Gospel which you enjoy leads you to the Fountain of pardon and peace Iâ—a 53. 5. By his stripes we are healed The voice of the Gospel is peace peace to every one that believeth a rational peace founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ Ephes. 1. 7. In whom we have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace Here you see Justice and Mercy kissing each other God satisfied and the Sinner justified for Conscience demands as much to satisfie it as God demands to satisfie him if God be satisfied Conscience is satisfied O blessed are the people that hear this joyful sound Psal. 89. 15. And doubtless it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled Soul Beautiful upon the Mountains are the Feet of them that bring good tydings that publish peace It is a Gospel worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. it brings with it a fulness of blessings among the People O England O Dartmouth Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light Great is our wantonness and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude Yet a little while the light is with you walk whilst ye have the light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth John 12. 35. Should God blow out this light whither will you go Who shall pour in Balm to your distressed bleeding Consciences ' II. Inference Hence in like manner it follows that the greatness heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing and accepting Christ upon Gospel terms Let no sinner be dismaid by the atrocity and heynousness of sins past from coming unto Jesus Christ for remission and peace I am awar what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage Souls from the work of Faith by heaping them together he raiseth up a Mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed Soul but behold this day Christ leaping over these Mountains and skiping over these Hills Could this objection be rouled out of the way sinners would go on in hope but certainly if God have given thee a broken Heart and a willing Mind the greatness of thy sin need not discourage thee from believing For 1. thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon whatever thy particular enormities have been there is a sufficiency in the impulsive cause the Free Grace and Mercy of God Exod. 34. 6 7. Micah 7. 18 19. Isa. 55. 7 8 9. It is well there is Mercy enough in God to heal and cover all and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon the Blood of Jesus Christ which taketh away all sin 1 Iohn 1. 7. 1 Iohn 29. And it must needs be so because it is Divine Blood Acts 20. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause the Spirit of God who hath already begun to work upon thy Heart and is able to break it and bow it and bring it home fully to Christ and to compleat the work of Faith upon thee with power thou complainest thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith Well then if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a Creature if the Blood of Christ the Treasures and Revenues of a King be able to pay the debts of a Beggar if the Spirit of God who works by an Almighty Power be able to convince thee of righteousness as well as sin Iohn 16. 9. I say if all the three causes of forgiveness be sufficient every one in its kind the first to move the second to purchase and the third to apply what hinders but thy trembling Conscience should go to Christ and thy discouraged Soul move onward with hope in the way of believing whatever thy former enormities have been 2. If God raises glory to his Name out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing but so God doth he raiseth the glory of his Name from the multitude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth Ier. 33. 8 9. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me And it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations of the Earth which shall hear all the good I do unto them And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it As a cure performed upon a Man labouring under a desperate Disease it magnifies the Physitian and spreads his Name far and near The Devil envies God this glory and thy Soul this comfort and therefore scares thee off from Christ by the aggravations of thy sins David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great iniquities and with that very argument moves him for a pardon Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquitie for it is great You see there are strange ways of arguing in Scripture which are not in use among Men this is one Lord pardon my sin for it is great he doth not say Lord pardon it for it is but a small offence no but pardon it because it is great and the greater it is the greater Glory wilt thou have in pardoning it And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in Scripture which is peculiar and that is to argue from former pardons unto new pardons when Men beg their pardon one of another they use to say I never wronged you before and therefore forgive me now but here it is quite otherwise Lord thou hast signed thousand of pardons heretofore therefore pardon me again such is that plea Numb 14. 19. Pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy and as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt even until now 3. As great sins as those that now stare in the Face of thy Conscience have been actually forgiven to Men upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners under trouble of Conscience are apt to think there is no sin like theirs God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin but certain I am that Free Grace hath pardoned as great Sinners as thou art upon their repentance and faith What think you had you had a Hand in putting Christ to Death would not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you Yea certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin and yet behold that very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at the Heart and made willing to come to Christ Acts 2. 36 37 38. 4. If it be the design and policy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins to prevent the pardoning of them then certainly 't is neither your duty nor interest
optimus Theologus evasurus est Nudati donis non possumus veritatem propugnare aut veritatis inimicos oppugnare Non bona indoles nec elocutionis gratia non gestus decor aut conversationis urbanitas pro egestate donorum compensare queat Utcunque Fratres prae omnibus cavete ne germinante indies Arbore scientiae sola sterilescat Arbor vitae ut eximius Theologus satis apposite lâ—quitur ne sint apud vos ultima prima prima vicissim ultima tam pestifera inversio toto conversionis operi exitialis erit caput regulatum est valde desiderandum sed cor sanctum absolute necessarium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. XII 31. Vigeant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed emineat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 altius radices figant cordibus vestris 〈◊〉 magni Apostoli 1 Cor. IX 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid enim prodest peritum esse periturum Aliud est erudiri de veritatibus Christi aliud edoceri de eo sicut veritas est in Jesu Noctes atques dies mentibus vestris insideat grav is ista cautela literatissimi Reynoldi nostri Ne nobis nimium adblandiamur si forsan exquisitissimis naturae dotibus ingenii acumine sermonis elegantia varia lectione longo rerum usu Artium linguarum scientiarum omnium peritia judicii gravitate rationis pene angelica perspicacia nos Deus ornaverit nisi simul accedat Spiritualis gratiae adjutorium quo Coelestis mysterii cognitionemque adaptemur Quamvis enim splendidissima haec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merito nobis in animis affectibus hominum famam gratiamque conciliant quamvis magnum inde Reipub literariae Ecclesiae Christi emolumentum accedat nullum tamen ex sese aut ad Dei favorem aut ad Coelestis beatitudinis mercedem consequendam momentum conferunt Det Deus dona ministrantia sanctificantia ut Christi Propugnatores inimicorum ejus Expugnatores vosmet comprobetis Sed manum de tabula Epistolam hanc levidensem pingui ut aiunt Minerva contextam benevole tamen excipite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitae observantiae A Conservo vestro in Evangelio Christi Johanne Flavello By reason of the Authors distance from the Press some mistakes have escaped which the Candid Reader is desired to Correct ERRATA in this Epistle PAge 3. l. 4. read omnimode p. 5. l. 9. after ita add neque ib. r. regimen p. 7. l. 6. for r. ut p. 10. l. 12. for iniquitatem r. iniquitatum TO THE READER THE worthy Author of the Discourse emitted herewith is one whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches His other Books have made his Name precious and famous in both Englands Nor can my Testimony add any thing to one every way greater than my self Nevertheless a singular Providence having cast my Lot to be at present in this great City I could not withstand the importunity of them who desiâ—ed a few Prefatory Lines to manifest the Respect I owe to this Renowned and Learned Man. It was a wife Reproof which a grave Divine administred to a young Preacher who entertained his Auditory with an elaborate Discourse After he had commended his parts and pains there was said he one thing wanting in the Sermon I could not perceive that the Spirit of God was in it And though Morality is good and necessary to be taught and practised yet it is much to be lamented that many Preachers in these days have hardly any other Discourses in their Pulpits than what we may find in Seneca Epictetus Plutarch or some such Heathen Moralist Christ the Holy Spirit and in a word the Gospel is not in their Sermons But blessed be God that there are some and great is their Company in this Land of Light who preach the Truth as it is in Jesus And he who has taken the Book out of the Right Hand of him that sits on the Throne and is worthy to open the Seals thereof has been pleased in wonderful ways to set open and keep open a door of Liberty to the Gospel that they unto whom he has given an Heart to Preach Christ may do it This is the Lords doings This is a Spirit of Life from God. When Cyrus proclaimed Liberty for the free Exercise of Religion the Lords Servants who for some years had lain dead were brought out of their Graves Ezek. 37. 12 13. This Treatise is a word in season God has made the Author to be a wise Master-builder in his House and acccording to the Wisdom given him of God he has inlarged on a Gospel subject very proper to be insisted on at such a day as this I am inform'd by unquestionable hands that there was a remarkable pouring out of the Spirit when these Sermons were viva voce delivered a great number of Souls having been brought home to Christ thereby The Lord grant that the second preaching of them to far greater Multitudes by this way of the Press may by the same Spirit be made abundantly successful for the Conversion and Salvation of Gods Elect. The Fruit brought forth by the Holy Apostles in respect of the Writings of some as well as the Doctrin preach'd by all of them does still remain The fruitful Labors of this faithful Servant of Christ will promote the Glory of God and the good of Souls when he himself shall cease from his Labors and his Works shall follow him Let the Lords people be thankful to him for that he has sent such a Labourer into the Harvest and pray that he may be continued long therein and that many such for there are but â—ew such may be raised up and be made eminently successful in their holy endeavours to the inlargement of the Kingdom of Christ and of God and let him reign in this Land for ever and ever which is the Hearts Desire and Prayer of one who is Less then the least of all Saints INCREASE MATHER London 18. 1689. Books written by the Author and sold by Matthew Wotton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet FLavell's Fountain of Life opened or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediâ—torial Glory 4 o. The Method of Grace in bringing hoâ—â— the Eternal Redemption 4 o. Discourse of the Immortality of the Soul. 4 o. Husbandry Spiritualized or the Heavenly use of Earthly things 4 o. Two Treatises of Fear and Evil days 8 o. Divine Conduct or the Mystery of Providence 8 o. The Saint Indeed the great Work of a Christian opened and pressed from Provâ—râ— 4. 23. 12 o. The Touch-stone of sincerity or signs of Grace and Symptoms of Hypocrisie Being the second Part of the Saint Indeed The Seaman's Compass 8 o. The Seaman's Companion containing Six Sermons suited to the various conditions of Seamen 12 o. Token for Mourners or Boundaries for Sorrow on Death of Friends 12 o. Preparation for Sufferings 12 o. Sacramental Meditations 12 o. Balm of the Covenant
Adam which are as the Sand upon the Sea shore that not only so many persons but all that they have done must come into Judgment even the very thoughts of their Hearts which never came to the knowledge of Men their Consciences to be interrogated all other Witnesses fully heard and examined how great a day must this day of the Lord then be The Second Vse But the main Use of this Point will be for Exhortation that seeing all the offers of Christ are recorded and witnessed with respect to a day of account every one of you would therefore immediately embrace the present gracious tender of Christ in the Gospel as ever you expect to be acquitted and cleared in that great day take heed of denials nay of delays and demurs For if the word spoken by Angels were stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward how shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation Heb. 2. 2 3. The question is put but no answer made How shall we escape The wisdom of Men and Angels cannot tell how to enforce this Exhortation I shall present you with Ten weighty Considerations upon the matter which the Lord follow home by the blessing of his Spirit upon all your Hearts I. CONSIDERATION Consider how invaluable a mercy it is that you are yet within the reach of offered Grace The mercies that stand in offer before you this day were never set before the Angels that fell no Mediator was ever appointed for them Oh astonishing mercy that those Vessels of Gold should be cast into everlasting Fire and such Clay Vessels as we are thus put into a capacity of greater happiness than ever they fell from Nay the mercy that stands before you is not only denied to the Angels that fell but to the greatest part of your fellow Creatures of the same rank and dignity with you Psal. 147. 19 20. He sheweth his Word to Jacob his Statutes and his Iudgments unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation and as for his Iudgments they have not known them praise ye the Lord. A mercy deservedly celebrated with a Joyful Allelujah What vast Tracts are there in the habitable World where the name of Christ is unknown T is your special mercy to be born in a Land of Bibles and Ministers where it is as difficult for you to avoid and shun the Light as it is for others to behold and enjoy it II. CONSIDERATION Consider the nature weight and worth of the mercies which are this day freely offered you Certainly they are mercies of the first Rank the most ponderous precious and necessary among all the mercies of God. Christ the first born of mercies and in him pardon peace and eternal Salvation are set before you it were astonishing to see a starving Man refusing offered bread or a condemned Man a gracious pardon Lord what compositions of sloath and stupidity are we that we should need so many intreaties to be happy III. CONSIDERATION Consider who it is that makes these gracious tenders of pardon peace and Salvation to you even that God whom you have so deeply wronged whose Laws you have violated whose mercies you have spurned and whose wrath you have justly incensed His patience groans under the burden of your daily provocations he loses nothing if you be damned and receives no benefit if you be saved yet the first motions of Mercy and Salvation to you freely arise out of his Grace and good pleasure God intreats you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5. 20. The blessed Lord Jesus whose blood thy sins have shed now freely offers that blood for thy Reconciliation Justification and Salvation if thou wilt but sincerely accept him ere it be too late IV. CONSIDERATION Reflect seriously upon your own vileness to whom such gracious offers of Peace and Mercy are made Thy sins have set thee at as great a distance from the hopes and expectations of pardon as any sinner in the World. Consider Man what thou hast been what thou hast done and what vast heaps of guilt thou hast contracted by a life of sin and yet that unto thee Pardon and Peace should be offered in Christ after such a life of Rebellion how astonishing is the mercy The Lord is contented to pass by all thy former Rebellions thy deep died Transgressions and to sign an Act of Oblivion for all that is past if now at last thy Heart relent for Sin and thy Will bow in obedience to the grâ—at commands and call of the Gospel Isa. 55. 2. 1. 18. V. CONSIDERATION Consider how many offers of mercy you have already refused and that every refusal is recorded against you How long you have tried and even tired the patience of God already and that this may be the last overture of Grace that ever God will make to your Souls Certainly there is an offer that will be the last offer a striving of the Spirit which will be his last striving and after that no more offers without you no more motions or strivings within you for evermore The Treaty is then ended and your last neglect or rejection of Christ recorded against the day of your account and what if this should prove to be that last tender of Grace which must conclude the Treaty betwixt Christ and you what undone wretches must you then be with whom so gracious a Treaty breaks off upon such dreadful terms VI. CONSIDERATION Consider well the reasonable mild and gracious nature of the Gospel terms on which Life and Pardon are offered to you The Gospel requires nothing of you but Repentance and Faith Acts 20. 21. Can you think it hard when a Prince pardons a Rebel to require him to fall upon his Knees and stretch forth a willing and thankful Hand to receive his Pardon Your Repentance and Faith are much of the same nature Here is no legal satisfaction required at your Hands no reparation of the injured Law by your doings or sufferings but an hearty sorrow for sins committed sincere purposes and endeavours after new obedience and a hearty thankful acceptation of Christ your Saviour and for your encouragement herein his Spirit stands ready to furnish you with Powers and Abilities Prov. 1. 23. Turn ye at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you I will make known my Words unto you and Isa. 26. 20. Lord thou hast wrought all our Works in us VII CONSIDERATION Again consider how your way to Christ by Repentance and Faith is beaten before you by thousands of sinners for your encouragement You are not the first that ever adventured your Souls in this path multitudes are gone before you and that under as much guilt fear and discouragement as you that come after can pretend unto and not a man among them repulsed or discouraged here they have found rest and peace to their weary Souls Heb. 4. 3. Acts 13. 39. Here the greatest of sinners have been set forth for an ensample to you
Verily verily I say unto you you must be born again Iohn 3. 5. O sinner that hard Heart of thine must be humbled thy stubborn and refractory Will must be bowed all the powers of thy Soul must be unlockt and opened unto Christ he must come into thy Soul or thou canst never see the face of God in peace It is Christ in you that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. Till thy Heart be opened Christ with all the hopes of glory stand without thee And if hopes from the death of Christ without us without the application of his person be enough to save Men then why are any damned Consult 1 Cor. 1. 30. Adams sin damns none but only such as are in him and Christs righteousness saves none but those only that are by faith in him the eternal purposes of the Father the meritorious death of the Son puts no Man into the state of Salvation and happiness till both be brought home by the Spirits powerful application in the work of saving conversion T is good news good indeed that Christ died for sinners t is good news that Christ is brought to our very doors in the tenders of the Gospel and that the Spirit knocks at the door of our Hearts by many convictions and perswasions to open to him and enjoy the unspeakable benefits of his death these things bring us nigh to Christ the next door to Salvation and yet all this may be eventually but a dreadful aggravation of our damnation and will certainly be so to them whose Hearts are but almost opened to Christ. V. Inference See hence the necessity of fervent prayer to accompany the preaching of the Gospel Without the Spirit and power of God accompanying the Word no Heart can ever be opened to Christ Alas such Bars as these are too strong for the breath of Man to break Let Ministers pray and the People pray that the Gospel may be preached with the holy Ghost sent down from Heaven 1 Pet. 1. 12. It greatly concerns us that preach the Gospel to wrestle with God upon our knees to accompany us in the dispensation of it unto the People to steep that seed we sow among you in tears and prayers before you hear it and I beseech you Brethren let us not strive alone joyn your cries to Heaven with ours for the blessing of the Spirit upon the Word How doth Paul beg of the People as a beggar would beg for an alms at the door for their assistance in Prayer Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christ sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me For want of such wrestlings with God in prayer there is so little efficacy in Ordinances Martha told her Saviour Iohn 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died and I may tell you that if the Spirit had been here your Souls had not remained dead under the Word as they do this day Oh when the Sabbath draws near let fervent cries ascend from every Family to Heaven Lord pour out thy Spirit with thy Word make it mighty through thy Power to open these Gates of Iron and break asunder these Bars of Brass Second Vse of Exhortation Seeing the Case stands thus that all Hearts by nature are barr'd and shut up against Christ let every Soul do what it can and strive to its uttermost to get the Heart and Will opened to Christ Strive to enter in at the straight gate Christ is at the Door Oh strive with your selves as well as with God now to get it opened now that Salvation is come so near to your Souls Object But have you not told us that no sinner can open his own Heart nor bow his own Will to Christ Answ. True he cannot convert himself but yet he may do many things in order to it and which have a remote tendency towards it which he doth not do and so he perisheth not though he cannot but because he will not Divers things may be done by poor sinners with their own Hearts which are not done and though in themselves they are insufficient yet being the way and method in and by which the Spirit of God usually works we are bound to do them As for Example 1. Though it be not in your power to open your Hearts to Christ yet it is in your power to forbear the external acts of sin which fasten your Hearts the more against Christ Who forceth thine Hands to steal thy Tongue to swear or lye who forces the cup of excess down thy Throat 2ly Though you cannot open your Hearts under the Word yet it is in your power to wait and attend upon the external Duties and Ordinances of the Gospel Why cannot those Feet carry thee to the Assemblies of the Saints as well as to an Ale-house 3ly And though you cannot let the Word effectually into your Hearts yet certainly you can apply your minds with more attention and consideration to it than you do Who forces thine Eyes to wander or closes them with sleep when the awful matters of eternal Life and Death are founding in thine Ears 4ly Though you cannot open your Hearts to embrace Christ yet certainly you can reflect upon your selves when the obvious characters of a Christless state are plainly held forth before your Eyes God hath given you a self-reflecting power The spirit of a Man knoweth the things of a Man 1 Cor. 2. 11. When you hear of Convictions of sin compunctions of Heart for sin deep concernments of the Soul about its eternal state hungerings and thirstings after Christ restless and anxious Days and Nights about Salvation others have felt you can certainly turn in upon your selves and examine whether ever it were so with you and if not methinks it were not hard to aggravate your own misery to take your poor Souls aside and bemoan them saying Ah my poor Soul canst thou endure everlasting burnings What will become of thee if Christ pass thee by and his Spirit strive no more with thee Why can't you throw your selves at the Feet of God and cry for mercy Prayer is a part of natural Worship distress usually puts Men upon it that yet have no Grace Ionah 1. 5. Do but this towards the opening and saving of your own Souls which though it be not in it self sufficient nor puts God under any meritorious obligation or necessity to add the rest yet it puts you into the way of the Spirit And is not thy Soul sinner worth as much as this comes too Have you not taken a great deal more pains than this for the trifles of this World And will it not be a dreadful aggravation of sin and misery to all eternity that you perished so easily Dont you see many striving round about you for Christ and Salvation whilst you sit still with folded Arms as if you had nothing to do for another World
and satisfied that God hath chosen him to Salvation but whether he apprehend it or no the thing in it self is certain and real consult 1. Thes. 1. 4 5. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God for our Gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost c. Their election of God was the thing to be proved but alas might they say who can know that but God alone It is among the Divine secrets yes saith the Apostle we know it and by this we know it for our Gospel came not unto you in an empty sound but in mighty efficacy effectually opening your Hearts to believe A more clear and certain evidence of your Election cannot be given in this World look again into Rom. 8. 30. Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified There are two great and ravishing Truths cleared in this Scripture the one is this That the whole number of the called upon Earth is taken out of such as were predestinated to Life before the World was The other is this That as the whole number of the glorified Saints in Heaven is made up of Souls called and justified upon Earth so the called Soul that is the Soul that savingly opens to Christ by Faith may from that work of the Spirit upon him solidly reason backward to Gods electing love before all time and forward to his glorification with God when time shall be no more Oh how strong is the Consolation flowing out of this glorious work of the Spirit upon our Hearts That 's one thing II. Consolation The opening of the Heart to receive Christ is the peculiar effect of the Divine and Almighty Power of God the Arm of an Angel is too weak to break those strong bars before mentioned Therefore the exceeding greatness of his Power is applied unto this work of believing Ephes. 1. 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his Power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty Power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Here is Power the Power of God the greatness of his Power the exceeding greatness of his Power the very same Power which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and all this no more than needs to make the Heart of Man open by Faith to receive Christ the only Key that fits the cross Wards of Mans Will and effectually opens his Heart is in the Hand of Christ Revel 3. 7. He hath the key of David he opeâ—â—th and no Man shutteth How long have some of you â—at under able Ministers searching Sermons and roâ—â—ing Providences yet all to no purpose till this Almighty Power came with the Word and then the work was done The people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal. 110. 3. What a glorious Power was that which opened Christ grave when he lay in the Heart of the Earth with a mighty Stone rouled upon his Sepulcher And how mighty a Power is that which breaks asunder all those Bars which kept thy Soul in the State of sin and death None feel this Power but those only whom God intendeth for Salvation and having once wrought this it is engaged to go through with all the rest which yet remaineth to be done to perfect thy Salvation III. Consolation The opening of thy Heart to Christ is not only an effect of Almighty Power but such an effect of it without which all that Christ had done and suffered had been of no avail to thy Salvation neither the eternal Decrees of God nor the meritorious sufferings of Christ are effectual to any Mans Salvation until this work of the Spirit be wronght upon his Heart The offering up of Christ is in its kind and place â—ufficient to purchase our Redemption but it is the receiving of Christ by Faith that brings home Salvation to our Souls where there be many con-causes to produce one effect that effect is not produced until the last cause have wrought Thus 't is here the moving cause viz. the free-grace of God hath wrought and the meritorious cause the death of Christ hath also wrought but still the Heart even of an elect Man remaineth under guilt and condemnation until the Spirit who is the applying cause have also wrought this blessed effect we now speak of It is Christ in us i. e. in union with our Souls which is to us the hope of glory 1 Col. 27. 1 Cor. 1. 30. Behold then the last stroak given in this opening of the Heart by Faith herein electing Love hath brought home Christ with all the purchases and benefits of his death into the actual possession of thy Soul. Oh how transporting and ravishing a consideration is this IV. Consolation In this work the opening of the Heart by Faith the great design and main intention of the Gospel is also answered and accomplished You behold in the Church a glorious frame of Ordinances set up by Divine Institution Ministers appointed to preach Sermons Sacraments Prayers Singing variety of Ordinances set up excellent gifts given to Men as the fruit of Christs ascension into Heaven Now what was the design of God in the institution of all these things but that by them as instruments in his Hand our ignorant dead unbelieving Hearts might be opened unto Christ in acts of Repentance and Faith and built up to a perfect Man Ministers are sent to open your Eyes turn you from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26. 18. They are not sent by Christ into this World to get a living to drive so poor a Trade as that for themselves but to bring you to Faith 1 Cor. 3. 5. When Gods elect are thus brought in and built up in Christ you shall see this glorious frame of Ordinances taken down there will be no more Preaching nor Hearing the end of all these things being accomplished 1 Cor. 15. 24. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father c. Now the consideration of the accomplishment of the great and principal design of the Gospel thus far upon thy Heart is matter of transporting joy Ministers may and must dye Ordinances may be removed but this blessed effect of them upon thy Soul shall never dye God will perfect what he hath begun that 's the Fourth Consolation V. Consolation And then Fifthly That day wherein thy Heart is savingly opened to receive Christ that very day is Salvation come to thy Soul. When Zacheus his Heart was opened to Christ he tells him Luke 19. 9. This day is Salvation come to thy House Salvation was come into the World before thou wast born yea Salvation was come to thy doors in the tenders of the Gospel before but it never came into thy Soul till the day wherein thy Heart opened to Christ by Faith
and is not this matter of singular consolation If Salvation be not what is No wonder that the Eunuch went home rejoycing when he had received Christ by Faith Acts 8. 39. That the Iaylor rejoyced with all his House Acts 16. 34. Neither blame nor wonder at Men for rejoycing for 't is the day of their Salvation 'T is true their Salvation is not finished that day there be many things yet to be done and suffered by them before the compleating of it but it is begun that day the foundation is layed in the Soul that day and the Top-stone shall be set up with shouting in due time crying Grace Grace unto it VI. Consolation The opening of a sinners Heart to Christ makes joy in Heaven a triumph in the City of our God above Luke 15. 7. I say unto you likewise that joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance As when a young Prince is born all the Kingdom rejoyceth the Conduits run with Wine all demonstrations of joy and thankfulness in every City and Town 't is much more so in Heaven when a Soul is born to Christ under the Gospel 't is a satisfaction to the Heart of the Lord Jesus who now beholds more of the travel of his Soul and to all the Angels and Saints that another Soul is espoused to him Beloved when the Gospel is effectually brought home by the Spirit to the Heart of a sinner and wounds him for sin sends him home crying oh sick sick sick for sin and sick for Christ the news thereof is presently in Heaven and sets the whole City of God a rejoycing Christ never rejoyced over thee before thou hast wounded him and grieved him a thosand times but he never rejoyced in thee till now and that which gives joy to Christ may well be matter of Joy to thee that 's the Sixth Consolation VII Consolation And then Seventhly That day thy Heart is unlockt unbarr'd and savingly opened by Faith that very day an intimate spiritual and ever lasting union is made betwixt Christ and thy Soul from that day Christ is thine and thou art his Christ is a great and glorious person but how great and glorious soever he be the small and feeble Arms of thy Faith may surround and embrace him and thou maist say with the Church My beloved is mine and I am his for mark what he faith in the Text If any Man open to me I will come in to him That Soul shall be my habitation there will I dwell for ever that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith what Soul feels not it self advanced by this union with the Son of God Hereby the Believer becomes a Member of his Body Flesh and Bones this is an honour bestowed upon thy Soul above and beyond all that honour that ever God bestowed upon any Angel in Heaven to them Christ is an Head by way of Dominion but to thee by way of vital influence Angels are as the Barons and Nobles of his Kingdom but the Believer his Spouse and all the Angels of Heaven ministring Spirits unto such That 's the seventh Consolation VIII Consolation And then in the Eighth place The opening of thy Heart to Christ brings thee not only into union with his Person but into a state of sweet Soul enriching communion with him So he speaketh in the Text If any Man open the door I will sup with him and he with me Poor Soul thou hast lived many years in the World and never hadst any communion with God till this day Christ and thy Soul have been strangers till now 'T is true thou hast had communion with Ordinances and communion with Saints but for communion with Christ thou couldst know nothing of it till thou receivedst him into thy Soul by Faith. Now thou maist say Truly my fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ 1 John 1. 3. And thenceforth thy communion with Men is pleasant and desirable IX Consolation The opening of a Mans Soul to Christ by Faith is a special and Peculiar mercy which falls to the share but of a very few God hath done that for thee which he hath denied to Millions Who hath believed our report and to whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed i. e. to how small a remnant in the World Isa. 53. 1. And the Apostle puts the work of Faith among the great mysteries of Godliness among the wonders of Religion 1 Tim. 3. 16. Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World. The found of the Gospel is gone forth into the World Many are called but few are chosen There were many Widows in Israel in the days of Elias but to none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a City of Sidon unto a Woman that was a Widow Luke 4. 25 26. To allude to this there were many hundreds that sat under the same Sermon which opened thy Heart to Christ but it may be unto none of them was the Spirit of God sent that day to open their Hearts by Faith but unto thee thou wilt freely acknowledge thy self as unlikely and unworthy as the vilest sinner there Oh astonishing mercy X. Consolation And then lastly In the same day thy Heart opens by Faith to Christ all the treasures of Christ are unlockt and opened to thee In the same hour God turns the key of Regeneration to open thy Soul the key of Free-grace is also turned to open unto thee the unsearchable riches of Christ then the righteousness of Christ becomes thine to Justifie thee the wisdom of Christ to guide thee the holiness of Christ to sanctifie thee in a word he is that day made of God unto thee wisdom and righteousness Sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. All is yours for you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. ult And thus I have shewn you some of those great things God doth for those Souls that will but do this one thing for him Viz. open their Hearts to receive Christ upon the tenders and terms of the Gospel SERMON IV. Revel 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock c THE verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred I stand is of the praeter tense and would strictly be rendred I have stood but being joyned with a verb of the present tense is here rendred I do stand a frequent Hebraism in Scripture and it notes the continued patience and long suffering of Christ. I have stood and still do stand exercising wonderful patience towards obstinate sinners Which gives us this fourth Observation IV. DOCT. That great and admirable is the patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners Thus Wisdom i. e. Christ expresses himself Prov. 1. 24. I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my Hand and no Man regarded Here you have not only Christs â—arnest calls but suitable gestures also to gain attention The stretching out
the Earth bringing Pardon and Salvation with him to stand so long unanswered let who will cry up the goodness of Nature I am sure we have reason to look upon the vileness of it with amazement and horror You could not have found in your Hearts to have made the poorest beggar wait so long at your door as you have made Christ to wait upon you VII Exhortation Seventhly and Lastly Let us all bless and admire the Lord Jesus for the continuation of his Patience not to our selves only but to that whole sinful Nation in which we live We thought the Treaty of Peace had been ended with us many good Men looking upon the iniquities and abominations of these times considering the vanities and backsliding of Professors the Heaven-daring provocations of this Atheistical age concluded in their own Hearts that God would make England another Shiloh Many faithful Ministers of Christ said within themselves God hath no more Work for us to do and we shall have no more opportunities to work for God. When lo beyond the thoughts of all Hearts the merciful and long-suffering Redeemer makes one return more to these Nations renews the Treaty and with compassions rolled together speaks to us this day as to Ephraim of old How shall I deliver thee Look upon this day this unexpected day of Mercy as the fruit and acquisition of the intercession of your great Advocate in Heaven answerable to that Luke 13. 7 8 9. Well God hath put us upon one Tryal more if now we bring forth fruit well if not the ax lyes at the root of the Tree Once more Christ knocks at our doors the voice of the Bridegroom is heard those sweet voices Come unto me Open to me your opening to Christ now will be unto you as the Valley of Achor for a door of hope But what if all this should be turned into wantonness and formality what if your obstinacy and infidelity should wear out the remains of that little strength and time left you and that former Labours and Sorrows have left your Ministers Then actum est de nobis we are gone for ever then farewel Gospel Ministers Reformation and all because we knew not the time of our Visitation What was the dismal doom of God upon the fruitless Vineyard Isa. 5. 5. I will take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break down the wall thereof and it shall be troden down I will also command the Clouds that they rain not upon it The hedge and the wall are the Spiritual and Providential presence of God these are the defence and safety of his People the Clouds and the Rain are the sweet influences of Gospel Ordinances If the hedge be broken down God's pleasant Plants will soon be eaten up and if the Clouds rain not upon them their Root will be rottenness and their Blossom will go up as dust Our Churches will soon become as the Mountains of Gilboa therefore see that you know and improve the time of your Visitation III. Vse of Consolation I shall wind up this Fourth Doctrin in two or three words of Consolation to those that have answered and are now preparing to answer the design and end of Jesus Christ in all his Patience towards them by the compliance of their Hearts with his great design and end therein O blessed be God and let his high-praises be for ever in our Mouths that at last Christ is like to obtain his end upon some of us and that all do not receive the Grace of God in vain And there be three Considerations able to wind up your Hearts to the height of Praise if the Lord have now made them indeed willing to open to the Lord Jesus I. Consideration The Faith and Obedience of your Hearts makes it evident that the Lords waiting upon you hitherto hath been in pursuance of his design of Electing Love. What was the reason God would not take you away by death though you passed so often upon the very brink of it in the days of your unregeneracy And what think you was the very reason of the revocation of your Gospel-liberties when they were quite out of sight and almost out of hope why surely this was the reason that you and such as you are might be brought to Christ at last Therefore though the Lord let you run on so long in sin yet still he continued your Life and the means of your Salvation because he had a design of Mercy and Grace upon you And now the time of Mercy even the set time is come Praise ye the Lord. II. Consideration You now also see the Sovereignty and freeness of Divine Grace in your vocation your Hearts resisted all along the most powerful means and importunate calls of Christ and would have resisted still had not Free and Sovereign Grace over-poured them when the time of Love was come Ah it was not the tractableness of thine own Will the easie temper of thy Heart to be wrought upon the Lord let thee stand long enough in the state of Nature to discover that there was nothing in Nature but obstinacy and enmity Thou didst hear as many powerful Sermons melting Prayers and didst see as many awakning Providences before thy Heart was opened to Christ as thou hast since yet thy Heart never opened till now and why did it open now Because now the Spirit of God joyned himself to the Word victorious Grace went forth in the Word to break the hardness and conquer the rebellions of thy Heart The Gospel was now preached as the Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 1. 12. With the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven which things saith he the Angels desire to look into Ah Friends it is a glorious sight worthy of Angelical observation and admiration to behold the effects of the Gospel preacht with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven to see when the Spirit comes along with the Word the blind Eyes of sinners opened and they brought into a new World of ravishing objects to behold Fountains of Tears flowing for sin out of Hearts lately as hard as the Rocks to see all the Bars of Ignorance Prejudice Custom and Unbelief fly open at the voice of the Gospel to see Rebels against Christ laying down their Arms at his Feet come upon the Knee of submission crying Lord I will rebel no more to see the proud Heart centered and wrapt up in its own righteousness now striping it self naked loading it self with all shame and reproach and made willing that its own shame should go to the Redeemer's glory These I say are sights which Angels desire to look into Certainly your Hearts were more tender and your Wills more apt to yield and bend in the days of your youth than they were now when sin had so hardned them and long continued custom riveted and fixed them yet then they did not and now they do yield to the calls and invitations of the Gospel Ascribe all to Sovereign Grace and
most satisfying of all Come on poor trembling Soul dont be discouraged stretch out the small weak Arms of thy Faith to that great and gracious Redeemer open thy Heart wide to receive him he will not refuse to come in he hath sealed thousands of pardons to as vile Wretches as thy self he never yet shut the door of Mercy upon a willing hungering Soul. It is a great matter to have the Way beaten and the Ice broken before thee in thy way to Christ. If thou wert the first sinner that had cast his Soul upon Christ I confess I should want this encouragement I am now giving thee but when so many have gone before thee and all found a welcom beyond their expectation What incouragement doth this breath into thy trembling discouraged Heart to go on and venture thy self upon Christ as they did what an Example have we in Manasseh 2 Chron. 33. from vers 3. to 12. An Idolater one that used Enchantments and Divinations familiar Spirits shed innocent Blood in the Streets of Ierusalem a Man might rake the World and hardly bring â—o sight a viler Wretch a greater Monster in sin and wickedness yet his Heart being broken and his Will bowed this Man found Mercy How great a sinner was Mary that came to Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee Luke 7. 39. So notorious a sinner that Simon took offence at Christ for suffering so vile Wretch to come into his presence If this Man were a Prophet saith he he would have known who and what manner of Woman this is that toucheth him for she is a sinner Yet Maries Heart being broken for sin and made willing to accept of a Saviour what a gracious demonstration of welcom did Christ give her and to all other sinners a singular encouragement in her Example Once more you have an eminent Example of the abundant welcom of another sinner to Christ who owned himself for the greatest of Sinners a Persecuter a Blasphemer Injurious but saith he I obtained Mercy 1 Tim. 1. 16. And the Example of his gracious Entertainment with Christ is recorded on purpose for an encouragement unto all that should hereafter believe How many thousands are there now in Hell that never stood guilty of greater enormeties than the Corinthians did Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners such were some of them yet Sanctified Washed Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. If ever Christ would have shut the door of Mercy upon any if ever he would have been coy and shy of coming into any Souls certainly these were the Souls he would have disdained to come near O what a demonstration is here of that comfortable Point before us That Christ will not refuse to come into the Soul of the vilest Sinner when ones it is made Heartily willing to open to him IV. Evidence A further Evidence of this comfortable Truth shall be taken from the Scripture resemblances of the abundant Grace of God and riches of Mercy in Christ towards all broken Hearted and willing Sinners There are some chosen resemblances and excellent Emblems which bring down the Grace of God before the very Eyes of Men amongst which I will single out three glorious Resemblances of Free Grace chosen by his Wisdom on purpose for the incouragement of poor drooping Sinners A Resemblance from the Heavens a Resemblance from the Sun and a Resemblance from the Sea all such as the Wisdom of Men and Angels could never have chosen for such a purpose as this is I. A Resemblance from the Heavens those vast extended Heavens that cover and compass this Earth what an inconsiderable spot is the whole Terrestrial Globe to those high and all-surrounding Heavens and yet these Heavens are not at so vast a distance above the Earth as the pardoning Grace of God is above the guilt yea and the very thoughts of poor Sinners For of the pardoning Grace of God to penitent and willing Souls that precious Scripture speaks Isa. 55. 8 9. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous Man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon O saith the Soul I cannot think God will ever have Mercy on such a Wretch as I why saith he vers 8. My thoughts are not your thoughts and 't is well they are not but as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts You cannot take the height nor sound the depth of my pardoning Grace That 's one Emblem from the unconceivable height of the Heavens above the Earth II. Another is taken from the Sun in the Heavens a Creature of admirable Power and Vertue you know that anon this part of the World will be the Throne of Darkness the Sable curtains of the Night will be spread over all the beauties of this part of the Earth and it may be in the Morning a thick Fog or Mist will cover it thick and dark Clouds may darken the Heavens but behold this glorious Creature the Sun chasing before him the darkness of the Night breaking up the Mists and Fogs of the Morning scattering the dark and thick Clouds of Heaven they are all gone and there is no appearance of them Just so saith God shall it be with thy sins and thy Cloudy fears arising out of sin Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions and as a Cloud thy sins Thy Soul is beclouded thy fears have bemisted thee so that thou canst not see the grounds of thine encouragement but my Grace shall arise upon thee like the Sun in the Heavens and scatter all these dismal Clouds both of guilt and fear and make a clear Heaven over thee and a clear Soul within thee Vnto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. III. Another Resemblance you have from the Sea the great Abyss that vast Congregation of Waters whose depth no line can fadom Veer out as much Line as you will you cannot touch the bottom To this unfathomable Ocean the pardoning Grace of God is also resembled Mich. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea. If the loftiest Pyramid or highest Mountain were cast into the depth of the Sea it would never be seen more by the Eyes of Men. God hath on purpose chosen this Emblem of his Grace to obviate that common discouragement of Satan taken from the greatness and aggravation of sin and in that case thou art to make use of them and bless the Lord for them he
to plead it to the same end the Devil doth to lay a confederacy and joyn with your mortal enemy in a plot against the honour of Christ and Salvation of your own Souls take heed what you do seal not Satans conclusions do you think it is a small matter to be confederate with the Devil Certainly this is his design he magnifies your sins on purpose to discourage you from faith while you were secure and carnal the Devil never aggravated but diminished your sins to you but now the Lord hath opened your Eyes and you are come near to the door of hope mercy and pardon now he magnifies them hoping thereby to ham-string and lame thy faith that it shall not be able to carry thee to Christ. 5. If thy sin be really unpardonable then God hath somewhere excepted it in the Gospel grant He hath somewhere said The Man that hath committed this sin or continued so many years in sin shall never be forgiven but now in the whole Gospel there is but one sin that is absolutely excepted from the possibility of pardon and that such a sin as thy sorrows and desires after Christ do fully acquit and clear thee from the guilt of this sin indeed is excepted Matth. 12. 31. But the sin against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven This is that which the Scripture calls a sin unto death Let Apostate Professors transformed into Persecutors Scoffers and Haters of godliness and the Professors of it look to themselves the dreadful symptoms of this sin seem to appear upon such But the humbled thirsty Soul after Christ stands clear of the guilt of that sin 5. If there were no forgiveness with God for great sinners then great sinners had never been invited to come to Christ. The invitations of the Gospel are no mockeries but things of most awful solemnity Now such sinners are called and invited under the encouragement of a pardon consult Isa. 1. from vers 10. to 17. and see the horrid aggravations of that peoples sins and yet at vers 17 18. you may read the gracious invitations of God with conditional promises of a plenary remission so in Ier. 3. from 1. to 13. what a sad Catalogue of sins with their horrid aggravations do you find there and yet it said vers 12. Go and proclaim these words towards the North and say Return thou backsliding Israel and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for I am merciful 6. If thy sins had not been capable of remission God would never have given thee conviction and compunction for sin nor have drawn forth the desires of thy Heart in this manner after Christ. He hath tact remission to repentance Acts 5. 31. a blessing to gracious desires and hungerings Matth. 5. 6. There is therefore hope that when God hath given the one he will not long withhold the other This very wounding of thy Heart by compunction and drawing forth thy Will by inclination shew that remission is not only possible but even at the door 7. And lastly Let this be thine encouragement whatever Satan or thine own Heart suggests to discourage thee that great Sinners are moving in the way of repentance and faith to a great Saviour who hath merit enough in his Blood and mercy enough in his Bowels to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. The Lord open to the Eyes of your Faith that rich Exchequer of Free Grace Exod. 34. 6 7. and give you a sight of that plenteous Redemption and forgiveness that is with God Psal. 130. 4 7. that you may not at once cast reproach upon the most glorious Attribute of God impeach the precious Blood of Christ and stab your own Soul with a death-wound of desperation which is that the Devil designs and the whole strain of the Gospel designs to prevent III. Inference If the vilest of sinners stand as fair for pardon and mercy upon their closing with Christ by faith as the least of sinners do then certainly the pardon and salvation of sinners is not built upon any righteousness in themselves but purely and only upon the Free Grace of God in Iesus Christ. Dont think God hath set the Blood of Christ to sale and that those only are capable of the benefits of it who have lived the strictest and soberest lives No no though sobriety morality and strictness in Religious Duties be things commanded and commended in the Gospel yet no Man by these things can purchase a pardon for the least sin Rom. 11. 6. And if by grace then it is no more of Works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work See how these exclude one another thus Titus 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us No Man can satisfie God by any thing himself can do or suffer not by doing for all we do is mixt with sin Iob 14. 4. and that which is sinful can be no attonement for sin all we do or can do is due debt to God Luke 17. 10. and one debt cannot satisfie for another Nor yet by suffering for the sufferings awarded by the Law are everlasting and to be ever satisfying is never to satisfie So then by the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified in his sight The Saints in all generations have fled to mercy for remission Psal. 130. ult the two debtors Luke 7. 43 44 45. though there were a vast difference in the debts yet of the lesser as well as of the greater it s said they had nothing to pay nothing but the satisfaction of Christ can quit your scores with God. IV. Inference If the grace of Christ be thus free to the greatest of sinners then it is both our sin and folly to stand off from Christ and draw back from believing for want of such and such qualifications which we yet find not to be wroâ—ght in our Hearts Poor convinced Souls think O if they had more humility tenderness love to God spirituality of mind this would â—e some encouragment to believe but because they have no such ornaments to dress up their Souls withal they are not fit to go to Christ. Now to remove this great mistake let two things be considered 1. That such a conceit as this crosses the very stream of the Covenant of Grace where nothing is sold but all freely given this is the very Spirit of the Covenant of Works fain we would find something in our selves to bring to God to Procure his favour and acceptance but the Gospel tells us we must come naked and empty handed to be justified freely by his grace Rom. 2. 24. We must be justified as Abraham was who believed in him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted
are ordained to eternal Life shall believe and feel the power of Gods truths upon their Hearts Acts 13. 48. And methinks it should be of a startling consideration when you shall see others struck to the Heart cast into fears and tremblings by the same Word that doth not in the least touch your Hearts It may be you think this is but fancy and melancholy that very thought is an artifice of Satan to blind your Eyes I am sure Christ makes another use of it when he told the secure and self-righteous Jews Matth. 21. 32. John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him and ye when ye had seen it repented not afterward that ye might believe him q. d. What shift did you make to quiet your Consciences when you saw other poor sinners so humbled and bronght to Faith under Iohn's Ministry 'T is strange there should be no reflections in your Consciences upon your own state and condition but thus it must be one shall be taken and another left to some it shall be the savour of life unto life and to others the savour of death unto death O who can look over so great a part of a Congregation without melting bowels of compassion Considering that unto this day the Lord hath not given them Eyes to see nor Ears to hear They have heard multitudes of Sermons they have heard also what effects they have had upon other Mens Hearts but none upon theirs O that such poor Souls would cry to the Lord Jesus in such Language as that Cant. 8. 13. The companions hearken to thy voice cause me to hear it Lord let me not sit under the Word any longer deaf to the voice of thy Spirit in it Open and unstop the Ears of my Soul that I may hear thy voice and feel thy power otherwise the external ministerial voice will be ineffectual to my Salvation 'T will be but a Rattle to still and quiet my Conscience for a little while and a dreadful aggravation of my misery in the issue II. Vse of Information Secondly The Point before us presents five other Truths with equal clearness to ous Eyes I. Inference In the first Place hence it follows That we have this day before our Eyes a great Seal and confirmation of the truth of the Scriptures No miracles can seal it firmer than the events of it do which are visible to all that will observe them What you read in the Word you may see every day fulfill'd before your Eyes you read 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish To the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life And again Acts 28. 24. it is observed that when Paul in his lodgings had expounded and testified the Kingdom of God to the people and perâ—wading them to believe from morning till-evening it is observed I say that some believed 〈◊〉 things that were spoken and some believed not Here you see the different yea contrary events of the preaching of the Gospel according to the Scripture account of it it quickens some and kills others it brings some to Faith and leaves others still fixed in unbelief Compare this account with what is daily before your Eyes do you not see Souls differently influenced to contrary effects under the same word One melting and tender another hardned and wholly unconcerned Tell me you that are apt to ascribe all to nature how comes it to pass that men exercising reason alike men that have the same inbred fears and hopes of things eternal who have the same passions and affections and are in the self same condition and state with others yet one Mans Heart shall be wounded and go away trembling from under the self same word which affects the other no more than if it had been preached among the Tombs to the dead that lye there Say not some have more courage than others or clearer understandings for it is most certain the Word hath convinced as rational and courageous persons as those upon whom it hath had no such effect I doubt not but the Jaylor that was cast into such tremblings and astonishment Acts 16. 30. was as stout and rugged a person as any to whom Paul usually preached his very office bespake him such a Man wonder not what it is that makes Men fright at such a sound which you hear as well as they but it affects you not The Lord speaks in that voice to their Hearts but not to yours and so it must be according to the account the Scripture gives us of the contrary events of the Gospel upon them that hear it which is I say a fair and firm Seal of the truth of the Scriptures and highly worth the due observation of all Men. II. Inference What dignity hath God stampt on Gospel Ordinances in making them the organs and mediums through and by which Christ speaks life to dead Souls This greatly exalts the dignity of the Gospel and deservedly endears it to all our Souls I deny not but God can convey Spiritual life immediately without them but though he hath not tyed up himself yet he hath tyed us up to a diligent and constant attendance upon them and that with the deepest respect and reverence to them Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Behold how the sin is graduated and aggravated to the hight of sinfulness The contempt of the Gospel runs much higher than Men are aware of We think it no great matter to neglect or contemn a messenger of Jesus Christ but that contempt flies in the very face and authority of Christ who gave them their Commissions yea in the very face of God the Father who gave Christ his Commission Christ speaks in and by his Ministers they are as his mouth Ier. 15. 19. Moreover the sin sticks at our own Souls and we injure them as well as Christ For the Word preached is his appointed Instrument to convey spiritual life the best of Blessings to our Souls Upon which account it is called the Word of life Phil. 2. 16. and the power of God to salvation Rom. 1. 16. We then militate against our life and salvation when we despise and neglect the Ordinances of God. 'T is good for men to lye under them and continually wait on them who knows when the Spirit of God will breathe life to your Souls through them What if yet you have found no such benefit from them the very next opportunity may be the time of life the appointed season of your salvation Bring your carnal Relations to them as they did their sick and diseased Friends in the days when Christ was on Earth laying them in the way he was to pass Christ will honour his Ordinances
any Heart in the World to Christ and yet considering how fast the Hearts of Men are glued to their lusts fixed and riveted in their sins until the Spirit come upon them with powerful convictions and when under conviction what mighty discouragements they labour under from their former sinfulness and present unworthiness all this is little enough to bring them to faith nay in it self utterly insufficient without the Almighty power second and set them home with effect on the Heart for it is not meer moral suasion will do the work 'T is true Christ will not make a forcible entrance into the Soul he will come in by the consent of the Will but the Will consents not till it feel the power of God upon it Psal. 110. 3. Almighty power opens the Heart and determins the Will but still in a way congruous to the nature of the Will Hos. 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a man with the bands of love When under the influence of this power the Soul opens unto Christ he will come in take that Soul for his everlasting habitation refresh and feast it with the sweetest consolations and privileges purchased by his Blood whence the Tenth Observation is DOCT. X. That Christ will certainly come into the Soul that opens to him and will not come empty handed but will bring rich entertainment with him I will come in to him and sup with him When the prodigal the Emblem of a convert returned to his Father Luke 15. 22. his Father not only received but adorned and feasted him In opening this Point I shall shew First What Christs coming in to the Soul intends Secondly How it appears Christ will come in to the opening Soul. Thirdly What that rich entertainment is he brings with him Fourthly Why he thus entertainsthe Soul that receives him and opens to him First What Christs coming in to the Soul intends and in general I must say this is a great mystery which will not be fully understood till we come to Heaven Iohn 14. 20. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Then the essential union of Christ and his Father and the mystical union between believers and Christ will be more clearly understood than we are capable to understand them in this imperfect state yet for present so much is discovered as may justly astonish poor sinners at the marvelous condescension of the Lord Jesus to them More particularly this expression I will come in to him imports no less than his uniting such a Soul to himself for he comes in with a design to dwell in that Soul by faith Eph. 3. 17. to make such a man a mystical member of his body flesh and bones Eph. 5. 30. which is the highest honour the Soul of man is capable of indeed this coming of Christ into the Soul of a sinner doth not make him one person with Christ that is the singular honour to which our nature is advanced by the Hypostatical Vnion but this makes a person mystically one with Christ and though it be beneath the Hypostatical Vnion yet it is more than a meer Foederal Vnion Christs coming into the Soul signifies more than his coming into Covenant with it for it is the taking of such a person into a mystical Union with himself by the imparting of his Spirit unto him as the vital sap of the stock coming into the grass makes it one with the stock Iohn 15. 5. So the coming of Christs Spirit into the Soul makes it a member of his mystical body and this is a glorious supernatural work of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. most honorable most comfortable and for ever sure and indissoluble as I have elsewhere more fully shewed Secondly In the next place I shall evidence the truth and certainty of this most comfortable point that Christ will come in and that with singular refreshments and comforts to every Soul that hears his voice and opens to him No present unworthyness or former rebellions shall bar out Christ or obstruct his entrance into such a Soul. Whatever thou hast been or done all that notwithstanding Christ will come into thee and dwell with thee and make thy Soul an habitation for himself through the Spirit Eph. 2. 22. I say let thy Heart but open to him and he will both fill and feast thee with a non obstante as to all thy former miscarriages I know it is the common discouragement that multitudes of convinced humbled sinners lye under who seeing so much vileness in their natures and practices cannot be perswaded that ever the Lord Jesus will cast an Eye of favour on them much less take up his abode in them What dwell in such a Heart as mine which hath been an habitation of Devils a sink a puddle of sin from my beginning This is hard to be believed but sinner thou hast the word of a King from Heaven for it a word whose credit was never crackt or stained from the first moment it was spoken that whatever thy former or present vileness or unworthiness hath been or is he will not be shy of such a Soul as thou art if thou be but willing to open to him thy great unworthiness shall be no bar to his union with thee If any man open I will come in to him c. For First If personal unworthiness were sufficient to bar Christ out of thy Soul it would equally bar him out of all the Souls in the World for all are unworthy as well as thy self Where-ever Christ finds sinfulness he finds unworthiness and to be sure he finds this where-ever he comes Christ never expected to find worthiness in thee but it highly pleases him to find thee under a becoming sense of thy personal unworthiness Ier. 3. 13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgrest against the Lord thy God c. The returning prodigal acknowledged to his Father I am not worthy to be called thy Son Luke 15. 18 19. But this did not bar his access to or hinder his acceptance by his Father All that come to God to be justified must see and confess their own vileness and come to him as one that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. Secondly Thy former vileness and present unworthiness can be no bar to Christs entrance because it can be no surprize to him He knew thou wast an unworthy Soul when he made the first overture of grace and reconciliation to thee and if thy unworthiness hindred not the beginning of his treaty with thee it shall not hinder the closing and finishing act thereof in his union with thee I knew that thou wast a transgressor from the womb Isa. 48. 8. Thirdly Christ never yet came into any Soul where Satan had not the possession before him Every Soul in which Christ now dwels was once in Satans power and possession Acts 26. 18. To turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
and above all the comforts of this world 6 In a word the joys of Heaven are unspeakable Joys no words can make known to others what they are When Paul was caught up into Paradice he heard unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12. 4. And are there not times even in this life wherein the Saints do feel that which no words can express 1 Pet. 1. 8. Rev. 2. 17. Now if such earnests of the Spirit do follow after believing if opening the Soul to Christ do bring it into these Suburbs of Heaven who then would not receive Christ into his Soul and such an heaven upon earth with him And thus I have shewed you what some of those heavenly rarities are with which Christ entertains Believers upon earth the fulness and perfection whereof is reserved for Heaven and hereby secured to the opening or believing Soul which was the first thing to be discovered Secondly Next we shall enquire into the reasons why Christ thus entertains feasts and refreshes the Soul that receives him And First This he doth to express the great joy and satisfaction his Soul hath in the faith and obedience of poor Sinners We read Isa. 53. 11. of the hard travel of Christs Soul and the great satisfaction he hath in the fruit and issue thereof He shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied O what pleasure and satisfaction doth it give him to behold the eternal counsels of God and sore travels of his Soul brought to such a birth there is no pleasure like it to the Soul of Christ in this world As it is abundant satisfaction to a man to behold the accomplishment of a design upon which he hath laid out many thoughts and much cost at last happily finished Or as it is to a Woman that hath had a hard labour a sore travel for a Child to behold the fruit of her Womb to embrace and smile upon that Child she travail'd for So and much more than so it is to Christ and therefore as the Father of the Prodigal manifested the Joy of his heart for the return of his Son who was to him as dead and lost by a feast and musick So doth Christ here answerably manifest the content and satisfaction of his Soul by entertaining the Believer with these royal dainties of Heaven 't is the Souls welcom home to Christ. Secondly This Christ doth to relieve and refresh poor distressed Souls who have endured so many fears and sorrows from the time of their first conviction until this day of their union with Christ by Faith. The way of faith is a very humbling way there 's much cutting work in antecedent convictions and humiliations sad nights and sick days with many poor Souls and these things bring them very low They see the Law broken by sin wrath hanging over them in the threatnings the bitter tast thereof they have in their consciences they have dwelt with fears and horrors a long time and they need succour and support which the Lord Jesus is now resolved to give them lest the spirit fail before him Isa. 57. 16. He delights to comfort them that are cast down 2 Cor. 7. 6. Christ is of a compassionate nature he is as ready as able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. That word which we render Succour signifies to run in by way of help at the cry of one that is in distress Many emphatical cries have gone up to Heaven from the distressed sin-sick Soul these the compassionate Jesus hears and now comes in seasonably to succour and refresh it He hath rich Cordials for fainting hours the Soul hath had a bitter break-fast and therefore Christ will give it a comfortable Supper I will come in to him and sup with him Thirdly Those that open their hearts to Christ must expect to meet great troubles sufferings and temptations in that new course whereinto they are entred Their way to Heaven lies through much tribulation all our troubles are not over when we are got into Christ nay then commonly our greatest outward troubles begin Heb. 10. 32. After ye believed ye endured a great fight of affliction Carnal relations now scoff frown and cast off the world hates them and marks them out for persecution Now that poor Christians may not utterly be discouraged when they meet with those troubles in the way of their duty Christ will chear and hearten them by these spiritual refreshments This is a stock laid in for a rainy day Christ himself had a voice from Heaven Matth. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son a little before his great combat much more do his poor people need such consolations to support and encourage them The wise God foresees and by this provision forelays the troubles they are to meet with An hour of Sealing fortifies the Soul for an hour of Suffering It hath been the observation of some Christians when they have felt more than ordinary comforts of the Spirit that some great tryal hath been near them and the event hath confirmed it Whatever comforts Christ gives his people at their first entrance into his Service they will have need enough of them all before they finish their course To these first sealings they will need often to run back and have frequent recourse to them and all little enough to support them in after-tryals Fourthly Christ comes in to the opening Soul with such divine Cordials and refreshments to defeat and countermine the plot of Satan who hath so often and so lately been discouraging them by representing the ways of Christ as sad melancholy ways telling them they shall never laugh more never be merry more after they have embraced and espoused the ways of holiness Spiritus Calvinianus est spiritus melancholicus Well their own experiences shall now confute it for they now taste that pleasure in Christ in faith and obedience which they never tasted in the ways of sin thus that scandalous libel of the Devil is experimentally confuted They find they were never truly merry till now Luke 15. 24. All true mirth commences from our closing with Christ and they began to be merry Now these spiritual refreshments are by Christ here called a Supper because the Supper among the Jews was their best meal Luke 14. 17. and because it is the last meal This is not only the best meal that ever a believer made but upon these spiritual comforts though much more refined and perfect they are to feed for ever in Heaven O Christian well maist thou be contented with thine outward lot of providence however it shall fall in this World with respect to thy outward-man Will a King from Heaven come and sup with thee Doth he feed thy Soul with pardon peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Seals an earnest of future glory then thou livest at an higher and nobler rate than any of thy carnal neighbours do Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath blessed us
Christ unto greater chearfulness in the paths of obedience to Christ. This is another end for which God communicates them that our Souls being refreshed by them we might pluck up our feet the more nimbly in the paths of duty Psal. 119. 32. Then will I run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Now God expects that you pray more frequently meditate more delightfully and perform every duty more cheerfully And this is the way to perpetuate your comforts How many Christians go on droopingly in the ways of duty for want of those encouragements you enjoy SERMON XI Revel 3. 20. I will sup with him and he with me WE have heard the first encouragement or argument of Christ to perswade the Hearts of Sinners to open to him viz. That he will come in to them and that not empty handed He will also Sup with them and to make the encouragement compleat and full he here adds And he with me This last clause sets forth that Spiritual-soul-refreshing-communion which is betwixt Christ and believers begun in this World compleated and perfected in the World to come Hence our tenth Observation is XI DOCT. That there is a mutual sweet and intimate communion betwixt Iesus Christ and believers in this World. Communion with Christ is frequent in the lips of many men but an hidden mystery to the Souls of most men This Atheistical age scoffs and ridicules it as Enthusiasm and Fanaticism but the Saints find that reality and incomparable sweetness in it that they would not part with it for Ten thousand Worlds When the Roman Soldiers entred the Temple at Ierusalem and found no Image there as they used to have in their own Idolatrous Temples they gave out in a Jeer that the Jews worshiped the Clouds Thus prophane Atheists scoff at the most solemn awful and sweetest part of internal Religion as a meer fancy but the thing is real sure and sensible if there be truth in any thing in the World there is truth in this That there are real intercourses betwixt the visible and invisible World betwixt Christ and the Souls of believers which we here call communion 1 Iohn 1. 3. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Christ Iesus 'T is really and truly so we impose not upon the World we tell you no more than we have felt The life of Enoch is call'd his walking with God Gen. 5. 24. O sweet and pleasant walk All pleasures all joys are in that walk with God. Blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound they shall walk O Lord in the light of thy countenance Psal. 89. 15. The joyful sound there spoken of was the sound of the trumpet which called the people to the solemn Assemblies where they walked in the light of Gods countenance the sweet manifestations of his favour and because the World is so apt to suspect the reality and certainty of this Doctrin the Apostle again asserts it Phil. 3. 20. Truly our conversation is in Heaven We breath below but we live above we walk on Earth but our conversation is in Heaven To open this Point three things must come under consideration 1. What Communion with Christ is 2. That there is such a Communion betwixt him and believers 3. The excellency of this Communion First What Communion with Christ is in the general nature of it To open this it must be considered that there is a twofold Communion 1. A state of Communion 2. Actual Communion The first is fundamental to the second we can have no actual Communion with the Father Son or Spirit till we be first brought into a state of Communion This state of Communion is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fellowship or partnership with Christ. Such a Fellowship as Merchants have in one and the same Ship and Cargo where one hath more and another less but however a joint though unequal interest one lives in one Kingdom another in another Kingdom but they are joyntly interested in the same Goods This comparison must not be stretcht beyond its intention which is to shew nothing but this that Christ and believers are co-partners or co-heirs in the same inheritance hence they are called Psal. 45. 7. his fellows God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows and again Rom. 8. 17. If children then heirs heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Christ states his people gives then a right and title not only to himself but to those good things purchased by him yea and the very glory he now enjoys in Heaven Iohn 17. 22. The glory which thou gavest me I have given them 'T is true there are some things in Christ which are peculiar to himself and incommunicable to any creature as his eternity consubstantiality with his Father c. neither have we fellowship in his mediatorial Works we have the fruits and benefits of them but no partnership with him in the glory and honour of them that is peculiarly his own and though it be said in the Scriptures that believers are righteous as he is righteous yet the meaning is not that they can Justifie others as Christ doth no they are Justified by him but cannot communicate righteousness to others as Christ doth to them But there are other things wherein there is a partnership betwixt Christ and his people among others they partake with him in the Spirit of Sanctification on Earth and glory in Heaven The same Spirit of holiness which dwells in Christ without measure is communicated by him to the Saints in measure 1 Iohn 4. 13. He hath given us of his Spirit And as Christ communicates his Spirit to the Saints so he communicates the glory of Heaven to them not that they shall be as glorious in Heaven as Christ is no no he will be known among the Saints in glory as the Sun is known from the lesser Stars Thus briefly of the state of communion which is called in Scripture our being made nigh Eph. 2. 13. and indeed we must be made nigh before we can actually draw nigh We must be put into a state of fellowship before ever we can have actual communion with God. Secondly Beside this state of Communion there is also an actual Communion which the Saints have in this World with the Father and Son in the duties of Religion This is that I am here ingaged to open This is our supping with Christ and his with us and for clearness sake I shall open it both 1. Negatively What it is not 2. Positively What it is I. Negatively What it is not for I find persons are hugely apt to mistake in this matter taking that for Communion with God which is not so and here let it be noted First That Communion with God doth not consist in the bare performance of Religious duties I do not say that Men may have Communion with God in this World without duties 't is a delusion
Psal. 51. 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce restore unto me the joys of thy salvation vers 12. I cannot here omit to detect a great mistake here even amongst Gods own people many of them understand not what communion there should be with God under the manifestations of his displeasure for sin they know that the affectionate meltings of their Souls into love praise c. to be communion with God but that the shame grief and sorrow produced in them by the manifestations of Gods displeasure I say that even in these things there may be communion with God they understand not But let me tell thee that even such things as these are the choice fruits of the Spirit of Adoption and that in them thy Soul hath as real and beneficial communion with God as in the greatest transports of Spiritual joy and comfort O'tis a blessed frame to be before the Lord as Ezra was after conviction of thy loosness carelesness and Spiritual defilements the consequents of those sins saying with him O my God I am ashamed and even blush to lift up my face unto thee Ezra 9. 6. Shame and blushing are as excellent signs of communion with God as the sweetest smiles Lastly There are representations and special contemplations of the omniscience of God producing sincerity comfort in appeals and recourse to it in doubts of our own uprightness And this also is a choice and excellent method of communion with God. 1. When the omniscience of God strongly obliges the Soul to sincerity and uprightness as it did David Psal. 139. 11 12. compared with Psal. 18. 23. I was also upright before him The consideration that he was always before the Eye of God was his preservative from iniquity yea from his own iniquity 2. When it produceth comforts in appeals to it as it did in Hezekiah 2 Kings 20. 3. Remember now O Lord that I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart So Iob 10. 7. he also appeals to this attribute Thou knowest that I am not wicked So did Ieremiah Chap. 12. 3. But thou O Lord knowest me thou hast seen me and tryed my heart towards thee 3. When we have recourse to it under doubts and fears of our own uprightness Thus did David Psal. 139. 23. Search me O God and try my heart prove me and see my reins see if there be any way of wickedness in me In all these attributes of God Christians have real and sweet communion with him which was the first thing to be opened Communion with God in the meditation of his attributes Secondly The next method of communion with God is in the exercise of our graces in the various duties of Religion In Prayer Hearing Sacraments c. in all which the Spirit of the Lord influences the graces of his people and they return the fruits thereof in some measure to him As God hath planted various graces in regenerate Souls so he hath appointed various duties to exercise and draw forth those graces and when they do so then have his people sweet actual communion with him And 1. To begin with the first grace that shews it self in the Soul of a Christian to wit repentance and sorrow for sin In the exercise of this grace of repentance the Soul pours out it self before the Lord with much bitterness and brokenness of Heart casts forth its sorrows which sorrows are as so much seed sown and in return thereto the Lord usually sends an answer of peace Psal. 32. 4 5. I said I will confess my transgression and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Here 's a voice of sorrow sent up and a voice of peace coming down which is real communion betwixt God and Man in the exercises of repentace 2ly As there are seasons in duty wherein the Saints exercise their repentance and the Lord returns peace so likewise the Lord helps them in their duties to act their faith in return whereunto they find from the Lord inward support rest and refreshment Psal. 27. 13. I had fainted unless I had believed And oft-times an assurance of the mercies they have acted their faith about 1 Iohn 5. I4 3ly The Lord many times draws forth eminent degrees of our love to him in the course of our duties the heart is filled with love to Christ. The strength of the Soul is drawn forth to Christ in love and this the Lord repays in kind love for love Iohn 14. 21. He that loveth me my Father will love him and we will come and make our abode with him Here is sweet communion with God in the exercises of love O what a rich trade do Christians drive this way in their duties and exercises of graces 4ly To mention no more in the duties of Passive Obedience Christians are enabled to exercise their patience meekness and long suffering for Christ in return to which the Lord gives them the singular consolations of his Spirit Double returns of joy The Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon them 1 Pet. 4. 13 14. The Lord strengthens them with passive fortitude with all might in the inner-man unto all long-suffering but the reward of that long-suffering is joyfulness Col. 1. 11. This is the trade they drive with Heaven Thirdly Beside communion with God in the contemplation of his attributes and graces exercised in the course of duties there is another method of communion with God in the way of his Providences for therein also his people walk with him To give a taste of this let us consider Providence in a fourfold aspect upon the people of God. 1. There are afflictive providences rods and rebukes wherewith the Lord chastens his children this is the discipline of his house in answer whereunto gracious Souls return meek and childlike submission a fruit of the Spirit of Adoption they are brought to accept the punishment of their iniquities And herein lies communion with God under the rod this return to the rod may not be presently made for there is much stubborness unmortified in the best hearts Heb. I2 7. but this is the fruit it shall yield and when it doth there is real communion between God and the afflicted Soul. Let not Christians mistake themselves if when God is smiting they are humbling searching and blessing God for the discoveries of sin made by their afflictions admiring his wisdom in timing moderating and chusing the rod kissing it with a childlike submission and saying it is good for me that I have been afflicted that Soul hath real communion with God though it may be for a time without joy 2ly There are times wherein providence straightens the people of God when the waters of comfort ebb and run very low wants pinch if then the Soul returns filial dependance upon fatherly care saying with David Psal. 23. 1. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want It belongs to him to provide and to me to depend I
out of that Bosom of delights to suffer so many things for the sake of poor sinners Secondly Let us consider Christs temper and disposition towards union and communion with sinners within time and every thing done by Christ carries and confirms this Conclusion 1. His Assumption of our Nature plainly speaks it 2. His whole Life upon Earth evidently discovers it 3. His Doctrin is a clear proof of it 4. His Joy at the Conversion of Souls proves it 5. His Sorrows for Mens unbelief evidence it 6. His indefatigable Labours plainly shew it 7. His admirable Encouragements to coming sinners 8. His dreadful Menaces to obstinate sinners 9. His sending and encouraging Ministers to draw and gather the World to himself All these things which were transacted in the Life of Christ plainly demonstrate how greatly and earnestly his Heart did propend and incline towards this desirable union with the Sons of Men. 1. Christs Assumption of our Nature manifesteth his desire after union with us Herein he gave two incomparable proofs of his transcendent love to us and desire after us 1. In passing by a more excellent Nature 2. In marying our Nature to himself 1. He passed by a superiour and more excellent Nature Heb. 2. 16. Verily he took not on him the Nature of Angels Angels were excellent Creatures but behold vessels of Gold cast into the fire and Earthen potsherds fitted for glory 'T is true the Angels that kept their integrity are Members of Christs Kingdom he is an Head to them by way of Dominion but unto us by way of Vital union Christ takes the believer into a nearer union with himself than any Angel in Heaven but for the multitudes of apostate Angels he never designed their recovery but left them as they were before bound in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day Iude vers 6. This preterition of Christ heightens his love to poor Man. 2ly In marying our Nature to himself and that after sin had blasted its beauty and let in so many direful calamities upon it Rom. 8. 3. He was found in the likeness of sinful flesh i. e. Flesh subject to weariness pains and death which though there be no sin in them yet are the effects and consequences of sin Such a Nature he assumed into a Personal union with himself not to experience any new pleasure in it but to capacitate himself to suffer and satisfie for us and therein to give a convincing proof of the strength of his love and vehemency of his desire to us His personal union with our Nature shews his desire after a mystical union with our Persons He would never have been the Son of Man but to make us the Sons and Daughters of the living God He came in our likeness that we by Sanctification might be made in his likeness Behold how near Christ comes to us by his Incarnation O what a stoop did he make therein to recover us Rather than lose us he was contented to lose his manifestative glory for a time for his Incarnation made him of no reputation Phil. 2. 7. Behold the desires of a Saviour after union with sinners II. The whole Life of Christ upon Earth was an evident proof and demonstration of the desiers of his Heart to be in union and communion with us Iohn 17. 19. For their sakes I sanctifie my self The Life of Christ was wholly set apart for us therefore it is said Isa. 9. 6. Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given What was the errand and buisness upon which Christ came into this World but to seek and to save that which was lost All the Miracles he wrought on Earth were so many works of Mercy he could have wrought his Miracles to have destroyed and ruined such as received him not but his Almighty Power was imployed to heal and save the Bodies of Men that thereby he might win their Souls unto him Acts 10. 38. God anointed Iesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him When the Apostles desired a Commission from him to fetch fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans he rebuked them saying Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of for the Son of Man came not to destroy Mens lives but to save them Luke 9. 54 55 56. The whole Life of Christ in this World was nothing else but a woing drawing motive to the Hearts of sinners he rejected not the vilest of sinners Luke 7. 39. He rejected none that came unto him he would not have little Children forbid to be brought unto him Mark 10. 13. What his winning carriage should be was long before predicted by the Prophet Isa. 42. 3. A bruised Reed shall he not break and smoaking Flax shall he not quench Lentulus the Proconsul in his Epistle ad S. P. Q. R. having Graphically described the Person of Christ gives this account of his carriage and deportment In his reproofs he was terrible in his admonitions fair and amiable chearful without levity he was never seen to laugh but often to weep his words grave few and modest c. Christ was in the World as a load-stone drawing all Men to him his deportment was every way suitable to his Commission which was to preach good tydings to the Meek to bind up the broken Hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Isa. 61. 1. III. As his Life so his Doctrin was a woing and inviting Doctrin a most pathetical invitation unto sinners Never Man spake as he spake whenever he opened his Lips Heaven opened the very Heart of God was opened in it to sinners the whole stream and current of his Doctrin was one continued powerful perswasive to draw sinners to him This was his Language Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11. 28. In the last day the great day of the feast Iesus stood up and cryed If any Man thirst let him come to me and drink John 7. 37. Himself resembles it to the clucking of a Hen to gather her Chickins under her wings Luke 13. 34. O Jerusalem Jerusalem how often would I have gathered thy Children together as a Hen doth gather her brood under her wings Certainly tâ—e whole stream of the Gospel is nothing else but the charming voice of the Heavenly Bridegroom IV. The Joy he always exprest for the success of the Gospel speaks him to be an earnest suiter for the Hearts of Sinners 'T is very remarkable that all the Evangelists who have recorded the life of Christ never mention one laugh or smile that ever came from him For he was a Man of sorrows yet once you read that he rejoiced in Spirit and you shall see the occasion of it in Luke 10. 21. In that hour Iesus rejoiced in Spirit And what was it
that gladed his Heart but the report brought him by the Seventy who returned with joy saying Lord even the Devils are subject to us through thy Name and he said unto them I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven vers 17 18. Satans Kingdom was going down in the World and the mysteries of Salvation revealed unto Babes this made his holy Heart leap with Joy within him to behold the success of the Gospel destroying Satans Kingdom and the poorest meanest among Men inlightned and converted by it This was a Cordial to his very Soul and speaks the earnestness of his desire after union and communion with sinners V. His Sorrows and Mournings upon the account of the obstinacy and unbelief of sinners speaks the vehemency of his desire after union with them it is said Mark 3. 5. When he had looked round about on them with anger being grieved for the hardness of their Hearts c. You see from hence that an hard Heart is a grief to Jesus Christ O how tenderly did Christ resent it when Ierusalem rejected him 'T is said Luke 19. 41. That when Iesus came nigh to the City he wept over it The Redeemers tears wept over obstinate Ierusalem spake the zeal and servency of his affection to their Salvation how loath is Christ to give up sinners what a mournful voice is that in Iohn 5. 40. And you will not come unto me that you might have life How feign would I give you life but you will rather dye than come unto me for it what can Christ do more to express his willingness All the sorrows that ever toucht the Heart of Christ from Men were upon this account that they would not yield to his calls and invitations VI. This appears to be the great design of Christ by the unwearied labours he underwent Day and Night to accomplish it many weary Journies Christ took many Sermons and Prayers he Preached and poured out and all upon this design to open the Hearts of sinners to him and win the consent of their Wills to become his this was the Work which he preferred to his necessary food Iohn 4. 34. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work q. d. My bringing home the Elect of God and saving them from wrath to come 't is more to me than meat and drink so vehement and intense were his desires after the winning of sinners that he would lose no occasion to accomplish it If he were never so weary with his travels and labours yet if any occasion offered to save a lost Soul he would be sure to improve it you have an instance of this in Iohn 4. 6. Then cometh he to a City of Samaria called Sychar c. now Jacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his Iourney sat thus on the well c. Christ was weary with his Journy and sat on the Well for a little rest and refreshment in the heat of the day at the same time comes a Woman of Samaria to draw water a great sinner she was Christ compassionately beholding this miserable object forgets his own weariness presently falls a Preaching Repentance to this sinner and opens her Heart a greater refreshment to him than that Well could afford him by giving him a seat to sit on or water to drink VII The great and admirable Encouragements Christ always gave to coming and willing Souls plainly speaks the earnest desire of his Heart after union with them never were the like Encouragements given that Christ gave to draw the Souls of Men to him 'T is remarkable in what general terms and forms of expression he delivered them that none might be discouraged but come on in hope towards him Come unto me all ye that labour Matth. 11. 28. If any Man thirst Iohn 7. 37. All along the terms of invitation are exceeding large which speak the desires of his Heart to be so also and his practice was answerable to his invitations his mercies and compassions never failed when the vilest of sinners came to him in the way of Repentance and Faith you read in Luke 7. 41 42. that when Christ sat at meat in the House of Simon the Pharisee there came in a poor convinced sinner who had guilt enough upon her to sink Ten thousand Souls to the bottom of Hell this poor wretch comes with a great deal of humility unto Christ not presuming to come before his Face but falls down behind him kisseth his Feet washes them with Tears wipes them with the hair of her Head all demonstrations of a broken Heart And how did the merciful Iesus welcome this poor sinner Seals her pardon commends the fervour of her affection and sends her away a joyful Soul herein making good that gracious promise Iohn 6. 37. He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out VIII The dreadful Threatnings of Christ against all that refuse him and shut the doors of their Hearts against him speak his vehement desires to prevent the loss and ruin of Souls The threats of Christ are not intended to discourage any from coming to him to fright away Souls from him no no that 's not their intention but to bring them under a blessed necessity of compliance with his terms O the dreadful threatnings which like claps of Thunder brake from the Mouth of Christ against all that should refuse or delay to come unto him If you believe not you shall dye in your sins He that believeth not shall not see life John 3. 36. What a terrible Thunder clap is that against all Unbelievers So Mark 16. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned All these and many more are warning pieces shot off from Heaven to prevent the ruin and damnation of Men the very threatnings of the Gospel carry a design of Mercy in them damnation is threatned that it may be prevented IX And then in the last place herein appears the earnestness of Christ after union with sinners that when he could be no longer a Preacher to this World in his own Person he ordained a succession of Ministers in his Bodily absence from us to gather and build the Church and to continue to the end of the World to carry on the suit that Christ had begun as long as there was one elect Soul in the World lying in the state of Sin and Nature Reader Christ could not always abide here he must dye or we could not live he must rise again or we could not be justified our buisness call'd him to another Place and State Now when Christ was to ascend to Heaven what doth he do Why he chuseth and calleth Men Men made of the same clay with our selves whose presence and appearance should not affright or discourage us who should treat with us in a familiar way about the great concerns of our Salvation in his Name and stead 2 Cor. 5. 20. We then are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you we