---- CHAPTER VI: Christ our Saviour typified by Noah's ark.
'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world,'
John 1:29. In seeing this Jesus that hath sufficiency to take away sin, the soul stands aghast, and worships him; and though it doth not fall down on its knees, yet adores him in its heart. These are the teachings of the Father, which have such effects, and thus you have seen how he teacheth. He brings home the light of the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ to the soul, he induceth a special light, he wakens the soul morning by morning, affects the heart, takes the soul, represents all in the truth, in the reality, as the truth is in Jesus, and teacheth the soul so to know Christ, as to give glory to him. For when Christ is represented as he is a Jesus, there is a glory that accompanies that representation, a glory which so raiseth the soul above itself, that it stands amazed at him, and falls down before him, and glorifies him.
CHAPTER VI
Christ our Saviour typified by Noah's ark.
As Noah was instructed by God to enter into the ark for his safety, so God in the covenant of grace teacheth us to know Christ, and to come to him for salvation.—That our faith looks both to the free grace of God bringing us to Christ, as well as to Christ.—Without Christ the grace of God doth not, nor can, save us; and therefore it is necessary that we explicitly act faith on him for salvation.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay
thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.—ISAIAH 54:9–13.
I have, in a discourse* on this scripture, shewed the parallel betwixt Noah's covenant, about his entrance into the ark to be saved from the flood, and the covenant of grace. I came to an use, which hath been this, that the example of Noah in his entrance into the ark, and making of the ark, and the like, was a figure of the saving work that God effects upon the hearts of his people, in bringing them under the covenant of grace, and within the safe bounds of it. I shall accordingly consider the work of faith wrought in Noah, he being made heir of the righteousness of faith. Noah was instructed by God in two things as objects of his faith. The first was the grace of God:
'Thou hast found grace in my sight.' The other was the necessity of his entrance into the ark, which was to him the type of Christ; hence correspondently to answer the type we have what is said in verse 13,
'They shall be all taught of God.' The covenant of grace did undertake, Jer. 31:34, that God would teach them to know him, and that they should not need any other to teach them. The grace under the covenant of the gospel teaches us to know two things. The first is, to know God in his grace: Jer. 9:24, 'Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.' As to what? It follows,
'That I am the Lord that exerciseth loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things do I delight.' To know
God in his loving-kindness, this is what God doth instruct his people in, and teacheth them to exercise faith about it. The second thing which the covenant of grace teaches us is, to know Christ who is our ark: John 6:45, 'It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.' So then these two things before me are naturally deduced from the text, and example of Noah.
God teaches his people to know him in his free grace, and he teaches them to know him in his Christ, and instructs them in the nature of faith in him. From God's instructing Noah to enter into the ark, we
may infer that God doth also, in the covenant of grace, which this is a prophecy of, instruct us to know his Son Christ, and to come unto him. When the ark was prepared, God invites Noah into the ark: Gen.
7:1, 'And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou, and all thy house, into the ark;' which words I shall by and by translate into pure gospel, and I will shew you that the very same language is used concerning our believing in Christ only. I must first shew you this thing, that the ark was the type of Christ, for that is the first thing I must turn into gospel, the ark into Christ. The ancient writers of the church, the fathers (as they call them), say, that by ark is meant the church. Now, it is true that one and the same type often signifieth two or three things; as, for example, the temple signified the body of Christ
—'Destroy this temple,' saith Christ—it signified the church universal, the body of Christ mystical; it signifieth every particular soul: 'Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost,' 1 Cor. 6:19. But this let me say, when you shall find a parallel made between the thing and the thing signified, and in particular applied to one thing, you must only understand it so, and there you must not understand it as a type of the other. In 1 Peter 1:21 you have Noah's ark made a type of Christ, as he is administered to us in baptism: 'The like figure whereunto' (having spoken of the ark) 'wherein few, that is, eight persons were saved through water.' The like figure is baptism, whereby we are saved; but here baptism, signified by the ark, bears not the figure of the church, and that plainly for this reason, because the ark is the figure of that wherein we are saved ('wherein few were saved, eight persons'). Now, the eight were the persons saved, and saved in the ark, and they bare the resemblance of the church in being saved; but it is the ark that bears the resemblance of that wherein we are saved, who is Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, signified and applied to us in baptism. You will say it is baptism that saves us; but how doth it so? Because we are baptized into Christ,
Rom. 6:3; and it is said to be therefore by the resurrection of Christ that he saves; although he mentions the resurrection as signified in baptism, he means his death too, for he puts that part, the resurrection, for the whole. Baptism unto the person baptized under the water (whether by pouring it upon it, or dipping under it, it is all
one, for baptism is called sprinkling) implies a covering under the water and rising again. How doth Christ save? 'He died for our sins, and rose again for our justification,' Rom. 4:25; and we are said to be
'baptized into his death' as well as into Christ and his resurrection, Rom. 6:3. It is the most lively example that ever was; we are baptized into Christ, and into his death, and into his resurrection, as ye have it there expressed. This baptism thus representing Christ is said to be figured out by the ark. As for the ark, Ainsworth, that holy man, well observes concerning it: Every Christian (saith he) is baptized with Christ; and as Noah was in the ark, so we were all in Christ representatively, when he hung on the cross, and when he rose. And so we were in the ark: when that was under water, we were under water; when the ark got up, we rose up upon the water. It was impossible for the ark to be overwhelmed, because God took care of it; so it was with Christ, God upheld him; and death, although he was laid in the grave, could not have dominion over him. It was impossible for death to hold him. The ark too kept Noah and the church, the ark bare off all (I need not stand to enlarge upon it); there is no example or figure (as I know) so lively. Moses being baptized in the cloud and the Red Sea of baptism (because it was the figure of it), is nothing so lively as this. Now, the ark being thus proved to be a type of Christ, wherein we are saved, we shall next consider God's invitation of Noah to come into the ark: Gen. 7:1,
'Come thou, enter into the ark.' I shall decipher this out into gospel language, and give you plain words for every tittle of it: 'Come thou, and thy house, and enter into the ark.' Here is,
1. An invitation to come into the ark, like to Christ's inviting sinners to come to him: Mat. 11:28, 29, 'Come to me,' saith Christ, 'all ye that are weary and heavy laden;' and Rev. 22:17, 'The bride saith, Come, and the Spirit saith, Come, and take of the water of life freely.'
2. What is this coming? It is that which is applied to Christ: John 6:33, 'He that comes to me shall never thirst.' Coming is believing, for to believe is to come to Christ to be saved: 'You will not come to me,' saith Christ, 'that you may have life,' John 5:40.
3. The words of God's invitation to Noah are, 'Come, and enter.' The expression is answerable concerning faith: Heb. 11:3, 'Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.'
This it is likewise expressed, Mat. 11:28, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' By coming to Christ, and believing on him, we enter both into him and also into rest.
4. We are said to enter into Christ only by coming and believing, whereas we were out of Christ before: 'He was,' saith the apostle,
Rom. 16:7, 'in Christ before me.' When he did believe, he entered into Christ, he came to be in Christ, as Noah was in the ark, and so was saved. Suitable hereunto is also that text in Rom. 8:1, 'There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ,' no more than there was destruction unto them that were in the ark, for they were brought safe to land. As we thus enter into Christ by faith, so we dwell in Christ, and continue in Christ, 1 John 2:23, 24.
5. Yet it falls well, as God invited Noah to come into the ark, so he invited his family too: 'Come thou and thy house.' The gospel invitation runs thus in these very words, Acts 16:11, when the poor jailor came, and knows not what to do to be saved; 'Believe thou on the Lord Jesus,' says the apostle. Do but come into the ark, and 'thou shalt be saved, and thy house.' Thus the gospel was preached, as might apparently be shewed at large; so that I have demonstrated unto you that Gen. 7:1 is plain gospel, and the word about believing answers it. Christ is your ark, and faith is your coming, and by faith you enter into Christ, and continue in him (answerably as Noah did in the ark), till thou arrivest safe to land, thou and thy house. Thus you see that still the parallel holds on about Noah in his covenant and the work of faith. I shall now proceed to shew in some proportion that God teaches us to believe upon Christ as he taught
Noah to enter into the ark.
1st. I shall first answer a case or two. I told you that Christ is the object of your faith, distinct from free grace, or that we are to believe on Christ, and treat with him, as well as with God's free grace. Now the case to be resolved is this: Many souls (some such souls I am sure
I have known) have been mightily carried out to treat with God the Father and his free grace, and they have found an open door, if they will go in at that room. If they will go to the Father, they find all the love in his heart in giving men to Christ, and commanding him to die for them; and they find all this love to be free and unchangeable, and they find the thoughts of it to be a support of faith; and although they have not found assurance, yet they are so much assured of the will of God, as to know that he is resolved to save sinners, and they know that salvation must flow from it, and that makes them seek God, and apply themselves to free grace; and they can turn all other considerations of Christ into motives and pleas, and so lay themselves at the feet of God. Yet, while they do this, they take it for granted that all God's love is through Christ, and that he was God in Christ reconciling the world to himself, or that he had never done it else. And so, though Jesus Christ is implicitly honoured by them apart and distinctly, yet they do not explicitly apply themselves in a distinct manner to the Lord Jesus. They do not make use of Christ so distinctly, although they go to God through Christ. The answer to this case is useful and profitable.
1. I say that here are two objects of faith, and they are equal objects of faith at least, and equally necessary; hut I say, too, that where the Father is, there is the Son: John 14:10, 11, 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and I in you;' and you shall know this one day; and 'my
Father and I are one,' and we 'agree in one, John 10:30. Their hearts are not divided; so that if thou canst find the heart of God open to thee, and that there is a full door open, and that thy heart is strengthened to go in at it, then for certain thou hast also a sense of the love of Christ, and thou takest it for granted that all that thou hast is through Christ, and is from the heart of Christ; and so far thou givest him the honour of it. Thou mayest be sure of it by this token, that Christ himself hath to do with his Father in saving us,
more than with himself. He eyes his will, and regards what he hath said to him about our salvation, and the undertaking of it, and the carrying of it through: John 6:37, 'I came down from above, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me;' thus saith Jesus Christ himself; 'And this is my Father's will, that he hath sent me, and that of all that he hath given me I should lose none.' Now, canst thou go unto the heart of the Father, and regard him as the fountain of all that Christ hath done, and look on him as giving to Christ them that he would have saved? Dost thou see that Christ hath undertaken to him for thee, and that he hath such and such a love in his heart to save thee, and that thou hast a declaration of it, and the indefinite promise of it in the gospel? And do these thoughts take thy heart, and dost thou thus treat with the Father, and his will, and free grace for salvation? Thou herein honourest Christ, for it is no question but Christ, that came to do his Father's will, agrees to it, and hath it always in his view. He tells us that he doth his Father's will as to the persons who are to be saved: John 6:37, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will not cast out, for I came not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me,' i.e., to save the persons that God the Father gave me. Dost thou go to God, although he doth not tell thee immediately that he loves thee? This is the will of the Father, and Christ came to do the will of the Father unto persons, and therefore to those persons whose hearts are taken with his grace. And this is a sign Jesus Christ hath satisfied for thee, and makes application to the Father for thee: John 5:24, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life.' You must know this, that one great end of Christ's preaching was to discover the Father, and to shew how much the Father's heart was engaged in saving man by him, and in sending him into the world. Now suppose that in his preaching a good soul had been taken with this love of God the Father that gave his Son, and that this soul was drawn out upon that to apply itself to the Father, it herein heard Christ, and applied itself to him also. 'He that heareth my words,' saith Christ, while he is magnifying God the Father, John 5:24, and understandeth, 'and
believeth on him that sent me' (i.e., believes upon him as having sent me), that man, saith he, 'hath everlasting life;' although eminently thus his heart is carried unto the Father that sent him.
2. The soul of man is apt to be intent upon one object, and so to be more flat in another: this is undeniable matter of experience. Oh that I were humbled! says the soul sometimes, when the heart goes out to be abased for sin. At another time the heart is as much drawn out for Christ and for his grace; and while it is drawn out that way, a zealous love for holiness comes in, and then it runs out to that. We cannot be intent upon many objects with intenseness of thought, through a narrowness of mind. Sometimes all about the Father and his free grace takes up our thoughts, and the soul runs out that way; and sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit, employ all our thoughts, as indeed we must adore every person in his office.
Sometimes we are carried to communion with the Father, and sometimes to enjoy it with the Son, and sometimes to have it with the Holy Ghost. Now all this ariseth from the narrowness of our minds, and therefore Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are fain to take their turns, and to be entertained by vicissitudes.
3. Is the Father discovered to thee in his free grace to draw thy heart into communion, while Christ is not so free to thee when thou attemptest to go to him? Know this for a truth, that whatever is discovered of the Father's heart, it is done by Christ; and whatever is discovered of the Son's heart in dying and rising, it is done by the Father; therefore thou mayest be sure that the Father is with thee when thy heart is drawn to Christ, for that drawing is from the Father; and if thou hast thy heart drawn to the Father, it is effected by Christ, Mat. 11:27. How is it that thy heart is drawn unto the Son, and thy heart is all set upon Christ? It is the Father that doth it, and he doth it secretly in the word he doth teach thee; yet no man hath seen him; he doth it, and doth it secretly; and so likewise no man cometh to the Father but by Christ. Thou art no sooner with Christ, and hath put forth a few acts of faith, but he sends thee to the Father, or thou couldst not come to him, as thou couldst not come to Christ
but by the Father, and as the Father discovers him. And therefore be assured that he who hath the Father hath the Son, and he that hath the Son hath him by the Father.
4. It is best to have the heart both drawn out to the free grace that is in the Father's heart, and to have the heart drawn out to Jesus Christ and his fulness. It is best for thee to have thy heart from the beginning (as some have had) to know both the Father and the Son, and to continue thy addresses to either. Oh that is best! I will give you a great many scriptures for it. Thus it was with Paul from his first conversion: 1 Tim. 1:14, 'The grace of our Lord was abundant, with faith, and love, which is in Jesus Christ.' By our Lord there is meant the Father, for he is made distinct from Jesus Christ in the next words. Paul had an abundant entrance both to God the Father in his free grace at his conversion, and he had abundant entrance unto
Jesus Christ with faith and love drawn out unto him. To the same purpose is 1 John 2:13, 'I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.' Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning, let it remain in you, and you shall continue in the Son and in the Father. You knew the Father at first, and believed on him and Christ, and if you will cleave unto your first works, to what you have heard and had from the beginning, to what you have known of God the Father, and of the Son, you will continue in both, and there lies your comfort; and if you cast it off, as those heretics did (who knew the Father, but not the Son), thou hast not the Father nor the Son. Thy case, indeed, may be such, that though thou knowest both, yet thy heart is not so taken with the one as the other; but yet, while thou goest unto Christ, it is because the Father hath sent him, and it is his will that thou believe on him. If thou dost go unto the Father, it is because Jesus Christ hath died, and they both agree in one. It is best to join both: Rom.
3:24, 'Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ' It is best to join the grace of God, and faith on the blood of Christ, and to have our hearts equally carried to the one and
the other, although the Father must have the pre-eminence. This is the truest and rightest frame of a Christian.
But you will say, Is not the knowledge of the Father and his grace alone sufficient, although I have not the other? Is not the saving knowledge of the mercy and grace of God sufficient, although I do not know Christ nor believe on him? And so on the contrary.
1. I answer, No; grace alone would not save you without a Christ, for he is to satisfy the justice of God, that so grace may save thee, and that God might be just, and the justifier of those that believe. I will not enter into that discourse, that through the whole Old Testament there was a glimmering of Christ, that it began in Adam (that Christ should destroy the works of the devil), and in Enoch's ministry, and in Noah's ministry, who as he was 'heir of righteousness by faith,' so he was the preacher of it, and is said to preach Jesus Christ in his day. Peter, speaking of the Jews, how they were saved, saith, Acts
15:11, 'There was a yoke that neither we nor our fathers could bear; yet if we believe on the Lord Jesus, we shall be saved, as they were;' and how? By the grace of Christ, and by believing on him, and having an eye to Christ. They knew not the way how Christ would save them; they did not dream it should be by dying, but they had an eye to him, as shewed in the type. There was the temple, and they looked towards it and the mercy-seat, &c. The ark was Christ, and the mercy-seat was the favour of God, and the mercy-seat and the ark were equal. Thus look what purpose of grace he hath to save, the ark, which is Jesus Christ, is as large. You have the mercy-seat, the favour of God; and the purchase of Christ, who is the ark, is equal to it.
2. The necessity of coming to Christ was more clearly insisted on after the time of Christ's ascension, and the publication of the gospel to all nations. They are required to believe on Christ distinctly, and to treat with him distinctly, as well as with the Father; and sooner or later the elect shall do it, and have some glances to Christ. Christ answerably prays, John 17, 'I pray not for these only, but for all that shall believe on me through their word;' we all believe through their
word to this day. How doth Jesus Christ characterise his church that was to come? He doth it by this mark, that they should believe on him, and (saith he) 'I pray not for the world.' Can you think then that any man since should have knowledge to grow up to salvation, from a principle of nature, without Jesus Christ? No; they are left out in Jesus Christ's prayer. Thus likewise Christ saith, John 8:24, 'If you do not believe that I am he; if you do not come to me that ye may have life, that ye may be saved, you will die in your sins.' There must be an absolute treating with Jesus Christ, a flashy faith is not sufficient; nor is it enough that you have purposed such an act, but you must come to Christ, and treat with him, and continue to do so to the end. In Noah's covenant (for I follow the figure, and I have shewed in another discourse how it was a type of the covenant of grace unto the church in the New Testament) it was necessary for Noah and his family to come and enter into the ark if he would be saved; and so it is as necessary for us to come and enter into Christ by faith to be saved: as Noah entered into that ark to be saved from the waters, so we into this ark to be saved from the wrath of God. All that grace which Noah found in God would not have saved him by way of his ordination, but in and by the ark. I have saved you and you. Though he was acknowledged by God to be a righteous man, and though he had been a preacher of righteousness, yet all this righteousness, and all the good sermons which he had made, would not save him from these waters, but he must have drowned with the rest had he not entered into the ark. Thus though thou wert as righteous as Noah, yet if thou art saved, it must be by coming into the ark. Say what you will of yourselves, being puffed up with vain hopes, you must be saved by Jesus Christ alone. And therefore it is said that Noah and his house entered into the ark. If you take the church in general, there is no salvation out of the church (so some have applied this figure of the ark); ay, but I say, 'there is no other name by which we can be saved, but that of Jesus,' and no other benefit but faith, nulla salus extra Christum, no salvation out of Christ. If thou art without God and without Christ, thou art in a desperate case.
My design is to shew the necessity of faith on Christ, by going over the story of the progress of the gospel from the first and earliest beginning of it, when the gospel began. When John the Baptist began it before Christ preached, his point was to point and direct men to believe on Christ. You find that the gospel began with John: Luke
16:16, 'The law and the prophets were until John;' when he baptized men, he said to the people, I baptize you, but, saith he, believe on Christ. John verily baptized men with the baptism of repentance and humiliation; though he taught them repentance, he yet enjoins them to believe on Christ, Acts 19:4, he did join faith with repentance: he pointed men to Christ, and told the Pharisees there was such a one among them, whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to unloose, and sets forth the fame of Christ's ministry. He baptized, to make Christ manifest unto the people of Israel, John 1:38–41, and his disciples,
Simon and Andrew, fell to Christ. It is also set down in the very beginning of the gospel, that faith on Christ is the only way of life:
John 3:36, 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.' When the gospel began, this was still put into it, that we must believe on Christ. It is evidenced also by the care that our Lord and Saviour is at to make himself known to poor souls, that they may believe on him, although he preach the Father's love too.
The poor blind man had his eyesight given him, but he knew not who did it, yet there was something within him that did defend Christ against the Pharisees; and Jesus Christ takes occasion to meet him again, and though even then he did not know him, yet afterwards he did make himself manifest. There were some that did know him, as Nathanael, but they did not believe distinctly on him; but Christ takes care that this poor blind man should. There is a poor woman also, John 4:26, to whom Christ reveals himself: 'I am he,' I am the Christ that speaks to thee, saith he. And then there were others too who did believe on him, as ye read there. He would go out of the nation of the Jews, to a place where an elect woman was, on purpose to reveal himself to her. When the time was come for the Canaanitish woman to believe on him, he went out to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon; and so he never went out but once to the coasts of the
Gadarenes. And then he came to that poor woman* to discover himself to her; and yet how averse was she at first, but at last she followed him, and found that he was the Messiah, and Christ did approve and own her faith. The eunuch, Acts 8:37, came to Jerusalem to worship, and believed on Christ to come, but did not know that he was come; yet what care doth Christ take that he should know him! He was devoutly reading in the Scriptures in his chariot
(he employs his time well), and he reads that full text of the Old Testament concerning Christ. Providence so orders it that Philip is going the same way, and is commanded to join himself to him to do that work of instructing him, and he preacheth Christ to him, and the eunuch's heart is taken, and straightway he believeth. As Christ calls poor fishermen, and they straightway left their nets and followed him, so this man straightway believed on Jesus Christ, and goes home, and rejoiceth.
What is the reason that after Christ's suffering, and after the gospel was thus preached, God would have us, in order to salvation, to know
Christ, and come to him?
1. It is 'that all may honour the Son, as they honour the Father,' John 5:23. In honouring Christ, they honour the Father and his grace. In looking to the grace of God that was in his heart to save, they honoured the Father, they believed on him, and so honoured him; but you must believe also on the Son and honour him, and how is that but by believing? John 5:23. Christ having spoken of believing, brings the other in; God will have all men to honour the Son, by believing on him, as well as on the Father. Salvation runs on in the knowledge of God the Father and the Son, John 17:2, 3; 2 Pet. 1:2.
2. Another reason is, because now God had fully manifested his Son unto the apostles who preached him; whoever therefore upon their preaching did not believe on Christ, it was a sign that the god of this world had blinded their minds. For God had now sent his Son: 'He hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son,' Heb. 1:1, immediately after his taking flesh, and therefore he would have the
knowledge of his Son to take place. John 6:37, Christ speaks to the same purpose, 'Him that comes to me, I will not cast out; and all that the Father hath given me shall come to me, for my Father sent me.'
And he sent Christ on purpose that he might be known and manifest unto all the world. He therefore that doth not now believe on the Son, doth frustrate the end of God's sending him, for he did it with an intention that those souls that are saved should believe on him.
3. It is the ordination of God, it is the will of God that it should be so, John 6:36–38, our Saviour Christ doth use a very sweet argument and parallel. The reason (saith he) that I must receive all that come unto me is, because the Father sent me, and gave me them before I came into the world, and I was sent to do his will answerably. That you should come to me, this is the Father's will, because he hath sent me on purpose to be made known to all that shall be saved: John
6:40, 'All that the Father hath given me shall come to me.' The text doth plainly shew this, that God himself, that gave his Son, doth not save men unless they come to his Son; and therefore if he will have them, whom he did give unto Christ to be saved, he is fain to draw them to come to him. In marriage you have the father usually to give the daughter unto the husband; but if she doth not give her consent, it is not the father's giving that makes it a marriage. Thus it is not our
Father's gift, but our consent unto Christ, that makes a match with our souls. All the Scriptures, and all in the Scriptures, will not save you, if you have not faith in Jesus Christ. If you should suppose that you had all the Scripture in your mind and heart, it would not save you, 2 Tim. 3:15. Though thou art a Timothy, brought up from a child to read the Scriptures as he did, and knowest them, yet they are able to make thee wise unto salvation only through faith which is in Jesus
Christ. If thou hast not faith in Jesus Christ, all that wisdom in the Scriptures will not save thee, nor have power to save thee. If they save thee, it is through faith on Christ revealed in them. 'Search the Scriptures' (says Christ, John 5:39), 'for ye think therein ye have salvation;' but search them, for they speak of me more than of anything else, and ye ought to know me, or ye shall die in your sins.
But you will say, May not a man have love to God the Father upon
the thoughts of his free grace alone, and may he not then repent for sin? I say, no; you cannot repent unless you believe on his Son
Christ, Rom. 1:5. Love to God, and turning to God, will not save you, if you swerve from the means of grace and the way of faith. What says Christ? John 5:42, 43, 'But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.' I know that you have not the love of God in you; why? Because you want faith in me. Love to God springs from faith in Christ, and therefore never talk of love to God, if you have not treated concerning salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Acts 26:17–19, what saith Christ himself from heaven, when he gave Paul his commission? 'I send thee,' saith he, 'to open the eyes of the Gentiles, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified.' Will not all this do? Will not turning unto God from self-love, and loving God, and being sanctified, serve to save us under the gospel? No; read the next words: it must all be, says Christ, 'through faith that is in me.' Christ saith it from heaven, this is his commission, and he declares it, that, under the gospel, remission of sins and turning to God, forgiveness of sin and sanctification, were all through faith in him. Be convinced then, that if ever you be saved, there is a necessity that God teach you to come to the Son. You think it is an easy thing to come to Christ, and to look to him and to his name for pardon, and to go to him for forgiveness and sanctification: but let this be preached to you, and inculcated to you, to go to Christ: let it all be urged upon you, yet you will not come to Christ that you may have life, and you will die in your sins, unless God the Father draws you to him. Our Lord Jesus
Christ gives a great instance of this: John 6:63, 64, 'It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.' He doth give the greatest instance in the world, that let men live under the highest preaching of the gospel, and the powerfullest ministry that ever spake, even the