The Poor Doubting Christian Drawn to Christ

p. 1CHAP. I. Impediments which hinder Souls from coming to Christ, removed.

THERE are divers Impediments which hinder poor Christians from coming to CHRIST; all which I desire to reduce to these following Heads,

I. FIRST, Such Hinderances as really keep p. 2Men from coming to take hold of Christ at all; which are briefly these.

1. Blind, Careless, or Presumptuous Security; whereby Men content themselves with their present Condition, presuming all is well with them, when there is no such matter.

2. Being convinced of this, they bethink how to save themselves by their own Strength; and thereupon set upon a Reformation of Life, thinking to make God amends by reforming some Sins which they hear themselves reproved of by the Ministers.

3. The Sinner being convinced of his utter inability to please God in himself, at length gets up a Stair higher, and sees all his Performances, and Prayers, and Duties to be of no power in themselves, but that he must leave all, and cleave only unto Christ by Faith; and this he thinks he can do well enough, and so thrusts himself upon Christ, thinking all the work is then done, and no more to be looked after.

4. If he sees this fails him too, then he goes yet further, and confesseth he cannot come to Christ, except Christ give him his Hand, and help him up; therefore now he will attend on the Ordinances, and labour and bestir himself hard in the use of all good Means, conceiving thereby to hammer out at last a Faith of his own to make him happy. And here he rests, hanging as it were upon the outside of the Ark so long, till p. 3at last the waves and winds growing fierce and violent, he is beaten off, and so sinks for ever.

II. Besides these, there are OTHER kinds of Hindrances which do not indeed deprive a Man of Title and Interest to eternal Happiness, but make the way tedious and uncomfortable, so that be cannot come to Christ so readily as he desires and longs to do: The ground whereof is this; when Men, out of carnal Reason, contrive another way to come to Christ than ever he ordained or revealed; when we set up our Standards by God's Standard, or our Threshold by his, Ezek. 43.8. and out of our own Imagination, make another state of believing than ever Christ required or ordained. No marvel that we come short of him: For thus we put Rubs, and make Bars in our way: We manacle our Hands, and fetter our Feet, and then say that we cannot take, nor go: Thus it is with you poor Christians, and the Fault is your own But, amongst many, there be three Hindrances which are chiefly to be observed, [Three main Hindrances which keep Men from Christ] by which many gracious Hearts are marvelously hindered from coming to, and from receiving that Comfort from Christ which they might, and he is willing to impart unto them.

p. 3[1] First; The distressed Soul, being (haply) truly humbled, takes notice of the p. 4Beauty of Holiness, and the Image of God stampt on the Hearts of his Children, and of all those precious Promises which God hath made to all that are his; now the Soul seeing these, begins thus to Reason with it self and saith,

Surely if I were so holy and so gracious, then I might have hope to receive the pardon of my Sins: Or were my Heart so enlarged to Duties, and could my Heart be so carried with Power against my Corruptions, to master them, then there were some Hope: But when I have no Power against Sin, nor any Heart to seek so importunately for a Christ, how dare I think that any Mercy

belongs to me, having so many Wants? Thus they dare not come to the Promise; and they will not venture upon it, because they have not that Enlargement to Duties, and that Power against Corruption which sometimes the Saints of God have.

But we must know, this doth not hinder; and that we make that a Hindrance, which, in Truth, is none. For (observe it) we must not think to bring our Enlargements and Hope to the Promise, but go to the Promise for them: Hope must be stirred, and Desire quickned, and Love and Joy kindled by the Promise. But who made this Condition of the Covenant, That a Man must have so much of Enlargement, before he can come to the Promise? Our Saviour being our Husband, requires no p. 5Portion with us, nor ever look'd after any: All that he looks for is meer Poverty and Emptiness. If thou hast nothing, yet he will have thee with thy nothing; provided that thou wilt have him. Therefore it is thus written, The Rich he sends away empty; but the Poor he satisfies, and the Thirsty he refreshes with Good; and so, as that there is nothing required on our Side but to receive him as a Husband: For, Buy without Money is the Text. You must not come and think to buy a Husband: The Lord looks for no Power or Sufficiency from you, of yourselves; nor of your selves any Power against Corruption, or Enlargement to Duties: If you will be content that Christ shall take all from you, and dispose of you and all; then take a Saviour, and then you have him.

p. 5Object. But the poor Soul saith, If I go thus hood-wink'd, how shall I know that I do not presume, and how shall I know that I have a true Title to the Promise?

Answ. I answer: There is no better Argument in the World to prove that thou hast an Interest in Christ, than this, which is thy taking of the Lord Christ as a Saviour wholly, and as an Husband only, John 1.12. As many as received him, to them he gave Power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on his Name. He doth not say, To as many as had such Enlargement to Duties, and such p. 6Power against Corruption; but if thou wilt take Christ upon those Terms on which he offers himself: There is no better Argument under Heaven than that, to prove that thou hast a Title to the Promise. Indeed there is a desperate Despair that often seizeth upon the Hearts of distressed Sinners.