such calls or let slip such opportunities And they are such times as these 1. Christ his knocks and calls are very remarkable under powerful Ordinances accompanied with secret strivings of the Spirit and convictions of our own Consciences God qualifies and sends forth his Ministers to preach the Gospel unto those to whom he sends them and hath promised to be with them always even to the end of the world Matth. 28.19 20. It is his work they are about and they must have his assistance and direction in the Work He must put words into their Mouths such as may accomplish the end and errand for which he sends them to such persons or people And hence it is that the faithful Ministers and Servants of Christ are not onely diversly gifted and qualified for their work but they find the Spirit of God variously directing assisting restraining or enlarging according as God is pleased to make use of them and call them forth upon some particular work and designe There is scarce a faithful Minister of Christ but may observe this in himself by frequent experience both in his private Studies and publick Exercises Now when God doth by his Spirit in a more than ordinary manner raise enlarge and direct his Servants in their studies warming the Word upon their Hearts and likewise inliven and enlarge and warm them in their publick work and at the same time the Spirit of God is busie at work striving with the people to whom this Message is sent by secret impulses of his Spirit and convictions of their Consciences doubtless this is a remarkable call from Christ and it would be of dangerous consequence to let slip such opportunities to stifle such Convictions and to quench such motions of the Spirit An eminent instance we have of this Acts 18. where we have Paul at Corinth inwardly pressed in his Spirit v. 5. and therefore warmed in his work and the same Spirit was also busie at work in the Hearts of his hearers for many believed v. 8. God encourageth him and bids him not fear but go on boldly with his work and he will be with him and defend him And the reason was because God had much people in that City v. 9 10. This was a remarkable time of Christ his calling and the Jews opposing the Apostle and rejecting this call proved of dreadful consequence to them v. 6. for the Apostle left them and preached to the Gentiles When Christ by his Spirit really warms the Heart of the Minister in his work and withal sends his Spirit to open thine Ears to attend to enlighten thy Understanding to apprehend to convince thy Judgment of the truth of what is spoken and to awake thy Conscience and make thy Bowels to stir within thee as here he did the Spouse Cant. 5.4 5. this is a special call from Christ and take heed how thou resistest it or lettest it slip 2. Christ his Knocks and Calls are eminent under special and remarkable Providences The more eminent and remarkable God's Providences are towards them the more loud and considerable are his calls upon thee As for instance 1. Under visible danger of Christ his removal or withdrawing If Christ shew signs and tokens of removing it is to correct our former negligence and to quicken us to lay faster hold upon him Thus in this Chapter whereof the Text is part the Spouse did but too much slight Christ in that she was so lazy that she would not arise to let him in and therefore he withdrew and made her seek him sorrowing with an â—aking Heaâ—â— and guilty self-condemning conscience long before she could finde him Upon this account it is that Christ's departure from a person or people is many times gradual He doth not depart on a sudden but by steps and degrees that every step may be a motive to lay hold upon Christ before he be quite gone Thus we find he departed from the Temple of old as is evident in Ezekiel's vision chapter 10.11 The glory of God first removed to the door of the house from thence to the Mountain and then quite away If we have any business with God it is high time to improve our present oportunity when God tells us by signes and tokens that he is removing and ready to be gone There is a wo immediately falls upon that person or people from whom God departs when he is gone Hosea 9.12 Wo unto them when I depart from them And therefore the signes of God's departure must needs be strong alarms to cause us speedily to lay hold upon God before he depart Therefore saith the Prophet Isai 55.6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is neer 2. When God hath for some time withdrawn himself and afterward for some little space hath returned again and manifested his presence or nearness this is a loud call to improve our time and while it is called today to hearken and not harden our hearts We read in the parable of the barren Fig-tree Luke 13.6 c. that when the owner had come several years expecting fruit and found none he commands that the Tree be cut down because it but cumbred the ground but at the request and intercession of his Servant he spares it one year longer and takes more pains with it that year than he had done of other years before and if then it bear not fruit it must be cut down without remedy If after our many years barrenness in God's Orchard and his threatning to cut us down he takes more than ordinary pains with us by his Word Messengers and Spirit seeming more eminently and visibly to return to us for some space to dig about us and dung us this is a loud call from him to improve the present opportunity lest he cut us down and there be no servant to stand in the gap or speak a word for us God's Ministers are his Husbandmen and if God threaten to cut down any Tree they cry out Lord spare it a little longer let us take a littlâ— more pains with it and if then it will not be fruitful we will hold our peace and if hereupon God do for some time spare and yet no fruit be brought forth that Tree will be in great danger to be cursed and devoted to the fire If once God say to his Ministers as once he did to Jeremy Jer. 7.16 Pray not thou for this people neither lift up prayer nor cry for I will not â—ear thee such people must needs be in a sad condition and therefore if our time be but 〈◊〉 time of probation it is dangerous to let it slip lest God swear in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest We finde that good and publick-spirited man Ezra chap. 9. v. 8 c. sadly trembling and astonished at such a thing as this God had punished his people by a seventy years Captivity for their sins and now for a little time grace had been shewed
another if one argument will not prevail they make use of another leave no stone no subject unturned unspoken to that they can imagine may prevail with you What bespeaks all this earnestness and industry but that Christ calls now in good earnest upon you for we are able to do nothing without him It is he that directs us to our subjects and puts a word into our mouths It is he that enlargeth our meditations blesseth our studies and warmeth the word upon our hearts It is he that toucheth our Lips with a Coal from his Altar and helps us to deliver our message in the evidence and demonstration of the truth and of power And all this is for your sakes that the call might be more convincing and effectual upon you And therefore if you finde a more than ordinary spirit upon the Prophets at this day you may conclude it is a more than ordinary call And therefore apply that to your selves which the Apostle speaks Acts 17.30 However Christ might wink at former ignorance or neglect yet now by way of eminency he commands every man every where to repent 5. Doth not Christ eminently knock and call at the door of thy heart by secret impulses of his Spirit and convictions of thy own Conscience Doth not the word of God sometimes come within thy bosome and not onely prove a general word spoken to all but brings some special message to thee and saith to thee as Nathan did to David Thou art the man or as Wisdom to the simple ones Prov. 1.22 23. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge turn ye at my reproof c. May we not say that God is not wholly departed out of his Ordinances but that yet he walks in the midst of his Golden Candlesticks that his Spirit is yet striving with us and that yet he hath compassion of his heritage and is loth to leave his dwelling place Is there not now and then a secret word whispered in your ear that this word comes from Heaven and is sent a particular message to you Are not you ready to think within your selves sometimes How comes the Minister to know my case so particularly and to speak to those things that none knows but God and mine own Conscience Why you must know that this is God that speaks to you by us It is he that sends us unto you and puts words in our mouths and tells us what to say to you He who knows the secrets of all Hearts directs us what to speak and he by his Spirit opens your ear to hear and to take notice of what is spoken And he by his Spirit convinceth your Consciences that you are the persons to whom it is spoken And therefore when it is thus with you you may assuredly know that this a special knock and call from Christ May there not be the same inward working in your Hearts while this word is sounding in your ears or represented to your eyes in reading of it that was in the Disciples going to Emaus while Christ talked with them and opened the Scriptures Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us c. Have you not some secret motions gripings and prickings at the heart under this or other ordinance this is the voice of Christ saying Open to me c. and the more sensible and piercing these are the more loud is Christ's call 6. Are there no fears upon the hearts of God's people lest Christ his stay at our doors should not be long Are there no signes and symptomes of Christ's weariness and readiness to depart seen and taken notice of Is there not a general fear upon the Spirits of most men lest the Gospel should be ready to be removed what ground and cause men have for those fears from second causes I say nothing but that there is such a fear however it comes to pass or what it is grounded upon is evident and I am sure this cannot be without the hand of God This fear is an evil of affliction it disquiets and troubles the spirits of men and therefore must needs proceed from the hand of God For the Prophet tells us Amos 3.6 That there is no evil in the City but the Lord doth it This negative interrogation being a more vehement affirmation And if Christ should not wholly depart and take away his Gospel yet his particular calâ—s by inward convictions and strivings of his Spirit may not last long as he gives you a day so he will give you but a day and then he will swear in his wrath that ye shall never enter into his rest How much of this day may be spent you may better guess than any one can tell you knowing how long he hath called and waited how clear and full convictions have been and how they are now how hot the Gospel hath shined and how cool it is now and the shadows of the evening stretched out And if this be gone what will it advantage you to have the Gospel continued It will be but for your hardening and the sealing you up to everlasting destruction Isaiah was a powerful Preacher and yet you see what a message God sent him to Israeâ— Isai 6.9 10. It is a very uncomfortable message to a faithful Minister of Christ to be sent upon this errand but yet it is the message that God sends them to many an one with and if this be our message to you it will be sad However we must go what message our Master sends us and if it be sad to us it will be ten thousand times more dreadful to you Only our earnest desire is that you might know at least in this your day the things that belong to your everlasting peace before they be hidden from your eyes And these general fears are a loud call to delay or linger no longer but open to Christ 7. Are not all these Calls by Gospel-Ordidinances in answer to your Prayers Here I speak to you that do pray For I am not ignorant that there are a generation of prayerless souls in the world and I wish they were not so great a number There are but too many Families that call not upon the name of God which the Prophet prayes that God would pour his wrath upon Jer. 10.25 and dreadful will the wrath of God be when it comes But I speak here to those that do pray Hath it not been your Prayer that God would return into his resting place he and the ark of his strength Have not you prayed Arise O north-winde and come thou south and breath upon my garden Let my beloved come into his garden Have not you prayed that you might see and meet with God as sometimes you have done in his Sanctuary That you might sit down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit might be pleasant to your taste Have not you sighed and breathed out
company and communion with him may live in the light of his countâ—nance always beholding his most lovely face hearing his most pleasant voice and tasting of his most Royal dainties The breathings of a gracious heart towards Christ are the same for reality though not for degree that Christ his breathings are towards her Cant. 2.14 O my dove Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely It was thus with David Psal 27.4 c. If he might but have one request it should be that he might dwell in the house of the Lord and that for this end that he might behold the beauty of the Lord and enquire in his Temple and whatever became of other things this as the main would he seek after But alas is it not far otherwise with us in these days and that among those that profess love to Christ if we look what most men are busie about what takes up most of their thoughts what their discourse is most about in all companies what they spend most time in and weary themselves in the prosecution of from day to day shall we not finde it rather to be the World than Christ I will not say as is said of the wicked That God is not in all their thoughts but this may be too truely said of many that their most frequent pleasant and abiding thoughts are about the world These lie down with them these rise up these go out and come in with them as if these were their onely business Doth this argue that these Hearts are open to Christ where the door is open a man may enter in without obstruction But here it is an hard matter for a serious thought of Christ to get crowded in If it come to the door it gets no further hath little or no admission into the heart and affections no abiding there We read in Scripture of many very gross sins that the servants of God for some time have been overcome by but I do not remember any mentioned in Scripture that were sincere that were overcome with the love of the World Demas indeed is said to embrace this present World but whether this be to be understood of his total apostacy from the faith or onely his deserting his publick work or station the Scripture leaves us in the dark and leaves this brand of infamy and disgrace upon him We know what the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows And the Apostle John tells us 1 John 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Evidently manifesting that there is not room for Christ and the World to dwell in the same heart Christ himself tells us that we cannot serve God and Mammon These two contrary Masters will be encroaching upon each other and imposing their contradictory commands So that from hence I conclude that where the world hath a great share in the heart and affections there Christs interest is but small and the door of our hearts not sufficiently opened to him I am affraid that at the great day when all hearts shall be tried and made manifest there will be many a man found who prayed for Christ had a desire of him yea and hoped that he had an interest in him and a love for him and yet through the prevalency of the world never truely opened his heart to Christ Examine your hearts therefore how the case stands with you If Christ be there and opened to as he should be how comes his mortal enemy the world to have such an interest in you and to bear so much sway with you If your hearts were opened to Christ the world would be more despised and Christs company would be more delightful and more store set by 5. And lastly If the door of our hearts be open to Christ by faith How comes it to pass that there are so few fruits of Faith to be seen There is no question to be made but where Christ the Sun of righteousness shines into the Soul the door of the heart being opened by Faith but that it will be Summer-tide with that Soul Grace will bud blossom and bear fruit And if all other Graces be fruitful why not Faith If Faith therefore be fruitful where the Heart is opened to Christ it concerns us to examine what fruits of Faith we finde in our selves For as Faith hath a large root or foundation having the whole Word of God for its object upon which it acts and from which at all times it fetcheth direction so it hath a large office and work in the soul its work being to purifie both heart and life Acts 15.9 Purifying their hearts by faith Therefore the Apostle James tells us that Faith without works is dead being alone I may well compare Faith to a large and frugiferous tree whose root or foundation is the whole Word of God recorded in the whole body of Scripture The ground or seat of Faith is the heart the commanding power of the soul the body or trunk of this tree is the habit or principle of Faith infused into us and nourished in us by the Spirit of God The several branches of this tree spreading themselves every way are the several emanations or flowings forth of Faith guided and directed by the several parts of Gods word The fruits of Faith are the several particular actings of the whole man guided by Faith according to the direction of Gods Word Now where the ground of the heart is made warm by the presence and influential beams of the Sun of righteousness being opened unto Christ at his coming the tree of Faith must needs flourish and drawing in fresh supply of sap from the rock of truth which being digested in our hearts by Faith must needs bring forth suitable and proportionable fruit of all kinds in our lives and conversations If therefore thy heart be open to Christ by Faith Where then are the fruits effects actings and flowings forth of Faith in all the parts and passages of thy life and conversation Where is thy dependance upon and embracing of his Promises relying upon his All-sufficiency Where is thy universal obedience to his commands discharging duty in every part and condition of life living by and acting according to the rule of Gods Word in every thing thou goest about leaving the issue success and event of all thy business and concerns to God to his care and faithfulness Where is thy constant watch against the deceitfulness of thy Heart the temptations of Satan the allurements and enticements of the World and thy faithful resistance of all Temptations thy deep repentance for and faithful
I believe Lord help thou mine unbelief Which manifested his sense of the difficulty of opening to Christ by Faith as he ought And truely Christians that know any thing of their own hearts as they ought finde this a very difficult work in cases of an easier nature than this here of this man was And therefore a lazy sluggish Soul is unwilling to be at such pains There are some weary steps that a believer must take to open to Christ by Faith As 1. earnest Prayer to him who is the Finisher and Perfecter as well as the Authour and Beginner of this Grace Faith in the act and exercise as well as in the habit must be obtained of Christ by earnest Prayer And to tug in this duty of Prayer as we ought is no easie work especially if Christ for some time seem to hold back and deny as he did to the woman of Canaan This puts the Soul sometimes into a sweat and therefore the easeful Soul is loath to be at this pains his patience is worn out and he faints and flags in the duty 2. Another weary step the Soul must take to get Faith into the exercise is the searching the Word and Promises and rightly applying them It is sometimes difficult to finde such promises as may rightly suit our condition When we have found them it may be something more difficult rightly to understand them according to the true intent and purport of them sometimes it may be difficult to get our hearts rightly affected with them and most of all to clear up our interest in them So that sometimes a Believer findes a promise and meditating sees it to suit his condition well enough but yet lays it aside can suck no sweetness from it because he cannot clear up his interest in it and that by reason of some particular condition or qualification annexed thereto which he findes not in himself In this case to believe seems difficult and therefore the promise is laid aside and no comfort gathered from it upon this account a lazy Soul sits down in unbelief and doth not open to Christ by faith 3. Another weary step is the overcoming that unbelieving frame of heart which we are naturally prone unto Unbelief is a sin which naturally flows from the corruption of our natures and accompanies us in some measure more or less while we are in this Vale of Tears And this part of corrupt nature poor Souls finde as much difficulty in the overcoming as any corruption And the reason is because of all corruptions none hath more to say for it self than this for the object of Faith properly is unseen things such as are not obvious to sense such as seem to thwart both sense and reason and frequent experience such things as we have nothing to bottom our faith concerning upon but the bare Word of God we are to believe in hope contrary to hope And this makes the work difficult hereupon few Christians are so resolved and industrious as to be at the pains which the Psalmist was Psal 73. to search things to the bottom and to weigh things in the balance of the Sanctuary and therefore they sit down without opening to Christ by Faith 4. Another difficulty is the griping guilt of sin and unworthiness which so looks them in the face when they should open to Christ by Faith that the eye of their Faith is dim and they cannot with any confidence look Christ in the face It is an usual saying that a guilty Conscience needs no Accuser Conscience will inwardly check the adulterous Spouse of Christ and make her blush when she should open to him and look him in the face The Psalmist complains that he was so compassed about and tormented with his sin that he could not look up Psal 40.12 It is a mistake very common in humbled penitent sinners that they must not dare not by Faith open to and close with Christ till they have attained such a measure of internal purity and Sanctity as may make them fit for and in a sort worthy of his company But these begin their work at the wrong end They should first open to Christ by Faith and then he will help them to and carry on in them this work of purity For it is his work by his Spirit to purifie and this purifying vertue we must fetch from him by Faith for It is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure because without him we can do nothing Our work is first to believe and then by Faith to mortifie the deeds of the flesh Now this work is difficult to open to Christ and look him in the face by Faith with the guilt of sin upon our Consciences This goes contrary to the grain of Flesh and Blood who would gladly have something of its self and its own Righteousness in its justification Whereas our work is to disclaim all worthyness of our own and to come to Christ with Ropes about our Necks as self-condemned persons lying at the foot-stool of pure Grace and Christs Righteousness for justification and life And therefore where there remains any measure of pride in the Heart according to that measure and degree of pride Christ will be shut out The weary step of self-denial in this case the sluggish Christian is not willing to take Thus you see the work it self in opening to Christ by Faith is very difficult and hence the lazy Christian lies down upon his bed of present ease and refuseth to be at the pains to open to Christ by Faith But would the Soul but consider the amends that Christ's company would make for all his pains and how easie all these duties would be made by Christs coming in surely the Soul would never think his pains better bestowed than in opening to Christ by Faith It is he that by his Spirit helps our infirmities in prayer and helps us by his own strength to wrestle with himself and prevail It is he that brings promises to our minde helps us to understand and rightly to apply them and to take the sweetness and the comforts of them It is he that gives us a Pisgah-sight of unseen things and assures our Souls of the certainty of them It is he that helps our unbelief And it is he and he alone that by his Blood must purge away the guilt of all our sins Oh! therefore open to Christ by Faith and let not these impediments hinder you And as in Faith so in opening the Heart to Christ by Love there is great difficulty much ado to bring the Heart to open fully to Christ by Love These worldly things seem so lovely that the Heart is much stolen away by them These worldly things are so constantly present with us that it is hard to get a sight of Christ who is at a distance and seen as it were afar off These worldly things are so obvious and suitable to sense by which we too much live that
the object of Faith is little notice taken of To love him therefore and that with such a love as we ought whom we have not seen this is very difficult To open our Hearts and Affections to him that we never saw with our eyes but onely have heard tell of this is very difficult and scarcely attainable by a sluggish Soul that is unwilling to be at the pains to enquire after him But let not this hinder for we have such discoveries of him in the Word if we will but be at the pains to search them out as will render him altogether lovely far more desirable than the most precious thing in the world And therefore let not sloth hinder us from opening to Christ by love 2. As there may be difficulty and unpleasantness in opening so there may be difficult and unpleasant work when we have opened to Christ and let him in and the thought of this may make the Soul unwilling to open to Christ As for instance 1. Christ at his coming in may rip up our old sores and bring our sins to remembrance which may renew our torment and pain When Christ comes in he makes new discoveries in the Soul many a sin forgotten and not duly repented of is brought to minde and the sting of it wounds and cuts the Soul puts the Soul to new sorrow shame and pain and this makes the Soul afraid of opening to Christ There is in every one such an indeâ—ible sense of the holiness of Christ and of their own guilt that though the Soul may have a real desire of Christs company yet is really afraid to let him in lest Christ should discover there what the Soul is afraid to have seen And therefore it argues not onely the sincerity and truth of Grace but a considerable measure of the prevalency of Grace when the Soul without inward reluctancy or fearfulness can say as David Psal 139.23 Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts This is a work wherein the Soul would be tenderly dealt with and lest Christ in this case should deal faithfully and roundly the Soul is afraid to open to Christ Though Reason will pray with us to have our Wounds searched yet Nature it self is afraid to have the Surgeon meddle with it Such is the case here and upon this account many faint-hearted Christians are unwilling to open to Christ but rather shut him out But oh my Friends If this be the reason why Christ is not readily opened to by you let me tell you The longer you keep him out the worse it will be with you your Soul is ulcerated with sin it is not found at the bottom and if Christ be not let in at all you must unavoidably perish of this wretched disease And if you do let him in hereafter he must then search it to the bottom and in the mean time your sin frets as a canker eats deeper and deeper into your heart and will not your pain be the more intolerable when your wound comes to be searched And therefore let spiritual reason prevail with you to open to Christ without any more delay That which here thou makest use of as a reason why thy heart is shut against Christ should be a strong yea the strongest argument to the contrary to open to Christ quickly It is infinite Mercy that thou hast so precious a Surgeon at hand It would be a most childish thing then to shut him out of doors because thou needest his help but art afraid lest he should see and rip up thy sore This flesh-pleasing easefulness is that which ruines many thousands 2. He may call us off from our earnest pursuit of the world and worldly business which is urgent upon us He may say to thee Come follow me be not so hasty in the pursuit of the world lay aside thy business for a while I have other business for thee to do let me have thy company a little for for that end am I come This may be the language of Christ to the soul But this is very unpleasing unto the Soul that is hot and earnest in the pursuit of the world this soul will be ready to answer as the man in the Gospel Lord I will follow thee but suffer me first to go and bury my father let me but dispatch such or such business that is urgent upon me and then I will wait upon thee But O Soul consider with thy self what hast thou of greater concernment to do than to hearken to and obey the voice of Christ If Christs company be no more worth and his feast of no greater value he may resolve thou shalt not taste of his dainties His business with thee may be the correcting thy faults the illuminating thee with spiritual wisdome washing and spiritualizing thy cold and carnal A◠〈◊〉 to be sure his main business with thee â—oâ—â—tes to thy spiritual estate to the concerne of thy 〈◊〉 And this is of so much greater and 〈◊〉 â—â—â—port to thee than any worldly business whatsoever as thy Soul is of 〈…〉 than all the world For what will 〈…〉 thee to gain the whole 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 precious immortal soul 〈…〉 give in exchange for thy soul 〈…〉 lost by thine earnest pursuit of 〈…〉 neglect of that spiritual work which Christ 〈◊〉 thee to 3. Christ at his coming into the Soul sometimes puts his Spouse or People upon some unpleasant work which they would gladly be excused from and this may be an hindrance to their opening to him Sometimes he calls to and puts them upon renewed acts of Repentance as was hinted before Sometimes upon the mortification of some beloved lust which may be as painful and as unwillingly yielded to as the cutting off the right hand right foot or plucking out the right eye Nay his Word may further be quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joynts and marrow discerning and discovering the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 which the Soul is not willing should be discovered or cut off or at least is afraid of the pain and trouble it may be put to in this work and therefore lingers and puts off Christ from time to time Sometimes again Christ may put his Spouse upon such duties as may cross her natural inclination or particular present and visible interest Such as denying her self taking up her cross following him Enduring hardship as a good souldier for Christ Enduring reproaches evil-speakings persecutions and the like all which are unpleasing to flesh and blood And wherein the Soul must say as to its natural inclination as our Saviour said when he prayed Not my will but thy will be done Here the Soul often sticks and upon these terms is loth to open to Christ the flesh having so strong an influence upon the soul Upon such terms as these the young man in the Gospel went away from Christ Mark 10.21
knock or call Rev. 3.20 I stand at the door and knock if any man will open to me I will come in unto him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come And let him that heareth say Come Let him that is athirst come And whosoever will let him come and take of the waters of life freely Isai 55.1 He every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price Christ knocks not onely at the Hearts of his own people as here of the Spouse Open my sister my love my dove my undefiled But also at the doors of others such as are unregenerate and know him not Only with this difference at the doors of his own regenerate ones he calls for the awakening and â—â—â—â—ring up the grace which he hath bestowed upon them but to such as are unregenerate and yet strangers to him he calls them to Faith and Repentance and to come unto him that they may live and finde rest for their Souls Matth. 11.28 29 30. To Believers he calls to awaken their Graces that are already implanted in their Hearts But to Unbelievers he calls to awaken them out of their sleep in Sin and security And of these there is not the meanest Soul nor the greatest Sinner left out of his call and if any man will but open to him he will come in though their Sins be as Scarlet and crimson he will make them as Snow and Wool Isai 1.16 17 c. 3. The next enquiry is How or with what Christ knocks and calls And to this I answer Christ doth not ordinarily knock and call by an immediate voice from Heaven as he did upon Saul Act. 9. but under the Gospel God ordinarily calls some one or more of these ways 1. Christ knocks or calls sometimes by his Providences Christ many times sends some remarkable Providence or other to awaken Sinners out of their sleep in Sin and to awaken the Graces of his People when they are sleepy and sluggish and these Providences they are of two sorts sometimes such as we call Mercies though all his Dispensations in this case are Mercies and the fruits of his faithfulness but by Mercies I mean such things as are Joyous and desirable for the present He sometimes loads his people with Blessings and Benefits Hos 11.3 4. And every Mercy in this kinde is an awakening and quickning spur unto duty Therefore God complains Hosea 2.8 that they did not consider that he gave them corn and wine and oyl wool and flax silver and gold which they should have served him withal and because they did not threatens to take them away Therefore we finde this laid down as the ground of that God's Expostulation with his People Deut 32.6 9 10 c. The goodness of God should lead persons to Repentance God expects it and by this many times calls Sometimes God calls by his Corrections and Judgements striving by the smartness and severity of his Judgements to awaken Sinners that are rather hardned by Prosperity and to affright them out of their sleep in sin and to awaken his own people out of that sleep which they have lulled themselves into by Prosperity Thus we read Job 36.8 9 c. when he lays persons in Fetters and Irons of Affliction Then he shews them their way and their transgression wherein they have exceeded And of these two ways of knocking usually Mercy and Goodness leads the way and if that will not do then Judgement and the Rod follows after For God doth not willingly grieve and afflict the children of men Lam. 3.33 But if need be they must be in heaviness through manifold tribulations and temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 Thus God calls by his Providences 2. Sometimes God calls by his Ordinances reading the Scriptures and the Labours of his faithful Ministers hearing the Word preached and the like God hath qualified and sent forth his Ministers and Messengers to call and hire Labourers into his Vineyard to bid Guests to his Wedding-supper Matth. 22. and the beginning And this is their work which they are sent about and is given them in charge Matth. 28.19 20. Go teach all nations baptizing Teaching them to observe what I command you So Acts 26.18 Paul is sent to the Gentiles To open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Christ himself came and preached for this end and his Doctrine or Sermon was Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Matth. 4.17 And John the Baptist came with this message Mark 1.4 Yea the Apostle tells us that this is the work of every Minister 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. Hath committed to us the word of reconciliation so then we are Embassadors for Christ as if God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God So that every Sermon that the faithful Ministers of Christ preach is a call and knock from Christ to open unto him 3. Sometimes Christ calls by the secret impulses of his Spirit and convictions of our own Consciences Thus we read Acts 2.37 when they heard the Apostles Sermon They were pricked at their hearts and cried out Men and brethren what shall we do to be saved Here was an inward impulse of the Spirit upon their Consciences accompanying the outward preaching of the Word Thus God secretly opened the Heart of Lydia to attend to what was preached by Paul Acts 16.14 And thus the Jaylor was wrought upon by the Spirit of God Acts 16.29 30 31 c. This secret impulse of the Spirit and conviction of Conscience sinners many times have when they are going on in their sins though they do not always give heed and hearken to it And this many times the people of God have when they begin to be lazy drowzy and to fall asleep in security and therefore the Apostle bids us not to quench or grieve the Spirit of God 1 Thess 5.19 Ephes 4.30 And indeed the two former ways of Christ his knocking and calling are ineffectual unless they be accompanied with this last way of calling For neither Ordinances nor Providences can awaken sinners unless the Spirit of God work by them And therefore we read Job 36.8 9 c. that he first binds them in Cords and then opens their ears to discipline 4. The next thing to be enquired into is For what end Christ knocks and calls or what it is which Christ would have when he knocks And to this I answer In general That the end or reason of Christs knocks and calls are various according to the different state and conditions of those at the doors of whose Heart he calls But usually when he calls he would have or designes one or more of these ends or things 1. To awaken sinners out of their deep sleep in sin and security
us had such calls as these if we have but observed and taken notice of them and if we have not the greater hath been our fault and our sin If we do but look through the Nation as the Mercies have been great that God hath undeservedly bestowed upon us so the Judgments that have befallen us have not only been various but very remarkable such as the hand of God hath been eminently seen in howsoever they have been handed to us by wicked instruments I need not to enumerate them they are obvious to every observant eye But what do these intimate and call for from us Surely the rod of God hath a voice and he that doth not willingly grieve and afflict the children of men doth not these things to us but there is considerable cause for it When God dealt so with his people of old we may read what cause God had for it And certain I am that the blindest among us cannot but see cause enough from the hand of God for all that is come upon us Only here is the misery that every one seeks to excuse himself and to lay the blame at some ones door else and so takes no notice of Gods particular call to him I would desire here to set before you and desire the serious Reader to peruse Gods threatnings to Israel of old and the causes there assigned and see how far they may concern us read Deuteronom 28.15 to the end And as for those that would lay the blame upon others and excuse themselves I shall only recommend to them that dreadful caution and intimation of Gods minde Deut. 29.18 19 20. It is but too common among us to promise our selves peace and drink away our fears but this will prove in the end an unpardonable aggravation of our sin If we would but take the pains to search the Scriptures and take a view of such Judgments as God hath inflicted upon Nations Families and Persons and consider the sins that have been the procuring cause of them for which they have been sent we should need no Prophet to read us our destiny nor any Expositor to shew us the sins that God points at in the evils which we labour under nor should we any of us finde cause to excuse our selves Sure I am the voice of God in his Judgments is eminent and by the circuits of them in that they meet with one sort of men after another and spare few or none they plainly shew the cause to be general And by the complication of them and their surrounding of us and hemming us in on every hand they manifest the greater displeasure and more unavoidable danger hanging over our heads and therefore the voice and call is very loud and must either be quickly hearkned to or else Christ may withdraw the decree may bring forth and there will be no remedy I would seriously recommend to your perusal that one dreadful Chapter Isai 24 and desire that your thoughts and meditations may dwell a little upon every verse as you go along and you will not need me to direct you how to apply it our present conditions and the passages of Gods Providence will sufficiently exemplifie it And therefore assuredly the call of God is somewhat more than ordinary at this day and none of us can say but that God speaks something more than ordinary unto us And know that they which think themselves least concerned in this call may come to finde themselves most concerned at last I will direct such to one Text of Scripture which calls for their serious observation Isai 28. throughout When God's Judgements come for sin our Refuge of lies and Covenant with Death and Hell will but little avail us But I pass from this which is sufficiently evident to be a loud call from Christ to a 3. Particular by way of enquiry Doth not God eminently call by the great liberty and plenty of the Gospel which undeservedly to this day we do enjoy There is a notable saying Psal 147.19 20. He hath shewed his word to Jacob his statutes and his judgements to Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation c. And may not I apply this very pertinently to these Nations for what Nation under Heaven hath enjoyed the Gospel more plentifully more plainly more clearly and for a longer time than we have done The doctrine of the Gospel hath not been more clearly taught in any Nation under Heaven than in this our British Island No Nation hath had more eminently burning and shining lights and many we enjoy at this day Never Nation was better instructed in the minde and will of Christ if we do not wilfully shut our eyes against this light so that other Nations are glad of the crums that fall from our table insomuch that we may truely say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mindes of them that believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them And doth Christ thus stand knocking and calling to this day surely his long patience hath made his call the louder and to be the same with that Psal 95.7 8. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts especially considering how emphatically and to our case pertinently the Apostle applies it Heb. 4.7 Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David To day after so long a time as it is said To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts The night is far spent and the day is at hand it becomes not us then who have slighted Christs call so long and at whose door he hath waited so patiently to linger any longer but speedily to arise and open to him lest his patience being worn out he should depart in a discontent 4. Doth not God at this day quicken his Ministers by his Spirit and make his Embassadors in a more than ordinary manner importunate with us to open to Christ Do not the faithful Ministers of Christ laying aside all circumstantial and lesser matters bend themselves chiefly if not onely and wholly to the main work of calling home sinners unto Christ and to all to open and open more fully and truely and cordially to Christ Is there not a more than ordinary Spirit resting upon the Prophets quickning and exciting them to this work insomuch that they are very urgent and importunate and will take no denial no excuse from sinners but cry and cry aloud call and call again We beseech you in the name of Christ to open to him and be ye reconciled to God Doth not God make Ministers more warm more zealous more importunate in their work So that notwithstanding all the discouragements they meet with and the repulses which you give they will take no denial but renew their suit And if one subject will not work they take