Fifthly, It implies this in it, That no duties, or ordinances, (which are but the ways and means by which we come to Christ), are, or ought to be central and terminative to the soul : i. e. the soul of a believer is not to sit down, and rest in them, but to come by them or through them to Jesus Christ, and take up his rest in him only. No duties, no reformations, no ordinances of God, how excellent soever these things are in themselves, and how necessary soever they are in their proper place and use, 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 ano- ther thing, even Christ, and cannot terminate its .motion till it be come to him. Christ is the term to which a believer moves ; and therefore he cannot sit down by the way, or be as well satis- fied as if he were at his journey's end. Ordinances and duties have the nature and use of means to bring us to Christ, but not to be to any man instead of Christ.
Sixthly, * Coming to Christ, implies an hope or expectation from Christ in the coming soul. If he hath no hope, why doth it move forward ? As good sit still, and resolve to perish where it is, as to come to Christ, if there is no ground to expect salvation by him. Hope is the spring of motion and industry; if you cut off hope, you hinder faith : it cannot move to Christ, except it be sa- tisfied, at least, of the possibility of mercy and salvation by him. Hence it is, that when comers to Christ are struggling with the doubts and fears of the issue, the Lord is pleased to enliven their faint hopes, by setting home such scriptures as these, John vi. 37. " He that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." And Heb. vii. 25. "He is able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto
* Come unto me, i. e. with the graces of faith, religious hope, and desire. J3ru- gensis on the place.
1*4 THE METHOD OF GRACE, SERM. IX,
" God by him*" This puts life into hope, and hope puts life into industry and motion.
Seventhly, 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 legitimated, and allowed by that ex- pression of Christ, John v. 40. " Ye will not come unto me, that " ye may have life." If Christ blame them for not coming to him, that they might have life, sure he would not blame them, had they come to him for life.
Eighthly, but Lastly, and which is the principal thing in this ex- pression ; Coming to Christ, notes the all-sufficiency of Christ, to answer all the needs and wants of distressed souls, and their be- taking themselves accordingly to him only for relief, being content to come to Christ for whatever they need, and live upon that ful- ness 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. vii. 25. " He is able to save to the ut- " termost, all that come to God by him :" Big to Tua^nXig, to the uttermost : In the greatest plunges, difficulties, and dangers. He hath a fulness of saving power in him, and this encourages souls to come unto him. One beggar uses not to wait at the door of ano- ther, but all at the doors of them they conceive able to relieve them. And as this notes the fulness of Christ as our Saviour, so it must needs note the emptiness and humility of the soul as a comer to him. This is called submission, in Rom. x. 3. Proud nature must be deeply distressed, humbled, and moulded into ano- ther temper, before it will be persuaded to live upon those terms, to come to Christ for every thing it wants, to live upon Christ" s ful- ness in the way of grace and favour, and have no stock of its own to live upon. O ! this is hard, but it is the Avay of faith.
Secondly, In the next place, let us see how Christ invites men to come to him, and you shall find the means employed in this work, are either internal, 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 xv. 26; or external, namely, the preaching of the gospel by commissioned ambassadors, who, in Christ }s stead, beseech men to be reconciled to God, i. e. to come to Christ by faith, in order to their reconciliation and peace with God. 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 signify nothing. How long may ministers preach, before one soul comes to Christ, except the Spirit co-operate in that work ! Now as to the manner in which
SERM. IX. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 175
men are persuaded, and their wills wrought upon to come to Christ, I will briefly note several acts of the Spirit, in order there- unto.
First, There is an illustrating 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 dan- ger that rouzes the secure sinner, that 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 vi. 40.
Secondly, There is the authoritative call, or commanding voice of the Spirit in the word ; a voice that is full of awful majesty and power. 1 John iii. 23. " This is his commandment, that we " should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ." This call of the Spirit to come to Christ, removes one great ob- struction, namely, the fear of presumption out of the souPs 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 from our unworthiness and deep guilt ; and mightily encourages the soul to come to Christ, what- ever it hath been, or done.
Thirdly, There are soul-encouraging, conditional* promises, to all that do come to Christ in obedience to the command. Such is that in my text, / will give you rest : And that in John vi. 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.