them unto Christ vers 37.39 All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me Eph. 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World so 1 Pet. 1.2 God hath elected and made choice of thee if thou art come to Christ Jer. 31.3 I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee Gods Love was fixed from all Eternity and he manifests it in time unto the Soul in drawing it unto Christ Jo. 6.37 All that the Father hath given him shall come unto him God hath chosen them and given them to his Son therefore he draws them to him Sinners are not able to move hand nor foot Zyon-ward unless God draws them they cannot come unto Christ 2ly If thou art come unto Christ the holy Spirit hath been at work upon thy Soul 1. To illuminate and inlighten thy understanding 2. Convince thy Conscience 3. Incline thy will 4. Sanctify thy affections 5. Work grace in the inward Man 1. The Spirit doth inlighten the understanding By nature Man is darkness Eph. 5.8 Therefore he must be turned from darkness to light Act. 26.18 And this is done by the Spirit of God he opens the Sinners Eyes that he may know himself Know thy self descended from Heaven it is said concerning the Prodigal Luk. 15.17 When he came to himself then he thought of returning home to his Father not before so it must be with every Sinner he must come to himself to know what he is before he will come to Christ if thou art come to the Lord Jesus thou hast been made to see thy miserable and deplorable condition by nature that thou art a Child of wrath Eph. 2.3 subject and obnoctious to the wrath of God deservest nothing but wrath and it were justice in God to execute wrath upon thee even for thy natural pollution and defilement much more for that contracted filth and impurity in thy conversation that thou art lost and shalt perish for ever without a Redeemer a Jesus to save thee that thou art an enemy to God Rom. 5.10 and needest reconciliation with him through the Blood of Christ that thou art unregenerate and without regeneration no seeing the Kingdom of God Jo. 3.3 miserable all over nothing but Wounds and Bruises and Putrifying Sores miserable because in thy flesh Rom. 7.18 dwelleth no good thing Sin Raigning Satan Captivating at his will the World allureing and perswading and thou art without strength or ability to resist and overcome these and many more I might number up are the evils which in Puris naturalibus in thy Natural condition make it deplorable therefore the holy Spirit brings thee first to know thy self before thou comest unto Christ 2ly To know and understand the Scriptures is another effect of the Spirit upon the understanding of those who are come to and have closed with the Lord Jesus As it is said Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures Therein all things concerning Christ are revealed Jo. 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternal Life i. e. the knowledge of eternal Life and they are they which testify of me Now the Spirit doth open the Eye of the understanding that it may in the glass of the Scriptures see those things clearly which are necessary to Salvation to wit repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Act. 20.21 it declares the mind and will of God fully and directs poor Sinners who are stung in the Wilderness to look up to the BrazenSerpent scil the Lord Jesus Jo. 3.14 it declares that there is Salvation in none other I do not here say Act. 4.12 that the Spirit teaches all to read the Scriptures who are adult and grown into a capacity of exercising their Reason for there are many who I am perswaded have closed with Christ Luther Tertullian and others were converted from Papism and Gentilism by being brought to understand the Scriptures that could not read the Scriptures but this I assert that the understanding is inlightened by the Spirit to discern the things of God and Christ when preached or read to them out of the holy Scriptures for without a right understanding of the Scriptures there can be no apprehending the right way of Salvation All the Phylosophers of old with all their profound Learning Arts Sciences did not know Christ so consequently they were ignorant of the way of Salvation because Christ is the only way 3ly Thou art brought to understand and know thy duty in a great measure thy duty towards God thy duty towards thy Neighbour and thy duty towards thy self 1. Towards God that thou oughtest to Love him for himself to Love him as thy Creator and as a bountiful Benefactor to thee to Love him primarily superlatively and above all as the Text saith Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength Deut. 6.5 To love him fervently and permanently if thou art not come to Christ besure there is none of this sincere love in thee for as God loves not the Sinner but as chosen in Christ Eph. 1.4 so the Sinner can never love God as he ought but in and through Christ and as God sees no lovelyness in the Sinner considered out of Christ so the Sinner perceives no amiableneness in God but in the Face of Jesus Christ for God is a consuming fire to Sinners if they be seperate from Christ so that I say Heb. 12. ult thou art taught to love God as an infinite good 2. To fear him not with a Bondage Slavish fear Rom. 8.15 but with a Filial and Holy fear such a fear as becometh Gods Children a reverential fear a fearing to displease him such a fear Christ Jesus had in his humiliation state Heb. 5.7.8 and such a fear have all his members who are come unto him and are implanted in him 3. Taught to serve him before thou wast the Servant of Sin and Satan but now the Servant of the living God Rom. 6. now thou desirest and indeavourest to obey him constantly as to the time fervently faithfully as to the manner and universally as to the Practice of them in all holy dutys as it was said of Zachary and Elizabeth They walked in all the Commandments of God Luk. 1.6 So it is thy care and Study to obey him in all things he requires from thee 4. Thou art taught to glorify God as being the chief end of thy Creation For he hath made all things for himself Psal 16.4 Thou indeavourest to glorify thy Soul and Body which are his according to that command 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorify God in your Bodys and in your Spirits which are Gods Thus Christ Jesus did as he saith Jo. 17.4 I have glorified thee on Earth so he saith of his Disciples Jo 15.8 Herein is my Father glorified that ye bare much Fruit so
the things of the World for if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him Here the divine Apostle gives a reason which withal proves that these two are not consistent for as Christ said Luk 16.13 You cannot serve God and Mammon one will have the preheminence and where this true evangellick Love is there the Love to the World is but flat and cold 2ly And possitively what are the true adequate and constant objects of this Evangellick Love in general all spiritual divine holy objects to which our Love is commanded or required by the Holy Word of God there is nothing which the believer apprehends to be truely divine but the Soul Loves entirely fervently and constantly for these objects are sutable to the State of a Believer he can perceive a greater excellence in them then in any other therefore the Soul is carried forth to love them above all others but more particularly and yet succinctly 1. God is the object of this Evangellic Love he is the chief and supream good therefore supreamly to be beloved even with all the heart with all the Soul and with all the strength Mat. 22.37 The Soul that is come to Christ by believing in him loves God not only as a Creator but as a reconciled Father in and through Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 Now it looks upon it self as oblieg'd and bound to love God who hath manifested such Love Joh. 3.16 as to give his only begotten Son that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life if God out of his infinite love had not been willing to give his Son to die for Sinners Christ would not have been willing to come and give himself for and to those who are his The Father out of his Love elected some to be Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 Now the consideration of these things doth inflame the heart with Love to God as the Apostle saith 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us The fruits and effects of the Love of God shed abroad in the Soul makes it now to love God with an impartial and superlative Love Modus diligendi Deum est sine modo Bern. it Loves God as one saith the measure of loving him should be without measure 2ly Christ Jesus is the object of this Love O how the Believer loves Christ the Soul is so fired with Love to the Lord Jesus that it knows not how to express it words are too mean actions too low and the Soul thinks all too little to express and manifest its Love unto the Lord Jesus When the Believer considers Christ in the transcendent excellency of his person that he is God blessed for ever that he is the Eternal Son of God beloved of him adored of Angels then he says with the Spouse Cant. 5.10 My beloved is the chiefest among ten thousand and as it is in the 16. vers He is altogether lovely Further when he considers the extremity infiniteness and ignominy of the Passion and Suffering Christ underwent for him and that he should express his Love at so dear a rate to one altogether indeserving it doth so inflame the Soul that it vehemently longs to get above the clouds into the bosom of Jesus and that it may drink of the celestial Fountain and Springs of life Rev. 7.17 Moreover when it considers what Christ hath purchased and what he is doing now for his Elect and Redeemed ones that he hath procured Pardon Reconciliation with God Grace and Glory Life and eternal Bliss for those who were sometimes dead in Trespasses and Sins 2 Tim. 4.8 1 Pet. 5.4 Eph. 2.5 and that he continues interceeding by the vertue of his Blood and Merits that all his may have these blessings confered upon them and at last be crowned with a Diadem of Righteousness and Glory O the consideration of these things doth so incendiate the Soul with the flames of Divine Love that many waters cannot quench it neither can floods drown it Cant. 8.7 nay Afflictions Persecutions or Death cannot seperate this Soul from the Love of Christ When the Believer looks upon Christ in his Offices and in that near Relation between them this doth still elevate and heighten his Love so that the Soul is full and as it were immerged and swallowed up with Love to Christ who is the Head and the all of Believers Col. 3.11 3ly This Divine Evangelick Love hath for its object the holy Spirit he who is the alone Author is now become the Object the Spirit is he who infuseth and operateth this grace in the Soul Gal. 5.22 The Fruit of the Spirit is Love now seeing this is a Fruit of the Spirit it has reflex actings so that it leads the Soul to love affectionately and intirely the holy Spirit knowing that except he cooperates nothing can profit the Soul and that if he work not Joh. 16.15 there will be no exception of grace it is he which leads and guides into the way of all truth which is the alone way of Salvation he teacheth the Soul to know God and Christ and to know it self he fills the heart with Divine blessings which make the Believer greatly to admire and love him Try your Love by these objects see whether Carnal or Divine objects have the Supremacy in your affections for these are infallible ways to try your Love by and to discern a true Evangelic Love from all others whatsoever 4ly Holy Angels are greatly beloved of Believers because they are to be their Companions to Eternity and bear part in that Celestial quire where they shall sing eternal Hallelujahs to their God and Father in the Kingdom that cannot be shaken Heb. 12.28 and further because they are a Life-guard to them here and Ministring Spirits sent forth for the good of all those who are Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 5ly All Saints as such are the objects of this Divine Love without any distinction or difference Because they perceive their Fathers Image shine forth in such therefore that which is so amiable in them doth attract and draw their affection to it The Apostle John in several places puts this down as a Character by which we may prove our Love if it be right nay the only way to know whether we Love God or no 1 Joh. 4.20 If a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a Lyar for he who loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen David saith Psal 16.2 3. O my Soul thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord my goodness extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the Earth and to the excellent ones in whom is all my delight Here this holy man declares that the Saints were excellent in his eye and all the delight of his Soul but why were they so but because they were Saints they were holy ones born from above and
all happiness peace and glory but the wrath of God abideth on him And who can define or conceive the greatness of that Wrath or who can indure it Isa 33.14 Who can dwell with devouring Fire who can lie dow in everlasting flames Therefore Sinner come here is Glory refuse and perish for ever The five Foolish Virgins were shut out of Heaven because they came not to Christ in their Life time for saith Christ I know you not If they had come to Christ before Mat. 25.10.11.12 he had known them at this time also if they had believed in him for as I have shewed coming is believing they would certainly have been saved by him for saith Christ I will in no wise cast out those who come unto me Jo 6.37 6. Reas He invites because this was the end for which he came into the World it was to seek as well as to save them which are lost Luke 19.10 For this very end he devested him-himself of Glory and took upon him a servil condition Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 Not to be only an Example as some fondly conceive but he came to save them and that Sinners believing in him might obtain eternal Life what is the main scope of the Gospel but to hold forth and tender Christ Jesus a Saviour to miserable Sinners and to call after them to believe in and imbrace him Jo. 3.16 For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son there 's the tender of Christ that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life observe the words Believe in him Not only believe for that is not faith properly which is not in Christ Act. 20.20 Repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ So that I say this was Christs design that Sinners might come unto him therefore he intreats them and calls after them to accept of him that they may live by him I come now to the application which shall be 1. For Information 2. Reprehension 3. Councel 1. For Information Doth Christ invite sinners to come unto him learn hence the gratious condescention and humility of Christ Here is mercy upon her knees to teach misery to bow It is great condescension if we consider well who he is that ivites as I before manifested he is not a meer-man or an Angel but God blessed for ever not a Creature but the Creator the Heir of all things the possessor of Heaven Earth it is great condescention in a Lord to court his offending Servant to be reconciled a King his rebellious Subjects but this surpasses all examples as it is Storied of Augustus that Ei gratius fuit Nomen Pietatis quam potestatis That the name of Piety was more grateful to him then the name of Potency So much better may it be said of Christ Ei gratius fuit nomen humilitatis Mat. 9.13 quam potestatis Humility more then power Mat. 11.29 Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of Spirit 2. If we further consider who they are he invites not the righteous but Sinners not those who have light Burdens a few Sins as they may conceive abundance of Morality though this is commendable excellent education a sweet and flexible disposition of a noble extraction Wealthy and Honourable but they are the heavy laden ones Mat. 11.5 Luk. 4.18 19 20. the Sick the Poor and needy the Blind the Lame the Distressed the Captivated the Lost these are the Persons that Christ invites 2ly It informs us of the immensity and profundity of the love of Christ Eph. 3.18.19 That you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the Breadth and Length and Depth and Height 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg It is unparalled Love beyond expression and beyond conception it is as long as eternity as high as Heaven To love saith the Philosopher Is to wish that which we esteeem good to any one and to the uttermost of our power procure that good unto him This diffinition may truly be applyed to Christ for he desires they may participate of the greatest good scil His Fathers Love and of himself and of eternal rest and happiness and Christ Jesus hath procured all these for Poor Souls if they will but come unto him he invites the unworthy the undeserving that he may shew mercy unto them David did shew great love to the house of Saul when he sent for Mephibosheth to eat bread at his Table but yet nothing comparable to this of Christs calling after Sinners to come and sit down with him in his Kingdom 2 Sam. 9.56 Rev. 3.21 2. Use is of Reprehension to Sinners in General that refuse to come Doth Christ invite thee and wilt thou refuse to come doth he condesend to woo and intreat thee and wilt not thou consent shall he call and wilt thou stop thine Ears shall he be willing to ease thee of thy Burden and wilt thou be unwilling to accept of Rest What shall Mercy intreat Orat. Misericordia tacet miseria and shall misery be Silent Shall the Physitian offer Cordials freely and the Patient refuse and Perish what must the Judge court the guilty condemned Malefactor to accept of a Pardon Orat. Judex silet Reus and shall he obstinately slight it O what stupidity what folly and ingratitude is this to the Lord of glory when he so friendly invites thee dost thou think thy blind excuses will serve thee in the day of Christ like those in Luk. 14.17 18 19 20. But more particularly 1. This is a reproof to those who condemn this invitation and O how many justly fall under this reproof many contemn it because they Imagin they have better provision then Christ can give unto them his Person is contemned by them his tenders of grace Slighted his Ordinances disregarded his name must be rooted out from their Israel they see no necessity of coming to him they have a better foundation to build upon contrary to the great Apostles Doctrine 1 Cor. 3.11 he saith Thus Sinners Imagine Christ is the only Foundation But they can build upon something either within or without them that will support their tottering structure firmer than the Rock of Ages the Lord Jesus therefore they contemn both Christ and coming to him we will not believe in him we will believe in our selves say the deluded Quakers we have somthing within Our Light will save us but what if your Light be darkness so the Papists say for they are nearly allyed we care not for coming for we have enough either of our own works of supererrogation or else in the Church Treasury and if I but open and empty my Bag Luk. 24.25.26 the Pope will fill my Hand with other mens good works and merits sufficient to procure Life for me but O Fools and slow of Heart to believe what
Canaan and the Glory of the new Jerusalem she takes a survey of those blessed immunities eternal felicitys and that Immortal glory the Saints shall be invironed and invested with when they come to injoy Christ who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and in all Col. 3.11 and from the blessed Prospect of these things Faith makes a return and descent into the Soul implets and fills it with divine joy even to the supream confines of it it tells such storys of the Love of God and Christ and the blessed Spirit to the believer that it doth conflagate and inflame the Soul and makes it rejoice perpetually in the Lord according to that exhortation of the Apostle rejoyce in the Lord always May I speak with reverence Faith penetrates into the very Bosome of the Almighty and sees there is Love Peace and reconciliation for the believing Soul it looks into the records of Heaven and can read Thy Sins are forgiven and thy Iniquitys are blotted out It can look into the Lambs book of Life and read the name of the believer imprinted there this makes the Soul exalt and triumph with Songs of praise what made Paul and Silas Sing and Rejoyce when their Feet was incastriated their Bodys with Stripes vulnerated Act. 16.22 23 24 25. in an interior obscure Prison denyed the solace of that which nature is very ambitious of scil their Eyes to behold the Sun but this a lively Faith which devocated and fetched down new comfort to their Souls Faith when Active makes the Soul rejoyce in God and Christ and in divine and spiritual objects 2ly Peace is another effect of that Faith which is wrought by the Spirit of God as in that forequoted place Rom. 15.13 The God of Peace fill you with all joy and Peace in believing Peace of Conscience from sound principles is a happy priviledge and great blessing To be under the racks of a disquieted and tormented Conscience O what a mercy is it to injoy peace and a Calm within the Soul when there is nothing but tempests and tumults abroad what a comfortable condition is this God hath made a promise of Peace to believers Isa 26.3 I will keep him in Peace whose mind is Staid upon me because he trusteth in me Christ gives his Peace to Believers as he did to his Disciples Jo. 14.27 My Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you The Believer is at Peace with the Law of God because it is satisfied by the Death of Christ at peace with God the Father because he is well pleased in his Son to be reconciled to poor Sinners he is at peace with himself because his Sins are pardoned but he is never at peace again with Sin or Satan because they are Enemys to this true Peace which believers do partake of The believers peace is not remaining in Sin but it is a peace from Sin from the guilt and power of it 3ly In those who are come unto Christ the Spirit hath wrought the grace of Love for as the Apostle saith 1 Jo. 4.8 He that Loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love This is the great Gospel-grace as the Apostle Paul calls it 1 Cor 13.13 Jo. 13.35 Now there abideth Faith Hope and Love these three but the greatest of these is Love This is the distinguishing grace by which we are known to be Christs Disciples it declares our Divine original That we are Born from above 1 Jo. 4.7 it manifests our near union and communion with God 1 Jo. 4.16 God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him But I shall speak to this Query how may one know that the grace of Love is wrought by the Spirit in the Soul The Resolution of which may be known by these two means scil the propertys and objects of it 1. As to the propertys of it it is Divine for the Spirit of God is the Author of it Gal. 5.22 it descends from above Jam. 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gifts is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights Now Love is one of these good perfect gifts 1 Jo. 4.7 for there is not any thing in the new Creature which is not the Finger-work of God all grace flows from him through Christ by his holy Spirit into the Soul Love is a grace that is Immortal for when Faith is turned into fruition and hope into possession this divine Love Remains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13.8 Love never faileth It is a Seed that never dies a fire that once being kindled never more will be extinguished it transformes the Soul into the very Image of God and makes it most like unto its maker it is Divine in that it Loves Joys and takes complacency in pure holy and divine objects it is not Like Carnal Love which findes nothing but the perishing Creature to diligate and delight in but it seeks better and more durable objects because it is of a Divine original 1 Jo. 4.7 Love is from God Therefore there are reflex acts towards the Author and giver of it 2ly This Love is sublime it is high and lofty although not puffed up with vain pride because it scorns to fix its felicity in a vain Perishing world the base things of this World are not objects noble enough for this excellent grace it is of a noble extraction and therefore Loves and delights in Divine and noble objects David who was a Man after Gods own Heart was full of this Divine and sublime Love therefore we have him often expressing his Love to God to the Law far above Gold or Silver or the perishing trash of a sinful World Psal 119.72 The Law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and Silver The beauty of this inferior World is but deformity and blackness compared with the Splendor and glory of those divine objects which this Love is fixed upon the Honours and Riches of this World are but Dung and Dross to the Soul who hath this sublime Love Phil. 3.8 Ye doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dogs-meat that I may win Christ What made the Apostle thus to trample upon these terrene things and so to stain the glory of those things which are most excellent in the Eyes of most men why his Heart overflowed with this divine sublime and seraphick Love this is the true nature of evangelick Love it Loves the World and the things of it with a World-like Love which is cold indifferent and mutable the Heart that flows with this Love ever ebbs and runs low to the things of this world because it looks upon them as not worthy of its Love 3ly It Loves superlatively all divine things it doth not only Love in a high degree but in
the children of the most high 6ly Faithfull Ministers of the Gospel in an especial manner have an interest in this love The persons that have this right love cannot but esteem of the Ministers of Christ and love them because they are Messengers and Embassadors sent from God for the good of their Souls 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God Their feet are beautiful because they proclaim the glad tidings of Salvation and are Co-workers with God in the conversion of sinners from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to serve the living God 1 Cor. 3.9 for we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-labourers with God now upon these and the like considerations this Evangellic Love flows forth toward the Ministers of Christ and it is manifested three ways 1. by obeying them in the Lord and doing those things which they injoyn from the word of truth as Christ saith He that heareth you heareth me and he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that keepeth my sayings will keep yours also Jo. 15.20 Obedience in these things is a great demonstration of a real and sincere Love 2. It is manifest by the high estimation of them 1 Tim. 5.17 Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour especially they who labour in the word and Doctrine There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maximè principally those who are laborious in preaching the Doctrines of the Gospel it is evident that we do not love that person who we esteem not according to his deserts and degree 3. In allowing them a chearful and competent maintenance according to the capacity of them over whom the Lord hath set them to feed them in the way to life eternal 7ly The objects of the Love are the word of God and his Commandments and this is a certain rule to try thy Love by for if a person should propose this Question to me how may I do to know whether I have a true Evangellic Love which is a fruit of the Spirit of God I would answer by this See if you love the Commandments and the word of God as the Apostle John saith 1 Epist 5.3 By this we know we are the Children of God if we love God and keep his Commandments he that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings Here we may clearly and evidently perceive that a Love to the Commandments doth demonstrate our Love to God and Christ to be real and if it be so then we may conclude that it will never fail as 1 Cor. 13.8 But will indure for ever How did David declare himselfe to be a man after Gods own heart but by this in expressing the greatness of his Love to the law of God as in Psal 119.72.97 vers 163. O how I love thy Law it is my Meditation all the day long I love it above Gold and silver So in Psal 19.10 But how few Davids are there How few are there of his Spirit to be found in the World on the contrary most trample under foot the Law of God and esteem Gold and trash and Lusts above it but yet the true believer and disciple of Christ doth greatly love that holy law and with the Apostle delights in it after the inward man Rom. 7.22 8ly This Love has Souls for its objects As it was the greatness of Christs Love to Souls next to the obedience to his Fathers will which brought him from Heaven to Earth and made him willing to devest himself of his glory and take upon him the form of a Servant Phil. 2.6 7 8. So they who have this Love of Christ wrought in their Souls by the holy Spirit are vehemently carried out with Love and desire after the good of Souls He that in some measure apprehends what a great thing 't is to be saved cannot but desire the Salvation of all others If upon inquiry you find no sensible and real Love to Souls then conclude there is but little of this grace of Love within you The person in whose heart this grace is implanted pants after nothing more than the eternal Salvation of his own Soul and the Souls of his Relations Friends and acquaintance It may be said of them as it is of God 1 Tim. 2.5 They would have all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth What was it that made the Apostles and Servants of Christ in all Ages suffer so much and yet willingly It was these two Principles First their Love to Christ 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us Secondly their zealous love and desire of the everlasting salvation of Immortal Souls they were willing according to that Scripture to lay down their Lives for the good of the Brethren scil Believers Now see if your Love be such that you earnestly desire the well being of the Souls of those who are about you or related to you 9ly The objects of this Love are all the institutions of Christ O how lovely are his Ordinances to his beloved ones Prayer is Lovely and aimable because it is the Key that unlocks the Gates of Heaven and opens the very Bosome of God so that he is ready to confer plentiful treasures of grace upon this divine Lover hearing of Gods word is delectable to such an one because therein the Love glory and Transcendent excellencys of Christ are displayed and the will of the Father clearly revealed to the Soul and thence the Soul derives finds grace communicated out of the fulness of Christ because it is the means of conveyance the Sacraments are amiable because they are Seals of Heaven by which God makes over himself and all to believers assures them of the stability faithfulness and everlastingness of his Love in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper the believer by Faith beholds Christ broken and bleeding for his Sins and it becomes nourishment to the Soul in it the Soul injoys communion with God Christ and Blessed Saints these Priviledges render the ordinances very lovely delectable to Believers I might run through others as Reading Meditating and holy conferrence which are all very lovely to the Evangellic Lover 10ly and lastly Grace and Holyness these bare so much of God in them that the Apostle calls them the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 Whereby are given to us exceeding great and pretious Promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the World through Lust Grace hath a lovely aspect and holyness shines forth like a Beam of Heaven in the Eyes of them whose Hearts are full of Love to Divine objects Grace and Holyness being the Image of God and the way and means through Christ to Heaven and happiness are intirely beloved the Divine Lover is so enamoured with the excellency and true worth of Grace that he esteems it above all terrene
will give thee Rest which implys all spiritual blessings both for time and Eternity Why Christ invites 2ly Possitively 1. In Obedience to his Fathers Will as he was Mediator for although he was in the form of God yet he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.6.7 empty himself disrepute himself and took upon him the form of a Servant therefore Christ saith so frequently I come not to do my own will in reguard of his Man-hood but the will of him that sent me Jo. 5.30 Jo. 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me In the 39.40 He declares what is the Fathers will even the Salvation of poor Sinners the Father he wills and the Son he wills the eternal well-being of poor Sinners therefore he cloathed himself with a body of Flesh to the end he might declare and fulfil his Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 2.14 good pleasure towards poor perishing Creatures For allthough he was a Son yet he learned Obedience Heb. 5.8 Therefore he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.7 behold I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 2. Reason Why Christ thus condescends to invite poor Sinners to come unto him may be taken from his tender love and compassion to poor Souls Christ Jesus is full of tenderness and love as he manifested when he was grieved for their unbelief for faith is the leading grace as I shewed before which carrieth the Soul to Christ in Mat. 14.14 We read Christ was moved with compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his bowels did yearn towards the multitude and then it was only bodily food they needed but Oh how much more doth Christ commiserate and pitty poor distressed Souls that is a kind of a pathetick expression of Christ in Jo. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life As if Christ should have said you my Friends my Country-men Jo. 11.25 you are all morally dead but I am the resurrection and the Life And he that believeth in me though he were dead yet should he live You are lost ones but I came to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10 you are miserable Sinners but I a merciful Saviour Heb. 2.17 Therefore come unto me believe in me and ye shall have Life and have it more abundantly all that Christ Jesus did and suffered was from a principle of love to poor Souls Jo. 10.10 We commonly say Magnes Amoris Amor Love is the Loadstone of Love but now here was no such Argument in the Sinner for instead of Love here he found hatred instead of Friends deadly enemies therefore Christ did all from his Love and Pity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saw the Sinners Misery Ezek. 16. Therefore is moved with mercy so Christ did when he foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem Luk. 19.41.42 He beheld the City and wept over it saying if thou hadst known even then at least in this thy day the things which belong to thy Peace but now they are hid from thine Eyes Christ had been here inviting with much love and kindness but they refused and slighted his invitation we see here when Christs words and Doctrine will not prevail with hard-hearted Sinners he is so full of compassion notwithstanding that his Soul mourns in secret for their Pride Folly and Unbelief Illis compatitur a quibus patitur Ang. Jer. 13.17 when gratious intreatys will not bring the Sinner home he himself will send tears sighs and groans after him thus we see Christ invites because he is full of tenderness and love to poor Souls O Sinner then retard not but love thy self and come to Christ 3. Reason Because he knows the worth and excellency of their Souls the excellency of the Soul did consist at first in its conformity to the Creator in wisdom and true holyness but upon Sinning the Soul lost its pristine Beauty and primitive excellency only this remains scil the faculty and capability of being restored and renewed again The worth of the Soul transcends all sublimary things Mat. 16.26 What is a Man profited if he gain not a City not a Kingdom not some parts of 〈◊〉 but the whole World and loose his own Soul Now because Christ knows this therefore he invites them to come unto him that they may not lose a Jewel of so high value that there is no exchange for it see Psal 49.7.8 None can by any means redeem his Brother nor give to God a Ransome for him He gives the Reason in the 8. v. For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever Well may he say the redemption of the Soul is precious for no less then the precious blood of Christ who was God-man will redeem it 1 Pet. 1.19 and it ceaseth forever as to its deliverance by any Creature so Christ seems to intimate in my Text and in v. 29. I have reguard to the better part even to the Soul I will give you rest for your Soul and indeed that is the happiest and most glorious rest 4. Reas Because he knows it will prove in vain to go or seek to any other he alone can bear their Burden and ease them of their Labour and weary Travel Men cannot help Angels which excel in strength cannot succour in Soul-distresses Isa 45.22 à quibus vulnetatur illis medetur look unto me and be ye saved saith Christ he who was wounded by thee is the only Physitian for thee Jo. 14.16 I am the way the truth and the Life He is the direct way to Salvation Glory God has made him to be Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption If thou wantest Wisdom thou must go to Christ for he is the Teacher come from God 1 Cor. 1.30 Jo. 3.2 Col. 1.19 If Righteousness we must seek to Christ and so for all mercies For it hath pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell He has ability to save and willingness too come unto me saith Christ why For there is no other name given under Heaven whereby you can be saved Act. 4.12 All Power is given unto me saith Christ Jo. 17.2 I have power to kill and power to make a live therefore Sinner be perswaded to return come unto me and find rest I can ease thee from the yoke of Bondage and I can make thee free with the Priviledg of the Sons of God 5. Reas Because he knows the weight of Glory the Sinner will lose and the greatness of the misery he involves himself into if he refuse It is not a temporal but eternal not a light but a weight of Glory that the refusing Sinner will fall short of He knows the misery is great the Burthen intollerable the Flames inextinguishable the Fire eternal that will be the portion of those who refuse to come Jo. 3.36 He that believeth not the Son shall not see Life which implies
of Gods grace and love in bestowing freely what the Sinner findes he needeth and what God requireth from him scil Faith in Christ Jesus Eph. 2.8 By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your Selves it is the gift of God The Sinner wants Faith which is a supernatural of the Blessed Spirit Gal. 5.22 for without Faith there is no apprehending of Christ now God is pleased in his abundant mercy to confer this and all other graces upon the Sinner to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.6 3. To declare to man his own deplorable state and condition and that he may see what he has made himself by Sin he can do nothing in his lapsed fallen estate which conduceth to his eternal well being without me saith Christ ye can do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing Jo. 15.5 He doth not say ye can do no great thing without me but nihil nothing 4. That poor Creatures who are lost and undone by reason of Sin and who are imbecilitated and weakened through iniquity so that they cannot come themselves to Christ being convinced of the duty incumbent and the necessity of having this grace might more earnestly seek unto God for it and having obtained it highly esteem this Jewel for no Faith no Christ and no Christ no Salvation Jo. 3.36 5. This is to exalt the Lord Jesus in the estimation of miserable Sinners for being perswaded of the absolute necessity of this duty without which they cannot come unto the Father it will make Christ more desirable Jo. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the Life no man cometh unto the Father but by me i. e. By believing in Christ Jesus that is the only way to be reconciled to God and to obtain mercy from him For without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 or be any way grateful to him for God is so far from manifesting his Love to sinners whilst they remain strangers to Christ as that he rather hates them for God taketh complacency and delight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chiefly in his Son Christ Jesus who is the eternal delight of the Father and may I speak with reference Prov. 8.30 and as I humbly presume congruent to the Analogy of Faith that God the Father takes delight or complacency in none neither Angels nor men except considered as elected in Christ because the finiteness of the Creature renders it not an adequate object for the delight of an infinite God or that he should fix his Love upon a Finite being when he is infinite and eternal for God loves not the Creature for it self for any intrinsick worth or excellency in it but for himself and so far as he hath ordained it for his glory there can be no additional felicity unto God the Creating of the Creature adds nothing to him neither doth the perishing of it detract any thing from him for he hath the same fulness and perfect object for his delight now as from all eternity scil his Son Jesus in whom he is well pleased For he is God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 So that if we desire to be beloved of the Father or to have any manifestation of it to us we must go unto Christ in a way of Duty that he may confer and bestow those graces by which we may come unto him in a way of Mercy scil Repentance and Faith for as Christ has purchased Salvation so has he also the means by which we may obtain it and apply it to our own Souls as the Apostle saith Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the Flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me By that Faith which Christ had purchased and his Spirit had wrought the Apostle did live I come now to the uses and application that may be made of this Doctrine 1. Information 2. Examination 3. Exhortation 1. It informs us of a great and indispensable duty for as I have before declared this receiving of looking coming unto and believing in Christ is a duty relating to all who expect salvation and are desirous to be eased of their Burthens which otherwise would press them down into everlasting misery it is by coming to Christ and believing in him that the Soul comes to be exonerated and eased from all its heavy loads of Sin and guilt it is a duty and a work that must be done Jo. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe in him whom he hath sent scil His Son Jesus Christ 2ly Learn hence the erronious falsity of those opinions that direct the Sinner some other way to seek for ease and help when it is only to be found in the Lord Jesus as Christ saith If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your Sins Jo. 8.24 There is no other remedy for the wounded Soul but coming to the Blood of Christ no other Saviour for the lost Sinner but the Lord Jesus no other refuge for the persued Malefactor to sanctuary in but the name of the Lord Jesus Rom. 10.13 and there is none other that can bare away his burthens of guilt Levit. 16.22 into the Land of separation but the Scape-goat scil the Lord Jesus therefore they do but deceive and delude poor Sinners who direct them to any other for ease or comfort 3ly Learn hence that believing which is the right coming unto Christ is not meritorious because it is a Duty We are under a command of believing in Christ 1 Jo. 3 23. now that which is injoyned as a duty to do cannot be meritorious when done for the name of Duty doth casheir and cut off the very Sinnews and Strength of Merit Luk. 17.9.10 When we have done all we must say not complementingly we are unprofitable Servants for here is the Reason we have done but that which was our duty to do It is a duty to come and believe in Christ but our believing doth not merit or deserve that he should accept of us Believing in Christ is the work of the Spirit of God it is not by a mans own Power that he imbraceth him 2ly Use of Examination to know whether you are come unto Christ and indeed this is the Life of all for as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whither you be in the Faith prove your selves know you not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you he Reprobates Here I shall propose this question how shall I know whether I am come to Christ Jesus or no I am satisfied that it is my Duty to come and that if I do not come I am undone and lost to all eternity I answer first If thou art come unto Christ the Father hath drawn thee Jo. 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him Now the Father draws by his election and so gives
objects and the Soul wisheth nothing more than to be full even to the brim 1 Pet. 1.15 16. with this celestial Liquor And for Holyness the Soul is ambitious to attain to the perfection of it To be Holy as God is Holy in all manner of conversation But seeing it cannot acquire that Perfection in this Life it is so in Love with Sanctity that it pants and Prays and longs to get to that state of Glory wherein it is not perfecting but perfect in Holyness not cleansing but cleansed and purified from all Iniquitys By these things you may know whether the Spirit hath wrought the Grace of love in your Souls 4ly The Fourth grace is Hope This is numbred among the three graces 1 Cor. 13.13 And now abideth Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity I shall speak to this and the other two scil Humility and Zeale very Briefly because I have been longer then I intended in the former the Spirit is the Author of this evangellick grace in the Soul and it is the Character of the People of God that they are those who hope in him Psal 3.24 Be of good Courage and he shall strengthen your Hearts all ye that hope in the Lord. 1. I shall declare what this Hope is 2. It s Nature and Office 3. Its objects 1. What it is Hope is a Grace of the Soul whereby every true Christian doth surely expect and patiently wait and look for the injoyment of promised mercys and Salvation Rom. 8.24.25 For we are saved by Hope but hope that is seen is no hope for how can a Man hope for that which he seeth but if we hope for that we see not we do with patience wait for it Heb. 10.35.36 Cast not away therefore your Confidence which hath great recompence of reward Vers 36. For ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the Promise i. e. The thing promised Rom. 5.2 Rejoice in the hope of the glory of God Hope looks to the time to come for the certain possession of the thing hoped for 2. The propertys of it 1. It Looks for the thing promised God hath promised Life Salvation Glory and Bliss to believers Tit. 1.2 In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began I will give Grace and Glory saith God Psal 84.11 Now hope doth firmly expect that God should make good his word and not fail in one Iota or tittle of all things he hath promised to his Saints and Servants 2. It is the nature of it to look forwards to the end and full perfection of bliss Here our blessedness is but imperfect because our graces are not compleated there being the Reliques of Sin in the Soul but hereafter when we are taken above the Clouds and possessed of eternal Glory being in full fruition of God Grace shall be perfected and Crowned with Glory Faith shall be turned into a glorious vision and hope into everlasting fruition this hope expects and waits for 3. From the consideration and certain perswasion of the things hoped for it fills the Soul with joy and gladness Rom. 5.2 Rejoycing in the Hope of the Glory of God The very Expectation that the Day will come when the Soul shall be invested with and possess That far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory spoken of 2 Cor. 4.17 makes it even in the midst of afflictions exult and rejoice It can Glory in tribulation when the Heart is possest of this Grace of Hope 4. This Hope is not ashamed to discover it self neither doth it make the Person ashamed that has it Paul is not ashamed to own it before Agrippa and a Court of Judicature Act. 26.6 And now I stand and am Judged for the Hope of the promise made by God to our Fathers Although the worldly Miser may condemn Believers who build so much upon the expectation of future happiness and for that are willing to undergo afflictions here Yet this hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the holy Ghost Rom. 5.5 5. It puts the Soul upon purification of it self Seeing it expects such great things as to be delivered from all evil to enjoy God and be made like unto him 1 Joh. 3.2.3 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when we shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is vers 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifyeth himself even as he is pure This Soul expects to live with a holy God holy Angels and Saints therefore it labours to become holy and to be made meet for so blessed an Inheritance as God hath provided for them who hope in his Mercy 3ly The objects and foundations of this Evangelic hope 1. God as in Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his Countenance So vers 11. and Psal 43.5 The Psalmist doth still call upon his Soul to hope in God Jer. 17.7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is 2. This hope builds upon the Mercy of God in and through Christ Psal 33.1.8 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his Mercy And in the 147. Psal 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in those that fear him in them that hope in his Mercy God has declared himself by this Name The Lord gracious and merciful Exod. 34.6 therefore hope looks unto this expecting that his Mercy and pity will move him to tender forth grace to the poor soul Christ is called the Mercy promised to the Fathers Luk. 1.72 To perform the Mercy promised to our Fathers and to remember his holy Covenant And the fulfilling of this is said to flow from the tender mercys of God ver 78. Through the tender mercys of God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us so that hope takes incouragement from the mercy of God still to rely upon him 3ly The faithfulness of God Titus 1.2 In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye hath promised before the foundation of the world Here the soul casts Anchor flyes to refuge in storms and concludes the foundation of God stands sure 2 Tim. 2.13.19 and he cannot deny himselfe he can as soon cease to be as fail of fulfilling his promises which he has given as bonds to his people and they are sealed with the blood of Christ therefore never to be cancelled till they are fully discharged 4ly This hope looks upon the promises that God hath made and builds upon them 1. for salvation and eternal life the believer firmly hopes for it and expects to partake of life and happiness as in that forementioned place Tit.