VeB. 26.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 147
Christ openly, and then live in constant communion with him. This is to receive Christ ; and is this easy? Can all this be done till God enlarge the heart ? 0 my Lord ! I am willing to receive thee ; do thou open and enlarge my heart so to do.
Again, it is expressed by apprehending Christ : Phil. iii. 12, 'If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus;' by taking hold of him, leaning upon him : Ps. xxii. 8, ' He trusted in the Lord,' or rolled himself upon the Lord ; by running for refuge : Heb. vi. 18, ' Who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before them ; ' as Joab laid hold on the horns of the altar, or the man that casually killed another ran to the city of refuge ; by a being found in him as in an ark, when the flood came upon the world : all which expressions imply a sense of danger. This efiect of faith is sensible in a time of trouble, bodily or spiritual, as things are more sensible one time than another. Horses draw the coach, but down the hill apace. The strength of an anchor is seen in a storm, the courage of a soldier in a fight. The child runneth and claspeth about the mother when anything affrightetli it.
Sometimes it is expressed by coming to Christ, and coming to God by him : Heb. vii. 25, ' Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all those that come to God by him ;' by choosing Christ as mediator, owning him, and consenting to God's eternal decrees, that he is alone a sufficient mediator. This was represented by laying hand on the head of the sacrifice : Lev. i. 4, ' He/ that is, he that brought the sacrifice, ' shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-oifering, and it shall be accepted for him, to make an atonement for him,' q. d. This is me, I deserve to die, but here is my sacrifice. All prayers were to be made in or towards the temple : 1 Kings viii., Deut. xii. 13, 14, ' Take heed that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest ; but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-ofierings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.' Daniel his windows being open towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks to God, Dan. vi. 10 ; he would not omit that circumstance. In all our addresses to God we must make use of Christ.
Sometimes it is expressed by committing ourselves to him : 2 Tim. i. 12, ' For I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day.' It is an advised act, it is fit the soul should be in safe hands. We are sensible that as long as this life lasts we are subject to many trials and changes ; therefore we put our souls into Christ's hands, in a confidence of his all-sufficiency. It is a knowing trust.
Use 1. To press us to mind this great privilege, * Christ in us.' This should be our chief care. We cannot mortify sin till we be in Christ; he is our sa notification. We can have no security against God's wrath till then : Acts iv. 12, * Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.' Whatever shifts they made against the flood, it would not serve, nothing but the ark could save them. Make this the business of your lives; wait upon the word and other ordinances with this aim ; improve providences to this end, to draw you the nearer
148 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XLV.
to God by Christ. Let this be the constant breathing of your souls : ' Yea, doubtless, and 1 count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of" Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ,' Phil. iii. 8. Measure all the business and employment of your lives by this. A tender mother that nurseth her child, she hath other work to do, but still she remembereth her child ; when she awaketh, she thinketh of her child; when she is abroad, when employed in the affairs of her family, her mind is on her child : God is pleased to resemble his love to us by this. So a true christian saith, My work is to get into Christ. When he is about business of the world, he still remembereth that this is his great care, and it must be minded every day ; when he riseth, when he goeth to sleep, this should run in his mind. This is to ep<yov, his work : John vi. 29, ' This is the work oi God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.' All other business is Trapepyov, his by-work, that he may get or lose it. Make more room for Christ in the soul.