Sinners are by nature so fast asleep in such a dead sleep of sin and security that nothing less than the voice of the Son of God knocking and speaking at the door of their Hearts will awaken them hence we read John 5.25 That the time is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Which must be meant not of a natural Death or of the day of Resurrection but of a Death in sin because he saith the time now is And therefore saith the Apostle Eph. 2.1 You hath he quickned i. e. by the powerful voice of his Spirit Who were dead in trespasses and sins Would you see what one of Christ's calls are in this case read Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee life This he speaks not onely to the Ear by his Word but to the Heart by his Spirit 2. Christ his calls at the doors of our hearts many times designe Repentance Repentance is a Gospel-duty incumbent upon every person Acts 17.30 But now commands all men every where to repent And for this end he sends forth his Ministers to preach the Doctrine of Repentance to shew the necessity of Repentance and that there is great reason or cause for Repentance because we have sinned and thereby departed from God and cannot come to him again but by Repentance It is called The Doctrine of Repentance because Repentance is properly a Gospel-doctrine a Doctrine that the Law preacheth not for the Law or Covenant of Works admits of no Repentance but upon our breach of the Law immediately pronounceth a Curse Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them But the Gospel-covenant admits of yea calls for Repentance as the way and means to obtain Mercy yea promiseth Mercy and Pardon upon our Repentance Prov. 28.13 He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Therefore the Gospel tells us that Except we repent we shall all likewise perish Luke 13 5. If persons be in a state of unregeneracy then Christ knocks by his Word and by his Providences by his Mercies and his business with them is to shew that there is a necessity of their Repentance and that they must either repent or perish everlastingly If persons be in a state of regeneracy and have by some temptation or other lapsed or fallen into Sin or it may be have some Sin lodging in them not yet truely discovered and consequently not particularly repented of Then and in such case Christ calls to renewed and enlarged acts of Repentance for Repentance is a grace that concerns us all our lives long And therefore the calls of Christ in this case may be such as these Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 3. Christ calls to reconciliation with God When Christ comes to the door of thine Heart he comeS as a mediator and peace-maker to make peace between God and thy Soul which are at variance with each other and by reason of sin have an utter enmity against each other The cause of this enmity Christ hath taken away by his death upon the Cross and nailed it to his Cross The cause being removed he comes and calls to intreat that the enmity it self may be taken away and we would be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. Though there be little reason for it yet man is hard to be wooed and perswaded to cast out of his heart the enmity that is lodged there against God and his wayâ— And therefore Christ is forced to knock and call again and again before we will in this case be perswaded to yield to his suit 4. Christ calls for a closure with himself by Faith as the onely way and means to obtain peace and reconcilation with God We by our Sins are indebted to God more than ever we are able to pay are therefore in danger to be arrested by Divine Justice and cast into prison where we may lie and rot to all eternity Jesus Christ seeing us in this misery and distress comes and calls at the door of our hearts offers to be our Surety to pay every farthing of our debt for us and that upon this condition only that he may have our full and free consent to do this for us and that we will accept of with thankfulness what kindness he shews herein and rely upon him for the perfecting of this work for us and where-ever Justice shall lay any charge or accusation against us we will by Faith confidently and stedfastly plead his Satisfaction for our Discharge This is all that he requires from us and upon this condition only promiseth to pay our Debt reconcile us to God free us from imprisonment and seal us an absolute and full discharge that shall for ever stand good to all intents and purposes And therefore Christ his calls in this case are such as these Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Isai 55.1 Hâ— every one that thirsts come unto the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come and buy wine and milk without money and without price Rev. 22.17 Let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the waters of life freely and he assures us John 1.12 that As many as receive him upon these terms to them he will give power to become the sons of God to them that thus believe on his Name And surely one would think this call is worthy to be embraced with all readiness of heart and thankfulness 5. Christ calls to sincere and hearty obedience to his commands and subjection to his revealed Will and Law he calls to take his yoke upon us and learn of him Mat. 11.29 This call is like unto that of Boaz to his Kinsman Ruth 4. Buy Naomi's inheritance but know also that thou must buy it of Ruth i. e. buy the inheritance but thou must take her to be thy wife also to raise up seed to thy kinsman that is dead So saith our Saviour Come and take the inheritance that I have purchased for thâ—â— and thou art freely welcome to it but know that in the day whereâ—in thou dost this thou must also 〈◊〉 me to be thy Lord and Husband and 〈◊〉 solemnly engage to behave thy 〈◊〉 as a loyal faithful and obedient wife to me thou must take me wholly as I am onely absolutely and everlastingly not only for a Priest to make atonement for thy Sins and to sanctifie and offer thy gifts to the Father but as a Prophet to teach thee such Laws Statutes and Judgments as are fit and requisite for thee to observe and as a King to rule and govern thee by my Law Thy heart must be my Throne and there must I sit and exercise my Authority and have thy whole man
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
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
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
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
The sleepy Spouse of Christ alarm'd Or a WARNING To beware of DROWSINESS VVhen Christ Calls Lest he withdraw in a discontent BEING The Sum of some SERMONS upon Cant. 5th and the beginning By J. B. Minister of the Gospel Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Matth. 23.37 38 39. O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not Behold your house is left unto you desolate For I say unto you Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. Psal 95.7 8. To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Recommended in a Preface by M. Nath. Vincent LONDON Printed 〈◊〉 Samuel Crouch at the Princes Arms at 〈…〉 To Mrs. J. D. the Author wisheth all increase of Grace and Peace Honoured Friend IT was at your request and the earnest request of some of your Friends that I was induced to publish these following Sermons The reason whereof I suppose to be because your heart was in some measure opened to and affected with the voice of Christ in his Word when you heard it I must confess the matter or subject herein treated of is very sweet and precious and such as may well warm the frozen heart of any that hath the least drachm of sincere love either of complacency in or commiseration to Christ To see how ready Christ is to condescend to the requests of his Spouse how sweetly and with what melting 〈◊〉 irresistible Arguments he wooes her hoâ—â—â—â—â— and plentiful he is in the emanations of his Grace and Kindness towards her And then on the other hand to consider how sleightly she looks upon him how little account she makes of him and how she makes him dance attendance at her door with many other circumstances of her unkindness and withal to consider the danger and hazard which she runs by her unkind behaviour towards Christ These Considerations which are the subject of the ensuing Discourse being seriously weighed by a Soul that hath any love for or breathings after Christ among the number of which I hope I may truely reckon you cannot choose but in some measure awaken the sleepy Soul and warm the cold and frozen Affections This effect I perceive the Word had upon you for which you owe the thanks and praise to the Spirit of Grace which accompanied the Word to your heart and gave it entertainment there For man speaks only to the ear it is God that speaks to the heart You having therefore tasted the sweetness of this Word your self desired the communication of it to others who had not the opportunity with you to hear it and in order thereunto the publication of it Your designe I must own to be good for Grace where it is in truth is not only of a diffusive nature spreading it self through the whole man but also of a communicative nature wishing that all by-standers might likewise taste that sweetness which it self is much delighted with Grace desires not to eat its morsels alone but if any Banquet be given in by Christ or any refreshment by his company the Soul cries out to by-standers O taste and see how good the Lord is He is altogether lovely Come therefore and I will tell you what he hath done for my Soul But though your designe be good yet the weakness and insufficiency of the Author might well have pleaded an excuse For it is pity that such a sweet and precious subject should be rendred despicable by being handed into the world by so weak rude and unpolished an instrument as I must of necessity confess my self to be For I am sensible that many times the Truths of Christ suffer in the world through the weakness of the Instruments that hand them to us However yet sometimes it pleaseth God By the mouths of babes and sucklings to perfect his own praise that the work may appear to be not of men but of God Leaving therefore the work in Gods hand who is able to do what he pleaseth with and by it and waving the consideration of mine own weakness I condescend to your request and make bold to cast this my poor mite into Gods Treasury Saying to you and to all courteous Readers as Peter to the Cripple Acts 3.6 Silver and Gold have I none but such as I have give I unto you I hope the food is wholesome though it be but plainly and meanly dressed And though it may fall into the hands of some whose curious stomacks may loath such plain and homely diet yet possibly it may fall into the hand of some poor creature who is hungry humble and of a contrite Spirit and trembles at Gods Word Some poor hungry Soul may perhaps here meet with meat though there be little sawce to he had And if any poor Soul shall reap benefit by my poor labours and endeavours I hope I shall bless God for owning such a worthless creature in so glorious a work And if it do good the less of the instrument the more will there be of God seen in it I beg of you therefore and of all candid Readers into whose hands this small Treatise may come their and your serious perusal of it with their Prayers to God for a blessing upon it what you finde of humane weakness in it pardon and pass it by whatever you finde of God in it minde it and apply it And the very God of Heaven powerfully influence it with his blessed Spirit that it may do your Souls good and that you may readily open to Christ now that he may open to and own you at Death and Judgment Which is the humble and earnest Prayer of Yours In and for Christ my Lord and Master James Bradshaw TO THE READER Christian Reader THe Spirit of Slumber exceedingly prevails at this day as great security is to be found in this Nation as was in the old World and in Sodom before the one was Drowned and the other Burned God hath used several ways and means to awaken us but our Spiritual Lethargie proves a very stubborn Malady 'T were bad enough if onely profane persons were fast asleep in Sin 'T is worse that Professors are so too But 't is worst of all that the Wise Virgins slumber as well as the Foolish What may be the Issue of our carnal Security we may tremble to think of When men say they shall have peace though they walk on after the imagination of their evil Heart the Lord confutes their presumption by threatning all the Curses written in his Book and that he will blot out their names from under Heaven Promising safety to themselves is the forerunner of Sinners sudden
And therefore what an intolerable wrong is here to keep Christ out of his own house to keep his own door lockt against him in such weather and in such a condition as he was it is a wonder that instead of withdrawing he did not fire the house about her ears but that he is an infinitely patient Husband Such carriages as these are intolerable wrongs to Christ and therefore may cost us dear 6. Consider the earnest and sweet perswasives that Christ at his coming and knocking makes use of to procure his admission There are three Texts of Scripture which I would pitch upon from thence to gather the sweet winning arguments that Christ ordinarily makes use of when he knocks and calls at the door of his Spouse One is the Text another is the Parable of the great Supper at the marriage of the Kings son Luke 14.17 c. and the third is Rev. 3.20 And from these Texts I would gather these three Arguments which Christ makes use of 1. He wooes and intreats from that neeâ— relation that is between them She was his sister and spouse as if Christ should have said thus My dear sister and spouse it is thy dear Brother and Husband that is come wet and weary to thy door stands here wet to the very skin My head filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night Canst thou finde in thine heart to lie snorting in thy bed and taking thine ease and hear thy poor afflicted wearied Brother and Husband stand without in all this stormy weather knocking and calling and not take so much pains as to come to the door to open to me Thou needest not stir a foot out of the doors but onely come to the door and open it Hast thou no more of a sympathizing and commiserating spirit in thee Will the nearness of our relation work no more upon thee If I were a stranger to thee I could say the less for my self though common pity should be shewed to strangers but being so nearly related to thee me thinks I should not need to multiply words but might finde present admission and ready entertainment why then dost thou not come Now a refusal or slighty neglect in this case will scarcely be born the bond of Relation should double the force of the Argument And therefore unkindnesses from near relations are of a more provoking and exasperating nature than from other persons because better things are expected And therefore to deny to open to Christ when thus he calls and pleads such an argument as this must needs be highly provoking and of dangerous consequence 2. He wooes and intreats from the deaâ— and reciprocal affection that was betwixt them My Love my Dove my undefiled Oh what sweet compellations How can these be denied And surely Christ is in good earnest he doth not dissemble or flatter Doth Elihu say Job 32.22 I know not how to give flattering titles for in so doing my Maker would soon take me away And do you think that our faithful Lord and Husband Jesus Christ would flatter and dissemble Surely no He is real therefore in these sweet and heart-melting compellations which are expressions of Love coming from his very heart My love my dove my undefiled As if Christ should have said Thou art she whose heart is joined to mine in most sincere and cordial Affection I have set my love onely upon thee and have chosen thee out of the world to be my Spouse Have loved thee with an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee and I know that thou hast a real kindness and respect for me and that thou preferrest my Love before Wine or any thing that can be named And that in thine eyes however contemptible I may be in the eyes of the world I am altogether lovely Oh therefore let not sloath and drowziness so far prevail and make thee to forget thy love to me and my love to thee which I have given thee full and frequent assurance of as to suffer me to stand here in the wet and cold And what hard-hearted Wife could resist such a heart-melting Argument as this Yea thou art my Dove Doves are kind to and mourn sore for the absence of one another Thy mate O my Dove is at the door and wilt thou not let him in Yea further thou art my undefiled my chast Spouse I cannot think that thine heart is in the least alienated from me or set upon any other Lover I am not jealous of thee and therefore shew thy faithfulness and loyalty by opening unto me that I may not have occasion of jealousie left in mine absence thy heart should be taken with some other Lover If this argument will not work what may Christ think Would it not then be of dangerous consequence to do that which may give occasion of jealousie to our Lord and Husband and therefore the Doctrine must needs be true 3. He wooes and intreats from the great advantage which his coming in would be unto her Christ seldom or never invites us to our loss but we are sure to be gainers by every duty or work he puts us upon He tells her here that his head was filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Which being taken in a good sense as was noted before imports that Christ came full fraught with blessings and benefits not an hair of his head but would afford some drop of comfort or benefit which would make amends for the pains which she should be at in rising and opening to him And if we read Rev. 3.20 he tell us that If any man will open unto him he will come in and sup with them and they with him There is Emphasis and weight in every word he would come in This piece of condescention in him was a sufficient recompence of her pains it was a great honour that such a guest should come under her roof That such a glorious person as Christ who is God equal with the Father and before whom the very Angels cover their faces with their wings as not able to behold his Glory That such a glorious person as this is should come into such a smoaky cottage as that of mans heart is wonderful condescention and therefore honour enough put upon the Spouse which might abundantly recompence her labour in opening to him But this is not all he would come in and therefore she being within should have his company stand in his presence In whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore And surely his company is no little worth and that she her self being judge or else wherefore doth she so earnestly pray for it Cant. 4. v. 16. Fruition is that which Love labours after and which alone gives satisfaction and rest to the motion of love She might now enjoy her beloved which she had so earnestly panted after and long looked for and surely her pains in rising
him that I am sick of love I have sought him but cannot finde him I have called him but he gives me no answer If it be asked what is the reason why it is thus with many Believers It may be answered there is cause for it they have given Christ some unkinde answer he hath called but they have not heard or heeded He hath knocked and they have not opened And therefore he will make them sensible of their affront and unhandsome carriage before they shall finde him again 3. Hence also we may learn what a gross cheat the Devil and our own Hearts have put upon us and the great danger we have many of us been in by our refusing to open to Christ at his knocks and calls A greater cheat the Devil could not put upon us nor greater danger can we possibly be in than to be perswaded by him to refuse or delay to open to Christ And yet how ordinary is it for the Devil and carnal Reason to put this cheat upon us and by being so often and so long cheated what dreadful and tremendous danger have we many of us brought our selves into Christ hath called and called again and again by his Word and Providences by his Mercies and Judgements by his Spirit and our own Consciences and yet from time to time to this very day we have put him off with frivolous and vain excuses and have not fully opened the door of our Hearts to him Christ hath pressed us so far with arguments and those convincing and startling ones and of all sorts so that we could not deny but this hath been the voice of Christ insomuch that he may say What could I have done or said more than I have done And yet what cold entertainment hath he found at our doors May he not justly complain of us as of Israel of old Isai 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord made bare It would make a man to tremble to think at the loud knocks and calls that God hath given to sinners in these Nations and yet to this day hath been shut out few have sincerely received him into their Hearts nay may it not be truely said as is complained John 1.11 He came to his own and his own received him not Many that have made a large profession of the Name of Christ that yet have not truely received him into their hearts Nay may not Christ say I am neer in their Mouth but far from their Reins Nay are there not many that we hope are truely the Spouse of Christ and have many a time prayed for the breathings of his Spirit and his comfortable presence and yet at his coming have shut him out and yet where are there any but they have their plausible excuses though if they were all examined they would prove as unreasonable as this in the Text. But these we shall make further inquiry into under another Use onely here let us take notice what an horrible cheat the Devil and carnal Reason have hereby put upon us and what a sad and dreadful condition we have hereby brought our selves into Which will undeniably appear if we consider 1. What and who those pretended Friends and Lovers are that we have entertained in our hearts while we have shut out Christ and refused to open at his call Shall I tell you 1 what and 2 who they are 1. What they are The Lovers which we have doted upon and entertained in our hearts while Christ hath been kept out they are first False and flattering Lovers They do not love us really and cordially though they make great shew and pretence of love There is none that loves so really as Jesus Christ doth His love was towards us while we were Enemies to him and did him much disservice but these onely love us while we please and gratifie them Do but cross the Devil the World or Flesh and you shall finde they will hate you and manifest themselves your Enemies Christ's love is pure love without any by-ends but the love of these is onely a pretended love for their own ends and the carrying on of their own designes His love is a love indeed and he hath by what he hath done and suffered for us in real and great deeds manifested the reality of his love but their love is meerly verbal and complemental promising much but performing little or nothing of what they promise His love is chiefly manifested in adversity in straights in distresses when all others frown upon us and we have now hither to betake our selves but to him but their love is onely in prosperity and when we have the least need of them For if ever we really stand in need of them as at death and at Judgement then they will be the furthest off from helping us of affording any relief nay then they will appear to be our enemies and the first that shal set themselves against us And are these friends to be trusted and to be kept in our hearts when Jesus Christ must be shut out How do we suffer our selves to be miserably deluded by these errand cheats 2. These Lovers and pretended Friends they are unprofitable Lovers and Friends Let them afford the best help they can they can afford no such benefit and advantage as Jesus Christ can and doth The Wise-man speaking of worldly things saith Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not Riches certainly make themselves wings and flie as an eagle towards Heaven There is no securing or holding fast these things When the Devil would have tempted our Saviour to worship him Matth. 4. he shews him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and faith All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me And yet this was not in his power to give But suppose these were in his power to give and that he would be as good as his word and really give them yet What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul But suppose he would perswade you that you might gain the one and save the other yet the Apostle tells us the contrary 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him And I am sure if the love of God be not in him he cannot save his soul For the Apostle saith If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 and If we love not him that is begotten we cannot love him that begetteth for the Father and the Son are one and therefore there is no real profit to be got by them but are great losers and therefore in hearkening unto them we are miserably cheated 3. They are very uncomfortable Friends if compared with Christ They pretend Mirth and Pleasure and Delight but even in the midst of mirth the heart is sad
no real mirth or chearfulness can they give But he that hath but once tasted how good and pleasant Christ's company is he may truely say he never met with such a good and chearful and comfortable Friend in all his life he may say with the Spouse I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was pleasant to my taste There is none of these pretended friends but there is much sowreness harshness and unpleasantness to be found in them but of Jesus Christ it may be said He is altogether lovely his very yoak is easie and his burden light there is comfort in his very Cross in his company a Believer may sing at midnight in a prison with his feet fast in the stocks but as for the pleasures of sin they are but short and they alwaies end in pain What Paul said of sin in respect of profit Rom. 6.21 What profit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed So may I say What pleasure can you take in those pretended friends whose company will certainly end both in shame and pain 4. Their designe is destructive Whatever they may pretend and however they may flatter thee and promise rest and sleep and quietness it is but that they may destroy thee and that to all eternity They are but such-like friends to thee as Dalilah was to Sampson if she cause him to sleep upon her lap it is but that she may cut his Locks and deliver him weak into the hand of his enemy to torment him If they cry Peace peace unto thee and lull thee asleep in security it is but that they may binde thee with the Devils in chains of darkness to be reserved to the Judgment of the great Day Are these therefore friends to be trusted Who while they flatter thee purposely designe thy destruction and aim at nothing more than the ruine both of thy Soul and Body Oh how do persons suffer themselves to be cheated by the flattering pretences of false friends but real enemies and in the mean while keep out Jesus Christ out of their hearts who would be a friend indeed Thus you see what those are that are entertained in the heart while Jesus Christ is shut out But 2. Let us see who these are that do thus cheat us I will in short tell thee who they are though by the marks which I have already given of them thou mayest easily guess who they are They are the three grand Enemies of thy Soul The Devil the World and the Flesh These are thâ—y that thou taking them for thy friends and welcome guests into thy heart art cheated by Enemies they are and the greatest and most inveterate implacable malicious and unmercyful Enemies that thou hast Yea besides them thou hast not such Enemies in all the world and yet these dost thou receive for thy bosome-friends and that while thou shuttest out him that is the best and surest friend that thou hast in the world that hath done more for thee than all the world besides What Joab said to David when he mourned so excâ—ssively for Absalom that may I truely say to thee By this I perceive that thou lovest thine Enemies and hatest thy Friends For if these false dissembling and rebellious Absaloms might but live and be thy companions thou matterest not though Jesus Christ be starved to death at the door of thine heart Oh wretched cruelty and misguided blindfolded affection that will thus be cheated from time to time by the flatteries of them that seek thy life and these must needs be they that keep possession in thy heart for none but these who have ever been mortal Enemies to Jesus Christ would give thee counsel to keep Christ out of thy heart To be sure God would not give thee this advice for he loves and is ever well pleased with his Son and would have him seated in the Royal Throne of thy Heart Yea he is reconciling the world unto himself by Jesus Christ He hath appointed thy reception and entertainment of Jesus Christ as the onely way to happiness Surely it is not Christ that counsels thee thus for it is he that stands knocking at the door of thy Heart for entrance and admission It is not the Spirit of God for he is also the Spirit of Christ and is sent upon his errand to perswade thee to open to Christ yea he is heartily grieved when thou resistest these motions of his And if Christ may not come in he will not long stay there himself striving with thee It cannot be thy Conscience for that is a faithful witness and admonisher and will speak truely when it may be heard and the counsel it gives is according to the will of God whose vice-gerent it is and whose authority it bears in the Soul and therefore it can be no other that gives thee this counsel but those Enemies before mentioned Satan the World and the Flesh for the counsel is like them and rightly fathers it self and what folly is it thus to be cheated by such Enemies to thy Soul as these are and that from time to time 2. The greatness of this cheat and the wrong which we sustein by it will appear if we consider the advantage which these our Enemies have got by our hearkning unto them and suffering our selves to be cheated by them thus long I shall onely mention these three advantages they have got by perswading thee to keep thy heart shut against Christ Advantages they are to them and their designes but most fearful wrongs to thee and to thy Soul 1. They have occasioned thee to commit many a sin which might have been prevented if thou hadst long since opened to Christ at his call I do not here speak of thy great sin in refusing to open at Christ's call which is every time renewed and repeated when thou refusest to open whatever thine excuse be Nor do I speak of the sins that are couched and included in the unreasonableness of thy excuses though these be neither few nor little But I speak of that sinful frame of heart and course of life that thou leadest and livest it while Jesus Christ is kept out of thy Soul Reflect upon thy self and consider how long it is since Christ gave thee the first call and consider what course of life thou hast led since how many wilful and known sins thou hath committed one upon the back of another yea the same sins many a time over and over again these sins all of them might have been prevented and many of them doubtless had been prevented if thou hadst opened to Christ at his first call If thou hadst suffered him to have come in he would have changed the habit frame bent and inclination of thy heart and course of thy life and conversation he would have set thee about his work and kept thee employed in his business that thou shouldest not have had time or leasure to have hearkned to Satans temptations It is
Jesus Christ repenting of and forsaking thy sin turning to God with all the heart and taking up a new course of life Fleeing unto Christ alone for justification in a sense of thine own utter unworthyness Entering into covenant with him taking him for thy Prophet Priest and King giving up thy self unto him in all humble hearty and sincere submission to his will and obedience to all his commands This the word dictates and Conscience sets in with it and seconds it And to make up the conviction more full the Spirit of God comes in and tells thee that this condition thou art in is not to be rested in thou must either turn or die To day if thou wilt hear the voice of God then harden not thy heart ere long it will be too late thy Sun will be set thy day of grace over and these things will be hid from thine eyes Hereupon thy Conscience is startled and thou beginnest to think with thy self what thou must do and it may be hast some sudden earnest motions purposes and resolutions to turn and to break off from thine old ways and courses to become a new creature But alas how suddenly are all these vanished and gone again and thou fallest fast asleep again in security Convictions wear off Affections cool Fears abate Sin looks not so terrible thine own estate and condition not to dreadful and hopeless Death not so near the flames of Hell not so hot and scorching and so the wook is laid aside and left undone and thou returnest with the dog to the vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Or at most if these continue still thou goest with an inward griping wounded Conscience and dost not really come out of thy self unto Christ for healing Christ is little store set by or sought after but thou patchest up a Plaister for thy wounded Conscience of some pitiful poor and imperfect righteousness of thine own takest up some small formal Profession of Religion and thus stoppest the clamours of thy Conscience and Christ is shut out and stands without still Nay may I not say of some that instead oâ— opening to Chrst they are hardned in theiâ— sins and grown Sermon-proof the Word oâ— God affects them not takes not hold upoâ— them as sometimes it hath done but theâ— with less pain and torture of Conscience caâ— turn off reproofs than formerly they coulâ— have done and sit more quietly and undistuâ—bedly under Ordinances and that not becauâ—â— they are in a better condition than formerly for they are the same both in heart and life that they were before but because their hearts are more hardened and their consciences more brawny and their souls more sluggish and sensless than they were before Is this thy opening to Christ Is this the entertainment which Christ finds when his head is filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night Oh consider this before it be too late before Christ be withdrawn and gone We have a sad complaint which God makes against Ephraim Hos 6.4 c. O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee For your goodness is as a morning-cloud and as an early dew it passeth away A morning-Cloud seems to promise rain but as the Sun ariseth it vanisheth away an early Dew seems to moisten and refresh the earth but when the Sun comes to be hot the dew is quickly gone and the grass scorcheth so much the more so was their goodness very vanishing and unconstant They seemed to take notice of Gods words to be affected with them and to promise and purpose amendment but alas their promises and purposes quickly vanished and came to nothing according to what you finde Psal 78.34 35 36 37. Hath it not been too much your case Under convictions you have seemed to promise God fair things and there hath been some hopes of your conversion and change But no sooner hath the heat of conviction been over but all these things have quickly vanished away and come to nothing Is this the entertainment that Christ hath found Blame him not then if he depart and make you seek him before you finde him But further since it is the Spouse of Christ that is here spoken of let me carry on this Query about Conviction a little further You who really are Believers and have entred into covenant with Christ and stand in a Covenant-relation to Christ Have you opened to the calls of Christ Hath there not been many strong convictions upon your spirits in many particular cases wherein you have been faulty and your Consciences have smitten you and yet for all this you have stifled these convictions and have not opened to Christ you have many times been convinced of your Pride Worldly-mindedness Vanity and Unsavoriness Sloath and Luke-warmness Backwardness to Duty Deadness in Duty Unbelief and distrust of God and of his Care and Providence and such like things and yet your hearts have not been willing fully to open to Christ in these things and to let conviction have its perfect work in order to your reformation you have heard the Word and known your selves to be guilty of such things as the Word hath reproved Conscience hath spoken and the Spirit of God hath spoken and yet you have not hearkned to the counsel and dictates thereof but have turned a deaf ear and gone on in your sin still Is this your opening to him who is the wonderful Counsellor who is your Lord and Husband and whose commands should have influence upon you Oh my friends we may all sadly complain that in this respect we have all of us made excuses and kept Christ out of our hearts 2. If the door be not shut against Christ how comes it to pass that the Ordinances of Christ are so little prized so little store set by at this day We told you in the opening of the Doctrine that one way of Christ his calling was by his Ordinances In and by them he convinceth of and reproveth sin directs in and encourageth unto duty communicates grace affords his company gives in nourishment refreshment strength and comfort unto the hungry panting Soul These are the Wells of Salvation and Waters of the Sanctuary that are for the refreshing the City of our God Where these therefore are slighted Christ must necessarily be shut out and not opened to We have the Spouse Cant. 1.7 8. enquiring where she may meet her beloved And he tells her she may finde him in his Ordinances and in the assembly of his Saints there he records his Name and there he meets his people and blesseth them And therefore they that carelesly turn their backs upon the Ordinances of Christ turn their backs upon and shut the door of their Hearts against him Persons may and often do frequent the Ordinances of Christ and yet keep the door of their Hearts fast shut against Christ But they are utterly out of the way of opening to Christ yea out of the ordinary way
of Christs call that turn their backs upon his Ordinances Greater contempt cannot persons pour upon Christ than to despise and set light by the Ordinances of Christ which he hath instituted as means for the enjoyment of him And if this be so how ordinarily is Christ shut out We complain of the deadness of Trade and what a low rate all kinde of commodities carry but I am sure Christ's trade is very low the commodities which Christ offers in the market of his Ordinances though very rich and costly in themselves yet are at a very low rate in the esteem of most men O how slight an occasion will keep persons back from the Ordinances of Christ If any worldly business be to be done persons think it unreasonable to be moved to leave that and to attend the Ordinances of Christ as the Spouse here thought it unreasonable to move her to leave her warm bed to come to open to Christ O how many will rise more early travel further and take more pains for an earthly bargain than to meet with Christ in his Ordinances these must onely be attended at leisure-times when men have nothing else to do If the Ordinances of Christ lose men an hour in their shops or a single bargain if but to the value of a shilling in their trades they think Christ bids them loss if he move them to leave their worldly business and attend upon him Many value Christ and his company at a lower rate than thirty pieces Some again can spare time to attend Ordinances but if it must cost them any thing these Ordinances must be forborn In many places and with many persons he is the best Minister that will be hired at the cheapest rate though his preaching be little to the purpose though he seldom disturb them with any considerable calls from Christ Others though they do frequent Ordinances yet not as the Ordinances of Christ which binde Conscience but as indifferent things that may be done or left undone without any guilt or blame And therefore they make little matter of rushing out of the world and worldly business into an Ordinance altogether unprepared and uncomposed but their thoughts and hearts are full of the world as may be and as little matter of running into the world again so soon as ever the Ordinance is ended without allowing themselves the least time to meditate or beg God's blessing upon what they have been partakers of Is this your opening to Christ at his call I am very confident this is not the least reason of persons unfruitfulness under Ordinances at this day because the Ordinances are not conscientiously attended Nor do persons allow themselves time in meditation and prayer that the Ordinance might have its soaking influence upon them By this means Sirs you do too ordinarily if not constantly shut out Christ This low esteem that the Ordinances of Christ have among us doth sufficiently manifest that our hearts are not rightly open to Christ It was far otherwise with the Spouse Cant. 2.3 She sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was pleasant to her taste But these have scarce time and less mindes to sit down at all but are in a running posture as if Christ's bounties were not worth the staying for 3. If the heart be open to Christ whence is it that persons are so cold formal and indifferent both in their profession practices and performances Surely if Christ were let in the heart would be more warm and lively Grace would be more active in us than it is at this day We read Cantic 5.5 that when Christ put but in his finger by the hole of the door though the door was not fully opened to him yet he left such a warming perfuming vertue behind him as set the Spouse her Graces afloat she can rest no longer in her bed but ariseth her bowels yern towards him and before she get the door open her fingers drop with myrrhe there will be a sensible alteration of the humours to speak so a change of the frame and disposition of Grace in the heart where Christ comes and meets with ready entertainment The Souls sleepy fit will be over when Christ comes in and her Graces will fall to their work Faith will be strongly active Love will be inflamed Thankfulness will be increased Obedience will be more exact and universal Repentance more deep and serious the heart wholly and zealously engaged for Christ when the door of the heart is truely opened to Christ But oh how far otherwise is it with us something of the carcass of Religion and the form of Godliness an external profession of the Name of Christ is left but little of the life and zeal and warmth and power of Religion left In former days when Christ was eminently seen in his Ordinances and Believers hearts were more freely and fully open to him we see what holy heavenly zealous universally circumspect Christians were then to be found what wonderful works did manifest themselves in them and were done by them But where have we almost any Christians of the old stamp and strain left Now adays we have much talking of Religion but little holy strict and exemplary walking in the ways of God in all holy Conversation and Godliness Sure I am there is a vast difference between Christians in former days and those that now live Then they were humble holy blameless in all manner of conversation zealous for Gods glory lively spiritual and heavenly in their Duties fervent in spirit serving the Lord fervent in love towards God and the Brethren and that not in word only but in deed and in truth such as might easily be distinguished from the generality of the world But now how many professors of Religion are there who are Proud covetous sensual compliers with the fashions and customes of the world envious malicious backbiters slanderers having only a form of godliness very curious about circumstances very careless about the substance and practical part of Religion This shews that though we carry the name of Christ in our foreheads yet Jesus Christ is too much kept out of our hearts 4. If the heart be open to Christ how comes it to pass that the world hath so great a share and interest there Surely where Christ comes he gains the heart and the whole bent of the Soul is after him Nothing more earnestly desired or diligently sought for than Christ Rachels language to Jacob upon better grounds and with far better reason is the language of a gracious heart to God Give me Children or I die So saith the Soul Give me Christ or I die I can no longer be without him I languish and pine away for want of him If I may have but one wish or request in all the world it shall be this That God would bestow Christ upon me that I may not onely have an interest in him and title or claim to him but that I may have his
no good thing Psal 84.11 and doth not he assure us that he that spared not his Son but delivered him up for us all will also with him give us all things that may be good for us Rom. 8.32 Do you think to live more to your own pleasure contentment or comfort Is it not in his presence that there is fulness of joy and at his right hand that there are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Is it not in him alone that the Soul and Conscience can have true peace and a calm and that when nothing but storms and tempests are without read John 16.33 Tell me who but Christ can put your Soul into Davids frame of Spirit when in Davids condition Psal 63. banished hunted persecuted in the Wilderness destitute of maintenance friends a resting-place Ordinances every hour in jeopardy of his life and yet his Soul filled as with marrow and fatness in the company and enjoyment of God there could he sing and give â—raise In such a condition also was he when he penned Psalm 57. and yet his heart was fixed to sing and give praise If you think you can â—ive more profitably or more pleasantly without Christ in worldly and sinful ways and courses let me desire you to take a view of your time carriages and manner of life that that is by past And let me ask you the same question that the Apostle doth Rom. 6.21 What fruit had you then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed This I will assure you that either in respect of profit pleasure honour or comfort no company is like to Christs Oh! therefore let not him stand without while worse company is entertained in your hearts What is the reason why Christians hearts are so full of guilt doubts fears and dissatisfactions of every kinde but for want of the company and presence of Christ If this Sun of righteousness did but with healing under his wings arise upon and shine into our hearts he would quickly dispel and scatter all those midnight fogs and terrours that do so disturb and disquiet us and render our lives so uncomfortable 2. Suppose that you could live well enough without Christ while you live in this world Let me ask you what you will do or how you will make up your accounts at Death and Judgment without him You know that It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment You know also that we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ for God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ Acts 17.31 and that in that day We must give him account of all that we have done in the flesh whether good or evil whether secret or open whether in thought word or deed there then we cannot avoid the meeting with Christ how then do you think that Christ the Judge will look upon you at that day who have so slightly looked upon him when he stood knocking at the door of your hearts Read with seriousness Prov. 1.24 to the end Matth. 25.11 12. Oh! the countenance and looks of Christ which to you now is despicable but to the Saints lovely will to you then be most dreadful and terrible Then will you cry to the mountains and hills to fall on you and to hide you from the presence of the Lord and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to abide it 3. Let me further ask you What is it that hinders you from opening to Christ at present Is it any thing that hath the colour or face of reason in it If not why do you suffer it to hinder you If it have let us examine it and see what strength of reason may be in it I can but at present call to minde these Three great and main hinderances that keep men off from opening to Christ at his call 1. The low and mean esteem which persons have of Christ's company feasts and banquets The generality of the world are clearly for some sensible good thing Who will shew us any good thing Psal 4.6 Something that may yield them some present advantage that may advance their estate their credit pleasure or honour something that they may see with their eyes or handle or taste c. something that is obvious to sense but as for invisible things an interest in Christ in the Covenant of Grace a future reward in another Life only for the present to be received and apprehended in the promise these things are little store set by If Christ would give them of these worldly good things then they would set store by him But if he tell them of spiritual Feasts of a Treasure in Heaven of a Crown of Glory and such like things these are not much taking with the generality of the world And therefore Christ his Feasts Company and Benefits being spiritual are little store set by by carnal hearts and when they are called upon to open to him they make light of it as not judging him worth the opening to But that this is a great mistake I might easily demonstrate for we have little reason to have so low an esteem and value of Christ his Benefits and Banquets if we do but rightly understand our selves We will suppose a man to have all that the world can afford him both in respect of profit pleasure and honour and yet want true peace of conscience true comfort in his Soul can these things give him this without Christ But where a Soul hath Christ he may have peace in his own Soul and Conscience in the absence of these worldly enjoyments David in a wilderness Paul and Silas in a dungeon with their feet fast in the stocks their stripes and wounds unwashed can sing praises to God with a merry and chearful heart Nay my Friends it is impossible for me to express that quietness and serenity of Spirit that abundant peace of Conscience Joy of heart contentation and satisfaction which a Believer enjoys in the company of and communion with Christ therefore it is called a Peace which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 It is called A Joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 It is not what a man hath but what gives true Peace Satisfaction and contentment to the Soul that makes a man happy and this none but Christ can do And therefore his company and banquets must needs be not so despicable as many men account them But alas it is their ignorance and want of experience would they but be perswaded to open to Christ and make trial of the excellency of his company and rarity of his banquets they would have a more venerable esteem for Christ than now they have 2. Another grand hindrance that keeps us off from opening to Christ is the urgency of other business When Christ comes and calls persons are so crowded with other business that they cannot be at leisure to open to him or give
to mention here If thou wilt freely open to Christ now He will readily open to thee at Death and Judgment There are few but they are convinced of the trouble and restlesness of their present state and not fully satisfied with the present state they are in but are still seeking and labouring for something further in hopes another condition may be better and this they might gather from all their experiences that a rest is not to be had here And consequently all men in this life are but in a seeking condition seeking for rest and can finde none as our Saviour speaks in the Parable they have often something within that suggests This is not your resting place By dayly experience they also see that it is appointed for all men once to die And therefore they might conclude that a rest must be had in another world or not had at all for here no rest is to be had And certain it is that There doth remain a rest for the people of God and to them only and who are these people of God but they that open to Christ here for all power is committed into the hands of Christ He it is that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth And can we reasonably imagine that he will open to any at that day that will not open to him now No he tells us quite the contrary Prov. 1.24 c. You know the foolish Virgins cryed loud Open to us but he answered I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquity If therefore there be any restlessness in this world that thou art weary of or in Hell that thou art afraid of or if there be any rest at death and in Heaven desireable open to Christ now as ever thou wouldest avoid the one or desirest to partake of the other So that to conclude this Use if either sense of duty love to thy self and thine own happiness the love of God and Christ or love to God and Christ may have any influence upon thee if any thing either of Divinity or Humanity may work upon thee here is fulness of reason and motives to perswade thee to open to Christ and therefore let reason prevail with thee But thou wilt say How shall I open to Christ And what would you have me in this case to do I am willing to open to Christ if I knew but how to do it and what is required in this case That I may help thee a little in this great and necessary work I shall give thee some directions how to carry and what to do and so shall conclude this subject And these directions shall be of two sorts 1. Such as may have respect unto the Heart and the manner or way of the Hearts opening to Christ 2. Such as may have respect to Christ and the several ways of his coming in and making himself manifest unto the Soul 1. I begin with such directions as respect the Heart and the way and manner of the Hearts opening to Christ Now that we may the better know how many ways the Heart must be opened to Christ it may not be impertinent to consider how many ways the Heart may be shut against Christ Now it is evident that the Heart may these several ways be shut against Christ By Pride and self-confidence by unbelief by impenitency by want of Love or coldness of affection by sloth and sluggishness either in our watch or work A little to open each of these and then you shall see by them what of the Heart or in what respects the Heart is to be opened to Christ 1. The Heart may be shut against Christ by Pride and self-confidence Such is the Pride and haughtiness of corrupted Nature that though the sinner be justly condemned for his sin yet he seeks to justifie himself and would not seem to be beholden to Jesus Christ nor his satisfaction for a pardon This is evident in our first Parents in their shifting off their sins and endeavouring to transmit the guilt upon some one else Adam when examined rather than he would be found faulty lays the blame upon Eve and in some sense upon God himself The woman which thou gavest me gave me c. and I did eat The woman when examined lays the guilt upon the Serpent The Serpent beguiled me c And the same principle of Pride remains in some measure in the Hearts of all Adam's Posterity which makes them use their uttermost endeavour to justifie themselves This is the true cause of all excuses that are made for sin and the reason why persons do so over-much value their own works of Righteousness judging in effect that every small parcel of duty and obedience is sufficient to expiate the greatest sin And by this means Jesus Christ is undervalued and little store set by For a man will never be wholly beholden to Jesus Christ for his justification while he hath any Righteousness of his own to lean to And by this means the Heart is shut against Christ As this Pride hardens God's heart against the sinner and makes God to resist or set himself in battle-array against the sinner as the word signifies James 4.6 and as this self-justifying confidence causeth Christ many times to pass by the door of such a sinner without calling upon him for he tells us that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Matth. 9.13 that is those that are through Pride and self-confidence righteous in their own eyes So this Pride doth harden and shut the heart of the sinner against God and Christ And therefore the Psalmist saith The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God Psal 10.4 This therefore must be removed out of the way before the door of the Heart be truly and fully opened to Christ Wouldest thou therefore open to Christ get rid of all Pride and self-confidence labour to be humble low and vile in thine own eyes and to such Christ will look Isai 66.2 To this man will I look that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembles at my word And elsewhere The poor have the Gospel preached to them i. e. They that are of a poor humble self-denying spirit have the glad tidings of Salvation brought unto them to these the Son of Righteousness ariseth with healing under his wings And therefore blessed are these poor in spirit for they shall see God While David justified himself and hid his sin the hand of God was heavy upon him but when he humbled himself and confessed freely his sin God came in with pardon Psal 32. Oh therefore labour after humility and lowness of spirit for God resisteth the proud but gives grace to the humble Humble your selves therefore and in due time God will exalt you with his presence and company Christ must do all and have the glory as well as the command of all where he comes and
but to have all things in a readiness and preparedness for his entertainment Nay Love makes the Soul to think no time lost in his company nor any cost too great for his entertainment And therefore if Love have been cold or wanting towards Christ let it be so no more but labour to get and maintain more fervent love to Christ and this will be the ready way to have his company For Love will make thee to hunger after Christ and he hath promised to satisfie the hungry soul We read Rev. 2. that God threatens Ephesus that he will depart and remove his Golden Candlestick from the midst of her because of her decay in her Love towards him she had lost her first love And well he might for the less she loved him the more was her Heart contracted and shut against him and therefore little room could he have in her Heart and consequently little heart to stay there Take heed therefore of suffering thy love to Christ to decay if thou hast any minde of his company but get thine heart filled with love to Christ and then the door of thine Heart will be open to him and he may have ready and welcome entertainment when he comes 5. The door of the Heart may be shut against Christ by negligence and sloth Now there is a two-fold negligence which Christians are subject unto 1. A negligence or sluggishness in their work Or 2. in their Watch by the means of both which Jesus Christ may be shut out of the Heart 1. Jesus Christ may be shut out by our negligence and sluggishness in our work Slothful working and labouring in our spiritual calling doth but keep Christ out of the Soul When a man prays after a sluggish and slothful manner he doth in effect say that he matters not Christ's company and therefore he cannot expect to finde him For Christ will be found of those that diligently seek him A slothful man will scarcely be willing to wait in the way of duty till Christ come but like the Spouse in the Text will have laid aside his work and be gone to bed when Christ calls and too lazy too to arise to open to him Some persons indeed are impatient of Christ's delays because of their earnest desire of his company they are sick of love to these Christ will come and will not tarry Others are impatient under delays because they are weary of duty love not to tug and toil and sweat in duty too long but would have Christ come that their work might be over and if he come not in their time they leave off their work these do shut out Christ Wouldest thou therefore have thy heart open to Christ be not slothful or sluggish in duty but be diligent painful and industrious in thy spiritual work Be diligent in mortifying sin in quickning grace in discharging duties and those of all sorts that so when Christ comes he may finde thee so doing busily employed in thy Lords work and then will he say to thee Well done good and faithful servant 2. Jesus Christ may be shut out by our negligence and sluggishness in our watch The Spouse here had laid aside her watch was composing her self for rest and now Christ at his coming found her door shut When Sinners grow lazy and let fall their watch they are in a fitter posture for Satan to finde them than Christ For Satan goes about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour and therefore his fittest opportunity is when he can finde them napping and secure But Christ comes as a friend and therefore would finde us watching he comes as a Master and therefore expects us to be ready to open to him If therefore thou wouldest have thine heart open to Christ keep a constant watch over thy self watch and pray that thou enter not into temptation Watch against the treachery deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of thine own heart Watch against the insinuations of an enticing alluring world Watch against the motions and suggestions of a malicious and subtile Devil Watch thy corruptions that they prevail not in thee Watch thy graces that they neither decay nor be idle Watch thy Faith that that may be ready to apprehend and embrace Christ at his coming And watch thy Patience that that wear not out but endure to the end And watch thy Love that by the decays and coolings of that thy Heart be not contracted and shut against Christ Keep up an universal constant and faithful watch if thou wouldest have the door of thine Heart open when Christ comes Blessed is he whom his Lord when he comes shall find upon his Watch-tower ready to open to him Thus have I shewed in what respects the Heart may be shut against Christ and consequently by directing you to the removal of them and the exercise of the contrary grace have instructed you how to get and keep the Heart open for Christ To all which I onely adde this one thing more Wouldest thou have thine Heart open and in a readiness to entertain Jesus Christ at his coming then live always in expectation of his coming look for his coming when the Servant thinks with himself My Lord delays his coming he will not come yet he grows idle and careless and neglects both his work and his watch But if we would but thus judge Our Lord and Master will come and I know not at what hour of the day or watch of the night this would be a means to make us always to keep our Hearts open and in a readiness to receive Jesus Christ at his coming whereas the want of this makes us suffer our Faith to decay our Love to cool and our Hearts to be shut and contracted against Christ at his coming And these are the the Directions which I intended to speak to with respect unto our hearts 2. I have some directions to give thee with reference to Christ and the several ways of his coming into the Soul 1. Wouldest thou have thy heart open to Christ aright then open thine heart to the knowledge of Christ The directions which here I give is the advice and councel of Christ himself called by the name of Wisdom Prov. 1.20 21 22 23. Wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and fools hate knowledge Turn you at my reproof behold I will pour out my Spirit unto you and will make known my words unto you The want of the right knowledge of Christ is the great reason or ground why the heart is kept so close shut against Christ You know that one way of opening to Christ which I told you of was by faith rolling and recumbing upon Christ and the Psalmist tells us They that know his Name will put their trust in him Psal 9.10 and the reason rendered is because by knowing him they come to understand his truth and faithfulness that he never forsakes them that diligently seek him Iâ—
is our ignorance of the excellency all-sufficiency and suitableness of Christ to our insufficiency and emptiness that makes our love to Christ so very cold For the proper object of Love is some suitable desireable good thing Were we better acquainted then with that fulness that is in Christ we should more fully and freely open our hearts to Christ Did we but see his loveliness in every respect the loveliness of his person the loveliness of his disposition and qualifications the loveliness of his works and undertakings and his suitableness every way to our condition we should from the inward sense of love in our own souls cry out with the Spouse He is altogether lovely Nay our love towards him and desire after him would be so fervent that we should say with the Spouse Tell him that I am sick of love If therefore thou wouldest have thine heart more open to Christ study Christ better for he hath said he will exalt or set on high such as know his Name and set their love upon him Psal 91.14 And how can he more highly advance thee than by honouring thee with his company Our ignorance of Christ makes us that we do not understand his voice when he calls and therefore we give no heed to his calls 2. Open thine heart to the commands of Christ search the Scriptures to know what it is that he requires of thee and as he teaches thee by his Word and Spirit let thine heart be open to attend thereunto as the heart of Lydia was who attended to the things that were spoken by Paul Yea let thine heart burn within thee while he is talking with thee as the hearts of the Disciples going to Emaus did while Christ talked with them Attend diligently to the Ordinances of Christ and come with the everlasting doors of thine heart open ready prepared to receive whatsoever divine truth God shall make known unto thee and resolving to practise what truths thou shalt receive let thine heart be ready to say when thou comest to every Ordinance as Samuel did Speak Lord for thy servant heareth or as Paul Lord what wouldest thou have me to do Or as the people to Moses but with a better heart and more stedfast resolution All that the Lord hath spoken will we do and be obedient Open thine heart to the commands of Christ and let none of his commands be grievous but say with David O how love I thy Law it is my meditation day and night Remember that Christ is thy Lord and Husband it is his work to command thee and it is thy duty in all things to obey and therefore take his yoke upon thee for his yoke is easie and his burden light and in keeping his commands there is great reward 3. Open thine heart to the counsels and advice of Christ thou maist assure thy self that Christ will advise thee to nothing but for thy good See what counsel Christ gives to the Asian Churches Rev. 2 3. chap. his counsel was very suitable to the several states and conditions of every Church To instance in that of Laodicea she was a very luke-warm Church and yet very proud self-confident Church she said She was rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing but knew not that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked And what was Christs counsel to her I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tryed in the fire that thou maist be rich and white raiment that thou maist be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou maist see Rev. 3.17 18. Jesus Christ is a most faithful Friend and Physician will certainly give very seasonable counsel and advice he is called the wonderful Counsellor Isai 9.6 Open thine heart and listen to the counsel which Christ gives to thee he will instruct thee how to mortifie thy sins he will teach thee how to improve Ordinances to perform Duties to exercise thy graces he will teach thee in all respects to order thy conversation aright and to improve all the Dispensations of his Providence towards thee Take but Christs counsel and advice and thou canst never do amiss for he is wise in heart and communicative of his wisdome never fails any that trust and seek to him for counsel and advice Read James 1.5 If any of you want wisdom let him ask it of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraideth no man and it shall be given to him But know this that Christ cannot endure to have his counsel slighted to do this would highly displease him Read Prov. 1.24 c. I called 〈◊〉 but ye would have none of my counsels Therefore I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear comes Theâ— shall they call but I will not answer for that they hated knowledge they would none of my counsels Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices If thou wilt not open to Christ's counsels thou mayest follow thine own devices and see what will be the end of it Psal 81.11 12. write out the Text. 4. Open thine Heart to the rebukes and chastisements of Christ Be not too wise in thine own conceit as to think that Christ can finde no fault with thee But as David speaks concerning the Righteous so do thou from thy very heart say Let the Righteous Christ smite me it shall be a kindness let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head Though thou knowest before hand that he will finde fault with thee at his coming yet be never the more afraid to let him in nor be thou weary of his rebukes It is unpleasant discourse many times when our Friends rip up our faults and tell us of them but it is really our fault so to account it for it is the real part of a Friend to reprove us and not to suffer sin upon our souls However it may be unpleasant yet it is both necessary and safe It argues a more than ordinary love of Christ towards thee if he deal thus faithfully with thee for whom he loves he rebukes and chastens Rev. 3.19 Let thy Heart therefore be open ready and willing to receive and embrace his most severe rebukes And take it as a kindness from him that he will rebuke thee for it is a piece of blessedness Blessed is the man whom the Lord rebukes and chastens and teacheth him out of his Law Psal 94.12 David having found the benefit of this saith Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me And v. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflâ—cted c. And the Apostle tells us that though no affliction be for the present joyous but greivous yet afterwards it works the peaceable fruits of Righteousness in them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 open therefore