much torment and sorrow give her. For she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, I am no widow; and I shall see no sorrow, therefore shall her plagues come, chap. xviii. 7, 8. Now, beloved, consider. this, think of this, and keep yourselves from Babylon, that ye do not partake of her sins, lest ye receive of her plagues. O poor sinners! if you have any love to your souls, if you have any mind to be saved, follow the Lamb, that you may be saved by the Lamb. He leads poor souls from darkness to light. From vice to virtue. From Satan to God. From an earthly kingdom to an heavenly kingdom. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, Matt. xxv. 24. O! the kingdom which Christ leads poor souls to is, 1. A rich kingdom. 2. A peaceable kingdom. O! follow the Lamb, follow the Lamb, that you may be ever glorified with the Lamb, and by the Lamb. CALL TO SINNERS; OR, CHRIST'S VOICE TO LONDON. Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me; Rev. iii. 20. The holy scriptures are the mysteries of God, Christ is the mystery of the scriptures, grace is the mystery of Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 16. The Lord Jesus is our life, and the way to life, 1 Cor. ii. 7.To know him savingly, believingly, and experimentally, is life eternal, John xvii. 3. I am the way, saith Christ, John xiv. 6. The old and good way, Jer. vi. 16. The new and living way, Heb. x. 20. The strait and narrow way, Mat. vii. 14. And because poor sinners are by nature the children of wrath, and all gone out of the way. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts, Eph. iv. 18. And become wretched and miserable, poor and blind, and naked, like to the Laodiceans, spoken of in this chap. ver. 17. Therefore the Lord Jesus, who is full of love, full of grace, and full of pity to poor lost sinners, doth graciously invite them to come to him, that he may enrich them with gold, and clothe them with white raiment, and anoint their eyes with eye-salve, that they may see, ver. 18. And further, to show his willingness and readiness to save souls, he tells us in the text, That he stands at the door and knocks, that if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 1. God's gracious offer to man, Behold I stand at the door and knock. 2. Man's duty in relation to God's gracious offer, If any man hear my voice, and open the door. 3. God's gracious promise in relation to man's duty, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me. These words being thus opened, there flows from them four points of doctrine. Doct. I. There is a marvellous willingness in the heart of God and Christ, to save and receive poor lost sinners. Doct. II. That the heart of poor sinners are barred and bolted against the Lord Jesus. Doct. III. That it is the duty and great concernment of all men whatsoever to hear God's voice and to open the door. Doct. IV. That whosoever will but hear Christ's voice, and open the door, he will come in to them, and sup with them, and they with him. Neither time nor strength, beloved, will give me leave to handle all these doctrines apart, therefore I P shall insist but upon one of them, which is the sec ond; That the hearts of poor sinners are barred and bolted against the Lord Jesus. In the prosecution of this point, I shall do two things. 1. Open it, that you may see it. 2. Prove it, that you may believe it. First, In the opening, there are three things to be explained. 1. The bars. 2. The voice. 3. The doors 1. I shall show you what the bars are that bolt the doors of sinners hearts against Christ, Beloved, they are six. 1. The bar of ignorance. 2. The bar of unbelief. 3. The bar of self-conceitedness. 4. The bar of earthly-mindedness. 5. The bar of prejudice. 6. The bar of hardness of heart. These, my beloved, are the cursed bars which bar God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit out of the heart. I shall begin first with the bar of ignorance, and in that I shall show you these three things. 1. What ignorance is. 2. What sinners are ignorant of. 3. The mischeivousness of this sin of ignorance. First, What ignorance is. Ignorance is the want of knowledge, or darkness of the understanding; for, said the apostle Paul, Eph. iv. 18. Hav. ing the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Here you may see what ignorance is; the Apostle calls it darkness and blindness, so likewise in 2d Cor. xiii. 3, 4. But is our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which be lieve not; least the light of the glorious gos¡ el of Chrtst, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. So that ignorance is darkness of mind, blindness of heart, and want of knowledge and spiritual understanding in the soul. Secondly, What are sinners ignorant of? Answ. 1. They are ignorant of God, they are ignorant of Christ, they are ignorant of the Word, they are ignorant of their own misery, they are ignorant of the necessity of a change, of being born again, of being new creatures, of being converted, and turned from darkness to light, from death to life, and from the power of Satan to the living God; such things as these, I say, they are ignorant of; and this is that which keeps poor souls from going to Christ. O beloved, we have many of those amongst us who are ignorant. It was said of the -priests, the sons of Eli, that they were sons of Be. lial, and knew not the Lord, 1 Sam. ii. 12. So in the prophecies of Jeremiah, chap. ii. 8. It is said, the priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law know me not. So the Pharisees were blind leaders of the blind, Mat. xv. 14. Would to God there were no such among our |