many are there that will have cause to bless God to all eternity for gifting and sending such Ministers among them whose Doctrin the Lord blessed unto the conversion of their Souls Fourthly In the next place let us consider the scope and intention of this great design wherein these instruments are employed There are no great designs in the World but aim at some end to be accomplished by them Now there are two things in the Eye and intention of this design which are worthy of it 1. The exaltation of his own grace and the riches of his goodness before Angels and Men to all eternity The Name of God is never made so glorious in this World as it is by bringing over the Hearts of Men and Women to believe God reaps more glory from the faith of a poor creature that comes to Christ empty and weary than he doth from the other works of his Hands He hath not the like glory from the Sun Moon and Stars as from such poor creatures whose Hearts open to Jesus Christ under the Gospel call Thus they are fitted to manifest the glory of his grace Eph. 1. 5 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace c. God will have his rich and glorious grace praised and admired by Angels and Men for evermore and every converted Soul is as it were a monument erected unto the praise of his grace Heaven will ring with praises for ever that the great God would humble himself to come into the Heart of a vile sinner and dwell and walk therein as the expression is 2 Cor. 6. 16. O this is admirable that the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity will take up his dwelling place in a poor contrite sinner that trembles at his Word Isa. 57. 15. 2ly The eternal Salvation and blessedness of the Soul so opened to Christ is also the design and aim of this work of opening the Heart Luke 19. 9. When the Soul of Zacheus was opened by faith This day saith Christ is salvation come to this house You do not only believe to the glory of God but to the Salvation of your own Souls Heb. 10. 39. The opening of our Hearts to Christ now is in order to the opening of Heaven to us hereafter This is both the finis operis operantis the end of the work and intention of the worker 1 Cor. 1. 21. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that do believe It presently puts them into a state of Salvation though they be not yet actually and compleatly saved There is a necessary connection betwixt Conversion and Salvation though betwixt Conversion and compleat Salvation there may be many groaning hours sick and sad days and nights but full deliverance from sin and misery is secured to the Soul in the work of Faith Col. 1. 27. Christ in you is the hope of glory Fifthly Thus you see this great and glorious design projected and managed and that this is the very scope aim and intention of the whole Gospel even the opening the Hearts of sinners unto Christ by faith will evidently appear by considering the several parts of the Gospel which have a direct aspect upon this design and the declared end of the Spirit who is sent forth to make it effectual to this very end and purpose 1. To this the commands of the Gospel look it lyes full in the Eye of the preceptive part of the Gospel 1 Iob. 3. 23. And this is his commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Iesus Christ. And it is a very great encouragement if rightly considered that faith is constituted a duty by a plain Gospel precept for this cuts off that vain pretence and plea of presumption What such a vile wretch as thou saith Satan presume to believe in Christ But this cuts off the plea. Here 's a command from the highest Sovereignty the contempt whereof Men shall answer at their utmost peril 2ly This also is the declared end and scope of the Gospel promises and threatnings whereby the Souls of sinners are assaulted on both sides As for Promises how are all the sacred pages of the Bible adorned with them as the Firmament with radiant Stars Amongst which that in the Text seems to excel in glory If any Man open to me I will come in to him Like unto which is that Iohn 6. 35 37. I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Such rich and excellent encouragements to faith had never been put into the promises but for faiths sake and then for Gospel threatnings though they have a dreadful sound yet they have a gracious design what a terrible thunder-clap is that Iohn 3. 36. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him To which another Threatning echoes with a like terrible voice Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned There be dreadful things you see threatned in the Gospel against unbelievers but what is the intention of those threatnings but to scare Men out of their unbelief and carnal security unto Christ And thus both the promises and the threatnings though of far different natures conspire and meet in the self same design even to open the Heart to Christ by faith 3ly For the sake of this design all Gospel Ordinances and Officers are instituted and appointed maintained and continued in the World unto this day Why did Christ at his Triumphant ascension shed forth such variety of gifts upon Men but that God might dwell among them Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive thou hast received gifts for Men yea for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them The whole frame of Gospel ordinances is declaredly set up for this purpose to bring Men to Christ and build them up in Christ Eph. 4. 12 4ly All the Scripture records of converted sinners whose Hearts God hath in any age opened were made for this very purpose to encourage other Souls by their examples to believe in or open unto Christ as they did For this purpose that famous and memorable conversion of Paul was graciously recorded 1 Tim. 1. 16. Howbeit for this
any Heart in the World to Christ and yet considering how fast the Hearts of Men are glued to their lusts fixed and riveted in their sins until the Spirit come upon them with powerful convictions and when under conviction what mighty discouragements they labour under from their former sinfulness and present unworthiness all this is little enough to bring them to faith nay in it self utterly insufficient without the Almighty power second and set them home with effect on the Heart for it is not meer moral suasion will do the work 'T is true Christ will not make a forcible entrance into the Soul he will come in by the consent of the Will but the Will consents not till it feel the power of God upon it Psal. 110. 3. Almighty power opens the Heart and determins the Will but still in a way congruous to the nature of the Will Hos. 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a man with the bands of love When under the influence of this power the Soul opens unto Christ he will come in take that Soul for his everlasting habitation refresh and feast it with the sweetest consolations and privileges purchased by his Blood whence the Tenth Observation is DOCT. X. That Christ will certainly come into the Soul that opens to him and will not come empty handed but will bring rich entertainment with him I will come in to him and sup with him When the prodigal the Emblem of a convert returned to his Father Luke 15. 22. his Father not only received but adorned and feasted him In opening this Point I shall shew First What Christs coming in to the Soul intends Secondly How it appears Christ will come in to the opening Soul. Thirdly What that rich entertainment is he brings with him Fourthly Why he thus entertainsthe Soul that receives him and opens to him First What Christs coming in to the Soul intends and in general I must say this is a great mystery which will not be fully understood till we come to Heaven Iohn 14. 20. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Then the essential union of Christ and his Father and the mystical union between believers and Christ will be more clearly understood than we are capable to understand them in this imperfect state yet for present so much is discovered as may justly astonish poor sinners at the marvelous condescension of the Lord Jesus to them More particularly this expression I will come in to him imports no less than his uniting such a Soul to himself for he comes in with a design to dwell in that Soul by faith Eph. 3. 17. to make such a man a mystical member of his body flesh and bones Eph. 5. 30. which is the highest honour the Soul of man is capable of indeed this coming of Christ into the Soul of a sinner doth not make him one person with Christ that is the singular honour to which our nature is advanced by the Hypostatical Vnion but this makes a person mystically one with Christ and though it be beneath the Hypostatical Vnion yet it is more than a meer Foederal Vnion Christs coming into the Soul signifies more than his coming into Covenant with it for it is the taking of such a person into a mystical Union with himself by the imparting of his Spirit unto him as the vital sap of the stock coming into the grass makes it one with the stock Iohn 15. 5. So the coming of Christs Spirit into the Soul makes it a member of his mystical body and this is a glorious supernatural work of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. most honorable most comfortable and for ever sure and indissoluble as I have elsewhere more fully shewed Secondly In the next place I shall evidence the truth and certainty of this most comfortable point that Christ will come in and that with singular refreshments and comforts to every Soul that hears his voice and opens to him No present unworthyness or former rebellions shall bar out Christ or obstruct his entrance into such a Soul. Whatever thou hast been or done all that notwithstanding Christ will come into thee and dwell with thee and make thy Soul an habitation for himself through the Spirit Eph. 2. 22. I say let thy Heart but open to him and he will both fill and feast thee with a non obstante as to all thy former miscarriages I know it is the common discouragement that multitudes of convinced humbled sinners lye under who seeing so much vileness in their natures and practices cannot be perswaded that ever the Lord Jesus will cast an Eye of favour on them much less take up his abode in them What dwell in such a Heart as mine which hath been an habitation of Devils a sink a puddle of sin from my beginning This is hard to be believed but sinner thou hast the word of a King from Heaven for it a word whose credit was never crackt or stained from the first moment it was spoken that whatever thy former or present vileness or unworthiness hath been or is he will not be shy of such a Soul as thou art if thou be but willing to open to him thy great unworthiness shall be no bar to his union with thee If any man open I will come in to him c. For First If personal unworthiness were sufficient to bar Christ out of thy Soul it would equally bar him out of all the Souls in the World for all are unworthy as well as thy self Where-ever Christ finds sinfulness he finds unworthiness and to be sure he finds this where-ever he comes Christ never expected to find worthiness in thee but it highly pleases him to find thee under a becoming sense of thy personal unworthiness Ier. 3. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgrest against the Lord thy God c. The returning prodigal acknowledged to his Father I am not worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15. 18 19. But this did not bar his access to or hinder his acceptance by his Father All that come to God to be justified must see and confess their own vileness and come to him as one that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. Secondly Thy former vileness and present unworthiness can be no bar to Christs entrance because it can be no surprize to him He knew thou wast an unworthy Soul when he made the first overture of grace and reconciliation to thee and if thy unworthiness hindred not the beginning of his treaty with thee it shall not hinder the closing and finishing act thereof in his union with thee I knew that thou wast a transgressor from the womb Isa. 48. 8. Thirdly Christ never yet came into any Soul where Satan had not the possession before him Every Soul in which Christ now dwels was once in Satans power and possession Acts 26. 18. To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Eph. 1. 3. The same person that thus blesses God with an Heart over-flowing with joy and comfort endured as many Persecutions felt as many wants and straighs as any man. What â—f Providence do but meanly cloath your Bodies so that you cannot ruffle it out in that splendor and gallantry others do yet mayst thou say with the Church I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my Soul shall be joyful in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth her self with Iewels Isa. 61. 10. What if thou fare not deliciously as the great ones of this World do yet if Christ will give thee to eat of the hidden manna which he promiseth Rev. 2. 17. Art thou not better clothed and fed than any of the Grandees or Nobles of the World This takes away all grounds of complaint it may be you will say O but we have Bodies as well as Souls if God had created us Angels that we could live without material food it were another case I reply Christ never thus intended to feast thy Soul and starve thy Body he that feeds thy Soul with bread from Heaven will take care for all necessary provisions on Earth Isa. 41. 17. You have sought and found the Kingdom of God and his righteousness fear not but all other things shall be added to you I. Vse for Information The Point before us is full of Uses I shall begin with Information in the following Inferences I. Inference Hence learn That it is a vile and groundless slander upon Religion to say or insinuate that it deprives men of the comfort and joy of life The Devil in design to discourage men from the ways of God puts a frightful mask upon the beautiful face of Religion pretending there is no pleasure or joy to be expected therein but this is abundantly confuted and refelled in the Text I will come in to him and sup with him Solomon tells us Eccles. 10. 19. A feast is made for laughter I am sure that Soul that sits with Christ at such a feast as hath been described above hath the best reason of any man in the World to be merry Religion indeed denies us all sinful pleasure but it abounds with all spiritual pleasure No rational solid mirth can come before Christ the unsanctified rejoyce in things of nought and their joy will be soon ended they are hastning to that place where they will find that to be verified of the wages of sin which they now falsely impute to the wages of holiness they shall never rejoyce more never be merry more But believers shall find that Scripture attested by their dayly experience Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace And that there are such pleasures in the ways of God as they never experienced in the ways of sin for is it a solid ground of comfort to a man to be out of debt and all fears of arrests And is it not much greater to have our debts paid to God by Christ our Surety Matth. 9. 2. Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Is it matter of joy to have a sufficiency of all things for the supply of every want he that is in Christ hath so 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and ye are Christs Is it a joyful life to be a borderer upon Heaven to confine upon blessedness it self Then it is a joyful life to be in Christ for they that are so may rejoyce in the hopes of glory Rom. 5. 2. Is it matter of all joy to have the Comforter himself who is the Spirit of all Consolation taking up his residence in thy Heart cheering comforting and refreshing it with such Cordials as are unknown things in all the unbelieving World Then certainly the life of a Christian and the ways of holiness must be most pleasant and comfortable and therefore let none that are looking towards Christ be discouraged in their way by the slanderous reproaches designedly cast upon Religion for that end Christ and comfort dwell together II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows That Christians usually meet the greatest difficulties at their first entrance into Religion The first work of Religion is cutting work wounding work groaning and weeping work thus Religion usually begins Acts 2. 37. Acts 16. 29. Now the Soul seems to be struck dead in the giving up of all its former vain hopes Rom. 7. 9. When the commandment came sin revived and I dyed but afterward comes pardon peace joy in the Holy Ghost They that go forth weeping bearing precious seed now come back rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Psal. 126. 6. Now that blessing takes place upon the Soul Matth. 5. 4. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be conforted Light is sowen for the righteous and joy for the upright in Heart 'T is quite contrary in the ways of sin all the pleasures of sin come first the terrors and gripes of Conscience come after Sin comes with smiles in its face but a sting in its tail Pleasures lead the van Hell and destruction bring up the rear Job 20. 12 13 14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue yet his meat in his bowels is turned into the gall of Asps within him But here conviction and humiliation come first these prepare the way for Christ and after him comes rest and peace Their sorrow is turned into joy John 16. 120. But is this always true Do not the worst things of Religion many times come last How many Christians go out of the world in a bloody winding sheet Whatever the after-sufferings of Christians may be the worst is past when they are once in Christ. Great and sharp sufferings they may endure but the Lord sweetens them with answerable consolations 2 Cor. 7. 4. I am filled with comfort I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation The lowest ebbs are followed with the highest tydes the greatest troubles need not give an interruption to their peace III. Inference Thirdly Hence it follows that no man can be owner of any true comfort till he be in Christ. Comfort and refreshment in the natural order follow faith 't is the vainest imagination in the World to expect solid Spiritual comfort before union with Christ you may as well expect an harvest before a seed-time I do confess there are two sorts of comforts found in the World without Christ. 1. Men may have sensitive and sinful comforts and delights without Christ these are common in the unregenerate World where you may dayly see rich men taking comfort in their riches voluptuous men in their pleasures Iam. 5. 5. You have lived in pleasures upon Earth But these are the pleasures common to bruits and beneath the
will trust my Fathers care and love Here now is sweet communion with God under pinching wants The wants of the Body enrich the Soul Outward straightnings are the occasions of inward enlargments O see from hence how good it is to have an interest in God as a Father whatever changes of providence may come upon you Thirdly There are seasons wherein the Lord exposes his people to eminent and visible dangers when to the Eye of sense there is no way of escape Now when this produceth trust in God and resignation to the pleasure of his Will here is communion with God in times of distress and difficulty thus David Psal. 56. 3. At what time I am afraid I will trust in thee q. d. Father I see a storm rising thy poor child comes under his Fathers roof for sheâ—â—er for whether should a distressed Child go but to his Father And then as to the issues and events of doubtful providences when the Soul resigns and leaves it self to the wise disposal of the Will of God as David in 2 Sam. 15. 25 26. Here am I let him do with me as seemeth good in his sight This is real and sweet communion with God in his providences And so much for the nature of communion with God. Secondly In the next place I shall evidence the reality of communion with God and prove it to be no fancy I confess it grieves me to be put upon the proof of this but the Atheism and prophaness of the age we live in seems to make it necessary for many men will allow nothing for certain but what falls under the cognisance of â—ense And oh that they had their Spiritual senses exercised then they would sensibly discern the reality of these things but to put the matter out of question I shall evidence the truth and reality of the Saints communion with God divers ways First From the Saints union with Christ if there be a union betwixt Christ and believers then of necessity there must be a communion between them also Now the whole Word of God which you profess to be the rule of your faith plainly asserts this union betwixt Christ and believers a union like that betwixt the branches and the root Iohn 15. 4 5. or that betwixt the head and the members Eph 4. 16. Now if Christ be to believers as the root to the branches and as the head to the members then of necessity there must be a communion between them for if there were not a communion there could be no communications and if no communications no life For it is by the communication of vital fap and spirits from the root and from the head that the branches and members subsist and live Secondly There is a cohabitation of Christ with believers he dwells with them yea he dwells in theâ—â— 2 Cor. 6. 16. I will dwell in them and walk in theâ—â— The Soul of a believer is the Temple of Christ yea his living Temple 1 Pet. 2. 5. And if Christ dwell with them yea if he dwell in them and walk in them then certainly there must be communion betwixt him and them if they live together they must converse together A man indeed may dwell in his house and yet cannot be said to have communion with it but the Saints are a living house they are the living Temples of Christ and he cannot dwell in such Temples capable of communion with him and yet have no communion with them Thirdly The reality of communion betwixt God and the Saints is undeniably evinced from all the Spiritual relations into which God hath taken them Every believer is the Child of God and the Spouse of Christ. God is the believer Father and the Church is the Lambs Wife Christ calls the believer not only his Servant but Friend hence forth I call you not Servants but Friends c. Now if God be the believers Father and the believer be Gods own Child certainly there must be communion between them If Christ be the believers Husband and the believer be Christs Spouse there must be communion between him and them What no communion between the Father and his Children the Husband and the Wife We must either renounce and deny all such relations to him and therein renounce our Bibles or else yield the conclusion that there is a real communion betwixt Christ and believers Fourthly The reality of communion with God evidently appears from the institution and appointment of so many Ordinances and duties of Religion on purpose to maintain dayly communion betwixt Christ and his People As to instance but in that one institution of Prayer a duty appointed on purpose for the Souls meeting with God and communion with him Iames 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Now to what purpose can it be conceived such an Ordinance is appointed for the Souls drawing nigh to God and God to it if there be no such thing as communion to be enjoyed with him If communion with God were a meer Phantome as the carnal World thinks it to be what encouragement have the Saints to bow their knees to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ But surely there is an access to God in prayer Ephes. 3. 12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidencâ— Access to what If God be not there and that there can be no communion with him what means that access I will meet you saith the Lord and I will commune with you in every place where I record my name Exod. 25. 22. Certainly duties had never been appointed but for the sake of Gods communing with us and ours with him Fifthly This is yet further evidenced from the mutual desires both of Christ and his people to be in sweet and intimate communion one with the other The Scripture speaks much of the Saints vehement desires of communion with Christ and of Christs desires after communion with the Saints and of both jointly The Saints desires after communion with him are frequent in all the Scriptures see Psal. 63. 1 2 3. Psal. 42. 1. Psal. 119. 20. and the like throughout the New Testament And Christ is no less desirous yea he is much more desirous of communion with us than we are with him Consider that expression of his to the Spouse in Cant. 8. 13. O thou that dwellest in the Gardens the companions hâ—rken to thy voice cause me to hear it As if he should say O my people you frequently converse one with another you talk dayly together why shall not you and I converse one with another You speak often to men O that you would speak more frequently to me Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for thy voice is sweet and thy countenance comly And then these desires are mutually exprest one to another Rev. 22. 20. Surely saith Christ I come quickly Amen even so come Lord Iesus saith the Church Now if there be such vehement
Satan standing at his right-hand to resist him 'T is well for thee Christian that thou hast an Advocate standing at Gods right-hand to resist and frustrate his attempts upon thee otherwise Satan would this way destroy your communion with God and make that which is now your delight to be your terror Many ways doth the Devil oppose the Saints communion with God. Sometimes he labours to divert them from it This business shall fall in or that occasion fall out on purpose to divert thy Souls approach to God but if he cannot prevail there then he labours to distract your thoughts and break them into a thousand vanities Or if he succeed not there then he attacks you in your return from duty with Spiritual Pride Security c. These fierce oppositions of Hell discover the worth and excellency of communion with God. VII Excellency 'T is the End of all Ordinances and Duties of Religion God hath instituted every Ordinance and Duty whether publick or private to beget and maintain communion betwixt himself and our Souls What are Ordinances Duties and Graces but perspective Glasses to give us a sight of God and help us to communion with him God never intended his Ordinances to be our rest but mediums and instruments of communion with himself who is our true rest When we go into a Boat 't is not with an intention to dwell and rest there but to Ferry us over the Water where our business lies If a Man miss of communion with God in the best Ordinances or Duty it yields him little comfort He comes back from it like a man that hath travelled a great many miles to meet a dear friend upon special and important business but met with disappointment and returns sad and dissatisfied God appoints Ordinances to be meeting places with our God in this World Exod. 25. 21 22. Thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the Ark and in the Ark thou shalt pâ—â— the testimony that I shall give thee and there I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat from between the two Cherubims It was not the sight of the golden Cherubims or of the Ark overlaid with pure gold that could have satisfied Moses had not the special presence of God been there and he had had communion with them O God saith David my Soul thirsteth for thee that I might see thy beauty and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Psal. 63. 1 2. Magnificent structures artificial ornaments of the places of Worship are of little account with a gracious Soul. 'T is the presence of God and communion with him which is the beauty and glory the Saints desire to behold VIII Excellency 'T is the Evidence of our Union with Christ and interest in him All Union with Christ must evidence its self by a life of communion with him or our pretensions to it are vain and groundless There be many of you I wish there were more enquiring after evidences and signs of your union with Christ why here is an Evidence that can never fail you do you live in communion with him May your life be call'd a walking with God as Enoch's was Then you may be sure you have union with him and this is so sure a sign as death it self which uses to discover the vanity of false signs will never be able to destroy 2 Kings 20. 2 3. Remember now O Lord saith Hezechiah that I have walked before thee in truth and in a perfect Heart O Professors 't will be a dreadful thing whatever ungrounded hopes and false comforts you now have to find them shrinking away from you as certainly they will do at death and all upon this account I have been a man of knowledge I have been frequent in the external duties of Religion but my heart was not in them I had no communion with the Lord in them and now God is a terror to my Soul. I am going to his awful bar and have not one sound evidence to carry a long with me that 's a remarkable place Gal. 5. 25. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit that is let us evidence the life of grace in us by exercising that grace in a life of communion with God. When all is said this is the surest evidence of our union with Christ and no gifts or performances whatsoever can amount to an evidence of our union with Christ without it IX Excellency 'T is Ease in all pains sweet and sensible ease to a troubled Soul. Look as the breathing of a vein cools eases and refreshes a severish body so the opening of the Soul by acts of communion with God gives sensible ease to a burdened Soul griefs are eased by groans heaven-ward Many Souls are deep laden with their own fears cares and distresses no refreshment for such a Soul no such Anodine in the whole World as communion with God is Psal. 32. 1 2 3. How did troubles boyl in Davids Soul Night and day Gods hand was heavy on him his Soul as Elihu speaks was like bottles full of new Wine he must speak to God that he may be refreshed and so he did and was refreshed by it I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin It would grieve one to see how many poor distressed Souls carry their troubles up and down the World making their complaints to one and another but no ease Away to thy God poor Christian get thee into thy closet pour out thy Soul before him and that ease which thou seekest in vain elsewhere will there be found or nowhere X. Excellency 'T is Food to the Soul and the most delicious pleasant proper and satisfying food that ever it tasted 't is hidden Manna Rev. 2. 17. By these things O Lord do men live and in them is the life of their Soul Isa. 38. 16. A regenerate Soul cannot live without it their bodies can live as well without bread or breath as their Souls without communion with God 't is more than their necessary food Here they find what they truly call marrow and fatness Psal. 63. 5 6. O the satisfaction and support they suck out of spiritual things by thoughts and meditations upon them To be spiritually minded is life and peace Rom. 8. 6. The delicates upon Princes Tables are husks and chaff to this Crows and Vultures can live upon the Carrion of this World but a renewed Soul cannot subsist long without God. Let such a Soul be diverted for a time from its usual refreshments this way and he shall find something within paining him like the sucking and drawing of an empty stomach 't is Angels food 't is that your Souls must live upon throughout Eternity and most happily too XI Excellency 'T is the Guard of the Soul against the assaults of temptation 'T is like a Shield advanced against the fiery darts of that wicked one Your
treasures Psal. 119. 14. I have rejoyced in the way of thy commandments as much as in all riches II. It prepares the Soul for Passive Obedience makes a man to rejoyce in his sufferings Col. 1. 24. 'T will make a Christian stand as Porters in London do at the Merchants doors to receive any burden or load they have to lay upon their shoulders and thank them to be so employed This joy of the Lord is their strength Neh. 8. 10. A Christian under the chearful influences of near communion with God can with more chearfulness lay down his neck for Christ than other men can lay out a shilling for him In all these Twenty particulars you have an account of the Excellency of this priviledge but oh How short an account have I given of it What remains is the Application of this point in a double Use 1. Of Information 2. Of Exhortation First For Information in the following Inferences I. Inference How sure and certain a thing is it that there is a God and a state of glory prepared in Heaven for sanctified Souls These things are undeniable God hath set them before our spiritual Eyes and senses beside the revelation of it in the Gospel which singly makes it infallible the Lord for our abundant satisfaction hath brought these things down to the touch and test of our Spiritual senses and experiences You that have had so many sights of God by faith so many sweet tastes of Heaven in the Duties of Religion O what a confirmation and â—eal have you of the reality of invisible things You may say of Heaven and the joys above as the Apostle did of him that purchased it 1 Iohn 1. 1. That which our Eyes have seen and our Ears have heard and our Hands have handled c. For God hath set these things in some degree before your very Eyes and put the first fruits of them into your own Hands The sweet relish of the joy of the Lord is upon the very palate of your Souls to this Spiritual sense of the blieving Hebrews the Apostle appealed Heb. 10. 34. when he said Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that you have in Heaven a better and an induring substance This knowing in our selves is more certain and sweet than all the traditional knowledge we get from the reports of others 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory There is more of Heaven felt and tasted in this World than men are aware of 't is one thing to hear of such Countries as Spain Italy Smirna by the discourses and reports we heard of them in our childhood and another thing to understand those Countries by the rich commodities imported from them in the way of our Trade and Commerce O did we but know what other Christians have felt and tasted we would not have such staggering thoughts about invisible things But the secret comforts of Religion are and ought to be for the most part inclosed things Religion lays not all open the Christians life is a hidden life II. Inference If such an height of Communion with God be attainable on Earth then most Christians live below the duties and comforts of Christianity Alas the best of us are but at the foot of this pleasant Mount Pisga as we are but in the infancy of our Graces so we are but in the infancy of our Comforts what a poor House is kept by many of Gods own Children Living between hopes and fears seldom tasting the riches and pleasures the joys and comforts of assurance and will you know the reasons of it there are Five things which usually keep them poor and low as to Spiritual Joys and Comforts 1. The incumbrances of the World which divert them from or distract them in their duties of Communion with God and so keep them low in their Spiritual Comforts They have so much to do on Earth that they have little time for Heavenly employments Oh what a noise and din do the trifles of this World make in the Heads and Hearts of many Christians How dear do we pay for such trifles as these 2. A Spirit of formality creeping in to the duties of Religion impoverishes the vital Spirit thereof like the wanton embraces of the Ivy which binds and starves the Tree it clasps about Religion cannot thrive under formality and 't is difficult to keep out formality in a setled course of Duty and much more when Duties are intermitted 3. The business of temptations pestering the minds of many Christians especially such as are of melancholy constitutions how importunate and restless are these temptations with some Christians They can make little comfort or advantage out of Duty by reason of them 4. Heart-apostacy inward decays of our first love is another reason why our Duties prosper so little Rev. 2. 4. Thou hast left thy first love You were not wont to serve God with such coldness 5. In a word Spiritual pride impoverishes our Comforts The joys of the Spirit like brisk Wines are too strong for our weak heads For these causes many Christians are kept low in Spiritual comforts III. Inference How sweet and desirable is the society of the Saints it must needs be desirable to walk with them who walk with God 1 John 1. 3. No such companions as the Saints What benefit or pleasure can we find in converses with sensual worldlings All we can carry away out of such company is guilt or grief All my delights saith David is in the Saints and in the excellent of the Earth which excel in vertue Psal. 16. 3. And their society would certainly be much more sweet and desirable than it is did they live more in Communion with God than they do There was a time when the Communion of the Saints was exceeding lovely Mal. 3. 16. Acts 2. 46 47. The Lord restore it to its primitive glory and sweetness IV. Inference What an unspeakable Mercy is Conversion which lets the Soul into such a state of Spiritual pleasure Here 's the beginning of your acquaintance with God the first taste of Spiritual pleasures of which there shall never be an end All the time men have spent in the World in an unconverted state hath been a time of estrangement and alienation from God when the Lord brings a man to Chris in the way of Conversion he then begins his first acquaintance with God Iob 22. 21. Acquaint now thy self with him and â—e at peace thereby good shall come unto thee This is your first acquaintance with the Lord which will be a growing thing every visit you give him in prayer increaseth your acquaintance and begets more intimacy and humble holy familiarity betwixt him and you And oh what a paradice of pleasure doth this let the Soul into The life of Religion abounds with pleasures Psal. 16. 11. All his ways are ways of pleasantness and
you do if you still demur and delay your damnation is just inevitable and unexcusable Hear me therefore you unregenerated Souls in what rank or condition soever providence hath placed you in this World whether you be rich or poor young or old Masters or Servants whether there be any stirrings of conviction in your Consciences or not For however your conditions in this World differ from each other at present there is one common misery hanging over you all if you continue in that state of unbelief you are now fixed in And first Harken to the voice and call of Christ you that are exalted by providence above your poorer neighbours you that have your Heads Hands and Hearts full of the World men of trade and business I have a few solemn questions to ask you this day I. You have made many gainful bargains in your time but what will all profit you if the agreement be not made betwixt Christ and your Souls Christ is that treasure which only can enrich you Matth. 13. 44. Thou art a poor and miserable wretch whatever thou hast gained of this World if thou have not gained Christ thou hast heaped up guilt with thy riches which will more torment thy Conscience hereafter than thy estate can yield thee comfort here 2ly You have made many assurances to secure your floating Estates which you call Policies but what assurance have you gotten for your Souls Are not they exposed to eternal hazards O impolitick man To be so provident to secure trifles and so negligent in securing the richest treasure 3ly You have adjusted many accounts with men but who shall make up your accounts with God if you be Christless What shall it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Matth. 16. 26. Say not you have much business under your Hands and cannot allow time you will have space enough hereafter to reflect upon your folly Secondly You that are poor and mean in the World what say you Will you have two Hells one here and another hereafter No comfort in this World nor hope for the next Your expectations here laid in the dust and your hopes for Heaven built upon the sand O if you were once in Christ how happy were you though you knew not where to fetch your next bread Poor in the World but rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which God hath promised James 2. 5. O blessed state If you had Christ you had then a right to all things I Cor. 3. 22 23. You had then a Father to take care for you but to be poor and Christless no comfort from this World nor hopes from the next this is to be truly miserable indeed Your very straights and wants should prompt you to the great duty I am now pressing on you and methinks it should be matter of encouragement that the greatest number of Christs friends and followers came out of that rank and order of men to which you belong Thirdly You that are Seamen floating so often upon the great deeps you are reckoned a third sort of persons between the living and the dead you belong not to the dead because you yet breath and scarcely to the living because you are continually so near death What think you friends have you no need of a Saviour Do you live so secure from the reach and danger of death Have your lives been so pure righteous and innocent who have been in the thick of temptations in the World abroad Ponder that Scripture I Cor. 6. 9 10. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with man-kind c. Ponder it I say and think whether you have not as great and pressing a necessity of Jesus Christ as any poor Souls under Heaven You have had many temporal Salvations from God great and eminent deliverances and will these satisfie you Is it enough that your bodies are delivered from the danger of the Sea though your Souls sink and perish in the Ocean of Gods wrath for ever If you will yet accept Christ upon his terms all that you have done shall be forgiven Isa. 55. 2. The Lord now calls to you in a still voice if you hear his voice well if not you may shortly hear his voice in the tempestuous storms without you and a roaring Conscience within you Poor man think what an interest in Christ will be worth wert thou now as shortly thou maist be floating upon a piece of wreck or shivering upon a cold and desolate rock crying mercy Lord mercy Well mercy is now offered thee but in vain wilt thou expect to find it if thou continue thus to despise and reject it Fourthly You that are aged and full of days hearken to the voice of Christ God hath called upon you a long time When you were young you said 't is time enough yet we will mind these things when we are old and come nearer to the borders of Eternity Well now you are old and just upon the borders of it will you indeed mind it now you have left the great concernments of your Souls to this time this short very short time And do the temptations of your Youth take hold upon your Age what delay and put off Christ still as you were wont to do Poor Creatures you are almost gone out of time you have but a short time to deliberate what you do must be done quickly or it can never be done Your night is even come upon you when no man can work Fifthly You that are young in the Bud or Flower of your time Christ is a Suiter for your first Love he desires the kindness of your youth your Spirits are vigorous your Hearts tender your Affections flowing and impressive you are not yet entred into the incumbrances and distracting cares of the World hereafter a crowd and thick succession of earthly employments and engagements will come on sin will harden you by custom and continuance now is your time you are in the convertible Age few that pass the season of youth comparatively speaking are brought over to Christ afterwards 'T is a rarity the wonder of an Age to hear of the conversion of aged Sinners besides you are the hopes of the next Generation Should you be Christ-neglecting and despising Souls how bad soever the present Age is the next will be worse Say not we have time enough before us we will not quench the sprightly vigour of our Youth in melancholy thoughts Remember there are Sculls of all sizes in Golgotha Graves of all lengths in the Church-yard You may anticipate those that stand nearer the Grave than you seem to do O you cannot be happy too soon As young as you are did you but tast the Comforts that be in Christ nothing would grieve you more than that you knew him no sooner Behold he standeth at thy Door in the morning of thy Age knocking this day for admission into thy Heart Sixthly You that
purchase you and might justly condemn you upon the first denial or demur behold I stand this is the Suitor 2. His posture and action I stand at the door and knock the word is in the Preter Tense I have stood but being here joyned with another Verb of the Present Tense it is fitly translated I stand yet so as that it notes a continued action I have stood and do still stand with unwearied patience I once stood personally and bodily among you in the days of my flesh and I still stand spiritually and representatively in my Ambassadors at the door i. e. the mind and conscience the faculties and powers which are introductive into the whole soul. The word Door is here improperly put to signify those introductive faculties of the soul which are of a like use to it as the Door is to the House This is the Redeemer's posture his action is knocking i. e. his powerful essays and gracious attempts to open the heart to give him admission The word Knock signifies a strong and powerful knock he stands patiently and knocks powerfully by the Word outwardly by the convictions motions impulses strivings and instigations of his Spirit inwardly 3. The design and end of the Suit it is for opening i. e. consenting receiving embracing and hearty accepting of him by faith Acts 16. 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia i. e. perswaded her soul to believe implying that the heart by nature is strongly barr'd and lock'd up against Christ and that nothing but a power from him can open it Secondly The powerful Arguments and Motives used by Christ to obtain his Suit and get a grant from the Sinners heart and they are drawn from two inestimable benefits accrewing to the opening or believing soul. viz. 1. Union 2. Communion with Christ. 1. Vnion I will come in to him that is I will unite my self with the opening believing soul he shall be mystically one with me and I with him 2. Communion I will sup with him and he with me that is I will feast the believing soul with the delicates of Heaven Such comforts such joys such pleasures as none in the World but Believers are capable of And to set home all these special benefits are proposed by Christ to all sorts of Sinners great and small old and young if any man hear my voice and open the door that so no soul might be discouraged from believing by the greatness or multitude of his sins but the vilest of Sinners may see free grace triumphing over all their unworthiness upon their consent to take Christ according to the gracious offers of the Gospel The words thus opened afford many great and useful points of Doctrine comprehending in them the very sum and substance of the Gospel The first which ariseth from the solemn and remarkable Preface Behold will be this I. DOCTRINE That every offer of Christ to the Souls of Sinners is recorded and witnessed with respect to the day of account and râ—ckoning Here we shall enquire into three things 1. Who are Gods Witnesses to all Gospel tenders 2. What are the object matters they witness to 3. Why God records every offer of Christ and takes witness thereof First Who are Gods Witnesses to all the tenders and offers made of Christ by the Gospel and they will be found to be more than a strict legal number for 1. His Ministers by whom he makes them are all Witnesses as well as Officers of Christ to the People Acts 26. 16. I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a Minister and a Witness Here you see Ministers have a double office to propose and offer Christ and then to bear witness for or against those to whom he is thus offered They are expresly called Gods Witnesses Rev. 11. 6 7. Their labours witness their sufferings witness their solemn appeals to God witness yea the very dust of their feet shaken off against the refusers of Christ turns to a testimony against them Mark 6. 11. Every groan and sigh every drop of sweat much more of blood are placed in Gods Book as Marginal Notes by all their Sermons and Prayers and will be produced and read in the great day against all the refusers and despisers of Christ. 2. The Gospel it self which is preached to you is a Testimony or Witness for God for or against every one that hears it Iohn 12. 48. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day And this is the sense of Christs words Matth. 24. 14. And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a Witness to all Nations and then shall the end come Ah Lord what a solemn record is here Every Sermon you hear yea every reproof perswasion and conviction is a Witness for God to cast and condemn every Soul in Judgement that complies not obediently with the calls of the Gospel So many Sermons so many Witnesses 3. Every mans own conscience is a Witness for God that he hath a fair offer once made him the very consciences of the Heathens that never saw a Bible that had no other Preachers but the Sun Moon and Stars and other works of Nature yet of them the Apostle saith Rom. 2. 15. That they shew the work of the Law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another Certainly if such vigour and activity was put into the consciences of Heathens who could only read the will of God by the dim Moon-light of natural reason how much more vigorous and active will conscience be in its accusing office against all that live under the bright beams of Gospel light Their consciences will be swift Witnesses and will ring sad Peals in their ears another day You shall know that there hath been a Prophet among you Ezek. 2. 5. This single Witness is instead of a thousand Witnesses for God. 4. The examples of all those that do believe and obey the Gospel are so many Witnesses for God against the despisers and neglecters of the great Salvation Every mourning trembling Soul among you is a Witness against all the dead hearted unbelieving disobedient ones that sit with them under the same ordinances Hence it is said 1 Cor. 6. 7. Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World They shall be Assessors with Christ in the great day and condemn the world by their examples as Noah did the old world and thus Matth. 21. 32. John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him and ye when ye had seen it repented not afterward that ye might believe him q. d. What shift did you make to quiet your consciences and stifle your convictions when you saw Publicans the worst of men and Harlots the worst of women repenting
solemn Amen So be it or So it shall be To open this Point distinctly we are to consider that there is a threefold presence of Christ 1. Corporeal 2. Represented 3. Spiritual First There is a Corporeal Presence of Christ which the Church once enjoyed on Earth when he went in and out amongst his People Acts 1. 21. When their Eyes saw him and their Hands handled him 1 Iohn 1. 1. This presence was a singular consolation to the Disciples and therefore they were greatly dejected when it was to be removed from them But after Redemption-Work was finished on Earth this Bodily Presence was no longer necessary to be continued in this World but more expedient to be removed to Heaven Iohn 16. 7. as indeed it was and must there abide until the time of the restitution of all things Acts 3. 21. And in this respect he tells the Disciples Iohn 16. 28. leave the World and go to my Father Secondly There is a Represented Presence of Christ in Ordinances As the Person of a King is represented in another Country by his Ambassadors so is Christ in this World by his Ministers 2 cor 5. 26. We then are Ambassadors for God as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God. Christ is about other work for us in Heaven but we stand in his stead on Earth And this speaks the great Dignity of the Ministerial Office whatever abuses or contempts are cast on them they reflect upon Christ Luke 10. 16. He that despiseth you despiseth me It also teacheth us whence the validity of Gospel administrations is Christ ratifies and confirms them with his own Authority It also instructs us how Wise Spiritual and Holy Ministers should be who represent Christ to the Word A Drunkard a Persecutor a sensual Worldling is but an ill representative of the blessed and holy Jesus Thirdly Beside and above the two former there is a Spiritual Presence of Christ in the Churches and Ordinances and this Presence of Christ by his Spirit who is his Vicegerent is to be considered as that from which all Gospel Ordinances derive 1. Their Beauty and Glory 2. Their Power and Efficacy 3. Their awful Solemnity 4. Their Continuance and Stability First From the presence of Christ by his Spirit the Ordinances and Churches derive their beauty and glory Psal. 27. 4. To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary Look as the beauty of the Body is a result from the Soul that animates it and when the Soul is gone the beauty of the Body is gone also so the beauty and glory of all Ordinances comes and goes with the Spirit of Christ which is the very Soul of them The Churches are indeed golden Candlesticks but the Candlestick hath no light but what the Candle gives it hence that magnificent description of the new Temple is closed up in this expression Ezek. 48. ult The name of that City shall be The Lord is there Secondly From this Spiritual Presence of Christ all Gospel Ordinances derive all that Power and Efficacy which is by them exerted upon the Souls of Men either in their Conversion or Edification This power is not inherent in them nor do they act as natural necessary agents but as instituted means which are successful or unsuccessful according as Christ by his Spirit co-operates with them 1 Cor. 3. 7. He that plants is nothing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase that is they are nothing to the purpose nothing to the accomplishment of Mens Salvation without the concurrence of the Spirit of Christ. For when the Apostle makes himself and Apollos with all other Ministers nothing we must understand him speaking not absolutely but comparatively and relatively they are necessary in their places and sufficient in their kind for what they are appointed to else it would be a reflection upon the Wisdom of God that instituted them but singly in themselves and disjunctively considered they are nothing as a Trumpet or wind Instrument is nothing as to its end and use except breath be inspired into it and that breath modulated by the art and skill of the inspirer like Ezekiets Wheels that move not but as the Spirit that was in them moved and directed their motions If Ordinances wrought upon Souls naturally and necessarily as the fire burneth then they could not fail of success upon all that come under them But it is with them as with the Waters of the Pool of Bethesda whose healing vertue was only found at that season when the Angel descended and troubled them Thirdly This Spiritual Presence of Christ gives the Ordinances of the Gospel that awful solemnity which is due upon that account to them The Presence of Christ in them commands reverence from all that are about him God is greatly to be feared in the Assemblies of his Saints and to be had in reverence of all that are round about him Hence is that solemn caution or threatning Levit. 26. 23 24. If you walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you the Hebrew word in that Text signifies to walk rashly or at an adventure with God sine personae discrimine without considering with whom we have to do and what an awful Majesty we stand before And the punishment is suitable to the sin I also will walk at an adventure with you making no discrimination in my Judgments betwixt your persons and the persons of the worst of Men. Oh that this were duly considered by all that have to do with God in Gospel institutions Fourthly 'T is the Spiritual Presence of Christ in his Churches and Ordinances that gives them their Continuance and Stability when ever the Spirit of Christ departs from them it will not be long before they depart from us or if they should not their continuance will be little to our advantage When the Glory of the Lord once dismounted from betwixt the Cherubims when that sad voice was heard in the Temple migremus hinc let us go hence how soon was both City and Temple made a desolation And truly Christ's Presence is not so fixed to any Place or any Ordinances but the sins of the people may banish it away Rev. 2. 5. Who will tarry in any place longer than he is welcom if he have any where else to go But more particularly let us here discuss these two points I. How it appears Christ is thus Spiritually Present with his Churches and Ordinances II. Why it is necessary he should be so First By what evidences doth it manifestly appear that there is such a presence of Christ with his Churches and Ordinances And this will appear by two undeniable evidences thereof 1. By their wonderful Preservations 2. From their supernatural Effects First From their wonderful Preservations for it is wholly unaccountable and unconceiveable how the Churches Ministers and Ordinances should be supported and preserved without it
the Soul of Man against Christ is Ignorance that obex infernalis that hellish Bolt which effectually keeps Christ out of the Soul. If Knowledge be the Key that opens the Heart to Christ as its plain it is from Luke 11. 52. where Christ denounceth a wo to them that took away the Key of Knowledge then Ignorance must needs be the shutter that makes fast the door of the Heart against Christ. Upon this ground Christ told the Woman of Samaria Iohn 4. 10. that her Infideliâ—y grew upon the root of her Ignorance If thou 〈◊〉 the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Ah sinners did you but know what a Christ he is that is offered to your Souls in the Gospel did you see his beauty fulness and suitablness and feel your own necessities of him all the World could not keep you from him You would break through all reproaches all sufferings all self-denials to come into the enjoyment of him But alas it is with you as it was with those Cant. 5. 9. What is thy beloved say they to the Spouse more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us Unknown excellencies attract not Ignorance is Satans Scepter which he sways over all his Kingdom of darkness and holds his Vassals in miserable bondage to him Hence the Devils are called The rulers of the darkness of this World Ephes. 6. 12. Alas were the Eyes of sinners but opened to see their woful state and their remedy in Christ he could never hold them in subjection one day longer they would break away from under his cruel Government and run over by Thousands to Christ for so they do as soon as ever God opens their Eyes in the same hour they are turned from darkness to light they are also turned from the power of Satan to God Acts 28. 16. Oh that you did but know the worth of your Souls the dreadful danger they are in and the fearfâ—l wrath that hangs over them the willingness and ability of Christ to save them you could not sleep one night longer in the state you are The next cry would be what shall I do to be saved Who will shew me the way to Christ Help Ministers help Christians yea help Lord these would be the laments and cries of them that are now secure and quiet but the God of this World hath blinded the Eyes of them that believe not No cries for a Phisitian because no sense how their Souls are stabbed by sins of commission and starved by sins of omission Oh that the great Physitian would once apply his excellent eye-salve to your understandings which are yet darkned with gross ignorance both of your misery and remedy The Second Bar. The Second Bar or Lock that shuts Christ out of Mens Souls is the sin of Vnbelief this is one of the strongest holds of Satan wherein he trusteth this is a sin that not only locks up the Heart of a sinner but also binds up the Hand of a Saviour Matth. 13. 58. He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief It obstructed his miraculous Works when he was on Earth and it obstructs his gracious Works now he is in Heaven A Saviour is come into the World but poor Unbeliever thy Soul can neither have Union nor Communion with him till this Bar of thy unbelief be removed The Gospel is come among us with mighty Arguments to convince and powerful Motives to perswade but little saving effect follows its main design is to many frustrated and all this through unbelief shutting up and hardning Mens hearts under it The Word preached did not profit them because of their unbelief Heb. 4. 2. Ah cursed Bar Which shuts up thy Heart shuts out thy Saviour and will effectually shut thee out of Heaven except the Almighty power of God break it asunder They could not enter in because of unbelief The ruin of Souls is laid at the Door of unbelief t is the damning sin Mark 16. 16. and truly called so because no other sin could damn but in the vertue of this sin That 's the Second Bar to Christ. Third Bar. The Third Bar denying entrance to Christ into the hearts of sinners is Pride and stoutness of Spirit The natural Heart is a proud Heart it lives upon its own stock it cannot stoop to a sincere and universal renunciation of its own righteousness Rom. 10. 3. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Pride stiffens the Will that it cannot stoop or condescend to declare their own emptiness discover their own shame and live wholly upon the righteousness of another Proud nature had as live be damned as deny it self in such appoint as this is this makes Faith so exceeding difficult because it involves such deep points of self-denial in it to give up all to Christ to draw all from Christ and to be willing to part with all for Christ what Will can be brought to a deliberate consent to such things as these unless an omnipotent Power bow it 'T is natural to Men rather to eat a brown crust or wear a course ragged garment which they can call their own than to feed upon the richest dainties or wear the costliest garments which they must receive as an alms or gift from another Oh how hard is it to subdue this pride of the Heart even after light and conviction is come into the Soul to convince Men of their undone condition and the absolute necessity of an other and higher righteousness than their own When Souls are in a treaty with Christ and the match is almost made this is the sin that makes the last opposition Feign would they come to Christ ten thousand Worlds for a Christ but yet they think they must not approach him without some qualifications which are yet wanting But Soul if ever Christ and thou conclude the match thou must deny Self even in this the most refined form and interest of it and come as Abraham did naked and empty handed to him that justifieth the ungodly Down with this House-Idol thy self thy righteous self trimmed up like another Agag with such specious pretences of humility Fourth Bar. The fourth Bar forbiding Christs entrance into the Soul is custom in sin Sin hath so fixed it self by long continuance in the Soul the Soul is so setled and confirmed in its course that all arguments and perswasions to change our way are swept away by the power of custom as straws and feathers are by the rapid course of a mighty torrent Ier. 13. 23. Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Soap and Nitre may as soon make a Blackmoor white or fetch the spots out of the Leopards
skin which are not accidental but connate as the reasonings of Men can prevail to remove the mighty power of customary sin Physitians find it a hard thing to Cure a Cakexia or ill habit of Body 'T is a grave and serious note of Seneca A teneris assuescere multum est 'T is a great matter to be accustomed this way or that from our childhood every repeated act of sin confirms and strenghtens the habit and hence it is that we see so few Conversions in old Age. It was a wonder in the Primitive times that Marcus Caius Victorius imbraced Christianity in the sixtieth year of his age take an habituated Drunkard a self-righteous Moralist lay before them the necessity of a change and you shall find it as easie to stop the course of a River with the breath of your Mouth as to stop them in an accustomed course of sinning That 's the fourth Bar to Christ. Fifth Bar. The Fifth Bar opposing and resisting Christs entrance into the Soul is the sin of Presumption this is the sin that parts Christ and thousands of Souls in the World presuming they hope and hoping they perish when Men presume their condition is safe already their Souls never make out after a Saviour This was the ruine of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This damning presumption is discovered in three things 1 Many think they have that grace which they have not mistaking the Similar for the saving Works of the Spirit a fatal mistake never rectified with many thousands till it be too late 2 They presume to find that mercy in God which they will never find for all the saving mercies of God are dispensed to Men through Christ in the way of Regeneration and Faith Iude vers 21. 3 They presume upon that time for Repentance and Faith hereafter which their Eyes shall never see And thus presumption locks up the Heart against Christ and leaves sinners perishing in the presence of a Saviour They make a bridge of their own shadow and so perish in the Waters Sixth Bar. The Sixth and last sin barring up the Heart against Christ is a strong prejudice against holyness and the strict duties of Religion Thus in the very infancy of Christianity the World was scared and driven off from Religion by the common prejudices that lay upon the Professors of it Acts 28. 22. As concerning this Sect we know that every where it is spoken against Thus Iustin Martyr complains that Christians were every where condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by common same and upon this account Christ pronounces a wo upon the World because of offences Matth. 18. 7. Alas it will be the ruine of Thousands some have suckt in such prejudicate Opinions and vile Notions of Religio◠and its Professors as makes them irreconcilable enemies to it Satan hath drest it up in their fancies in such an odious form and representation that makes them loath both name and thing These prejudices are drawn from various things sometimes from the necessary duties of Christianity which are laid as crimes upon the people of God Psal. 69. 10. When I wept and chastned my Soul with fasting that was to my reproach Sometimes the groundless and malicious slanders and inventions of the enemies of Christianity are the occasions of real prejudices to the World Ier. 18. 18. Come let us devise devices against Jeremiah and let us smite him with the Tongue Sometimes the innocent and serious Professors of godliness are censured and condemned for hypocritical professors sakes who never heartily espoused Religion And lastly the ways of holiness suffer for the slips and infirmities of weak Christians who commonly give too many occasions to disgust the World against the ways of God. By these things multitudes are kept off from attendance upon the means of Grace and multitudes more have their Hearts shut up from receiving any saving benefit under them These are the common Bars and Locks by which the strong Man armed secures his possession in the Souls of sinners and these Bars are too strong for any power beneath the Almighty power and Arm of God to remove or break t is said Acts 14. 27. That the Lord opened a door of Faith to the Gentiles The Arm of the Lord must be revealed or none will open to Christ by Faith Isa. 53. 1. 1. The iron Bar of the Law that thundering terrible Law cannot force open the Heart of an unbeliever all the dreadful curses flying out of its fiery mouth make no more impression than a Tennis ball against a wall of Marble Deut. 29. 19. You read of them that hear the words of this Curse yet bless themselves in their Heart saying they shall have peace though they walk in the imagination of their Hearts to add Drunkenness to Thirst. They play with Hell and Eternal Torments rush into iniquity as the Horse rusheth into the Battle act as men in love with their own Death as those that are at an agreement with Hell. Oh the besotting hardning infatuating power of sin 2. The Golden Key of free Grace cannot in it self remove these Bars and open mens Hearts to Christ Matth. 11. 17. We have piped unto you but ye have not danced The melodious and delicious Airs of Grace Mercy Peace and Pardon affect not the dead Hearts of unbelievers Like deaf Adders they stop their Ears at the voice of the Charmer charm he never so wisely These Gospel melodies only dispose them to a more quiet sleep in sin 3. No works of Providence are in themselves sufficient to open the Hearts of Men to Christ. 1. The Judgments of God cannot do it thousands have been made sick with smiteing that yet cannot be made sick for sin I have consumed them but they refused to receive correction they have made their Faces harder then a Rock they have refused to return Jer. 5. 3. Messengers of Judgment are abroad smiting some in their Estates scattering in one day the labour of many years and therein giving a warning blow at the Conscience to make sure of Christ and the World to come since their comfort and happiness is scattered in this World. Some are smitten in their dearest relations Death knocks at their doors and carries out the delight of their Eyes and with the same admonisheth their Souls to place their happiness in more durable comforts Some are smitten in their Bodies with Diseases giving warning of the near approach of their latter end and bidding them prepare for another habitation but all in vain 2ly No mercies of God are in themselves sufficient to open the obstinate Hearts of sinners to Christ. God hath heapt up mercies by multitudes upon many of you all these mercies of God lead you to repentance Rom. 2. 4 5. They take you in a friendly way by the Hand and thus talk with you
Verily verily I say unto you you must be born again Iohn 3. 5. O sinner that hard Heart of thine must be humbled thy stubborn and refractory Will must be bowed all the powers of thy Soul must be unlockt and opened unto Christ he must come into thy Soul or thou canst never see the face of God in peace It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till thy Heart be opened Christ with all the hopes of glory stand without thee And if hopes from the death of Christ without us without the application of his person be enough to save Men then why are any damned Consult 1 Cor. 1. 30. Adams sin damns none but only such as are in him and Christs righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him the eternal purposes of the Father the meritorious death of the Son puts no Man into the state of Salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirits powerful application in the work of saving conversion T is good news good indeed that Christ died for sinners t is good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the Gospel and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our Hearts by many convictions and perswasions to open to him and enjoy the unspeakable benefits of his death these things bring us nigh to Christ the next door to Salvation and yet all this may be eventually but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation and will certainly be so to them whose Hearts are but almost opened to Christ. V. Inference See hence the necessity of fervent prayer to accompany the preaching of the Gospel Without the Spirit and power of God accompanying the Word no Heart can ever be opened to Christ Alas such Bars as these are too strong for the breath of Man to break Let Ministers pray and the People pray that the Gospel may be preached with the holy Ghost sent down from Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 12. It greatly concerns us that preach the Gospel to wrestle with God upon our knees to accompany us in the dispensation of it unto the People to steep that seed we sow among you in tears and prayers before you hear it and I beseech you Brethren let us not strive alone joyn your cries to Heaven with ours for the blessing of the Spirit upon the Word How doth Paul beg of the People as a beggar would beg for an alms at the door for their assistance in Prayer Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christ sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me For want of such wrestlings with God in prayer there is so little efficacy in Ordinances Martha told her Saviour Iohn 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died and I may tell you that if the Spirit had been here your Souls had not remained dead under the Word as they do this day Oh when the Sabbath draws near let fervent cries ascend from every Family to Heaven Lord pour out thy Spirit with thy Word make it mighty through thy Power to open these Gates of Iron and break asunder these Bars of Brass Second Vse of Exhortation Seeing the Case stands thus that all Hearts by nature are barr'd and shut up against Christ let every Soul do what it can and strive to its uttermost to get the Heart and Will opened to Christ Strive to enter in at the straight gate Christ is at the Door Oh strive with your selves as well as with God now to get it opened now that Salvation is come so near to your Souls Object But have you not told us that no sinner can open his own Heart nor bow his own Will to Christ Answ. True he cannot convert himself but yet he may do many things in order to it and which have a remote tendency towards it which he doth not do and so he perisheth not though he cannot but because he will not Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own Hearts which are not done and though in themselves they are insufficient yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works we are bound to do them As for Example 1. Though it be not in your power to open your Hearts to Christ yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin which fasten your Hearts the more against Christ Who forceth thine Hands to steal thy Tongue to swear or lye who forces the cup of excess down thy Throat 2ly Though you cannot open your Hearts under the Word yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external Duties and Ordinances of the Gospel Why cannot those Feet carry thee to the Assemblies of the Saints as well as to an Ale-house 3ly And though you cannot let the Word effectually into your Hearts yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do Who forces thine Eyes to wander or closes them with sleep when the awful matters of eternal Life and Death are founding in thine Ears 4ly Though you cannot open your Hearts to embrace Christ yet certainly you can reflect upon your selves when the obvious characters of a Christless state are plainly held forth before your Eyes God hath given you a self-reflecting power The spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. When you hear of Convictions of sin compunctions of Heart for sin deep concernments of the Soul about its eternal state hungerings and thirstings after Christ restless and anxious Days and Nights about Salvation others have felt you can certainly turn in upon your selves and examine whether ever it were so with you and if not methinks it were not hard to aggravate your own misery to take your poor Souls aside and bemoan them saying Ah my poor Soul canst thou endure everlasting burnings What will become of thee if Christ pass thee by and his Spirit strive no more with thee Why can't you throw your selves at the Feet of God and cry for mercy Prayer is a part of natural Worship distress usually puts Men upon it that yet have no Grace Ionah 1. 5. Do but this towards the opening and saving of your own Souls which though it be not in it self sufficient nor puts God under any meritorious obligation or necessity to add the rest yet it puts you into the way of the Spirit And is not thy Soul sinner worth as much as this comes too Have you not taken a great deal more pains than this for the trifles of this World And will it not be a dreadful aggravation of sin and misery to all eternity that you perished so easily Dont you see many striving round about you for Christ and Salvation whilst you sit still with folded Arms as if you had nothing to do for another World
of me for I am meek and lowly You are going to Meekness and Mercy it self he is the Lamb of God that is his name go on then poor trembling sinner dont stand any longer at shall I Shall I with Christ but make a bold but necessary adventure of Faith try him once and then report what you find im to be Certainly if he exercises such Patience towards the Vessels of wrath whilst they are sitting to destruction as he doth Rom. 9. 22 he will not want Patience for a Yessel of Mercy preparing by Humiliation and Faith for Christ and Glory Doth he forbear those that stand out in defiance and will he fall upon those that are mourning to him upon the Knee of submission Shall a damnede wretch that is preparing for Hell find so much forbearance and a poor broken hearted sinner none It cannot be If Jesus Christ forbare thee when thy Heart was as hard as a Rock and could not yield one Tear one Sigh for sin will he execute his Wrath upon thee will he shew thee no Mercy when thy Heart is broken all to pieces with sorrow and filled with loathing and detestation against sin and thy self for sin Did he forbear thee when sin was thy delight And will he destroy thee now it is thy burden It cannot be Moreover if the Lord Jesus had not a mind to shew Mercy to thy poor Soul Now now that thine Eyes are opened and thy heart touched to the quick why hath he forborn the execution of his wrath so long He might have taken his own time to cut you off when he would he might have made any day the execution day But sure among all the days of thy life the day of thy Humiliation the day of thy Faith is not like to prove that day Again as great and vile sinners as thy self have adventured upon the Grace of Christ and sound it infinitly beyond their expectation These the Lord Jesus hath set forth as incouraging examples to all the broken hearted sinners that are coming after that they seeing how it hath fared with their forerunners to Christ might be incouraged to come on with the more confidence 1 Tim 1. 16. But I obtained mercy that in me first Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern for them that should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Well then shut your Ears against all the whispers of Satan entertain no evil reports of Christ the Devil loves to draw a false picture of Christ and represent him in the most discouraging form to poor trembling sinners but you will not find him so What can Christ say more to convince and satisfie Souls than he hath done He hath left the bosom of the Father he hath taken union with thy Nature he hath poured out his Soul unto Death he hath told us Those that come unto him he will in no wise cast out Thousands are gone before us in the paths of Repentance and Faith and found it according to his Word you have been spared all your Life to this day of Mercy O do not stand off now upon such weak objections III. Inference The long-suffering of Christ toward Sinners instructeth and teacheth his Ministers to imitate their Lord in a Christ-like Patience and Long-suffering Christ is our pattern of Patience if he wait much more may we we think it much to stand from Sabbath to Sabbath Woing Pleading and Inviting and are apt to be discouraged when we see no fruit follw The want of success is apt to cast us under Ieremiahs temptation To speak no more in his Name and to lament with Isaiah That we have laboured in vain 't is a hard case to Study Pray and Preach and see all our labours return in vain 'T is not so much the expending as the returning of our labours upon us in vain that discourageth our Hearts Ministers would not dye so fast saith one of them nor be gray-headed so soon did they see the fruit of their labours upon their people But let us look to our pattern in the Text Behold I stand at the door and knock If the Master wait let not the Servants be weary The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be patient towards all wasting if at any time God will give them repentance 2 Tim. 4. 24. Though the beginnings be small our latter-end may greatly increase though we now fish with Angles and take but now one and then another the time may come and we hope is at the door when we shall spread our Nets and inclose multitudes Aretius a pious Divine comforted himself thus under the insuccessfulness of his Labours Dabit posterior aetas tractabiliores fortasse animas mitiora pectora quam nostra habent tempora Future days will afford more tractable Spirits and easier tempers of Mind than our present times afford Beside the fruit of our labours may spring up to a blessed harvest when we are gone Iohn 4. 37. One Man soweth and another reapeth but if not our reward will not be measured by the success but the sincerity of our designs and labours Our zeal for conversion of Souls to Christ will be accepted but our discouragement in his service will certainly displease him If Israel be not gathered yet shall we be glorious in the Eyes of the Lord. However let this be a caution to you that hear us that you cast not our Souls under such discouragements If I may speak the sense of others from my own experience then I can assure you that the fixedness of your Hearts in the ways of sin and your untractableness to the calls of God are a greater burden and discouragement to us than all the sufferings we have met withal from the World yet are we contented to Pray in hope and Preach in hope incouraging our selves the Lord grant it be not without ground that a crop shall yet spring up which shall make the Harvest-men laugh IV. Inference From the Patience and Long-suffering of Christ we may learn the invaluable preciousness of Souls and the high esteem Christ hath for them Though your Souls be cheap in your own Eyes and you are contented to sell them for a trifle for a little sensual pleasure and ease some of you will hazard them for a Shilling yet certainly Jesus Christ hath an high asteem of them else he would never stand knocking with such importunity and waiting with such wonderful patience for the Salvation of them Christ knows their worth though you do not he accounts and so should you one of your Souls more worth than the whole World Matth. 16. 26. The Soul of the poorest Child or meanest Servant that hears me this day is of greater value in Christ's Eye than the whole World and he hath given three great evidences of it 1. That he thought it worth his Heart Blood to redeem and save it 1 Pet. 1. 19. You were not redeemed with Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of
the cries of such Souls will be heard above the cries of all the other miserable wretches that are cast away 'T will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum Matth. 11. 23. Oh Friends you little know the smart reflections of Conscience in Hell upon such hours as you now enjoy such wooing charming voices and allurements to Christ as you now hear There are many thousands of Souls in Hell that came thither out of the dark heathenish parts of the World where they never heard of Christ but your misery will be far beyond theirs your reflections more sharp and bitter Therefore delay no longer lest you perish with peculiar aggravations of misery 3ly Try the Patience of Christ no further I beseech you for as much as you see every day the Patience of Christ ending towards others Patience coming down and Justice ascending the Stage to triumph over the abusers of Mercy You dont only read in Scripture of the finishing and ending of God's Patience with Men but you may see it every day with your own Eyes If you look into Scripture You may find the Patience of God ended towards multitudes of Sinners who possibly had the same presumptions and vain hopes for the continuance of it that you now have If you look into 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. you shall there find that Christ went and preached to the Spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah The meaning of it is this that in the days before the Flood Christ by his Spirit strove with disobedient and rebellious sinners in the Ministry of Noah who then were living Men and Women as now we are but now are Spirits in prison i. e. damned Souls in Hell for their disobedience And truly Brethren you may frequently behold the glass of Patience run down the very last sand in it spent upon others Whenever you see a wicked Christless Man or Woman dye you see the end of God's Patience with that Man or Woman and all this for a warning to you that you adventure not to trifle and dally with it as they did 4ly Lastly Do not try God's Patience any longer if you love your Souls for this Reason because when Men grow bold and incourage themselves in sin upon the account of God's forbearance and long-suffering towards them there cannot be a more certain sign that his Patience is very near its end towards that Soul. 'T is time for God to put an end to his Patience when it is made an encouragement to sin God cannot suffer so vile an abuse of his glorious Patience nor endure to see it turned into wantonness This quickly brings up sin to its finishing act and perfection and then Patience is just upon finishing also That Patience is thus abused appears from Eccles. 8. 11. and when it is so abused look for a suddain change O therefore beware of provoking God for now the day of Patience is certainly near its end with such sinners Prov. 1. 24 25 26. Because I have calledâ— and ye refused I have streâ—ched out my Hand and no Man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind Ah when sinners scolt and mock at the threatnings of God and bear themselves up upon his Patience as that which will never crack under them then look out for a whirlwind a suddain Tempest of wrath which shall hurry such Souls into Hell. Then misery comes like a storm blowing furiously from all quarters Well the Heavens are yet clear over you but a storm is nigh and may be certainly presaged from such vite abuses of the glorious Patience of Christ towards you That 's the first Exhortation try not the Patience of Christ by any further delays II. Exhortation Secondly Admire Christ's Patience and forbearance of you until now that he hath not cut you off in your sin but lengthned out his Patience unto this day and brought about your Salvation by his long-suffering towards you Here now I must change my voice and turn it unto those whose Hearts the Lord hath opened Stand amazed at the riches of his Grace towards you and see that you account this long-suffering of God to be your Salvation for in plain Truth it is so your Salvation was bound up in Christ's forbearance if Christ had not born as he did you had not been where you are I could heartily wish that all the time you can redeem from the necessary employments you have in the World may now be spent in an humble thankful admiration of this admirable Grace and Patience of Christ and answerable duties to the intentions and ends thereof To this end I shall subjoyn divers weighty Considerations which methinks should melt every Heart wherein the lest drachm of saving Grace is found Bethink your selves of the great and manifold provocations you have given the Lord to put an end to all further Patience towards you not only in the days of your vanity and unregeneracy but enen since your reconciliation to him Do you not believe thousands of sinners are now in the depths of Hell who never provoked the Lord at an higher rate than you have done Were you not herded once among the vilest of sinners 1 Cor. 6. 11. And such were some of you as vile as the vilest among them yet you are washed in the Blood of Christ and your companions roaring in the lowest Hell or if your lives were more clean sure your Hearts and Natures were as filthy as theirs And certainly your sins since the time of Reconciliation have had special aggravations in them enough to put an end to all further mercies towards you Light and Love have aggravated these sins and yet the Lord will not cast you off How often have you been upon the very brink of Hell in the days of your unregeneracy Every sickness and every danger of life which you escaped in those days was a marvelous escape from the everlasting wrath of God. Had thy Disease prevailed one degree further thou hadst been past hope and out of the reach of Mercies Arm now Doubtless some of you can remember when in such and such a Disease you were like a Ship riding in a furious storm by one Cable and two or three of the strands of that Cable were snapt asunder So it hath been with you the thread of life how weak soever hath held till the bonds of union betwixt Christ and your Souls are fastned and the eternal hazard over This is admirable Grace How often hath Death come up into your Windows entred into your Houses fetcht off your nearest Relations but had no commission to carry you out with them because the Lord had a design of Mercy upon your Souls This cannot but affect a
call at their doors all the days of their life that he will please to turn aside to thy Soul and wait and knock there for entrance I say here is one of the greatest acts of favour that can be shewn to the Soul of a sinner How many Souls be there in the World equal in natural Dignity to yours and of sweeter natural Tempers whom yet the Lord Jesus lets alone in the quiet possession of Satan Luke 11. 21. There is a deep silence and stilness in their Consciences no stirrings nor disturbances by Convictions but through a dreadful Judgment of God are left in a deep sleep and if their Consciences at any time begin to grumble how soon are they husht and quieted again by Satan What the condition of the World was in former Ages we may see in Acts 14. 16. Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways O 't is the greatest Mercy in the World for the sleepy Conscience of a sinner to be roused by Convictions because it is introductive to all other Spiritual Mercies I confess this act of Grace is little apprehended by the Sons and Daughters of Men much rather would poor sinners be let alone than be thus disturbed by troublesom convictions and when Christ disturbs their rest how do they startle at the knocks of his Word and Spirit How angry be they that they cannot be let alone to enjoy their quiet sleep in sin till the flames of Hell awaken them Mr. Fenner that great and eminent Instrument of God in this Work tells us in one of his Sermons how it fared with a certain Man that came to hear him Preach It seems the Word had got entrance into his Conscience and gave it a terrible Allarum and as he was going home some that followed him heard him thus blaming and bemoaning himself O what a fool what a beast was I to come under this Sermon to day I shall never have peace and quietness any more And what is the reason that smooth and general Preaching is so much applauded and affected in the World And close convincing Doctrin so much shunned and hated but this that sinners are very loath to be disquieted and have their Consciences throughly awakned Well whatever your apprehensions be certainly it is an unspeakable Mercy for Christ to knock and disquiet the Souls of sinners by his calls That 's the first thing 2ly The next thing implied in this action of Christ is this That the first motions towards the recovery and Salvation of sinners begin not in themselves but in Christ. We never knock at Heavens door by Prayer till Christ hath first knockt at our doors by his Spirit Did not Christ move first there would be no motions after him in our Hearts we move towards him because he hath first moved upon our Souls Christ might sit long enough unsought and undesired did he not make the first motion All our motions are secondary and consequential motions Isa. 65. 1. I am found of them that sought me not As we love him because he first loved us so we seek after him because he first sought us Alas poor sinners are as well satisfied as any people in the World can be to lye fast asleep in the Devil 's Arms. When the Spirit of God goes forth with the Word of Conviction he finds the Souls of Men in the very same posture which the Angels that had surveyed the World reported the whole Earth to be in Zach. 1. 11. Behold all the Earth sitteth still and is at rest Every Man setled and satisfied in his own way what a strange stilness and midnight silence is there amongst sinners Not a sigh not a cry to be heard for sin So the Psalmist Psal. 14. 2. represents the case of sinners The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the Children of Men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone aside c. There is one thing that is admirably strange in this case that even those Men and Women whose Rattles of earthly pleasures and delights which brought them into this sleep and security are taken away from them by the Hand of Providence I mean their Estates Health Children c. yet they awake not there are no stirrings after God. O what a dead sleep hath sin cast the Souls of sinners into You have a notable Scripture to this purpose in Iob 35. 9. 10. they are the words of Elihu concerning Men and Women under grievous oppression persons squeezed and ground by the cruel Hands of wicked Men by reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry they cry out by reason of the Arm of the Mighty but none saith where is God my Maker who giveth songs in the night i. e. Succour Comfort and Refreshment to the afflicted Here are Men turned out of their Estates thrown into Prisons cast upon all extremities and miseries and what do these poor creatures do Why saith he they cry by reason of their oppression O my Father or my Mother my Wife my Child my Estate my Liberty but none saith where is my God O my sin or my misery by reason of sin where is he that giveth Songs in the night The People of God when they lye musing upon their beds under affliction they have their Songs in the Night in the midst of the multitude of their troubled thoughts within them the Comforts of God delight their Souls Those are their Songs in the Night but no such word or thought in carnal Men how plain is it that all the first motions of Salvation have their first spring and rise in God and not in us That 's the Second thing implied in Christ's knocking Thirdly Christ knocking at the door of the Heart implies the method of the Spirit in Conversion to be congruous and agreeable to the nature of Man's Soul mark Christ's expression in the Text he doth not say Behold I come to the door and break it open by violence no Christ makes no forcible Entries whether sinners will or no he will come in by consent of the Will or not at all I stand and knock if any Man open the door I will come in to him There is a great difference between a friendly admission by consent and a forcible entrance in a forcible entrance bars of Iron are brought to break open the door but in a friendly admission one knocks and the other opens Forcible actions are unsuitable to the nature of the Will whose motions are free and spontaneous therefore it is said Psal. 110. 3. The people shall be willing in the day of thy power 'T is true the Power of God is upon the Will of Man in the day of his Conversion or else it would never open to Christ but yet that Power of God doth not act against the freedom of Man's Will by co-action and force no but of unwilling he makes it willing taking away the obstinacy and
will try what that will do go Poverty and blast his Estate and see what that will do go Sickness and smite his Body and shake him over the Graves mouth I will see what that will do Thus God sends to sinners as Absolom sent to Ioab who refused to come near him till he set fire to his field of Corn and then away comes Ioab 2 Sam. 14. 29 30 31. And thus the Lord opened the Heart of the Iaylor by putting him into a fright a panick fear of Death Acts 16. 27. And thus doth the Lord devise means to bring back his banished II. As God makes use of the Hammer of Judgments so he makes use also of Mercies to make way for Christ into the Hearts of Men. Every Mercy is a call a knock of God and truly if there be any ingenuity left unextinguished in the Heart one would think Mercy should prevail more than all the Judgments in the World Rom. 2. 4. Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance q. d. Dost thou not see the Hand of Mercy stretched out to lead thee into a corner there to mourn over thy sins committed against so gracious and merciful a God By every Mercy you receive Christ doth as it were â—ee you to open your Hearts to him they are so many gifts sent from Heaven to make way for Christ into your Hearts It would be an endless task to enumerate all the Mercies bestowed to this end upon the unregenerate but surely this is the errand of them all and the Lord takes it very ill when his end is not answered in them hence is that complaint Ier. 5. 24. Neither say they in their Heart Let us now fear the Lord our God that giveth us rain both the former and the latter in his season Some of you have been marvelously preserved in times of common Contagion and Death when thousands have fallen at your right-hand and left then have you been preserved or recovered according to that Exod. 15. 26. I will put none of those Diseases upon thee for I am the Lord that healeth thee I am Iehovah Rophe the Lord the Phisitian many of you have been at the Graves mouth in many Diseases others upon the Deeps yet the Hand of Mercy pulled you back and suffered you not to drop into the Grave and Hell in the same moment O what a knock was here given by the Hand of Mercy at thy hard Heart Certainly if Men would but observe they might see a strange marvellous working and moulding of things by the Hand of providence for the production of thousands of Mercies for them and if Mercy would do the work and win you over to Christ many rods had been spared which your obstinacy hath made necessary O ungrateful sinners Doth your Redeemer thus woo and fee you by so many gifts of Mercy and yet will you shut him out Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise For which of all his benefits do your ungrateful Souls shut the door upon him III. You see what Christ's knocking at the Soul of a sinner implies and by what instruments it is performed In the last place we will consider the manner how this action is performed in the Ten following Particulars wherein much of the mistery of Conversion will be opened the Lord grant your experience may answer them VVe cannot indeed exactly describe and mark all the footsteps of the Spirit in this VVork upon the Souls of Men yet these things seem eminently observable 1. The knocks of Christ at the sinners Heart are silent and secret to all persons in the VVorld except the Soul it self at whose door he knocks here be many hundreds of you this day under the VVord if the Lord shall this day knock by Conviction at any Man's Heart none will hear that knock but that Man only for it is a knock without sound or noise to any but the particular Soul concerned in it It was fore-prophesied of our Redeemer and of this very act of his Isa. 4. 2. 2. He shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the Street The Kingdom of God cometh not into the Souls of Men with publick observation you read in 1 Cor. 2. 11. No Man knoweth the things of a Man saving the Spirit of a Man that is in him None knows what Convictions another Man's Conscience feels until he himself shall discover them you hear the same sound of the Gospel but you hear not the inward stroaks it gives to another Man's Conscience Christ's approaches to the Soul make no noise little do we know what the Spirit of Christ whispers in the Ear of him that sits next us 'T is said of the inward comforts of the Spirit I will give him the hidden Manna which no Man knows but he that eateth of it This is true also of inward terrors and troubles Christ's knocks by Conviction are but a secret whisper of his Spirit in the Ear of a sinner saying Thou art the Man this is thy case That is the first thing in the manner of Christ's knocking 't is a silent knock without publick sound 2ly These silent inward knocks of the Spirit of Christ though they are heard by none but the Soul it self yet do they greatly differ as to the terror or mildness of them in different subjects Some hear them with more terror and astonishment others in a mild and gentle manner when the Lord knockt at the Iaylors Conscience Acts 16. 29 30. it was a terrible stroak he called for a light and sprang in like a Man distracted and trembling and astonied fell down at the Apostles feet crying Sirs what must I do to be saved Here was a terrible knock indeed which almost affrighted his Soul out of his Body it is as if he had said Tell me for the Lord's sake and tell me quickly whether there be any way of Salvation and where it lies for I am a lost Man an undone Soul. But when the Lord opened the Heart of Lydia there were no such terrors the Lord spake to her in a more mild and gentle voice as you see verse 14. the Spirit of God varies his method according to the temper of the Soul he worketh on Knotty pieces need greater wedges and harder blows to rive them asunder and as he directs his Ministers Iude 22. to make a difference to deal tenderly and compassionately with some but others to save with fear so he himself observeth like different methods 3ly Some knocks of Christ are succesful and obtain the desired effect He knocks and the Soul opens but others are insuccessful he knocks once and again by Convictions which may cause the Conscience for the present to startle a little but there is no opening to Christ by Faith. O friends this is of dreadful consideration Prov. 1. 24. I called and you refused I stretched out my Hand and no Man regarded There 's a call without an answer a
Grace but Christ within you by the Work of Grace which must be unto you the hope of Glory Colos. 1. 27. He is not only among you in respect of external Means but he is come into your Understandings and Consciences Yea some motions of his you may feel upon your affections there wants but a little more to make you eternally Happy O what would one effectual touch upon your Wills be worth now The Head-Work is done but O that the Heart-Work were done too You are almost saved but to be almost saved is to be wholly and eternally Lost if it go no further 'T is a sad thing for a Man that hath one Foot in Heaven to slide from thence into Hell. 'T is sad to be Shipwreckt at the Harbours mouth Thirdly Jesus Christ hath an unquestionable right to enter into and possess every one of your Souls Satan is but an Usurper Christ is your lawful Owner and Proprietor thy Soul sinner hath not so full a Title to thy Body as Christ hath to thy Soul. Satan keeps Christ out of his right Christ knocks at the door of his own House he built it and therefore may well claim admission into it it is his own Creature Col. 1. 16. By him were all things made whether they be visible or invisible Bodies or Souls The invisible part thy Soul is his Workmanship a stately Structure of his own raising He hath also a right by Redemption Christ hath bought thy Soul and that at the invaluable price of his own Blood. Who then can dispute the right of Christ to enter in to his own House But alas he cometh to his own but his own receive him not Fourthly Open the door to Christ for a train of blessings and mercies comes in with him a troop of privileges follow him In the same day and hour that Christ comes into thine Heart by a full consent and deliberate choice a pardon comes with him of all the sins that ever thou committedst in Thought Word or Action Will such a pardon be welcome to thy Soul Then let Christ be welcome for where Christ comes pardon comes if you open to Christ you open to peace and who would shut the door of his Soul against Peace If peace be welcome let Christ be welcome for peace follows faith in Christ Rom. 5. 1 Where Christ comes liberty comes Iohn 8. 36. If the Son therefore shall make you free then are you free indeed Are you in love with Bonds and Fetters Satans Laws are written in Blood Christs yoak is easie and his commands not grievous If you love liberty love Christ. In a word where Christ comes Salvation comes for he is the Author of eternal Salvation to all them that obey him If therefore you love Pardon Peace Liberty and Salvation shut not the door against Christ for all these follow him where-ever he goes Fifthly Christ this day solemnly demands entrance into thy Soul he begs thee to open to him 2 Cor. 5. 20. He commands thee to open to him 1 Iohn 3. 23. He denounceth eternal Damnation to those that refuse him entrance Now consider well here is entrance demanded under pain of the eternal Wrath of God this demand is filed and recorded in Heaven at your own peril be it if you shut the door against him only this I will say in my Redeemers behalf if you refuse bear witness Heaven and Earth this day that Christ solemnly demanded entrance into thy Soul and was refused bear witness that the door was shut against the only Redeemer who intreated commanded and threatned eternal Damnation to the rejecters of him O methinks that Scripture Prov. 1. 24. 25. is able to strike terror into the very center of that Soul that refuses the offers of Christ. Sixthly And so I have done my Masters errand if you now refuse the knock of Christ at your Hearts he may never knock more and where are you then There is a knock which will be the last knock a call which will be his last call and after that no more knocks or calls but an eternal Silence as to any overture of Mercy or Grace But if I do open to Christ he will never come into such a filthy polluted sinful Soul as mine is Who saith so Who dare affirm so impudent a falshood in the very face of the Text If any Man open unto me I will come in to him If I open to Christ I must bid farewel to ease and rest in this World reproaches sufferings losses follow him If Christ Pardon and Salvation be not worth the enduring and suffering these small things sure thou valuest Christ and thy Soul at a low rate Oh who can sufficiently bewail the ignorance and folly of Unbelievers that will fell their Souls and hopes of Heaven for such trifles And if Christ and thy Soul must part upon these terms then hear me sinner and let it sink into thy Heart thy Damnation will be both 1. Just and Righteous 2. Unavoydable and sure 1. Thy Damnation will be Just for thou hadst thy own choice and deliberately preferredst the insignificant trifles of this World before Christ and Salvation It was plainly told thee what the issue of thy rejecting Christ would be and yet after sufficient warning thou adventuredst upon it whatever other sinners will plead I know not but as for thee thou must be speechless Matth. 22. 12. If thou dye Christless thou must appear at his Bar speechless and the day of Judgment will be the day of the revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Rom. 2. 5. 2ly It will also be Unavoidable for there is no other way to Salvation but this Acts 4. 12. No Christ no Heaven no Faith no Christ How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2. 3. Mercy it self cannot save thee out of Christ for all the saving Mercy of God is dispensed to Men through him Iude vers 21. 'T is to no purpose to cry Mercy Lord Mercy when Christ in whom all the Mercies of God are dispensed to Men is rejected by thee III. Vse for Consolation This Point winds up in Consolation to all such as hearing the knocks of Christ have opened or are now resolved to open their Hearts unto him and that nothing henceforth shall keep Christ and their Souls asunder To such I shall address the following grounds of Comfort I. Consolation An opening Heart to Christ is a work wholly and altogether Supernatural A special work of the Spirit of God never found upon any but an elect Soul. There are common gifts of the Spirit such as Knowledge vanishing Convictions c. but the opening of the Heart by Faith is the special saving and peculiar work of the Spirit Iohn 6. 29. This is the work of God that ye believe Yea it is the effect of the Almighty Power of God the exceeding greatness of his Power is exerted in the work of Faith Eph. 1. 19. it
that gladed his Heart but the report brought him by the Seventy who returned with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy Name and he said unto them I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven vers 17 18. Satans Kingdom was going down in the World and the mysteries of Salvation revealed unto Babes this made his holy Heart leap with Joy within him to behold the success of the Gospel destroying Satans Kingdom and the poorest meanest among Men inlightned and converted by it This was a Cordial to his very Soul and speaks the earnestness of his desire after union and communion with sinners V. His Sorrows and Mournings upon the account of the obstinacy and unbelief of sinners speaks the vehemency of his desire after union with them it is said Mark 3. 5. When he had looked round about on them with anger being grieved for the hardness of their Hearts c. You see from hence that an hard Heart is a grief to Jesus Christ O how tenderly did Christ resent it when Ierusalem rejected him 'T is said Luke 19. 41. That when Iesus came nigh to the City he wept over it The Redeemers tears wept over obstinate Ierusalem spake the zeal and servency of his affection to their Salvation how loath is Christ to give up sinners what a mournful voice is that in Iohn 5. 40. And you will not come unto me that you might have life How feign would I give you life but you will rather dye than come unto me for it what can Christ do more to express his willingness All the sorrows that ever toucht the Heart of Christ from Men were upon this account that they would not yield to his calls and invitations VI. This appears to be the great design of Christ by the unwearied labours he underwent Day and Night to accomplish it many weary Journies Christ took many Sermons and Prayers he Preached and poured out and all upon this design to open the Hearts of sinners to him and win the consent of their Wills to become his this was the Work which he preferred to his necessary food Iohn 4. 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work q. d. My bringing home the Elect of God and saving them from wrath to come 't is more to me than meat and drink so vehement and intense were his desires after the winning of sinners that he would lose no occasion to accomplish it If he were never so weary with his travels and labours yet if any occasion offered to save a lost Soul he would be sure to improve it you have an instance of this in Iohn 4. 6. Then cometh he to a City of Samaria called Sychar c. now Jacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his Iourney sat thus on the well c. Christ was weary with his Journy and sat on the Well for a little rest and refreshment in the heat of the day at the same time comes a Woman of Samaria to draw water a great sinner she was Christ compassionately beholding this miserable object forgets his own weariness presently falls a Preaching Repentance to this sinner and opens her Heart a greater refreshment to him than that Well could afford him by giving him a seat to sit on or water to drink VII The great and admirable Encouragements Christ always gave to coming and willing Souls plainly speaks the earnest desire of his Heart after union with them never were the like Encouragements given that Christ gave to draw the Souls of Men to him 'T is remarkable in what general terms and forms of expression he delivered them that none might be discouraged but come on in hope towards him Come unto me all ye that labour Matth. 11. 28. If any Man thirst Iohn 7. 37. All along the terms of invitation are exceeding large which speak the desires of his Heart to be so also and his practice was answerable to his invitations his mercies and compassions never failed when the vilest of sinners came to him in the way of Repentance and Faith you read in Luke 7. 41 42. that when Christ sat at meat in the House of Simon the Pharisee there came in a poor convinced sinner who had guilt enough upon her to sink Ten thousand Souls to the bottom of Hell this poor wretch comes with a great deal of humility unto Christ not presuming to come before his Face but falls down behind him kisseth his Feet washes them with Tears wipes them with the hair of her Head all demonstrations of a broken Heart And how did the merciful Iesus welcome this poor sinner Seals her pardon commends the fervour of her affection and sends her away a joyful Soul herein making good that gracious promise Iohn 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out VIII The dreadful Threatnings of Christ against all that refuse him and shut the doors of their Hearts against him speak his vehement desires to prevent the loss and ruin of Souls The threats of Christ are not intended to discourage any from coming to him to fright away Souls from him no no that 's not their intention but to bring them under a blessed necessity of compliance with his terms O the dreadful threatnings which like claps of Thunder brake from the Mouth of Christ against all that should refuse or delay to come unto him If you believe not you shall dye in your sins He that believeth not shall not see life John 3. 36. What a terrible Thunder clap is that against all Unbelievers So Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned All these and many more are warning pieces shot off from Heaven to prevent the ruin and damnation of Men the very threatnings of the Gospel carry a design of Mercy in them damnation is threatned that it may be prevented IX And then in the last place herein appears the earnestness of Christ after union with sinners that when he could be no longer a Preacher to this World in his own Person he ordained a succession of Ministers in his Bodily absence from us to gather and build the Church and to continue to the end of the World to carry on the suit that Christ had begun as long as there was one elect Soul in the World lying in the state of Sin and Nature Reader Christ could not always abide here he must dye or we could not live he must rise again or we could not be justified our buisness call'd him to another Place and State Now when Christ was to ascend to Heaven what doth he do Why he chuseth and calleth Men Men made of the same clay with our selves whose presence and appearance should not affright or discourage us who should treat with us in a familiar way about the great concerns of our Salvation in his Name and stead 2 Cor. 5. 20. We then are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you we
pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. He did not commissionate Angels to be his Legates their presence would confound and terrifie us but Men cast into the same mould with your selves who may say to you as Elihu said to Iob Iob 33. 6 7. Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my Hand be heavy upon thee Upon these Commission Officers of Christ he poured forth excellent gifts in great diversity and useful variety to fit the capacities and various dispositions of Mens Souls When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto Men this Ministerial Office is by him established in the Church Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect Man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4. 11 12 13. Unto these his Ministers he gives the highest encouragements to quicken them to their labour if one do but one part of the work and another the other one soweth and another reapeth he tells them both He that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice togther John 4. 36. He tells them that every Soul they win to him shall be as a Jewel in their Crown of glory Dan. 12. 3. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever What is Christs intention in all these incouragements to his Ministers Surely it is as if he should say to his Servants Study hard Pray earnestly Plead with sinners affectionately every Soul you win to me shall make an addition to your glory in Heaven Weigh now the force of this second Demonstration from the Life of Christ will you have a proof of Christs earnest suit to gain the Hearts of sinners his whole Life upon Earth was a great proof of it his Doctrin so full of pathetical invitations proves it the Joy of his Heart at the success of the Gospel his Tears and Sorrows for the obstinacy of unbelievers his Labours and Travels to gather sinners to him his admirable Encouragements put into general invitations his dreadful Threatnings to all that reject his motions his commissionating and qualifying continuing and encouraging his Ministers to carry on this suit in his Name All these things make up a full Demonstration that Jesus Christ is an earnest suiter for union and communion with the Soul of sinners which was the thing to be proved Thirdly The Death of Christ is the fullest Demonstration that ever was or can be given of his love to sinners and desire after union and communion with him His Doctrin and Life discovered much but his Death and Sufferings abundantly more in his Doctrin he spent his Breath but upon the Cross he spent his Blood. Here he comes a suiting to the Souls of sinners in his Scarlet robes his Red garments garments dipt in his own Blood You may now propound the same admiring question the Church propounded Isa. 63. 1 2. Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah This that is glorious in his apparel travelling in the greatness of his strength Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the Wine-fat Wilt thou know sinner why he cometh to thee in Red garments It is to give thee such a Demonstration of his love as may draw forth all the love of thy Heart to him by this Blood he hath bought and purchased thy Soul for a Spouse for himself Acts 20. 28. Now there are two things in the Death of Christ evidential of the fervency of his desires after us 1. The greatness of the sufferings which he endured 2. The Use and End to which they were designed Both these shew how the Heart of Christ is heated with the vehemency of his own desires after union with our poor Souls 1. The greatness of the sufferings of Christ discover the ardency of his affection Christs sufferings are two-fold 1. External in his Body 2. Internal in his Soul. Both together making up the fulness of his Sufferings When you shall hear what Christ hath endured in both kinds to purchase you to himself then you may guess what value he put upon you what desire he hath after you Now 1. as to the external Sufferings of Christ in his Body they were exceeding great for the Death he died was not a Natural but a Violent Death indeed he could not dye a Natural Death for there was no sin in his Nature to open a door to Death that way His Body was intended for a Sacrifice to God and as a Sacrifice it dyed therefore it is said 1 Pet. 3. 18. He was put to Death in the Flesh his Soul and Body were violently rent asunder in the fulness and perfection of his strength and vigour and this violent Death was also a cursed Death He was made a Curse for us For it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Gal. 3. 13. A ceremonial Curse was affixed to the Death of the Cross He that is hanged is accursed of God saith the Law The intention of that Death was to shew the person that dyed to be so vile that he was not worthy to touch Heaven or Earth and therefore was hanged betwixt both Moreover this violent Death Christ dyed was a most painful Death full of Torture and very Slow and Lingering the Cross was a Rack to the Body of Christ I may tell all my bones saith he they look and stare upon me Psal. 22. 17. But yet 2. the Sufferings of his Body were but the Body of his Sufferings it were the Sufferings of his Soul that were the very Soul of his Sufferings These inward Sufferings of Christ may likewise be considered two ways 1. In his bitter propassions in the Garden O what Agonies and Conflicts what sharp Encounters and Distresses did his Soul there meet with from the Wrath of God there endured for your sakes Once and again he cried out Abba Father all things are possible let this Cup pass Father if it be possible let this Cup pass thrice he returned to the same place rowling himself on the ground The Sufferings of his Soul cast his blessed Body into a bloody Agony His sweat was as it were great drops of Blood falling to the ground Luke 22. 43 44. 2. In the fulness of his Passions on the Cross there was his blessed Soul for a time deserted of the Father as to any sensible communications of Joy and Comfort from him which occasioned that bitter out-cry Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou for saken me Never was there such a cry heard since the Heavens were spread over the Earth never had Christ seen one frown in his
to Christ on Earth so it is capable of glory with Christ in Heaven throughout eternity Iohn 17. 24. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me It hath a natural capacity of enjoying eternal Blessedness which the Souls of other Creatures have not And this will be the aggravation of Hell torments that Men capable of the highest happiness should as it were receive that capacity in vain but that which constitutes an actual right to the everlasting enjoyment of Christ in glory is the Souls espousals to him here in the way of Grace Upon these two accounts it is that Christ puts such a price upon them Courts their love so passionately laments their loss so pathetically and encourages his Ministers to all diligence in perswading and woing them for him with such abundant rewards Dan. 12. 3. Know then your own worth and dignity neither pawn nor sell so precious a thing as thy Soul for any thing Satan can set before thee by way of exchange for it What shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul IV. Inference Is Christ such an earnest Suiter for union with sinners then certainly they are the enemies of Christ and the Souls of Men that any way endeavour to hinder or break off the match betwixt Christ and them Some there are that labour to create jealousies and beget distastes and prejudices in the Souls of Men against Christ and his ways Men that bring up an evil report upon Christ and strict Religion as that which will begger them and expose them to all the miseries of the World Who instigated by Satan whisper such stories into the Souls Ear whom Christ is woing for himself that the severity of Religion will certainly extinguish all their joys and pleasures they shall never laugh more never be merry more Beside it will expose all their comforts upon Earth to hazard their Estates and Lives must fall a prey to their Enemies and this is the Estate which Christ will Jointer them if they consent to his terms And that this is no groundless jealousie of their own but that Christ himself hath openly declared as much That he that will come after him must hate Father and Mother Wife and Children yea and his own Life also This is what they must expect as the fruit of their consent to Christs proposals But O what will these Men have to answer and how will they stand before Christ another day who are such professed enemies to his Cross and set themselves so directly in opposition to the great design Christ is driving on in the World Is it not enough that you will not enter your selves but you will hinder them that would Matth. 23. 13. Thus carnal Parents discourage their Children one Relation another But to help Souls under this discouragement I will leave only this one Caveat with them That such seeming Friends are their real mortal Enemies their Words are poison to your Souls Satan hath feed them to do his Work hired their Tongues for his Service But if the serious cares of Salvation and servent love of Christ be in thy Heart thou wilt resolve as Ierom did If my Father who beg at me and my Mother who bare me should hang-about my Neck with tears and entreaties to keep me from Christ I would fling off my Father and tread upon my Mother that bear me to go to Christ. To this Head also belong all those scandals and offences which loose and careless Professors cast in the way to discourage others from coming unto Christ Wo to the World saith Christ because of offences Matth. 18. 7. Wo to the World this will be their ruin and undoing by this means such prejudices will be begotten in their Souls against Christ and Religion as they will never be able to free themselves from But wo to them by by whom such offence cometh it were better a milstone were hanged about their Necks and they cast into the bottom of the Sea. Christians look carefully to your Conversations for besides the evil effects of sin upon your selves you see the mischievous effects of it upon others and thus we may sense those words Cant. 2. 7. I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hinds of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please Roes and Hinds are timerous Creatures the least crack of a stick will startle and fright them away such are comers on toward Christ young beginners in the ways of Religion how small a matter may damp and discourage them O friends you have sins enough of your own bring not the sin and ruin of other Men upon your account also V. Inference To Conclude How great is the blindness and ignorance of sinners that need so much entreaty and importunity to be made happy 'T is your ignorance sinners that makes all the Gospel importunity necessary did you know your own misery and see Christ in his necessity suitableness and excellency all these perswasions might be spared nay you your selves would become importunate Suiters for Christ you would not need to be twice offered there is a Conscience in every Man and Woman set there on purpose by the Lord to give them an Allarm but the Allarm goes not off for want of a spring to wiâ— the knowledge of our sin and misery Ah Soul didst thou but know who it is that Suits for thy love what the benefits of union with Christ are thou wouldst answer his first call in such Language as this Lord Jesus write down thine own terms be they what they will I am ready to subscribe them with the fullest consent of Heart and Will and then how soon would the match be made betwixt Christ and you Yea you would watch for and hang on half a word of encouragement from Christs Mouth as Benhadads Servants did on that word of Ahab my brother Benhadad 1 Kings 20. 32 33. There is no need of Rhetorick to perswade a condemned Malefactor to accept his pardon an hungry Man to sit down at a full Table but alas sin is not felt Christ is not known therefore the one is not bewailed nor the other desired II. Vse In the next place the Point naturally leads us to a Use of Exhortation to perswade sinners to embrace Christs motion subscribe his terms and huckle no more with him but end the treaty in a cordial present consent and so close up the match betwixt him and your own Souls how long sinner wilt thou be at shall I shall I And thy Will hang undetermined betwixt Christ and sin Bivious and unresolved in so great and deep a concernment O that Christs next overture might bring the matter to an Issue why will you trifle and dally with him at this rate There is indeed a Treaty on foot betwixt Christ and you but you may perish for all that there 's
no conclusion or agreement made Christ and you may yet part The Lord help you therefore to ponder and deliberate with all speed and seriousness the terms propounded by Christ in the Gospel to count the cost and yet not always to be deliberating neither but to bring matters to an Issue and that with all the convenient speed you can in order whereunto lay two things before you weigh and seriously ponder them 1. What are the advantages you will gain by Christ 2. What is the most you can lose by your consent to his terms and then bring your thoughts to an Issue I. Ponder well the advantages you will gain by Christ these are so great and manifold that it is impossible for me to enumerate or value them it shall suffice in this place to shew you one of those bunches of the Grapes of Eshcol that by it you may estimate the riches and fertility of that good Land setled upon you by Christ as a Dowry or Joynture and these are four 1. The payment of all your debts to the Law 2. An Honour above Angels 3. An eternal inheritance in Heaven 4. A glorious and joyful presentation of you to the Father in the great day by Christ as his Spouse and Wife 1. The same day and hour you give your cordial consent to take Christ upon Gospel terms that is to say Christ with his yoak of obedience and Christ with his Cross of Sufferings all your debts to the Law are discharged and paid what have you been doing ever since you came into the World but runing upon score to God deeper and deeper every day O what a vast sum owest thou to his Justice And not able to pay one farthing If thou consent not to Christs offer the Bailiff and Executioner Death and the Devil will shortly be upon thy back and hurry thee away to that prison from whence thou shalt not come out until thou have paid the last farthing Matth. 5. 25 26. If thou consent to Christs terms thy debts are paid upon thy marriage day thy bonds cancelled and thy discharge in Heaven sealed Rom. 8. 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ and the reason is given vers 4. in this That the righteousness of the Law is fulfill'd in us that believe But how in us Certainly the meaning is not that the To credere the act of Faith doth as it is a work of ours satisfie the demand of the Law and fulfil its righteousness no but it apprehends the righteousness of Christ applies it and makes it ours and so the righteousuess of the Law is fulfilled in us that believe Is it an ease is it a comfort to be out of debt Then embrace the offer of Christ for after thy espousals to him the Law cannot touch thee by any act of condemnation it goes to the Husband Christ thou art discharged Well then resolve what to do shall the debt run on and increase till Justice come to levy it upon you in Hell Torments Or will you accept of Christ and the riches of righteousness that are in him and so be fully and finally acquited from all your debts at once and so be able to lye down in peace and enjoy your lives without slavish fear He that ows nothing fears no Bayliffs but may as we use to say whet his Knife upon the Counter threshold 2ly Your consent to Christs terms will advance you to an Honour above and beyond the Honour of Angels 'T is said That the Children of the Resurrection shall be equal unto Angels and it is most sure that in some respect their union with Christ advances them far above Angels for the Apostle tells us Heb. 1. 14. They are ministring Spirits sent forth for the good of them that shall be heâ—rs of Salvation As the great Peers and Nobles in a Kingdom count it no dishonour to perform their service to the Heir apparent The Ministry of Angels is a mystery which we little understand but by it we receive great and manifold advantages and it certainly puts a great deal of Honour upon all the Members of Christ. 3ly Christ will not only pay all your debts and exalt you to a dignity above Angels but in that day wherein you cordially consent to his terms he will intitle you to the most glorious inheritance purchased by his Blood You shall be heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ Rom. 8 17. O what an inducement is here to close the match betwixt Christ and our Souls If I consent to take Christ upon Gospel terms I shall thereby be intitled to all the glory that is in Heaven it shall be mine as truly as it is Christs 'T is true the glory of Christ will in some respects far surpass the glory of the Saints he will shine among them as the Sun compared with the Stars but yet the glory which God gave him that is the communicable glory shall be truly theirs as it is his Iohn 17. 22. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them Tell my Brethren saith he Iohn 20. 17. I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God. This you shall gain also by closing this Treaty with an hearty consent to Christs terms and proposals 4ly If you will consider and consent you shall be presented by him to the Father pure and spotless with exceeding joy and gladness in the great day This will be such a presentation of your persons to God as will make your Hearts leap for joy to read what the Scriptures speak about it This methinks should induce every Soul without further delay to present himself Soul and Body chearfully and willingly to Jesus Christ. For 1. Christ will bring you in the great day to his Father in the shining beauty of perfect holyness not a spot or wrinkle upon your Souls Ephes. 5. 27. The Blood of Christ perfectly washes off every spot of guilt for then the Spirit of Christ hath perfectly cleansed the Soul from all the desilement and filth of sin so that it shall come to God a pure and beautiful Creature out of Christs Hand 2. This presentation will be made with greatest honour and solemnity we little think in what state and triumph Christ intends to bring the poorest believer to his Father Psal. 45. 14 15. With joy and gladness shall they be brought c. So Iude vers 24. They shall be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Joy running over Joy upon all Hands God himself will rejoyce that ever he created such a Soul as hath sincerely bestowed it self upon Christ. Jesus Christ will rejoyce that ever he shed his Blood for that Soul that now places his sole righteousness therein the Holy Spirit will rejoyce that ever he came with a commission from the Father and the Son to draw such a Soul to Christ who hath obeyed his voice the Angels will rejoyce with joy unspeakable Luke 15.
10. There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth If the consent of any of your Souls shall be this day gained to Christ if the Word you have heard this day shall send any poor Soul hence to his Closet or into a Corner there to make his Covenant with Christ for that 's the way of making up the match with Christ in that hour the news of it will be in Heaven and excite joy among the Angels of God lay these and many other Privileges together which I want time to mention but the Scriptures will abundantly furnish you with them and then consider what a rich bargain what an advantageous match Jesus Christ is for your Souls II. Upon the other-side cast up the account what you may lose by your consent to be Christs and whether those losses be sufficient to ballance or preponderate the gain that comes by such a consent that so your choice of Christ may be a deliberate and full choice and you may never repent afterwards of the choice you have made It is a rule in the Civil Law Non consentit qui non sentit he cannot consent that doth not think understand and deliberate and this is the reason of so much flinching from Christ and shameful apostacy in times of Persecution Men did not think of such sufferings and losses they are meer surprisals to them to forelay all such occasions of offence our Lord deals candidly and openly with us and tells us before Hand what are the worst things that may besal us for his sake Iohn 16. 1 2. These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended they shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think he doth God service But vers 4. he adds These things I have told you that when the time shall come ye may remember that I told you of them q. d. Remember your selves in times of Persecution that all these things were propounded considered and consented to they were the very terms you subscribed to me had you not liked them you might at the everlasting damage and ruin of your immortal Souls have refused and rejected them Now the things you are to ballance with the gain of Christ must by you be'sorted into two Ranks 1. Things that must be parted with 2. Things that may be parted with for Christ. I. The things that you must part with viz. your Lusts and all the vicions pleasures you have had in them how much profit or pleasure soever they have brought you in away they must go they must be devoted to destruction and mortification or you can have no interest in Christ You must shake Hands for ever with all your sinful courses and companions Rom. 6. 16. His Servants you are to whom you obey Be they as pleasant and profitable as your right Hand or Eye they must be pluckt out and cut off Matth. 5. 29 30. Doth this sound harsh and unpleasant to your Ears Doth this cause the demur O consider what it is to part with sin it is but to part with the Disease of your Souls and the instruments of your everlasting ruin which of you would not be glad to part with a Fever the Stone or Dropsie What is Passion but the Fever of the Soul What is a hard Heart but a Stone What is Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness but the insatiable Dropsie of the Soul Now if Men would be glad to be rid of such dreadful Diseases in their Bodies and be restored to Soundness Ease and Health how much more should you be glad to be rid of your Corruptions and have the rectitude ease and pleasure of your Soul restored again Yea instead of those impure vicious bruitish pleasures you have taken in sin you shall enjoy the pure divine suitable and everlasting pleasures of holiness Consider now and accordingly make your choice whether you will take the pleasures of sin which are but for a season in exchange for the everlasting joys which are at Gods right Hand for ever II. There are other things which you may be called to part with and give up for Christ it is uncertain whether God may actually call you to part with your Liberties Estates Relations and Lives for Christ. Many are never actually called forth to such sufferings but because many are and every one of you may be so called you must reallize them ponder them and subscribe those very terms making full account of these things as if they were now before you Luke 9. 23. For so Christ hath propounded them but then with all weigh these troubles with the gain and advantages you shall have by them and not singly and alone by themselves for so Christ hath presented them to you Matth. 19. 28. And every one that hath forsaken Houses or Brethren or Sisters or Father or Mother or Wife or Children or Lands for my Name sake shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting Life Now if you think such gainful troubles such Soul-enriching losses be worth accepting for Christs sake then close the match with Christ and bring the matter to a conclusion Do not befool your selves with a fond and groundless presumption that these things will never befal you I fear many flatter themselves with such vain hopes the Lord knows how soon these suppositions at a distance may be turned into realities before your Eyes You have much reason to expect them and much more to embrace them when ever Christ shall call you to them This is the great Work you have now to do and really you cannot safely demur any longer this matter must come to a conclusion and the sooner the better For you know 1. that your Lives are immediately uncertain and it is an unaccountable madness to let the great concern of your Salvation lye one day or night at hazard your breath is continually coming and going and that which is going must at last be gone Iames 4. 14. You Souls hang over everlasting dangers by the single thread of that feeble breath which plays in your Nostrils and every Disease like the flame of a Candle held under that thread and can it either be safe or comfortable to delay so great a Work as this upon which all your expectations and eternal Blessedness depends 2. Not only your Lives are hazardous and uncertain but the enjoyment of the Gospel and all the opportunities and means of your Conversion are as uncertain as they 'T is true and to the glory of God be it acknowledged we now enjoy the freedom and fulness of Gospel mercies but where hath God made any such settlement of these blessings upon you as puts the enjoyment of them out of hazard The rain is over but yet the clouds may return after the rain we are upon our good behaviour if it bring forth the fruits of your Conversion well if not the Ax lieth at the root of the trees Matth.
the sincerity of Christ in those gracious offers he makes unto coming Souls Be satisfied he speaks his very Heart in them to thee the Devil labours to sow jealousies and beget suspicions in the Hearts of poor convinced sinners that they will not find such a welcom entertainment with Christ as he seems to promise them in those encouraging Scriptures Matth. 11. 28 29. Iohn 6. 37. But that something else lies hid in those Scriptures as a mystery which they understand not and so by shaking the assenting act labours to hinder the accepting act of Faith this is a case as common as it is sad the Lord help poor Souls to avoid this snare lest in stead of honoring Christ by a resolved adherence to him they make him a lyer and impute insincerity to the God of truth For he that believeth not hath made him a lyer IV. Direction Fourthly Look up to God for power to enable you to come to Christ in this supernatural and difficult work of Faith. Dont think Faith is of the growth of thine own Heart No Man can come unto me saith Christ except my Father which hath sent me draw him There is a legal Spirit working under Evangelical pretences in many Souls they look within them to find that which is quite above them the Apostle points you to the fountain of Faith in Eph. 2. 8. It is not of your selves it is the gift of God. 'T is one of the greatest difficulties in the World to believe For if the power of God must be owned as the cause of every new degree of Faith in the greatest believers in the World as is plain Luke 17. 5. The Apostles said unto the Lord Increase our Faith. How much more is the production of Faith it self and the first vital act thereof to be ascribed to the Almighty Power of God V. Direction Fifthly Keeping thine Eye of Expectation upon that Almighty Power pray and plead with the Lord assiduously and importunately for the exerting of that Power upon thy Soul and give not over thy Suit till thou feel that Power coming upon thee The time of believing is a time of earnest pleading thine own danger and necessity and the Spirit of the Lord improving them will abundantly furnish thee with Pleas and Arguments to enforce this Suit. Such as these 1. Lord I have thy call and invitation yea I have thy command to encourage me to believe it is not presumption therefore in thy poor Creature to come after thou hast invited and commanded me hadst thou not encouraged me I durst not have moved towards thee Lord whose Word is it 1 Ioh. 3. 23. is it not thine own This makes my Faith an act of obedience 2. Yea Lord I have thy promise as well as thy command made upon no other condition but my coming to thee blessed Jesus hast not thou said Iohn 6. 37. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out An invitation is much but thy promise is more 3. O my God I have not only thy command making it my duty to believe and thy promise to encourage me to that duty but I have the examples of other sinners that came unto thee long ago and thou didst not reject them nor do I abuse those examples in drawing incouragement from them for it was thy very design in recording them that they might be so many patterns to all that should hereafter believe on thee 1 Tim. 1. 16. 4. O my God I am shut up under a plain necessity I have no other way to take thus stands the case with me I am beaten off from all other refuges there is no help for me in Angels nor Men in duties or self-righteousness in thee only my Soul can find rest I am shut up to thee as to the only door of hope Gal. 3. 23. here I must speed or perish my Soul is burthened and wearied I know not how to dispose of it but into thy Hands nor where to lay the burden of my guilt but upon thee if I miss here I am gone for ever 5. Lord I am willing to renounce and abandon all other hopes refuges and righteousness and to stick to and rely upon thee only Duties cannot justifie me tears cannot wash me reformation cannot save me nothing but thy righteousness can answer my end I come to thee a poor naked Creature saying as the Church Hos. 14. 3. Asshur shall not save us c. for in thee do the fatherless find mercy Thus plead it with God and still remember you are pleading for Life yea for your eternal Life VI. Direction Sixthly Labour to make a resolved adventure upon Christ amidst all those encouragements let the issue be what it will resolve to venture though you have not the least degree of assurance that you shall be accepted and pardoned This is that brave and noble act of Faith which carries the Soul to Christ much as Hester came to the King Yet will I go in to the King and if I perish I. perish Hest. 4. 16. It pities me to think how the saving act of Faith is grosely mistaken in the World the generality think it is enough for them to believe that Christ died for sinners and therefore for them as well as any other but you see Faith is another matter O there are great difficulties and mighty wrestlings in the Work of Believing 't is a great matter for a poor convinced sinner in the face of so much guilt and viâ—eâ—ess and amidst such manifold damps and discouragements from Satan to cast and adventure himself upon Christ and that upon such self-denying terms but the pinch of necessity will bring the Soul to this for now it reasons with it self as the Lepers did 2 Kings 7. 4 5. If we go to the Camp of the Assyrians we can but dye and if we abide here we must certainly dye thus here if I sit still in the state of Nature and still continue demurring and delaying my damnation is unavoidable to Hell I must go and if I cast my self upon Christ I can but be rejected but he hath said He will not cast out those that come unto him in this way of Faith there is a possibility of Salvation yea there dawns from it a strong probability this therefore is my only way To him I will go and if I perish I perish VII Direction Seventhly Never measure the grace of God nor the mercy of Christ by the rule of your own narrow conceptions and apprehensions of him but believe them to be far greater than your contracted and narrow understanding represents them to you Our casting of the pardoning power and mercy of God into the mould of our own thoughts disfigures and alters them so that they look not like themselves but with a very discouraging aspect upon our Souls by this Satan keeps off many a Soul from coming to Christ the Lord knows how to forgive thee though thou scarce knowest how to forgive thy self for the
Christ by their unwillingness but Christ never put off one Soul upon account of its unworthiness Christ is not the Sale but the Gift of God you come not to make a bargain but to receive a free gift Faith is a marriage with Christ wherein nothing but your Hearty consent is expected so runs the strain of the whole Scriptures Isa. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money i. e. no merit no worthiness of his own let him come Behold the free grace of Christ to the vilest and unworthiest of sinners so Revel 22. 17. Let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him 〈◊〉 and take the water of Life freely and in the very phrase of my Text he speaks again Iohn 7. 37. If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink 'T is very observable throughout the whole Gospel that Christ never made any objection against any Soul that came to him upon the account of its sinfulness and unworthiness but all the complaints of Christ are still upon the account of their unwillingness so in his complaint over Ierusalem Luke 13. 34. I would but you would not so again Iohn 5. 40. You will not come unto me that you might have life The complaint is still upon their unwillingness In the stating of this Point I shall Doctrinally discourse these two things 1. What it is to be truly willing to receive Jesus Christ. 2. How it appears that they who are so shall certainly be received and graciously accepted of him First What it is to be truly willing to receive Jesus Christ. For this is meant by opening to him now this implies and involves in it many great and weighty things 1. It implies and necessarily includes the right understanding and true apprehension of Gospel Terms and Articles these must be known pondered and duly considered before the Will can savingly open in an act of consent to Christs offer I desire this may be especially observed because multitudes are mistaken and deceived about this thing he that doth not consider doth not consent you must exercise your understandings upon the Terms and Articles of Christianity or else your consent is rash blindfold and unstable this in Luke 14. 31. is call'd consulting the consent of Faith is the result of many previous consultations and debates in the mind the Soul that comes to Christ must take up Religion in his most sedate and serious thoughts turn both sides of it the dark as well as the bright side of Religion to the Eye of his mind ballance all the conveniencies and inconveniencies losses as well as gains If I open to Christ this I shall gain but that I must lose I cannot separate Christ from sufferings Christ will separate me from my sins if I seek him I must let them go if I profess Christ providence will one time or other bring me to this Dilemma either Christ or Earthly comforts must go 't is necessary therefore that I now propound to my self what providence may one time or other propound to me he hath set down his terms Matth. 16. 24. If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me This self-denial deserves serious consideration for Christ extends it to natural Self righteous Self and civil Self and requires that I give up my Life my Liberty my Estate and Relations my own Righteousness as hard to be parted with as any of the former I must take up my Cross that is the sufferings and troubles God shall appoint for me and which I cannot avoid or escape without sin and I must follow Christ follow him whither soever he goes I know not what Religion may cost me before I dye all this it hath cost others and there is no bringing down Christs terms lower than he hath laid them I must come up to them they will not come down to me if I like them not as Christ hath left them the Treaty between him and me is ended Matth. 10. 37 38. He that loveth Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me And he that loveth Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me And he that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me Where by worthiness we are not to understand the meritoriousness of these Acts but the necessary qualification of the Will and due qualification of a comer unto Christ these previous consultations and debates in the Mind prepare and enable the Will to make a serious and well advised choice of of Christ and for want of this there are such swarms of Hypocrites and Apostates in the World. 2ly It implies such a sence of misery in us and of the necessity and excellency of Christ as determines the Will to the choice of him notwithstanding all those difficuties and troubles which have fallen or can fall under consideration and debate in the Mind when the Soul sees that in Christ which preponderates all sufferings all losses all reproaches c. and then determins I will have Christ though I sacrifice all that is dear to me in the World for him this is to be truly willing to open to Christ. 'T is true the enjoyments of this World are understood by Christians as much as other Men they have a feeling sence of the sweetness and comfort of Earthly enjoyments their Souls have as much affection to the Body as other Men they understand the charming language of the World and their dear Relations in it as well as others only they see a greater necessity of Christ and a greater worth in Christ than they do in these things you read Lam. 1. 11. that in the famine of Ierusalem they gave their pleasant things for meat to relieve their Soul Jewels Bracelets Gold Silver any thing for Bread they understood the worth of those things knew the price and cost of them but away they go to preserve Life So 't is here no earthly enjoyment of what value soever it be hath such an excellency in it such an absolute necessity of enjoying it as Christ hath But O saith the poor Soul who can do this I am willing to have Christ and to come up to every term he hath laid down in the Gospel I am willing to part with every sin and to endure any suffering for Christ but Oh I tremble to think if it should come to a Prison to a Stake to an actual separation from all the Comforts and Relations I have in the World what I shall do for strength to go through such hard and difficult work as this Here 's the great rub in the way of many Souls they find a willingness but fear the want of strength Ans. How or where you shall find strength to endure and suffer these things for Christ is not the question now before you God will take care for that and it shall be given you in that hour and
so others have found who have had the very same fears you have I say the question is not whether you be able but whether you be heartily willing Christ asks but your Will he will provide Ability the greatest Believer in the World cannot say I am able to suffer this or that for Christ but the least Believer in the World must say I am willing the Lord assisting me to endure and suffer all things for his sake and this is the Second thing included in opening to Christ. 3ly The Third thing which perfects and consummates the whole act is an entire choice of of Jesus Christ upon all those terms prescribed by him the entireness of the choice without halfing or dividing excepting or reserving makes the consent full and effectual There is a twofold consent of the Will to Christ. 1. One partial and with exception 2. The other entire and without any reservation I. There is a partial consent which is always hypocritical defective lame and ineffectual thus the hypocrite consents to the offer of Christ he is really willing to have the pardons of Christ and the glory purchased by Christ but to part with his beloved lusts and to give up his earthly enjoyments that his Will cannot consent to II. There is a full and entire consent of the Will called a believing with all the Heart Acts 8. 37. Now this integrity and fulness of the Wills choice is that which closes the match betwixt Christ and the Soul and frees a Man from the danger of hypocrisie And there are three things which make the consent to and choice of Christ compleat and full 1. When we give up all we are and have to him 2. When we derive and draw all we want from him 3. When we are ready to deny any thing for his sake 1. We do then heartily consent to be Christs when we give up all we are and have to him so that after this choice of Christ we look upon our selves thenceforth as none of our own but bought with a price to glorifie God in our Body and Soul which are his 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. Soul and Body is all that we are and both these parts of our selves do now pass by an act of our own consent into the Redeemers right we are not to have the dispose of them that belongs to him that purchased them You know in all purchases property is altered you did live as your own followed your own Wills Lusts Passions were under the dominion and at the beck of every Lust but now the case is altered Titus 3. 3. We our selves were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures So many Lusts so many Lords but now the case is altered we have given our selves to Christ no more to be swayed this way or that against his Word and the voice of our own Conscience Thus our Souls and Bodies are his hallowed dedicated things to Christ Temples for God to dwell in and then all other things follow of course if I am the Lords then my time my talents and all that I have is his 2ly As we must give up all to Christ so we must derive and draw all we want from him else your choice of Christ is not entire and full God hath stored up in Christ all that you want a suitable and full supply for every need and made it all communicable to you 1 Cor. 1. 30. Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness sanctification and redemption All the believers fresh springs are in Christ Have I any difficult buisness to do that requires counsel Then I must repair to Christ the Fountain of Wisdom Am I under any guilt Then I must repair to Christ for righteousness Is my Soul defiled by corruption Then must I go to Christ for Sanctification Do I groan under troubles of Soul or Body temptations afflictions c. then must I relieve my self by the Faith and Hope of that compleat Redemption and final deliverance procured by Christ from all these if you consent to be Christs you must not look for Justification partly upon his Righteousness and partly upon your own Graces and Duties but must make mention of his Righteousness even of his only If there be but one Conduit in a Town and not a drop of Water to be had elsewhere then all the Inhabitants of that Town repair thither for Water In the whole City of God there is but one Conduit one Fountain and that is Christ there 's not a drop of Righteousness Holiness Strength or Comfort to be had else where Then do we fetch all from Christ when we live upon him as the new born Infant doth upon the Mothers Breast 3ly Then is our consent to and choice of Christ intire and full when we are ready to deny give up and part with any thing we have for his sake reckoning nothing to be lost to us which goes to the glory of Christ how dear soever our Liberties Estates or Lives are to us if the Lord have need of them we must let them go thus you read Rev. 12. 11. They loved not their lives unto the death These three things shew saving Faith to be another manner of thing than the World generally understands it to be and it is impossible for any Mans Will to open to and receive Christ upon terms of such deep self-denial as these until there be 1. A Conviction of our sin and misery 2. A Discovery of Christ in his glory and necessity 3. The drawing Power of the Spirit upon the Soul. 1. Conviction of our sin and misery makes these terms of Religion acceptable poor sinners stand huckling with Christ excepting and objecting against his terms until the Lord have shaken them by Conviction over Hell made them to see the dreadful danger they are in and then the next cry is Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2. 37. q. d. Prescribe any means impose upon us the greatest difficulties we are willing to comply with them 2ly Nor will Souls ever comply with these terms of the Gospel until a discovery have been made to them of Jesus Christ in his glory and necessity when a Man feels his wants and sees a compleat remedy his Will then complies and bows readily and freely the convinced sinner sees a full and suitable supply in Christ for all his wants a compleat Saviour in whom there is nothing defective but in all respects according to the wish of a sinners heart 1 Cor. 1. 24. 3ly To all this must be superadded the powerful drawings of the Spirit in the vertue whereof the Will comes home to Christ Iohn 6. 44. No Man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him When these things are past upon the Soul then it hears Christs voice his powerful call which breaks asunder all the ties and bonds betwixt a Man and his Lusts a Man and his Earthly enjoyments and without these things the Will is
unperswadable to comply with the difficulties and severities of Religion This is the first thing what the opening of the door or consent of the Will to receive Christ is Secondly The next thing to be opened in its order is How it appears that Jesus Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of any sinner be his sins or unworthiness never so great when once he is made heartily willing thus to embrace and receive Christ upon his own terms O sinner what good tydings are these to thy Soul that Christ will not disdain to be in union and communion with thee as vile as thou art if thy Will thus stand open to him The tydings are sweet and I hope thou wilt find them as sure and certain as they are sweet and comfortable when thou shalt have seriously perused and pondered the following Evidences I. Evidence The truth of this sweet assertion clearly evidenceth it self from the form and manner of Gospel invitations they are designedly put into large general free and most extensive terms to assure sinners that Christ will not be shy of the worst sinner in the World thus made willing to embrace him they are so framed on purpose to anticipate or take away all objections from sinners No other condition is put in the Gospel but this only Art thou heartily willing to take Christ upon his own terms The offers of Christ are extended to all that thirst and desire after him Iohn 7. 37. To the greatest of sinners upon this only condition that they be willing and obedient Isa. 1. 18 19. Go Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that believeth shall be saved Mark 16. 15 16. 'T is extended to all Nations For in Christ Iesus there is neither Greek nor Iew Circumcision nor Vncircumcision Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free Col. 3. 11. If there be any poor Soul of any quality or condition whatsoever under the cope of Heaven whose Will is wrought up to an hearty compliance with the terms of the Gospel Christ will not be shy of coming into that Soul though it have been never so vile and abominable the Heart of a Mary Magdalen which had been an Habitation of Devils the Soul of a Saul a Bloody raging Persecutor will make as delightful Habitations for Christ as the Soul of the most civilized person in the World when once the Will is thus opened II. Evidence The truth of this assertion further appears from the incouraging Promises made by Christ unto all who are thus made willing to come unto him All the Promises with one Mouth assure the willing sinner of a welcom with Christ so doth that glorious Promise to which so many thousand Souls have been beholding for encouragement and help at their first coming to Christ Iohn 6. 37 38. All that the Father hath given me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out For I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Note here 1. That this is not a Promise made to them that are already in Christ that they shall never be cast out by Apostacy or final desertion but it is a Promise made to coming Souls to such as are moving towards Christ under great discouragements fears and tremblings when a poor sinner looks to Christ sees his fulness and suitableness and feels the pinching need and want of him Oh saith he that I had an interest in him though I should beg my Bread in desolate places But looking into his own Heart and seeing such an heap of guilt and unworthiness there then saith he how can I think that ever Jesus Christ will come into such a Heart as this These are the persons upon whom this Promise casts an encouraging aspect 2. And because the fears of such poor Creatures are double to the fears that others have Christ hath put a double negative into this Promise for the Souls encouragement I will not not in no case or at any Hand cast out such a Soul as this 3. And to put all out of doubt he doth not only assure the Soul that he will not but condescends to gives it the reason why he will not cast it out for saith he vers 38. I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me As if he should say This was the very errand upon which I came from Heaven it was my great business to receive all that were made willing to embrace me for this I had my Fathers Commission Isa. 61. 1. To preach good tydings to the meek and to bind up the broaken Hearted and to comfort all them that mourn I cannot be faithful to the trust committed to me by my Father should I shut the door upon such Souls How can Christ comfort the Soul that mourns but by opening his Arms of mercy to receive it If Christ should say to a convinced mourning sinner hold thy peace Soul I will give thee Riches Honors and Pleasures in the World but as for me thou canst not have union with me I say this would never comfort the Heart of a convinced sinner 't is Christ and none but Christ can quiet it Like unto this is that Testimony and Promise made on purpose for the incouragement of willing Souls Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins This you see is a truth confirmed by the Testimony of all the Prophets who foretold what his gracious readiness to receive poor broken Hearted sinners should be and sure they neither did nor could conspire to deceive the World These gracious Assurances and Promises cut off all pleas against Faith from the greatness of sin and why should we except where God hath not excepted Had Christ said all sinners of such a size and degree may come unto me but let all others stand back the case had been otherwise but this Promise assures us all that are sincerely willing shall be truly welcom to Jesus Christ. Moreover these universal Promises take away all fear and doubt of presumption in coming to Christ. That 's the case of many a poor Soul I am affraid I am running out of despair into presumption I doubt I am an unbidden and therefore shall be an unwelcom guest to Christ. All this is prevented and cut off by those sweet universal Terms inserted on purpose in these Promises for our encouragement That 's the Second Evidence of this Truth III. Evidence The willingness of Christ to receive the willing Soul how many and great soever its sins and unworthiness be appears from the actual grants of Pardon and Mercy even to the vilest sinners that ever were upon the Earth when they thus came unto him Here you see how the Waters of Free Grace rise higher and higher an Invitation is much a Promise of welcom is more but the actual grants of Mercy is
in the world raises not such a dust as the sins of prophane ones do But certainly it is as abominable in the eyes of God as the sins that stink so much in the nostrils of Nature Civilized persons thus trusting to their own civility and neglecting Jesus Christ will be one day put into the Van of that wretched Crue that are going to Hell a portion with unbelievers as the Scripture speaks III. Consideration Lastly It hath been always found a more rare and difficult thing to convince and bring home to Christ the civilized part of the world than it is to convince and work upon the prophane part of it Matth. 21. 31. Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you Publicans were reckoned the vilest sort of men and Harlots the worst sort of women yet either of these were easier to be brought to Christ than self-righteous Pharisees Well then away with your vain and idle pretensions that your Case is safer and better than others By what hath been said it evidently appears that you stand in as much need of Christ as the most infamous Sinners in the world do III. Vse This point winds up in encouragement to every willing and obedient soul whom the Lord shall perswade to comply with the Call of the Gospel whatever his former Rebellions have been There are some whose hearts the Lord hath touched with a deep sense of their sin and misery and of the all-sufficient remedy that is in Christ but the sense of former rebellions appals and daunts them they cannot hope for acceptance with him Here 's good news for such souls Christ is at the door and former Rebellions are no barr to him provided there be now a hearty compliance with his voice I will come in to him A glorious promise comprising five inestimable benefits or mercies in it 1. This is the most glorious work of God that ever was wrought or can be wrought in this world upon the heart of a poor sinner to open it by Repentance and Faith and put Christ into the full possession of it The power of all the Angels in Heaven Ministers on Earth Duties and Ordinances cannot effect this this is the peculiar work of God 1. Cor. 1. 30. But of him are ye in Christ Iesus Look as it was the marvellous work of God to unite our Nature unto Christ by an Hypostatical Union so it is no less a marvellous work of God to unite our persons to Christ by a Mystical Union to prepare the soul as an habitation for Christ and give him the possession of it 2. This Coming of Christ into the Soul is the very foundation of all our Hopes for Glory till this be done we are without hope But in the same hour Christ comes in to the Soul a solid Foundation of the hopes of Glory is laid in that Soul Col. 1. 27. Which is Christ in you the hope of Glory I know the unregenerate World is full of hope but their hopes are built upon that Sand. Union with Christ is the steady foundation on which the hopes of Heaven are laid 3. I will come in to him that is to dwell in his soul for ever never to leave him more Therefore Eph. 3. 17. he is said to dwell in our hearts by faith not sojourn for a night but abide there for ever Nothing can seperate Christ and that Soul Rom. 8. 35. Thy Soul shall never be an habitation for Satan any more When Christ comes in he saith as of the Temple Here will I dwell for ever 4. This Coming in of Christ intitles the Soul to all Spiritual Priviledges 1 Iohn 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life and 1 Cor. 3. ult All is yours for ye are Christs 5. This is the highest honour that ever God put upon a Creature I will come in to him O how should the Soul feel it self advanced by such an honour as this What to be the living Temple of Jesus Christ for Christ to dwell and walk in thy Soul as it is 2 Cor. 6. 16. I tell you this is an honour beyond and above the honour done to Angels And how near art thou to all these blessed Priviledges in the day that thy heart is wounded for sin thy thoughts become solicitous about union with Christ and thy Will begins to bowe and yield after a serious debate of the terms of the Gospel in thy most solemn thoughts Now is the door half-open and Christ ready to make his first entrance into thy Soul. God forbid any thing should now hinder the compleating of so great a Work. SERMON VIII Revel 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me IN the former Sermon Christs free and general invitation to sinners hath been considered in the next place we are to take into consideration the principal means or instrument by which the Heart of a sinner is opened to receive Christ and that is not by the native power of his own Will nor by the alone efficacy of the Gospel preached but by the voice of Iesus Christ which opens the Will and makes the perswasions of the Gospel effectual If any Man hear my voice Hearing is either External or Internal for the Soul hath its Ears as well as the Body He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Rev. 2. 17. i. e. He that hath a Spiritual Ear to perceive and judge the voice of the Spirit by and it is a sore Judgment when God denies such an Ear to the Soul Isa. 6. 9. Go tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not Spiritual hearing is the Work of the inner Man. And though we have many Auditors yet in this sense no more hearers than believers words of sense do in Scripture connote affections This hearing of Christs voice implies not only the receiving of the sound of the Gospel into the external organ but it notes the work of the understanding which by the Ear trieth words as the Mouth tasteth meat Iob 12. 11. And the work of the affections which receive the truth in love 2 Thes. 2. 10. It also implies the obedience of the Soul to what we hear We cannot be said in this sense to hear what we obey not Our minds may be delighted with the pleasant air and melody of the Gospel and yet it is all one as if we heard it not when obedience doth not follow hearing Ezek. 33. 32. Thou art unto them a very lovely son c. for they hear thy words but they do them not but in this place it especially signifies the vital sound of Christs efficacious internal voice which is the principle of Spiritual Life to the Souls of dead sinners according to that expression of Christ Iohn 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live From hence the Eighth Observation will be this VIII DOCT. That no Mans Will savingly and effectually opens to receive Christ till the Spiritual quickning Voice of Christ be first heard by the Soul. Now touching this Almighty Spiritual voice of Christ by which the Hearts of sinners are effectually opened Six things must be opened in order 1. The divers sorts and kinds of Christs voice 2. The general Nature of this internal voice 3. The innate characters and special properties of it 4. The objects to whom it is directed 5. The motives inducing Christ to speak to one and not to another 6. The special effects wrought and sealed by it upon every Soul that hears it First We will speak of the divers sorts and kinds of Christs voices I am here only concerned about two viz. 1. His External 2. His Internal voice 1. There is an External voice of Christ which we may call his Ministerial voice in the Preaching of the Gospel the Scriptures are his Word and Ministers his Mouth Ier. 15. 19. He that heareth them heareth Christ. 2ly There is also an Internal energetical voice of Christ consisting not in sound but power And betwixt these two there are two remarkable differences 1. The External or Ministerial voice of Christ is but the Organ or Instrument of conveying his Internal and Efficacious voice to the Soul in the former he speaks to the Ear and in or by that â—ound conveys his Spiritual voice to the Heart 2ly The External voice is evermore ineffectual and successless when it is not animated by this Internal Spiritual voice it was marvellous to see the walls of Iericho falling to the ground at the sound of Rams-horns there was certainly more than the force of an external blast to produce such an effect but more marvellous it is to see at the sound of the Gospel not only the weapons of iniquity falling out of sinners Hands but the very enmity it self out of their Hearts Here you see is a voice in a voice an Internal efficacy in the External sound without which the Gospel makes no saving impression Secondly This Spiritual voice of Christ must be considered in its general Nature which implies two things in it 1. Almighty Efficacy 2. Great Facilty I. Almighty Efficacy to quicken and open the Heart with a word O what manner of voice is this which carries such a vital power along with it In all the mighty works of Christ his power was still put forth in some voice as at the Resurrection of Lazarus John 11. 43. He cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and he that was dead came forth So in the curing of the deaf Man Mark 7. 34. He saith unto him Ephphathai and straight way his Ears were opened Thus in the exerting of his Almighty glorious power in quickning a Soul Spiritually dead and opening the Heart that was lockt up by ignorance and unbelief an Internal Almighty Efficacy passeth from Christ along with the voice of the Gospel to effect this glorious work upon the Soul an Emblem where of we have in Ezek. 37. 9 10. Then said he unto me Prophesie unto the wind prophesie Son of Man to the wind saith the Lord God Come from the four winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live So I prophesied as he commanded me and the breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their Feet an exceeding great Army The animating vital breath which quickned the dead came in or with the four winds of Heaven as this Almighty power of Christ doth with the sound of the Gospel and before it the Heart opens the Will bows Psal. 110. 3. Man can no longer oppose the power of God Man and Man stand upon equal ground the power of Man can repel the power of a fellow creature but when the power of Christ comes along with the voice of Man there is no more power to resist This voice of Christ then of which the Text speaks is an Almighty impression made upon the Soul of a sinner from Heaven which is to that Soul in stead of a voice and as fully expressive of Gods mind concerning it as any Articulate voice in the World can be It is a beam of light shining immediately from the Spirit into the Soul of a sinner as plainly and evidently discovering both its danger and duty as if a voice from Heaven had declared them thus it is said Isa. 8. 11. The Lord spake to Isaiah with a strong Hand that is by a mighty impression upon the Prophets Spirit which was as a voice to him thus here the Lord not only directs a suitable word to a sinners condition but also impresses it with such a strong Hand upon his Heart as leaves no doubt behind it but that it was the Lord himself that spake to his Soul this is Christs way of speaking by his Spirit to the inner Spiritual Ear of the Soul not by Oraculous voices which I take to be but the suppositions of an overtroubled fancy but by an efficacious impression upon the Heart As to Oraculous voices we may sooner meet Satanical delusions than Divine illuminations in that way The Learned Gerson speaks of a good Man who being in Prayer seemed to hear such a voice as this I am come in person to visit thee for thou art worthy but he justly suspecting a delusion of Satan shut his Eyes and said Nolo hic videre Christum c. I will not see Christ here it shall suffice me to see him in glory I am sure Christs voice in the written Word is more sure than a voice from Heaven 2 Pet. l. 1. 9. This inward Spiritual impression is Christs effectual call from Heaven and it is a voice sine strepitu Syllabarum without sound or syllable II. As this voice of Christ implies Almighty efficacy so it implies in like manner the facility of conversion unto Christ he can do it easily with a word of his Mouth as in the bodily cures performed by him in the days of his flesh how suddainly and easily did Christ effect them Speak the word only said the Centurion and my servant shall be healed Thus let the Spirit but speak internally to the deadest Soul and it lives Elijah did but cast his mantle upon Elisha as he was plowing in the Field and he presently entreats the Prophet to give him leave to go home and bid his friends farewel and he would follow him thus it is here let a beam of saving light shine from the Spirit into a Mans Heart let an effectual impression be made upon his Soul and he is presently made willing to quit and give up his dearest lusts and interests and to imbrace Christ upon the severest terms of the Gospel Conversion is too difficult a work for Angels or Men to effect in their own strength but Christ can do it with a
word And thus much of the general nature of Christs Spiritual Internal voice but all this gives us but a remote imperfect knowledge of it Therefore Thirdly I shall endeavour to open the innate characters and special properties of this Internal Spiritual voice of Christ which must be heard or there can be no opening the door of the Heart to receive him I. Character And the first Character is this It is a secret and a still voice whereby somewhat is as it were whispered into the Ear of the Soul making a particular application of what is spoken Externally to the Ear much like that of Nathan to David Thou art the Man. This still voice sounds throughout the whole Soul yet none hear it but the Soul concerned in it it is said 1 Sam. 9. 15. The Lord told Samuel in his Ear the night before c. That is he whispered the secret into the Prophets mind so the Spirit of Christ whispers a word into the Ear of a sinner which makes his Heart to tremble after this manner This is thy very state and condition this is thy sin which is now opened by the Gospel in thine Ears This is a voice without sound or noise to any others but very intelligible to the Soul unto whom it is â—poken You read in 1 Kings 19. 11 12. when Elijah stood upon the Mount before the Lord there came a great and strong wind which rent the Mountains and brake in pieces the Rocks before the Lord but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but the Lord was not in the earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle c. So it is here Dreadful things are thundred against men by the voice of the Law the Terrours of the Lord are made known Hell and Damnation are set before the eyes of Sinners but until the Lord come in the still voice of his Spirit and apply those things to the Conscience the Sinner never covers his face with shame and confusion nor goes aside to mourn and lament his misery This voice of God sounds to the very Centre of the Soul. As for the outward voice of the Gospel alone it signifies little in hearing men hear not Matth. 13. 13. They have the voice of Man but not the voice of God They hear the sound but feel not the power of the Word What is spoken externally dyes in the ear that hears it But this still voice of the Spirit by secret passages makes its way to the heart and none knows what God speaks but the Soul to whom he speaks That is the first Character II. Character The internal spiritnal voice of Christ is a personal and particular voice speaking distinctly and particularly to the case and state of the Soul as if it were by name Ministers do and must speak in general they draw the Bow of the Gospel at an adventure not knowing to whom God will direct the Arrow but the Spirit guides it to the Mark. He applies general Truths unto particular persons so as the Soul to whom he directs it is fully convinced and satisfied the Lord intends and means it in such a convictive and threatning Expression O saith the Soul hath the Lord singled me out in special this is my very state and case You read Iohn 10. 5. that Christ calleth his sheep by name How doth he call them by name but by speaking directly and particularly to their Condition and Case as if he called them by their particular Names He doth not now in an extraordinary way as of old call Samuel Samuel or Saul Saul but he sends a Beam of convincing light into the Conscience plainly discovering this or that to be our sin danger or duty and so as to the effect it is all one as if God named him And truly till it comes to this the Word hath no saving operation upon the Soul. A man may hear ten thousand general Truths assent to them and never be the better for them How still and quiet was David's Conscience till Nathan struck the nail upon the head by an home personal application and then his Conscience startled Thus God singles out one man or woman from among a thousand in the Congregation speaks to the heart rips up the secure Conscience the rest hear the same words but feel not the same efficacy And truly 't is a choice mercy when God shall please thus to single out one person from among many after this manner to speak to his heart As Christ said in Luke 4. 25 26. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias c. but to none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a City of Sydon unto a woman that was a widow so here Multitudes sate with you under the same Prayer or Sermon but unto none of them at that time was the Spirit sent to make a particular convictive application thereof but unto thee In this the peculiar goodness of God shines out and should for ever be admired in the eyes of that Soul. III. Character Thirdly This spiritual internal voice of Christ is distinguishable by the Soul that hears it from all other voices Iohn 10. 4. The Sheep know his voice As in the style of the Scriptures there is a weight and majesty which distinguishes it from all human composures so in this voice of Christ there is a Majesty a peculiar Efficacy a divine and awful Authority by which the Soul distinguishes it from all human voices It was said of Christ in the days of his flesh Iohn 7. 46. Never man spake like this man. The same may we say of his spiritual voice the Soul never heard such a voice before it seals the truth upon the heart so firmly that no Objections are left against it It was not so when we heard the voice of man. And there are two things in this inward voice of Christ which apparently difference it from all human voices 1. A marvellous light comes into the Soul with it which discovers all the secrets of the heart God shines into the heart the same time he speaks unto it 2 Cor. 4. 6. and now the secrets of the heart are manifest and God is acknowledged to be in that Word of Truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. 2ly A marvellous Power accompanieth this voice to make a deep and firm impression of what is spoken upon the Soul and this Power is an innate Character of the voice of God whereby the Soul receives it as his with much assurance as the Apostle speaks 1 Thess. 1. 5. Our Gospel came not to you in Word only but also in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much Assurance They could not be more certain of any thing in the world than they were of this That it was the Lord that spake to them in that Word
knowledge of it but under these things his vain hopes lived and flourish'd until the spiritual sense of the Law came home to his heart by the teaching and voice of the Spirit and then his vain hopes gave up the ghost and his sin and guilt stared in the face of his Conscience VII Character The voice of Christ whereof we now speak is generally and ordinarily conveyed to the Souls of men through the Word preached which is the chosen Organ or Instrument of its Conveyance We cannot absolutely and universally affirm that Christ always speaks to men this way but certainly this is his standing and ordinary course 1 Thess. 1. 5. Our Gospel came not to you in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost Our Gospel because preached and ministred by us but had that been all it had come to you in word only as it doth to many thousand others in the world who hear and feel nothing in it more than what is human but unto you it came in power and in the Holy Ghost that is our words were the Vehicle or Organ through which the vital power of the Spirit was conveyed into your Souls Providences have their voices as well as the Word and sometimes the voice of Christ hath accompanied the voice of Providence to the conversion of mens Souls but this is more rare and unusual The established and ordinary way of Christ's speaking to the hearts of Sinners is by the Word and especially the Word preached which upon that very account and consideration as it is the Organ of conveying the voice and power of Christ to the Soul is therefore called the power of God to salvation Rom. 1. 16. This Instrument the Lord generally 〈◊〉 and honours for the conveyance of spiâ—itual life into the Souls of men though it be despised and contemned in the world The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God 1 Cor. 1. 18. i. e. the chosen Instrument by which the saving power of God communicates it self to the Souls of men And although God may exert his saving power through Providences yet we seldom or never find he doth so where the Word may be had but is despised and neglected And truly herein God consults our peace and satisfaction for suppose he should make use of another medium as a voice from Heaven c. and after Calling which is an usual case the called Soul should question all and say How do I know bâ—t all this may be a Delusion may not Satan impose upon poor Mortals and this voice from Heaven be a counterfeit voice my Eternal estate depends upon it and I had need to be sure it was the very voice of God himself In such a case as this it would be hard to give such clear distinguishing Characters as might be to the satisfaction of the Soul and clearly difference the one from the other But now when God makes the Word his Instrument in this matter it yield abundantly more satisfaction we have a more sure Word of Prophesie surer than a voice from Heaven 2 Pâ—t 1. 19. And though Paul was converted by a voice from Heaven yet the Lord sends him to Aâ—anias to preach the Gospel to him Acts 9. 17. The Lord will honour his Word Providences may make way and prepare the heart but the Word is the Instrument by which the Lord puts forth his power ordinarily to salvation VIII Character The voice of Christ leaves abiding effects and lasting impressions upon the Soul that hears it The words of men are scattered into the wind but the effects of Christ's voice are durable and lasting things Psal. 119. 93. I will never forget thy Word for by it thou hast quickned me How many hundred Sermons have we heard and all those excellent Truths vanished away as a Dream Oh but if ever thou heardest Christ speaking to thy heart in any Sermon or Prayer to be sure that will stick by thee for ever His words are sealed upon the Soul for ever they are written in the heart Ier. 31. 33. What Iob wished concerning his words that is really perform'd in the words of Christ they are written as in the Rock for ever We have slippery Memories but the weakest Memory will and must retain the words of Christ spoken to the heart by his Spirit for they are sealed upon it Iob 33. 16. He sealeth their instructions and this secures them Thus you have the innate Characters of Christ's voice Fourthly I shall next speak unto the personal Objects unto whom Christ ordinarily directs this his internal efficacious and saving Voice or Call. And although it be true that the Spirit of Christ is a free Agent acting with the greatest liberty and calleth whom he will according to that Iohn 3. 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth And it is true de facto That Christ hath made some of all sorts and ranks of men to hear his voice yet if we consider the way he commonly takes we shall find that it is very rare and seldom that Christ directs this saving voice or call of his to the great and wise of this world 1 Cor. 1. 26. You see your Calling Brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called He saith not any but not many Some Christ doth call Lest as one notes the world should think that Christians were deceived through their simplicity and weakness One rich Ioseph of Arimathea one honourable Niâ—odemus but not many Men of the greatest fame and renown in the world have been the greatest and fiercest Enemies against Christ. Gallen the chief Physician Porphyry the chief Aristotelian Plotinus the chief Platonist Lybanus and Lucian the chief Orators were all the professed Enemies of Christ. Two things make a man great in the eye of the world The external endowments of Providence heaping up Riches and Honours upon the outward man and internal gifts and endowments of the mind adorning the inward man as strong Reason sharpness of Wit c. when both these meet as many times they do in one and the same person they make him great in the eye of the world and usually in his own eyes too yea too great to stoop to the simplicity of the Gospel and the humbling self-denying terms thereof These the Lord usually passes by and directs his voice to the poor the poor receive the Gospel God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and Heirs of the Kingdom James 2. 5. And this choice of God Christ blesseth him for Matth. 11. 25. I thank thee O father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight And indeed the wisdom of God deserves our admiration in this dispensation For 1. hereby the freeness of his Grace is vindicated None can
now pretend that any earthly excellency commends any man to God or that the favour of Heaven is engaged by the same motives that the respects of this world are For now you see the truth of that Scripture Iob 34. 19. before your eyes He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more than the poor for they are all the work of his hands Earthly Riches and Honours as empty things as they are yet are too much idoliz'd by men What would they be could they procure our favour and acceptance with the Lord 2ly By such a choice as this the Lord plainly shews us That Religion needs not worldly props to support it As at first it was spread by the power of God in the world by poor contemptible men so it is still upheld without human policy or riches The church is called the Congregation of the poor Psal. 74. 20. The Lord will have us know that he is able to maintain and carry on his counsels in the world without the wealth of rich men the authority of great men or the policies of wise men he needs them not 3ly By this choice he pours contempt upon those things which are most admired among men So he tells us 1 Cor. 1. 27. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty And certainly shame and confusion of face will cover the great ones of this world in the world to come when they shall see those poor Christians whom they contemned and scorned upon earth as not worthy to come into their presence to be so infinitely preferred before them in the favour of God. In a word this efficacious spiritual voice of Christ is directed but to a few even of the many that sit within the sound and call of the Gospel Matth. 22. 14. Many are called but few are chosen Christ's flock is a little flock There be many Birds of prey to one Bird of Paradice Many common Pebles to one Saphir or Diamond 'T is not for us to dispute the Reason but to adore the Soveraignty of God in this matter And of those few whom he calleth the greatest part are of the lower rank and order of men The glitter and dazel of this world blinds the eyes of the greatest Extremity of pinching wants diverts the mind of the very lowest but betwixt these two extreams there is a third sort of persons whom the Lord most usually calls Fifthly If it be queried why the voice and call of Christ should be directed to this person rather than to that Certainly it is not from any dignity or excellency outward or inward that Christ sees in one above another for all are shut up under the same common sin and misery of the fall and therefore the Apostle told the Ephesians who had heard and answered the voice of Christ That they were by nature children of wrath even as others Eph. 2. 3. If it were not so Man would have something to glory in before God but Christ resolves this whole dispensation into its proper cause the good pleasure of the Divine Will Matth. 11. 26. Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight This good pleasure of the Will of God sometimes orders those to hear the voice of his Son that seem to stand at a far greater distance and improbability to hear it than others do 'T is said of the Ephesians that they were a far off Eph. 2. 13. yet they heard the voice of Christ when that discreet Scribe Mark 12. 34. who was not far from the Kingdom of God and Agrippa Acts 26. 28. who almost or within a very little was perswaded to be a Christian never heard it therefore it is said Matth. 8. 11 12. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness O marvelous dispensation Many a poor Soul under the greatest disadvantages a poor Servant that hath but little time and multitudes of encumbrances yet such a one is often called effectually by this voice of Christ when those that enjoy multitudes of opportunities and have abundance of time lying upon their Hands which they know not what to do with who have the choicest Books at command yet hear nothing feel nothing amidst all these advantages to any purpose all this is wholly to be resolved into the good pleasure of the Will of God. Sixthly In the next place let us view the effects of this voice of Christ upon the Souls of Men and we shall find divers remarkable effects wrought upon the Heart by it I. Effect And the first Effect of the voice of Christ is Conviction upon the Conscience Conviction both of sin and misery Iohn 16. 9. The Spirit when he cometh shall convince the World of sin This is a voice of terror it strikes dead the vain hopes of a sinner Rom. 7. 9. Now the Soul that was before secure and quiet becomes the seat of trouble and anxiety 'T is true there was a general Conviction of sin before they knew that all are sinners that they denied not but alas this general Conviction is quite another thing to what the Soul feels now now it can shift and wave the matter no longer This voice of Christ shews them their iniquities and how they have exceeded as the expression is Iob 36. 8 9. exceeded in number and exceeded in heinousness of aggravation A general Conviction of sin affects a Man no more than the sight of a painted Lion upon a Sign-post but when a particular Conviction is set on upon the Conscience by this special inward voice of Christ sm is now like a living Lion meeting a Man in the way and roaring dreadfully upon him This is the first Effect of Christs voice and is introductive unto the II. Effect Which is humiliation and contrition of Heart for sin those threats of Scripture against sin and sinners which were wont to be sleighted are now trembled at those Iews Acts 2. 37. to whose Hearts Christ spake in Peters Sermon as soon as ever they heard his voice sounding Conviction in their Consciences they were presently pricked at the Heart no Sword or Poyniard can make such a wound and put a poor creature into such pain as a sight of sin will do therefore Zach. 12. 10. they are said to mourn for Christ as for an only Son. Now this is the glorious prerogative of Jesus Christ to be able to reach and wound the Heart with a word The voice of Man cannot do it but the Spirit of a Man lies naked and open both to be wounded and healed by a word from the Mouth of Christ. No sooner hath a poor sinner heard the awful voice of Conviction spoken to his Conscience by the Lord Jesus but he feels himself sick at Heart home he goes
from that Sermon by which Christ spake effectual Conviction to him crying O sick sick my Soul is distressed because of sin There is indeed a great difference in the depth and degrees of this contrition and humiliation it soaks deeper into some Hearts than others and holds them longer under it but certain it is whoever hath heard the convincing voice of Christ he feels so much sorrow for sin as for ever separates him from the love of it III. Effect Thirdly This voice of Christ rouzes and awakens the careless and sluggish mind to the greatest solicitude and thoughtfulness after deliverance and escape from the danger that hangs over it Acts 16. 30. Trembling and astonished he cried out Sirs what must I do to be saved All the powers of the Soul run into solicitude and care about deliverance You shall generally observe in convinced and humbled sinners three evident signs of extraordinary solicitude about Salvation 1. There is a strong intention of their minds and thoughts they stand night and day like a Bow at the full bent their thoughts are still poring upon this matter their sleep departs for their sin and danger is ever before them 2ly It appears by their searching inquisitiveness about the way of escape the question they still carry with them from company to company where they meet with any whom they judge able to resolve or direct them is this What course shall I take What shall I do Is there any hope for such a one as I Did you ever know a Soul in my condition 3ly It appears by the little notice they take at this time of their outward troubles and afflictions which it may be are strong and sharp enough to overwhelm them at another time but now they take little notice of them Sin lies so heavy that it makes heavy afflictions lye light IV. Effect A fourth Effect of the voice of Christ is encouragement and hope puting the Soul upon the use of means in order to the attainment of Christ and Salvation for it is an inviting as well as a convicting voice and this is a remarkable difference betwixt the voice of Christ and the voice of Satan with respect to sin Satan labours to cut off all hope and strike the Soul dead under despair of mercy as well knowing that if he can cut off hope all emotions and endeavours of the Soul after Christ are effectually stopt and at a dead stand but how much convincing terrors soever there are in the voice of Christ there is always something left behind it upon the Heart to breed and support hope And truly the Soul amidst these sad circumstances hath great need of some encouragement accordingly the Lord usually after sharp convictions sets on upon the Soul such a word as that Iohn 6. 37. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out for I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me Wherein Christ offers the most rational satisfaction and greatest encouragement imaginable that a poor convinced sinner if he be made willing shall certainly find an hearty welcom and acceptation with Christ. For mark how he argues it on purpose for the satisfaction of such Souls I came not down from Heaven to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me The force of the encouragement lyes here I and my Father are one one in Will and one in Design our Wills never did nor possibly can jar and clash one with another that would be utterly repugnant to the perfect unity that is betwixt us Now saith he I came down from Heaven not only to do my own Will which must necessarily be supposed to be intently set and strongly enclined to receive and save all convinced and willing sinners this being the very end of my Incarnation and Death but also to do the Will of my Father who hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted and anointed me to preach good tydings to the meek Isa. 61. 1. and therefore no such Soul can rationally doubt of a welcom reception with me And because the fears and jealousies of a convinced Conscience are great and many and the Devil sets in with them to aggravate them beyond the hopes of mercy therefore it is usual with the Lord at such a time as this to direct the convinced and trembling sinner to such a Scripture as that Heb. 7. 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him c. Making the fulness of Christs saving power to shine with a chearful beam into the dark and distressed Soul of a sinnner from such a word as that V. Effect A fifth Effect or consequent of Christs powerful voice is an attractive efficacy or sweet allicion of the Soul to Christ by that power and efficacy which it communicates to the Soul Iohn 6. 44 45. No Man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Every Man therefore that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me Mark it this voice speedily puts the Soul into motion after Christ coming follows hearing When once the Soul hath heard the voice of God away it comes from all the engagements in the World all bonds and ties betwixt the Soul and sin break asunder and give way nothing can hold it from Christ. There is a strange restlesness in the Spirit of Man nothing but Christ can centre and quiet it VI. Effect And then lastly The last Effect of Christs voice or call is sweet rest and consolation to the inner Man. When once the Soul is come home to Christ by the efficacy of this heavenly call or voice it enters into peace Heb. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into rest not only shall but do enter into rest As the first Effect of Christs voice was terror and great trouble to the Soul so the last Effect is peace it puts the Soul into the most excellent position in the World for comfort and joy it never stood upon such ground before for this vocation stands betwixt predestination and glorification Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified See here into what a blessed Mount of vision the voice of Christ calleth the Souls of sinners where let the Soul look backward or forward from eternity to eternity there is nothing but a vision of peace before its Eyes This call of God points it backward to Gods eternal choice which by this very call it is now manifest he made of that Soul before the World was and it also points forward to that eternal glory unto which God is leading it These are the Effects of this Almighty voice of Christ and these the special instructions sealed by it upon the Hearts of Men. But now this voice of Christ is not heard at all times but in some
special season or hour as Christ calls it Iohn 5. 25. The hour cometh when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And elsewhere by the Apostle it is called the accepted Time the day of Salvation 2 Cor. 6. 2. And the conjunction of the Spirit of Christ with the Word Ordinances or Providences of God but especially the Word makes this blessed hour The Word alone though never so excellently preacht conduces no more to the Conviction and Salvation of a sinner than the Waters of Bethesda did when the Angel came not down to trouble them Iohn 5. 4. But when the Lord pours out his Spirit with the Word according to that promise Prov. 1. 23. I will pour out my Spirit upon you and make known my Words unto you then Christ speaks to the Heart this great conjunction of the Word and Spirit makes that blessed nick and season of Salvation The time of love the time of life Now the voice of Christ is heard with effect the Ordinances impregnated with convincing and converting efficacy There was an abundant effusion of the Spirit in the first Age of Christianity and then the voice of Christ was heard by multitudes of Souls at once There hath since been a restraint of the Spirit comparatively speaking whereas three thousand Souls were then converted at one Sermon possibly three thousand Sermons have since been preached and not one Soul effectually called This hath made the Church like a Wilderness a Land of drouth and so 't is like to remain until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high and the wilderness be a fruitful field according to that promise Isa. 32. 15. And such a time we expect Lord hasten it when the waters of the Ordinances shall be healed and every thing that liveth which moveth whithersoever the River shall come shall live And fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim they shall be a place to spread forth nets their fish shall be according to their kinds as the fish of the great Sea exceeding many Ezek. 47. 9 10. Then Ministers shall no longer fish with Angles catching now one then another but shall spread forth their nets and inclose whole shoals multitudes of Converts in the mean time there are some signal periods and happy seasons wherein Christ uttereth his Almighty voice in the World but that season is utterly unforeknown to Man we cannot say when it will come but are to wait for it as the Man did at the pool of Bethesda Ministers must preach in hope wait in hope if at any time God will give the people repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. We are often mistaken in our conjectures when we have made the best preparations and find a more than ordinary enlargedness of Spirit we are apt to conclude certainly this is the blessed hour wherein Christ will speak to the Heart as we do to the Ear but we oft-times find our selves mistaken yet we must wait in hope and so must our people Such a happy time may come and when it doth it will be a day for ever to be remembred because then the first actual application of Christ will be made to your Souls without which all that the Father had done in Election and the Son in his meritorious Redemption had been of no benefit or advantage to your Souls And therefore you shall find that this work of the Spirit stands betwixt both those works and makes them both effectual to our Salvation 1 Pet. 1. 2. This is that blessed hour upon which your eternal blessedness depends eternity will be taken up in blessing God for this hour it will be celebrated for ever in your praises in the World to come O what an influence hath this hour into all eternity The hearing of this voice of Christ effectually opens the Cabinet counsels of Heaven and brings to light the eternal counsels of God concerning you 1 Thes. 1. 4 5. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God for our Gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost This gives greater assurance of the eternal love of God to a Mans Soul than the sweetest smile of providence or any oraculous voice from Heaven can do This is the time of life the day of your Spiritual Resurrection Iohn 5. 25. A greater and more glorious Resurrection by far than that of your bodies at the last day â—o much greater as the value of your Souls is above your Bodies As also because the blessedness of your Corporeal Resurrection depends upon this your Spiritual Resurrection by the voice of Christ. Dreadful will the voice of Christ be at the Resurrection of your Bodies except you first hear this vital voice of Christ quickning your Souls on Earth with spiritual life To conclude this is the great Aera or head of account from which you are to reckon and date all your spiritual sanctified mercies for as the Lord said unto the Jews Hag. 2. 19. From henceforth will I bless you So saith the Lord to you from this hour wherein you have heard and obeyed the voice of Christ will I bless you for ever with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him I. Vse for Lamentation This Point presents us with abundant matter of Lamentation and mourning over the greatest part of those that sit under the sound of the Gospel but yet as Christ speaks of the Jews Iohn â— 37. who have not heard the voice of God at any time the Ministerial voice of Christ they hear dayly but this Efficacious Internal voice which makes the Ministerial voice the Word of Life and Power they have not heard The Gospel to the most of our hearers is but an empty sound this is a sad symptom 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the minds of them that believe not c. This hiding of the Gospel is not opposed to the external administration of it nor yet to the understanding of the true sense and meaning of the truths delivered by it but only to that internal efficacy which is here called the hearing of Christs voice Our people are generally well satisfied when they have heard a Sermon much more if they can remember something of it though the Lord hath not spoken one truth they have heard home to their Hearts Now this is a sad case and God grant it be not that very judgment threatned Isa. 6. 9. Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not So that hearing the meer voice of Man without feeling the power of God is all one as if we heard not Reflect sadly upon this you that sit as unconcerned under the Word as the Seats you sit upon God speaketh once yea twice but man perceiveth it not Well the eternal Decrees and Counsels of God are now executing upon the Souls of Men under the Gospel As many as
see that dou don't despise them I think no Age was ever deeper drencht in the guilt of this sin than the present Age is III. Inference What a fearful Judgment is the removing the Gospel from a Nation seeing it is in and by the Gospel Christ speaketh life to the Souls of men The Spirit of God and the Word of God usually come and go together when therefore these are gone no more Conversions are to be expected Dreadful is the case of that people Prov. 29. 18. Where no Vision is the people perish Those are direful Menaces Isa. 8. 16. Bind up the Law seal up the Testimony among my Disciples And Rev. 2. 5. I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place Better the Sun were taken out of the Heavens than the Gospel out of the Church O England provoke not thy God to execute upon thee the Judgment here threatned Think not God hath made such a Settlement of the Gospel that it shall never be removed however you use it Your advocate in Heaven hath obtained it for you for a time upon trial if you bring forth fruit well you and the Generations to come shall be happy in it if not this blessed Tree which hath brought forth so many Mercies to you and yours must and will be cut down Luke 13. 8. yea and even now is the ax laid at the root of the Tree Matth. 3. 10. 'T is an allusion to a Carpenter that throws down the Ax and Saws at the root of the Tree he intends to cut down The only ground of hope which remains with us this day is that there are some Buds appearing some Fruits putting forth and if there be a blessing in the Bud the Lord will spare it according to Isa. 65. 8. But these hopes are balanced with many sad symptoms which may make us tremble to think what God is about to do with such a sinful Nation IV. Inference Those that have heard Christ's voice and call in the Gospel have no reason to be discouraged from going to Christ in the way of Faith. Christ's Call is a sufficient warrant to believe Many poor Souls are stagger'd in their work of Faith by the fear of Presumption an ugly Objection which they know not how to clear themselves of But certainly this above all Considerations in the world enervates this Objection of Presumption Then men presume when they act without a Call or Warrant but if Christ have spoken to your hearts by the voice of his Spirit you have the best warrant in the world to go to him What though you know not the Issue yet your Obedience is due to his Call. By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an Inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went Hebâ— 11. 8. So must you It is not necessary to your going to Christ that you must be ascertained before hand what the Event and Issue thereof shall be Your believing is an act of Obedience to the voice of Christ that calls you When therefore Satan shall object What such a wretched Soul as thou go to Christ canst thou imagine to find entertainment with him whom thou hast so abused and deeply wronged Thy answer should be ready 'T is true I have been a vile wretch and have deeply wronged the Lord Jesus but Christ hath spoken to my heart he hath called me and therefore it can be no presumption in me to go at his Call but contrariwise it would be flat Rebellion against his Soveraign Command to refuse to believe and come unto him yea it would be a greater sin than any of my former sins have been Beside had the Lord Jesus no intention of mercy as thou maliciously insinuatest towards my Soul he would never have spoken to my heart by conviction and perswasion as he hath done V. Inference If no Soul can open to Christ until it hear his powerful spiritual voice then the change made upon men by conversion is wholly supernatural The rise of Faith is from this power of Christ not from the nature of Man Iohn 1. 13. Proud Nature arrogates this power and honour to it self but without any ground for though some things may be done by men in their natural state which have a remote tendency to conversion and spiritual life yet it can never open to Christ savingly without a power communicated from himself There is a total impotence in Nature to produce such an effect as this The Scripture speaks it roundly telling us The Natural man cannot of himself know the things that are of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. Cannot believe for Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God Iohn 6. 44. Cannot obey Rom. 8. 7. The carnal Mind is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be Cannot speak a good word Matth. 12. 34. Cannot think a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. What a poor impotent thing then is the Natural man who can neither believe nor obey speak a good word or think a good thought by any natural power of his own Say not 't is against Reason for God to require men to do what they cannot and then damn them for not doing it For 1. though man hath lost his ability to obey yet God hath not lost his right to command for at that rate any man might shake off the yoke of God's Soveraignty by disabling himself through his own sin for the duties of Obedience 2. Though man hath not a sufficient power yet there is in him an intolerable pride which puffs him up with a conceit that he hath what he hath not and can do what he cannot The Command is therefore of great use to check this pride and convince man of his impotency Rev. 3. 17. 3. Every man can do more than he doth towards his own Conversion And therefore it is good for men to be urged by the Commands to all those Duties in the use and observance whereof Christ ordinarily comes into the Soul by a supernatural power II. Vse for Exhortation This Point gives a loud Call to all that are within the sound of the Gospel especially to such as begin to feel some power accompanying the Word to their hearts diligently to hearken to the voice of Christ and obey his first Call without further delay Rev. 2. 7. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear 'T is a dreadful and dangerous thing to turn away the Ear from him that speaks from Heaven Hebr. 12. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not that refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaks from Heaven See that ye refuse not the Caution implies the Matter to be very weighty and a neglect or refusal in this matter to be highly dangerous Turn not away your Ear be not guilty of the least aversation sleight or neglect in so great and
world to hear of it The very same power that wrought that must also be put sorth to work this or else it would never be wrought So again Eph. 2. 8. By Grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of your selves You are no more able to believe in Christ than you were to raise him from the dead No more able to come one step towards him by Faith in your own power than Lazarus was able to unbind himself in the Grave and come forth Yea in Eph. 1. 18 19 20. the work of believing is ascribed unto the exceeding greatness of the power of God Nothing but power can do it no other power but the Almighty power of God can do it It exceeds the power of Ministers yea of Angels Three things will evince the difficulty of this work Viz. 1. The Nature of it 2. The Subject of it 3. The Enemies of it First The Nature of the work of Faith which is wholly supernatural it is no less than the gaining over the hearty and full consent of the Will to take Jesus Christ with his yoke of Obedience Matth. 11. 29. and with his Cross of Sufferings Matth. 16. 24. And how far these will carry a man into outward dangers losses torments and sufferings who can tell and all this upon the account of an unseen happiness and glory dearest Lusts and Corruptions must be mortified sweetest Pleasures and Profits in the World abandoned and forsaken all Reproaches Losses Pains and Penalties the Devil and the World can lay upon us for Christs sake must be embraced and wellcomed and can it be supposed that any power beneath the Almighty Power of the Lord any voice except the efficacious voice of Christ can prevail with the Will to give its firm explicite consent to such difficult and self-denying terms as these Secondly Consider the Subject wrought upon viz. the dead hard obstinate heart of a blind perverse sinner an heart harder by Nature than the nether Millstone It is as easie to melt the most obdurate Rock into a sweet Syrup as it is to melt the heart of a Sinner into penitential forrows for sin What! to bring a dead heart to life To make that man bitterly bewail the sins that were his pleasure and delight more than ever he bewailed the death of the nearest and dearest Relation in the world To make a proud heart renounce its own self-righteousness which it so dotes upon and take all shame and reproach to it self upon the account of sin This is wonderful You would think it a strange thing to see the course of the Tyde stopt with the breath of a man but O what a marvellous thing is here that at the preaching of the Gospel by a poor worm the Lord should turn the Tyde of the Will and thus work about the Soul to a ready compliance with his most self-denying terms and proposals Thirdly And that which farther encreaseth the difficulty of believing is the fierce and obstinate opposition made by the Enemies of Faith All the powers of Hell and Earth Devils and Men without us are confederate and in league with the Corruptions within us to resâ—â—t and hinder this work of believing Never is the Devil more busie than when Christ and the Soul are treating about Union Oh the Discouragements Objections and Difficulties that are rowled into the way of Faith One while it is the highest Presumption another while it is impossible and utterly too late Sometimes blasphemous injections like fiery Darts are shot reeking hot out of Hell into the Soul Otherwhile the invincible difficulties of Religion are objected all Losses Torments c. opposed unto this work The Tempter casts himself into a thousand shapes to hinder the Souls passage out of Nature unto Christ. Sometimes objecting the greatness of sin and sometimes the lapse and loss of the proper season and opportunity of mercy together with the want of due qualifications to come to Christ. Thus and many other ways he endeavours to rap off the fingers of Faith from taking hold of Christ. And as every Devil in Hell opposes this work so every Carnal interest we have in the world is an Enemy to Faith. We have Enemies enough within us as well as without us both conspiring together to obstruct this work All things increase the difficulty of believing Thirdly We are next to speak of the instruments imployed in this great design and these are 1. Principal or 2. Subordinate 1. The Principal instrument in whose efficacy the Heart is opened is the Spirit of God without whom it is impossible the design should ever prosper neither Ordinances Providences or Ministers can successfully manage it without him If the Lord will make use of any Man for the Conversion and Salvation of anothers Soul he may rejoyce in it but withal must say as Peter to the Jews Acts 3. 12. Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk So may the ablest Minister in the World say when God blesses his labours to the conversion of any Soul look not upon me as though by the strength of my reason or power of my gifts I had opened thy Soul to Christ this is the work of Gods Spirit in whose hand I am an instrument 1 Cor. 3. 7. He that plants is nothing and he that waters is nothing Nothing in himself the very first stroak of conviction which is introductive to the whole work of conversion is justly ascribed to the Spirit Iob. 16. 9. The Spirit when be cometh shall convince the world of sin He is the Lord of all sanctifying and gracious influences Ordinances are but as the sayls of a Ship Ministers as the Seamen that manage those sayls the Anchor may be weighed the sayls spread but when all is done there is no sayling till a gale come We preach and pray and you hear but there is no motion Christward until the Spirit of God comparded to the wind Iohn 3. 8. blow upon them till he illuminate the understanding with divine light and bow the Will by an Almighty power there can be no Spiritual motion Heaven-ward Now the Spirit of the Lord is a free agent tyed to means time or instruments but as at a certain time an Angel came down upon the waters of Bethesda and put a healing virtue into them so it is here Therefore never come to any Gospel Ordinance without an Eye to the Spirit on whom all their blessing and efficacy depends Oh lift up your Hearts for his blessing upon the means as ever you expect saving benefits from them 2ly The Subordinate instrumental means by which this blessed design is effectually managed in the World is the Gospel-ministry 1 Cor. 3. 5. Who then is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed This is the ordinary stated method of begetting Faith and though God hath not tyed himself to this
made and yet no breach not one stone moved out of its place you will say that 's a strong Wall indeed Beloved God hath as I may say raised a Mount in the Gospel planted the great Ordinance of Heaven upon it discharged many dreadful vollies of threatnings nay he hath as it were come under the walls of the unbelieving Soul with terms of grace and mercy and yet no opening O prodigious obstinacy We have piped unto you but ye have not danced we have mourned unto you but ye have not lamented Matth. 11. 17. Neither the sweet Airs of Gospel Grace nor the dreadful thunders of the Law make any impression upon you O what an obdurate Rock is the Heart by nature Certainly every Christian may see enough in others and find enough in himself without the help of other Books to confute the Arminian Doctrian which so extolls and flatters the nature of man. It is as possible to make an impression with your finger upon a wall of brass as for the best Sermon in the world in its own strength to make an effectual saving impression upon a sinners Will. III. Inference Is it the great design of the Gospel to open the hearts of men to Christ then wonder not that it meets with such strong and fierce opposition from Satan wherever it is sincerely and powerfully preached As for general and formal preaching which comes not to the quick the Devil is not so much concerned about it he knows it will do him no great damage nay it fastens and secures his interest in the Souls of men But wherever the Gospel comes with spirit and power laying the Ax to the Root shewing men the vanity of their ungrounded hopes pressing the necessity of Regeneration and Faith this preaching quickly gives an alarm to Hell and raises all manner of opposition against it What is it to preach the Gospel said Luther but to derive the rage and fury of the whole world upon us Satan is the God of this world all men by Nature are his born Subjects No Prince on earth is more jealous of the revolt of his Subjects than he and its time for him to bestir himself when the Gospel comes to dethrone him as it doth in the faithful preaching of it Iohn 12. 31. Now is the Judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Now he falls as Lightning from Heaven Luke 10. 18. Now Sinners are made sensible of the cruel tyranny and bondage of Satan's Government and of the glorious liberty offered to them by Jesus Christ. Satan suspecting the Issue of these things bestirs himself to purpose O what showers of Calumnies and storms of Persecution doth he pour upon the Names and Persons of Christ's faithful Ambassadours certainly he owes Christ's Ministers a spight and they shall know and feel it if ever he get them within the compass of his Chain But let this discourage none imployed in this glorious design the Lord is with them to protect their persons and reward their diligence IV. Inference If the opening of the heart be the main design of the Gospel then Christ and Faith ought to be the principal Subjects that Ministers should insist on among their people There are many other useful Doctrins which may and ought to be opened and prest in their time and place Moral duties c. have their excellencies but Christ and Faith are the great things we are to preach Let men be once brought to Christ and the rest will follow but to begin and end with Morality will never make men Gospel Christians Grace teaches Morality Titus 2. 11. but Morality without Grace saves no man. I doubt not but it hath been a grand Artifice of the Devil to confound Grace with Morality and make men believe that nothing more is requir'd unto mens salvation but a civil sober conversation in the world and so lay by the principal part of the Gospel which opens and presses the necessity of Regeneration Repentance and Faith in the Blood of Christ Such preaching as this answers not the end and design of Christ in the conversion of Souls such toothless preaching disturbs not the Consciences of men the Lord help all his Ambassadours to mind the Example and Charge of their Redeemer and laying aside all carnal interest to apply themselves faithfully unto the Souls and Consciences of their hearers not as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ. II. Vse of Conviction In the next place This Doctrin is of excellent Use to convince men of the dreadful damning nature of the sin of Unbelief A sin which defeats and frustrates the main design of the blessed Gospel of Christ on the Unbelievers Soul. This is the sin that keeps the heart fast shut against him As Faith is the radical Grace so Unbelief is the radical Sin. What shall I say of it it is the Traytors Gate through which those Souls pass that are to perish for ever The Gospel can do you no good the Blood of Christ can yield you no saving benefit whilst your Souls remain under the dominion and power of this sin When we consider the mighty Arguments of the Gospel we may wonder that all that hear them are not immediately perswaded to Christ by them And on the other side when we consider the mighty power of Unbelief how strongly it holds the Soul in bondage to sin we may admire that any Soul is brought over to Christ by the Gospel It was not without cause that the Apostle puts faith in Christ among the great Mysteries and Wonders of the Gospel 1 Tim. 3. 16. Now the intrinsick evil and fearful consequences of this sin of Unbelief will appear in these following particulars 1. Unbelief fixes the guilt of all other sins on the person of the Unbeliever it binds them all fast upon his Soul Iohn 8. 24. For if ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins Dye in thy sins man it were better for thee to dye in a Ditch What more terrible can God threaten or man feel This is the sin that makes the death of Christ of none effect to us Gal. 5. 4. There is indeed a soveraign virtue in the Blood of Christ to pardon sin but thy Soul cannot have the benefit of it while it remains under the dominion of this sin As it was said of the miraculous works of Christ He could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief Matth. 13. 58. so none of his spiritual works no ordinances can do thy Soul good till the Lord break the power of this sin Hebr. 4. 2. The word preached did not profit them not being mixed in faith in them that heard it If a man were dangerously sick or wounded the richest Cordial or most soveraign Plaister in the world can never recover him unless received and applyed Unbelief spills the most soveraign Cordials of the Gospel as Water upon the ground The greatest sins that ever thou committedst
might be pardoned did not this sin lye in the way were this gone all the rest were gone too but whilst Unbelief remains they also remain upon thee 2ly Of all the sins that are upon the Souls of men this is the most difficult sin to be removed and cured Other sins lye more open to conviction but this hath the most specious pretences to countenance and defend it Men commit this sin out of a fear of sin They will not believe lest they should presume They dare not believe because they are not qualified The strength of other sins meets in this sin of Unbelief it is the strongest Fort wherein Satan trusteth Take an Adulterer or a profane Swearer and you have a fair open way to convince him of his sin shew him the Command he hath violated and he hath nothing to say in his own defence but the Unbeliever hath a thousand plausible defences 3ly This is the great damning sin of the world I do not say but all other sins deserve damnation for the wages of sin is death but this is the sin in the virtue whereof other sins damn and ruin the Soul. This is the Condemnation John 3. 19. And as it is a damning sin so it is a sin which damns with aggravated damnation 2 Thess. 1. 8. O then let us mourn over and tremble at this dreadful sin which opposes and so often frustrates the great design and main end of the whole Gospel IV. Vse for Exhortation Is it the main scope of the Gospel to bring men to Christ by Faith then be perswaded heartily to comply with this great design of the Father Son and Spirit Ministers Ordinances and Providences in opening your hearts to receive Christ this day by Faith unfeigned And oh that I could suitably press this great Point which falls in so directly with the main stream and scope of the whole Gospel And oh that whilst I am pressing it you would list up an hearty cry to Heaven Lord give me faith whatever else thou deny me open my heart to Christ under the Gospel Calls I do not only press you to a general and common assent to the Truths of the Gospel that Christ is come in the flesh and laid down his life for sinners but unto an hearty Evangelical consent to receive him upon Gospel terms to close with him in all his Offices subjecting heart and life unto his Authority living entirely upon him for righteousness and to him by holiness The value of such a Faith as this is above all estimation For 1. this is the Grace which God hath dignified and crowned with Glory and Honour above all its fellow Graces It s singular Praises and Encomiums are in all the Scriptures This is called precious faith 2 Pet. 1. 1. Soul enriching faith Iames 2. 5. That 's a miserable poor Soul indeed that is destitute of it whatever the Largesses of Providence have been to him And he is truly rich to whom God hath given Faith whatever he hath denied him of the comforts of this life This Christ calls the work of God Iohn 6. 29. This is the work of God that you believe Why so are all other things that your eyes behold they are the works of God the Earth the Sea the Sun Moon and Stars they are his handy-work True they are so but this is the work the most eminent glorious and admirable work of God sine pari excelling all his other works which your eyes behold And 2. that which exalts and dignifies it not only above all the works of God's hands but even above its fellow Graces the works of his Spirit is that high Office unto which it is appointed in the justification of a Sinner God hath singled out this Grace from among all the other Graces to be the instrument of receiving and applying the righteousness of Christ for the justification of a guilty Soul Rom. 5. 1. You are never said to be justified by love hope or desire but by faith 'T is true all other Graces are supposed in the person justified but none apprehends and applies the righteousness of Christ for justification but this only And the justifying act of faith being a receiving act the Glory of God is therein secured therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace 3. The Grace of Faith which I am recommending to you this day is not only the instrument of your Justification but it is also the bond of your union with Christ Eph. 3. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith. 'T is the uniting Grace the Marriage Knot 't is that which gives interest in and title to the person and benefits of Christ. The great thing upon which the eyes of all the awakened world are intently and solicitously fixed Whatever apprehensions you have of an interest in Christ and whatever his benefits be worth in your eyes neither himself or them can ever be obtained without Faith. O Brethren there is a day coming when they that now sleight and neglect this interest and concern of their Souls would gladly part with ten thousand worlds for a good title to Christ could it be purchased therewith But it is Faith and nothing without Faith that intitles you to Christ and to his benefits 4. That which should yet more endear this Grace of Faith to you is this that it is the hand which receives your pardon from the hand of Christ the Messenger that brings a sealed Pardon to a trembling Sinner Acts 10. 43. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Cleared of all those sins from which the Law could never clear them nor any Repentance Restitution or Obedience of their own without Faith O what a welcom Messenger is Faith and what joyful tydings doth it bring you would say so if ever you had felt the efficacy of the Law upon your Consciences if ever you had lain as some sinners have with a cold sweating horrour upon your panting bosoms under the apprehensions of the wrath God. This fruit of Faith is rather to be admired than exprest Psal. 32. 1. 5. Faith is not only the Messenger that brings you a Pardon from Heaven but it is as I may say that heavenly Herauld that publishes Peace in the Soul of a Sinner O Peace how sweet a word art thou how welcom to a poor condemned Sinner Beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of them that publish peace Now 't is faith that brings this blessed News and publishes it in the Soul without which all the publishers of peace without us can administer but little support Rom. 5. 1. Faith brings the Soul out of the Storms and Tempests with which it was tossed into a sweet Rest and Calm Hebr. 4. 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest. Is the quiet Harbour welcom to poor weather-beaten Seamen after they have past furious storms and many fears upon the raging
Sea O how welcom then must Peace be to that Soul that hath been tossed upon the tempestuous Ocean of its own fears and terrours blown up and incensed by the terrible blasts of the Law and Conscience It was a comfortable sight to Noah and his Family to see an Olive leaf in the mouth of the Dove by which they knew the waters were abated But oh what is it to hear such a voice as this from the mouth of Faith Fury is not in me saith the Lord his anger is turned away and he comforteth thee Fear not thou poor tempestuous Soul the God of Peace is thy God. 6. Faith doth not only bring the tempestuous Soul into a Calm but it is the Grace also which opens to the Soul a door of access into the gracious presence of God without it there is no coming to him acceptably Hebr. 11. 6. He that cometh unto God must believe This liberty and access to God is indeed the purchase of the Blood of Christ he procur'd it at a great Sum But Faith is the Grace that brings the Soul actually into the presence of God and there helps it to open and ease its griefs and with liberty of Speech to discover all its grievances fears and burthens to the Lord. And truly this world were not worth the living in without such a blessed vent to our troubles as this is The Believer only hath gotten the key that opens the door of access unto God if he have any sins wants burthens affictions temptations c. here he can ease them Ah Christian the time may come when thy heart may be filled with sorrows to the brim and there may not be found a person of thy acquaintance in all the world to whom thou canst turn to ease thy sorrows or give vent to thy troubles Now blessed be God for Faith. O the ease one act of Faith gives a troubled Soul which is like Bottles full of new Wine and must either vent or break well may it be said The Iust shall live by Faith how can we imagine we should live without it Certainly our Afflictions and Temptations would swallow us up were it not for the sweet assiduous reliefs that come in by Faith. 7. And yet farther to enflame your desires after Faith this is the Grace that gives you the Soul reviving sights of the invisible world without which this world would be a dungeon to us Heb. 11. 1. 'T is not only the substance of things hoped for but the evidence of things not seen O'tis a precious Eye how transporting are those visions of faith 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen we love whom though now we see him not yet believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory We that preach of Heaven to you cannot shew you the glorious person of Christ there nor the Thrones Crowns and Palms that are above but faith can make these things visible That 's an Eye that can penetrate the Clouds and shew you him that is invissible Heb. 11. 27. 8. The grace of faith which I am recommending to you this day is instrumentally the livelyhood of your Souls in this World Hab. 2. 4. The just shall live by his faith When God gives a Soul faith he gives it him for a livelyhood and expects he should keep house upon it while he is in this World and God reckons he hath made plentiful provision for your Souls when he hath given them faith and furnished out such variety of precious promises for your faith to feed upon Abraham Moses David and all the Saints kept house upon no other provision but what faith brought in and at what a high and excellent rate did they live Here Man eateth Angels food 'T is a store-house of Provision 't is a shop of Cordials I had fainted unless I had believed Psal. 27. 13. A believer lives the highest life of all Men upon earth and as the believers Soul is dayly fed by faith so all the other graces in his Soul are maintained and dayly supported by the provisions faith brings them in The other graces as one saith like the young birds in the nest live upon that provision this grace of faith gathers for them and puts into their mouths Take away faith and you quickly starve the Soul of a Christian will not all this engage your desires after faith Why then 9. consider this is the grace whereby we dye safely as well as live comfortably as you cannot live comfortably without it in this World so neither can you dye safely or comfortably without it when you go out of this World Heb. 11. 13. These all dyed in faith not having received the promises but having seen them a far off and were perswaded of them and embraced them Mark here how these excellent persons died they all died embracing the promises in the arms of their faith An allusion to two dear friends hugging one another at their parting O precious promises saith the dying believer of what unspeakable use and benefit have you been to me all the days of my pilgrimage You are they to whom I was wont to turn in all my troubles and distresses but I am now going into the life of immediate Vision farewel blessed Promises Scriptures Ordinances and Communion of imperfect Saints I shall walk no more by faith but by sight 10. In a word and that a great word to this is the grace that saves you Eph. 2. 8. By grace are you saved through faith Your salvation is the fruit of free grace but grace it self will not save you in any other method but that of believing The grace of God runs down through the channel of faith faith is the grace that espouses your Souls to Christ here and accompanies it every step of the way until it come to his full enjoyment in Heaven and then is swallowed up in vision It embarques you with Christ and Pilots you through the dangerous Seas till you drop Anchor in the Haven of everlasting rest and safety where you receive the end of your faith the salvation of your Souls O then in consideration of the incomparable worth and absolute necessity of this precious grace make it your great study make it your constant cry to Heaven night and day Lord give me a believing Heart an opening Heart to Jesus Christ. If you fail of this you come short of the great end and design of the whole Gospel which is to bring you to faith and by faith to Heaven SERMON X. Revel 3. 20. If any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him IN the former Sermons we have considered Christs suit for a sinners Heart we now come to the powerful Arguments and Motives used by him to obtain his suit which are two 1. Union I will come in to him and sup with him 2. Communion and he with me These are strong and mighty arguments and encouragements able one would think to open
Satan to God. So Luke 11. 21 22. When a strong man armed keepeth his pallace his goods are in peace But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted and divideth his spoil Fourthly Thy present vileness and unworthiness can be no bar to Christs entrance into thy Soul because Christ never yet objected to any man his unworthiness but his unwillingness to come unto him Iohn 5. 40. You will not come unto me that you might have life And again Matth. 23. 37. How oft would I have gathered thy Children and ye would not Indeed you find something like a repulse from Christ to that poor Canaanitess Mat. 15. 24 26. Lord help me said that poor distressed Soul but he answered and said It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs However harshly and discouragingly these words sound yet certainly it was none of Christs intent to damp and discourage her faith but to draw it forth to a more excellent and intense degree which effect it obtained vers 27. Fifthly Neither would Christ have made the tenders of mercy so large and indefinite had he intended to have shut out any Soul upon the single account of personal unworthiness provided it be but willing to come unto him Cast thine Eye poor discouraged Soul upon Christs invitations and proclamations of grace and mercy in the Gospel and see if thou canst find any thing beside unwillingness as a bar betwixt thee and mercy harken to that voice of mercy Isa. 55. 1. Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price i. e. without personal desert or worthiness So again Rev. 22. 17. The Spirit and the bride say come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Here you see personal vileness and unworthiness is no obstacle in the way of Christ. Once more see Iohn 7. 37. In the last day that great day of the feast Iesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst let him come to me and drink Thus you see what Christs coming into the Soul is and what evidences there are that when once the Soul is made truly willing Christ will certainly come into it and no former vileness or present unworthiness shall be a bar to obstruct his entrance Thirdly In the next place I shall shew you That when Christ comes into the Soul he will not come empty handed 'T is Christs marriage day and he will make it a good day a festival day bringing such comforts along with him as the Soul never tasted before he spreads as it were a Table furnishes it with the delicates of Heaven I will sup with him saith the Text What those Spiritual mercies are which Christ brings a long with him to the opening willing Soul comes next in order to be spoken to And 1. When Christ comes into the Soul of a sinner he brings a Pardon with him a full a free and a final pardon of all the sins that ever that Soul committed This is a feast of it self good cheer indeed Christ thought it to be so when he told the poor Palsey-man Matth. 9. 2. Son be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee He doth not say Be of good cheer thy Palsey is cured thy body recovered from the grave but be of good cheer thy sins are pardoned O how sweetly may the pardoned Soul feed upon this And this is not any peculiar mercy designed for some special favorites but what is common to all believers Acts 13. 43. By him all that believe are justified from all things Christ and pardon come together and without a pardon no other mercy would relish no feast no musick no money or honour have any favour or comfort with them to a condemned man but the comfort of a pardon reaches to the very Heart Isa. 40. 1 2. Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord Speak comfortably to Jerusalem or as in the Hebrew Speak to the heart of Jerusalem But what are the ingredients of that cordial that will comfort Ierusalems Heart Why Say unto her that her iniquities are pardoned that carries along with it the Spirit of all consolation And there are four things in the pardon of sin that make it the sweetest mercy that ever the Soul tasted comfort which is impossible to be communicated to another with the same sense that the pardoned Soul hath of it Rev. 2. 17. First That which makes the pardon of sin ravishingly sweet is the trouble that went before it The labourings and restless tossings of the troubled Soul which were antecedent to this pardon make the ease and peace that follows by it incomparably sweet As the bitterness of Hell was tasted in the sorrows of sin so the sweetness of Heaven is tasted in the pardon of it Secondly The nature of the mercy it self is incomparably sweet for it is a mercy of the first rank Pardon is â—uch a mercy as admits no comfort to come before it nor any just cause of discouragement can follow after it If God have not spoken pardon to the Soul it can have no fetled ground for joy Ezek. 33. 10. And if he have there can be no just ground for dejection whatever the troubles be that lye upon it Isa. 33. 24. The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Thirdly The third thing that makes this mercy delicious and ravishingly sweet to the Soul are the properties of it which are four 1. God writes upon thy pardon frank 't is a free mercy which cost thee nothing Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely by his grace Thou hast bought me no sweet Cane with money yet I even I am be that blotteth out thy transgression for my own names sake 2. God writes upon thy pardon full as well as free the pardon extends to all the sins that ever thou committedst Acts 13. 43. By him all that believe are justified from all things The sins of thy nature and practice the sins of thy youth and age great sins and lesser sins are all comprehended within thy pardon Thou art acquitted not from one but from all Certainly the joy of Heaven must come down in the mercy of remission O what a feast of fat things with marrow is this single mercy a pardon free without price full without exception And then 3. its final without revocation the pardoned Soul never more comes into condemnation Thine iniquities are removed from thee as far as the East is from the West as those two opposite points of Heaven can never meet so the pardoned Soul and its pardoned Sins can never more meet unto condemnation Psal. 103. 12. 4. God writes upon the pardon another word as sweet as any of the rest and that is sure 'T
Gods countenance Psal. 4. 6 7. the heavenly 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen we love c. The Soul is transported with joy ravished with the glory and excellency of Christ. Didst thou ever see this Christ whom thy Soul is so ravished with No I have not seen him yet my Soul is transported with so much love to him Whom having not seen we love But if thou never sawest him how comes thy Soul to be so delighted and ravished with him why though I never saw him by the Eye of sense yet I do see him by the Eye of faith and by that sight my Soul is flooded with spiritual joy Believing we rejoyce But what manner of joy is that which you taste why no Tongue can express that for it is joy unspeakable But how are Christ and Heaven turned into such ravishing joys to the Soul why the Spirit of the Lord gives the believing Soul not only a light to discern the transcendent excellency of these spiritual objects but a sight of his interest in them also This is my Christ and this the glory prepared for me without interest Heaven it self cannot be turned into joy My Soul rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luke 1. 47. We read Luke 13. 28. of some that shall have a sight of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and yet a sight without joy a dreadful sight to them for want of a joint interest with them in that glory They shall see and yet wail and weep and gnash their teeth But an interest sealed gives joy unspeakable Now as to the excellency of this joy it will be found to be the pleasant light of the Soul light and joy are Synonimous terms in Scripture Psal. 97. 11. 'T is as the cheerful light of the Morning after a sad and dismal Night You that have sat in darkness and the shadow of death you that have sat mourning in the dark without one glimpse of a promise you that have convers'd with nothing but dismal thoughts of Hell and Wrath O I shall be cast away for ever What will you say when after all this darkness the Day-star shall arise in your hearts the joy of Heaven shall beam upon your Souls Will not this be a glorious reward for all your self-denyal for Christ and fully recompense for the frowns of carnal relations for giving entertainment to Christ This joy of the Lord if there were no other Heaven is an abundant recompense This joy of the Lord shall be your strength Neh. 8. 10. Let God but give a man or woman a little of this Joy into his heart and he shall presently feel himself strengthened by it either to do or to suffer the will of God. Now he can pray with enlargement hear with comfort meditate with delight and if God call him to suffer this Joy shall strengthen him to bear it This was it that made the Martyrs go singing to the stake This therefore transcends all the joys of this lower world There are sinful pleasures men find in the fulfilling their lusts There are sensitive joys that men find in the good creatures of God filling their hearts with food and gladness There are also delusive joys false comforts that Hypocrites find in their ungrounded hopes of Heaven The joys of the Sensualist are bruitish the joys of the Hypocrite are ensnaring and vanishing but the joys of the Holy Ghost are solid sweet and leading to the fulness of everlasting joy This is the third heavenly dainty you may expect to feed on if you open your hearts to receive Christ by Faith else you have all the consolation that ever you must expect IV. We read in Scripture of the Sealings of the Spirit a choice and blessed Priviledg of Believers consequent upon believing Eph. 1. 13. In whom after that ye believed ye were sealed c. This then may be expected by every Soul that opens to Christ how rich soever the comforts of it be The Spirit indeed seals not before Faith for then he should set his Seal to a Blank but he usually seals after believing and that as the Spirit of promise Note here the Agent or Person sealing the Spirit he knows the counsels thoughts and purposes of God 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. He also is authorized to this work and being the Spirit of truth he cannot deceive us There is a twofold Seal spoken of in Scripture one referring to God's eternal foreknowledge and choice of men 2 Tim. 2. 19. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth who are his i. e. the Lord perfectly knows every Soul that belongs to him through the world But now what comfort is this to a poor Believer that God knows who are his Therefore there is another sealing referring to the Spirit as his act upon Believers to make them know that they are his The first is general The Lord knoweth who are is But this is particular The Lord knoweth thee to be his This is joyful news indeed the former makes it sure in it self the latter makes it sure to us Now this is a most glorious priviledge a work of the Spirit which hath a most ravishing delicious sweetness in it and that which makes it so is 1 The weightiness of the matter sealed to which is no less than Christ and the eternal Inheritance purchased by his Blood. This Seal secures our Title to Christ and to the eternal glory We are sealed to the day of redemption The sealed Believer can say Christ how great how glorious soever he be is my Christ the Covenant of Grace and all the invaluable promises contained in it are mine 2. The rest and quietness which follows it makes it an invaluable mercy this brings the anxious solicitous Mind and Conscience to rest and peace O what a mercy is it to have all those knots untied those objections answer'd those fears banished under which the doubting Soul so long laboured and which kept it so many nights waking and restless God only knows at what rate some poor Creatures live under the scarings of their own Consciences and frequent fears of Hell And what an inconceivable mercy it would be to them to be delivered at once from their dangers and fears which hold them under a Spirit of Bondage Open to Christ and thou art in the way to such a deliverance Come unto me and I will give you rest saith Christ Matth. 11. 28 29. 3. This sealing of the Spirit which follows upon believing will establish the Soul in Christ confirm it and settle it in the ways of God which is an unspeakable priviledge 2 Cor. 1. 22. Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ is God who also hath sealed us Mark how establishment follows sealing New temptations may come great persecutions and sore afflictions may come but how well is that Soul provided for them all that hath the sealings of the Spirit unto the day of redemption Yea
though the Soul that was sealed should for the present be under new darkness new temptations and fears yet former sealing will give establishment and relief when the thoughts run back to the sealing day and a man remembers how clear God once made his title to Christ Well then open to Christ if ever you expect to be sealed to salvation If you continue to despise and reject the tenders of Christ in the Gospel whilst others that embrace him are sealed to redemption Your unbelief and final rejection of Christ will seal you up to the day of damnation V. And lastly we read likewise in the Scriptures of the Earnest of the Spirit This is three times mentioned in the Scriptures Eph. 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchasad possession 2 Cor. 1. 22. where it is joyned with the former priviledge of sealing Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts And again 2 Cor. 5. 5. He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 originally a Syriak word The Greeks are supposed to get it from the Phonician Merchants with whom they traded and it notes a part paid in hand to confirm a bargain for the whole There are two things in an earnest 1 It is part of the sum or inheritance If it were a contract for a sum of mony then it was a small part of a greater parcel If for an Inheritance then the earnest is a taking a part of the Inheritance as a twig or turf part of the whole Now the Spirit of God chooses this word on purpose to signifie two great things to his People by it 1. That those comforts communicated by the Spirit to Believers are of the same kind with the Joys of Heaven though in a far inferiour degree 1 Pet. 1. 8. called there Ioy unspeakable and full of glory and Rom. 8. 23. called there The first-fruits of the Spirit The First-Fruits and the Crop or Harvest are one in kind Surely there is something of Heaven as well as Hell tasted by men in this world Hell is begun here in the terrors of some mens Consciences and Heaven also is begun here in the absolution peace and comfort of other mens Consciences 2. As an earnest is part of the sum or inheritance so the use and end of it is confirmation and security as much as to say Take this in part till the whole be paid yea take it for thy security that the whole shall be paid Believers have a double pledge or earnest for Heaven one in the person of Christ who is entred into that glory for them Iohn 14. 2 3. The other in the joys and comforts of the Spirit which they feel and taste in themselves These are two great securities and the design of God in giving us these earnests and foretasts of Heaven are not only to settle our minds but to whet our industry that we may long the more earnestly and labour the more diligently for the full possession The Lord sees how apt we are to flag in the pursuit of Heavenly Glory and therefore gives his People a taste an earnest of it to excite their diligence in the pursuits of it God deals with his People in this case as with Israel they had been forty years in the Wilderness many sore temptations they had there encountred at last they were come upon the very borders of Canaan but then their hearts began to faint there were Anakims Gyants in the Land poor Israel feared they should not stand before them but Ioshua sends Spies into the Land who returning bring the first-fruits of Canaan to them whereby they saw what a goodly Country it was and then the fear of the Anakims began to vanish and a spirit of Courage to revive in the People Thus it is even with the Borderers upon Heaven tho' we be near that blessed Land of promise yet our hearts are apt to faint upon a prospect of those great sufferings without us and those conflicts with corruptions we feel within us But one taste of the first fruits of Heaven like those grapes of Eshcol revive our Spirits rouze our Zeal and quicken our pursuits of blessedness For these reasons God will not have all of Heaven reserved till we come thither And now tell me you that have tasted these first-fruits of the Spirit 1 Is there not something in faith of that glorified Eye by which the pure in heart do see God in Heaven Matth. 5. 8. O that eye of Faith that precious eye which comes as near to the glorified eye as any thing in this imperfect state can come 1 Pet. 1. 8. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 2 Is there not something of that glorified love to be felt in an inferiour degree by the Saints in this world What else can we make of that transport of the Spouse Cant. 2. 5. Stay me with flagons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love 'T is true our love to God in Heaven is much more servent pure and constant yet these high-raised acts of spiritual love have a tast and relish of it 3 Is there not something here of that heavenly delight wherewith the glorified delight in God As the visions of God are begun on earth so the heavenly delights are begun here also Some drops of that delight are let fall here Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of the thoughts I had within me thy comforts delight my Soul. David's heart 't is like had been full of sorrow and trouble a sea of gall and wormwood had overflowed his Soul God le ts fall but a drop or two of heavenly delight and all is turned into sweetness and comfort 4 Is there not something here of that transformation of the Soul into the image of God which is compleat in Heaven and a special part of the glory thereof 'T is said in 1 Iohn 3. 2. We shall be like him for me shall see him as he is This is Heaven this is glory to have the Soul moulded into full conformity with God something thereof is experienced in this world O that we had more 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. 5 Is there not something felt here of the ravishing sweetness of God's presence in Ordinances and Duties which is a faint shadow at least of the joys of his glorious presence in Heaven there is certainly a felt presence of God a sensible nearness unto God at some times and in some duties of Religion wherein his name is as an oyntment poured forth Cant. 1. 3. something that is felt beyond
and above all the comforts of this world 6 In a word the joys of Heaven are unspeakable Joys no words can make known to others what they are When Paul was caught up into Paradice he heard unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12. 4. And are there not times even in this life wherein the Saints do feel that which no words can express 1 Pet. 1. 8. Rev. 2. 17. Now if such earnests of the Spirit do follow after believing if opening the Soul to Christ do bring it into these Suburbs of Heaven who then would not receive Christ into his Soul and such an heaven upon earth with him And thus I have shewed you what some of those heavenly rarities are with which Christ entertains Believers upon earth the fulness and perfection whereof is reserved for Heaven and hereby secured to the opening or believing Soul which was the first thing to be discovered Secondly Next we shall enquire into the reasons why Christ thus entertains feasts and refreshes the Soul that receives him And First This he doth to express the great joy and satisfaction his Soul hath in the faith and obedience of poor Sinners We read Isa. 53. 11. of the hard travel of Christs Soul and the great satisfaction he hath in the fruit and issue thereof He shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied O what pleasure and satisfaction doth it give him to behold the eternal counsels of God and sore travels of his Soul brought to such a birth there is no pleasure like it to the Soul of Christ in this world As it is abundant satisfaction to a man to behold the accomplishment of a design upon which he hath laid out many thoughts and much cost at last happily finished Or as it is to a Woman that hath had a hard labour a sore travel for a Child to behold the fruit of her Womb to embrace and smile upon that Child she travail'd for So and much more than so it is to Christ and therefore as the Father of the Prodigal manifested the Joy of his heart for the return of his Son who was to him as dead and lost by a feast and musick So doth Christ here answerably manifest the content and satisfaction of his Soul by entertaining the Believer with these royal dainties of Heaven 't is the Souls welcom home to Christ. Secondly This Christ doth to relieve and refresh poor distressed Souls who have endured so many fears and sorrows from the time of their first conviction until this day of their union with Christ by Faith. The way of faith is a very humbling way there 's much cutting work in antecedent convictions and humiliations sad nights and sick days with many poor Souls and these things bring them very low They see the Law broken by sin wrath hanging over them in the threatnings the bitter tast thereof they have in their consciences they have dwelt with fears and horrors a long time and they need succour and support which the Lord Jesus is now resolved to give them lest the spirit fail before him Isa. 57. 16. He delights to comfort them that are cast down 2 Cor. 7. 6. Christ is of a compassionate nature he is as ready as able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. That word which we render Succour signifies to run in by way of help at the cry of one that is in distress Many emphatical cries have gone up to Heaven from the distressed sin-sick Soul these the compassionate Jesus hears and now comes in seasonably to succour and refresh it He hath rich Cordials for fainting hours the Soul hath had a bitter break-fast and therefore Christ will give it a comfortable Supper I will come in to him and sup with him Thirdly Those that open their hearts to Christ must expect to meet great troubles sufferings and temptations in that new course whereinto they are entred Their way to Heaven lies through much tribulation all our troubles are not over when we are got into Christ nay then commonly our greatest outward troubles begin Heb. 10. 32. After ye believed ye endured a great fight of affliction Carnal relations now scoff frown and cast off the world hates them and marks them out for persecution Now that poor Christians may not utterly be discouraged when they meet with those troubles in the way of their duty Christ will chear and hearten them by these spiritual refreshments This is a stock laid in for a rainy day Christ himself had a voice from Heaven Matth. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son a little before his great combat much more do his poor people need such consolations to support and encourage them The wise God foresees and by this provision forelays the troubles they are to meet with An hour of Sealing fortifies the Soul for an hour of Suffering It hath been the observation of some Christians when they have felt more than ordinary comforts of the Spirit that some great tryal hath been near them and the event hath confirmed it Whatever comforts Christ gives his people at their first entrance into his Service they will have need enough of them all before they finish their course To these first sealings they will need often to run back and have frequent recourse to them and all little enough to support them in after-tryals Fourthly Christ comes in to the opening Soul with such divine Cordials and refreshments to defeat and countermine the plot of Satan who hath so often and so lately been discouraging them by representing the ways of Christ as sad melancholy ways telling them they shall never laugh more never be merry more after they have embraced and espoused the ways of holiness Spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus Well their own experiences shall now confute it for they now taste that pleasure in Christ in faith and obedience which they never tasted in the ways of sin thus that scandalous libel of the Devil is experimentally confuted They find they were never truly merry till now Luke 15. 24. All true mirth commences from our closing with Christ and they began to be merry Now these spiritual refreshments are by Christ here called a Supper because the Supper among the Jews was their best meal Luke 14. 17. and because it is the last meal This is not only the best meal that ever a believer made but upon these spiritual comforts though much more refined and perfect they are to feed for ever in Heaven O Christian well maist thou be contented with thine outward lot of providence however it shall fall in this World with respect to thy outward-man Will a King from Heaven come and sup with thee Doth he feed thy Soul with pardon peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Seals an earnest of future glory then thou livest at an higher and nobler rate than any of thy carnal neighbours do Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us
noble immortal spirit of a Man. 2. Hypocrites have their delights and comforts in a false imaginary happiness which they fancy to themselves but this is a vanishing shadow they take comfort from their groundless hopes of Heaven whither they shall never come 't is a feast in a dream Isa. 44. 20. Thus they make a bridge of their own shadow and are drowned in the waters Such sensitive and false comforts and pleasures Men may have but no true solid scriptural joy takes place in any mans Heart before Christ come into it IV. Inference Guess from hence what Heaven is if there be such a feast to the Soul in the very foretasts of it If a relish a taste of Heaven in the earnest thereof be so transporting and ravishing what then is the full fruition of God! If these be unutterable what must that be Give me leave to say Whatever the comforts and joys of any believer in this World may be yet Heaven will be a surprize to him when he comes thither The joys of Gods presence are other manner of things than our present comforts are though these be of the same kind with them yet in a far inferiour degree There is a fix-fold difference betwixt the Spiritual comforts of believers on Earth and the joys that are above They differ 1. In Quantity 2. In Constancy 3. In Purity 4. In Efficacy 5. In the Society 6. In the Durability of them First They differ in quantity Here we know but in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. When the Scripture speaks of the comforts communicated to Saints on Earth it usually expresses them in some diminutive terms or other calling them first-fruits earnests and the like and indeed it is necessary we should receive them here with such alloys and in remiss degrees because the imperfection and weakness of our present state will not bear them in their plenitude and perfection Here the joy of the Lord enters into us but there we are said to enter into that joy Matth. 25. 21. 'T is too great to enter into us therefore we enter into and are swallowed up in it Secondly They differ in Constancy the best comforts upon Earth are found to be intermitting comforts a Sun-blast and a Cloud a good day and a bad you know houskeepers feed upon two sorts of meat dayly-bread and dainties rarities come not every day to the Table The dayly-bread upon which believers live is the recumbence and affiance of faith as for assurance and joy those come but now and then Thirdly They differ in Purity as well as Constancy here we have the comforts of the Spirit but we mingle sin with them and usually the sin of Spiritual pride which spoils all Yea many times the Lord suffers Satan to mingle his temptations and injections with them lest we should be exalted 2 Cor. 12. 7. But above the comforts of the Saints are as the pure water of life clear as Cristal Rev. 22. 1. Fourthly They differ in Efficacy as well as in Purity The highest comforts of the Spirit here are not perfectly transformative of our Souls into the image of God as they are in Heaven 1 Iohn 3. 3. We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Here after we are comforted by him we grieve the comforter himself by sin neither do the comforts of the Spirit in this state produce the fruits of obedience in their perfect maturity as they do above there is the same difference in in point of efficacy as there is betwixt the influence of the Sun beams in the winter-months and those in May and Iune Fifthly There is a great difference in respect of Society Here the believer for the most part eats his pleasant morsels alone one Christian eats and another hungers but in Heaven they all feast and feed together at one Table Matth. 8. 11. They shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God. O what is it to rejoyce in the fellowship of Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles where the joy of one is the joy of all Sixthly They differ also in Durability sin here puts a stop to our comforts but in Heaven as there is no comma so there shall never be a full point or period Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads There 's an eternal feast no taking away the cloth no rising from that feast 2 Thes. 2. 16. 'T is everlasting consolation We shall be ever with the Lord. II. Vse This point puts serious matter of Exhortation into my mouth The Lord direct it to the Hearts of all whether they be in Christ or out of Christ. First To those that are out of Christ and will not yet be perswaded to open their Hearts and consent to his terms O what a spiritual infatuation is here What shut the door of thy Heart against Christ and all the delights and comforts of this and the coming World What madness is this Hear me thou poor deluded sinner that wilt not be perswaded to part with thy sinful sensual delights in exchange for Christ and the peace comfort and joy that follow him I have a few things to speak on Christs behalf at this time O that they might prevail O that by them the Spirit of the Lord might perswade thy Spirit thou poor unregenerate creature Let me offer four or five Considerations or Pleas on Christs behalf if haply they may prevail and make way for his entertainment in thy Soul. And I. Let me plead thine own necessity with thee a mighty argument which in other cases useth to make its way through all oppositions and make all difficulties fly before it thou art a poor necessitous pining famishing Soul however thy body be accommodated thou hast not one bit of spiritual bread for thy famishing Soul to live upon Christ is the bread that cometh down from Heaven the starving Prodigal Luke 15. v. 16 17. is the lively Emblem of thy Soul he fed upon husks and thou feedest upon that which is not bread Isa. 55. 2. Thou art wretched and miserable poor blind and naked Rev. 3. 17. Thy body hath often been fill'd and refresht with the good creatures of God but thy Soul never tasted one bit of spiritual bread since it came into thy body it never smackt the sweetness of a pardon the deliciousness of a promise the joy and comfort of Christ the choicest food that ever thou tastedsts was such as thy Soul cannot live upon II. Christ is at the door of thy Soul with plenty and variety of heavenly comforts costly dainties purchased by his blood if thou wilt but open to him Thou shalt be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of his house and drink the rivers of pleasure Psal. 36. 7 8. He that believeth as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water John 7. 38. meaning the graces and
Christ unto greater chearfulness in the paths of obedience to Christ. This is another end for which God communicates them that our Souls being refreshed by them we might pluck up our feet the more nimbly in the paths of duty Psal. 119. 32. Then will I run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Now God expects that you pray more frequently meditate more delightfully and perform every duty more cheerfully And this is the way to perpetuate your comforts How many Christians go on droopingly in the ways of duty for want of those encouragements you enjoy SERMON XI Revel 3. 20. I will sup with him and he with me WE have heard the first encouragement or argument of Christ to perswade the Hearts of Sinners to open to him viz. That he will come in to them and that not empty handed He will also Sup with them and to make the encouragement compleat and full he here adds And he with me This last clause sets forth that Spiritual-soul-refreshing-communion which is betwixt Christ and believers begun in this World compleated and perfected in the World to come Hence our tenth Observation is XI DOCT. That there is a mutual sweet and intimate communion betwixt Iesus Christ and believers in this World. Communion with Christ is frequent in the lips of many men but an hidden mystery to the Souls of most men This Atheistical age scoffs and ridicules it as Enthusiasm and Fanaticism but the Saints find that reality and incomparable sweetness in it that they would not part with it for Ten thousand Worlds When the Roman Soldiers entred the Temple at Ierusalem and found no Image there as they used to have in their own Idolatrous Temples they gave out in a Jeer that the Jews worshiped the Clouds Thus prophane Atheists scoff at the most solemn awful and sweetest part of internal Religion as a meer fancy but the thing is real sure and sensible if there be truth in any thing in the World there is truth in this That there are real intercourses betwixt the visible and invisible World betwixt Christ and the Souls of believers which we here call communion 1 Iohn 1. 3. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Iesus 'T is really and truly so we impose not upon the World we tell you no more than we have felt The life of Enoch is call'd his walking with God Gen. 5. 24. O sweet and pleasant walk All pleasures all joys are in that walk with God. Blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance Psal. 89. 15. The joyful sound there spoken of was the sound of the trumpet which called the people to the solemn Assemblies where they walked in the light of Gods countenance the sweet manifestations of his favour and because the World is so apt to suspect the reality and certainty of this Doctrin the Apostle again asserts it Phil. 3. 20. Truly our conversation is in Heaven We breath below but we live above we walk on Earth but our conversation is in Heaven To open this Point three things must come under consideration 1. What Communion with Christ is 2. That there is such a Communion betwixt him and believers 3. The excellency of this Communion First What Communion with Christ is in the general nature of it To open this it must be considered that there is a twofold Communion 1. A state of Communion 2. Actual Communion The first is fundamental to the second we can have no actual Communion with the Father Son or Spirit till we be first brought into a state of Communion This state of Communion is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fellowship or partnership with Christ. Such a Fellowship as Merchants have in one and the same Ship and Cargo where one hath more and another less but however a joint though unequal interest one lives in one Kingdom another in another Kingdom but they are joyntly interested in the same Goods This comparison must not be stretcht beyond its intention which is to shew nothing but this that Christ and believers are co-partners or co-heirs in the same inheritance hence they are called Psal. 45. 7. his fellows God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows and again Rom. 8. 17. If children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Christ states his people gives then a right and title not only to himself but to those good things purchased by him yea and the very glory he now enjoys in Heaven Iohn 17. 22. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them 'T is true there are some things in Christ which are peculiar to himself and incommunicable to any creature as his eternity consubstantiality with his Father c. neither have we fellowship in his mediatorial Works we have the fruits and benefits of them but no partnership with him in the glory and honour of them that is peculiarly his own and though it be said in the Scriptures that believers are righteous as he is righteous yet the meaning is not that they can Justifie others as Christ doth no they are Justified by him but cannot communicate righteousness to others as Christ doth to them But there are other things wherein there is a partnership betwixt Christ and his people among others they partake with him in the Spirit of Sanctification on Earth and glory in Heaven The same Spirit of holiness which dwells in Christ without measure is communicated by him to the Saints in measure 1 Iohn 4. 13. He hath given us of his Spirit And as Christ communicates his Spirit to the Saints so he communicates the glory of Heaven to them not that they shall be as glorious in Heaven as Christ is no no he will be known among the Saints in glory as the Sun is known from the lesser Stars Thus briefly of the state of communion which is called in Scripture our being made nigh Eph. 2. 13. and indeed we must be made nigh before we can actually draw nigh We must be put into a state of fellowship before ever we can have actual communion with God. Secondly Beside this state of Communion there is also an actual Communion which the Saints have in this World with the Father and Son in the duties of Religion This is that I am here ingaged to open This is our supping with Christ and his with us and for clearness sake I shall open it both 1. Negatively What it is not 2. Positively What it is I. Negatively What it is not for I find persons are hugely apt to mistake in this matter taking that for Communion with God which is not so and here let it be noted First That Communion with God doth not consist in the bare performance of Religious duties I do not say that Men may have Communion with God in this World without duties 't is a delusion
the exercises of our grace in Religious duties 3. In his various Providences In all these the Saints have communion with them First There is a sweet and sensible communion betwixt God and his people in the contemplation of the divine Attributes and the impressions God makes by them upon our Souls whilst we mediâ—ate on them As for instance 1. Sometimes the Lord discovers and manifests to the Souls of his people his immense greatness the manifestation of which Attribute makes an awful humbling impression upon the Soul makes them seem as nothing to themselves Thus when Abraham that great believer considered the greatness of that God with whom he had to do that sight of God seemed to reduce him to his first principles to crumble him as it were into dust and ashes again Gen. 18. 27. I that am but dust and ashes have taken upon me to speak unto God. He now looks upon himself as an heap of vileness and unworthiness so David Psal. 8. 12. When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy hands the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made from whence he inferr'd the greatness of the Creator Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him q. d. When I consider what a great God the Creator of the World is I am justly astonished that ever he should set his Heart upon so vile a thing as Man. When men compare themselves among themselves and measure themselves by themselves their Spirits are apt to swell with pride but would they look up to God as these holy men did they would admire his condescension And this is communion with God in the meditation of his immense greatness Secondly The representations and meditations of the purity and holyness of God working shame and deep abasement in the Soul for the pollutions and sinful filthiness that is in it This is communion with God and an excellent way of fellowship with him Thus when a representation of God in his holyness was made unto the Prophet Isa. 6. 3 4 5. There were the Seraphims covering their faces with their wings and crying one to another saying Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty the Earth is full of his glory The effect this produced or the return made by the Prophet to this manifestation of God in his holiness was deep abasement of soul for his unsuitableness to so holy a God vers 5. Then said I wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips c. And this is real communion with God in his holiness Thus Iob who had stifly defended his own integrity against men yet when God enters the lists with him and he saw what a great and holy God he had to do with cryed out Iob 40. 4 5. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further q. d. I have done Lord I have done I could answer men but I cannot answer thee thou art holy but I am vile Thirdly There are sometimes representations of the goodness and mercy of God made unto the Souls of his people When these produce an ingenuous thaw and melting of the Heart into an humble thankful admiration of it and an answerable care of pleasing him in the ways of obedience then have men communion with God in his goodness The goodness of God runs down to men in a double channel his goodness to their bodies in external providences his goodness to their Souls in spiritual mercies When the goodness of God either way draws forth the love and gratitude of the Soul to the God of our mercies then have we real communion with him Thus Iacob Gen. 32. 9 10. And Jacob said O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isaac which saidst unto me Return unto thy Country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two â—ands Ah Lord I see a multitude of mercies round about me and the least of them is greater than I So David 1 Chron. I7 I6 I7 And David the King came and sat before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is mine house that thou hast brought me hitherto And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes O God c. what can David speak more to thee You see in these instances what effects the goodness of God even in inferiour outward mercies useth to produce in sanctified hearts But then if you come to spiritual mercies and ponder the goodness of God to your Souls in pardoning accepting and saving such vile sinful creatures as you have been this much more affects the heart and overwhelms it with an holy astonishment as you see in Paul 1 Tim. 1. 16. The grace of our Lord was abundant I was a persecutor a blasphemer yet I obtained mercy So Mary that notorious sinner when pardoning grace appeared to her into what a flood of tears into what transports of love did the sight of mercy cast her Soul She wept and washt her Saviours feet with tears of joy and thankfulness Luke 7. 44. No terrors of the Law no frights of Hell thaw the heart like the apprehensions of pardoning mercy Fourthly Sometimes there are special representations of the veracity and faithfulness of God made unto his people begetting trust and holy confidence in their Souls and when they do so then have men communion with God in his faithfulness Thus Heb. 13. 5 6. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee There is a discovery of the faithfulness of God and what follows upon this See vers 6. So that we may boldly say The Lord is our God we will not fear what man can do unto us Here 's faithfulness in God producing trust and confidence in the believer This is that reciprocation that sweet fellowship and communion betwixt God and a believer with respect to his fidelity Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid Isa. I2 2. And truly friend this is what the Lord justly expects from thee even thy trust and confidence in him thy steady dependance on him in return to all the discoveries of his faithfulness to thee both in his Word and Providences Fifthly There are manifestations of the anger and displeasure of God by the hiding of his face from them and the frowns of his providence when these produce repentance and deep humiliation for sin an unquietness a restlesness of Spirit till he restore his favour and manifest his reconciliation to the Soul even here also is real communion betwixt God and the Soul Psal. 30. 7. Thou hidest thy face and I was troubled Nor will a gracious Soul rest there but will take pains to sue out a fresh pardon
mutual desires after communion betwixt Christ and his people in this World then certainly there is such a thing as real communion between them or else both must live a very restless and dissatisfied life Sixthly The mutual complaints that are found on both sides of the interruption of communion plainly proves there is such a thing If God complain of his people for their estrangements from him and the Saints complain to God about his silence to them and the hidings of his face from them Surely then there must be a communion between them or else there could be no ground of complaints for the interruptions of it But it is manifest God doth complain of his people for their estrangments from him Ier. 2. 5. Thus saith the Lord I remember thee the kindness of thy youth and the love of thy espousals What iniquity have your Fathers found in me that they are gone far from me As if he should say You and I have been better acquainted in days past what cause have I given for your estrangments from me And thus Christ in like manner complains of the Church of Ephesus after he had commended many things in her yet one thing grieves and troubles him Rev. 2. 4. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love And then on the other side when the Lord hids his face and seems to estrange himself from his people what sad laments and moans do they make about it As an affliction they know not how to bear Thus Heman Psal. 88. 14. Lord why castests thou off my Soul Why hidest thou thy face from me So Psal. 27. 9. Hide not thy face from me put not thy servant away in anger This is what they cannot bear Seventhly The reality of communion with God is made visible to others in the sensible effects of it upon the Saints that enjoy it There are visible signs and tokens of it appearing to the conviction of others Thus that marvelous change that appeared upon the very countenance of Hannah after she had poured her heart in prayer and the Lord had answered her it is noted 1 Sam. 1. 18. She went away and her countenance was no more sad You might have read in her face that God had spoken peace and satisfaction to her heart Thus when the Disciples had been with Christ the mark of communion with him was visible to others Acts 4. 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John they marvelled and took knowledg of them that they had been with Iesus 'T is sweet Christian when the heavenly cheariness and spirituality of thy converses with men shall convince others that thou hast been with Jesus Eighthly We may prove the reality of communion with God from the impossibility of sustaining those troubles the Saints do without it If prayers did not go up and answers come down there were no living for a Christian in this World. Prayer is the out-let of the Saints sorrows and the in-let of their supports and comforts Rom. 8. 26. Say not other men have their troubles as well as the Saints and yet they make a shift to bear them without the help of communion with God. 'T is true carnal men have their troubles and those troubles are often too heavy for them The sorrows of the world work death but carnal men have no such troubles as the Saints have for they have their inward Spiritual troubles as well as their outward troubles And inward troubles are the sinking troubles but this way the strength of God comes in to succor them and except they had a God to go to and fetch comfort from they could never bear them Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless â— had believed Paul had sunk under the buffetings of Satan unless he had gone once and again to his God and received this answer My grace is sufficient for thee 2 Cor. 12. 9. Ninthly We conclude the reality of communion with God from the end of the Saints vocation We read frequently in Scripture of effectual calling now what is that to which God calls his people out of the state of nature but unto fellowship and communion with Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 9. God is faithful by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his son Iesus Christ our Lord. They are called you see in to a life of communion with Christ therefore certainly there is such a communion else the Saints are called to the enjoyment of a fancy instead of a privilege which is the greatest reproach that can be cast upon the faithful God that called them Lastly In a word the characters and descriptions given to the Saints in Scripture evidently prove their life of communion with God. The Men of this World are manifestly distinguished from the people of God in Scripture they are called The Children of this World the Saints The Children of light Luke 16. 8. They are said to be after the flesh Saints to be after the Spirit Rom. 8. 5. they mind earthly things but the Saints conversation is in Heaven Phil. 3. 19 20. By all which it undeniably appears that there is a reality in the Doctrin of communion betwixt Christ and his people We are not imposed upon 't is no cunningly devised fable but a thing whose foundation is as sure as its nature is sweet Thirdly In the last place I shall shew you the transcendent excellency of this life of communion with God it is the life of our Life the joy of our Hearts a Heaven upon Earth as will appear by the Twenty Excellencies thereof following I. Excellency It is the Assimilating instrument whereby the Soul is moulded and fashioned after the image of God. This is the Excellency of communion with God to make the Soul like him There is a twofold assimilation or conformity of the Soul to God the one perfect and compleat the other inchoate and in part Perfect assimilation is the privilege of the perfect state resulting from the immediate vision and perfect communion the Soul hath with God in glory 1 Iohn 3 2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Perfect vision produceth perfect assimilation but the Souls assimilation or imperfect conformity to God in this World is wrought and gradually carried on by dayly communion with him And as our communion with God here grows up more and more into spirituality and power so in an answerable degree doth our conformity to him advance 2 Cor. 3. 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. All sorts of communion among men have an assimilating efficacy he that walks in vain company is made vainer than he was before and he that walks in spiritual heavenly company will be ordinarily more serious than he was before but nothing so transforms the Spirit
of a man as communion with God doth Those are most like unto God that converse most frequently with him The beauty of the Lord is upon those Souls it figures the Spirit of a Man after the Divine pattern That 's the first Excellency of communion with God it assimilates them to God. II. Excellency It is the beauty of the Soul in the Eyes of God and all good men it makes the face to shine No outward splendor attracts like this it makes a man the most desirable companion in the whole World 1 Iohn 1. 3. These things have I written unto you that you might have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son Iesus Christ. This was the great and only inducement the Apostle makes use of to draw the World into fellowship with the Saints that their fellowship is with God. And if there were ten thousand other inducements yet none like this You read of a blessed time Zach. 12. When the Earth shall be full of holiness when the Iews that are now as a lost generation to the Eye of sense shall be called and an eminent degree of sanctification shall be visible in them and then see the effect of this vers 23. In those days ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the Nations even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Iew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you This is the powerful attractive the Lord is with you 't is the effect of communion with God which makes the righteous more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. what a vast and visible difference doth this make between one man and another How heavenly sweet and desirable are the converses and company of some men How frothy burdensoin and unprofitable is the company of others And what makes the difference but only this the one walks in communion with God the other is alienated from the life of God III. Excellency It is the Centre which rests the motions of a weary Soul 't is the Rest and Refreshment of a man's Spirit Psal. 116. 7. Return unto thy rest O my Soul. When we attain perfect Communion with God in Heaven we attain to perfect Rest and all the Rest the Spirit of man finds on Earth is found in Communion with God. Take a sanctified person who hath intermitted for some time his communion with the Lord and ask him is your Soul at rest and ease He will tell you no. The motions of his Soul are like those of a member out of Joynt neither comly nor easie Let that man recover his spiritual frame again and with it he recovers his Rest and Comfort Christians you meet with variety of troubles in this World many a sweet Comfort cut off many a hopeful project dasht by the hand of Providence and what think you is the meaning of those blasting disappointing Providences Surely this is their design and errand to disturb your false rest in the bosom of the Creature to pluck away those pillows you were laying your Heads upon that thereby you might be reduced unto God and recover your lost communion with him and say with David Return unto thy rest O my Soul. Sometimes we are setling our selves to rest in an Estate in a Child or the like at this time it is usual with God to say Go Losses smite and blast such a mans Estate go Death and take away the desire of his Eyes with a stroke that my Child may find rest nowhere but in me God is the Ark the Soul like the Dove Noah sent forth let it fly where it will it shall find no rest till it comes back to God. IV. Excellency It is the Desire of all gracious souls throughout the World. Wherever there is a gracious Soul the desires of that Soul are working after communion with God as Christ was called The desire of all Nations so communion with him is The desire of all Saints and this speaks the excellency of it Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to see the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple i. e. To enjoy communion with him in the publick duties of his worship One thing have I desired that is one thing above all other things such an one as if God shall give me I can comfortably bear the want of all other things Let him deny me what he will if so be he will not deny me this one thing this one thing shall richly recompence the want of all other things Hence the desires of the Saints are so intense and fervent after this one thing Psal. 42. 1. My Soul panteth after thee O God and Psal. 119. 81. My Soul fainteth for thy Salvation Psal. 101. 2. When wilt thou come unto me No duties can satisfie without it the Soul cannot bear the delays much less the denials of it They reckon their lives worth nothing without it Ministers may come Ordinances and Sabbaths may come but there 's no satisfaction to the desires of a gracious Heart till God come too O when wilt thou come unto me V. Excellency As it is the Desire so it is the Delight of all the Children of God both in Heaven and Earth as communion with the Saints is the delight of Christ Cant. 2. 14. Let me hear thy voice And again Cant. 8. 13. The companions harken to thy voice cause me to hear it So communion with Christ is the delight of his people Cant. 2. 3. I sat under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet unto my taste 'T is the pleasure of Christ to see the yearning Countenances the blushing Cheeks the droping Eyes of his people upon their Knees And it is the delight of the Saints to see a smile upon his Face to hear a voice of pardon and peace from his Lips. I must tell you Christians you must look for no such delights as these in any earthly enjoyment none better than these till you come home to glory Communion with God then appears most excellent in as much as it is found to be the desire and delight of all gracious Souls VI. Excellency 'T is the Envy of Satan that which cuts and grates that wicked Spirit O how it grates and galls that proud and envious Spirit to see Men and Women enjoying the felicity and pleasure of that communion with God from which he himself is fallen and cut off for ever To see the Saints embosomed in delightful communion with Christ whilst himself feels the pangs of horror and despair This is what he cannot endure to behold And therefore you shall find in your experience that times of communion with God are usually buisie times of temptations from the Devil Zach. 3. 1. And he shewed me Joshua the high Priest standing before the Lord and
have had some slight ineffectual vanishing Convictions upon you formerly the Lord Jesus once more renews his call will you now at last hear his voice 'T is an infinite mercy to have a second call I doubt not but there are many among you whilst you have sat under the Word have had such thoughts as these in your Hearts sure my condition is not right nor safe there must another manner of work pass upon my Soul or I am lost for ever External duties of Religion I do perform but I am a stranger to Regeneration Such inward convictions as these were the Knocks and Calls of Christ but they passed away and were forgotten your Convictions are dead and your Hearts the more hardned for it is in puting a Soul under Conviction as it is in puting Iron into the Fire and quenching it again which hardens it the more You have been near the Kingdom of God but the more miserable for that if you be shut out at last The quicknings of your Convictions is the right way to the saving of your Souls The Lord make you this day to hear his Voice Seventhly Such as have come hither upon vain or vile accounts for meer novelty or worse ends to catch advantages or reproach the truths of God. Scoffing at the most solemn and awful Voice of Christ. The Word that you have slighted and reproached the same shall Judge you in that great Day except the Lord give you Repentance unto Life and make the Heart tremble under it that hath scoffed at it Be not mockers lest your bands be made strong Isa. 28. 22. Eighthly To Conclude Let all whose Hearts the Lord hath opened this day for the enjoyment of the Gospel the blessed instrument of their Salvation bless the Lord that hath made it a Key by Regeneration to open the door of Salvation to your Souls And as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him AN APPENDIX To the Foregoing TREATISE FROM ROMANS 1. 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness IN all the foregoing Sermons I have been pleading and wooing for Christ. And as Abrahams Servant to win the Damsels Consent told her what Treasures his Masters Son had so have I laboured to shew you some part of the unsearchable Riches of Christ if by any means I might allure your hearts and be instrumental to close the happy Match betwixt him and you and as the Apostle speaks espouse you to one Husband even to Christ. But alas How few stir towards him The most seem to be immovably fixed in their Natural State and sinful Courses All our Arguments and Intreaties return to us again and effect nothing 'T is amazing to think what is the matter that Souls which have in them the inbred Hopes and Fears of the World to come and self reflecting Powers cannot for all this be prevailed with to quit the way of sin and to embrace the way of Holiness though their Consciences mean while stand convinced that Eternal Damnation is the issue and result of the one Life Peace and Eternal Joyes of the other This hath put me upon a serious search what may be the cause and reason of this fixed and unreasonable obstinacy and in this it seems evidently to lye with most that live in an unregenerate state under the Gospel that they put a force upon their own Consciences and do imprison and hold the Truth in unrighteousness though the Wrath of God be revealed from Heaven against all that do so If by this Discourse I can but set truth at Liberty and loose the Lords Prisoners which lye bound in your Souls I shall not doubt but the value of Christ will quickly rise among you and free Convictions will make the work of your Ministers much more easie and successful than they now find it 'T is hardly imaginable but the things you have heard must leave your Souls under Convictions but if you suppress and stifle them they produce nothing but aggravations of Sin and Misery Now in order to the free and effectual working of all your Convictions and begetting that reverence which is due to them from every Soul as to the Voice of God I have chosen this Scripture the scope and sense whereof I shall next give you The true scope and aim of this Context is to prove the Justification of Sinners to be only by the imputed Righteousness of Christ in the way of Faith. To make this evident he distributes the whole World into Gentiles and Iews the one seeking Righteousness by the dim Light of Nature or the Law written in their Hearts the other viz. the Iews by the works of the Law or External Conformity to the Law of Moses but that neither can find what they seek he distinctly and fully proves He proves it first upon the Gentiles from this verse to the 17th verse of the second Chapter and then he proves it upon the Iews also from thence to the end of the third Chapter As for the Gentiles he acknowledges that they had inbred Notions of God imprinted in their Nature they had also the Book of the Creatures before them enough to leave them without Excuse ver 20. they have no pretence of ignorance but these common Notices of God and of Good and Evil they did not obey and put in practise but acted against the very Light and Dictates of their Natural Consciences For which cause the Wrath of God was revealed from Heaven against them as the Text speaks Wherein note 1. A clear and dreadful Revelation of Divine Wrath. 2. The Object or impulsive Cause thereof Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness 3. The special aggravation of this their Ungodliness and Unrighteousness that they held the truth in unrighteousness 1. Here is a clear and dreadful Revelation of Divine Wrath the wrath of God saith the Apostle is revealed from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indignation or vengeance of God. 'T is a word of deep and dreadful signification the Damned that feel the weight of it have the fullest sense ot it 'T is said in Psal. 90. 11. Who knows the power of thine anger according to thy fear so is thy wrath That is the fears of an incensed Deity are no vain Bug-bears Nor the effects of Ignorance and Superstition as Atheists Fancy but let mens Fears of it be what they will they shall find except they repent the Wrath of God to be according to yea and far above their Fears of it If the Wrath of a King be as the Messengers of Death what then is the Wrath of the great and terrible God This Wrath is here said to be revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 discovered or made manifest and so it is divers wayes it was revealed to them by the light of Nature their own Consciences gave them notice and warning of it Thus it was revealed to them by an internal Testimony
yet one thing and that the main thing Sanctifying Grace was wanting Hereupon the pangs of the New Birth seized his Soul and the Lord made him a most inward searching experimental Minister and crown'd his Labours with unusual Success This Minister to his dying day was not ashamed in all companies to acknowledge his mistake and bless God for his recovery out of it and in most of his Sermons he would endeavour to convince Professors of the necessity of a second Conversion 2. Fear is another pull-back which with-holds men from executing the Convictions of their own Consciences and obeying its calls in this grand case and concern of the Soul. They are pretty easie and safe under the External Profession and Duties of Religion and are afraid of throwing up their vain hopes and engaging themselves heartily and thoroughly in Religion and there be two things scare them 1 The inward pains and troubles of Spirit attending the New-Birth which they have read and heard of and seen the effects of in others Oh 't is a dreadful thing to lye under the Terrors that many have felt and so 't is with them as with one that hath a bone ill set who if he have any ease will rather endure a little dayly pain and be content to halt all his Life than undergoe the pain of another fraction or dislocation in order to a perfect cure 2 They are afraid of External Sufferings The form of Godliness leaves men a latitude to take or leave according as the times favour or frown upon the wayes of Religion but the power of Godliness that will engage and put them beyond retreat They must then stand to it come what will. But Soul let me tell thee if the just fears and apprehensions of Hell and the Eternal Wrath of God were upon thee to which thy Hypocrisie and formality will expose thee all these fears of inward or outward troubles would vanish the same Hour 3. Pride of Heart suffers not this Conviction of Conscience to work out its effects but holds this Truth in unrighteousness to the hazard and ruine of many Souls Men that live upon their own Duties and Self-Righteousness are not easily brought to renounce all this and live upon the Righteousness of Christ alone for Justification Proud nature will rather venture the hazzard of Damnation than such self denial Rom. 10. 3. As you see it common among poor People to live meanly on coarse Fare of their own than upon the Almes and bounty of another O but if once the day of Gods Power be come and a man begins to feel the Commandment come home to his Conscience as Paul did Rom. 7. 9. when he comes to realize the World to come the value of his Soul and the danger it is in then all these Remora's are as easily swept away as so many straws by the rapid Course of a mighty torrent Then let men say or think what they please I must not throw away my own Soul to maintain a vain Estimation among men Let inward or outward sufferings be never so great 't is better for me to feel them than to suffer the everlasting wrath of the great and terrible God. Let my own Righteousness be what it will all is but dung and dross to the pure and perfect Righteousness of Christ. Secondly As this General Conviction with respect to Mens State and Condition is held in Unrighteousness and Men and Women go with grumbling Consciences and frequent inward Fears by reason of it so there are many particular Convictions bound and imprisoned in Mens Souls Particular Convictions I say both as to sins committed and known Duties omitted against both Tables of the Law of God called in the Text ungodliness and unrighteousness Conscience labours and strives to bring men to confess bewail and reform them but cannot prevail contrary Lusts and Interests overpower them and detain them in unrighteousness What these are and how they are with-held by those Lusts I shall give some Instances I. Instance And First for Convictions of Vngodliness There are many that call themselves Christians whose Consciences tell them God is to be daily and duely worshipped by them both in Family and Closet Prayer It sets before them Iosua's pious practice Ios. 24. 15. As for me I and my house we will serve the Lord. They know God is the Founder the Owner the Master of their Families that all Family Blessings are from him and therefore he is to be owned acknowledged and sought in daily Family Prayers and Praises It tells them the Curse of God hangs over prayerless Families Ier. 10. 25. and that they live in the inexcusable neglect of these Duties seldom worshipping of God with their Families or in their Closets and that therefore they live without God in the World. And dreadful will the account and reckoning be at the Great Day for their own Souls which they have starved for want of Closet Prayer and for the Souls committed to their charge which perish for want of Family Duties This is the case of many who yet will needs pass for Professors of Christianity Lord how sad a case is here How can men possibly live in the daily neglect of so great so necessary a Duty Certainly 't is not for want of Light or Conviction the very light of Nature if we had no Bibles discovers these Duties But three things hold this Truth of God dictated by Mens Consciences in Unrighteousness viz. 1. The Love of the World. 2. Consciousness of Inability 3. A Disinclined Heart First The Love of the World choaks this Conviction in the Souls of some and they think it enough to plead for their Excuse the want of opportunities and many encumberances they have which will not allow them time for these Duties The World is a severe Taskmaster and fills their heads and hands all the day with Cares and Toyles And must the mouth of Conscience then be stopped with such a plea as this No no God and Conscience will not be answered and put off so The greatest number of Persons in the World from whom God hath the most Spiritual and excellent Worship are of the lower and poorer rank Psal. 74. 20. Iam. 2. 5. And it s highly probable your Necessities had been less if your Prayers had been more And what sweeter outlet and vent to all these troubles can you find than Prayer This would sweeten all your Labours and Sorrows in the World. Secondly Consciousness and sense of Inability and want of Gifts restrains this Conviction in others Should they attempt such duties before others they shall but expose their own ignorance shame But this is a vain pretence of shake off Duty The neglect of Prayer is a principal Cause of that inability you complain of Gifts as well as Grace grow by Exercise To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly And besides 't is the fruit of Pride and argues your eye to be more upon your own
bear it or could Spira bear it What 's the Torment of Hell but the Worm that dies not and what is that Worm but the remorse of Conscience Mark 9. 44. O what is that fearful Expectation mentioned Heb. 10. 27. see how you like that life described Deut. 28. 65 66. the primitive Christians chose rather to be cast to the Lyons than into the Paws of an enraged Conscience ad leones potius quam ad Lenones Every little trouble will be insupportable to a sick and wounded Conscience as a quart of water would be to your Shoulder in a great leaden Vessel O if men did but fear their own Consciences if they did reverence themselves as the Moralist speaks If they did herein Exercise themselves to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence as Paul did Acts 24. 16. Then would you be clear of this great Sin of holding the Truth in Unrighteousness III. Direction If you would escape the guilt and danger of holding Gods Truths in Unrighteousness then keep your Hearts under the awful sense of the Day of Judgment when every secret thing must come into Judgment and Conscience like a Register book is to be opened and examined The Consideration of that day gives your Consciences a sevenfold defensative against Sin. 1. It provokes every man to get real solid Grace and not rest in an empty Profession Matth. 25. and this secures us from formal Hypocrisie That we be not found foolish Virgins 2. It excites us to the diligent improvement of our Talents that we be not found slothful Servants neglecting any duty God and Conscience calls us to Matth. 25. 21. 3. It confirms and establishes us in the ways of God that we wound not Conscience by Apostacy 1 Ioh. 2. 28. 4. It s a loud call to every man to Repentance and not to lye stupid and senseless under guilt Acts 17. 30 31. 5. 'T is a powerful Antidote against formality in Religion the general and dangerous disease of Professors Matth. 7. 22 23. 6. It excites holy fear and watchfulness in the whole course of Life 1 Pet. 1. 17. 7. It puts us not only to our watch but to our knees in fervent Prayer 1 Pet. 4. 7. And he that feels such effects as these from the consideration of that Day is fortified against that sin my Text warns of and dares never hold the Truth of God in Unrighteousness 'T is our regardlessness of Judgement to come and ignorance of the Nature of it which so emboldens us to neglect known Duties and commit known Sins Amos 6. 3. 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. If our Thoughts and Meditations were engaged more frequently and seriously on such an aweful Subject you would rather chuse to dye than to do violence to your Consciences IV. Direction Get right and true apprehensions of the Moral Evil that is in sin and of the Paenal Evil that follows sin then no Temptation shall prevail with you to commit a sin to escape a present trouble or neglect a known duty to accommodate any earthly interest and consequently to hold no truth of God in unrighteousness 'T is fear of Loss and Sufferings that so often overbears Conscience but if men were once made throughly sensible that the least sin is worse for them than the greatest affliction or suffering the peace of Conscience would be well secured And that this is really so appears thus 1. Afflictions do not make a man vile in the Eyes of God. A Man may be under manifold Afflictions and yet very dear and precious in Gods Account Heb. 11. 36 37 38. but S in makes a man vile in the Eyes of God Dan. 11. 2. 2. Afflictions do not put men under the Curse of God Blessings and Afflictions may go together Psal. 94. 12. but Sin brings the Soul under the Curse Gal. 3. 10. 3. Afflictions make men more like unto God Heb. 12. 10. but Sin make us more like the Devil 1 Ioh. 3. 8. Ioh. 8. 34. 4. Afflictions for Conscience sake are but the Creatures wrath inflam'd against us but Sin is the inflamer of Gods Wrath against us as in the Text. 5. Afflictions are but outward Evils upon the Body but Sin is an internal Evil upon the Soul. Prov. 8. 36. 6. Afflictions for Duties sake have many sweet Promises annexed to them Matth. 5. 10. but Sin hath none 7. The effects of Sufferings for Christ are sweet to the Soul 2 Cor. 7. 4. but the fruits of Sin are bitter it yields nothing but shame and fear 8. Afflictions for Christ are the way to Heaven but Sin is the Road-way to Hell Rom. 6. ult 9. Sufferings for Duty are but for a Moment 2 Cor. 4. 17. but Sufferings for sin will be Eternal Mark 9. 44. If such thoughts might be suffered to dwell with us how would they guard the Conscience against Temptations and secure their Peace and Purity V. Direction Be throughly perswaded of this great Truth that God takes great pleasure in uprightness and will own and honour Integrity amidst all the dangers that befall it Psal. 11. 7. Prov. 11. 20. when he would encourage Abraham to a Life of Integrity he engages his Almighty power for the protection of him in that way Gen. 17. 1. I am God Almighty walk thou before me and be perfect So Psal. 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield he will give grace and glory and no good thing will be with-hold from them that walk uprightly An upright man is the boast of Heaven Iob 1. 8. He is Gods darling and the reason is because he bears the Image of God Psal. 11. 7. The upright Lord loveth uprightness Yea and if Integrity bring them into trouble they may be sure the Lord will bring them out Psal. 34. 19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of all How safely then may they leave themselves in the hands of his infinite Wisdom Power and Fatherly Care Nay God is not only the Protector but he is also the Rewarder of Conscientious Integrity Psal. 18. 20. and that four ways 1. In the inward peace it yeilds them Isaiah 32. 17. The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever But the effect of sinful shifts and carnal Policies are shame and sorrow 2. In the Success and Issue of it it not only turns to Gods glory but it answers and accommodates our own designs and ends far better than our sinful projects can do Prov. 28. 23. 3. Great is the Joy and Encouragement resulting from it in the day of Death 2 King 20. 3. Psal. 37. 37. 4. In the World to come Psal. 49. 14. Were this duely considered and throughly believed men would chuse rather to part with life than the purity and peace of their own Consciences They would suffer all wrongs and injuries rather than do Conscience the least injury VI. Direction Do not idolize the World nor overvalue the Trifles of
in Christ before the world was Ephes. 3. 9. To make all men see what is the fellowship of the Mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God who created all things by Iesus Christ to the intent that now unto the Principalities and Powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God. The next Intention and Aim of the Gospel is to set open the heart of man to receive Jesus Christ without which all the glorious discoveries of the eternal Counsels and gracious Contrivances of God for and about us would signifie nothing to our real advantage Christ standing knocking and speaking by his Spirit of which we have before treated receive their Success and attain their End when the heart opens it self by Faith to receive him and not till then Hence note IX DOCT. That the opening of the heart to receive Christ by Faith is the great design and aim of the Gospel This is the Mark to which all the Arrows in the Gospel Quiver are levelled the Centre unto which those blessed Lines are drawn Iohn 20. 31. These things are written that you might believe and believing might have life through his Name All those precious Truths that are written in the Scriptures are to bring you to Faith. The great aim of the Spirit in his Illuminations Convictions Humiliations c. are the very same thing Iohn 6. 29. This is the work of God that you believe 'T is not only Opus Deo dignum a work worthy of such an Author but it is that on which God's eye is fixed in his workings upon us the end and aim of his work Great persons have great designs This is the glorious project of the great God and every Person in the Godhead is engaged and concerned in it 1. The Father hath his hand in this work and such a hand as without it no heart could ever open or move in the least towards Christ Iohn 6. 44. No man can come unto me saith Christ except my Father which hath sent me draw him None but he that raised up Christ from the dead can raise up a dead heart unto saving Faith in him 2. The sons hand is in this work he is not only the Object but the Author of our Faith 1 Iohn 5. 20. We know that the son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Iesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life 3 And then for the Spirit he comes from Heaven designedly and expresly to convince Sinners of their need of Christ and beget Faith in them Iohn 16. 9. So that this appears to be the great design of Heaven the drist and level both of the Word and Works of God. Touching this design of the Gospel I shall here speak indeavouring to open this great and glorious project of Heaven in the ensuing Properties of it which are 1. The Greatness of it 2. The Difficulty of it 3. The Instruments imployed in it 4. The Scope and aim of it And First Of the Greatness of this design of God we little understand what a marvellous thing is done in the Earth when the heart of a Sinner is brought to close with Christ by Faith. It would transport us with admiration did we throughly consider it Well may the Apostle place it in the first rank of all the glorious and wonderful works of God as he doth 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flâ—sh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World. Observe with what works of wonder Faith is here ranked and associated It is an astonishing work of God that ever God should be manifested in flesh that he that thunders in the Clouds should be heard crying in a Cradle that he who is over all God blessed for ever should become a man. It is astonishing that when he was taken down dead from the Cross laid in the Sepulchre and the Stone sealed upon it he should rise on the third day from the dead by his own power That ever the Gospel should be preached to such a miserable and sorlorn people as the Gentiles were the scorn and contempt of the Jews And no less marvellous is it to see the hearts of such poor Creatures glued so fast to Idolatry so perfectly dead in sin to open to Christ upon such self-denying terms as to let go all they had in the world for a blessed Inheritance which they never saw And were not this a marvellous work of God indeed there would never be such joy and triumph in Heaven among the holy Angels as there is upon the opening of every Sinners heart to Christ Luke 15. 7. the whole City of God is moved with it Heaven rings again with the joyful tydings as soon as ever the Will begins to bowe and open to Christ the news is quickly in Heaven and all the Angels of God rejoyce at the tydings As when a young Prince is born the Conduits run with Wine there is Joy in every City throughout the Kingdom So also there is in Heaven when Christ hath gotten a new habitation in the Soul of any Sinner upon Earth Moreover the greatness of this design appears from the great Rewards promised by the Lord to every Servant of his who hath but the least hand to help it on God would never reward the Instruments so richly if the success of the work were not of great value in his eyes The Ministers of Christ may be ill rewarded by men perfecuted and reproached for their labour but God will bountifully repay their pains and faithfulness Dan. 12. 3. They that turn many unto righteousness shall shine as the Stars and as the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever All these things be speak it a very great and important design upon which the heart of God is much set Secondly And then in the next place as it is an exceeding great and important design and work of God so it is a very hard and difficult work in it self a work whose difficulties surmounts the abilities of Angels It is certainly a work carried on by the mighty power of God through the greatest oppositions imaginable And therefore it is noted Rev. 3. 7. that it is the peculiar Prerogative of Jesus Christ who only hath the Key of the house of David to open the heart of a Sinner by Faith. Men think it is an easie thing to believe but if you consult the Scriptures you will quickly be informed how grosly you mistake the nature of this work In Col. 2. 12. the believing Soul is said to rise with Christ through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead In the Resurrection of Christ there was a glorious operation of the power of God indeed you know it astonished the