Chapter 4: Two Cautions Concerning the Burden of Sin
Now, if there be any soul in the condition described in the nine particulars mentioned before—know that these are the ones Christ especially calls to Himself and says, "Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Chapter 4:
Two Cautions Concerning the Burden of Sin:
1. That it is not a condition of the Covenant of Grace.
2. That it does not, in itself, give the soul an interest in Christ, nor provide rest in Him.
To which certain consequences are attached.
Now, I must lay down two cautions before I proceed to give the reasons for this point.
Objection: You may say, "What is the point of speaking about these burdens, about the necessity of the soul being burdened with the weight of sin so that it may come to Christ for ease and rest? Surely, there is no such thing required."
Answer: To that, I respond that this burden of the soul for sin is not a condition of the Covenant of Grace. That must be acknowledged; there is no condition except believing in Christ. It is not viewed as a condition.
Secondly, you must understand that this burden of the soul for sin does not, by itself, give the soul an interest in Christ, nor does it
provide rest in Christ. I may indeed be burdened for sin, but unless I truly believe—unless there is an act of faith beyond this burden—I shall not obtain rest. Thus, we must not ground our faith upon being burdened for sin, thinking that because we are burdened, we shall therefore be pardoned and saved. We must not place the weight of our faith upon the feeling of the weight of our sin. Rather, we must anchor our faith in the troubles that Jesus Christ endured for sin, not in the troubles of our own souls for our sins.
This is a note of great importance, and I beseech you to observe it: you must know this—when your hearts are troubled for sin, do not think that this is the condition of the Covenant of Grace. Nor should you make this the object of your faith, thinking, "Because I am troubled, I may believe that my sin is pardoned." No, you must not base your faith upon your own trouble but upon the troubles that Jesus Christ endured, the troubles His soul suffered in satisfaction for sin.
First: From this, it follows that no degree of trouble for sin—no matter how great or how small—gives a person an interest in Christ or not. I say, it is not the measure of the burden that determines this.
For certainly, if we could come to Christ without any burden or sense of our sin—if it were possible to come to Christ (I say) without being burdened for sin—we could. But because Jesus Christ works upon the heart in a rational way, as He works upon rational creatures
(although He works above reason, imparting supernatural grace that is beyond reason), He still works upon the heart as a rational creature. Therefore, the work of reason must be made subservient to the work of God's grace. Usually, when the Lord works upon a soul,
He uses reason to serve the purpose of His grace. Because no one can come to a Saviour without knowing their need for one, I must first
understand what sin is if I am to come to Christ as a Saviour to save my soul from sin. I must be sensible of it.
Secondly: If God works upon the soul as a rational creature, He uses this awareness to stop the soul in its course of sin. Before a sinner becomes sensitive to the evil of their sin, they rush headlong into it, and nothing will stop them. But when the soul becomes burdened, it is stopped and no longer runs in the full stream of wickedness as before. This is a means of helping the soul towards
Christ—the very stopping of its course of sin.
Thirdly: This awareness is a rational means by which the soul becomes attentive to any call of Christ. Before, Christ may have called to sinners through His Word, saying, "Come to me, and believe in me," but they did not feel the burden of their sin and therefore did not come. If a man is under a heavy burden in the dark of night, at the sound of any footsteps nearby, he will cry out for help.
So too, the soul, under the heavy burden of sin, rejoices to hear any direction from the Word, calling it to come to Christ.
Fourthly: The soul begins to prize mercy, and mercy makes a deep impression upon the heart that is burdened. When the heart is burdened with sin, oh, how dear and sweet and precious are mercies then!
Fifthly: Furthermore, when the soul is burdened with sin, it is rationally prepared to take on the yoke of Christ. Before, it cast it off, but now, feeling sin to be a heavier burden than anything else, it is more ready to take upon itself the yoke of Jesus Christ. When the soul is under this burden, Christ calls in love to ease and give rest to those souls that are so burdened.