t watered
with the frequent apprehension and consideration of the grace of Christ,
or the riches of God's mercy? The way and method of many Christians is
just opposite to this. For you labour and weary yourselves, how to attain
some measure and satisfaction in the latter, before you adventure the
first, to have the heart humbled by godly sorrow, and the soul inflamed by
love to God, and the yoke of his obedience submitted unto; while in the
mean time you deliberately suspend the exercise of faith, and apprehension
of the pardoning grace of Christ. Now, how this can consist either with
sound reason or religion, I do not see. For were it not a point of madness
to seek fruits from a tree that is lying above ground, and to refuse to
plant it till it give some experience of its fruitfulness in the air? And
what can be more absurd, than to imagine to have the Spirit of Christ
working in the heart godly sorrow, or Christian love, and so renewing it
again to his image, and yet withal Christ not received into the heart by
faith? Do you not know that this is his first entrance into the soul? He
enters there by the door of faith, and a soul enters into him at the door
of the promise by faith. How then do ye imagine he shall work in you,
before you will admit him to come in to you? Besides, either you apprehend
that you may attain to such gracious qualifications by your own industry
without Christ, which is blasphemous to his name and office; for if you
may, what need have you of him? Or, if you believe that he is the only
treasure of all grace and wisdom, and that all things are delivered to him
of the Father, then how do you seek these things without him? It must be
wretched folly to seek them elsewhere, and not come to him. And indeed it
is observable, that this exhortation to come unto Christ is subjoined unto
ver. 27, "All things are delivered unto me by the Father." And therefore,
seeing all grace, and life, and happiness is enclosed in me, seeing
without me there is nothing but a barren wilderness, in which you may toil
and labour, and weary yourselves in fruitless pursuits, come hither where
it is originally and plentifully seated, and you cannot miss your end, nor
lose your labour. And for the farther illustration of this subject, I
shall only add that,

Secondly, There is another woful mistake possesses your minds who take up
this way, for certainly you must think that there is some worth or dignity
in it, whereby you inte