calleth up his Officer Conscience out of all its Slumbers gives forth his uncontroulable Order to reprove the Rebel to set all his Sins in order Well Conscience must obey the Book is opened the Indictment as with the Voice of Thunder is read and the guilty Wretch roars out as one abandon'd to Despair It is like some Writings invisible till brought to the Fire and then all is legible But now on the other hand after a Man hath come under Christ's Yoke and continueth under it as a Loyal Subject in Faith Patience and sincere Obedience Now Conscience hath Peace and that upon sure and solid Ground Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by Faith we have Peace c. 2 Cor. 1. 12. This is our Rejoicing the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity not with Fleshly Wisdom but by the Grace of God we have had our Conversation c. Is it not then good to bear c. 6. It is good in respect of that security a Man hath under it that whatever befalls him here in this Life all shall now work for good I may now eat my Bread or want it with a chearful Spirit if I am tempted afflicted meet with Crosses Losses Disappointments in my Calling Well be it so yet this I know that being found in Christ and under his Yoke all lieth under that blessed Promise Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things work together for good c. Afflictions shall do thee good What good Ans Try thy Patience exercise thy Repentance learn thee Obedience make thee humble wean thee from the World conform thee to Christ shew thee more of the Corruptions of thy own Heart fill thee with more Pity and Compassion to others and finally fit thee more for thy Translation to Heaven Ah poor Desolate Sinner thou hast not one Syllable of this Promise or any other in the whole Book of God belonging to the while thou art Christless and Yokeless abiding under the Power of Unbelief and Impenitency thou abidest under the Terrible Threatnings of Divine Wrath and Vengeance thou hast not one poor Tag to hold to hang by for thy good only Divine Patience at present keeps thee out of Hell and that Darling Attribute thou abusest too but thou hast not one Promise to comfort thee Look into the Bible all 's against thee while thou refusest Christ's Yoke thy Part thy Portion in that Book lieth only among the Penal Statutes and Curses contained therein Look into the World all the Providences of God are against thee sculk were thou wilt send from County to County from one end of the Land to the other thou art but like a Rebel a Rogue Heavens Writs are out against thee so that no Place under Heaven is safe only under the Yoke of Christ and there thou wilt not come Ah my Brethren who would live in such a Case that but reflects reviews these things But now turn over a new Leaf come but over to blessed Jesus and under his easy Yoke and then all is for thee every Providence every Promise turns to and smiles upon thee every Wind whatever shall blow thee some good but till thou turn do what thou wilt thou can'st devise consult cast about thee to make thy Life comfortable all 's in vain Miseries attend thee thou dwellest on the dark side of the World not a Smile from God no he is angry with thee every Day at present thou art cursed and hereafter abiding out of Christ thou wilt be damned whereas would'st thou be but advised and perswaded to yield thy self to the Lord Jesus and his Yoke then even now in this Life would'st thou reap these six Benefits Thy Sins pardoned thy self adopted the Dominion of thy cruel Lusts subverted thy Duties accepted thy Conscience pacified and all the Providences of God sanctified to do thee good And then for the Life which is to come thy self eternally saved Which is next to be spoken to as falling under the second Branch viz. The blessed Effects and Consequences of bearing Christ's Yoke respecting the other World 2. It is good to bear the Yoke c. in respect of time to come And that briefly will appear if you consider That now the grievous Sting of Death is removed and the glorious Rest of Heaven remaineth So that I may now say Blessed be God my Eternal State is secured let Death come when it will I am safe as to the other World O Sirs when dreadful Fears of misâ—arring for ever fall upon a poor Creature it 's sad indeed that Word for ever the Thoughts of it work strongly and mightily on the Spirit of a tender Doubting Christian Hence I remember I have read of the Primitive Christians that they use to say Domine hic seca hic ure c. i. e. Lord cut here burn here so thou spare hereafter Ah poor unconverted Sinner thou art not sure of this Life another Hour that Deut. 28. 66. is but a sad Case O but then what is it to hang in suspense about everlasting Life if it were but a measuring Cast it were enough to disquiet a Man all his Days to go up and down in suspense about Eternity Ah I don't know but I may be damn'd for ever But my Brethren when it 's ten twenty nay an hundred to one but I am lost and undone for ever my next remove will be into Hell O! how can I eat or drink or sleep or laugh when there 's but a Paper-wall between my Soul and Hell When eternal Flames are e'en ready to kindle on me When if I am not found under this Yoke of Christ God's Truth stands ingaged for my Damnation Unconverted young Ones Have you no Pangs Can your Youthful Vanities quite drown the Fears the Thoughts of Eternity Do you never think of that Day of Judgment Or dare you in good earnest Poor Creature Suppose thou should'st make a Shift at best a sorry one God knows to rub through the Miseries that attend a Christless State in this Life Ah! what Shift in all the World can'st thou imagine thou can'st make when thou com'st to die and thence to be consigned to the dreadful Tribunal of an inexorable Judg This will be a Dilemma thou wilt never be able to answer Each Step of thy present Life thou now takest is towards Hell each Morsel thou now eat'st is but a feeding a fatning thee for the Day of Slaughter And what Peace can a Thief take in a long Table of Dainties with a Gallows at the end of it Sirs for the Lord's-sake think of the After-claps of Death and Judgment how bitter the Effects and Consequences of a vain and sinful Life will be What a Recoil what a Shriek will thy Soul give when it finds nothing opening before it but the eternal World and feels it self a sliding down a launching forth into that amazing Ocean of Eternity and has no Christ no Hope to fly to But now once come under the Yoke of Christ
found in every unconverted Sinner a stiff Neck a stout Heart a dark Mind and bruitish Affections an Infinite Power is therefore requisite to be employ'd to bring a Man under the Yoke It is true indeed God putteth forth this Power in a way suited to the Nature of Man Hosea 11. 14. it is said He drew them with the bands of a Man that is in a way of rational Conviction not by Force and Violence but by his Word and Spirit enlightning their Minds and awakening their Consciences to know and see the Power and Plague of their Sinful Natures and the sure and certain Woe and Misery Death and Damnation belonging to them while in their natural Estate and that will inevitably be their Portion if they continue and die therein now it is in this way that the Almighty displays and makes bare the Arm of his Power without offering Violence to the Will which is against the Nature of it but removing the Corruption of it he sweetly boweth and turneth it by his gracious and powerful Perswasions to come under Christ's Yoke He doth not drag a Sinner as you would do a Stone but he draws him by the Cords of Conviction agreeable to the Nature of a reasonable Creature Hence it is that his People are said to be a willing People in the day of his Power Psal 110. 3. That which in one Scripture is called Creation Resurrection to shew its invincible Power in another Scripture is called Illumination drawing turning from Darkness to Light to shew its admirable suitableness and sweetness to the Nature of Man It is in this way and by these means the Lord demolisheth those strong Holds of Sin viz. Ignorance Carnal Security Pride c. and so prepares the Soul for a closing with and Subjection to the Yoke of Christ and whatever injudicious Christians may say to the contrary yet this Truth standeth sure that a Man must first see himself lost and be made willing to cast off the Yoke of Sin before ever he will come under the Yoke of Christ without Conviction of his Sin and Misery there is no Subjection to Christ in the Gospel Which brings me to consider the other Branch viz. what is requisite on our part to come under the Yoke 2. On our part it is necessarily requisite that a Man take pains to know and rightly understand the true State of things between God and his Soul As 1. That God is thy Creator and thou art his Creature and that thereupon thou owest thy whole self to him since he raised thee out of Nothing and gave thee thy Being 2. That thou art an Apostate Creature a grievous Revolter from thy Sovereign and Rightful Lord and thereby liable to the Wrath of God so that now thy coming under Christ's Yoke is but thy coming back out of a State of Apostacy and yielding thy self to God 3. You are to understand That in this State of Apostacy so great was the Offence done to Divine Justice and so binding was the Curse and condemning Sentence of the Law upon fallen Man that there is now no appearing before no access to no acceptance with so holy a God but in and through a Mediatour because of that great Gulph Sin hath made between God and us Out of Christ he is a consuming Fire and we are as dried Stubble Luther used to say absque Christo non solum periculosum sed horribile est de Deo cogitare i. e. That it is not only dangerous but an horrible thing to think of God out of Christ O that there was an Heart in you to understand this Poor fallen Man had been for ever abandoned to Despair and left hopeless had not God in great compassion to our Miseries opened this Fountain of Grace and Door of Hope 2 Cor. 5. 20. God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself c. There is not a Man to be found on Earth reconciled to or accepted with God but as he is found in Christ Eph. 1. 6. Such is the grievous heinousness of Sin and the glorious Holiness of God that no Man may or can approach unto him but as he is a God propitiated by the Death of Christ The Lord speaks this home to your Hearts It is grown customary in every Man's Mouth almost to say we are all Sinners but God is Merciful and Christ hath died but alas to how few hath this come in the Demonstration of the Spirit and with Power Well this is necessarily requisite on our part in order to come under the Yoke that a Man know and understand this aright that there is no coming into the Favour of God but by Christ hence it is that this Yoke bears his Name Math. 11. 29. Take my Yoke upon you c. For this end the Son of God came down from Heaven into this miserable World to take our Nature and in our Nature to take upon him the accursed Yoke of our Sins that so making satisfaction thereby to offended Justice he might make way for poor Sinners to come under his blessed Yoke in order to their coming back to God again and becoming his Friends and Favourites in an everlasting Covenant of Peace And having said this it is necessary in the fourth place That 4. You are to understand and know in order to your coming under Christ's Yoke that in this state of things such was the infinite Dignity of Christ his Person being God-man and such was the unspotted Purity of his Nature he being holy harmless undefiled and seperate from Sinners that through his once offering up himself by the eternal Spirit to God he is now become the Author of eternal Salvation to all that come under his Yoke and is able to save all such to the uttermost Heb. 5. 9. and c. 7. 25. 26. The Phrase which the Apostle useth there is very Emphatical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it denotes both perfection and perpetuity He is able to save fully perfectly from all Sin Misery Enemies both from without and within it is so compleat and full as that it comprizeth all kinds and degrees of Salvation from all sorts of Sins Original and Actual yea from all the evil that is in Sin and from all the sad and miserable consequences of Sin And then there is the perpetuity of it he is able to save to the uttermost i. e. for ever it is not for a time only but to the end of our Lives indeed unto all Eternity not only to save us here on Earth but also in Heaven as Chrysost expounds it O comfortable Doctrine Guilt cannot look on Majesty and Majesty is most terrible in an Enemy in a Judg but when Christ interposeth God appeareth fully satisfied yea so full was the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ's Sufferings as that there is not only a fullness of sufficiency but redundancy So that the Merit of Christ's Sufferings did as far surmount the demerit of our Sins as the vast Ocean doth the least drop
coming under Christ's Yoke to save and secure your Immortal Souls from the Damnation of Hell Can their remain then any Doubt in this thing viz. The importancy and weight of coming under Christ's Yoke and that betimes or making over our precious Soul to Christ in an everlasting Lease or Bond when you are a lost Soul for ever if you do not and there remains no way but one with you even eternal Damnation unless you thus comply with God's established way of Life and Salvation as he hath plainly declared in the Gospel O then with what continual Solicitude and Carefulness should you mind and attend this one would think that it should swallow up your Thoughts Night and Day and that to talk of Indifferency and Remissness in this Case should be esteemed and entertained as talk of folding the Arms and betaking your self to sleep in case you were in a Ship that was ready to sink or an House that hath taken Fire So likewise one would think in so weighty a case to talk of Difficulties that there is a Lion in the way were a strange Impertinency and trifling when such an absolute necessity lies upon you in good earnest without delay to come to Christ and yield Subjection to his Yoke or be sentenced to an everlasting Destruction from his Presence 2 Thess 1. 8 9. to comply with and stand to his gracious Terms or fall into the Hands of a Sin-revenging living God Now since it s thus I make a solemn appeal to you young People before the Lord of Heaven and Earth this Day whether ever condemned Malefactor trembling under the fearful expectation of a shameful Death had more just cause supposing he received some hints that upon his Submission a Pardon for Life might be obtained to esteem it a Business of the most important deepest Concernment speedily to seek and humbly to sue for the King's Grace and Mercy than you have to Day while it 's called to Day to look upon it as the most serious awful Business that ever your Thoughts could converse with viz. to come in and comply with this way which God hath provided for and proposed to you not only as the best but the only way So that if this be refused there is no other you have no other Choice eternal Death lies upon the Neglect of it The Lord awaken you this Day to consider it You and I must at the Judgment of the Great Day stand accountable for this Sermon I have insisted the longer upon it because of that abounding Sloth and Aversion of our backward Hearts hereunto Which in course leads me in the seventh Place to tell you 7. That it is necessarily requisite on your part in order to come under Christ's Yoke to understand that since things are as you have heard surely it is no time for sitting still when you have a Business of that Infinite Weight and Importance depending which must be done or you undone for ever but to be up and doing that you may escape the final Doom of Unbelievers and Impenitent Sinners There remains not the least Doubt but that in this Case Diligence and Care is the Duty of all and every Mothers Child here but who almost among us is there that is stirring and striving in the diligent use of Means viz. Retiredness from a vain World deep Musings and Soliloquies servent and frequent Wrestlings in Prayer vehement Desires firm and fixed Resolutions c. O! what a wretched Stillness and Carelessness is there to be found in your Closets and Consciences as to these things Tears are fitter than Words to lament it There is a Jesus that hath come to seek you when all were lost that hath done much to save you when all were undone and under the condemning Sentence of God's fiery Law He bore the Yoke of your Guilt that a way might be made to restore you to his gracious and easier Yoke of Service which was so necessary with respect to your Fallen State that he could not love and save you had he left it out and suffered you to follow the Inclinations of your own corrupt and wicked Hearss and let you had your Wills in a course of Rebellion and Sin Now pray what have you done towards securing the present and eternal State of your miserable Souls in coming under his blessed Yoke After all that Christ hath done his Agonies bloody Sweat his Death on the Cross where are thy Prayers Tears Cares Fears Tremblings When did'st thou go apart and solemnly set thy self to meditate and commune with thy own Heart about the State of thy poor Soul using some such Soliloquy as this viz. O my Soul How is it with thee What State art thou in of Nature or Grace What are thy Wants thy Ails thy Maladies Art thou in Christ or Christless What are thy Dangers Temptations Sins Hast thou fled for Refuge under Christ's Cross When was the time thou did'st close with his Person Did'st thou ever sincerely like and comply with his Terms Can'st thou come up before God's Tribunal and stand to it that thou hast made a free Surrender of thy Self to him and with a Loyal Heart given thy Neck to his Yoke Will thy Evidences hold Weight in God's righteous Ballance Or are they light false and deceitful like Flowers on a dead Corps or Varnish on a rotten Post Was 't thou ever throughly made sensible of humbled for and by renewing Grace quickned raised out of that Gall of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity wherein thy Original Guilt did entomb thee This sort of Soliloquies is called in Scripture communing with ones own Heart making a diligent Search there Psal 77. 6. And then upon a Discovery of an yet abiding and remaining in the Chaos of corrupted Nature a solemn Enquiry is to be made O my Soul what hast thou been doing How hast thou spent thy time till now Did'st thou never hear or read of this thy vile State of Apostacy and Enmity Wast thou never called upon to turn and live e're this time Have not thy Parents many a time told thee thou wast conceived and brought forth in Sin and wert a Child of Wrath by Nature and that thou must be born again or perish Have not God's Ministers told and taught thee this altho thy Parents had not What if Death had come and haled thee out of this World to the Judgment-Seat in all thy Guilt and Sin Hast thou not seen many as young as thy self snatched away O how could'st thou divert and drive away Melancholly Thoughts of thy present Sin and approaching Misery and turn to Sports and Mirth and Follies and the vain Pleasures of a transitory deceitful World O! What a desperate Hazard hast thou run all the Days and Nights thou hast been in this World O foolish wretched Soul who hath bewitched thee thus to forget thy self yea to undo and destroy thy own and only Darling Self thy Soul which the whole World could'st thou gain it would be infinitely