Heb. 7.25 Q. Whereby doth the willingness of Christ to save sinners so exceedingly appear A. It appears as many ways as it is possible to have a willingness to any thing discovered in particular By his 1. Expressions 2. Affections 3. Actions Q. By what expressions of his doth his willingness to save sinners appear A. By his x importunity in calling upon us to believe in him for Salvation and his y Complainings of us when we refuse so to do x Cant. 5.2 Apoc. 3.20 y Mat. 23.37 Joh. 5.40 Esa 65.2 Q. By what Affections of his doth Christ declare his willingness to save Sinners A. By his ardent z longings to accomplish the work of our Salvation by his a Joy when we accept of it and by his b Grief when we refuse it z Luke 12.50 a Luke 15.5,9,20,23 b Mar. 3.5 Q. By what Actions of Christ is his willingness to save Sinners discovered A. By his willingness to come down c from Heaven and making the Salvation of Sinners his d great business into the world and by his willingness e to suffer what their sins deserved when he was upon the earth c John 16.28 Heb. 10.7 d 1 Tim. 1.15 Mat. 20.28 Luke 19.10 John 10.10 e John 10.18 Phil. 2.7 Q. You have given me a sufficient account of the free tender of Jesus Christ in the Gospel to every sort of Sinners and of the encouragement they have to come unto Christ for Salvation I would now know of you that since we are by nature in a state of damnation how comes it to pass that there is this way of life and happiness by Christ yet left us A. We are indebted for it to the f Eternal and free love and favour of God who g ordained us to it before the World began f Joh. 3.16 1 John 4.9,10 g Ephes 1.4,5 1 Thes 5.9 Q. Are all Sinners ordained to life in and by Christ A. No some in justice are passed by Rom. 9.13,22 Jude 13. Q. May not this discourage you as to believing in Christ A. No it ought not to discourage me for as much as God tendereth Christ to all but doth not discover their particular reprobation to any Q. But how can it stand with God's justice to save you by Christ since the wages of your sin is death A. Very well because this wages was h willingly received by Christ and so i justice is fully satisfied by him k our surety although not by us sinners who are the principals h John 10.18 Esa 53.5 1 Cor. 15.3 i Mat. 3.17 k Heb. 7.22 Q. Was Jesus Christ then a man that he was capable of suffering and dying A. Jesus Christ was Man John 1.14 Heb. 2.14,15,17 Q. Had he no sins of his own that he could be accepted to suffer for the sins of others A. Jesus Christ was free from all Sin both l Original and m Actual l Luk. 1.35 m Mat. 3.15 Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 2.22 Q. Could the sufferings of one man how sinless and holy soever satisfie God's justice for the sins of so many A. If Christ had been only Man he could not have done it but Christ was also n God as well as Man which made his sufferings of an o infinite value n John 1.1 Rom. 9.5 0 Act. 20.28 Q. How do the sufferings of Christ become yours A. By God's free and gracious imputation 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 3.24,25 Q. But is there nothing required to Salvation but that sin be suffered for A. Yes an absolute and a perfect p Righteousness which is also in q Christ and in r none else and it is in Christ for s us God graciously imputing it unto us p 1 Cor. 6.9 Rom. 5.17 q Mat. 3.15 Heb. 7.26 1 Pet. 2.22 r Eccles 7.20 s 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.21 Phil. 3.9 Q. Can you believe in this Christ and so partake of the benefits that come by him upon your own strength A. No t Faith is the gift of God t Jam. 1,17 Eph. 2.8 Phil. 1.29 Acts 18.27 Q. Why then is the Gospel Preached and why are sinners by it called upon to believe A. Because the same Gospel which God appoints to call upon sinners to believe is God's ordinary u Instrument to work faith in them u Rom. 10.17 Joh. 5.25 Q. What place hath Faith in the business of your Salvation and in what sense is it said to justifie A. Faith is only an Instrument of God's forming in us and is said to justifie us only in a relative sense as it apprehends Christ and no otherwise Our life and happiness being in the object not in the act in Christ not in believing Q. Do you think you do well to lay the whole work of your Salvation thus upon the Free Grace of God in Christ A. I know I do well because the Gospel lays it x all there and whosoever doth not seek Salvation in this y way shall never find it x Acts 4.12 1 Cor. 3.11 y John 14.6 Q. What if a wicked man give over his sinful courses as to be drunk no more swear no more c. will not this save him A. No it will not for were it possible for a man to sin but once and ever afterward to live as innocently as Adam before his fall yet would not this save him Q. What is your reason for this A. My reason is because that one sin deserves z Hell and shall not be remitted without a satisfaction z Rom. 6.23 Gal. 3.10 a Exod. 34.7 Q. But if a sinner forsake his sins and withall heartily repent him of them is it not enough to save him A. It is not for a man not brought to Christ is yet under the b first Covenant that of Works where all the repentance in the world goes for nothing b Gal. 4.24 Q. How do you prove that Repentance under the first Covenant and consequently that the Repentance of a Man out of Christ goes for nothing A. Because true and acceptable repentance is a Grace of the c Gospel The Law gives no grace to repent it makes no promise to repentance yea it gives not the least space to repent the d Tenor of it is Sin and dye c Acts 5.31 Ezek. 36.26 Zach. 12.10 d Gen. 2.17 Jude 6. Q. Suppose then that men cannot come up as high as to believe is it all one whether they be Drunkards or Sober Covetous or Liberal c A. As to their Eternal Condition it is all one for to come short of Christ is to come short of e Salvation yet have we ground to f believe that the greatest sinners shall have in Hell the greatest torments e Acts 4.12 f Mat. 11.22,24 Mat. 23.14 Q. But what if a man do not only leave his sins but doth also set himself to perform good duties shall not such a one be saved without believing A. No because no performance of an unbeliever can be g good the Tree must be good or else the h Fruit cannot and no man is a good Tree but he that is
you A. Under that notion is Christ tendered to me in the Gospel under which I have m need of him now I have need of Christ meerly as a sinner I have need of a n Saviour as lost of a o Physitian as sick of a p Fountain opened as unclean of q Life as dead in Trespasses and sins m Heb. 7.25 Mar. 2.17 n Luke 19.10 o Mar. 2.17 p Zach. 13.1 q John 14.6 1 John 5.12 Eph. 2.1 Q. What other grounds have you A. Christ must be offered unto me either as a sinner or as righteous or as a middle person between both Now such middle persons there are none the righteous have Christ already how came they else to be righteous It remains then that Jesus Christ is offered to me as a sinner Q. It 's possible it may be neither so nor so for do you not find in the Gospel that Christ is tendered to sinners so and so qualified disposed and fitted to receive him A. Christ doth not find sinners fit but makes them so and I find no previous dispositions or preparations required in the Gospel which I must necessarily have wrought in me before I may lay hold upon Christ as mine Q. Must you not be humbled for your sin before you may believe A. 1. I may be humbled to a great degree of Humiliation and yet never come to believe at all r. 2. Such sinners as have been humbled and afterwards have believed were not entertained of Christ because humbled but because sinners For 3. Some Sinners have been entertained by Christ of whose being humbled before we hear nothing in the Gospel but much to perswade us to the contrary s but in coming they were 4. Humiliation or what ever else I am capable of before believing is t a sin r Mat. 27.4,5 s Acts 9.3,4,5,6 Acts 26.13,14 c. Acts 16.14 t Titus 1.15 Q. But is not thirsting after Christ necessarily pre-required Must not a sinner * thirst before he come * Isa 55.1 Apoc. 22.17 A. Those Scriptures where such as thirst are invited are not to be expounded of thirsting for Christ but of thirsting for happiness without pitching upon Jesus Christ for it and so they are directions whither such as thirst should come not limitations that none shall come but such as thirst Q. What reason can you give of this Exposition that it was not a thirsting for Christ A. There is reason enough in the text it self Isa 55.1,2 they thirsted for happiness in that which they laid out and laboured for which was not Christ for he is bread and doth satisfie Q. But after whatever the thirsting be is it not a condition upon which Christ is tendered A. By no means for that Christ should be tendered upon any condition at all is not so suitable to the Free-Grace of God who u loves us freely x gives us Christ freely y saves us freely u Rom. 9.11 x Joh. 3.16 y Rom. 6.23 Eph. 2.8 Tit. 3.5 Q. But however may not thirsting be lookt upon as a necessary disposition without which a sinner ought not to believe or to lay hold upon Christ as his A. If it should be lookt upon as such a disposition there would follow divers absurdities Q. What absurdities would follow A. It would follow that there be some universal commands of God which some men ought not to obey for that sinners should believe is an z universal a command of God z Mar. 16.15 a 1 John 3.23 Q. What too A. It would follow that at least in some men that hear the Gospel unbelief is no sin contrary to Joh. 3.19 Mat. 23.37 John 5.40 Q. What absurdity else would follow A. It would also follow that to some men to whom Christ is tendered to believe is not duty or if it be they may take time to perform it Q. But suppose a sinner not thirsting ought to believe yet is not thirsting such a disposition without which he cannot believe A. No God can and b many times doth give in Faith and Christ without such a pre-disposing of the sinner b Isa 65.1 Rom. 10.20 Q. Have you any examples of it in the Gospel A. Yes the example of c Matthew d Zacheus e Paul f Lydia the story of whose conversion is so set down that we have a warrant to conclude that their faith in Christ was preceded by their thirsting after him c Luke 5.27,28 d Luke 19.5,6,10 e Acts 9.3,4 1 Tim. 1.13,14,15,16 f Acts 16.14 Q. Is it your opinion then that Christ is tendered to an empty soul A. Yes to an empty Soul as to any thing that is good and this plainly held out in the Gospel g which declareth all our good to come in with h Christ who is a i full Christ that he may supply k us g Isa 55.1,2 Apoc. 3.17,18 h Eph. 1.3 John 15.5 1 John 5.11,12 i Col. 1.19 Col. 2.10 k John 1.16 Q. Do you think that any sinner suppose a notorious whoremonger drunkard c. when Christ is preached to him ought to believe and to lay hold upon him A. Yes and if such a one do not believe it is his sin Q. How do you prove that A. I prove it by these arguments 1. Christ is tendered to the l greatest of sinners yea even to m those that with wicked hand did crucifie and slay him l 1 Tim. 1.15 m Acts 3.15,25,26 2. When Christ is tendered the charge is to receive him n presently n Psal 2.10,12 Psal 95.7 Heb. 3.7,15 Heb. 4.7,11 3. Whatever may be a reason why a great sinner should lay hold on Christ at all the same is a reason why he should do it presently Q. Have such sinners any encouragements from the Gospel to come to Christ A. Yes very many and very sweet ones Q. Can you give me an account what those many and sweet encouragments are A. This is one that such great and notorious sinners have been graciously entertained of Christ heretofore as Zacheus Paul Magdalen c. Q. What is a second encouragement A. That such and others n indefinitely are still invited to come unto Christ and many arguments are used to make the invitation take n Isa 55.1 Apoc. 22.17 Q. What arguments are they A. That they shall find o Rest unto their Souls they shall have p Pardon q Peace r Eternal Happiness s no condemnation And that until they do come to Christ they are t dead and the wrath of God abides upon them o Mat. 11.28,29 p Acts 13.39 Eph. 1.7 q Eph. 2.14 Rom. 5.1 r John 3.16 1 John 5.11,12 s Rom. 8.1 t Ephes 2.1 John 5.40 John 3.36 Q. What is a third encouragement A. That Jesus Christ did never yet cast out any sinner that did come unto him and hath assured us that he never will John 6.37 Q. Is there no other encouragement beside these A. Yes this is another and a great one that Jesus Christ is abundantly u able and hath declared himself exceeding willing to save sinners yea the greatest u