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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88594	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.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edward, 1600-1666.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682,	1653 (1653)	Wing L3178; Thomason E696_1; ESTC R202781	182,095	256

though they wanted these poor outward comforts they did not want Christs comfort and Christs graces and therefore when they had neither purse scrip nor shoos they wanted nothing Why O Beloved if you were of the temper of these gracious Disciples you would say so too that if you can find a grounded and real interest in Christ though you want many of the Comforts of this world you will say you want nothing Wanted yee any thing and they said Nothing 5. You that make povertie and persecution a plea Consider this that the poor are ordinarily the most people that Jesus Christ doth cal to imbrace his Gospel The poor receive the Gospel saith Christ and blessed are you that are not offended at it Not many wise not many noble are called but the poor things of the world hath God chosen 1 Cor. 1.26 And in James God hath chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith Do not therefore Beloved make this a plea to keep off from Christ because ordinarily they are the people Christ pitcheth most love upon and doth delight to make them rich in grace who are poor in goods 6. Consider That if upon this ground you refuse the call of Iesus Christ you are exposed to more Povertie and to worse persecution then ever you could be exposed to in the entertaining of Christ In the following of Christ you are only exposed to an outward povertie but in neglecting the cal of Christ you are exposed 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 poor man that God hates he that hath not Christ and hath not the treasures of heaven in him he is exposed to worse povertie a thousand times then he can be for embraceing the cal of Iesus Christ Rev. 3.17 Yea and he is exposed to worse persecution also that for fear of persecution neglects Iesus Christ Psal 83.5 The Lord will persecute them saith David with furie and wrath speaking of wicked men All persecution from man reaches but to the body but this from God reacheth to the soul 7. And then lastly This should not hinder you from following Iesus Christ considering that though you should be poor and should be persecuted yet heaven wil make you amends for al Heb. 11.35 Heavē wil make amends for poverty when you are indowed 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 poverty 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 call of Jesus Christ I have laid down and answered three already 4. Now there is one suggestion more when the Devil sees neither 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 will entertain the call of Christ you will abridge your selves of all the joy and comfort of your lives you will never have merry daies while you live upon earth You see men that pretend to be converted and do 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 wais of Christ are sad and melancholy waies which hath been an aspersion that from age to age 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 great Engines Antichrist useth to support and uphold his Kingdome 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 aspersion 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 and 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 and gladnes 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 indowments 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 alwaies again I say rejoyce The Apostle would not speak it to them with a single command but doubles 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 do 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

There are many profitable points to be handled in the dispatch of this Doctrine I shall onely in this remnant of time prosecute a few And first I shall shew you what election is Secondly whether a man may be sure of his own election seeing election is an act from eternity How can a man be sure of that which was done in Gods counsell before we had a being Thirdly by what discoveries may a man infallibly judge that he is elected Q. 1 In the discussion of this doctrine I begin with the first What election is A. Which that you may know I shall lay down this briefe description of it Election is an eternall decree or purpose of God whereby he hath freely chosen out of the masse of mankind a small company of men and women that shall come to everlasting life and salvation by Jesus Christ This is election And here in this description there are these things to be taken notice of First I call it an eternall purpose because though a man be not justified from eternity yet he is elected from eternity God from eternity had a purpose that man should be justified and should be called and should be saved Election is from eternity though vocation justification and glorification be not so Hence you read in Scripture when it speaks of election Eph. 1.4 He hath elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world But it is never said so of Justification God had a purpose to make us happy and a purpose to call us in time and a purpose to justifie us from eternity though the acting of this purpose is in due time fulfilled Secondly I call it a purpose whereby he doth freely chuse And this I doe in opposition to that Papisticall Tenet that God doth predestinate or elect men to salvation upon the foresight of good works A most abominable opinion and takes off the freeness of this act of Gods election 2 Tim. 1.9 Not according to our works but according to his own purpose grace Eph. 1.5.11 so I say thirdly Whereby God doth freely chuse out of the masse of mankind a few to obtaine life and salvation In opposition to those that hold for universall Redemption and universall Grace As Origen and from him many more have been tainted with this errour to hold Election universall And so many of the Papists Now the Scripture tels us that many are called but few are chosen Election signifies a choice now a choice the very word imports a rejecting of some and a culling out of others The word Election imports that all shall not be saved Origen held this that all men should be saved that Election shall extend to every man Yea the very divels at the day of judgement shall be saved which is an opinion among Christians not to be named for Election belongs but to a few Fourthly I say that t is to bring them to eternall life and salvation therefore called ordination to eternall life Act. 13.48 Q. 2 Secondly Whether may a Christian in this life be assured of his eternall Election for as much as Election was done in the decree of God before ever he had a being or the world was Therefore seeing we are not privy to Gods decree and counsell how can it be said that we may know and be assured of our Eternall Election Indeed the Papists they beat down this doctrine And hence it is that in the Councell of Trent there was this Canon made that if any man should say he was bound to believe that he was of the number of them that God hath predestinate or elected to life let him be an accursed man They did endeavour to beat down assurance and held that all that a man could have must be onely a conjecturall assurance or some kinde of hopes of salvation and no other Now that you might not erre in this point see what the Scripture speaks in this case That though Election be an act of God from eternity yet a believer may firmly and fully know his own election And this I shall make good by severall places of Scripture Read Luke 10.20 Rejoyce not saith Christ to his Disciples that you have power to cast out divels that they are subject to you but rejoyce rather in this that your names are written in the book of life That is rejoyce not that you can work miracles that wicked men can doe that are not elected but rather rejoyce that your names are written in the book of life that is that in Gods decree you are elected to salvation Now how could they rejoyce unlesse they knew this So 1 Thes 1.4 Knowing brethren beloved your election of God The Apostle takes it for granted that believers did know they were elected So Ephes 1.3 4 5. The Lord hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the soundation of the world was having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Many more Scriptures I might urge but in the mouth of two or three witnesses it is enough to confirme every truth But now though the Scripture be thus cleare yet there are some objections that seemingly oppose this truth which I must satisfie The Papists as farre as I have read in their writings I finde five objections they draw from Scripture against this truth that a man may be assured of his Election for say they it was an act of Gods done before we had a being and how can we be assured of that I will therefore beloved first produce those Scriptures that they pretend wil overthrow this point and then take off what seems to make against it The first Text they urge is 1 Pet. 1.17 Passe the time of your sojourning here in feare This Scripture say they bids us passe our time in feare and if so then we cannot be assured of our election but we must feare all the daies of our life whether we are elected or no. To this I shall answer briefly You must know the feare that the holy Ghost here presseth that men should passe their time in feare is not meant of a feare about our election but it is meant of a feare of sinne that we must not sinne against God but feare God and feare to provoke God by our sinne And if you ask how this appeares I make it appeare plainly thus for vers 18. it is said Knowing beloved that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ c. Now this verse proves clearly that they knew they were redeemed by Christs bloud and so by consequence knew their election Therefore the Apostle did not presse a feare to beat down the knowledge of their election but passe your time in feare i. e. feare to offend God and feare to sinne against him Another objection they urge is this The Scripture say they doth often commend feare to us and surely feare and assurance

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

Gods decree be changeable Gods essence and nature were so also election being nothing else but God himselfe chusing for every thing in God is God And this the Scripture tels us is farre from him for there is no variablenesse or shadow of change in God Jam. 1.17 Isa 46.10 Mal. 3.6 Secondly if the elect could perish then Jesus Christ should be very unfaithfull to his father because God the father hath given this charge to Christ that whomsoever he elected Christ should preserve them safe to bring them to heaven Now should not this be accomplished Christ would be unfaithfull to his father John 6.39 This is the fathers will which hath sent me into the world that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but that I should raise them up at the last day This is the will of God to save many by Christ Now should not this be made good Christ must needs be unfaithfull to the Commission of his father Thirdly should this be true then Pauls golden chaine should be broken Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he calls whom he calls them he justifies whom he justifies them he glorifies Now should this chain break that whom he elects them he calls whom he calls them he justifies and there cease as the Papists hold and men be after damned then the great and many links would be lost that whom he justifies them he glorifies and so bring an absurdity upon the Scripture thereby Now to answer some texts of Scripture they abuse which at first view you would think very plausible to maintain that a man may be an elect man and brought into Christ yet afterward damned The first is John 6.70 Have not I chosen twelve and one of them is a divell Now say they there were twelve chosen or elected and one of them is a divel did perish intimating that men may be elected yet perish for all this To which I answer That there is a double electing First a chusing to some peculiar Office Secondly there is an electing to grace life and glory Now when Christ saith Have not I chosen you twelve it is meant of his chusing of them to an Office to the place of an Apostle to be his disciples Now it is true that man may be chosen to some peculiar office in the Church of God and yet be a perishing and damned man but this phrase hath no relation to the decree of God from eternity onely to a temporall electing of twelve men to a temporall Office to the Office of an Apostle Another Scripture they abuse is Exod. 32.32 it was Moses prayer If thou wilt not saith Moses to God forgive their sinnes then blot my name out of the book of life Now say they the book of life is Gods election and here Moses prayed that God would blot his name out of the book of life Intimating say they a man may be elected and written in that book and yet afterward blotted out and perish To which I answer That this prayer of Moses is onely a wish or supposition as Pauls was when he wisht he were accursed from Christ for his kindred in the flesh Now a man may suppose mountaines of Gold and suppose things that never were nor ever shall be in being bare suppositions put nothing in being so here that Moses makes a supposition in a patheticall prayer this doth no way argue as if his name could be blotted out of the book of life Secondly Rivet he expounds it thus that there is a double book of life The book of life being sometimes taken for the eternall counsell and decree of God as Phil. 4.3 sometimes for the speciall providence of God over men in preserving them among the living So we read Psal 139. In thy book saith David were all my members written meaning not in the book of Gods decree but onely in the book of his providence that all the members of Davids body they were all under the providence of God that none could hurt him And so Rivet with others think that by the book of life here is meant that God would blot out Moses from the book of his speciall protection and let him die as other men rather then this evil should come upon the people of Israel q. d. Destroy my name from among men and doe not protect me any longer Againe they object that in Psal 69.28 It is said Let them be blotted out of the book of life Now say they That is Gods election and to be blotted out implies that a man may be elected and yet perish To this I answer as formerly that the book of life in that place hath no reference to the decree of Gods election but onely to his book of providence that God would not protect wicked men as he doth his own people in a way of providence And other phrases in Scripture will somewhat favour this interpretation As Ezek. 13.9 They shall not be written in the writings of the house of Israel What 's that i.e. let them not any more be thought Israelites nor numbred among the people And Ainsworth I remember compares Psal 69.19 with this place in Ezek. 13.9 and he makes the sence to be one and the same that to be blotted out of the book of life is nothing else then to be out of Gods protection to be blotted out of the catalogue of the living and have ones life in danger to be brought to death And this wish David wished for those wicked men But then they object further from Revel 22.19 If any man shall take away from the words of this book God shall take away his part in the book of life Here say they by book of life is unquestionably meant Gods decree and the Scripture saith they that take any thing from this booke God will blot him out of the book of life and will undoubtedly damne him To which I answer I confesse in this place the book of life is taken for Gods decree and that a man may be said to be blotted out of this book and yet this no way follow that a man elected may be damned And here let me give you Austins words upon the place which is a very cleare and satisfactory answer That a man may be said to be blotted out of the book of life in two regards First it is equivalent to this phrase that his name shall never be written in the book of life And you have often such phrases in Scripture As it is said in Matthew He that doth evill himselfe and teacheth men so to doe he shall be least in the Kingdome of Heaven Intimating not as if he should come to heaven but that he should not come there at all To be least there is never to be there So here To be blotted out is equivalent to this that they were never in Secondly a mans name may be said to be blotted out of the book of life not as if it were there in deed and in

truth but in their own opinion they thought they were elected and thought their names were written there they had strong conceits of this and though they are now deluded and mistaken yet God will make them know one day when they are in hell that their names are blotted out of the book of life Again Another Scripture they abuse is 1 Cor. 10.12 Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall Now say they if it were not possible for a man elected to fall and fall finally to what end is this caution of the Apostle it were a needlesse caution were it not possible to come to passe To which I answer two things First the Apostle doth not say Let him that stands take heed lest c. but the Apostle saith Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall Intimating that men that think they are elected and think they are in a good condition they should take heed lest they miscarry to all eternity Secondly Take heed lest they fall This falling here is not meant a falling from grace finally and falling into hell and perishing but the falling here is onely a falling into sinne and so an elect man should doe An elect man though he stand firm in Gods decree yet he should take heed all the daies of his life that he fall not into sinne And if you aske me how I make that appeare I answer from the context This is a conclusion or caution the Apostle gives upon the enumeration of severall instances of the people of God that in former ages did sinne against God As some that tempted Christ and sell in one day 23000. Others that fell to fornication and provoked him in the wildernesse With many such sins reckoned up and the summe of all is this that seeing they that were Gods people fell into sinne and were punished therefore you that think you stand and think you are elected you should take heed you fall not into sinne as they did And thus I have done with resolving this second query Thirdly whether doth God elect any man to life and salvation upon foresight of his faith or good works foreseeing that this man will believe therefore I elect him to salvation and the other man doth not believe therefore I chuse him to damnation Whether I say doth God in his eternall decree elect any man to life upon foresight of works Here the Papists and Arminians joyne both together in maintaining of this The reason say they why God elects some and not others is because God did foresee from eternity that that man would be holy and would believe in Christ and therefore God elected him to salvation These are the hard imputations they lay to Gods charge And in the resolving of this I shall answer it in the Negative That God in electing a certain number of men to life and salvation did not doe it upon the foresight of any good works he saw would be in them whether Faith Repentance sanctification or any other grace Indeed it is true the Papists many of them doe not grosly say that it was foresight of good works in generall but the foresight of faith only and so the Arminians But now to overthrow this ungrounded opinion First I shall lay down Scriptures to confirm this that God in electing of men to salvation doth not doe it upon foresight of good workes and then lay down reasons and after that take those objections which seem to darken this truth First for the Scriptures that confirm this we have Rom. 11.5 He hath saved a remnant according to the election of grace Intimating that the remnant that are saved it is onely of grace not of foreseen works So Eph. 1.5 11. He hath elected us according to the good pleasure of his own will Gods meere good will was the impulsive cause of mans election and nothing in man So likewise Rom. 9.11 That Gods election might stand not according to our works but according to the good pleasure of him that called us So 2 Tim. 1.9 Not of works but according to his own purpose and grace Upon his good pleasure and his good will to mankind upon that ground election stands But now to adde some reasons why it cannot be that God should determine in his own counsell to save man upon the foresight of his works I shall name three or foure As First because the inferiour priviledges that God bestows upon his people as vocation and justification though they are in actuall being are not for their good works therefore much lesse is election for good works onely foreseen First for Vocation 2 Tim. 1.19 We are called not according to our own works but according to the purpose of his own grace And then for justification we are not justified for works neither Rom. 3.34 We are justified freely by his grace for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified Now if vocation and justification be not for works much lesse is election for works and for works foreseen not in being in us Secondly because then it would follow that children dying in infancy could not be elected● for the child being in the mothers wombe if it hath life it hath a soule and so must either be saved or damned But a child while it is in the womb neither acts good or evill Now if God did elect persons to life upon foresight of works then children dying in the wombe could not be elected because there are no works God could foresee in them And then this would be a very uncomfortable doctrine for parents that have children dying young Thirdly then would man have somewhat whereof to boast before his God as if he could lay claime to salvation from him If God were bound to choose men to salvation upon foresight of good works then man might say I thank not God but I thank my believing and thank my good works for these were the motives for which he chose me to glory and thus would poore man boast against his Maker Fourthly Because God hath elected the worst of men when others that have more naturall worth and goodnesse are passed by 1 Cor. 1.27 28. God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weake things of the world c. and base things of the world and things that are despised hath God chosen c. And Matth. 11.25 I thank thee O Father that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Those that had the greatest worldly wisdome and naturall abilities that most excelled in outward strictnesse and morall vertues are rejected when those that are but babes in understanding who many times are the worst for their moralities are elected which is a cleare demonstration that election is not grounded upon faith or works foreseen for then the best had been chosen before the rest Fifthly Our works carry no proportion to what God hath elected us