For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
— Matthew 23:4
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
— Psalm 94:12-13
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
— Isaiah 45:22-25
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
— Matthew 11:29
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
— John 5:40
Come Unto Me, All Ye That Labour, by Thomas Boston. The following contains an excerpt from Chapter One or Sermon One of his work, “Christ’s Invitation to the Labouring and Heavy Laden.”
Sermon 1
Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
— MATTH. 11:28
Christ’s Invitation
The great and main object of the gospel preaching and gospel practice, is a coming to Christ. It is the first article in Christianity, according to John 5:40,”Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” It is the connecting chain, 1 Pet. 2:4,”To whom coming as unto a living stone, ye also as lively stones are built up,” &c. And it is the last exercise of the Christian; for when finishing his warfare, the invitation is, Matth. 25:34,”Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” It is virtually the all which God requireth of us: John 6:29,”This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” The words of the text are a moat solemn and ample invitation which Christ gives to sinners. In them I shall consider,
I. The connection. For which look to verses 25 and 26, compare Luke 10:21,”Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” It was a joyful time to him when he made this invitation. He rejoiced in the account of the good news, the success with which the message of the disciples was attended; and in the wise and sovereign dispensation of grace by the Father, which he here celebrates, as also upon the view of his own power; where he shows that all power was lodged in him. The keys of the Father’s treasures of grace are in his hand, yea, and whatsoever is the Father’s. He also shews, that none could know the Father, but by him, for that is given to him only. He, as it were, opens the treasure door to sinners in the text.—From the connection of this verse, as just now stated, I would observe, that the solemnity of this invitation is most observable. There seems something to be about it more than ordinary. As,
1. It was given in the day of Christ’s gladness. He was a man of sorrows, all made up of sorrows. Sorrow, sighing, weeping, groaning, were his ordinary fare. Once indeed we read of his being glad, John 11:15; and once of his rejoicing, Luke 10:21. And, again, on this occasion, here that thread of sorrow was interrupted, the sun of joy broke out for a little from under the cloud. His heart was touched, and, as it were, leaped for joy, as the word signifies; compare Matth 5:12, with Luke 6:23. In the Greek,”he was exceeding joyful.” At this extraordinary time and frame, he gives the invitation in the text. Hence infer,
1st, That Christ invites sinners with an enlarged heart. Joy enlarges it. His heart is open to you, his arms are stretched wide. You often see him with sorrow and anger in his face, and this works with you that you will not come. Behold him smiling and inviting you now to himself, sending love-looks to lost sinners, from a joyful heart within! Infer,
2dly, May I say, the Mediator’s joy is not complete, till you come and take a share? The scriptures will warrant the expression, Isa. 53:11, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” He rejoiceth, but resteth not; but invites sinners to a share, as if all could not satisfy while he goes childless, as to some he has yet an eye upon. Infer,
3dly, That nothing can make Christ forget poor sinners, or be unconcerned for them. Sorrow could not do it, joy could not do it; either of these will drive a narrow-spirited man so into himself, as to forget all others. But never was his heart so filled either with sorrow or joy, but there was always room for poor sinners there. When he was entering the ocean of wrath, he remembered them, John 17; and as our forerunner, he went into the ocean of joy, Heb. 6:20. Like Aaron, he carried our names on his heart, when he went in to appear before the Lord in heaven, Exod. 28:29.
2. The invitation was given at a time when there was a great breach made in the devil’s kingdom, compare Luke 10:17, 18. Christ was now beginning to set up a new kingdom, and he sends out seventy disciples, which was the number of the Sanhedrim at first. He was to bring the people out of the spiritual Egypt, compare Gen. 46:27. The success of the disciples was a fair pledge of the devil’s kingdom coming down, and the delivery of sinners. And when the news of it comes, his heart rejoices, and his tongue breaks out in this invitation to the devil’s captives, to come away upon this glorious signal. As he had begun to perform this part of the covenant, the Father had begun to perform his, which made his heart leap for joy, and sets him on to cry, that they would all come away, as disciples, vigorously to pursue the advantage which was got, Psalm 110:7,”He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up the head. Hence infer,
1st, That Christ’s heart is set upon the work of sinners’ salvation. Ye see no undue haste, but he would have no delays. He holds hands to the work, calling,”Come unto me.” He preferred it to the eating of his bread; and what else is the meaning of all the ordinances and providences ye meet with? Infer,
2dly, That Christ would have you to come, taking encouragement from the example of others that have come before you. There is a gap made in the devil’s prison; some have made their escape by it already, O! will not ye follow? The Lord has set examples for us, both of judgment and of mercy. In the beginnings of the Jewish church, there was an example of God’s sovereignty, in the destruction of Nadab and Abihu, Lev. 10:1, 2; and of the Christian church, in the death of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5; of mercy, in the Jewish church, Rahab the harlot, besides Abraham the father of them all, an idolater, Josh. 24:15, compare Isa. 51:2. Then in the Christian church, Paul the blasphemous persecutor, 1 Tim. 1:16. Infer,
3dly, That however full Christ’s house be, there is always room for more; he wearies not of welcoming sinners; the more that come the better. Christ’s harvest is not all cut down at once, nor his house built in a day; if the last stone were laid in the building, the scaffolding of ordinances would be taken down, and the world be at an end. But none of these has hitherto taken place; therefore yet there is room: Joel 3:21,”For I will cleanse their blood that I have not yet cleansed, for the Lord dwelleth in Zion.”
3. This invitation is given on a solemn review of that fulness, of that all which the Father hath lodged in the hand of the Mediator, and that solely. The Father, as it were, no sooner leads him into these treasures, but he says,’This and this is for you, sinners; here is a treasure of mercies and blessings for you; pardon, life, peace, &c. is all for you. Come, therefore, unto me, the Father has delivered them into my hand, I long to deliver them over to you. Come, therefore, to me, and hence I shall draw my fulness out to you.’ Christ had got a kingdom from the Father; it was as yet thinly peopled, and so he calls you to come to him, that ye may be happy in him. He has no will to enjoy these things alone, but because he has them, he would have you to take a share.—I would draw this —
DOCT. That as the fulness lodged in the Mediator hath a free vent in his heart, so it seeks to diffuse itself into the souls of needy sinners.
Jesus Christ longs to make sinners the better of that all-fulness that is lodged in him by the Father. Christ speaks here to us as the true Joseph, Gen. 45:9–11. As Joseph invited his brethren to come and dwell with him, so Jesus cordially invites us, and promises us a share of the fulness which he himself possesses.—In illustrating the above proposition, I shall only,
I. Assign some reasons.
II. Make some practical improvement.
I. I am to give some reasons of this doctrine, or shew, why Christ is so kind and liberal to sinners.—He is so,
1. Because the Father hath given him for that end: Isa. 55:4,”Behold, I have given him for a Witness unto the people, a Leader and Commander unto the people. The Father had thoughts of love to man; his love designed to distribute a treasure of mercy, pardon, and grace, to lost sinners; but justice would not allow his giving them immediately out of his own hand; therefore he gives them to the Mediator to distribute. An absolute God being a consuming fire, guilty creatures, as stubble, could not endure his heat, but they would have been burnt up by it; therefore he sets his own Son, in man’s nature, as a crystal-wall betwixt him and them; he gives him the Spirit without measure, not only a fulness of sufficiency, but abundance of blessings, is laid up in him; for it hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell.—He is so,
2. Because he received a fulness of treasure for that very end: John 17:19,”For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” The first Adam got mankind’s stock; he soon lost all. Christ takes the elect’s stock in his hand for their security, and so he is given for a covenant of the people; he takes the burden upon him for them, and takes the administration of the second covenant, that it might, with them, be a better covenant than the first.—He is so,
3. Because he bought these treasures at the price of his blood for their behoof: Phil. 2:8, 9,”He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name.” The Son of God, who is Lord of all, needed no exaltation in the court of heaven, being equal with his Father; but his design was, to exalt man’s nature, to make these that were the children of the devil—friends to heaven, and prepare for them room there: “I go said he to prepare a place for you,” John 14:2. No wonder, then, that he should long to see the purchase of his blood, the fruit of the travail of his soul, come to him.—He is kind and liberal,
4. Because of his love to them. Where true love is, there is an aptness to communicate; the lover cannot see the beloved want what he has. God’s love is giving love: “He so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,” John 3:16. Christ’s love is also such; he loves indeed: “He loved us, and gave himself for us,” Gal. 2:20.—For the improvement of this doctrine, I only add an use of exhortation.
Come to Christ, then, O sinners, upon this his invitation, and sit not his blessed call.—To enforce this, I urge these motives —
1. There is a fulness in him, all power is given him; want what you will, he has a power to give it to you; the Son of man had power, even on earth, to forgive sins. Grace without you, or grace within you, he is the dispenser of all: John 1:16,”And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” He is the great Secretary of heaven, the keys hang at his girdle; he shuts, and none can open; be opens, and none can shut.—Consider,
2. You are welcome to it. He has it not to keep up, but to give out, and to whom but to needy sinners? Even the worst of you are welcome, if you will take it out of his own hand: “If any man thirst, says he, let him come to me, and drink,” John 7:37.
3. Would you do Christ a pleasure? then come to him, Isa. 53:11,”He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Would you content and ease his heart? then come. It is a great ease to full breasts to be sucked. The breasts of his consolations are full, hear how pressingly he calls you to suck! “Eat, O friends! drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!”
Lastly, Would you fall in with the designs of the Father’s and the Son’s love, in the mystery of salvation? then come to him. Why is a fountain opened, but that ye may run to it, and wash? Seal not, shut not that to yourselves, which God and Christ have opened.
II. The second thing to be considered in the words is, the persons invited. These are they that labour, and are heavy-laden. The word labour signifies not every labouring, but a labouring to weariness, and so some read it weary. Heavy laden are they that have a heavy burden on their back, which they are not able to bear.
Who are meant by these? I cannot agree with those that restrain these expressions to those that are sensible of their sins and misery, without Christ, and are longing to be rid of the same; but I think it includes all that are out of Christ, sensible or insensible; that is, these that have not had, and those that have had, a law-work upon their consciences. And to fix this interpretation, consider,
1. The words agree to all that are out of Christ, and none have any right to restrain them. None more properly labour, in the sense of the text, than those that are out of Christ, seeking their satisfaction in the creatures: Eccl. 1:8,”All things are full of labour, man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” And who have such a burden of sin, and wrath upon their back as they have? The word properly signifies a ship’s lading, which, though insensible of it, may yet sink under the weight.—Consider,
2. “The whole world lieth in wickedness,” 1 John 5:19, as men in a deep mire, still sinking. Christ came to deliver men out of that case; having taken upon him our nature, Heb. 2:16, he caught hold Greek as one doth of a drowning man, even as he did of Peter when sinking, Matth. 14:31. And what are the invitations of the gospel, but Christ putting out his hands to sinking souls, sinking with their own weight. Consider,
3. That the words, in other scriptures, are without controversy applied to the most insensible sinners. See what labour and weariness! Hab. 2:13,”Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts, that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?” In the most solemn invitation to Christ in all the Old Testament, the word “labouring” is so used: Isa. 55:2, “Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not?” Luke 11:46,”Ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne.” “Lade” is the same Greek word used in the text. Isa. 1:4,”Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity.” Were they sensible? far from it; for ver. 3,”Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” And, 2 Tim. 3:6, it is said,”Silly women, laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.”
4. Consider the parallel text: Isa. 55:1,”Ho, every one that thirsteth;” where by the thirsty is not so much understood those that are thirsting after Christ, as those that are thirsting after happiness and satisfaction, seeking to squeeze it out of the creature; for the thirsty invited are the same that are spending their labour for that which satisfieth not. But those that are thirsting after Christ are not such.
5. If the words be a restriction of the call to sensible sinners, then the most part of sinners are excluded. If they are not included, sure they are excluded; and if the words are restrictive, sure they are not included; and then, so far from being the truth of the text, that it is no gospel-truth at all; for all, without exception, that hear the gospel, are called to come to Christ; Rev. 3:20,”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 will sup with him, and he with me.” And if any “one” be not called, they have no warrant to come; and if so, unbelief is not their sin, as in the case of the Pagans, which is absurd.
Lastly, This is a most solemn invitation to come to Christ; and if I say the most solemn, there is some ground for it by what is said before. And shall that be judged restrained, that so expressly and solemnly comes from that fulness of power lodged in Christ, more than that just quoted? Rev. 3:20, where there is no shadow of restriction. Besides, this restriction may well be a snare to an exercised soul, which ordinarily, by a legal disposition in all, will not allow that they may come to Christ, because sin is not heavy enough to them. But although sinners will never come to Christ till they see their need of him, yet this I will ever preach, that all, under pain of damnation, are obliged to come to him, and that they shall be welcome on their coming, be their case what it will; that such as are willing to come ought not to stop on a defect of their sensibleness, but come to him, that they may get a true sense of sin unto repentance; for he is “exalted a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins,” Acts 5:31, He is to give, not to stand and wait, till “folly bring repentance with it.”
III. Consider in the words, to what the labouring and heavy-laden are invited. They are invited to come to Jesus; that is, to believe on him, to take him as he offers himself in the gospel.
IV. Observe the encouragement afforded to influence a compliance with this invitation. Rest is promised to them here and hereafter: “I will give you rest.”—We may afterwards open up these things more largely, in handling the following doctrinal propositions, which we draw from the words thus explained, viz.
DOCT. I. That sinners, while out of Christ, are engaged in a wearisome labour.
DOCT. II. That all who are out of Christ are under a heavy load or burden, which by all their labours they cannot shake off.
DOCT. III. Whatever sinful and vain labours sinners are engaged in, whatever be the loads which are lying on them, they are welcome to Christ; nay, he calls, invites, and commands them to come unto him.
I shall consider these in order.—I begin with
DOCT. I. That sinners, while out of Christ, are engaged in a wearisome labour. Were you condemned, till you forsook your lusts, to row in the galleys, chained to the oars, to dig in mines, never to see the light of the sun, it were not to be compared to this wearisome labour, while out of Christ. If sinners feel it not, it is because they are not at all themselves. It is a truth, though a sad one, Isa. 55:2, that they “labour for that which satisfieth not;” in the Hebrew, they “labour to weariness.” Eccl. 10:15,”The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them; because he knoweth not how to go to the city.”
In discoursing this point, we may inquire,
I. What it is that sinners out of Christ are labouring for.
II. How it is, that men out of Christ labour for happiness and satisfaction.
III. What sort of labour it is that they have in these things.
IV. Why sinners labour in these things for satisfaction, and do not come to Christ.
V. Make some practical improvement.
Let us inquire,
I. What it is that sinners out of Christ are labouring for. No man engageth in a labour, but for some end he proposeth to himself. Though the devil is oversman of these labourers, yet he does not make them go like clocks, without a design. Every one that labours proposes some profit to himself by his work, and so do these; there is always something, either really or seemingly good, that men seek in all their labours. So, in a word, it is happiness and satisfaction that they are labouring for, as well as the godly. For, consider,
1. The desire of happiness and satisfaction is natural to man; all men wish to see good. It is not the desire of good that may satisfy, that makes the difference between the godly and the wicked, but the different ways they take: Psalm 4:6, 7,”There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” In whatever case a man is on earth, in heaven or hell this is still his desire; and he must cease to be a man, ere he can cease to desire to be a happy man. When that desire, mentioned Eccl. 12:5, shall fail, this desire is still fresh and green; and it is good in itself. Our Lord supposeth this in the text, and therefore he promises to them what they are seeking, rest, if they will come to him.
2. This desire is the chief of all: all other things are desired for it. All men’s desires, however different, meet here, as all the rivers meet in the sea, though their courses may be quite contrary. Therefore this is what they labour for. The devil has some labourers at his coarse work, others at the more fine, but they all meet in their end.
3. Defects and wants are interwoven with the very nature of the creature; and the rational creature finds that it cannot be, nor is self sufficient. Hence it seeks its happiness without itself, and must do it, to satisfy these natural desires.
Lastly, Seeing, then, man’s happiness is without himself, it must be brought in, which cannot be done without labour. It is proper to God to be happy in himself; but every creature must needs go out of itself to find its happiness; so that action is the true way to it, that is, rest cannot be found but in the way of action and labour, and because they are not in the right way, it is wearisome labour.
Let us inquire,
II. How it is that men out of Christ labour for happiness and satisfaction. Here it is impossible for us to reckon up particulars, and that in regard,
1. Of the different dispositions of men, and the various, as well as contrary opinions, concerning what may make a man happy. Varro says, there were two hundred and eighty opinions touching the chief good in his time. It is true, Christianity, in the profession of it, hath fixed this point in principle; but nothing less than overcoming grace can fix it in point of practice. The whole body of Christless sinners are like the Sodomites at Lot’s door; all were for the door, but one grasps one part of the wall for it, another another part, not one of them found it. The world is, as the air in a summer-day, full of insects; and natural men, like a company of children, one running to catch one, another, another, while none of them is worth the pains. One runs to the bowels of the earth, another to the ale-house, &c.—It is impossible to determine here,
2. In regard of men’s still altering their opinions about it, as they meet with new diappointments. Like a man in a mist, seeking a house in a wilderness, when every bush, tree, &c. deceives, till, by coming near, he is undeceived. “O thinks the man, if I had such a thing, I would be well.” Then he falls to labour for it; may be he never gets it, but he ever pursues it. If he gets it, he finds it will not do, for as big as it was afar off, yet it will not fill his hand when he grips it; but it must be filled, or no rest, hence new labour to bring forth just a new disappointment: Isa. 26:18,”We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind.”—It is difficult also,
3. Because they cannot tell themselves what they would be at. Their starving souls are like the hungry infant, that gapes, weeps, crys, and sucks every thing that comes near its mouth, but cannot tell what it would have, but is still restless till the mother set it to the breast. It is regenerating grace that does that to the soul. The Hebrew word for believing, comes from a root that signifies to nurse, as if faith were nothing but a laying of the soul on the breasts of Christ, in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. The scripture holds him out as the mother that bare them; hence his people are called, Isa. 53:11, “The fruit of the travail of his soul.” He also is their nourisher: hence he says, Isa. 1:2,”I have nourished and brought up children.” The breasts of the church, Isa. 66:11, at which they are to suck and be satisfied, are no other than Christ. But, in the general, to see from whence it is that men out of Christ go about to squeeze out their happiness, see Psalm 4:6, 7, quoted above. From which observe two things.
1. That it is not God, for these two are set in opposition; go to as many doors as they will, they never go to the right door; hence it follows, that it is the creatures out of which they labour to draw their satisfaction: “Having forsaken the fountain of living waters, they hew out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
2. That it is good they are seeking out of them; and indeed men can seek nothing but under that notion, though for the most part they call evil good, and good evil. All good is either profitable, pleasurable, or honest; these, then, are all that they are seeking, not from God, but from themselves, or other creatures. The two former have respect to the cravings of men’s desires, the latter to the cravings of the law. And seeing it is not in God that they seek their happiness and satisfaction, I infer hence, that all out of Christ are labouring for their happiness and satisfaction in one or both of these ways, either from their lusts, or from the law; and this I take to be the very labour intended in the text. For which consider these three things —
1st, That all natural men have two principles in them, 1. Corruption; 2. Conscience. Both crave of them: Rom. 2:15,”Which shew the work of the law, written in their heart, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or else excusing one another.” Hence, because they do not mortify the lusts, they must be fed or no rest; and therefore they labour for their lusts to satisfy them. Then, because they fly not to Christ for the satisfaction of their conscience, they go to the law.
2dly. The bulk of natural men in the world have still been of two sorts: 1. The profane party; 2. The formal party. These have still been among Jews, Pagans, and Christians; the former labouring most in lusts, the latter in the law.
3dly, Adam left us with two yokes on our necks, 1. Of lusts; 2. Of the law. The last was of God’s putting, but he gave strength with it to bear it; Adam took away the strength, but left the yoke, and put on a yoke of lusts beside; and in opposition to both these, Christ bids us come and take on his yoke, which is easy, and his burden, which is light,” Matth. 11:29.
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