(Sd) What hath he purchased for us ? He gave himself a ransom and price, a ransom to free us from death and hell. We would love a man that should get a pardon for our lives when we are condemned to die: 1 Thes. i. 10, ' Even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.' There was never any such wrath past or present ; it is a thing to come, when we shall stir up all his wrath. And a price to purchase for us the favour of God, and our eternal abode with him in heaven. Heaven is called ' the purchased possession,' Eph. i. 14. If we were to be annihilated, or to spend our time in some obscure place, it were mercy ; but to be for ever with the Lord, and to be filled up with God, who can express the greatness of this mercy ? And all this is freely offered to you in the gospel. Things that concern us affect us; and therefore surely this should melt the heart : Kom. xii. 1, ' I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God.' What ! shall not mercy prevail ? Joel ii. 13, ' And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God ; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.' Surely God's graciousness and readiness to receive returning sinners should work upon us. An hammer will easily break an hard stone against a soft bed ; but if it be laid on an hard solid body, that will not give way underneath, strike as hard as you will, it is kept from breaking ; so smite thy soul on the gospel, hell and damnation may be the hammer ; but then lay thy soul upon the gospel and gospel con- siderations, then it breaketh all to shatters. Strike thy soul with the blows of God's wrath against the law, and it resists still ; all doth but make us desperate ; but now remember the mercies of the Lord, how freely he inviteth returning sinners, and tliis breaks the heart to pieces.
[2.] It is a kindly argument ; the heart is not till then kindly humbled for sin as sin. An apprehension of wrath is one thing, godly sorrow is another thing ; the former is necessary, but not enough : 2 Kings xxii. 19, ' Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake
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against this place, and a^i^ainst tlie inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, saith the Lord.' Threatenings may terrify, but this melts the heart, and begets a serious remorse for sin, as offensive, displeasing, and grievous unto God : 2 Cor. vii. 10, ' For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of ; but the sorrow of the world worketh death ; ' Ezek. vi. 9, ' And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives ; because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols ; and they shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.' Not only for the evils which they have suffered, but which they have committed ; for the evil that is in sin, not for the evil that is after sin : 2 Chron. xxxii. 26, Hezekiah, ' humbled himself for the pride of his heart.' Not only for the inconvenience and mischief done thereby, but because God was offended. That christian Niobe wept much 'because she loved much,' Luke vii. 47.
Secondly, There are two graces — faith and fear.
1. Faith. As reason maketh a difference between a man and a beast, so doth faith between a man and a man. It is faith bringeth us under the power of a truth, and maketh light active. Three times Christ re- proached his disciples for hardness of heart, and still the cause given is unbelief : Mark vi. 52, ' They considered not the miracle of the loaves for their hearts were hardened ; ' Mark viii. 17, ' Why reason ye because ye have no bread ? Perceive ye not yet, neither understand ? have ye your heart yet hardened ? ' Mark xvi. 14, * Afterwards he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them because of their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen h'im after he was risen.' A man is dull, stupid, and senseless till faith maketh light break in upon the heart with power ; till then he will not make use of his eyes, ears, or memory. All affections follow persuasion. Faith persuadeth of death, and hell, and judgment to come. We would not trifle away the day of grace if we did believe the goodness of God offering favour and life eternal in Christ. Hcec audiunt quasi somniantes — Men entertain these things as a dream, and are only a little troubled for the present, till they thoroughly believe them.