The sleepy Spouse of Christ alarm'd Or a WARNING To beware of DROWSINESS VVhen Christ Calls Lest he withdraw in a discontent BEING The Sum of some SERMONS upon Cant. 5th and the beginning By J. B. Minister of the Gospel Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Matth. 23.37 38 39. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not Behold your house is left unto you desolate For I say unto you Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Psal 95.7 8. To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Recommended in a Preface by M. Nath. Vincent LONDON Printed 〈◊〉 Samuel Crouch at the Princes Arms at 〈…〉 To Mrs. J. D. the Author wisheth all increase of Grace and Peace Honoured Friend IT was at your request and the earnest request of some of your Friends that I was induced to publish these following Sermons The reason whereof I suppose to be because your heart was in some measure opened to and affected with the voice of Christ in his Word when you heard it I must confess the matter or subject herein treated of is very sweet and precious and such as may well warm the frozen heart of any that hath the least drachm of sincere love either of complacency in or commiseration to Christ To see how ready Christ is to condescend to the requests of his Spouse how sweetly and with what melting 〈◊〉 irresistible Arguments he wooes her hoâ—â—â—â—â— and plentiful he is in the emanations of his Grace and Kindness towards her And then on the other hand to consider how sleightly she looks upon him how little account she makes of him and how she makes him dance attendance at her door with many other circumstances of her unkindness and withal to consider the danger and hazard which she runs by her unkind behaviour towards Christ These Considerations which are the subject of the ensuing Discourse being seriously weighed by a Soul that hath any love for or breathings after Christ among the number of which I hope I may truely reckon you cannot choose but in some measure awaken the sleepy Soul and warm the cold and frozen Affections This effect I perceive the Word had upon you for which you owe the thanks and praise to the Spirit of Grace which accompanied the Word to your heart and gave it entertainment there For man speaks only to the ear it is God that speaks to the heart You having therefore tasted the sweetness of this Word your self desired the communication of it to others who had not the opportunity with you to hear it and in order thereunto the publication of it Your designe I must own to be good for Grace where it is in truth is not only of a diffusive nature spreading it self through the whole man but also of a communicative nature wishing that all by-standers might likewise taste that sweetness which it self is much delighted with Grace desires not to eat its morsels alone but if any Banquet be given in by Christ or any refreshment by his company the Soul cries out to by-standers O taste and see how good the Lord is He is altogether lovely Come therefore and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul But though your designe be good yet the weakness and insufficiency of the Author might well have pleaded an excuse For it is pity that such a sweet and precious subject should be rendred despicable by being handed into the world by so weak rude and unpolished an instrument as I must of necessity confess my self to be For I am sensible that many times the Truths of Christ suffer in the world through the weakness of the Instruments that hand them to us However yet sometimes it pleaseth God By the mouths of babes and sucklings to perfect his own praise that the work may appear to be not of men but of God Leaving therefore the work in Gods hand who is able to do what he pleaseth with and by it and waving the consideration of mine own weakness I condescend to your request and make bold to cast this my poor mite into Gods Treasury Saying to you and to all courteous Readers as Peter to the Cripple Acts 3.6 Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have give I unto you I hope the food is wholesome though it be but plainly and meanly dressed And though it may fall into the hands of some whose curious stomacks may loath such plain and homely diet yet possibly it may fall into the hand of some poor creature who is hungry humble and of a contrite Spirit and trembles at Gods Word Some poor hungry Soul may perhaps here meet with meat though there be little sawce to he had And if any poor Soul shall reap benefit by my poor labours and endeavours I hope I shall bless God for owning such a worthless creature in so glorious a work And if it do good the less of the instrument the more will there be of God seen in it I beg of you therefore and of all candid Readers into whose hands this small Treatise may come their and your serious perusal of it with their Prayers to God for a blessing upon it what you finde of humane weakness in it pardon and pass it by whatever you finde of God in it minde it and apply it And the very God of Heaven powerfully influence it with his blessed Spirit that it may do your Souls good and that you may readily open to Christ now that he may open to and own you at Death and Judgment Which is the humble and earnest Prayer of Yours In and for Christ my Lord and Master James Bradshaw TO THE READER Christian Reader THe Spirit of Slumber exceedingly prevails at this day as great security is to be found in this Nation as was in the old World and in Sodom before the one was Drowned and the other Burned God hath used several ways and means to awaken us but our Spiritual Lethargie proves a very stubborn Malady 'T were bad enough if onely profane persons were fast asleep in Sin 'T is worse that Professors are so too But 't is worst of all that the Wise Virgins slumber as well as the Foolish What may be the Issue of our carnal Security we may tremble to think of When men say they shall have peace though they walk on after the imagination of their evil Heart the Lord confutes their presumption by threatning all the Curses written in his Book and that he will blot out their names from under Heaven Promising safety to themselves is the forerunner of Sinners sudden
company and communion with him may live in the light of his countâ—nance always beholding his most lovely face hearing his most pleasant voice and tasting of his most Royal dainties The breathings of a gracious heart towards Christ are the same for reality though not for degree that Christ his breathings are towards her Cant. 2.14 O my dove Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely It was thus with David Psal 27.4 c. If he might but have one request it should be that he might dwell in the house of the Lord and that for this end that he might behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple and whatever became of other things this as the main would he seek after But alas is it not far otherwise with us in these days and that among those that profess love to Christ if we look what most men are busie about what takes up most of their thoughts what their discourse is most about in all companies what they spend most time in and weary themselves in the prosecution of from day to day shall we not finde it rather to be the World than Christ I will not say as is said of the wicked That God is not in all their thoughts but this may be too truely said of many that their most frequent pleasant and abiding thoughts are about the world These lie down with them these rise up these go out and come in with them as if these were their onely business Doth this argue that these Hearts are open to Christ where the door is open a man may enter in without obstruction But here it is an hard matter for a serious thought of Christ to get crowded in If it come to the door it gets no further hath little or no admission into the heart and affections no abiding there We read in Scripture of many very gross sins that the servants of God for some time have been overcome by but I do not remember any mentioned in Scripture that were sincere that were overcome with the love of the World Demas indeed is said to embrace this present World but whether this be to be understood of his total apostacy from the faith or onely his deserting his publick work or station the Scripture leaves us in the dark and leaves this brand of infamy and disgrace upon him We know what the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows And the Apostle John tells us 1 John 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Evidently manifesting that there is not room for Christ and the World to dwell in the same heart Christ himself tells us that we cannot serve God and Mammon These two contrary Masters will be encroaching upon each other and imposing their contradictory commands So that from hence I conclude that where the world hath a great share in the heart and affections there Christs interest is but small and the door of our hearts not sufficiently opened to him I am affraid that at the great day when all hearts shall be tried and made manifest there will be many a man found who prayed for Christ had a desire of him yea and hoped that he had an interest in him and a love for him and yet through the prevalency of the world never truely opened his heart to Christ Examine your hearts therefore how the case stands with you If Christ be there and opened to as he should be how comes his mortal enemy the world to have such an interest in you and to bear so much sway with you If your hearts were opened to Christ the world would be more despised and Christs company would be more delightful and more store set by 5. And lastly If the door of our hearts be open to Christ by faith How comes it to pass that there are so few fruits of Faith to be seen There is no question to be made but where Christ the Sun of righteousness shines into the Soul the door of the heart being opened by Faith but that it will be Summer-tide with that Soul Grace will bud blossom and bear fruit And if all other Graces be fruitful why not Faith If Faith therefore be fruitful where the Heart is opened to Christ it concerns us to examine what fruits of Faith we finde in our selves For as Faith hath a large root or foundation having the whole Word of God for its object upon which it acts and from which at all times it fetcheth direction so it hath a large office and work in the soul its work being to purifie both heart and life Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Therefore the Apostle James tells us that Faith without works is dead being alone I may well compare Faith to a large and frugiferous tree whose root or foundation is the whole Word of God recorded in the whole body of Scripture The ground or seat of Faith is the heart the commanding power of the soul the body or trunk of this tree is the habit or principle of Faith infused into us and nourished in us by the Spirit of God The several branches of this tree spreading themselves every way are the several emanations or flowings forth of Faith guided and directed by the several parts of Gods word The fruits of Faith are the several particular actings of the whole man guided by Faith according to the direction of Gods Word Now where the ground of the heart is made warm by the presence and influential beams of the Sun of righteousness being opened unto Christ at his coming the tree of Faith must needs flourish and drawing in fresh supply of sap from the rock of truth which being digested in our hearts by Faith must needs bring forth suitable and proportionable fruit of all kinds in our lives and conversations If therefore thy heart be open to Christ by Faith Where then are the fruits effects actings and flowings forth of Faith in all the parts and passages of thy life and conversation Where is thy dependance upon and embracing of his Promises relying upon his All-sufficiency Where is thy universal obedience to his commands discharging duty in every part and condition of life living by and acting according to the rule of Gods Word in every thing thou goest about leaving the issue success and event of all thy business and concerns to God to his care and faithfulness Where is thy constant watch against the deceitfulness of thy Heart the temptations of Satan the allurements and enticements of the World and thy faithful resistance of all Temptations thy deep repentance for and faithful
the object of Faith is little notice taken of To love him therefore and that with such a love as we ought whom we have not seen this is very difficult To open our Hearts and Affections to him that we never saw with our eyes but onely have heard tell of this is very difficult and scarcely attainable by a sluggish Soul that is unwilling to be at the pains to enquire after him But let not this hinder for we have such discoveries of him in the Word if we will but be at the pains to search them out as will render him altogether lovely far more desirable than the most precious thing in the world And therefore let not sloth hinder us from opening to Christ by love 2. As there may be difficulty and unpleasantness in opening so there may be difficult and unpleasant work when we have opened to Christ and let him in and the thought of this may make the Soul unwilling to open to Christ As for instance 1. Christ at his coming in may rip up our old sores and bring our sins to remembrance which may renew our torment and pain When Christ comes in he makes new discoveries in the Soul many a sin forgotten and not duly repented of is brought to minde and the sting of it wounds and cuts the Soul puts the Soul to new sorrow shame and pain and this makes the Soul afraid of opening to Christ There is in every one such an indeâ—ible sense of the holiness of Christ and of their own guilt that though the Soul may have a real desire of Christs company yet is really afraid to let him in lest Christ should discover there what the Soul is afraid to have seen And therefore it argues not onely the sincerity and truth of Grace but a considerable measure of the prevalency of Grace when the Soul without inward reluctancy or fearfulness can say as David Psal 139.23 Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts This is a work wherein the Soul would be tenderly dealt with and lest Christ in this case should deal faithfully and roundly the Soul is afraid to open to Christ Though Reason will pray with us to have our Wounds searched yet Nature it self is afraid to have the Surgeon meddle with it Such is the case here and upon this account many faint-hearted Christians are unwilling to open to Christ but rather shut him out But oh my Friends If this be the reason why Christ is not readily opened to by you let me tell you The longer you keep him out the worse it will be with you your Soul is ulcerated with sin it is not found at the bottom and if Christ be not let in at all you must unavoidably perish of this wretched disease And if you do let him in hereafter he must then search it to the bottom and in the mean time your sin frets as a canker eats deeper and deeper into your heart and will not your pain be the more intolerable when your wound comes to be searched And therefore let spiritual reason prevail with you to open to Christ without any more delay That which here thou makest use of as a reason why thy heart is shut against Christ should be a strong yea the strongest argument to the contrary to open to Christ quickly It is infinite Mercy that thou hast so precious a Surgeon at hand It would be a most childish thing then to shut him out of doors because thou needest his help but art afraid lest he should see and rip up thy sore This flesh-pleasing easefulness is that which ruines many thousands 2. He may call us off from our earnest pursuit of the world and worldly business which is urgent upon us He may say to thee Come follow me be not so hasty in the pursuit of the world lay aside thy business for a while I have other business for thee to do let me have thy company a little for for that end am I come This may be the language of Christ to the soul But this is very unpleasing unto the Soul that is hot and earnest in the pursuit of the world this soul will be ready to answer as the man in the Gospel Lord I will follow thee but suffer me first to go and bury my father let me but dispatch such or such business that is urgent upon me and then I will wait upon thee But O Soul consider with thy self what hast thou of greater concernment to do than to hearken to and obey the voice of Christ If Christs company be no more worth and his feast of no greater value he may resolve thou shalt not taste of his dainties His business with thee may be the correcting thy faults the illuminating thee with spiritual wisdome washing and spiritualizing thy cold and carnal A◠〈◊〉 to be sure his main business with thee â—oâ—â—tes to thy spiritual estate to the concerne of thy 〈◊〉 And this is of so much greater and 〈◊〉 â—â—â—port to thee than any worldly business whatsoever as thy Soul is of 〈…〉 than all the world For what will 〈…〉 thee to gain the whole 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 precious immortal soul 〈…〉 give in exchange for thy soul 〈…〉 lost by thine earnest pursuit of 〈…〉 neglect of that spiritual work which Christ 〈◊〉 thee to 3. Christ at his coming into the Soul sometimes puts his Spouse or People upon some unpleasant work which they would gladly be excused from and this may be an hindrance to their opening to him Sometimes he calls to and puts them upon renewed acts of Repentance as was hinted before Sometimes upon the mortification of some beloved lust which may be as painful and as unwillingly yielded to as the cutting off the right hand right foot or plucking out the right eye Nay his Word may further be quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joynts and marrow discerning and discovering the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 which the Soul is not willing should be discovered or cut off or at least is afraid of the pain and trouble it may be put to in this work and therefore lingers and puts off Christ from time to time Sometimes again Christ may put his Spouse upon such duties as may cross her natural inclination or particular present and visible interest Such as denying her self taking up her cross following him Enduring hardship as a good souldier for Christ Enduring reproaches evil-speakings persecutions and the like all which are unpleasing to flesh and blood And wherein the Soul must say as to its natural inclination as our Saviour said when he prayed Not my will but thy will be done Here the Soul often sticks and upon these terms is loth to open to Christ the flesh having so strong an influence upon the soul Upon such terms as these the young man in the Gospel went away from Christ Mark 10.21
I believe Lord help thou mine unbelief Which manifested his sense of the difficulty of opening to Christ by Faith as he ought And truely Christians that know any thing of their own hearts as they ought finde this a very difficult work in cases of an easier nature than this here of this man was And therefore a lazy sluggish Soul is unwilling to be at such pains There are some weary steps that a believer must take to open to Christ by Faith As 1. earnest Prayer to him who is the Finisher and Perfecter as well as the Authour and Beginner of this Grace Faith in the act and exercise as well as in the habit must be obtained of Christ by earnest Prayer And to tug in this duty of Prayer as we ought is no easie work especially if Christ for some time seem to hold back and deny as he did to the woman of Canaan This puts the Soul sometimes into a sweat and therefore the easeful Soul is loath to be at this pains his patience is worn out and he faints and flags in the duty 2. Another weary step the Soul must take to get Faith into the exercise is the searching the Word and Promises and rightly applying them It is sometimes difficult to finde such promises as may rightly suit our condition When we have found them it may be something more difficult rightly to understand them according to the true intent and purport of them sometimes it may be difficult to get our hearts rightly affected with them and most of all to clear up our interest in them So that sometimes a Believer findes a promise and meditating sees it to suit his condition well enough but yet lays it aside can suck no sweetness from it because he cannot clear up his interest in it and that by reason of some particular condition or qualification annexed thereto which he findes not in himself In this case to believe seems difficult and therefore the promise is laid aside and no comfort gathered from it upon this account a lazy Soul sits down in unbelief and doth not open to Christ by faith 3. Another weary step is the overcoming that unbelieving frame of heart which we are naturally prone unto Unbelief is a sin which naturally flows from the corruption of our natures and accompanies us in some measure more or less while we are in this Vale of Tears And this part of corrupt nature poor Souls finde as much difficulty in the overcoming as any corruption And the reason is because of all corruptions none hath more to say for it self than this for the object of Faith properly is unseen things such as are not obvious to sense such as seem to thwart both sense and reason and frequent experience such things as we have nothing to bottom our faith concerning upon but the bare Word of God we are to believe in hope contrary to hope And this makes the work difficult hereupon few Christians are so resolved and industrious as to be at the pains which the Psalmist was Psal 73. to search things to the bottom and to weigh things in the balance of the Sanctuary and therefore they sit down without opening to Christ by Faith 4. Another difficulty is the griping guilt of sin and unworthiness which so looks them in the face when they should open to Christ by Faith that the eye of their Faith is dim and they cannot with any confidence look Christ in the face It is an usual saying that a guilty Conscience needs no Accuser Conscience will inwardly check the adulterous Spouse of Christ and make her blush when she should open to him and look him in the face The Psalmist complains that he was so compassed about and tormented with his sin that he could not look up Psal 40.12 It is a mistake very common in humbled penitent sinners that they must not dare not by Faith open to and close with Christ till they have attained such a measure of internal purity and Sanctity as may make them fit for and in a sort worthy of his company But these begin their work at the wrong end They should first open to Christ by Faith and then he will help them to and carry on in them this work of purity For it is his work by his Spirit to purifie and this purifying vertue we must fetch from him by Faith for It is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure because without him we can do nothing Our work is first to believe and then by Faith to mortifie the deeds of the flesh Now this work is difficult to open to Christ and look him in the face by Faith with the guilt of sin upon our Consciences This goes contrary to the grain of Flesh and Blood who would gladly have something of its self and its own Righteousness in its justification Whereas our work is to disclaim all worthyness of our own and to come to Christ with Ropes about our Necks as self-condemned persons lying at the foot-stool of pure Grace and Christs Righteousness for justification and life And therefore where there remains any measure of pride in the Heart according to that measure and degree of pride Christ will be shut out The weary step of self-denial in this case the sluggish Christian is not willing to take Thus you see the work it self in opening to Christ by Faith is very difficult and hence the lazy Christian lies down upon his bed of present ease and refuseth to be at the pains to open to Christ by Faith But would the Soul but consider the amends that Christ's company would make for all his pains and how easie all these duties would be made by Christs coming in surely the Soul would never think his pains better bestowed than in opening to Christ by Faith It is he that by his Spirit helps our infirmities in prayer and helps us by his own strength to wrestle with himself and prevail It is he that brings promises to our minde helps us to understand and rightly to apply them and to take the sweetness and the comforts of them It is he that gives us a Pisgah-sight of unseen things and assures our Souls of the certainty of them It is he that helps our unbelief And it is he and he alone that by his Blood must purge away the guilt of all our sins Oh! therefore open to Christ by Faith and let not these impediments hinder you And as in Faith so in opening the Heart to Christ by Love there is great difficulty much ado to bring the Heart to open fully to Christ by Love These worldly things seem so lovely that the Heart is much stolen away by them These worldly things are so constantly present with us that it is hard to get a sight of Christ who is at a distance and seen as it were afar off These worldly things are so obvious and suitable to sense by which we too much live that
found encouragement enough to let him in If Christ had thus persumed her Lock with but putting in his Finger by the hole of the Door Oh what would his company be when himself came in And therefore without any more delay or excuse in all haste she opens to him v. 6. But Christ though he would not utterly forsake her and cast her off yet he would make her sensible of the affront which she had offered him and of her ungrateful carriage towards him and therefore withdraws and makes her who but now was so delicate and easeful that she could not put on her Coat or come barefooted over the house-floor to seek him in the streets and take many a wet and weary step in the dark night and that questionless with an aking Heart having his persumes so fresh in her Breast and her own guilt so fresh upon her Conscience before she find him This was the case between Christ and his Spouse at this time I shall but in a word mention those particulars in the Text upon which I designe to ground the Doctrine and so proceed to the Doctrine In the whole Conference or Relation I shall take notice of these things upon which I shall ground the Doctrine 1. The Churches Prayer chap. 4.16 Awake O North-wind and come thou South c. She prays for the breathing Influences of the Spirit whereby her Graces may be revived and made fit for action and then desires Christ's company when she is fixed and prepared for him 2. We have Christ his Answer to the Church her Prayer chap. 5.1 The Spouse no sooner calls but Christ makes Answer no sooner invites but Christ comes 3. The posture which he finds her in at his coming gone to bed and composing her self to sleep Believers do sometimes pray for that which they have no patience to wait for 4. Christ his Call and Proposal which he makes to the Spouse at his coming which is but very reasonable since his coming was at her request v. 2. Open to me my sister c. for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night 5. We have the Spouse her unreasonable denial and excuses v. 3. She litte considered how wet and weary Christ was and manifested but poor respect to him when she will rather suffer him to stand there than she will be at the trouble to put on her Coat or defile her Feet Oh what difference is here between Christ's love to us and our love to him 6. We may observe the effect of this refusal and unreasonable denial Though Christ rouze up her Graces and give her some taste of his excellency which may make her unweariedly to seek him yet he will make her smart for her lazyness and indifferency and low value which she set by Christ He will make her take abundantly more pains before she find him She shall seek him with a fainting aking Heart and in seeking take many a wet and weary step feel a little of what he endured at the door before she find him v. 6. From all these considerations in the Text I gather this Doctrine That it is a dangerous thing and may cost us dear to be lazy and secure when Christ knocks and calls especially when his coming and calling is in answer to our Prayers This truth is not onely the sense and sum of this Text but we find the Holy Ghost speaking the same thing for substance in other parts of Scripture Prov. 1.24 and following verses Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded But ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproofs Therefore I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh c. Psal 81.8 9 10 11 12 13 14. Hear O my people There shall be no strange God in thee I am the Lord thy God But my people would not bearken So I gave them up O that my people would have hearkned Luke 13.34 35. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee as an hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not Wherefore your city is left to you desolate Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man open to me I will come in unto him and I will sup with him and be with me In the further prosecution of this Doctrine I shall through Gods assistance observe this method 1. Speak something by way of Explication 2. Something by way of Confirmation 3. Something by way of Application In the Explication of the Doctrine I shall endeavour to shew 1. Where Christ knocks 2. At whose door Christ knocks 3. How or with what he knocks 4. For what end he knocks Or what it is that Christ would have when he knocks 5. What are the special times of his knocking I begin with the first of these Where it is that Christ knocks To this I answer That Christ's Knockâ— and Calls are at the door of man's Heart To have the Ear open to God's call signifies little if the door of the Heart be shut and Christ cannot get in there We see in the Text the Spouse though partly asleep heard Christs Knock and Call well enough and yet she caused him to depart from her because she did not open to him Wisdom cries Prov. 23.26 My son give me thine heart Christ will have the Heart open or else he will not come in and that for these reasons 1. Because as Christ is no dissembler but real in what he offers and gives so he loves no dissembling but expects that the Soul should be real and cordial with him Now to pretend to embrace Christ and not to do it with all the Heart is to mock him and dissemble with him This God complains of Jer. 3.10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned to me with the whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. This is no better than flattery or lying in God's account Psal 78.36 37. They pretended to return and seek early after God Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth and lied unto him with their tongue for their heart was not right with him Jeremiah complains thus of the wicked Jer. 12.2 Thou art near them in their lips but far from their reins That Son was rejected who said I go Sir but went not This dissembling and complementing with God is abominable to the heart-searching God And therefore he requires that the Heart be opened unto him and there it is that he knocks 2. Because the Heart is the chief part of Christ his purchase and therefore he knocks there It is true Christ is the Redeemer of the Body but had not that been an appurtenance to the more noble part the Soul Christ would never have paid so dear a price for it But the inward man the Soul or Heart was that which was chiefly in Christ's eye when he made his Soul
an Offering for Sin Psal 71.23 My lips shall greatly rejoyce and my Soul which thou hast redeemed The Soul is the Jewel which Christ hath purchased and therefore though he ought to have the Box or Cabinet with it yet the Cabinet without the Jewel will not give him content It is the Heart or Soul therefore that he calls for when he knocks 3. Because the Heart is the Royal Seat or Throne and Christ comes not to be a truckle-bed Guest but to rule and reign in us and and therefore if he have the Heart which is the commanding faculty the Will and Affections he may by that command the whole man but without this it will be in vain if not impossible to keep possession of the other parts of the man The Heart is the fountain from whence the streams that run in every part of the man proceed if this be not pure the streams must needs be filthy And therefore Prov. 4.23 we are commanded to Keep the Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life The Heart is always full and is continually sending forth Legions of thoughts words and actions either good or bad How should Christ keep the outward man quietly if the heart be not for him Our Saviour speaks it as an impossibility Mat. 12.34 35. that they being evil should speak good things and gives the reason of it Because that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and therefore according as the heart is disposed and qualified such are the thoughts words and actions The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things the evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart evil things How should the fruit be good when the tree is bad The heart then if it be not for Christ will dayly be sending forth such troops of filthy molesting enemies that Christ shall have no quiet abode near it and therefore he will either have the Royal Fort delivered and opened to him or he will not come there If the heart be filthy the whole man is defiled with what issues from thence and see what flouds of stinking filthiness issue from the heart and defile the man Mat. 15.18 19 20. Evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False witness Blasphemies And how then shall the sweet breath of Christ endure near such a sink of filthiness if he may not come to the spring or rise of it to purge it there will be no long stay for him 4. Christ will have the Heart or none because his chief suit and request is for our love and this he cannot have without the Heart because it is seated in the heart and though it send its servants abroad yet it self never stirs from thence and therefore Christ cannot have this unless he have the Heart Such is Christs love towards his Spouse that he earnestly desires to be married to her and the Terms he proposeth are Marriage-terms wherein Love is the chief and principal And great reason he should have this not only in regard of his great Love wherewith he hath loved us and the fruits and effects of it but also in regard we have nothing else to give him nor can he expect any other thing with us that may be desireable Portion we have none not so much as Clothes to our back oâ— to cover our nakedness nor Meat for our belly nor penny of Money in our purse Beauty and Comeliness we have none till he have beautified us with his Comeliness Wisdom and parts we have none for by nature we aâ—â— Fools Providence or good Housewifery wâ— have none for we had a good portion left us and we have wasted and spent it all Great Friends and Allies we have none that can dâ— any thing for us for we were cast out to thâ— loathing of our persons in the day wherein wâ— were born and none eye pitied us and as foâ— our descent our father was an Amorite and mother an Hittite a cursed generation as wâ— read Ezek. 16. beginning What have wâ— then that may commend us to Christ or thâ—â— may in any sort please him if he have not oâ—â— Love And surely it is but reasonable thâ—â— he should have this nay since he hath nothing else he will have this or not matâ—â— with us 5. Christ will have the heart opened where he comes because the Feasts and Banquets which he hath prepared and brings with him chiefly respect the heart the outward man is little or nothing concerned in them or advantaged by them unless it be by consequence Christ his Feasts are Spiritual and therefore but little grateful to the flesh or outward man The word that Christ speaks is part of his Banquet or Feast and David saith they are sweeter than Honey or the Honey-comb But what Refreshment or Feast would these be to the body or outward man if the Heart take no notice of them and be not affected with them and therefore Hos 2.14 Christ would allure his Spouse and take her into the Wilderness and there would speak comfortably to her or speak to her Heart as the word signifies Words yield but little comfort or refreshment if they be not spoken to the Heart John 6. Christ tells us he will give his Flesh and Blood to feed us and this but after an imaginary way neither for we must not really have his Body and Blood after a corporeal manner but spiritually represented and adumbrated by a little broken Bread and poured-forth Wine If this Feast therefore extend to or concern nothing more than the Body it will prove but a poor hungry Feast he findes it so that goes away from the Ordinance without finding and feeding upon Christ by Faith And therefore were not the Banquet Spiritual and such as immediately concerns the Heart the Scripture would never call it a Feast of Marrow and Wine setled upon the lees nor would David say Psal 63.5 that his Soul was satisfied as with marrow and fatness when he fed upon this And therefore Christ his Feasts being chiefly spiritual and respecting the Heart they would be lost and signifie nothing if the Heart were not opened to him And therefore the place where Christ knocks is the door of the Heart which he requires should be opened to him 2. The next thing to be enquired into is At whose door doth Christ knock To this I answer That Christ knocks at every ones door that lives under Gospel-Ordinances and Dispensations There is no person living under Gospel-Ordinances but at one time or another Christ knocks at the door of his heart requiring entrance and admission Thou that readest or hearest this Word whoever thou be Male or Female Bond or Free Young or Old Rich or Poor High or Low whatever order rank or degree thou be of in whatever condition or state thou be at thy door it is that Christ by this word knocks saying Open to me c. See the universality of Christ's
knock or call Rev. 3.20 I stand at the door and knock if any man will open to me I will come in unto him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that heareth say Come Let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely Isai 55.1 He every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Christ knocks not onely at the Hearts of his own people as here of the Spouse Open my sister my love my dove my undefiled But also at the doors of others such as are unregenerate and know him not Only with this difference at the doors of his own regenerate ones he calls for the awakening and â—â—â—â—ring up the grace which he hath bestowed upon them but to such as are unregenerate and yet strangers to him he calls them to Faith and Repentance and to come unto him that they may live and finde rest for their Souls Matth. 11.28 29 30. To Believers he calls to awaken their Graces that are already implanted in their Hearts But to Unbelievers he calls to awaken them out of their sleep in Sin and security And of these there is not the meanest Soul nor the greatest Sinner left out of his call and if any man will but open to him he will come in though their Sins be as Scarlet and crimson he will make them as Snow and Wool Isai 1.16 17 c. 3. The next enquiry is How or with what Christ knocks and calls And to this I answer Christ doth not ordinarily knock and call by an immediate voice from Heaven as he did upon Saul Act. 9. but under the Gospel God ordinarily calls some one or more of these ways 1. Christ knocks or calls sometimes by his Providences Christ many times sends some remarkable Providence or other to awaken Sinners out of their sleep in Sin and to awaken the Graces of his People when they are sleepy and sluggish and these Providences they are of two sorts sometimes such as we call Mercies though all his Dispensations in this case are Mercies and the fruits of his faithfulness but by Mercies I mean such things as are Joyous and desirable for the present He sometimes loads his people with Blessings and Benefits Hos 11.3 4. And every Mercy in this kinde is an awakening and quickning spur unto duty Therefore God complains Hosea 2.8 that they did not consider that he gave them corn and wine and oyl wool and flax silver and gold which they should have served him withal and because they did not threatens to take them away Therefore we finde this laid down as the ground of that God's Expostulation with his People Deut 32.6 9 10 c. The goodness of God should lead persons to Repentance God expects it and by this many times calls Sometimes God calls by his Corrections and Judgements striving by the smartness and severity of his Judgements to awaken Sinners that are rather hardned by Prosperity and to affright them out of their sleep in sin and to awaken his own people out of that sleep which they have lulled themselves into by Prosperity Thus we read Job 36.8 9 c. when he lays persons in Fetters and Irons of Affliction Then he shews them their way and their transgression wherein they have exceeded And of these two ways of knocking usually Mercy and Goodness leads the way and if that will not do then Judgement and the Rod follows after For God doth not willingly grieve and afflict the children of men Lam. 3.33 But if need be they must be in heaviness through manifold tribulations and temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 Thus God calls by his Providences 2. Sometimes God calls by his Ordinances reading the Scriptures and the Labours of his faithful Ministers hearing the Word preached and the like God hath qualified and sent forth his Ministers and Messengers to call and hire Labourers into his Vineyard to bid Guests to his Wedding-supper Matth. 22. and the beginning And this is their work which they are sent about and is given them in charge Matth. 28.19 20. Go teach all nations baptizing Teaching them to observe what I command you So Acts 26.18 Paul is sent to the Gentiles To open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Christ himself came and preached for this end and his Doctrine or Sermon was Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Matth. 4.17 And John the Baptist came with this message Mark 1.4 Yea the Apostle tells us that this is the work of every Minister 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. Hath committed to us the word of reconciliation so then we are Embassadors for Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God So that every Sermon that the faithful Ministers of Christ preach is a call and knock from Christ to open unto him 3. Sometimes Christ calls by the secret impulses of his Spirit and convictions of our own Consciences Thus we read Acts 2.37 when they heard the Apostles Sermon They were pricked at their hearts and cried out Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved Here was an inward impulse of the Spirit upon their Consciences accompanying the outward preaching of the Word Thus God secretly opened the Heart of Lydia to attend to what was preached by Paul Acts 16.14 And thus the Jaylor was wrought upon by the Spirit of God Acts 16.29 30 31 c. This secret impulse of the Spirit and conviction of Conscience sinners many times have when they are going on in their sins though they do not always give heed and hearken to it And this many times the people of God have when they begin to be lazy drowzy and to fall asleep in security and therefore the Apostle bids us not to quench or grieve the Spirit of God 1 Thess 5.19 Ephes 4.30 And indeed the two former ways of Christ his knocking and calling are ineffectual unless they be accompanied with this last way of calling For neither Ordinances nor Providences can awaken sinners unless the Spirit of God work by them And therefore we read Job 36.8 9 c. that he first binds them in Cords and then opens their ears to discipline 4. The next thing to be enquired into is For what end Christ knocks and calls or what it is which Christ would have when he knocks And to this I answer In general That the end or reason of Christs knocks and calls are various according to the different state and conditions of those at the doors of whose Heart he calls But usually when he calls he would have or designes one or more of these ends or things 1. To awaken sinners out of their deep sleep in sin and security
Sinners are by nature so fast asleep in such a dead sleep of sin and security that nothing less than the voice of the Son of God knocking and speaking at the door of their Hearts will awaken them hence we read John 5.25 That the time is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Which must be meant not of a natural Death or of the day of Resurrection but of a Death in sin because he saith the time now is And therefore saith the Apostle Eph. 2.1 You hath he quickned i. e. by the powerful voice of his Spirit Who were dead in trespasses and sins Would you see what one of Christ's calls are in this case read Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life This he speaks not onely to the Ear by his Word but to the Heart by his Spirit 2. Christ his calls at the doors of our hearts many times designe Repentance Repentance is a Gospel-duty incumbent upon every person Acts 17.30 But now commands all men every where to repent And for this end he sends forth his Ministers to preach the Doctrine of Repentance to shew the necessity of Repentance and that there is great reason or cause for Repentance because we have sinned and thereby departed from God and cannot come to him again but by Repentance It is called The Doctrine of Repentance because Repentance is properly a Gospel-doctrine a Doctrine that the Law preacheth not for the Law or Covenant of Works admits of no Repentance but upon our breach of the Law immediately pronounceth a Curse Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them But the Gospel-covenant admits of yea calls for Repentance as the way and means to obtain Mercy yea promiseth Mercy and Pardon upon our Repentance Prov. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Therefore the Gospel tells us that Except we repent we shall all likewise perish Luke 13 5. If persons be in a state of unregeneracy then Christ knocks by his Word and by his Providences by his Mercies and his business with them is to shew that there is a necessity of their Repentance and that they must either repent or perish everlastingly If persons be in a state of regeneracy and have by some temptation or other lapsed or fallen into Sin or it may be have some Sin lodging in them not yet truely discovered and consequently not particularly repented of Then and in such case Christ calls to renewed and enlarged acts of Repentance for Repentance is a grace that concerns us all our lives long And therefore the calls of Christ in this case may be such as these Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 3. Christ calls to reconciliation with God When Christ comes to the door of thine Heart he comeS as a mediator and peace-maker to make peace between God and thy Soul which are at variance with each other and by reason of sin have an utter enmity against each other The cause of this enmity Christ hath taken away by his death upon the Cross and nailed it to his Cross The cause being removed he comes and calls to intreat that the enmity it self may be taken away and we would be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. Though there be little reason for it yet man is hard to be wooed and perswaded to cast out of his heart the enmity that is lodged there against God and his wayâ— And therefore Christ is forced to knock and call again and again before we will in this case be perswaded to yield to his suit 4. Christ calls for a closure with himself by Faith as the onely way and means to obtain peace and reconcilation with God We by our Sins are indebted to God more than ever we are able to pay are therefore in danger to be arrested by Divine Justice and cast into prison where we may lie and rot to all eternity Jesus Christ seeing us in this misery and distress comes and calls at the door of our hearts offers to be our Surety to pay every farthing of our debt for us and that upon this condition only that he may have our full and free consent to do this for us and that we will accept of with thankfulness what kindness he shews herein and rely upon him for the perfecting of this work for us and where-ever Justice shall lay any charge or accusation against us we will by Faith confidently and stedfastly plead his Satisfaction for our Discharge This is all that he requires from us and upon this condition only promiseth to pay our Debt reconcile us to God free us from imprisonment and seal us an absolute and full discharge that shall for ever stand good to all intents and purposes And therefore Christ his calls in this case are such as these Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Isai 55.1 Hâ— every one that thirsts come unto the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come and buy wine and milk without money and without price Rev. 22.17 Let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely and he assures us John 1.12 that As many as receive him upon these terms to them he will give power to become the sons of God to them that thus believe on his Name And surely one would think this call is worthy to be embraced with all readiness of heart and thankfulness 5. Christ calls to sincere and hearty obedience to his commands and subjection to his revealed Will and Law he calls to take his yoke upon us and learn of him Mat. 11.29 This call is like unto that of Boaz to his Kinsman Ruth 4. Buy Naomi's inheritance but know also that thou must buy it of Ruth i. e. buy the inheritance but thou must take her to be thy wife also to raise up seed to thy kinsman that is dead So saith our Saviour Come and take the inheritance that I have purchased for thâ—â— and thou art freely welcome to it but know that in the day whereâ—in thou dost this thou must also 〈◊〉 me to be thy Lord and Husband and 〈◊〉 solemnly engage to behave thy 〈◊〉 as a loyal faithful and obedient wife to me thou must take me wholly as I am onely absolutely and everlastingly not only for a Priest to make atonement for thy Sins and to sanctifie and offer thy gifts to the Father but as a Prophet to teach thee such Laws Statutes and Judgments as are fit and requisite for thee to observe and as a King to rule and govern thee by my Law Thy heart must be my Throne and there must I sit and exercise my Authority and have thy whole man
at command This Christ calls for but alas too many that like Boaz his Kinsman have a mind of the benefit and inheritance yet here turn their backs and will rather let the inheritance go to another than they will take Christ with it Many will have Christ his Crown but few will take up his Cross and therefore Christ his calls are but slowly hearkned to in this respect 6. Christ calls sometimes to awaken and excite his Spouse when she is dull and sluggish in her work sometimes the hearts of Gods own people grow lazy and sluggish either laying aside their spiritual work or performing it lazily If they pray they pray heartlessly and carelesly as if they mattered not whether they sped or not If they read or hear they do it in too formal and customary a manner not studying to profit thereby If they come to the Lords Table they come not with that appetite and enlarged desire and expectation that they should though indeed their wants are many and great yet if God should put the same question to them that he did to Elijah What dost thou here Elijah it would be hard for them to give a clear and particular answer or a good account of their being there They have Sins enough to repent of but yet the sight of Christ bleeding and dying doth but little move or affect them They can look upon him whom they have pierced and yet mourn but little over him they can behold what Christ hath done and suffered out of pure love to them and yet have little stirrings of Joy and Thankfulness in their hearts And as for their spiritual watch they let that fall though in their enemies country and hereby they give advantage and opportunity to their enemy to tempt them and take them in his net Therefore that careful and faithful Captain of our Salvation seeing in what danger we are not only in regard of our enemies watchfulness but in regard of our lazy and sluggish posture which indisposeth us for our work and gives advantage to our adversary he therefore calls upon us to awaken us and quicken us to our watch and to our work to our watch lest our enemy come and take us napping and to our work left the night come before our work be perfected It is a manifest token of Christ his care and faithfulness thus to knock and call by awakening Ordinances or Providences when thus he finds us enclined to sloath or sluggishness and yet many times he is forced to call aloud before he can make us hear 7. Christ calls to open to him and take part with him of that rich feast or banquet which he hath prepared and brings with him Believers knowing their absolute dependance upon Christ for continual supply of grace and comfort they make their request to Christ that he would come and make a feast in their Souls that he would fill their hearts with â—ood and gladness that his comforts may deâ—ight their heart whatever other thoughts may trouble and cumber them and hereupon Christ comes and knocks for opening and entertainment saying as in the Text Open to me my Sister my love my dove my undefiled and promising as Rev. 3.20 If any man will open to me I will come in and will sup with him and he shall sup with me Christ would not loose his feast when he hath prepared it nor doth he love to eat his morsels alone but desires the company of his Spouse for whom he hath prepared them and therefore calls This was the case in the Text. The Spouse vers 16. of the foregoing Chapter had prayed for the revival of Grace in her heart that she might be prepared to receive and entertain Christ and being so fixed begs his company This request is granted for Christ according to her request comes and desires to have the door opened to him when Christ comes with loads of comfort he many times findes the door of the heart fast shut against him long knocks and calls before he gain admission The Promises and Comforts of Christ stand many times long at the doors of our hearts before we open to and receive them by faith and many an excuse and put-off will many a poor soul make against it self before it will be perswaded to receive the promises for its own comfort yea sometimes so compliment it and plead excuses till Christ in an angeâ— withdraw and make the Soul long and with an aking heart to seek Christ in the promises before she find him And this I conceive is not the least part of the Holy Ghosts design to discover in this Text. And thus have I shewed you some of those things which Christ would have when he knocks and calls The last thing in the Explication of the Doctrine is to shew what are the special times of Christ his knocking and calling To this I answer in general That there is no Dispensation of God that he exerciseth towards us but it hath something of a call from God in it Every Ordinance of God is a call from God and comes with some Message unto us Messengers are not sent but upon some message or errand God's Ministers are his Messengers sent unto us with some word of Reproof Instruction Counsel or Comfort And therefore the Scriptures are said to be Profitable for Doctrine Reproof Correction and Instruction in righteousness 2 Tim. 13.16 And it is God's word that his Messengers bring and therefore their message is to be heeded because it is a call or message from God Every secret impulse of the Spirit check and conviction of thy Conscience is a call from God ought to be listened and hearkned to for Conscience is God's Deputy or Vice-gerent in the soul Every Providence that befals thee whether Mercy bestowed upon thee or Affliction is a Messenger sent from God and hath something of a call in it something that God would have thee to learn by it Yea even those common providences whether of good or evil that befal thee in common with others they come with some particular message to thee A packet of Letters may be brought to a Town or place by one common Post or Carrier but every ones Letter in particular comes about his own special business though it come by the hand of the common Carrier So in common Afflictions or Judgements though they come in a common way and by a common hand either Humane or Divine or in a common way of Providence yet they come upon a particular errand and about particular business to the particular persons to whom they are sent If they come to thee know therefore that they have some particular message to thee from Heaven and therefore labour to understand the Voice and learn the Lesson But though there be something of a call from God in every passage of God's carriage towards us yet there are some special times wherein God's calls are much more remarkable and it would be of dangerous consequence to slight
his Ordinances or Providences let us not stand debating whether we shall let him in or not whatever posture we be in though naked in our bed for this is a special time of his coming and will be unkindly taken if he finde not admission according to his invitation 4. When Christ his calls are accompanied with a great deal of earnestness and importunity When Christ is in so very good earnest that he woes and intreats and will take no denial this is a loud because an earnest call and argues that he is come very nigh even to the very door Therefore the Prophet adviseth by all means to close with such an opportunity as this Isai 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is neer This was the case of the Spouse in the Text. Christ was come to her door and not onely stood there knocking but by all the friendly compellations imaginable endeavours to perswade her to let him in Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled And when this will not do he comes near to the door and puts in his finger by the hole of the door as though he would make a forcible entry intimating his earnest desire to have admission and therefore it was unkindly done of her to keep him out and cost her dear before he did come in And so it may be with thee 5. When Christ his Locks are wet with the dews of the night then are his calls earnest and importunate and it will be of dangerous consequence to keep him out This is the argument which Christ makes use of in the Text Open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night Many things may be included in this argument and all of force to perswade her to let him in and making the argument more strong and forcible make the call to be so much the louder and the denial the more unreasonable The words may be taken in a good sense My head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night i. e. I come full fraught with all manner of Blessings and Benefits that may tend to the chearing refreshing and fructifying of thy spiritual man There is nothing wanting in me to make thee perfectly and every way happy onely open to me and let me in and then thou shalt be made partaker of all that is mine and all that is in me What is not wanting in me shall not be wanting to thee onely open to me by Faith and let me in And the truth is all our emptiness and penury ariseth not from any want or defect in Jesus Christ in him all fulness dwels but from our selves because we open not to him And thus understood they are an answer to the Spouse her prayer Chapter 4.16 Awake O north wind and come thou south and breath upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out She prays for the breathings of the Spirit whereby her Graces might be revived and made more active and odoriferouâ— And to this Christ answers that the onely way to obtain this in the extent and fulness of it is to open to him by Faith and let him into the Heart and if she will do so he assures her that he brings all fulness of grace and blessings with him his very head and locks are filled with them and surely this is a most full and convincing argument being applied as an answer to her prayer and might well have the force of a loud call in her ears sufficient to raise her though laid down to take her ease But the words may also be taken in a bad sense importing the misery and hardship which Christ had undergone in coming to her in so dark and wet a night and that still he did endure by standing out of doors in the wet and dark and cold As if Christ had said O my dearest Spouse thou by thy prayer which so lately thou didst send to me didst importune my company and help and out of that true affection which I have for thee and commiseration of thy condition I have undertaken this long and tedious Journey wherein I am benighted the way hath been very foul for I have trodden the Wine-press of God's wrath alone have endured much persecution in my own person and the persons of my Ministers and much contradiction of sinners against my self it hath cost me my dearest hearts blood to make my way to thee and the weather hath been very wet stormy and tempestuous so that I am wet to the very skin not a dry hair upon my head and the night hath been and is very dark so dark that it made me cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and now I am come I stand at thy door in this miserable wet and weary condition desiring entrance and admission Therefore open to me and though thou be in thy warm bed and at ease yet consider what a sad condition I am in and how bad and dangerous it is for my health to stand here in this condition and do not so far forget thy relation to me thy late request the pains and hardship which I have endured and do endure and the reciprocal Affection which thou oughtest to bear unto me as to suffer me to stand here out of doors but arise quickly and open to me If thou hast any pity or commiseration in thine heart shew it now to me thy beloved Husband And what could be said more to make the argument pressing and cogent and therefore must needs have the force of a loud a powerful and irresistable call And thus I have done with the Explication and now follows the proof and confirmation of the Doctrine That to be lazy and secure when Christ calls and knocks may be of very dangerous consequence especially when his coming and calling is in answer to our Prayers as you see here it was in the Text. The truth of which will manifestly appear from these following Considerations 1. Let us consider the greatness of our ingratitude and unkindness which hereby we manifest nay I may say not onely unkindness and unthankfulness but we hereby manifest wonderful hypocrisie and dissimulation We importune and intreat Christ to come into our Souls and if our words were to be taken in prayer we shew our selves to be very earnestly desirous of his company and that we stand in great need of his help and therefore will take no denial but intreat again and again At last Christ yields consents and laying aside all other business comes little questioning but to finde us in a readiness to receive him or however willing to open to him when he knocks and calls in regard we have so earnestly invited him Therefore now at his coming to finde the doors shut we so careless of his company as not to watch for him one hour and when he knocks
and calls for us to answer I have put off my coats how shall I put them on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them To make thus light oâ— his pains and coming what greater unkindness or manifest token of complementing dissimulation and hypocrisie can be shewed Well may Christ say O Spouse though thy invitations seemed to be real yet by this carriage I see and plainly perceive the falsness and treachery of thy dissembling heart foâ— instead of dealing plainly and faithfully with me thou hast but mocked me and how canst thou then say that thou lovest me Well may Christ then take this ingratitude and dissimulation unkindly from her and take occasion hereupon to depart If any of you should invite a friend to your house and according to your earnest invitation your friend comes but at his coming you shut the doors against him and though you be within yet you refuse to open to him may he not well take this piece of ingratitude and mockery unkindly at your hands and look upon it as an high affront put upon him and therefore depart in a rage and resolve to miss your door the next time he comes that way But if a Wife should deal thus with her Husband would not this manifest much dissimulation and unkindness And may not he well take this as an high affront to be thus slightly looked upon by his Wife Such is the case between Christ and his Spouse and therefore no wonder though he depart in a discontent when thus affronted and treacherously dealt with We finde it reckoned among the Sufferings of Christ in his state of Humiliation Isai 53.2 3. that he should be slightly esteemed and accounted of among men There is no beauty that we should desire him He is despised and rejected of men We hid our faces as it were from him He was despised and we esteemeâ— hem not So John 1.11 He came to his owâ— and his own received him not Thus to be despised and mocked and that by his own thiâ— goes near his heart and may well put hiâ— into a rage against us This affront woulâ— far more easily have been born had it beeâ— from an enemy but from a friend and so near a relation one that had given him so faiâ—â— an invitation this cuts and wounds to thâ— very heart See what David personatinâ— Christ in the treachery of Judas speaks Psal 55.12 c. It was not an enemy that reproached me then I could have born it Buâ— it was thou a man mine equal my guide anâ— mine acquaintance this so provokes that he saith vers 15. Let death seize on them and let them go down quick into hell for wickedness is among them Yea this struck sad upon Christs Spirit Psal 41.9 Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me Such affronts as these cut deep they wound to the very heart and therefore no wonder if the effects and consequences which follow hereupon be sad and dreadful to the soul 2. Consider the great damage which our Souls sustein by keeping out the Lord Jesus Christ If we shut him out he may withdraw nay it is the next way to provoke him to withdraw and how shall we then live without him We read John 15.5 Without me â— e. Jesus Christ ye can do nothing neither pleasing to God nor profitable to your selves And therefore what a miserable condition are â—ou left in if Christ depart Therefore saith God Hos 9.12 Wo also unto them when I depart from them And assure thy self that thou â—anst not take a more effectual course to cause â—im to withdraw than to shut him out when â—e comes at thine invitation Christ may withdraw yea and so withdraw as never to â—eturn again or call at thy door more Psal â—1 11 12. My people would not hearken to â—y voice and Israel would none of me so I â—ave them up to their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels God knocked forty years at Israels door but when no admission would be had then He sware in his â—rath that they should never enter into his rest Psal 95.10 11. See that threatning against Ephraim than which there could not be a greater Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Iâ—ols let him alone As if God had said There is no hopes of reclaiming him I have called often at his door but to little purpose therefore I will concern my self no more about him I will call no more at his door Read with trembling Ezek. 24.13 14. Prov. 1.24 c. Sometimes though God may at last return and be reconciled and call again yet it may be long first and many a weary step may he cause thee to take in seeking of him before thou find him God threatens this Hos 5.15 I will go and return to my place and hide my self until they seek my face in their affliction they will seek me early And we read in the Text that Christ did deal thus with his Spouse When she arose to open to her beloved he had withdrawn himself and was gone Christ had heard and answered her at her first call but since she had dealt so deceitfully and disingeniously with him she should now call and call again before he gave her any answer should seek and seek him sorrowing before she should finde him She was but now so lazy easeful and delicate that she could not abide to be at so much pains as to put on her Coat having put it off could not endure so much hardship as to tread upon the floor with her naked foot lest she should defile it But if Christ be so little store set by her love to Christ shall be further tried she shall take a longer Journey and not complain so much of the soulness of the way neither before she finde him If it be so tedious a Journey to cross the house-floor Christ will see whether she will take a journey through the streets and high-ways in as dark and foul way and weather as he hath come before she finde him that so she may know something of what he hath endured in coming to her and may now readily open to him the next time And therefore it is of dangerous consequence to shut out Christ when he knocks and calls 3. Consider the benefits and bounties which Christ brings with him into the Soul that opens to and entertains him Our Saviour saith Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man open to me I will come in unto him and will sup with him and he with me If Christ will make a Feast unto the Soul that lets him in it must needs be ill to keep him out The Soul hath no such store of provision within her self as to despise the Feasts which Christ will make her In the Text Christ makes use of this Argument to move her to open the door For my head is filled
our hearts when he calls for admission which may be sufficient to â—rove that it may be of dangerous consequence and therefore I shall no further enlarge upon this head 9. I might draw an argument à facto and argue ab esse ad posse such a thing was and therefore it may be It proved of very sad consequence to the Spouse here to keep out Christ He in a discontent withdrew and departed and left her in a very sad condition both in respect of her inward guilt for giving him such an unkind ungrateful and irrational answer and also in respect of the pains which she was glad to take before she found him again before it would defile her feet to come over the house-floor to open to her beloved and was too hard and unreasonable a work for her to do but now she follows him and calls after him through the mity streets and high-ways and never complains of wearyness nor the foulness of the way but would be glad to finde him whatever it cost her or whatever she endured And being of such consequence to her why may it not be so to us nay certainly it will be so if we as she refuse to open to him at his call But I have exceeded my first intentions in enlarging upon the former particulars and therefore shall speak no more to this The Doctrine being sufficiently proved by what hath been already said And so I come at last to make Application and the 1 Vse shall be by way of Instruction or Information Is it of such dangerous consequence to be sluggish and secure when Christ calls Then hence learn 1. That it will be of blessed consequence to be watchful and in a readiness to open when Christ knocks and calls Our Saviour tells us Matth. 24.46 47. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing He shall make him ruler over all his goods And therefore by the same argument he adviseth us to watchfulness and that without weariness or giving over till he come Luke 12.35 36 37 38. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open to him immediately Blessed are those servants whom when the Lord cometh shall finde watching Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them And if he shall come in the second watch or in the third watch and finde them so blessed are those servants Mark that at whatsoever time he come if he finde them about their watch and at their work they shall be blessed But that I may clear this a little further that they are thus blessed consider with me these few particulars 1. Consider the satisfaction that it will be to a gracious heart to be at home and at his work or on his watch when Christ calls I an intimate Friend do but call at our door we account it an happiness that he found 〈◊〉 within How much more will a gracious soul account it an happiness that his beloved Jesus at his coming found him within in readiness and preparedness to give him the best entertainment that he had Especially considering these three things 1. The duty which we owe to Christ to be always upon our watch Matth. 25.13 Watch for ye know neither the day nor the how when your Lord will come which shews that it is the will and command of Christ that we should always watch till Christ do come Oh! saith the Soul this is my duty never to sleep or be secure but always to be watching what an happy chance was it that I was upon my watch when my Lord and Master came and that he found me so doing found me it my duty Surely he will take this well at my hand and I shall be blessed 2. Considering our preparedness to receive him He that looks for a Friend will have every thing in readyness against he come to make his friend welcome So will a gracious Soul that expects Christ his coming will have every thing in a readiness for his welcome entertainment and account it his happiness that he had so It will be wonderful satisfaction to the Soul to have Christ come when she is in a readiness and preparedness for his entertainment 3. Consider the Souls earnest looking for Christ his coming When we expect a friend coming and have taken a great deal of pains to prepare and make ready for his entertainment and have all things in readiness we stand at the door and watch and begin to think him long and ready to think every one that comes to the door to be our friend when our friend doth come we are very glad and bid him heartily welcome and tell him we began to think him long and were afraid lest any business should have prevented his coming and therefore are very glad to see him come and account our selves happy that our expectation is fulfilled So is it with the Soul that is in this waiting posture for Christ O my dear Saviour saith she I thought it long that thou hadst been absent from me I gave thee an earnest invitation being earnestly desirous of thy company and sensible how greatly I stood in need of it I endeavoured to prepare and make ready for thy entertainment and having done that I began to think thee long every hour hath seemed ten to me that thou hast delayed and I have waited in hope of thy coming and yet not without fear lest something or other should prevent thy coming But thy stay so long hath quickned my desire and now I am more abundantly glad that thou art come by how much thy stay made me afraid that thou wouldest not come O welcome welcome my long looked-for dear Saviour thy coming makes amends for my long waiting now I think my labour and patience well bestowed come in my dearly beloved for all things are in readiness and prepared for thy entertainment Thus the Soul accounts her self happy that Christ came thus seasonably and that she was thus fitted and in a ready posture for his reception and entertainment 2. That they are blessed whom Christ findes in this posture will appear if we consider the great satisfaction that Christ will take at his coming to finde us in a watchful expecting and prepared posture This posture will so wonderfully please Jesus Christ that instead of sitting down and being attended and served by us He will make us to sit down and will come forth and gird himself and serve us Luke 12.37 We shall be the Guest and he will be the Servitour The satisfaction which this will be to Christ may appear in three things 1. Finding us in this posture he takes himself to be welcome If at our coming to our friends house we finde not onely the door open the house
dressed and all in order but we finde our friend in the door waiting and earnestly looking for us thinking our tarrying long we may reasonably conclude we shall be surely welcome now we are come So when Christ findes the Heart prepared and the Spouse in the door watching or looking in the way wherein she expects to see him coming he may thence conclude that he is a welcome guest to that soul Surely saith Christ I shall now be a welcome guest to my Spouse now she is so earnestly waiting and looking for me And this pleaseth Christ more than all the varieties that she can possibly prepare for him For alas she is but poor hath no rich entertainment for him but onely such as is of his own sending and preparing and therefore welcome is likely to be his best fare and all that she can give him and therefore Christ expects no great matters from her but to have the door open and himself made welcome when he comes And where he findes this he is so well pleased that he will suffer no want of any thing needful to be while he stays He will be at the charges of the Feast and of the dressing of it too And therefore we read Cant. 5.1 that he not onely eats but gathers his fruits himself I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey c. 2. Finding us in this posture he may expect that we are at leisure from other company and business to entertain him with our company Christ loves not to come when his Spouse is in the throng or crowd of worldly company and business for then he shall have no time of private conference and discourse with her which is the main of his business and therefore in this case both he and she would lose the benefit and sweetness of the opportunity Friends account that time lost that they cannot enjoy one another though they be together all the while If by throng of company they cannot have their discourse and conference which they designed in their meeting they account their time lost and are ready to say What an unhappy thing was it that we met at such a season as this and that thus we were interrupted in our discourse The more intimate that friends are the more private matter of discourse they have and the less they care to be interrupted with company None more intimate than Christ and his Spouse anâ— having matter of private conference with her doth not care to come at such a time when she hath a crowd of other company about her but when she is alone And therefore when he comes if she be not alone he will endeavour to take her apart by her self and then his discourse will be most heeded and have most effectual influence upon her Therefore we read Hos 2.14 I will allure her saith God and bring her into the wilderness and there will speak comfortably unto her or speak to her heart as the word signifies Now when Christ findes the Soul waiting and looking for him all alone either in her door or in the high-way he may well conclude I come seasonably for yonder is my Spouse all alone free from cumber and other business waiting for my coming and therefore I may expect her company And this abundantly pleaseth him for it is her company he chiefly comes for Christ cares not to come when the Soul is crowded with the Flesh and the World He desires her company alone and is best pleased when he findes it so 3. Finding us in a posture of Watchfulness our clothes on and our loins girt he may reasonably suppose us not to be in a drowzy and sluggish condition and that therefore his company will be pleasant and not burdensome to us and his discourse will be better needed by us When Sleep and Sluggishness overtakes us the company of our best Friends is but burdensome and their discourse but little regarded we had rather have their room than their company their silence than their discourse because we are desirous to compose our selves for rest and sleep So is it with the Spouse of Christ when she is in a sleepy and secure condition his company is no whit pleasant and his discourse sinks but ear-deep if it do that and therefore doth little good Now Christ loves not to come and finde his Spouse in such a posture as this but when he findes her watching or busie at her spiritual work in a lively condition Now saith he my company will be acceptable now in a lively manner will she unbosome herself to me tell me her whole state and condition and I shall as freely impart my counsels and comforts unto her This therefore is the condition that I desire to finde her in and finding her in this condition it yields abundant satisfaction to Christ This therefore is a blessed posture wherein the Soul is in a posture to give Christ such abundant satisfaction 4. That they are thus blessed that Christ at his coming findes upon their watch will appear if we consider the honours and benefits which he will confer upon them He will commend and praise them he will give them honourable titles Well done good and faithful servants he will give them bountiful rewards and a sumptuous feast and he himself will come forth and serve them all which is sufficiently evident from what hath been said before and therefore needs no further enlargement 2. Hence we may learn the reason of the damnable and desperate condition of many Sinners and the mournful drooping and seeking condition of many Saints It is not because Christ seldome comes abroad and knocks at the doors of their hearts but because when he comes he findes such unready admission and entertainmet If the question be asked whence it is that so many sinners perish everlastingly and that under Gospel-light The answer must be not because he never calls or knocks at their doors but because they will not open and let him in Our Saviour tells us the reason John 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light So Mat. 23.37 O Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thee as an hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not So also Prov. 1.24 c. Because I called and ye refused But ye set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproofs I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh How often doth Christ knock and call by his Word by his Rod by his Messengers by the impulses of his Spirit and convictions of Conscience and yet sinners are in a deep sleep of Security and will not open to him This is the ground of their condemnation Again if it be asked why we see so many Christians walking in darkness and seeing no light enquiring as here the Spouse did Saw ye him whom my soul loveth If ye see him tell
no real mirth or chearfulness can they give But he that hath but once tasted how good and pleasant Christ's company is he may truely say he never met with such a good and chearful and comfortable Friend in all his life he may say with the Spouse I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was pleasant to my taste There is none of these pretended friends but there is much sowreness harshness and unpleasantness to be found in them but of Jesus Christ it may be said He is altogether lovely his very yoak is easie and his burden light there is comfort in his very Cross in his company a Believer may sing at midnight in a prison with his feet fast in the stocks but as for the pleasures of sin they are but short and they alwaies end in pain What Paul said of sin in respect of profit Rom. 6.21 What profit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed So may I say What pleasure can you take in those pretended friends whose company will certainly end both in shame and pain 4. Their designe is destructive Whatever they may pretend and however they may flatter thee and promise rest and sleep and quietness it is but that they may destroy thee and that to all eternity They are but such-like friends to thee as Dalilah was to Sampson if she cause him to sleep upon her lap it is but that she may cut his Locks and deliver him weak into the hand of his enemy to torment him If they cry Peace peace unto thee and lull thee asleep in security it is but that they may binde thee with the Devils in chains of darkness to be reserved to the Judgment of the great Day Are these therefore friends to be trusted Who while they flatter thee purposely designe thy destruction and aim at nothing more than the ruine both of thy Soul and Body Oh how do persons suffer themselves to be cheated by the flattering pretences of false friends but real enemies and in the mean while keep out Jesus Christ out of their hearts who would be a friend indeed Thus you see what those are that are entertained in the heart while Jesus Christ is shut out But 2. Let us see who these are that do thus cheat us I will in short tell thee who they are though by the marks which I have already given of them thou mayest easily guess who they are They are the three grand Enemies of thy Soul The Devil the World and the Flesh These are thâ—y that thou taking them for thy friends and welcome guests into thy heart art cheated by Enemies they are and the greatest and most inveterate implacable malicious and unmercyful Enemies that thou hast Yea besides them thou hast not such Enemies in all the world and yet these dost thou receive for thy bosome-friends and that while thou shuttest out him that is the best and surest friend that thou hast in the world that hath done more for thee than all the world besides What Joab said to David when he mourned so excâ—ssively for Absalom that may I truely say to thee By this I perceive that thou lovest thine Enemies and hatest thy Friends For if these false dissembling and rebellious Absaloms might but live and be thy companions thou matterest not though Jesus Christ be starved to death at the door of thine heart Oh wretched cruelty and misguided blindfolded affection that will thus be cheated from time to time by the flatteries of them that seek thy life and these must needs be they that keep possession in thy heart for none but these who have ever been mortal Enemies to Jesus Christ would give thee counsel to keep Christ out of thy heart To be sure God would not give thee this advice for he loves and is ever well pleased with his Son and would have him seated in the Royal Throne of thy Heart Yea he is reconciling the world unto himself by Jesus Christ He hath appointed thy reception and entertainment of Jesus Christ as the onely way to happiness Surely it is not Christ that counsels thee thus for it is he that stands knocking at the door of thy Heart for entrance and admission It is not the Spirit of God for he is also the Spirit of Christ and is sent upon his errand to perswade thee to open to Christ yea he is heartily grieved when thou resistest these motions of his And if Christ may not come in he will not long stay there himself striving with thee It cannot be thy Conscience for that is a faithful witness and admonisher and will speak truely when it may be heard and the counsel it gives is according to the will of God whose vice-gerent it is and whose authority it bears in the Soul and therefore it can be no other that gives thee this counsel but those Enemies before mentioned Satan the World and the Flesh for the counsel is like them and rightly fathers it self and what folly is it thus to be cheated by such Enemies to thy Soul as these are and that from time to time 2. The greatness of this cheat and the wrong which we sustein by it will appear if we consider the advantage which these our Enemies have got by our hearkning unto them and suffering our selves to be cheated by them thus long I shall onely mention these three advantages they have got by perswading thee to keep thy heart shut against Christ Advantages they are to them and their designes but most fearful wrongs to thee and to thy Soul 1. They have occasioned thee to commit many a sin which might have been prevented if thou hadst long since opened to Christ at his call I do not here speak of thy great sin in refusing to open at Christ's call which is every time renewed and repeated when thou refusest to open whatever thine excuse be Nor do I speak of the sins that are couched and included in the unreasonableness of thy excuses though these be neither few nor little But I speak of that sinful frame of heart and course of life that thou leadest and livest it while Jesus Christ is kept out of thy Soul Reflect upon thy self and consider how long it is since Christ gave thee the first call and consider what course of life thou hast led since how many wilful and known sins thou hath committed one upon the back of another yea the same sins many a time over and over again these sins all of them might have been prevented and many of them doubtless had been prevented if thou hadst opened to Christ at his first call If thou hadst suffered him to have come in he would have changed the habit frame bent and inclination of thy heart and course of thy life and conversation he would have set thee about his work and kept thee employed in his business that thou shouldest not have had time or leasure to have hearkned to Satans temptations It is
Satan finding us idle that mostly gives advantage to his temptations Christ would have put his Spirit within thee that should have helped thee against temptations and would have purified thy heart by faith His grace should have been sufficient for thee and his strength made perfect in thy weakness He would have kept that thy foot should not have slidden who is the Keeper of Israel that neither slumbers nor sleeps He would have armed thee with the whole Armour of God whereby thou mightest have resisted and repelled or quenched all the fiery darts of the wicked He would have renewed thee with daily renewed strength in thy Soul Yea He would have kept thee by his almighty power through faith unto salvation Thou hadst not therefore had so many ghastly sins to have reflected and looked back upon with a trembling heart and griping conscience with horrour and consternation as now thou hast If there were no more but this consideration methinks it might be sufficient to silence all excuses and cavils of carnal reason and make the soul affraid of ever refusing to open when Christ calls and might fully convince us of the grand cheat and irreparable wrong which our enemies have put upon us by perswading us not to open to Jesus Christ 2. Consider the high affront and provocation which we have given to Jesus Christ by keeping him out so long He hath called again and again and was desirous to come in but we would not He hath stood knocking till his head was filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night and yet could get nothing from us but frivolous and vain excuses And what do we think will be the issue of all this Will his patience never be worn out Will his wrath never be kindled in his breast Will the stirrings of his Spirit never have end Will the day of Grace never have a night Will he never swear in his wrath that thou shalt not enter into his rest Tremble O fond man to think at those things It hath been of dangerous and dreadful consequence thus to deny him admission He hath thereupon withdrawn himself and departed and sometimes never returned again But if he have been found it hath been after long weary and tedious seeking of him And why may he not do so again Nay certainly he will do so And therefore the wrong and cheat which the Devil the World and the Flesh have put upon thee is an unsufferable wrong which they can never make thee amends for let them therefore cheat thee no longer 3. Consider that every knock and call that Christ gives and we refuse doth lock the door of the heart faster against Christ than it was lockt before so that if ever Christ get in he must give fiercer knocks and louder calls than ever he did before he must take some other course with thee than ever he hath yet taken Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitsness of sin Sin deceitfully and insensibly hardens the heart and by degrees cauterizeth or feareth the heart and conscience that it grows brawny and past feeling and then Christ may call and call again and to little purpose and therefore it is unspeakable wrong which thine enemies have already done thee and it would be wrong past recovery if they should go on to cheat thee still Vse 2. Is it of such dangerous consequence to be sluggish secure and sloathful when Christ knocks and calls especially when his coming is in answer to our Prayers Then this may afford matter of enquiry and examination to enquire how the case stands between Christ and our Souls at this day We profess our selves to be the Spouse of Christ and if so it is very probable 〈◊〉 he doth now and then visit us and comes to the door of our hearts We profess to be a candlestick in Christs right hand and if so it is likely he walks sometimes in the midst of the golden candlesticks We profess to be the Church and People of God and if Christ hath not intimacy and familiarity with and gives frequent visits to his Church where can Christ be expected to be found We have the Worship and Ordinances of Christ and his Name recorded among us and he hath said that where he records his name there he will meet his people and bless them We are under his special care and providence about whom he is in a special manner concerned And therefore it concerns us to know how we stand in his favour And as this is the state of the Church in general so is it the state of every particular Member and is the concern of every one of us to know how matters stand between Christ and our Souls Whether we be in his favour and have his pleasant company or whether he have turned his back withdrawn himself and be gone away from us in a discontent because he hath knocked and called and we have not opened unto him And it concerns us the rather to make this enquiry because the Providences of God for some time have been and still are considerable towards us and the Providences of God seem to be near some period Some great work or other God seems to have upon the Wheel in the Christian world which e're long may possibly be brought to light And such times of God's remarkable working are usually trying and shaking times To be sure it is a blessed thing at such a time to be in Christ his favour and under his wing In the prosecution of this Use there are two things to be enquired into 1. Whether Christ have not and do not at this day eminently knock and call 2. What entertainment Christ findes and what answer we have made 1. Let us enquire whether Christ have not and do not at this day eminently knock and call Is not the voice of our beloved to be heard at the doors of our Hearts saying Open to me my sister my love my dove my undâ—filed for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night We have told you in the opening of the Doctrine that though there be no passage of God's providence exercised towards us but it hath something of a call from Christ in it yet there are some special times wherein Jesus Christ doth in a more especial manner knock and call requiring entrance and admission How we might know those times I have endeavoured there to shew It is not my business here to assigne new times of Christ's eminent calling but by reflecting upon those to make enquiry whether the case be not ours And whether according to those signes and marks of an eminent call Christ do not at this day eminently knock and call upon us to open unto him What I have to say upon this head I shall sum up into these nine or ten Queries And by them we may come to understand how
Jesus Christ repenting of and forsaking thy sin turning to God with all the heart and taking up a new course of life Fleeing unto Christ alone for justification in a sense of thine own utter unworthyness Entering into covenant with him taking him for thy Prophet Priest and King giving up thy self unto him in all humble hearty and sincere submission to his will and obedience to all his commands This the word dictates and Conscience sets in with it and seconds it And to make up the conviction more full the Spirit of God comes in and tells thee that this condition thou art in is not to be rested in thou must either turn or die To day if thou wilt hear the voice of God then harden not thy heart ere long it will be too late thy Sun will be set thy day of grace over and these things will be hid from thine eyes Hereupon thy Conscience is startled and thou beginnest to think with thy self what thou must do and it may be hast some sudden earnest motions purposes and resolutions to turn and to break off from thine old ways and courses to become a new creature But alas how suddenly are all these vanished and gone again and thou fallest fast asleep again in security Convictions wear off Affections cool Fears abate Sin looks not so terrible thine own estate and condition not to dreadful and hopeless Death not so near the flames of Hell not so hot and scorching and so the wook is laid aside and left undone and thou returnest with the dog to the vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Or at most if these continue still thou goest with an inward griping wounded Conscience and dost not really come out of thy self unto Christ for healing Christ is little store set by or sought after but thou patchest up a Plaister for thy wounded Conscience of some pitiful poor and imperfect righteousness of thine own takest up some small formal Profession of Religion and thus stoppest the clamours of thy Conscience and Christ is shut out and stands without still Nay may I not say of some that instead oâ— opening to Chrst they are hardned in theiâ— sins and grown Sermon-proof the Word oâ— God affects them not takes not hold upoâ— them as sometimes it hath done but theâ— with less pain and torture of Conscience caâ— turn off reproofs than formerly they coulâ— have done and sit more quietly and undistuâ—bedly under Ordinances and that not becauâ—â— they are in a better condition than formerly for they are the same both in heart and life that they were before but because their hearts are more hardened and their consciences more brawny and their souls more sluggish and sensless than they were before Is this thy opening to Christ Is this the entertainment which Christ finds when his head is filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Oh consider this before it be too late before Christ be withdrawn and gone We have a sad complaint which God makes against Ephraim Hos 6.4 c. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee For your goodness is as a morning-cloud and as an early dew it passeth away A morning-Cloud seems to promise rain but as the Sun ariseth it vanisheth away an early Dew seems to moisten and refresh the earth but when the Sun comes to be hot the dew is quickly gone and the grass scorcheth so much the more so was their goodness very vanishing and unconstant They seemed to take notice of Gods words to be affected with them and to promise and purpose amendment but alas their promises and purposes quickly vanished and came to nothing according to what you finde Psal 78.34 35 36 37. Hath it not been too much your case Under convictions you have seemed to promise God fair things and there hath been some hopes of your conversion and change But no sooner hath the heat of conviction been over but all these things have quickly vanished away and come to nothing Is this the entertainment that Christ hath found Blame him not then if he depart and make you seek him before you finde him But further since it is the Spouse of Christ that is here spoken of let me carry on this Query about Conviction a little further You who really are Believers and have entred into covenant with Christ and stand in a Covenant-relation to Christ Have you opened to the calls of Christ Hath there not been many strong convictions upon your spirits in many particular cases wherein you have been faulty and your Consciences have smitten you and yet for all this you have stifled these convictions and have not opened to Christ you have many times been convinced of your Pride Worldly-mindedness Vanity and Unsavoriness Sloath and Luke-warmness Backwardness to Duty Deadness in Duty Unbelief and distrust of God and of his Care and Providence and such like things and yet your hearts have not been willing fully to open to Christ in these things and to let conviction have its perfect work in order to your reformation you have heard the Word and known your selves to be guilty of such things as the Word hath reproved Conscience hath spoken and the Spirit of God hath spoken and yet you have not hearkned to the counsel and dictates thereof but have turned a deaf ear and gone on in your sin still Is this your opening to him who is the wonderful Counsellor who is your Lord and Husband and whose commands should have influence upon you Oh my friends we may all sadly complain that in this respect we have all of us made excuses and kept Christ out of our hearts 2. If the door be not shut against Christ how comes it to pass that the Ordinances of Christ are so little prized so little store set by at this day We told you in the opening of the Doctrine that one way of Christ his calling was by his Ordinances In and by them he convinceth of and reproveth sin directs in and encourageth unto duty communicates grace affords his company gives in nourishment refreshment strength and comfort unto the hungry panting Soul These are the Wells of Salvation and Waters of the Sanctuary that are for the refreshing the City of our God Where these therefore are slighted Christ must necessarily be shut out and not opened to We have the Spouse Cant. 1.7 8. enquiring where she may meet her beloved And he tells her she may finde him in his Ordinances and in the assembly of his Saints there he records his Name and there he meets his people and blesseth them And therefore they that carelesly turn their backs upon the Ordinances of Christ turn their backs upon and shut the door of their Hearts against him Persons may and often do frequent the Ordinances of Christ and yet keep the door of their Hearts fast shut against Christ But they are utterly out of the way of opening to Christ yea out of the ordinary way
of Christs call that turn their backs upon his Ordinances Greater contempt cannot persons pour upon Christ than to despise and set light by the Ordinances of Christ which he hath instituted as means for the enjoyment of him And if this be so how ordinarily is Christ shut out We complain of the deadness of Trade and what a low rate all kinde of commodities carry but I am sure Christ's trade is very low the commodities which Christ offers in the market of his Ordinances though very rich and costly in themselves yet are at a very low rate in the esteem of most men O how slight an occasion will keep persons back from the Ordinances of Christ If any worldly business be to be done persons think it unreasonable to be moved to leave that and to attend the Ordinances of Christ as the Spouse here thought it unreasonable to move her to leave her warm bed to come to open to Christ O how many will rise more early travel further and take more pains for an earthly bargain than to meet with Christ in his Ordinances these must onely be attended at leisure-times when men have nothing else to do If the Ordinances of Christ lose men an hour in their shops or a single bargain if but to the value of a shilling in their trades they think Christ bids them loss if he move them to leave their worldly business and attend upon him Many value Christ and his company at a lower rate than thirty pieces Some again can spare time to attend Ordinances but if it must cost them any thing these Ordinances must be forborn In many places and with many persons he is the best Minister that will be hired at the cheapest rate though his preaching be little to the purpose though he seldom disturb them with any considerable calls from Christ Others though they do frequent Ordinances yet not as the Ordinances of Christ which binde Conscience but as indifferent things that may be done or left undone without any guilt or blame And therefore they make little matter of rushing out of the world and worldly business into an Ordinance altogether unprepared and uncomposed but their thoughts and hearts are full of the world as may be and as little matter of running into the world again so soon as ever the Ordinance is ended without allowing themselves the least time to meditate or beg God's blessing upon what they have been partakers of Is this your opening to Christ at his call I am very confident this is not the least reason of persons unfruitfulness under Ordinances at this day because the Ordinances are not conscientiously attended Nor do persons allow themselves time in meditation and prayer that the Ordinance might have its soaking influence upon them By this means Sirs you do too ordinarily if not constantly shut out Christ This low esteem that the Ordinances of Christ have among us doth sufficiently manifest that our hearts are not rightly open to Christ It was far otherwise with the Spouse Cant. 2.3 She sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was pleasant to her taste But these have scarce time and less mindes to sit down at all but are in a running posture as if Christ's bounties were not worth the staying for 3. If the heart be open to Christ whence is it that persons are so cold formal and indifferent both in their profession practices and performances Surely if Christ were let in the heart would be more warm and lively Grace would be more active in us than it is at this day We read Cantic 5.5 that when Christ put but in his finger by the hole of the door though the door was not fully opened to him yet he left such a warming perfuming vertue behind him as set the Spouse her Graces afloat she can rest no longer in her bed but ariseth her bowels yern towards him and before she get the door open her fingers drop with myrrhe there will be a sensible alteration of the humours to speak so a change of the frame and disposition of Grace in the heart where Christ comes and meets with ready entertainment The Souls sleepy fit will be over when Christ comes in and her Graces will fall to their work Faith will be strongly active Love will be inflamed Thankfulness will be increased Obedience will be more exact and universal Repentance more deep and serious the heart wholly and zealously engaged for Christ when the door of the heart is truely opened to Christ But oh how far otherwise is it with us something of the carcass of Religion and the form of Godliness an external profession of the Name of Christ is left but little of the life and zeal and warmth and power of Religion left In former days when Christ was eminently seen in his Ordinances and Believers hearts were more freely and fully open to him we see what holy heavenly zealous universally circumspect Christians were then to be found what wonderful works did manifest themselves in them and were done by them But where have we almost any Christians of the old stamp and strain left Now adays we have much talking of Religion but little holy strict and exemplary walking in the ways of God in all holy Conversation and Godliness Sure I am there is a vast difference between Christians in former days and those that now live Then they were humble holy blameless in all manner of conversation zealous for Gods glory lively spiritual and heavenly in their Duties fervent in spirit serving the Lord fervent in love towards God and the Brethren and that not in word only but in deed and in truth such as might easily be distinguished from the generality of the world But now how many professors of Religion are there who are Proud covetous sensual compliers with the fashions and customes of the world envious malicious backbiters slanderers having only a form of godliness very curious about circumstances very careless about the substance and practical part of Religion This shews that though we carry the name of Christ in our foreheads yet Jesus Christ is too much kept out of our hearts 4. If the heart be open to Christ how comes it to pass that the world hath so great a share and interest there Surely where Christ comes he gains the heart and the whole bent of the Soul is after him Nothing more earnestly desired or diligently sought for than Christ Rachels language to Jacob upon better grounds and with far better reason is the language of a gracious heart to God Give me Children or I die So saith the Soul Give me Christ or I die I can no longer be without him I languish and pine away for want of him If I may have but one wish or request in all the world it shall be this That God would bestow Christ upon me that I may not onely have an interest in him and title or claim to him but that I may have his
mortification of all sin so far as discovered by the Word Where is thy sincere cordial constant universal obedience to the Word of God making that thy Rule in all thine Actions squaring thy whole life and conversation both in respect of God thy self and thy Neighbour according thereunto giving every Duty in thy general and particular calling its due time place and respect Not allowing the world to ingross to it self what properly and peculiarly belongs to God his Worship and Service and putting off God with such homage and service as might better fit and were more proper for our worldly concernments My meaning is our inverting or going in the course of our lives directly contrary to that command or advice of our Saviour Matth. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all other things shall be added In all that we do in our general and particular places and callings keeping God and his interest above and preferring it before the world If these be not the fruits of Faith wherein thy Soul in some measure abounds never tell me that thy heart is rightly and truly open to Christ but according to the measure of thy unfruitfulness remains in measure and part at least shut against Christ notwithstanding thy pretences to open to him How is it with you then friends In what posture do you finde your hearts are they open or shut It is evident that Christ his calls have been very remarkable but what entertainment he hath found in your hearts that is the question that is now put to your Consciences to make answer to And I beseech you suffer your Consciences to speak and to speak out what they know and can tell you in this case Stifle them not bribe them not turn not the deaf ear to what they speak they are God's Deputies within you And if these condemn you know that God is greater than your Hearts and knows all things You may deceive men you may deceive your selves but God you cannot deceive Christ knows what entertainment he hath found and he will make you to know it one day also and therefore deal faithfully with your selves And if by these things which we have laid before you we may try our selves this may lead many of us at least to another work which may be a 3. Vse Here lies before us matter of deep humiliation that so eminent and remarkable calls of Christ as we have been partakers of have been so little regarded by us that Jesus Christ notwithstanding his earnestness and importunity hath found such cold and poor entertainment in our hearts to this very day But this I will not much enlarge upon because I would keep within some convenient bounds It is too obvious and apparent to be denied that notwithstanding our great profession of love to Christ desire of him and frequent imploring his company by prayer we have in too sad and shameful a manner shut him out at his coming though his calls have been visible and convincing How may we then tremble to think how this our behaviour will be resented by him There are many that from what they behold in the world are astonished at the apprehension of the danger of Christ his withdrawing for a time if not total departure But from what usage Christ hath found in our hearts without looking any further abroad we may finde sufficient cause of fear and trembling I am very confident that by that time all reckonings and accounts be cast up if Christ do depart not the least part of the cause of his departure will be found among his own professing people Such as have called upon his Name cryed after him and professed themselves earnestly desirous of his company and yet when in answer to their prayers he hath come have not heartily and fully opened unto him Mistake me not I do not here mean by these persons of whom I am speaking onely Hypocrites and such as make onely an external profession of Religion though there be too many of these in the World but also sincere believers who have the root of the matter the truth of grace within them and shall notwithstanding all their blemishes be found at Christ's right-hand at the day of Judgement that yet have too sadly shut out Christ when he hath come and called in answer to their prayers Think not this impossible for in my Text it is the Spouse the Bride of Christ that thus unkindly treated him when he stood at her door And it is to be feared he hath found no better entertainment from us What cause then have we to fear and tremble lest Christ should deal with us here as he did with the Spouse and therefore with all humility and brokenness of heart to confess and bewail and for time to come resolve against this unworthy ungrateful and undutiful behaviour towards our Lord and Husband But I pass from this to a _____ 4. Use viz. of Exhortation to beseech you all in the name and fear of God to open to the calls and knocks of Christ laying aside all excuses whatsoever O! let Christ have your hearts let him have warm and welcome entertainment there Do I need here to use Arguments or summon in the Topicks of Rhetorick to quicken and perswade you to embrace this reasonable motion or if I should use all the arguments I could invent or that I might collect from the mouths and pens of other men would these be of any force with you if Christ his own words and arguments cannot prevail can I in this case or any man breathing say more for Christ than he can and doth speak for himself And therefore if Christ cannot how shall I think to prevail with you If either friendly compellations earnest intreaties or strong arguments may prevail none of these are wanting in the Text which I have been endeavouring according to my power and weak ability to unfold unto you in this whole Discourse to which I shall refer you and shall not here repeat the same things over again onely beg your serious meditation upon them And considering their weight and importance see whether they may not preponderate and outweigh all arguments that your carnal deceitful Hearts a subtile Devil and an alluring whorish World can bring against this duty Onely give me leave in a few words to expostulate the case a little with you And here let me ask you 1. How or what manner of lives you think to live without Christ and without his company in your hearts Seriously meditate upon this before you give an answer Do you think to live to more profit and advantage to your selves without than with Christ Is Christ no gain and advantage to your Souls will he bring no profit and advantage with him is not his head filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Hath not he the command and dispose of all things and hath not he promised to give grace and glory and to withhold
him any entertainment Men are generally got plunged so deep in the cares and cumbers of the World that they have no leisure to open to Christ no nor so much as to weigh the arguments and motives that Christ makes use of to procure admission into their hearts Oh how busie are men in the world head and heart hands and feet yea whole soul and body as busily exercised about the world as may be and they think all this little enough too they think they get little enough by it and how should these then have leisure to open to Christ no wonder though his calls be so ineffectual when perso◠〈◊〉 so deeply ingaged in the world that 〈◊〉 have not leisure to stand still and consider 〈◊〉 were best to be done whether that which they are about or some other thing We read in the parable of the Supper when the Master sends forth his Servants to invite guests one man is busie with his Farm another with his Merchandise but none of those which were bidden had leisure to come And the reason was they saw a present necessity and urgency of the present business which they were about but they saw none so great and present need of Christ Many in the world are worse employed than Martha was and yet think their time so well spent in that which they are about that they are loth to be taken off to wait and attend upon Christ and his Ministry Martha had invited the Lord Jesus to her house and with him many friends and that which she was busie about was to make ready provision for his entertainment a business one would think indispensible And yet our Saviour blames her for this Luke 10.40 41 42. But Martha was cumbered about much serving And Jesus answered and said Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her How many are â—oth 〈◊〉 employed than this and yet have not 〈◊〉 to consider whether any thing be more necessary to be done than what they are about To such as these I would speak these few words You think your selves well employed in your earnest and not pursuit of the world the cares and business that onely relates to this present life and you see nothing more needful at present to be done Let me ask you this question Notwithstanding the great business which you have to do in the world do you not sometimes finde leisure to eat drink sleep dress and adorn the body You will say Yes without these we could not live nor have any strength to follow our business Well will time be afforded for taking and feeding upon the meat that perisheth and no time allowed for feeding upon that meat which endures to everlasting life Read John 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endures to everlasting life Hath your Body more need of Clothes to cover your nakedness and keep your warm than your Souls to be clothed with the Righteousness of Jesus Christ as a Robe or Garment If you did but as really see how naked your Souls look in the sight of God Angels c. you would be as much ashamed of your selves as you would now be to have men see your Body naked And therefore consider with your selves whether there be not as great need to take fit and convenient time for the feeding and clothing your Souls as there is for feeding and clothing your Bodies And if there be as great need I pray you let not your precious Souls famish and starve while you so carefully pamper your Bodies and that notwithstanding your great and urgent business in the world Again you that are so earnest and busie about the world and have your time and thoughts so taken up about it let me ask you this one question more Whether do you judge that your success in your worldly affairs doth principally flow from your own wisdom care and pains or from the blessing of God upon your endeavours I believe that few or none of you will be so audaciously impious as to affirm the former whatever you think but rather that your successive business doth arise from the blessing of God upon your endeavours And if so I pray you to consider upon what ground or warrant you can expect the blessing of God upon your endeavours when you wilfully shut the door of your Hearts against his well beloved Son and when you make so light of him and his company that every worldly trifle must take place of him and be preferred before him Might not many of you succeed better in your worldly business if you would give Christ better entertainment in your Hearts and cumber your selves less about the world Christ bids us Matth. 6.33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof and promiseth that all other things shall be added Intimating that the best way to secure a competency of this world to our selves is in the first and chief place to secure an interest in Christ for our Souls We say that he that would drive on a Trade must have interest and acquaintance And I am sure we cannot have interest in nor acquaintance with a better friend than Christ nor one that can bestead us more in the carrying on of our worldly business For It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich and addes no sorrow therewith Prov. 10.22 O spare some time therefore in the midst of your worldly business to open your hearts to Christ 3. Another hinderance to our opening to Christ may be the difficulty and unpleasantness of the work either in opening to Christ or when we have opened to him 1. There is a difficulty in opening to Christ which a lazy sluggish Soul is hardly brought to grapple with and overcome Faith and Love are the two principal ways whereby the Soul is to open to Christ And these are two Graces not without much difficulty attained unto in the right exercise of them Many persons at a distance think it an easie matter to believe in a crucified Saviour but when they come to make proof of their Faith in particular cases they many times finde themselves at a loss See this in an instance Mark 9.24 we have a man bringing his child to Christ to be healed his coming argued something of Faith but when the Disciples had failed in the cure and the child was rather worse than better the mans faith begins to stagger as appears by his words vers 22. If thou canst do any thing have compassion on us and help us Hereupon Christ calls him to the real exercise of Faith vers 23. If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth The poor man upon examination of his own heart finding some faith but yet this very weak and hardly to be raised to a firm and stedfast belief without wavering or doubting cries out
22. Go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come take up thy cross and follow me And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved c. I am afraid there are but too many in this age that would account these too hard terms to accept of Christ upon But if men would but argue rationally why should these be any hindrances to our opening to Christ for in all this Christ bids us no loss If he bids us part with Earthly he promiseth us Heavenly treasure If he bids us cut off a corrupt part or member though it be painful yet it is in order to the eternal salvation of the whole Matth. 5.29 30. and is it not better to lose a corrupt part than lose the whole 4. Christ at his coming may excite us to and quicken us in our work may call us to be quicker and more exact and curious in our work He may tell us that our work is great and our time but short He may bid us strive with all our might to enter in at the straight gate for many shall in a lazy and sloathful manner seek and wish to enter in and shall not be able He may tell us that this lazy sloathful working will not attain the end that we aim at for the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent onely take it by force It will not serve our turns to read pray hear meditate c. at the cold and careless rate which we do It will not do well to be such strangers as we are to our own hearts but we must examine our own hearts more deeply throughly and effectually must study and practice our duties more throughly must watch unto prayer and give our selves unto prayer Must make the Law of God our delight and daily meditation must in all things small as well as great exercise a Conscience void of offence towards God and Men Must set a watch before the door of our Hearts Lips and lives Must in short forgetting those things that are behinde and reaching forward to those things that are before press towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus He may come to ask us such questions as these What have you been doing since the last time I was with you what have you learned what have you practised what proficiency have you made what account can you give of the Talents which I betrusted you with in what forwardness is your work let me see how matters stand with you what designes have you on foot for my glory and what are the designes which you are now carrying on These and such-like questions may be asked by Christ at his coming in Now if the Soul have been idle and careless and not able in any measure to give a good account in these and such-like cases no wonder though she be unwilling at this time to open to Christ The fear of having her faults discovered and the guilt of them to disturb the quiet of her Conscience will make her very slow in opening to Christ as was noted before But if reason might take place this should be no hinderance at all for what Christ tells us is real truth that our work is great and our time but short passing on a pace and irrecoverable when gone and if we have slept or loitered is it reason that we should do so still Is it not high time to awake out of sleep the night is far spent the day is at hand If he should let us sleep or loiter on till his last call to come to the Wedding as he did the foolish Virgins Math. 25. in what a condition would you be when you should awake your lamps gone out no oyl in your vessels no neighbour to borrow of every one having little enough for himself and you must be forced to go to buy when you should enter in with him and by this means you come to be shut out and loose your whole expectation Were it not better let in Christ now and be content to shake off sleep while you have time to get oyl into your vessels with your lamps We use to say that delays in most cases are very dangerous and that it is bad putting off things to the last I am sure this is most true in this case that so greatly concerns the eternal state of our Souls Nay further if things be amiss in us is it not better to let Christ come in and put all things to rights in us then to let them go at random till they be past cure I am sure there never was Soul that ever repented of this whatever pain it was put to in the doing of it though many a Soul hath sadly repented the shutting out of Christ when it hath been too late It is better that Christ bring thy faults and sin to light and remembtance here while thou mayst repent and reform than that thy sin should finde thee out in the guilt shame and punishment of it to all eternity hereafter And be sure thy sin will at one time or other finde thee out Numb 32.23 Oh! therefore let none of these things have influence upon you to hinder you from opening to Christ at his call I dare be bold to say that there can be no true spiritual reason for any poor soul to refuse to open to Christ all reasons produced for that end are carnal and therefore ought to be pulled down and destroyed For the weapons of our warfare are not ought not to be carnal but mighty to the pulling down all imaginations or as the word signifies cavils or carnal reasonings One of these two causes doubtless both which are bad these carnal reasonings must proceed from either from a secret love to some sin or lust in the heart which we would not have Christ to discover or purge out which may well call in question the truth and sincerity of Grace in us for the Psalmist tells us Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my prayer And it is certain He doth hear the Prayers of such as are sincere for he saith Psal 145.18 The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth So that thy sincerity is questionable Or else it proceeds hence viz. from Pride and Self-love Pride because thou wouldest not have Christ to see things â—miss in thee but know that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble From Self-love â—n that thou so much desirest the ease and gratification of the flesh Now if thy very life be more dear to thee than Christ thou art not worthy to be his disciple O let none of these base and sinful arguments keep thee off from opening speedily to Christ at his call I might tell thee also of the advantages that will come by opening to Christ but these I have largely spoken to before only this one give me leave
to mention here If thou wilt freely open to Christ now He will readily open to thee at Death and Judgment There are few but they are convinced of the trouble and restlesness of their present state and not fully satisfied with the present state they are in but are still seeking and labouring for something further in hopes another condition may be better and this they might gather from all their experiences that a rest is not to be had here And consequently all men in this life are but in a seeking condition seeking for rest and can finde none as our Saviour speaks in the Parable they have often something within that suggests This is not your resting place By dayly experience they also see that it is appointed for all men once to die And therefore they might conclude that a rest must be had in another world or not had at all for here no rest is to be had And certain it is that There doth remain a rest for the people of God and to them only and who are these people of God but they that open to Christ here for all power is committed into the hands of Christ He it is that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth And can we reasonably imagine that he will open to any at that day that will not open to him now No he tells us quite the contrary Prov. 1.24 c. You know the foolish Virgins cryed loud Open to us but he answered I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity If therefore there be any restlessness in this world that thou art weary of or in Hell that thou art afraid of or if there be any rest at death and in Heaven desireable open to Christ now as ever thou wouldest avoid the one or desirest to partake of the other So that to conclude this Use if either sense of duty love to thy self and thine own happiness the love of God and Christ or love to God and Christ may have any influence upon thee if any thing either of Divinity or Humanity may work upon thee here is fulness of reason and motives to perswade thee to open to Christ and therefore let reason prevail with thee But thou wilt say How shall I open to Christ And what would you have me in this case to do I am willing to open to Christ if I knew but how to do it and what is required in this case That I may help thee a little in this great and necessary work I shall give thee some directions how to carry and what to do and so shall conclude this subject And these directions shall be of two sorts 1. Such as may have respect unto the Heart and the manner or way of the Hearts opening to Christ 2. Such as may have respect to Christ and the several ways of his coming in and making himself manifest unto the Soul 1. I begin with such directions as respect the Heart and the way and manner of the Hearts opening to Christ Now that we may the better know how many ways the Heart must be opened to Christ it may not be impertinent to consider how many ways the Heart may be shut against Christ Now it is evident that the Heart may these several ways be shut against Christ By Pride and self-confidence by unbelief by impenitency by want of Love or coldness of affection by sloth and sluggishness either in our watch or work A little to open each of these and then you shall see by them what of the Heart or in what respects the Heart is to be opened to Christ 1. The Heart may be shut against Christ by Pride and self-confidence Such is the Pride and haughtiness of corrupted Nature that though the sinner be justly condemned for his sin yet he seeks to justifie himself and would not seem to be beholden to Jesus Christ nor his satisfaction for a pardon This is evident in our first Parents in their shifting off their sins and endeavouring to transmit the guilt upon some one else Adam when examined rather than he would be found faulty lays the blame upon Eve and in some sense upon God himself The woman which thou gavest me gave me c. and I did eat The woman when examined lays the guilt upon the Serpent The Serpent beguiled me c And the same principle of Pride remains in some measure in the Hearts of all Adam's Posterity which makes them use their uttermost endeavour to justifie themselves This is the true cause of all excuses that are made for sin and the reason why persons do so over-much value their own works of Righteousness judging in effect that every small parcel of duty and obedience is sufficient to expiate the greatest sin And by this means Jesus Christ is undervalued and little store set by For a man will never be wholly beholden to Jesus Christ for his justification while he hath any Righteousness of his own to lean to And by this means the Heart is shut against Christ As this Pride hardens God's heart against the sinner and makes God to resist or set himself in battle-array against the sinner as the word signifies James 4.6 and as this self-justifying confidence causeth Christ many times to pass by the door of such a sinner without calling upon him for he tells us that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Matth. 9.13 that is those that are through Pride and self-confidence righteous in their own eyes So this Pride doth harden and shut the heart of the sinner against God and Christ And therefore the Psalmist saith The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God Psal 10.4 This therefore must be removed out of the way before the door of the Heart be truly and fully opened to Christ Wouldest thou therefore open to Christ get rid of all Pride and self-confidence labour to be humble low and vile in thine own eyes and to such Christ will look Isai 66.2 To this man will I look that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembles at my word And elsewhere The poor have the Gospel preached to them i. e. They that are of a poor humble self-denying spirit have the glad tidings of Salvation brought unto them to these the Son of Righteousness ariseth with healing under his wings And therefore blessed are these poor in spirit for they shall see God While David justified himself and hid his sin the hand of God was heavy upon him but when he humbled himself and confessed freely his sin God came in with pardon Psal 32. Oh therefore labour after humility and lowness of spirit for God resisteth the proud but gives grace to the humble Humble your selves therefore and in due time God will exalt you with his presence and company Christ must do all and have the glory as well as the command of all where he comes and
therefore he is fit company for none but those that are humble self-denying self-condemning sinners 2. The Heart is many times shut against Christ by unbelief Faith is the hand whereby Christ is received Faith must open the door to Christ and therefore where Faith is wanting the door of the Heart must needs be kept shut against Christ Unbelief is one of the great Bars or Bolts whereby the Heart is kept fast shut against Christ This Bar therefore must be removed before the Heart can be opened to Christ The Apostle tells us the reason why the Jews were rejected was because of their unbelief Unbelief is the great Gospel-sin the Rock upon which many a poor soul as plit Therefore saith our Saviour John 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God Beware therefore of unbelief and open to him by Faith Christ gives many invitations and calls such as you read Isai 55.1 c. Believe therefore that Christ is really willing to receive those that he makes such calls unto and of those number thou art if thou dost not wilfully exclude thy self through unbelief He makes many gracious promises of Pardon of Sin of Adoption Sanctification and Life Eternal and withal he tells thee upon what terms and conditions these things are to be had Therefore by Faith embrace these Promise apply them to thy self thankfully close with them and labour to answer the terms and conditions of them and if thou dost but on thy part manifest thy real willingness thou shalt finde that he will come in unto thee with comfort and assurance Therefore open to Christ by Faith believe his word embrace his promises obey his commands dread his threatnings give up thy self by covenant unto him that he may be made of God unto thee wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 3. Sometimes the heart is shut against Christ by impenitency It is an opinion but too common and ordinary among Sinners that Repentance is only needful in some few gross cases for some great and notorious enormity but as for sins of a less magnitude they look upon them as pardoned in course without any considerable repentance And therefore if they finde not themselves guilty of such great sins they conceit that they need no Repentance In this sense are those words of our Saviour to be understood Luke 15.7 Joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance i. e. that think they need no repentance and this is the secret thought but of too many in the world and by this they shut out the Lord Jesus Christ as a person that they have no great need of or occasion for they think themselves whole and therefore see no need of a Physician But he that would have Christ to come into his soul must see a need of Christ must see himself to be a sinner a great sinner lost and undone without Christ must see himself an enemy to God by nature a rebel and traitor and this his enmity he must repent of be heartily sorry for must be really willing and desirous of peace and reconciliation with God must abhor himself for his former enmity and resolve through the Grace of God that he will stand no longer in opposition to God but must come with an humble broken melted heart to God begging pardon for what is by-past and deliberately resolving and promising new and faithful obedience for time to come and this he must do from a sense of the sinful and cursed nature of sin And upon this Repentance it is that Christ comes in and is willing to be a Mediator between God and man And therefore it thou wouldest open to Christ aright set thy self seriously to the work of Repentance perform that work throughly let no known sin or sin that thou canst possibly discover in thy self pass unrepented of Go therefore into secret examine thine own heart what sins thou canst finde lodged there meditate upon them with all the aggravating circumstances of them and dwell so long upon the thoughts of them till such time as thou hast brought thine heart to an utter loathing and abhorrence of them and of thy self for committing of them and allowing thy self in them and till thou comest to judge and condemn thy self as worthy of eternal damnation for hearkening to the temptation of them And then let God hear thee bemoan thy self and complaining of thine own folly and wickedness and what a sad and wretched condition thou hast brought thy self into by thy sins and beg help of God to turn thee and bring thee unto Jesus Christ and bestow him upon thee and when this is done sincerely and faithfully thou shalt finde Christ ready to come in unto thy soul See this exemplified in Ephraims repentance Jer. 31.18 19 20. Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bubock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God After I was turned I repented after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Is Ephraim my dear Son Is he a pleasant Child For ever since I spake against him I earnestly remember him still therefore I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Ephraim by repentance opened his heart to God and then Gods heart was open towards him and Gods bowels yearn towards him Thus do thou humble thy self to God and in due time he will exalt thee Open thine heart by Repentance and thou wilt be fit for the reception of Jesus Christ 4. Sometimes the heart may be shut against Christ by decay or want of Love It is want of due love and respect to Christ that is the cause why he is shut out of the Soul did we love Christ more we should more readily open unto Christ and did we more really and fervently love him we should have more of his company If Love be wanting Christ cares not to come in that Soul neither indeed will there be convenient room for Christ in that Soul If thy love to Christ be cold thy heart will be shut against him for the Heart is naturally contracted and shut where love is wanting and it is the very nature of Love to open expand or enlarge the Heart towards the object beloved If therefore thou wouldest have Christ to come into thy Soul set Love to work Love will make Christ precious and desirable to thy Soul and thereupon set thee a longing for Christ when he is absent Love will enlarge thy desire and make thee impatient of his absence and spur thee on to a more diligent seeking of him Love will bid Christ welcome at his coming and therefore will endeavour not onely to remove whatever may be offensive and distasteful to him
but to have all things in a readiness and preparedness for his entertainment Nay Love makes the Soul to think no time lost in his company nor any cost too great for his entertainment And therefore if Love have been cold or wanting towards Christ let it be so no more but labour to get and maintain more fervent love to Christ and this will be the ready way to have his company For Love will make thee to hunger after Christ and he hath promised to satisfie the hungry soul We read Rev. 2. that God threatens Ephesus that he will depart and remove his Golden Candlestick from the midst of her because of her decay in her Love towards him she had lost her first love And well he might for the less she loved him the more was her Heart contracted and shut against him and therefore little room could he have in her Heart and consequently little heart to stay there Take heed therefore of suffering thy love to Christ to decay if thou hast any minde of his company but get thine heart filled with love to Christ and then the door of thine Heart will be open to him and he may have ready and welcome entertainment when he comes 5. The door of the Heart may be shut against Christ by negligence and sloth Now there is a two-fold negligence which Christians are subject unto 1. A negligence or sluggishness in their work Or 2. in their Watch by the means of both which Jesus Christ may be shut out of the Heart 1. Jesus Christ may be shut out by our negligence and sluggishness in our work Slothful working and labouring in our spiritual calling doth but keep Christ out of the Soul When a man prays after a sluggish and slothful manner he doth in effect say that he matters not Christ's company and therefore he cannot expect to finde him For Christ will be found of those that diligently seek him A slothful man will scarcely be willing to wait in the way of duty till Christ come but like the Spouse in the Text will have laid aside his work and be gone to bed when Christ calls and too lazy too to arise to open to him Some persons indeed are impatient of Christ's delays because of their earnest desire of his company they are sick of love to these Christ will come and will not tarry Others are impatient under delays because they are weary of duty love not to tug and toil and sweat in duty too long but would have Christ come that their work might be over and if he come not in their time they leave off their work these do shut out Christ Wouldest thou therefore have thy heart open to Christ be not slothful or sluggish in duty but be diligent painful and industrious in thy spiritual work Be diligent in mortifying sin in quickning grace in discharging duties and those of all sorts that so when Christ comes he may finde thee so doing busily employed in thy Lords work and then will he say to thee Well done good and faithful servant 2. Jesus Christ may be shut out by our negligence and sluggishness in our watch The Spouse here had laid aside her watch was composing her self for rest and now Christ at his coming found her door shut When Sinners grow lazy and let fall their watch they are in a fitter posture for Satan to finde them than Christ For Satan goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour and therefore his fittest opportunity is when he can finde them napping and secure But Christ comes as a friend and therefore would finde us watching he comes as a Master and therefore expects us to be ready to open to him If therefore thou wouldest have thine heart open to Christ keep a constant watch over thy self watch and pray that thou enter not into temptation Watch against the treachery deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of thine own heart Watch against the insinuations of an enticing alluring world Watch against the motions and suggestions of a malicious and subtile Devil Watch thy corruptions that they prevail not in thee Watch thy graces that they neither decay nor be idle Watch thy Faith that that may be ready to apprehend and embrace Christ at his coming And watch thy Patience that that wear not out but endure to the end And watch thy Love that by the decays and coolings of that thy Heart be not contracted and shut against Christ Keep up an universal constant and faithful watch if thou wouldest have the door of thine Heart open when Christ comes Blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find upon his Watch-tower ready to open to him Thus have I shewed in what respects the Heart may be shut against Christ and consequently by directing you to the removal of them and the exercise of the contrary grace have instructed you how to get and keep the Heart open for Christ To all which I onely adde this one thing more Wouldest thou have thine Heart open and in a readiness to entertain Jesus Christ at his coming then live always in expectation of his coming look for his coming when the Servant thinks with himself My Lord delays his coming he will not come yet he grows idle and careless and neglects both his work and his watch But if we would but thus judge Our Lord and Master will come and I know not at what hour of the day or watch of the night this would be a means to make us always to keep our Hearts open and in a readiness to receive Jesus Christ at his coming whereas the want of this makes us suffer our Faith to decay our Love to cool and our Hearts to be shut and contracted against Christ at his coming And these are the the Directions which I intended to speak to with respect unto our hearts 2. I have some directions to give thee with reference to Christ and the several ways of his coming into the Soul 1. Wouldest thou have thy heart open to Christ aright then open thine heart to the knowledge of Christ The directions which here I give is the advice and councel of Christ himself called by the name of Wisdom Prov. 1.20 21 22 23. Wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you and will make known my words unto you The want of the right knowledge of Christ is the great reason or ground why the heart is kept so close shut against Christ You know that one way of opening to Christ which I told you of was by faith rolling and recumbing upon Christ and the Psalmist tells us They that know his Name will put their trust in him Psal 9.10 and the reason rendered is because by knowing him they come to understand his truth and faithfulness that he never forsakes them that diligently seek him Iâ—
is our ignorance of the excellency all-sufficiency and suitableness of Christ to our insufficiency and emptiness that makes our love to Christ so very cold For the proper object of Love is some suitable desireable good thing Were we better acquainted then with that fulness that is in Christ we should more fully and freely open our hearts to Christ Did we but see his loveliness in every respect the loveliness of his person the loveliness of his disposition and qualifications the loveliness of his works and undertakings and his suitableness every way to our condition we should from the inward sense of love in our own souls cry out with the Spouse He is altogether lovely Nay our love towards him and desire after him would be so fervent that we should say with the Spouse Tell him that I am sick of love If therefore thou wouldest have thine heart more open to Christ study Christ better for he hath said he will exalt or set on high such as know his Name and set their love upon him Psal 91.14 And how can he more highly advance thee than by honouring thee with his company Our ignorance of Christ makes us that we do not understand his voice when he calls and therefore we give no heed to his calls 2. Open thine heart to the commands of Christ search the Scriptures to know what it is that he requires of thee and as he teaches thee by his Word and Spirit let thine heart be open to attend thereunto as the heart of Lydia was who attended to the things that were spoken by Paul Yea let thine heart burn within thee while he is talking with thee as the hearts of the Disciples going to Emaus did while Christ talked with them Attend diligently to the Ordinances of Christ and come with the everlasting doors of thine heart open ready prepared to receive whatsoever divine truth God shall make known unto thee and resolving to practise what truths thou shalt receive let thine heart be ready to say when thou comest to every Ordinance as Samuel did Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or as Paul Lord what wouldest thou have me to do Or as the people to Moses but with a better heart and more stedfast resolution All that the Lord hath spoken will we do and be obedient Open thine heart to the commands of Christ and let none of his commands be grievous but say with David O how love I thy Law it is my meditation day and night Remember that Christ is thy Lord and Husband it is his work to command thee and it is thy duty in all things to obey and therefore take his yoke upon thee for his yoke is easie and his burden light and in keeping his commands there is great reward 3. Open thine heart to the counsels and advice of Christ thou maist assure thy self that Christ will advise thee to nothing but for thy good See what counsel Christ gives to the Asian Churches Rev. 2 3. chap. his counsel was very suitable to the several states and conditions of every Church To instance in that of Laodicea she was a very luke-warm Church and yet very proud self-confident Church she said She was rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing but knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked And what was Christs counsel to her I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou maist be rich and white raiment that thou maist be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see Rev. 3.17 18. Jesus Christ is a most faithful Friend and Physician will certainly give very seasonable counsel and advice he is called the wonderful Counsellor Isai 9.6 Open thine heart and listen to the counsel which Christ gives to thee he will instruct thee how to mortifie thy sins he will teach thee how to improve Ordinances to perform Duties to exercise thy graces he will teach thee in all respects to order thy conversation aright and to improve all the Dispensations of his Providence towards thee Take but Christs counsel and advice and thou canst never do amiss for he is wise in heart and communicative of his wisdome never fails any that trust and seek to him for counsel and advice Read James 1.5 If any of you want wisdom let him ask it of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth no man and it shall be given to him But know this that Christ cannot endure to have his counsel slighted to do this would highly displease him Read Prov. 1.24 c. I called 〈◊〉 but ye would have none of my counsels Therefore I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear comes Theâ— shall they call but I will not answer for that they hated knowledge they would none of my counsels Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices If thou wilt not open to Christ's counsels thou mayest follow thine own devices and see what will be the end of it Psal 81.11 12. write out the Text. 4. Open thine Heart to the rebukes and chastisements of Christ Be not too wise in thine own conceit as to think that Christ can finde no fault with thee But as David speaks concerning the Righteous so do thou from thy very heart say Let the Righteous Christ smite me it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head Though thou knowest before hand that he will finde fault with thee at his coming yet be never the more afraid to let him in nor be thou weary of his rebukes It is unpleasant discourse many times when our Friends rip up our faults and tell us of them but it is really our fault so to account it for it is the real part of a Friend to reprove us and not to suffer sin upon our souls However it may be unpleasant yet it is both necessary and safe It argues a more than ordinary love of Christ towards thee if he deal thus faithfully with thee for whom he loves he rebukes and chastens Rev. 3.19 Let thy Heart therefore be open ready and willing to receive and embrace his most severe rebukes And take it as a kindness from him that he will rebuke thee for it is a piece of blessedness Blessed is the man whom the Lord rebukes and chastens and teacheth him out of his Law Psal 94.12 David having found the benefit of this saith Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me And v. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflâ—cted c. And the Apostle tells us that though no affliction be for the present joyous but greivous yet afterwards it works the peaceable fruits of Righteousness in them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 open therefore