[2.] In the heart there is carelessness and stubbornness. And there- fore, as God must teach their minds, so he must draw their hearts ; as it is said, John vi. 44, ' No man cometh unto me, except the Father draw him.' The power of the Spirit must be put forth into the soul to bend it to Christ.
Let us take notice of these two e\'ils.
(1.) Carelessness. Men slight Christ, and then they are not won to believe in him. This carelessness cometh from two things : —
(1st.) A love of ease. Men cannot think of Christ without reluctancy, and they are loth to put themselves to the trouble. When the spouse is lodged in the bed of security, see how she pleadeth : ' I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on ? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them ?' A carnal, careless heart, that loveth ease, sticketh at every little hesitancy and vain excuse. In hot countries, where they went barefoot, they were wont to wash their feet after travel. They are loth to arise to entertain Christ for fear of trouble and loss to themselves : Prov. xx. 4, ' The sluggard will not plough because of the cold.' Many do not care for Christ, because it will cost them some pains and care to pursue after him. They must follow him through so many prayers, meditation, and observation, that they had rather sit still. There is need of a great deal of revelation to make the soul seriously to attend. The spouse fainted, Cant. v. 6, when Christ put his finger into the key-hole of the lock : ' Then I rose up and opened to my beloved, and my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone ; my soul failed when he spake.' When he beginneth to touch the wards of the heart, all idle excuses vanish, then nothing but Christ will satisfy the heart. So Acts ii. 37, ' When they were pricked in their hearts, then they cried out. Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Men tliat are not converted indulge their vain thoughts and excuses still ; but when that is once past, they cannot dally with salvation any more : Acts xvi. 30, the jailer saith ' Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' Oh, tell me quickly, it can brook no delay !
^ Qu. 'against the truth '• — Ed.
214 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [IsA. LIII. 1.
(2dly.) Doting upon oilier excellencies. One love, like a nail, drivcth out another. A man slighteth a thing when the stream of his affec- tions are carried another way. Some had a farm, some a yoke of oxen, some had man-ied a wife, some one excuse, some another ; but they all said, ' I cannot come.' Men are severally taken up, either with lionours, or profits, or pleasures; but all keep from Christ. Therefore there is need of the Spirit's revelation, to display the beauties of Christ before the soul, that they may see that there is more in this beloved than in other beloveds, Cant. v. 9 ; that so the force of our ill affec- tions may be broken, and the stream of the heart diverted another way, and brought about to Christ. This is that which is desired in that request, 'Draw me; we will run after thee,' Cant. i. 4; that the Spirit would display the glory of Christ to the soul, that we may look upon him as an attractive object, and so find our hearts and our desires following after him. Thus for carelessness.
(2.) Stubbornness of heart, that is another thing. There is a wilful- ness in men ; they will not believe, because they will not believe. Men will not close with Jesus Christ ; God showeth them the way, and they contemptuously reject it : John v. 40, • Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.' Christ invitcth men by the gospel : ' Come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden ; ' and they will not come ; there is no answer in the heart to God's call because of this stubbornness of S})irit. But now, when gospel invitations are seconded with the Spirit's motions, they command their own entrance into the soul, the heart submits to the way that God reveal eth for its good. The heart, like a quick, strong echo, returneth the full answer of gospel demands : Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou saidst unto me. Seek ye my face, my heart said, Thy face. Lord, will 1 seek;' Zech. xiii. 9, ' 1 will .say, It is my people ; and they shall say, The Lord is my God.' So much for the proof of the point.
I shall answer a doubt or two before I go on to the application.
The doubts are these : —
1. If the want of the Spirit's revelation be the cause why so few believe, how can God be just in punishing men for their unbelief, since he doth not give them all a like revelation ?
I answer — Two ways : First, From God's sovereignty : Exod. xxxiii. 19, * I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy ;' so Rom. ix. 15, IG. God's will is the measure of his actions, as the moral law is the measure of our actions. That is a rule to us, not to God ; he giveth no account of his matters, he acteth out of infinite sovereignty, and so he may do what he pleaseth Who shall set a task for him ? Mat. xi. 25, 2(5, ' I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : even so. Father, because it seemed good in thy sight/ That is the upshot of all, and the result of all disputes about it : ' Even so, Father, because it pleaseth thee.' He doth not tell you for what cause it plea.sed the Father ; but even so it pleased him, as if that were reason enough : it is just because it pleased the Father. You are not to be judges of God's actions, but doers of his will. God made you not to censure him, but to give him glory. Tiie pattern of all