you unwilling to be delivered from Satan, from sin, and from the flames of hell? If you be willing, then make your peace with God, for God is willing to open-heaven for you, if you be willing to open your hearts to him; he is willing to save you, if you be but willing to be saved; he is willing to give a Christ, if you be willing to receive a Christ: and therefore, poor souls, let these considerations provoke you to go for life to the Lord of life, to go for peace to the Prince of Peace, to go for grace to the God of grace. Were men so diligent as to do their best, God is so indulgent, he would forgive the

worst

THE ELECT PRECIOUS.

HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY.-Cant. 5. 16.

DOCTRINE:---That Jesus Christ is infinitely and superlatively lovely.

Who can be weary of preaching, or hearing, or reading, or learning Christ? Who is so precious and lovely? Mahomet is the Turk's love; Moses is the Jew's love; the Pope is the Papists love; but Christ is a believer's love.

I shall now make some entrance upon Christ's sixth famous and lovely title, The Elect Precious; this you have in 1st Pet. ii. 6.

From this excellent title, I shall lay down two propositions.

Doct. I. That Jesus Christ the Mediator, is God the Father's elect. I pray mark, there is a threefold elect of God.

First, The elect Jesus Christ; Isa. xlii. 1. Be hold my servant, my elect, saith the Father, speaking of Christ.

Second, The elect angels; 1st Tim. v. 21. I charge thee before God, and our Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels.

Third, The elect saints; and for this see Col. iii. 1. Put on therefore (as the elect of God, holy and beloved) bowels of mercy. SENA

But alas! what are the elect angels, or the elect saints, to the elect precious, it is only the blessed Jesus that is the elect precious, and precious to the elect.

But I shall not stand upon this point, but proceed to the second.

Doct. II. And that is this, That a crucified and glorified Christ, is very precious to all believing

saints.

In handling this precious point, I shall show you five things

1. That he is precious.

2. That he is most precious.

3. He is all precious.

4. He is always precious.

5. Why he is so precious.

First, That he is precious: Jesus Christ is pre cious three ways; to God, to angels, and to saints. First, To God the Father; and this will appear by what God the Father hath said himself of the Son, Isa. xlii. 1, My elect in whom my soul de lighteth. Here you see, Christians, what God saith to Christ; the soul of God delights in the Son of God. So again, Matt. iii. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Mark here, not only pleased, but well pleased. Oh! how precious is Christ to God the Father.

The Lord Jesus, though he was a man of sorrows, yet he was not a man of sin; he had correction, but not corruption; he that was a way to others, never went out of the way himself. Jesus

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Christ needs be precious to the Father, because he never displeased him in any thing, but pleased him in everything; John viii. 27. Christ there speak ing of himself, I do always the things that pleased him, said our Lord Jesus. O! friends, it will be your glory, your crown, your honor and happiness another day, if in this day you do these things that please God; so did Christ here, I do always those things that please him, Christ went about doing good; he must needs please the Father, for he went about doing good; Acts x. 38. He did not always stay in one place, but he went about doing good.

And truly, if people were not made better by his coming, they might thank themselves, for he went about doing good. As he was never ill-employed, he was never unemployed; as he opened the scrip tures to our understanding, so he opened our understanding to the scriptures. That is the first.

Secondly; He is very precious to the angels as well as to the Father; the angels were very joyful at the birth of Christ their Lord; they sung praises to God on high, Luke ii. 13. 13. See with what joy and triumph the angels sung at the birth of Christ: Oh! how precious is Christ to the elect angels! The angels adore him, let all the angels of God worship him, Heb. i. 6. The Lord of Hosts is worshipped by an host of angels. Let all the angels of God worship him. The angels de sire to pry into the mysteries of the gospel of grace; as you may see, 1st Pet. i. 2. The angels, though they are glorious to all eternity, look upon it as not

below them, to pry into Christ's mystery. The an gels are desirous to know these things which we neglect to know.

Thirdly, The angels stand before him as waiting-men to serve God, and serve such as are God's; when he bids them go, they go, come, and they come, do this, and they do it: They do all his commands, Psalm ciii. 20. Jesus Christ is the creator of angels, the Lord of angels, the Prince of angels, the Head of angels; Col. i. 16. The Son of God is very precious to the angels of God. Do you see how precious Christ is to the angels of God! And well he may, for indeed he is a precious jewel in the cabinet of grace.

Fourthly, Jesus Christ is precious to the saints as well as to his Father and angels; 1st Peter. ii. 7. You have there a full text to this purpose, Unto you therefore, which believe, he is precious. Mark here, unto you; what you? To you therefore that believe he is precious. He is precious indeed to them that believe, and no wonder; he is a believer's all. Now that which is his all must needs be precious; Christ is his all, he is all that he hath, he is all that he enjoys: Christ is all that he is worth; he is all that they are, they are no such thing without him; they have nothing without him; whatever they are worth, it is he that makes them worth it; it is not worth a man's while to live, unless he live in Christ; Christ is the gain of a believer, living and dying so that whatever is good for a believer he