Peradventure the thief can do his king service, if his life he spared; but if his life be spared upon service doing, it is not a gift, but a bargain, as much as to make contract, thus, do such a piece of service, then life is yours. I say it derogates from the nature of a gift, that there should be a condition required; and the gospel, that is, Christ given over to men, cannot be said to be freely given over to them, if man must buy him: mistake me not, I speak not all this while against holiness and righteousness, that becomes a people to whom Christ is a way; for holy and righteous they shall be; Christ will make them holy, and put his spirit into them, to change their hearts and to work upon their spirits; but this is not the condition required to partake of Christ; Christ himself gives himself, and then he bestows these things when he is given.
I say, Christ is given to men first, before they do any thing in the world; and all they do, they do by Christ present in them; "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God." We do not so much live, but by the life of Christ, which is life in us. All the actions of life proceed from the soul, now present; how then comes the actions of the soul to be a condition to partake of the soul, that gives life, and, by its presence, works such actions? Christ is the soul of every believer, that animates, and acts the believer in all things whatsoever; must not this life, Christ, be put into a believer, before he can actuate life, which is a stream springs from that life? how then can this be a condition to receive, to have Christ, when Christ is first come, by whom these things; that are called conditions, are afterwards wrought, he himself being present to work them?
So, say I, God bestows Christ upon men to be a way to bring them to the Father; he is an absolute and free gift: there is no other motive that Christ should be any one's saviour, than merely the good pleasure of the Father, the bowels of God himself; "Not for thy sake, but for my own sake; not for thy sake, thou art a rebellious and stubborn people, but for my own sake." Here is the freeness of Christ, to a person coming to him, when be comes merely for God's sake; and God merely upon his good pleasure will do it, because he will; "He hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth: it is not in him that willeth, (saith Paul, Rom. ix.) nor in him that runneth, but in God that sheweth mercy."
So that Christ becomes a way unto them, not out of their will, not out of their disposition, not out of their holy walkings, but out of that mercy that proceeds out of the mere will of God; his own good pleasure is the only fountain and spring of it. Beloved, I beseech you, seriously ponder and consider, that the gospel is therefore called the gospel, because it is glad tidings unto men; and so the angel interpreted it, "Behold, I bring glad tidings." Why glad. tidings? In this respect glad, the poor sinner, he is a broken creature; nay more, he is a dead creature, "Ye, who were dead in trespasses and sins." That life now is reached out unto such a person, that is a dead person; herein it is plain, that there comes forth that grace from the Lord, that a creature being dead, who can act nothing towards life, yet he shall receive life.
"The time is coming that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it, shall live," John v. 25. How come they by life! is there any action of theirs towards life? They are dead; it is the voice of the Son of God puts life into their dead souls; and it is glad tidings, that though the creature can do nothing, (John xv. 5. Isaiah xxvi. 12) yet Christ brings enough with him from the fountain of the Father, to bestow upon them, to bring them to him. To show you a plain scripture, that Christ becomes a way to the Father, merely as a free gift, without any thing in man required, look into Isaiah Iv. 1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth," that is, every one that hath a mind, "come to the waters, he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come and buy wine and milk without money, and without price," saith the prophet; and then he falls upon an objurgation in the next verse; "Wherefore spend ye money for that which is not bread, and labour for that which satisfies not? Eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness: incline your ear, hearken, and your soul shall live; I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David?
Here is the closure of all; dost thou thirst, that is, hast thou a mind really to Christ, that Christ should say really to thy soul, I ant thy salvation? It may be thou dost suspect, saying within thyself, Christ is not my portion; I am not fit for Christ; I am a great sinner, I must be holy first: this is bringing a price to Christ; but you must come without money, and without price: and what is this to come without money, and without price? It is nothing but to take the offer (Rev. iii.18. John vii. 37) of Christ, these waters of life, to take them merely and simply as a gift brought, and this is a sure mercy indeed: these are the sure mercies of David, when a man receives the things of Christ, only because Christ gives them; not in regard to any action of ours, as the ground of taking them; I mean, in regard of any action of ours, that we must bring along with us, that must concur that we may partake of this gift. Hosea xiv.
4. Christ speaks there thus to his people, "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them freely;" that is, I will love them for mine own sake. Rom..iii. 23, 94, the apostle speaks excellently concerning this free grace of God bestowed in Christ upon them; "For all have sinned and come short of tho glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." Mark, brethren, first he takes off all creatures, and.all flint a creature can do, "all have sinned and crone short or the glory of God;" then he shows bow we should partake of justification, namely, freely through Christ. Rom. v. The apostle speaks at large concerning the participation of Christ, to be our Christ of mere free gift, where he makes a large comparison of our participation of sin from Adam, and of our participatiou or life from Christ; and still in every passage, speaking of participating of life from and by Christ, he comes in with these expressions of gift, and that it comes freely. Rom. v. 15, "But not as by the transgression of one, so is the free gift; for if through the transgression of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Christ, hath abounded tmto many."
There is grace, and the gift by grace; so running in this expression in the 17th verse, he saith, "For if by the offence of one, death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." Still, I say, observe it, that we partake of life in Christ, and by Christ; and it runs altogether upon this strain, that it comes by mere gift.
