A77983:380
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew
Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easy way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepney and Cripple-Gate, London.Four books on the eleventh of Matthew: viz: I. Christ inviting sinners to come to him for rest. II. Christ the great teacher of souls that come to him. To which is added a treatise of meekness and of anger. III. Christ the humble teacher of those that come to him. IIII. The only easie way to heaven. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel at Stepny and Cripple-Gate, London.
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1659
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. May be it is not the yoke of Christ, but merely the yoke of the Law, as thus, though it may be the same thing that Christ would have you do, yet you may have it laid upon you in a legal way, to do it merely out of fear of the wrath of God, and damnation, and so it may be as a scourge to force you to it, and so to look upon every duty as if your eternal estate depended upon it, as if you were to be cast or saved by the mere performance of your duty, this is rather the yoke of the Law then the yoke of Jesus Christ, to be put and hurried upon duty, as if your eternal estate did depend upon your duty, and you were to be cast in your eternal estate by that rather then any thing, here is the yoke of Moses, not the yoke of Christ, Christ puts you upon duty for the honour of God, yet so, as the hazard of your eternal estate is over, and thou art not to be cast upon the performance of the duty this way or that way, that if thou failest thou wert to be cast for ever to everlasting destruction upon thy failing, he doth not bring you before God as before a severe and revenging judg, but puts you upon service, as a Child is put upon doing service by a Father, now ⟨p. 683⟩it is a great deal easier for a child to do service to a father, then for a slave to do service to one that hath him in bondage, that will be continually lashing him, and beating him black and blue; so indeed the yoke of the Law (which we are to speak of afterwards when we come to speak of the easiness of Christs yoke) that is grievous, and many Christians they do their duties merely in a legal way, and so it is rather Moses yoke, then the yoke of Jesus Christ, and so it comes to be hard; whereas when thou comest to understand what the yoke of Christ is, and what the duties are that are required by Jesus Christ, and so to take them from him by a covenant of Grace, for so they are required, there is no duty in the Moral Law, but is required of you in the Gospel, and in a stronger bond then ever it was required upon the first Covenant, but in another way, coming unto it in another way in Christ▪ and through the hand of the mediator Jesus Christ, so it comes to be a great deal more easy, and when duties are taken up in an evangelical way▪ then they are easy▪ but so long as you take them up in a legal way, then they come to be very grievous, that is the Sixth Answer.