fumed our nature; for this end, he fuffered and died; and upon the fame benevolent defign, he is now gone up to heaven," where he appears "in the prefence of God for us ;"-" that if any us;" "man fin, he may have an advocate with the "Father," to folicit his pardon, and to plead his cause. -And may not thefe difcoveries of his merciful nature expel your fears, and revive your hope? Has he in a manner laid afide the majefty of a fovereign, and put on the mild and amiable afpect of a tender-hearted fympathizing friend? and may not this by itself encourage you to draw near to him, and to claim the bleffings of that rest he hath obtained for his people!

But, lo, he hath prevented you even in this: for all the proofs of his good-will to men, he fuperadds the most warm and preffing invitations, to come to him for relief from all their burdens." In the laft day, the great day of

the feaft, Jefus ftood and cried, If any man "thirft, let him come unto me, and drink." "Behold," faid he to the degenerated church of the Laodiceans, Behold, I ftand at the door, " and knock: If any man will hear my voice, "and open the door, I will come in to him, and "fup with him, and he with me." And in the concluding chapter of the Revelation, it is written, "The Spirit and the bride fay, Come and "let him that is a-thirft come: and whosoever

will, let him come, and take the water of life "freely."So that you fee my text is not a fingular inftance of condefcenfion; the Scriptures are replenished with invitations of the fame kind; and they are all expreffed in the most ex

tenfive

tenfive and abfolute terms, on purpose, as it were, to obviate every poffible objection, and to remove all jealousy from the most defponding finners, who might otherwife have fufpected that the call did not reach fo far as them.

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But left the offer of a Saviour, when viewed as a privilege, might ftill appear in the eyes of fome a privilege too high for them to afpire to therefore it hath pleafed the Father to interpofe his authority, and to make it our duty to em brace the offer: as we learn from that remark. able paffage, (1 John iii. 23.)"This is the command of God, that we fhould believe on the name of his Son Jefus Christ.”—So that faith in Chrift becomes an act of obedience; the Jaw of the Supreme Governor is the finner's warrant to come to the Saviour; and therefore it can be no prefumption in any, however guilty they have been, to flee to this city of refuge, feeing he who hath appointed it, not only per mits, but peremptorily commands them to repair to it.

And to crown all, our Lord himself hath declared in the moft folemn manner, that none fhall be rejected who come to him for falvation. Thefe are his words (John vi. 37) "Him

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that cometh to me I will in no wife caft out. I will receive him with outstretched arms; I will tenderly embrace and cherish him, and fo unite him to my felf, that the combined force of earth and hell fhall never be able to diffolve the union, or to feparate his foul from my unchangeable love.

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Lift up thy head, then, O labouring and heavyladen finner! ponder, with due attention, those grounds of encouragement I have briefly fuggefted. Doth the Father command you to believe on his Son? doth the Lord Jefus invite, nay intreat you, to come to him, and at the fame time affure you that he will in no wife caft you out?” and fhall not this multiplied fecurity remove all your doubts, and bring you to him with a humble, but ftedfast, hope of obtaining that rest which he offers unto you?. -Say not henceforth, My burden is fo heavy, and my guilt fo great, that I dare not go to him; but rather fay, My burden is fo heavy, that I must go to him; for no other arm can remove it but his own. He offers you his help, because you are miferable; he invites you to come to him, not because you deserve, but because you need his aid. Arife then, O finners! and obey his call: caft your burden upon him who is mighty to fave; yield yourselves, without referve, to this faithful Redeemer, to be juftified by his blood, and fanctified by his fpirit; " take his yoke upon you, and learn of him;" and then you fhall find rest to your foul.

But what shall I fay to those who have never as yet felt the burden of fin? who, amidst the deepest poverty and wretchedness, imagine themfelves to be" rich, and increased with goods, "and to ftand in need of nothing?”. -Alas! my friends, what can we do for fuch? -Shall I denounce the curfes of a broken covenant to alarm their fears ?--Shall I publish the terrors of the Lord, and by these perfuade them to flee

VOL. I.

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from

from the wrath to come? Indeed, confiderations of this kind feem proper and neceffary, to roufe them from that deadly fleep into which they are caft.And believe it, O finners! that no representations of this fort, however awful they might appear, could exceed, or even equal, the dreadful reality; for who knoweth the power of God's anger?"

But as my text breathes nothing but love and clemency, I fhall rather, upon this occafion, " befeech you by the meeknefs and gentleness "of Chrift," and fetch my arguments from the endearing condefcenfions of his mercy and

grace.

Know, then O finners! that, after all the contempt you have thrown upon him, he is ftill willing to become your Saviour. Ungrateful as you have been, he once more opens his arms, and invites you to come unto him. He fends us forth this day, to call after you in his name, and to intreat you in his ftead to be reconciled to God.--Behold, in the gofpel-offer, he lays, as it were, his crucified body in your way, to ftop you in your felf-deftroying courfe. And will you ftill prefs onward, "and trample under foot "the Son of God?"Behold, his blood, like a mighty river, flows between you and the place of torment: And will you force your paffage to the everlasting burnings through this immenfe ocean of redeeming love? O finners, think of this all who perifh under the gospel muft carry this dreadful aggravation along with them, That mercy was in their offer, and they would not accept it; nay, that they infulted and abufed

the

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the mercy that would have faved them.-And "can your hearts endure, or can your hands be "ftrong, in the day that God fhall deal with you" for this contempt? For the Lord's fake, open your eyes in time; look upon him whom you have pierced by your fins, and mourn.—I address you as the angels did Lot, when they brought him forth from Sodom; " Efcape for thy life, "look not behind thee, neither ftay thou in all the plain:" Flee to the Saviour, " left thou "be confumed."

As for you who have already got within the walls of the city of refuge, I have one requeft to make to you, with which I fhall conclude*

Come now and receive the new teftament in Chrift's blood:-For confirming your faith, and increafing your joy, he hath inftituted this vifible pledge of his love, this external feal of his gracious covenant; that, by the elements of bread and wine, the appointed fymbols of his broken body and fhed blood, he might inveft his people with a full and unalterable right to all the bleffed fruits of his fufferings and death.

-And

therefore, as you have come to Chrift himself, you may lawfully confider the invitation in my text as your warrant and call to come to his table; and may hope to find, in this holy faerament, fomething of that reft, or spiritual relief, which he is always ready to difpenfe to thofe who feel their need of it, and who know its worth. Amen. 13

This and the four Sermons that immediately follow, were spreached at the celebration of our Lord's Supper.