1. From the abfolute neceffity of coming.

2. From the encouraging probabilities of fpeeding.

First, The foul feeth an abfolute neceffity of coming: neceffity is laid upon it, there is no other way, Acts iv. 12. God hath fhut it up by a blessed neceflity to this only door of escape, Gal. iii. 23. Damnation lies in the neglect of Christ, Heb. ii. 3. The foul hath no choice in this cafe; angels, minifters, duties, repentance, reformation cannot fave me; Chrift, and none but Chrift can deliver me from prefent guilt, and the wrath to come. Why do I difpute, demur, delay, when certain ruin muft inevitably follow the neglect or refufal of gofpel-offers ?

Secondly, The Lord fheweth thofe that are under his teaching, the probabilities of mercy, for their encouragement in the way of believing. And thefe probabilities the foul is enabled to gather from the general and free invitations of the gofpel, Ifa. lv. 1, 7. Rev. xxii. 17. from the conditional promifes of the gospel, John vi, 37. Mat. xi. 28. Ifa. i. 18. from the vaft extent of grace, beyond all the thoughts and hopes of the creatures, Ifa. lv. 8, 9. Heb. vii. 25. from the encouraging examples of other finners, who have found mercy in as bad a condition as they, 1 Tim. i. 13. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 3. 2 Cor. vi. 10, 11. from the command of God, which warrants the action, and anfwers all the objections of unworthiness and prefumption in them that come to Chrift, 1 John iii. 23. and laftly, from the fenfible changes already made upon the temper and frame of the heart. Time was, when I had no fenfe of fin, nor forrow for fin; no delire after Chrift, nor heart to duties. But it is not fo with me now; I now fee the evil of fin, fo as I never faw it before; my heart is now broken in the fenfe of that evil; my defires begin to be enflamed after Jefus Chrift; I am not at reft, nor where I would be, till I am in fecret mourning after the Lord Jefus; furely thefe are the dawnings of the day of mercy; let me go on in this way. It faith, as the lepers at the fiege of Samaria, 2 Kings vii. 3, 4. "If Iftay here, I perith?" If I go to Chrift, I can but perish. Hence believers bear up againft all objected difcouragements, certum exitium commutemus incerto; it is the dictate of wif dom, the vote of reafon, to exchange a certain for an uncertain ruin. And thus you have here what thofe excellent leffons are, which all that come to Chrift are taught by the Father.

SERMON XXIII.

JOHN vi. 45.

It is written in the Prophets, And they fhall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

N the former fermon, you have been taught this great truth;

Doct. That the teachings of God are abfolutely neceffary to every foul that cometh unto Chrift, in the way of faith.

What the teachings of God import, hath been formerly opened; and what thofe special leffons are, which all believers hear and learn of the Father, was the last thing difcourfed that which remains to be further cleared about this fubject, before I come to the application of the whole, will be to fhew you,

1. What are the properties of divine teachings.

2. What influence they have in bringing fouls to Chrift.

3. Why it is impoffible for any man to come to Chrift without thefe teachings of the Father.

Firft, What are the properties of divine teachings? Concerning the teachings of God, we affirm in general, that, though they exclude not, yet they vaftly differ from all human teachings: as the power of God in effecting tranfcends all human power, fo the wisdom of God in teaching transcends all human wisdom. For,

1. God teacheth powerfully; he fpeaketh to the foul with ftrong hand; when the word cometh accompanied with the Spirit, it is "mighty through God, to caft down all imaginations,” 2 Cor. x. 4. Now the gofpel "comes not in word only, (as it was wont to do), but in power," 1 Thef. i. 4, 5. a power that makes the foul fall down before it, and acknowledge that God is in that word, 1 Cor. xiv. 25.

2. The teachings of God are sweet teachings. Men never relish the sweetness of a truth, till they learn it from God, Cant. i. 3. "His name is as ointment poured forth." Cant. v. 16. "His "mouth is most fweet." O how powerfully and how sweetly doth the voice of God flide into the hearts of poor melting finners! how jejune, dry, and tastless are the discourses of men, compared with the teachings of the Father!

3. God teacheth plainly and clearly: He not only opens truths to the understanding, but he openeth the understanding also to perceive them, 2 Cor. iii. 16. In that day the vail is taken away

from the heart; a light fhineth into the foul; a clear beam from heaven is darted into the mind, Luke xxiv. 45. Divine teachings are fully fatisfying; the foul doubts no more, staggers and hefttates no more, but acquiefces in that which God teaches; it is fo fatisfied, that it can venture all upon the truth of what it hath learned from God; as that martyr said, I cannot difpute, but I can die for Chrift. See Prov. viii. 8, 9.

Fourthly, The teachings of God are infallible teachings. The wifeft and holieft of men may mistake, and lead others into the fame mistakes with themfelves; but it is not fo in the teachings of God. If we can be fure that God teacheth us, we may be as fure of the truth of what he teacheth; for his Spirit guideth us into all truth, John xvi. 13. and into nothing but truth.

Fifthly, The teachings of God are abiding teachings; they make everlafting impreffions upon the foul, Pfal. cxix. 98. they are ever with it: The words of men vanifh from us; but the words of God abide by us: what God teacheth, he writeth upon the heart, Jer. xxxi. 33. and that will abide; litera feripta manet. It is ufual with fouls, whofe understandings have been opened by the Lord, many years afterward to fay, I fhall never forget fuch a scripture that once convinced, such a promise that once encouraged me.

Sixthly, The teachings of God are faving teachings, they make the foul wife unto falvation, 2 Tim. iii. 15. There is a great deal of other knowledge that goes to hell with men: The pavement of hell (as one fpeaks) is pitched with the fkulls of many great fcholars, but eternal life is in the teachings of God, John xvii. 3. "This is the eternal life, to know thee the only true God, and "Jefus Chrift, whom thou haft fent." This is defervedly ftiled the light of this life, John viii. 12. «In this light we fhall fee light," Pfal. xxxvi. 9.

Seventhly, The teachings of God make their own way into the dulleft and weakest capacities, Ifa. xxxii. 4. "The heart alfo of "the rafh fhall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the "ftammerers fhall be ready to speak plainly." Upon this account. Chrift faid, Matth. xi. 25. “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of "heaven and earth, because thou haft hid these things from the "wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes." It is admirable to see what clear illuminations fome poor illiterate Chriftians have in the myfteries of Chrift and falvation, which others, of great abilities, deep and searching heads, can never discover with all their learning and ftudy.

Eighthly, To conclude, The teachings of God are transforming teachings; 2 Cor. iii. 18. they change the foul into the fame images God cafts them, whom he teacheth, into the very mould of those VOL. II. SI

truths which they learn of him, Rom. vi. 17. Thefe are the teachings of God, and thus he inftructeth thofe that come to Chrift.

Secondly, Next let us fee what influence divine teachings have upon fouls, in bringing them to Chrift; and we fhall find a threefold influence in them.

1. They have an influence upon the external means, by which they come to Christ.

2. They have an influence upon the mind, to remove what hindered it from Chrift.

3. They have an influence upon the will, to allure and draw it to Chrift.

First, They have an influence upon the means by which we come to Chrift; the best ordinances are but a dead letter except the Spirit, the teaching and quickening Spirit of God, work in followfhip with them, 2 Cor. iii. 6. The best minifters, like the difciples, caft forth the net, but take nothing, win not one foul to God, till God teach as well as they. Paul is nothing, and Apollos nothing, but God that giveth the increase, 1 Cor. iii. 7. Let the moft learned, eloquent, and powerful orator be in the pulpit, yet no man's heart is perfuaded till it hear the voice of God; Gathe dram in cælis habet, qui corda docet.

Secondly, They have influence upon the mind, to remove what hindered it from Chrift. Except the minds of men be first untaught thofe errors, by which they are prejudiced against Chrift, they will never be perfuaded to come unto him; and nothing but the Father's teachings can unteach thofe errors, and cure thofe evils of the mind. The natural mind of man flights the truths of God, until God teach them; and then they tremble with an awful reverence of them. Sin is but a trifle, till God fhews us the face of it in the glafs of the law, and then it appears excording finful, Rom. vii. 13. We think God to be fuch a one as ourfelves, Pfal. 1. 21. until he difcover himself. unto us in his infinite greatnefs, awful holinefs, and fevere juftice; and then we cry, who can stand before this great and dreadful God! We thought it was time enough hereafter, to mind the concernments of another world, until the Lord open our eyes, to see in what danger we ftand upon the very brink of eternity; and then nothing alarms us more, than the fears that our time will be finished before the great work of falvation be finished. We thought ourfelves in a converted state before, till God made us to fee the neceffity of another manner of converfion, upon pain of eternal damnation. We readily caught hold upon the promises before, when we had no right to them; but the teachings of God make the prefumptuous finner let go his hold, that he may take a better and furer hold of them in Chrift. We once thought that the death

of Chrift, in itself, had been enough to fecure our falvation; but, under the teachings of God, we difcern plainly the neceffity of a change of heart and ftate; or elfe the blood of Chrift can never profit us. Thus the teachings of God remove the errors of the mind, by which men are withheld from Chrift.

Thirdly, The teachings of God powerfully attract and allure the will of a finner to Chrift, Hof. ii. 14. But of these drawings of the Father have largely (poken before, and therefore shall say no more of them in this place, but haften to the last thing propounded, viz.

Thirdly, Why it is impoffible for any man to come to Christ without the Father's teachings; and the impoffibilities hereof will appear three ways.

1. From the power of fin.

2. From the indifpofition of man.

3. From the nature of faith.

By all which, the last point defigned to be spoken to from this fcripture, will be fully cleared, and the whole prepared for application.

Firft, The impoflibility of coming to Christ without the teachings of the Father, will appear from the power of fin, which hath fo strong an holdfast upon the hearts and affections of all unregenerate men, that no human arguments or perfuafions whatsoever can divorce or feparate them; for,

Firt, Sin is connatural with the foul, it is born and bred with a man; Pfal. I. 4. Ifa. xlviii. 8. It is as natural for fallen man to fin, as it is to breathe.

Secondly, The power of fin hath been ftrengthening itself from the beginning, by long continued custom, which gives it the force of a fecond nature, and makes regeneration and mortification naturally impoffible, Jer. xv. 23. "Can the Ethiopian change his "kin, or the leopard his fpots? Then may he alfo do good that " is accuftomed to do evil."

Thirdly, Sin is the delight of the finner: "It is sport to a fool "to do mischief,” Prov. x. 23. Carnal men have no other pleafure in this world, but what arifes from their lufts; to cut off their corruptions by mortification, were at once to deprive them of all the pleasure of their lives.

Fourthly, Sin being connatural, cuftomary, and delightful, doth therefore bewitch their affections and inchant their hearts, to that degree of madness and fascination, that they rather chufe damnation by God, than feparation from fin: "Their hearts are fully fet in them to do evil," Ecclef. viii. 11. they ruth into fiu, as the "horfe rufheth into the battle," Jer. viii. 6. And now, what think you can feparate a man from his beloved lust, except the

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