make them another tender of falvation; nor is he offered to millions as good as you, now living in the world. The found of Christ and falvation is not come to their ears, but he is offered to you by the fpecial favour and bounty of heaven; and will you not receive him? Oh! then how will the devils, the damned, and the Heathen upbraid your folly! and fay, had we had one fuch tender of mercy, of which you have had thousands, we would never have been now in this place of torments.

Secondly, Confider how Chrift is offered to you, and you shall find that he is offered,

1. Freely, as the gift of God, to your fouls; you are not to pur-, ļ chafe him, but only to receive him, Ifa. lv. 1. "Ho, every one "that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no rr money, let him come," &c.

2. Chrift is offered importunately, by repeated intreaties, 2 Cor. v. 20. "As though God did befeech you, we pray you in Christ's ❝ftead, be ye reconciled to God" O! what amazing condefcenfion is here in the God of mercy! God now befeeches you, will you not yield to the intreaties of your God? O then what wilt thou fay for thyfelf, when God will not hear thee, when thou shalt intreat and cry for mercy? Which brings us to

Motive 3. Confider the fin and danger that there is in refufing or neglecting the prefent offers of Chrift in the gofpel, and furely there is much fin in it; the very malignity of fin, and the fum of all mifery lies here; for in refufing Chrift,

1. You put the greateft contempt and flight upon all the attributes of God that is poffible for a creature to do; God hath made his justice, his mercy, his wifdom, and all his attributes to fhine in their brightest glory in Chrift. Never was there fuch a difplay of the glory of God made to the world in any other way.

O then, what is it to reject and despise Jefus Chrift, but to offer the greatest affront to the glory of God that it is poffible for men to put upon it?

2. You hereby fruftrate and evacuate the very defign and importance of the gofpel to yourselves; you "receive the grace of "God in vain," 2 Cor. vi. 1. As good, yea, better had it been for you, that Chrift had never come into the world, or, if he had, that your lot had fallen in the dark places of the earth, where you had never heard his name; yea, good had it been for that man if he had never been born.

"I faid therefore

3. Hereby a man murders his own foul. ❝ unto you, that you fhall die in your fins; for if ye believe not "that I am he, ye fhall die in your fins," John viii. 24. Unbelief is felf-murder; you are guilty of the blood of your own fouls; life and falvation were offered you, and you rejected them. Yea,

4. The refufing of Chrift by unbelief will aggravate your dam nation above all others that perish in ignorance of Chrift. O, it will be more tolerable for Heathens than for you; the greatest measures of wrath are referved to punish the worst of finners; and among finners, none will be found worfe than unbelievers.

Secondly, To believers, this point is very useful to perfuade them to divers excellent duties; among which, I fhall fingle out two principal ones, viz.

1. To bring up their faith of acceptance, to the faith of affurance.

2. To bring up their converfations to the principles and rules of faith.

1. You that have received Jefus Christ truly, give yourselves no rest till you are fully fatisfied that you have done fo; acceptance brings you to heaven hereafter, but affurance will bring heaven into your fouls now. O, what a life of delight and pleasure doth the affured believer live! What pleasure is it to him to look back and confider where he once was, and where he now is? To look forward, and confider where he now is, and where fhortly he fhall be! I was in my fins, I am now in Chrift: I am in Chrift now, I fhall be with Chrift, and that for ever, after a few days. I was upon the brink of hell, I am now upon the very borders of heaven; I shall be in a very little while among the innumerable company of angels and glorified faints, bearing part with them in the fong of Mofes, and of the Lamb, for evermore,

And why may not you that have received Chrift, receive the comfort of your union with him? There be all the grounds and helps of affurance furnished to your hand; there is a real union betwixt Chrift and your fouls, which is the very ground-work of affurance. * You have the fcriptures before you which contain the figns of faith, and the very things within you that answer those figns in the word. So you read, and fo, juft fo, you might feel it in your own hearts, would you attend to your own experience. The Spirit of God is ready to feal you, it is his office and his delight fo to do. O therefore, give diligence to this work, attend the ftudy of the fcriptures and of your own hearts more, and grieve not the holy Spirit of God, and you may arrive to the very defire of your hearts.

2. Bring up your converfations to the excellent principles and rules of faith; "As you have received Chrift Jefus the Lord, fo "walk in him," Col. ii. 6. Live as you believe; you received Chrift fincerely in your first close with him, O maintain the like ferioufnefs and fincerity in all your ways, to the end of your lives:

The power and conftancy of a firm hope reigns in us. Cypr. Serm. de patientia.

you received him intirely and undividedly at firft, let there be no exceptions against any of his commands afterward.. You received him exclufively to all others, fee that you watch against all felfrighteousness and self-conceitedness now, and mingle nothing of your own with his blood, whatever gifts or enlargements in duty God fhall give you afterwards.

You received him advisedly at first, weighing and confidering the felf-denying terms upon which he was offered to you; O fhew that it was real, and that you fee no caufe to repent the bargain, whatever you fhall meet with in the ways of Chrift and duty af terwards: convince the world of your conftancy and cheerfulness in all your fufferings for Chrift, that you are still of the fame mind you were, and that Chrift, with his crofs, Chrift, with a prifon, Chrift, with the greatest afflictions, is worthy of all acceptation: "As ye have received him, fo walk ye in him." Let him be as fweet, as lovely, as precious to you now, as he was in the first moment you received him; yea, let your love to him, delights in him, and felf-denial for him, increafe with your acquaintance with him, day by day,

Ufe of direction.

Ufe: Laftly, I will clofe all with a few words of direction to all that are made willing to receive the Lord Jefus Chrift; and fure it is but needful that help were given to poor Christians; in this matter, it is a time of trouble, fear, and great temptation; mistakes are easily made, and of dangerous confequence; attend heedfully, therefore, to a few directions,

Direction 1. First, In your receiving Chrift, Beware you do not miftake the means for the end. Many do fo, but fee you do not. Prayer, fermons, reformations, are means to bring you to Chrift, but they are not Chrift; to close with thofe duties is one thing, and to clofe with Chrift is another thing. If I go into a boat, my defign is not to dwell there, but to be carried to the place whereon I defire to be landed: fo it must be in this cafe, all your duties muft land you upon Chrift; they are means to bring you to Christ,

Direct. 2. Secondly, See that you receive not Chrift for a prefent help, but for your everlafting portion. Many do fo; they will enquire after Chrift, pray for Chrift, caft themselves (in their way) upon Christ, and the fatisfaction of his blood, when the efficacy and terror of confcience is upon them, and they feel the fting of guilt within them; but as foon as the ftorm is over, and the rod that confcience shaked over them laid by, there is no more talk of Chrift then alas! it was not Chrift, but quietnefs that they fought; beware of mistaking peace for Christ.

Direct. 3. Thirdly, In receiving Chrift, come empty-handed unto

him: "believing on him who justifies the ungodly," Rom. iv. 5. and know that the deepeft fenfe of your own vilenefs, emptiness, and unworthinefs, is the beft frame of heart that can accompany you to Chrift. Many perfons ftand off from Chrift for want of fit qualifications; they are not prepared for Chrift as they should be, i. e. they would not come naked and empty, but have fomething to commend them to the Lord Jefus for acceptance. O! this is the pride of men's hearts, and the fnare of the devil. Let him that hath no money come: You are not to come to Christ because you are qualified, but that you may be qualified with whatever you want; and the best qualification you can bring with you, is a deep fense that you have no worth nor excellency at all in you.

Direct. 4. Fourthly, In receiving Chrift, bervare of dangerous delays. O follow on that work till it be finifhed. You read of fome that are almost perfuaded, and of others not far from the. kingdom of God; O take heed of what the prophet fays, Hofea xiii. 13. Delays here are full of danger, life is uncertain, so are means of grace too. The man-flayer needed no motives to quicken his flight to the city of refuge.

Direct. 5. Fifthly, See that you receive all Chrift, with all your heart. To receive all Chrift, is to receive his person clothed with all his offices; and to receive him with all your heart, is to receive him into your understanding, will, and affections, Acts viii. 37. As there is nothing in Chrift that may be refused, so there is nothing in you from which he must be excluded.

Direct. 6. Laftly, Underftand that the opening of your hearts to receive the Lord Jefus Chrift, is not a work done by any power of your own, but the arm of the Lord is revealed therein, Ifa. liii, 1. It is therefore your duty and intereft to be daily at the feet of God, pouring out your fouls to him in fecret, for abilities to believe. And fo much, as to our actual reception of Chrift.

Thanks be to God for Jefus Chrift.

SERMON VIII.

Setting forth the Believer's Fellowship with CHRIST, the next End of his Application to them.

PSALM. xlv. 7.

Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

THE

HE method of grace in uniting fouls with Jefus Chrift, hath been opened in the former difcourfes; thus doth the Spirit (whofe office it is) make application of Chrift to God's elect: The refult and next fruit whereof is communion with Chrift in his graces and benefits. Our myftical union is the very ground-work and foundation of our fweet, foul-enriching communion and participation of spiritual privileges; we are firft ingrafted into Christ, and then fuck the fap and fatnefs of the root; first married to the perfon of Chrift, then endowed and instated in the privileges and benefits of Chrift. This is my proper work to open at this time, and from this fcripture.

"The words read, are a part of that excellent fong of love*, that heavenly Epithalamium, wherein the fpiritual efpoufals of Chrift " and the church are figuratively and very elegantly celebrated "and fhadowed. The fubject matter of this pfalm is the very "fame with the whole book of the Canticles ;" and in this pfalm, under the figure of king Solomon, and the daughter of Egypt, whom he espoused, the spiritual espoùfals of Chrift and the church are fet forth and reprefented to us. Among many rapturous and elegant expreffions in praise of this glorious bridegroom, Chrift, this is one, which you have before you: "God, thy God, hath anoint"ed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows:" i. e. enriched and filled thee, in a fingular and peculiar manner, with the fulnefs of the Spirit, whereby thou art confecrated to thy office and by reafon whereof thou out-fhineft and excelleft all the faints, who are thy fellows or copartners in thefe graces. So that in these words you have two parts; viz. First, The faints' dignity, and Secondly, Chrift's pre-eminency :

Firft, The faints' dignity, which confifts in this, that they are Chrift's fellows. The Hebrew word † is very full and copious,

Hic Pfalmus propheticus eft, continetque Epilathamium quo Chrifti cum ecclefia nuptiæ celebrantur, idemque babet argumentum quod canticum canticorum ejufque videtur effe epitome. Cocceius in loc.

tand Confortes, participes, fodales, focii. Vox Hebræa quodcunque focietatis five communionis genus fignificat. Muis.