alarms us: Perhaps he is not WILLING to be. "ftow on our fouls any measure of grace out of his "fulness. On this account we are afraid to come " to him."

But, fearful fouls, attend, whilft we attempt to demonstrate, that if the Lord Jesus be mighty to fave, and all-fufficient, he is also wILLING to enrich with his grace every finner that feels his need of it. To do this was the SECOND thing proposed.

That the WILLINGNESS of Jefus to fave, and to communicate of his fulness, may be clearly feen, we fhall,

1. Shew, from the word, that Chrift INVITES in the most affectionate manner the greatest finners to come to him.

2. Point out that Chrift himself has removed all the difficulties which finners can poffibly raise against coming to him.

3. Exhibit in what manner he deported himself in the days of his flesh, to make his willingness appear.

4. Shew, from the concurrent testimony of Scripture, that the GREATEST of finners have been faved by him.

A. The Lord Jefus, to evidence his willingness, INVITES the finner in the moft friendly and perfuafive manner, to hold fellowship with him. He ftands as with arms widely extended, and elevating his voice, fays, Look unto me, and be ye faved, Ifai. xlv, 22. Let him that is athirst come; and whafoever will, let him take the water of life freely, Rev. xxii. 17. If thou hadst afked of him, he would have given thee living water, John iv. 10. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it, Pf. lxxxi. 10. Can language better

exprefs his compaffion for finners in their deplorable

fituation, than he hath done by the mouth of his prophet Hofea? chap. xi. 8, Mine heart is turned within me, and my repentings are kindled together; and by Ezekiel, chap. xxxiii. 11, Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O houfe of Ifrael? The tenderness and concern which Jefus felt for finners, appears from his weeping over them, and crying, Luke xix. 42, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! Again, he declares, that he will gather finners together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, Matt. xxiii. 37. And again, Matt. xi. 28, he says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft. O friendly and endearing invitations! Will you not yet believe, that Jefus is willing to fave? Yes, methinks we hear you fay, we would readily believe it, were it not that fome difficulties have arifen, which operate as a bar to the exercife of a confidence in Chrift's willingness. But

B. The difficulties which may have prefented themselves, Chrift himself has removed by this one promise: All that the Father giveth me fhall come unto me, and him that cometh unto me I will in no wife caft out, John vi. 39. This promise reaches every cafe, and makes every obftacle to vanish. If Chrift had stated a hundred, a thousand different cafes of confcience,-fouls in diftrefs might have ftill made objections that those cases were not exactly in point. But here no objection can be raised. Him, fays Chrift, be he who he may, that cometh to me, I will not caft out. If any fhould object and fay, I am a great finner, I have too long defpifed the offers of grace, and ftrayed from God,-remember, Jefus fays, I am come to feek and to fave that which

is loft. He does not say, let it well be remarked, I am come to fave those who are found fecking me; but those who are loft and wandering in the mazes of finful ignorance; for it is my province TO SEEK, Luke xix. 10. Have you then any fight or fense of the greatness of your mifery ?-it is evident that Jefus is seeking you: for, to fhew the finner the atrocity of his fin, and his dreadful state, is ufually the first step he takes. This, Paul confirms, 1 Tim. i. 15, This is a faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Chrift Jefus came into the world to fave finners, of whom I am chief. Now, if the words of Chrift and his apoftle be true, as undoubtedly they are, then you may not hesitate to say, "Chrift is willing to fave us: for we are finners, and loft and " ruined finners too."

C. The Lord Jefus, to display that he is perfectly willing to fave, manifested in the days of his flesh, that his compaffion was boundless as deity, and that the riches of his love were immenfe toward the guilty and ruined children of men. Are we not told by an infpired prophet, that he bore our griefs and carried our forrows? Why are we told this, but that it might appear to every attentive enquirer, that if Christ were the great Phyfician with the diseases of the body, he alfo healed the maladies of the foul? Did he ever caft any from his prefence who came to him for relief, or refufe to help the fons and daughters of affliction and mifery, when they humbly fought his face. The Gentiles, in the estimation of the Jews, were confidered as dogs, men whom the God of Ifrael must neceffarily difregard, because of their ceremonial impurity, yet even these were not only permitted to eat of the crumbs which fell from his table; but largely to partake of the bleffings of his cove

nant. It is true that Matthew records, chap. xiii. 58, that Jefus did not many mighty works in Nazareth: -But to what was it to be attributed? Certainly not to a want of compaffion in Jefus for the inhabitants of his own country; but, as the evangelift exprefsly mentions, to their unbelief: for all who came to him, even there, were helped. Did he not act the part of a tender and faithful phyfician to the poffeffed of the devil, to those who were afflicted with the leprofy, to the deaf, and the blind? What better or more conclufive evidence can we have of Chrift's willingness to fave the chief of finners, and deliver them from that mifery into which fin hath brought them, upon their leaving all, and cleaving to him as the only hope of Ifrael, and Saviour of finners of the Gentiles?

D. The Lord Jefus, to difcover to the guilty fons of men, that he is as WILLING as he is ABLE to fave them, hath caufed to be recorded in his word a variety of INSTANCES of his actually having refcued from eternal destruction, finners whofe tranfgreffions were of a nature aggravated in the higheft degree. Can we form to ourfelves any idea of there ever having been a greater finner than ADAM, the parent of human kind? He not only finned under circumftances peculiarly calculated to keep him in the way of duty; but he finned, knowing at the fame time, that as the head of his pofterity, he would, by his tranfgreflion, bring mifery and wretchednefs on the generations which were to fpring from his loins. But were not grace and falvation beflowed upon Adam? He had no fooner fallen by his iniquity, than the way of life was revealed to him, and actually promised in these words of the ETERNAL: The feed of the woman fhall bruife the ferpent's head, Gen. iii. 15. Vol. II.

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Shall we present you with the character of MANASSEH? Was he not for wickedness unequalled by all the kings of Ifrael that preceded or fucceeded him? He not only finned himself, but he likewife made Ifrael to fin. His iniquities were of so heinous a nature in the fight of God, that on account of them the Lord would not be prevailed upon to have pity on Jerufalem. Hear how Jehovah expreffes himself, Jer. xv. 1, 5, 6: Though Mofes and Samuel flood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people. Caft them out of my fight, and let them go forth: for who fhall have pity on thee, O Jerufalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who fhall go afide to ask how thou docft? Thou haft forfaken me, therefore will I ftretch out my hand against thee and defroy thee: I am weary with repenting. And ftill, beloved, to this vile Manaffeh, God imparted his grace: for it is written, When he was in affliction he befought the Lord his God, and humbled himfelf greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to him: and he was entreated of him, and heard his fupplication, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13. If our attention be turned from the inftances. which the Old Teftament produces, to those which are found in the New, we will be loft in wonder at the contemplation of divine and redeeming love fet forth in the converfion of the thief on the cross. He was a thief, perhaps a murderer, and fuffered the pains of crucifixion for crimes most atrocious—And yet this mifcreant, whom the laws of his country had adjudged unfit to live, found mercy: "Jefus faid unto him, Verily, verily, I fay unto thee, to-day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife," Luke xxiii. 43. But why did Jefus fhew him favour? On the one hand, it was, that he might exhibit at this time the efficacy of his blood to fave the greatest finner; and,