Firsts Of the greatness of this design of God. We little under- stand what a marvellous thing is done on the earth, when the heart of a sinner is brought to close with Christ by faith. It would transport us with admiration, did we thoroughly consider it. Well may the apostle place it in the first rank of all the glorious and wonderful works of God, as he doth, 1 Tim. iii. 16/ " Great is *' the mystery of godhness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified " in the Spirit, seen of angels» preached unto the Gentiles, be- " lieved on in the world.'' Observe with what works of wonder faith is here ranked and associated. It is an astonishing work of God that ever God should be manifested in the flesh, that he that thunders in the clouds should be heard crying in a cradle ; that he who is over all God blessed for ever, should become a man. It is astonishing, that when he was taken down dead from the cross^ laid in the sepulchre, and the stone sealed upon it, he should rise on the third day from the dead by his own power : That ever the gospel should be preached to such a miserable and forlorn people as the Gentiles were, the scorn and contempt of the Jews. And no less marvellous is it to see the hearts of such poor creatures, glued so fast to idolatry, so perfectly dead in sin, to open to Christ upon such self-denying terms, as to let go all they had in the world for a blessed inheritance which they never saw. And were not this a marvellous w^ork of God indeed, there would never be such joy and triumph in heaven among the holy angels, as there is upon the opening of every sinner's heart to Christ, Luke xv. 7. The whole city of God is moved with it. Heaven rings again with the joyful tidings. As soon as ever the will begins to bow and open to Christ, the news is quickly in heaven, and all the angels of God rejoice at the tidings. As when a young prince is born, the conduits run with wine ; there is joy in every city throughout the kingdom : So also there is in heaven, when Christ hath gotten a new habita- tion in the soul of any sinner upon earth. Moreover, the great- ness of this design appears from the great rewards promised by the
Lord to every servant of his, who hath but the least hand to help it on. God would never reward the instruments so richly, if the success of the work were not of great value in his eyes. The minis- ters of Christ may be ill-rewarded by men, persecuted and re- proached for their labour ; but God will bountifully repay their pains and faithfulness, Dan. xii. 3. " They that turn many unto " righteousness, sliall shine as the stars, and as the brightness of " the firmament for ever and ever.'" All these things bespeak it a very great and important design ; upon which the heart of God is much set.
Secondly, And then, in the next place, as it is an exceeding great and imjx)rtant design and work of God, so it is a very liard and difficult work in itself; a work whose difficulties surmount the ability of angels.^ It is certainly a work carried on by the mighty power of God, through the greatest op|X)sitions imaginable : and there- fore it is noted. Rev. iii. 7. tJiat it is the peculiar prerogative of Jesus Christ, who only hath the key of the house of David, to open the heart of a sinner by faith. Men think it is an easy thing to be- heve ; but if you consult the scriptures, you will quickly be informed how grossly you mistake the nature of this work. In Gal. ii. 12< the believing soul is said to " rise with Christ, through the faith of " the operation of God, who raised him from the dead." In the resurrection of Christ there was a glorious operation of the power of God indeed ! you know it astonished the world to hear of it. The very same power that wrought that, must also be put forth to work this, or else it would never be wrought. So again, Eph. ii. 8. " By grace are ye saved througii faith, and that not of your- " selves, it is the gift of God ;" not of yourselves. You are no more able to believe in Christ, than you were to raise him from the dead : no more able to come one step towards him by faith, in your own power, than Lazarus was able to unbind himself in the grave, and come forth. Yea, in Eph. i. 18, 19, 20. the work of be- lieving is ascribed unto the exceeding greatness of the power of God. Nothing but power can do it ; no other power but the Al- mighty power of God can do it : it exceeds the power of ministers, yea, of angels. Three things will evince the difficulty of this work, viz.
2. The subject of it.
3. The enemies of it.
1. The nature of the work of faith, which is wliolly superna^ tural ; it is no less than gaining over the hearty and full consent of the will to take Jesus Christ with his ypke of obedience, Mat. xi. 29. and with his cross of sufferings. Mat. xvl. 24. And how £ar these will carry a man into out\s ard dangers, losses, torments,
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and sufferings, who fcan tell ? and all this upon the account of an unseen happiness and glory. Dearest lusts and corruptions must be mortified, sweetest pleasures and profits in the world abandoned and forsaken : all reproaches, losses, pains and penalties the devil and the world can lay u})on us for Christ's sake, must be em- braced and welcomed. And can it be supposed that any power beneath the almighty power of the Lord, any voice except the efficacious voice of Christ, can prevail with the will to give its firm explicit consent to such difficult and self-denying terms as these ?
2. Consider the Subject; wrought upon, viz. the dead, hard, ob- stinate heart of a blind perverse sinner ; a heart harder by nature than the nether mill-stone. It is as easy to melt the most obdurate rock into a sweet syrup, as it is to melt the heart of a sinner into penitential sorrows for sin. What, to bnng a dead heart to life ! to make that man bitterly bewail the sins that were his pleasure and delight, more than ever he bewailed the death of his nearest and dearest relation in the world ! to make a proud heart renounce its own self-righteousness, Avhich it dotes upon, and take all shame and reproach to itself upon the account of sin ! this is won- derful. You would think it a strange thing to see the course of the tide stopped with the breath of a man ; but oli, what a mar- vellous thing is here, that at the preaching of the gospel by a poor worm, the Lord should turn the tide of the will, and thus work about the soul to a ready compliance with his most self-denying terms and proposals !