40 A VISIOX OK
banished for nonconformity to the golden rule of love and peace; James iii. 17. But aTrs'xa). Come we now to the last proposition.
III. iVo men in the world want help, like them that want the gospel. Or, of all distresses, want of the gospel cries the loudest for relief.
Rachel wanted children, and she cries, ' Give me chil- dren,"^ or I die :' but that was her impatience ; she might have lived, and have had no children; yea, see the justice of God, she dies so soon as ever she hath children, Hagar* wants water for Ishmael, and she will go far from him, that she may not see him die ; a heavy distress ; and yet if he had died, it had been but an early paying of that debt, which in a few years was to be satisfied. But they that want the gospel may truly cry, Give us the gospel or we die, and that not temporally with Ishmael, for want of water, but eternally in flames of fire.
A man may want liberty, and yet be happy, as Joseph was ; a man may want peace, and yet be happy, as David was ; a man may want children, and yet be blessed, as Job was ; a man may want plenty, and yet be full of comfort, as Micaiah was; but he that wants the gospel, wants every thing that should do him good. A throne without the gospel is but the devil's dungeon. Wealth without the gospel is fuel for hell. Advancement without the gospel is but a going high to have the greater fall.
Abraham' wanting a child complains, * What will the Lord do for me, seeing I go childless, and this Eliezer of Damascus must be ray heir?' Much more may a man with- out the means of grace complain, what shall be done unto me, seeing I go gospelless ; and all that I have is but a short inheritance for this lump of clay, my body ?
When Elisha" was minded to do something for the Shu- naraite who had so kindly entertained him, he asks her, whether he should speak for her to the king, or the captain of the host. She replies, she dwelt in the midst of her own people, she needeth not those things ; but when he finds her to want a child, and tells her of that, she is al- most transported. Ah, how many poor souls are there,
•■ Gen. XXX. 1. xxxT. 18. ' Gen. xxi. 16.
' Gen. XV. 2. "2 Kings iv. 13, 14.
UXCHANGEABLE, FREE MERCY. 41
who need not our word to the king or the captain of the host; but yet being gospelless, if you could tell them of that, would be even ravished with joy?
Think of Adam" after his fall, before the promise, hiding himself from God, and you have a perfect portraiture of a poor creature without the gospel. Now this appeareth, 1. From the description we have of the people that are in this state" and condition without the gospel ; they are a people that sit in darkness, yea in the region and shadow of death; Matt. iv. 16, 17. they are even darkness itself, John i. 7. within the dominion and dreadful darkness of death. Darkness was one of Egypt's plagues, but yet that was a darkness of the body, a darkness wherein men lived ; but this is a darkness of the soul, a darkness of death, for these men though they live, yet are they dead. They are fully described, Ephes. ii. 12. * without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.' Christless men, and godless men, and hopeless men : and what greater distress in the world ? Yea, they are called dogs, and unclean beasts, the wrath of God is upon them, they are the people of his curse and indignation. In the extreme north one day and one night divide the year; but with a people without the gospel it is all night, the sun of righteousness shines not upon them ; it is night whilst they are here, and they go to eternal night hereafter. What the men of China say concerning themselves and others, that they have two eyes, the men of Europe one, and all the world besides is blind, may be inverted too ; the Jews had one eye, sufficient to guide them, they who enjoy the gospel have two eyes, but the men of China, with the rest of the nations that want it, are stark blind, and reserved for the chains of everlasting darkness.
2. By laying forth what the men that want the gospel do want with it.
(1.) They want Jesus Christ, for he is revealed only by the gospel. Austin refused to delight in Cicero's Horten- sius, because there was not in it the name^ of Jesus Christ,
«- Gen. iii. 8. « Matt. vi. 23. Luke i. 79. Actsxxvi. 18. Rom. ii. 19. Ephes. v. 8, CoL i. 13. 1 Pet. i. 9. ^ Noiutn Jesu iion crat ibi.
42 A VISION OF
Jesus Christ is all and in all, and where he is wanting, there can be no good. Hunger cannot truly be satisfied without manna, the bread of life, which is Jesus Christ;^ and what shall a hungry man do that hath no bread ? Thirst cannot be quenched without that water or living spring, which is Jesus Christ ; and what shall a thirsty soul do without water? A captive as we are all, cannot be deli- vered without redemption,** which is Jesus Christ: and what shall the prisoner do without his ransom ? Fools as we are all, cannot be instructed without wisdom, which is Jesus Christ, without him we perish in our folly. All building without him is on the sand, which will surely fall. All working without him is in the fire, where it will be con- sumed. All riches without him have wings, and will away.