another comfort for you that many times election runnes rather to the profaner sort of men then to men that are civill and righteous dealing men here in the world and this God doth to magnifie the riches of his own grace Fourthly that it is no matter what you were before your calling so 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 Adulterer nor envious nor thiefe nor covetous nor reviler shall enter into the Kingdome of Heaven and such were some of you c. Here you see a Catalogue of vile evils heaped together and such were some of you but now you are washed now you are sanctified c. So that no matter what you were before conversion though guilty of great sinnes so you are now a reformed people now a sanctified people Titus 3.3 We our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures and living in malice and envie c. You were so but after the kindnesse and love of God appeared to you after they were called and converted they were not so So that these foure particulars will clearly take off this objection that no matter what you were before conversion if you are now a repentant people and bewaile 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 sinne 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 evills doe no way prejudice your election Secondly if the divell cannot fasten this upon you he will come upon you with this assault viz. your frequent falling into scandalous and foule and grosse enormities after you took upon you a profession of Jesus Christ And this the divell will lay close happily sinne 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 sinnes and surely this is inconsistent with grace and cannot befall 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 maist be within the compasse of Gods election As First that divers persons who were within the compasse of Gods election have fallen foulely into grosse sinnes after their call Lot after he was called fell to be incestuous and fell to drunkennesse David after he was called fell into Adultery Peter after he was called fell to a deniall of Jesus Christ Yea you read of Solomon 1 Kings 11.9 That his heart was turned from the Lord after the Lord had revealed himselfe unto him twice After God had revealed himselfe to Solomon and converted him after that time he did evill against his God Nay you read further Nehem. 13.26 27. That Solomons wives turned away his heart from the Lord though he was the beloved of his God Though he were beloved by God and were elected by him yet his wives turned away his heart from the Lord. The like phrase you have Numb 14.22 After all these great works I have done amongst them and the miracles I have shewn them in Aegypt and in the Wildernesse they have provoked me saith the Lord these ten times After they were the Lords by covenant and after they were a delivered people after this they provoked him many a time by sinning against him and yet divers of them were elect vessels of mercy So that I say many of Gods servants after their calling are fallen foulely into scandalous sinnes and yet have been within the compasse of Gods election Secondly if you falling into grosse and scandalous sinnes have not these foure sinfull ingredients your falling into sinne after calling may be consistent with election First if you fall not into sinne voluntarily Secondly if you fall not into the same sinne frequently Thirdly if you fall not into sinne with complacency And fourthly if you lie not under your fall impenitently If these ingredients be mixed with your sinning after your call they are inconsistent with election First if you fall into sinne voluntarily that you rush into sinne as a horse into the battell Secondly if you fall into the same sinne frequently then it is hazardous and dangerous It is true Peter denied Christ but it was but in one fit of a temptation David fell into Adultery but it was never but once Lot was guilty of drunkennesse but onely in one fit For the servants of God though they fall yet they fall not frequently into the same sinne if grosse and scandalous Thirdly if you fall into sinne with complacency that you take pleasure in the evils you fall into if you doe as Job saith wallow sinne under your tongue counting it sweet and delightsome to you And lastly if all this be joyned with impenitency that you have not a heart to repent of the evils you fal into the Lord have mercy upon you for certainly if you fall into sinne with these ingredients you are not within the compasse of Gods mercy to save But now though you doe fall into sinne if it be not voluntary but through the force of temptation if it be not with complacency but a dislike of the sins you fall into and as soon as you doe fall and see your sinnes you repent and rise again though you doe fall in this way it will be no prejudice to your election Thirdly falling into sinne after calling and profession made of Jesus Christ may be consistent with election in these foure cases First if the sinnes you fall into be clearly discerned Secondly if they are sensibly bewailed Thirdly if they are strongly resisted and lastly if they are daily laboured and prayed against Though you doe fall into sinne yet in these cases sinne will not be damning to you or be an impediment to your election And thus I have done with the second case of conscience Onely let me urge this one thing before I leave it for I would not have you make this doctrine a doctrine of liberty but I would have you lay this to heart that if any of you doe fall foulely after conversion believe it God will make you smart for this though not in hell yet you shall have a hell in your conscience you shall have the very pregustations of hell a wounded conscience and God will expect deep humiliation and great repentance if you sinne after profession made of Jesus Christ It may have that influence upon you as upon David who cried out I have no quietnesse in my bones by reason of my sinne God will give you no rest night nor day by reason of sinne if you runne into it after profession made of Jesus Christ Thirdly men doe doubt
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 will it shall 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 will come with Power by his call and make thee do what he commands thee and make thee imbrace what he cals thee to Did not Jesus Christ use an operative call as well as a significative call 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 call of the Ministry is onely a significative call 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 Answer to the first case Case 2 Secondly What temptations doth the Devil suggest to men who are uncalled that they should not give entertainment to or embrace the call of Jesus Christ unto grace and glory And in answer to this I shall lay down onely four suggestions of the Devil wherewith he entangles a man that he should not yeeld to the call of Jesus Christ And as I lay them down I shall labour to take them away As 1. The first temptation the Devil will suggest is to you that are young men and to you he will suggest that you are yet too young to imbrace the call of Jesus Christ 't will be time enough hereafter and you may do it soon enough hereafter you are too 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 Austin saith that this temptation of the Devil made him keep off for seven years together from embracing the call of Jesus Christ the Devil would still tell him in his heart thou art too young to leave thy Drunkennesse and too young to leave thy Harlots till at last he cryed out How long shall 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 will suggest to you that old and false Proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Whereas indeed if you are young Devils you will be old Beelzebubs And therefore this being a suggestion prevailing with many hearts I shall 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 yet too yong to hearken to Christs call 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 till old age you might then with more safety hearken 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 dye in youth and if you die in youth uncalled you may be damned as well as dead You may be as these men Job 36.14 That shall dye 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 cannot assure you of your lives you have no reason to hearken to his temptation Secondly Suppose the Devil could assure you you should live till 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 dayes that you shall have no heart to think of and imbrace 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 from 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 imbrace the call 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 call till your old age may so provoke God as never to give you hearts to imbrace his call Thirdly Suppose all 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 dayes of your youth have been the more disquietness of mind and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old though you should be called and converted by Jesus Christ Job 13.24 25 26. Thou hidest 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 stubble Now why doth Job complain thus Mark the next words For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Job when he was a young man it seems 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 leaf driven with the wind O beloved the sins of your youth though you should be Jobs converted yet they wil bring great disquietness and great horror when you come to age the lusts of youth and the vanities of youth and the sensual pleasures of your youthful dayes they will 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 call of Jesus Christ seeing sins of youth will fill you with horror and disquietness of mind Hence it is that David after he was call'd by the power of the word cryes 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 call Quae fuerunt inaenia juventut is gaudia haec sunt acerba senectutis gravamina It is the speech of an Author that to look on the pleasurable vanities
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 merrie then when they are at a feast godly men they carry clear consciences about them and that makes them as ioyous and pleasant as if they were alwaies 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 drunkenness and their adulteries and waies 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 wil 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 Psal 126. because it was a sorrow never to be sorrowed for nay it is not only such a sorrow as is not to be repented of but it is a sorrow that laies a foundation to a great deal of future joy They that sow in tears shall reap in joy But now all the joy of wicked men is a joy to be repented of They must repent of all their jovial bouts and repent of all their merrie pastimes this wil be sadness to their remembrance wheras the sorrow of the godly is ne'er to be sorrow'd for Thirdly It is true it may be they are sorrowful but they are sorrowful for sin which you have cause to be that are uncalled as wel as they and more Now if a godly man be sorrowful for sin this wil never prejudice him Indeed Worldly sorrow brings forth death saith the Apostle but godly sorrow brings forth salvation never to be repented of Fourthly It may be they are sorrowful but how is it They are not sorrowful because they are good but they are sorrowful because they are so bad It is not profession makes them sorrowful but it is because they can profess Christ no better and profess him no more zealously this is their sorrow and this sorrow should be in all of us that we can serve God no better and bring God no more glory Fifthly They are sorrowful but it is not for themselves but for thee they are not sorry because they are good but because thou art so bad they are sorry because of thy sins because they see thee an uncalled man stil and they see thee drunk and see thee profane and see thee dishonour God and damn thy soul and this makes them more sad then they would be Lot his righteous soul was vext within him for the wickednesse of the Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.8 And Jeremiah his eyes run down with tears for the iniquity of the people he lived amongst And so Paul I told you before and now tell you weeping there are wicked livers among you that walk not according to the truth Phil. 3.17 18. Paul did not weep because he was miserable but because he saw so many wicked and abominable in their lives So David Psal 119.136 Mine eyes run down with water because men keep not thy Law Ezek. 9.4 And lastly Though you see some men sad and melancholy yet think not ill of the waies of God because this way of all other doth most invite to joy and gladness in the Lord. Rejoyce evermore and again I say rejoyce Phil. 4.4 And John 16. These things I speak saith Christ that your joy might be full In the profession and following of Christ it is the intendment of Christ to give you more joy then ever you had before there is no such cause therefore to entertain a prejudice by the Divels temptation against the waies of Jesus Christ when he cals you to professe his Gospel And thus much be spoken to the second case of conscience in reference to wicked men There is a third case touching men uncalled and that is What delusions doth the Divell deceive hypocrites by to make them nourish presumptuous perswasions that they are effectually called when they are not And I intreat you give me your attentions a little in the dispatch of this material question I shall only lay down four Delusions whereby the Divel deceives many Delus 1. The Divel may delude men by this because they do delight to hear the word preacht therefore the Divel would egg on this perswasion surely your delighting to hear the word and your following of Sermons this must needs be an evidence of your effectual calling And here the Divel would misapply Scripture as John 8.47 He that heareth not my words saith Christ is not of God he that is of God heareth my words Now here thâ— Divel would misapply this Scripture and tel you you that hear Gods word and delight to hear Sermons this can be no other then an infallible evidence of your effectual calling Now I beseech you to follow me in the taking off this delusion and shewing you wherein and in what cases this wil prove but a broken reed unto you And I shall shew you that in five cases hearing the word of God with delight is no evidence of effectual calling but may be a meer delusion of Satan As 1. If your hearing the word be but a bare hearing and not a hearing with practice if you have not practice joyned with what you hear and know your thus hearing the word with delight is no evidence of your effectual calling Ezek. 33.31 They come before thee as my people cometh thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voyce as one that can play well upon an instrument of musick Here the Lord sets forth with what delight they heard Ezekiel preach they heard him as a man that had a very lovely voice and they heard him as a man that plaied upon an Instrument of Musick much delight they took in hearing Yet saith God they hear thy words but do them not Beloved though you take as much delight in hearing a Sermon as to hear the most melodious musick a cunning hand can make yet if you barely hear with delight not joyning practice with your hearing this is no evidence of effectual calling Hence it is James saith James 1.21 Be not hearers of the word only but doers also lest you deceive your own souls Implying that you wil deceive your souls about effectual calling
so troubled he could not speak yet Asaph spake these words with his mouth but the meaning is though Asaph was a godly man yet he was so overwhelmed with trouble he could not speak to God he could not call upon God with that inward vigor of spirit Though thou mayest sometime call upon God with affection yet when trouble rests upon thee thy heart may be out of frame Thirdly many times Gods people are subject to a state of desertion and abatements in their spiritual affections and then they are out of a praying vein when you loose affections the wheels of prayer are knocked off Many times it falls out with Gods people that they are even brought into a languishing and low condition they are in such a swoune as if they had neither a principle nor the actings of spiritual life Rev. 3. verse 2. Strengthen that which remaines saith the holy Ghost that is ready to die Godly people may bee a dying people and then the tongue failes when it is a dying the people of God may be in a dying condition though they never die wholly in grace yet they may be so weakned in their spirits that they cannot poure out their requests to God as in wonted time 2 Chron. 17.3 Jehosaphat he walked in the first wayes of David his father implying that Davids first wayes were better then his last So many men may have their first wayes good yet sometime in the end before they die they may have much failing and deadnesse of spirit upon them Fourthly If a man doth but mourn that he cannot call upon God God looks upon that as calling upon him If you can but sigh out your requests and mourn that you cannot mourn and pray that you might pray the Lord hears your prayer This is the most melodious musick you can make in the eares of God Therefore David saith Psal 6.8 The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping There is a voice in Teares as well as in Words If the Lord see thee to weep over thine own straitnesse and mourn over thine own deadnesse the Lord looks upon this with a more pleasing eye then if thou couldst poure out the inlargements of thy tongue with most fluent and voluble expressions 2 PET. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE Doctrine which 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 gone over many particulars and answered some doubts in reserence to godly men who are effectually called As first in regard of some seeming defects they apprehend to be in the manner of their calling Secondly in the means of their calling And thirdly which I am yet upon of some defects they apprehend about the concomitants that accompany those that are effectually called of which I have spoken onely of one in particular to wit that they cannot call upon God in prayer I now passe to the second Secondly They apprehend that those that are effectually called they have this to accompany their calling that they are brought out of a state of ignorance into a state of knowledge out of a state of darknesse into a state of light hence they will urge this against themselves 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are to shew forth the praises of him who hath call'd you out of darknesse into his marvellous light And Acts 26.18 He sent forth his Word to call them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God Now saith the poor soul Alas I do not finde this concomitant to be in my heart I do not finde this marvellous light the Scripture here speaks of 2 Cor. 4 6. Alas my heart is like a dungeon of darknesse and like a house that hath no inlets no windows to let in the Sun-shine of the Gospel upon it and many times this gravelleth many a godly minde Now to those that make this doubt I shall onely speak two or three things to take it off First to you that make this complaint I would say this that those that know most they know but little in the mysteries of Christ as you are not perfect in other graces so you are not here perfect in knowledg You know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 therefore you have no need to be discouraged at this Secondly and more particularly you that complain of ignorance though you are ignorant and cannot finde that marvellous light shine in your souls which you exspect yet if your ignorance have not these three ill qualities you may rest confident your ignorance will never prove a damning sinne unto you but it may be consistent with your effectual calling As First If you ignorance be not a stubborne and wilfull ignorance Secondly If it be not a sottish and brutish ignorance And thirdly If it be not a fundamental ignorance First If it be not a stubborne and wilfull ignorance Though you are ignorant yet if you are willing to learn and know the wayes of God revealed in his Word such an ignorance will never damne you But when ignorance comes to be wilful that a man doth not know and he will not learne a man is an ignorant man yet he thinks he knows more then all the Preachers can tell him this is a sad signe you are not effectually called Hence you read Prov. 1.22 How long ye simple ones will you love simplicity c Godly people may be in a state of ignorance but they love it not therefore 2 Pet. 3.5 the Scripture tells us of wicked men that they are wilfully ignorant So that if your ignorance have not this bad quality in it to be a stubborne and wilfull ignorance it may stand with your effectual calling Secondly Provided that your ignorance be not a sottish and brutish ignorance that is that you do not so lie clouded in a state of darknesse that you are uncapable to discerne the goodnesse of the Word and uncapable to apprebend any thing that is taught you that you are not like those Jer. 4.22 My people have no understanding they are a sottish people wise to do evil but to do good they have no understanding Many men are ignorant men yet not so sottishly ignorant as not to be capable of learning if you will teach him he is willing to be instructed but some men are so ignorant they are not capable of learning you may as well teach a block as them Hence it is the Prophet complains Esa 1.4 The Oxe knows his owner and the Asse his Masters Crib but Israel knows not the Lord his God Thirdly In case your ignorance be not a fundamental ignorance I mean such an ignorance as not to know those necessary and fundamental points in the Word that must be known if ever you be saved as about Jesus Christ and salvation and justification by his blood and faith in
eclipse your comforts to you Nothing in the world doth so impede your comfort in assurance as incumbring and carking cares about the things of this world Thirdly Take heed you do not harbour the guilt of any one known sin upon your conscience Keeping of sin upon the conscience is a great impediment to your inward comforts You will never be assured while you do thus and therefore if ever you would have assurance remove this It is an observation of Mr Hildersham upon Psal 51.12 14. What doth David do when he prayes for assurance saying Restore to me the joyes of thy salvation establish me with thy free Spirit Restore my comforts and my evidences to me And what course doth he take Read verse 14. Deliver me from blood-guiltinesse O Lord. As much as if he should say All the while that sin lay upon conscience unrepented of as it did for nine monthes together all that while David lost the joyes of the Spirit and lost the comforts of Heaven And therefore when he comes to renew his comforts and restore his assurance he doth with begging of God for assurance beg of God also to deliver him from blood-guiltinesse as knowing that if this sin should be upon conscience unrepented of and unpardoned he should never have the joyes of Gods Spirit restored Beloved you will never have assurance of your effectual calling till your consciences are freed from having sin upon them with approbation It is an observation that Aristotle hath about earth-quakes that they are occasioned by reason of winde got into the Caverns and hollow places of the earth which having no place for vent again it makes ruptures and overturnes houses and mountaines and all before it Sin upon the conscience unrepented of is like winde in the earth it will make a heart quake there that there shall not be that calmnesse and quietnesse and setlednesse of minde which there would be were sinne away Hence we read Esa 33.16 The sinners in Sion are afraid and fearfulnesse hath surprised the Hypocrite The sinners are afraid those who had guilt upon them their sins bred terrour and seare and hypocrites that are conscious to themselves of their own guilt fearfulnesse surprizeth them but the upright and sincere in heart were not so To note that this is a great enemy to inward peace and to assurance about your everlasting estate if so be you harbour sin upon the conscience unrepented of And it is just with God it should be so because if you keep sin in your hearts that will be ever jarring with heaven it is just with God to be at oddes with you Fourthly Avoid the casting of your eye in a way of dejection upon others who are more eminent in grace then you and have got a precedencie of you in the wayes of godlinesse 'T is true indeed a man that is given to spiritual pride and selfe-conceitednesse touching his own goodnesse it is fit that he should look upon those that have a precedencie before him in grace the more to humble him But for a man that lies under trouble of minde and doubtings touching his everlasting estate that man should not look upon others more eminent then he in grace because it will rather increase discomforts then any way work assurance in you If you look upon the glittering beames of the Sun shining in its full strength the more you look upon that orient and resplendent body the more it will dazle your eyes that you can behold but dimly things upon the earth It is so with Christians some Christians they shine like so many Suns in the firmament their graces do so shine and sparkle that if you look upon them they will even dazle your eyes and make you blinde that you cannot see those small scantlings and sparks of grace that are in your own hearts In case therefore you would get assurance avoid the casting of your eye too much upon those that have a precedencie in grace before you Fifthly Take heed you make not sense and feeling the Touchstone to try your effectual calling by sense and feeling will deceive you in the matters of your calling I may allude to that passage in the book of Genesis you know old Isaac was dimme-sighted and by reason of his old age he ran into a mistake by feeling He had Jacob by the hand and by feeling thought it had been Esau Beloved many of us are dimme-sighted in our comforts and in our graces and if we trust to feeling we may be deceived as Isaac was You may think when you have Jacob by the hand I mean grace in the heart that it is but an Esau it is but a reprobate Therefore take heed of making sense and feeling the Touchstone to try your calling by A childe is born yet knowes not that it is born lives yet knowes not that it lives but those about it do so a Christian may be born again live the life of grace and yet not be sensible of it Sixthly Give diligence to remove this hinderance to wit Pride in your gifts and dependance upon your graces Pride and dependance they are not onely murderers of comforts but they murder our graces also and if God sees you swell with pride because you abound in grace he will soon prick that swelling bladder It is the observation of a Modern Divine that exaltings of spirit after assurance attained it will inevitably expose a Christian either to great discomforts or to great sins Hence the Scripture makes mention that Pride of your gifts is not onely an enemy to comfort but an enemy to grace not onely an enemy to the comforts from grace but to the very having of grace Hab. 2.4 If a mans heart be exalted his spirit is not upright within him James 4.6 God resists the proud Job 40.7 and gives grace to the humble So that pride is not onely an enemy to your comforts but to the very getting of grace likewise when the branches of a vine grow luxuriant they shall have the pruning hook And thus you have the first sort of helps laid down to you In case you would get assurance you must use diligence to avoid those things that may be a hinderance to you in getting assurance of your call Secondly A second sort of helps in case you would get assurance is to use diligence in the practice of those things that may be helps and furtherances to the obtaining of assurance about your effectual calling And here I shall name onely six or seven particulars First Exalt arguments of faith against present feelings If so be that you will once enter the lists to dispute with the devil he will out-cavill you and Non-plus you The devil is a cunning Logician and it is not safe saith Dr Preston to argue with the devil the devil will out-dispute and out-argue you It is a Christians work to exalt arguments of Faith against present feelings In case you would get assurance you are to do as Abraham
by good works to make your calling sure whether it be so or no I cannot affirm but this I am sure of and the context will clearly prove it that the way to make your calling sure is to adde grace to grace For after the Apostle had spoken of adding grace to grace he comes in with this Give diligence to make your calling sure Implying that the more you live in the Actings of grace the more you shall live in the enjoyment of comforts Esa 32.17 The works of righteousnesse shall be peace Not the habit but the work if you act righteousness and live in the workings and thrivings in grace this shall be peace and the effect of it quietnesse and assurance for ever So John 16.24 The more you pray the more you increase your joy So that the more you live in the improvement of grace the more likely way you are into get assurance Sixthly If you would get assurance spend more time in strengthening your evidences for heaven then in questioning of them It is the great fault of many Christians they will spend much time in questioning and not in strengthening their comforts They will reason themselves into unbeliefe and say Lord why should I believe why should I take hold of a promise that am so unholy and so unmortified a creature And so by this they reason themselves to such a passe that they dare not lay hold upon Christ whereas it should be your work to reason your selves into Christ as much as you can Labour to strengthen your comforts and reason thus Why should I not believe in Christ Thus David did Psal 42. Why art thou troubled O my soul and why art thou cast down within me Is not the mercy of God more then sin in the creature Is not there free grace where there is guilt Are not there pardoning mercies where condemnation is deserved you should reason up your comforts rather then reason them down and spend more time in strengthening then in questioning of them You would count him a very unwise man that hath a Lease of so much land and he himselfe shall create scruples and doubts and shall use no means to make his title good And truly many Christians are as unwise for heaven They have as I may say good bond and seal that God will bring them to heaven and yet they will question and cavill themselves into unbeliefe Beloved this should not be but you ought rather to strengthen your comforts then question them Seventhly Be diligent in the earnest study of the Covenant of grace Beloved all a Christians doubts arise from ignorance of the Covenant of grace And here that I may speak a little to it I beseech you follow me study the Covenant of grace which if you do you shall discern five particular props in it to bear up your hearts against discomforts and to strengthen you in a way of assurance touching your effectual call First the Covenant of works it commands perfect obedience upon pain of damnation but the Covenant of grace doth command and accept of imperfect obedience if it be sincere there 's your first prop. Secondly the Covenant of works is not contented with good desires unlesse there be good deeds the Covenant of grace accepts the good will and good desires when the deed is wanting and is content with the will for the deed Thirdly the Covenant of works doth require that you should obey the will of God perfectly in your own person the Covenant of grace requires onely that you obey in the person of Christ so Christ obeyes for you it is accepted though you do not Fourthly the Covenant of works requires you to obey the whole will of God by your own strength the Covenant of grace accepts of it though not our own strength but the strength of Christ be put forth in doing any spiritual action Fifthly the Covenant of works requires the performance of the condition before it gives the Promise As Do this and live you cannot live saith the Covenant of works without you do this but the Covenant of grace it first tenders the Promise and then requires the condition Bids you first take Christ and first Believe and then shew forth the effects of faith First lay hold upon the promise and then hold forth and practise the condition of that Promise First believe and first take Christ though thou art unworthy and art a wretched creature if after taking of him thou wilt be consciencious to practise those obligations this lies upon thee and I will accept thee Now would you lay these to your heart to study that vast difference between the Covenant of works and the Covenant of grace doubtlesse these would be great props for your inward comforts 2 PET. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE point of Doctrine I am yet upon in the prosecution of these words is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deale of diligence to make this sure to their soules that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ to grace and glory In the handling of which I have gone over many particulars and resolved several cases of conscience I have yet two cases more to resolve and then shall winde up all in a general use Therefore Fourthly When or at what time doth God fill the soules of his people most with this assurance of their effectual calling And then Fifthly Wherein lies the difference between that assurance a godly man hath of his effectuall calling and those presumptuous perswasions that wicked men have that they are called effectually when they are not First when or at what time doth God give to his people most and strongest assurance of their effectual calling And here in answer to this I shall comprize all I have to say under four heads that in four cases or times God doth usually give to his people most strong assurance First After the Lord hath greatly humbled the hearts of his people and broken them for sinne then doth he usually give in most assurance of a mans effectual calling and of the happinesse of his future condition When you can say as David did Psal 38.3 There is no rest in my bones by reason of my sinne When you can say as the Psalmist doth Psal 51.8 Let the bones which thou hast broken rejoyce Then is the time for God to make you break forth with joy when he hath broken your hearts with sorrow God had broken Davids heart under the sense of that uncleannesse he had committed O saith David Thou hast broken my heart now let my broken spirit rejoyce and God gave him comfort and did restore the joy of his salvation to him You have a phrase Psal 34.18 The Lord it nigh to them that are of a broken heart to save them that are of a contrite spirit The Lord is nigh to them Nigh what to do not onely to give them deliverance from outward troubles but
read 1 Pet. 3.8 9. Be pitiful be compassionate to your Brethren love as Brethren Now upon what ground doth the Apostle presse this compassion Read verse 9. Knowing saith he that you are hereunto called that you should inherit a blessing As if he should say upon this ground I woo you to be compassionate because you are called to inherit a blessing that is you know and are assured that you are a blessed people and you shall be a saved people therefore have compassion on your brethren who are tempted and troubled that you might bring them to the same pitch of comfort you are brought to Eighthly Assurance should be managed with chearfulnesse of heart Assured Christians should be chearful Christians We read Nehem. 2.1 2. That Nehemiah all the while he was before the face of the King and in the presence of the King the Text saith Nehemiah for a long time was not sad the Kings presence did so cheare up Nehemiahs heart Now to this I would allude If the presence and face of King Artaxerxes did make Nehemiah that for a long time he was not sad before him Oh how much more should the face of God and the presence of God in a mans soul and the favour of God towards a man how much more should this keep thee from being sad in Gods presence from a lumpish and Melancholy and sad spirit Thou art in the presence of a King in the favour of God and this should keep thee from being sad and heavy None in the world have greater grounds of joy then those that live in a constant assurance of the love of God towards them It is for condemned men that are condemned to the Gallows to hang down their heads and wring their hands but let the pardoned people of the Lord rejoyce The man that is condemned he hangs down his head but the man that comes pardoned from the barre with what a chearful countenance will that man come you are all a people pardoned by your God you may well be a rejoycing people I remember a passage I have read in D. Halls Works in his Meditations upon the Creatures speaking of a little Bird called Robbin-red-brest that when he was in his study came chirping at the window and leaping upon his book and singing a great while together upon this sight he breaks out into this contemplation O this little silly Bird that doth not know where to pick up the next crum that doth not know where to pitch and rest it selfe for the next night yet behold how chearfully doth this Bird sing when man and a Christian man that knows God to be his Father that hath not only crumbs of ourward blessings but whole morsels of inward comfort and can drink draughts of inward consolation Christians that have a God and a heaven that have Christ and glory yet they cannot be merry as a poor Bird can be and truly it is a good Meditation Many times people that are called by Jesus Christ and have ground and assurance of their everlasting happinesse by him yet they cannot be so merry as a poor Bird will be Birds in the morning will be chirping and singing as if nothing lay at the heart when a Christian is sad and vexing and wearying out his life in discontents and sorrowes this becomes not a Christian Assured Christians they should be chearful Christians Ninthly Assured Christians they should be thankful Christians For one to give a man a promise it is worth thanks but when a man shall not onely give but assure that Promise that he will make it good that is more thanks-worthy Beloved if God had only promised you a heaven and had given no assurance it was thanks-worthy but when God shall give thee his Broad Seal that shall seal thee up to the day of Redemption and when God shall give thee an assurance in thy own brest thou shalt go to heaven and go to God this should much more make thee in thy Spirit blesse thy God It is a speech of the Prophet David My soule blesse thou the Lord for his marvellous loving kindnesse Thou hast kindnesse and thou hast marvellous loving kindnesse My soul blesse God for this David would not keep back Gods praises seeing God would not keep back Davids comforts In heaven we shall break forth into admiration because we have good things in possession here we should break forth into thanksgiving because we have them in expectation And thus I have done with the first part of my direction to you that are assured Christians you should labour first rightly to use your assurance Secondly All you that are assured Christians you are to be directed carefully to keep and preserve your assurance There is no lesse skill saith the Poet to be put forth in keeping vertue Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere parta tueri then in getting of it It is said of Hannibal he was a skilful souldier to get victories but he had no skill to keep them when gotten It may be said so of us Christians can get assurance but they have not the skill to keep it when they have got it This therefore I am now to press that you would be careful to preserve your assurance And here in speaking of this I shall lay down two particulars that in case you would keep your assurance there are some things you must do and some things you must avoid and take heed of First There are some things you must do and those I shall comprize under 2 or 3 heads First In case you would keep assurance you are to keep close in communion with your God in the exercise of the duty of godlinesse The more you keep grace the more you will keep your comforts And here that I may branch out this direction I shall comprize these duties under four heads and shew you from Scripture that keeping close to God in the use of four duties will be a ready way to keep your assurance in you As first keep close to God in the duty of prayer John 16.24 Ask saith Christ and your joy shall be full Ask that your joy may be full implying that if you keep close to God in the duty of prayer after assurance your spirits shall be compleat and full Secondly Keep close to God in the duty of reading the Word often By often reading the Word you will often meet with Promises and supports for your comfort That 's the reason men lessen in comforts because men do not frequently read the Word you cannot read a Chapter but you will finde there a prop for faith and a prop for assurance Keeping constant to the Word and that 's the way to keep your assurance 1 John 5.13 These things have I written to you that believe that you might know that you have eternal life These things have I writ not onely that you have life but that you might know it By reading the writings of John John tells them they might
ingages God to take away comforts from a people As First the sinne of superciliousnesse and uncompassionatenesse 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 sinne of wanting bowels of compassion may bring him to the same estate which he could not compassionate in other men Secondly the sinne of grieving the Spirit if you grieve Gods Spirit God will grieve yours Esa 63.10 Or Thirdly The sinne of spiritual pride ordinarily this may be the sinne Or Fourthly The sinne of worldly-mindednesse or eager pursuit after the things of this world As digging in the earth doth endanger a man to bee 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 Moone between it and our sight so if the world once get between the Sunne of righteousnesse and you it will eclipse the Sunne 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 some necessary and weighty duty and the Lord may bring you upon the stage of discomfort for omission as well as commission If a man doth let but a wound go undressed he may as well die as if you knockt 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 owne 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 pains too much to take no cost too much to give nothing should be irksom to you that God would have you perform in case he would give you your wonted comforts If you finde this temper of spirit in you this is a very ready way to bring on your comforts and restore the joyes of your salvation to you Secondly Set upon humbling work the onely way to gain what you have lost is to mourn over your losses Jer. 31.18 19 20. See how Ephraim comes to have his comforts restored when he wept over his own discomforts I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe saith God and I said Is Ephraim my dear sonne I saw him smiting upon his thigh humbling his soul for his sinnes and since I saw him I do earnestly remember him and I will shew mercy to him Here you see lamenting Ephraim God in the very time of his bemoaning himself restored his comforts to him we hear many lament for their outward losses but who laments for the losse of inward comforts And David after he had lost his comforts by that great sinne of adultery makes seven penitential Psalmes Psalmes of lamentation or repentance and he calls one of them A Psalm to call to remembrance And as an Authour well notes when David came to renew his comforts he makes a Psalm to call to remembrance those sinnes that might provoke God to take away his comforts from him So Beloved let it be your work to make such Psalms in your Closets and make it your practice to call to remembrance those evils that provoke God to eclipse your comforts to you and let that humble you If you cannot find out the Particular sin labour to humble your soules for every sinne and then to be sure you cannot misse that Thirdly Would you restore your wonted comforts then set upon praying work This course you finde David took Psal 51.8 Make me O Lord to hear the voice of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken might rejoyce Create in me a new heart and establesh me with thy free Spirit verse 12. Here you read of Davids praying work how he poured forth his soule in prayer that God would restore to him the joyes of his salvation And here in your praying work I would only cast in three directions First Pray for a distinct sight of those evils that provoked God to take your comforts from you Secondly After you have got a sight bend the strength of your prayers most against those evils that did so provoke God to cloud your comforts Pray against them as against the deadliest enemy you have in the world Thirdly Pray for attaining those graces that may be inlets to spiritual comfort as the graces before named the grace of godlie sorrow the grace of humiliation the grace of faith and of love to Jesus Christ Thus if you set upon searching upon humbling and upon praying work you are in a likely way to have your comforts restored Fourthly Set upon the work of meditation and in this work I shall commend four meditations you are to take into your thoughs which may be very helpful and useful to you in restoring your comforts As First Let your meditations run upon this that sometimes you are not so competent Judges of your own spiritual estate as others may be As First In a time of desertion when God hath left you and frownes upon you Secondly In times of temptation when the devils temptations are violent against you Thirdly In times of Relapse when you are fallen into some great sinne at this time you are not so competent Judges of your own estate but standers by may see more of your own good and your own sincerity then your selves may do as the Proverb is Many times Lookers on see more then he that playes the game it is true in this A Looker on may see sincerity sparkle in thy practice and thy graces shine in thy conversation when thou canst not do it thy selfe A childe when it blubbers and cries can see nothing of his book So when Christians are sad and sullen and lumpish they can hardly read any thing of their evidence Mr. Throgmorton got his assurance this way by the Testimony of a company of godly Ministers that they could lay their soules in his soules stead Let this therefore run in your Meditations that many times standers by and Christians that behold your walkings and see your Actions they may see more ground of comfort in you then your selves can do Secondly Meditate and think upon the comforts God gave you in wonted time and call them to minde Do as David did Psal 77. I called to