XXXVI.

SERM. standing, they will not come unto Him for it, because they will not understand what it is to do so: if they do but make an outward profession of the Christian religion, and do some things required in it; if they say their prayers at home every day, and come to Church to do it, when they have nothing else to do; if they do not work at their trades upon the Lord's day, nor suffer any in their family to do so; if they read a chapter in the Bible now and then, and hear a great many sermons, especially if they come to the Sacrament two or three times a-year, as the laws of the land require; if they do but this, they think they do a great deal: and, I confess, with grief and shame, it is a great deal more than most among us do. But alas! they may do all this in their customary and superficial manner, and yet be as far from coming to Christ, as if they had never heard of Him. But howsoever, thinking this to be sufficient, they will go no further, and therefore will never come to Him that they might have life.

But one of the greatest reasons of all, why men will not come to Christ for life, no, not for eternal life, is, because they have other things to mind, which they wisely think to be of greater moment: they have the cares of this life upon their hands, and in their hearts too; which they are so full of, that there is no room left for the thoughts of another life to enter. This our Lord Himself takes special notice of, as the chief cause why men will not come unto Him; and hath therefore represented it to us, in the parable of the great supper, which a certain man made, and bade many to it but when he sent his servants to call them, they all, with Luke 14.18- one consent, began to make excuse; the first said, "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused." Another said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused." And another said, "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." This always was, still is, and I fear ever will be the common practice of the world. Though men be invited to the greatest feast that can be made out of all the joys and pleasures that Heaven can afford, they all slight it upon one frivolous pretence or other; but their excuses are most generally taken from the

20.

little trifles of this life. One man hath his shop or warehouse to mind; another his barns or stables; a third his sheep or oxen, or something he hath got in the field. This man hath a wife to marry, and therefore he will not; another hath married one already, and therefore he cannot come. Some are wholly taken up with studying arts and languages; some with prying into the secrets of nature, and guessing at the causes of them; and some again, with contriving how to advance their fortunes, and seem great in the eye of the world. These have their ambition, those their covetousness; a third sort have their revenge, a fourth their luxury to indulge and gratify.

And whilst men's minds are thus set upon, or running after the things of this life, they cannot come to Christ for life, or rather will not. For after all that can be said, the greatest reason of all, why they will not, and that into which all the other reasons resolve themselves at last, is this; they will not, because they will not: if there was but a willing mind, nothing could hinder them; but that being wanting, every thing that lies in the way doth it.

Now I appeal to all here present, whether these can be reckoned to be wise men, and really to mind their own good? I dare say, you cannot think so; and therefore hope you will not be in the number of them, but take care, that although these words are true of other people, they shall not be so of you that Christ may not say of you, "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." For that you are all fully resolved to come to Him, and will accordingly do it; that ye will "deny yourselves, take up your cross," and [Matt. 16. follow Him; that ye will "take His yoke upon you," and a become His disciples indeed, so as to believe and do all that 29.] He hath taught you: and that ye will now live with a constant trust and dependence upon Him for pardon and grace, and all things necessary to your obtaining eternal life.

[Matt. 11.

I hope many of you have thus resolved already, and heartily wish ye would all do so, with full purpose of heart. For remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said with His own mouth, "What is a man profited, if he shall Matt.16.26. gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" And how He

Ezek.33.11.

SERM. said by His Prophet, "As I live, saith the Lord, I have no XXXVI. pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?" Why will ye die? Why will ye ruin and destroy yourselves, when ye need not? I know ye all desire life, and ye may all have it, if ye will. Christ hath purchased it for all; He hath given it to many already; and He is ready to give it to you, if ye will but come unto Him for it. And He hath sent me, at this time, to call upon you all to come to Him. Come to Him therefore, without any more ado, that your souls may live; that [Rev. 1.5.] He may "wash you from your sins in His own blood;" that [Eph. 5. 26, He may "sanctify and cleanse you" by His Holy Spirit ; that He may "present you holy, and without blemish," to [Col. 3. 4.] God and the Father; that "when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then ye also may appear with Him in glory," and live eternally with Him, who liveth with the Father and Holy Ghost, one God blessed for ever.

27.]

SERMON XXXVII.

ABIDING IN CHRIST THE ONLY MEANS OF UNIVERSAL
HAPPINESS.

JOHN XV. 7.

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

THERE are two general heads of mankind; the first Adam, and the second, that is, Jesus Christ; who also was, in the most proper sense of the word, Adam, man in general: in that the whole nature of man was in Him, as it was in the first Adam. And so the Apostle calls Him, where speaking of Adam and Christ, he saith, " And so it is written, the first 1Cor.15.45. man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." The last Adam, Christ, was made a Spirit that maketh or causeth life, as the first was the cause of death: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall ver. 22. all be made alive." In the first all died, the second died for all, so that all may live in Him again; and so they will at the Last Day. And all that will, may be quickened by Him, with newness of life, and restored to the same happy state from which they fell in the first Adam. And so many will, according to that of the Apostle, "As by one man's Rom. 5. 19. disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience

of one shall many be made righteous."

This may seem a great mystery, that they who fell in one

man, should rise again in another. But the Apostle unfolds

it, where he saith, "The first man is of the earth, earthy; 1 Cor.15.47. the second man is the Lord from Heaven." The first man,

in general, in whom all the rest were contained, and there

XXXVII.

SERM. fore fell with him, and in him; he was formed out of the dust of the ground, and so was a mere man, and no more. But the second man came down from Heaven, and was the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, the Almighty God there, before He came from thence, yea, from all eternity. He was the Lord from Heaven, and came from thence in a way suitable to His own Divine glory, by being conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of a pure virgin, so as to become man, and yet be God too in the same person. And being thus God as well as man, He was every way qualified to repair the loss that mankind sustained by the fall of the first Adam, and to restore them to their first estate, as perfectly as if they had never fallen from it.

And that we may not doubt, but that He is as willing as He is able to do it for us; He Himself hath here promised, in effect, that He will, if we do what He requires on our part, saying, "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." For to have what we will, is to be as happy as it is possible for creatures to be; as happy as the first man was in the state of innocency, and as we should have been, if he had continued in it. For he that hath whatsoever he desires, or would have, his desires must needs be satisfied, and his soul at rest; and, by consequence, be completely happy; all our happiness consisting in the full satisfaction of our souls, in the enjoyment of all that we desire. And therefore He, the second man, the Lord from Heaven, having here told us, that we shall ask whatsoever we will or desire, and it shall be done unto us, upon the terms here propounded, it is the same in effect, as if He had said, that He will restore us again to the same state of happiness, from which the first man, by transgression, fell, and we in him.

But to our right understanding the true meaning and extent of this Divine promise, it will be necessary to consider, First, The conditions upon which it is made, which are only two: first, that we abide in Him; and then, that His words abide in us.

First, saith He, " If ye abide in Me." He doth not say, if ye be in Me, but, "if ye abide in Me." For speaking to His Disciples, He supposeth them to be in Him, upon that