HUGH
BINNING
Sermon VI
Matth. xi. 28. - " Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied,"
&c.
IT is the great misery of Christians in this life, that
they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive
the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold
misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and
life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the
conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way to judge of
a picture by a lineament, or of an harmony by a discrepant, nor of the world by
some small parcel of it; but take all the parts together, all the notes and
draughts, as conjoined by art in such an order, and there appears nothing but
beauty and consent.
Even so it falls out in our conceptions of the gospel.
The straitness and narrowness of our spirits takes in truth by parcels,
disjointed from the whole, looks upon one side of it, and sees not the other.
As for example, sometimes there appears unto us our duty and strait obligation
to holy walking, and his being seen and considered alone, ordinarily fills the
soul with some fears, jealousies, and confusions. Another time, there rises out
from under the cloud, the mercy and peace of Christ in inviting, accepting, and
pardoning sinners, by his blood, that cleanses from all sin; and in that view
(such is our weakness and shortness of sight) there is nothing else presented
but pardoning grace; and hence here is occasion given to the corruption of our
hearts, to insinuate secretly and subilely unto us some inclinations to more
liberty, and indulgence to the flesh. Thus you see what stumbling in practice,
and disorder in walking, this partial way of receiving the truth occasioneth.
But it hath no less influence upon the many controveries and differences in
doctrine and opinion, about grace and works. For from thence arise these
mistakes on both hands, but from the straitness of our apprehensions, that we
do not take the truth of God in its full latitude, but being eager upon one
part and zealous of it, we almost lose the remembrance, and sometimes fall, in
wrangling with the other? Many that proclaim the free grace of the gospel,
their fault is, not that they make it freer than it is, for truly it is as free
as any Antinomian can apprehend it, but rather because they take it not in its
entire and full complexion, which best declares the freedom of it, as
comprehending both the pardon of sin and purity from sin, grace towards us and
grace within us; and so, while they only plead for the one, they seem at least
to oppugn the other. And, in like manner, others apprehending the necessity,
beauty, and comeliness of holiness and new obedience, are much in pressing and
declaring this in opposition to the other way; in which there may be some
mistake, not in making it more meritorious than it is, but at least in such a
manner it may be holden out, as may somewhat obscure the freedom of Gods
grace. The occasion of both these misapprehensions may be from the scattering
of these diverse parcels of truth, as so many pearls in the field of the
scripture; one is found here, and one takes it up, as if there were no more;
here is repentance, and away he goes with that, without conjoining these
scattered pieces into one body. But yet our Saviour sometimes gives us complete
sums and models of the gospel, in which he presents all at one view at once,
and especially in these words now read. The sum of all the gospel is contained
in two words, Come unto me, and take my yoke upon you.
All the duty of a Christian and all his encouragement is here. His duty is to
believe in Christ, and to give himself up to his obedience, and become his
disciple, and to follow his example and his encouragement is the rest promised,
rest to his soul, - which is the only proper seat of rest or disquiet. It is
most capable and sensible of both, - and this rest includes in its bosom, not
only peace and tranquillity of mind here, which all the creatures combined
cannot give, but all felicity besides; that eternal rest from all the labours
of this life, and complacency in the fruition of God for ever. You see, then,
what is the full invitation of the gospel. It is nothing else but come, and
have rest. Take on an easy yoke, and ye shall find rest. Come and be
happy. Come and receive life. That which you seek elsewhere, both ignorantly
and vainly, here it is only to be found. Come (says Christ), and I promise to
give it unto you. Wait upon me by obedience, and you shall at length find by
experience, that rest which I am willing to give you."
I desire you may
consider both the order and the connexion of these integral parts of the gospel
The order of the gospel is a great part of the gospel. In some things method is
arbitrary, and it matters not which go before, or which follow after, but here
they become essential, and so a great part of the matter itself. There must be
first coming to Christ, and then taking on his yoke; first believing, then
obeying his commandments. This is as essential an order, as is between the
fruit and the root, the stream and the fountain, the sun-beam and the sun. Will
any man expect fruit till he plant? There must then first be the implanting of
the soul into Christ by faith, and then in due season follow the fruits of
obedience by abiding in him. The perverting of this order makes much disorder
in the spirits and lives of Christians. But how can it choose but all must
wither and decay, if the soul be not planted by this river, whose streams
gladden the city of our God, if the roots of it be not watered with the
frequent apprehension and consideration of the grace of Christ, or the riches
of Gods mercy? The way and method of many Christians is just opposite to
this. For you labour and weary yourselves9 how to attain some measure and
satisfaction in the latter, before you adventure the first, to have the heart
humbled by godly sorrow, and the soul inflamed by love to God, and the yoke of
his obedience submitted unto; while in the mean time you deliberately suspend
the exercise of faith, and apprehension of the pardoning grace of Christ. Now,
how this can consist either with sound reason or religion, I do not see. For
were it not a point of madness to seek fruits from a tree that is lying above
ground, and to refuse to plant it till it give some experience of its
fruitfulness in the air? And what can be more absurd, than to imagine to have
the Spirit of Christ working in the heart godly sorrow, or Christian love, and
so renewing it again to his image, and yet withal Christ not received into the
heart by faith? Do you not know that this is his first entrance into the soul?
He enters there by the door of faith, and a soul enters into him at the door of
the promise by faith. How then do ye imagine he shall work in you, before you
will admit him to come in to you? Besides, either you apprehend that you may
attain to such gracious qualifications by your own industry without Christ,
which is blasphemous to his name and office; for if you may, what need have you
of him? Or, if you believe that he is the only treasure of all grace and
wisdom, and that all things are delivered to him of the Father, then how do you
seek these things without him? It must be wretched folly to seek them
elsewhere, and not come to him. And indeed it is observable, that this
exhortation to cotne unto Christ is subjoined unto ver. 27, All things
are delivered unto me by the Father. And therefore, seeing all grace, and
life, and happiness is enclosed in me, seeing without me there is nothing but a
barren wilderness, in which you may toil and labour, and weary yourselves in
fruitless pursuits, come hither where it is originally and plentifully seated,
and you cannot miss your end, nor lose your labour. And for the farther
illustration of this subject, I shall only add that,
Secondly, There
is another woful mistake possesses .your minds who take up this way; for
certainly ypu must think that there is.some worth or dignity in it, whereby you
intend to recommend yourselves unto Christ. For to what purpose is that anxious
and scrupulous exaction of such previous qualifications, if it be not to give
some more boldness and confidence to thy mind, to adventure to believe the
promises and come to Christ, because thou thinkest thou canst not come when
thou art so unclean and so unworthy? And therefore thou apprehendest that thou
canst so purge thyself from sin, and adorn thyself with graces, as may procure
some liking, and procure some favour at Christs hand, which is indeed
very opposite to the tenor of the proposal of free grace in the gospel in which
there is nothing upon the creatures part required as a condition or
qualification to make them the more welcome in coming to Christ. Let this word
then abide with you, Come unto me, and take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, which in substance is this, Come and cast your burdens on me
first,, and then take my burden upon you. 0 it is a blessed exchange! Cast your
heavy burden upon my back, and take my light burden on yours. For what is it to
invite them that labour and are ladened to come, but to come and repose
themselves for rest upon him? And that is directly to lay over that which
burdens and ladeneth them upon him. There is an unsupportable burden of sin,
the guilt of sin, and there is an intolerable weight of wrath; Mine
iniquities are gone over mine head, (Ps. xxxviii. 4.) and as an heavy burden
they are too heavy for me.
And when the wrath of God is joined to
this burden, the name of the Lord burning with anger, how may you conceive a
soul will be pressed under that burden, which is so heavy, that it will press
the mountains into valleys, make the sea flee out of its place, and the earth
tremble? Now here is the invitation. Is there any penitent soul that feels the
burden of the weight of sin and wrath? Let them come and disburden their souls
of care, fear, and anxiety in this blessed port of rest and refuge for poor
sinners. Is there a yoke of transgressions wreathed about thy neck, and bound
by the hand of God, (Lam. i. 14.) a yoke that neither men nor angels are able
to bear? Then, I beseech you, come hither, and put over your yoke upon Jesus
Christ. Tie it about him, for God hath laid upon him the inquiues of us all,
and he bore our sins. He did bear the yoke of divine displeasure, and it was
bound about his neck with Gods own hand, with his own consent. Now, here
is the actual liberty and the releasement of a soul from under the yoke, here
is its actual rest and quiet from under the pain of this burden, when a soul is
made consent unto, and willingly to put over that burden upon Christ. And this
freedom and vacancy from the unsupportable yoke of guilt, will certainly
dispose the soul, and make it more capable of receiving the easy and portable
yoke of his cornmndments. For you may easily perceive how easy love maketh all
things, even difficulties themselves. Let once a soul be engaged that way to
Christ, (and there no possibility of engaging it in affection without some
taste and feeling, or believing apprehension of his love and sufficiency for
us,) and you will see that the rough way will be made plain, and the crooked
way straight, heavy things light, and hard things easy. For what command can be
grievous to that soul who aprehends that Christ hath taken the great weight of
wrath off it, and carried away in intolerable pain of its guiltiness, which
would have pressed and depressed it eternally, without any, hope of relaxation
or ease? Hath he borne a yoke bound on by the majesty of God, and fastened with
the cords of his displeasure! And can it be so heavy to a believing soul to
take up that obedience which is fastened with the cords of love? And besides,
how much will faith facilitate this, and make this yoke to be cheerfully and
willingly submitted to, because it delivers the soul from those unsufferable
cares and fears, which did quite enervate its strength, and take away its
courage? For, I pray you, what is there in a soul under the fear of wrath, that
is not totally disabled by that heavy pressure for any willing or cheerful
obedience? The mystery of the spirit is spent that way, the courage of the soul
is defeated, the heart is weakened, and nothing is suitable to the yoke of
Christian love and obedience. But when once a soul apprehends Christ, this is a
reposition of all his cares and burdens, and comes to exonerate his soul in
him, and cast his burthen upon him. Then the soul is lightened as it were for
this journey, then he may walk in the ways of obedience, without the pressing
fear and pushing anguish of the dread of condemnation of tho law. To conclude
this head, nothing will make you take up this yoke willingly, or bear it
constantly, except you be delivered from the other yoke that was so heavy even
to Christ, and that made him cry, My soul is exceeding heavy and
troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.
Now,
these, who are here in the text invited to come unto Christ, - you see them
described to be labouring and heavy laden persons. Come unto me, all ye
that labour, &c. At least it seems to hold forth a previous
qualification and condition of believing, without which we may not venture to
come unto Christ. Indeed it is commonly so taken, and mistaken. Many conceive
that the clause is restrictive and exclusive, that is to say, that this
description of burdened and wearied sinners is a limitation of the command of
believing, and that it circumscribes the warrant of coming to Christ, as if
none might lawfully come unto him but these that are thus burdened: and thus it
is supposed to be a bar, set upon the door of believing at which sinners must
enter in to Christ, to hold out, and shut out all those who are not thus
qualified for access, which I truly conceive is contrary to the whole strain
and current of the dispensation of the gospel. Therefore I take it to be rather
declarative, or ampliative, or both. I say, it is partly for declaration, not
of the warrant to come, but of the persons who ordinarily do come to Christ. It
declares not simply and universally who should come, but those who actually do
come unto Christ. Take it thus then. All persons who hear the gospel are
invited to come unto our Saviour without exception, the blind, the lame, those
on the highways, not only the thirsty and the hungry, (Isa. lv. 1.) but those
who have no thirst or hunger for righteousness, but only for things that do not
profit (ver. 2.); not only the broken-hearted, that desire to come near to
righteousness, but even the stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. Such
are commanded to hearken, and incline their ear, Isa. xlvi. 12; lv. 2, 3.
Now, this command that reaches all, gives an immediate actual warrant and
right to all to come, if they will. For what is required previous to give
warrant to obedience, but the command of obedience? And therefore the Jews were
challenged, because they would not come to Christ that they might have life.
Now then there is no bar of seclusion set upon the door of the gospel, to keep
out any soul from entering in. There is no qualification or condition
prescribed by the gospel; and without which if he come, he is actually welcomed
and received by Christ, whatsoever you suppose he wants. It is true, mens
own security and unbelief will exclude them from Christ, but that is no
retraction on the gospels part. It is a bar set on a mans own
heart, that shuts him up from coming to the patent entry of the gospel.
Therefore I take it thus, that though all ought to come to Christ, and none
that are indeed willing are debarred for the want of any supposed condition,
yet none will actually and really come, till they be in some measure sensible
of the weight of their sins, and the wrath of God, till they are labouring
under the feeling of their misery and desperate condition. And whatsoever be
the measure of this; if it give so much uneasiness to a man that he can be
content with rest and ease in Christ, he may, and certainly ought, to come unto
Jesus, and cast all his burdens upon him. I think then, that way that is in so
frequent use among Christians, to sit down, and essay to bring our hearts to
some deep humiliation, and so to prescribe and order it, as we will
deliberately delay, and suspend the thoughts of believing, till we have
attained something of this, - I say, this way crosses the very intention of
Christ in uttering these words, and such like. For certainly he meant to take
away impediments, and not to cast delays in our way. And therefore I said the
word was rather for ampliation, that is, rather to encourage these who
accounted themselves excluded, than to exclude any who desire to come.
Come unto me, every one, but especially you that labour, ye should make
the greatest haste. Come unto me even though ye apprehend the wrath of God to
be intolerable, and have foolishly wearied yourselves in seeking rest by other
ways. Ye that are most apprehensive of your sins, and so are apt to doubt of
any acceptation, - you that think yourselves worse than any, and so to have
least warrant to come to me, - yet come, and I will by no means cast you out,
but give rest to your souls." So that it is not intended to exclude those who
are most ready to think themselves excluded, because they see so much sin in
themselves.
Therefore, my beloved, without further disputing about it, let
me exhort you in the name of Jesus Christ, who here invites and commands you,
that you would at once put a period to this, and bring it to some conclusion.
Since you are diseased and disquieted in yourselves, and cannot find rest in
your own bosoms, I beseech you come here, where it is most likely to be found,
and it is most certain, if you come you shall find it. Do not continue
wrangling and contesting about the matter; for what is that but to increase
your labour, and vexation, and add to your heavy burden? It will be so far from
giving you any ease in the result of it, that it will rather make your wounds
more incurable, and your burdens more intolerable, which is both opposite to
the intention of the gospel and the nature of believing. Here then is your
rest, here is your refreshing rest. Here it is in quiet yielding to his
gracious offers, and silent submitting to the gospel, not in bawling or
contending with it, which is truly a contending against ourselves Isa. xxviii.
12, This is the rest, wherewith you may cause the weary to rest. It is
nowhere else, not in heaven or earth; for there is no back that will take on
this burden or can carry it away from us. There is no disburdening of a sinner
of guilt and wrath, in any other port or haven, but in Christ, who is the city
of refuge. Wheresoever you think to exoner yourselves besides this, you will
find no refreshing, but a multiplication of burdens and cares. Your burden
shall be rolled over upon you again with double weight. Therefore, my beloved,
if you will not hear this, consider what follows, viz, you shall refuse this
rest and refreshing and restlessly seek another rest. You may go and be doing,
but you shall fall backward, and be broken and snared. Your burden shall fall
back upon you, and you shall fall and be broken under it. That which the Lord
said to Israel when they would flee to Egypt, is most true in this case:
In returning, and in rest ye shall be saved; in quietness and confidence
shall be your strength: but alas! they would not, that is a sad close.
Amen