---- CHAPTER IV: Of a believer's being drawn unto Christ by the Father.
and therefore he did not give his Spirit effectually to dwell in their hearts. By this consideration also magnify the free grace of God.
CHAPTER IV
Of a believer's being drawn unto Christ by the Father.
The reasons why it is the proper work of the Father to draw the soul unto Christ.
No man can come unto me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.—JOHN
6:44.
The subject I have next afore me is, a believer's being drawn to Christ, and that by the Father, and the soul's treating with Christ for its salvation. My assertion is, that Christians are to make it one great exercise of their faith distinctly to treat with the person of Christ for their salvation, as well as with God the Father through Christ: and this, as at their first conversion to obtain salvation, so afterwards all along in their lives, to maintain fellowship both with the Father and the Son. But I shall first discourse how it is the Father who teacheth us to know Christ, and draws us to him; and also shall shew how the Father teacheth.
1. I speak not of the working the principles and habits of faith, the hearing ear, and the understanding heart; but of the actings of faith, which the Father draws out in the soul towards Christ.
2. I limit it not unto the actings of faith at first conversion, but I mean those which are continued all a man's life long, which are all ascribed to the Father, as well as those at one's first conversion, as in Mat. 11:25–27 you find it, where all that is revealed of the Son is ascribed unto the Father. And indeed, at our first conversion, our
treating with Christ is eminently for pardon of sin, and justification, which are the usual inducements of our first coming to him. But that is too narrow, for Christ, in the whole latitude of him, in his person, and in whatever belongs to him, is that which the Father goeth on to teach us all our lives long.
3. I yet limit it to the attainments by faith of recumbence (a sort of faith which is common to all Christians), and my reason is, because in the text it is that faith whereof he speaks, which all shall be taught.
And so in Isaiah 54:13, and in Jer. 31:34 (which two are the prophets which our Saviour here refers to, speaking in the plural), the promise runs, 'They shall be all taught, from the least to the greatest.' I shall not therefore speak of that faith which only some particular
Christians arrive to, as faith of personal assurance, accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory, for that is the Spirit's work, as he is the Comforter; but I shall discourse of that faith which is common to all the children, as in Isaiah 54:13 they are called; and as salvation is called the 'common salvation,' Jude 1, so that act of faith is the act that is common to all Christians in all states, whereby the soul casts itself on Christ to be saved and justified; and such is the apostle's faith said at first to have been, Gal. 2:16. It is a believing in Christ, that we may be justified: 'We believed in Christ,' says he, 'that we might be justified.' So they began thus to treat with Christ, to have salvation from him. This is the faith which I intend, whereby I come to Christ (though I know not I am the person designed by him in his dying), my heart being drawn from its being taken with what it knows of Christ in order to its salvation; all which I plead to move him to receive me, and to plead which my heart is strengthened, trusting on him to obtain it.
4. I animadvert here about this faith of recumbency, that there may be many attainments in the course of this sort of faith, which every such believer arrives not at: so as my meaning is not that unless all and every one hath experimented in themselves all and every such actings, that they should not have a true faith of recumbence; but my intent is to mention no other acts than what such a state and
elevation of believing is capable of, and so may be attained by all, though their faith for their salvation rises not up to personal assurance, which much tends to the comfort of such believers, and serves to provoke them to seek those attainments.
5. I animadvert that I aim not to set down in a method these workings and actings of faith on Christ in such an order as to say this is first wrought, then follows that, and so a third; for God himself in his workings doth not always use one and the same method, but according to his good pleasure. God's ways of wooing us to his Son, and Christ's winning of our hearts to himself, are as the way of a man with a maid (as Solomon speaks of their wooings), various; and as occasions lead on to their discovery, temptations being diverse, the discoveries which answer them are various. So as what I for my method's sake may handle first, God may have wrought last in thy soul; and what I shall mention last, or in the middle of this discourse,
God may have wrought first in thee. But first and last such dealings of his as follow use to be transacted with us, and in us, in the way of believing.
6. When I limit it thus to faith of recumbency upon Christ, where may fall out many experiments I shall mention, which every particular person hath not yet attained to, who yet is a true believer; for they are the experiments of a man's whole life in this way of treaty which I aim at; yet some or other of these experiments will suit the lowest of all in that lower form. But however, though a man should continue all his days but a recumbent, he is yet capable of them at one time or another.
7. Into this drawing of our souls to Christ by the Father I shall not draw in the handling of the preparatory works; as the work of humiliation for sin, contrition, self-emptiness, regeneration, and the like, which yet the Father, in drawing us unto Christ, maketh use of; but the work itself is properly the Spirit's, to whom our first regeneration is attributed: 'That which is born of the Spirit is spirit,'
John 3:6. This is also the effect of John Baptist's ministry, who
baptized with the Spirit as with water, which Spirit did regenerate:
Luke 1:16, 'Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.' And in Isaiah 40 (in which chapter his ministry is prophesied of), the effects of it on men's hearts are expressly attributed to the Spirit: ver. 7, 'The Spirit of the Lord blows upon it;' blasting, through the sight of sin, all the excellencies that men glory in. And this ministry, as preparative to the actings of faith, must last to the end of the world; for as Christ himself preached it, Mark 1:15,
'to repent,' in order to receiving the gospel, so, when he sent his apostles out, he gave this commission, that 'repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations,'
Luke 24:47; that is, repentance in order to receiving remission of sins by faith. But the working the acts of believing, and to teach and instruct souls to come to Christ, this is the work of God the Father, and is my subject.
Obs. That to teach and instruct souls to come to Christ, and to draw them to Christ, is the Father's work; even as to make known the Father in his love and grace, so as to draw us to believe on him, is the work of Christ the Son. It is the honour our Saviour Christ hath given his Father in this text, John 6:44, interpreting that great promise made to the church of the New Testament (Isa. 54:13, that 'they shall be all taught of God') to mean, that it is God the Father who teacheth, and causeth souls to come to Christ himself; and he repeats it again, ver. 65 of this chapter, that none do come, 'unless it be given them of the Father.' We all know that all three persons do concur in every outward work, but yet so as some one work is more eminently attributed to one person, and another to another. And this of revealing Christ, and drawing to Christ, is more properly attributed to the Father; as to reveal the Father is attributed to the Son; and to reveal both Father and Son in the way of personal assurance, is attributed to the Spirit, who is therefore called 'the Comforter.' I shall give a scripture or two to prove it: Mat. 11:27, 'All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.' And whereas you may
object, that it is not there affirmed, 'none knows the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Father shall reveal him,' and that this last clause is not added in Christ's speech, the answer is, that there being that addition concerning the Son's knowing the Father, that 'none knows the Father but to whom the Son reveals him,' it doth by the law of parallels imply, that the like is also to be added to that of the Father's knowing the Son. But the second answer is, it is expressly affirmed before, and was the occasion of this his speech; for he had said, 'Father, I thank thee that thou hast revealed these things to babes.' And the things revealed were himself, and faith to lay hold upon himself; for he doth upbraid the city, that they had not entertained his ministry in his preaching the gospel; the substance of which was his preaching himself, and to believe on him, which those babes had received. And the apostle ascribes it expressly to the Father that had revealed it to him: Gal. 1:15, 16, 'When it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.' He speaks eminently of God the Father's revealing his Son at his first call, which also the Father continued to do, and went on further and further to do all his life long; for it was to this end, that he might preach him among the Gentiles, which the apostle went on to do, and accordingly grew in knowledge, and in the revelation of Christ all his life long, that he might so preach him. You have the same, 1 Cor. 1:9, where the calling of us to fellowship with his Son is eminently attributed to the Father: 'God is faithful, by whom we were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.' And his calling there is not only by commission, as when a man is called to an office, but operatively; and it is unto the whole fellowship of Christ, from first to last, that we enjoy. And it is the Father who is meant in both places, for he calls Christ his Son.
There is a great harmony in theological reason, why this working of faith in the soul to Christ, why this wooing work should belong to the Father.
1. The Father was he that chose our persons for his Son: 'Thine they were, and thou gavest them me,' says Christ, John 17:6. It was the Father that commended us to his Son at first, and presented us to his
Son in all the glory of which Jesus Christ, if he would but take us and own us to be his, should be the author. He did it to allure him, he did speak to his heart to die for us, as you have it, Ps. 40:6–8, which is quoted in Heb. 10:7: 'Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.' It is added in the psalm, 'Thy law is in my heart.' It was God the Father commanded him; also it was he moved him to it, and drew him to it, to speak in the words of the text, and did write the very law of it in his heart, for the law written in his heart hath reference to his dying for us, and being mediator for us. He wooed him, and told him he would love him, if he would die for us: John 10:17, 'Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.' Now then, who so fit a person as the Father to woo us, when we are to be won, and our hearts to be brought to Christ? and to whom is it more proper to woo for his Son than the same Father that commends his Son to us? And who is fitter also than the Father to move the matter to us, to teach us and instruct us, and commend his Son to us, and to draw us to take him, and to write this law in our hearts, as the greatest obedience we can perform to him? I speak not of the ministry of humiliation in that work going before, but of the wooing part, which is proper to God the Father.
2. Our believing is a receiving Christ; it is a giving ourselves up to him as to our lord and husband, and it is proper for the Father to woo for him, because all other fathers have the power of bestowing their sons or daughters, and therefore God hath it much more.
Hagar, though but a woman, yet had a right, and exercised the power of getting a wife for her son. To give in marriage is oft spoken of in Scripture to be by parents, and thus it is here in Ps. 45, where Christ is represented as the husband, and the church his wife. Who is it that speaks to the church, to love her husband, to worship her husband, and to forsake all for him? It is God the Father: ver. 10, 'Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear,' &c. This is God the Father speaking of Christ unto his church. But you will say, This is
not found amongst other fathers, that they should condescend to woo the wife for their sons, but it is enough for them to give their consents, and leave it to their sons to gain the heart themselves. Thus it is amongst men, and the reasons for it amongst men are plain, which will not hold as to God.
1st, Fathers are strangers to the person whom the son is to woo, and so leave it to his liking; it is enough for him to give his consent and leave to get the person's heart. But the case here is otherwise, for every elect soul is the daughter of God, even in election, before conversion; and as he knows his Son, so he knows the soul, he knows his daughter too, not only as made his daughter by marriage to his
Son, but as originally chosen by him. As Eve is said to be the daughter of God by creation, as Adam was the son of God by creation, Luke 3:38, so it is here. Therefore he leaves it not to his Son only to speak for himself, and gain her, but he out of the same fatherly interest which he hath in the soul, as well as in his Son
(though he hath interest in her as his daughter, which is a lower interest than what he hath in his Son), wooes her.
2dly, Marriages amongst men stand upon equal terms, and persons of a like rank use to marry together; and the father will not condescend in that case to woo for the son; no, it were uncouth if he should, and not proper. But the church, and every poor soul, is the unworthiest creature to be matched so gloriously to Christ that ever was. Nay, it was an enemy before, an utter enemy, utterly averse; so that it becomes a matter not only of love, but of grace and mercy, for to have this soul gained and brought in to Christ. And it is fulness of mercy and grace to woo such a soul, and an infinite condescension so to do, and none greater but that of God's giving his Son to die. And since it thus belongs to grace, the Father will have the honour of it as well as the Son, for you read of 'the grace of the Lord Jesus, and of the Father,' and sometimes both put together, 2 Thes. 1:12. Is it a matter of infinite grace, the person being so low and unworthy? In that case, saith the Father, I will be your spokesman, for it is matter of grace. It is not matter of pure affection, as a husband hath to a
wife, but it is a matter of grace which I have to such a soul; I will therefore shew it in this my wooing such a soul. Oh this infinite condescension in the great God!
3dly, The Father doth engage to woo us to come to Christ, because he promised his Son when he wooed him to die for us, and gave us to him; and he promised that when we came to be converted, he would give us, and would draw us to his Son: John 6:37, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.' Our Saviour Christ doth not speak like a wooer there, for all he saith is, I will not refuse them if they come. He hath indeed an hand in drawing the soul: 'When I am lifted up,' says he, 'I will draw all men after me,' John 12:32, but he doth it secretly, and those thou hast given. But what is the meaning of those words, John 6:37?
It is resolved into this, that his Father, in giving them, promised they should come to him, and therefore the Father draws them: and it is therefore the work of the Father. In Ps. 110, the Father speaks to Christ, and he promiseth there, that they shall be a willing people to him: ver. 1, 'The Lord said unto my Lord' (i.e., God the Father said to his Son, the great God Jehovah said to his Son), 'Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool;' and I will destroy thine enemies for thee. And ver. 3, God the Father makes this promise to him, 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.'
It is the Father's promise; I will bring the will and heart of thy people off to thee, and thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, when the gospel comes.
Use 1. Let us then encourage ourselves in the hope that the match is like to go on, if God the Father thus strikes in, and God the Son also.
Hath God begun with thy soul to represent Christ to thee, to take thy heart? Dost thou set thyself to seek him, to have him? Thou hast not only thy husband Christ to draw thee, but thou hast his Father to draw thee; and he is thy Father too; and that match will thrive and must go on.
Use 2. Wouldst thou see and know who it is that is at work in thy heart? (thou poor soul that lay at God day and night to give thee
Christ, and have thy heart inflamed towards the Lord Jesus) dost thou know who it is that is at work in thy heart all this while? Who?
It is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps we have had little knowledge of this, to return the thanks to our God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, whereas indeed it is he does it. Thou hast not one degree of fellowship with the Son, but God the Father draws thee to it. 'Not that any man,' saith Christ, John 6:46, 'hath seen the Father.'
None seeth the Father while he is doing of it, for be doth it secretly, and doth not tell you, I the Father am drawing of you. No; but still he holds up Christ to you, and Christ will come and tell you of his love afterwards. The Father does not come in to me here as an object of faith in his work. When he works, he doth not say, I am he that works it. He doth not come with authority and tell thee, I thy Father draw thee, but he is the efficient that draws, though he propose not himself objectively nor authoritatively. As Christ said to Peter when he washed his feet, 'What I do to thee, thou shalt know hereafter.' So God the Father comforts himself (if I may so speak) with this, or reserves this glory to himself, that we shall know one day what he is doing. 'In that day,' says Christ, John 16:25, 'I will shew you plainly of the Father.' The Father had wrought all this while, but secretly, and had not discovered himself; and though Jesus Christ in his doctrine had taught the apostles, and instructed them about the Father, yet, alas, poor creatures, they did not understand it! they did not take it in; it was but as a speaking to them in proverbs: 'But in that day' (after his ascension) 'I shall shew you,' says he, 'plainly of the Father,' ver. 25. What do I quote this for? To shew that though these poor disciples had heard say, it was the Father that drew them to believe, and they found the work upon them to be powerful and effectual, yet it was obscure to them that it was he that did it; but he tells them that the time cometh (which time must be after his ascension) when he would tell them plainly it was the Father did it. It was the Father, though now unseen, and spoken of in parables and proverbs, that drew thy soul in morning by morning; and thou wilt give all the glory to the Father one day: 'Oh what manner of love is it'