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who think they are in the wilderness of godly sorrow, but who mistake every transient pang for real conviction, and every motion of the affections for the work of the holy Spirit on the heart.-(3.) It condemns those who are in the wilderness, and struggling to get out of it before the Lord's time. It is better to be in the wilderness than in Egypt; yea, it is better, unspeakably better to be in the wilderness, though we continue there all our days, than to be in hell.

This subject should also teach those who are in the wilderness of conviction and sorrow, to attend to God's pleadings with them there. It is of great importance to hear what he says to us, either for our humiliation or comfort. If he condescends to reason and expostulate with us, it becomes us humbly and submissively to order our cause before him. If he plead with us, we may plead with him; but it should be as Jeremiah did: Righteous art thou, oh Lord, when I plead with thee; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments. Chap. xii. 1.

Lastly: Let those who are brought up out of the wilderness into a state of joy and peace, remember all the way which the Lord their God hath led them in the wilderness, to humble and to prove them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or no. Let them also bless the Lord for their deliverance, and not provoke him to renew their distress, by returning again to folly. Deut. viii. 2. Psal. lxxxv. 8.

"Let the redeemed of the Lord
The wonders of his grace record;
Israel, the nation whom he chose.
And rescued from their mighty foes.

In their distress to God they cry'd,
God was their Saviour and their guide;
He led their march far wandering round,
'Twas the right path to Canaun's ground."

The Heavenly Stranger.

SERMON V.

REV. III. 20.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

THE word "behold" may be considered as a call

to attention, pointing out something instructive and worthy of observation; or as a note of admiration, referring to something marvellous and astonishing. In both these senses it may be understood in the passage before us. Behold, I have stood for a long time, and I still stand at the door and knock, waiting for admittance into your hearts. If any man hear my voice with a due regard, and open the door; if he welcome me with affection due to such a Friend, and such a Saviour, how mean soever his circumstances in life may be, and how faulty soever his character may formerly have been, I will enter into his house, and like some princely guest, will bring my own rich and delightful entertainment along with me; I will sup with him, and he shall sup with me. I will treat him with the most endearing and familiar friendship, accept the tokens of his affection, and give him the most solid evidences of mine.'

We shall now more particularly notice what is implied in the text-and conclude with some improvement.

I. Explain the words: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

1. On our part it implies enmity and opposition. We set sin upon the throne, and suffer Christ to stand at the door: we open it to every lust, but shut it against him. Ignorance, pride, unbelief, carnality, presumption, self-righteousness, sinful customs, and unreasonable prejudices are like the bars of a castle: they shut out God from the heart, and keep possession only for the wicked one. Not" holiness," but enmity" to the Lord," is written as it were on the forehead of every sinner. He not only neglects God, but dislikes him; and not only dislikes, but opposes him. Instead of approaching him as a Friend and a Father, he dreads and avoids him as an Enemy and Avenger. He is indifferent to goodness and mercy, and averse to holiness and truth. Nothing that pertains to God can find any access to his soul it is barred against conviction, and filled with enmity against him. It is open to every evil, to every enemy, but shut against Christ. Sinners will neither have him to reign over them, nor come to him that they might have life; will neither embrace his gospel, nor submit to his government. Rather than be indebted to him for salvation, they will seek it in any other way, if they seek it at all. Thus hath the god of this world blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Till the Key of David opens the heart, Christ is not within, but without; not a guest, but a stranger.

The door of the sinner's heart being thus shut against Christ, it is no wonder that the door of their house is also shut against him. Careless of their own souls, they are careless of the souls of others. They neither serve God in their families, nor teach their families to serve him; neither desire to dwell in the

house of the Lord, nor that he should dwell in their house. It may be said of their place of abode as Abraham said of Gerar: Surely the fear of God is not in this place!

2. On Christ's part it implies earnestness and importunity. He who teaches us to knock at the door of heaven with holy importunity, thus knocks at the door of our hearts. Happy would it be for us truly to say to him as he does to us, Knock, and it shall be opened!' Christ desires to have the soul, with all its powers and faculties, delivered up to him, that he may take possession of it, and fix his residence there for ever and herein he is influenced by a regard to our interest, as well as his own glory. Our peace and safety in this world, as well as our happiness in the next, depend upon a compliance with his solicitation. If the heart be opened to Christ, heaven will be opened to us: but if the heart be shut against him, heaven will be shut against us. It is amazing condescension, that the great Lord of heaven and earth should thus ask our love, and adopt such language as this: My son, give me thine heart! Especially that he should desire that heart which sin and Satan have held so long: yet so it is. And where he has designs of mercy, he will take no denial, but continue his suit till it is granted!

Christ's manner of knocking is various. Sometimes he does it more faintly, at others more strongly; sometimes more silently, at others more loudly; sometimes with a longer intermission, and at others with a constant succession, one application after another. If one sermon will not do, another shall; if one conviction be stifled, another shall arise.-And as the manner, so the means are various. Sometimes he knocks by the law: The commandment came, says the apostle. Is not my word, saith the Lord, like a fire, and like a hammer, which breaketh the rock in pieces?-Sometimes by alarms of conscience, which

says, as Nathan to David, Thou art the man! When conscience speaks by commission from God, it will make the deaf to hear. Those who will not hearken to the voice of parents, ministers, law or gospel, shall be made to hear the voice of conscience; and in the great day it will speak so loud that both heaven and earth shall hear. Sometimes Christ calls by his providences, especially those of an afflictive nature. Of this we have the remarkable instance of Manasseh, under the old testament, and of the Prodigal son under the new.-Ministers also are instruments in the hand of Christ, to alarm and awaken sinners, as well as to comfort and establish saints. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, they persuade men, and use every means to fix conviction upon their hearts; urging every motive, and addressing every passion of the human mind, to bring them to serious reflection and concern about their eternal interests. But in all this, Christ is the great agent, and he alone can render truth effectual. Ministers, alas, after all their endeavours, have too often reason to complain with the prophet, Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed!

Whenever Christ knocks effectually, it is by his Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickeneth, both at first conversion and ever after; both the dead sinner and the slumbering saint. He clothes the word with power, and puts efficacy into the means of grace.→ The word "knock" implies importunity. Christ is serious in his addresses and invitations: he does not trifle with us, though we are apt to trifle with him. He knows the worth of the soul, for he hath made and redeemed it. He also knows the excellency and necessity of his own salvation, and therefore follows up his suit. If easier knocking will not do, he will knock so as to make us yield and open the door.

3. It implies patience and long-suffering. Ye have heard of the patience of Job in his affliction:

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