Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest

ARG. III.

Thirdly, You must know, That Christ is the great Mediator that is set between God and the Children of men: it is he that hath undertaken the great work, the greatest work that ever was in the World, to Mediate between the infinite offended God, and your sinful wretched Souls, for through your sins there was such an infinite distance made between God and you that it was impossible you should ever have gone without this Mediator. It is an argument of mighty use, if rightly understood, and throughly considered of, the vast distance that sin hath made between God and sinful creatures, that they can never come to God, but through the glorious Mediator that is come into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, that was made by God the Father the Head of the second covenant, and hath undertaken to make up all the wrongs that our sins have done unto God, to pacify the wrath of God, and to satisfy the justice of God, it is he that hath undertaken to make peace between the Father and you, and it is he that calls unto you to come to him. If there were a company of Prisoners in danger of Death, and one should come to the Prince to mediate for them, to make peace between the Prince and them, one that the prisoners should know to be the only ⟨p. 162⟩Son of the prince, the delight of his Soul, and he is sent by the Prince himself to come to make peace and undertake it for them, and he comes unto the Prison doors, and calls to the Prisoners lying in their dungeon, and says, arise, and come to me, hearken what I shall bring to you, observe my direction, and peace shall be made between the Prince and you, you shall have pardon, you shall have your lives; would not this stir them up to hearken unto him, and greedily to come unto the grate? Christ is come for this very end, this was the work that God the Father sent him into the world about, to be a Mediator between himself and poor, wretched, sinful creatures, and now he comes unto them, calls unto them and says, come to me, If you did but know what Christ was, and what his work was in coming into the world, it could not but mightily draw your hearts to come to him when he calls.