Chrift dwell in your hearts by faith. What foul feels not itfelf advanced by this union with the Son of God? Hereby the believer becomes a member of his body, flesh and bones; this is an honour bestowed upon thy foul, above, and beyond all that honour that ever God bestowed upon any angel in heaven; to them Christ is an head by way of dominion, but to thee by way of vital influence. Angels are as the barons and nobles of his kingdom, but the believer his fpoufe, and all the angels of heaven miniftering spirits unto fuch. That is the feventh confolation.

VIII. Confolation. And then, 8thly, The opening of thy heart to Chrift brings thee not only into union with his perfon, but into the state of fweet, foul-enriching communion with him. So he fpeaketh in the text, "If any man open the door, I will fup with "him, and he with me." Poor foul, thou haft lived many years in the world, and never hadft any communion with God till this day. Chrift and thy foul have been strangers till now. It is true, thou haft had communion with ordinances, and communion with faints, but for communion with Christ thou couldest know nothing of it, till thou receivedft him into thy foul by faith. Now thou mayeft fay, "Truly my fellowship is with the Father, and with "his Son Jefus Chrift," 1 John i. 3.

And thenceforth thy communion with men is pleasant and defirable.

IX. Confolation. The opening of a man's foul to Chrift by faith is a fpecial and peculiar mercy, which falls to the share but of a very few. God hath done that for thee which he hath denied to millions; "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm "of the Lord revealed?" i. e. to how fmall a remnant in the world, Ifa. liii. 1. And the apoftle puts the work of faith among the great myfteries of godlinefs, among the wonders of religion, i Tim. iii. 19. "Preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the

"world."

The found of the gofpel is gone forth into the world; "Many "are called, but few are chofen. There were many widows in "Ifrael, in the days of Elias, but to none of them was Elias fent, "fave unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a « widow," Luke iv. 25, 26. To allude to this, there were many hundreds that fat under the fame fermon which opened thy heart to Chrift, but it may be unto none of them was the Spirit of God fent that day, to open their hearts by faith, but unto thee; thou wilt freely acknowledge thyfelf as unlikely and unworthy as the vileft finner there. O aftonishing mercy!

X. Confolation. And then laftly, In the fame day thy heart opens by faith to Chrift, all the treafures of Chrift are unlocked and opened to thee. In the fame hour God turns the key of regene

ration to open thy foul, the key of free-grace is alfo turned to open unto thee the unfearchable riches of Chrift; then the righteousness of Chrift becomes thine to juftify thee, the wifdom of Chrift to guide thee, the holiness of Chrift to fanctify thee; in a word, he is that day made of God to thee, " Wifdom, righteouf"nefs, fanctification, and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. "All is "yours, for ye are Chrift's, and Chrift is God's," I Cor. iii. ult. And thus I have fhewed you fome of thofe great things God doth for thofe fouls that will but do this one thing for him, viz. open their hearts to receive Chrift upon the tenders and terms of the gospel.

THE

SERMON IV.

REVEL. iii. 20.

Behold I [and] at the door and knock, &c.

THE verb 15xα here rendered I ftand, is of the preter tenfe, and would strictly be rendered I have flood; but being joined with a verb of the prefent tenfe, is here rendered I do ftand, a frequent Hebraism in fcripture: And it notes the continued patience and long-fuffering of Chrift; I have ftood and ftill do ftand, exercifing wonderful patience towards obftinate finners. Which gives us this fourth obfervation.

Doct. 4. That great and admirable is the patience of Christ, in waiting upon trifling and obftinate finners.

Thus wisdom, i. e. Chrift expreffes himself, Prov. i. 24. "I " have called, and ye refufed; I have ftretched out my hand, and "no man regarded." Here you have not only Christ's earnest calls, but fuitable geftures alfo, to gain attention. The stretching out of the hand was a fignal given to procure attention, Acts xxi. 40. Yet none regards; and this the Lord doth not once or twice, but all the day long, Ifa. Ixv. 2. fhewing forth all long-fuffering, as the apoftle fpeaks, 1 Tim. i. 16. In the opening of this point I will thew you,

1. What Divine patience is.

2. Wherein it is evidenced.

3. Why it is exercised towards finners.

First, Of the nature of Divine patience; it is an ability in God not only to delay the execution of his wrath for a time towards fome, but to delay it in order to the eternal falvation of others.

Let me fpeak to the parts of this defcription of Divine patience.

1. It is an ability of power in God, not the effect of impotence, or want of opportunity: All finners are continually within the reach of the arm of his justice, and he can strike when and where he will. Efau had a revengeful mind against Jacob, but wanted opportunity, and therefore was forced to delay the execution of his conceived wrath, until the days of mourning for his father were come; and then faith he, "I will flay my brother Jacob," Gen. xxvii. 41. But in God it is a glorious effect of power, Nah. i. 3. "The Lord is "flow to anger, and great in power."

The greatness of his patience flows from the greatness of his power: So the apoftle fpeaks, Rom. ix. 22. "What, if God wil

ling to fhew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured "with much long-suffering the veffels of wrath, fitted, or made up "to deftruction ?" And therefore when Mofes prays for the exercife of Divine patience towards the provoking Ifraelites, he doth it in this form, Numb. xiv. 17, 18. " And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou haft fpoken, "faying, the Lord is long-fuffering," &c. He could exercise this Almighty Power upon thee, and crush thee by it as a moth is crushed; but behold he exercifes it upon himself in stopping the propenfions of his own juftice, which daily folicit him to cut thee off; it is the power of God over his wrath, bridling and restraining it from day to day.

2. This patience is exercifed toward fuch as perifh, in a temporary delay of their damnation; and though this be but a mere fufpenfion of his wrath for a time, yet it is a glorious act of patience in him as that forecited text, Rom. ix. 22, fhews. Is it nothing for a finner condemned as foon as born, to be reprieved fo many years out of hell? Thou haft been provoking him daily and hourly to cut thee off, and fend thee to thy own place; and yet to be on this fide the everlasting burnings, this is wholly owing to the riches of his forbearance. Ah, how is God to be admired in this his glorious power over his own wrath! when we look abroad into the world, and fee every where finners ripe for deftruction, daring the God of heaven to his face, yet forborne, how admirable is this power of God!

3. God doth not only exercife this power in a temporary fufpenfion of his wrath againft fome, who, alas, muft feel it at laft; but he delays the execution of his wrath in a defign of mercy towards others, that they may never feel it, Ifa. xlviii. 8, 9 Thus he bears with his own elect all the years of their lives wherein they lay in the state of nature, and went on in a course of rebellion againft God; and this long-fuffering of God towards them proves their falvation, as you have it in 2 Pet. iii. 15. "And account that the

« long-suffering of our Lord is falvation." What is the meaning of that? Ah, Christian, thou mayeft easily know the meaning of it, without turning over many Commentaries: thou art now in Chrift, fafely escaped out of the danger of wrath to come; but thou oweft this thy falvation to the patience and long-fuffering of God towards thee. For what if he had cut thee off in the days of thy ignorance and rebellion against him (and thou knowest thou didst give him millions of provocations fo to do) where hadft thou now been? Thou hadft never feen Chrift, nor the leaft dawning hope of falvation by him. Remember how oft you lay in those days upon beds of sickness, upon the brink of the grave; what was it that faved thee from eternal wrath but this admirable patience of Christ? Well, therefore, may the apoftle fay, "Account the long-fuffering "of God to be falvation."

This patience of God feems to be a branch fpringing out of his mercy and goodness; only it differs from mercy in this, that man as miferable is the object of mercy, but man as criminal is the object of patience. Thus briefly of the nature of Divine patience, a power of God over his own wrath, not only to fufpend it for a time towards them that perish, but to delay the execution of it in a defign of falvation towards others.

Secondly, Next we come to fhew the various evidences of this Divine patience, or wherein it appears in its glorious manifestations towards provoking finners; and there are feven full evidences and discoveries of it, which should make the hearts of finners melt within them, whilft they are founding in their ears. Ah, methinks, fuch as these should melt down your hard hearts before the Lord!

1. And the first evidence of the riches of his patience shall be taken from the multitude of fins that men and women are guilty of before him, the least of which is a burden too heavy for any creature to bear; the Pfalmift faith, Pfal. xl. 12. "Innumerable evils "have compaffed me about." It was true, as applied to the perfon of David; and though it be there applied to the perfon of Christ, yet not one of them were his own fins, but ours; called his, by God's reckoning or imputing them to him. Men can number vaft fums, millions of millions, but no man can number his own fins, they pafs all account. There is not a member of the body, though never fo fmall, but hath been the inftrument of innumerable evils. For instance, the tongue, the apoftle tells us, is a world of iniquity, Jam. iii. 6. And if there be a world of fin in one member, what then are the fins of all? How many idle, frothy, vain words, hath thy tongue uttered? And yet for them, Chrift faith, "Men fhall give an account in the day of judgment," Mat. xii. 36. And what have the fins of thy thoughts been?" The thoughts of

"foolishness is fin," (faith Solomon,) Prov. xxiv. 9. O, who can understand his errors? Yet the patience of God hath not failed under fuch innumerable evils. O glorious patience! well may it be ushered in, in the text with a term of admiration, Behold, I Stand!

2. The fecond evidence of the Divine patience shall be taken from the heinous nature of fome fins above others, whereby finners fly, as it were, in the very face of God; and yet he bears with long-fuffering, lets not loose his hands to cut them off. All fins are not of one fize; fome have a flighter tincture, and fome are deeper; called upon that account fcarlet and crimson fins, Ifa. i. 18. double-dyed abominations, fins in grain; fuch are fins against knowledge, fins committed after convictions, and covenants, and rebukes of providence. I do not only speak of outward grofs acts of fin; for as the schoolmen well determine, though outward fins are fins of greater infamy, yet inward fins may be fins of greater guilt even those fins that never took air to defame thee in the world: but whatever they be, reader, whether outward or inward, thy confcience is privy to them, and thy foul may stand amazed at the patience of God in forbearing thee all this while under fuch provocations and horrid rebellions against him; especially, confidering how many there be this day in hell that never provoked God by finning with fuch an high hand as thou haft done.

3. It is yet a greater evidence of the patience of God in bearing with, and forbearing us under the guilt of that special fin, viz. The flighting and neglecting of Jefus Chrift: here is a fin that goes to the very heart of Jefus Chrift; he can bear any other fin rather than that; and yet this hath Chrift borne from every foul of you. You are the men and women that have spurned at the yearning bowels of his mercies, flighted his grace, trampled his precious blood under foot, and yet he hath forborne you unto this day; read Matt. xxii. 5. and let thy confcience anfwer, whether thou art not equally deep in the guilt of making light of Chrift with those wretches upon whom it is there charged. Chrift hath fuffered the wrath of God in thy room, brought home falvation in gospel-offers to thy door and then to be flighted! no patience but his own could bear it. Every fermon and prayer you have fat under with a dead heart; every motion of his Spirit which you have quenched, what is this but the making light of Christ, and the great falvation! here the deepest project of infinite wifdom, and the richest gift of free-grace, wherein God commends his love to men, are vilely undervalued as small things: and thus have you done days without number; and yet his hand is not stretched out, to cut thee off in thy rebellion: Who is a God like unto thee! What patience like the patience of Chrift!