Fourthly^ Next we shall enquire into the reasons why Christ thus entertains, feasts, and refreshes the soul that receives him* And,
Reason 1. This he doth to express the great joy and satisfaction his soul hath in the faith and obedience of poor sinners. We read, Isa. liii. 11. of the hard travail of Christ's soul, and the great satis- faction he hath in the fruit and issue thereof: " He shall see of the '' travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." 0 what pleasure and satisfaction doth it give him to behold the eternal counsels of God and sore travails of his soul brought to such a birth ! there is no such pleasure like it to the soul of Christ in this world. As it is abundant satisfaction to a man, to behold the accomplishment of a design upon which he hath laid out many thoughts and much cost, at last happily finished : or as it is to a woman that has had a hard labour, a sore travail for a child, to behold the fruit of her womb, to embrace and smile upon that child she travailed for ; so, and much more than so, it is to Christ ; and therefore, as the Father of the prodigal manifested the joy of his heart for the return oi his son (who was to him as dead, and lost) by a feast and music, so doth Christ here answerably manifest the content and satisfaction of his soul by entertaining the believer with these royal dainties of heaven : it is the soufs welcome home to Christ.
Reason 2. This Christ doth to relieve and refresh poor distressed souls who have endured so many fears and soirows from the time
of their first conviction until tins day of their union with Christ by faith. The way of faith is a very humble way ; there is much cut- ting work in antecedent convictions and humiliations, sad nights and sick days with many poor souls ; and these things bring them very low : they see tlie law broken by sin, wrath hanging over them in the threatenings, the bitter taste thereof they have in their con- sciences ; they have dealt with fears and horrors a long time, and they need succour and support, which the Lord Jesus is now resol- ved to give them, lest the spirit fail before him, Isa. Ivii. 16. He delights to comfort them that are cast down, 2 Cor. vii. 6. Christ is of a compassionate nature, he is as ready as able to succour them that are tempted, Heb. ii. 18. That word which w^e render suc- cour, signifies to run in by way of help at the cry of one that is in distress. ]\Iany emphatical cries have gone up to heaven from the distressed, sin-sick soul ; these the compassionate Jesus hears, and now comes in seasonably to succour and refresh it ; he hath rich cordials for fainting hours ; the soul hath had a bitter hreakfast, and therefore Christ will give it a comfortable supper ; " I will come in " to him, and sup with him."
Reason 8. Those that open their hearts to Christ must expect to xaeat great troubles, sufferings, and temptations, in that new course whereinto they are entered: their way to heaven lies through much tribulation ; all our troubles are not over when we are got into Christ ; nay, then commonly our greatest outward troubles begin. Heb. x. 32. " After ye believed ye endured a great fight " of afflictions." Carnal relations now scoff, frown, and cast off; the world hates them, and marks them out for persecution. Now that poor Cristians may not utterly be discouraged when they meet with those troubles in the way of their duty, Christ will cheer and hearten them by these spiritual refreshments : this is a stock laid in for a rainy day. Christ himself had a voice from heaven, Matth. xvii. 5. " This is my beloved Son," a httle before his great com- bat ; much more do his poor people need such consolations, to support and encourage them. The wise God foresees, and by this provision fore-lays the troubles they are to meet with : an hour of sealing fortifies the soul for an hour of suffering. It hath been the observation of some Christians when they have felt m.ore than or- dinary comforts of the Spirit, that some great trial hath been near them ; and the event hath confirmed it. Whatever comforts Christ gives his people at their first entrance into his service, they will have need enough of them all before they finish their course. To these first sealings they will need often to run back and have fre- quent recourse to them, and all little enough to support them in after-trials.
Reason 4. Christ comes in to the opening soul with &uch divine
cordials and refreshments to defeat and countermine the plot of Satan, who hath so often and so lately been discouraginor them by representing the ways of Christ as sad, melancholy ways; telling them they shall never laugh more, never be merry more after they have embraced and espoused the ways of holiness: Spiritus CaU vinianus est Spiritus melancholicus. Well, their own experiences shall now confute it, for they now taste that pleasure in Christ, in faith and obedience, which they never tasted in the ways of sin : thus that scandalous libel of the devil is experimentally con- futed. They find they were never truly merry till now, Luke XV. 24. all true mirth commences from our closing with Christ ; " and they began to be merry.'*