and contents of youth this will become an heavy burden and bitter vexation in 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 imbrace the invitation of Christ consider That Jesus Christ will take it most kindly at your hands if while you are young you will give intertainment to his call Jer. 2.2 I remember thee saith the Lord and the kindness of thy youth that thou wouldst follow me in the Wilderness 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 will remember it and take it acceptably from you if while you are young while the Marrow is in your bones and strength in your joynts you will imbrace the wayes 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 all the other eleven Disciples Christ did love John above the rest and Divines give this reason of it John was the youngest of all the Disciples he was converted and called by Christ when he was a young man and Christ seeing a young man follow him took this very kindly at his hands and cals him his beloved Disciple As you that are Parents you let your little Children sit in your lap when your great ones shall not so John he being a young man Christ would let him lean upon his brest and lie in his bosome expressing his kindnesse to him Now O how should this beat off this temptation that you are too young to follow Christ because Christ takes it so kindly at your hands if you imbrace his call in time nay Christ doth take it so kindly that he doth love bare Morality and Civility in young men and therefore it is said in Matthew when Christ saw the young man and he told him Matt. 19.20 I have observed these things from my youth Christ look'd upon him and loved him Christ shewed a general love to the young man that was but a Moral man from his youth and if Christ love Morality he will much more love Piety and true Sincerity It is observed of Timothy that of one particular man Paul expressed more love to Timothy then any other Read over all the book of God you shall never find Paul expresse so much love to any as to Timothy he cals him Timothy my son Timothy who serveth me as a child and Timothy my dearly beloved and why was all this Why the reason is because Timothy from a child was converted and knew the Scriptures 2 Tim. 3.6 He was from a child converted and called by the Ministery of the word in Paul's mouth and this did more indear the heart of Paul unto him You read in the book of Leviticus that when God did require a Sacrifice he would not have an old Sheep but a young Lamb a Lamb of a year old and a Kid of the yongest of the Flook And it was significative in this not only to shew that Christ our Sacrifice should die and suffer for our sins in the flower of his age but also to shew that Jesus Christ looks upon that as an abominable Sacrifice when you will not be of his Fold while you are as young Lambs O Beloved Christ takes it wonderful kindly if in your youth you do imbrace his call Fifthly Yield not to the Devils temptation considering this that though you should be converted in your old age yet Christ cannot but take this very unkindly at your hands that you should put him off until your last end that you reserve if any part yet the worst part for his service You know when Christ stood all the night for his Spouse till his head was full of dew and his locks were wet with the drops of the night he got him gone because she came not and would stay no longer O how unkindly think you will Christ take this when he shall wait year after year and yet you not imbrace his call It is said in Isaiah All the day long have I stretched out my hand to a rebellious people yet they would not hear and Mal. 1. Offer the Lame and the Blind to thy Governour will he accept of it Christ must needs take this unkindly that you should give the Devil the flower of your age and give to Christ but the decrepit and infirm parts of your lives that the Devil should suck out the Marrow of your youth and onely give God the dry bones a palsie head a dim eye a weak body and so all your services must needs be weak also and think but how unkindly Christ will take your services thus performed Sixthly Consider this that from your Birth-day to your dying day you have time little enough to carry on the business of your salvation should you live never so long and therefore you have no cause to put off the call of Jesus Christ And thus much be spoken by way of satisfaction to take off the first temptation that you are too young to give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ and this I do for the sake of young men that they may take heed of being insnar'd by this delusion of the Devil 2. Sug. 2. Here it may be the Devil cannot insnare you in this Gin Old men will say this concerns not me I am not taken with this temptation therefore now the Devil comes upon them with this suggestion Saith the Devil to them You cannot now give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ for you have callings in the world to follow you have a particular calling and you must provide for Wife and Children and Familie and lay up for future times against old age and sicknesse and therefore you cannot be at leasure now to give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ when I am more at leasure I may look after my effectual calling And this also sticks very close to a great many And to take off this suggestion of the Devil I shall lay down six particulars also by way of Answer As First God never intended that our outward calling should any way hinder us in the work of our conversion God never intended that our imployments upon earth should justle out the necessary provision for heaven But God hath so given out our callings here in the world that he hath made and ordained them to be subordinate to our general and effectual calling to the great business of Gods glory and our own salvation It is said of Noah that he walked with God Gen. 6 14 and was perfect in his generation And yet Noah was imployed by God for some time to wit for 120 years in a Handycraft-calling to build an
we can go one step higher We do not onely delight to hear the Word but we love the godly who are effectually called to grace and glory and if we love them we hope it is an Argument that we also are called and they urge that Scripture for it We know that we are translated from death to life if we love the Brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 Now to speak to this I answer It is clear in Scripture that every kind of love to the people of God is no Argument of effectual calling but there may be a fained and a counterfeit love as wel as any other grace Hence the Apostle presses Rom. 12.9 Let your love be without dissimulation importing that men may dissemble their love as wel as any grace else 1 John 3.18 Let us not love in word and in tongue onely but in deed and in truth So 1 Pet. 1.22 Let there be unfained love to the Brethren intimating that there may be a fained and false love So that every kind of love is no evidence of effectual calling And this I shal make out by this demonstration Because there are several acts or expressions of love that men who are not effectually called may shew to godly men Now if a man uncalled may shew many expressions and acts of love to a man converted then meer shewing love to a godly man is no Argument of your effectual calling I shal reduce what I have to say unto six Heads As 1. A man may be frequently in the companie of godlie men yet not be effectually called and so Demas was a companion with Paul in the Gospel yet he not called but imbraced the world and fel away 2. They may speak wel of the people of God And this John tels us 1 John 3.18 Let us not love in word or in tongue This loving in word and tongue was to speak wel of a godlie man this a wicked man may do 3. They may write Letters of commendation in the behalf of a godlie man And so you read of Pilat's Wife which the Scripture gives as no evidence of her Conversion Mat. 27.19 She wrote a Letter to her Husband in the morning before he was to arraign Christ and told him Have nothing to do with the blood of that just man Here you see she wrote in the behalf of a good man of Jesus Christ And so we read of Claudius Lysias that he wrote a Letter in the behalf of Paul to Felix the Governor here were great acts of love yet these no evidence of their effectual calling Nay 4. They may think nothing too much to give to good men yet not be called And so did the Galathians whose calling Paul questions Gal. 4.15 They would pull out their own eyes and not think them too dear for Paul Yet at length how cold did they grow and count Paul their enemy for telling them the truth 5. They may express such love that in times of danger they may take care of the safetie of godlie men so Acts 23.27 Claudius Lysias when he heard Paul was in danger of his life he came with an Armie of men to rescue him that they should not take away his life from him and yet Claudius Lysias lived and died a Heathen for ought the Scripture mentions Lastly They may relieve the necessities of the godlie yet not be effectually called Now here are high expressions of love yet it is evident all these may be where calling is not But now its true in some cases love to the people of God may prove a good evidence of ones effectual call to wit if it have these four qualifications 1. If you love the people of God under this notion because godlie it is an evidence of your effectual call because there is good in them more then because you receive good from them Hence it is John tels us wicked men may love a godlie man because they have good from him 2 John 1. To the elect Lady whom I love in the truth for the truths sake dwelling in her John did not love the Ladie because she was a Ladie or because she was a goodlie woman but for the truths sake that dwelt in her Whereas wicked men they love a godlie man but not as godlie under that notion Therefore you shal see the difference between Johns love to a godlie person and Claudius Lysias a man unconverted Acts 23.27 Claudius Lysias tels you there that Paul was in danger of his life and with an Army I rescued him Now why was it he did so did he love Paul because a godlie man no for mark the next words With an Army I rescued him because it was told me he was a Roman He loved Paul for his Nation not for his conversion had he loved Paul as Paul Paul as a Christian this were an Argument of grace but to love Paul as a Roman because of Country and Nation sake this was no evidence of his call So Mat. 5.46 47. If ye love them that love you what reward have you do not even the Publicans so So that you see a wide difference between the love of a godlie man and of a wicked man 2. To measure your love to them by their graces that you love that man most that hath most grace that 's an Argument of effectual calling because it is grace in the man and nothing else you love 3. If your love be universal to all that are godly of what sort or condition soever they be this is an evidence of your effectual calling for then 't is evident that grace as grace is the object of your love Lastly To love a man so as to carry compassion in your brests towards him to have a sympathizing heart with him in his sufferings 1 Pet. 3.8 Sufferone with another love as Brethren This shewes your love to be true when it hath pity and compassion to attend it Delus I pass now to a third delusion which indeed is a main delufion and hath deceived many specially those that profess the Gospel to make them believe they are effectually called when they are not And that is because they discern a change in their conversation that they are not the same men they were in days past and hereby the Divel props up this perswasion that surely they must needs be effectually called and he alledges Scripture for it 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Such were some of you but yee are washed c. Now this being so universall a delusion among most men in the world that if they have hopes of Heaven it is upon this ground that they are not the same now they were in times past I shall therefore a little inlarge my selfe in speaking of this particular and shall lay downe six or seven particulars wherein I shall shew that this ground taken in generall is no infallible evidence of a mans effectuall calling First Because there are many graduall changes which do not come up or amount to a saving change or alteration
it If you grieve the Spirit of God God will grieve you and your spirits shall be grieved that you shall not keep the joyes of the Lord in your brest in the assurance of his love and favour to you You read Esa 63.10 They grieved his Spirit so he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them Beloved though God may be your friend yet he will frown upon you as an enemy and seem to fight against you too in case you grieve his Spirit if thou grieve Gods Spirit God will grieve thine and when thy spirit is grieved thou must needs lose thy comforts Sixthly Take heed of the sinne of hypocrisie false grace will breed a false joy A false heart must needs have false comforts You will never keep true comforts if you have an unsound heart The upright in heart they shall shout upon their beds for joy they shall do it but hypocrites shall not Take heed therefore of this evill and you are in a way to preserve your assurance 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 soules that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ In the managing of which I came to an use of direction to those who are assured of their effectual calling and to them I gave three directions First That you would rightly manage your assurance Secondly Carefully preserve your assurance Thirdly Daily improve your assurance the last of which I have yet to handle And touching this third direction daily to improve your assurance I shall give you but three heads which if you make use of you may every day improve your assurance and bring it from a little to a great measure As First In case you would do this improve your graces The more you increase in grace the more you will grow in comfort Grace and comfort they are two Twinnes that the more one growes the better the other thrives Hence you read that in the saluation of every Epistle the Apostle puts both together Grace mercy and peace be multiplied to you in Christ Jesus 1 Cor. 1.3 There the Apostle makes the multiplying of grace to be the multiplying of peace The more you multiply and grow in grace the more you will increase peace inward peace of conscience they are both joyned together You have a passage 2 Peter 1.5 11. compared together Adde to your Faith vertue c. The Apostle there urgeth our diligence to adde grace to grace that is to live in the improvement of grace And what will follow verse 11. If you doe these things you shall never fall for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord Jesus Christ You shall not onely go to heaven but you shall have an abundant entrance ministred before you come there you shall have abundance of assurance and inward peace before you come there And here to give you a more particular direction there are these foure graces chiefly you are to improve First Improve the grace of humility Esa 57.15 the Lord doth promise there to revive the spirit of the humble It is a particular promise to that grace that God will revive you and give you a new life if you have it And reviving there is not meant of the first life of grace but of a life of comfort They had grace before but God would give them a life of comfort he will restore your consolation to you in case you are a humble people Hence it is James 4.6 The Lord gives grace to the humble Yea he gives more grace The Lord gives more grace to the humble person then to any man in the world Now the more grace you have the more comfort you must needs have Humility is a foundation of more grace therefore needs must be a foundation of more comfort That building whose foundation is laid lowest is of all the most beautiful and comely Fabrick above ground So those Christians that lay a foundation low in humility they are likely to rear up a most beautiful Building in way of comfort Secondly Improve the grace of faith in believing and that is the way to increase comfort 1 Peter 1.8 Whom though you have not seen yet believing you rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Though they did never see Christ yet believing in Christ and improving their faith they had not only an ordinary measure of comfort but they had more comfort in their hearts then they could utter with their Tongue They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory So Rom. 15.13 The God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in Believing that you may abound in hope through the holy Ghost Believing makes you full of all joy and makes you abound in it The more you are in Believing the more you will be in assurance Thirdly Improve the grace of love to Jesus Christ John 14.23 If any man love me my Father shall love him and we will come in unto him and make our abode with him That is If you improve in your love to Jesus Christ God the Father and God the Son will make their dwelling in your hearts Now he must needs be a comfortable Christian that hath so good a guest as God the Father and Jesus Christ to come in and make their abode with him As you know to your bosome-friend whom you love and you know loves you you will communicate all your secrets Thus will God the Father if hee knowes you are his bosome-friends and seeth you love him he will communicate all his comforts to you you shall never want comforts if you increase in love to Jesus Christ Fourthly Improve the grace of godly sorrow you will never finde sweeter musick in comfort then when you are laid down in teares As the sound of the Trumpet is never more pleasant then when they are upon the water so when God seeth you flow with the water of repentance and godly sorrow then you are likely to hear the most melodious harmony in the apprehension of Gods love Psal 126. They that sowe in tears shall reap in joy You shall not onely have a dram but a handfull of joy as Reapers they cut down handfuls of corne at once And as you know in seed though you sowe but one grain of corne there may a dozen eares come from that one seed so if you sowe but a little godly sorrow a grain of godly sorrow may be a root to a great deal of spiritual joy Secondly If you would improve your assurance preserve a clear conscience both towards God and man A good conscience is a continual feast Prov. 15.15 Assurance I may say of it as a Father speaks of the Holy Ghost Res delicata est Spiritus Dei and the comforts thereof The Spirit of God is a
T. Cross Sculpsit A TREATISE OF EFFECTUAL CALLING AND Election In XVI SERMONS On 2 PET. 1.10 WHEREIN A Christian may discern whether yet he be effectually Called and Elected And what course he ought to take that he may attain the Assurance thereof Preached by that faithful Servant of CHRIST Mr. CHRISTOPHER LOVE late MINISTER of Lawrence Jury LONDON LONDON Printed for John Rothwell and are to be sold by John Clark entering into Mercâ—rs Chappel at the lower end of Cheapside 1653. TO THE Reader Good Reader IT 's a true saying that the Assurance of an eternal life is the life 〈…〉 temporal life The Apostle◠〈…〉 that if in this life only we 〈…〉 in Christ we were of all men most â—â—â—â—rable None being exposed to so many troubles and tribulations in this life aâ— the best Christian And what could sustain and beare us up under them all but the certain hope and expectation of a better Resurrection This makes Christians glory in tribulation despise all the glory of the world run as swiftly in wayes of duty as the charets of Amminadab in a word to enjoy a Heaven upon earth They therefore are the greatest enemies of a Christians comfort that teach a doctrine of doubting that a Christian must alwayes hang in suspense about his eternal state and can never arrive to any certainty whether he shall be saved or no. But as this assurance is excellent so is it hard to come by Difficilia quae pulchra 'T is not to be obtained without a great deal of labour and diligence 'T is usually the fruit of much prayer and care and humiliation and long-waiting those that come by it so easily and get it so soon have great cause to suspect that their assurance is not of the right kinde Carnal security and presumption is easily attained but Christian assurance not without great difficulty 'T is therefore much to be lamented that there is so little diligence used for obtaining the assurance of our effectual Calling and eternal Election which is of such great concernment to every Christian What care do men take what diligence do they give to make sure their lands and goods and worldly estates They cannot be at rest till they have secured these But upon what uncertainties do they venture the salvation of their precious and immortal souls They run the most desparate hazards of their eternal salvation never consider whether they are in the way to heaven or hell until they drop irrecoverably into the bottomlesse pit Oh what a strange madnesse possesseth the mindes of men that they should look no more to their own safety that they think it wisedome to secure every thing except their own soules What evil have they deserved of you that you should neglect them so much The designe of this Treatise is to awaken men from their security and to stirre them up to give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure It was handled by the Author as a just Consectary from the doctrine of the Glory of Heaven and the Torments of Hell which Treatise is already published as appears in the Introduction to this discourse That seeing there is such glory prepared for the Elect and such torments for the reprobate it concerns every Christian to give all diligence to make sure to himself that he shall attain the one and escape the other So that these three Treatises have dependance upon each other and together make up one compleat Systeme In this last thou wilt finde many practical cases handled of great soul-concernment both for the comfort of such as are sincere and the discovery of those that are unsound If thou shalt reap any profit by the perusal hereof let God have the praise and let them have thy prayers who are Ready to spend and be spent for the good of thy soul EDMUND CALAMY SIME ON ASHE JEREMIAH WHITAKER WILLIAM TAYLOR ALLEN GEERE OF THE ASSURANCE OF OUR VOCATION AND ELECTION SERMON I. 2 PETER 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure TO give you an account why I pitch'd upon these words it is briefly thus Having spent seventeen Sermons in treating of the Glory of Heaven for the Elect and of the Torments of Hell for the Reprobate I deem'd it most meet to shut up those two Doctrines in the prosecution of this Subject of the Assurance of our Election and Vocation that so if this Doctrine be well improved you may have establishment in your own hearts that you are freed from the torments of the Damned and may be confident you shall be stated into the Glory of Heaven which God hath provided for all his Saints And to the end you might have assurance that you shall be freed from the one and shall enjoy the other you must make it your work according to the words of my Text to make your Calling and Election sure Make but that sure and you are sure of Heaven This is the reason why I pitch'd upon this Subject And it is my care in preaching the Word not to chuse those Texts that are most for my ease in study but for your profit in hearing that so one Subject might back another and one Subject might strengthen another and being put together might more serve for your edification and knowledg I shall not stand long in Prefacing All that I have to do in the managing of these words are these three things 1. To shew you the scope and dependance of the words 2. The sense and meaning 3. To draw out those practical Observations which naturally flow from them And then apply the Observations deduced For the scope and dependance of these words you may discern it lies thus Peter who is called an Apostle of the Circumcision that is an Apostle whose work and Office it was to preach to the Circumcised Jewes as it was Paul's Office to preach to the uncircumcised Gentiles he writ this Epistle to the dispersed Jewes that were scattered throughout the world through Pontus Asia Cappadocia Galatia and Bythinia Whence observe Gods people are a scattered people And to them he writes that though they were persons living in different places yet they had the same faith Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith So that you see the Spirit of God where it works in men though they live in different places yet they shall all believe the same Truth and all receive the same Faith Though different in Language yet but one God and one Faith The Spirit of God wrought the same Faith among those scattered Christians And the Apostle writing to these Jewes he begins his Epistle first by way of Salutation ver 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you 2. He writes by way of Consolation ver 4. telling them that they are Partakers of the Divine Nature that they are call'd to Glory and shall enjoy all the Promises of the Gospel These are
minde the dayes of old and the yeers of many generations Call to minde ancient dayes did not God shew thee his face did not God bear thee in the palmes of his hands did not God give thee many a smile of his countenance and many a pledge of his love even by affliction it selfe did not God set many a seal upon thy heart that thy comforts were true thy evidence clear and thy ends sincere towards God Beloved call to minde the former frame of thy spirit how thou wast in wonted times and this Meditation being backed by Gods Spirit may bee a great means to restore thy comforts to thee past goodnesse should be present encouragement Thirdly Meditate what way it was that you got your former comforts and assurance Ex quo gignimur eo dem nutrimur and the same way God will sanctifie to restore you your comforts again What Physicians say of the body We are nourished of those things of which wee are begotten and generated So I say of comforts The very same thing that begot comforts the same will restore your comforts againe Now think upon this in your practice and consider What way did I gaine my comforts in yeeres past did I gaine my comforts by godly sorrow and by lamenting after God and by mourning over those abominable failings in my practice now take the same course to restore thy evidences Go and mourn in thy Closet over thy uneven walking before God Go lament for thy sinnes mourne after thy Father and tell him thou art grieved at the heart that he is so great a stranger to thy soule Didst thou gain thy assurance in dayes past by humbling thy soule often before God Set upon humbling work again Didst thou gain thy comforts in dayes past by walking closely with thy God Amend thy paths and direct thy wayes unto thy Maker for dayes to come There is the very same way to restore your comforts that was at first to gain your comforts Fourthly Let your Meditations work upon those comforting Promises in the Gospel that hold forth most comfort to a dejected soule And truly I am perswaded Christians Meditations running more upon their own failings and their own jealousies and their own mistakes then upon Gospel-Promises hath been the great occasion they have layen so long under a spirit of bondage and under a dark eclipse in the want of the comforts of Gods Spirit Therefore now let your Meditations work upon those Promises that hold forth most comfort to a dejected and deserted soule And here I shall name five or sixe most comfortable Promises in the Word As Esa 57.15 The Lord that dwells in the high and holy places he doth revive the spirit of the humble and of the contrite one So Esa 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 them that are of 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 Esa 66.10 The Lord will restore comfort to thee and to thy Mourners And Heb. 12.12 The Lord will strengthen the weak hands and feeble knees And with that remarkable and most glorious Gospel-promise I shall end Esa 35.3 4 5 6. Strengthen the weak hands and confirme the feeble knees This saith God to weak Christians whose legs can hardly carry their bodies and their hands hardly reach to their mouthes Say unto the weak Christian in grace comfort and confirm and strengthen them And say unto them that are of a fearfull heart Be strong Poor fearful doubting soules that fear every Temptation and fear every corruption and fear 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 bee open and the eares of the deafe shall bee unstopped it is not meant of the bodily eye but those that were blinde and could not see the mysteries of Christ and could not read their own comforts then their eyes shall be open And the deaf that as Esaiah 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 man shall leap like a Hart the poore 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 owne graces and of his own comforts and touching his own evidence the Tongue of the dumb shall sing O Beloved here is your work in case you would bee Christians to restore your comforts againe set upon the work of Meditation to think upon these precious promises of the Gospell that hold forth most comfort to a drooping and dejected sinner SERMON XII 2 PETER 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 deale of diligence to make this sure to their soule that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ to Grace and Glory In the prosecution of which I have gone over many particulars Vse 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 effectuall Calling I shall onely 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 onely as physick is to the body A man cannot live without food a man may live without Physick Assurance is but as a comfortable Cordiall to the soule Grace is as food to keep the soule alive though you doe want assurance this Cordiall to beare you up Secondly that many of Gods deare Children they may lie a very long time in the want of this assurance touching their effectuall calling Psal 88. it is said of Heman 14 15 16 verses Lord why hast thou cast off my soule and why hast thou hid thy face from me Mark his complaint I am ready to die And was this onely a fit of desertion or was it a
cannot stand together Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth alwaies Now if a man must alwaies feare then the most a man can have is hope and so hang between hope and feare all our daies To which I answer That the fearing alwaies which Salomon annexed blessednesse unto is not meant of the feare about a mans election but onely a feare to sinne against God And if you ask me how that appeares read the whole verse Blâ—ssâ—d is the man that feareth alwaies but he that hardens his heart shall runne into mischiefe Now mark by the Antithesis it is apparent that feare there is not a feare of our everlasting estate but onely a feare in opposition to hardnesse of heart in wicked men that goe on in a course of sin Another place they urge is 1 Cor. 10.12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall Now say they the Scripture tells us that every man though never so firm as he thinks about his election yet he must take heed he may fall from grace and be damned for all this Now by way of answer to this I would lay down two things First The Apostle doth not speak of men that have a grounded assurance of their election but to men that lie in carnall security and have deluded perswasions of their good estate and this appeares by the Text for he saith let him that thinks he stands He doth not say let him that stands for he cannot fall but he that thinks he stands Those men that nourish presumptuous and ungrounded perswasions that they are in a good estate and in a happy condition let them take heed lest they fall Secondly the falling here is not meant a falling away from grace or a falling away finally after election for that is impossible but it is onely meant of a falling into sinne and so the meaning is this Let him that thinks he stands i. e. that thinks he is strong in grace and stands upon his own legs let that man take heed lest he fall into sinne Now a man may take heed of falling into sinne yet no way question his assurance And if you aske how I make it appeare that this is the intendment and scope of the place I answer by the Context Read the foregoing verse Let not us tempt Christ as they tempted him let not us murmur as some of them murmured for these things hapned to them for ensamples and are written for our admonition Therefore let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall As much as if he should say you have here seen some men fall into sinne you have heard some men murmur some men tempt Christ this should make you affraid lest you fall into sinne and suffer the punishment they did But what is this to the denying of assurance that men cannot be assured of their election Another place they urge also is Phil. 2.12 worke out your salvation with feare and trembling Now say they if a man must work out and carry on the businesse of his salvation with feare and trembling then surely a man can never be assured in this life of his election To which I answer That feare and trembling there spoken of is not a feare and trembling in opposition to the assurance of our election but in opposition to that carnall security and sinfull dependance upon our own strength This is apparent in the next words For it is God that worketh in you the will and the deed And therefore because you have no strength of your own and no power of your own to doe any thing therefore feare and tremble in that regard Secondly feare and trembling may very well be consistent with this grace of assurance for we read Psal 2.11 Rejoyce in the Lord with trembling You may feare and yet rejoyce also So Psal 5.7 As for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare I will worship towards thine holy Temple Here is feare and confidence in the mercies of God joyned together to shew that feare and assurance may very well be consistent each with other But then they object how can this be for John saith that perfect love casteth out feare I answer that though John saith perfect love casteth out feare yet John doth not say that imperfect love casteth out feare Now in this life our love is imperfect and therefore mixt with feare but in heaven our love is perfect and so casts out all feare So that still this makes nothing against us but that a man may have a grounded assurance of his eternall election Another place they object is Rom. 11.20 Be not high minded but feare To this I answer These words are not spoken of fearing our election that we should feare whether we are elected or no. But serves to beate down any opinion of our own righteousnesse as if we were therefore accepted of God and to keep us from insulting over the rejected Jewes now that we are taken in in their room One Scripture more whch indeed is the main pillar they rest upon is Rom. 11.34 Who hath known the minde of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor Here say the Papists the Scripture challengeth any man in the world to come forth and say that he knowes Gods mind by Gods mind is meant Gods decree And here Paul challengeth all that no man knows the decree of God from eternity Therefore if no man knows the mind of God then certainly none know their own election for that is Gods mind and Gods decree this they hold an undeniable argument And here to satisfie you in this Scripture I shall lay down three things First When it is said No man knows the mind of God nor no man is his Counsellor this doth hold true that no man knows the mind or decree of the Lord touching other mens election The Apostle doth not speak this as if no man knew Gods minde about his own but about other mens election who are elected and who are not for that is the scope of the place The Gentiles they thought all the Jewes were damned men and they censured and vaunted over them Now saith Paul None knows Gods mind concerning others whether they shall be saved or damned while they are in this world Secondly no man knows the mind of the Lord in this sense that is so as to give a reason of Gods decree why God did decree this and decree that why God did chuse Peter and not elect Judas no man knows the reason of Gods decree and of his waies Thirdly No man knows the mind of the Lord that is no man knows Gods decree by looking upon it alone but by bringing down Gods secret will to his revealed will and so we may know his decree I may make use of that place Rom. 10.8 Let no man say I will ascend up to heaven to fetch Christ thence but what saith the word the word is night thee even in
thy mouth Trust to that As if he should say Let no man think to know Gods decrees by going into heaven and there searching into Gods decrees for that he cannot doe but look upon the word and there he shall finde whom God hath elected and decreed to save 1 Cor. 2.16 No man can know by looking barely upon the decree but if we compare Gods decree with his word and from the word look upon them that are elected we may easily know whether we are elected or no. Which puts me upon the third head premised How a man may be assured in his own soule that he is elected to life and salvation by God the Father SERMON XIII 2 PETER 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure IN the prosecution of this subject you may remember the last Doctrine I drew forth was this That Christians should put forth a great deale of diligence to make this sure to their soules that they are eternally elected by God the Father In the handling of which I have shewn you 1. what election is 2. That the people of God may make sure their own election though done from all eternity I come now to shew you how the people of God may be assured in their own hearts that they are eternally elected And here to compasse this knowledge or assurance of our election I doe not onely carry it so farre as the Papists doe that say you may have a perswasion which they call fides conjecturalis a conjecturall faith or hope you may be saved but will not come up so farre as the words of my Text to be sure of it Now should a man use no more then the words of the Text in that it is pressed as a command it is an argument it may be made sure to a mans own selfe For no man is bound to an impossible thing Nemo tenetur ad impossibile and in that it is a thing required to be assured of our election the Scripture would never oblige our obedience to that which is impossible in it selfe I doe not drive so farre onely but further What should an elect man doe to be certainly perswaded that he is eternally elected by God to obtain life and salvation I am now handling a doctrine to be trembled at while you are attending to it And in the resolving of this query you must take this rule that you cannot get assumnce by ascending into Gods decree but by descending into your own hearts searching them by the word whether those saving effects which God doth work in an elect person be wrought in your soules or noâ— and that is the way to come to a sure and certain knowledge of your election The knowledge of your election is not attainable by ascending into Gods decree for who hath made you his Counsellors Nor is it enjoyned you by way of Revelation That is an unsure ground and you may runne into Enthusiasme as well as perswasion about your election It is not done by Revelation neither against nor without the word What ever testimony there is if it come not from the word you may suspect it to be a delusion Now the safest way though I know much cried down for you to goe by in searching whether you are in the number of Gods elect is to search into your own hearts whether those things be wrought in you which are wrought in those whom God hath elected to life and salvation And here I shall content my selfe with the naming of six saving effects First every man that is elected sooner or latter shall be effectually called and savingly converted by the power of the word This the Apostle laies down 1 Thes 1.4 5. Knowing brethren beloved your election of God How should this be known Vers 5. For our word came not to you in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost that is our Gospel did not come in word onely to affect your eares and rest there but our word came with power being backt with the operation of the Spirit for your conversion This work all men that are elected sooner or latter must come under to have the power of the word come with authority upon Conscience for his effectuall calling So Rom. 8.30 Whom he predestinated whom he appointed to life them he called And therefore Beloved who ever you are if you live and die without having the power of the Word to passe upon your soule for your effectuall Calling you may lay your hearts under this Conclusion that you are not elected by God to obtaine life and salvation For Whom he hath predestinated them he calls Secondly a man that is elected by God to life sooner or latter God will sanctifie him by renewing and regenerating grace And this is onely different from the former in degree for calling is sanctification begun Now when God elects a man he doth not onely begin the work of grace but he carries it on in a course of sanctification And of this you read 2 Thes 2.12 13. We are bold to give thanks to God alwaies for you beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beliefe of the truth If God hath from the beginning chosen a man to salvation the Lord doth it through sanctification not for sanctification as the Papists say or for faith forseen but it is through it as a means whereby we are brought to salvation sanctification shall runne through your lives as water through a channel So 1 Pet. 1.2 They that are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by Christ through sanctification So 2 Tim. 2.21 And therefore beloved if men live and die and have not the power of sanctifying grace upon their hearts and consciences and working in their lives doubtlesse those men are not elected because this you see clearly that at one time or other God will work this in such men Jude 4. Thirdly men elected by God to life and salvation shall sooner or latter be brought into a state of believing Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternall life believed No man that is ordained to eternall life but shall be brought to a believing estate And therefore men living and dying in a state of unbeliefe are not elected Hence you read Tit. 1.1 it is called the faith of Gods elect implying that all that are elected before they die shall have faith and none shall have faith but onely they and therefore in a peculiar manner called the faith of Gods elect appropriated onely to them Fourthly That man that is elected sooner or latter before he dies God will work in his heart a speciall delight in and an intire love to the word preached This you have expressed John 8.47 He that is of God heareth Gods word therefore ye are not of God because you heare not his words To be of God that is to belong to God
by election Now he that is of God God will in time make him heare his Word with delight and love but he that takes no delight therein is not elected of God 1 John 4.5 6. Fifthly The Lord will sooner or latter work in the heart of an elect man love to the people of God and compassion to those who are not the elect and chosen ones of God Col. 3.12 Put on as the elect of God bowels of mercy and loving kindness The Apostle there by the manner of phrase doth seem to intimate thus much Put on as the elect of God c. As if it were a thing ordained to and inseparable from an elect man after his effectuall calling that he should have bowels of mercy towards those that are not called and that he should have loving kindnesse towards those that are called For a man that is once elected and hath the execution of that decree in effectuall calling it is proper to him to have bowels of mercy Sixtly God will sooner or latter work an elect man into a new course of living and of obedience from what he had in times past 1 Pet. 1.2 You are elected according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification to obedience that though you were disobedient before serving divers lusts yet God if he hath chosen you will bring you into a course of obedience Rom. 8.29 He hath predestinated us What to doe that we might be conformable to the image of his Sonne God intends that that person whom he chooseth to life should be conformable to Jesus Christ and that he shall live another manner of life then before that though he hath formerly been subject to sinne and Satan yet then he shall walk in waies of obedience to Jesus Christ Thus having briefly finisht these heads I have onely foure or five cautions to lay down to bound what hath been said within the limits of truth As First Take notice that these six effects doe not extend to children who die while they are children but to men and women that are grown to yeers A child that cannot act reason as he is a child cannot have any of these particulars wrought in him at least in that way and manner men of yeeres have A child as it is an infant hath not conversion in that way a man hath though it hath somewhat equivalent to it as somewhat like sanctification and somewhat like that faith men of yeeres have but what that is and how wrought man cannot determine In pressing of this therefore I say it doth not extend to children who die in their infancy but onely to men come to yeeres of discretion if they live and die without the having of these six effects they may conclude they cannot be elected Secondly that the want of these six particulars for a time is no Argument of a mans non-election for before conversion which is Gods first dealing with a sinner an elect man may be as vile and as bad as any wicked man alive As the Apostle Paul tels us Titus 3.3 In times past we were also disobedient and served divers lusts and lived in pleasure and excesse c. So 1 Tim. 1.12 So that the want of this for a time is no argument of a mans non-election for then it would follow a man unconverted is no elect man which would crosse the whole tenour of Scripture But a man living and dying without these doth not belong to the election of grace Thirdly I doe not presse the having of these effects actually if you have them habitually My meaning is this A man may be elected and yet may not act any thing answerable to effectuall calling nor act with any delight and love to the word nor act any thing in a way of sanctification yet if you have these habitually in the habit of them these may be testimonies or evidences of election Fourthly I doe not presse the having of these effects sensibly to be an evidence of election if so be you have them really There are many men have these really when they have them not in their own apprehension Fifthly I doe not presse the having of these effects gradually so you have them sincerely My meaning is this that a man may be elected yea and he may not onely be chosen in Gods eternall decree but the execution of that decree may be passed upon him that he may be effectually called and yet he may not have all these six effects in a great measure in the highest degree yet he may have them sincerely and so be a pledge to his own heart of his eternall election And thus having finished this third Query I come now to enter upon another depending upon the former which indeed is a very dreadfull subject and a point to be trembled at while it is handling and that is this what probable guesse may be given of a man that he is not within the compasse of Gods election This is a very high point and must be handled with a great deale of seriousnesse and sadnesse it being a point concerning the salvation or damnation of all the men upon earth And therfore I would intreat you to look about you Gods decrees they are in Heaven and it is onely a reall work of grace upon your hearts on earth that can give you evidence that those decrees are for good to you As good wrought is an evidence of Gods purpose to save you so the contrary work may be an evidence of Gods purpose never to save you but of leaving you without the compasse of his eternall election There can be nothing laid down absolutely and certainly yet there may be many probable guesses given of the men that are not within the compasse of Gods election Of which I shall name but six or seven sorts And I wish to God that none of you that are before the Lord this day have your names written in this black book lest you have just cause to feare your names are not written in the booke of life First That man that fals back from a course of profession to a course of prophanenesse without timely returning the Scripture gives a shrewd guesse of such a man that he is not within the compasse of Gods purpose to save I doe not say every backsliding and every decaying affection but a totall and finall relapse when a man falls and riseth not againe when a man runs from God and returns not again the Scripture gives a guesse at him that he is not within the compasse of Gods election Heb. 10.38 39. If any man draw back my soule shall have no pleasure in him Interpreters observe that in these words there is a figure wherein there is lesse expressed then is intended My soule shall have no pleasure in him It is as much as if God should have said My soule shall hate or I will exceedingly hate him But we are not of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of