room. That man who has Chrift in his heart, has enough to fatisfy him, want what he will. And let a man have what he will, if he has not Christ in him, he has not what can fatisfy him. All the devil's trash can never fill the heart; many an empty space is in that heart, where Chrift is not; which plagues them with a dog-like appetite, which is never fatisfied. 2. There is a fill propofed and offered to empty finners. This is a foul-fill; a filling with all the fulnessof God. This is the only thing which can fill the mouth of the foul, which is the mouth meant in the text; for it is an easy thing to find among the creatures a fill to the mouth of the body, which can hold but little; but the whole creation cannot fill the mouth of the foul. Lord only can fill it, he only can fatisfy and ftill the restless foul, and fo make it, after many years, difappear, and fall asleep in the bofom of God; and after the most pinching straits, to say, “ I have all, and abound."We have, The 3. The party communicating this foul-fill to the finner: I, more generally, I the Lord, in oppofition to ftrange gods. That fill you could never get from your idols, you fhall have from me. More particularly, it is Jefus Chrift, the fecond perfon, the great treasurer of heaven, and steward of the fulness of God. It is plain that it is the fame Lord who brought the Ifraelites out of Egypt; and this was no other but Chrift, who was known under the Old Teftament by the God of Ifrael, Exod. iii. 2. -8. It was he who wrought that deliverance, as a type and pledge of the great redemption. It was he whom the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire did reprefent, even God vailed with flesh. He who brought them out of the land of Egypt, he whom they tempted in the wilderness, -- wilderness, and this was Chrift: 1 Cor. x. 19. "Neither let us tempt Chrift, as fome of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.”—We have, 4. The finner's duty in order to this communication: Open thy mouth wide. The word here used is, in Gen. xxvi. 22. rendered making room. O the freedom of grace! only make room for a fill, and ye fhall have it. Let the foul only, as an hungry infant, lay its mouth by faith on the breafts of Chrift's confolations, and they fhall flow abundantly. If the spiritual appetite be not wanting, ye fhall have a fill; and what can be desired more? unlefs we would have him to force it upon us. Open thy mouth, do not keep it close, and say you will have none of him. Open to receive, and he will give. Open it wide, the wider you open, the more that your fouls defire of him, you fhall get the more. I cannot think the widenefs in the text is intended to straiten the offer, but rather informs us, that there is a fulness in Chrift, fufficient to fatisfy the moft extended defires of the foul. -From this fubject, I take the following DOCTRINE, That Christ Jefus can and will fill the foul whofe mouth is opened wide to receive of and from him. For illuftrating this doctrine, Ishall, I. SHEW what it is to open the mouth of the foul wide to Chrift. II. How Chrift fills the foul, fo as no other can do. And then, III. Conclude with fome improvement.--We are then, I. To fhew what it is to open the mouth of the foul wide to Chrift.-This opened mouth confists, 1. In a fight of wants. The foul must be I i 2 brought brought to a fight of its own emptiness, ere it will open its mouth for a fill from the Lord: Prov. xxvii. 7 "The full foul loatheth an honey-comb : But to the hungry foul, every bitter thing is sweet." The want of this was Laodicea's ruin. She thought herself rich, and increased in goods, and having need of nothing, and knew not that fhe was wretched, and miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked. When Chrift comes to the foul, he fays to it, as he did to the blind man, "What will ye that I fhall do unto you?" He makes perfons fenfible of their difeafes, before he applies the remedy, that his free grace may thus be glorified. Jefus, by his word and Spirit, gives the foul a view of God in his glory; and then the foul cries, I want peace with God; a Mediator, a Christ to ftand betwixt me and his confuming fire. He gives the foul-a view of the tribunal of God, before which it must soon appear: And then it cries, Ah! I want a righteousness, a better righteousness than my own, a complete and everlafting righteoufnefs, without which I can never appear with acceptance before this tribunal.-A view of his fins And then he cries, Where fhall I find pardon?--A view of what the law requires, and of what the finner is in himfeif: And then he cries, Ah! I am all wants. I have nothing of myself good, and can do nothing.--This opened mouth confifts, 2. In a sense of need.. Perfons may see their want of those things, who are not pinched with felt need, but reign as kings without_Christ, and fay unto God, Job, xxi. 14. 15. "Depart from us, for we defire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should ferve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?" But the foul whofe mouth is opened wide, fays fays with the prodigal, "How many hired fervants of my father have bread enough and to fpare, and I perish with hunger!" Luke, xv. 17. They find that they are undone without Chrift. The foul is preffed with that question, What fhall I do to be faved? No happiness to the foul without the enjoyment of God, and no enjoyment of him, but through Chrift the Mediator between God and man. This opened mouth confifts, foul there is none, give fatisfaction. they loved before. 3. In a holy diffatisfaction with all things befides Chrift. Cloathe a ftarving man with scarlet, fill his pockets with gold, and advance him to the highest honours; all this is not meat, and therefore he cannot be fatisfied. And to the hungry nothing but Chrift which can They loathe their lufts, which A thoufand worlds will not fatisfy the foul which fees its need of Christ. When the foul comes to itself again, after it has gone the round of the whole creation for fatisfaction, it returns with the report, Ecclef. i. 2. "Vanity of vanities, faith the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It finds at length that the bed is fhorter than that one can ftretch himfelf upon it. This opened mouth confifts, 4. In the foul's removing its defires from off vanities, and fixing them on Chrift for fatisfaction. Like the hungry infant, which has been fucking in vain at this and the other object which was "nearest it, and could never reft; when the breast is put in its mouth, it opens its mouth, and fixes there. to fuck. The foul gives over the pursuit of happi-nefs in lufts, he finds that gall and wormwood are: now on these breafts. It ceafes from hammering, its happiness out of the law, and finds that there. is no pleafing that rigorous husband; the ladder of their duties has fo often broken with them, that they defpair of ever climbing to heaven this way.. And Ii3 And fo, like men out of breath, in feeking their happiness from other things than Chrift, they lie down before the Lord, turning their eyes towards him, that he may take them up, and give them what in vain they have been looking for elfewhere. Their language is, Jerem. iii. 23. "Truly in vain is falvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the falvation of Ifrael."---This opened mouth confifts, 5. In an affured expectation of falvation, from Chrift: Hofea, xiv. 3. " Asfhur shall not save us ; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we fay any more to the works of our hands, Ye are our gods For in thee the fatherlefs findeth mercy." Mat. xxi. 22. " And all things whatsoever ye fhall afk in prayer, believing, ye fhall receive." The foul believes that Chrift can do it; and so far be lieves he will do it, as that it ventures on him. Without this, the foul cannot open its mouth to Chrift, but shuts it without hope. Though the hopes may be very faint, yet the trembling handmay receive Chrift, and the quivering mouth may be filled.-This opened mouth confifts, Laftly, In a hearty willingness to receive Christ as he offers himself in the gofpel. Chrift fays, "I am the bread of life;" the foul is well content to receive him as fuch, for all and instead of all. They fed on the hufks before, and loathed the manna; now nothing relifhes fo well with them as the bread which came down from heaven. They are brought over all their objections against him, and are well content to venture their fouls on him, as it is he alone who can fill them with all the fulness of God.-We now proceed, II. To fhew how Chrift fills the foul fo as no other can do: Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill |