A treatise on comforting afflicted consciences - The Digital Puritan

291 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMFORTINGuniversal obedience, must appear afterward. Zaccheusreceived Jesus Christ first into his heart and house, beforehe M^as able to restore and distribute. Casting ourselvesupon the Lord of life with truth of heart, as our only jeweland joy we have in heaven or in earth, with whom we areresolved to live and die, draws from him into our souls thatheavenly virtue and vigour, whereby we are afterward enabledto exercise all the functions of spiritual life, and todie to the world and all worldly pleasures for ever. Hereinis thy fault and failing : thou conceivest not aright of God'sfree grace ; but thinkest thou shalt not be welcome, exceptthou cumest with thy cost. Whereas God ever gives hisSon freely, and bids thee come and welcome, and "buywithout money, and without price."Object. 2. But will it not be presumption in me, having nogood thing in me at all to bring with me, but coming nowas it were fresh out of hell, from a most wicked, impure,abominable life, to take Christ as mine own, and all thoserich and precious promises sealed with his blood 1Answer. Knough hath been already said to meet with thisobjection. It is not presumption, but good manners, tocome when thou art called. How can he be said to presume,who is both invited and entreated, commanded andthreatened to come in 1 Of which see before. 1 hou mustnow, in this extreme spiritual thirst of thine, drink of thewater of life so freely offered, that thou mayest receive someheavenly strength to be good, and " power to become theson of God ' (John i, 12). Thou must throw thy sinfulsoul upon Jesus Christ, bleeding and breathing out his lastupon the cross (as the body of the Shunamite's child wasapplied to the prophet, who stretched himself upon it), thatthou mayest thereby be quickened with desired fruitfulness,filled by little and little with " all the fulness of God "(Kphes. iii, 19) ; receiving " grace for grace" (John i, 16) ;"I am the resurrection and the life," saith Christ; "hethat believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall helive" (John xi,25).It were execrable presumption for any man who purposethto go on in the willing practice or allowance of any oneknown sin, to believe that Christ is his righteousness andsanctification. But, where all sin is a burthen, every promiseas a world of gold, and the heart sincere for a newway, there a man may be bold. For thee to have pretendedpart in Christ, wallowing yet in thy sins, had beenhorrible presumption indeed ; and for me to have appliedthe promises and preached pe;ice unlo thy remorseless consciencebefore the pangs of the new birth had seized upon