by him! The prodigal goes home to his father, but when the father sees him afar off, he runs; the prodigal goes, and the father runs to meet him with mercy.

Yea, and our Saviour Christ seems to be most willing to save the greatest sinners; the greatest saints have been made up out of the greatest sinners. When the Lord Jesus Christ was upon the earth, did he not carry his grace and mercy, and the doctrine of free remission, to the greatest sinners? Beloved, consider of it, I pray you. The greater the sinner is, the more is Christ honoured in getting out his pardon, and in satisfying for such a sinner; and so he will love Christ the more. Look I pray into Luke vii. "Simon, (says Christ) I will propound thee a parable. Master, say on," says he. Then says our Saviour, at ver. 14, "There was a certain creditor that had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty: and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love the most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged." Those that he forgives most unto, will love most. Jesus Christ loves to be greatly honoured and loved, and therefore he is willing to save the greatest sinners. But now, the greatest sinners are most opposite unto what is good, they do not seek after what is good surely therefore, if Jesus Christ would save sinners, and the greatest sinners, of necessity the kingdom of heaven and of grace must approach unto us, before we draw near to it.

But you will say, the Scripture seems to be contrary unto this doctrine; for hath not the Scripture said, " Turn_unto the Lord, and he will turn unto you," Zech. i. 3; “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you," James iv. 8. How is this therefore true, that the kingdom of grace, mercy, and free remission, does first draw near unto us, before we draw near unto it?

Yea, hath not our Saviour Christ said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentanc,e" Matt. ix. 13: that is, such as are sensible of their sins? surely, therefore, a man must be sensible of his sins, must be sensible first, before the kingdom of heaven, of grace, mercy, and free remission, be brought near unto him.

For answer, the Scripture is clearly with us; the apostle John speaks out expressly, "We loved him, because he loved us first," John iv. 19.

And says our Saviour, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," John xv. 16. I have chosen you, you have not chosen me.

And whereas it is said, that we should "turn to God, and he will turn to us ;" and "draw near to God, and he will draw near to us:" that is, he will draw near unto you again, he will turn more unto you: not as if we should begin to turn to him, and first draw near to him, before he does first draw near to us at all; but," draw near to him, and he will draw near to you ;" and, " turn to him, and he will turn to you;" that is, he will draw more near to you, and he will turn unto you again.

And whereas it is said, that "Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance;" that is, such as are sensible of their sins; and men must be first sensible, before the offer of grace, mercy and free remission be made unto them.

I beseech you turn unto the place where the scripture lies, it is Matt. ix. 13, at the latter end of the verse: "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." This, say I, is not to be understood of sinners only sensible of their own sins, but sinners indeed; Christ came to call sinners indeed, yea, before they are sensible of their sins. For the word sinner, here, must be understood as the word, sinner, before is, in verses 10, 11: "As Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him, and with his disciples. When the pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners ?"

He did eat with those that were not sensible of their sins. Sinners, there, are not to be meant of those only that were sensible of their sins; Christ did not only eat with those that were sensible of their sins. Now he gives this account of it, "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance;" that is, sinners, such as he names before, such as he did eat withal; and they were not only such as were sensible of their sins.

Again, Our Saviour Christ gives this account, at verse 12: “The whole need not the physician, but those that are sick ;”

to answer to this objection, that our Saviour did eat with sinners and converse with sinners, says he, I am a physician; and physicians are to go to those that are sick only. There is this difference between me, a physician, and other physicians, for I come unsent for, but other physicians come when sent for; I, as a physician, come to call my patients, but other physicians are called in by their patients. Now, says he, I am a physician, and I come not to call the righteous but sinners; I come to call my patients. Physicians do not only go to those that are sensible of their disease, but if a man be past sense, his friends send for the physician, and the physician goes. So does Christ here, comes unto his patients when they are not sensible of their disease many times.

Again, This suits with that which goes before. "Go," says he, at verse 13, "and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Sometimes this phrase, this sentence is to be understood concerning bodily mercy, but here it is to be understood of mercy to the soul: "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Ye object to me, that I converse with publicans and sinners, not with those that are righteous in their generation; go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice: I have more delight in conversing with poor sinners than with those Jews that do offer sacrifice.

And again, consider, what sense would there be if this should be the meaning: "I came not to call the righteous but sinners;" that is, I came to call those that are sensible of their sins. Then the meaning must be this, I came not to call the righteous, but men that are penitent, men that are sensible of their sins and are penitent. If by the calling the sinners, we are to understand those that are sensible only, then the sense must be this, I came not to call the righteous but men that are penitent. No, no, Christ came to call sinners, poor sinners; although they were never yet sensible of their sins, the Lord Jesus Christ came to call sinners, which are so indeed.

This doctrine then stands, notwithstanding that objection. But, you will say, the prodigal seems to come home unto his father, before his father does come to him; and to repent, before his father shews mercy to him: and so our repentance

does prevent the Lord's mercy, and not the Lord's mercy prevent our repentance.

For answer, It is good for us always to attend unto the scope of the scripture, in parables especially. The scope of the parable cannot be according to the tenure of this objection, for then it should be contrary to the former parable, of the lost sheep.

Indeed, the prodigal says, he will repent, before he goes to his father: "I will return to my father, and I will say, I have sinned against heaven, and against thee, and I am not worthy to be called thy son," Luke xv. 18, 19; but he never says so till he came to his father; after his father had fallen upon his neck, and forgiven him, and shewed mercy to him, then he said so, and not before. "And (says the text) when his father saw him afar off:" notwithstanding he was resolved to go home, yet he was far off from mercy: his father saw him afar off, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, preventing of him by his grace; this makes it more prevalent.

But yet, you will say, How can this be? can God love sinners; can God set his love upon poor sinners, that are so?

What says the apostle, in Rom. iv. 5, "He justifies the ungodly," not in their sins, but from their sins, through Christ. It is not in God's love, as in our love: you love because the thing loved is lovely, but God's love does make lovely; your love finds lovely, and God's love makes lovely; you love a person because of some beauty, but God's love does make beautiful; you love a person because of some good you do find before you love, but God's love brings the goodness with it, God's love makes the person good that he does love. His love is the original and root of all our obedience and sanctification. Though the root lies under ground, all the branches are beholden to it, and the fruit have their sap and life from it; so though God's reconciling love lies under ground, and ye see it not, yet it is the root of all your obedience, of all your sanctification. Ye may observe, therefore, that in the Epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians, to the Hebrews, when the apostle would stir up the Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, to holiness of life, that he lays his exhortation upon the doctrines of free grace, love, justification by faith alone, and the fulness of Christ's satisfaction for poor unworthy sin

ners. In the book of the Romans he begins to state the doctrine of free justification of sinners and remission by Christ alone. In the book of the Galatians he begins with free remission of sins and justification by faith alone. So in the book of the Hebrews. But the end and conclusion of all these epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, is, obedience, repentance, and holiness of life; as if this were the great root that all our obedience did grow upon, even free remission of sins and justification by faith alone. tification do go before our sanctification, then there must be an approaching of the kingdom of heaven to us before we do come to it.

And if jusof necessity

Give me leave to give you two or three reasons of it, and so I will come to the application.

God doth so order things in the dispensations of his grace and administrations thereof, as that he may be known to be God, Jehovah, that all flesh may see his glory. What is the glory of God? His free grace is his glory. And therefore ye shall observe, that when Moses begs to see God's glory, "Lord (says he), shew me thy glory," Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19; the Lord made him this answer: Moses, wouldest thou see my glory; what, otherwise than thou hast seen it in the mount? Moses, here is my glory, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." The Lord read him a lecture of his free grace. Moses, here is my glory, my free grace is my glory. And how can God's free grace be more seen and manifest than in such a way; causing the kingdom of heaven, of grace and free remission to draw near to us, even before we do stir towards it?

God does so order things in the dispensations of his grace, as that men may be made the most gracious. The sight of God's grace will make a man gracious: the more ye see the grace of God in Christ, the more gracious ye will be. And pray mark that instance which ye have in Luke vii., the same that I named before, consider it well, at verse 37, "Behold, a woman in the city which was a sinner," it seems she was a very wicked woman, a sinner, "when she knew that Jesus Christ sat at meat in the pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed