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work was to pursue vain pleasures, suitable to thy fleshly mind : Titus iii. 3, ' Serving divers lusts and pleasures;' running with the rest of the wicked world into all manner of sin: Eph. ii. 2, 'Wherein in times past ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.' And all this while thou wert under a sentence of condemnation : John iii. 18, * He that believeth not is condemned already.' And there was nothing but the slender thread of a frail life between thee and execution, and the wrath of the eternal God ready ever and anon to break out upon thee: John iii. 36; 'He that believeth not the Son of God, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.' Surely we that were lost were not worth the looking after. Now, that God should, with so much ado, and so much care, seek to saye such wretched creatures, oh! how should we be affected with the mercy ! Which of you, having a servant that ran away from you sound and healthy, but afterwards is become blind, deformed, and diseased, will seek after him, and cure him with costly medicines and much care, and bring him into the family, and receive him with so much tenderness, as if all this had not been ? And yet this, and much more, is the case between us and God.
2. Consider how many thousands there are in the world whom God hath passed by, and left them in their impenitency and carnal security, under the bondage of sin and the vassalage of Satan ; and how few there are that shall be saved, in comparison of the multitude that shall be eternally destroyed ; and that God should call thee with an holy calling, and bring thee in, to be one of that little flock that is under that good shepherd's care ; and that when there is but, as it were, one of a family and two of a tribe, that thou shouldst be singled out from the rest, and chosen, when they are left. What mere grace, and astonish- ins: distino:uishing mercy is this ! ' Who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received ^ 1 Oor. iv. 7. The Lord hath passed by thousands and ten thousands who, for deserts, were all as good, and, for outward respects, much better than us. We were as deep in original sin as they, and for actual sin, it may be, more foul and gross ; and for dignity in the world, many more rich, more honourable, more wise, are left in a state of sin to perish eter- nally. And that thou shouldst be as a brand plucked out of the burning ; that God should reform thy crooked, perverse spirit, and pardon all thy sins, and lead thee in the way of righteousness unto eternal glory : how should thy heart and mouth be filled with the high praises of God ! and how should you say, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed my soul !
3. Consider what preventing grace God used towards you ; how ho Bought you out, when you sought not him, that he might save you. As this saving mercy was not deserved by you, so it was not so much as desired by you. The Lord pitied thee when thou hadst not an heart to pity thyself, and prevented thee with his goodness. It is good to observe the circumstances of our first awakening, or rediicement from our wanderings. The apostle speaketh of the called Kara TrpodeaLv, ' according to his purpose,' Rom. viii. 28. Not the purpose of them that arc converted, but the purpose of God : ' For whom he
170 SERMONS UPON LUKE XIX. 10,
did foreknow he also did predestinate, and whom he did predestinate, them he also called,' ver. 30. Many come to a duty with careless and slight spirits, or by a mere chance ; as Paul's infidel : 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25, ' But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all : and thus are the secrets of the heart made manifest ; and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.' Oh ! how many do thus stumble upon grace unawares, as not minding or desiring any such matter ! Yet God directeth a seasonable word, that pierceth into their very hearts. Sometimes when opposing and persecuting, as Paul, Acts ix. Many that come to scoff : ' I have seen his ways; I will heal him,' Isa. Ivii. 18. Some are leavened with prejudice, loath to come, drawn against their consent: John i. 46, ■'Nathanael saith to Philip, Can any good come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him. Come and see ; ' yet there he met with Christ. Various circumstances there are which show Christ's vigilancy and care in seeking after lost souls.
4. That he hath made the cure effectual, notwithstanding the reluc- tancies of our carnal hearts. We are all of us full of the wisdom of the flesh, and that is enmity to God : Kom. viii. 7, ' Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' Now, that our hearts should be quite changed, and have another bias and inclination put upon them, this is the Lord's doing, and it should be marvellous in our eyes : John iii. 6, ' That which is born of flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit' That we should be so quite altered as now to mind serious, spiritual, and heavenly things, surely nothing could do this but the almighty Spirit of Christ, or that efficacy which is proper to the mediator.