IV. Clmracter. This spiritual internal voice of Christ is a sur- 2)rising voice, altogether unexpected by the soul that hears it ; "I ** am found of them that sought me not," Isa, Ixv. 1. Little do we foresee the designs God hath upon us in bringing us to such a place^ and under such a setmon, at such or such a time ; even as little as Saul thought of a kingdom when he was seeking his father's asses. It is much with us as it was with the apostles when Christ called them ; little did Matthew think when he sat at the receipt of custom, or Saul think when posting unto Damascus upon the deviPs errand, that Christ and salvation had then been so near them. Some have come to scoff and deride the messengers and truths of God ; others to gratify their curiosity; and many in a customary course, not knowing where else, with peace to themselves or reputation with others, to spend that hour. But God's thoughts were not theirs ; the time of mercy was now come^ and whatever sinful or low enda brouglit them thither, the Lord's design was then and there to manifest himself to them. It is with such souls, in some respect, as it was with the spouse, Cant. vi. 12. to whose expression I may here allude, " Or ever I was aware, my soul made me as the chariots of Abinadab."" I went to the congregation for company, I was sitting under the word with a careless wandering heart, as at other times ; when lo, above all the thoughts of my heart, an arrow of conviction was suddenly shot into my conscience, which startled, wounded, and disquieted it, as it is now beyond the power of any but Christ him- self to settle and satisfy it.
V. Character, This spiritual internal voice of Christ is energet'icaly great and mighty in power ; piercing the heart, cleaving, as it were, the very reins ; full of efficacy to the soul that hears it. The power of God comes along with this voice of God. You read, Heb. iv. 12. " The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any " two-edged sword ; piercing even to the dividing asunder of the " soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow."
Now this efficacy is not inherent in the word itself, it works not thus as a natural agent ; then all would feel this power, that comes within the sound of it. No, this comes from the Spiiit of Christ,
1T(> r.XGL.\XD's DUTY.
speaking in it to the sinner's conscience ; when it is the administra- tion of the Spirit, then it becomes thus efficacious. You read in Psal. xxix. from ver. 3. to 10. of the wonderful efficacy of God's providential voice ; " The voice of the Lord is powerful ; " the voice of the Lord is full of majesty ; it breaks the cedars, " divides the flames of fire, shakes the wilderness, maketh the " hinds to calve.'"* This the providential voice of God, in the winds, thunders, and lightnings, can do ; but, alas ! what is this to the efficacy of his spiritual voice ? What is the breaking of the cedars of Lebanon to the breaking of the heart of a sinner? What is the shaking of the trees in the wilderness to the fears of wrath to come, which shake the souls of convinced sinners, and make their very hearts to tremble ? Acts xvi. 30. What is the dividing of the flames of fire, to the dividing of a soul from its beloved lusts ? " The weapons of our warfare (saith the apostle) " are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, '^ casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth " itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity " every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Here be the glorious effects of this voice, which plainly discover from whom it comes. The voice of God is no less to be admired in its magnificent effects in the new creation, than in the first creation, with which the apostle compares it, 2 Cor. iv. 6. " God that com- '' manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our " hearts." It was marvellous to see, at the word of Christ, Laza- rus, that was dead in his gi-ave, to come forth bound in his grave- clothes ; and no less to see a soul dead in sin, bound in the bonds of corruption, at a word of Christ, to arise and come forth with spiritual life ; John v. 25. " The dead shall hear the voice of the " Son of God ; and they that hear it shall live.""
VL Character. This spiritual voice of Christ is so convictive to the conscience of a sinner, that it puts a final end to all shifts and evasions : Whilst man only spake, the soul had a thousand shifts to evade and put oft' what was spoken ; but now all disputes and de- bates are at an end ; no more subterfuges and cunning evasions now. The Spirit when he cometh, " he shaU convince the world of sin,'* John xvi. 8. The word signifies to convince by demonstration ; and that is, to shew a thing impossible to be otherwise than we re- present it to be. Formerly, when the terrors of God were threa- tened against sin, the shuffling heart was wont to sav, this concerns me no more than another ; if it go ill with me, it will go ill with thousands as well as me. It is true, this is my evil, and who is with- out them ? I have some evils in me, but yet I have some good too. But no sooner doth the Spirit speak conviction to the conscience, but all these pleas are out of doors. It may be, the state of the
sinner's soul was doubtful to him before ; but it is not so now : It had some fears of hell, but balanced with some vain liopes of hea- ven : But now the debate is ended, the great question determined. Whatever I am, or have ; Whatever duties I have done, and what- soever sins I have avoided, I see I am not regenerated, I am in my natural christless state ; and except I be changed, I must be damn- ed. This was the effect of Christ's convictive voice unto Paul, Rom. vii. 9. " I was alive without the law once, but when the command- " ment came, sin revived, and I died/' He had read the law many a time, and had the literal knowledge of it : But under these things his vain hopes lived and flourished, until the spiritual sense of the law came home to his heart, by the teaching voice of the Spirit^ and then his vain hopes gave up the ghost, and his sin and guilt stared in the face of his conscience.