or embrace the call of Jesus Christ unto grace and glory And in answer to this I shal lay down onely four suggestions of the Devil wherewith he entangles a man that he should not yeild to the cal of Jesus Christ And as I lay them down I shal labour to take them a way As 1. The first temptation the Devil wil suggest is to you that are young men and to you he wil suggest that you are yet too young to embrace the call of Jesus Christ 't wil be time enough hereafter and you may do it soon enough hereafter you are two young now to be abridg'd of your pleasure and to mortifie your lusts and to betake your selves unto so serious a course as Christ cals you to and by this temptation the Devil prevails with young men more especially And I remember Austine saith that this temptation of the Devil made him keep off for seven years together from embracing the cal of Jesus Christ the Devil would stil tel him in his heart thou art too young to leave thy Drunkennesse and too young to leave thy Harlots til at last he cryed out How long shal I say it is too soon Why may I not repent to day This temptation I say it hath fastened upon many before you that they were too young to come in to Jesus Christ and to this end the Devil wil suggest to you that old and false Proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Whereas indeed if you are young Devils you wil be old Beelzebubs And therefore this being a suggestion prevailing witâ— many hearts I shal lay down six considerations to take off this temptation that it may not prevail with you First If the Devil tempt you that you are too young to hearken to Christs cal consider That the Devil cannot give you a Lease of your lives if the Devil could give you a Lease of your lives and tell you you should live til old age you might then with more safety harken to his temptation but your lives are not at the Devils disposal God is the Author of your life the issues of life and death are in his hands you may die in youth uncalled you may be damned as wel as dead You may be as these men Job 36.14 that shall die in their youth and their lives shall be among the unclean And therefore though the Devil tempt you that you are too young seeing he cannoâ— assure you of your lives you have no reason to hearken to his temptation Secondly Suppose the Devil could assure you you should live til old age yet take this consideration that in putting off your calling and the work of conversion from your youth this may so provoke God that he may harden your hearts in your old daies that you shal have no heart to think of and embrace the call and invitation of Jesus Christ Jer. 22.21 I spake to thee in thy prosperity but thou wouldst not hear and this hath been thy manner frâ—m thy youth Thou wouldst not obey my voyce God spake but they would not hear and it was from their youth that they did thus therefore God would never speak more God hardened their hearts that they should never receive or embrace the cal of Jesus Christ So Isa 6.9 10. Seeing the Jewes from their youth were obstinate against the word of God Go saith God make their ears heavy and their hearts fat and their eyes blind that they should not be called and converted and I should save them Let this therefore be a second consideration that the putting off your cal til your old age may so provoke God as never to give you hearts to embrace his cal Thirdly Suppose al this that you could have a Lease of your lives and you could be assured that when you come to old age your hearts should not be hardened yet consider this that the more sinful and evil the daies of your youth have been the more disquietnesse of minde and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old though you shal be called and converted by Jesus Christ Job 13.24.25 26. Thou â—idest thy face thou holdest me as thy Enemy Thou dost drive me as a leaf to and fro and thou dost pursue me like dry stubbâ—e Now why doth Job complain thus Mark the next words For thâ—u writest bitter things against me and makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth Job when he was a young man it seemâ— he was a wicked man and had many sins in his youth and this in his old age made him cry out and say that God took him for his Enemy and that God brake him like a leafe driven with the wind O beloved the sins of your youth though you should be Jobs converted yet they wil bring great disquietnesse and great horroâ— when you come to age the lusts of youth and the vanities of youth and the sensual pleasures of your youthful daies they wil lay a foundation of sorrow when you come to gray hairs to be neare your graves so Job 20.11 And therefore put the case you should repent and should be called when you are old you have no cause to put off the cal of Jesus Christ seeing sins of youth wil fill you with horror and disquietnesse of minde Hence it is that David after he was call'd by the power of the word cries out Psal 25. Lord remember not the sins of my youth that gravelled and gall'd his conscience the sins of his youth before his cal It is the speech of an Author that to look on the pleasurable vanities and contents of youth this wil become an heavy burden and bitter vexation to old age Beloved the more evil you run out into in your youthful daies the greater and deeper foundation of disquietnesse and sorrow you lay in your souls in your latter daies though you should be called by Jesus Christ 4. If the Devil suggest that you are too young to embrace the invitation of Christ consider That Jesus Christ wll take it most kindly at your hands if while you are young you wil give entertainment to his cal Jer. 2.2 I remember thee saith the Lord and the kindnesse of thy youth that thou wouldst follow me in the Wildernesse in a land that was not sown Mark how the Lord speaks and how kindly he takes it that they would in their youth follow God the Lord wil remember it and take it acceptable from you if while you are young while the Marrow is in your bones and strength in your joynts you wil embrace the waies of Jesus Christ It is an observation that some have concerning the Beloved Disciple John John 20. He is called the Disciple whom Christ loved and that leaned upon his brest of al the other eleven Disciples Christ did love John above the rest and Divines give this reason of it John was the youngest of al the Disciples he was converted and called by Christ when he was a young
your Meditations work upon those Promises that hold forth most comfort to a dejected and deserted soule And here I shall name five or six most comforatble Promises in the Word As Isa 57.15 The Lord that dwels in the high and holy places he doth revive the spirit of the humble and of the contrite one So Isa 66.2 The Lord dwels in the Heavens and yet with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit that trembles at his Word with him will God dwell So Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are â—f a broken heart even them that are contrite in spirit So Luke 4.18 Jesus Christ was anointed that is appointed by God the Father to preach the Gospel to the poor to binde up the broken in heart and to comfort them that mourn So Isa 66.10 The Lord will restore comfort to thee and to thy Mourners And Heb. 12.12 The Lord will streâ—gthen the weak hands and feeble knees And with that remarkable and most glorious Gospel-promise I shal end Isa 353 4 5 6. Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees This saith God to weaken Christians whose legs can hardly carry their bodies and their hands hardly reach to their mouths Say unto the weak Christian in grace comfort and confirm and strengthen them And say unto them that are of a fearful heart Be strong Poor fearfull doubting soules that feare every temptation and feare every corruption and feare they shall lose the recompence of their reward Say unto that fearful heart Be strong and fear not For your God will come with vengeance even God will come with recompence and save you And then the eyes of the blinde shall be open and the eares of the deaf shall be unstopped it is not meant of the bodily eye but those that were blinde and could not see the mysteâ—ies of Christ and could not read their own comforts then their eyes shall be open And the deaf that as Isaiah saith refused to be comforted that would not hearken to comfort but would stop their eares against all comfortable doctrines and onely give way to sorrow their eares shall be unstopped And the lame men shall leap like a Hart the poor halting Christian that halts in his comforts that is now believing anon staggering now rejoycing anon despairing the poor lame man shall leap like a Hart And the tongue of the dumb shall sing the poor man that could not speak one word of his own graces and of his own comforts and touching his own evidence The tongue of the dumb shal sing O Beloved here is your work in case you would be Christians to restore your comforts again set upon the work of Meditation to think upon these precious Promises of the Gospel that hold forth most comfort to a drooping and dejected sinner SERMON XII 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE Doctrine I am yet upon is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ to grace and glory In the prosecution of which I have gone over many particulars There remains now onely one Use more to dispatch about this subject and then I passe to the third point drawn from these words And the Use shall be of Consolation from all that hath been said touching the assurance of our effectual calling I shall only direct my discourse to lay down six or seven Consolatory Conclusions to those Christians who are effectually called yet happily have not a sensible assurance of their own calling First take this for a truth that Assurance is necessary not for the being but for the wel-being of a Christian It is not necessary to his estate but to his comfort It is not necessary as food is to the life but only as Physick is to the body A man cannot live without food a man may live without Physick Assurance is but as a comfortable cordial to the soul Grace is as food to keep the soul alive though you doe want assurance this Cordial to bear you up Secondly that many of Gods dear children they may lie a very long time in the want of this assurance touching their effectual calling Psal 88. It is said of Heman 14 15 16. verses Lord why hast thou casâ—â—ff my soule and why hast thou hid thy face from me Mark his complaint I am ready to die And was this only a fit of desertion or was it a continued act yes Vers 16. From my youth up I suffer thy terrours I am distracted and thy fierce wrath goes over me Heman lay under the state of desertion from his childhood for here he tels you his estate that he was not troubled for a day or two or three and then his troubles were over but from his youth up he lay under this perplexity that he thought God had cast off his soule and the terrours of God lay upon him And yet this man none questions his goodnesse For he was the man as Ainsworth thinks that made this Psalm and sure God would never honour a wicked man to be a Pen-man of the Scripture The Psalm is called a golden Psalm and it is so called because hereby he would teach afflicted consciences that they may from their youth up lie under great horrour and lie under sad suspence concerning their everlasting estate and yet they may have grace at the root for all this And Heman doth not only expresse it as if he had an ordinary trouble of minde but he expresseth it that he lay under an extraordinary weight of Gods wrath Vers 7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit of darkness and in the deep and thy wrath it lies heavy upon me He did even lie and sink in his own thoughts under the sense af Gods wrath upon him This therefor is another comfortable conclusion That godly men may not onely by fits and starts but for a long time for many years together lie under a state of spiritual desertion For some men think of Heman that he was above threescore yeares of age when he wrote this Psalm yet from his youth up till that age he lay under this horror and perplexity Thirdly That many of Gods dear children may be so long plunged under desertion and under the want of Assurance that they may refuse and withstand comforts when God offers it to them in the Gospel and yet may have grace still As a man in a feaver or distracted by some violent disease though you bring him a Cordial that may abate his disease the man in a fit will through the glasse against the wall though it be the only meanes of his remedy It is so with godly men many times they are so accustomed to sadnesse in the want of assurance that they may refuse comforts when God offers them Psal 77.2 It is the speech of Asaph my soule refuseth to be
Grace and Peace be towards you Rom. 1.6 7. Called to be Saâ—â—tâ— Grace and Peace be multiplyed towards you and so in every Epistle besides to note that when a man is effâ—ctually called the more assurance he hath of his calling the more peace he hath in his own conscience It wil greaten your peacâ— and greaten your inward comforts therefore you should labour afâ—er this assâ—rance of your effectual calling And thus having shewn you what effectual calling is and why you â—ust give diligence to make this sure I now passe to a third Qâ—erie What are the Characters or discoveries whereby my soul may be assured that I aâ— effâ—ctually called by Jesus Christ And in the dispatch of this I shall resolve it onely by these two general heads First You may be assured of your effectual calling if God hath â—aken that method with your souls which he doth ordinarily take with those whom he doth effectually call Secondly If the Lord hath wrought in you those saving effects or concomitants which do ordinarily accompany those that are thus effectually called if these two things be done you may have a seal and assurance in your own hearts that you also are effectually called Beloved it is not for Ministers to flatter you there are among many in the world but few that are called among many that are called but few that are elected and therefore do not flatter your selves If upon tryal you finde you are not in the number of Gods called ones go home and bewail your unregenerate and unconverted estate But before I can speak of this method I must first lay downe some mistakes that are held by erroneous mindes about the method God takes in calling a sinner home to himself A fiâ—st mistake is of the Pelagians who hold this that a man is able to call and convert himself Now this opinion doth quite exclude and justle out God from having any hand therein they say a Christian is able to call and convert himselfe having only a general concurrence and assistance from God 2. Of the Arminians and they hold this That effectual calling consists only in moral perswasions and may be resisted by the person that is thus called and that a man being called into a state of grace may fall from his calling and fall from his grace and so have no profit by his calling at all which is a most uncomfortable opinion and surely God would never take this method in calling of his people 3. That of the Papists and they say that God calls and ordains a sinner to glory but it is upon the foresight of his good works God foresaw how good and holy the man would be and therefore God would chuse and call him to glory But this hath no ground from Scripture neither 4. That of the Familists and they hold this That Gods method in calling a sinner is not by the outward Ministry of the Word but it is by Raptures and Revelations and by divine inspirations and extraordinary wayes of working but this is not Gods usual method though God sometimes takes this way as he did by Paul who was called this way after an extraordinary manner Yet this is not Gods ordinary rule 5. There is another mistake and that is of those who presse a necessity of such measures of legal horrour and terrour upon the consciences of men else they can never be saved Sometimes Ministers have been so harsh now and then though indeed no such cause to blame them as is pretended yet sometimes lashes break out that men must be so and so humbled in such a measure and so long for duration Now this is not Gods method to presse for measure but a great mistake about Gods manner of calling a sinner though I must confesse this is the nearest of all the five to that rule God takes in calling a sinner to glory Having thus laid down the mistakes 't is the easier now to finde out the truth I come now to speak of that method God takes in calling a sinner And here I shall lay down a sixfold method in which God proceeds with those whom he doth effectually call which if he doth so with you you may go home with a seal upon your hearts that you are effectually called to grace and you shall one day come to glory First When God goes about effectually to call a poor sinner into a state of grace he puts a clear light into his soul whereby he may see the hainous and aggravated nature of all his sins more then ever he did before Rom. 7.8 9 13. Paul tells you Before the commandment came he was alive and sin was dead that is before the power of the word came upon his conscience to convert him he was alive i.e. he thought he was a good man and a just man and he thought sin was dead sin was destroied he never knew sin so sinful but when the commandment came sin revived and I died but when the word of God came with power upon my conscience and light upon my judgement then I saw I was a dead man sin had kil'd me and I saw sin was raigning and sin was raging in me and what then ver 13. I saw sin exceeding sinful he never saw sin so before conversion before his Call when he was a Pharisee but when the word of God came with power upon his conscience to call him then saith he I saw sin to be exceeding sinful Now O Beloved hath ever God done thus with your souls may be you look upon sin with a transient and general view but do you look upon sin so as to see more evil in sin then ever you saw before This is the course God usually takes Me thinks God deals with a converted sinner as it is spoken in Job 33.27 28. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it doth not profit me he will deliver his soul from going down into the pit and his life shall see the light that is God looks upon the mass of mankind in the world and saith if any man say he hath sinned and it did not profit him that is if he look upon sin as an evil and that he never did get good by it then saith God I will deliver his soul from hell and bring him to heaven Yea but you will say May be sometimes God may do thus to affright men and trouble men in minde make them see their sins but is this Gods usual work Yes it is ver 29. Lo these things worketh God oftentimes with men Mark it is not a seldom work but it is Gods work often he will make you see your sins see them to be fruitlesse and see them to be unprofitable Lo these things God worketh oftentimes with men Hence you read John 16.8 When the Spirit shall come mark his Office he shall convince the world of sin The first act of the Spirit in converting a
foolish and Christ weak men uncall'd they have low thoughts of Christ but to you that are called Christ is the power and wisdome of God You will have high thoughts of Jesus Christ if you are effectually called 4. That man that is effectually called he shall be inabled by the spirit of Christ to call upon God 1 Cor. 1.2 To all in Corinth called to be Saints with all that call upon the name of the Lord. There the Apostle joynes called to be Saints with this phrase to call upon God to shew that whoever is effectually called to be a Saint that man shall be inabled by the Spirit of Jesus to call upon God Psal 27.8 When thou saidest Seek my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek Hence ye read Acts 9.11 when Ananias doubted whether Paul was truly call'd or no and Jesus Christ would convince Ananias that he was truly call'd what means doth he use verse 11. do not suspect him but arise saith Christ and go to him into the street called straight and inquire at the house of Judas for one Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth If he were not called he would never go to God in such a cordial way and humble his soul before God for his by past failings and beg strength for time to come and labour to have his peace made with me Go to him for behold he prayeth and therefore all you that have not a spirit in any measure to call upon God and to pour forth your requests in a solemn prayer you have just cause of jealousie to suspect your Call 5. If you are effectually called God hath wrought in your souls an utter detestation and loathing of all the evils that in the former part of your lives before your calling you have committed and were guilty of Hos 14.8 Ephraim shall say what have I any more to do with Idols The interogation imports a vehement detestation of them and indignation against them 2 Cor. 7.11 the Apostle speaks there of repentance the same with calling when men come to have the work of grace in their hearts and this is a branch of it that godly sorrow causeth care and causeth feare and causeth indignation that is if any man be a repenting man and a converted man this conversion will cause indignation that is he will be even mad with himselfe and angry with himselfe that he should be so vile a wretch before conversion as he hath been Thus was Paul he speakes with indignation against the sins he was guilty of before his calling I have been a persecutor I have hal'd the Saints into prison Nay saith he I was even mad against the Church Beloved you will count your sins to be madnesse and count them to be greatly aggravated that were committed before God call'd you Anselm said to his body I 'le tame thee O unruly beasâ— with fasting and prayâ—r We read of one that bit off his tongue in indignation that therewith he had denied Jesus Christ Another Martyr put that hand first into the fire with which he had subscribed a recantation saying Burn thou O hand that didst subscribe to that which might have made me burn both body and soul in hell And therefore you that have no loathing thoughts against past deceit and past drunkennesse and past swearing and past evils suspect your calling You that do not abhor the thoughts of your formeâ— evils your wonted pride and wonted covetousnesse if you cannot look with indignation against these you have great cause to suspect your call For if God have called you he will make you even angry with your selves that ever you have been so vile as you have been Hence it is when God speaks of Israels conversion Isa 2.20 't is said they shall cast away their Idols from them they shall cast away their sins as with indignation against themselves because they have sinned And hence in the Prophesie of Ezek. 20.43 the Prophet tels them that for the evils they had done they should loath themselves in their own eyes their indignation should be so great against themselves that ever they should be so vile against God before their call So David with indignation saith after he had recovered himselfe and brought his heart into a repentant frame so foolish was I and Ignorant Psal 73.22 Now Beloved I would hear appeale unto you I will judge no man let your own consciences passe sentence upon you But let me appeale to your selves Have not many of you before these times been opposers of Religion men walking in ungodly lewd and profane courses of living haply now you are moulded into a form of Profession now you hear the Word speak wel of Ministers now you cry up Government many your plausible wayâ—s and actions you can carry on but what is in your hearts Have you indignation against your past persecution and evils If not belieâ—e it though you go far I fear you may comâ— short of heaven your calling is not real if you have not indignation â—nâ— wrath against your former sins commitâ—ed And therefore O what a sad word is this to all â—nsensible sinners that are men that never had their hearts touch'd with remorse for any evil What a sad word is this to you that have been drunk week aâ—â—er week and sworn day after day and dâ—câ—ived hour after hour and been unclean time after time and yet all these evils never touch'd the heart Truly you have grâ—at cause to fear that God hath not yet â—ffâ—ctually called you by Jesus Christ 6. The man that is effâ—ctually callâ—d his spirit is brought into an obediâ—ntial frame to yield obedience to the commands of Jesus Christ if God call you by his Spirit he will not leave you to the exorbitancies of your own wayes and will but he will bring you to a yeeldingnesse of heart to all his commands Rom. 15.6 We have received grace and Apostleship for obedience to the faith among all Nations among whom you are also the called of Jesus Christ The Apostle did not alone receive grace for obedience but the same was among them also You receive grace for the obedience of faith So that now if you are the called of Jesus Christ the Lord hath this work upon you he doth bring you to the obedience of faith that is he doth work in your souls a yeelding frame to obey all the commands of Jesus Christ and therefore any of you that stand out with stoutnesse of heart against Jesus Christ let Christ say what he will you will do what you list let him command what he will you will do what you please you that stand out thus with gainsaying of spirit against Jesus Christ you have great cause to suspect your Call Again 7. A man effectually called by Jesus Christ he will be mis-called and reproach'd by the men of the world John 15.19 If you were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of
by the children of the kingdome not those that have heaven prepared for them but the professing Jewes who are called the children of the kingdome because they enjoyed a greater and clearer and fuller measure of the things of God which shewed them the way to the kingdome of heaven then other men did And when Christ calls them the children of the kingdome he calls the heathen the children of the world Now many of the children of the kingdome shal be cast into utter darknesse If there be any more dismal place then other it shall be for the children of the kingdome those that have been as it were nursed up under Gods elbow by ordinances the children of the kingdome they shall have a more dismal portion and dismal room in hell then other men shall have that never enjoyed the ordinances of Jesus Christ And O what a sad word is this to you that live where ordinances do most abound that you may be called the children of the kingdome and yet you to be thrust into utter darknesse 3. That there are many men who are onely called outwardly into a bare profession that do harbour and nourish perswasions in their own hearts that they are effâ—ctually called by Jesus Christ when they never had any saving work of grace upon their hearts This I spake of some weeks agoe from John 8.41 The Jewes had strong perswasions they had Abraham for their father and when Christ beats them off from that they went higher and said we have God to our father and yet verse 44. Christ tels them they were of their Father the Divâ—l And Beloved you may also be deceived in harbouring strong pâ—rswasions thâ—t you are called effectually when you are oâ—â—ly calleâ— outwardly 4. That they that are conceited the opinion of their own goodnesse without seeing their want and necessitie of Jesus Christ are of all sorts of people in thâ— world most unlikely to be effecâ—ually callâ—d by Jâ—sus Christ This I urge from Matt. 9.13 I câ—me not sâ—ith Christ to call the righteous c. Mark who are they that is Christ came not to call the Pharisees who were riâ—hteous in their own eyes and who had a selfe conceitednessâ— that things went wâ—ll with them aâ—d saw no neâ—d of a Mâ—diator and Intercessor and Redeemer I came not to call the righteous Jesus Christ excludeâ— that sort of men frâ—m being called by him men that are selâ—-opinionated and have a conceit of their own goodnesse wiâ—hout any want of Jesus Christ Wherefore all you that â—â—â—k you have a strong faith towards God ever since you wâ—râ— born that think you live honestly among your neighbours pay every man his due and therefore see no need of Christ all your daies the Lord shew you mercy you are more unlikely to be called then any men in the world Matth. 21.31 There is a parable of a man that had two sons he bid both work in the vineyard one son said he would not work he was obstinate the other son said he would work but did not and so was worse then his word Now these two sons they are the emblem of two sorts of men within the pale of the Church some are profane and obstinate men and they answer as the first son and say they will not work the second are professing men men that make a good professâ—on but do not answer their profession in their practice Now mark Whether of these twain will the father accept and they said unâ—o him the first the most obstinate that said he would noâ— go but went Verily saith Christ so I say unto you Publicans and Harlots shall go into heaven before you Mark how Christ applies the parable from their own mouths you that are Phaâ—isâ—es that are righteous and honest in your own eyes I wil sooner call whores and harlots and the worst of men then I will call you Publicans and Harlots Publicans they were the worst sort of men that were they were sitting at the receit of custome their calling exposing thâ—m to a great deal of extortion and briberie yet these men should go to heaven before others that made a glorious profeâ—sion of Jesus Christ Again 5. A fifth sad Conclusion is this That when others are effectually called before your faces and yet you remain uncalled this should greatly aggravate your sin and condemnation when I say you shall see others that livâ— haply in the same house with you that hear in the same congregation that sit in the same seat with you when you shall hear these effectually called and you remain uncalled thiâ— shall greatly increase your sin and damnation Matt. 21 3â— John came to you in the way of righteousnesse and yâ—â— believed him not that is they were not called by his Ministry what then but the Publicans and Harlots believed what then and you when you had seen it repented not afterwards that you miâ—ht believe Mark how Christ argues he urges that those men that heard the same Sermons that the other men did hear they were converted saith he you see whores and harlots converted alluding to Mary Magdalen and others you see these and yet you repent not and yet you believe not now you see one then another and yet when you see this you repent not that you might believe Beloved This is a sad conclusion to you that shall see others converted when you that haply lie in the same bed sit at the same board and hear the same Sermons in the same Congregation yet they shall be converted and called and you not this wil greatly increase your sin and condemnation 6. That whoever God intends effectually to call it is Gods ordinary way to call them by the Ministry of his word 2 Thes 2.13 14. It s said there that they were called through the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth to obtain eternal glory by Jesus Christ they were called by belief of the truth that is by believing the word preacht and loving the word preacht faith comes by hearing faith is the first grace of a Christians Call and that comes by hearing Rom. 10.17 so Acts 26.17 18. When Christ would call and convert the Gentiles he doth it not immediatly but he useth the Ministry of Paul Go thou teach the Gentiles and bring them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan untâ— God God doth it still by the preaching of his word Now this is a sad word to three sorts of men First it s a sad word to them that never sat under the powerful preaching of the word they are out of Gods ordinary way of being saved 2. It is a sad word to those that may enjoy the word and yet slight it they also are not likely to be called 3 It s a sad word to those that leave the ordinary way of Gods calling by the preaching of the word and trust to raptures revelations inspirations and extraordniary means for God to call them by alas they
made the streets of Jerusalem run down with blood yet called Paul a pesecutor a blasphemer a man mad with rage against the Church of God yet he obtained mercy and why that he might be an example to them that after should be called So that here is your comfort when Jesus Christ hath an intent to cal you neither your Poverty nor your Impietie shal withstand his cal nor turn the thoughts of his mercy from you 10. That though no man can pry into the Decrees of God about Election and Reprobation yet if you can make good your Effectual Vocation you may be sure of your election and of your glorification Though no man I say can enter into the bosome of God to know his secret decrees yet if you can finde upon good and Scripture grounds that you are â—ffâ—ctually called you may be sure you are eternally elected and shal hereafter live in glory Rom. 8.28 Whom he predestinates them he calls whom he calls them he justifies and whom he justifies them he will glorifie And therefore comfort your hearts in these consolatorie Conclusions about effectual calling SERMON V. 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THe Doctrine I am yet upon in the prosecution of these words is this That Christians should put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ In the managing of which I laid down the last Lords day twenty Propositions ten in relation to wicked men not called and ten Conclusions for the comfort of them that are effectually called by Jesus Christ I am now to proceed in the dispatch of six cases of conscience which I shal handle about effectual calling Three of which concern men not effectually called and three touching Believers who are called by Christ to grace here and to hopes of glory in the world to come The three first cases touching wicked men are these First Whether a wicked man be able to resist his own call Secondly What temptations doth the Devil suggest to keep a wicked man from entertaining and embracing the cal of Jesus Christ Thirdly What delusions doth the Devil use to deceive Hypocrites to make them presumptuously believe that they are effectually called when they are not There are three cases more touching godly men As First Whether may a man that is effectually called be any way assured that he is so Secondly If a man may be assured then what is the reason many a godly man is not assured of his effectual calling And then Thirdly How may he come to get the assurance of his effectual calling I begin with the first about wicked men that are not called and the case is this First Whether may a wicked man a man as yet not called be able to resist and keep off his own cal And that you may understand the answer hereto I must lay down this distinction That there is a twofold callng of Christ A Significative calling and an Operative calling First a Significative calling which is such a calling whereby Christ in the Ministry of the word signifies and declares what he would have men to do Now this kind of cal wicked men may resist this cal I say and this revealed will of God in declaring what grace he would have men act and what sin he would have men forbear Therefore we read Acts 7.5 You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in heart and eares you have alwaies resisted the Holy Ghost meaning the Preaching of the word by the Ministry of his Apostles So Prov. 1.24 I have called and ye have refused c. But then secondly There is an Operative calling and that is such a call whereby God doth not onely signifie to a man what he must do but with the signification of his wil gives a man a power to do what he cals him to do accompanying the word with his Spirit making the heart stoop and yeild to Jesus Christ Now this cal no man can resist Grace is irresistible and this effectual calling by the operation of the Spirit a man cannot resist Al the gain-sayings of the heart and al the stoutnesse of the will it must stoop and must be brought under subjection to Jesus Christ Iohn 6.37 All that the Father hath given me saith Christ shall come unto me They shal not be able to withstand Jesus Christ but they shal come in unto him So Isa 55.10 As the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and returns not thither again but waters the earth to make it bring forth so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth it shal not return in vain but shall accomplish that which I intended and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it As al the world cannot hinder the rain from coming down on the earth no more can any man in the world if God hath an intent to convert and cal him hinder the benefit of the word from redounding upon his soul Now the answering of this case thus briefly wil admit of a double Use First an Use of Condemnation to wicked men that have often resisted the signicative call of Jesus Christ When Christ hath signified this is my wil I would have you leave these courses and I would have you walk in these waies Christ signifies his will in the Ministry of the Gospel yet let Christ signifie what he wil you wil do what you lift this is for thy great condemnation Secondly The answering this Query is for consolation to elect men who are not yet converted Dost thou belong to Gods Election Why before thou art converted thou hast a stubborn wil thou hast a gainsaying heart thou hast a stout spirit against God thy heart is as hard as an Adamant as hard as the Rocks yet here is thy comfort all the gain-sayings of thy spirit and all the stubbornnesse of thy wil it shal not be able to keep off converting mercy and shall not be able to keep off calling grace from thee When God hath an intent to call thee he wil come with Power by his call and make thee do what he commands thee and make thee embrace what he calls thee to Did not Jesus Christ use an operative call as wel as a significative cal no man in the world would ever be called And this is the reason that in hearing the same Sermon and following the same Preacher one man is converted the other is not The reason is this The cal of the Ministry is onely a significative cal of a Reprobate onely signifying what God would have him do But there is no power conveyed with the invitation to make the man able to do what Christ cals him to and therefore one is called the other is not Thus much in in Answer to the first case Secondly What temptations doth the Devil suggest to men who are uncalled that they should not give entertainment to
to be poor in faith and to be such a beggar as not to be endowed with one dram of grace and then you are beggars indeed As we say he is a poore man that God hates He that hath not Christ and hath not the treasures of heaven in him he is exposed to worse poverty a thousand times then he can be for imbracing the cal of Jesus Christ Rev. 3.17 Yea and he is exposed to worse persecution also that for fear of persecution neglects Jesus Christ Psal 83.5 The Lord will persecute them saith David with fury and wrath speaking of wicked men All persecution from man reaches but to the body but this from God reaches to the soul 7. And then lastly This should not hinder you from following Jesus Christ considering that though you should be poor and should be persecuted yet heaven wil make you amends for all Heb. 11.35 Heaven wil make amends for povertie when you are endowed with all the riches of Christ and Heaven wil make amends for persecution when there the weary shal be at rest and there the troubled shal be at ease And thus much be spoken of the third suggestion of the Devil that if you entertain the cal of Jesus Christ you shal be exposed to much povertie and persecution here in the world SERMON VI. 2. Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE Doctrine I am yet upon is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ In the prosecution of which I have resolved one case of conscience and am yet upon the second case namely what suggestions the Devil doth use to keep men off from imbracing the cal of Jesus Christ I have laid down and answered three already 4. Now there is one suggestion more When the Devil sees either of these wil take place then he comes in with a fourth to disswade men from imbracing the call of Christ and that is this Why saith the Devil if you wil entertain the call of Christ you wil abridge your selves of all the joy and comfort of your lives you wil never have merry daies while you live upon earth You see men that pretend to be converted and doe hear Sermons what lumpish and melancholy men they are not so jocund and jolly as others are that walk not so precisely if you follow Christ and his Gospel this wil casheer all your merry daies and this wil put you into a sad temper all your jovial daies are gone Therefore to take off this aspersion that the waies of Christ are sad and melancholy waies which hath been an aspersion that from age to age and generation to generation hath been as a Gin the Devil hath used to keep men from Christianity And I remember it is one of the greatest Engines Antichrist useth to support and uphold his Kingdom The Papists to deter men from Christianity and the Protestant Religion they would hold their Disciples in hand with this that the spirit of a Calvinist is a sad and lumpish spirit and therefore they would disswade all Nations from turning to their Religion and this the Priests were to tel in all the Churches of Rome how sad and melancholy they were that turned to the Calvinists religion and this did mightily stay the people from imbracing the truth And this aspeâ—sion hath passed from hand to hand and is many times prevalent upon the spirits of men that are of the true Religion that they must not be too forward in the practice of Religion fearing lest this should work melancholy and sad thoughts in them Now to take off this I shal onely urge four or five heads briefly First Whereas you say they are melancholy sad that are called by Christ to a profession of his waies I would answer thus That they of all people in the world have most cause of mirth gladness and they are the most truly joyful people in the world That they have most cause of rejoycing is apparent When the Disciples came triumphing that they could cast out Devils heal the diseased and work Miracles O but saith Christ Rejoyce not in this but rejoyce that your names are written in the book of life Luke 10.20 As much as if Christ should say All the endowments and extraordinary gifts of the spirit they are no such grounds of joy if you had them all but here is your joy and cause of rejoycing that your names are written in the book of Life that you are in Christ and your souls shal be saved And so Paul tels us Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes again I say rejoyce The Apostle would not speak it to them with a single command but doubtless his expression to shew that they that are people that have their sins pardoned that have their souls reconciled that have a title to glory whose names are written in the book of Life these of all men in the world have most cause of joy and gladness And they have not onely most cause but they doe most truly rejoyce and have more real joy in their hearts in one day then the wicked can have all their lives 1 Pet. 1.8 They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory What joy you have in the world the tongue is able to speak of it but the tongue is not able to speak of that inward joy that godly men have in their hearts upon the apprehension of the interest they have in Jesus Christ Psal 4.6 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance And Thou shalt put more gladness in mine heart c. Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast Men are never more merry then when they are at a feast godly men they carry clear consciences about them and that makes them as joyous and pleasant as if they were alwayes at a great and sumptuous feast Indeed this is true they do not rejoyce with such exorbitancies of joy as wicked men do Wicked men rejoyce in sin that they cannot do wicked men rejoyce in their lusts in their drunkenesse and their adulteries and wayes of sin that godly men dare not do Such a rejoycing as this is the foundation of sorrow This rejoycing like the Prodigal in a riotous course of living is the foundation of sorrow and will meet with you when you are to die Secondly Grant this should be true yet consider that this sorrow that godly people have it is such a sorrow that they shal have no cause to repent thereof but it is a foundation of future joy to them 2 Cor. 7.9 10. I rejoyce saith the Apostle in that I have made you sorrowful What rejoyce to see them a sad people Yes for the sorrow I made you sorrowful with was a sorrow never to be repented of you wil never repent of that sorrow and therefore Paul would do it because it was a
onely four things First That you would set upon searching work Secondly Upon humbling work Thirdly Upon praying work And fourthly that you would set upon meditating work These four helps will through Gods blessing be very conducible to restore your wonted comforts to you First My counsel shall be to you that you would set upon searching and examining work When you have lost any thing the first thing you do is to look after it where you have lost it that you may finde it again If you have lost this precious Jewel of assurance be thus wise for your selves O set upon seeking and searching work The Scripture gives you this hint Gal. 6.4 Let every man search his own work and then he shall have rejoycing in himselfe This is the way to bring in spiritual joy and spiritual comfort to be often dealing with your own hearts David when he lay under some foul distemper mark how he deales with his own soul Why art thou troubled O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me he puts his heart upon the trial And here in your searching work I would commend five things to your examination First Search how you got your assurance Secondly Search how you grounded your assurance Thirdly Search how you managed your assurance Fourthly Search what should provoke God to take away your assurance Fifthly and lastly Search what you would give to God so you might regain your former and wonted assurance Put these questions to your hearts As First Put upon the search how you goâ— your assurance It may be it was such an assurance as you have had ever since you were born from your mothers womb that you got without care and without pain and if so this is presumption not assurance and if you have lost this it is well It is better to be in a state of discouragement then in a state of presumption Secondly Examine how you grounded your assurance It may be you bottomed it but upon self not upon Christ It may be you bottomâ—d it but upon the fantastical delusions of your own hearts and not upon the grounded evidence of Gods Word if so that your assurance have had an ill bottome it is no wonder if God turn it upside-down If it be not rightly grounded it will never long be continuâ—d Examine therefore upon what grounds you have bottomed your assurance and if you finde the fouâ—dation of your comforts to be ill laid you must pluck up all again Thirdly Search how you managed your assurance It may be you managed your assurance with pride not humility it may be with unwatchfulness and carelesnesse of spirit and did not take notice of those temptations and suggestions that might impair your comforts if so it is no wonder if the devil sows tares among your wheat it is no wonder if the devil have stolen away your comforts if you have laid down your watch Fourthly Examine what special cause there was in your hearts that might provoke God to cloud you in your comforts and to take away your assurance from you And here that you might a little be directed in this search you may reduce the causâ— of your eclipse and of the removal of your assurance unto this twofold head Either it hath been the commission of some great transgression or else the omission of some weighty duty that may provoke God to darken your comforts As First the commission of some great transgression Great sins they lay a foundation for great discomforts in tender consciences Great sins they lay the conscience waste to make it that was as a well-trimmed and impaled garden to be as a ruinous wildernesse Great relapses they bring ordinarily dark eclipses upon the soul And here that I might put you on this search I would advise you to seach what particular sin it was and how you might know the transgression that might provoke God to take away your comforts from you As First if so be God did take away your comforts immediately after the committing of any grosse sin then you may be sure that sin was the occasion Or Secondly If the commission of one sin do bring upon you more then an ordinary measure of hardness of heart then you may be sure that was the sin Or Thirdly If any sin makes you remisse in spiritual duties that was the sin provoked God to take away your comforts from you And by such a search as this you might finde out and give a shrewd guess at the particular provocation And here the particular transgressions I would have you search about they are ordinarily these four that ingages God to take away comforts from a people As First the sin of superciliousness and uncompassionateness of spirit towards doubting Christians If a soul carries a proud and supercilious eye over poor Christians and carries no compassion towards doubting souls God for that sin of wanting bowels of compassion may bring him to the same estate which he could not compassionate in other men Secondly the sin of grieving the Spirit if you grieve Gods Spirit God will grieve yours Esa 63.10 Or Thirdly The sin of spiritual pride ordinarily this may be the sin Or Fourthly The sin of worldly-mindednesse or eager pursuit after the things of this world As digging in the earth doth endanger a man to be stifled with damps so digging and poring in the world brings but a damp upon a Christians comforts and many times stifles their assurance As the Sun is eclipsed by the interposition of the Moon between it and our sight so if the world once get between the Sunne of righteousnesse and you it will eclipse the Sun that you shall not see the glory of Jesus Christ and shall not perceive nor gain that interest in Jesus Christ you had in former time Secondly Another cause you are to search If it be not the commission of some great transgression yet it may be the omission of necessary and weighty duty and the Lord may bring you upon the stage of discomfort for omission as well as commission If a man do let but a wound go undressed he may as well die as if you knock him with a Beetle upon the head Beloved If you let your wounds be undressed and let your discomforts be unlooked after and let all run at sixes and sevens if you interrupt in your duties it is just with God to interrupt you in your comforts If you keep not your watch 't is no wonder if you are surprized There are many Christians that grow carelesse in keeping communion with God that love seldome reading and seldome praying and seldome examining their own hearts alas men casting away their duties it makes God in judgement make stoppage in a way of comfort Fifthly In your searching work examine your selves what you would do in case God should restore to you your former evidences could you bring your hearts to this temper that you would think no pain too much to take no cost too much to give
to salvation Secondly though men have been notoriously wicked in their lives before calling yet if this notorious wickedness doth lay any engagement upon them to make them labour to be more eminent in grace after calling this is rather a sign of election then reprobation It is observable in Paul he was a notorious wicked man before his call but now this exceeding wickednesse of his before call did engage him to labour to exceed all others in goodnesse after he was converted and the more evil he was before the more holy he labours to be after As he laboured before to hale men to prison for professing Jesus Christ he is now as zealous to draw men to Jesus Christ after his call he was very industrious to do evil before his call and this made him after his call as he saith himself I was in labours more aboundant then they all And so Mary Magdalen who before her calling was a vile woman one that was a common harlot a woman out of whom Jesus Christ cast seven devils and yet this woman after her calling she laboured to be more eminent in godly sorrow then any woman before or since she washed Christs feet with her teares and wiped them with the haires of her head The like of which you do not read of any woman in Scripture And this was a very good sign when your notoriousness in waias of sin before calling shall lay such an engagement upon you to become more eminent in grace after calling this is a very good encouragement or evidence that you are within the compasse of Gods election and therefore you have no cause to be discouraged Suppose before the word laid hold upon your conscience you were guilty of filthy sins not fit to be named in the congregation if you will the more honour God and praise God now and walk more humbly and labour to excell each other in grace now as you did in sin in times past This is a great sign that you are in the compasse of Gods Elect ones Thirdly you that have been scandalous in your lives before calling for your comfort know that God in his eternal counsel doth commonly make the profane and wicked and the worst of men the objects of his election rather then civil honest men rather then men that are of an honest and civil and moral conversation here in this world And the Lord doth it upon this ground the more to magnifie the freenesse and the riches of his own grace in electing men to life For should God only chuse moderate and civil honest men in the world men would be apt to think it is that mans morality and that mas civility that was the motice which provoked God to elect them and therefore God to overthrow these thoughts he lets electfon runne rather unto men that have been notoriously grosse and sinful in â—heir lives then other men Manasseh a notorious bloody man yet falls within the compassâ— of Gods election when many a civil man is left out Maâ—y a common harlot yet chosen when many a modest chaste woman was cast into hell Matth. 21.31 32. That Christ urgeth a parable of two men One that said he would go and follow Christ but did not and the other said he would not go but did now which of these twain did the will of Christ and they said the first And Jesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that publicans and harlots shall go into heaven before you But you will say was this common this was onely one single time therefore mark the next words For Johâ— came to you in the way of righteousness and you believed not but the publicans and harlots believed in Christ John came preaching and you would not believe you Phrisees strict moral men that did not flie out into such scandals as other men did you would not believe saith Christ but Publicans men that were most addicted to extortion and unconscionable gain they imbraced Jesus Christ when moral men would not This therefore should be another comfort for you that many times election runns rather to the profaner sort of men then to men that are civil and righteous dealing men here in the world and this God hoth to magnifie the riches of his own grace Fourthly that it is no matter what you were before your callâ—ng if you are a repentant and holy people after your former miscarriages shall no way prejudice your future blessednesse 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Neither Fornicator nor Idolater nor Adulâ—erer nor envious nor thiefe nor covetâ—us nor reviler shall enter â—nto the Kingdome of Heaven and such were some of you c. Here you see a Catalogue of vile evils heaped together and such wâ—re some of you but now you are washed now you are sanctified â— So that no matter what you were before conversion though guilty of great sins so you are now a reformed people now a sanctified people Titus 3.3 We our selves were sometimeâ— foolish disâ—bedient decieved serving divers lusts and pleasures and living in malice and envy c. You were so but after the kindness love of God appeared to you after they were converted they were not so So that these four particulars wil clearly take off this objection that no matter what you were before conversion if you are now a repentant people and bewail your evils and reform your waies your former ill led life will be no hindrance at all to your election Indeed this I must needs say that you that have been most notorious in sin God expects this at your hands that you be most eminent in grace most deep in humiliation most eminent in godly sorrow though your former evils do no way prejudice your election Secondly if the devil cannot fasten this upon you he will come upon you with this assâ—ult viz. your frequent falling into scandalous and foul and grosse enormities after you took upon you a profession of Jesus Christ And this the devil will lay close happily sin before conversion was not so great but now since you have followed Sermons and since you have professed Jesus Christ since that time you have fallen foulely into grosse and scandalous sins and surely this is inconsistent with grace and cannot befal persons within the compasse of Gods election And I confesse this is both sad and hazardous yet I shall lay down three things to uphold thee that yet for all this thou maiest be within the compasse of Gods election As First that divers persons that were within the compasse of Gods election have fallen foulely into grosse sins after their call Lot after he was called fell to be incestuous and fell to drunkenesse David after he was called fell into Adultery Peter after he was called fell to a denial of Jesus Christ Yea you read of Solomon 1 Kings 11.9 That his heart was tuâ—ned from the Lord after the Lord had revealed himself unto him twice After God had revealed himself to Solomon and converted him