Works, Book 1 · Discourse 31
DISCOURSE XXXI.
S. MATTHEW 11. 28, 29.
Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
I SHALL not need trouble you with prefacing of the coherence: The words I have read are an intire sense of themselves, without dependence on what went before. For the matter, they are such, as I might call them an Epitome or Brief summe of the whole Gospel, containing in few words the compleat method of Salvation, and as in a small map a full view of the way to the gates of Eternal life; whither he is most unworthy to come who will not learn so small a Catechism as this. They are propounded unto us by way of an Invitation, consisting of Three parts: 1. The Thing, 2. The Persons, 3. The Benefit.
1. The Thing invited to, which is double, to wit, Christ and his yoke. Come unto me, saith he, and take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly.
2. The Persons invited, Those that labour and are heavy laden: Come all ye that labour and are heavy laden.
3. The Benefit to those who embrace the invitement, Rest and Ease; which you shall find in every corner of this Invitation. I will give you rest, or, I will ease you: again, Ye shall find rest unto your souls: and in conclusion, My yoke is easie, and my burthen is light. A Benefit so transcendent, as might allure any car, that is not wholly stopped up with spiritual deafness, to listen after the means whereby it is attained.
Let us therefore consider these Three points in order; and first, that which must first be known and learned, The quality of the persons invited; Those that labour and are heavy laden. Which before I tell you what they mean, I must first tell you how to construe them, viz. by the Figure called Hendiadis, understanding the conjunction [and] causally; and so contriving the two things named into one, in this manner, labour and heavy laden, into labouring of being heavy laden: As if it had been said, Come unto me all ye that labour of, or by, being heavy laden; All you that are toiled with, and weary of, your heavy burthen, come unto me, and I will ease you.
For after this manner are many things in Scripture which are uttered conjunctionwise to be understood. I will multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, (saith God unto the woman. Gen. 3. 16.) that is, I will multiply thy sorrows of conception, or the sorrows which come of conception. You shall find often in Scripture, Do judgment and righteousness; that is, Do judgment according to righteousness, Do such judgment as proceeds from justice and righteousness. Psal. 116. 1. I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplication, that is, the voice of my supplication, Ier. 29. 11.—P…ris libamus & auro (saith the Poet) that is, Libam… pat… ex auro: The Lord promiseth his people to give them an end and expectation, that is, the end of their expectation, or the end they look for. In this Gospel, saith S. Iohn Baptist, chap. 3. verse 11. He that cometh after me, shall baptize you with the holy Ghost and with fire, that is, with the fire of the holy Ghost. So in my Text, weary and heavy laden, is weary of being heavy laden; such as labour, such as are toiled and tired out by the weight of their loading.—Chalybo… … And thus are the words to be construed.
Now to the meaning of them. Those that labour of being heavy laden, are such as grieve and groan under the burthen of their sins. According to the Law,*Exod. 23. 15. none should appear before the Lord empty: what offering, what sacrifice then must we bring when we come in to Christ, but that which David (who well knew) tells us Psal. 51. 17.Mat. 11. 28, 29 The sacrifice of God (saith he) is a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Thus must they come furnished whom Christ inviteth. For this is that which S. Paul calls, 2 Cor. 7. 10. a sorrow after God, or a godly sorrow, which, saith he, worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of. For understanding therefore of this Metaphor in my Text, we must know, That Sin is compared in Scripture unto a burthen, wherewith every sinner is loaden, yea overcharged; a burthen intolerable. So Psal. 38. 4. Mine iniquities, saith David, are gone over mine head; as a heavie burthen they are too heavie for me. Ver. 6. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly. Ver. 8. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared because of the disquietness of my heart. S. Paul followeth the manner of speech, when he tells us, 2 Tim. 3. 6. of silly women laden with sin, and led away with divers lusts. S…n a burthe… and load in …e…pect of …e we gi…t of Punis… ment. Loathsomness.This loading and pressure of sin is in respect of a twofold weight which oppresseth the Soul, the one of Punishment, the other of Loathsomness. For the weight of Punishment; it is the ordinary style of the Prophets to term God's Iudgments for sin by the name of burthens. Iehu calls his execution upon Iehoram, the burthen which the Lord laid upon his father Ahab, 2 King 9. 25. So S. Paul saith, Gal. 6. 5. that every one shall bear his own burthen. For the other, the Loathsomness of sin, that also weighs heavie. Ah sinful Nation! (saith the Prophet Esay, ch. 1. 4.) a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers— and it follows, v. 6. From the sole of the foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores. This also is a part of David's burthen, Psal. 38. 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. I am troubled (or wryed, foreign Incurvatus sum,) I am bowed down greatly.
Is Sin indeed so heavie a thing? how then do we make it so light a matter? Nullum onus (saith Ambrose Ep. 18.) gravius est quàm sarcina peccatorum & pondus flagitiorum, No burthen is more heavie, no load more pressing to the Soul, than the weight and load of Sin. If every thing that presseth down be heavy, how heavy is that which presseth down to Hell, that is, unto that depth of woe whose bottom can never be fathom'd! Is Sin so heavy a thing indeed? how comes it then to pass we feel it not? Our case is so much the more fearful and dangerous. For, saith Chrysosiome, foreign, The evil is so much the greater, by how much it seems to be the lesser. For Physicians all agree, that those are most dangerously sick who have no sense and feeling of their sickness; whereas on the contrary, to be sensible of pain is a sign the sickness is not deadly. Happy therefore are those who can add the other word to this, being not only foreign laden, but foreign; labouring under the weight of their burthen. These are those whom Christ calleth; and these are those whose condition we are now to consider, that we may know it, and whether our selves be any of that number.
That a man therefore may truly be said to labour and be weary of his burthen, two things are requisite: First, That he feel and be sensible of the weight thereof; Secondly, That he desire to be rid thereof.
He must feel and be sensible of the weight thereof. Now the weight of sin, as I told you, is twofold: First, The weight of Punishment; and secondly, The load of Loathsomness. The first and soonest felt is that of Punishment; which as it is the grossest weight, so may it be felt while the sense of the Soul is yet but gross and dull: But to feel the other, that is, to loath our sin, requires a quicker and more tender sense; which is not easily attained to, unless the Soul be first well rubbed and galled with the weight of Punishment. The entry therefore and, as it were, the porch of Penitence, are those Terrors and Pangs of the Soul affrighted with the apprehension of the Wrath of God for Sin, and of the danger we are in therefore. When the piercing sting of an accusing conscience upbraids us, and tells us we are in a state to be damned eternally: That if I should die this day, this night, this hour, I must go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, there to yell and howl with devils in pains unspeakable, and be tormented for ever and ever. When our Soul is stricken with horror, to think how long we have lived in this danger, and how little we thought thereof; nay, how securely we encreased our score, as though we should never have come to a reckoning for the same; how often God might have taken me away in the midst of my sins, and where had I been then? yea what shall become of me, if he should do it now? O how am I afraid of this moment, who feared nothing so many years! These are those arrows of the Almighty, which must go through our Souls at the beginning of our Repentance. That we may take up the words of David, Psal. 38. 1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. v. 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore, v. 3. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin.
This is a good beginning; but is no more than a beginning: for yet we labour not enough; yet we are not weary enough for Christ to call us unto him. This is but as the prick of a needle, making way for the thread. We must go further, else this will do us no good. For thus far, as to be sensible and affected with the punishment due for sin, to be terrified with the weight of the wrath of God which lies upon us for the same, thus far he may come who shall be damned. For it is common to the desperate reprobate, as well as to the children of God; to Iudas, who hanged himself; to Cain whom God drove out from his presence; for he could say and confess to God himself, My punishment is greater than I can bear, Gen. 4. 13. Let us therefore see what we are further to add unto it.
And that is a sense and feeling of the foulness, loathsomness and odiousness of Sin. If If we feel not our selves affected with this weight, the former groaning will be accounted no better with God than hypocrisie and slavish fear; for this is the soul and the life of a godly sorrow indeed, without which the other is but a carkase, if it be alone. But if by rubbing and galling our Hearts, it makes them at length so tender as to be sensible not only of the punishment, but to loath Sin it self as a foul and ugly thing; then indeed it begins to live and give some proof it will be sincere. For as a surfet of meats, how dainty and delicate soever, will afterward make them loathsome: So if we be indeed surcharged with the burthen of our sins, the appetite of the Soul will begin to loath them, though they have been never so full of delight; yea, it will make us loath our selves, and cry out in a mournful manner with S. Paul, Rom. 7. 24. O miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? Even as a man who is covered over with noisome boiles and sores, is not affected only with the bodily pain caused by them, but even abhors the sight and smell of that which causeth it, as filthy and ugly: so must it be in this leprosie of sin. And indeed, were our eyes once open to see it,The reason of Sin's Loathsomness. Sin is the most ugly, beastly, filthy and noisome thing in the world: For being wholly opposite to God, the most glorious Beauty and most delectable Good; it is contrary to whatsoever is any way seemly, comely, graceful and beautiful: for all these carry in them some Image and resemblance of him; but Sin, none at all. Nay, it is a distasteful and loathsome thing to the Reasonable nature of man, as appears by the continual upbraiding and griping of the Conscience, which can never down with it. In meats, if any go against our stomach, we abhor and loath them: how much more loathsome is that which the Conscience cannot digest, the stomach and taster of our souls? O how nice and daintie we are, that no loathsome and unpleasant meat should offend (so much as by the sight thereof) our fleshly appetite, which is common to us with Beasts! but our Souls, our nobler part, whose safety so much concerns us, we cram and choak with the loathsome filthiness of Sin, and perceive it not. But as those who cannot endure a cat or a mouse, or the like, by Antipathie of nature, when any such thing comes within their sight or near their person, presently they start, and shew some extremity of passion or other; and if they cannot fly it, it casts their body into a cold sweat: So must we labour under the sight of our sins, that we may be of those whom Christ here calleth for. O Lord, supple our hearts with thy quickning grace, that they may be so tender as to feel this part of their butthen as well as the other.
Thus have we heard the first requisite of such as may be truly said to labour, and be weary of their burthen; namely, To feel and be sensible of a double weight thereof.
Now follows the next and last requisite, A desire to be rid thereof. He that truly and unfeignedly labours under the burthen of his sin, he that is indeed weary thereof, will desire to be rid of it: For Sorrow is so much against the good liking of Nature, that he that is pressed with the burthen thereof, will earnestly desire to be eased; will endeavour to shake off his burthen, and remove that which procures his Sorrow. He therefore that is not so far toiled with the pressure of his sins as to have a purpose to forsake and leave them, is no true penitent, none of those who are yet weary enough to go unto Christ for ease.
And lest we might deceive our selves, and think we have a purpose to leave our sins, when we have not; let us examine our selves by these three Rules following.
1. That this purpose must be general, without reservation of any darling sin: For he that retains any sin, is not yet weary enough of his burthen. He that looks for a forgiveness of all his sins, must purpose to forsake them all; he must not with Herod in the Gospel have a reservation of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife: God will not be served with halves; he will have our whole Hearts, or none.
2. He that devises not how to cast off the burthen of his sin, though it pains him, but how to carry it more handsomely and conveniently, by qualifications and distinctions, and the like, he is perhaps heavy laden, for he feels his shoulders pincht; but he is not weary of carrying; but thinks to ease himself as he in the Fable did his horse of the plough, who sitting still upon his horse back, carried the plough on his own neck: So was the horse eased by a distinction; for now his master carried the plough, and not he.
3. He that hath indeed a purpose to cast off the burthen of his sin and to forsake it, is willing to make amends where he hath wronged; as we see by the example of Zacchaeus in the Gospel. For he that cannot wish from the bottom of his heart that what he hath done were undone, and if it were to do again, he would never do it, is no true penitent, nor heartily sorry for his sin. But how can he say thus who hath ill-gotten goods, and will not restore them; who hath power in his hands yet in some sort to undo his sin, as far as the injury concerneth man, and yet will not do it?
And thus you have seen How the persons must be qualified, and what preparation is required of them who are capable of this sweet Invitation of our Saviour, Come unto me all ye that are weary or labour of being heavy laden, and I will ease you.
But you will say, How should a man come to be thus affected? How should he come to be touched with remorse for sin? and what means is to be used? I answer, By a serious and often meditation upon the Law of God, which is a Glass wherein to behold the deformity of sin and depth of our misery. Dost thou in deed and good earnest believe that God Almighty hath given this Law to men? Dost thou believe thou hast transgressed and broken every part thereof? Dost thou believe (tell me truly) that all those who have done so, are under the wrath of God and in the state of eternal damnation, to be tormented with the devil and his angels for ever? Dost thou, or canst thou, believe all this, and thy heart not yield and bleed to think how woful and fearful a condition thou art in? If it doth not, I say thou dost not yet fully and in earnest believe any of these things. Thou mayst perhaps lay so, and think so too; but thou deceivest thine own heart: The devil deludes thee. I say again, Thou believest not; thy perswasion is too slight: For every unrepentant sinner, that knows and hears the law of God without sorrow and contrition of heart is a piece of an Infidel; and it is Vnbelief, and nothing but Vnbelief, which makes his Heart so unmoveable and unrelenting.
If a Proclamation came from an earthly Monarch, that whosoever had at any time committed such and such misdemeanours, should have his estate confiscated, or suffer some grievous and exquisite torments, as a Traitor unto his Prince: if I should see a man deeply liable unto all this, who could hear of such a Proclamation securely, without trouble and astonishment, that could sleep quietly, and be no whit dejected or cast down therewith: might I not justly think, either he believed himself not guilty of any of the crimes there mentioned, or took it for a counterfeit, or only some scarecrow never meant to be put in execution? I know your selves would think so. How then is it possible that a man should firmly and seriously give credence to the Law of God and the Threats contained therein, and yet his Heart never smite him, his Soul be never touched with remorse? No, without doubt, this Legal faith (for so I call the belief I speak of) is yet a weak one, a superficial and unsetled perswasion (perhaps,) but no grounded or firm impression. Wouldst thou amend it? wouldst thou drive it deeper? Rub thy Heart continually with a fixt and frequent meditation of the severity of God's Law, of the number and greatness of thy transgressions, of the dreadfulness of wrath and vengeance due for the same. Never cease doing this untill thy Heart shall yield, and thy bowels melt within thee. One drop of water weareth not a stone, but continual dropping will do it. Gutta cavat lapidem, &c. If one meditation will not melt thy Heart; yet a continuance therein will do it. Those who let bloud will rub the Vein often to make it swell: so must thou rub thy Heart often to make it bleed. A hard skin, with often grinding and fretting, will at length grow thin and tender.
I COME now to the Second thing I propounded in this Invitation, The thing invited to; which is double, Coming unto Christ, and Taking his yoke upon us. I begin with the first. This coming unto Christ is the approaching to him by Faith; which is manifested by those places of Scripture where coming and believing are interchangeably used as one and the same thing. He that cometh to God (saith S. Paul, Heb. 11. 6.) must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him. Iohn 6. 35. I am (saith our Saviour) the bread of life: He that cometh to me, shall never hunger; he that believeth on me, shall never thirst. Here coming is expounded by believing. Ver. 37. All that the Father giveth me, shall come unto me; and he that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. In Iohn 1. 12. it is called a receiving of Christ: But as many as received him, to them gave he power (or priviledg) to become the Sons of God, even to them that believed on his Name.
Here therefore observe, That a Saving Faith, a Faith which makes Christ our own, and hath promise of ease by him, in a word, that Faith which gives us an interest in Christ Iesus, is more than a bare assent or perswasion that the Gospel is true, which saies that Christ is the Son of God and the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind. It is a coming Belief, a coming Faith; that is, an assent inclining the Soul to Christ, to be made partaker of the Benefits through him. Not a bare Speculative assent, which remains in the Brain, and proceeds no farther; but such an assent as rests not there, but worketh a motion in the Will, to seek and embrace that which is believed. Such an assent as not only believes the Promises made in Christ, but goes unto him, relies upon him, clings unto him for them. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavie laden; and I will ease you.
To believe the Gospel is true, that Christ Iesus is the only means of Salvation ordained by God, I grant it to be a Faith, though it go no farther: But it is an insufficient Faith, an imperfect and impotent Faith, which is usually called Historical Faith; which I make no question but you all have: But if you stay here, the Devil believes as much as you do. But a Saving Faith, though it begins with this, yet it staies not there: It stands not only gazing upon Christ, but is effectual and powerful upon the Soul, to make it apply and betake it self unto him. This height of Faith the Devils have not, nor can have. They can believe, as well as we, that Christ is a Saviour; but never so far or so much as to have any hope, affiance, or confidence in him. For if a King should proclaim a general pardon to a number of known rebels, and vow execution without mercy upon some principal offenders who had cunningly and maliciously seduced the rest; both of them might equally believe the Proclamation to be true: yet the one would be encouraged to relie upon the King's clemency, and to sue out his pardon; but the other would be utterly disheartned, as being uncapable. Such altogether is the case of men and wicked Angels in the Proclamation of the Gospel: Men hearing Christ took the woman's Seed, are encouraged with hope of pardon; the Devils knowing he in no wise took the nature of Angels, the better they believe his Incarnation, the less are their hopes of their own redemption.
Come we therefore to application.Heb. 11. 6. He that cometh unto God (saith S. Paul) must believe that God is, and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him: So say I, He that cometh unto Christ must believe that he is, and that he is the Easer of them that seek unto him. He that believes this sufficiently, cannot but go unto Christ. You therefore that labour, and are heavy laden with your sins, do you believe that Christ is, and that he is the Easer of them that being weary of their sins seek unto him? How can your Soul then but fly unto him with trust and confidence in him? Yea but will some men say, I believe that Christ is, and that he is the Easer of them that seek him; yet for all this I can put no trust and confidence in him. Yea, but dost thou believe it so well as to find thy Soul on wing toward him, to seek and sue for pardon? If thou findest this, thou hast some trust and confidence in him, more or less: For didst thou quite despair of Ease from him, thy Heart could never seek to him: for where a man utterly despairs to obtain, he will not so much as stir a foot to make a suit.
The motion or flight of the Soul is Desire. He that out of a true sense and feeling of his sin (for no other can do it in good earnest) desires Christ, he goes unto him. And Christ thou …eest requires no more, but that all those who are weary and heavie laden should thus come unto him, and he will ease them. And this is the first degree of a Faith which is Iustifying, and gives interest in Christ Iesus: For this Faith is not barely Historical and in speculation, but a Faith in motion, and able to walk and go unto Christ Iesus whom it believeth; which, if cherished, will in time gather such further strength as will fill the Soul with a full and stedfast confidence.
But if thou sayest, Thou believest that Christ is, and that he is the Easer and Saviour of those which seek him, and yet thy Soul is not on wing, nor any motion in thy Heart advancing to him; I say then, either thy Sorrow for thy sin is not true, and therefore thou yet feelest no need of him; or thy Belief is deficient. Whatsoever thou sayest and thinkest of thy self, thou believest not yet throughly and indeed, that Christ Iesus is a Redeemer and Saviour of those that come unto him. For, as I told you before that he believed not the Law throughly and indeed, that could hear it without remorse of Conscience and contrition of Soul, so he believes not the Gospel throughly and firmly, who being laden and grieved for his sins, yet is not able to flie and betake himself unto Christ for mercy. For if you saw a man condemned to die, and in great affliction for the same, who hearing of a Pardon proclaimed for all in his case who would demand it, should nevertheless sit still, and never go about to seek it; who would think but that either he misdoubted the report, or gave but little credence to the word of the King? Such is the case here: There is certainly some defect in believing: And this must be cured after the same manner as that in believing the Law; namely, by a sober and frequent meditation, reading, hearing, and thinking of that great mysterie revealed of Redemption in Iesus Christ, and of the gracious Promises of the Gospel in and through him. This is Faith's whetstone, which, if it be blunt, will make it keen. This is the only means to establish thy Belief, if it be deficient or unsetled; if there be any metal in it, this will give it an edge; if there be any sparkles, this will blow them into a flame.
Thus you have heard what Coming to Christ is, that is, what a Saving Faith is; namely, so firmly and effectually to believe that Christ is a Saviour of those that seek him, as doth incline thy Heart to go unto him, to sue out a Pardon and rely upon him for mercy and Redemption.
NOW follows the Benefit, Ease and Rest to thy Soul; I will ease you, or give you rest; that is, I will free you of your burthen, I will ease you of your sin, I will acquit you. And this is that we call Iustification of a sinner, which is an Absolution or remission of sins by the only merits and satisfaction of Christ accepted for us and imputed to us: An acquitting and cancelling of all bonds and obligations of transgression for Christ's sake, through the only merit of his death, passion, and shedding of his bloud. For he that hath right to Christ, hath right in Christ to be partaker of his righteousness and of whatsoever satisfaction he hath undergone for the sins of mankind; whereby he is justified, that is, acquit before God of the guilt of sin, and of the punishment according to the Law due for the same. For God (saith S. Paul, 2 Cor. 5. 21.) made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Rom. 5. 19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners: so by the obedience of one many are made righteous.
This is the Ease, this is the Rest here mentioned, the unlading and unburthening of a sinner, where Christ dischargeth him of his loading, and beareth him upon his own back. For he (saith Esay, chap. 53. 4, 5, 6.) hath born our griefs, and carried our sorrows: He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed—The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Thus he eased Peter, when his heart was ready to break for denying him: Thus he eased Mary Magdalen, a woman laden with sins, when she bathed his feet with tears, Luke 7. 48. Thus he refreshed trembling Saul, the persecutor, Acts 9. 6. And still he casteth the eyes of his mercy upon every one that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at his word, Esa. 66. 2.
See therefore here to whom alone a troubled soul is to have recourse for Ease. Neither to Angels nor Archangels: For those who do so, hold not the head, Col. 2. 19. Neither to Saints nor Martyrs, to Peter nor Paul, no not to the blessed Virgin her self: For Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knows us not, Esa. 63. 16. and, Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord, Ier. 17. 5. Nor to the Law given by Moses: For the Law worketh (not ease but) wrath, Rom. 4. 15. Nor will our merits and good works, pilgrimages, fastings or almsdeeds, purchase this Ease: For although we could do all we ought to do, yet must we say we are unprofitable servants, Ioh. 1. 29.and that we have done but that which was our duty to do, Luke 17. 10. It is Christ Iesus, and only Christ Iesus, who can give Rest to a troubled soul, that Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.
AND thus you have in part had a view of the Three points considerable in this Invitation: 1. The Persons, who; 2. The Invitation or Thing invited to, what; and 3. The Benefit to be attained. But I must call you to the Second point again, there being one part thereof not yet spoken of. For I told you The thing here invited unto was double, Christ himself, and His yoke. The first, concerning Christ himself, I have spoken of in those words, Come unto me. Now it remains to speak of the second, Take my yoke upon you. Those who come unto Christ, must also take his yoke upon them. But what is this yoke? even the yoke of obedience; which should have been ours, but Christ for our sakes took it upon him, and made it his. Yet not that we should draw our necks out of the collar, but still do our endeavours by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,… T…. 12. 13. to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope to come. As therefore in coming unto Christ you had Faith in the Ease by him, Acquitting or Iustification: so in the taking his yoke ye have Sanctification or Holiness of life. All which are so linked together, that neither must they nor can they be put asunder. No man comes to Christ by Faith, but shall be eased; but no man can ever truly and seriously come unto him to be eased by him,Mat…. 19. 6. but he must take his yoke upon him: No man puts on Christ to be justified, but he takes on his yoke also to be sanctified. That which God hath joyned together, let no man put asunder.
True it is, and nothing more true, That no works of ours in this life can abide the Touch-stone of God's Law, and therefore not able to justifie us in the presence of God, but to condemn us. But it is true also, That we are therefore justified through Faith in the bloud and righteousness of Christ, that in him we might do works pleasing and acceptable to Almighty God, which out of him we could not do. For as the bloud and sufferings of Iesus Christ, imputed to us through Faith, cleanseth and acquitteth us of all the sins whereof we stood guilty afore we believed: so the imputation of his righteousness when we believe makes our works (though of themselves far short of what they should be, yet) to be acceptable and just in the eyes of the Almighty; Christ supplying out of his Riches our poverty, and by communication of his obedience continually perfecting ours where we fail; that so we might receive the reward of the righteous of him that shall reward every man according to his works. Being therefore in Christ, we are so much the more bound to frame our lives in holy obedience unto God's Commandments; in that before we were justified we could not, but now henceforth we are enabled to do that which for Christ's sake will be acceptable and pleasing to Almighty God our Father.
This is that which S. Peter tells us, 1 Epist. 2. 24. That Christ his own self bare our …s in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness. So S. Paul, Tit. 2. 11, &c. The grace of God (saith he) that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men; (wherefore?) Teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Iesus Christ, ver. 14. Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purifie unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Here you may see, that Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justifie us, that in him we might walk before God in newness of life; so to obtain a crown of righteousness in the world to come.
But if this be not enough to perswade us to take on this yoke of Christ, yet I hope this consideration will do it; when I shall shew you, that That Faith can never be true which is not attended with these fruits. Nor is there any other mean to assure us we are truly come to Christ, and ingraffed in him, but this. If we have taken up this yoke of Christ, we may know then we have put on him: If we have never put our necks to his yoke, we never put on him. It is S. Iohn's express assertion, 1 Epist. 1. 6. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lye, and do not the the truth. Ch. 2. 3. Hereby we know that we know him, (viz. to be our Advocate with his Father, and the propitiation for our sins) if we keep his commandments.
The Reason is plain; Because the one follows the other, as the heat doth the Fire, or the light the Sun. Which I thus demonstrate, both on Christ's part and ours. On ours thus: He that sincerely sues to and seriously relies upon another for a Favour which nearly concerneth him, and no other can do for him, will by all means endeavour to avoid whatsoever he knows may distaste his Patron, and do his best to approve himself in whatsoever he can learn is most pleasing unto him. If you should see a man having a Suit to some great Courtier for a pardon of his life, and yet shewing no care of doing in his presence what he knew would deeply offend him, and wilfully neglecting that he knew would give him the best content; would you think such a man in earnest, and sufficiently perplext with fear of death, and seriously relying upon that man to save it? I know you would not. If therefore,Mat. 11. 29. out of a true affrightment and sense of the wrath of God for sin, with a sincere and serious Faith, thou suest unto and reliest upon Christ for mercy and redemption, as the only name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved; Acts 4. 12.how canst thou but love him with all the Powers of thy Soul, and therefore do thy best to please him upon whom thou dependest for so great and unvaluable a benefit? If thou dost not, surely thou hast not yet weighed thy misery sufficiently, thy Faith is insufficient and counterfeit, it never yet came home to Christ, that he might ease thee.
The same appears on Christ's part: For unto whomsoever Christ is given for Iustification, through the imputation of his merits and righteousness, in him God creates a new heart, and reneweth a right spirit (as the Psalmist speaketh, Psal. 51. 10.) that is, by virtue of this union he conferreth upon him the grace of his Spirit, for the abolishing of the body of sin, and enabling the Soul in some measure against the assaults thereof, to abandon at least the more eminent, notorious, enormous and mortal sins, though sins of ordinary infirmity shall not be quite subdued in this life. If therefore I see a man run still without restraint into gross and open sins, and walk not blameless in the eyes of men, I conclude he hath not this Spirit of grace within him, and therefore was never ingraffed into Christ by a true and lively Faith. Wheresoever therefore is a true faith and unfeigned, 1 Tim. 1. 5. there follows a new life. He that cometh to Christ sincerely, takes his yoke upon him too. Labour therefore, Iames 2. ….as S. Iames saith, to shew your Faith by your works; For not every one that saith, Lord,Matt. 7. 2… Lord, but he that doth the will of my Father (saith Christ) shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.