Let this then encourage every weary selfcondemning finner: The greater your guilt appears in your own eye, the greater ground you have to expect relief if you apply for it. Mercy looks for nothing but an affecting fenfe of the need of mercy. Say not, If my burden were of a leffer weight, I might hope to be delivered from it; for no burden is too heavy for Omnipotence : he who is "mighty to fave," can easily remove the most oppreffive load; "his blood cleanfeth " from all fin," and "by him all who believe, " are justified from all things."This great phyfician did not come to heal fome flight diftempers, but to cure thofe inveterate plagues, which none befides himself was able to cure. Whatever your difeafe be, it fhall neither reproach his fkill nor his power; and all that he requires on your part, is a fubmiffive temper to ufe the means he prefcribes, with a firm reliance upon their virtue and efficacy. If you are truly convinced, that your guilt is fo great, and your corruptions fo ftrong, that none in heaven or on earth can fave you from them but Chrift alone if you are groaning under the burden of fin, and can find no reft till pardoning mercy and fanctifying grace brings you relief; then are you in the very pofture which my text defcribes; and I may warrantably fay unto you what Martha faid to Mary," Arife quickly, the Mafter is come, and "calleth for thee." And this is his call, Come unto me. Which is the

Second thing I propofed to explain. Now, for understanding this, it will be necessary to

remind you of the different characters which our Lord fuftains; or, in other words, the important. offices which he executes as our Redeemer. Thefe, you know, are three, to wit, the offices of a Prophet, of a Prieft, and of a King; in each of which the Lord Jefus must be diftinctly regarded. by every foul that comes to him. Accordingly, you may obferve, that in this gracious invitation, he exhibits himself to our view in all these characters: for to the condefcending offer of removing our guilt, he immediately annexes the command, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn " of me."

Such is our mifery by the fall, that we are not only become the objects of God's righteous difpleasure, and liable to that awful punishment which was the penalty of the first covenant, but our nature is wholly difeafed and corrupted; fo that in us, in our defh, dwelleth no good "thing." Our understanding is darkened, filled with prejudices against the truth, and incapable of difcerning fpiritual objects: "For the natural "man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of "God, they are foolishness to him; neither can <he know them, becaufe they are fpiritually "difcerned." Our will is ftubborn and rebellious, like "an iron finew," which no force can bend; fo inflexible in its oppofition to the divine law, that it is called in Scripture "enmity against "God" and all our affections are wild and ungovernable, deaf to the voice of reafon and confcience, in perpetual difcord among themselves, and wholly alienated from God, in whom alone they should unite and centre. Such a Saviour, therefore,

therefore, was neceffary for our relief, as could effectually remedy all those evils, and not only. redeem us from wrath, but likewife prepare us for happiness, by restoring our nature to that original perfection from which it had fallen,

For this end our Lord Jefus Chrift, that he might be in all refpects furnished for his great undertaking, was folemnly invefted by his heavenly Father with each of the important offices I have named; that our understanding being enlightened by his divine teaching, and our will fubdued by his regal power, we might be capable of enjoying the fruits of that pardon, which, as our great High-prieft, he hath purchased with his blood.. -Now, in all these characters, the Scriptures propofe him to our faith; and we do not comply with the invitation in my text, unlefs we come to him for the proper work of each office, and embrace him in the full extent of his commiffion; that "of God he may be made "unto us, wifdom, and righteoufnefs, and fanc"tification, and redemption."

It is true, indeed, that the foul, in its first approach to Chrift, doth principally regard him as a prieft or a facrifice; and therefore faith, as it is employed for juftification, or pardon, is emphatically tiled, Faith in his blood. To this God looks when he juftifies the finner; he views him as fprinkled with the blood of atonement and therefore, to the fame blood the finner muft neceffarily lock, upon his firft application to Chrift.

When the criminal under the law fled to the horris of the altar, he confidered the temple rather as a place of protection than of worship.

The

-The authority of a teacher, and the majefty of a king, are objects of terror to a felf-condemning finner, and by no means fuit his prefent neceffity. Chrift, as fuffering, and "bearing cur fins in his own body on the tree," is the only object that can yield him relief and comfort; for where fhall he find the rest of his foul, but where God found the fatisfaction of his juftice?

પર

Nevertheless, though Chrift upon the cross be the firft and moft immediate object of faith, yet the believer doth not ftop there; but having dif covered a fufficient atonement for his guilt, he proceeds to contemplate the other characters of his Redeemer, and heartily approves of them all as perfectly adapted to all his neceffities. He hearkens to his infiruction, and cheerfully futmits to his yoke, and covets nothing fo much as to be taught and governed by him. The ingenuity of faith fpeaketh after this manner:Seeing Chrift is my Prieft to expiate my guilt, it is but juft and reasonable that he fhould be my Prophet to teach me, and my King to rule over me; that as I live by his merits, I fhould alfo walk by his law.

O bleffed Jefus! faith the foul that comes to him, thou true and living way to the Father! I adore thy condefcending grace, in becoming a facrifice and fin-offering for me: and new, encouraged by thy kind invitation, I fee to thee as my only city of refuge; I come to thee

wretched, and miferable, and poor, and blind, and naked:"-I have no price to offer thee, no goodness at all to recommend me to thy favour: labouring and heavy laden, I caft myself at

thy.

thy feet, and look to thy free mercy alone for the removal of this burden, which, without thỳ interpofition, muft fink me down to the lowest hell. Abhorring myself in every view I can take, I embrace thee for my righteoufnefs; fprinkled with thine atoning blood, I fhall not fear the deftroying angel: -Juftice hath already had its triumph on thy crofs; and therefore I take thy crofs for my fanctuary.- --This is my reft; and here will I ftay, for I like it well.

Nor is this my only errand to thee, O thou complete Saviour!-I bring to thee a dark benighted mind to be illuminated with faving knowledge.- "Thou haft the words of eter"nal life," "in thee are hid all the treasures "of wifdom:" I therefore refign my underftanding to thy teaching; for "no man knoweth the "Father but the Son, and those.to whom the "Son fhall reveal him."

I likewife choofe thee for my Lord and my King; for thou "art altogether lovely," and in every character neceffary to my foul. -Here are enemies whom none can vanquish but thyfelf;-here are corruptions, which nothing lefs than all-conquering grace can fubdue: I therefore implore thine almighty aid. Do thou poffefs thy throne in my heart, and caft out of it whatever oppofeth or offendeth thee.It is thine already by purchase;-O make it thine alfo by conqueft! and perform the whole work of a Saviour upon it.

After this manner doth the believer address himself to Chrift; and thus doth he answer the call to come unto him. Frem all which we may

learn