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CXV.

SERM. devote themselves to His service, and make it their constant care and study to please, honour, and obey Him. For what course can ye ever take whereby to get so much as ye may by this means? By your moiling and toiling in the world, ye may perhaps, and but perhaps, get something that looks like wealth and honour in the eyes of deluded mortals: but, . besides that, there is nothing at the bottom of it, but vanity and vexation of spirit; so that you will not be one jot the wiser, or better for it, when you have it, if not much worse; besides that, I say, you can never expect to get all things, but only something, and some of the things only which are upon earth, which altogether bear no proportion to all that is in the world: whereas, by exercising yourselves continually in the service of God, by fasting and praying, and hearing God's holy Word, and partaking of His body and blood, you may have "the thoughts of your hearts cleansed by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, so as perfectly to love Him, and worthily magnify His holy Name." And then all things in the world will be yours, and work together, as ye have now heard, for your good. Then you will be rich indeed, as rich as all the world, and He that made it too, can make you. And yet there is never a one here present, but may become thus rich, so as to have all things at his service, if he will but set himself in good earnest upon looking after it; which, therefore, I heartily wish you would all do, as you tender your own good and welfare. And if any have done it already, as I hope some have, I as heartily wish them joy of that prodigious estate they are now possessed of. Whatsoever you have, or have not upon earth, it is all one for all things are yours; what ye have not, as well as what ye have, always working together for your good. Ye cannot doubt of it for He that made and disposeth of all things in the world, hath here assured you of it. He hath already settled them all upon you, that they may do you all the good ye are Rev. 21.7. capable of in this world; and in the next you will “inherit all things," and so be as happy as it is possible for you to be, through Christ our Lord.

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SERMON CXVI.

THE EASINESS OF CHRIST'S YOKE.

MATT. xi. 28.

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

MAN being at first designed for the constant service, and immediate worship of Almighty GOD, he was therefore so composed, and made of such a temper and constitution, that he can be no way happy, but only by doing the work he was made for being so exactly fitted for it, that he is always out of tune, restless and unquiet, but whilst he is wholly employed about it. Hence all men being naturally desirous of happiness, they cannot but offer at something like to religion, or the worshipping of GoD: and howsoever they perform it, they still find something of rest and satisfaction within themselves, arising from the apprehensions that they have done their duty, and paid their homage to Him that made them. So that it seems to be agreed upon, on all hands, that it is our interest to be religious. The great question is, What it is to be so? A question which mankind could never yet agree in; as appears from the many and diverse religions that always have been and still are professed in the world. And whatsoever religion it is that any man professeth, be sure he thinks that to be the right, and therefore expects happiness and comfort from it, otherwise he would not profess it.

Hence, therefore, although there be many things which highly commend the Christian before all other religions to

CXVI.

SERM. us, as the purity of its precepts, the excellency of its doctrine, the strictness of its discipline, and the testimony which GoD Himself hath given to it, by many and real miracles, wherein it far exceeds all others; yet that which should principally draw us to it, and confirm us in it, is the certainty of those principles which it doth propound, whereupon to trust for happiness and Salvation; for hereby it gives that rest and quiet to the soul, which religion in general aims at, and none but itself can assure us of, or bring us to. And therefore it is that our blessed Saviour makes use of this as the principal reason wherefore we should embrace that religion which He hath established in the world, because in it we may find rest to our souls; "Come to Me," saith He, " all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; and ye shall find rest to your souls."

Where we may observe, by the way, how far our blessed Saviour exceeds not only the Heathen idols, together with Mahomet and his pretended angel, but even Moses and the Prophets too, in that He doth not call upon us, as they do, to turn unto the Lord, but to come to Him. And as He never ushers in His Words as the Prophets do, by saying, "Thus saith the Lord," but, thus say I, "Verily, verily, I say unto you;" so neither doth He promise as they do, that if we hearken to Him, " the Lord will give us rest," but that He Himself will do it; " and I will give you rest." The reason of all which is clear, even because He that spake these words was Himself that Lord of Hosts, to Whom we ought to come, as to the only centre wherein our souls can rest, "God blessed for evermore."

Which I therefore observe, because it should make us the more inquisitive into the true sense and purport of these words; for seeing they are not the words of our fellowcreature, but of our great Creator, the supreme Being and Governor of the world, we that were made by Him and depend continually upon Him, cannot surely but be very desirous to know His Divine will and pleasure in them, especially considering that these words contain the sum and substance of the whole Gospel, even whatsoever is either required of us, or promised to us by Him Who came from

Heaven to earth, on purpose to make way for us to go from earth to Heaven.

Wherefore, that we may understand our Lord's meaning aright, we shall consider,

I. Who they are whom He here calls by the name of those "that labour and are heavy laden."

II. What He would have them do, saying, "Come to Me."

III. What He here promiseth to them that do so, in these words, "And I will give you rest."

I. He calls all such, and only such as are xoves nai pogriovo, that so labour as to be weary of the work, and heavy laden with the burden of their sins. He calls only such, because He knows none else will come unto Him: for they who are so wedded to their lusts, that they are loth to be divorced from them, and therefore labour, not to subdue, but to cherish them; they that think not their sins to be a burden, but a pleasure, and therefore care not to be eased of them; yea, and all they too that fancy not their crimes to be so great, but that God will pardon them without a Saviour, or at least hope the good works they sometimes seem to do, will make Him amends for all the bad ones they ever did : all such think they have no need of Christ, and therefore they will never come unto Him. But Christ, be sure, hath less need of them, and therefore He doth not so much as call them.

But as for others, whether they be high or low, bond or free, Jew or Gentile, He invites them all that "labour and are heavy laden." Where, by labouring, we are to understand, as the Greek word imports, such as so labour as to be weary of working: weary, not in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense; not in body, but in mind; that are weary of their sins, and heartily desirous to be freed from them: that labour so much under the sense of their natural averseness to God and goodness, and their impetuous inclinations to sin and vanity, that they know not what to do with themselves, but are often forced to cry out in the bitterness of their souls, as St. Paul did, "Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall Rom. 7. 24. deliver me from the body of this death that is within me?" And they who are thus "weary" of their present lusts,

CXVI.

SERM. cannot but be "heavy laden" too with the pressure of their former impieties, the remembrance thereof being so grievous to them, the burden so intolerable, that they are scarce able to bear it any longer, but are ready, each moment, to sink under it, and to fall down into horror and despair. Thus it was with David, when he cried out, " Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me." Thus it must be with those whom Christ here calls unto Him, and thus it must be with us, if ever we desire to receive any benefit or advantage from Him.

Ps. 38. 4.

[Rom. 6. 23.]

And, verily, I hope we all here present are; I am certain we have all but too much cause to be thus qualified for our coming unto Christ. But that we may be sure to be so for the future, let us recollect ourselves a little, and consider how many and great our sins have been, and what we have deserved by them; but, alas! who is able to do that? Who can understand his errors? or tell, how oft he hath offended? We may as well undertake to count the stars of Heaven, or number the sands upon the sea-shore, to fathom the depth of the sea, or reckon up the hairs of our head, as ever compute the many sins and failings we have been guilty of. And this might justly make our hearts even fail within us, as it did David's, that our sins have been so many, our transgressions innumerable.

Especially if we consider the greatness, as well as the multitude of our sins, that they are not only so many that they cannot be numbered, but so great too that they can never be weighed by us, being all committed against the clearest light, the greatest love, the strictest vows, and the highest obligations to the contrary, that ever the sins of mortals were.

And if to all this we consider the just desert of every sin, we cannot surely but labour very much under the heavy load of those many and great ones that lie upon us. For what have our sins deserved? or rather, what have they not deserved? seeing "death itself is the wages thereof,” which from the beginning was entailed upon sin, as sin, and, by consequence, upon all sin, one as well as another; death temporal, death spiritual, and death eternal: under which are comprehended all the miseries which our natures are

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