8. The dreadful threatenings of Christ against all that refuse him, and shut the doors of their hearts against him, speak his vehement desire to prevent the loss and ruin of souls. The threats of Christ are not intended to discourage any from coming to him, to fright away souls from him; no, that is not their intention; but to bring them under a blessed necessity of comphance with his terms. O the dreadful threatenings, which, like claps of thunder, brake from the mouth of Christ against all that should refuse or delay to come unto him ! " If you believe not, you shall die in your " sins : he that believeth not shall not see life,'' John iii. 36. What a terrible thunder-clap is that against all unbelievers ! So Mark xvi. 16. He that believeth not shall be damned. All these, and many more are warning-pieces shot off from heaven to prevent the ruin and damnation of men ; the very threatenings of the gospel carry a design of mercy in them ; damnation is threatened, that it may be prevented.
9. And then in the last place herein appears the earnestness of Christ after union with sinners, that when he could be no longer a preacher to this world in his own person, he ordained a succession of ministers, in his bodily absence from us, to gather and build the church, and to continue to the end of the world ; to carry on the suit that Christ had begun, as long as there was one elect soul in the world lying in the state of sin and nature.
Reader, Christ could not always abide here ; he must die, or we could not live ; he must rise again, or we could not be j ustified ; our business called him to another place and state : Now when Christ was to ascend to heaven, what doth he do ? Why, he choos- eth and calleth men, men made of the same clay with ourselves, whose presence and appearance should not affright or discourage us ; who should treat with us in a familiar way about the great concerns of our salvation in his name and stead : 2 Cor. v. 20. " We " then are ambassadors for Christ ; as though God did beseech " you, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." He did not commissionate angels to be his Legates, their presence would confound and terrify us ; but men cast into the same moidd with yourselves, who may say to you as Elihu said to Job, Job xxxiii. 6, 7. " Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead ; I " also am formed out of the clay. Behold, my terror shall not make '' thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.'^ Upon these commission-officers of Christ he poured forth excellent gifts, in great diversity and useful variety, to fit the capacities and various dispositions of men's souls : When he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto men ; this ministerial office is by him established in the
church, " till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the " knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, unto the mea- " sure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," Ephes. iv. 11, 12, 18. Unto these his ministers he gives the highest encouragements to quicken them to their labours : If one do but one part of the work, and another the other ; one soweth, another reapeth ; he tells them both, " He that reapeth receiveth wages, and " gathereth fruit unto life eternal : that both he that soweth and " he that reapeth may rejoice together,'' John iv. ^6. He tells them that every soul they win to him shall be as a jewel in their cro^vn of glory ; Dan. xii. 3. " And they that be wise shall shine *' as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to '' righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."" Wh;at is Christ's intention in all these encouragements to his ministers ? Surely it is as if he should say to his sei'^ants, study hard, pray earnestly, plead with sinners affectionately ; every soul you win to me shall make an addition to your glory in heaven.
Weigh now the force of this second demonstration from the life of Christ ; will you have a proof of Christ's earnest suit to gain the hearts of sinners .^ his whole life upon earth was a great proof of it ; his doctrine, so full of pathetical invitations, proves it ; the joy of his heart at the success of the gospel ; his tears and sorrows for the obstinacy of unbelievers ; his labours and travels to gather sin- ners to him ; his admirable encouragements put into general invita- tions ; his dreadful threatenings to all that reject his motions ; his commissionating and qualifying, continuing and encouraging his ministers to carry on his suit in his name : all these things make up a full demonstration that Jesus Christ is an earnest suitor for union and communion with the souls of sinners ; which was the thing to be proved.
3. Demonst. Thirdly, the death of Christ is the fullest demon- stration that ever was or can be given of his love to sinners, and desire after union and communion with them. His doctrine and life discovered much, but his death and sufferings abundantly more ; in his doctrine he spent his breathy but upon the cross he spent his blood. Here he comes a suing to the souls of sinners in his scarlet robes, his red garments ; garments dipt in his own blood. You may now propound the same admiring question the church pro- pounded, Isa. Ixiii. 1,2. " Who is this that cometh from Edom, *' with dyed garments from Bozrah ? This that is glorious in his *' apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? Wherefore " art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that *' treadeth in the wine-fat .^" Wilt thou know, sinner, why he comes to thee in red garments ? It is to give thee such a demon- stration of his love as may draw forth all the love of thy lieart to
him ; by this blood he hatli bought and purcliascd tliy soul for a spouse tor himself, Acts xx. 28. Now there are two things in the death of Christ evidential of the fervency of his desires after us.
1. The greatness of the sufferings which he endured.
2. The use and end to which they were designed.
Both these shew how the heart of Christ is heated with the vc* hemency of his own desires after union with our poor souls.
1. The greatness of the sufferings of Christ discover the ardency of his affection. Christ's sufferings are twofold. (1.) External, in his body. (2.) Internal, in his soul.