Chapter 5 : The Reasons for the Former Doctrine
Chapter 5:
The Reasons for the Former Doctrine:
1. Christ has all mercy in Him.
2. The purpose for which He came into the world was to give rest to burdened souls.
3. Christ Himself was once under a similar burden.
4. He is to receive the glory for all the ease given to sinners.
The third point is the reasons why Jesus Christ desires and invites souls to come to Him.
REASON I First: Because all is given to Christ; Christ has all the mercy of the Father in Him, for the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him, and therefore He must pity such a soul. There is a law in Deuteronomy that if a beast is under a burden and ready to perish, God requires that you should not withhold your help, even if it is the beast of your enemy, but assist it. Now, if God would have us be so merciful (we who have but drops of mercy in us) when we see a beast, and that of our enemies, under a burden, how much more will the Lord Christ, who has the fullness of the mercy of the infinite God in Him, when
He sees an immortal soul under such a burden and ready to perish, and it cries to Him for help, certainly Christ will ease and help that soul.
REASON II
Secondly: We know that Christ came into the world for this very purpose. Christ was anointed and sent for that end—to bind up the
broken-hearted and give them ease. Christ was designated by God the Father for this very work, and therefore He will do it. He is appointed by God the Father to ease burdened souls; it is His work.
Therefore, when Christ sees any poor soul burdened by sin, He says, "Here is work for me." He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is the very task He came from heaven to accomplish. It is the work His Father sent Him into the world to do.
REASON III
Thirdly: Christ Himself once felt some burden of this kind, and He knows what it is to be burdened with sin. He was made sin for us, as the Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He was made sin." Christ bore the weight of all the sins of the elect upon Him and felt what the weight of sin was. Christ has experienced what it is to be burdened with sin and with the wrath of God the Father for sin. Certainly, when Christ lay grovelling with His face upon the ground and sweated drops of blood, He was under a great burden. Christ bore the great burden of man's sin and the wrath of God that was due to man's sin, and He carried it until He sweated under its weight. Now,
Christ Himself, having been under such a burden, certainly cannot but pity poor burdened sinners.
REASON IV
Fourthly: It is Christ who is to receive the glory for the easing of sin.
Those souls that are burdened by sin, if they ever find ease, will give the Lord Jesus all the glory. First, Christ has all the mercy of God the Father; second, He was sent into the world to bind up all broken hearts; third, He has experienced the burden of sin; and fourth, knowing that He shall receive all the glory in delivering and easing souls. Christ certainly counts it worth all His sufferings, that He might have the glory of easing troubled souls, just as many surgeons count it their glory to receive the honour of curing desperate cases.