1. The death of Christ obtains complete righteousness for guilty sinners ; and if any thing in the world will draw the heart of a sinner, this will. The anxious search and enquiry of a convinced sinner is after a perfect righteousness to justify liim before God. O, that is it the sinner wants ! conscience saith, thou hast broken all the laws of God, and art therefore a law-condemned wretch ; the sentence of the law casts thee for hell. Now what would a poor sinner give for a release from this sentence of the law ? Oh, ten thousands worlds for a pardon ? Why here it is, saith Christ ; come unto me, and thou shalt receive a free, full, and final par- don ; my blood cleanseth from all sin, my righteousness answers all the demands of the law. I have taken away the hand- writing that was against thee, and nailed it to my cross. Gal. ii. 1 4. Come unto me, and take up thy bonds, thy cancelled bonds ; come unto me, and that dreadful attribute of Divine Justice shall never scare or fright thy conscience any more ; nay, thou shalt build thy hope upon it. You read, Rom. iii. 25. " That God hath set forth ^' Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare " his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through *' the forbearance of God : to declare, I say, at this time his righ- *' teousness ; that he might be just and the justifiei* of him thatbe- " lieveth in Jesus." Here you see the justification and pardon of a sinner built upon that very attribute which was so frightful and dreadful to him before. Well then, poor sinner, is there guilt upon thy conscience ? And doth thy soul shake and quiver to think how it shall stand before the just and terrible God in the great day ? Hearken to the voice of Christ crucified, who calls thee to him to receive thy discharge ; which if thou refuse, the law still itands in its full force and virtue against thy soul. This is one cord Christ casts from the cross over the souls of guilty sinners, to draw them to him.
2. The death of Christ purchases and procures perfect cleansing from the filth and pollution of sin to wash the defiled souls of sin- ners from all their uncleanness. For, " this is he that came by " water and by blood ; not by blood only, but by water also,'' 1 John V. 6. He comes by way of sanctification, as well as by way of justification. Lord, saith a convinced sinner, what an unclean nature, heart, and life have I .'^ Oh ! I am nothing but a heap of
uncleanness, an abhorrence to God and myself? how shall such a heart as mine, such an Augean stable be cleansed ? Come unto me, saith Christ ; I came by water as well as blood ; in me thou shalt find a fountain for sanctification as well as justification : come unto me, my Spirit shall undertake the cleansing of thy heart ; he shall take away the pollutions of sin perfectly, so that it shall be presented to God without spot.
3. And, lastly, the transcendent love of Christ shines out in its full strength upon the souls of sinners from the cmss ; and there is nothing hke love to draw love. When Christ was lifted up upon the cros-s, he gave such a glorious demonstration of the strength of his love to sinners, as one would think should draw love from the hardest heart that ever lodged in a sinner's breast. " Herein is " love, (saith the apostle) not that we loved God, but that he <' loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins," 1 John iv. 10. q. d. Here is the triumph, the riches and glory of Divine Love ; never was such love manifested in the world. There is much of God's love in temporal providences, but all is nothing to this ; this is love in its highest elevation ; love in its meridian glory ; before it was none hke it, and after it shall none appear hke unto it. And thus you see Christ, from the cross, casting forth a threefold cord (which is not easily broken) to draw the hearts of sinners to him.
4. DemonM. Fourthly, to conclude ; what mighty demonstration of the desire of his heart towards us, did our Redeemer give at and since his ascension into heaven ? As the whole life of Christ upon earth was a persuasive argument to dra^v sinners to him, so his ascen- sion to heaven hath many things in it which are mighty attractives to the hearts of men. I will only mention two :
1. The gifts he bestowed at his ascension.
2. The ends and designs of his ascension.
1. The gifts he bestowed on men at his ascension, for this very end and purpose ; whereof the Psalmist gives this account, Psal. Ixviii. 18. " Thou hast ascended on high ; thou hast received gifts " for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might '' dwell among them.'' He alludes to the Roman conquerors, who in the day of their triumph did spargere missilia, scatter their largesses among the people. Thus Christ at his ascension shed forth the gifts of the Spirit in various kinds, qualifying men for the work of the ministry' ; to enable them to plead with your souls, and carry on his suit when he should be in heaven. These gifts were ex- traordinary in the first age ; as the gifts of tongues and miracles, &c. and ordinary, to continue to the end of the world, Eph. iv. 8, 9- To some he gives depth of learning and judgment, to others a mighty Pathos^ a melting influence upon the affections; but all
designed to win over your hearts to Christ. This shews what care he took, and Avhat provision he answerably made for the success of his great design to draw the hearts of sinners to liim.