All Men Invited to Apply Jesus Christ

“Come unto me, all ye that saber and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Marr.-11: 28.

Tue providing or procuring of our redemption by Jesus Christ having been discussed in the former treatise — the Fountain of Life — and the way and means by which Christ is applied to. sinners in the foregoing part of this treatise, I now come to the general practical improvement of the whole; which in the first place shall be by way of exhortation, to invite and persuade all men to come to Christ. In all the foregoing discourses, Christ has been represented in his garments of salvation, red in his apparel, prepared and offered to sinners as their all-sufficient and only remedy; in those which follow, he will be represented in his perfumed garments, coming out of his wory palaces, Psalm 45:8, to allure and draw all men unto him.

For a general head to this practical application, which will be large, I have chosen this scripture, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” These words are the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, in which there is a vital, ravishing sound. It is your mercy to have such a joyful sound in your ears this day.

It is manifest that these words have an immediate relation to the foregoing verse, wherein Christ opens his commission, and declares the fulness of his authority and saving power, and the impossibility of coming to God any other way. ‘All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Verse 27. The text is brought in proleptically to obviate the discouragements of any poor convinced and humbled soul who might thus object: “Lord, I am satisfied of the fulness of thy saving power, but greatly doubt whether ever I shall have the benefit thereof; for I see so much sin and guilt in myself, so great vileness and utter unworthiness, that J am overweighed and even sink under the burden of it; my soul is discouraged because of sin.” This objection is here met: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden;” let not the sense of your sin and misery drive you from your only remedy; be your sins never so many, and the sense and burden of them never so heavy, yet for all that, come wnto me: you are the persons whom I invite and call. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. In these words three things are especially remarkable.

1. The soul’s spiritual distress and burden expressed in two very emphatical words, ‘Ye that labor and are heavy-laden.” The word which we translate labor signifies a laboring even to faintness and tiring, to the consumption and waste of the spirits; and the other word signifies a pressure by a burden that is too heavy to be borne, so that we even sink down under it.

Chrysostom and some others after him expound this burden of the legal rites and ceremonies, which were as a heavy burden indeed, such as neither they nor their fathers could bear. Under the task and burden of these legal observances, they did sweat and toil to obtain a righteousness to justify them before God, and all in vain. But others more properly expound it of the burden of sin in general, the corruption of nature and evils of practice which souls are convinced have brought them under the curse, and will bring them to hell, and they therefore labor and strive all that in them lies, by repentance and reformation, to clear themselves from it; but all in vain while they strive in their own strength. Such are they that are here called to come to Christ.

2. The invitation of burdened souls to Christ - ‘‘ Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden;” believe in me, lean and rest your burdened souls upon me. I am able to ease all your burdens; in me are that righteousness and peace which you seek in vain in all legal rites and ceremonies, or in your repentance, reformations, and duties; they will give you no ease, will be no benefit to you, except you come unto me Faith is often expressed under this idea, see John 6:37, and 7:37; and it is to be further noted, that all burdened souls are invited to come: “All ye that labor.” Whatever your sin or guilt have been, whatever your fears or discouragements are. yet come, that is, believe in me

3. Here is the encouragement Christ gives to this duty, J will give you rest; I will refresh you, I will give you rest from your labor; your consciences shall be pacified, your hearts at rest and quiet in the pardon, peace, and favor of God which I will procure for you by my death. But here it must be heedfully noted, that this promise of rest in Christ is not made to men simply as they are sinners, nor yet as they are burdened and heavy-laden sinners, but as they come to Christ, as they are believers.. For let a man break his heart for sin, let him mourn as a dove and shed as many tears for sin, if it were possible, as ever there fell drops of rain upon the ground, yet if he come not to Christ by faith, his repentance shall not save him, nor all his sorrows bring him true rest. Hence we draw these three propositions:

1. Some souls are heavy-laden with the burdensome sense of sin.

2. All burdened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ.

3. There is rest in Christ for all that come to him under the heavy burden of sin.

Prop. 1. SoME SOULS ARE HEAVY-LADEN WITH THE BURDEN-SOME SENSE OF SIN.

Ido not say all are so, for ‘fools make a mock at sin.” Prov. 14:9. It is so far from being burdensome to some, that it is a sport to them. Prov. 10:23. But when a man’s eyes are opened to see the evil of sin, and the eternal misery that follows it — sin and hell being linked together with such strong chains as nothing but the blood of Christ can loose — then no burden is like that of sin: “A wounded spirit who can bear?” Prov. 18:14.

I. Consider the efficacy of the law of God upon the consciences of men, when it comes in its spirituality and power to convince and humble the soul of a sinner of WHAT INWARD TROUBLE FOR SIN IS.

1. The memory of sin long since committed is refreshed and revived as if it had been but yesterday. There are fresh recognitions of sin long since forgotten. What was done in our youth is brought back again, and by a new impression of fear and horror set home upon the trembling conscience. ‘Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.” Job 13: 26. Conscience can call back the days that are past, and draw up a new charge upon the score of old sins. Gen. 42:21. All that ever we did is recorded and entered into the book of conscience, and now is the time to open that book when the Lord will convince and awaken sinners. We read in Job 14:17, of sealing up iniquities in a bag, which is an allusion to the clerk of the assizes, that takes all the indictments made against persons at the assizes, and seals them up in a bag in order to a trial. This is the first office and work of conscience; upon which depend,

2. Its accusations. These accusations of conscience are terrible, who can stand before them? They are full, they are clear, and all of them referring to the approaching judgment of the great and terrible God. Conscience dives into all sin, secret as well as open, and into all the circumstances and aggravations of sin, as being committed against light, against mercy, against the strivings, warnings, aad regrets of conscience; so that we may say of the efficacy of conscience as it is said, Psa. 19: 6, of the influence of the swn, nothing is hid from the heat and power thereof. ‘‘Come,” saith the woman of Samaria, “see a man which told me all things that ever I did.” John 4:29. Christ convinced her but of-one sin by his discourse, but conscience by that one brought in and charged all the rest upon her. And as the accusations of conscience are full, so they are clear and undeniable. A man becomes self-convinced, and there remains no shift, excuse, or plea to defend himself. A thousand witnesses cannot prove any point more clearly than one testimony of conscience. The man “was speechless,” Matt. 22: 12, a mute, muzzled, as the word signifies, by the clear testimony of his own conscience. These accusations are the second work of conscience, and they make way for,

3. The sentence and condemnation of conscience. And truly this is an insupportable burden. The condemnation of conscience is nothing else but its application of the condemning sentence of the law to a man’s person. The law curseth every one that transgresseth it. Gal. 8: 10. Conscience applies this curse to the guilty sinner. It sentences the sinner in God’s name and authority, from which there is no appeal. The voice of conscience is the voice of God, and what it pronounces in God’s name and authority he will confirm and ratify. “If our heart,” our conscience, “condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” 1 John, 3:20. This is that torment which no man can endure. See the effects of it in Cain, in

Judas, and in Spira; it is a real foretaste of hell-torments.

‘his is that worm that never dies. Mark 9:44. As a worm in the body is bred of the corruption there, so the accusations and condemnations of conscience are bred in the soul by the corruption and guilt that are there. As the worm in the body preys and bites upon the tender, sensible, inward parts, so does conscience touch the very quick. This third effect or work to sentence and condemn mekes way for conscience,:

4. To wpbraid and reproach the sinner under his misery; and this makes a man a very terror to himself. To be pitied in misery is some relief, but to be upbraided and reproached doubles our affliction. You know it was one of the aggravations of Christ’s sufferings to be reproached by the tongues of his enemies while he hung in torments upon the cursed tree; but all the scoffs and reproaches, the bitter jeers and sarcasms in the world are nothing to those of a man’s own conscience, which will cut to the very bone: Oh, when a man’s conscience shall say to him in the day of trouble, as Reuben to his afflicted brethren, “Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.” Gen. 42:22. So conscience, “Did I not warn you, threaten you, persuade you in time against these evils? but you would not hearken to me; therefore, behold, now you must suffer to all eternity for it. The wrath of God is kindled against thy soul for it; this is the fruit of thy own wilful madness and obstinacy. Now thou shalt know the price of sinning uzvinst God, against light and conscience.” O this is terrible! Every bite of conscience makes a poor soul startle and cry in terror, O the worm; O the bitter foretaste of hell! A wounded spirit who can bear?

This is a fourth wound of conscience, and it makes way for a fifth; for here it is as in the pouring out of the vials, and the sounding of those woe-trumpets in the Reyelation — one woe is past, and another cometh. After all these deadly blows of conscience upon the very heart of a sinner, comes another as dreadful as any that is yet named:

5. The fearful expectation of wrath to come which it begets in the soul of a guilty sinner. Of this you read, Heb. 10:27: “A fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation.” And this makes the stoutest sinner faint and sink under the burden of sin; for the tongue of man cannot declare what it is to lie down and rise with those fearful expectations. The case of such sinners is somewhat like that described in Deut. 28: 65-67: “The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life. In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thy heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.” Only in this it differs: in this scripture you have the terror of those described whose temporal life hangs in doubtful suspense, but in the persons I am speaking of it is a trembling under the apprehensions and expectations of the vengeance of eternal fire.

Believe it, friends, words cannot express what those poor creatures feel that lie down and rise up under these fears and alarms of conscience. Lord, what will become of me? Iam free among the dead, yea, among the damned. I hang by the frail thread of a momentary life, which will and must break shortly, and may break the next moment, over the everlasting burnings: no pleasant bread is to be eaten in these days, but what is like the bread of condemned men.

Thus you see what the burden of sin is when God makes it bear upon the consciences of men; no burden of x

affliction is like it; losses of dearest relations, sorrows for an only son, are not so pungent and penetrating as these.

No creatwre enjoyments are pleasant under these inward troubles. In other troubles they may bring relief, but here they are nothing; the wound is too deep to be healed by any thing but the blood of Jesus Christ; conscience requires as much to satisfy it, as God requires to satisfy him. ‘When God is at peace with thee,” saith conscience, “then will I be at peace with thee; but till then expect no rest nor peace from me. Pleasures and diversions shall never stop my mouth; go where thou wilt, I will follow thee like thy shadow; be thy portion in the world sweet as it may, I will drop gall and wormwood into thy cup, that thou shalt taste no sweetness in any thing till thou hast got thy pardon.” These inward troubles for sin alienate the mind from all former pleasures and delights; there is no more taste or savor in them than in the white of an egg. Music is out of tune; all instruments jar and groan. Ornaments have no beauty: what heart hath a poor creature to deck that body in which dwells such a miserable soul; to feed and pamper the body that has been the soul’s inducement to and instrument in sin, and must be its companion in everlasting misery?

These inward troubles for sin awaken a dread of death beyond what the soul ever saw in it before. Now it looks like the kong of terrors indeed. You read of some that through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. Heb.2:15. O what a lively comment is a soul in this case able to make upon such a text. They would not fear the pale horse, nor him that sits on him, though his name be Death, if it were not for what follows him, Rev. 6:8; but when they consider that hell follows, they tremble at the very name or thoughts of death.

Such is the nature of these inward troubles of spirit, that they swallow wp the sense of all outward troubles. Alas, these are all lost in the deeps of soul-sorrows, as the lit. tle rivulets are in the vast sea. A small matter formerly would discompose a man; now ten thousand outward troubles are light, for saith he, “Why doth a living man complain?” Am I yet on this side of eternal burnings? QO let me not complain then, whatever my condition be. ilave I losses in the world, or pains in my body? alas, these are not to be named with the loss of God, and the feeling of his wrath and indignation for evermore.” Thus you see what inward troubles for sin are,

II. But HOW ARE SOULS SUPPORTED UNDER SUCH TROUBLES? How is it that all who feel them do not sink under them? The answer is,

1. Though this be a very sad time with the soul — much like that of Adam between the breach of the first covenant and the first promise of Christ made to him — yet the souls that are thus heavy-laden do not sink, because God has a most tender care over them and regard to them; underneath them are the everlasting arms, and hence they sink not: were they left to grapple with these troubles in their own strength, they could never stand. But God takes care of these mourners, that their spirits do not fail before him, and the souls that he has made; I mean those whom he is in this way preparing for and bringing to Christ.

2. The Lord is pleased to nourish still some hope in the soul, under the greatest fears and troubles of spirit. Though it have no comfort or joy, yet it hath some hope, and that keeps up the heart. The afflicted soul “putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.” Lam. 8:29. He saith, ‘It is good for a man to hope, and quietly to wait for the salvation of God.” There are usually some glimmerings or dawnings of mercy through Christ in the midnight darkness of inward troubles. In hell there is no hope to enlighten the darkness, but it is not so upon earth.

3. The experience of others who have been in the same deeps of trouble, is of use to keep up the soul above water. The experience of another is of great use to prop up a desponding mind while as yet it has none of its own; and indeed, for the support of souls in such cases they were recorded. “For this cause 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; for an encouraging pattern, an eminent precedent to all poor sinners that were to come after him, that none might absolutely despair of finding mercy through Christ. You know if a man be sick, and none can tell what the disease is, or say that they ever heard of such a disease before, it is most alarming; but if one and another come to the sick man’s bedside and tell him, Sir, be not afraid, I have been in the very same ease that you now are, and so have many more, and all did well at last; this is half a cure to the sick man. So it is here a great support to hear the experience of other saints.

4, As the experiences of others support the soul under these burdens, so the riches of free grace through Jesus Christ wphold it. It is rich and abundant, plenteous redemption; and it is free, and to the worst of sinners. Psalm 130: 7,8; Isaiah 1:18. Under these troubles it finds itself in the way and proper method of mercy, for so our text, a text that hath upheld many thousand drooping hearts, states it. All this gives hope and encouragement under trouble.

5. Though the state of the soul be sad and sinking, yet Jesus Christ usually makes haste in the extremity of, trouble to relieve it by sweet and seasonable discoveries’ of his grace. It is with Christ as it was with Joseph, whose bowels yearned towards his brethren, and be was in pain till he had told them, “I am Joseph your brother.” This is sweetly exhibited to us in that excellent parable of the prodigal, Luke 15: when his father saw him, being yet a great way off, he ran, and fell upon his neck, and kissed him. Mercy runs nimbly to help when soxls are ready to fall under the pressure of sin.

Ill. But why does God make THE BURDEN OF SIN Lip SO HEAVY UPON THE SOULS OF SINNERS? I answer,

1. He does it to divorce their hearts from sin, by giving them an experimental taste of the bitterness and evil there is in sin. Men’s hearts are naturally glued with delight to their sinful courses; all the persuasions and arguments in the world are too weak to separate them from their beloved lusts., The morsels of sin they roll with delight under their tongues, and when such bitter potions as these are administered, what “sorrow, yea, what indignation” does it work in them. See 2 Cor. 7:11. This is the way, the best and most effectual way to separate the soul of a sinner from his lusts; for in these troubles conscience says, ‘‘Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thy heart.” Jer. 4:18.

2. The Lord does this to make Christ most welcome and desirable to the soul. Christ is not sweet till sin be made bitter to us. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Matt. 9:12. If once God wounds the heart of a sinner with the stinging sense of sin, then nothing is so precious, so necessary, so vehemently desired and panted for as Jesus Christ. O that I had Christ if I went in rags, if I fed upon no other food all my days but the bread and water of affliction! This is the language of a soul filled with the sense of the evil of sin.

3. The Lord does this to advance the riches of his free grace in the eyes of sinners. Grace never appears grace till sin appears to be sin. The deeper our sense of the evil of sin, the deeper will be our apprehensions of the free grace of God in Christ. The louder our groans have been under the burden of sin, the louder will our acclamations and praises be for our salvation from it by Jesus Christ. To me, saith Paul, the chiefest of sinners, was this grace given. 1 Tim. 1:15, 16. Never does the grace of a prince so melt the heart of a traitor as when trial, sentence, and all preparations for his execution have passed before his unexpected pardon comes.

4. The Lord does this to prevent relapses into sin: ‘In that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought!” 2Cor.7:11. The bird that is delivered out of the talons of the hawk trembles at the sight of him. After such a deliverance as this, should we again break his commandments? Ezra 9:13, 14. Ask a penitent soul that has been in the deeps of sorrow for sin, Will you return to your former course of sin again? and it sounds in his ears as if you should ask him, Will you run into the fire? Will you go to the rack again? O no, it has cost him dear already.

5. This the Lord does to make them both skilful and compassionate in relieving others that are under like inward troubles. None can speak so judiciously, so pertinently, so feelingly to another’s case as he that has been in the same case himself; this furnishes him with the tongue of the learned to speak a word in season to the weary soul; by this means they are able to comfort others with the same comforts wherewith they themselves have been comforted of God. 2 Cor. 1: 4.

Thus you have had a brief account what the burden of sin is, how souls are supported under that burden, and why the Lord causes sin to lie so heavy upon the souls of some sinners.

Inrerence 1. Is there such a load and burden in sin? What then was the burden that owr Lord Jesus Christ felt and bore for us, upon whom lay the whole waght of our sins! Isaiah 53:6. He has made the iniquities of us all to meet on him. Our burden is heavy, but nothing to Christ’s. O there is a vast difference between that which Christ bore and that which we bear. We feel but the single weight of our own sins; Christ felt the whole weight of all our sins. You do not feel the whole weight there is in any one sin: alas, it would sink you if God should let it bear in all its aggravations and effects upon you. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Psalm 130: 3. You would sink presently; you can no more stand under it than under the weight of a mighty mountain. But Christ bore all the burden upon himself. His understanding was deep and large; he knew the extent of its evil, which we do not. We have many reliefs and helps unde: our burden, he had done. We have friends to counsel, comfort, and pity us; all his friends forsook him and fled in the day of his trouble. We have comforts from heaven; he had frowns from heaven: ‘ My God, my God,” saith he in that doleful day, “why hast thou forsaken me?” There is no comparison between our load and Christ’s.

2. If there be such a burden in sin, then certainly sinners will pay dear for all the pleaswre they find in sin in the days of ther vamty. What one says of crafty counsels we may say of all sins: ‘‘ Though they seem pleasant in their first appearance, they will be found sad in the event;” they are honey in the mouth, but the gall of asps in the belly; they tickle the fancy, but rend the conscience. O sinner, thy mirth will be turned into mourning, as sure as thou livest: that vain and frothy breast of thine shall be wounded: thou shalt feel the sting and pain as well as relish the sweet and pleasure of sin. O that thou wouldst but give thyself the leisure seriously to ponder these scriptures: Prov, 20:17; and 23:31, 32; Job 20:12,13,14; James 1:15; Rom. 6: 21; methinks they should have the same effect as the handwriting upon the wall had upon the jovial king in the height of a frolic,

Dan. 5:5. Reason thus with thine own heart, and thou wilt find the conclusion unavoidable: Hither I shall repent for sin, or I shall not; if I do not, then must I howl under the wrath of God for sin, in the lowest hell for evermore; if I do, then by what I have now read of the throbs and wounds of conscience, I see what this heart: of mine, this vain heart of mine, must feel in this world. O how much wiser was the choice that Moses made, the worst of sufferings rather than the best of sin, the pleasures of sin which are but for a season! Heb. 11: 25.

3. Is there such a burden in sin, then the most tender compassion is due to souls afflicted and heavy-laden with sin. Their condition cries for pity, whatever their tongues do; they seem to call upon you, as Job upon his friends, “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.” Job 19:21. And Oh, let all that have felt the wounds and anguish of an afflicted conscience themselves, learn from their own experience tenderly to pity and help others. ‘‘ Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself.” Gal. 6: 1. Israel were commanded to be kind to strangers, for says God, you know the heart of a stranger. And surely, if any case in the world require help, pity, and all compassionate tenderness, this does; and yet how do some slight the spiritual troubles of others! Parents slight them in their own children, masters in their servants; the more brutish and wicked they. O had you but felt yourselves what they feel, you would never treat them’as you do. But let this comfort such poor creatures, Christ knows their sorrows, and will pity and help them; yea, he felt them himself, that he might have compassion upon you. If men will not pity you, God will; if men are so cruel as to persecute him whom God hath smitten, God will pour balm into the wounds that sin has made: if they will not be concerned about your troubles, except it be to aggravate them, God will

Method. 9 not serve you so. But certainly you that have passed through the same difficulties cannot be without compassion to them that are now grappling with them.

4. How inexpressibly dreadful is the stale of the damned, who must bear the burden of all ther sins wpon themselves, without relief or hope of deliverance! ‘Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:44. O, if sin upon the soul that is coming to Christ for deliverance be so burdensome, what is it upon the soul that is shut out from Christ and all hope of deliverance for ever? For ponder these differences between these two burdens:

No soul is so capacious now to take in the fulness of the evil and misery of sin, as they are who are gone down to the place of torments. Even as the joys of God’s face above are unknown to them that have the foretastes and first-fruits of them here by faith, so the misery of the damned is unknown even to them that have in their conscience now the bitterest taste of sin; as we have the visions of heaven, so we have the visions of hell also, but through a glass darkly.

No burden of sin presses continually wpon the soul here as it does there. Afflicted souls on earth have intermissions, but in hell there are no lucid intervals, the wrath of God there is still flowing. Isa. 30: 33.

No burden of sin lies here so long as on the damned, who must bear it: our troubles about sin are but short, though they sheuld run parallel with the line of life; but the troubles of the damned are parallel with the endless line of eternity.

Under these troubles the soul hath hope, but there all hope is cut off. The gospel is full of hope, it breathes nothing but hope to sinners that are moving Christ-ward under their troubles; but in hell the pangs of desperation rend their consciences for ever. So that, upon all accounts, the state of the damned is inexpressibly dreadful.

5. Lf the burden of sin be so heavy, how sweet must the pudon of sin be to a sin-burdened soul: Is it a refreshment to a prisoner to have his chains knocked off; a comfort to a debtor to have his debts paid, and his obligations cancelled? What joy must it be to a sin-burdened soul to hear the voice of pardon and peace in his trembling conscience. Is the light of the morning pleasant to a man after a weary, tiresome night; the spring of the year pleasant after a tedious winter? They are nothing so sweet as the favor, peace, and pardon of God to a soul that has been long restless and anxious under the terrors and fears of conscience. For though after pardon and peace a man remembers sin still, yet it is as one that remembers the dangerous pits and deep waters from which he has been wonderfully delivered. O the inconceivable sweetness of a pardon! Who can read it without tears of joy? Are we glad when the grinding pain of the stone, or racking fits of the colic, are over? And shall we not be transported when the accusations and condemnations of conscience are over? Tongue cannot express what these things are; the joy is something that no words can convey to the understanding of ancther that never felt the anguish of sin.

6. In how sad a case are those that never felt any burden in sin, that never were kept waking and restless one night for sin. There is a burdened conscience, and there is a benumbed conscience. ‘The first is more painful, but the last more dangerous. O it is a fearful blow of God upon a man’s soul, to strike it senseless and stupid, so that though mountains of guilt lie upon it, it feels no pain or pressure; and this is so much more sad, because it incapacitates the soul for Christ, and is a presage and forerunner of hell. It would grieve the heart of a man to see a delirious person, in the rage and height of a fever, laugh at those that are weeping for him, call them fools, and tell them he is as well as any of them: much so is the case of many thousand souls; the God of mercy pity them.

I shall further improve the subject by giving some counsEL to souls that are weary and heavy-laden with the burden of sin, in order to their obtaining true rest and peace. And,

(1.) Satisfy not yourself wm fruitless complaints to men. Many do so, but they are never the nearer to Christ. I grant it is lawful in spiritual distresses to complain to men, yea, and it is a great mercy if we have any near us in times of trouble who are judicious, tender, and faithful, into whose bosoms we may pour our sorrows; but to rest in this short of Christ, is no better than a snare of the devil to destroy us. Is there not a God to go to in trouble? The best of men, in the neglect of Christ, are but physicians of no value. Be wise and cautious in your choice of Christian friends, to whom you open your complaints; some are not clear themselves in the doctrine of Christ and faith, others are of a dark and troubled spirit as you are, and will but entangle you more. “As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?” Job 21:4. One hour between Christ and thy soul in secret will do more for thy true relief, than all other counsellors and comforters can do.

(2.) Beware of a false peace, which 1s more dangerous than your trouble for sin can be. Many men are afraid of their troubles, but I think they have more cause to fear their peace. There is a twofold peace that ruins most men — peace in sin, and peace with sin. O how glad are some persons when their troubles are gone; but I dare not rejoice with them. It is like him that rejoices that his ague is gone when it has left him in a deep consumption. You are rid of your troubles, but God knows how you have left them; your wounds are skinned over, better they were kept open. Surely they have much to answer for that help on these delusions, healing the hurt of souls slightly by “crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”

The false peace you beget in them will be a real trouble to yourselves in the issue. Jer. 6:14.

(3.) Let all that are wnder inward troubles for sin take heed of drawing desperate conclusions against themselves and the final state of their own souls. Though your case be sad, it is not desperate; though the night be troublesome and tedious, keep on the way to Christ, and light will spring up. To mourn for sin is your duty; to conclude there is no hope for you in Christ, is your sin. You have wronged God enough already, do not add a further and greater abuse to all the rest by an absolute despair of mercy. It was your sin formerly to presume beyond any promise; it is your sin now to despair against many commands. I would say as the apostle in another case, I would not have you mourn as men that have no hope: your condition is sad, but it is not-as once it was. You were once full of sin and void of sense; now you have the sense of sin, which is no small mercy. You were once quite out of the way and method of mercy; now you are in that very path where mercy meets the elect of God. Keep hope, therefore, at the bottom of all your troubles.

(4.) Observe whether your troubles for sim produce such fruits and effects in your soul as theirs do which end at last in Christ and everlasting peace. One that is truly burdened with sin will not allow himself to live in the secret practice of sin; either your trouble will put an end to your course of sinning, or your sinning will put an end to your troubles. Consult 2 Cor. 7:11. True sorrow for sin will give you very low and vile thoughts of yourself: as you were covered with pride before, so you will be covered with shame after God has convinced and humbled you. Rom. 6:21. A soul really burdened with sin will never stand in his own justification before God, nor extenuate it in his confessions to him. Psa. 51:38, 4. The burden of sin will make all other burdens of affliction seem light. Lam. 3:22; Micah 7:9. The more you feel sin, the less you feel affliction. A soul truly burdened for sin will take no hearty joy or comfort in any outward enjoyment of this world, till Christ come and speak peace to the soul. Lam. 3:28. Just so the soul sits alone and keeps silence; merry company is a burden, and music is but howling to him.

(5.) Beware of those things that make your troubles longer than they ought to be. There are errors and mistakes that hold poor souls much longer in their fears and terrors than else they might be. One of these is ignorance of the nature of saving faith, and the necessity of it. Till you come to believe, you cannot have peace; and while you mistake the nature, or apprehend not the necessity of faith, you are not likely to find the path of peace. Another error is laboring to heal the wounds that the law has made upon your conscience by a more strict obedience to it for the future in the neglect of Christ and his righteousness. But the last and principal counsel is,

(6.) Hasten to Christ by faith, and you shall find rest; and till then all the world cannot give you rest. The sooner you transact with Christ in the way of faith, the sooner you shall be at peace and enter into his rest; for those that believe do now enter into rest. You may labor and strive, look this way and that, but all in vain; Christ and peace come together. No sooner do you come to him, roll your burden on him, and receive him as he offers himself, but the soul feels itself eased on a sudden: “being justified by faith, we have peace with God.” Rom. 5: 1.

Prop. 2. SIN-BURDENEL SOULS ARE SOLEMNLY INVITED TO comE To Curist.

This point sounds sweetly in the ear of a distressed sinner; it is the most joyful voice that ever the soul heard; the voice of blessing from mount Gerizim, the ravishing voice from mount Zion, “Ye are come to Jesus the Mediator.” It will lead me to show what it is to come to

Christ; how Christ invites men to come to him; and why his invitation is directed to burdened souls.

I. We inquire wuar iris to come to Christ. In general, to come to Christ is a phrase of the same import with believing in Christ. ‘He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35. Coming to Christ is believing in Christ; and believing in Christ is coming to Christ. The expressions are synonymous, importing the self-same thing, only that in coming to Christ there are many rich and excellent things hinted to us which no other word can so aptly convey to our minds.

I. It hints to us that the souls of convinced and burdened sinners not only discern the reality of Christ, or that he is, but also the necessity of applying Christ, and that their eternal life is in their union with him; for it is most certain that the object of faith must be determinate and fixed; the soul must believe that Christ is, or there can be no motions of the soul after him: all coming presupposes a fixed object to which we come. ‘He that cometh to God must believe that God is.” Heb. 11:6. Take away this, and all motions after Christ presently stop. No wonder then that souls, in their first motions to Christ, find themselves clogged with so many atheistical temptations, shaking their assent to the truth of the gospel at the very root and foundation of it; but they that truly come to Christ, see that Ae zs, and that their life and happiness lie in their union with him, else they would never come to him upon such terms as they do.

2. Coming to Christ implies despair of salvation any other way. The way of faith is a supernatural way, and souls will not attempt it until they have tried all natural ways to help and save themselves, and find it all in vain; therefore the text describes these comers to Christ as weary persons that have been laboring and striving all other ways for rest, but can find none; and so are constrained to relinquish all their fond expectations of salvation in any other way, and come to Christ as their last and only remedy.

8. Coming to Christ shows an almighty power acting upon the soul. ‘‘No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him.” John 6: 44. None come to Christ by a pure unaided natural power of their own. It was not a stranger thing for Peter to come to Christ walking upon the waves of the sea, than for his or any man’s soul to come to Christ in the way of faith.

4. Coming to Christ shows the volwntariness of the soul in its motion to Christ. True, there is no coming without the Father’s drawing; but that drawing has nothing of compulsion in it; it does not destroy, but powerfully and with an overcoming sweetness persuades the will. It is not forced or driven, but it comes; being made willing in the day of God’s power. Psalm 110:3. Ask a poor distressed sinner in that season, Are you willing to come to Christ? “O rather than live! life is not so necessary as Christ is. O with all my heart: ten thousand worlds for Jesus Christ, if he could be purchased, were nothing to his value in mine eyes!” The soul’s motion to Christ is free and voluntary, it is coming.

5. It implies that the soul is to rest in no duties or ordinances which are only means by which we come to Christ, but is to come by them or through them to Jesus Christ, and take up its rest in him only. No duties, no reformations, no ordinances of God, however excellent in themselves, and however necessary in their proper place, can give rest to the weary and heavy-laden soul; it cannot centre in any of them, and you may see it cannot, because it still gravitates and inclines to another thing, even Christ, and cannot terminate its motion till it be come to him. Christ is the object to which a believer moves; and therefore he cannot sit down by the way and be satisfied, as if he were at his journey’s end. Ordinances and duties are means to bring us to Christ, but are not to be to any man instead of Christ.

6. Coming to Christ implies a hope or expectation from Christ in the coming soul. If he has no hope, why does he move forward? As well sit still and resolve to perish where he is, as come to Christ, if there is no ground to expect salvation by him. Hope is the spring of action; if you cut off hope, you hinder faith; a sinner cannot move to Christ except he be satisfied at least of the possibility of mercy and salvation by him. Hence it is that when comers to Christ are struggling with doubts and fears of the issue, the Lord is pleased to enliven their faint hopes by setting home such scriptures as these: ‘ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” Heb.7:25. This gives life to hope, and hope animates to exertion.

7. Coming to Christ for rest implies that believers have and lawfully may have an eye to their own happiness in closing with the Lord Jesus Christ. The poor soul comes for rest; it comes for salvation; its eye and aim are upon it; and this aim of the soul at its own good is sanctioned by the expression of Christ, ‘‘ Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40. If Christ blame them for not coming to him that they might have life, surely he would not have blamed them had they come to him for life.

8. But the principal thing implied in coming to Christ is the all-sufficency of Christ to answer the needs and wants of distressed souls, and their betaking themselves accordingly to him only for relief, being content to come to Christ for whatever they need, and live upon the fulness that is in him. If there were not an all-sufficiency in Christ, no soul would come to him; for this is the very ’ ground upon which men come. Heb. 7:25. “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him:”

gx to the uttermost; in the greatest difficulties and dangers. He has a fulness of saving power, and this encourages souls to come to him. One beggar does not wait at the door of another, but all at the doors of those they conceive able to relieve them. And as this implies the fulness of Christ as our Saviour, so it must intimate the emptiness and humility of the soul as a comer to him. This is called submission, Rom, 10:3. Proud nature must be deeply distressed, humbled, and moulded into another temper, before it will be persuaded to live upon these terms, to come to Christ for every thing it wants, to live upon Christ’s fulness in the way of grace and favor, and have no stock of its own to live upon. O this may seem hard, but it is the way of faith.

II. Let us see now Christ invites men to come to him. And you will find the means employed in this work are either znternal and principal, namely, the Spirit of God, who is Christ’s vicegerent, and comes to us in his name and room to persuade us to believe, John 15:26; or external, namely, the preaching of the gospel by commissioned ambassadors, who in Christ’s stead beseech men to be reconciled to God, to come to Christ by faith in order to their reconciliation and peace with him. But all means and instruments employed in this work of bringing men to Christ entirely depend upon the blessing and concurrence of the Spirit of God, without whom they avail nothing. How long may ministers preach before one soul comes to Christ, except the Spirit cooperate in that work. Now as to the manner in which men are persuaded and their wills wrought upon by the Holy Spirit to come to Christ, I observe,

1. There is an dlustrateng work of the Spirit upon the minds of sinners, opening their eyes to see their danger and misery. ‘Till these be discovered, no man stirs from his place. It is sense of danger that rouses the secure sinner, distresses him, and makes him look about for deliverance, crying, What shall I do to be saved? And it is the discovery of Christ’s ability to save which is the ground and reason, as was observed above, of its motion to Christ. Hence, seeing the Son is joined with believing or coming to him in John 6: 40.

2. There is the authoritatwe call or commanding voice of the Spirit in the word; a voice that is full of majesty and power. ‘This is his commandment, that we should believe. on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 3:28. This call of the Spirit to come to Christ removes one great obstacle, the fear of presumption, out of the soul’s way to Christ, and instead of presumption in coming, makes it rebellion and inexcusable obstinacy to refuse to come. This answers all pleas against coming to Christ arising from our unworthiness and deep guilt, and mightily encourages the soul to come to Christ, whatever it has been or done.

3. There are soul-encouraging promises to all that come to. Christ in obedience to the command. Such is that in my text, “I will give you rest;” and that in John 6: 37, “Him that cometh to me I| will in no wise cast out.” And these breathe life and encouragement into poor souls that fear and are daunted through their own unworthiness.

4, There are dreadful threatenngs denounced by the Spirit in the word against all that refuse or neglect to come to Christ, which are of great use to engage and quicken souls in their way to Christ. ‘‘ He that believeth not shall be damned;” shall ‘die in his sins.” Mark 16:16; John 8:24. ‘The wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. Which is as if the Lord had said, Sinners, be not undecided in coming to Christ; do not be always treating and never resolving; for if there be justice in heaven or fire in hell, every soul that comes not to Christ must perish to all eternity. Upon your own heads be the destruction of your own souls for ever if you will not come to him.

5. There are moving examples set before souls in the word to prevail with them to come, alluring and encouraging examples of such as have come to Christ under the deepest guilt and discouragement, and yet found mercy. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause 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. 1:15, 16. Who would not come to Christ after such an example as this? And if this will not prevail, there are dreadful. examples recorded setting before us the miserable condition of such as refuse the calls to come to Christ. ‘By which also he 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.” 1 Peter 3:19, 20. The meaning is, the sinners that lived before the flood but are now in hell had the offers of grace, but despised them, and now lie for their disobedience in prison under the wrath of God in the lowest hell.

6. There is an effectual persuading, overcoming, and victorious work of the Spirit upon the hearts and wills of sinners under which they come to Jesus Christ. Of this I have spoken at large before in the fourth chapter, and therefore shall not add any thing more here. Such is the way in which souls are prevailed upon to come to Jesus Christ.

Ii. If you inquire why Christ makes his invitations TO WEARY AND HEAVY-LADEN souLs, and to no other, the answer is, briefly,

1. Because in so doing he follows the commission received from the Father: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Isa. 61: 1.

You see here how Christ’s commission directs him: his Father sent him to poor broken-hearted sinners. “He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matt. 9: 13.

2. The order of the Spirit’s work in bringing men to Christ, shows us to whom the invitation and offers of grace in Christ are to be made; for none are convinced of righteousness, that is, of the complete and perfect righteousness in Christ for their justification, until first they are convinced of sin; and consequently no man comes to Christ by faith till convictions of sin have awakened and distressed him. John 16:8-10. This being the order of the Spirit’s operation, the same order must be observed in gospel offers and invitations.

3. It behooves Christ to provide for his own glory as well as for our safety; and not to expose one to secure the other, but to save us in the way which will bring him most honor and praise. And certainly such a way is this: first convincing and humbling the souls of men, and then bringing them to rest in himself.

Let those that never saw or felt the evil of sin be told of rest, peace, and pardon in Christ, and they will but despise it as of no value. ‘The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Luke 5:31. Tell a man that thinks himself sound and whole to go to a physician, and he will but laugh at the suggestion; but if the same man feel an acute disease, and is made to groan under strong pain, if he come to know what sick days and restless nights are, and to apprehend his life to be in imminent danger, then messengers are sent one after another in post-haste to the physician; he begs him with tears to do what in him lies for his relief; he thankfully takes the bitterest medicine, and praises the care and skill ot his physician with tears of joy. Thus the patient’s safety and the physician’s honor are both secured. So is it in this method of grace.

Inrerence 1. If sin-burdened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ, then whatever guilt les wpon the conscience of a poor humbled sinner, it 1s no preswinption, but his duty, to come to Christ, notwithstanding has vileness and great unworthiness.

Let it be observed how happily that word ad, is inserted in Christ’s invitation for the encouragement of sinners: “Come unto me, all ye that labor.” Let no broken-hearted sinner exclude himself when he is not by me excluded from mercy: my grace is my own, I may bestow it where I will, and upon whom I will. It is not I, but Satan that shuts up my mercy from humbled souls that are made willing to come unto me; he calls that your presumption, which my invitation makes your duty.

Oxsection 1. But I fear my case is excepted by Christ himself in Matt. 12: 31, where blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is exempted from pardon: I have had many blasphemous thoughts injected into my soul.

Answer, Art thou a burdened and heavy-laden soul? If so, thy case is not in that or any other scripture exempted from mercy, for the unpardonable sin is always found in an obdurate heart; as that sin finds no pardon with God, so neither is it followed with contrition and sorrow in the soul that commits it.

Oxsection 2. But if Iam not guilty of that sin, I am certainly guilty of many great and heinous abominations too great for me to expect mercy, and therefore I dare not go to Christ.

Answer. The greater your sins have been, the more need you have to go to Jesus Christ. Let not a motive to go to Christ be made an obstacle in your way to him. Great sinners are expressly called, Isa. 1:18; great sinners have come to Christ and found mercy, 1 Cor. 6:11; and it is a high reproach and dishonor to the blood of Christ and the mercy of God, which flows so freely through him, to object the greatness of sin to either of them. Certainly you have not sinned beyond the extent of mercy, or beyond the efficacy of the blood of Christ; but pardon and peace may be had, if you will thus come to Christ for it.

Oxsecrion 8. O, but it is now too late; I have had many thousand calls, and refused them; many purposes in my heart to go to Christ, and quenched them; my time therefore is past, and now it is to no purpose,

Answer. If the time of grace be past and God intends no mercy for thee, how is it that thy soul is now filled with trouble and distress for sin? Is this the frame of a man’s heart that is past hope? Do such signs as these appear in men that are hopeless? Besides, the time of grace is a secret hid in the breast of God, but coming to Christ is a duty plainly revealed. And why will you object a thing that is secret and uncertain against a duty that is so plain and evident? Nor do you yourselves believe what you object; for at the same time that you say your season is over and it is too late, you are notwithstanding found repenting, mourning, praying, and striving to come to Christ. Certainly if you knew it were too late, you would not be found laboring in the use of means. Go on, therefore, and the Lord be with you. It is not presumption, but obedience to come when Christ calls, as he here doth: ‘“‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden.”

2. Hence it follows that none have cause to be trowbled when God makes the souls of their frrends sick with the sense of sin. It was the saying of Hieron to Sabinian, Nothing makes my heart sadder than that nothing can make my heart sad. It is matter of joy to all that rightly understand the matter when God smites the heart of any man with the sense of sin: of such sickness it may be said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God.” Yet how do many carnal relations lament and bewail this as a misery, as an undoing to their friends and acquaintances; as if then they must be reckoned lost, and never till then when Christ is finding and saving them. Oh, if your hearts were spiritual and wise, their groans for sin would be as music in your ears. When they go alone to bewail their sin, you would go alone also to bless God for the mercy that ever you should live to such a happy day: you would say, Now is my friend in the blessed pangs of the new birth; now is he in the very way of mercy — never in so hopeful a condition as now. I had rather he should groan now at the feet of Christ, than groan hereafter under the wrath of God for ever. Oh, parents, beware, as you love the souls of your children, that you do not damp and discourage them, tempt or threaten them, divert or hinder them in such cases as this, lest you bring the blood of their souls upon your own heads.

3. It also follows that those to whom sin was never any burden, are not yet come to Christ, nor have any interest in him. We may as well suppose a child to be born without pangs, as a soul to be born again and united to Christ without any sense or sorrow for sin. I know many have great alarms of conscience that never were made duly sensible of the evil of sin; many are afraid of burning that never were afraid of simung. Slight and transient troubles some have had, but they vanished like the early cloud or morning dew. Few men are without checks of conscience at one time or other; but instead of going to the closet, they run to the ale-house or tavern for cure. If their sorrow for sin had been right, nothing but the sprinkling of the blood of Christ could have appeased their consciences. Heb. 10:22. How should the consideration of this rend the hearts of such persons. Methinks, reader, if this be thy case, it should send thee away with an aching heart; thou hast not yet tasted the bitterness of sin, and if thou do not, thou shalt never taste the sweetness of Christ, his pardon and peace.

4. ITow great a mercy is tt for sin-burdened souls to be within the sownd and call of Christ in the gospel. There are many thousands in pagan and popish parts of the world that labor under distress of conscience, but have no knowledge of relief, no such means of peace and comfort as we have that live within the joyful sound of the gospel. If the conscience of a papist be burdened with guilt, all the relief he has is to afflict his body in order to quiet his soul; a penance or pilgrimage is all the relief they have. If a pagan be in trouble for sin, he has no knowledge of Christ or of a satisfaction made by him; he asks, Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruzt of my body for the sin of my soul? The damned endure the terrible blows and wounds of conscience for sin, they roar under that terrible lash, but no voice of peace or pardon is heard among them. It is not, ‘Come unto me, ye that labor and are heavy-laden,” but, “Depart from me, ye cursed.”

Blessed are your ears, for you hear the voice of peace; you are come to Jesus the Mediator, and to the blood of sprinkling. Oh, you can never set a due value upon this privilege..

5. How sweet and unspeakably relieving is the closing of a burdened soul with Jesws Christ by faith. It is rest to the weary soul,

Soul troubles are wasting troubles; the pains of a distressed conscience are the most acute pains. A poor soul would fain be at rest, but knows not where; he tries this duty and that, but finds none. At last, in a way of believing, he casts himself with his burden of guilt and fear upon Christ, and there is the rest his soul desired. Christ and rest come together; till faith bring you to the bosom of Jesus you can find no true rest; the soul is rolling and tossing, sick and weary, upon the billows of its own guilt and fears. Now the soul is come, like a ship tossed. with storms and tempests, out of a raging ocean into the quiet harbor; or like a dost sheep, that hath been wandering in weariness, hunger, and danger, into the fold. Is a soft bed in a quiet chamber sweet to one that is spent and tired with travel? Is the sight of a shore sweet to the shipwrecked mariner who looked for nothing but death? Much more sweet is Christ to a soul that comes to him pressed in conscience and broken in spirit under the sinking weight of sin.

How did they of old rejoice, after a long and dangerous voyage, to see Italy again; crying, with loud and united voices, which made the very heavens ring again, Italy! Italy! But no shore is so sweet to the weather-beaten passenger as Christ is to a broken-hearted sinner: this brings the soul to a sweet repose. “We which have believed do enter into rest.” Heb. 4:3. And this endears the way of faith to their souls ever after.

6. Learn hence the usefulness of the law to bring souls to Jesus Christ. It is utterly useless as a covenant to justify us, but exceedingly useful to convince and humble us; it cannot relieve nor ease us, but it can and does awaken and rouse us. It is a mirror to show us the face of sin, and till we have seen that, we cannot see the face of Jesus Christ.

The law, like the fiery serpent, stings and torments the conscience; this drives us to the Lord Jesus, lifted up in the gospel, like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, to heal us. The use of the law is to make us feel our sickness; this makes us look out for a physician: “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Rom. 7:9. The hard, proud hearts of men require such a hammer to break them to pieces.

1. It ws the unmediate duty of weary and heavy-laden sinners to come to Christ by faith, and not stand off from Christ, or delay to accept him wpon any terms whatsoever.

Christ invites and commands such to come unto him; it is therefore your sin to neglect, draw back, or defer, whatever seeming reasons and pretences there may be to the contrary. When the jailer was brought to distress,

ALL MEN INVITED TO CHRIST. ail

that made him ery, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” the counsel the apostles gave him was, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16 :30, 31. And for your encouragement, know that he who calls you to come, knows your burden, what your sins have been and troubles are, yet he calls you: if your sin hinder not Christ from callang, neither should it hinder you from coming. He that calls you is able to ease you, “to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him.” Heb. 7:25. Whatever fulness of sin be in you, there is a greater fulness of saving power in Christ. He that calls you to come, never yet rejected any poor burdened soul that came to him; and hath said he never will. ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:37. Fear not, therefore; he will not begin with thee, or make thee the first instance and example of the feared rejection.

Bethink thyself, what wilt thou do, and whither wilt thou go, if not to Jesus Christ? Nothing shall ease or relieve thee till thou dost come to him. Thou art under a happy necessity to go to him; with him only is found rest for the weary soul.

Prop. 3. Turre 1s REST IN CHRIST FOR ALL THAT COME UNTO HIM UNDER THE HEAVY BURDEN OF SIN.

Rest is a sweet word to a weary soul; all seek it, but none but believers find it. ‘We which have believed,” saith the apostle, ‘‘do enter into rest.” Heb. 4:3. ‘He doth not say they shall, but they do enter into rest; noting their spiritual rest to be already begun by faith on earth in the tranquillity of conscience, and to be consummated in heaven in the full enjoyment of God.” There is a sweet calm upon the troubled soul after believing, an ease or rest of the mind, which is an unspeakable mercy to a poor weary soul. Christ is to it as the ark was to the dove when she wandered over the watery world and found no place to rest the sole of her foot. Faith centres the unquiet spirit of man in Christ; brings it to repose itself and its burden on him. It is the soul’s dropping anchor in a storm, which stays and settles it.

The great debate which cost so many anxious thoughts is now issued in this resolution: I will venture my all upon Christ; let him do with me as seemeth him good. It was impossible for the soul to find rest while it knew not how to be secure from the wrath to come; but when all is embarked in Christ for eternity, and the soul fully resolved to lean upon him and to trust to him, it feels the beginning of eternal rest in itself: it finds a heavy burden unloaded from its shoulders; it is come, as it were, into a new world. The word rest, in this place, denotes — and is so rendered by some — a recreation; it is restored, renewed, and recreated, as it were, by the sweet repose it hath upon Christ. Believers, know that faith is the sweetest recreation you can take. Others seek to divert their troubles by sinful recreations, vain company, and the like; but they little know the recreation and sweet restoring rest that faith gives the soul. You find in Christ what they seek in vain in the world. Believing is the highest recreation known in this world.

But to prevent mistakes three cawlions need to be premised, lest we stumble at the threshold, and so lose our way all along afterwards.

Caution 1. Yow are not to think that all the soul’s feurs, troubles, and sorrows are at an end as soon as it is come to Christ by faith. They will have many troubles in the world after that, it may be more than ever they had in their lives. They will be infested with many temptations; the assaults of Satan may be more violent upon their souls than ever. They will not at once be wholly freed from sin, nor from inward trouble and grief of soul about sin; that rest remains for the people of God.

Caution 2. We must not think all belrevers do immediately enter into the full, actwal sense of rest and comfort, but they presently enter into the srate of rest. ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God,” Rom. 5:1; that is, we enter into the state of peace immediately. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Psalm 97:11. He is arich man that has a thousand acres of corn in the ground, as well as he that has so much in his barn, or its value in his purse. They have rest and peace in the seed of it, when they have it not in the fruit; they have rest in the promise, when they have it not in possession. He is a rich man that hath good bonds and bills for a great sum of money, if he have not twelve pence in his pocket. All believers have rest and peace granted them under God’s own hand, in many promises which faith brings them under; and we know that the truth and faithfulness of God stand engaged to make good to them every line and word of the promise. So that though they have not a full and clear actual sense and feeling of rest, they are, nevertheless, by faith come into the state of rest.

Caution 3. We must not think that farth itself is the soul’s rest, ot is only the means of zt. We cannot find rest in any work or duty of our own, but we may find it in Christ, whom faith apprehends for justification and salvation.:

Having thus guarded the point against misapprehensions, I proceed to show how our coming to Christ by faith brings us to rest in him. And here let us consider what those things are that burden, grieve, and disquiet the soul before its coming to Christ; and how it is relieved by coming to the Lord Jesus.

I. Some things that BuRDEN THE souL before it comes to Christ.:

1. One principal ground of trouble is the guilt of son upon the conscience, of which I spoke in the former point. The curse of the law lies heavy upon the soul, so heavy that nothing is found in all the world able to relieve it.

As you see ina condemned man: spread a table in prison with the greatest dainties, and send for the rarest musicians, all will not charm his sorrow; but if you can produce an authentic pardon, you ease him presently. Just so it is here: faith plucks the thorn out of the conscience, unites the soul with Christ, and thus that ground of trouble is removed; for “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 8:1. The moment the soul comes to Christ, it has passed from death to life, and is no more under the law, but grace. If a man’s debt be paid by his surety, he need not fear to show his face boldly abroad; he may freely meet the serjeant at the prison door.

2. The soul of a convinced sinner is exceedingly burdened with the szas which have defiled and polluted it. Conviction discovers the universal pollution of heart and life, so that a man loathes and abhors himself by reason thereof: if he do not look into his own corruptions, he cannot be safe; and if he do, he cannot bear the sight of them. Nothing can give rest but what gives relief against this evil; and this is done only by faith uniting the soul with Jesus Christ. For though the pollution of sin be not at once and perfectly taken away by coming to Christ, yet the burden thereof is exceedingly eased; for, upon our believing, there is a heart-purifying principle planted in the soul, which by degrees cleanses that fountain of corruption, and will at last perfectly free the soul from sin. ‘‘ Purifying their hearts by faith.” Acts 15:9. The sinner being once in Christ, He is concerned for the soul as a member of his own mystical body, to purify and cleanse it, that at last he may present it perfect to the Father, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Eph. 5:27. The reigning power of sin is gone immediately upon believing, and the very existence and being of it shall at last be destroyed. O what rest must this give under those troubles for sin,

3. It was an intolerable burden to the soul to be under the continual fears of death and damnation; his life has been a life of bondage ever since the Lord opened his eyes to see his condition. Poor souls lie down with trembling for fear what a night may bring forth. It is a sad life indeed to live in continual bondage of such fears; but faith sweetly relieves the trembling conscience by remoying the guilt which causes its fears. The sting of death is sin. When guilt is removed, fears vanish. ‘Smite, Lord, smite,” said Luther, “for my sins are forgiven.” Now if sickness come, it is another thing than it was wont to be. “The inhabitant shall not say, Iam sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Isa. 33:24. A man scarcely feels sickness in comparison to what he did while he was without Christ and hope of pardon,

4. A convinced sinner, out of Christ, sees every thing against lam; nothing yields him any comfort; every thing increases and aggravates his burden when he looks to things past, present, or to come. If he reflect upon things past, his soul is filled with anguish to remember the sins committed, the seasons neglected, the precious mercies abused; if he look upon things present the case is equally doleful, he is Christless and comfortless; and if he look forward to the future, that gives him a deeper cut to the heart than any thing else; for though it be sad and miserable for the present, yet he fears it will be much worse hereafter: all these are but the beginning of sorrows. And thus the poor awakened sinner is encompassed with misery on every side.

II. But on his coming to Christ all things are marvellously cHancep; a quite contrary face of things appears, every thing gives hope and comfort. So speaks the apostle, “All things are yours; whether life or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1 Cor. 8: 21-23. They are ours, that is, for our advantage, benefit, and comfort. More particularly upon our coming to Christ,

1. Things past are ours; they conduce to our advantage and comfort. Now the soul can begin to read the gracious end and design of God in all its preservations and deliverances, whereby it has been reserved for such a day as this. O it melts his heart to consider that while his companions in sin and vanity are cut off he is spared, and that for a day of such mercy as the day of his espousals with Christ. Now all his past sorrows and deep troubles of spirit which God hath exercised him with, begin to appear the greatest mercies that ever he received, being all necessary and leading to this blessed union with Christ.:

2. Things present are ours, though it be not yet with us as we would have it: our union with Christ is not sure enough, the heart is not pure enough; sin is too strong, and grace too weak; many things are still out of order; yet can the soul bless God with tears of joy and praise that he is where he is, though he be not yet where he would be. O it is a blessed life to live as a poor recumbent by acts of trust and affiance, though as yet he have but little evidence; to be resolved to trust all with Christ, though he be not yet certain of the issue. O this is a comfortable station, a sweet condition compared with what it was, either when the soul wallowed in sin in the days before conviction, or was swallowed up in fears and troubles for sin after conviction. Now it hath hope though it want assurance, and hope is sweet to a soul coming out of such deep distresses: now it sees the remedy and is applying it, whereas before the wound seemed desperate: now all hesitations and debates are at an end in the soul; it is no longer unresolved what to do; all things have been deeply considered, and after consideration issued into this resolve, “I will go to Christ; I will venture all upon his command and call; here I will embark my eternal interests; here I fix, and here I resolve to live and die.” O how much better is this than that floating life it lived before, rolling upon the billows of inward fears and troubles, not able to drop anchor anywhere, nor knowing where to find a harbor!

3. Things to come are ours; and this is the best and sweetest of all: man looks onward to the future; his eye is much upon things to come, and it will not satisfy him that it is well at present except he have a prospect that it shall be so hereafter. But now the soul has committed itself and all its concerns to Christ for eternity, and this being done it is greatly relieved against evils to come.

I cannot, says the believer, think all my troubles over, and that I shall never meet any more afflictions; but I leave all these things where I have left my soul: he that hath supported me under inward, will carry me through outward troubles also. I cannot think all my temptations to sin past: Oh, I may yet meet with sore assaults from Satan; yet it is infinitely better to be watching, praying, and striving against sin, than it was when I was obeying it in the lusts of it. God, that hath delivered me from the love of sin, will, I trust, preserve me from ruin by sin. I know also death is to come; I must feel its pangs and agonies; but yet the aspect of death is much more pleasant than it was. I come, Lord Jesus, to thee, who art the death of death, whose death hath disarmed death of its sting. Thus you see briefly how by faith believers enter into rest; how Christ gives rest, even at present, to them that come to him, and all this but as a beginning of their everlasting rest.

InrerENcE 1. Is there rest in Christ for weary souls that come unto him? Then certainly it is a device of Satan against the peace and welfare of men’s souls to discourage them from coming to Christ in the way of faith.

He is a restless spirit himself, and would make us so too: he goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he

Method., 10 may devour. It frets his proud and envious mind to see others find rest when he finds none; and he obtains his end fully if he can but keep souls from Christ. Look therefore upon all those objections and discouragements raised in your heart against coming to Christ as so many artifices and cunning devices of the devil to destroy and ruin your souls. It is true they have a very specious appearance; they are gilded over with pretences of the justice of God, the heinous nature of sin, the want of due and befitting qualifications to meet so holy and pure a God, the lapsing of the season of mercy, and a hundred others of like nature; but I beseech you lay down this as a sure conclusion and hold it fast, that whatever it be that discourages and hinders you from coming to Christ is directly against the interest of your souls, and the hand of the devil is certainly in it.

2. Hence also it follows that wnbelief is the true reason of all that disqwietness and trouble with which the minds of poor sinners are so racked and tortured.

If you will not believe, you cannot be established; till you come to Christ, peace cannot come to you: Christ and peace are undivided. Consider this: you have tried all other ways; you have tried duties, and no rest comes; you have tried reformation, restitution, and a stricter course of life, yet your wounds are still open and bleeding: these things, I grant, are in their place both good and necessary; but of themselves, without Christ, they are utterly insufficient to give what you expect from them: why will you not try the way of faith? why will you not carry your burden to Christ? O that you would be persuaded to it; how soon would you find what so” long you have been seeking in vain! How long will you thus oppose your own good? how long will you keep yourselves upon the rack of conscience? Is it easy to go under the throbs and wounds of an accusing and condemning conscience? You know it is not: you look for peace, but no good comes; for a time of healing, and behold trouble. Alas, it must and will be so until you are in the way of faith, which is the true and only method to obtain rest.

3. What cause have we all to admire the goodness of God in providing for us a Saviour nm whom we may find rest to owr souls,

How has the Lord filled and furnished Jesus Christ with all that is suitable to a believer’s wants. Does the guilt of sin terrify his conscience? Lo, in him is perfect righteousness to remove that guilt, so that it shall neither be imputed to him nor reflected by his conscience in the way of condemnation as it was before. In him also is a fountain opened for washing and for cleansing the pollution of sin from our souls; in him is the fulness both of merit and of the Spirit, two sweet springs of peace to the souls of men: well might the apostle call him, ‘Christ the wisdom of God,” and well might the church say, ‘He is altogether lovely.” Had not God provided Christ for us, we had never known rest to all eternity.

4, How wnreasonable and wholly inexcusable in belrevers rs the sin of backsliding from Christ. ave you found rest in him when you could not find it in any other? Did he receive and give peace to your soul when all other persons and things were physicians of no value? And will you after this backslide from him? O what madness! No man in his right mind would leave the pure, cold, refreshing stream of a crystal fountain to go to a filthy puddle or an empty cistern; such are the best enjoyments of this world in comparison with Jesus Christ.

That was a melting expostulation of Christ with the disciples when some had forsaken him, “Will ye also go away?” John 6:67. And it was a very suitable reply they made: Lord, whither away from thee should we go? From thee, Lord! No; where can we mend ourselves? Be sure of it, whenever you go from Christ, you go from rest to trouble. Had Judas rest? had Spira rest? and do you think you shall have rest? No, no: “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.” Prov. 14: 14. “Cursed be the man that departeth from him: he shall be as the heath in the desert, that seeth not when good cometh, and shall inhabit the parched places of the wilderness.” Jer. 17:5, 6. If fear of sufferings and worldly temptations ever draw you off from Christ, you may come to those straits and terrors of conscience that will make you wish yourselves back again with Christ in a prison, with Christ at a stake.

5. Let all that come to Christ learn to make hum the rest and peace of their souls rn all the troubles and outward distresses they meet.

Rest may be found in Christ in any condition; he is able to give you peace in all your troubles. So he tells you, John 16: 33, “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation.” By peace, he means not a deliverance from troubles by taking off affliction from them, or taking them away by death from all afflictions; but it is something they enjoy from Christ in the very midst of troubles, and amidst all their afflictions, that quiets and gives them rest, so that troubles cannot hurt them. Certainly, believers, you have peace in Christ when there is little in your own hearts; and your hearts might be filled with peace too, if you would exercise faith upon Christ for that end. It is your own fault if you are without rest in any condition in this world. Set yourselves to study the fuiness of Christ and to clear your interest in him; believe what the Scriptures reveal of him, and live as you believe, and you will quickly find the peace of God filling your hearts and minds.

Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.