Christ's Patience in Waiting upon Obstinate Sinners

“Behold, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK.” Rev. 3:20.

The verb here rendered “I stand,” would strictly be rendered “I have stood,” but being joined with a verb of the irresent tense, is here translated “I do stand,” a frequent Hebraism in Scripture. It intimates the continued patience and long-suffering of Christ; I have stood and still do stand, exercising wonderful patience towards obstinate sinners. Which gives us this fourth doctrine:

Great and admirable is the ycitience of Chi’ist, in waiting on trifling and obstinate sin?iers.

Thus Wisdom, that is, Christ, expresses himself: “I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded.” Prov. 1: 24. Here you have not only Christ’s earnest calls, but suitable gestures also, to gain attention. The stretching forth of the hand was a signal given to procure attention. Acts 21: 40. Yet none regards; and this the Lord does not once or twice only, but all the day long, Isa. 65: 2, showing forth all long-suffering, as the apostle speaks, 1 Tim. 1:16. In opening this point, I will show what divine patience is; wherein it is evidenced; and why it is exercised towards sinners.

I. What divine patience is. It is an abihty in God not only to delay the execution of his wrath for a time towards some, but to delay it m order to the eternal salvation of others.

1. It is an effect of ‘power in God, not the effect of inability or want of opportunity. All sinners are continually within the reach of the arm of his justice, and he can strike when and where he will. Esau had a revengeful mind

Chrkt Knocking. 4 against Jacob, but wanted opportunity, and therefore was forced to delay the execution of his wrath until the days of mourning for his father were ended, and then, saith he, “will I slay my brother Jacob.” Gen. 27: 41. But in God it is a glorious effect of power. “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.” Nah. 1: 3. The greatness of his patience flows from the greatness of his power. So the apostle speaks, Uom. 9: 22: “What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-sufTering the vessels of wrath fitted,” or made up, “to destruction?” And therefore when Moses prays for the exercise of divine patience towards the provoking Israelites, he does it in this form: “And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-sufiering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” Numbers, 14: 17, 18. He could exercise this almighty power upon thee, and crush thee by it as a moth is crushed; but behold, he exercises it upon himself in staying the execution of his own justice. It is the power of God over his wrath, restraining it from day to day.

2. This patience is exercised toicards such as perish, in a delay of their damnation; and though this be but a suspension of his wrath for a time, yet it is a glorious act of patience in him, as Rom. 9: 22 shows. Is it nothing for a sinner condemned as soon as born, to be reprieved so many years out of hell? Thou hast been provoldng him daily and hourly to cut thee of!’, and send thee to thy own place; and yet to be on this side the everlasting burnings, this is wholly owing to the riches of his forbearance. Ah, how is God to be admired in this his glorious power over his own wrath! When we look abroad into the world, and see everywhere sinners ripe for destruction, daring the God of heaven to his face, yet forborne, how admirable is this power of God I

3. God not only exercises this power in a suspension of

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his wrath against some, who, alas, must feel it at last; but he delays the execution of his wrath in a design of inercij towards others, that they thay 7iever feel it. Isa. 48: 8, 9. Thus he bears with his own elect all the years of their lives wherein they lie in the state of nature, and go on in a course of rebellion against God; and this long-suffering of God towards them proves their salvation, as you have it in 2 Pet, 3: 15; “And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.” What is the meaning of that? Ah, Christian, thou mayest easily know the meaning of it, wdthout turning over many Commentaries. Thou art now in Christ, safely escaped from the danger of wrath to come; but thou owest this thy salvation to the patience and long-suffering of God towards thee. For what if he had cut thee off in the days of thy ignorance and rebellion against him, and thou knowest that thou didst give him millions of provocations so to do, where hadst thou now been? Thou hadst never seen Christ, nor the least dawning hope of salvation by him. Remember how oft you lay in those days upon the bed of sickness and upon the brink of the grave; and what was it that saved thee from eternal wrath but this admirable patience of Christ? Well, therefore, may the apostle say, “Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation.”

This patience of God seems to spring out of his mercy; only it differs from mercy in this, that man as miserable is the object of mercy, but man as criminal is the object of patience. Such is the nature of divine patience, a power of God over his own wrath, not only to suspend it for a time towards them that perish, but to delay the execution of it in a design of salvation towards others.

IL The evidences of this divine patience, or wherein it appears in its glorious manifestations towards provoking sinners; and there are seven full evidences and discoveries of it, which should make the hearts of sinners melt within

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them, while they are sounding hi their ears. Ah, methinks such as these should melt down your hard hearts before the Lord:

1. The first evidence shall be taken from the multitude of sins which men are guilty of before him, the least of which is a burden too heavy for any creature to bear; the Psalmist says, “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” Psalm 40: 12. It was true, as applied to the person of David; and though it be there also applied to the person of Christ, yet none of them were his own sins, but ours — called his, by God’s reckoning or imputing them to him. Men can number vast sums, millions of millions; but no man can number his own sins, they exceed all account. There is not a member of the body, though never so small, but has been the instrument of innumerable evils. For instance, the tongue, the apostle tells us, is a world of iniquity. Jas. 3:6. And if there be a world of sin in one member, what then are the sins of all? How many idle, vain words, has thy tongue uttered. And yet for them, Christ says, men shall give an account in the day of judgment. Matt. 12:36. And what have the sins of thy thoughts been? Solomon says, “The thought of foolishness is sin.” Prov. 24: 9. 0 who can understand his errors? Yet the patience of God has not failed under such innumerable evils. 0 glorious patience! well may it be ushered in in the text with a term of admiration, “Behold, I standi”

2. The second evidence of the divine patience shall be taken from the heinous nature of some sins above others, whereby si?17iers fly, as it were, in the very face of God; and yet he bears with long-suffering, restraining his hands from cutting them off. All sins are not of equal magnitude; some have a slighter hue, and some are deeper; called upon that account scarlet and crimson sins, Isaiah 1:18, double-dyed abominations; such are sins against knowledge, or sins committed after convictions, and covenants, and rebukes of providence. I do not only speak of outward gross acts of sin; for though they are of greater infamy, yet inward sins may be of greater gmlt, even those sins that never defamed thee in the world; but whatever they are, reader, whether outward or inward, thy conscience is privy to them, and thy soul may stand amazed at the patience of God in forbearing all this while under such provocations against him; especially, considering how many are this day in hell that never provoked God by sinning with such a high hand as thou hast done.

3. There is a yet greater evidence of the patience of God in his bearing with us under the guilt of the special sin of slighting and neglecting Jesus Christ. Here is a sin that goes to the very heart of Jesus Christ. He can bear any sin rather than that; and yet this has Christ borne from every one of you. You have spurned the yearnings of his mercy, slighted his grace, trampled his precious blood under foot, and yet he has borne with you to this day. Let thy conscience answer, whether thou art not equally deep in the guilt of making light of Christ with those upon whom this sin was charged by the Lord Jesus. Matt. 22: 2-6. Christ sufiered the wrath of God in thy stead, and brought home salvation in gospel-offers to thy door; and then to be slighted! No patience but his own could bear it. Every sermon and prayer you have sat under with a dead heart, every motion of his Spirit which you have quenched, what is this but making light of Christ and the great salvation? Here the deepest project of infinite wisdom, and the richest gift of free-grace, wherein God commends his love to men, are undervalued as small things: thus have you done days without number; and yet his hand is not stretched out to cut thee off in thy rebellion. “Who is a God like unto thee?” Micah 7:18. “What patience is like the patience of Christ?

4. The length of time the ]patie7icc of Christ has borne luith thee speaks its perfection and riches. Consider, sinner, what age thou art of, how many years thou canst number, and that all this hath been a time of patience, for thou wast a transgressor from the womb; yet, for his name’s sake hath he deferred his anger and hath not cut thee off. Isa. 48: 8, 9. How soon did the wrath of God break forth upon the angels when they sinned in heaven; and how long has it borne with thee, while thou hast been provoking him on earth. Was there ever patience like the patience of God? Many thousands have been sent away to hell since the beginning of thy day, but thou art yet spared. 0 that the long-suffering of God might be salvation to thee.

5. A great evidence of the power of divine patience may be drawn from the grievmisness of our si?ts agai?ist God, during the whole time of his forbearance. It is true there is no passion in the divine nature, no perturbation; his anger is a mild and holy flame; yet the contrariety of sui to the holiness of his nature is what makes his patience wonderful in the eyes of men. The Scripture, speaking m language fitted to the understanding of the creature, represents God as wounded to the heart by the sins of men: “I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me,” Ezek. 6:9; “Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves,” Amos 2:13, when the axle-tree is ready to crack under the load. It is said, “They mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy,” 2 Chron. 36: 16; his patience would endure no longer, and therefore, when he executed his wrath upon provoking sinners, that execution is represented in the nature of an ease or relief to his burdened patience and justice: “Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” Isa. 1: 24. Yet observe, it comes in with an Ah, a kind of regret and reluctance; so Isa. 10: 25,” Yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger

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ill their destruction.” God could have given ease and rest this way to his anger long ago, but he chooses rather still to bear with thee, than on these terms to ease himself of thee.

6. The vast exjoense of his riches and bounty upon us, during the tvhole time of his forbearance and patience towards us, speaks him infinite in his long-suffering towards us, “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Rom. 2:4. As if he had said, “■ Vile sinner, canst thou compute the treasures of mercy thou hast been riotously wasting all this while? Dost thou know what vast sums Christ has spent upon thee to preserve thee so long out of hell?” There are two treasures spending upon sinners, all the time of God’s forbearance with them: there is the precious treasure of thy time wasted, and the mvaluable streams of gospel-grace running all this while to waste. Thy time is precious; the whole of thy time between thee and eternity is but little, and the most of it has been wasted in sin and upon vanity. But that is not all, the treasures of gospel-grace have been wasting all this while upon thee. It is compared to golden oil, maintaining the lamps of ordinances. Zech. 4:12. Who would maintain a lamp with golden oil for careless children to play by? Yet this has God done while thy soul has trifled with him. The witnesses and ministers of Christ, in Rev. 11:3, 4, are compared to those olive-trees that drop their precious oil, their gifts, graces, yea, and then* natural spirits with them, into this lamp, to keep it burning. All this while the blood of Christ has been running in vain, the ministers of Christ preacliuig and beseeching in vain, the Spirit of Christ striving with you in vain. You burn away golden oil, and yet your lamp is not gone out. 0 marvellous patience! 0 the riches of God’s forbearance I

7. The riches of divine patience towards you are greatly bO CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOE.

heightened by the quick destruction the Lord has seyit on other sinners, tvhile he has spared and passed over you. This comparative consideration calls upon you in the apostle’s language, “Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also bhalt be cut off.” Rom. 11: 22. Some sinners have been cut oil” in the beginning of their days, many in the very acts of sin, and those not greater than thy sins; they are gone to their own place, and thou art still left a monument of the patience and forbearance of God. The sin of Achan was not a greater sin than thy covetousness and earthliness of heart is; the sin of Nadab and Abihu, in offering up strange fire, was not greater than thy superstition in offering up uncommanded services to God: yet the hand of God fell on them, and smote them dead — in the day and place wherein they sinned, they perished; they were taken away in their iniquities, but thou art reserved. 0 that it may be for an instance and example of the riches of divine patience, which may at last lead thee to repentance.

Thus I have given you seven evidences of the wonderful patience of Christ, who hath stood and still doth stand at the door, knocking.

III. Next, we will inquire into the reasons of this marvellous patience of Christ, this astonishing long-suffering of God towards sinners.

1. The exercise of his patience is a standifig testimony of his reconcilable and merciful nature towards sinfid man. This he showed forth in his patience towards Paul, a great example of his merciful nature, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him. 1 Tim. 1: 16. The long-suffering of God is a special part of his revealed glory; and therefore when Moses desired a sight of his glory, he proclaims his name, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” Exod. 34: 6. He would have sinners look towards him as a God willing to be reconciled, a God that retains not his anger for ever; but if sinners will take hold of his strength and make peace with him, they may have peace. Isa. 27:5. This long-suffering is an attribute very expressive of the divine nature; he is wilHng sinners should know, whatever their provocations have been, that there is room for pardon and peace, if they will yet come in to accept the terms. This patience is a diadem belonging to the imperial crown of heaven; the Lord glories in it, as peculiar to himself: “I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; for I am God, and not man.” Hos. 11: 9. As though he had said, “Had I been as man, the holiest, meekest, and most mortified upon earth, I had consumed them long ago; but ‘I am God, and not man:’ my patience is above all created patience; no husband can bear with his wife, no parent with his child, as I have borne with you.” This is one reason of Christ’s waiting upon trifling sinners, to give proof of his gracious, merciful, and reconcilable nature towards the worst of men.

2. The Lord exercises this patience towards sinners, thereby to lead them to rejpentance; this is the direct intention of it. The Lord desires and delights to see ingenuous relentings and brokenness of heart for sin; and there is noth- ing like his forbearance and patience in promoting such an / evangelical repentance. All the terrors of the law will not 7 break the heart of a sinner, as the patience and long-suffering of God will; therefore it is said that the goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering of God, lead men to repentance. Rom. 2: 4. These are fitted to work upon all the principles of humanity which incline men to repentance; reason, conscience, gratitude, feel the influences of the goodj ness of God herein, and melt under it. Thus Saul’s heart re- 1 lented:” Is this thy voice, my son David? and Saul lifted up j his voice and wept. And he said to David, Thou art more

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righteous than I; for thou hast rewarded nie good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.” 1 Sam. 24: 16, 17. Thus the goodness and forbearance of God doth, as it were, take a sinner by the hand, lead him into a corner, and say, “Come, let us talk together; thus and thus vile hast thou been, and thus and thus long-sufiering and merciful has God been to thee; thy heart has been full of sin, the heart of thy God has been full of pity and mercy.” This dissolves the sinner into tears, and breaks his heart in pieces. If any thing will melt a hard heart, this will do it, 0 how good has God been to me. How have I tried his patience to the uttermost, and still he waits to be gracious, and is exalted that he may have compassion. The sobs and tears, the ingenuous relentings of a sinner’s heart, under the apprehensions of the sparing mercy and goodness of God, are the music of heaven.

3. The Lord exercises this long-buffering towards sinners, to clear his justice in the damnation of all obsti?iate refusers of Christ a7id mercy. Christ waits at our doors now, that he may be clear in his sentence against us hereafter. This patience of Christ takes away all pleas out of the mouths of impenitent sinners; the more Christ’s patience has been, the less defence they will have for themselves.

Think with thyself, sinner, what wilt thou answer in the great day, when Christ shall say, “Did I not stand at thy door from day to day, from Sabbath to Sabbath, from year to year, calling and persuading thee to be reconciled and accept pardon and mercy in the proper season of them, and thou would est not? “I gave her space to repent, and she repented not.” Rev. 2:21. The Lord gives you time now, a space for repentance, such a space as millions of souls, gone into a miserable eternity, never had. With whomsoever Christ has been quick and severe, surely he hath not been so with you. This time of Christ’s patience will be evidence enough to clear him and condemn you; men and angels shall applaud the sentence, dreadful as it is, and say, “Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, in judging thus.”

4. The Lord exercises his admirable patience towards sinners or the continuation and increase of the church. The church must be continued and enlarged from age to age; and if God should cut off sinners as soon as they provoke him, whence should the elect of God rise in this world? Many that will heartily embrace Christ, must be the descendants of such as reject him. If God should cut off these in the beginning of their provocations, how would the church be continued? “Where had good Abijah and Hezekiah been, if wicked Jeroboam and Ahaz had been cut off in their first transgressions? The Lord suffers many wicked parents to stand for a time under his patience, because children are to spring from them who will obey and embrace Christ whom their wicked parents rejected. Yea, the wicked not only propagate the church, but are useful to preserve and defend it; as the chaff is a defence to the wheat: “The earth helped the woman.” E-ev. 12: 16.

5. The Lord exercises this long-suffering towards sinners, in gracious condescension to the irayers of his jjcoiile. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Isa. 1:9. The prayers and intercessions of the saints are a screen between wicked men and the wrath of God for a time. The innocent preserve the island. Job 22: 30. The world stands by the prayers of the saints; what multitudes of rebellious, Christ-despising sinners swarm in every part of this nation I Such declare, by their open practice, that they will not have Christ to reign over them; they noAV contemn his offers, and despise his messengers; but blessed be God, yea, and let them bless him too, there are others praying to the Lord for them, beseeching his forbearance towards them. Little do the wicked know how much they are beholden to the prayers of the saints. These and such like reasons prevail with the Lord Jesus to stand in a waiting posture at the door of sinners’ hearts. Ah, how loath is he to give them up. “We now proceed to the uses of this doctrine.

And first, this point will be very fruitful for information of our understandings in several great and useful points, both doctrinal and practical, wherein every soul is deeply concerned; and therefore, I beseech you, let them be heard and pondered with an answerable attention and seriousness of spirit.

Inference 1. If the Lord Jesus exercises such admirable patience, the7i how much better is it for sinners to be in the hands of Christ, tJian in the hands of the holiest man in the icorld. 0 sinner, it is better for thee to fall into the hands of the meek and merciful Jesus, than into the hands of the dearest friend thou hast on earth: no creature can bear what Christ bears — no patience is like the patience of Christ. It is said of Moses, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Numb. 12: 3. There was never such a man born into the world, for patience, meekness, and long-suflering, as Moses was; and yet this mirror of meekness could not bear the provocations of Israel: “Ye rebels,” saith he, “must we fetch water out of this rock?” Numb. 20: 10. Thus was his spirit ruffled with the provocations of Israel, and this lost him the land of Canaan. Jonah was a good man, a prophet of the Lord; yet because the Lord would not be so quick and severe with Nineveh as Jonah had predicted, in what uncomely language does his angry soul speak to his God: “0 Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, 0 Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah

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4: 2, 3. As if he had said, “Ah, Lord, I knew it would come to this; I knew thy gracious nature, how inclined thou art to mercy, and that upon the first appearance of their repentance thou wouldst repent of the evil, and so free-grace would make me seem as a deceiver among them.”

Give me leave to speak a higher word than all this, and let it not seem strange, that the patience of the glorified saints in heaven is nothing to the patience of Christ towards provoking sinners upon earth. Those glorified souls, though they have patience among other graces, perfected in its kind, still it is but finite patience and cannot bear what Christ’s patience bears. Take an instance of it out of Rev. 6:9, 10, 11: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And it was said unto them, that they should rest for a little season.” Here you see glorified souls less able to bear the slow pace of justice towards their enemies, than Christ was. There was no sinful impatience, but yet a patience short of Christ’s infinite patience. Ah, if you were to depend on the patience of any creature in heaven or earth, you had worn it out lono* ao-o.

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“I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger; for I am God, and not man.” It is well that we have to do with God: “If a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?” 1 Sam. 24: 19. No, he will reckon with him before he parts with him. Sinner, the Lord finds thee daily in thy sins, and yet allows thee to go; yet beware thou try not his patience too far, lest vengeance overtake thee at last, and pay the justice of God with all the arrears due to his patience.

2. Hence it follows, that convinced and hroken-hearted sinners need not be discouraged in going to Jesus Christ for Qiiercij, seeing he exercises such ivo7iderfid iiaticncetoicarch obstinate and refusing sinners. This inference breathes the pure gospel; it is a cordial to cheer the heart that is moving towards Christ with fear and trembling. It is a great artifice of Satan, to daunt and discourage poor convinced sinners by telling them there is no hope of mercy for them; that they shall find the arms of mercy closed; that the time of mercy is now past, and they come too late. 0 how busy is Satan with such suggestions as these in many of your souls. But I am instructed to tell you that these are but the artifices of the enemy: you are going to the fountain of mercy, patience, goodness, and long-sufiering; go on, and you shall find abundantly more than you expect. He will not cast off a soul that comes mourning and panting towards him, and is willing to subscribe the gospel-articles of reconciliation. No, he will not shut out such a soul, whatever its rebellions and provocations have been. Sinner, thou art going to the meek and merciful Jesus, who has said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.” Matt. 11: 28, 29. You are going to meekness and mercy itself: he is “the Lamb of God,” that is his name. Go on then, trembling sinner; do not stand any longer inquiring, shall I, shall I? but make a bold and necessary venture of faith; try him once, and then report what you find him to be. Certainly, if he exercises such patience as he does towards the vessels of wrath while they are fitting for destruction, Rom. 9: 22, he will not want patience for a vessel of mercy, preparing by humiliation and faith for Christ and glory. Does he bear with those that stand in defiance, and will he fall on those that are mourning before him upon the knee of submission? Shall a condemned sinner, who is preparing for hell, find so much forbearance, and a poor broken-hearted sinner none? It camiot be. If Jesus Christ bore with thee when thy heart was hard as a rock, and would not shed one tear for sin, will he execute his wrath upon thee, and show thee no mercy, when thy heart is broken to pieces with sorrow, and jGilled with loathing and detestation against sin, and thyself for sin? Did he bear with thee when sin was thy delight; and will he destroy thee now it is thy burden? It cannot be.

Moreover, if the Lord Jesus were not willing to show mercy to thy soul, now that thine eyes are opened and thy heart touched to the quick, why has he foreborne the execution of his wrath so long? He might have taken his own time to cut thee off; he might have made any day the execution-day. But among all the days of thy life, the day of thy humiliation, the day of thy faith, is not likely to prove that day.

Again, as great and vile sinners as thyself have ventured upon the grace of Christ, and found it infinitely beyond their expectation. These the Lord Jesus has set forth as encouraging examples to all broken-hearted sinners coming after; that they, seeing how it fared with those who went before them to Christ, may be encouraged to go to him with more confidence. “I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” 1 Tim. 1:16. Then shut your ears against all the whispers of Satan: entertain no evil reports of Christ. Satan loves to draw a false picture of Christ, and represent him in the most discouraging form to trembling sinners; but you will not find him so. What can Christ say more to convince and satisfy souls than he has done? He has left the bosom of the Father, he has entered into union with thy nature, he has poured out his soul unto death; he has told us, that he will in nowise cast out those that come unto him. Thousands have gone before us in the paths of repentance and faith, and found it according to his word; you have been spared all your life to this day of mercy. 0 do not stand off’ now upon such weak objections.

3. The long-suffering of Christ towards sinners teaches his ministers to imitate their Lord in “patience and long-suffering. Christ is our pattern of patience; if he Avait, much more may we. We think it much to stand from Sabbath to Sabbath, pleading and inviting, and are apt to be discouraged when we see no fruit follow. The want of success is apt to cast us under Jeremiah’s temptation, to speak no more in his name, and make us lament with Isaiah that we have labored in vain. It is a hard case to study, pray, and preach, and see all our labors without fruit. It is not so much the toil as the returning of our labors upon us in vain, that discourages our hearts. Ministers would not die so fast, says Mr. Lockyer on Colossians, nor be grey-headed so soon, did they see the fruits of their labors upon their people. But let us look to our Pattern in the text. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” If the master wait, let not the servant be weary: “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if Grod yeradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.” 2 Tim. 2: 24, 25.

Though the beginning be small, our latter end may greatly increase. Though we now fish with hooks, and take but now one and then another, the time may come, and we hope it is at the door, when we shall spread our nets and inclose multitudes. Aretius, a pious divine, comforteth himself thus, under the unsuccessfulness of his labors: “Perhaps future days will afford more tractable spirits and easier tempers of mind than our present times give.” Besides, the fruit of our labors may spring up to a blessed harvest when we are gone: “One soweth, and another reapeth,” John 4: 37; but if not, our reward will not be measured by the success, but by the sincerity of our designs and labors. Our zeal for the conversion of souls to Christ will be accepted, but our discouragement in his service will certainly displease liini. If Israel be not gathered, yet shall Ave be glorious in the eyes of the Lord. However, let this be a caution to you that hear, that you cast not our souls under such discouragements. If I may speak the sense of others from my ovai experience, I can assure you that the fixedness of your hearts in the M^ays of sin, and your untractableness to the calls of God, are a greater burden and discouragement to ministers than all the sufferings they meet with from the world; yet are they contented to pray and preach m hope, encouraging themselves — the Lord grant it be not without ground — that a crop shall yet spring up, which shall make the harvest-men rejoice.

4. From the ‘patience and long-suffering of Christ, ive may lear7i the invaluable 2^^’^cious7iess of souls, and the high esteem Christ has for than. Though your souls be cheap in your own eyes, and you are contented to sell them for a trifle, for a little sensual pleasure and ease, yet certainly Jesus Christ has a high estimate of them, else he would never stand knocking with such importunity, and waiting with such wonderful patience for their salvation. Christ knows their worth, though you do not; he accounts, and so should you, one of your souls of more worth than the whole world. Matt. 16: 26. The soul of the poorest child or meanest servant is of greater value in Christ’s eye, than the whole world; and he has given three great evidences of it.

(1.) That he thought it worth his blood to redeem and save it. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold; but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1 Pet. 1: 18, 19. Had they not been precious in his eyes, he would never have shed his most precious blood to ransom them.

(2.) Were they not highly valuable in his eyes, he would never wait with such unwearied patience to save them. He has borne thousands of repulses and unreasonable denials from you. Sinner, Christ has knocked at thy door in many a sermon, in many a prayer, in many a sickness — in all which thou hast denied him or delayed him; yet still he continues knocking and waiting. Thou couldst not have made the poorest beggar in the world wait at thy door so long as thy Redeemer has been made to wait, and yet he is not gone; at this day his voice sounds in thine ears, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Here is clear demonstration of the preciousness of thy soul in the Redeemer’s eyes. And then,

(3.) “When Christ ends the treaty, and gives up the souls of men for lost, with what sorrow does he part with them. Never did one friend part from another with such demonstrations of sorrow as Christ parts with the souls of sinners. The bowels of his compassion roll together; for he knows what is coming upon them, and what that eternal misery is into which their wilful rejection of him will cast them. You read of the Redeemer’s tears shed over the obstinate inhabitants of Jerusalem:” And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Luke 19:41, 42. Like unto this is that expression, Isa. 1: 24, “Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” Though, it be an ease to his justice, yet he cannot give them up without an “Ah,” an interjection of sorrow; so in Hos. 11: 8, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel?” I must do it, but how shall I go about it? All these expressions show the great value God has for your souls; and did you know ijt also, you would not make Christ wait one hour longer.

5. Hence it follows, that greater is the sin, and severer will be the condemnation of them that ierish under the gospel, than of all others. Let me speak freely to you of this. Jesus Christ has spent more of the riches of his

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patience upon you in one year, yea, in this very day, than he has spent upon the heathen in all their lives. They never heard of Christ and the great salvation — they have had no calls to faith and repentance as you have had; do not think God has dealt in this wnj with other nations. You have his Sabbaths, ministers, calls; “He hath not dealt so with any nation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them.” Psalm 147: 20. God has dealt in a peculiar way with us, and these special favors will make dreadful accounts. He told the Jews, among whom he had preached and wi’ought his miracles, it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than for them; and in his name I will tell you this day, that barbarous Indians will have a milder hell than you. The Lord told Ezekiel, “Thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.” Ezek. 3: 5-7.

Ah, had a heathen people had your Sabbaths, your ministers, and Bibles, they would not have dealt by Christ as you have done. But look you to it, for certainly the severity of his justice will at last recompense the expense of his patience. There are two glasses turned up this day, and both are almost run down: the glass of the gospel running down on earth, and the glass of Christ’s patience running down in heaven. Be sure of it, that for every sand of mercy, every drop of love that runs down in vain in this world, a drop of wrath runs into the vial of wrath which is filling up in heaven.

6. If Christ hath exexised such iconderful patience and long-suffering towards you, before he could gain entrance into your hearts, then you Jiave reason to exercise your imtience for Christ, and accoiuit all long-sujfcring to be your unquestionable duty. Christ was not weary in waiting upon you, be not you weary in waiting upon him, or for him. There are three things wherein the people of God will have much occasion to exercise their patience with respect to Christ.

(1.) You will need patience to wait for the answers of your ‘prayers: you knock and wait at the door of mercy, and no answer comes; hereupon discouragement and weariness seize your spirits. Possibly some of you have prayers many years gone upon the file in heaven, some upon spiritual accounts and some upon temporal; and because the answer is not sent, your eyes are ready to fail with waiting: for the Lord may bear long with his own elect. Luke 18:7. The seed of prayer lies under the clods, and will at last spring up. He never said to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. Isa. 45: 19. None seek God in vain, but those who seek him vainly. You should not be too short-breathed in waiting on God for the returns of prayer, considering how long you made Christ wait on you.

(2.) You will have occasion to exercise your patience in hearing the burden of reproaches and sufferings for Christ. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” Phil. 1: 29. Sufferings, you see, are the gift of Christ; the comfort of suffermg is his gift, and so is the ability to suffer also; and that which will increase your suffering ability, will be the consideration of Christ’s long suffering towards you, and the hard things he endured for you and from you.

(3.) You will have occasion to exercise your patience for the day of your complete redeniptio7i and salvation. If you love Christ fervently, the time of your separation from him will be borne with difficulty; vehement love needs the allay of patience. “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

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2 Thess. 3: 5. Others need patience to die, but you will need as much patience to live; but wherever the exercise of your patience shall be, whether in waithig for the returns of your prayers, in bearing the cross of Christ, or in waiting for the day of your complete redemption and enjoyment of Christ, this single consideration, that Christ stood and waited so long on you, is enough to fortify your patience against all the difficulties it can encounter.

7. Jf Christ thus patiently wait upon trifling and obstinate sinners, then let no godly persons he disccmraged because their unregenerate relatives have not yet made their first step towards Christ, in the way of repentance and faith. It may be you have laid up a stock of prayers for them: the behevmg husband has prayed for his unbelieving wife, and the believing wife for her unbelieving husband; godly parents for their ungodly children, and the pious child for his ungodly parents; and yet no returns of prayer appear. Many cries are gone up to heaven like that of Abraham, “0 that Ishmael might live before thee.” Gen. 17:18. Be not discouraged, Christ waits, and therefore well may you. Those cries of parents, “Lord, my poor child is in the state of nature, look in mercy upon him, open his eyes, break his heart for sin, draw his will to Christ,” may not be lost, though the fruit of them yet appear not. Consider how long Christ waited on you. There are three things that encourage hope.

(1.) That your hearts and theirs were of the same natural character; and the same power which opened your hearts, can open theirs: thy understanding was once as dark, thy heart as hard, and thy will as inflexible as thy relatives’ now are. The same hand that opened thy heart can open theirs. Do not thuik Christ had an easier task to win thy heart than he will have to win theirs. Almighty powder wrought upon you, and the same power can work effectually upon them; “the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.” Isa. 59 :1.

(2.) You have reason to wait, as it is probable you yourselves have put stumbling-blocks in the way of their souls to Christ, and hindered the ansM’ers to your own prayers for the conversion of your relatives. 0 Christians, there is more due- to them than your prayers — prayers must be accompanied with example; had they not only heard your cries to God for them, but seen your suitable encouraging example set before them also, you and they might have rejoiced together long ago. But,

(3.) Consider that God many times makes the fruit of such prayers to spring up after those that sowed them are dead and gone. The Lord may give life to your prayers when you are dead: certainly your prayers die not with you. It is the opinion of some that Paul’s conversion was the return of Stephen’s prayer, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7: 60. Stephen died, but his prayers lived, and were answered upon one that stood by and consented to his death. But however it be, wait still upon God; if your prayers come not into their bosoms, they will certainly return into your own. Here is duty discharged, and love to Christ and their souls manifested, which will be your comfort, however God dispose the event.

But further, the doctrine of Christ’s patience puts a great and serious exhortation into my mouth, to press one of the greatest duties. And could I deliver this exhortation to you upon my knees, with tears of blood mingled with my words, might that prevail, I would surely do it.

8. My exhortation is to all that are in an unregenerate state, that they presume not to try the patience of Christ any longer. If you have any regard to your eternal happiness, exercise not his patience another hour. 0 that this hour might put an end to Christ’s waiting and your danger! Hitherto you have wearied men, but will you weaiy God also? Christ has called, but you have refused; he has stretched out his hands, but you have not regarded. Prov. 1: 24. Your thoughts have been wandering after vanity while the voice of the gospel has been sounding in your ears: some of you have been sottish, and incapable of apprehending spiritual truths; others of you sensual, given up to the pleasures of the world, and abandoning all serious thoughts about the world to come. Some of you have been buried alive in the cares of the world, and others settled upon a dead formality in religion; and to this day Christ hath called upon you in vain. Now that which I exhort you to is, that you venture not to try the patience of Christ one day longer; if you have any regard to the everlasting happiness of your souls, come not under the guilt and danger of one denial or delay more. If you ask me, Why may we not venture a little longer? Christ has borne with us all this while, and will he not bear a little longer? May we not take a little more pleasure in sin? May we not hazard one sermon or Sabbath more? I answer, No. If your souls are precious in your eyes, let there be no more denials, nor delays to Christ’s suit. For,

(1.) How patient and long-suffering soever Christ has been, yet there will be an end of the day of his imtience — a time when he will wait no longer, when his Spirit shall strive no more with you. There will be a knock of Christ at the heart, which will be the last knock that ever he will give — a time when the master of the house will rise up, and the door be shut. Matt. 25: 10. You have had to do with a meek and patient Saviour; but believe it; sinners, there is a day of “the wrath of the Lamb’’ and that day will be dreadful. Then will sinners cry “to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the WTath of the Lamb.” Rev. 6:16. 0 if this wrath be once kindied, though but a Uttle I Blessed are they that trust in him, that have finished their agreement with him. The day of Christ’s patience towards Jerusalem was a long day, but it had an end, and it ended in their desolation, Matt. 23: 37; therefore try the patience of Christ no further: you know not the limits of it; it may end with your next refusal, and then where are you?

(2.) The longer Christ has exercised his patience already towards you, the more terribly will he avenge the abuse of it upon you in hell. It is past doubt with me, that there are different degrees of torment in hell: the Scriptures are plain and clear on this point. Now, among all the aggravations of the torments of hell, none can be greater than the reflections of damned souls upon the abused patience and grace of Christ. Those who had the best means, the loudest calls, and the longest day under the gospel, will certainly have the hottest place in hell, if the goodness and long-suffering of Christ do not now lead them to repentance. The cries of such souls will be heard above the cries of all other miserable wretches who are cast away. It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum. Matt. 11: 23. 0 friends, you little know the reflections of conscience in hell upon such hours as you now enjoy — such wooing, charming voices and allurements to Christ as you now hear. There are many thousands of souls in hell from the dark, heathenish parts of the world, where they never heard of Christ; but your misery will be far beyond theirs, your reflections more sharp and bitter: therefore delay no longer, lest you perish with peculiar aggravation of misery.

(3.) Try the patience of Christ no further, I beseech you, forasmuch as you see every day the patience of Christ ending towards others — patience retiring, and justice arising to triumph over the abusers of mercy. You not only read in Scripture the ending of God’s patience with men, but you may see it every day. If you look into scripture, you may find the patience of God ended towards multitudes of sinners, who possibly had the same presumptions and vain hopes for the continuance of it that you now have. If you look into 1 Peter, 3: 19, 20, you there find that Christ “went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” The meaning of which is, that in the days before the flood, Christ by his Spirit strove with the disobedient and rebellious sinners in the ministry of Noah, who then were living men and women as we are, but now are “spirits in prison,” that is, damned souls in hell, for their disobedience: and truly, brethren, you may frequently behold the glass of patience run down, the very last sand in it spent upon others. Whenever you see a wicked, Christless man or woman die, you see the end of God’s patience with that man or woman; and all this for a warning to you, that you venture not to trifle and dally with it as they did.

(4.) Do not try God’s patience any longer, if you love your souls, for this reason: because when men grow bold, and encourage themselves in sin on account of God’s forbearance and long-sufTering towards them, there cannot be a more certain sign that his patience is very near its end towards them. It is time for God to put an end to his patience, when it is made an encouragement to sin. He cannot suffer so vile an abuse of his patience, nor endure to see it turned into wantonness. This quickly brings up sin to its finishing act, and then patience is just fmishing also. That patience is thus abused, appears from Eccl. 8:11: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” When divine patience is thus abused, look for a sudden change. 0 therefore beware of provoking God, for now the day of patience is certainly near its

Christ Knocking. 0 end with sinners. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded: hut ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind.” Prov. 1: 24-27. Ah, when sinners scoff and mock at the threatenings of God, and bear themselves up on his patience, as that which will never break under them, then look out for a whirlwind, a sudden tempest of wrath, which will hurry such souls into hell. Then misery comes like a storm blowing furiously from all quarters. The heavens are yet clear over you, but a storm is nigh, and may certainly be presaged from such vile abuses of the glorious patience of Christ towards you. This is the first exhortation, try not the patience of Christ by any further delays.

9. Agai7i, admire Christ’s patience and forbearance until now, that he has not cut you off in sin, but brought about your salvation by his long-suffering towards you. Here now I must change my voice, and turn it to those whose hearts the Lord hath opened. Stand amazed at the riches of his grace towards you, and see that you account this long-suffering of God to be your salvation; for in plain truth it is so: your salvation was bound up in Christ’s forbearance. If Christ had not borne with you as he did, you had not been where you are. I could heartily wish, that all the time you can redeem from the necessary employments you have in the world, may be spent m a humble, thankful admiration of this wonderful grace and patience of Christ, and in duties answerable to the intentions and ends thereof. To this end I shall subjoin divers weighty considerations, which, methinks, should melt every heart wherein the least degree of saving grace is found.

(1.) Bethink yourselves oi the great and manifold ‘provocations you have given the Lord to put an end to all further imtience toicards you; not only in the days of your unregeneracy, but even since your reconciliation to him. Do you not believe thousands of sinners are now in the depths of hell, who never provoked the Lord more than you have done? Were you not once among the vilest of sinners? “And such were some of you,” 1 Cor. 6: 11 — as vile as the vilest among them; yet you are washed in the blood of Christ, while your companions are in the lowest hell: or if your lives were more clean, sure your hearts were as filthy as theirs. And certainly your sins, since the time of your reconciliation, have had special aggravations enough to put an end to all further mercies towards you. Light and love have aggravated these sins, and yet the Lord has not cast you off.

(2.) How often have you been on the very brink of hell, in the days of your unregeneracy. Every sickness and every danger to life which you have escaped in those days, was a marvellous escape from the everlastmg wrath of God. Had thy disease prevailed one degree further, thou hadst been past hope and out of the reach of mercy’s arm now. Doubtless some of you can remember, when in such and such a disease, you were like a ship riding in a furious storm by one cable, and two or three of the strands even of that cable were snapped asunder. So it has been with you: the thread of life, how weak soever, has held till the bonds of union between Christ and your souls were fastened, and the eternal hazard over. This is admirable grace.

(3.) Hoic often has. death entered into your houses and taken away your Clearest relatives, but had no commission to carry you out with them, because the Lord had a design of mercy upon your soul. This cannot but affect a gracious heart, that God should smite so near, and yet spare you.

(4.) This also is affecting, that God has not only given you time beyond others, but in that time the precious op^Jortunities and ineans of your salvation, both external and internal. There is the very marrow and kernel of the mercy. Had God lengthened out his patience for a while, but given you no means of salvation, or afforded you the means but denied you the blessing and efficacy of them, at the most it could have been but a reprieve from hell; but for the Lord to give you the gospel, and with the gospel to send down his Spirit to persuade and open thy heart to Christ, here is the riches of his goodness as well as forbearance.

10. This doctrine of the patience of Christ exhorts all who have felt it, to exercise a Christlike patience towards others. As you have found the benefit of divine patience yourselves, see that you exercise the meekness and long-suffering of Christians towards those who have wronged and injured you. “Who should show patience more than those who have found it? Do not be severe, short, and quick with others, who have lived yourselves so many years upon the long-suffering of God. We are poor, hasty creatures, quick to revenge injuries; but 0, had God been so to us, miserable had our condition been. Christ has made this duty the scope of that excellent parable. Matt. 18, from verse 23 onward, where the king takes an account of his servants, reckoning with them one by one, and among them finds one who owed him ten thousand talents; and having nothing wherewith to pay, his lord commands him, his wife and children, and all he had, to be sold, and payment to be made; but the servant falling down and begging patience, his lord was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and not only forbore, but forgave the debt. One would think the heart of this man would have been a fountain of compassion towards others; but see the deep corruption of nature: the same servant finding one of his fellow-servants who owed him but a hundred pence, laid hands on him, and took him by the throat. Alas, the wrongs done to us are but trifles, compared with the injuries we have done to God; where others have wronged you once, you have wronged God a thousand times. Methinks the patience of Christ towards you should melt your hearts into an ingenuous- readiness to forgive others; especially, considering that an unforgiving spirit is a dreadful sign of an unforgiven person.

1 1. Burden not the ‘patience of Christ after your reconciliation to him. Let it suffice that you tried his patience long enough before. Give him no new trials of it, now he is come to dwell in and with you for ever. There are two ways wherein God’s own people do greatly provoke him after their reconciliation.

(1.) By sluggishness and deadness of spirit in duty; turning a deaf ear to the calls and motions of Christ’s Spirit exciting them to the sweet and pleasant duties of religion. We have a sad instance of this in the bride: “It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” Sol. Songs, 5:2. One would thmk that Christ might have opened the heart of his own spouse with less solicitation and importunate arguments than he here uses. What wife could shut the door upon her own husband, and bar him out of his own house? And yet see the idle excuse she makes. “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” Yer. 3.

0 the sluggishness of even regenerate persons I ‘Those who have opened the door to Christ by regeneration, even they do often shut it against him in the hours and seasons of communion with him. Strange, that Christ should be put off while calling to such pleasant and heavenly exercises as communion with him; but flesh will be flesh, even in the most spiritual Christians. Little do we know what a grief this is to Christ, and what a loss to us.

(2.) Many grieve Christ’s Spirit, and sorely try his patience, even after reconciliation, by sinning against light and love. That caution, Eph. 4: 30, is not without weighty cause: “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

- Do we thus requite the Lord? Is this the return we make for all his kindness and unparalleled love towards us? Certainly, Christ can bear a thousand injuries from his enemies, easier than such affronts from his own people. Did you not promise him better obedience? Did you not engage to more holiness and watchfulness, in the day that you sued out your pardon and made your peace with him? Are all those vows and covenants forgotten? If you have forgotten them, God hath not.

12. Improve the time that remains in this tvorld with double diligence, because you made Christ wait so long, and cast away so great a part of your life, before you opened your hearts to receive him. The morning of your life, which was certainly the freshest and freest part of it, was no better than time lost with many of you; all the days of your unregeneracy Christ was shut out, and vanity shut into your hearts. You never began to live till Christ gave you life, and that was late in the day with many of you. How should this provoke to extraordinary diligence in the short remains of time we have yet to enjoy. It was Augustine’s lamentation, “0 Lord, it repents me that I loved thee so late.” This consideration excited Paul to extraordinary diligence for Christ. It made him fly up and down the world like a seraph, in a flame of holy zeal for Christ. Those who have much to write, and are almost come to the end of their paper, had need write close. Friends, you have something to do for God on earth, which you cannot do for him in heaven. Isa. 38: 18, 19. You who have ungodly relatives, have something to do for them here which you cannot do in heaven. You can now counsel, exhort, and pray, in order to their conversion and salvation; but when you are gone down to the grave, these opportunities of service are cut off.

13. Let us all be ashamed and humbled for the baseness of our hearts, which made Christ wait at the door solo?tg before zve opened to hi??i. 0 what wretched hearts have we. They are no more afiected with the groans of Christ’s heart than with those of a beast; nor so much, if that beast were our own. 0 the vileness of nature, to make the Prince of the kings of the earth, bringing pardon and salvation with him, stand so long unanswered. Let who will cry up the goodness of human nature, I am sure we have reason to look upon the vdeness of it with amazement and horror.

14. Let us bless the Lord Jesus for the continuation of his patience, both to ourselves and to the nation in which we live. The merciful and long-suffermg Redeemer continues among us the ambassadors of his mercy, who proclaim his readiness to pardon; and with infinite compassion speaks to us this day, as he did to Ephraim of old, ‘* How shall I deliver thee?” Look upon this day of mercy as the fruit of the intercession of your great Advocate in heaven. Luke 13: 7-9. God has put us upon one trial more: if now we bring forth fruit, well; if not, the axe lies at the root of the tree. Once more Christ knocks at our door; the voice of the bridegroom is heard — those sweet voices, “Come unto me,” “Open to me.” Your opening to Christ now, will be unto you as the valley of Achor, for a door of hope. Hosea 2: 15. But what if all this should be turned into wantonness and formality I What if your obstinacy and infidelity should wear out the remains of that little strength and time left you, and that former labors and sorrows have left your ministers! Then we are ruined for ever: then farewell gospel, ministers, reformation, because we knew not the time of our visitation. What was the awful sentence of God on the fruitless vineyard? “I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down; and I will lay it waste: I will also command the clouds that they rain not upon it.” Isa. 5:5, 6. The hedge and the wall are the spiritual and providential presence of God; these are the defence and safety of his people: the clouds and the rain are the sweet influences of gospel-ordinances. If the hedge be broken down, God’s pleasant plants will soon be eaten up; and if the clouds rain not upon them, their root will be rottenness and their blossom will go up as dust; our churches will soon become as the mountains of Gilboa; therefore see that you know and improve the time of your visitation.

I shall conclude this fourth doctrine by a few words of CONSOLATION to those who have answered, and are now preparing to answer, the design of Jesus Christ in all his patience towards them, by their compliance with his great design and end therein. 0 blessed be God, and let his high praises be for ever in our mouths, that at last Christ is like to obtain his end upon some of us, and that all do not receive the grace of God in vain. And there are three considerations which will raise your hearts to the height of praise, if the Lord has made them indeed willing to open to the Lord Jesus.

15. The faith and obedience of your hearts make it evident, that the Lord’s waiting on you hitherto has been in pursuance of his design of electing love. What was the reason God did not take you away by death, though you passed so often upon the very brink of it, in the days of your unregeneracy? Surely this was the reason: that you, and such as you, might be brought to Christ at last. Therefore, though the Lord allowed you to run on so long in sin, still he continued your lives and the means of your salvation, because he had a design of mercy and gi-ace upon you. And now the time of mercy, even the set time, is come. “Praise ye the Lord.”

16. You may also see the sovereignity and freeness of divine grace in your vocation. Your hearts resisted all along the most powerful means, and the importunate calls of Christ; and would have resisted still, had not free and sovereign grace prevailed when the time of love was come. Ah, it was not the tractableness of thine own will, or the easytemper of thy heart to he wrought upon; the Lord let thee stand long enough in the state of nature to prove that there was nothing in thy nature but obstinacy and enmity. Thou didst hear as many powerful sermons and melting prayers, and didst see as many awakening providences, before thy heart was opened to Christ, as thou hast since, yet thy heart never opened till now; and why did it open now? Because now the Spirit of God joined himself to the word; victorious grace went forth in the word to break the hardness and conquer the rebellions of thy heart. The gospel was now preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; “which things,” says the apostle, “the angels desire to look into.” 1 Pet. 1:12. Ah, friends, it is a glorious sight, worthy of angelic observation and admiration, to behold the effects of the gospel preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; to see, when the Spirit is present with the word, the blind eyes of sinners are opened, and they are brought into a new world of ravishing objects; to behold fountains of tears flowing for sin, out of hearts lately as hard as rocks; to see all the bars of ignorance, prejudice, custom, and unbelief fly open at the voice of the gospel; to see rebels against Christ laying down their arms at his feet, and on the knees of submission crying, “Lord, I will rebel no more;” to see the proud heart, hitherto wrapt up in its own righteousness, now stripping itself naked, and made willing that its own shame should add to the Redeemer’s glory. These are sights which angels desire to look into.

Certainly your hearts were more tender, and your wills more ready to yield and bend in the days of your youth, 5=*^ than they were when sin had so hardened them, and long-continued custom riveted and fixed them; yet then they did not, and now they do yield to the calls and invitations of the gospel. Ascribe all to sovereign grace, and say, “Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.” Psa. 115: 1. The experience of our own hearts will furnish us with arguments enough to resist all temptations to self-glory. Certainly you “were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13.

17. This is a comfortable consideration, that he who waited on you so long, and won your hearts at last, tcill not now forsake you. I question not but there are many fears and jealousies within you that all this will come to nothing, and that you will perish at last. Divers things foment these jealousies within your hearts: the weakness of your own graces, which, alas, are but in their infancy; the sense you have of your remaining corruptions, and the great strength they still retain; the subtlety of Satan, who employs all his temptations to reduce you, sometimes roaring after his escaped prey with hideous suggestions, which make your souls tremble; sometimes the discouraging apprehensions of the difficulties of religion, feeling the spirituality of active obedience and the difficulty of passive obedience to be aboveyour strength; sometimes feeling within yourselves the hiding of God’s face, and the withdrawment of sweet and sensible communion with him. These, and such tilings as these, cause many a sorrow in your hearts; but cheer up, Christ will not lose at last what he pursued so long: he that waited so many years for thy soul, will never cast it away now that he has the possession of it.