that the hearers of the gospel who perish, are inexcusable; the door was open, but they would not enter in.-The invitation imports,

4. That the worst of sinners are welcome to Christ: however great their burden of sin and misery be, it is no hinderance in their way to come to Christ. Where all are invited, none are excluded. But upon this I do not enlarge here, having insisted upon it at some length, when discoursing upon Joel iii. 10. All that I shall just now observe is, that this consideration shall shame you out of your slighting of Christ, and strike at the root of that bitter despair which lodges in the breasts of many, who are yet far enough from absolute despair of their case. The invitation imports,

5. That Christ allows sinners to come to him, rather on account of the desperateness of their case, than otherwise: "Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden." As if he had said, "Ye have been labouring, and yet can get no rest; let that engage you to come to me. Sit down and consider your case, if nothing else will prevail with you, let the desperateness of your disease bring you to the great Physician." You are cordially welcome to do so. For, consider,

(1.) That it is for this very end God discovers the worst of a man's case to himself, drives them to their wit's end, in order that he may begin to be wise: Hos. ii. 6, "Therefore, behold I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths." Ver. 7, "Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now."Consider,

(2.) That Christ has made offers of himself to those in the worst of cases: Isa. i. 18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." And he holds out himself as a Saviour in particular for these, Rev. iii. 17, 18; Isa. lv. 7.-Consider,

(3.) Such have been made welcome, who have employed such arguments with him: Psalm xxv. 11, "For thy name's sake, pardon mine iniquity, for it is very great ;" and so also in the case of the Canaanitish woman with Jesus, Matth. xv. 26,-28. Consider,

(4.) He has the more glory, the more desperate that the case is; none see the stars so well as from the bottom of a deep pit. His power is the greater to pardon, his grace to overcome, when there is most occasion for these being displayed; it is the worst of diseases, that do best proclaim the Physician's skill, when a cure is effected.

From what has been just now observed, we may see and admire the divine condescension, that Christ is so willing to take the sinner

in, when he sees himself cast out at all doors, can get rest nowhere else; that he will give him rest, and embrace the sinner, when he sees he can do no better, when he can make no other shift.-Hence also learn, how to make an excellent use of the badness of your case, even to take up these stumbling-blocks, and break up heaven's door with them; to make a virtue of necessity, and the more that the burden presseth, the more readily to go to Christ with it. True, it is never right coming to Christ, which sense of misery alone produceth; but love may thus crown a work which terror begins, and which when from the Holy Spirit it leads to. In a word, you are absolutely inexcusable, that come not to Christ, be your case what it will.

I now go on to what was proposed,

IV. Which was, to explain the nature of that rest which Christ graciously promises, and which he actually gives to such labouring and heavy-laden sinners, as truly come to him. And here it must be observed, that there is a rest which they may have in Christ; a rest here, and a rest hereafter. In this life there is a fourfold rest to be had in Christ.-A rest,

1. In respect of sin. The rest Christ gives from sin is twofold. (1.) A rest from the guilt of sin. Guilt is a poison, infecting the conscience, which makes it so to smart that it can get no rest, as in the case of Cain and Judas, and also with those, Acts ii. 37, They were pricked in their hearts." This, when it festers and becomes. immoveable, is the gnawing worm in hell. Christ gives rest from it, Heb. ix. 4; his blood purges the conscience from dead works. The conscience, when like the raging sea, is stilled by him: Isa. lvii. 18, 19, "I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him." The soul finds this rest in the wounds of Christ, for, "by his stripes we are healed," Isa. liii. 5. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's own Son, cleanses from all sin. The soul diped in this fountain is washed from this poison, and is delivered from this sting of guilt.-There is rest,

(2.) From the reigning power of sin: Rom. vi. 14, "For sin shall not have dominion over you." Sin on the throne makes a confused restless soul, like the raging sea, continually casting out mire and dirt. Christ, by his Spirit's efficacy, turns sin off the throne, and restores rest to the soul. He casts down these Egyptian taskmasters, and thus the soul enters into his rest: Heb. iv. 10, "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his." In the day of the soul's coming to Christ, he

acts like a King, setting all in order in the kingdom, that was a mere heap of confusion before his accession to the throne.-There is in Christ,

2. Rest from the law; not that he makes them lawless, but that he takes off them the insupportable yoke of the law, and gives them ease. He does so,

(1.) From the burden of law-duties, which are exacted in all perfection, under the pain of the curse, while no strength is furnished wherewith to fulfil them: Rom vii. 4, "Wherefore, my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ." This is the yoke on all men's necks naturally; Christ put his neck in this yoke, and bare it, satisfying the law's demands completely, and so frees all that come to him from this service. Christ carries his people without the dominions of the law. He does so,

(2.) From the curse of the law: Gal. iii. 13. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us." Rom. viii. 1. "There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." These that are come to him, he takes from off them that curse which they are under, and gives them his blessing, which he hath merited; carries them from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, where they hear the blood of Jesus speaking peace, silencing the demand of vengeance, and affording a refuge for the oppressed. There is in Christ,

3. Rest from that weary labour in which persons are engaged when in quest of happiness, leading the souls to the enjoyment of God: Psalm cxvi. 7, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul! for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." The soul, restless in seeking happiness among the creatures, he leads to God, the fountain of all perfection, opening their eyes, as he did Hagar's, to see the well, and bringing them into the enjoyment of all good in him, uniting the soul with himself; where,

(1.) The soul finds a rest of satisfaction from Christ, which it can find in no other quarter whatever, for the soul finds a rest of satisfaction from him, when by faith it is set on the breasts of his consolations. In these there is an object adequate to all the desires of the soul answering all its needs; thus, Prov. xiv. 14, "A good man shall be satisfied from himself." There is the triumph of faith in the enjoyment of God: Phil. iv. 18. "But I have all and abound."-The soul finds,

(2.) A rest in him of settled abode, insomuch, that the soul goes not abroad as it was wont, among the creatures for satisfaction; John iv. 14, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall

be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life." Christ becomes precious to the soul. Like the released lady, that did not so much as look on or take notice of Cyrus, notwithstanding of the noble part he acted, but on him (her husband) who said, he would redeem her with his own life. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field, the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he bath, and buyeth that field."-There is in Christ,

4. Rest in respect of troubles. Christ gives rest,

(1.) From troubles in the world, now and then, when he sees meet: Psalm xxxiv. 19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all." Zion's God reigneth, be on the throne who will; and when he speaks peace, neither devils nor men can create his people trouble; for, Lam. iii. 37, “ Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? There is no such security from trouble as the godly have, but that is from heaven, and not from earth. Therefore,

(2.) Christ gives rest in trouble: John xvi. 33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." You may, nay, you shall, meet with troubles, but he can make you get sweet rest in your souls; even when you are on a bed of thorns as to the outward man, he can give his people a sweet rest even in troubles. How can these things be? may some say. In answer,

[1.] Christ gives his people in trouble an inward rest, that is an inward tranquillity of mind in midst of trouble: Psalm iii. 1—5, "Lord! how are they increased that trouble me? many are they that rise against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me." Christ can make the believer as a vessel of water tossed here and there, yet not jumbled. There was a greater calm with the three children in the furnace, than with the king in the palace, Dan. iii. 24. Fear may be on every side when there is none in the centre, because Christ makes a blessed calm in their hearts.-Christ gives in trouble,

[2.] A rest of contentment: "I have learned, (says Paul, Phil. iv. 11,) in whatsoever state I am, there with to be content." This is not only the duty, but the privilege of believers. If the lot of the godly be not brought up to their spirit, Christ will bring their spirit

down to their lot; and there must needs be rest there, where the spirit of the man and his lot meet in one: Psalm xxxvii. 19, "They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."-Then follows,

[3.] A rest of satisfaction in the enjoyment of better things. What though the world hath a bitter taste in their mouths? Christ can hold a cup of consolation to them in that very instant, the sweetness of which will master the bitterness of the other: "Your sorrow (says he, John xvi. 20,),shall be turned into joy." "Our rejoicing (says Paul, 2 Cor. i. 12,) is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." They are not indeed stocks, to be unmoved with troubles, but their sorrow is so drowned in spiritual joy, that it is "but as sorrow," 2 Cor. vi. 10, "As sorrowful yet always rejoicing;" even as the joy of the wicked is "but as joy." Troubles may raise a mutiny of lusts within, but the peace of God quells them: "It keeps their hearts and minds through Jesus Christ,"-Christ gives,

"For

(4.) A rest in confidence of a blessed issue: 2 Tim. i. 12, the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded, that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." The soul in Christ has the promise to rest on; and however dark a side the cloud may have, faith will see through it; though they may sink deep, they will never drown, who have a promise to bear them up. Thus, you see, they rest in Christ in trouble; and this rest is a most secure rest, where people may rest confidently: Isa. xxvi. 3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." The wicked may have rest, but not with God's good will; therefore the more rest, the more dangerous is their case: 1 Thess. v. 3, "For when they shall say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as a woman in travail, and they shall not escape." But there is perfect security in Christ, and that in the worst of times, Song iii. 7, 8. Again, it is a rest that is so rooted, that the soul can never be deprived of it: Isa. xxxii. 17, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever." How soon is the rest of the wicked broken, their candle put out! But this, although it may meet with some disturbance by temptations, as the clouds may go over the sun, yet it shall be as sure as the sun fixed in the firmament; it will be proof against the disturbances of the world, against the temptations and accusations of the devil; yea, against the demands of justice, and the threatenings