The Right Receiving of Christ, Preface · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Ignorance of the worth of Chriſt, keeps men from receiving him.
FIrſt, conſider who it is that is to be received. It is Jeſus Chriſt the Lord, ſays the Text. He in whom is all our good, and by whom we have all ſpirituall, and eternall good that is to be had. How gladly do ſome receive Lords, great ones, how gladly do men receive Kings? Now Chriſt, he is the Lord, the King of Glory. Upon this ground are we excited to receive him: Pſal. 24. 7. 9. Lift up your heads, O yee gates, and be yee lift up yee everlaſting doors, that is, lift up your hearts, and ſet the doors of your hearts wide open. But why, what ſhall we get by it? The King of glory ſhall enter. So that when the King of Glory is to be received, how readily ſhould men ſet their hearts wide open to receive him? Receive Chriſt, and yee receive the King of Glory, and the King of Glory enters. The Apoſtle preſſing to hoſpitality, uſes this argument, Hebr. 13. 2. that ſome thereby received Angells. Oh, how glad would a man be, to have ſuch gueſts as Abraham and Lot had? how glad would a man be to receive Angels? I, but here is a greater matter. In receiving Chriſt, we receive not Angels, but wee receive the Son of God himſelf, not into our houſes, but into our hearts. What be Angels to the King of Glory, to the Son of God? If men did but conſider, who it is that ſhould be received, and what a gueſt they ſhould receive, when they receive Chriſt, how eaſily would they be perſwaded to receive him? Men know not Chriſt, know not his worth and excellencie, and therefore receive him not, Joh. 1. 10, 11. That which is in one verſe, Knew him not, is in the other, Receive him not: To ſhew that men therefore receive not Chriſt, becauſe they know him not, they know not how precious a Chriſt he is. Oh, how gladly and readily would men receive him, if once they knew who, and what he were? We find, John 6. 19. that the Diſciples not knowing Chriſt, were afraid of him, though he came towards them, yet they were ſo farre from receiving him, that they would well have wiſht him further off. Being afraid of him, they muſt needs be afraid to receive him. But when, verſe 20. Chriſt makes himſelf known unto them, It is I, be not afraid; then verſe 21. They willingly received him into the ſhip. When once they knew it was Chriſt whom they ſhould receive, they then no longer feare, but willingly and gladly receive him. So when Chriſt is offered unto men they receive him not, becauſe they know him not, and therfore indeed are many times afraid to receive him. They think if he be received, they may loſe their credit and friends in the world; that this Chriſt will mar all the joy and pleaſure of their lives, and that they ſhould lead but melancholy mopiſh lives; and ſo not knowing Chriſt, are afraid of him. I, but it is the Lord Chriſt that is offered unto you, the Lord of life, and grace, the Lord of all comfort and conſolation; it is a Saviour and Redeemer that is offered unto you; It is that Chriſt that dyed for you, that ſhed his blood for you, that did undergo the curſe of God, and bare the infinite weight of his Fathers wrath to deliver you; It is a Jeſus Chriſt, a ſaving Chriſt who is offered unto you. Since therefore it is Chriſt, and he ſuch a Chriſt, this ſhould make us receive him, and receive him as willingly into our hearts, as they when they knew him, received him into the ſhip; It is the Lord Jeſus Chriſt that is offered us, be yee then lift up yee everlaſting doors, fly open yee gates of our hearts, that Jeſus Chriſt the Lord may be received and entertained. How gladly did the Galatians receive Paul who was but a Miniſter, and an Apoſtle of Chriſt? Gal. 4. 14. Yee received me as an Angel of God, even as Jeſus Chriſt. If they ſo received a Miniſter of Chriſt, how then ſhould Chriſt Jeſus himſelf be received?