Linguistic DNA - Concept Modelling Demonstrator

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	embrace_v	young_a	youth_n	36	3	8.3345	4	false

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49258	A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 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 faithfull servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1655 (1655)	Wing L3179; ESTC R217684	182,116	237

or embrace the call of Jesus Christ unto grace and glory And in answer to this I shal lay down onely four suggestions of the Devil wherewith he entangles a man that he should not yeild to the cal of Jesus Christ And as I lay them down I shal labour to take them a way As 1. The first temptation the Devil wil suggest is to you that are young men and to you he wil suggest that you are yet too young to embrace the call of Jesus Christ 't wil be time enough hereafter and you may do it soon enough hereafter you are two young now to be abridg'd of your pleasure and to mortifie your lusts and to betake your selves unto so serious a course as Christ cals you to and by this temptation the Devil prevails with young men more especially And I remember Austine saith that this temptation of the Devil made him keep off for seven years together from embracing the cal of Jesus Christ the Devil would stil tel him in his heart thou art too young to leave thy Drunkennesse and too young to leave thy Harlots til at last he cryed out How long shal I say it is too soon Why may I not repent to day This temptation I say it hath fastened upon many before you that they were too young to come in to Jesus Christ and to this end the Devil wil suggest to you that old and false Proverb A young Saint and an old Devil Whereas indeed if you are young Devils you wil be old Beelzebubs And therefore this being a suggestion prevailing witâ— many hearts I shal lay down six considerations to take off this temptation that it may not prevail with you First If the Devil tempt you that you are too young to hearken to Christs cal consider That the Devil cannot give you a Lease of your lives if the Devil could give you a Lease of your lives and tell you you should live til old age you might then with more safety harken to his temptation but your lives are not at the Devils disposal God is the Author of your life the issues of life and death are in his hands you may die in youth uncalled you may be damned as wel as dead You may be as these men Job 36.14 that shall die in their youth and their lives shall be among the unclean And therefore though the Devil tempt you that you are too young seeing he cannoâ— assure you of your lives you have no reason to hearken to his temptation Secondly Suppose the Devil could assure you you should live til old age yet take this consideration that in putting off your calling and the work of conversion from your youth this may so provoke God that he may harden your hearts in your old daies that you shal have no heart to think of and embrace the call and invitation of Jesus Christ Jer. 22.21 I spake to thee in thy prosperity but thou wouldst not hear and this hath been thy manner frâ—m thy youth Thou wouldst not obey my voyce God spake but they would not hear and it was from their youth that they did thus therefore God would never speak more God hardened their hearts that they should never receive or embrace the cal of Jesus Christ So Isa 6.9 10. Seeing the Jewes from their youth were obstinate against the word of God Go saith God make their ears heavy and their hearts fat and their eyes blind that they should not be called and converted and I should save them Let this therefore be a second consideration that the putting off your cal til your old age may so provoke God as never to give you hearts to embrace his cal Thirdly Suppose al this that you could have a Lease of your lives and you could be assured that when you come to old age your hearts should not be hardened yet consider this that the more sinful and evil the daies of your youth have been the more disquietnesse of minde and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old though you shal be called and converted by Jesus Christ Job 13.24.25 26. Thou â—idest thy face thou holdest me as thy Enemy Thou dost drive me as a leaf to and fro and thou dost pursue me like dry stubbâ—e Now why doth Job complain thus Mark the next words For thâ—u writest bitter things against me and makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth Job when he was a young man it seemâ— he was a wicked man and had many sins in his youth and this in his old age made him cry out and say that God took him for his Enemy and that God brake him like a leafe driven with the wind O beloved the sins of your youth though you should be Jobs converted yet they wil bring great disquietnesse and great horroâ— when you come to age the lusts of youth and the vanities of youth and the sensual pleasures of your youthful daies they wil lay a foundation of sorrow when you come to gray hairs to be neare your graves so Job 20.11 And therefore put the case you should repent and should be called when you are old you have no cause to put off the cal of Jesus Christ seeing sins of youth wil fill you with horror and disquietnesse of minde Hence it is that David after he was call'd by the power of the word cries out Psal 25. Lord remember not the sins of my youth that gravelled and gall'd his conscience the sins of his youth before his cal It is the speech of an Author that to look on the pleasurable vanities and contents of youth this wil become an heavy burden and bitter vexation to old age Beloved the more evil you run out into in your youthful daies the greater and deeper foundation of disquietnesse and sorrow you lay in your souls in your latter daies though you should be called by Jesus Christ 4. If the Devil suggest that you are too young to embrace the invitation of Christ consider That Jesus Christ wll take it most kindly at your hands if while you are young you wil give entertainment to his cal Jer. 2.2 I remember thee saith the Lord and the kindnesse of thy youth that thou wouldst follow me in the Wildernesse in a land that was not sown Mark how the Lord speaks and how kindly he takes it that they would in their youth follow God the Lord wil remember it and take it acceptable from you if while you are young while the Marrow is in your bones and strength in your joynts you wil embrace the waies of Jesus Christ It is an observation that some have concerning the Beloved Disciple John John 20. He is called the Disciple whom Christ loved and that leaned upon his brest of al the other eleven Disciples Christ did love John above the rest and Divines give this reason of it John was the youngest of al the Disciples he was converted and called by Christ when he was a young

to be poor in faith and to be such a beggar as not to be endowed with one dram of grace and then you are beggars indeed As we say he is a poore man that God hates He that hath not Christ and hath not the treasures of heaven in him he is exposed to worse poverty a thousand times then he can be for imbracing the cal of Jesus Christ Rev. 3.17 Yea and he is exposed to worse persecution also that for fear of persecution neglects Jesus Christ Psal 83.5 The Lord will persecute them saith David with fury and wrath speaking of wicked men All persecution from man reaches but to the body but this from God reaches to the soul 7. And then lastly This should not hinder you from following Jesus Christ considering that though you should be poor and should be persecuted yet heaven wil make you amends for all Heb. 11.35 Heaven wil make amends for povertie when you are endowed with all the riches of Christ and Heaven wil make amends for persecution when there the weary shal be at rest and there the troubled shal be at ease And thus much be spoken of the third suggestion of the Devil that if you entertain the cal of Jesus Christ you shal be exposed to much povertie and persecution here in the world SERMON VI. 2. Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE Doctrine I am yet upon is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ In the prosecution of which I have resolved one case of conscience and am yet upon the second case namely what suggestions the Devil doth use to keep men off from imbracing the cal of Jesus Christ I have laid down and answered three already 4. Now there is one suggestion more When the Devil sees either of these wil take place then he comes in with a fourth to disswade men from imbracing the call of Christ and that is this Why saith the Devil if you wil entertain the call of Christ you wil abridge your selves of all the joy and comfort of your lives you wil never have merry daies while you live upon earth You see men that pretend to be converted and doe hear Sermons what lumpish and melancholy men they are not so jocund and jolly as others are that walk not so precisely if you follow Christ and his Gospel this wil casheer all your merry daies and this wil put you into a sad temper all your jovial daies are gone Therefore to take off this aspersion that the waies of Christ are sad and melancholy waies which hath been an aspersion that from age to age and generation to generation hath been as a Gin the Devil hath used to keep men from Christianity And I remember it is one of the greatest Engines Antichrist useth to support and uphold his Kingdom The Papists to deter men from Christianity and the Protestant Religion they would hold their Disciples in hand with this that the spirit of a Calvinist is a sad and lumpish spirit and therefore they would disswade all Nations from turning to their Religion and this the Priests were to tel in all the Churches of Rome how sad and melancholy they were that turned to the Calvinists religion and this did mightily stay the people from imbracing the truth And this aspeâ—sion hath passed from hand to hand and is many times prevalent upon the spirits of men that are of the true Religion that they must not be too forward in the practice of Religion fearing lest this should work melancholy and sad thoughts in them Now to take off this I shal onely urge four or five heads briefly First Whereas you say they are melancholy sad that are called by Christ to a profession of his waies I would answer thus That they of all people in the world have most cause of mirth gladness and they are the most truly joyful people in the world That they have most cause of rejoycing is apparent When the Disciples came triumphing that they could cast out Devils heal the diseased and work Miracles O but saith Christ Rejoyce not in this but rejoyce that your names are written in the book of life Luke 10.20 As much as if Christ should say All the endowments and extraordinary gifts of the spirit they are no such grounds of joy if you had them all but here is your joy and cause of rejoycing that your names are written in the book of Life that you are in Christ and your souls shal be saved And so Paul tels us Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes again I say rejoyce The Apostle would not speak it to them with a single command but doubtless his expression to shew that they that are people that have their sins pardoned that have their souls reconciled that have a title to glory whose names are written in the book of Life these of all men in the world have most cause of joy and gladness And they have not onely most cause but they doe most truly rejoyce and have more real joy in their hearts in one day then the wicked can have all their lives 1 Pet. 1.8 They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory What joy you have in the world the tongue is able to speak of it but the tongue is not able to speak of that inward joy that godly men have in their hearts upon the apprehension of the interest they have in Jesus Christ Psal 4.6 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance And Thou shalt put more gladness in mine heart c. Prov. 14.13 A good conscience is a continual feast Men are never more merry then when they are at a feast godly men they carry clear consciences about them and that makes them as joyous and pleasant as if they were alwayes at a great and sumptuous feast Indeed this is true they do not rejoyce with such exorbitancies of joy as wicked men do Wicked men rejoyce in sin that they cannot do wicked men rejoyce in their lusts in their drunkenesse and their adulteries and wayes of sin that godly men dare not do Such a rejoycing as this is the foundation of sorrow This rejoycing like the Prodigal in a riotous course of living is the foundation of sorrow and will meet with you when you are to die Secondly Grant this should be true yet consider that this sorrow that godly people have it is such a sorrow that they shal have no cause to repent thereof but it is a foundation of future joy to them 2 Cor. 7.9 10. I rejoyce saith the Apostle in that I have made you sorrowful What rejoyce to see them a sad people Yes for the sorrow I made you sorrowful with was a sorrow never to be repented of you wil never repent of that sorrow and therefore Paul would do it because it was a

call As you know it is with Carpenters they give more blows to knotâ—y Timber then they will do to smooth and tender wood thus doth God when he meets with a knotty sinner a wretched stout-hearted sinner God must give many blows by humiliation before he will be humbled before he can bring him to be a serviceable piece in Gods building whereas Christians of a milde and softer temper they shall have fewer blows and shall not have the terrors of God stick so fast in their hearts as others shall Hence you read that phrase Hos 6.5 saith the Lord I will hew them by my Prophets c. God doth hew some men hew them with judgments and hew them with terrour Yea but others that are not so loose as they I taught Ephraim to go I led Ephraim by the Arms and I drew him with cords of a man and with the bands of love Hos 11.4 God you see would hack and hew some men with terrour and wrath but others he would draw with love and the cords of a man Now suppose God hath not hacked and hewed thee with judgments if God melt thee with loving kindnesse and if God gain upon thy soul with mercy and with love and grace thou must not blame God thou must not confine God for this is Gods way of working sometimes as well as by wrath God works upon some with wrath â—he will allure others with loving kindnesse so that you have no cause or ground of fear that you are not effectually called because you apprehend some defects in the manner of your call because it is Gods usual way to plunge them in most humiliation and most terrour that have been most wicked liv'd men before their call and so ordinarily with men religiously trained up from their youth Thirdly God when he goes to call a sinner to conversion he looks upon the temper of those that are to be called and God sees some men of a rugged temper that their tempers will not be won but by wrath and by fire and by hell and by judgment And so it 's like Felix was his temper was such that nothing could conveâ—t him but wrath and judgement to come terrible Doctrines Some are of this temper that nothing but wrath and hel-fire can work upon them As children there are some that are of such soft and tender tempers that the shaking of a rod may doe them good there are other children if a man should whip them every day they would never leave their childish tricks It is so with sinners God sees some of a more tender and soft temper that love will gain upon them others are of a rugged disposition that nothing but wrath can affright them Now God in the dispensations of his grace he observes their temper and if he seeth love will gain more upon them then wrath will do he will take that course but if God see nothing but wrath and fire and horrour wil doe it then he wil work that way This you read in the Epistle of Jude ver 22 23. On some saith the Holy Ghost have compassion making a difference but others save with fear pulling them out of the fire The meaning is this There are some that you must shew tendernesse and compassion to in calling and working upon them they are of a tendâ—r temper but others there are that you must save with fear that is preach terrible Sermons to them and fright them with hel-fire and judgment to come For God doth observe the different tempers in men and hereupon doth proceed in different wayes of Administration in working upon them Now it may be thou that dost thus complain thou never hadst these terrours in thy soul and yet art effectually called it may be God saw thy temper more to be won by kindnesse and more gained upon in a way of love therefore wrought upon thee this way God is not bound to one way And therefore we may justly count them blame-worthy who preach onely free grace and Gods love and so tie God to one Method and they are too blame on the other side likewise if there be any such that preach only terror and wrath for God observes the temper of mens dispositions some to be knotty and some soft and accordingly proceeds ceeds in his way of working with them This ground therefore for your doubts is insufficient Secondly A second ground that makes men doubt of their effectual calling is upon the apprehension of some seeming defect that may be in the means of their calling As thus Think they I have read in the Word that it doth please God to use preaching as the ordinary means to call and convert sinners to Christ It pleased God by preaching to save them that beleeve I read this also that faith comes by hearing Now many a poor soul hath this that gravels his conscience and troubles his spirit but alas I finde a defect in this means For my part I cannot say I was converted by hearing a Sermon that which did work upon me was some other means One of these three either I was converted saith one by living in a godly family among good Christians seeing their example that first gained upon me Or saith another I was gained upon by reading a Chapter in the Bible or in some good Book and that first wrought upon me Or saith a third it may be if it was the Word it was the Word preached by a wicked man that is now turned either erroneous in judgment or prophane in practice and this occasioneth a great deal of jealousie The word preacht by the mouth of a godly Minister is Gods ordinary way but I was altogether out of this way and therefore this doth make him suspect the truth of his effectual calling Now Beloved I beseech you lend me your thoughts a little for I would fain make this Doctrine as comfortable to every called one as I can I shall speak of all these in order and shew you that put case either of these have been the meanes of thy calling yet thou hast no reason to doubt of thine effectual calling First thou suspectest thy call because the means hath been sayest thou not by hearing a Sermon or the word preacht but by living among good Christians and seeing their example and their living thou camest by this means to love the wayes of God and this was the first meanes that converted thee Beloved I doubt not but I speak to a great many that cannot say a Sermon ever converted them but only that they were gained to Gods wayes to imbrace the truth this way now what shall I say to such men as these why I would say thus much that though the Lord did not use his Word preached the ordinary meanes of converting soules in calling thee yet God is not tied and bound up to his word preacht but he may use other means to convert thy soul Secondly and more particularly that living among good people and seeing of their

your Meditations work upon those Promises that hold forth most comfort to a dejected and deserted soule And here I shall name five or six most comforatble Promises in the Word As Isa 57.15 The Lord that dwels in the high and holy places he doth revive the spirit of the humble and of the contrite one So Isa 66.2 The Lord dwels in the Heavens and yet with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit that trembles at his Word with him will God dwell So Psal 34.18 The Lord is nigh to them that are â—f a broken heart even them that are contrite in spirit So Luke 4.18 Jesus Christ was anointed that is appointed by God the Father to preach the Gospel to the poor to binde up the broken in heart and to comfort them that mourn So Isa 66.10 The Lord will restore comfort to thee and to thy Mourners And Heb. 12.12 The Lord will streâ—gthen the weak hands and feeble knees And with that remarkable and most glorious Gospel-promise I shal end Isa 353 4 5 6. Strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees This saith God to weaken Christians whose legs can hardly carry their bodies and their hands hardly reach to their mouths Say unto the weak Christian in grace comfort and confirm and strengthen them And say unto them that are of a fearful heart Be strong Poor fearfull doubting soules that feare every temptation and feare every corruption and feare they shall lose the recompence of their reward Say unto that fearful heart Be strong and fear not For your God will come with vengeance even God will come with recompence and save you And then the eyes of the blinde shall be open and the eares of the deaf shall be unstopped it is not meant of the bodily eye but those that were blinde and could not see the mysteâ—ies of Christ and could not read their own comforts then their eyes shall be open And the deaf that as Isaiah saith refused to be comforted that would not hearken to comfort but would stop their eares against all comfortable doctrines and onely give way to sorrow their eares shall be unstopped And the lame men shall leap like a Hart the poor halting Christian that halts in his comforts that is now believing anon staggering now rejoycing anon despairing the poor lame man shall leap like a Hart And the tongue of the dumb shall sing the poor man that could not speak one word of his own graces and of his own comforts and touching his own evidence The tongue of the dumb shal sing O Beloved here is your work in case you would be Christians to restore your comforts again set upon the work of Meditation to think upon these precious Promises of the Gospel that hold forth most comfort to a drooping and dejected sinner SERMON XII 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THE Doctrine I am yet upon is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ to grace and glory In the prosecution of which I have gone over many particulars There remains now onely one Use more to dispatch about this subject and then I passe to the third point drawn from these words And the Use shall be of Consolation from all that hath been said touching the assurance of our effectual calling I shall only direct my discourse to lay down six or seven Consolatory Conclusions to those Christians who are effectually called yet happily have not a sensible assurance of their own calling First take this for a truth that Assurance is necessary not for the being but for the wel-being of a Christian It is not necessary to his estate but to his comfort It is not necessary as food is to the life but only as Physick is to the body A man cannot live without food a man may live without Physick Assurance is but as a comfortable cordial to the soul Grace is as food to keep the soul alive though you doe want assurance this Cordial to bear you up Secondly that many of Gods dear children they may lie a very long time in the want of this assurance touching their effectual calling Psal 88. It is said of Heman 14 15 16. verses Lord why hast thou casâ—â—ff my soule and why hast thou hid thy face from me Mark his complaint I am ready to die And was this only a fit of desertion or was it a continued act yes Vers 16. From my youth up I suffer thy terrours I am distracted and thy fierce wrath goes over me Heman lay under the state of desertion from his childhood for here he tels you his estate that he was not troubled for a day or two or three and then his troubles were over but from his youth up he lay under this perplexity that he thought God had cast off his soule and the terrours of God lay upon him And yet this man none questions his goodnesse For he was the man as Ainsworth thinks that made this Psalm and sure God would never honour a wicked man to be a Pen-man of the Scripture The Psalm is called a golden Psalm and it is so called because hereby he would teach afflicted consciences that they may from their youth up lie under great horrour and lie under sad suspence concerning their everlasting estate and yet they may have grace at the root for all this And Heman doth not only expresse it as if he had an ordinary trouble of minde but he expresseth it that he lay under an extraordinary weight of Gods wrath Vers 7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit of darkness and in the deep and thy wrath it lies heavy upon me He did even lie and sink in his own thoughts under the sense af Gods wrath upon him This therefor is another comfortable conclusion That godly men may not onely by fits and starts but for a long time for many years together lie under a state of spiritual desertion For some men think of Heman that he was above threescore yeares of age when he wrote this Psalm yet from his youth up till that age he lay under this horror and perplexity Thirdly That many of Gods dear children may be so long plunged under desertion and under the want of Assurance that they may refuse and withstand comforts when God offers it to them in the Gospel and yet may have grace still As a man in a feaver or distracted by some violent disease though you bring him a Cordial that may abate his disease the man in a fit will through the glasse against the wall though it be the only meanes of his remedy It is so with godly men many times they are so accustomed to sadnesse in the want of assurance that they may refuse comforts when God offers them Psal 77.2 It is the speech of Asaph my soule refuseth to be

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