Third, are you coming to Jesus Christ? Prithee, tell me, What see thou in him to allure thee to forsake all the world, and come to him?
I say, What hast thou seen in him? Men must see something in Jesus Christ; otherwise, they will not come to him. 1. What comeliness hast thou seen in his person? Thou come not if thou see no form nor comeliness in him (Isa 53:1–3). 2. Until those mentioned in the song were convinced that there was more beauty, comeliness, and desirableness in Christ, than in ten thousand, they did not so much as ask where he was, nor incline to turn aside after him (Song 5, 6).
There be many things on this side of heaven that can and do carry away the heart; and so will do, so long as thou live, if thou shalt be kept blind, and not be admitted to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus.
Fourth, art thou come to the Lord Jesus? What hast thou found in him, since thou came to him?
Peter found with him the word of eternal life (John 6:68). They that Peter makes mention of, found him a living stone, even such a living stone as communicated life to them (1 Peter 2:4,5). He saith himself, They that come to him, &c., shall find rest unto their souls; hast thou found rest in him for thy soul? (Matt 11:28).
Let us go back to the times of the Old Testament.
1. Abraham found that in him, that made him leave his country for him and become, for his sake, a pilgrim and stranger on earth (Gen 12; Heb 11).
2. Moses found THAT in him, that made him forsake a crown, and a kingdom for him too.
3. David found so much in him, that he counted that to be in his house one day was better than a thousand; yea, to be a door-keeper therein was better, in his esteem, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness (Psa 84:10).
4. What did Daniel and the three children find in him, to make them run the hazards of the fiery furnace, and the den of lions, for his sake? (Dan 3, 6).
Let us come down to martyrs.
1. Stephen found that in him that made him joyful, and quietly yield up his life for his name (Acts 7).
2. Ignatius found that it was Christ who made him choose to go through the torments of the devil, and hell itself, rather than not have him. Fox’s Acts and Monuments.
3. What saw Romanus in Christ, when he said to the raging Emperor, who threatened him with fearful torments, Thy sentence, O Emperor, I joyfully embrace, and refuse not to be sacrificed by as cruel torments as thou canst invent?
4. What saw Menas, the Egyptian, in Christ, when he said, under most cruel torments, There is nothing in my mind that can be compared to the kingdom of heaven; nor is all the world, if it were weighed in a balance, to be preferred with the price of one soul? Who can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord? And I have learned of my Lord and King not to fear them that kill the body, etc.
