est will more
prevail than a command. Others again are of a harsher disposition. Love
and condescension doth rather embolden them, and therefore they must be
restrained with the bridle of authority. It would seem that the Lord hath
some regard to this in the administration of the gospel. He accommodates
himself to the diverse dispositions of men, and (if we may say with
respect to him which yet can be no disrespect, seeing he hath humbled
himself lower) he doth become all things to all men, that he may gain
some. You see the gospel sometimes running in the channel of love and
kindness, sometimes in the channel of authority and majesty. God sometimes
stoopeth down to invite, and affectionately to beseech sinners to come
unto his Son for life. He hath prepared a marriage and banquet for us in
Christ. He hath made all things ready for the receiving, for the eating,
and he sends forth his servants to entreat and invite all such, who have
no bread and clothing, who are poor and lame, to this wedding. He gives an
hearty invitation to all that stand at an infinite distance from God, and
so are feeding upon empty vanities without him, to come and enjoy the
riches of his grace, which runs as a river in Christ between these two
golden banks, the pardon of sin, and the purification of our soul from its
pollution. You have a hearty invitation, Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3, "Ho, every one
that thirsteth, come to the waters." But he comes yet lower to request and
obtest poor sinners, as if he could have advantage by it; he will not
stand(428) to be a supplicant at any man's door, to beseech him to be
reconciled to God, 2 Cor. v. 14, 19, 20. As if we could do him a favour
and benefit, he requests us most earnestly. Truly it is strange that this
doth not melt the heart, and make it fall down into the belief and
obedience of the truth. Affection is the most insinuating and prevailing
thing with an ingenuous spirit, most of all when it is accompanied with
majesty in the person that hath it, and humility in the carriage and
disposition. For a great personage to descend out of love, to affectionate
and humble requests and solicitations, this cannot but have a mighty
influence on any spirit that is not wild and savage. But because the heart
of man is desperately wicked, and hath lost that true ingenuity and
nobleness of spirit, and is now become stubborn and froward, as a wild
ass, or as a swift dromedary traversing her ways, therefore the Lord takes
ano