Object. But I do find many weaknesses in every duty that I do perform, as when I pray, when I read, when I hear, or any other duty, that it maketh me out of conceit with myself, it maketh me think that my duties are nothing worth.
Answ. I answer, it may be it is thy mercy that thou art sensible of infirmities in thy best things thou doest; ay, a greater mercy than thou art aware of.
Quest. Can it be a mercy for me to be troubled with my corruptions? Can it be a privilege for me to be annoyed with my infirmities, and to have my best duties infected with it? How can it possibly be?
Answ. Verily, thy sins appearing in thy best duties, do work for thy advantage these ways—1. In that thou findest ground enough thereby to make thee humble; and when thou hast done all, yet to count thyself but an unprofitable servant. And, 2. Thou by this means art taken off from leaning on anything below a naked Jesus for eternal life. It is like, if thou wast not sensible of many by-thoughts and wickednesses in thy best performances, thou wouldst go near to be some proud, abominable hypocrite, or a silly, proud dissembling wretch at the best, such an one as would send thy soul to the devil in a bundle of thy own righteousness. But now, thou, through grace, seest that in all and everything thou doest there is sin enough in it to condemn thee. This, in the first place, makes thee have a care of trusting in thy own doings; and, secondly, showeth thee that there is nothing in thyself which will do thee any good by working in thee, as to the meritorious cause of thy salvation. No; but thou must have a share in the birth of Jesus, in the death of Jesus, in the blood, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of a crucified Jesus. And how sayest thou? Doth not thy finding of this in thee cause thee to fly from a depending on thy own doings? And doth it not also make thee more earnestly to groan after the Lord Jesus? Yea, and let me tell thee also, it will be a cause to make thee admire the freeness and tender heartedness of Christ to thee, when He shall lift up the light of His countenance upon thee, because He hath regarded such an one as thou, sinful thou; and therefore, in this sense, it will be mercy to the saints that they do find the relics of sin still struggling in their hearts. But this is not simply the nature of sin, but the mercy and wisdom of God, who causeth all things to work together for the good of those that love and fear God (Rom 8). And, therefore, whatever thou findest in thy soul, though it be sin of never so black a soul-scarring nature, let it move thee to run the faster to the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt not be ashamed—that is, of thy running to Him.
But when thou dost apprehend that thou art defiled, and also thy best duties annoyed with many weaknesses, let that Scripture come into thy thoughts which saith, “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption”; and if thou shalt understand that, what thou canst not find in thyself thou shalt find in Christ. Art thou a fool in thyself? then Christ is made of God thy wisdom. Art thou unrighteous in thyself? Christ is made of God thy righteousness. Dost thou find that there is but very little sanctifying grace in thy soul? still here is Christ made thy sanctification; and all this in His own Person without thee, without thy wisdom, without thy righteousness, without thy sanctification, without in His own Person in thy Father’s presence, appearing there perfect wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification in His own Person; I say, as a public Person for thee; so that thou mayest believe, and say to thy soul, My soul, though dost find innumerable infirmities in thyself, and in thy actions, yet look upon thy Jesus, the Man Jesus; He is wisdom, and that for thee, to govern thee, to take care for thee, and to order all things for the best for thee. He is also thy righteousness now at God’s right hand, always shining before the eyes of His glory; so that there it is unmoveable, though thou art in never such a sad condition, yet thy righteousness, which is the Son of God, God-man, shines as bright as ever, and is as much accepted of God as ever. O this sometimes hath been life to me; and so, whatever thou, O my soul, findest wanting in thyself, through faith thou shalt see all laid up for thee in Jesus Christ, whether it be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, or redemption. Nay, not only so, but, as I said before, He is all these in His own Person without thee in the presence of His Father for thee.
Object. But now, if any should say in their hearts, O, but I am one of the old-covenant men, I doubt—that is, I doubt I am not within this glorious Covenant of Grace. And how if I should not?
Answ. Well, thou fearest that thou are one of the old covenant, a son of the bond-woman. [1.] In the first place, know that thou wast one of them by nature, for all by nature are under that covenant; but set the case that thou art to this day under that, yet let me tell thee, in the first place, there are hopes for thee; for there is a gap open, a way made for souls to come from under the Covenant of Works, by Christ, “for He hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” and you (Eph 2:14). And therefore, if thou wouldst be saved, thou mayest come to Christ; if thou wantest a righteousness, as I said before, there is one in Christ; if thou wouldst be washed, thou mayest come to Christ; and if thou wouldst be justified, there is justification enough in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the first. [2.] And thou canst not be so willing to come to Christ as He is willing thou shouldst come to Him. Witness His coming down from Heaven, His humiliation, His spilling of His blood from both His cheeks, by sweat under the burden of sin (Luke 22:44) and His shedding of it by the spear when He hanged on the Cross. It appears also by His promises, by His invitations, by His sending forth His messengers to preach the same to poor sinners, and threateneth damnation upon this very account, namely, the neglect of Him; and declares that all the thousands and ten thousands of sins in the world should not be able to damn those that believed in Him; that He would pardon all, forgive and pass by all, if they would but come unto Him; moreover, promiseth to cast out none, no, not the poorest, vilest, contemptiblest creature in the whole world. “Come unto Me all,” every one, though you be never so many, so vile, though your load be never so heavy and intolerable, though you deserve no help, not the least help, no mercy, not the least compassion, yet “cast your burden upon Me, and you shall find rest for your souls.” Come unto Me and I will heal you, love you, teach you, and tell you the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Come unto Me, and I will succour you, help you, and keep you from all devils and their temptations, from the Law and its curses, and from being for ever overcome with any evil whatever. Come unto Me for what you need, and tell Me what you would have, or what you would have Me do for you, and all My strength, love, wisdom, and interest that I have with My Father shall be laid out for you. Come unto Me, your sweet Jesus, your loving and tender-hearted Jesus, your everlasting and sin-pardoning Jesus. Come unto Me, and I will wash you, and put My righteousness upon you, pray to the Father for you, and send My Spirit into you, that you might be saved. Therefore,
Consider, besides this, what a privilege thou shalt have at the Day of Judgment above thousands, if thou do in deed and in truth close in with this Jesus and accept of Him; for thou shalt not only have a privilege in this life, but in the life everlasting, even at the time of Christ’s second coming from Heaven; for then, when there shall be the whole world gathered together, and all the good angels, bad angels, saints, and reprobates, when all thy friends and kindred, with thy neighbours on the right hand and on the left shall be with thee, beholding of the wonderful glory and majesty of the Son of God; then shall the Son of Glory, even Jesus, in the very view and sight of them all, smile and look kindly upon thee; when a smile or a kind look from Christ shall be worth more than ten thousand worlds, then thou shalt have it. You know it is counted an honour for a poor man to be favourably looked upon by a judge, or a king, in the sight of lords, earls, dukes, and princes; why, thus it will be with thee in the sight of all the princely saints, angels, and devils, in the sight of all the great nobles in the world; then, even thou that closest in with Christ, be thou rich or poor, be thou bond or free, wise or foolish, if thou close in with Him, He will say unto thee, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” even in the midst of the whole world; they that love thee shall see it, and they that hate thee shall all to their shame behold it; for if thou fear Him here in secret, He will make it manifest even at that day upon the house-tops.
Secondly, Not only thus, but thou shalt also be lovingly received and tenderly embraced of Him at that day, when Christ hath thousands of gallant saints, as old Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, together with all the Prophets, and Apostles, and martyrs, attending on Him; together with many thousands of glittering angels ministering before Him; besides, when the ungodly shall appear there with their pale faces, with their guilty consciences, and trembling souls, that would then give thousands and ten thousands of worlds, if they had so many, if they could enjoy but one loving look from Christ. I say, then, then shalt thou have the hand of Christ, reached to thee kindly to receive thee, saying, Come, thou blessed, step up hither; thou was willing to leave all for Me, and now will I give all to thee; here is a throne, a crown, a kingdom, take them; thou wast not ashamed of Me when thou wast in the world among my enemies, and now will not I be ashamed of thee before thine enemies, but will, in the view of all these devils and damned reprobates promote thee to honour and dignity. “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Thou shalt see that those who have served Me in truth shall lose nothing by the means. No; but ye shall be as pillars in My temple, and inheritors of My glory, and shall have place to walk in among My saints and angels (Zech 3:7). O! who would not be in this condition? who would not be in this glory? It will be such a soul-ravishing glory, that I am ready to think the whole reprobate world will be ready to run mad, to think that they should miss of it (Deu 28:34). Then will the vilest drunkard, swearer, liar, and unclean person willingly cry, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” yet be denied of entrance; and thou in the meantime embraced, entertained, made welcome, have a fair mitre set upon thy head, and clothed with immortal glory (Zech 3:5). O, therefore, let all this move thee, and be of weight upon thy soul to close in with Jesus, this tender-hearted Jesus. And if yet, for all what I have said, thy sins do still stick with thee, and thou findest thy hellish heart loath to let them go, think with thyself in this manner—Shall I have my sins and lose my soul? Will they do me any good when Christ comes? Would not Heaven be better to me than my sins? and the company of God, Christ, saints, and angels, be better than the company of Cain, Judas, Balaam, with the devils in the furnace of fire? Canst thou now that readest or hearest these lines turn thy back, and go on in your sins? Canst thou set so light of Heaven, of God, of Christ, and the salvation of thy poor, yet precious soul? Canst thou hear of Christ, His bloody sweat and death, and not be taken with it, and not be grieved for it, and also converted by it? If so, I might lay thee down several considerations to stir thee up to mend thy pace towards Heaven; but I shall not; there is enough written already to leave thy soul without excuse and to bring thee down with a vengeance into Hell-fire, devouring fire, the Lake of Fire, eternal everlasting fire; O to make thee swim and roll up and down in the flames of the furnace of fire!