his spouse, and all the angels of heaven ministring spirits unto fuch. That is the seventh confolation. VIII. Confolation. And then, 8thly, The opening of thy heart to Chrift brings thee not only into union with his perfon, but into a state of sweet, foul-enriching communion with him. So he speaketh in the text, "If any man open the door, I will " sup with him, and he with me." Poor foul, thou hast lived many years in the world, and never hadst any communion with God till this day. Christ and thy foul have been strangers till now. It is true, thou hast had communion with ordinances and communion with faints, but for communion with Chrift thou couldest know nothing of it, till thou receivedst him into thy foul by faith. Now thou mayst say, "Truly my fellow"ship is with the Father, and with his Son Jefus Christ," John i. 3. And thenceforth thy communion with men is pleasant and defirable. IX. Confolation. The opening of a man's foul to Christ by faith is a special and peculiar mercy, which falls to the share but of a very few. God hath done that for thee which he hath denied to millions; " Who hath believed our report? and to ** whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" i. e. to how small a remnant in the world, Ifa. liji. 1. And the apostle puts the work of faith among the great mysteries of godliness, among the wonders of religion, I Tim. iii. 16. "Preached unto the " Gentiles, believed on in the world." The found of the gospel is gone forth into the world; "Many are called, but few are chosen. There were many widows " in Ifrael, in the days of Elias, but to none of them was Elias " sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that " was a widow," Luke iv. 25, 26. To allude to this, there were many hundreds that fat under the same fermon which opened thy heart to Christ, but it may be unto none of them was the Spirit of God fent that day, to open their hearts by faith, but unto thee; thou wilt freely acknowledge thyself as unlikely and unworthy as the vilest sinner there. O astonishing mercy! X. Confolation. And then lastly, In the fame day thy heart opens by faith to Christ, all the treasures of Christ are unlocked and opened to thee. In the same hour God turns the key of regeneration to open thy foul; the key of free grace is alfo turned to open unto thee the unsearchable riches of Christ; then the righteousness of Christ becomes thine to justify thee, the wildom of Christ to guide thee, the holiness of Chrift to fanctify thee; in a word, he is that day made of God to thee, Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption," I Cor i. 30. "All is yours, for ye are Chrift's, and Christ is God's," 1 Cor. iii. ult. And thus I have shewed you some of those great things God doth for those souls that will but do this one thing for him, viz. open their hearts to receive Chrift upon the tenders and terms of the gospel. * SERMON IV. REV. iii. 20. Behold I [Stand] at the door and knock, &c. THE verb 15 here rendered I stand, is of the preter tenfa, and would strictly be rendered I have tood; but being joined with a verb of the present tense, is here rendered I do Aand, a frequent Hebraifm in scripture: And it notes the continued patience and long-fuffering of Christ; I have stood and still do stand, exercising wonderful patience towards obstinate finners. Which gives us this fourth obfervation. : Doct. 4. That great and admirable is the patience of Christ, in waiting upon trifling and obstinate finners. Thus wisdom, i. e. Christ expresses himself, Prov. i. 24. " I " have called and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, " and no man regarded." Here you have not only Chrift's earnest calls, but suitable gestures also, to gain attention. The stretching out of the hand was a signal given to procure attention, Acts xxi. 40. Yet none regards; and this the Lord doth not once or twice, but all the day long, Ifa. lxv. 2. shewing forth all long-fuffering, as the apostle speaks, 1 Tim. i. 16. In the opening of this point I will shew you, 1. What divine patience is. 3. Why it is exercised towards sinners. First, Of the nature of divine patience; it is an ability in God not only to delay the execution of his wrath for a time towards some, but to delay it in order to the eternal salvation of others. Let me speak to the parts of this description of divine patience. 1. It is an ability of power in God, not the effect of impotence, or want of opportunity: All finners 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 against Jacob, but wanted opportunity, and therefore was forced to delay the execution of his conceived wrath, until the days for mourning for his father were come; and then faith he, " I will slay my brother Jacob," Gen. xxvii. 41. But in God it is a glorious effect of power, Nah. i. 3. "The Lord is flow to anger, and great in power." " The greatness of his patience flows from the greatness of his power: So the apostle speaks, Rom. ix. 22. "What, if "God willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, " endured with much long-fuffering the vessels of wrath, fitted, " or made up to destruction?" And therefore when Moses prays for the exercise of divine patience towards the provoking Ifraelites, he doth it in this form, Numb. xiv. 17, 18. " And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-fuffer"ing," &c. 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 stopping the propenfions of his own justice, which daily follicit him to cut thee off; it is the power of God over his wrath, bridling and restraining it from day to day. 2. This patience is exercised toward such as perish, in a temporary delay of their damnation; and though this be but a mere suspension of his wrath for a time, yet it is a glorious act of patience in him, as that forecited text, Rom. ix. 22. shews. Is it nothing for a finner condemned as soon as born, to be reprieved fo many years out of hell? Thou hast been provoking him daily, and hourly, to cut thee off, 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 fee every where sinners ripe for destruction, daring the God of heaven to his face, yet forborn, how admirable is this power of God! 3. God doth not only exercise this power in a temporary fuspension of his wrath against some, who, alas, must feel it at last; but he delays the execution of his wrath in a defign of mercy towards others, that they may never feel it, Isa. xlviii. 8, 9. Thus he bears with his own elect, all the years of their lives wherein they lay in the state of nature, and went on in a course of rebellion against God; and this longsuffering of God towards them proves their salvation, as you 1 have it in 2 Pet. iii. 15. "And account that the long-fuffering " of our Lord is salvation." What is the meaning of that? Ah, Christian, thou mayest easily know the meaning of it, without turning over many Commentaries; thou art now in Christ, safely escaped out of the danger of wrath to come; but thou owest this thy falvation to the patience and long-fuffering 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 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 beds of sickness upon the brink of the grave; what was it that saved thee from eternal wrath, but this admirable patience of Christ? Well, therefore, may the apostle say, "Account the long-fuffering of God to be salvation." This patience of God seems to be a branch springing out of his mercy and goodness; only it differs from mercy in this, that man as miferable is the object of mercy, but man as criminal is the object of patience. Thus briefly of the nature of divine patience, a power of God over his own wrath, not only to fufpend it for a time towards them that perish, but to delay the execution of it in a design of salvation towards others. Secondly, Next we come to shew the various evidences of this divine patience, or wherein it appears in its glorious manifeftations towards provoking sinners; and there are seven full evidences and discoveries of it, which should make the hearts of sinners melt within them, whilst they are founding in their ears. Ah, methinks, such things as these should melt down your hard hearts before the Lord! 1. And the first evidence of the riches of his patience shall be taken from the multitude of fins that men and women are guilty of before him, the least of which is a burden too heavy for any creature to bear; the Pfalmist faith, Pfal. xl. 12. "In" numerable evils have compassed me about." It was true, as applied to the person of David; and though it be there applied to the person of Christ, yet not one of them were his own fins, 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 pass all account. There is not a member of the body, though never so small, but hath been the inftrument of innumerable evils. For instance, the tongue, the apostle tells us, is a world of iniquity, Jam. iii. 6. And if there be a world of fin in one member, what then are the fins of all? How many idle, frothy, vain words, hath thy tongue uttered? And yet for them, Christ saith, "Men shall "give an account in the day of judgment," Mat. xii. 36. And what have the fins of thy thoughts been? "The thoughts of " foolishness is fin," (faith Solomon,) Prov. xxiv. 9. O, who can understand his errors? Yet the patience of God hath not failed under such innumerable evils. O glorious patience! well may it be ushered in the text with a term of admiration, Behold, I ftand! 2. The second evidence of the divine patience shall be taken from the heinous nature of some fins above others, whereby finners fly, as it were, in the very face of God; and yet he bears with long-fuffering, lets not loose his hands to cut them off. All fins are not of one size; fome have a flighter tincture, and fome are deeper; called upon that account scarlet and crimfon Lins, Ifa. i. 18. double dyed abominations, fins in grain; such are sins against knowledge, sins committed after convictions, and covenants, and rebukes of providence. I do not only speak of outward gross acts of fin; for as the school-men well determine, though outward fins are sins of greater infamy, yet inward fins may be sins of greater guilt: even those sins that never took air to defame thee in the world: but whatever they be (reader) whether outward, or inward, thy conscience is privy to them, and thy foul may stand amazed at the patience of God, in forbearing thee all this while, under such provocations, and horrid rebellions against him; especially, confidering how many there be this day in hell that never provoked God by fioning with fuch an high hand as thou hast done. 3. It is yet a greater evidence of the patience of God, in bearing with, and forbearing us under the guilt of that special fin, viz. The flighting and neglecting of Jesus Chrift: here is a fin that goes to the very heart of Jesus Christ; he can bear any other in rather than that; and yet this hath Chrift born from every foul of you. You are the men and women that have spurned at the yearning bowels of his mercies, flighted his grace, trampled his precious blood under foot, and yet he hath forborn you unto this day; read Mat. xxii. 5. and let thy confcience answer, whether thou art not equally deep in the guilt of making light of Christ with those wretches upon whom it is there charged. Christ hath suffered the wrath of God in thy room, brought home salvation, in gospel-offers, to thy door: and then to be flighted! no patience but his own could bear it. Every fermon and prayer you have fat under with a dead heart; every motion of his Spirit which you have quenched, what is this but the making light of Christ, and the great falvation? |