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
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
amidst such Hosts of potent and enraged Enemies If Christ were not among them they had certainly been swallowed up long ago 'T is he that holds the Stars in his right hand Rev. 2. 1. His walks among the seven golden Candlesticks is their best security The burning bush Exod. 3. 3. is a rare emblem to open this Mystery the bush burned with fire but was not consumed The bush was a resemblance of the Church of God in Egypt the flames upon it was their terrible Persecution the wonder that no ashes appeared as the effects of those terrible flames the reason thereof was God was in the bush Jesus Christ was in the midst of his people By vertue of this Presence we are here this day in the enjoyment of Gospel Liberties no Society of Men in the World have such security as the Church hath upon this account The mightiest Monarchies have been over-turned no Policies nor humane Power could preserve them but the Church and Ordinances are still preserved and shall ever be by vertue of that gracious Promise Ier. 30. 11. For I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee The Babilonian Persian Grecian Monarchies have destroyed and ruined one another Sic Medus ademit Assyrio Syroque tulit moderamina Perses c. but still the Church of Christ lifts up its Head and beholds their ruins Secondly This Presence of Christ in and with his Ordinances is undeniably evinced from their Supernatural effects upon the Souls of Men 2 Cor. 10. 4. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds 'T is the Spirit of Christ that gives them their success and efficacy The Sword of the Gospel hath its point and edge but it is impossible the Heart of a stupid hardned sinner should ever be prickt or wounded by it if the Spirit of Christ did not manage it When sinners fall down convinced under the authority of the Word they feel and readily acknowledge that God is in it of a truth I Cor. 14. 25. Ruffinus reports that at the Council of Nice a godly man of no great learning was the instrument of converting a learned Philosopher whom the Bishops with all their Arguments could not perswade of which the Philosopher himself gave this remarkable account Whilst you reasoned with me said he against words I opposed words and what was spoken I overthrew by the art of speaking but when in stead of words power came out of the mouth of the speaker words could no longer withstand truth nor Man resist the power of God. And this indeed is the true and just account of all those marvellous and gracious changes made upon the Souls of Men by the Preaching of the Gospel Can the vanishing breath of a dying Man think you inspire Spiritual and Eternal Life into the Souls of other Men Can he search the Conscience break the Heart and bow the Will at this rate No no this is the Power and Operation of Christ and of that Presence we must say saith a Reverend Author as Martha did to her Saviour concerning the Death of her Brother Lazarus John 11. 21. Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not dyed So say I if that Presence and Power of Christ were felt by all which hath been certainly experienced and felt by many they had not remained in the state of Spiritual Death as they do But though there be thousands under Ordinances that never felt this Power of Christ upon them yet blessed be God there are also multitudes of Witnesses and Evidences of this Truth that there is a Real Spiritual Energetical Presence of Christ in his own appointments which was the first thing to be evinced Secondly The second thing requiring Explication is the Uses and Ends which makes such a Presence of Christ necessary And they are 1. To Preserve and Support his Ministers and Churches amidst such Hosts of potent and enraged Enemies This Presence of Christ is as a wall of Fire round about them It was the Divine Presence with Ieremiah that was as a Life-Guard to him against the rage of the Princes and Nobles of Israel Jer. 15. 20 21. I will make thee unto this People a fenced brazen Wall and they shall fight against thee but they shall not prevail against thee for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee saith the Lord And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible It was easier for the Roman Army to scale the Walls and batter down the Towers of Ierusalem than for all the Enemies in Ierusalem to destroy this Prophet of God thus immur'd by the Divine Presence Athanasius and Luther had the Power of the Empire ingaged against them yet the Presence of Christ was their security The Witnesses could not be slain till they had finished their Testimony Rev. 11. 7. To this Presence alone the faithful Witnesses of Christ owe their marvellous preservation at this day had not Christ said Lo I am with you you had not said at this day behold our Ministers are still with us Secondly The Presence of Christ is necessary to assist and enable his Ministers in their Work for it is a Work quite above their own strength it is well we are Workers-together with God else we should soon faint under our Labours When Moses objected I am not eloquent the Lord told him I will be with thy Mouth Exod. 4. 10. When God guides the Tongue how powerful and persuasive must the Language be When the Apostles illiterate men were sent out to convert the World Christ promised to give them a Mouth and Wisdom Luke 21. 15. a Mouth to speak and Wisdom to guide that Mouth and then their words were demonstrations all their adversaries could not resist that Spirit and Power by which they spake Empires and Kingdoms full of Enemies received the Gospel but the reason of this wonderful success is given us in Mark 16. 20. They went out and Preached every where the Lord working with them 'T is sweet and prosperous working in fellowship with Christ The Spirit of Christ gives a manifold assistance to his Ministers in their Work 't is he that guides and directs their minds in the choice of those Subjects wherein they labour with such success to their Hearers He dictates the Matter influences their Affections guides their Lips follows home their Doctrine with success and this is a special Use and End of Christs Presence with his Ministers and Ordinances Thirdly The Spiritual Presence of Christ is necessary for the preparation and opening of the peoples Hearts to receive and embrace the Gospel to Salvation not an Heart will open to receive Christ till the Spirit of Christ unlock them Paul and Timothy were extraordinarily called to Preach
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
reluctancy of the Will by the efficacy of his Grace which some Divines call victrix delectatio a sweet and pleasant victory and so the door of the Will still opens freely Hosea 11. 4. I drew them with the cords of a Man with the bands of Love. I drew them there 's Almighty Power but how did this Power draw them With the cords of a Man i. e. with rational arguments convincing the Judgment Beasts are driven and forced but Men are drawn by reason and will not move without it if they act like themselves it must be confessed that when the day of God's Power is come for the bringing home of a poor sinner to Christ he cannot resist the Power of God's Spirit that draws him effectually Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me yet still the Soul comes freely by the consent of his Will for this is the method of Christ in drawing Souls to him There is in the day of a sinners Conversion a kid an offer made for the Will both by Satan and Christ. Satan bids Riches Honours and Pleasures with ease and quietness to the flesh in the enjoyment of them abide where thou art saith Satan remain with me and thou shalt escape all the Persecutions losses and troubles of the World which Conscience entangles other Men in thou shalt draw thy life through peace and pleasure to thy dying day O saith the flesh this is a good motion what can be better for me But then saith Christ dost thou not consider that all these enjoyments will quickly be at an end and what shall become of thee then Behold I offer thee the free full and final pardon of thy sins Peace and reconciliation with God treasures in Heaven all these shall be thine with Troubles Reproaches and Persecutions in this World. The Understanding and Conscience of a sinner being convinced of the vanity of earthly things and the indispensable necessity of pardon and peace with God I say when a convinced Judgment hath duly ballanced these things and laid them before the Will and the Spirit of God put forth his Power in the renovation of it it moves towards Christ freely and yet cannot according to its natural order act otherwise than it doth And doubtless this is the true meaning of that expression so often mistaken and abused in Luke 14. 23. Compel them to come in What! by forcing Men against the light of their Consciences No no to the shame of many Protestants let us hear the Gloss of Stella a Popish Commentator upon the place Christ saith he compels Men to come in by shewing to their Will such an excelling good as it cannot but embrace for volunt as natur aliter fertur in bonum The Will is naturally carried to the choice of the best good And thus the Spirit works upon the Soul harmoniously and agreeably to its own Nature That 's the Third thing implied in Christ's knocking Fouthly Christ's knocking at the door of the Soul manifestly implies the immediate access of the Spirit of God unto the Soul of Man that he can come to the very innermost door of the Soul at his pleasure and make what impressions upon it he pleaseth As for other instruments used in this Work they have no such privilege or Power Ministers can but knock at the external door of the senses Thine Eyes shall see thy Teachers we can see their persons and hear their voices we can reason with sinners and plead with their Souls but awaken them we cannot open their Hearts we cannot We can only lodge our message in their Ears and leave it to the Spirit of God to make it effectual This is a Royalty belonging unto the Spirit of God incommunicable to Angels or Men. If an Angel from Heaven were the Preacher he could not give one immediate stroak to the Conscience much less can Man we have no dominion over your Consciences The keys of the doors of your Souls hang not at our girdles but are in the Hands of Christ Revel 3. 7. He hath the key of David he openeth and no Man shutteth and he shutteth and no Man openeth The Consciences and all the faculties lye naked and open to the stroak of God's Spirit he can wound them and heal them and make what impressions he pleaseth upon them Learn hence what need there is both for Ministers and People before they enter upon the solemn Ordinances of God to lift up their Hearts by Prayer for the blessing and Power of the Spirit upon them Lord send forth thy Spirit pour it forth upon and with thy Word Ah how many Sermons have we Preach'd and you heard and yet there is no opening These are the four things implied in Christ's knocking at the door viz. Condescending Grace All first motions begin in God The motions of his Spirit are congruous and agreeable to the nature of the Soul And that his Spirit can have immedate access to the innermost faculties and Powers of the Soul at his pleasure Now in the next place let us consider Thirdly By what Instruments Christ knocks at the Doors that is the Judgment Conscience and Will of a sinner And these are two viz. By 1. His Word 2. His Providence Here my Work will be to shew you how the Spirit of God makes use both of the Word and Works of God to rouse and open the Consciences and Hearts of Sinners These are the two Hammers or instruments of the Spirit by which he knocks at the door of the Heart 1. The Word written or preached but especially preached to this Christ gives the preference to all other instruments imployed about this Work and answerably the Word is called God's Hammer Ier. 23. 29. Is not my Word like fire and as the Hammer which breaketh the rocks in pieces By this Hammer Christ raps at the door of a sinners Soul to give warning that he is there The Spirit of God can open the Heart immediately if he pleaseth but he will honour his Word in this Work. And therefore when Lydias Heart was to be opened Paul the great Gospel Preacher must be invited even by an Angel to come over to Macedonia and assist in that blessed Work Acts 16. 9. Lydia was to be converted her Heart must be opened to Christ the Angel could not do it but calls for the help of the Apostle Gods appointed Instrument to carry on that Work. I have made thee saith God to Paul a Minister and a witness to open their Eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Acts 26. 18. Now there be three ways in which the Spirit uses the Word as his Hammer in knocking at the door of the Soul. 1. He knocks by the particular convictions of of the Word upon the Conscience this knock by conviction rings and sounds through all the rooms and chambers of the Soul particular and effectual conviction wounds to the very centre of the Soul. Ah when
important a Concern And truly this Caution is no more than needs for Satan is never more busie with the Souls of men than when Christ gives them their first Call to himself O what a thick succession of Discouragements do impetuously assault the Soul at this time Art thou young then he insinuates that it is too soon for thee to mind the serious things of Religion This will extinguish all thy pleasure in a dull melancholy thou maist have time enough hereafter to mind these matters This Temptation Augustine confesseth kept him off many years from Christ. But certainly if thou art old enough to be damned thou art not too young to mind Christ and Salvation There are Graves just of thy length and abundance of young Sprigs as well as old Loggs burning in Hell flames Besides all those godly young ones which turned to the Lord betime as Iosiah Abijah Timothy and many more will be your Judges and condemn you in the great day Never any repented that they opened to Christ too soon Thousands have repented that they kept him out so long Art thou old then he scares thee with the manifold sins of thy youth and rouls them as blocks in thy way to Christ. And whether young or old he will be sure to present the Sufferings Reproaches and Persecutions of Godliness to discourage thee from hearkning to the voice of Christ. But what are the Sufferings of Christ here to those Sufferings from Christ hereafter what are the pains of Mortification to the pains of Damnation Besides all the Promises of Christ promises of strength comfort success c. go along with the Command of Christ to believe and shall surely be performed to the obedient Soul. See therefore that thou refuse not his voice III. Vse for Trial. But you will say All that hear this spiritual voice of Christ are said to live Iohn 5. 25. Now I am much in the dark whether ever this vital voice of Christ hath founded unto my Soul. Alas I feel little if any thing of the spiritual life in my Soul. I am dead and dark By what means doth the Life of Christ discover it self in the Souls of Men I Answer There are divers Signs of spiritual life and blessed is the Soul that finds them First There is a spiritual sense and feeling flowing from and accompanying the spiritual life I speak not only of the sense and feeling of comfort for many a Soul that is in Christ feels little of that but certainly there is a sense and feeling of the burthensomness of sin Rom. 7. 24. And 't is well that we can feel that for there are Multitudes in the world that are past feeling Isâ— 6. 9. 10. 'T is a sign Christ hath spoken to thy heart if sorrows for sin begin to load it Secondly Spiritual Motions towards Christ are a sign of spiritual life at least that God is about that quickening work of Faith upon thy Soul Iohn 6. 45. Every man that bath beard and learned of the Father cometh unto me The effectual voice of God sets the Soul in motion towards Christ the Will is moving after him the Desires are panting for him The voice of God makes the Soul that hears it restless As for others their Wills are fix'd there is no moving of them Iohn 5. 40. Now consider how it is with thee Reader Art thou one that art weighing and pondering the terms of the Gospel strugling through discouragements and temptations to come to Christ upon his own terms lifting up thy heart to him for power to believe crying with the Sponse Draw me I will run after thee This is a comfortable sign Christ hath spoken to thy heart Thirdly A Spirit of Prayer is an Evidence of spiritual life as the effect of Christ's voice to thy Soul. Assoon as ever Christ had spoken effectually unto Paul's heart the first effect that appeared in him as a sign of spiritual life was Prayerbreath Acts 9. 11. Behold he prayeth God hath no still-â—orn Children Measure thy self by this Rule Time was when thou couldst say a Prayer and wast very well satisfied with it whether thou hadst any Communion with God in it or no but is it so still Is there not an holy restlesness of spirit after God since the time that his Word came home to thy heart Surely thou eanst remember when it was not with thee as it is now Fourthly There is a spiritual relish a divine gust resulting from the spiritual life which is also evidential of it Omnis vita gustu ducitur If God have spoken life to thy Soul there will be in it an agreeable pleasure and delight in spiritual things Psal. 63. 5. My Soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness c. Now thy thoughts can feed with pleasure upon spiritual things which they nauseated before Fifthly Spiritual aversations as well as spiritual inclinations speak spiritual life Every Creature hath an aversation to that which is noxious and destructive to it Now there is nothing so destructive and dangerous to the spiritual life as sin that 's the deadly poison which the renewed Soul dreads Psal. 19. 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins It cries out as a man that finds himself upon the brink of a Pit or edge of a Precipice Keep back thy Servant Such aversations to sin and tremblings under temptations tending thereunto are comfortable Sign Christ hath spoken life to thy Soul. Lastly Heavenly tendencies and propensions after God are an excellent Sign thy Soul hath heard his voice and been quickned with spiritual life by it Sanctification is a Well of water springing up into everlasting life Iohn 4. 24. If thou hast seen the beauty felt the power and heard the voice of Christ thy soul like an uncentred Body will be still propending gravitating and inclining Christ-ward When thou hast once heard his effectual Call Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me thy Soul will be continually echoing with the Spouse Rev. 22. 17. Come Lord Iesus The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say Come A sweeter Sign of thy hearing Christ's voice can hardly be found in the Soul of man than restless longing to be with Christ in a state of perfect freedom from sin and full fruition of the beloved and blessed Jesus SERMON IX Revel 3. 20. If any Man hear my voice and open the door THE powerful voice of Christ is the Key that opens the door of the Soul to receive him The opening of the heart to receive Christ is the main design aimed at in all the external and internal administrations of the Gospel and Spirit The Gospel hath two great Designs and Intentions One is To open the heart of God to men and to shew them the everlasting counsels of Grace and Peace which were hid in God from Ages and Generations past that all men may now see what God had been designing and contriving for their happiness