YOL. XIV. H
114 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. XXIX,
I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.' ' I will arise and go to my father,' saith the prodigal, in Luke xv. 18 ; ' but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him,' ver. 20. Therefore, when a poor soul casts himself upon Christ with a purpose never to forsake him through God's grace, I do not doubt to pronounce him a believer, though there be much doubts and uncertainty about the success of such addresses. As a man falling into a river, espieth a bough of a tree, and catcheth at it with all his might, as soon as he hath fast hold of it, he is safe, though troubles and fears do not presently vanish out of his mind ; so the soul, espying Christ as the only means to save him, and reaching out the hand to him, is safe, though it be not presently quieted and pacified. Now this act discovereth itself by three things.
SERMON XXIX.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reioarder of those that diligently seek- him. — Heb. xi. 6.
(1.) By desires, a constant and earnest desire to go to Christ : Mat. v. 6, ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.' Now no work of nature hath God made a promise of grace to. There may be velleities ; Balaam and others had wishes, but not real desires. In these constant serious desires the soul cannot be quiet without Christ : Ps. xlii. 1, * As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 0 God.' The soul earnestly desires to be a partaker of Christ and his merits. Tliese desires are drawn out in prayer. In the want of an expected good we sally out after it by passionate desires, earnest sighs and groans.
(2.) By pursuits. Whosoever is moved to make after Christ as the only means of his acceptation with God, truly believeth ; who make this their work, John vi. 27, ' Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.'
(3.) By rejoicing in hope when we have nothing in fruition : Heb. iii. 6, 'If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.'
To sum up all : the lowest act of faith we have found to be the resolution of a humbled sinner to cast himself on Christ. Eecumbency is the formal vital act of faith, and a purpose of recumbency the lowest degree of that act. Well then, if, out of a sight of thy lost condition and a high esteem of Christ, thou resolvest to cast thy soul upon him, thou dost truly believe. Now this purpose is bewrayed to be serious and real by desire, by pursuit, and sometimes as faith receiveth strength and growth by rejoicing in our future hopes when we have nothing in actual feeling and fruition.
VeR. 6.] SEP.MONS UPON EEBRST7S XL 115
Though I suppose nothing of moment can be objected against the decision of this question, yet because some desire to clear th,is recum- bency from that leaning on the Lord which is spoken of, Micah iii. 11, ' The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money ; yet will they lean upon the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us ? none evil can come upon us.' Whence they infer there may be a leaning and recumbency where there is no grace.
I answer by a KaTd')(^p7)ai<;. Leaning is put for a vain trust ; the prophet speaketh according to their presumption ; they thought it leaning or staying on the Lord when it was but a foolish confidence built upon an ill ground, tlie presence of God in the outward ordin- ances and services of the temple, as if this would seciu'e them against all dangers, and God would be for them, though in their persons they were never so wicked and unreformed.
But to clear it more fully : in all recumbency we must not only regard the act and the object ; it is not enough that there be confidence or strength of resolution, and that this confidence be in pretence placed on God and Christ ; as carnal men will say, I pitch all my hopes on Christ for salvation. A wicked man may make a bold and daring adventure, and lean upon the Lord, though at length the Lord will jostle him off. But there are other circumstances which must be con- sidered, as (1.) The necessary method and order of this recumbence; (2.) The warrant or ground of it ; (3.) The fruits and effects of it.
1st. The method and order of it. It is the resolution of a humbled sinner to cast himself upon Christ. We still run to Christ out of a sense of our own misery. The heart must be touched by the word. When conscience is drowsy, it is but a presumptuous act ; and the devil, to delude them in an imaginary faith, sufFereth them to hold out Christ in a naked pretence. The end and use of faith is to lift up that which is cast down ; therefore it is sometimes expressed by a catching or taking hold of Christ, as those that are ready to perish in the waters catch hold of a bough ; as Adonijah, when guilty of death, took hold of the horns of the altar : Isa. Ivi. 4, ' Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant.' So the heirs of promise are described to be those ' who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them,' Heb. vi. 18 ; it is an allusion to those that fly from the avenger of blood. AVratli maketh pursuit, and the believer runneth to the city of refuge. Whosoever sets his face to Christ wdien chased out of himself by his own fears, and tremblingly fiieth to undeserved grace, — whosoever, I say, findeth himself in truth to be thus affected, need not doubt of his interest in Christ ; he is driven from sin and wrath, and drawn to Christ to seek salvation alone in him. Certainly he is an heir of promise, and God hath sworn to him. So in the metaphor of leaning on Christ, it supposeth a falling unless Christ did bear us up. This is the sure method of grace ; God comfortetli those that are cast down, Christ hath a napkin for the wet face of sinners. This is not only true at first conversion, but every time we renew our access to him, it is either out of new troubles, or out of a constant tenderness of conscience. Therefore in heaven there is no faith, because