forget also thy owne people and thy fathers house So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty for hee is thy Lord and worship thou him Take notice there must be a forgetting of the fathers house that is of all lusts sinnes and corruptions profits and pleasures all must bee forgotten and forsaken Simile A woman when shee is married unto a husband must not thinke alwayes to bee at home and to live in her fathers house so we when we are married to the Lord Christ Iesus must leave all our darling sinnes and forsake all our beloved lusts and reserve our selves wholly for our husband So that then the heart is prepared for Christ when all is laid aside when all former wicked courses are forgotten so farre as to love them as to remember to hate them that so the soule may be ready and the heart fitted to receive and entertaine Christ Iesus when he commeth And this is the rule which Christ himselfe giveth to any which will be his Disciple Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me that is he is not fitted and prepared to receive me He that is not content to part with all profits pleasures and delights for the Lords sake he is not fit to receive the Lord Iesus Christ that soule is not yet prepared to entertaine him and to give any welcome to him So that this is the first passage there must bee nothing betweene Christ and the soule hee must lie next the heart as there must none lie in the Privie Chamber but the King so there must nothing but Christ lie next the heart The second thing wherein this preparation discovers it selfe is this 2. In giving way to Jesus Christ As the soule must reserve itselfe onely for Christ so the soule in the second place must be willing to give way to Christ Iesus For howsoever the soule in the very point and instant of preparation hath no more power or grace or strength to get dominion over sin than it had before yet it is willingly content that Iesus Christ should come into it and overthrow all that opposeth him it is content to joyne sides with Christ it goeth along with him it is content that Christ should do what pleaseth him in the soule if there be any corruption that the soule cannot get mastery of it wisheth Oh that Christ would come and remoove this corruption Thus the soule is content to have Christ make havock of all and set up his kingdome in it and doe whatsoever pleaseth him The soule that is prepared for Christ how soever it hath not grace and power and strength in the particular moment of preparation though it hath not attained that power to kill and crucifie all corruptions yet it is willingly content that Christ should come and take all the keyes of the house it is willing to open the gates of the City unto him and let him doe what hee will therein it is content that the Lord Iesus should every way overthrow the power that comes against him and dispose of all things to his owne glory and honour In Esay 26.13 There is a pretty passage saith the Text Other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee onely will we make mention of thy Name The people of the Iewes here would not beare the Lords yoke and therefore they had hard taskmasters and when they saw enemies on the one side and enemies on the other then they complained Many vexations have we found at the hands of unreasonable tyrants but now we wil remember thy Name onely that is if our God will now come and rule over us wee would rebell against our other lords and let God be Lord onely over us and doe what he will unto us In 2 Kings 10.3.4 when Iehu had overcome two Kings he sendeth messengers to the people of Israel to choose a King and set him up over them But saith the Text behold two Kings stood not before him how then shall wee stand But in the fifth verse they sent word unto Iehu and sayd We are thy servants and will doe what thou wouldst have us to doe we wil not not make any King doe what is good in thine own eyes This is the frame of the heart prepared for the Lord Iesus When Christ cōmeth against a soule and saith You have set up your corruptions to be your gods you have cast away my Commandements defend therefore your selves and know that God is angry with you and I am comming against you to take vengeance if the soule now submits it selfe and saith Lord do what thou wilt and what is good in thine owne eyes our humors shall not be followed any more we will not follow our owne minds and affections but we will doe what thou commandest us doe Lord even what is good in thine eyes if a soule bee thus disposed then it is prepared for the Lord Iesus The prodigall son Luke 15. when hee saw that poverty pinched him and that he must come home by weeping crosse when by wofull experience hee saw that want befell him and that famine came close unto him then hee confessed What a wretch am I there are they in my fathers house yea the servants there have bread enough but I starve here for hunger upon this he resolves to goe to his father he doth not stand vpon termes with him and say I will be so and so advanced but he saith Luk. 15.18.19 Father I have sinned against heaven and against thee am no more worthy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants Now if hee can come within his fathers doores he cares not hee will stoope and bee conformable in every case So it is with the soule prepared for Christ those that have stubborne hearts they will not obey the Lord but they will be gone as the prodigall sonne did yet they will one day bee found when misery hath seized upon their soules and then they will say Oh happy are those that live under the ministery of the Word If the Lord would but once receive mee to mercy againe then I would obey every command and stoope to every word of the Lord then I would willingly give place ever to the Lord. And this is the second thing wherein this preparation manifests it selfe when the soule of a poore sinner is willing thus to give way to Christ and to let him take possession of it to overthrow whatsoever hindereth and opposeth him and to dispose of all things to his owne good pleasure Thirdly 3. In giving up all the roome unto Christ when the soule doth rebell against her former sinnes and is reserved only for Christ and is content thus to receive God and is willing that Christ should overthrow whatsoever opposeth him and doe whatsoever pleaseth him then in the third place this is only observable the manner how the soule prepared giveth way unto God It gives the
liberty For the first I told you that the maine which wee aimed at is to take notice how the soule may come to have an interest and a title to Christ and how to come to be possessed of him and of all that great redemption which he hath wrought Now the application of this discovers it selfe in two things first there must be a preparation secondly there must be an ingrafting of the soule into Christ before the heart can come to be partaker of that sap or of that saving grace which is in Christ and which will flow from him to all that have any interest in him through faith There must be a preparation before the sinner can come to receive Christ For as before conversion he wanted grace so hee is not capable in the next passive power to receive grace For as the Apostle saith the carnall man is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be for the naturall man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God nay 1 Cor. 2 14. he cannot receive them because they are foolishnesse to him So that there must be a preparation of the soule before Christ will come and take possession of it and an emptying of the soule before Christ will fill it Now this preparation made it selfe known Preparation for Christ stands in two things as you remember in two particulars first in the dispensation of the worke on Gods part that is the Lord drawes the sinner from himselfe and his corruption and breakes that cursed league and combination that is between sin the soule he rends the heart from it for as our Saviour Christ saith No man can come to the Son except the Father draw him Iohn 6.44 Secondly as the dispensation on Gods part so there is something for the disposition which God workes upon the hearts of all that he will prepare for Christ and that is known in two workes contrition and humiliation which we have already handled Two things keepe from Christ These were not things of meere complement but of necessity required as wee haue disputed and it is requisite that the soule have both the workes of contrition and of humilation For there are two maine hinderances which keepe the soule off from Christ as first security in his owne estate whereby the heart is blinded and deluded and sets up his stand and is at rest and quiet in his condition and hee seeth no need of any better and from hence naturall men thinke it needlesse for Ministers to disquiet them and they say What would you have done by us And they thinke it a matter of curiositie either to have their hearts changed or their lives reformed Now therefore the Lord sends in this worke of contrition and pierceth the heart thorow and lets in the horrour of his vengeance and makes the soule see that if he will have his sin he must have his damnation too and by this time the soule comes to see need of a change and hee seeth if he continue thus he is an undone man and shall be damned for ever Thus the Lord pluckes away the soule from that securitie wherein naturally it is setled The second thing which keeps him off from Christ is carnall confidence for when the sinner seeth his misery by reason of his sin that lodgeth in his heart and that hath been committed by him then he begins to seeke succour and to scramble for his owne comfort Well he seeth that sin is dangerous and he will mend now and reforme all that God condemnes him in and he thinkes ovt of his owne power to save his owne soule and to give God content and to make amends for all that he hath done amisse This is his carnall confidence which he hath in his owne selfe-sufficiency and here many thousands of soules perish resting meerly in the huske and shell of their prayers and hearing which in themselves are good and commendable but they are no Mediatours or Saviours to us Therefore that the Lord may plucke the soule from this carnall confidence he sends out another great worke of humiliation and makes the soule see the weaknesse and emptinesse of its duties and that there is enough in its best services to condemne him and for which the Lords wrath may confound him for ever And now the soule seeth that notwithstanding all his prayers and hearings yet his sin remaines yea remaines unpardoned his corruptions are not subdued his conscience not quieted and therefore despairing of all help in himselfe or in the creature he falls down at the foot of the Lord and is content to be at Gods dispose and when the soule is thus fitted then it is prepared to goe out of it selfe and to lay hold upon the Lord Iesus Christ and upon the fountain of all that good that works all good in him This humiliation works and this is the fitting of the soule for Christ Thus farre we have gone all this while the poore sinner is like the children of Israel travelling in the wildernesse partly in the valley of teares and partly in the vast wildernesse they did not immediately come into the Land of Canaan but were wandring under the hands of Moses which was a type of the Law and Ioshua a type of Iesus Christ and Egypt the resemblance of a mans misery under sin and Sathan and their wandring in the wildernesse was like the humbling and breaking of the soule that the Lord may doe it good Now wee are just upon the coasts of Canaan and hard by all those spirituall good things that Christ hath purchased for us and when the soule is thus fitted and prepared there is nothing to bee done but to goe into the good land and take possession I meane when the heart is thus rent from himselfe and his corruption then he must lay hold upon Christ and enter into the good Land but before we goe we must haue the command of our spiritual Ioshua to set us in possession of it Thus you see the soule is like a graft cut off from the old stock by contrition and also pared and fitted by humiliation in regard of any selfe-sufficiency Now the nex part that we are to handle is the ingraffing of the soule into Christ and I will doe two things in the handling of this great work of ingraffing First I will discover the generall nature of this worke leaving all the difficulties and particulars of it till afterward See it in the 2. Doctrine if God give liberty secondly I will shew you how the soule is ingraffed into Christ 1. What this ingraffing is What ingraffing into Christ is This being in Christ may be thus described to you It is a worke of the Spirit of God whereby the humbled sinner stands possessed of Christ and all the good that is in Christ In this description you may take notice of three things which are the speciall guides to you for the vnderstanding of that which we will
And that other place in Luke 3.5.6 can admit of no other sense Every valley shall be filled and every mountaine and hill shall be brought low And all flesh shall see the salvation of God These words cannot be literally understood for there was no mountaines to be removed nor no vallies to bee filled up for Christ was no temporall King but the meaning is a removeall of all those mountains and impediments that stood betweene Christ and the soule Thus you see the Temple prepared is nothing but the heart truely broken and humbled Secondly let us see what it is to come into this Temple And Christs comming to it As the way and the Temple was so the comming into this Temple is to be spiritually understood and that is when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession of him but consider this he comes like a King and therefore hee hath Iohn Baptist to make way for him The comming of a King discovers it selfe in two things first the King taketh the Soveraigne command of the place where he is and if there be any guests there they must be gone and resigne up all the house to him so the Lord Iesus comes to take soveraigne possession of the soule Secondly the King brings all his provision with him so the Lord Christ brings all provision for the soule with him So then the meaning is this When Iohn Baptist by the power of the word hath wrovght upon the soule and made it humble and low and willing to be at the Lords dispose when the broken heart seeks for a Saviour then the Lord comes suddenly and like a King You humble soules consider this he will take possession of those humble broken hearts of yours and he will bring his owne provision with him he cares for nothing but a vessell emptied and a heart thus fitted and prepared he will bring provision enough of comfort of vocation of adoption of sanctification and the like In this part of the verse thus opened wee have two doctrines first that the Lord Iesus Christ will not delay to come into the heart that is truely humbled and broken Who is the Lord Christ What is the Temple The heart truely humbled And when comes he Suddenly this is the ground of the doctrine The second is the Lord Iesus takes possession of the soule humbled and provides for it as his owne he comes like a King as I said before This is the ground of the second point which discovers the nature of the implantation the first discouers the appurtenances of it Doct. Christ delays not to come into an humbled heart For the first The Lord Iesus will not delay to come into the heart truely humbled as I may say he layeth all other workes aside as if he did looke for none but this how he may come home to the heart truely humbled The Lord will not come at a proud worldly minded man No the Lord leaves all yea heaven and all the world and onely lookes after and loues to live with the humble broken heart For proofe of the point This is the reason why the Scripture doth not content it selfe to shew the marvellous delight that God hath in such a spirit See how plenteous the Scripture is to shew how ready the Lord is to call in at the heart of the humbled soule and to rise and lie and rest to eat and drink and sleep with the humble heart nay when he is come he wil not away againe as wee may see in that example of the lost son Luke 15.20 Hee said I will arise and goe to my father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am not worthy to bee called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants As soone as ever he resolved of the worke marke how the father behaues himselfe towards him though he were base and beggarly in his condition He might have said Let thy Harlots and thy Queanes helpe thee But he saw him a far off and ran to meet him and fell upon his neck and kissed him Though he were a wretched creature yet now he because the father saw him humble he remembers not that he had been with Harlots all was forgotten the father saw him afarre off before the child could spie him he pittied him before he could confesse his sin he was more ready to meet him than he was to come and he kissed him before he could receiue any acknowledgement from him This is the marvellous enlargement of the Lord to receive an humble broken heart And when he had kissed him Luk 15.21 22 the lost child said Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy son But the father said to his servants Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring upon his hand and so forth as if he had said It is no matter what thou hast bin now thou art come home and hast humbled thy selfe I am glad of it Thus he passeth by all the former misdemenours And so it is in the same Chapter ver 4.5.6 If a man have an hundred sheep and lose one will he not leaue the ninety nine and seek that which was lost And when hee hath found it hee layeth it on his shoulders rejoycing And when he comes home he calleth together his friends and saith Rejoyce with me for I have found my lost sheep The meaning is this The lost sheep is the lost sinner that is wandred from the Lord Iesus Christ The soule that after all the mercies and favours that God hath shewed to allure him he goes away from God and then one drops in a ditch and another is lost in the wildernesse or Forrest yet hee leaues all to seeke the lost sheepe and leaveth not seeking till he findeth it and if he hath found it he reioyceth For the Lord will leave all to seeke a poore lost sinner and the more need thou hast and the more lost thou art in thy selfe the more labour will the Lord take to find thee out and though thou canst not goe the Lord will carry thee upon his shoulders and when thou art come home hee rejoyceth exceedingly This shewes the marvellous bounty of the Lord to poore sinners it is the scope of the Parable concerning the Pearle Matth. 13.45.46 The kingdome of heaven is like unto a wise Merchant man who having found one Pearle of great Price went and sold all that he had to buy it The pearle is nothing else but that rich mercy of God in his son Christ and Christ in the promise is the Pearle and the Merchant-man is every Christian man that wants mercy and comfort to releive him for he saith What is all the world to me if my soule wants mercy Well he knowes where the Pearle is What 's the price of it Sell all Selling of all is nothing but this when a man is content to part with sin and all
carnal confidence in himselfe and he seeth himself miserable because of sin and utterly unable to succour himselfe and is content to part with wit or parts or gifts and all that hee hath for the Lord Iesus Christ then suddenly he hath the Pearle If it be so saith the Lord that nothing will quiet thee but the Lord Christ and mercy from him then take mercy If chapmen bid roundly you shall not need to stand higling for it Would you have Christ to comfort you and pardon you then lay away all your lusts and corruptions and the world and all the haunts of your hearts and all the distempers that are in them Do this and the Lord will give you the Pearle he will giue you Christ and mercy from him The Reasons why the Lord will not delay to come to the humbled soule are three Reason 1. The Lord Iesus Christ was sent for this very end by God the Father as Mat. 15.24 I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel And not onely so but Christ came for that end as Luke 19.10 The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost the end of God the fathers sending of him and the maine scope of his comming was to seek and saue that which was lost that is that is lost in the sight and sense of his own misery and lost in regard of his owne insufficiency to helpe himselfe for the lost man is willing to be guided by another If you should find a man in the wildernesse and say Friend this is not the way would not he be contented to heare and to yeeld to it So if thou be lost if thou seest thy owne misery for sin and that if thou lie in this estate thou art a damned man and if thou see thy selfe lost in regard of thy owne insufficiency to help thy selfe and that thou art not able to get out of this condition and misery wherein thou art willing to be reformed and to bee disposed of then know that the Sonne of man the Lord Christ Iesus came to seeke and save such lost sinners and when he hath found them he will not leave them in this lost estate but will save them If this be then the end of God the Fathers sending him and the scope of Christs comming to save the lost sinner then certainly above all hee will bee faithfull in that for which hee came hee will undoubtedly save those that are lost Reason 2. Because the humbled broken hearted sinner is the fittest subiect to set out these praises of this glorious work of our redemption he is the fittest for God to work upon and for the Lord Christ to dwell in and he is the fittest to set out the praise of that rich grace in Christ as the Apostle saith Ephes 1.11 Who worketh all things according to the counsell of his owne will Why That we should bee to the praise of his glorious grace Therefore now consider it there is no soule so fitting to set forth the glorious grace of Christ and the great worke of our redempption as the poore humbled selfe-denying heart for the humbled soule waites for all grace from God and is willing to returne all to God againe and hee saith I am not worthy of the least mercy I need and therfore he is contented that God deny him any thing This man is the fittest to set forth the great worke of God and to further the aime of God in setting forth the riches of his glorious grace it is all grace from the beginning to the end as Zechariah hath it chap. 4.7 Grace laid the first stone and grace laid the last stone and all the people cried saying Grace Grace so the humbled soule sets forth the praise of God and saith I deserue nothing but hell and whatsoever I have more than hell it is all from the Lord and all glory is due to him it is grace that I live and it is grace that I persevere it is all grace from election to glorification whereas the proud heart spoiles all the work of God And it is no wonder though God will not dwell with a proud heart The proud heart for what he hath and for what he can doe gives all to himselfe where is grace now The humble heart is like a great shop where the great frame of mans saluation may best be seen for there are many dark shops that deceive the buyer and marre the wares too for the humbled heart saith The worke of the Lord is marvellous in our eyes and ought to be marvellous in our hearts No man will dwell in a house but where his credit may bee maintained and for his conveniency if either of these may be hindred by it he will not dwell in that house It s no wonder then though the Lord Iesus come to dwell in the heart of an humbled soule Christ would work and the humbled soule is contented with it and Christ would have all the glory from the humbled soule and he is well contented to give all the glory to God We use to say in the schooles If any man have disposed of his dwelling and framed the building and fitted it he wil set it up except he either want wisedome and knows not how to doe it or else power and is not able to perfect that worke which he hath begun These cannot befall God A wise efficient cause never framed any matter but he brings in the frame and sets it up Hee that hath fitted and framed all the materials of his building if he will not make up the frame for himselfe it is either because hee wants power and cannot doe it or else wants wisedome and knowes not how to doe it but the Lord that hath fitted the heart for himselfe that all may be done by him and all the glory of the worke come to him againe he neither wants power nor wisedome to finish the worke hee hath begun and therefore he will not deferre but will come suddenly and take possession of him Reason 3. Lastly the Lord will not deferre to come to dwell in an humbled heart because all hinderances are now taken away and therefore the place is ready to receive him and he ready to come certainly he will come without delay If there be any hindderances to keepe out Christ it must be either on Christs part or on our parts but in the humble heart there is nothing to hinder it If any thing keepe us off from Christ it is either because we loue our selues or our corruptions Now the humble heart hath renounced both of these and the humble soule saith My sin shall not rule me and my selfe cannot save me therefore let the Lord Iesus Christ come and take possession of my heart The humble heart hath renounced sin and himselfe and now he would have the Lord Iesus Christ to be his King and Saviour Now all the hinderances must bee on Christs part and that
hearts the Lord Christs baile will be taken for more debts then you owe nay the Father desires no better surety as hee himselfe saith Mat. 3.13 This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased hee doth not say with whom I am well pleased but in whom that is in him and all that come to God the father in his name Thus the Lord Iesus Christ doth and so a sinner is freed from that wrath of the Almighty Secondly the power of Satan is crushed so that he shall never more bee able to bee Lord and Ruler over the soule truely humbled but wheresoever the Lord Iesus Christ comes Satan gives way to the supreame authority of the Lord Christ and the Lord Iesus makes all to vanish and no more to appeare or have any thing to doe in the heart as hee himselfe saith in Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of Hel and of death You know that he that hath the keyes doth all he opens and shuts he lets in and puts out whom he will so the Lord Christ hath the supreame command over hell and death and he can unlocke hell gates and bring out from the gates of death any poore sinner that is wronged by Satan and therefore when the Lord Iesus Christ arose he led captivity captive as a valiant triumphant Conquerour leades a company of poore captives Now then Christ having conquered hell and death wheresoever he comes Sathan gives way and dares not meddle there any more Therefore Christ saith in Luke 10.11 I saw Sathan fall downe from heaven like lightning that is when the Scepter of Christ was set up in the Gospel then the Devill that cruell tyrant fel down on a sudden and was faine to give way and not to lay claime to the heart Thus sinne is shaken off and comes to bee casheered from that soule for whom Christ hath undertaken Sin as it were challengeth prescription to the soule but Christ having taken possession he satisfieth all quarrels and beares all the charges of whatsoever sinne makes against the soule and when sin saith I have had a possession of his soule from his very birth to this day and why should I goe out now then the Lord Iesus saith the issue is out and thus sin challengeth a right to the heart but Christ saith it is forgiven And therefore though sin be never so violent yet the Lord Iesus saith that soule is mine and was created by mee for my owne glory and howsoever sinne hath crept in yet now depart I am come to take possession of it Rom. 8.3 there the Apostle saith What the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh The phrase that fits our purpose is this the Lord Christ condemned sinne The judgement of Mr Calvin is this To condemne sinne in the flesh is nothing else but thus as it is with a man that is in law when the cause goes against a man and hee is cast in that he laid claime to we use to say hee is condemned Sinne layeth a kind of claime to the soule of a poore sinner and claimeth a kind of right upon these grounds Every sonne of Adam is a child of disobedience and so the child of wrath But that man is a child of Adam and therefore the child of disobedience and consequently death and damnation is due to that man and hereupon hee is mine Now Christ answers all these pleas of sinne and makes sin fall off from the cause and saith It is true that those that are charged with the sinne of Adam and are under the power of that corruption which they receive from Adam they are the children of disobedience and so no wonder though they are subject to wrath He grants all this but yet saith hee They for whom the sinne of Adam hath bin satisfied and from whom the guilt of it removed and they for whom Christ hath conquered sinne they ought not to be condemned for they are delivered from this wrath but such is this humble soule for whom I have undertaken Is the sinne of Adam imputed I have satisfied for it doth the sinne of Adam prevaile against him by my death I have overcome sinne and hell and hee shall haue the benefit of my victorie Now sinne falls off from the claime and loseth the day If the first Adam hath sinned against God the second Adam hath suffered if the first Adam hath polluted the sonnes of men the Lord Iesus by the power of quickning hath subdued the power of corruption so that neither the guilt of sinne can be imputed nor the power of sinne prevaile against the poore sinner for whom Christ undertaketh So then it is plaine that the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule and provides for it as in all the three particulars this is the first particular of the possession Reas 2 Secondly Christ doth dispose of the soule for his best advantage This is one specialty that a man will dispose all his occasions for his owne convenience for his owne behoofe so farre as may be for his owne benenefit and comfort So when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession he will have the rule and command of the heart But when Satan that strong man armed keepes the house and sinne rules in the soule in a mans naturall condition and that the soule is at their managing and at their framing and teaching it either lyes barren and fallow or else brings forth nothing but thornes and thistles as in Ier. 4.3 Breake up the fallow grounds of your hearts and sow not among thornes for the soule naturally being ruled by sinne is overspread with thornes and is altogether corrupt and detestable and Satan and sinne rule in the heart and affections so that now the whole frame of the soule bringeth out fruits of darknesse to Satan And hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 6.20 When yee were the servants of sin yee were free from righteousnesse that is when yee were under the power of sinne yee did not worke for God yee did all to satisfie your owne lusts the drunkard is free from the power of sobriety and the thiefe is free from the power of justice and so the graces of Gods Spirit rule not in a man But now when the Lord hath by the power of his grace bound the strong man and cast him out by contrition and humiliation then hee takes the soule and it is in the hands of the Lord Iesus Christ and hee disposeth of it so as may bee for the comfort of the soule and for the furtherance of the glory of his rich grace In Matth. 20.15 when the servants began to quarrell because they had but every man a penny the Master said Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine owne so when the Lord hath cast out corruption and saith This heart and this hand and this tongue
way and the God of heaven goe with thee this is a worke of God that will never leaue thee and it is a badge and a proper livery that the Lord Iesus gives onely to his Saints never a meere professor under heauen ever wore it nay there was never any hipocrite under heauen to whom God did intend it but onely those whom he hath effectually called and whom hee will save therefore though thou wantest all thou hast all to comfort thee in the want of all and thou maist say I can say little for Christ my tongue falters and my memory is weake yet the Lord knowes I loue the Lord Iesus 1 Ioh. 4.7 it is the incouragement that the Apostle gives saying Love one another for love commeth of God and every one that loveth is borne of God Indeed he presseth it in regard of the love to the brethren but the arguments serve for our purpose for if the loue of the brethren come from God then the loue of God is a more speciall worke of God Therefore can you plead thus with your hearts and say The time was Lord that this wretched sinfull carnall heart of mine could find no relish in the promises of grace and I could not bring this base heart to love the Lord Iesus Christ and the promise was wearisome to me but now I thanke God I can doe that which before I could not doe I thanke God that the promise of life and the light of Gods countenance is more to me now than all the contentments of the world surely I loue the Lord Iesus Christ And is not this of God Yes I warrant theee it is not of thy selfe thou hast beene taught from heaven it was not the schoole of the flesh and the world that taught thee this lecture it is from heaven and the Spirit of the Father hath over-shadowed thee in his promise and hath kindled this sparkle of loue in thee and thou hast that which is sound and true therefore bee comforted and reioyce in it thou canst say more than any man under heaven can say that hath not this sound love in his heart And likewise blessednesse And as this is a ground of comfort so also it is a ground of blessednesse Rom. 8.28 All things worke for the bâ—st to those that loue God Me-thinkes the Apostle speakes of such a love as is wrought by the Spirit of the Father in our vocation they worke for the best to those that are called according to his purpose he minded well towards them and called them from the love of the world And therefore since nothing can harme thee goe thy way and let nothing dismay thee nor discourage thee nay goe away ever cheered I charge you David desired no more but what God was wont to doe to his children that loved his name Doe to mee saith the Text as thou usest to doe to those that loue and feare thy Name Psal 119.132 I know thou lovest them that love thee and wilt save and glorifie them in the end I desire no more but this Doe as thou usest to doe to those that love thy Name Be quieted with thy childs part thy lot is fallen into a marvellous faire ground David a King desired no more and if thou hast so much as hee had it is enough Ob. Oh but some will say this is all the difficulty if a man had this love which came from God effectually calling him it were enough and a man might have comfort in it but there is a great deale of false love and false ioy in the world therefore how shall I know whether mine be any otherwise than theirs that I may not bee deceived as they are How may I know if this be of the right stamp For if it be right love God will owne it Answ Notes of true love to Christ Now for the answer to this question let every man put his love vpon the triall and wee will say no more then that which we have ground for from the doctrine delivered Therefore examine thy loue and thy joy thus Whether dost thou welcome Christ and grace according to the worth of them Now marke this if I prove I love God then there will be joy there too for they both grow upon one root onely this joy hath a little more of the sweetnesse of Gods love in it Now whether we welcome Christ according to the worth of it it will appeare by these five particulars First observe the roote and rise from whence thy love came 1. Triall consider this and weigh it sadly for it is of great difficulty yet it is never failing and it is the narrowest search that I know of therefore looke well to it if it come from the right mint it is currant You know it is the priviledge of Kings and Princes Simile that all the coine that comes from his Mint and is coined with his stamp is warrantable but if there bee any other Mint the King will not allow of it but rather punish him that did it lust so it is with this love it is the priviledge of the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of Gods love to mint and to coine love that may bee currant love indeed that hee may take for good payment Therefore doth thy love come from the Spirit of the Father then it is onely fit to close with a Saviour with the Father and the Spirit and so consequently the Father allowes it Great men must bee entertained answerable to their persons Another for such a man to have poore and leane diet it is not meet for him the greatest delicates that can be doe beseeme such men of place So this leane and earthly and naturall love that growes onely out of thy owne parts and abilities or whatsoever it is it is but leane love and poore provision and suites not with God the Father nor Iesus Christ Base love and base things for base men and meane love for meane things and naturall love for naturall things but would you entertaine the Father from heaven and a spirituall Saviour then you must let your love be spirituall to welcome a blessed Saviour This besuits him Simile and otherwise he will not be entertained As it is with flowers the flowers that are of speciall planting as Ieremy speaks of the Iewes and the flowers that are inoculated by the hand of the cunning Gardiner as the Provice Rose or the like there is much care and paines about them but your ordinary hedge row Roses there is no care taken for them Iust so it is with the worke of Gods grace and all other common graces in the world there is a provice love and joy that is a love that comes from the planting and a joy that comes from the inoculating of the spirit This provice love and joy is wrought by the Spirit of God and this makes a sweet savour in the nostrils of Almighty God and of the Lord Iesus Christ and the Lord
When a man entertaines the King he is content though the King put him out of his owne house to bee his servant for the while and if his Majesty may be contented he cares not so it is with a gracious humble heart if the Lord will blast a mans parts and comforts and take all from him and give him Christ naked and onely that honour that is in him hee is contented This heart is right and hee will say It is Gods will to take away these parts honours credit c. and if the Lord Jesus say I will not assist nor comfort thy soule he lyes downe and saith not a word but this Let the Lord be honoured though I be as the dung in the streets whatsoever become of me though I be damned so the Lords glory may be advanced I am content Suppose this should be which indeed cannot be that a man were left destitute of al comfort friends and meanes and all that he hath loved heretofore and in stead of honour were to have shame and imprisonment for liberty and want and dishonour in stead of friends the soule saith It is Gods will to doe so and to take away honour and parts who must order the businesse but he onely Doth it please the Lord Jesus to doe so blessed bee his name for it I shall now be contented let me lye at his feet though I goe downe to hell let me wait on him and let him doe what he will Now all you that are of any of these sorts to you is the Word of the Lord spoken this day and I beseech you in the name of Christ take it in love and as spoken out of indignation to your sinnes to you I say the Minister and the Word saith The Lord bee mercifull to you you are haters of the Lord Jesus there is none of the love of God in the hearts of any of this generation to this day Now do not goe away and say Let the Minister say what he will for hee must say something to hold out the houre What wilt thou shew thy selfe to bee a most notorious wrangling hypocrite Conscience speake is not thy heart met withall as in all the former particulars Conscience saith so and the Lord saith so Oh be perswaded therefore and yeeld the bucklers and say Now I see it is not in truth all that I have done is wrong and false Oh that I could once at last fall upon the right way The Lord perswade your hearts to conceive of it and to say I am still a hater of Christ I am yet an enemy Do I yet live to be saved by Christ and do I hate him think of thy sin and consider thy sorrow 1. Thinke thus much with thy selfe This sinne of all other is most unconceivable and not to bee named much lesse to bee practised and retained Oh that ever any wretch that hath received so much from Christ should still hate him Good Lord that ever there should bee such a wretch upon the earth and yet Lord I am the man I am hee that have approved of the practises of the wicked thou art an open enemy to the Lord Jesus and therefore thinke what thou hast done all this while Rom. 1.19 20. That which may be known of God is manifest in the creatures But in the meane time thinke but what thy sinne is that thou hast not onely the creatures to preach to thee but the Lord Jesus who came downe from heaven It is a wonder that ever he came for such wretches as we are hee hath torne his bowels in pieces for thee and entreated thee to bathe thy soule in his death and bee saved for ever Luke 19.42 yea hee hath wept over thee and said Oh that thou hadst knowne even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace yet thou regardest not Oh thou poore ignorant profane carnall wretch nay the blood of Christ and his teares and the offer of his mercies and his spirit speake to thee and intreat thee to beleeve in him and live for ever and yet thou continuest an infidell You know the spirit of love hath met you in your Churches and in your houses and walked with you in your journeies and said Now open the Lord Jesus calls tenders mercy and you have snubbed it Good Lord is it possible that the blood of Jesus Christ should speake to us and that a company of wretched creatures should trample upon that blood and grieve that spirit rather then forsake their lusts and corruptions You children tell your fathers of this and you wives your husbands and say Is it possible that we have done this and yet live still it is a wonder Therefore reason thus with your selves and say If a heathen shall be condemned that had but trees preaching to him and his conscience open then what shall become of me that have had Christ and his blood to preach to me what will become of me what sin is mine it is a scarlet sin it hath in it all abominations 2. Secondly thinke of thy sorrow how will the Lord Jesus be revenged on thee Doest thou say Oh he is mercifull and will forgive all What wil the Lord suffer his sonne to be trampled upon will God the Father suffer this thinke what will be the end of it Oh thy judgement is intolerable and unrecoverable continuing as thou art Consider the heavinesse of thy plagues 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be had in execration or bee accursed or bee made Maranatha that is All the curses of heaven and earth and all the curses of the world to the highest straine of cursing as if he should say All you Churches on earth and all you Angels in heaven curse ye that man and all ye Divels in hell torment that man nay let him be accursed for ever and then blessed Redeemer take this man into thy owne hands and let him be accursed for ever As in Jude 14. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prohecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with tenne thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him You thinke it is nothing to speake against the Lord Jesus thousands of Angels shall minister to him and ten thousands shall goe before him and say The Lord is comming to execute judgement upon all that work wickednesse and upon those that have spoken against him So that when the Church of Christ and the Angels in heaven and the Divels in hell have conspired to torment a man then also the Lord Jesus will come to torment him Oh that my heart could bleed and if it were possible breake in sunder for the misery in which you are in that day the Lord Jesus will say to such as hee
sutes best with the hearts of wayward sinners onely hee lets in some incklings of his favour and grace and upholds the heart with so much mercy as may beare it up and yet but with so much Thus the Lord deales with us as a wise father doth with his child Simile hee seeth if he had his portion in his hands he would be riotous and carelesse and therefore it is wisedome not to trust him with his estate but to keepe him low and to keepe him upon dependance that hee may have better subjection from his hands So it is with the Lord he seeth that wee have unruly hearts and that if wee had that evidence of Gods mercy made knowne to us that wee would have we would be so proud and so haughty and so full of contempt and so censorious that there were no living with us therfore the Lord keepes us short and holds such soules low and keepes us only in some hope to hold up our soules and the more dependance the soule hath the more observance hath the Lord from us Experience proveth it true I have many things to write unto you but you are not able to beare them now you are not capable of them yet As it is with a little barke Simile if it should have a great maine mast and broad saile cloathes then in stead of carrying it it would bee overthrowne by them therefore men proportion their mast according to their shippe or barke and if it have skilfull Mariners they strike saile when they come into the shallow or narrow Seas This is the reason why the Lord deales so with us the soule is like the ship and the sense of Gods love and mercy is like the saile that carries us on in a Christian course and if we get but a little saile of mercy and favour we goe on sweetly and comfortably but if God give us aboundance of assurance our cursed rotten hearts would overturne and in stead of quickning of us it would ouerthrow us so that though God doth it the fault is in our selues That I take to bee the ground why many a poore Saint of God hath smoaked out his dayes in doubting and making question of Gods mercy and goodnes and at the houre of death God hath given them a full assurance of mercy Note and so carried them full saile to heaven they were not able to beare this before As a faithfull Minister of God once said to a poore woman that had beene long time questioning her selfe and doubting of her salvation when at last the Lord made it good unto her soule that Christ was her owne then the Minister sayd to her The Lord will not alwayes giue his children a cordiall but he hath it ready for them when they are fainting The comfort of Gods spirit is better then wine Cant 1.2 Now when a man hath a proud haughty selfe-conceited heart if he had much of this cordiall hee would forget himselfe and trample upon every one and therefore the Lord reserues this great mercy to the last this deprives a Christian of abundance of sweetnesse that otherwise God would bestow upon him Let every man therefore goe to his owne heart and examine it if while God is pleased to keepe us under hatches and to knock off our wheeles and leaue us in the dust if yet in the meanest degree we can snarle with Gods providence and say Why do I pray and God answers not others crie and God heareth them and why doth hee not heare me If when we are under wee doe thus then what would we doe if we might haue what we would we would say as the people in Ieremies time Wee will come no more at thee we are Lords Ieremy 2.31 Therefore that the Lord may prevent this proud spirit of ours and that we may walke in humility before him it is just with God to withdraw his Spirit from us if you haue not comfort thanke your selues for it So then gather up all and the summe is this If wee have not the apprehension of Christs presence with us though hee is there then either it is because of our owne ignorance or carelesnesse wee know him not or attend not when hee comes or else we mis-judge the presence of Christ and onely esteeme of his favour and presence according to the extraordinary sweetnesse that we would haue and that wee imagine should accompany the presence of Christ or else because our eyes are held with the hurry of some temptation and some worldly inconvenience that wee cannot see the Lord Christ though hee bee within us or else the Lord justly hideth himselfe from us because we are fallen into some grosse sinne or else parly with some private infirmities and doe not labour to humble our selues mightily for them and strive against them or else we doe abuse the favour of God or else wee have proud hearts that wee are not able to beaâ—e that comfort that we would have therefore I say the Lord hides himselfe from us to prevent evill in us This I take to be the answer to the question in hand Come into his Temple Here is a word that giues us foot-hold for the second Doctrine into his Temple This is a word of propriety as in that place when Christ came into the Temple and saw those that bought and sold in it He made a scourge of small cords and drave them all out of the Temple and the sheepe and the oxen and cast out the changers of money and overthrew the Tables Iohn 2.15 and he claimed the house for his owne saying My house shall be called a house of prayer Mat. 21 13. This word I say is a word of propriety Hee comes not like a stranger or like a forreiner but like a King to his Palace to take possession of it So the Doctrine is this Doct. 2 Doct. 2. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule When the Lord Iesus comes to a soule truely humbled hee taketh possession of it as his owne he comes into his Temple This is the scope of the comparison he comes as a King to his Throne where hee sits and to the Kingdome where hee rules I told you before that the ingraffing of the soule into Christ is nothing else but when the Lord by his Spirit comes to take possession of the humbled soule so that the soule stands possessed of Christ and is made partaker of all those spirituall good things that are in Christ This is generall to all the workes of application of Christ and the footsteps are to be seene in all the workes of of vocation justification adoption sanctification and the like the Lord Iesus gets ground in the heart by all these As in vocation the Lord drawes the soule to himselfe and the soule followes him in justification the Lord undertakes for the sinner and unites the soule to himselfe and makes it one with himselfe in adoption the Lord makes him a sonne and in sanctification
thing so there must be a beam of Gods love to fall upon the soule before it can love God againe as in Hosea 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man even with the bands of love God lets in the cords of love into the soule and that drawes love againe to God But above all that place Cant. 2.4 marke the manner how Gods Spirit expresseth himselfe to the soule He brought me into the banquetting house Cant. 2.4 opened and his banner over me was love stay me with flaggons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of love And so when the banner of Christs love is spread over the soule the soule comes to be sicke in love to Christ As it is in war when the Commander displayes the banner these three things are signified by it First that there is the presence of the Commander Secondly the displaying of the banner commands all to come to it Thirdly while it is held out all keepe to it Now see the excellencie of the Spirit of God in the Scripture The Church was then in some trouble but the Lord Christ brings the Spouse into his chamber nay into the wine-celler and the banner that was displayed over her was love and first Christ came as a Commander to redeeme her and to save her from all troubles and afflictions Secondly it commands the soule to come to the banner Thirdly when God displayes his love in the beautie of it in any measure then all the company of poore sinners come in unto it and so they love the Lord because the Lord hath loved them This love of God doth beget our loves in three particulars First Gods love to us begets love in us towards him and how there is a sweetnesse and a relish which Gods love le ts into the soule and warmes the heart with you shall see how the fire is kindled by and by As when a man is fainting we give him Aqua-vitae so a fainting sinner is cold at the heart and therefore the lets in a drop of his loving kindnesse and this warmes the heart and the soule is even filled with the sappinesse of the mercy of God as Cant. 1.1 2. where the Spouse saith Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth for his love is better than wine The poore soule though hee drinke water yet he drinkes better wine than any carnall man under Heaven the kisses of his mouth are the comforts of his Word and Spirit The soule saith Oh let the Lord refresh me with the kisses of his mouth that is of his Word and Spirit let the Lord speak comfort to the heart and this is better than wine For the Lord must doe it before hee can be apprehensive of his love yea let the Lord expresse the comfort of his precious promises in Iesus Christ to me And againe in the second verse Because of the savour of thy garments thy name is as an ointment poured forth therefore the virgins love thee Christ was the oyntment Christs oyntment is his graces and the savour or the communication of this is the expression of his love to the soule the virgins are the soules truly humbled that love the Lord. Secondly as this warmes the heart so the freenesse of the love of God thus let in and thus intimated begins even to kindle this love in the soule that it sparkles againe Rom. 5 8. see how God sets out his love to us Seeing saith the Apostle that while wee were sinners Christ died for us This commends the love of God the Lord sends to poore miserable sinfull broken-hearted sinners and saith Commend my mercie to such a one and tell him that though hee hath beene an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him and though hee have beene rebellious against me yet I am a God and a Father to him and let him not thinke that because he hath offended me therefore hee shall not receive mercie from me but here is my love and it is worth the commendation Christ died for poore sinners when they were enemies therefore if God so loved us as to dye for us when wee were sinners and enemies how ought we then to love one another But much more how ought wee to love the Lord What was it that kindled that frozen and vile and stubborne and wicked heart of wretched Saul who had a heart as hard as ice 1 Sam. 24.19 when David had him upon the hippe and might have slaine him but would not even this wrought upon the heart of Saul and kindled a fire of affections of love towards him and made him say Come againe my son David Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evill And thou hast shewed mee this day how that thou hast dealt well with mee forasmuch as when the Lord hath delivered me into thine hand thou killedst me not For who ever slew not his enemie when he found him at such an advantage wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that which thou hast done unto mee this day Sauls heart is all on fire with this kindnesse So when the poore sinner considers this with himselfe and saith Is the Lord so mercifull to mee who ever thus found his enemie and slew him not I that loved my sins and continued in them had it not beene just that I should have perished in them But will the Lord not only not slay his enemie but give his Sonne for mee Oh let my soule for ever rejoyce in this unconceivable goodnesse of God! Bee thy heart neuer so hard if it have but the sense of this it cannot but stirre thee to humiliation Lastly the greatnesse of the freenesse of this mercie of God being setled upon the heart enflames it This sweetnesse warmes the heart this freenesse kindles the fire and when the greatnesse of the sweetnesse comes to be valued this sets the heart all upon a fire In Eph. 3.17 18. the Apostle desires that Christ might dwell in their hearts and that they might be rooted in love but how shall we come to this that we may bee able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Christ As if the Apostle had said If I once come to see the unmeasurablenesse of Gods mercy this will blow up the soule and enflame the heart with admirable love againe to the Lord and make the soule say I that have done all that I could against the good God it breakes my heart to thinke it there was no name under Heaven that I did more blaspheme and teare in peeces more than this I have despised no command so much as the command of God and of Christ and I have grieved no spirit so much as the good Spirit of the Lord against those sweet motions that God hath let into my soule and struggled with me to plucke me from my company and to contend with me
I have taken up armes against Almightie God If I had but gone to the top of Hell it had beene infinite mercy and if I had been in a dungeon all my dayes and had another world to live and lived it all in miserie it had beene infinite mercie for the Lord to send downe Christ to looke upon me a poore wretch in the dungeon and to speake to me out of the gates of hell and to tell me of this mercie oh it had beene an infinite mercie but to send a Sonne to save me it is incomparable I could not conceive to doe so much evill against him as he hath done good to me oh the breadth of that mercy beyond all limits oh the length of that mercie beyond all time oh the depth of that mercie below a mans miserie oh the height of that mercy above the height of mine understanding If mine hands were all of love that I could worke nothing but love and if mine eyes were able to see nothing but love and my mind thinke of nothing but love and if I had a thousand bodies it were all too little to love that God that hath unmeasurably loved mee a poore sinfull hel-hound Psal 18.1 I will love thee dearely O Lord my strength Oh have I gotten the Lord Iesus Christ to bee my comfort my buckler my shield If I have any good he gives it and if any good bee continued it is he that doth it and if I have any comfort in it it is hee that blesseth it to me therefore I will love thee dearely Oh Lord my strength Thus the point is cleare and stands upon his right bottome Now I come to the Application of it that wee may reape some good and comfort to our owne soules And the use of the point is fourefold for Instruction for Consolation Nature breeds no love to Christ for Reprehension for Exhortation Vse 1. First for Instruction which I desire a little to commend to you because it is seasonable Is it so that the Spirit of the Father kindles this love in the heart truly humbled and enlightned c then conclude this undeniably That there is no power in nature or in a naturall heart I say there is no sufficiencie in the power of nature to bee carried to any love towards Christ we have not this before God gives it nay wee cannot move our selves in love to God before the Lord let in the sparkes of love into our soules True it is we find it by wofull experience it is in our power to love the world and to delight in base lusts and being but naturall men it cannot be but that we should love our selves and the things of this world there is enough of these wilde fires and of this base worldly lust in every naturall soule to expresse it selfe but to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to have a heart inlarged towards him it is a worke of grace that growes not in our hearts I say there is not one sparke of holy love and of this holy fire of love in our hearts at any time neither can we buy or borrow it at the hands of any under heaven further than the Spirit of the Lord is pleased to kindle it and to inflame this grace of love to the Lord Iesus and further than the Lord by the power of his merits is pleased to feed this in our soules It is an unconceiveable misery that any man should bee so farre deluded as to thinke that he can do it by his owne strength and power Saint Paul expresseth it in discovering the vilenesse of himselfe by nature and the freenesse of Gods grace 1 Tim. 1.13 14. I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor but I obtained mercy I wronged Iesus Christ and was malicious against him and opposed against his children Paul could doe this of himselfe so thou canst be malicious against the Lord and against the power of his grace and truth this a naturall man can doe but for him to love the Lord Iesus Christ and to beleeve in him how came Saint Paul by that Why the grace of God was exceeding abundant towards mee with faith and love which is in Iesus Christ As if he had said it was abundant grace that over-powred my unfaithfull heart and made me beleeve and it was abundant grace that over-powred my injurious heart and made me love Christ But how was this it was by the grace of Christ from Christ this faith was wrought and in Christ this love was kindled As if hee had said I thought to cast off the Lord and his grace I was a persecuter and a villaine indeed but that I should beleeve the Lord and love him this was from Christ it was in grace and not in Paul The ball must first fall to the ground before it can rebound backe againe so the Lord Iesus must first dart in his love into the soule before the soule can rebound in love and joy to him againe wee must receive from grace before wee can rebound backe any love to God as 1 Tim. 1.7 God hath not given us the spirit of bondage but of power of love and of a sound minde See what the Lord spake in some case of the Iewes Iohn 5.40 42. speaking home to their hearts hee saith I know you that yee have not the love of God in you Verse 40. he saith Yee will not come to mee and in the 42. verse I know you that yee have not the love of God in you As if hee had said I know it you know it not your selves and though you thinke you have this love to mee yet you are deceived you know not what you are nor what you know but I know and it is as true of every corrupt heart under heaven the love of God cannot bee in the heart of any naturall man whatsoever The reason why I presse this point so much is this it is for these two ends you shall see a double benefit by it Carnall men conceive no difficulty to love Christ First this confutes and overthrowes the conceits of a company of carnal Gospellers that say they fast not nor pray not nor professe not so much as such and such but for the truth of their love to Christ they defie all the world they find no difficulty in the matter and they make no doubt therof and therefore if any Christian man or any faithfull Minister of God shall begin to challenge them with the want of love to Christ and grace they will answer What not loue the Lord Iesus it is pitty that euer that man should live they have loved him and will loue him for ever and all the world shall not perswade them to the contrary Oh poore deluded creatures it is an undoubted argument that thou never hadst the loue of God in thee because thou thinkest it such an easie matter to love him Many men make nothing of it they make it but an holy-day taske and say Who cannot
be understood is cleere Mat. 3.12 In those dayes saith the Text came Iohn preaching and saying Repent yee for the kingdome of God is at hand Here Iohn proclaimeth the comming of Christ and laboureth to prepare all things fitting for him so then the heart of a poore sinner is the high-way wherein Christ walketh This way of it selfe is unfitting for Christ but this preaching of the Gospell doth fit and prepare it and then the Lord Christ commeth and takes possession of and ruleth in that soule to whom hee commeth In the materiall Temple when it was to be built there was a caveat given that there must be no hammer heard but that all the stones should be fitted and hewen ere they were brought thither When Christ came into his Temple hee found money changers John 2.15 and the Text saith hee made a whip and whipped them out and flung downe their provision As it was with the materiall Temple so it is with the spirituall Temple The soule of a poore sinner is like unto this materiall Temple whereof this was a type 1 Cor. 3.16 for saith the Apostle You are the Temple of the living God You are that which the Temple signified that is as God did shew himselfe marvellously in his Temple so he will in the soules of his people he will dwell with them and assist them in every good worke Now before we can bee fitted to be the Temple of the Lord before Christ will come into our soules hee will whip out all distempered affections and when these are removed hee will make himselfe knowne to be the King of his servants and provide all things for their comfort and consolation And thus wee see the truth of the point that the soule of a sinner must bee prepared for Christ before it can receive and entertaine him For the opening of the point two things must be considered first how we may conceive and understand the compasse of this preparation that wee may see how farre it reacheth and know wherein this preparation of the soule discovereth it selfe and then secondly we must know the reason why the heart must be prepared for the Lord Iesus before hee will take possession of it And when these two things be opened the point will be plaine First wee must see the compasse of this preparation and wherein it consists Preparation of the heart for Christ standeth in three things which makes it selfe knowne in three particulars We will speake of preparation only in generall here for we shall come to the particulars of it hereafter The first of the three passages wherein this generall preparation consists is this 1. In breaking off the league with old sinnes The soule of a sinner breakes that league which sometime it had with former lusts and corruptions there is a separation made betweene the soule and those darling sinnes which it before so much delighted in and the heart begins to rebell against those base tyrants which before usurped authority over it whether they be corruptions or profits or pleasures that before bore a great sway in the soule the league is broken there is a secret kind of mutinie which the soule setteth up against those distempers in so much that the separation being made and the soule having cast off the yoke of her corruptions the heart reserves it selfe for the Lord Christ Iesus And observe it alwaies there is a separation of the soule from sinne before there bee a reservation made for Christ It is with the soule as it is with a wife that is an adulteresse and hath gotten her selfe a base name and an evill report by her lewd and wicked courses after the Lord hath opened her eyes and discovered to her the basenesse of her practice then shee commeth to detest all her former courses and abandoneth all her former wicked companions and though shee be laid at continually by them and importuned upon every occasion yet shee never hearkeneth unto them but looketh onely unto her husband and if he will but receive her and entertaine her againe then shee will keepe close unto him and shew more love unto him than ever shee did before so the soule of a poore sinner was created for God and it ought to have beene married to God the end of our creation and redemption was that we might have communion with God but all of us have played the adulteresses wee have had our wicked lovers The heart that will have the world the profits and pleasures and vanities thereof will be married to lusts and corruptions every man doth bestow his soule upon these wicked practices But then the eyes of the soule are opened when the Lord discovereth unto it that loose practices will bring the soule to everlasting confusion and destruction the soule then doth stand at a maze it trades no more with those beloved lusts and corruptions it breakes the league with all former sinnes and distempers with pride and covetousnesse with malice and envie with the world with the profits and pleasures thereof and sits as a widow divorced from all these and waiteth for the Lord Christ Iesus alone then the soule saith to her selfe Oh if Christ would come to me and speake to me againe then I will give him better entertainment than ever I did before The ungracious heart however it hath gone from the Lord yet if it hath got any hope to receive Christ againe then the soule will say I was not borne to sinne sinne shall bee my husband no more but if the Lord will shew any favour towards mee then I will reserve my selfe for him alone for it was better with mee formerly than now And this the Scripture speaketh of Hos 14 3.8 see what the Church saith there in the third verse Ashur shall not save us wee will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the worke of our hands Yee are our gods for with thee the fatherlesse findeth mercy And in the eighth verse Ephraim shall say What have I to doe with Idols Every man naturally hath his gods his god pride his god covetousnesse his god malice his god envie now when the soule is divorced from these then it returneth this answer We will pray no more to our gods we will not submit our selves to any as unto a god but onely unto the Father of lights Ephraim shall say What have I to doe with Idols He was before addicted to Idolatry yet now his eyes being opened and his soule converted he saith What have I to doe with Idols any more and the drunkard saith What have I to doe with drunkennesse any more and the proud man saith What have I to doe with pride any more nay What have I to doe with any unlawfull practice but I will reserve my selfe wholly for the Lord Iesus Christ so in Psal 45 10 11. there is a mariage betweene Christ and his Church for the Text saith Hearken O daughter and consider and incline thine eare
he sets a stampe upon him but in all see and consider there is possession so that this worke of possessing the soule is generall to all and so is fit for this place See how fitly it suits to the worke of preparation the sinner resignes himselfe into the hands of the Lord and he falls downe before his footstoole and lets the Lord doe what hee will with him and when the soule is come to this the Lord Christ comes immediately and takes possession of him and doth ingage himselfe to provide for him This is the scope of that place Ezek. 16.8 the Lord Christ saw the Church in her blood and tooke charge of her and saith Thou becamest mine and then follow all the workes of justification as in the 9.10.11 Verses where the Lord entred into a covenant with the Church and tooke a charge of her as if hee should haue said Art thou content to be at my dispose then I will take thee to my selfe and dispose of thee as may be for my owne glory Rom. 11.28 speaking of the Gentiles that were ingraffed into Christ and the Iewes that were cut off that hee might crush the proud hearts of the Gentiles that they might not bee high minded there he saith Thou bearest not the roote but the root beareth thee the roote is the Lord Iesus Christ For so it followes Verse 17. If some of the branches be broken off and thou being a wild Olive tree art graffed in amongst them Every man naturally is a branch of the wild Olive tree and the roote that he must be planted into is the Lord Iesus and this plant must grow no more upon the old roote therefore the Lord Iesus must in mercy take that soule and by the power of his might beare up the soule and as the roote feedeth the branches and giveth fatnesse and strength to them so whensoever the soule is truely severed from sinne the Lord Christ takes it to himselfe and beares it up and provides for it as his owne Quest But some will say Wherein doth this possession stand Ans This supreame possession of the soul doth discover it selfe in two particulars and those will giue the reason of it First the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule truely humbled secondly hee disposeth of the soule so farre as may make for his owne glory Reason 1 First the Lord takes upon him to shield the heart from evill whereunto it was subject and from which it could not be freed by any strength of its owne what it could do not for it self the Lord Iesus Christ takes in hand to doe for it I told you formerly that when God opened the sinners eyes and hee hath seene his sinne truly and throughly and is pierced with horror in the apprehension of his sinne and he finds it to be the greatest vexation that can befall him the sinner is weary of his corruptions and desires to be freed from them but hee hath no power of himselfe as from himself and therefore the soule in this horrour of heart dares not meddle with sinne yet hee cannot free himselfe from the power of it Hereupon hee sues out a sequestration and stands waiting if any man will take possession of him It will not submit to sin and yet cannot save it selfe Now the soule being in this case the Lord Iesus steps in as the Umpire and saith I will take all and pay all and stand betweene all the hazzard that can befall the soule in this case as if a house be sequestred the man stands to see if any will take possession of it and be the Protector of it so Christ takes it upon him and resolves to stand betweene the soule and all the misery that can befall the soule Simile And as it is in other countries and as it hath beene the state of the Low-Countries if they be oppressed with some potent enemy that is too great and mighty for them they seeke to some forraine Prince and yeeld to him that hee may lay what tribute he will upon them provided that he will take the protection of them When they had rebelled from under the King of Spaine Queene Elizabeth tooke the protection of them So it is in the heart that is thus oppressed and besieged with the sinne that lyeth heavy upon it and with many plagues that are set so close against him What doth the heart doe in this case it falls at the feete of Iesus Christ and is content that he shall doe what he will with it only he beseecheth the Lord Christ that he would become Lord Protector of his poore broken battered soule Now the Lord Christ becomes Protector of him and takes a charge of him and will free and deliver him from that evill which it is oppressed withall and from which it cannot save it selfe In Num. 25.11.12.13 when any person had slaine a man unawares he might flye to the City of Refuge that he might be free from the hand of the Avenger the Lord Iesus Christ is this City of Refuge and the manslayer is every poore sinner that is beset with his sin and burthened with misery by reason of it hee submits to the Lord Iesus Christ and the mercy of Christ gives entertainement to him and rescueth him from the evill which he feared There are three dangers upon which the broken heart lies and from which the Lord Iesus Christ vndertaketh to free him Against 3. dangers Christ undertaks for us First the justice of God the Father is provoked and the poore sinner seeth his divine justice incensed and that he is not able to beare it and secondly Sathan lays heavie things against him and layes claime to him and thirdly sinne is powerfull and tyranous and would still domineere over him Now the soule groanes under all these and saith Oh who will deliver me Then the Lord Iesus comes into rescue him and when the heart is content to bee freed from sinne Christ makes answer saying Be thou comforted thou poore broken hearted sinner I will undertake for thee and I will satisfie Gods divine justice that it shall not execute wrath upon thee and I will answer Sathans accusations against thee and I will subdue all thy sinnes that they shall not prevaile against thee to thy destruction but thou shalt bee delivered First for divine justice the soule seeth a holy God that will not put up the wrong that hath beene done against him but will have his glory here in his humiliation or else in his confusion hereafter Now when divine justice makes out against a poore sinner the Lord Iesus Christ comes in and puts in baile for him Simile As it is with a man that is arrested by the Sergeant he may haue this liberty to put in a baile so when the wrath of the Almighty drinkes up a mans spirits and dragges downe his soule to hell in his owne apprehension then the Lord promiseth the poore soule to see all satisfied Comfort your selves you broken