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
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
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
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
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
no good thing Psal 84.11 and doth not he assure us that he that spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all will also with him give us all things that may be good for us Rom. 8.32 Do you think to live more to your own pleasure contentment or comfort Is it not in his presence that there is fulness of joy and at his right hand that there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Is it not in him alone that the Soul and Conscience can have true peace and a calm and that when nothing but storms and tempests are without read John 16.33 Tell me who but Christ can put your Soul into Davids frame of Spirit when in Davids condition Psal 63. banished hunted persecuted in the Wilderness destitute of maintenance friends a resting-place Ordinances every hour in jeopardy of his life and yet his Soul filled as with marrow and fatness in the company and enjoyment of God there could he sing and give â—raise In such a condition also was he when he penned Psalm 57. and yet his heart was fixed to sing and give praise If you think you can â—ive more profitably or more pleasantly without Christ in worldly and sinful ways and courses let me desire you to take a view of your time carriages and manner of life that that is by past And let me ask you the same question that the Apostle doth Rom. 6.21 What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed This I will assure you that either in respect of profit pleasure honour or comfort no company is like to Christs Oh! therefore let not him stand without while worse company is entertained in your hearts What is the reason why Christians hearts are so full of guilt doubts fears and dissatisfactions of every kinde but for want of the company and presence of Christ If this Sun of righteousness did but with healing under his wings arise upon and shine into our hearts he would quickly dispel and scatter all those midnight fogs and terrours that do so disturb and disquiet us and render our lives so uncomfortable 2. Suppose that you could live well enough without Christ while you live in this world Let me ask you what you will do or how you will make up your accounts at Death and Judgment without him You know that It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment You know also that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ for God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ Acts 17.31 and that in that day We must give him account of all that we have done in the flesh whether good or evil whether secret or open whether in thought word or deed there then we cannot avoid the meeting with Christ how then do you think that Christ the Judge will look upon you at that day who have so slightly looked upon him when he stood knocking at the door of your hearts Read with seriousness Prov. 1.24 to the end Matth. 25.11 12. Oh! the countenance and looks of Christ which to you now is despicable but to the Saints lovely will to you then be most dreadful and terrible Then will you cry to the mountains and hills to fall on you and to hide you from the presence of the Lord and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to abide it 3. Let me further ask you What is it that hinders you from opening to Christ at present Is it any thing that hath the colour or face of reason in it If not why do you suffer it to hinder you If it have let us examine it and see what strength of reason may be in it I can but at present call to minde these Three great and main hinderances that keep men off from opening to Christ at his call 1. The low and mean esteem which persons have of Christ's company feasts and banquets The generality of the world are clearly for some sensible good thing Who will shew us any good thing Psal 4.6 Something that may yield them some present advantage that may advance their estate their credit pleasure or honour something that they may see with their eyes or handle or taste c. something that is obvious to sense but as for invisible things an interest in Christ in the Covenant of Grace a future reward in another Life only for the present to be received and apprehended in the promise these things are little store set by If Christ would give them of these worldly good things then they would set store by him But if he tell them of spiritual Feasts of a Treasure in Heaven of a Crown of Glory and such like things these are not much taking with the generality of the world And therefore Christ his Feasts Company and Benefits being spiritual are little store set by by carnal hearts and when they are called upon to open to him they make light of it as not judging him worth the opening to But that this is a great mistake I might easily demonstrate for we have little reason to have so low an esteem and value of Christ his Benefits and Banquets if we do but rightly understand our selves We will suppose a man to have all that the world can afford him both in respect of profit pleasure and honour and yet want true peace of conscience true comfort in his Soul can these things give him this without Christ But where a Soul hath Christ he may have peace in his own Soul and Conscience in the absence of these worldly enjoyments David in a wilderness Paul and Silas in a dungeon with their feet fast in the stocks their stripes and wounds unwashed can sing praises to God with a merry and chearful heart Nay my Friends it is impossible for me to express that quietness and serenity of Spirit that abundant peace of Conscience Joy of heart contentation and satisfaction which a Believer enjoys in the company of and communion with Christ therefore it is called a Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is called A Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 It is not what a man hath but what gives true Peace Satisfaction and contentment to the Soul that makes a man happy and this none but Christ can do And therefore his company and banquets must needs be not so despicable as many men account them But alas it is their ignorance and want of experience would they but be perswaded to open to Christ and make trial of the excellency of his company and rarity of his banquets they would have a more venerable esteem for Christ than now they have 2. Another grand hindrance that keeps us off from opening to Christ is the urgency of other business When Christ comes and calls persons are so crowded with other business that they cannot be at leisure to open to him or give
thy Heart to the rebukes of Christ and willingly receive them 5. Open to the comforts of Christ We read that when Christ came to his Disciples when they were met together his first salutation which he gave them was Peace be unto you Luke 24.36 And truely where Christ comes into the Soul he brings true inward spiritual peace along with him and freely bestows it upon his Spouse But yet such is the proneness of our natures to unbelief that we many times refuse the comforts which Christ brings and do not apply them to our selves Sinners indeed do many times snatch presumptuously at these comforts which do not of right belong unto them nor indeed are they offered by Christ to them But the People of God sometimes through a foolish and sinful modesty refuse or at least are afraid to take and apply those comforts which Christ at his coming brings with him insomuch that Christ is forced to invite and entreat them to accept of them as his free gifts which he is really willing and desirous to bestow upon them This is really a fault in peâ—itent sinners for Christs real dâ—signe in coming is to give that which may be the surest and best ground of everlasting peace and comfort to the Soul If he convince of and reprove for sin and thereby cause sorrow and sadness in the Soul this searching is but in order to the healing of their wound that they may afterwards have more solid peace and comfort If he frown it is but to make his smiles the more pleasant and make us to prize them the more If he call us to and put us upon more difficult and to the flesh unpleasant work it is but that thereby he may honour us the more and his comfortable presence shall be with us in it If he cast us down for a time he will be careful that we be not overwhelmed with too much sorrow and will in due time lift us up refuse not therefore his comforts which are the designe of all his carriage towards thee whatever Christ doth and however he may seem to carry towards thee the ultimate end of all is to do thee good and comfort thee and therefore hath promised Rom. 8.28 That all things shall work together for good to them that love God 6. Open to the love of Christ I did perswade you before to open and enlarge your Hearts in love towards Christ But now I advise you to open your hearts to receive his love When Christ comes and manifests real tokens and demonstrations of his distinguishing everlasting love do not you despise or reject these It is an hard matter to convince and perswade some Christians that Christ loves them or at least that his love is real and distinguishing such as he bears to his own children or Spouse They will easily grant that they love him but cannot so easily believe that he loves them But I would ask such a Soul this question How camest thou thus to love Christ If thy love be real it is onely a reflex beam of Christ his love to thee he must necessarily love thee before thou canst love him For certainly there was a time when thou didst hate as all unregenerate persons do and who made thee then to differ either from others or from what thou thy self once was It can be nothing else but his love shed abroad in thy Heart This is the argument pleaded Ezek. 16.1 to the 15 v. Love is an affection not to be forced but to be drawn as is intimated Cant. 8.7 If a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned And it must be drawn by the discovery of some suitable and desirable excellency in the object beloved that may answer the need or desire of the Soul that loveth The Soul finding it self empty or void of something that might tend to the compleating of its happiness for happiness consists in the fulness of the Soul when it wants nothing while it wants any thing it is not compleatly happy upon this discovery of emptiness in it self seeks out where such a thing may be had and finding Jesus Christ to be that all sufficient object which may every way answer the need and emptiness of the Soul loves him with a love of desire and earnest longing after him as the onely person the enjoyment of whom can make her absolutely and perfectly happy And so far as she can enjoy him so far she is delighted and satisfied with him This is the true notion of love and if thy love to Christ be right it is such a love as this If thâ—refore upon the discovery of Christs excellency and perfection answerable to thine indigence and emptiness thy soul doth truely love Christ I would gladly know who discovered to thee this perfection and suitableness in Christ who is so generally dâ—spised in the world And who drew out thy heart in love to Christ upon this account Surely it must it can be none but Christ and if he thus with loving kindness have drawn thee certainly it is because He hath loved thee with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thou hast less reason therefore to question the real love of Christ to thee than to question the reality of thy love to him Open therefore thy heart freely to the love of Christ and instead of questioning the reality of Christs love to thee rather study how thou maist by returns of love and thankful obedience answer so great love as he hath manifested towards thee Study to improve and highly prize his love for he first loved thee or else thou couldest not have loved him at all 7. And lastly Open to the company and presence of Christ If Christ come to thy door and would come in and afford thee his company in any Ordinance or by any Providence whether in publick private or secret Open to him let him in let him have thy company let him see all the parts of thine heart hide nothing from him deal as Hezekiah did with the Babylonish Embassadors shewed them all that was in his house hid nothing from them So deal thou by Christ fully unbossome thy self to him improve thy time with him and interest in him to the best advantage reveal to him thy secrets confess to him thy sins acquaint him with thy wants seek counsel and advice from him in all thy difficulties strength in all thy weaknesses support under all thy burdens victory in all thy temptations comfort in all thine adversities a sanctified use or and a seasonable deliverance out of all thy troubles Beg to be guided by his counsel here the continuance of his presence with thee alwaies even to 〈◊〉 end and thy safe reception and conduct uâ—â—â— glory And if thou thus open to Christ eâ—â—nestly desiring and being freely willing that 〈◊〉 should work all thy works in thee and for thee he will come in unto thee and will sup with thee and thou with him Will feast thee with his Graces here and will crown all thy grace with Glory hereafter FINIS