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
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
your requests to Christ saying Tell me Oh thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest and where thou causest thy flocks to rest at noon c. Oh that I might enjoy powerful Ordinances and meet with the power and presence of Christ in them that mine eyes might see my teachers and mine ears hear a voice behind me saying This is the way walk in it Such-like Prayers as these you have been ever and anon putting up and in answer to these your Prayers Christ is come and stands knocking and calling Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove and my undefiled Those calls of Christ which are according to your real desires and in answer to your Prayers must needs be eminent and remarkable 8. Are not you the professed Spouse of Christ that have professedly given up your selves by a solemn Marriage-Covenant unto Christ engaged and swore that you will be his and at his service What deeper obligation can you lay upon your selves than you have done In your Baptism and renewed covenanting at the Lords Table and by solemn Vows and Covenants upon several occasions So that none in the world can be more solemnly engaged to open to Christ than you are And in regard you expect his coming every hour doth it not stand you upon to be always upon your Watch-tower waiting when your Lord will come that you may presently open to him And now when he both knocks and calls is not this a sufficient summons to you to open and let him in Every call of an Husband especially such an one as Christ is should have so much weight in it as to command the obedience of the Wise And therefore if not to others yet to you this call should be sufficiently eminent and remarkable or else your Husband may charge you with disloyalty and breach of covenant 9. Did ever Christ use more earnest intreaties and sweet compellations than he doth at this day Doth he not say as to the Spouse Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my undefiled Do not the sweet expressions of his love in suffering bleeding dying for you speak thus much Doth not the sweet voice and loving intreaties of Christ by his Word and Messengers speak this language Doth not his constant care about you and providential kindness unto you in every respect and according to what your hearts could wish bespeak you in this loving manner Do not all these lay that Christ speaks like a most sweet loving tender and kind-hearted Husband to you Open to me my Sister c. and surely these soft words might break the bone and force open the doors of our heart without any delâ—â— I am sure Christ hath manifested as much love and dealt with as much tenderness towards us as ever he did towards a people And therefore his calls are loud enough to be heard 10. Is not his head filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night If we take these words in a good sense that he comes fully fraught and furnished with all fulness and plenitude of blessings and benefits that our Souls can desire or stand in need of I appeal to any of your souls that ever did open to and let in the Lord Jesus Christ whether ever you found any want in him or were streightned in him whether he brought not more comfort and benefit with him than ever you were able to contain though you opened your mouths never so wide Hath he not fully answered and over-answered your most enlarged expectations so that you might have eaten and drunken far more abundantly if you had been able to contain it Every hair of his head hath a drop of some kinde of refreshment hanging at it which you might be welcome to And therefore his call is loud enough when he tells you what he hath brought with him But take the argument in a bad sense for the sufferings and afflictions of Christ and they are a loud call Hath not Christ suffered enough in his humiliation in making way to receive you into favour with God and into covenant with himself but you must put him to new pain and trouble by making him to stand waiting and dancing attendance at your door while you are snorting and stretching your self upon your bed of ease and security Was not his once offering up himself a Sacrifice for sin sufficient but you must crucifie him afresh and put him to new pain by your slothful and sluggish delays and unreasonable excuses Doth not Christ suffer enough in his Name and Honour from wicked blasphemous wretches who rend and tear his very Name wilfully reject him and will not have this man to rule over them but must he also be slighted and undervalued by you must he suffer in his Ministers by the revilings evil-speakings and persecutions that they endure in and from the world and is not this sufficient but their Hearts also must be made sad by your refusal to open to Christ The weight of this Argument makes this call to be very loud and especially at this day under the circumstances that we now are And therefore I desire it may be seriously considered By these enquiries we may see that the call of Christ at this day is very eminent and remarkable and therefore it concerns us to enquire what answer we make to this call Whether we have done and really do open to this call or no which is the 2. Enquiry which we proposed to make and I beseech you let us be serious in it It is a matter that greatly concerns us since Christ his calls are so eminent and his stay hath been so long at the door of our Hearts What answer have we made to the calls of Christ have we heartily sincerely and readily opened the doors of our Hearts that the King of glory might enter in But alas if we deal faithfully in the examination of our own Hearts and in the account which we give in this case it is to be feared that Christ hath had no better if so good an answer from us than he had here from his Spouse As will appear if our hearts make but true and faithful answer to these following Queries 1. If we have truely opened to Christ how comes it to pass that convictions are so ineffectual and fruitless as they are at this day We finde in the course of our Ministry the word of God sometimes working by way of conviction Persons are convinced by the word that they are the persons so and so guilty are a little startled and affrighted are pricked at the heart their Consciences smite them and tell them as Nathan did David Thou art the man to whom this reproof comes that art thus and thus guilty of sin art in a state of nature and unregeneracy in the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity and that if thou diest in this estate thou art undone for ever That there is no way or course left to avoid this but by opening to
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
him that I am sick of love I have sought him but cannot finde him I have called him but he gives me no answer If it be asked what is the reason why it is thus with many Believers It may be answered there is cause for it they have given Christ some unkinde answer he hath called but they have not heard or heeded He hath knocked and they have not opened And therefore he will make them sensible of their affront and unhandsome carriage before they shall finde him again 3. Hence also we may learn what a gross cheat the Devil and our own Hearts have put upon us and the great danger we have many of us been in by our refusing to open to Christ at his knocks and calls A greater cheat the Devil could not put upon us nor greater danger can we possibly be in than to be perswaded by him to refuse or delay to open to Christ And yet how ordinary is it for the Devil and carnal Reason to put this cheat upon us and by being so often and so long cheated what dreadful and tremendous danger have we many of us brought our selves into Christ hath called and called again and again by his Word and Providences by his Mercies and Judgements by his Spirit and our own Consciences and yet from time to time to this very day we have put him off with frivolous and vain excuses and have not fully opened the door of our Hearts to him Christ hath pressed us so far with arguments and those convincing and startling ones and of all sorts so that we could not deny but this hath been the voice of Christ insomuch that he may say What could I have done or said more than I have done And yet what cold entertainment hath he found at our doors May he not justly complain of us as of Israel of old Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord made bare It would make a man to tremble to think at the loud knocks and calls that God hath given to sinners in these Nations and yet to this day hath been shut out few have sincerely received him into their Hearts nay may it not be truely said as is complained John 1.11 He came to his own and his own received him not Many that have made a large profession of the Name of Christ that yet have not truely received him into their hearts Nay may not Christ say I am neer in their Mouth but far from their Reins Nay are there not many that we hope are truely the Spouse of Christ and have many a time prayed for the breathings of his Spirit and his comfortable presence and yet at his coming have shut him out and yet where are there any but they have their plausible excuses though if they were all examined they would prove as unreasonable as this in the Text. But these we shall make further inquiry into under another Use onely here let us take notice what an horrible cheat the Devil and carnal Reason have hereby put upon us and what a sad and dreadful condition we have hereby brought our selves into Which will undeniably appear if we consider 1. What and who those pretended Friends and Lovers are that we have entertained in our hearts while we have shut out Christ and refused to open at his call Shall I tell you 1 what and 2 who they are 1. What they are The Lovers which we have doted upon and entertained in our hearts while Christ hath been kept out they are first False and flattering Lovers They do not love us really and cordially though they make great shew and pretence of love There is none that loves so really as Jesus Christ doth His love was towards us while we were Enemies to him and did him much disservice but these onely love us while we please and gratifie them Do but cross the Devil the World or Flesh and you shall finde they will hate you and manifest themselves your Enemies Christ's love is pure love without any by-ends but the love of these is onely a pretended love for their own ends and the carrying on of their own designes His love is a love indeed and he hath by what he hath done and suffered for us in real and great deeds manifested the reality of his love but their love is meerly verbal and complemental promising much but performing little or nothing of what they promise His love is chiefly manifested in adversity in straights in distresses when all others frown upon us and we have now hither to betake our selves but to him but their love is onely in prosperity and when we have the least need of them For if ever we really stand in need of them as at death and at Judgement then they will be the furthest off from helping us of affording any relief nay then they will appear to be our enemies and the first that shal set themselves against us And are these friends to be trusted and to be kept in our hearts when Jesus Christ must be shut out How do we suffer our selves to be miserably deluded by these errand cheats 2. These Lovers and pretended Friends they are unprofitable Lovers and Friends Let them afford the best help they can they can afford no such benefit and advantage as Jesus Christ can and doth The Wise-man speaking of worldly things saith Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Riches certainly make themselves wings and flie as an eagle towards Heaven There is no securing or holding fast these things When the Devil would have tempted our Saviour to worship him Matth. 4. he shews him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and faith All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And yet this was not in his power to give But suppose these were in his power to give and that he would be as good as his word and really give them yet What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul But suppose he would perswade you that you might gain the one and save the other yet the Apostle tells us the contrary 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him And I am sure if the love of God be not in him he cannot save his soul For the Apostle saith If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 and If we love not him that is begotten we cannot love him that begetteth for the Father and the Son are one and therefore there is no real profit to be got by them but are great losers and therefore in hearkening unto them we are miserably cheated 3. They are very uncomfortable Friends if compared with Christ They pretend Mirth and Pleasure and Delight but even in the midst of mirth the heart is sad
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