Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest

RULE IX.

Ninthly, The soul that is about coming to Christ, that doth not yet know whether it is truly got to Christ, it should often renew the act of coming, for certainly there are many that are at Christ, but do not know it. It may be some soul may say, I had thought I had got to Christ before, but I see my Corruptions prevail, and I am afraid I am not come to Christ; will not these souls think that they must not come to Christ till they have overcome their Corruptions? whereas the best way to overcome thy corruption is to come to Christ, to renew the act of thy coming to Christ, and the longer thou stayest from renewing this act of thy coming to Christ, the more strong thy corruptions grow in thee. Certainly do thou lie down as long as thou wilt in any sullen mood, and say, my Corruption is thus and thus, and I am afraid I never went to Christ, thy corruptions would grow stronger in thee, thou must not stay till thy corruptions be subdued before thou goest to Christ, but renew the act of coming to Christ again, say I will try it again, may be I did not do it aright at first, and if I miss it the second time, I will try it again and again, and the hundredth time. Do not say if I had overcome sin thus and thus, I would come to Christ, it is as much as to say, if I were first sanctified by Christ, then I would come to Christ for justification, and is this the right order? No, thou must come first to Christ, that ⟨p. 154⟩thou mayest have thy corruptions subdued. It would seem a strange thing that if a king should come to a woman and tell her he would be married to her, and she should say, no, if I were a Queen I would take him, but she must first be married to him, and that makes her to be a Queen. So here, the soul must not first say, if I were first sanctified and had overcome such and such corruptions, I would come to Christ no, but by coming to Christ & renewing thy act of coming to Christ, that sanctifies thee. That is a rule that I would leave with all young beginners, spend more time and more strength, in renewing the very act of believing, of rolling thy soul upon the grace of God in Christ, and casting thy burden upon him, then in any other work what soever, there is no other thing that thou canst spend thy time & thy strength more profitably in, then the renewing the act of coming to Christ. Come saith Christ;