Fourthly, The burdens of sin will make a man set light by all other burdens of affliction, Lam. iii. 22. Micah vii. 9. The more you feel sin, the less you feel affliction.
Fifthly, A soul truly burdened for sin will take no hearty joy or
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comfort in any outward enjoyment of this world, till Christ come and seek peaee to the soul, Lam. iii. 28. Just so the soul sits alone and keepcth silence ; merry company is a burden, and music is but howling to him.
Jteware qftho.se things that make your troubles longer than they ought to be. There be several errors and mistakes that hold poor souls mueh longer in their fears and terrors than else they might be ; and such are,
First, 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 like to find that path of peace.
Secondly, Labouring to heal the wounds that the law hath made upm your consciences, by a more strict obedience to it for the future, in the neglect of Christ and his righteousness.
Thirdly, In observance of what God hath already done for you, in these preparatory works of the law, in order to your salvation bv Jesus Christ. ()! if you would but compare what you now are, with what you lately were, it would give some relief. But the last and principal thing is this :
Hasten, to Christ in the way of faith, and you shall find rest ; and till then all the world cannot give you rest. The sooner you trans- act witli 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 labour and strive, look this way and that, but all in vain ; Christ and peace come together. No sooner do you come to him, and roll your burden on him, receive him as he offers himself, but the soul feels itself eased on a sudden ; u being "justified by faith, we have peace with God," Rom. v. 1. And thus in finishing the first, we are brought home to the second ob- servation.
Doct. 2. Tliat sin-burdened souls are solemnly invited to come to Christ.
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 bles- sing from mount Gerizim, the ravishing voice from mount Sion, " Ye are come to Jesus the Mediator.11 In opening of it I will shew,
1. What it is to come to Christ.
2. How Christ invites men to come to him.
3. Why his invitation is directed to burdened souls.
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First, We will enquire what it is to come to Christ, and how many things are included in it.
.In general, to come to Christ, is a phrase equipollent, or of the same amount with believing in Christ. It is an expression that carries the nature and necessity of faith in it, and is reciprocated with believing. John vi. 35. " He that cometh so me shall never " hunger ; and he that believeth in me shall never thirst? Coming to Christ, is believing in Christ ; and believing in Christ, is coming to Christ ; they are synonymas, and import the self same thing. Only in this notion of faith, there are many rich and ex- cellent things hinted to us, which no other word can so aptly con- vey to our minds. As,
First, It hints this to us, That the souls of convinced and bur- dened sinners do 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 this is most certain, that the object of faith must be determinate and fixed ; the soul must believe that Christ is, or else there can be no emotions of the soul after him : all coming pre-supposes a fixed term to which we come, Heb. xi. 6. " He that cometh to God, must believe that God is." 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 come to Christ, do see that he is, 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.
Secondly, Coming to Christ implies the soul's 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 labouring and striving all other ways for rest, but can find none ; and so are forced to relinquish all their fond expectations of salva- tion in any other way, and come to Christ as their last and only remedy.
Thirdly, Coming to Christ notes a supernatural and almighty power, acting the soul quite above its own natural abilities in this motion. John vi. 44. " No man can come unto me, except my " Father which hath sent me draw him." It is as possible for the ponderous mountains to start from their bases and centres, mount themselves aloft into the air, and there fly like wandering atoms hither and thither, as it is for any man, of himself, i. e. by a pure natural power of his own, to come to Christ. It was not a stranger thing for Peter to come to Christ, walking upon the waves of the
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sea, than for his, or any mans soul, to come to Christ in the way of faith.
Fourthly, Coming to Christ notes the voluntariness of the soul in its motion to Christ. It is true, there is no coming without the Father's drawing ; but that drawing hath nothing of coaction in it ; it doth not destroy, but powerfully, and with an overcoming sweet- ness, persuade the will. It is not forced or driven, but it comes ; being made " willing in the day of God's power,'1 Psal. ex. 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 1 O ! with all my heart, ten thousand worlds for Jesus Christ, if he could be purchased, were nothing answerable to his value in mine eyes ! The soul's motion to Christ is free and voluntary, it is coming.