Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, Objection 4
Objection. 4.
But saith another, I am so heartless, so slow, and, as I think, so indifferent in my coming, that, to speak truth, I know not whether my kind of coming, ought to be called a coming to Christ.
Answ. You know that I told you at first, that coming to Christ, is a moving of the heart, and affections towards him.
But, saith the Soul, my dulness, and indifferency in all holy Duties, demonstrate my heartlesness in coming: and to come, and not with the heart, signifies nothing at all.
Answ. The moving of the heart after Christ, is not to be discerned (at all times) by thy sensible, affectionate performing of duties; but rather by those secret groanings, and complaints which thy soul makes to God against that sloth that attends thee in Duties.
Secondly, But grant it to be even as thou say'st it is, that thou comest so slowly, &c. yet since Christ bids them come, that comes not at all; surely they may be accepted that come, though attended with those infirmities, which thou at present groanest under. He saith, And him that cometh: he saith not, if they come sensibly so fast: But, And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He saith also in the Eighth of the Proverbs, As for him that wanteth understanding; that is, an heart, for ofttimes the understanding is taken for the heart. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have Mingled.
Thirdly, Thou may'st be vehement in thy spirit, in coming to Jesus Christ, and yet be plagued with sensible sloth. So was the Church, when she cryed, Draw me, we will run after thee. And Paul, when he said, When I would do good, evil is present with me (Song 1. 4. Rom. 7.) The works, strugglings and oppositions of the Flesh, are more manifest, than are the works of the Spirit in our hearts, and so are sooner felt, than they. What then, let us not be discouraged at the sight, and feeling of our own infirmities, but run the faster to Jesus Christ for Salvation.
Fourthly, Get thy heart warmed with the sweet promise of Christs acceptance, of the coming sinner, and that will make thee make more hast unto him. Discouraging thoughts, they are like unto cold weather, they benumb the senses, and make us go ungainly about our business; but the sweet and warm gleads of the promise, are like the comfortable beams of the Sun, which liven and refresh. You see how little the Bee and Flye do play in the Air in Winter; why, the cold hinders them from doing of it; but when the Wind and Sun is warm, who so busie as they?
Fifthly, But again, he that comes to Christ, flyes for his life: now there is no man that Flyes for his life, that thinks he speeds fast enough on his Journey; no, could he, he would willingly take a mile at a step. Oh I come not fast enough, say'st thou: Oh my sloth and heartlesness, say'st thou. O that I had wings like a dove, for then would I flee away, and be at rest—I would hasten mine escape from the windy storme and tempest, Psal. 55. 6, 8.
Poor coming Soul, thou art like the man that would ride full gallop, whose horse will hardly trot: now the desire of his minde, is not to be judged of, by the slow pace of the dull jade he rides on; but by the hitching and kicking and Spurring, as he sits on his back. Thy flesh is like this dull Jade, it will not Gallop, after Christ. It will be backward, though thy soul and heaven lies at stake; but be of good comfort, Christ judgeth not according to the fierceness of outward motion (Mark 10. 17.) but according to the sincerity of the heart, and inward parts. Joh. 1. 47. Psal. 51. 6. Mat. 26. 41.
Sixthly, Ziba in appearance came to David much faster than did Mephibosheth: but yet his heart was not so upright in him to David as was his. Tis true, Mephibosheth had a Check from David, Why wentest thou not with me Mephibosheth, said he; but when David come to Remember that Mephibosheth was Lame (for that was his plea) Thy Servant is Lame, 2 Sam. 19. he was content, and concluded he would have come after him faster than he did: And Mephibosheth appealed to David, who was in those days as an Angel of God to know all things that are done in the earth, if he did not believe that the reason of his backwardness lay in his Lameness, not his mind. Why poor coming sinner, thou canst not come to Christ with that outward fierceness of Carrear, as many others do; but doth the reason of thy backwardness lie in thy mind, and will, or in the sluggishness of the flesh? canst thou say sincerely, The Spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak? Mat. 26. 41. yea, canst thou appeal to the Lord Jesus, who knoweth perfectly the very inmost thought of thy heart; that this is true, then take this for thy comfort, he hath said, I will assemble her that halteth, I will make her that halteth a remnant, and I will save her that halteth (Mich. 4. 6, 7. Zeph. 3. 19.) what canst thou have more from the sweet lips of the Son of God? But.
Seventhly, I read of some that are to follow Christ in Chains; I say, to come after him in Chaines, Thus saith the Lord, the labor of Egypt, and the Merchandize of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: They shall come after thee; in Chaines shall they come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make Supplication unto thee; saying, surely there is none else to save. Isa. 45, 14. Surely they that come after Christ in Chaines, come to him in great difficulty, because their steps, by their chaines, are straightened.
And what Chaines so heavy, as those that discourage thee; thy Chain which is made up of guilt and filth is heavy; it is a wretched bond about thy neck, by which thy strength doth fail (Lam. 1. 14. chap. 3. 17.) But come, though thou comest in chaines, 'tis glory to Christ that a sinner come after him in Chaines. The blind man, though called, surely could not come apace to Jesus Christ, but Christ could stand still, and stay for him. True, he rideth upon the Wings of the Wind: But yet he is long Suffering, and his long Suffering is Salvation to him that cometh to him. Mark. 10. 49. 2 Pet 3. 9.
Eighthly, Hadest thou seen those that came to the Lord Jesus in the days of his flesh, how slowly, how hobblingly they come to him by reason of their infirmities; and also how friendly, and kindly, and graciously he received them, and gave them the desire of their hearts, thou wouldest not, as thou dost, make such Objections against thy self, in thy coming to Jesus Christ.