tains of vanity? Luke, xix. "For the son of man is come to feek and to fave that which was loft." Confider,

(2.) How dear it coft him to purchase your union with God by him, 2 Cor. v. 21.

"For he hath made Him, who knew no fin, to be fin for us, that we might be made the righteoufnefs of God in him." Though ye fhould little value his blood, he will not undervalue it himself; for finners it was fhed, and will he not welcome the reward of it, the fruit of the travail of his foul? Why were his arms ftretched on a crofs, and his fide pierced through, but that he might open up our way to God? Confider,

(3.) How near loft finners lay to Christ's heart, that he would refufe no hardfhip, in order that he might fee the travail of his foul. His love was ancient love; from eternity, "his delights were with the fons of men," Prov. viii. 31.; fee his choice, Heb. xii. 2.; and therefore, when he was to fuffer, his heart was upon the work : Luke, xii. 50. "I have a baptifm to be baptifed with, and how am I ftraitened till it be accomplished?" Jacob's love to Rachel fhewed itself by his long fervice for her, which feemed to him but a few days. Confider,

(4.) Why has he set up a miniftry in the world, but to bring finners to himself? Matth. xxii. 3. "And he fent forth his fervants to call them that were bidden to the wedding." He would not have left ambaffadors to treat with finners in his name, if he were not willing to receive them, nay, were he not anxious that they should come to him. Confider,

(5.) He heartily invites you to come to him; as in the text; in Ifa. lv. 1. " Ho! every one that

thirfteth,

thirfteth, 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, and in Rev. iii. 2. "Behold, I ftand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will fup with him, and he with me." Thefe invitations lock not like one who cares not whether finners come or not, far lefs like one who is not willing to receive them. Confider,

(6.) The earnestness of the invitations; he deals. with finners as one that will not take a nay-fay: Luke, xiv. 23. "Compel them to come in, that my houfe may be filled." He not only knocks, but stands and knocks: ftrives with finners by his word, his providences, and the motions of his Spirit; anfwers their objections, Ifa. lv. 1. and downwards; while none can refufe, but thofe that rufh wilfully on in their ruin; as in Ezek. xxxiii. 11. "As I live, faith the Lord God, I have no pleafure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye, turn ye, from your wicked ways, for why will ye die, O houfe of Ifrael?" Confider,

(7.) How he complains of these that will not. come: John, v. 40. "And ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." He speaks as one that has been working in vain : Ifa. xlix. 4. "I have laboured in vain, I have fpent my ftrength for nought and in vain." He complains of Jerufalem, Matth. xxiii. 37; yea, he weeps over obftinate incorrigible finners, Luke, xix. 41. 42. " And when he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, faying, If thou hadft known, even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace; but now they are hid from thine eyes." Sure

Sure he has loft no bowels of compaffion by going to heaven; they flow out as freely and tenderly as ever.— -Confider,

(8.) He commands finners to come to him. The invitations are all commands; they are most peremptory: 1 John, iii. 23. "This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son, Jefus Chrift." If you do it not, you can do nothing that will pleafe him: John, vi. 29. "Jefus anfwered and faid unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath fent." And he leaves it on us with the most dreadful certification: Mark, xvi. 16. " He that believeth not fhall be damned." And hence it follows, that the hearers of the gofpel who perish, are inexcufable; the door was open, but they would not enter in.-The invitation imports,

4. That the worst of finners are welcome to Chrift: however great their burden of fin and mifery be, it is no hinderance in their way to come to Christ. Where all are invited, none are excluded. But upon this I do not enlarge here, having infifted upon it at fome length, when difcourfing upon Joel, iii. 10. * All that I fhall just now observe is, that this confideration fhould fhame you out of your flighting of Chrift, and strike at the root of that bitter defpair which lodges in the breafts of many, who are yet far enough from abfolute defpair of their cafe.-The invitation imports,

5. That Chrift allows finners to come to him, rather on account of the defperatenefs of their cafe, than otherwife: Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy-laden. As if he had faid, "Ye have been labouring, and yet can get no reft; let that engage you to come to me. Sit down, and con

fider.

Whether this difcourfe belong, or not, to the Col. lection now publishing, cannot as yet be afcertained.

fider your cafe, if nothing else will prevail with you, let the desperateness of your disease bring you to the great Phyfician." You are cordially welcome to do fo. For, confider,

(1.) That it is for this very end God difcovers the worst of a man's cafe to himself, drives him to his wit's end, in order that he may begin to be wife: Hof. ii. 6. "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that the fhall not find her paths." Ver. 7. " Then fhall fhe fay, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now."-Confider, (2.) That Chrift has made offers of himself to thofe in the worst of cafes: Ifa. i. 18. "Come now, and let us reafon together, faith the Lord; though your fins be as fcarlet, they fhall be white as fnow; though they be red like crimson, they fhall be as wool." And he holds out himself as a Saviour in particular for thefe, Rev. iii. 17. 18. Ifa. lv. 7.-Confider,

(3.) Such have been made welcome, who have employed fuch arguments with him: Pfal. xxv. II. "For thy name's fake, pardon mine iniquity, for it is very great ;" and fo alfo in the cafe of the Canaanitish woman with Jefus, Matth. xv. 26.-28. Confider,

(4.) He has the more glory, the more desperate that the cafe is; none fee the ftars fo well as from the bottom of a deep pit. His power is the greater to pardon, his grace to overcome, when there is moft occafion for thefe being displayed; it is the worst of difeafes, that do beft proclaim the phyfician's fkill, when a cure is effected.

From what has been just now observed, we may fee and admire the divine condefcenfion, that Chrift is fo willing to take the finner in, when he fees himself cast out at all doors, can get rest no where VOL. I.

Ff

elfe,

come. This is not a diftance of place, but a relative distance, a distance of opposition, which lies in these three things.

(1.) The original union between God and man is blown up; they were united in a covenant of works, whereby they had common friends and enemies. This was the first marriage-covenant, but Adam broke it, and fo broke off from God. Hence God drove him out of paradise, as a divorced woman out of the house of her husband, fpoiled of all her ornaments.

(2.) The hearts of men are naturally turned from God, and are a mafs of enmity against him: Rom. viii. 7. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not fubject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." There is a perfect contrariety betwixt the nature of God and ours. That first fin of Adam has been a little leaven, that hath quite foured the whole lump of mankind; fo that we are not only away, but far off from the Lord ; Eph. ii. 13. "Without God in the world."

(3.) The foul is ftill going farther and farther from God in the whole of our life, while in that ftate: Heb. iii. 12. "Take heed, brethren, left there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." Every fin is a ftep farther from God; therefore the gospel-call is after them that are running away, that they may return to the Lord. We are on the road leading to deftruction, and moving very swiftly, as the water, the more it runs, the farther it is removed from the fountain-head whence it came.

From what has been now observed, we may learn the finfulness and mifery of our natural Itate. It is our duty and privilege to be near God; to be far from him muft then be our fin and mi

fery.