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offers of the gospel, and to be affected with and entertain the grace of Christ : so Ps. xxii. 27, * All the nations of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord ; ' first remember, then turn. They are like men sleeping and distracted before ; they do not consider whence they are, what they are doing, whither they are going, what shall become of them to all eternity.
[2.] Till we are sensible of our lost estate, we have not that trouble for sin, that hunger and thirst for grace, which the scripture express- eth everywhere in the calls and invitations of the gospel : as Mat. ix. 12, 13, ' The whole need not the physician, but they that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance ; ' and Mat. xi. 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest ; ' Isa. Iv. 1, ' Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; ' Heb. vi. 18, ' Who have fled for refuge, to lay hold of the hope set before us. ' They that are heart-whole will not value the spiritual physician, neither will they that feel not their load care for offers of ease. None will prize bread but the hungry, nor come to the waters but the thirsty, nor make haste to the city of refuge but those that see an avenger of blood at their heels. Or to divest these things of their metaphor ; sin unseen grieveth not ; that which the eye seetli not the heart rueth not ; it is the hungry conscience that cannot be satisfied without Christ's renewing and reconciling grace ; it is the curse driveth us to the promise, and the tribunal of God's justice to the throne of grace ; one covenant to another. None do with such sighs and groans mourn and wait in the use of means till they obtain mercy as those who have a sight and sense of their lost estate, or their sad and miserable case by nature.
[3.] It appeareth by the types, the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt and Babylon, which figured our restoration by Christ. Now God would not deliver his people out of Egypt till they sighed and groaned out of the anguish of their spirits for their cruel bondage : Exod. iii. 7, ' I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters, for I know their sorrows.' So God delivered them not out of their captivity of Babylon till they were sensible of their being ready to perish under it: Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 'Behold, they say. Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost ; we are cut off for our parts.' Now the great truth figured hereby is our perishing condition under the captivity of sin before the Spirit of life entereth into us.
[4.] By experience it appeareth that Christ is not valued, nor his grace so highly prized, till men have a sensible awakening knowledge of their own misery and lost estate by reason of sin. When sin is sin indeed, then grace is grace indeed and Christ is Christ indeed. If men have a superficial sense of sin, they have a superficial faith in Christ. The slight person doth the work of an age in a breath. We are all sinners, but God is merciful. Christ died for sinners, and there is aa end both of their law and gospel work. If men have a doctrinal and speculative knowledge of sin, they have also a doctrinal opinionative faith in Christ. Always according to our sense of the disease so is our carriage about the cure and remedy. It must needs be so, for God by the one will advance the other, ' that where sin aboundeth, graco
158 SERMONS UPON LUKE XIX. 10.
might mucli more abound,' Eom. v. 26 ; that is, rather in our sense and feeling than in our practice ; so that one wounded for sin will more earnestly look after a cure. Others may dispute for the gospel, but they feel not the comfort of it. Well, then, I have proved to you that every man is in a lost condition, sensible or insensible of it, and that we ought to have a deep sense of this upon our hearts, to count ourselves lost and undone, that we may be more prepared and fitted to entertain the offers and calls of the gospel, and prize our Redeemer's grace.
II. In what sense Christ is said to- seek and save such. Here is a double work — seeking and saving.
1. What is his seeking ? It implieth —
[1.] His pity to us in our lost estate, and providing means for us, in that he doth not leave us to our wanderings, or our own heart's counsels, but taketh care that we be brought back again to God: John x. 16, * Other sheep have I, which are not of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.' It is spoken of his care to bring in his own among the gentiles ; he will in due time convert and bring in all that belong to the election of grace. Christ hath not only a care of those that are already brought in, but of those who are yet to be brought in ; they are his sheep, though yet unconverted, in respect of his eternal purpose ; and his heart is upon them, when th^y little think of him, and his love to them. So the Lord Jesus appeared in the vision to Paul : Acts xviii. 10> ' Fear not, I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee ; for I have much people in this city.' He doth not say. There are much people, Corinth was a populous city, and it is good casting out the net where there are store of fish ; but, I have much people. It is not meant of those Corinthians that were already converted to God, for at that time there were few or none, for all those at Corinth that were converted were converted by Paul : 1 Cor. iv. 15, ' Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers ; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.' Or if some few were already converted, Paul was not afraid of them. But there are much peaple, viz., who were elected by God, redeemed by Christ, though yet wallowing in their sins ; such ■ as these he findeth out in their wanderings.