rebellious? Then Chrift will conquer them by his grace, discover his love to them through all their rebellion, ingratitude and unbelief, and fhall fhame them out of it. Have they a heart of ftone againft God? Well, "the Lord will take this away, and give them a heart of flesh," Ezek. xi. 19. Yea, he

will put his their hearts

law in their minds, and write it in and he will be their God, and they fhall be his people," Heb. viii. 10. If the Lord JEHOVAH fays, I will, and they fhall; it matters not what men or devils fay to contradict it. Chrift will have the laft word; our corruptions cannot be ftronger than Chrift. He can make the most stubborn and obftinate finner comply with his method of falvation; yea, make him in love with it. It is the Lord Jefus Chrift that must make us willing to come, before we can come to him; and all fuch who are thus made willing are heartily welcome : "Whofoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely." Which brings me,

Thirdly, To take notice of the invitation itself. "The Spirit fays, Come." Coming and believing in fcripture are fynonymous terms, one and the fame thing, as appears, John vi. 35, &c. "Jefus faid unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me fhall never hunger; and he that believeth on me fhall never thirst. But I faid unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me, fhall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wife caft out." Nor can any thus come, or believe in the Lord Jefus Chrift; but fuch who are drawn by the Father. "No man can come to me, except the Father who fent me draw him," ver. 44. Minifters may fpend their ftrength, but in vain, unless God by his Spirit will apply

apply the word to the confciences of those who hear it. "In vain does Paul plant or Apollós water, if God does not give the increafe," 1 Cor. iii. 6. They may preach to the auditory; but cannot give them ears to hear the word: "He that hath an ear let him hear, what the Spirit faith to the churches," Rev. ii. 29. which fuppofes fome have no fpiritual ears to hear, and only fuch who have this ear can hear.

Now when the Spirit fays, Come: He draws them to himself. He does not propofe eternal life to them in cafe they are difpofed to accept of it, and fo leave it to their option. No, the Lord well knew that by nature we never fhould be difpofed to comply with any fuch propofition, it being fo averfe to our nature, to renounce all hopes and expectation of life and falvation by any thing in ourselves, and to be willing to be faved entirely by the blood and righte oufnefs of the Lord Jefus Chrift. Proud man will ever disdain all thefe propofals; therefore the Spirit which here invites the thirfty foul, the foul that is made willing by grace to come to Chrift; that fame Spirit muft powerfully work and operate upon the hearts and confciences of thofe invited, as that they fhall be conftrained to throw down their weapons of hoftility against Chrift, and become his hearty and willing fubjects.

Saying and doing are two things with us, but they are but one with the Almighty. If the Spirit fays, Come; it is done. "And God faid, Let there be light, and there was light," Gen. i. 3. That is, he Ipake light fo the Spirit fay's, Come; and they are impowered to come, it is an effectual word. "He gives them power to believe; power to become the fons of God," John i. 12. May he fo work at this time, while I am fpeaking to your outward ears; may he work powerfully upon the hearts of all thofe

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who fhall or may at this time be made to believe in the Lord Jefus Chrift for life and falvation; may he call you as he did Lazarus, out of the grave of fin and corruption, in which you have lain all your life unto the prefent moment in a flate of nature, with a Lazarus, come forth, John xi. 43. Then you with him will come forth with your graveclothes and napkin; and may God by his Spirit loofe you and let you go: though you are tied and bound with the chains of your fins, yet if Chrift loofe you from your fetters, then you will come with the greatest delight and pleafure to this water of life; and if your fouls begin to long for this water, I fay, Come and welcome, come and welcome to it: you are as welcome to it as a covenant God can make you So the bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev. xxi. 9, "fays, Come." The church is defirous of inviting all to the Lord Jefus Chrift, as fhe believes do fee their need of him. She recommends her husband, Ifa. liv. 5. to all that are enquiring after him; fhe tells feeking fouls, "that he is the chiefeft among ten thoufand, and that he is altogether lovely,' Cant. v. 10, 16. She endeavours to difplay fome of his glorious excellencies; fhe extols him as her prophet to teach her; as her prieft to atone for her; and as her king to rule and reign in and over her. Gofpel-minifters are ever labouring night and day, tudying to fet forth the excellency of Christ "to poor weary and heavy-laden finners," Matt. xi. 28. to attract the hearts and affections of poor finners towards him. They ufe all the perfuafive arguments that become gofpel-minifters to ufe, 2 Cor. v. II. They tell the people, "Whofoever comes to Chrift, he will by no means caft out," and if they reply, they have no power of their own, as every Chriftian will be more or lefs fenfible of; they will direct

them

..

them where their ftrength is, and fhew, them that Chrift is a Saviour "to the very uttermost of all "that come unto God through him, and that he "ever lives to make interceffion for them," Heb. vii. 25. They tell them, that Chrift will fave to the very utmost of all their fin and rebellion: fhould their fin and rebellion fwell to the utmost pitch it can arife; fhould it be aggravated to the very utmost, with every circumftance which appears to make it black and difmal against them, and fhould their confcience condemn them to the utmost, yet the uttermoft of Chrift's grace exceeds the uttermoft of our fin.. Deep cries unto deep. The deep of God's grace in Chrift exceeds the deep of our fin and corruption; for "where fin abounds, grace doth much more abound," Rom. v. 20. "But fhall we continue in fin that grace may abound," God forbid, fays the apostle. "How fhall we that are dead to fin, live ર any longer therein ?" chap. vi. 1, 2. This is not a means of cherishing fin in the believer, or opening a door to licentiousness; but the contrary, there is no better way of conquering the power of inbred fin, than a difcovery of the pardoning love and mercy of Chrift to a poor finner, to the very utmost of all his fin and corruption. Thus the bride, the church of Chrift, and all true gofpel-minifters that labour in Chrift's vineyard, their language is, "Come, come, "and take of this water of life freely," If you are made willing to come to Chrift; if you thirst after Chrift and the water of life mentioned in the text; and if the Spirit of God is at work upon your fouls drawing you to himself; I fay, you have no cause to doubt of your acceptance by him. "Though

your fins may be as fcarlet, they fhall be as fnow, "though they be red like crimson, they fhall be as

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"wool,"

"wool," Ifa. i. 18. " Come, come, and take of this "water of life freely."

"So let him that heareth fay, Come," him that heareth the word fo as to understand it. Those know fo much of the word as to understand there is provifion made in the gospel for poor thirsty fouls; though they may not experience fo much of these things themselves, yet they cannot but recommend what they know to others. Those fay, Come.-Come and taste of the riches of his grace. Come and taste of pardoninglove with me; Ōhow fweet it is to my foul! I have been enabled under the word, as a poor unworthy hearer of it, to fit under a Redeemer's fhadow with great delight, and have experienced his fruit to be fweet to my tafte, Cant. ii. 3. I have here drank of this water of life, and it has been life to my foul: wherefore then fhould you ftarve in a land of plenty, where the gofpel of Chrift is fo freely preached by his miniftring fervants? Thus those who hear the word are for having others to partake of the bleffings of it with themfelves. "Him that heareth faith, come; and let him that is athirst come; and whofoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

Now this invitation is a free one; nothing freer than a gift. This water of life is freely given; let him take of it freely; it comes freely to us," without money and without price." Chrift is faid to give eternal life to his people, John x. 28. and xvii. 2. He is faid to give eternal life to as many as are given him by the Father, to no more nor to no lefs. As many as are given in covenant to Chrift, this water of life is given unto; it flows freely into their fouls, that neither men or devils can stop the current of it; let him thus take of this water of life freely: Let him take it; hinder him not by any obftacles that may be thrown in the way by fuch who know not the gofpel, fuch who preach with the hell upon their

head,