5. Consider how ill Christ will take it to be refused : Prov. i. 29, 30, 'They would none of my counsel, and despised all my reproofs ;' and Ps. lxxxi. 11, 'But my people would not hearken to my voice ; Israel would none of me.' Despising of kindness is very provoking. Oh ! then, give Christ a free and a full and firm consent, and all is ended.
[1.] A free consent, not extorted. When men are a little frighted into a good conscience, Christ seemeth to be welcome to them ; but as their trouble weareth off, so doth their resolution to take Christ for their Lord and Saviour : Ps. lxxviii. 34, 35, ' When he slew them, then they sought him, and returned and inquired early after God ; and they re- membered that God was their rock, and the Most High their redeemer.' In such cases men put a force upon themselves, and their heart is not inclined, but compelled, as those that marry against their wills. It is only in a pang and fit of conscience that they like Christ, when some great distress forceth them to resolve for him, and their fears drive them to Christ, rather than his excellences draw them to him. That which is forced is not sincere. Many own Christ in their sickness and dis- tress, that never care for him when they are well at ease ; then they forget all, live as they did before, when their turn is served. There is a difference between a woman's coming to a physician for cure, and her coming to a husband to dwell with him. True conversion doth begin in fear, but it doth not end there ; it endeth in a change of heart, and a settled love to God and holiness, and a hatred of sin. This is not only seen in men when the fear of death affrights them, but in their whole lives. Others, under some conviction, they would have Christ for their consciences, and the world for their hearts.
[2.] It must be a full and unbounded consent to all the terms and demands of the gospel, to be what he would have you to be, and to do
VER. 10.] SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. 399
what he would have you to do : Mat. xiii. 44, the man ' sold all to buy the pearl of great price.' You must not stick at anything. Though you are unwilling to let the match go, yet it is no full consent. Christ will be taken for better for worse ; you must renounce your dearest lusts, devote and resign your choicest interests, or else you are un- worthy of him. The bargain is not made till all your interests be laid at his feet, Luke xiv. 26-33. So for lusts, Mat. v. 29, 30. Here men usually stick, and had rather undergo any cost and pains, than undergo the mortification of sin, as you may see in Micah vi. 6, 7, 'Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God ? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, and calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, and the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' Now, before it comes to this, man hath many debates of soul. They are con- vinced that sin is evil, contrary to God, and hurtful to themselves ; and have some mind to let it go ; but, in fine, their hearts are more for it than against it, and so do not come up to a saving consent to take Christ for their Lord and husband. The pleasures of sin are so bewitching, that they cannot come up roundly to Christ's terms, or to the whole business of Christianity.
[3.] It must be a firm and habitual consent, and such as is not retracted in our after conversation. Weak and wavering purposes soon come to nothing ; but when this is your ordinary frame, and the new nature, and the inclination of your souls is this way, when there is a new bent put upon your spirits, then it will hold out : Ps. cxix. 112, ' I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always to the end.'
The second thing remarkable in the text is the entrance of those that were ready in to the nuptial feast ; and —
1. Who are the persons ? They that are inwardly renewed, and endowed with the saving graces of the Spirit.
2. What is their privilege ? They went into the marriage, to the festivities of the marriage-chamber, or place of nuptial entertainment. Marriage-feasts are often spoken of in scripture : Judges xiv. 10, ' And Sampson made a feast, for so used the young men to do ; ' and Gen. xxix. 22, ' And Laban gathered all the young men of the place, and made a feast/ This figureth the joys of eternal life, and that full and sweet communion we shall have with Christ in heaven.
Doct. Those only who are ready and prepared for Christ shall enter into eternal joys, when others are excluded.
Luke xii. 37, ' Blessed are those servants whom, when the Lord cometh, he shall find watching.' So Mat. xxiv. 44, ' Therefore be ye also ready.'