This point winds up in encouragement to every willing and obe- dient soul, whom the Lord shall persuade to comply with the call of the gospel, whatever his former rebellions have been. There are some whose hearts the Lord hath touched with a deep sense of their sin and misery, and of the all-sufficient remedy that is in Christ ; but the sense of former rebellions appals and daunts them ; they cannot hope for any acceptance with him. Here is good news for such souls ; Christ is at the door, and former rebellions are no bar to him, provided there be now a hearty compliance with his voice ; / wUl come unto him. A glorious promise, comprising five inesti- mable benefits and mercies in it. (1.) This is the most glorious work of God that ever was, or can be wrought upon the heart of a poor sinner, to open it by repentance and faith, and put Christ into the full possession of it. The power of all the angels in hea- ven, ministers on earth, duties and ordinances, cannot effect tliis ; this is the peculiar work of God, 1 Cor. i. 30. " But of him are *^ ye in Christ Jesus." Look, as it were the marvellous work of God to unite our nature unto Christ, by an hypostat'ical union ; so it is no less a marvellous work of God to unite our persons to Christ by a mystical union, to prepare the soul as a habitation for Christ, and give him the possession of it. (2.) This coming of Christ into the soul is the very foundation of all our hopes for glory ; until this be done, we are without hope. But in the same hour Christ comes into the soul, a solid foundation of the hopes of glory is laid in that soul, Col. i. 27. " which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." I know the um-egenerate world is full of hope ; but their hopes are built upon the sand. Union with Christ is the steady foundation on which the hopes of heaven are laid. (3.) / ivill come vnto Mm ; that is, to dwell in his soul for ever, never to leave him more ; therefore (Eph. iii. 17.) he is said to dwell in our hearts hy faith ; not sojourn for a night, but abide there for ever. Nothing can separate Clirist and that soul, Rom. viii. 35. Thy soul shall never be an habita- tion for Satan any more. When Christ comes in, he saith, as of the temple, " Here will I dwell for ever.*" (4.) This coming in of Christ entitles the soul to all spiritual privileges, 1 John v. IS. " He that hath the Son, hath life :" and, 1 Cor. iii. ult. " All is " yours, for ye are Christ's." (5.) This is the highest honour that ever God put upon a creature, / will come in to Mm. O, how should the soul feel itself advanced by such an honour as this ! What, to be the living temple of Jesus Christ ! for Christ to dwell, and walk in thy soul ! as it is 2 Cor. vi. 16. I tell you, this is an honour beyond and above the honour done to angels.
And, how near art thou to all these blessed privileges in the day
that thy heart is wounded for sin ! Thy tlioughts become solicitous about union with Christ, and thy will begins to bow and yield after a serious debate of the terms of the gospel in thy most solemn thoughts. Now is the door half open, and Christ ready to make his first entrance into thy soul. God forbid any thing should now liinder the completing of so great work.
Behold, I stand at the door, and hiock ; [if any man hear my voice,'] and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
In the former sermons, Christ's free and general invitation to sinners hath been considered ; in the next place we are to take into consideration the principal means or instrument by which the heart of a sinner is opened to receive Christ ; and that is not by the native power of his own will, not by the alone efficacy of the gos- pel preaclied, but by the voice of Jesus Christ, \vhich opens the will, and makes the persuasions of the gospel effectual. If any man, hear my voice.
Hearing is either external or internal ; for the soul hath its ear, as well as the body. " He that hath an ear, let him hear what " the Spirit saith unto the churches," Rev. ii. 17. i. e. He that hath a spiritual ear to perceive and judge the voice of the Spirit by. And it is a sore judgment when God denies such an ear to the soul, Isa. vi. 9- " Go tell this people, hear ye indeed, but un- " derstand not." Spiritual hearing is the work of the inner man. And though we have many auditors, yet, in this sense, no more hearers than believers. Words of sense do in scripture connote affections. This hearing of Christ's voice implies not only the re- ceiving of the sound of the gospel into the external organ ; but it notes the work of the understanding; which by the ear trieth words, as the mouth taste th meat. Job xii. 11. And the work of the affections, which receive the truth in love, 2 Thess. ii. 10. It also implies the obedience of the soul to what we hear. We cannot be said, in this sense, to hear what we obey not. Qur minds may be delighted with the pleasant air and melody of the gospel, and yet it is all one as if we heard it not, when obedience doth not follow hear- ing, Ezek. xxxiii. 32. " Thou art unto them a very lovely song, " &c. for they hear thy words, but they do them not." But in
this place it especially signifies the vital sound of Chrises efficacious internal voice, which is the principle of spiritual life to the souls of dead sinners ; according to that expression of Christ, John v. 25. '' Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, *' when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they " that hear shall live.""
From hence the eighth Observation will be this,
Doct. 8. That no ma?i*s will savingly and effectually opens to re- ceive Christ, tmtil the spiritual quickening voice o/* Christ be Jirst heard by the soul.
Now, touching this almighty spiritual voice of Christ, by which the hearts of sinners are effectually opened, six things must be ex« plained in order.
1 . The divers sorts and kinds of Christ's voices.
2. The general nature of this internal voice.
3. The innate characters and special properties of it.
4. The objects to whom it is directed.
5. The motives inducing Clirist to speak to one, and not to an- other.
6. The special effects wrought and sealed by it upon every soul that hears it.
First, We will speak of the divers sorts and kinds of Christ'*s voices. I am here only concerned about two, viz.
2. His internal voice.
1. There is an external voice of Christ, which we may call his ministerial voice in the preaching of the gospel. The scriptures are his word, and ministers his mouth, Jer. xv. 19. He that heareth them, heareth Christ.