one is a new creature goeth beyond it by many degrees That is good in the positive and comparative but this in the superlative degree The Lord open your eyes that you may see the glory and beauty thereof A most blessed condition it must needs be that hath so many choice consequences a most excellent endowment that brings so great enjoyments no mean quality that hath so many immunities It is a great King that is attended by such a noble train a Royal Queen that is waited upon by so many maids of honour A whole Paradise of temporal felicity falleth short of a part in spiritual sanctity 10. The industry of youth If the Lord do S. 10 usually call in younger years then young people had need be very industrious to get grace They had need bestir themselves to make hay while their Sun shineth while they are naturally strong they had need labour to be spiritually strong in the Lord while the In juvenili aetate vigent corporis senjus visus acutior auditus Promptior qui in hac aetate se domant Deo se sociant praemium Joannis expectant blood runs fresh in their veines they had need plie the work of salvation and apply the word of sanctification let them strive for grace early and they are like to have grace in earnest If they do not sedulously improve their time they will hardly savingly approve the truth They should strive against sin oppose obstacles be conquering corruption defying the devil tooth and nail with might and main now or never now if ever as we use to say It is good policy to labour while one is young that they may get a stock against they be old If young men be sluggards and loath to put their hand to the plow it is just with God that they should beg in harvest and have nothing Prov. 20. 4. for though they call upon God afterwards yet it may be he will not hear them Now must they follow their pattern Jesus Prov. 1. 28. Christ and work the works of God who hath sent them into the world the night cometh when no man can work So that we may say John 9. 4. with the Psalmist Both young men and maidens old men and children let them praise the name of the Lord Psal 148. 12 13. Let them give glory to God by taking true shame John 7. 19. to themselves As Joshua saith to Achan advance his worth by the amendment of their works and raise his honour by the ruine of their sinful humours To see young people running striving labouring in spiritual things till they sweat again Oh what a precious sight is this how doth the Lord smile upon such in love and clap them on the back with encouraging promises They that seek me early shall find me Prov. 8. 17. and to him that asketh it shall be given and to those that knock it shall be opened Math. 7. 7. And to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Revel 2. 7. One accounted the King of Persia happy because while he was young he had attained to so great puissance They are really and eminently happy who attain to an estate of grace while they are young to be made new to have the strong holds of hell in the soul thrown down is a mercy that but few attain unto but to reach this under the conduct of the spirit in youth is an addition and augmentation of the mercy It is a sweet thing saith a precious man when God satisfieth young people with his mercy and that satisfaction abideth Master Burroughs Hos 2. 15. so as they rejoyce all the dayes of their life But carelesse youth is usually more active for sin than grace and that strength which they have from God by common bounty give to the devil in special service and sweat in gathering fading May flowers and adventure to the ditches brink to gather dasies to make a garland of vanity withall in the mean time neglecting to dig for Diamonds and Pearls to set in the Crown of Eternity Young people are for the most part loytering when they should be labouring playing when they should be praying singing when they should be sighing merry when they should be mourning youth must have its liberty they say and the greennesse of young years is with most a sufficient warrant of any exorbitancies whereas in many regards it is an aggravation of them But soul if thou improve Indigne transacta adolescentia odiosam efficit senectutem Froâ—te capillata est post est occasio calva not thy young years thy golden age thy white houres thou maiest rue it to all eternity in the blacknesse of darknesse If you strive not now to enter in at the strait gate it is to be feard you will never do it in old age Time hath all forelocks no hinderlocks your time is hasting away and if once its back be turned there is no calling or returning it back again It is better to be Prometheus than Epimetheus after-wit is dearest but fore-wit is best 11. The miserie of sinful age If the Lord S. 11 usually call in souls betimes then to be old and yet in a natural condition is very sad Aged men and women have cause to be full of fear who are void of faith and to abound with sorrow who yet abide in their sins and to bemoan their woe who have not been moulded to Gods will To have a white silver head and a black iron heart is lamentable To age and grow old in the bed of sin is deplorable Long bed-ridden persons hardly get up again old sinners have continued in sin and though custom in sin may be removed yet with great difficulty They say there is no transplanting trees after seven years rooting it is too often true in this case Art thou drawing near to thy grave and yet didst never draw nigh to God Is thy glasse almost run and labouring with its latest sands Is thy time well-nigh spent and yet hast not run in the way of Gods commandements nor laboured for Heaven nor spent thy time in the best things Do thy years time and hours complain and say we have been spent in the service of the world and wickedness O doleful Prov. 16. 31. Canities tunc est venerabilis quando eagerit quae canitiem decent state to be lamented with tears of blood The hoary head I confesse is a crown of glory but then it must be found in the way of righteousness sin degrades them of their venerable dignity Such souls have cause to get alone into a corner and put their finger in their eye and lay their hand upon their heart and say what shall I do and what shall become of me Caesar wept to see Alexanders statue who had done so much and conquered the greatest part of the world and was but young when himself had done
ye answered not Therefore will I do unto this house which is called by my name as I have done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight Jer. 7. 13 14 15. This reprehension and commination concernes thee as well as them because thou art in the same predicament and condition with them You see the hardness of your heart and the heavinesse of Gods hand go together want of conversion brings woful confusion and such as continue vassals of sin are like to prove vessels of sorrow Is it a light matter in your account not to Eccho to the voice of God from Heaven Is it nothing to have the Lord of life and glory stand and knock at the door of your cottage and you not let him in He hath promised to open to you if you knock Matt. 7. 7. and will not you open to him when he knocks Is it nothing to have God make tenders from Heaven and we be unwilling to accept of his termes Is it nothing for the Lord to complain and say All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people Rom. 10. 21. If you be not past shame you cannot but be ashamed of these things let not the Lord have cause to say Were they ashamed of what they had done nay they were not ashamed at all neither could they blush Oh that you Jer. 8. 12. should make no more account of such a work as this is That you should spend your time and never seek for this Bear with my chiding and reproof the Lord set it home upon your hearts It is out of love and desire of thy good I must not flatter thee Open rebuke is better than secret love faithful are the wounds Prov. 27. 5 6. Magis ama tobjurgator sanans quam adulator dissimulans of a friend but the kisses of an Enemy are deceitful Such as you are must be rebuked sharply You are in much fault your sin is great your condition is sad and not to deal plainly were to destroy thee and my self too That this use may not fall off from your spirit I shall fasten it with three nailes and that I may make it more full and compleat give me leave to lay before you a trinity of considerations which are these 1. Aggravating circumstances 2. Administring causes 3. Astonishing consequences or considerations 1. Aggravating circumstances In the first place S. 2 I shal aggravate the neglect want of effectual calling It is good for souls to view their sins round about and to look upon them not onely in the substantials but also in the circumstantials of them not only in their essentials but also in their accidentals That may be a mole-hill in Tanto majus peccatum esse cognoscitur quanto major qui peccat â—abetur one as it were which is a mountain in another That may be less in one which is larger in another The quantity of sin beareth proportion with the quality of the sinner Not only the absolute constitution of sin but the relative dimensions thereof also are to be taken into our consideration Now these following circumstances do exceedingly greaten and enhance your neglect and slighting of effectual calling and the work of grace 1. The multitude of your calls in regard of 1. The frequencie of the Act. 2. The variety of the agent 2. The altitude of your inexcusablenesse 3. The magnitude of God's providences 4. The lenitude of the spirit 5. The longitude of your life 6. The latitude of your comforts 1. The multitude of your calls You have had many calls many wayes 1. In regard of the frequency of the Act S. 3 You have been often called upon to turn in to the Lord you have been often invited to the marriage Feast The Lord hath repeated his calls and do you renew your resistance The Lord hath multiplied his calls and you have not magnified his grace by your acceptance The Lord hath often called from Heaven and thou hast not taken one step from Earth to meet with him may not Christ say to thee as he said to the Jews How often would I have gathered you together as an Hen doth gather her Brood under her wings and ye would not Luke 13. 34. That how often implieth often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord Christ hath many times stretched out his wing of love and thou hast refused to come under his shelter This is very sad and shouldst thou then hear any other voice then that of Punitione gravi dignus est qui saepius Dei gratiam contempsit chiding and other language then that of reproof Thou art not able to reckon up the many times that God hath called thee In the Canticles we find Return return O Shulamite return return Cantic 6. 13. Four times but this is nothing to the times that thou hast been called The Lord called to Samuel four times before he understood his voice 1 Sam. c. 3. beginning of it but thou hast been called not four but four hundred four thousand yea innumerable times and thou knowest not his language and hast not yet made answer speak Lord for thy servant heareth Thou hast been called in thy non-age in thy middle age yea in thine old age and yet thou art in thine old condition Thou hast been called long ago and of later time Thou hast been called in thy single in thy sociated estate Thou wast called in the time that is past and art called still in the time that is present God hath and doth send many messengers spokes-men to woo thee for himself and thou hast said nay to all The Cock hath crowed not three but three hundred Matt. 26. 75. times and yet thou hast not remembred the words of the Lord nor wept bitterly for thy sins You have been called on the Lord's day and yet not one of your dayes have been spent for the Lord You have been called on lecture dayes and yet you have never truely leaned on Christ You have been called in fasting seasons and yet you have not fasted from sin You have been called on thanks-giving dayes and yet you have not given in your name to Christ You have been called publikely and privately and yet will not be prevailed withall Your callings have been frequent and yet your Zeal is not fervent Your calls have been many but your graces not any Your calls have been several but your faith not saving You have had divers invitations but no dutiful inclinations The dew hath fallen upon you every morning and yet you have not sprouted out The showers have descended upon you continually and yet you have not ascended Heavenward the Heavenly Elatum cor durum expers est pietatis ignarum compunctionis drops have fallen upon you every day and yet your heart more hard then stone hath received no impressions The Lord may complain and say I have shewed thee my wayes and taught thee my pathes
utimur quam amicitia of it more then the Heathen Oratour said of friendship water fire and aire are needful but this more Friendship and amity with God is most necessary yea it is before meat and drink for we may live here without them as Christ saith Man liveth not by bread alone Mat. 4. 4. Sensus est homines non vivere ex solis causis physicis quum Deus non sit illis adstrictus Bez. in loc but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God For God is not tied up to natural causes but we cannot live hereafter without this for without holinesse no man shall see the Lord. Heb. 12. 14. It is one of the first steps of that Ladder which reacheth to Heaven and unlesse here thou first set footing there is no climbing the tree of life If you cannot produce new hearts my dear Friend and Christian Reader you shall never possesse the new Heavens If you have not this work upon your souls you can neither do nor have that which a Saint should do and have You cannot live to God nor upon God nor with God unlesse you live from God what though it do not purchase Heaven yet it prepares for it what though Heaven be not the deserved wages of grace yet grace is the desireable way to Heaven Oh sad it is that you should not know the need of it Tiberius Caesar said it was a shame that men of sixty years of age should reach out their hand to the Physitian to have their pulse felt because they should not be ignorant of the temper of their body themselves what a shame is it for men and women to live many years in the School of Christ and to know so little of the need of grace which is there constantly preached and pressed what Ignorantia sui initium omnis peccati a shame for men and women of yeers to have so little cognizanee of their own condition so little acquaintance with their own estate so little knowledge of their souls concernments as not rightly to apprehend the need of a change where almost is the man or woman that is truly sensible of the need of a new nature How hard a work is it to convince them thereof to work it into their heads to sink it into their hearts Did any that were bodily sick look after Christ when he was on earth for a cure but those that perceived their need thereof and we are soon brought to a sense of temporal miseries and by that to a sight of the need of a medicine but in spirituals through stupefaction we feel no pains and hence it is we care for no plaister or if people have some sense of the need of this work yet it is so faint and slighty that it makes them not fervent in seeking after and suing for it They have superficial thoughts that the thing may be good and commendable and it is well for them that are in such an estate but as for permanent and powerful thoughts thereof they have none They have not such thoughts as the Apostle had in another case of great moment A necessity is laid upon me yea and wo be unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. So they cannot say a necessity is laid upon my soul yea and wo be unto me if I be not effectually called Soul thou dost not consider that without this Benjamin this child of God's right hand thou canst never see his face and that unlesse thou be regenerated and born again thou canst not enter into the Kingdom John 3. 3. of God that without the life of grace you have none of the love of God you consider not that it had been good for you not to have been born as Christ said of Judas if thou be not reborn to good that without this evidence you can have no inheritance without this wedding garment no acceptance If here you have not the communication of the Spirit 's grace you cannot have hereafter the participation of its glory if the whole world should be laid down as a pawn for you it would not prevail The Angels in Heaven that are without spot cannot stead you without this Ah if you did but know how needful it were you would grieve in spirit you would long and labour you would sigh and seek for it and find no rest in your spirit neither day nor night till God had turned your night into day you sin into sanctity you would never be quiet till you were spiritually quickned and would find no true contentation Corporis conversio si sola fuerit erit nulla in your mind till you had a total renovation of the whole man yea you would say Lord give me grace a new nature at what rate soever though it cost me all I have Thou mayst buy gold too dear but thou canst not buy grace too dear you would give all that you might have this gift bestowed upon you you would be importunate with the Lord and take no nay till you were called home into his bosome if you did but know the necessity of this work 3. Of the number of the called This is the S. 20 third thing whereabout peoples apprehensions are not right namely the number of the called those that are outwardly called indeed are numerous but those that are inwardly called are soon numbred People think that profession of Christianity and profession of Christ are of equal extent they think that all that have the word of grace in their eare have the work of grace on their heart that all are Israel that are of Israel that all that have the name of a Christian have the nature Rev. 3. 1. too not considering that the visible Church is lesse then Christendom and the invisible than the visible like a lesse circle in a greater Multi dicuntur esse in domo qui non sunt de domo There are many in the house of God who yet are not of the house It is day with many who yet did never see the sun up There are many that hear the voice of God but there are but few that obey it which made Isaiah to complain and say Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed Isa 53. 1. And S. John also saith The whole world lieth in wickednesse 1 John 5. 19. There are but a few that are up and doing the work of the Lord the most lie still in the bed of sin there are but a few that have got open their eyes and are awake the most are fast asleep on the couch of security There are but a few that have cast off the works of darknesse and put on the armour of light the most are in the region of darkness and shadow of death bordering on the confines of that Countrey which is Terra del fogo a land of nothing but fire and smoak There are but a few
so great a work and they are these four following The 1. Hastinesse of death 2. Horrour of forsaking 3. Hardnesse of your heart 4. Hazard of your soul The Lord work these pills into form with his own hand and blesse them to a powerful and profitable operation 1. The hastinesse of death You know not S. 30 how soon you may die and your Sun may set you have no lease of your life nor with Joshua are you like to prevail that your Sun may stand still in its firmament at your pleasure If God with the sword of his justice cut the thread of your life asunder you fall so low that no lift can help you you are ruin'd beyond recovery What if you had that message which Hezekiah had 2 Kings 20. beginning such a message will come you know Tuus ultimus dies abesse non potest longe adhuc te praepara qualis enim exieris de hac vita talis redderis illi vitae not how soon and your house is not set in order your accounts not cast up you are not in an estate of grace what then will become of you When nature's life is done you can never have a spiritual life if you had it not before what though you be well at present yet you may soon be sick nay you may die without sicknesse Death may lay an ambushment and surprise you before you are aware Though it be fair weather for the present yet you know not how soon it may overcast Death is an eclipse that hapneth in a cloudy as well as in a clear day and when death hath done his work though you should seek your own repentance with tears as Esau did his fathers yet it were in vain It had Heb. 12. 17. been better you had never lived than to die in a dead sinful condition If your grave-change come before your grace-change woe be to thee soul what if this night your soul should be required of you what would be your doom when you had never throughly inquired after the Lord If you die in your sins you are damned for your sins if you lose your life you lose your soul too if your soul and body part without a part in Christ and in grace God and you must part to all eternity and many have died suddenly and why not you many betimes and why not you some die young and melt as snow before the mid-day-Sun God hath no where told you that you shall live till you are old when your time is once gone it shall never return Is there such uncertainty of the time of death and no certainty of the truth of grace you may die this week this day this hour and if not effectually called the misery of your condition is inexpressible The Lord pull your feet out of this snare Oh my dear friends if you die not effectually called there is no help nor hope for you All the balm in Gilead will not cure your wound It may be death is at your door ready to fieze on you He hath his commission and warrant it may be and is Cito pede praeterit aetas coming towards you as fast as he can oh if you be not changed Hast thou not looked after this work Hast thou forgotten to seek for a new heart then destruction fiezeth upon you like an armed man Death stays for none when he comes you must away though never such a sinner though never so unfit 2. The Horror of forsaking Consider in S. 31 the next place what a dreadful thing it is to be forsaken of God and to have the Almighty depart from our souls What if your day of grace should be over and gone it is more then you know but it may be so Though your Transivit dies salutis nemo recogitat natural Sun be not set yet if the Sun of righteousnesse be gone down in thine Horizon woe be unto thee Though God in his common dealings be neer thee yet if in his spiritual dispensations he be at a distance I may say with the Prophet Woe unto thee when God shall thus depart from thee Spiritual derelictions Hos 9. 12. can have no other end then sore destruction such as are left of the Lord must needs be lost in themselves when the day of grace is at an end a man or woman is never like to see good day more God's departures are doleful and dreadful our times as in natural so in spiritual things are in the Lord's hands Divines say there is a time set for the conversion of souls which when it is once gone and past their condition is desperate and such words have their warrant from the Word for the Spirit counselleth to seek the Lord while he may be found and to call upon Isa 55. 6. him while he is neer There is a time of God's appropinquation and after that nothing but alienation there is a time of God's presence and after that he absents himself And to this purpose speaks truth it self Jesus Christ to Jerusalem If thou hadst known at lest in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes And they Luke 19. 42 44. shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation There was a nick of time wherein all might have been salved and made whole but that being past there was no remedy And thus did the Lord threaten his people of old Because I have purged thee and thou wast not Ezek. 24. 13. purged thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee I have purged thee that is I have called upon thee to be purged and have Verbo praecepi te mundari Jun. in loc afforded means thereto which you refused and therefore are rejected If your day of grace be done you are undone though you should live never so many years more in this world for graces day and natures day are not always of an equal length What if God should say of you as he did of the old world my spirit shall not always nay it shall no longer Gen. 6. 3. strive with this man this woman When God gives his spirit a commission to visit with its motions a man or woman he limits a time and saith if by such a time they come not in let them alone if by such a time they come not over to me give them over to themselves when the glasse is out and the last sands are run speak no more to them strive no more with them It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands but much more fearful thus to fall out of the hands of the living God If God should passe that doom upon you which we find Rev. 22. 11. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still it would
Angels he is like the Soveraign among his subjects the Sun among the Planets there is nothing in him but is a strong motive to love and a powerful invitation to affection 2. His affection to them They consider how S. 72 Christ hath loved them and this kindles the fire in their hearts that they cannot but love him again they have received love from him and this makes them render love to him He descended to earth out of love to the sons of Ama amorem illius qui amore tui descendit in uterum virginis 1 Sam. 14. 45. men and they cannot but ascend to heaven out of love to the Son of God The people expressed their love to Jonathan in standing between him and death because he wrought great salvation in Israel Upon the same account do Saints express love to their spiritual Saviour they say and think it is pity but love should have love he hath laid down his life for them and they think they can give no less then their heart-love to him but thou hast no love to Christ thou wilt not part with ought for his sake thou seest no such greatness in him that he should be liked no such goodness that he should be loved if thou have any love towards him it is but from the teeth and not in truth but common and complemental not cordial 7. Improving assurance The incomes of assurance such have from the Spirit make S. 73 them more dutiful to the Spirit they dare not turn the grace of God into wantonness if they hear a voice from heaven saying Thou art my dear son my pleasant child what vigour and life doth this put into them to make them lay out themselves for God It is marrow to their bones and health to their flesh the joy of the Lord is the strength of Neh. 8. 10. their souls intimations of God's love they use as invitations to a good life when the Lord speaks peace to their hearts they think they are bound to act piety with their hands if God speak peace to them they dare not Psal 85. 8. turn to folly peace of conscience with such is mother to piety in conversation if they have a sense of acceptance with God it makes them seek for more acquaintance with his ways when they have but a sip of this cordial how it fills them with activity for the Lord they desire not this Sun-shine to play in but to work in but as for thee thy confidences putrifie and breed corruption and thy security sin Thou thinkest thou art one Non sperare potest coeleste regnum cui super propria regnare membra adhuc non donatur of God's and shalt be saved and therefore takest liberty to thy self to fulfil the lusts of thine own heart thou hast then no grace yet this is the way of many wretched creatures if they can but fancy the sureness of their condition they fear not the sinfulness of their courses But this warm weather is not the prognostication of the divine Almanack it is one of the Divel's Errata's 8. Hating hypocrisie Such are sincere S. 74 not hypocritical Sincerity was part of Paul's prayer for the Philippians when he saith that Phil. 1. 10. ye may be sincere They have their inside and their outside all of one piece of all things hypocrisie goeth most against their stomacks they are what they would seem to be and they seem as they are As the Heathen said so is it here there must be nothing fained In amicitiâ nihil fictum aut simulatum Tull. and counterfeit in the friendship between God and a Saint Painters call the mixture of colours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corruption because whatsoever is mixed will more easily corrupt saith Plutarch If you be mixed you are naught if you be a linsey-woolsey Christian you are not of the right make God's people are not open Saints and secret sinners they are not all shew they have substance too if they were anatomized their insides would be found as white as their outsides their hearts as well as their hands are washed their spirit beareth a part in all they do the glory of God the salvation of their souls are the compasses they steer their course by glory credit reputation gain c. are not the white that they shoot the arrows of Religion at but it is far otherwise with thee as thou mayst easily perceive if thou take but a transitory view of thy self 9. Resisting custome Like living fish they S. 59 swim against the stream only the fish Elops swimmeth against wind and water so do these They are Antipodes to the world in their carriages And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your Rom. 12. 2. mind saith the Apostle What others are they are not what others are not they are they Contraria juxta se posita megis elucescunt follow not a multitude to do evil they chuse the strait way though they find no company their minds are contrary to the manners their courses to the customes their ways to the works their garb to the guise of the generality of the world Saints are singular other mens practices are no rule for their performances What Christ said of his Disciples then is true of them in all ages ye are not of this world Joh. 15. 19. the world goes west-ward these east-ward the world lies in wickedness these are up and doing the work of the Lord the world is sinfully secure these are seriously seeking the world lazy these labouring the world pursuing their gain these pleasing their God it matters not what crouds there are in the way of vanity these are content to go single in the way of vertue they go cross to the world not from passionate perverseness but from pious principles not from an humorous contrariety but from an heavenly conversion 10. Prizing communion Lastly they S. 80 make the enjoyment of God and Christ their summum bonum their chief good and prize communion with the divine being above all things The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot Psal 16. 5. Psal 73. 25. Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee How did David's desires reach to heaven The participation of God and Christ is the ultimate end of a gracious souls pantings and pains its thoughts endeavours contrivances have a tendency thereunto it makes this the end of its life and liberty the end of its desires and duties the end of its prayers and performances to enjoy its God and Saviour here and hereafter other mens thoughts affections labours are about transitory things and that whereabout men lay out the choice of their intentions and indeavours they make their chief good Thus have I finished this use of examination whereon I have insisted the longer and which I have diversified the largelier because it
you of sin and the danger of a natural condition it was mine own condition once and whether I have yet fully passed it I have much cause to fear I find my heart so carnal sold under sin Others of you may have some early glimmerings of the spirit dawning upon your souls The Lord cause the sun of righteousness to rise upon you with healing under his wings and bring your bloomings and buddings to ripeness and maturity Some others may have a through work of grace upon their hearts the Lord make such thankful for it is an inestimable mercy and keep their feet that they fall not Various are your conditions in regard of temporals and spirituals various are your relations to and acquaintance with me whatsoever the one or the other be let nothing be a bar to keep you from accepting the counsel of the holy Ghost which is sent in love let it therefore be so taken I would not these things should be a witness against you or me another day The Lord therefore for his Christ's sake so sanctifie these truths to us and us by these truths that we may all attain to grace and increase thereof to the comfort of our own souls to the praise and glory of God by Christ So prays Your dayly Orator at the throne of grace J. V. The Epistle to the READER Christian Reader THou mayst wonder to see me add to the pile and heap of books Not glory nor gain unless of God of souls though my heart be very evil and have the seeds of all sin in it are the wheels on which I move in this labour Not affectation but affection to my heavenly Father to my earthly Friends put me on to this Some years since in my publike preaching I went through the chief heads in Divinity and when I came to this of Effectual Calling I insisted the longer upon it because it was very practical and of great concernment I found it then making some impression I hope it may do so now if but one soul be thereby turned in to the Lord it is worth my pains though a thousand times more I was desirous to communicate it to my friends to whom I dedicated for their good if the Lord be pleased to bless it It had been a weary task to have transcribed many copies I was resolved therefore to take the shortest cut It is a complaint that the Press is oppressed and not without cause yet much Printing I think is no more to be indicted then much Preaching if so be the matter be sound and savoury That feminine toleration that Midwives so many spurious births into the world and that licentious liberty whereby any one and any thing may preach and be preached are well worthy of censure and sharp animadversions it is hard to say which more Much reading is a weariness to the flesh and so may much hearing yet if either be rendred under God a means of conviction and conversion to the spirit it is no matter Daniel got knowledge of things of concernment by books Dan. 9. 2. I see the Lord owneth and blesseth reading as well as hearing printing as well as preaching though of all means of grace I take preaching to be the King Mine own soul through the mercy of God for ever blessed be his name hath received some good if it be not presumption to say so that way as well as by the preaching of the word and though this be drawn up by a weak worthless creature yet God I see sometimes makes use of and blesseth a wooden as well as a golden instrument And though hereby I expose my self who am weak to the acute judgement of parted and learned men yet I weigh it not if but one soul may be gained and brought in to God by this service as I hope there shall and the Lord raiseth mine heart to some comfortable expectation thereof What a rejoycing would it be to me if my poor labours might tend to the enlargement of my soveraigns Kingdom Reader I shall no further apologize for or give an account of this undertaking though more might be said I desire thine earnest prayers that while I give these counsels and cautions to others my self may not be a cast-away as thou hast mine If thou be a sinner the Lord conform thee to his will if a Saint the Lord confirm thee in his ways The Lord be with thy spirit and his who is Thine as he hopes for thy souls good J. V. Imprimatur Edmund Calamy A SURVEY OF EFFECTUAL CALLING THE FIRST PART CHAP. I 8. Rom. 30. vers the begin Moreover whom he did Predestinate them he also called IN the first part of this Chapter Paul endeavours to comfort the Roman Saints against the Remainders of sin yet with this proviso and caution that they remain not in sin In this Second Part which begins at the seventeenth Verse he Sect. 1 prescribes an antidote to fortify their Spirits against adversity which is made up of many ingredients the last whereof though not the least is in the 28. vers viz. that God like a skilful Chymist will extract good out of evil and by his wise disposing cause advantage to grow upon the stalk of affliction which is proved in the two next Verses because nothing can break that Golden Chain wherein foreknowledge Predestination Vocation c. are Cohaerence linked together so that the words which I have pitched upon fall out to be the middle linke of this Chain which reacheth from Eternity to Eternity viz. from fore-knowledge and Predestination to Glory For the opening of the words Predestination Explication is a fore-ordaining or appointing even from Eternity in reference to the reasonable Sect. 2 Creature and is sometimes taken largely so as the twins of Election and reprobation lye in the Womb of it and sometimes strictly and synecdochically that it and Election are identified and so is it here used Them hath he called We know what it is to call to or upon another to do this or that so God calls them to Sanctity obedience conformity to his will yet so it is to be understood that he opens their ear to hear and inclines their heart to submit to this call He hath called The Preterperfect tense used for the Future Bez. in loc tense after the manner of the Hebrews and to denote a continued Act But I should rather think he so speaks in reference to those that are called already and so in them Personating all others that are the Children of Predestination or else to shew that those that are Predestinated shall as certainly be called as if they were already called for it is the manner of Scripture Sic narrare futura tanquam praeterita Haym to call the things that are not as if they were In the words are two parts Divis 1. The Subject 2. The Predicate Or 1. The Appointment to the end 2. The first step of the means to the end Viz. 1.
Soul is praying repenting hearing reading believing speaking good doing good to it self to others to body and soul advising and Prov. 13. 20. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Phil. 2. 12. counselling it's charge it's Friends It walketh with the wise is giving all diligence to make its calling and Election sure is working out its Salvation with fear and trembling is watching against evil to good and seeking opportunities Phil. 1. 27. of glorifying God Labouring to have its conversation as becometh the Gospel endeavouring to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and having Col. 1. 10. named the name of the Lord striveth to depart from Iniquity This is a most choice Fruit of effectual calling to be Holy and gracious in ones wayes and carriages it is such a Priviledge that but few in the world do attain unto viz. to have on the cleane linnen of the Saints to have Holinesse written even upon the Horses 1 Pet. 1. 15. Bridles to be Holy in all manner of conversation as he is who hath called them A converted Soul rejoyceth much at this and is very glad of it to find a tincture of Holinesse on all it's wayes that the clear waters of Sanctity should run through the Channel of his thoughts words deeds and that all his actions through the help of the Spirit are enamelled with Piety 8. Afflictions or Persecutions And is it S. 8 you will say a comfort a Priviledge to be afflicted to be persecuted yea when for Christs sake a good conscience and the Gospels sake it is a great honour sinners account nothing worse and it so imbitters Godlinesse grace and conversion to them that they spit out with detestation though sometimes in their mouths by verbal resolutions but Saints have so great an esteem of suffering for Christ that they put it in their armes yea glory to bear it as their Crest And they departed from the presence of the Councel rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name Acts 5. 41. Is it not the great Commendation of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures in Egypt Heb. 11. 26. Till effectual calling none will suffer rightly for Christ after effectual calling some suffer more some lesse and every Saint though not drawn out yet is habitually disposed to sufferings How did the Martyrs go to the flames as to their Bed and made their torments matter of true Triumph and the crosse their Crown The French Martyr when he saw the Rope about his Fellows neck desires to be dubbed a Knight of that Noble Order and Babylas would be buried with his Chain accounting it most dear and what saith blessed Pauls From henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus It is true Thieves and vile Persons suffer c. But there is a great deal of difference between the sufferings of the one and other These are brands of impiety those are badges of honour these are for unrighteousnesse those for righteousnesse sake these make infamous those famous these are a curse those but a crosse and such as is a blessing for so saith wisedom it self Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed are ye when men shall revile and persecute you and for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad Matth. 5. 10 11 12. This is a Paradox yet Orthodox the name of trouble scareth a great many but there is no reason for it if you account it an happinesse to do Christs will you must needs account it an Addition of happinesse to suffer for so doing shall a Souldier glory in his wounds received in a just War and shall not a true Christian glory in what he undergoes for Christ Wounds Scarres nick-names spoilings for Christ sake are honourable glorious praise-worthy matters of great dignity and renown 9. Perseverance Those that are effectually S. 9 called shall persevere and hold out to the end they shall never finally and totally fall away they may fall away for a time but not for ever in part but not in whole Though they fall yet they shall rise again Their Apostasy gives way to an Anastasy and their declination to a resurrection they may have the fall of the Leaf but not of the Root of the Act but not of the Habit They may loose grace ex parte sui but not ex parte Dei in regard of their own weakness but not in regard of Gods power because they are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. They are espoused to perseverance which is Perseverantia est filia summi Regis called the Daughter of the Great King grace and their hearts shall never be divorced the knot of love between them is tied so fast by the hand of Heaven The Gates of Hell shall never be able to prevail against them they are a Rock in the midst of the Sea which stands immoveable notwithstanding the rage of winds and waves They are Eternal like their Father a parte post they have begun Incassùm bonum agitur si ante vitae terminum deseratur Vid. Bez. in loc and they shall hold out to the end of their race I pray God saith the Apostle that your whole Spirit and Soul and Body that is the powers of your Soul reason and affection and the parts of your body be preserved blamelesse unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5. 23. They are like the Laurel or the Bayes Tree whose Leaves are alwayes green not onely in the Summer of youth but also in the Winter of old age They shall still bring forth Fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing Psal 92. 14. And therefore they shall carry away the bayes and the Crown from others The Heavenly fire that is kindled in them shall never go out those Wells that God hath digged in them shall never be stopt by the Philistins those flowers of grace he hath planted in their hearts shall never be spoiled or rooted up by the subtle Fox of corruption within nor the wild Boar of temptation without Their grace may be sick but it shall never die it may lurke but shall never be lost it may fade but shall never fall They shall never desert their colours nor forsake the Captain of their Salvation Deare Friends and Reader who ever you are you will never endure the shock of assaults if you have not a principle of true grace within If you be not rooted in Christ by Faith in effectual calling every little puffe will blow you down If you put the action of your hand and not the affection and resolution of your heart to the Plough you will soon look back and so become unfit for the Kingdom of God you may have a form of Godlinesse and an outside profession and well complexioned face
will and can fit any ground to bring forth a good crop not but that the Lord can go against the stream and throw down strong Towers and break through Walls of Steel and Brasse I go not about to weaken the hand or to shorten the Arm of the Lord Is there any thing too hard for the Lord Gen. 18. 14. But the Lord worketh by means of his own appointment and hath no other bonds than what he hath been pleased to put upon himself I speak now not of the skill but of the will of God not what he can do but what he doth do not of his extraordinary power but his ordinary providence in Spirituals not of his special and unusual operations but of his general and more common dispensations The Lord can do more than he will or doth do Nor do I mean that all of the middle sort and ranke are called but amongst them doth God pitch his Tabernacle more than among others nor by the middle sort do I mean those that are next Neighbours to the wealthiest but rather those that dwell upon the Borders of meannesse and so for wisedom and nobility they think themselves too high to put their shoulders to the work of the Lord and would be ready to think God were beholding to them for their service Doth not the Scripture and experience manifest this all along Doth not Christ himself speak the same I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Matth. 11. 25. The Disciples of Christ were not rich nor ragged were not the Wise ones of the world nor the witlesse ones This that I have now laid down doth not dash nor jarre with what we spake in the former Head The temperate Zone is most inhabited by converts and changed ones Grace loves to make it's nest in this climate to hatch and brood in this Region Oh then that the rich were lesse careful the poor more cared for and all more contented with mediocrity CHAP. X. IX The time of effectual calling when God doth call 1. MOre generally In the time of this S. 1 life while we have a natural life we must have a Spiritual life if ever we have any As Christ saith so must we I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work John 9. 4. This life is our Market our fair day when this life is ended time is no more with us but hath taken wing and is fled away This is Gods Preaching day now he speaks pleads calls invites when life is done then is the glasse out the time is spent the Preacher ceaseth and never shall we hear him again in that way Therefore to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7 8. Those that live not now shall never live those that die not now shall never die I mean to grace to sin Those that are not effectually called now shall never be Now is the day of grace the season of Salvation the acceptable time in this sence as well as otherwise 2 Corinth 6. 2. And care you not though you Quidam antè desierunt vivere quà m inciperen◠die before you live how shall you then live when you die after this life there is no Sacrifice for sin no grace to be had no calling voice to be heard Therefore whatsoever thine hand findeth to do for thy Soul do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisedom in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9. 10. We may now and we will not we would hereafter and we shall not when this life is ended we may say the Summer is past the Winter is come the time of the singing of birds is gone and the voice of the Turtle is heard no more in our Land the time of this life is the time of our marring or making for ever 2. More especially In the time of youth S. 2 The Lord can convert and bring home to himself at all times in middle age in old age at the very last as the Thief upon the Crosse you know the saying One that none might despaire but one that none might presume The Lord is tender hearted and ready to reach out Conversio nostra semper inv niet Deum paratum Aug. Ezek. 18. 21 22. Nunquam sera conversio vera R. Jun. his Armes of love to a returning mourning believing Soul whensoever True repentance is never too late but late repentance is seldom true but for any upon this account to run on in excesse of riot and to resist the Holy-ghost is most desperate and sad and yet many do thus presuming upon the last but as one saith wittily this is as if a man should break his neck willingly to trie the skill of the Bone-setter The time of your youth is the choice time therefore saith Solomon Remember thy Creatour now mark now in the dayes of thy youth and illustrates it by the contrary Eccles 12. 1. c. Some have observed the time of effectual calling to be between the years of eighteen and thirty most commonly Though but few can speak punctually as to the particular time and means of their conversion as a parted pious man observeth yet I do believe Master Baxter of Baptisme Jer. 2. 2. that most Saints experience saith that the Lord wrought upon them in their younger dayes and therefore the Lord tells his people he remembers the kindnesse of their youth though youth there may be otherwise understood and this early conversion is meant of those that sit under the dewes of grace the distillings and droppings of Heavenly Doctrine as for Heathens and such who never heard of Christ and his Laws and their sins when they come under the sound of the Silver Trumpet of the Gospel though in old age their conversion may be more likely because they never had the means before I limit not the Holy one of Israel if he can convert at all times yea even then when thou hast worn up thy body and yet will not and doth not use it What is that to thee Follow thou his present call as Christ said to Peter in another case Prize John 21. 22. then your youthful time when those dayes are gone you shall never see such dayes again You may be twice a Child but you can never be twice a young man The morning Aurora Musis amica is observed by Schollers to be best for study The morning of our age is the best time for Spiritual study for studying the condition and state of our Souls The spring of youth is the best time to take Physick Heavenly Purgations in for the working out of sin the cleansing of our Soules the making of our Spirits whole It is the best time for the digging up the Garden of our hearts then doth the Lord sow
a loud voice As our Saviour saith in another case this kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer Matth. 17. 21. the like may we say of sins riveted by custome and time they may be loosed but with much a do the Ice of a months freezing may be broken as well as the Ice of a nights freezing though with more knocks Many shifts and evasions do people find for themselves by continuance of time whereby they keep sin in and grace out by use sin groweth strong sense of sin weak and their hearts little affected with the word being like the people that dwell by the water falls of Nilus who regard not the great noise thereof whereas it is troublesome to strangers so they being accustomed to the sound of the word little regard it 3. Necessity of service Therefore doth S. 5 God use to convert mostly in the spring for all that are sanctified in conversion are to serve him in their conversation Those that are called are called not to loyter but to labour not to be truantly but trusty not to play in the open field of the world but to ply his work in the walled vineyard of his Church not to sit with folded hands in our bosomes but to run the way of his commandments Much there is for a Christian to do for God for himself for his relations for his neighbours for Gods praise for his own and others peace for the illustration of Gods glory for the salvation of his own and others Ars longa vita brevis souls and the time of people upon earth at longest is but short at most is but little and if they begin not betimes what can they do a long journey from earth to heaven we had need take the morning and set out by Sun a great deal of business to do and it must be done in the day of this life we had need then be stirring very early the good housholder which may well be an emblem of Gods calling sinners is said to go out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard Matth. 20. 1. As the whole man so the whole time doth the Lord require as our spirits soul and body so our youth middle and old age death often comes sooner than old age and if nothing be done before nothing can be done after Much work and many works hath a Christian to do There is the fostering of faith the renewing repentance subduing of sin conquering corruption guarding his grace fearing his falling watching his walking studying the Scriptures perusing the promises conversing with converts admonishing acquaintance defying the Divel growing in grace and in all glorifying his God and as the Apostle saith in another case 2 Cor. 2. 16. Who is sufficient for these things so may we in this What time is sufficient for these things Besides in youth there is bodily strength for the task of duties for the body as well as the soul is to be and do for God and spiritual services take a tincture from the bodies temper Though the spirit be willing yet the lesse will be done if the flesh be weak fervent prayer frequent meditation of God his works his word of it self its ways its wants solemn fastings whether publike or private much reading often hearing self examining for which and many more is requisite the vigor of the souls powers the vivasity Meus sanein corpore sano of the bodies parts which in age do age lurk and languish grow feeble and faint the former whereof are evacuated in regard of spirits the latter enervated in regard of strength CHAP. XI X. The means whereby the Lord doth effectually call IN the next place we are to speak of those ways and means which the Lord maketh use of for the calling home wandring creatures lost sheep to himself and they are either of a lower or of an higher form Of the lower form 1. Works Of the lower form 2. Word Of the higher form The Spirit 1. By works The Lord many times makes common works and ordinary providences S. 1 to be especial instruments of grace All things are in Gods hands and those things that are of an inferiour nature can he so blesse and dispose that thereby they shall be suited for the attaining of highest ends Now those providences which the Lord hath used this way and countenanceth in reference to this work are these seven following which carry Scripture authority at their backs 1. By providing yoke-fellows the Lord S. 2 makes temporal marriages sometimes means of spiritual and in this regard it may be well said that matches are made in heaven when for heaven marrying proves to many a making to all eternity sometimes a man when he hath prevailed with a woman afterwards woes and wins her for Christ and many a woman that takes her husband much with her person takes him more with her piety How doth the wisedom and goodnesse of God much appear in this he brings those together that were most unthought of most unlikely he bringeth those together that were farthest distant from each other thus he makes grace out of nature as it were and a spiritual union to grow upon a fleshly conjunction by means of making one flesh he sometimes makes one spirit and doth not the Apostle use this as a reason why he would have the Corinthians not to leave but to shew love to their unbelieving yoke-fellows For what knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband or how knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife 1 Cor. 7. 16. And doth not Peter counsel wives to be in subjection to their own husbands and to what end is it Why That if any obey not the word they also may without the word be wonne by the conversation of the wives 1 Pet. 3. 1. Many an one may say to their yoke fellows in some sort as David 1 Sam. 25. 32 c. to Abigail Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which gave me such an Husband such a Wife and blessed be thy advice my dear heart and blessed be thou which hast told me of my sin admonished me of my State and so hast kept me from Iniquity for in very deed had it not been for thee under the Lord I had perished in my transgressions though there may be carnal love and a peaceable life between yoke-fellows yet no well-bottomed affection if there be not mutual care for each others Eternal welfare They should seek by exhortation and conversation by counsels and commerce by prayer by pattern to bring each other into the bosome of Christ within the bounds of the Covenant The Apostle condemnes and blames the weaknesse of the Galatians That having begun in the Spirit sought to be made perfect by the Flesh We may congratulate and blesse the Gal. 3. 3. wisedom of God that causeth that which is begun in the Flesh to end in the Spirit Sometime a good Husband makes a good Wife and
provide for the good and grace of Soules when his intention is to awake his own Servants there the execution is in part sometimes by making them the Servants of such or such a man when he purposeth to bring them into his orchard he provides sometimes by services a suitable Nursery for them Such as he will bring into the houshold of Faith he sometimes for that end placeth in the houshold of the Faithful and those that shall be brought into Gods Family are sealed first in the Family of those that are Gods and by being Servants of Gods Servants come to be Servants of God themselves by a temporal servitude the Lord making way for a Spiritual Freedome and by an Earthly subjection to an Heavenly manumission So it was with fugitive Onesimus who fled from the house of his Master Philemon and besides his Philem. 10 16. thoughts fel into the hands of his Master Christ Onesimus was Philemon's Servant Philemon was Paul's Friend and so by meanes of the Master Onesimus comes to knowledge of the Minister and as the one was his Earthly Master so the other his Heavenly Father for Paul begate him in his bonds one Prisoner loosing another and travailed of him in birth till Christ was formed in him and so the Servant became as good a man as his Master O Onesimus little didst thou think what God intended to do with thee when he brought thee Bonus etiam si servit liber est under Philemon's Government Thou mayest thou doest blesse God that ever thou camst under his roof so it hath been no doubt with many others besides Onesimus Many may have cause to admire the goodnesse of the Lord in planting them under a good Master and Mistresse or Dame whose counsels have been converting whose words have been working whose perswasions have been prevailing whose prayers have been powerful whose admonitions have been accepted whose motives have been melting whose reproofs have been reclaiming through the grace of God accompanying them The Lord seeth some young men or maids that belong to his election of grace and are Tit. 1. 16. yet in the ways of the reprobate being reprobate to every good work and the appointed time of their conversion draweth neer and beginneth to dawn well saith the Lord thou art mine yet still thine own mine by secret predestination thine own by open abomination mine according to my bosome will thine according to thy basest ways mine by choosing love thine own by sinful life thou little thinkest how I will make thee mine own every way I will incline thine and thy parents heart to put thee forth to pitch upon such a sentence I will displace another to place thee there you look at the ease profit conveniency of the service but though you purpose give me leave to dispose I will so order it that something read heard spoken done by some means or other there you shall be changed and be made restless till you find me without whom you are lost that it shall be said this Psal 81 4. man this maid was born there in the house of one of my Saints and holy ones O the sweet intendings and disposings of the Lord towards us how the Lord can turn things that seek mans way to the accomplishing his own wil. 4. By ordering their station Sometimes the S. 5 Lord pitcheth their tents in such a place where Valet interdum pro animae salute mutatio loci they shall have means God will bring the means and the end together when God fireth his beacon such as he intendeth shall have warning thereby he brings within ken of it when he soundeth the silver trumpet of the word such as he would have prepared thereby to battle with their sins he brings within hearing of it when God sets up a light in any place such as he intendeth shall thereby see the worst of their misery the way to mercy he brings within the beams and rays thereof God is the great Landlord all tenements are of his letting habitations of his appointing dwellings of his disposing he causeth some to wander from their native soil that so they come to have their natures changed the Lord removeth some from town to town that he may translate them from darknesse to light and this we may see in the 18th of the Acts 9 10. Be not afraid hut speak and hold not thy peace for I am with thee no man shal set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this City Observe here the ways goings of the Lord He intended to bring Paul to Corinth and to have such and such of his elected ones to be converted there by him whom he therfore first placeth in Corinth that they might be there during the time of Paul's ministring was not this a sweet providence for the Lord to bring them into Corinth for their conversion some places are like Goshen all light others like Egypt all darknesse some places have the dew of heaven and spiritual showres plentifully falling down upon them others like mount Gilboa upon which there cometh 2 Sam. 1. 21. neither rain nor dew some places are as sheep without a shepherd having either no guides or blind guides others enjoy that gracious promise I will give you pastors according to Jer. 3. 15. Plerumque dum â—utatur locus mutatur mentis affectus mine own heart now for the Lord to bring a man into such a Town and there turn him into such a Country and there by the means convert him to change ones house and thereby to change ones heart to change ones mansion and to change ones manners is a precious dispensation for the Lord as he appointed the time and hour so the means and place of conversion yet a fat soil a place of gain a good pennyworth are the things that commend habitations to many They love to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar and have long dwelt with those that Psal 120. 5 6. are haters of goodnesse To live neer the Altar the Ark the Temple is a mercy of God and a means of good To think our selves best when we are farthest from the Sanctuary is a curse to be a door keeper in the house of God is the way to a cure 5. By prolonging their days many live to S. 6 be converted who had they died before had been condemned our times also are in the hands of the Lord he knoweth the day and hour of the conversion of his elect he will keep off dangers remove destruction defer death not terminate their time but continue their natural course lengthen their life till the hour of their holinesse the time of their turning the day of their deliverance be come for had they died before they had died in wickedness and had they died in wickedness they had been undone by wrath they had died in present sin and could not have escaped eternal sorrow as we may see
between man and man so between God and man yet how doth the world slight and scoff at them vilifie and revile them contemn and condemn them but as they said to Pilate so I to thee altering the John 29. 12. words If thou do these things thou art not thy souls friend 7. By afflicting their persons This is the S. 8 last providence that I am to speak to the Lord breaks down the body and by that means builds up the soul by launcings he let out the putrefactions by the pruning knife of Nocumenta documenta affliction doth the Lord cut away the overspreading and sarmenting boughs of lust and corruption trials are teaching harms are healing blows are made blessings corrasives turn cordials maledictions benedictions the Lord many times laies on his rod that he may not let out his wrath he puts some into the furnace of affliction and there melts and works out their tin and lead and drosse By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and Isa 87. 9. this is all the fruit to take away his sin Many can say with David It is good for me that I Psal 199. 71. have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes And with him that said If I had not been undone I had been undone If I had Periissem nisi periissem not lost my sins I had lost my life If I had not lost my goods I had lost my God If my body had not been mar'd my soul had never been made If I had not lost a child I had never found a father If I had not been friendlesse I had always been faithlesse an ounce of adversity is sometimes worth a pound of prosperity a little of sorrow may sometimes go further than a great deal of joy Manasses was more beholding to captivity than his 2 Sam. 33. 11 12 13. crown to the thorns than his throne to his chains of iron than his chains of gold his fetters than his scepter his prison than his pallace he was too high to be a Saint till God unkinged him too stiff to stoop till God threw him out of his regal chair and forced him to fall upon his knees his losse more worth than his gain little did he think that his parting with all should be a means to bring him to a part in Christ and grace the crooked key of troubles and miseries many times opens the door and lets a soul into the chamber of presence the tossing waves lift up the ark of the soul neerer heaven such kind of agues are many times wholesome when affliction shews it teeth and grins poor creatures are perplexed but be patient for the fruit may be very precious the fear sometimes through the blessing and wisedom of God is more than the harm Afflictions are the shepherds dog not to worry in pieces but to work to Gods part not to tear but to turn The Lord is forced as I may say sometimes to deal with sinners as Absalom did with Joab he sent for him once and again by his servants but he 2 Sam. 14. 29 30. came not at last he fires his field of barley and then he comes without further sending The Lord hath some of his elect ones whom he seeth walking in by-paths and crooked ways the Lord giveth a commission to his servants the Ministers and saith go invite and call you soul to come to me and say Return Return O Shulamite but the soul stirs not the Lord sends and calls again yet with the deaf adder he hearkneth not to the voice of the inchanter well saith the Lord if you will Psal 58. 4 5. not come I will fetch you if fair means will not do foul means must Then he hisseth for the flie and the bee of affliction and calls forth armies of trouble and gives them commission to sieze upon and to lay siege to such a man or woman and saith ply them with your cannon shot till you make them yield give up the keys and strike their sail he sends sicknesse to their bodies a consumption to their estate death to their friends shame to their reputation a fire to their house and the like and bids them prey and spoil till they see and acknowledge the hand of the Lord lifted up till they hear Mic. 6. 9. the voice of the rod and who hath appointed it the Lord many times gives strong physick Deus medicus tribulatio medicamentum before the peccant humour will away and winnoweth them much to throw out the chaff thus he bringeth the buds of grace out of the seeds of affliction and ushereth in the Lady grace with salt preambles many times a sorrowful evening may have a joyful morning There may be crying out in the evening for the pangs of affliction and crying out in the morning for the pains of conversion The evening red with the fiery trial the morning gray with grief for sin may produce a fair day of holinesse cloudy and dolorous evenings may have cleer and deliverance-mornings the Lord sometimes bends a soul till he makes it meet again and breaks it till he makes it melt that he may bow them to his gracious will and not burst them by his grievous wrath rather then the Lord will lose a soul that belongs to him he will lash them till he force them into his bosome Thus I have discovered unto you the providences of God whereby he provides for his peoples good Though there may be others yet I think these are the chief may we not now say as David Many O Lord our God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward Psal 40. 5. Have not his people cause to utter the memory of his great goodnesse and to sing of his righteousnesse Psal 145. 7. Oh oh that we would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderful works towards our souls Psal 107. 8. That the Lord should thus variously unexpectedly in all these ways seek the conversion and changing of lost souls may justly cause us to say All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth Psal 25. 10. and with the same Psalmist in another place Thou crownest my years with thy goodnesse and thy paths drop fatnesse into our souls Psal 65. 11. I conclude these things admiring with Paul Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisedom and knowledge of God and doxologizing with him 1 Tim. 1. 17. Now unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 2. By his Word Now we come to the next S. 9 means which the Lord maketh use of for the conversion and calling home of Saints to himself and that is the Word of God That is Jam. 1. 18. Rom. 10. 17 Nemini blanditur veritas the instrument of regeneration It is a word of truth and therefore fit for this work It dealeth impartially
may charge Soules home with their sins Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins Isai 58. 1. Some are so fine fingered they dare not touch the sore so mure hearted they dare not search the wound so mealy-mouthed they cannot speak hard against sin some so guilty they are afraid to condemn themselves A Minister must Preach not as acquitting but accusing not as soothing but as searching not as discharging but charging the wicked and ungodly not as flattering but frowning upon sin not as pleasing man but pleasing God To Preach generally not particularly to Preach as a farre off never come near is not the way To make all wel for fear of ill will is too low a frame for the Spirit of a Minister of Jesus Christ to be in and argues an heart seeking more it's own temporal comfort than Gods Eternal glory I mean not that Ministers should particularize publikely persons or names or that that their words should savour of Spleen and Gall against ought but sin But this that they should charge their peoples sins upon them as Nathan said to David Thou art the man So they you are the 2 Sam. 12. 7. people that are thus and thus Let them endeavour to cause them to know that they are the people that have contemned Gods Commands broken his bonds worked wickednesse practised perversenesse refused repentance and slighted their own Soules that they are in a lost and undone condition after this manner did John the Baptist Preach to the Scribes and Pharisees Matth. 3. 7 8 9. He opens the Book and shewes them their sins he brings them to the brink of Hell and shewes them their danger and so doth Peter Him have ye taken and by wicked hands Crucified and slain Acts 2. 23. And did not the Lord blesse this his Preaching For they were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do Verse 37. And so again in Acts 8. 20 21 22 23. Read them I pray How terrible doth Peter thunder there against Simon Magus and come home to him My heart riseth much against flattery especially in a Ministery it is a most desperate thing and of cursed consequence There is not a speedier way to damn Semper vitanda est perniciosa dulcedo people whereas a Ministers work is to Preach their Soules to Heaven For Ministers to hover and keep at a distance in their Preaching and never seek to come home nor get into the conscience argueth cowardize or unskilfulnesse Such Preaching will bring little of comfort to the Pastor or conversion to the people It is said of Bernard that once he Preached a curious neat flourishing Sermon and every one was taken with it though not by it but he was sad and heavy thereupon soon after he Preached another Sermon not of kin to the former but an home searching pressing Sermon it was no commendation of this as of the former But he carried it very lightsomely and cheerfully to what he did before the people asked him the reason of his so various divers Heri Bernardum hodie Christum deportment he answers yesterday I Preached Bernard to day Christ yesterday my self to day my Saviour Though people condemn such kind of Preaching yet God will crown it though it be harsh to flesh and blood yet it is health to the Soul and Spirit many look upon it as needlesse when the Lord knows it is very needful 3. Powerful Preaching Powerful zealous S. 12 Preaching is a means of effectual calling Ministers should Preach not with affectation but affection not with formality but fervency not with listlinesse but livelinesse Sermons should be fired with zeal and filled with love Cold dead lazy Preaching maketh Christians thereafter faint wooing for Christ goes away Qui timidè rogat negare docet with a denial if they be not more hot in their work they can never win the castle of the heart for Christ Eli's vile Children feared not their 1 Sam. 2. 25. Fathers faint chiding The Lord did earnestly protest to his people by his Ministers Jer. 11. 7. I earnestly protested saith the Lord or as in the original protesting I protested I delivered my mind to you over and over which sheweth earnestnesse Earnest Preaching many times brings early practice Ministers should first warm their hearts at the Spirits fire and then warm their Sermons at their hearts they should so speak that their words may seem not to fall from their heads but to rise from the hearts what comes from the heart is most like to go to the heart To speak as if one were afraid to wake the sleepers to disquiet sin as if one had no sence of grace or sin of mercy or misery is like to prove fruitlesse and without good issue Sinners are asleep and they must be rouzed they are secure and they must be rounded and they are regardlesse and must be ratled as the Heb. 4. 2 word should be mixed with Faith in the hearer so with fervency in the Preacher It is said of that eminent Divine Master Perkins that in his Preaching he would pronounce the word Damn with such an Emphasis that Fuller holy state he left a trembling impression upon the Spirits of his Auditors Ministers must be Boanerges Sons of Thunder as well as Barjonas Sons of Consolation when they speak they should 1 Pet. 4. 11. speak as the Oracles of God powerfully pressingly vehemently urgingly Reader when the word hath been powerfully Preached to thee in a zealous stirring way hast thou not had some convictions have not the secrets of thine heart been made manifest and thou been constrained to fall down and worship God and report and say the Lord is in this Minister 1 Cor. 14. 25. of a truth Hast not been almost a Christian thereby and thou that art Godly did not the Lord use the obstetrication of means of such kind of Preaching for bringing forth the Man-child of grace The Lord give such Watch-men such Work-men where they are wanted the Lord blesse them where they are seated Was not Christs Preaching after this manner How Pathetically doth he expresse himself Luke 13. 34 35. And can we learn of a greater Doctor than he And what else doth Paul mean and intend but earnest Preaching 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pasor Lex in his counsel to Timothy Preach the word be instant in season out of season 2 Tim. 4. 2. that is be earnest pressing be urgent as some translate the word 2. Means of the higher forme Now we S. 13 come to speak of means of a superiour order and that is the Spirit of the Lord the Spirit and the Word go together the one as the Servant the other as the Master the one as the Instrument Nisi Spiritus S. adsit cordi audientium
Author of effectual calling Sol. God is the Sole Author and we the subjects that are wrought upon He the Agent and we the Patients our hearts are not in our own hands we are dead and cannot make our selves alive we must erect an Altar with this Inscription To the God 1 Sam. 7. 12. of grace And set up a stone of remembrance with this Motto The Lord hath helped us Grace can be of the off-spring of none but the Eternal Father It is not in any but by the gift and work of God it is a Plant of Gods setting so the Saints may truely say Thou O Lord hast wrought all our works in us Isai 26. 12. His people are the natural and Spiritual workmanship of his hands And of this doth Paul informe his Corinthians when he saith And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are Sanctified 1 Cor. 6. 11. Ye did not sanctify your selves but ye were sanctified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye did not make your selves Saints but ye were made Saints and as it was with the people so with the Preacher he could give grace neither to them nor himself for their grace and his grace had both one Author and were from God The Lord was active and he and they were passive for so he speaketh of himself But I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1. 13. The translation runs in the active when the Greek word is of the passive voice neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bez. in loc in Latine nor English can one well expresse the original It is as if one should say I was had mercy upon So then it is clear that we have neither hand nor heart in the work of grace But it must be set upon the account of God as the sole efficient Yet thus we must understand it for we are not stockes and stones in the work of conversion 1. We being effectually called can afterwards work by the grace which God hath wrought in us If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body c. Rom. 8. 13. Here is an Act of mortification of sin but from the might of the Spirit an Act of killing but from enlivening grace when principled then the Soul is to do it's part when animated then it is to Act When it hath it's treasure then it must trade when stocked with life then it must stand out against it's lusts 2. A Soul worketh in the very moment of Perk. Revel 3. 9. conversion as it was with Paul Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9. 6. Paul was now infieri in making and loe the beatings of his Pulse And so it was with good Lydia Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things which were spoken of Paul Acts 16. 14. There we see her in making the Lord opened her heart that was Gods work and she Acteth she attended that is her work by vertue of the former Babes of grace Act in the very birth and whilest the Lord is framing and fashioning them they pant and breath in their new moulding they melt and mourn in Gods striving with them they strive for him in their making they move Yet we must be careful to understand this rightly viz. thus 1. In the order of nature Gods working is Acti agimus before the Soules and the Soules working depends upon it that as the cause this as the caused that as the efficient this as the effected that as the spring this as the stream that as leader this as led that as the parent this as the posterity that as the root this as the fruit 2. What the Soul doth is not the cause or meanes of conversion Conversion is without Nulla praecedit in nobis praeparatio August the spheare of our activity 2. Ob. In the next place it may be queried what the difference is between effectual vocation and sanctification how near they live S. 2 each to other or how far distant they are one 2. Ob. from the other whether neighbours or strangers kindred or aliens Sol. Effectual calling is meant of the first Sol. Assem Ad. Baxter Saints rest pag. 140. work of God upon the soul in implanting grace there and changing the whole man and regeneration and conversion are the same with it as we have said before Sanctification is meant of the increase of that first work and of holinesse in the life and conversation 1 Thessal 4. 3. The first as the rising of the Sun the latter as it 's keeping it's course The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4. 18. The one as the infancy and youth the other as the growth and age of grace the one as the principle the other as the practice one as the morning the other as the noon of grace 3. Ob. It may be queried in the next place S. 3 which grace is first Faith or repentance 3. Ob. Faith before repentance or repentance before faith which of these two is the first born and elder Child Sol. This question hath been much tossed Sol. up and down and many saplesse contentions have been about it without solid demonstration of the thing and without spiritual edification of the soul If were better for people to enquire whether they find these graces in themselves than which is first the sincerity of them in reference to truth is more to be sought after than the priority of them in reference to time it were more profitable to question our participation than their precedency yet people had rather deal with Metaphysicks than Morals with notional rather than necessary points and love to rise to the clouds in their askings when they cannot reach the top of a low-built answer However I will in some measure satisfy this question 1. We must know that all habits of grace are infused together the habits are put in to the soul at one time though some may put out themselves by actings before one another A new heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you Ezek. 36. 26 27. Here is a change mentioned which could not be without the infusion of all saving graces together Simul semel and at once They are like twins they receive their being both together though one be brought forth before another This similitude following may make it a little plain a man taketh several sorts of seeds and sowes them in his Garden at one time yet some come up and shew themselves before others some sooner some latter Our hearts are the Garden the habits of grace the seeds all which by the hand of the spirit are sown at one time though in actings some appear before others 2. One things is said to be before another two wayes 1. First in time as that which is to day is before that which is not till to morrow and that which is this houre is before that
upon the staffe of Christs merits If you look but in the index or table of the volumes of eternity you shall find calling as well as crowning holy as well as happy gracious manners as well as glorious manfions It is the madnesse of the world infatuated by the delusions of the devil to conclude the excusablenesse of their sinful neglect of good their wilful departure from God from the premises of the infallibility of Gods purpose or to build their presumptions or desperations upon the unseen foundation of the everlasting decree in the mean time crossing apparent commands and manifest prohibitions whereas the decree of the means and the end were born in one day and printed together in Heavens presse bearing the date of the same year To say one may live as they list because Gods decree is certain and more unalterable than the Laws of the Medes and Persians is an inconsequence of a desperate consequence To think that we may be born into the sea of eternal joy though we swim with the tide of the sinful world if we be elected that it is impossible to avoid the gulph of perdition though striving against the stream of a natural condition bladdered and supported by the spirits special grace if we be reprobated is such logick as the topicks of divinity afford no medium for because we sinfully Male dividere benè conjuncta divide what God in his righteous and wise ordination hath coupled together we find the end and the means linked together in the text It is a golden chain and pity to break it nay in our thoughts to separate them or by our actions to endeavour the violation of them can be no lesse than high treason against Gods cabinet counsel The Lord finisheth his intentions by his own fixed means and therefore whom hee hath appointed to the weight of glory he will acquaint with the work of grace Union to Christ They shall be effectually S. 2 called that so they may be united to Christ Rea. 2 without whom they can have no glory Christ is the foundation of spiritual and eternal mercies in him are the treasures of all soul-good things He is the pillar of peace the basis of blessedness the bottom of bounty and root of rest he is laden with Heavenly fruit and those that have ought must hold of him so that the soul may say All my springs are in thee Psal 87. 7. spiritual life pardon of sin acceptance with God right to Heaven come from the vertue and merit of Christ but they come from Christ not in the common notion but from Christ in special union to him all Christs favours run to the soul in the channel of spiritual union It is not Christ without us but Christ within us that is the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. we must be Christ friends before we can have his favours we must be married to him before we can have much from him he must be in our hearts before we can get to Heaven we must be linked to him before we can live with him For all the fulnesse of Christ empty cisterns shall never be filled without union to the fountain for all his riches they shall continue poor that will not come near him now in effectual calling as we have already shewed the soul is united to Christ and made one with him That Christ is a redeemer and thou a wretch is no great matter unless the Saviour and the sinner meet That Christ hath purchased Heaven and thou hast deserved Hell will be little matter of comfort unless thou canst make out that thou art Christs that Christ is thine All is in Christ but that is nothing to thee unless Christ be in thee If God give thee not his Son he gives thee not Omnia habemus in Christo omnia in nobis Christus his love if thou hast his Christ thou hast all How shall he not with him freely give us all things Rom. 8. 32. And excellently doth Paul shew the order of interests All are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. without union no communion without a part in Christ no participation of Christs without coming into his bosome no carrying away of any of his blessings People do but cheat their own souls with a fallacy when they think to attain to the enjoynment of God in Heaven and never have communion with Christ on Earth when they think to arrive at the haven of blisse and never embarque themselves in the vessel of Christs merit Christ hath said that he is the way the truth and the John 14. 6. life and it is most certain that he is the true way to life eternal Souls must be incorporated members of Christs body before they can be enfranchised Citizens of the new Jerusalem Christ is already lifted up into glory and draws none after him but those that are tyed to him by the band of faith Distinction present and future The Lord Rea. 3 will call in his predestinated people that so S. 3 there may be a difference in the tempers and dispositions of men as well as in their ends though the grave be common to all yet the ultimate and last end is distinct and several for some shall ascend others shall descend some shall be triumphant in the highest Heavens others shall be tormented in the lowest Hell some shall possesse nothing but weal others shall partake of nothing but woe some shall flourish with a glorious Crown others shall fade by a grievous curse Come ye blessed depart ye cursed Math. 25. 34. 41. The Lord intendeth that some shall shine as the Sun hereafter Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Math. 13. 43. he will therefore have you here to sparkle as stars Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Math. 5. 16. Those whom the Lord will distinguish from others by the life of glory in the world to come he will distinguish by the livery of grace in this world if the end of people be divers then sure their way must be different Alas all both one and other set out together and run the same way till God turn them and take the same course till God do effectual call All are hewen out of the same rock and out of the same quarry no difference till the polishing and refining hand of the spirit passe upon souls Among whom we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as well as others Ephes 2. 3. For Sola gratia discernit redemptos à perditis we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient c. Tit. 3. 3. We all come out of one nest It is conversion and a change that makes the difference what
into thine hand if thou refuse to let it into thine heart CHAP. II. I. Vse for information IS it thus that the Lord doth effectually call his predestinated by such means and at such times and as we have hitherto shewed then from hence we may learn these things for we may gather instructions not onely from the substance but also from the circumstance of the doctrine 1. The paucity of the predestinated This S. 1 truth may plainly be read in the face of the Ad coeleste regnum pauci perducuntur doctrine The number of the predestinated and purified are alike the latter is but small therefore also the former every one is ready to think that their names are written in the Register of Heaven and that they are pricked for happinesse when they hear of Eternal glory and future greatnesse of sitting down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob at the Banquet of endlesse joy of that true Golden never aging age from self-love they conceit with Haman that there is none whom the King of Heaven Esth 6. 6. would delight to honour more than themselves Most are excluded and yet they include themselves the number of those that are appointed to life is great in it self yet but small comparatively There are but a few that are chosen Matth. 22. 14. They are like the gleaning Isai 17. 6. of Grapes or as the shaking of an Olive tree two or three Berries in the top of the uttermost bough c. as the Lord speaketh in another case one of a City and two of a Family Jer. 3. 14. The Scripture speaketh this in many places Many will seek to enter in but shall not be able Luke 13. 24. They are called a little Flock a remnant and is not this most plain Luke 12. 32. for how few are there that are truely called and the Lord calleth none but his predestinated All fancy that they shall be saved when but few can find that they are sanctified Many presume of glory when but few partake of grace How few of true converts to be found in Families and Towns yet many concluders there are of Eternal felicity when Christ said one of you shall betray me it made all to question themselves Though we hear that many perish a few predestinated as few called yet every one is secure This is self deceit and desperate folly 2. The priority of a change Then people S. 2 must have a change upon them before they can know that they are chosen Though Election be before grace in existence yet grace is before Election in evidence The former is first in the ordination of God the latter is first in manifestation to us Though Election be not for foreseen Faith yet untill Faith one cannot see Election Conclusion of Election upon the premises of truth of grace are built upon a Rock impregnable against all the assaults of the Gates of Hell Conclusions of Election meerly from fancy self-love strong perswasions of our own hearts sinfully fathered upon the Spirit of God for it's motions without real grodnesse are built upon the sand and though they may brave it for a time and hold up their heads in a calme yet there is a storm a coming that will sink them beyond possibility of recovery Those that conclude Election without grace will be as much non-plus'd at doomes day as that speechlesse man was Matt. 22. 11 12. If we can find a saving work in our hearts let us conclude and spare not Thus doth the Apostle in behalf of the Thessal your work of Faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ knowing Brethren beloved your Election of God 1 Thessal 1. 3 4. First their graces of Faith love and hope with their Fruits are mentioned and then Election We can never find our selves in Gods heart by Eternal appointment till we find God in our hearts by gracious actings Friends and Christian Reader you do exceedingly against your selves when you think God hath chosen you and you have never chosen him Many have had their hearts hardened and their destruction hastened by such erroneous conclusions 3. The infelicity of natural people In effectual S. 3 calling the soul is brought to Christ and made one with him Then to be in a natural estate and condition is such as the very thoughts thereof might affright and scare one For all such have nothing to do with Christ The Apostle tells the Ephesians that at that time viz. while they dwellt in the Region of nature they were without Christ Ephes 2. 12. What can be said more to the amplifying of misery Such have nothing to do with Christs merit nor with his Spirit they have none of his love none of his life none of his pardon none of his promises If without Christ who is all in Merito à Christo auspicatur tanquam omnium promissionum Scopo Bez. in loc all then without all that is good for he is the root and foundation of al the rest as the Apostle intimateth by his order without effectual calling a manor woman is none of Christs spouse nor Sister None of his Friend nor favourite whilest people are in their sins they are like branches cut off from the body of the Tree and yet those that are wholly strangers to the work of effectual calling and have not a dram of true saving grace will challenge great acquaintance with and Interest in Christ and will claime kindred of him though they have not the least of his blood running in their veines you may perswade your selves but you can never perswade God that Christ is yours and for all your presumption your end will be destruction to be without Christ is to be without communion with God without the compasse of the promises the Covenant of grace And if you be without Christ you Aut cum Christo aut cum Diabolo nos esse oportet nec locus est medii must be with the Devil Variously may the unhappinesse of a natural condition be delineated but to be without Christ is the blackest and darkest Character thereof that can be given Till you come to be made partakers of his nature you can claim no priviledge from his offices To be garmentlesse friendlesse fatherlesse mony-lesse houselesse meatlesse is nothing to being Christlesse Those may be repaired and redeemed by something that is better but this want can be compensated and made up by nothing That is a pitiful but this a peerlesse condition That is doleful but this is dismal that is a low but this a lost estate It is true Christ died for sinners the righteous Rom. 5 8. for the unrighteous but when he unites them to himself he makes them live as Saints for any to pretend they have the Royal Scarlet of imputed righteousnesse when they are not dressed with the Linnen garments of inherent righteousnesse is presumption of an high nature which will render them liars and leave them
naked to their Eternal shame without the intervention of special grace so long as you keep in the walk of sin in the road of nature Christ and your Souls are far asunder Oh that the Lord would cause the scales to fall from peoples eyes that he would change their Note and turn their time and make them say Oh that Christ were mine which may be instead of saying Christ is mine which is not 4. The pedigree of grace In the next place S. 4 we may take notice of the original of grace whence it comes for the doctrine saith God doth effectually call It is then not an earth but heaven-born thing If we enquire for the descent of it we must ascend above the Stars It is a beam of the eternal Sun a spark of the eternal fire a dropling of the everlasting fountain It is Gods hand that sets this slip in Gratiâ Dei non nostra potestate in melius mutamur the garden of the heart It springeth not from natural inclination but from the Almighty his operation It doth not rise like water fetched by pumping but falls like pearly precious dew from Heaven It oweth his being not to humane acquisition but to divine infusion The Lord hath often told us thus much in Scripture and yet we are ready to sacrifice to our own nets This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. This is but the copy of an old grant which we have in the 31. of Jeremy and the 31 32. verses c. and in the 36. of Ezek. 26 27. verses where you have the word I five times in two verses and who is it that speaks thus but the Lord mighty and powerfull Who can do it as well as say it and who doth do it wherever it is done This gift cometh from the bonity and bounty of the Lord If any soul can make out the truth of grace within let it say It is not in Rom. 9. 16. him that wills nor in him that runs but in God that sheweth mercy and when it is prostrated on earth upon its knees with humility let its heart be elevated to Heaven with gratitude I think this might well be the Embleme of a Christian a large heart wide open to Heaven the deaf ears perforated breathing forth flames of zeal written on both sides with Scripture truths an hand in the clouds as from Heaven hovering about it with this Motto which was Paul's By the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15. 10. The store of grace that Saints have comes out of Gods treasury their rich cloathing from his Wardrobe their currant coine from his Exchequer their choice flowers from his Eden The Apostle useth this as a means to fetch off the Corinthians from glorying in men and to fix their thoughts upon God when he saith I have planted Apollo watered ministerially but God gave the increase yea and the beginning too magisterially 1 Cor. 3. 6. The will and the work are both of Gods good Phil. 2. 13. pleasure for who is sufficient of themselves to think so much as a good thought 2 Cor. 3. 5. Heb. 12. 2. Incassum laborat in acquisitione virtutum qui eas alibi quam in Christo quaerit It is the Lord that is the α and the ω the author and finisher of Faith The Lord Christ not excluding his Father but the Lord and his Christ They are not to be regarded that slight the means and God may justly reject those that eye the means onely and forget himself which are nothing without his acting It is most true that of him and through him and to him are all things Rom. 11. 36. 5. The dependency of mans salvation S. 5 Then all that concerns mans salvation is from God and his grace for effectual calling which is the first work is from God and his gift Until effectual calling no justification no adoption no growth nor perseverance in grace no assurance no glory nor Heaven They are all entailed upon effectual calling are the inseparable concomitants thereof Therefore if we owe the one to the Lord Causa causae est causa causati we are beholding to him also for all the rest not only the foundation but the superstructure not only the bottom but also the top-stone of spiritual temples are of the Lords laying The whole of salvation is to be ascribed to the Lord By grace ye are saved Ephes 2. 8. Conversion is the first distinguishing and changing work that passeth upon a man or woman without which they could not be fit and meet for any after favour now if that first Col. 1. 12. work whereupon all after works do depend have its dependance upon and its being from the Lord and his grace then certainly all the rest must depend upon the Lord All that souls have from the beginning to the end from the first to the last comes from the womb of Gods grace the upper rooms as well as the lower are of his building There is not the least ingredient that goeth to the making up of a mans happinesse but is to be found in the Lords Paradise every stair from the cell of nature to the chair of glory is of the Lords own laying There is not the least iota or title in the Alphabet of Salvation but is written by the finger of God We cannot say that ought from a change to a crown is our creature for all is framed and fashioned by the hand of the Lord So that it may be truly said to every Saint What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. Grace is by the Lords gift conversion by his call pardon from his pity sanctification from his Spirit perseverance by his power glory of his own grant The whole fabrick and building leaneth upon the arms of the Almighty that the Lord may say I bear up the Pillars thereof The Fathers will the Sons worth and the Spirits work are the three supporters of salvation and founders of mans felicity the one purposeth the other purchaseth and the last perfecteth All must be set upon the Lords account The Text speaketh it plain It is he that predestinateth calleth justifieth and glorifieth The first middle and last things of a Christian do live move and have their being in the Lord so that when we go to take our pen and set down our spiritual receits we may well say Inprimis for Predestination item for vocation item for justification sonship and glory and all these received of the Lord the most higst possessour of Heaven and Earth and my most gracious Father and may add all our spirings are in thee Let us not give Gods glory Ps 87. 7. to another let all go in his name for all is from his grace and power though some be first others
whom Samuel took to be the chosen of the Lord because he was well complexioned and tall statured but the Lord tells him that was none of the man and so the like for Abinadab and Shammah till at last David comes and he it is that the Lord intends to preferre to the Kingdom So souls hear there is a work must passe on them or no glory Now they bring out all before the Lord sorrow for sin confession of sin some endeavours and partial amendment and profession for Christ but it is none of all these It is little David said the Lord a through change that I will own true conversation that I will crown many through ignorance take the Leah of superficial repentance instead of the beautiful Rachel of solid and serious returning They are much mistaken who think the sandy foundation of every sorrow able enough to bear the superstructure of the new Jerusalem They that look upon repentance onely in the community as sorrow and not in the special notion as renovation may run wild and misse their way at first setting out To sorrow for sin and not separate from it to mourn for it and not to get some good mastery over it though the spirits help to lament it and not to loath it is not effectuall calling To have a sense of sin and not a sight of a Saviour To feel the curse and have no faith in Christ is not the change we are speaking of we must distinguish between a carnal rupture a legal despondency of spirit and a true spiritual humiliation and debasement of spirit which centers the soul upon a forsaken God one may take many steps yet if they come not so near as to touch the golden Scepter all is nothing 8. The benignity of God If God be thus S. 8 bountiful to his people here what will he be to them hereafter If those that are Predestinated to life be effectually called now they are on earth what shall be done to them when they come to be possessed of Heaven If he give them effectual calling at this distance cum omnibus pertinentiis with all the appendixes and appurtenances thereof what will he give them when they come into his immediate presence Surely if now they be as walls and doors in his spiritual building then he will build upon them Palaces of silver and Cantic 8. 9. enclose them with boards of Cedar Indeed the comparison is not to be made between here and there now and then If Incomparabiliter superna civitas clara est such things in the way what shall they have when they come to their heavenly Countrey If effectual calling while they be sublunarians then surely an everlasting Crown when they shall be suprasolists If so much while they are in cottages of clay then much more when they come to the place of glory If the first-fruits be an handful headful and heartful what will the crop and harvest be If the earnest amount to thus much what do you think the total sum will be Effectual calling is a glimmering of future glory the dawning of the eternal day and what is the morning to the noon the twilight to the midday splendour It is most true what the Scripture saith that the heart of man cannot conceive what the Lord hath treasured and laid up for his people 1 Cor. 2. 9. and to this purpose speaketh St. John Beloved now we are the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3. 2. Now there is near relation then there shall be much assimilation here is mutual love there shall be great likenesse If God here bring them into the suburbs then surely hereafter into the heart of the City If so much now while they are in the valley of tears then much more when they come to the mount of joy If this be done for them while they are in their non-age what then shall be done for them when they come unto a perfect man unto Ephes 4. 13. the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ 9. The excellency of effectual calling Is S. 9 effectual calling such a work and are the effects of it such as we have heard then it is one of the most excellent things in the world next to Christ and Heaven there is no better thing that God gives to his people That makes the Apostle Paul to give thanks to God for it in Colos 1. 12 13 14. Put the best of the things of the world into the scales with it and it will weigh them all down Set them all by this and this will be higher than they by the head and shoulders It is good for the body advantagious to the soul the blessing of both It is good for this life for another life never out of date ever useful Godliness Poenitentia est medicamentum pulveris spes salutis is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. There is nothing in the world hath so many commodities as it hath It is health from sickness life from death liberty pardon sonship fellowship perseverance Qui per poenitentiam peccata diluit angelicae felicitatis consors in aeternum erit glory are the virgin-companions that follow effectual calling We may truly say of it that it is more precious than Rubies and the merchandise thereof better than the marchandise of silver and the gain thereof than fine gold Prov. 3. 14. 15. It makes a King of a begger a friend of a foe a righteous one of a rebellious one a godly man of a godless man a saint of a sinner and those that are thus qualified have an excellency above others The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. He or she that hath this need not care what else they want It is the sottish ignorance that makes the world tread under feet this Jewel There are but few Crowns adorned with this Diamond These waters of Jordan though contemned yet are better than Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus 2 Kings 5. 12. Think and think as often as you will yet you will find nothing to match or equal effectual calling many think they have all when their will is fulfilled but they have nothing till their will be changed many say all is well if they have what they would but all is ill till they have what they should To say one is wise rich strong beautiful parted is much but to say one is gracious holy renewed in their affections reformed in their actions is a great deal more Nay further to say one is prudent sober honest moral courteous is something but to say they are godly far surpasseth Nay to rise higher to say one maketh a good shew is religious outvieth the rest yet to say
so little who was of more yeers Aged sinner there are many at 30. years have done much for God through his grace are thriven and grown lusty in piety and have run hard that they are almost at Heavens gate when thou hast done nothing are like Pharaohs lean kine and didst never take two paces in the way of godliness who art 50 60. years of age it may be more and hast enjoyed as good nay it may be better means than they there are many of half thy years that grow rich with a little and thou growest poor with much That have more in their little finger than thou hast in thine whole body you have cause to lay it to heart that you have laid out your heart no more for God Hast thou stood all this while a tree in Gods Orchard and art thou outstripped by a young Plant Hast thou been all this while in Christs School ever 2 Tim. 3. 7. learning and not yet able to come to the knowledge of the truth Art thou still no further than a. b. c. Oh consider this thou that hast forgotten God so long least he tear thee in Psal 50. 22. pieces and there be none to deliver Yet I would not have thee to despair yet there may be some hope concerning thee if thou turn truly repent really pray perseveringly seek seriously and believe savingly Thou hadst need double thy diligence and redeem the time Thou must do two hours work in one Thou must ride all night as well as all day or Plus omnibus religione operam dare senibus convenit quos praesentis seculi florida aetas transacta desemit thou wilt hardly get to they journey's end Thou hadst need borrow time from thy sleep from thy meales from thy recreation and lay it out about thy soul because thou hast neglected thy salvation so long the smalnesse of your remaining time the decay of sence and reason habit in sin the wiles of the Devil render your change doubtful and difficult However give all diligence to make thy calling and Election sure Be importunate with the Lord and like Jacob take no nay The Sun is almost down yet if thou put on hard thou mayest reach thy Fathers house before day-light be quite done 12. The utility of observation Doth the S. 12 Lord convert and call into his bosome by his works and providences Then it is a very good and profitable thing for us to take notice of the providences of God providences well minded may be means of our souls mending Such as have their conceptions filled with them may come to have their conversation filed by them The works of the Lord being throughly pondered are means many times of being truly purified The Lord passeth by us in his dispensations and through our heedlesseness passeth over us in displeasure The Lords works and various dealings are as decoyes and snares to take us but if we step over them we are not like to be caught The Lord openeth these hangings and if we open not our eye to behold them they wil not affect our heart who is there that observeth the Psa 28. 5. works of the Lord or mindeth the operation of his hands in his actings towards them or theirs in their soul or body formerly or lately in greater or lesser affaires in light or dark prosperous or adverse emergencies much might be squeez'd and got out of them It was the commendation of one that he could make something of nothing and great matters of small so the providences of God which others make no account of if Husbanded and improved might amount to the salvation of the soul through God's blessing They are therefore to be recorded in our thoughts and registred in our understandings In the Arke was kept the pot of Manna which was a remarkeable and extraordinary providence of Heb. 9. 4. God towards the Israelites in that they were fed and preserved so long by it A Godly man of late hath set before us a very commendable pattern of this nature I mean Master Ambrose in whose middle things you have a Catalogue of providences c. The footsteps and goings of the Lord are to be marked and observed It is not amisse to keep a Book or List of them let mercy be remembred Beneficia Dei omnibus horis consideranda sunt misery regarded let trials be thought on let afflictions affect us let his providences of all sorts especially those of greatest stature live in our memories and not be buried in the grave of oblivion shall the Lord passe under our window in actings of various and divers kinds and shall not we look out to see what he doth when his hand is stretched out to strike or reached out to stroak shall we regard neither Contemplation of our maker is one great Homo ad contemplandum creatoris suum conditus est end of our making and to view not onely the wayes of the Lord in general towards others but also his goings in particular toward our selves It were but a practice of piety to have Chronicles of this nature as none of the words so none of the works of the Lord should be suffered to fall to the ground by us but we should take them up at the first bound we should shew our selves thrifty in this case and gather up the fragments that nothing be lost we are ready to murmure at God's dealings many times when there is great reason to marvail at them when we see the issue of them Providential actions are the ripening of the Lords previous intentions by providences do his purposes come to the birth and his promises receive accomplishment let them therefore be heedfully observed and carefully preserved 13. The dignity of the word Is the word S. 13 an Instrument in God's hand of changing mans heart then it is a most precious thing and to be much prized by us It is a word of duty to us and therefore must needs be a word of dignity in it self It is a working word through the spirits assistance and therefore a worthy word to our acceptance it is a means of sanctification and there is reason it should be the matter of our estimation it is an invaluable treasure and incomparable Jewel and therefore to be lodged in the heart and laid in the bosome which was the practice of pious David Thy word have I hid in mine heart Psal 119. 11. He had high thoughts and singular conceit of it with such a deep stream did his affection run towards it that himself could hardly sound the bottome thereof as appears by his pathetical expressions O how love I thy Law It is my meditation all the day Ps 119. Scripturae divinae jugiter mente voluantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 3. 16. Si verbum Dei auferas solem è mundo sustulisti 97. The word is of exceeding great use and price it is an universal remedy it is a means of enlightning
which such Quis mortem temporalem metuat cui aeterna vita promittitur cannot do as we have shewed in the former head If spirituals be absent temporals will prove but miserable comforters Though now you hold up your heads and blank at nothing and you laugh at the shaking of the spears and account darts as stubble yet in your moneth Job 41. 29. when you come to be gravid and go bigge with the sorrow of languishing sicknesses and fear of approaching death you will change your tone and sing another song if you be not as bad or worse than the Devil for he hath such a sence of his condition that it makes him to tremble Thus you see what a dreadful condition all are in that are not effectually called no comfort present or future none in life or in death none in earthly and common none in Heavenly and spiritual good things They may well have their name changed Jer. 20. 3. and be called Magor-Missabib fear round about for there is just cause they should be a terrour to themselves CHAP. IV. III. Vse For reprehension IN the next place this Doctrine reads a Juniper S. 1 Lecture to such as look not after this work of effectual calling and sharply chideth those that have opposed and stood out against the cals of God have you lived in the bosome of the Church all this while and are not yet in the bosome of Christ are there so many witnesses of Gods calling and no evidence of your answer Hath God called to you to awake and are your eyes together still hath he called to you to arise and do you still rest upon the couch of iniquitie Hath the Lord stretched out his hands and thou not regarded Hast thou turned the deaf eare to his voice Hast thou snibbed the spirit muzzelled the mouth of truth bruised the buds of grace stopped the stirrings murdered the motions to holinesse thou deservest to be lashed with reproof till thine eye weep and thy sides bleed You have heard before now that whom the Lord predestinateth them he calleth and you are never sollicitous Omnes sumus in minimis cauti in maximis negligentes about it You have had no serious thoughts about it nay you have done what in you lieth to hinder this work in your selves and others You have not praied nor endeavoured for it the desire of your soul hath not gone out with earnest longings for this work nay shut not up the Book do not go your wayes but stand still till you have gone through this use bear your chiding patiently and let your eare hearken to the reproof of life Prov. 15. 31. that you may abide among the wise If you turn your back and stop your ear there is no hope for you nay hath not grace been a grievance pietie needlesse precisenesse the new birth a burden duty a disparagement in your conceit and estimation Have you spent all your dayes in Gospel places and under Gospel means and yet are unchanged still why do you resist the Holy Ghost Do you not know that in thus doing you forsake your own mercies sin against your soul Do you think you were born a Saint and need no regeneration alas you are mistaken for with David you were shapen in iniquity and in sin did your Mother conceive you You must be born Ps 51. 5. Nullus vitam in qua natus est bene finiet nisi renatus antequam finiatur again as well as born or you will never do well Or do you think it is enough to be a Christian in the general so are the Papists or that it is enough to be a Protestant so are many that live in known and open sins or that it is enough to be civil or outwardly religious so are many who yet deny the power Truely the foulnesse of your waies declares the 2 Tim. 2. 5. folly of your thoughts and your conversations will shew that there are such cogitations within what hast passed all this time in the world and yet never passed the streights of the new birth Have so many years gone over your head and the work of grace never come upon your heart Oh that you would be heartily ashamed of this Are you not at one time or other convinced that your condition is not good towards God and that you are not in an estate of grace Though you keep your head above water and cherish some raw hopes of your good plight and that you shall be saved arising either from love to your self as if that must needs be which you could wish or from presumption that the generalitie shall be saved and are in condition good enough or from ignorance taking that to be grace which is not and thinking that repentance may be had when you list and think you have most need of it at the last when death comes Yet upon more serious thoughts you have misgivings of spirit that all is not well which makes such thoughts unwelcome guests to you and for all your bravadoes yet you never yet durst adventure upon the work of examination or view your self by Scripture light for fear the issue and result should not correspond to your present hopes and thoughts Is it nothing to be in such a condition wherein thou hast no truth of grace as thou art who never wast converted and changed Is it nothing to have the Lord bring his action against thee for standing out against him and to threaten to execute the Law of retaliation upon thee and to pay thee in thine own coyn as he doth when he saith Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh Prov. 1. 24 25 26. This is a dreadfull hearing every word hath its weight what shall the Lord call and sinners not come shall he reprove and they refuse shall he offer and they oppose he counsel and they contemn shall the great God be thus condescending and wilt thou be no more corresponding It will be a vain plea to say thou canst not effectually call thy self such excuses and defences Causa patrocinio non bona major erit will increase and not decrease thy fault For you can oppose and with a stiff-neck resist the grace of God You have not heard nor read nor kept Godly company c. as you might besides God hath made a gracious promise of giving his spirit and this spirit hath Prov. 1. 23. come and you have given it churlish use and frowned it out of doores Is it nothing to hear the Lord thundring against thee as he did against his old people the Jews And now because ye have done all these works saith the Lord and I spake unto you rising up early and speaking but ye heard not and I called you but
dissolve you It argueth a very evil frame of heart to oppose or not to mind this work throughly It argueth desperate pride of spirit to resist to refuse the grace of God the calls of Christ under such various dispensations He hath come to you with a rod in his hand with chidings in his mouth he hath come also in love and in the spirit of meekenesse too He hath sent a thundring Luther and a mild Melanchthon to you he hath spoken bigge words his words and calls have been of all sorts and sizes He hath laid before you the curse of the Law to deterre you he hath set up the crosse of Christ in the Preaching of the Gospel to draw you you have had sound reprehension sweet exhortation and yet for all this you have not run to the bosome of Christ but remain in the borders of the Devil's Kingdom Verily this makes your sin to swell and boln exceedingly 2. The altitude of your inexcusablenesse S. 5 Though people be never so guilty yet they are Vsitatum generis humani vitium est peccatum defendendo excusare too ready to acquit themselves and though they are to be accused yet they would fain be excused this practice we learned from our first Parents and though we offend yet we would defend but the Lord hath stopped thy mouth that thou hast nothing to say for thy self and the Figg leaves of vain pretences will be but a weak Bulwark against the charge of the Almighty If God should ask you how it comes to passe that you are still unchanged who have sate under the means you will be like that poor man Matth. 22. 12. speechlesse and it will be most dreadful for any man or woman when they shall be brought to their trial and judgement at the last to have no plea nor allegation to put in for themselves It is the way of the righteous God if sinners will not be pliable so to order his dispensations towards them that they shall be left without excuse and shall be condemned by their own Conscientia peccati formidinis mater conscience which will be matter of greatest horrour consider these ensuing particulars and see what excuse will be found for you 1. Somtimes people excuse themselves because S. 6 they want their hearing which I confesse is a sad thing for though the heathen Philosophers have determined sight to be the most noble of the senses yet Christians have reason to account hearing the most noble because the most useful for faith comes by hearing It is Via Domini ad cor dirigitur quum veritatis sermo humiliter auditur the channel whereby the word of life by the work of the Lord runs to the heart blesse God you that have the use of this sense and use it to Gods glory yet the Lord many times shuts up the passages of the ear by infirmities and casualties for reasons best known to himself but though thou canst not hear yet thou canst read Though thine eares be obstructed yet thine eyes be opened though thine eares be deaf yet thine eyes are not dim though the Lord hath taken away thine eares yet he hath given thee eyes and though he have shut up one door that leadeth to the head yet he hath opened another and hath afforded thee such education and bringing up that thou hast been taught to read and though grace usually come in by the ear yet when the Lord bars up that he can let it in by the eye but you have not improved your talent of reading you have been like the unprofitable servant that hid his Lords Matt. 25. 25. Talent in the earth There hath been a price put into thine hands but thou hast been so foolish thou hast not had an heart to improve Prov 17. 16. and make use thereof The Scripture and good books have been to you as a garden inclosed and as a fountain sealed so little have you given your self to reading Paul's counsel to Timothy give attendance to reading is calculated 1 Tim. 4. 13. not only for the meridian of a Minister but of every true Christian also what know you but God might have set home the word read upon your heart and have sent Acts 7. 29 30. his spirit to help you as he did Philip to the Eunuch in reading will not this enervate and ham-string the force of other pleas that you had a could but not a would to read a faculty but not a fancy a power but no pleasure to read that you had skill but no will at all 2. Many say they cannot read when yet S. 7 they can hear Not to read is very sad and such have not performed the part of loving Parents who have not given their children so good education they are like to hold up their hands for it at the bar another day without repentance and thou also art in fault thy self for thou mightest have learned to read and thou wouldest not give thy mind to it or thou maiest learn to read yet but thou hast many excuses thou art too old Indeed we are alwayes too young or too old to that which is good you have your senses and memory vigorous enough for other things and why not for this There wanteth only a will I Sola voluntate quisque efficitur Plut. have read of one Eurydice a noble Lady who being a Slavonian born and most barbarous yet for the instruction of her own children she took pains to learn good letters when she was well stept in yeers And ought not the life of our souls to be as dear to us as the children of our body And though your sight be taken away from you now yet time was when you had the use of it and it may be for not making use of it aright God hath deprived thee of it therefore that cloke of excuse is not long enough And though you cannot read yet it may be some of yours can though not the Parent yet the posterity though not the Master yet the man and you may hear them God hath not denied you your sence or if none in the house can read which sometimes falls out a woefull thing it is yet you having a gift of hearing must wait upon the publike preaching of the word the more The Philosophers say that nature is an indulgent mother and where she is defective in one kind she is redundant in another and what she subtracts from one faculty or sence she gives to another and so doth compensate and make amends as those to whom she denies sight she gives the bettet memory c. So we wanting one faculty or sence which might be very subservient for our souls good should labour to make double and so much the more improvement of that we have But thou though thou canst hear yet givest not thy self to it Thou shouldest hear more and thou hearest less than others thou shouldest hear oftner and thou hearest seldomer
maiest recount many dealings of the Lord to thee in a more than usual manner and yet thou hast not set thy self to delight in him and his wayes Have none of his providences prevailed with you none of his mercies melted and moved you Innumerable have been the Lord's gracious eminent dealings towards you which are set off with the greater glory and splendour by the foil of some precedent or intermixed Psa 51. 8. Quam dives es in miseâ—icordia quam magnificus in justitia quam munificus in gratiâ Domine Deus noster non est qui similis sit tibi adversity or casualty your desperate wound was cured your broken bones God hath caused to rejoyce your poysoning hath been prevented the snare that was laid for you the Lord hath broken the time would fail to enumerate all so that thou maiest say How excellent is thy loving kindnesse O God Psal 36. 7. But O the sadnesse for all these thou hast gone on in thy sins and rebellions against God and hast not cared for a change from sin to grace thou hast slighted the Lord's sayings notwithstanding these his doings and hast contemned his calls notwithstanding these his carriages towards thee Ah soul is this 2 Sam. 16. 17. thy kindnesse to thy Friend What doest thou still stand out against the Lord and build Bulwarks against the most high This was the great sin of the Israelites anciently towards the Lord that they came not into him who had done so much for them They soon forgat God Psal 106. 21. their Saviour Doth not a Parent take it sadly when after all he seeth no amendment in the Child The Lord was angry with Salomon because his heart was turned from the God of Israel 1 Kings 11. 9. who had appeared to him twice How many times hath the Lord appeared to you and yet you have never appeared for him Have the paths of the Lord to thee been mercy and truth and yet hast not cared for his Christ his Covenant The Lord may say complainingly of thee as David of Nabal Surely in vain I Matt. 25. 10. 1 Sam. 25. 21. have kept all that this fellow hath in the Wildernesse so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him and he hath requited me evil for good I have done thus and thus for this man or woman and yet I perceive nothing but stubbornesse and stoutnesse in them towards me Hast thou had so many word-calls and so many work-calls and yet hath no saving work passed upon thy soul Have there been such goings of the Lord to thee and yet no goings of thy soul to the Lord by Christ Do all these deeds of God bring thee to no duty for God Have they not made thee sit down and reflect upon thine own heart and say what shall I go on in my opposition against my portion and presevere against my rock and refuge against my Friend and Father Doest thou thus requite the Lord O foolish soul and unwise Is Dcut 32. 61. not he thy Father that hath bought thee hath he not made thee and established thee This Quo liberalius nobiscum agit Deus eo magis accendi decet pietatis studium in cordibus nostris Calv. in loc makes your condition sad and aggravates your rejecting the offers of grace more and more for our hearts should be tinded and fired at the beams of God's bounty and the fannings of his favours should blow that fire up to a flame The Lord hath sought by these to gain you and yet you have refused to give him your heart If you search all your common places I think you will not find an Argument whereby you may plead for your self 4. The lenitude of the spirit Adde to these S. 13 the actions of the spirit That hath gently striven but you have not been stirred that hath called but you have not answered Oh the Ad faciendum bonum quid in nobis bonus Spiritus operatur monet movet docet sweet gales that that hath breathed upon you which would have carried you into the haven of Christ's bosome into the creek of an estate of grace But you with the perversenesse of your will have rowed hard against the wind that you might not be born down by the sweet impulses thereof That hath taken you by the hand and hath said Come go along with me and I will shew you the Father it hath in love laid hold upon thee to lead thee to Christ but thou hast pulled away the shoulder It hath got thee into the ship and would have launched forth into the deep and have carried thee over to the other side to the land of promise but thou hast skipped out and made away from it O the renitencies and reluctancies of thy spirit against the reducing and reverting acts of the spirit It hath admonished and advised moved and minded taught and tutoured Monet memoriam movet voluntatem docet rationem Isa 30. 21 thee but thou hast not learned when thou hast been ready to turn aside to the right hand or to the left thou hast heard the spirit speaking a word behind thee saying This is the way walk in it When thou hast been ready to stretch forth thine hand to unrighteousnesse thou hast heard that saying Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate But thou hast not Jer. 44. 4. obeyed the voice thereof Though the Lord saith to thee as he said to Abraham in all that Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her Gen. 21. 12 voice so in all that the spirit saith unto thee hearken unto its voice The Poets tell of one Orpheus who was so cunning a player on the Harp that by his excellent Musick he drew after him wild Beasts Woods and Mountains and by the same recovered his Wife out of Hell The spirit hath made to thee the Musick of the spheares and plaid deliciously upon the strings of holy writings to allure but thou hast been more wild than the Beasts of the Woods more immoveable than the mountains and hast refused to follow its delightful harmony nay hast been unwilling to come out of the fire of Hell to be drawn out of the Hell of thy natural condition by the allurement of its choicest tunes and raised straines Sin hath taken you by one hand and the spirit by the other to draw you from sin to it self but you have scowled upon the spirit when you smiled upon sin The spirit hath shewed thee O man what is good Mie 6. 8. and what the Lord doth require of thee even to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God But thy endeavours have not been suitable to the spirit's discoveries The spirit hath made to you revelations of God's will and yet there hath followed thereupon no reformation of your wayes Nay the spirit hath gone so far with you that it hath convinced you of thus much that you should
things are most unknown Multa scienda nesciuntur and the most needlesse most known and if people have not right apprehensions of effectual calling how can they have zealous affections for it unseen things are unsought In the confusion of Babel they understood not one Ignoti nulla cupido another so by the fall of man came such confusion upon the understanding that people know not the language of the Lord and when he calls for repentance conversion and bids them Ezek. 18. 31. make them new hearts they know not what these things mean They take this work to be a Star of the lesser magnitude when it is a Star of the greater magnitude The Lord calls for the heart My Son give me thine heart Prov. 23. 26. And such are peoples misconceits that they give him the hand The Lord calls for the power and they mistaking give him the forme The Lord calleth for sincerity in the inward parts and they give him conformity in the outward profession The Lord calls for the conscience within and they give him nothing but compliance without They know not the nature of it They do not rightly conceive the parts and properties the dignity and excellency thereof They think there is such a thing but wherein the formality of it consisteth they do not apprehend for they are carnal and natural Now the natural man as he receiveth not so neither doth he perceive the things of God for they are spiritually 1 Cor. 2. 14. discerned They are many strains above the reach of his capacity above the touch of his apprehension Hence it is that they set not upon this work when called to it and that they go away without practice when such things are preached unto them Hence when exhorted to it they know not how to enter upon it and when advised they know not how to addresse themselves to it misunderstanding of the object must needs marre the undertaking of the subject nor will this be any excusation but rather an accusation of them because this and Mala voluntate unus quisque miser efficitur the rest of the evil crew that follow spring chiefly and principally from the will for people neither know nor will know They love to be Children in such things and care not for the estate of man-hood wherein childish things should be put away Turn them to the these things and they have hardly a Primmer knowledge of them In other things what a deal of capacity in the conceiving of them and therefore a deal of dexterity in the acting them but here how shallow low and mean are peoples thoughts Their eyes are blinded their minds obscured and yet it is strange that people should be in the dark when pregnant light shines upon them Though people have these things opened and unfolded to them yet that they should not see into the nature of them is very sad That the Doctrine of effectual calling or repentance from dead works for they are all one which is an element and principle of piety and therefore put into the Christians Catechisme by the Author to the Hebrews should be so little known though often Heb. 6. 1. 2. conned so little seated in the head though so often said by heart is matter of admiration This is the great Remora and let in the way Till they get over this stile they cannot come into the field of grace Till you know the meaning of this work truely you cannot expect to be mended throughly 2. Of the need of calling People have not S. 19 right apprehensions of the need of this work of effectual calling and hence also it comes to passe that they are no more careful about it nor desirous that it passe upon them where the necessity of any thing is not seriously apprehended there actual endeavours will never be suitably extended Great is the force of need and the sence thereof to set the heart on desiring and the hand on doing and he that knows his need of any thing which he conceives to be of weight and moment will through fire and water for the attainment thereof necessity will take no denial and knows how to object against all excuses and put-offs But though a thing were of never so great excellency and utility that it were the marrow of their comforts the life of their souls yea the key of Heaven yet if their eye were not opened to see this their desires and endeavours would keep their hands in their bosome and never put forth themselves to do ought Now how needful is effectual calling and a sanctifying and saving change upon the whole man If we look upon it as the mind of God as a mean to Heaven we Necessitas praecepti medij Luk. 10 42 shall see it is needful as Christ said to Martha so may we of this One thing is needful viz. to hearken to and obey the call of Christ It is needful for people if they would be saved and who will not professe desires that way If they would have a throne in glory it is needful If they would live for ever if they would escape everlasting burnings it is needful But people are as carelesse hereof as if either there were no God no Heaven no Hell or as if they had found out some other passage to Heaven so long as people's need is unknown so long their negligence will be uncured so long as people think they are safe without it so long they will never be careful to be saved with it and so long as they think they are well without it they will not readily have a will unto it It is strange that they should not know how needful it is which is superlatively needful It is so needful poor soul that unlesse thou be effectually called thou must be eternally cursed so needful that if thou be not changed thou canst never possibly be crowned that if thou be not cleansed thou shalt never be glorified that if thou be not sanctified thou canst never be saved By nature thou art an enemy to Col. 1. 21. God in thy mind by wicked works and therefore must be renewed or thou canst never walk Amos 3 3. with God in the streets of the new Jerusalem For can two walk together except they be agreed Be thou what or who thou wilt be if thou be not drawn to God by grace thou wilt be damned in Hell If thou wert the Son of my Mother or the fruit of mine own body I must tell thee that if this work be not done and passe upon thee thou must needs be undone and perish for ever If thou wert as potent as Alexander as rich as Croesus as subtle as Achitophel as beautiful as Absalom as strong as Sampson yet without this passe-port thou canst not be pardoned nor partaker of glory so indispensably and absolutely necessary is this work that we may say Non aqua non igni non aere pluribus locis
and lie in the womb of effectual calling so that thou mayst hear the voice of the Lord saying to thee as Isaac to Esau concerning Jacob I have blessed thee and thou Gen 27. 33. shalt be blessed From this mount Nebo from this top of Pisgah mayst thou view all the good land round about without conversion no man or woman can be blessed for the promises which are the seeds of blessings are made to grace Knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing No inheritance 1 Pet. 3. 9. without this evidence If the forgivenesse of thy sins the favour of God to thy soul be not a blessing what is now the work of grace upon the heart is the stair the ascent to this throne of happinesse Thou canst not get up into the tree of life and shake soul-satisfying fruit into thy bosome without this ladder Thou canst not attain to saving weal without this sanctifying work Thou canst never get to the top of glory without the staff of grace viruled with the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Thou canst not be a loved Son unlesse thou be a living Saint many fondly presume and think to commence and take the degree of glory per saltum neglecting grace but it is the path the way thereto such as meet not with God in their heart shall never meet with God in heaven Thou that hast grace hast that threed which will undoubtedly lead thee into the bowre of blisse This compasse will not fail thee but bring thee to the port where thou needest fear neither billow nor blast Thy patent is signed and past whereby heaps and numberlesse sums of felicity are freely given thee out of the Exchequer of grace This gale will bring thee to the Isle of peace upon Beatus vir qui per poenitentiam ad meliora conversus est this silver stream thou shalt with safety slide into the bosome of the quiet Key This is the way the road to all the Scripture calls beatitude The fee simple of true blessednesse is given to the godly pious truly penitent soul 6. The spring of action You are now in S. 9 such a condition that you can act and do something for God Now thou art indued with a spirit that is quick and active like the highest element that finds no rest but in travel nor contentment but in the painful labours of worthy actions To do for the Creator is as great dignity almost as the creature can attain to to be instrumental to his glory to be subservient to his praise is a great preferment To be agent for God to be factor for heaven is a choice flower in a Saints garden a chief diamond in his diademe Now thou hast a talent to trade for God with such a principle whereby thou canst act some suitable part in his service The Apostle beseecheth the Ephesians that they would walk Ephes 4. 1. worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called Those that have life can do the works of living men and women for their living God When we are sick then we think what we would do for God if we were well Thou that hast grace art spiritually well and hast ability from God to work the works of God The wicked can neither think speak nor do for God when thou canst do all these things through that grace that God hath bestowed upon thee It is true nobility and the only Summa apud Deum nobilitas est clarum esse virtutibus advancement of a man or a woman to be fruitful in good works and duties towards God Thou hast cause to account it thy glory and thy crown of rejoycing that thou hast an heart or hand to move towards or do ought for God Those that are in their sins are dead and can do nothing Thou that art a Saint art alive and canst do something Thou canst be a means to promote the glory to predicate the greatness of the Lord. To be able to pray read hear speak believe oppose sin stand up in the behalf of grace is more by far then to be endowed with talents and abilities for temporal and secular undertakings One action done for God from grace is of more worth then all the atchievements of the most eminent without grace When David and his people offered freely to the building of the Temple he was much affected and taken with it acknowledging that he and they were unworthy to be dignified with ability of doing thus for God 1 Chron. 29. 13 14. 7. A sign of affection To be delivered from the Law of sin is a demonstration of the S. 10 love of God To be made willing to good is a manifestation of God's good will The souls love to God is but an effect of God's love to the soul We love him because he first Prior Deus dilexit nos â—â—â—us tantum gratis tantillos tales loved us 1 John 4. 19. Now those that are effectually called do love God for the Apostle joyns them together Those that love God and that are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8. 28. If the Lord's heart had not been towards thee he would never have drawn thy heart towards himself Where the Lord hath been pleased to hang out this sign of grace and a change thou mayst assure thy self there is store of love in his bosome toward thee The work of spiritual life in thee is the fruit of God's working love to thee Had not the Lord loved thee he would never have done thus for thee what cause of comfort then is there to thee who hast the love of God transcribed upon thy heart gracious dispositions flow from God's gracious affections and those to whom the Lord giveth saving and sanctifying grace are his Benjamins his darlings Those that can make out that they are in a living condition may conclude God's loving inclination If the Lord have changed thy nature and renewed thy heart thou mayst look upon it as a love-token with this posey or inscription I love thee freely In these clear waters of grace thou mayst see the smiling serene face of heaven In this book thou mayst read whole Chapters of God's good will And is it not a comforting cordial to know that one is in God's books in his favour Be glad and rejoyce for the Lord loveth thee one dram of God's special love is such a pearl that the whole world is not able to weigh against The Angel in his salutation to Mary Luke 1. 28 30. saith Haile thou that art highly favoured the Lord is with thee So may it be said to thee If Christ and grace be conceived and formed in thy soul it is a sign thou hast found favour with the Lord. 8. A singular condition There is no estate S. 11 like to an estate of grace There are degrees of honour in the world but this above them all and the divine Heraldry will give it the first place The Apostle
reformation there may be a doing of something and yet no soundness there may be a forsaking of some sin and not of all sin many are better than Vitam uniuscujusque conversâ— inchoatio blanda permulcet aspera medietas probat plena post perfectio roborat Matth. 27. 3 4 5. they were and yet not so good as they should be they have their conversation something rectified and yet their conversion is not right they only are truly holy that are wholly turned there may be a facing to the right and not a facing to the right about there may be a vomiting up some filthiness and yet the stomack remain filthy still Judas brought back the 30. pieces of silver and threw them down in the Temple of God but brought not back his heart to lay it down at the feet of the God of the Temple So Pharaoh at last condescended Exod. 8. 25 28. to let the people of Israel go sacrifice in the wilderness nay further he gave them leave to take their little ones with them which he denied before and yet we cannot make out that Pharaoh was truly changed men may leave some of their sins and yet not Exod. 10. 8 24. love the God of Sion they may stop some wide gaps and yet their hearts not be currently fenced with grace Thus you see how much there is that is not pure gold how many there are who if they be weighed in right ballances will be found too light many steps one may take and never reach the mount of true grace All these will prove but like waxen wings that will melt with the Sun's heat they look well but they have no life in them they bear a goodly port but they are not the power of godliness those that have all these qualifications and no more at the most are but almost Christians how many come short of these things and yet these things come short of grace 2. Affirmatively Having shewed what is S. 27 not effectual calling now we come to shew what it is and that two ways 1. Relatively by way of opposition 2. Absolutely by way of position 1. Relatively we shall shew what it is in opposition to those things that are not it S. 28 1. And first in opposition to those things S. 29 that are of the first rank 2. And secondly in opposition to those things that are of the second rank 1. For things of the first rank some of them 1. Not gifts but grace and sanctity in heart S. 30 and life are effectual calling and signs thereof Bonum gratiae unius est majus bono naturae totius universi Aquin. not common but special and saving gifts an ounce of true holiness is worth pounds of eminent gifts not good gifts but the gift of good a little true humility in the heart is more worth than a great deal of knowledge in the Non dona sed bona head a stammering prayer coming from grace in the heart is more pleasing to God than that which is more eloquent and hath no grace in it Though a soul cannot pray as it should do though it cannot speak but sigh yet if it proceed from the spirit it is acceptable to Rom. 8. 26. God The widows two mites were more than the great offerings the little grace that the Luke 21. 4. righteous have is better than the rich gifts that the wicked may have a drop of true grace is better than an ocean of common talents a lark is worth a kite 2. Not confidences of any kind but true joy discovers effectual calling 1. Such joy as proceeds from sorrow Assurances S. 31 are more strongly built when founded Fit plerumque ut in ipsis piis fletibus gaudii claritas erumpat John 16. 20. Mat. 5. 4. in the depth of humiliation Musick yields the sweetest strains upon the water saving and sanctifying comforts have usually a sable usher You shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted 2. Such as is in the use of Sacraments word prayer and the exercise of graces or else it is S. 32 naught The triumphing of the wicked is short Job 20. 5. c. The joy of many comes in at a wrong door true spiritual mirth always loves to make use of spiritual means to contemn the ordinances and yet have strong confidences and presumptions is sadly to be suspected If the fire be not fed by this fuel it is a sign it was never fetched from heaven the stream of true joy runs always in the channel of duties and ordinances 3. Not to go according to conscience simply S. 33 but to go according to it as guided and inlightned by the word and spirit is effectual calling There is but one Law-giver and Jam. 4. 12. that is God the legislative power is not in conscience if conscience receive not its law Regula regulata priusquam regulans Conscientia bona est aula Dei habitaculum spiritus S. from God it cannot rule thee rightly conscience must be ruled before it can rule if the conscience be not good God keeps not his court nor hath the spirit its mansion in thy mind Conscience in God's people in the effectually called is not Lord paramount but acknowledgeth it self to be under the power of heaven 4. Not to take up this or that opinion c. S. 34 but to adhere to Christ to be of his mind and party is effectual calling Let the same mind Phil. 2. 5. be in you which was in Christ Christians must 1 Cor. 11. 1. be followers of Christ but of others no further Ego sum via veritas vita tanquam diceret qua vis ire ego sum via quo vis ire ego sum veritas ubi vis permanere ego sum vita than they follow Christ they are to wear the livery of Christ He is a true Saint that truly sides with Christ it matters not who are file-leaders and of the foremost rank of this that way if Christ as Captain go not before Parts taking is but faction Christ-owning is true faith He is the way the truth and the life as he hath said John 14. 6. To imitate Christ in his words and works is true grace He is the great Apostle and high Priest of our profession He. b 3. 1. As they said We know no King but Caesar so saith a gracious soul I know no King but Christ Him I desire to own for my Lord and Master 2. For those things that are of the second rank 1. Not confession of sin with the tongue but S. 35 confession of sin in truth argueth effectual calling the mind must bear a part in it as well as the mouth a noise may strike the ear Confessio peccatorum in corde ante quam os petat exauditur Psal 51. 17. Hos 7. 14. and never affect the mind so it
is of very great concernment to know whether or no we be truly converted I request you my dear friends to set upon this work speedily and seriously delay it not a moment pray to God to teach you spiritual Arithmetick that you may know how rightly to cast up your souls account and if upon due search you find your selves effectually called then listen especially to the first part of the ensuing and last use and if you find your selves uncalled lend an ear and an eye heedfully to the latter part of it CHAP. VII 6. Vse for exhortation THere remains yet a further improvement S. 1 of this doctrine which is by way of counsel and perswasion and that to two sorts 1. Gracious ones Or 1. The godly 2. Graceless ones Or 2. The ungodly 1. To gracious ones and such as are effectually S. 2 called and I shall perswade such to these two things 1. Thankfulness to their heavenly Father 2. Faithfulness to their earthly Friends 1. To thankfulness to their heavenly Father If God do effectually call his predestinate S. 3 and you can make out you are so called O Gratias agere Deo possumus referre non possumus forget not the great duty of gratitude that lieth upon you Though you be unable to pay God for what he hath done yet be not unmindful to praise him for it Let him have the songs of Zion who hath saved you from your sins God hath brought you into an estate of holiness be much therefore in the returns of Hallelujahs Say as David My soul praise thou the Lord and all that is within Psal 103. 1. me praise his holy name Be much in Psalming his praise Learn of Paul to give thanks Col. 1. 12 13. unto the father who hath delivered thee from the power of darkness and hath translated thee into the Kingdom of his dear Son There is great reason there should be glory to God on high because of his good will to thee a sinful creature you cannot give too great thanks for whom God hath done so great things and that the musick may be the more melodious let the consort be maintained upon these three strings viz. 1. Thoughts 2. Words 3. Works 1. Let your thoughts be grateful let S. 4 gratitude be engraven on the thoughts of your soul the Lord is in your heart by sanctification let him be there also by admiration his thoughts have been upon you for your good let your thoughts be upon him for his glory and let them be swallowed up in the consideration of the work of conversion Luke 1. 43. Psa 48. 9. Optima beneficiorum custos est ipsa memoria beneficiorum And as she wondered that the Mother of her Lord should come to her so do thou that the Lord himself vouchsafeth thus to visit thee Christians should think of Christ's loving kindness in the midst of his Temple spiritual renovation should be followed by serious recordation carnal mens thoughts are taken up in contemplating their external accomodations why should not a Christians heart be taken up in considering their internal advantages Tho. Anello that made an insurrection in Naples some 8. years since could hardly sleep for thinking of his greatness how much more shouldest thou be transported with thoughts of God's graciousness Wonder at his work admire him for admitting thee into his bosome adore him for adoption Thou mayst well be at a loss in thy cogitations who hadst been lost in thy transgressions if he had not caused thee to live by conversion 2. Let your words be the trumpet of his S. 5 praise In his Temple doth every one speak of his glory Tell how he taught thee the truth Psal 29. 9. speak how he saved thee from thy sins declare how he delivered thee from spiritual death Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and Psal 66. 16. Quid melius animo geramus ore promamus calamo explanemus quam Deo gratis Psal 149. 6 6. I will declare what he hath done for my soul Let others know what God hath done for thee let it not be confined within the narrow compass of thine own brest but let thy mouth be a means to convey it from thy heart to others heads especially communicate it to the Saints to those that are in the same predicament of grace with thy self Sing aloud upon thy bed and let the high praises of God be in thy mouth The Lord hath turned thee from sin to grace there is reason therefore thy tongue should be tuned to his glory say truly I was a vile sinner but the Lord through his grace hath planted in me the seeds of vertue I was nigh to perishing and destruction but the Lord prevented me with pity and deliverance let the glory of the Lord due to him for the conquering of your sins be born in triumph in the open chariot of sincere and serious expression 3. Let your works also be the Heralds of S. 6 his praise not only speak but do thankfulness if only oral and not real it is but complemental gratitude it may be in the tongue and not in truth it may be in words but is not of worth unless it be also in works let thankfulness be impressed and stamped upon your actions let them bear the image and character of your grateful mind grateful works from man suite well with a gracious work from God which are these three especially 1. An humble abasement 2. An heavenly improvement 3. An holy deportment 1. An humble abasement Walk self denyingly S. 7 and humbly with thy God when Saints bear a low sail they acknowledge their Father's gracious soveraignty God's honour is most advanced when his peoples hearts are most abased holy ones are called humble ones in Scripture of all the spiritual clothing in the Saints wardrobe humility best becomes Nihil excelsius humilitate them next to Christ's righteousness and speaks much the glory of their God what have they that they have not received therefore they should lie low in their own eyes self-denegation is their Saviour's exaltation humble souls are an ornament to their Father's house 2. An heavenly improvement Improve S. 8 and increase your talent of effectual calling stir up the gift of God that is in you husband your stock to purpose Take Peter's counsel Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now you have 2 Pet. 3. 18. a principle do not let it lie dead manage it to the main end draw it out into act receive not the grace of God in vain you know the doom of the idle servant that did not trade with his talent 3. An holy deportment Live like a Saint S. 9 let saving conversion be known by a suitable conversation let your doings be answerable to effectual calling I beseech you with Paul to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye Ephes 4. 1. Matth. 21. 30. are called Be
not like that son in Matthew that said I go Sir but went not Fight in the field against sin as those that have taken the Lord's press-money stand fast in the faith against winds and storms as those that are rooted in Christ if you profess your self to be a Saint by calling and not by carriage if you profess to be converted by the work of God and be not conformed to the word of God what is it In all carry your self as one that is born of God as one that is governed by the Spirit 2. Faithfulness to their earthly friends You that have grace and are effectually called look after your relations and friends families S. 10 and company doing what in you lieth that they may be effectually called as ye are one flesh so indeavour that ye may be one spirit There is no right love if it be not demonstrated by a spiritual care you that are alive by grace O put on bowels of compassion towards your friends and acquaintance that are dead in sin Do these three things for them 1. Pity them 2. Pray for them 3. Preach to them 1. Pity them Bemoan and bewail their S. 11 condition Say with the Church in the Canticles We have a little sister and she hath no brests Cant. 8. 8. what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for Say I have a father brother sister mother husband wife cousen c. that are dear to me but I cannot perceive they are dear to God my loving friends but they have no living faith It is reported Plut. Mor. of the Egyptians Lybians c. that when their friends die they go down into the caves of the earth and deprive themselves of the light of the Sun because their dead friends enjoy Nihil ad misericordiam sic inclinat atque proprii periculi cogitatio it not So do thou pity the condition of any belonging to thee that are in spiritual darkness it is a condition to be condoled a misery to be mourned over none can tell the greatness of the misery but those that have tasted the goodness of mercy 2. Pray for them Be often at the throne S. 12 of grace for your friends that have no grace their state is such that there is need for them to be spoken for to the King of heaven One Xenophon in Plutarch said He never prayed that his son Gryllus might be long lived but that he might be a good man How much more should Saints thus pray for their relations and friends of one kind or other There are many that owe much to the prayers of their pious parents and friends say Lord make all mine to be thine let winged prayers make haste to heaven gates on the errand of your dear friends souls Real petitions may Oratio pura vacua non redibit be means to bring your friends to religious profession 3. Preach to them I mean private teaching S. 13 and counsel according to the sphear wherein God hath set you Teach your children Deut. 6. 7. admonish your friends exhort your acquaintance God makes counsel sometimes a means of conversion savoury admonition a means of the souls alteration do not spare right words it may please God to enliven them with force and vertue 2. To graceless ones and such as are not S. 14 effectually called Be you perswaded to look out for effectual calling and seek after it spread all your sails and flee away as fast from a natural condition as you can there is no safety in sitting still on natures seat Ob. But thou wilt say There are so many S. 15 sides and Sects I know not what to do Sol. Many indeed wil be of one religion because there are so many I shall here give two answers 1. Answ Thou mayst be of every part in a good sense 1. Thou mayst be a royalist for the King Christ and yet a Saint Psal 24. 7 8 9 10. 2. Episcopal the word signifies to oversee thou must oversee and watch thine heart with all diligence 3. Parliamentarian Thou mayst be one of and for the assembly of the first born Heb. 12. 23. 4. Presbyterian the word signifies elder so be thou an elder in regard of grace a grown man Ephes 4. 13. 5. Independent viz. upon all sublunary things and depend only upon God Psal 73. 25. 6. Anabaptist labour for a rebaptization for thy self and thine with the holy Ghost 7. Antinomian by the works of the Law shall none be justified 8. You may be of the family of love be much in love Rom. 13. 8. 9. A Libertine Rom. 6. 18. the Lord in mercy make thee such 10. A Perfectionist 2 Cor. 7. 1. 11. A Pointer Let all thine actions aim at Christ point at thy sins let thy finger be upon the sore keep to sound points and doctrines let them be founded upon Scripture for if the points you hold be not tagged with Scripture authority they will ravel out 12. An Antitrinitarian adore not the worlds trinity of profit pleasure and preferment 13. A Separatist viz. from sin 2 Cor. 6. 17. 14. A Seeker Isa 55. 6. 15. A Shaker or Quaker Hab. 3. 16. Psal 119. 120. Tremble at the thought of God's justice and power 16. An high Attainer Phil. 3. 12 14. labour after great things 17. A Ranter hast a mind to curse and swear do it spiritually Neh. 10. 29. Psal 119. 106. or to be drunk be so spiritually Psal 36. 8. the word signifies they shall be drunk with the fatness c. Ephes 5. 18. 2. Answ The more and the greater diversity of opinions and ways there are the more cautelous and careful thou oughtest to be to look after the right establishment of thy soul with grace Therefore notwithstanding look after effectual calling and as John 7. 37. on the last day of the feast our Saviour cried more earnestly so do I the more press this upon you this being the last day of speaking to this subject One of the Chamberlains of the King of Persia used to say to him every morning as he entred into his chamber Arise my Lord and have regard to those affairs for which the great God would have you to provide So say I to you Bestir you for the work of effectual calling for this is the will of God even your sanctification Oh let me prevail with you in the name of Christ it may be the last that I shall propound and the last that you shall hear What should you look after if not spiritual life what should you seek if not sanctity care for if not calling I shall back this use and so conclude all with these three things 1. Means 2. Manner 3. Motive Means The means I propound shall be by way of 1. Counsel 2. Caution 1. Counsel Make constant and conscionable S. 16 use of the ordinances of God reading hearing prayer meditation conference Read the Scriptures and good books dayly hear
good Sermons diligently pray devoutly and say Lord file off the too willing chains of my captivity Take words with you as Hos 14. 2. Quamdiu quis permistus est turbis non vacat soli Deo Hosea directs meditate duly on spiritual concernments on thy souls condition Be therefore retired sometimes for solitariness is the nurse of contemplation Ob. 1. But thou wilt say I can do nothing Sol. Be not like the Poeonians that would S. 17 not so much as break down a bridge to hinder Darius his passage though they were his vassals It is true thou canst not make thy self whole yet thou mayst do as the impotent man did lay thy self at the pool thou mayst be in God's way thou mayst read hear c. The Mariner can make neither wind nor tide yet he goes down and waiteth for both Though thou canst not turn thy self yet thou mayst desire Christ to tough thee at his royal stern That thou mayst be launched and thrust forth into this sea of ordinances duties and endeavours consider 1. The sayings of God 2. The success of the godly 1. The sayings of God by way of 1. Precept 2. Promise 1. Precept It is the command of God to give all diligence to make thy calling sure as S. 18 well by first acceptance as following assurance as well by conversion as confirmation he hath bidden thee use these helps and thou oughtest to obey his command if he bid thee let down thy net do not refuse it regard not Jussa sine culpâ non negliguntur objections of improbability or impossibility Do as he requires thou mayst catch something 2. Promise As his command is upon thee S. 19 to compel thee so his promise is before thee to countenance thee he hath said Seek and Mat. 6. 7. ye shall find c. and God's promises should be seeds of obedience to his commands 2. The success of the godly Others have S. 20 met with God in this way and why not thou Samuel while in God's courts had God's call 1 Sam. 3. to his confirmation Simeon while in the Temple met with Christ in his consolation So the Disciples after Christ's ascension while Acts 2. begin they were waiting found the Spirit working Ob. But thou wilt say What can ordinances S. 21 do can they give grace Sol. No yet they are helps though they be not masters of grace yet they are means to it they are like oyls which having no smell of their own perfumers use in the making of Plutarch their odours and precious oyntments They are like the Ark which though it were not the Numb 10. 33. resting place yet went before the people to seek it out for them They are like John Baptist who was not Christ himself but his 1 John 20. 23. harbinger 2. Caution And here take heed of two things 1. Satanical delusions 2. Sinful communion 1. Satanical delusions The Divel like S. 22 Antiochus destroys many by false peace Dan. 8. 25. When we have more than ordinary tempests we are ready to think the Divel hath an hand in them but undoubtedly he hath an hand in the calms that are in the brests of natural people despair may have slainits thousands but presumption hath slain its ten thousands More birds are caught with lime-twigs they say than are killed by the fowlers piece It will never be well so long as you think all is well 2. Sinful communion Avoid evil society S. 23 take heed of much drink and drinking company Sampson's mother was forbidden to Judg. 13. 4 5. drink wine or strong drink while she carried him in her womb Some think the reason of that to be because much strong drink withers the child in the mothers womb So will it do by all good motions if thou be immoderate that way It will be like the Dodonean well that will Elristus est daemon sponte in animum admissus quench a burning torch Thereby you make the divel an inmate and so keep out grace Take heed of bad companions of what strain soever they be 2. Manner And that is three fold 1. Seriousness 2. Soundness 3. Speediness 1. Seriousness Be serious in this work be not like the Athenians at whom one laughed because S. 24 they were serious and earnest about plays and shows How may are serious in triflles and slighty in weighty things triflles will hardly prove tumets 2. Soundness See that your work be perfect be S. 25 not an half Christian Once a child in Spain Rev. 3. 2. when it was coming out of its mothers womb returned thither again Let it not be so with thee when thou hast put thine hand to the plough do not look back again for all the world see that your calling be indeed effectual and to the purpose 3. Speediness Set about this work betimes S. 26 even now while thou art reading these lines many think of it when it is too late many are destroyed through delays Those that Eccles 12. 1. would be good truly must be good timely 3. Motive And that shall be but one viz. S. 27 Necessity Consider how necessary it is to be made new without regeneration to solid Ab omni nequitia mundum necesse est esse qui cupit regnare cum Christo piety there can be no restauration to spiritual peace as the Oracle told a people once so tell I you if you would have peace for the future you must for the present have war with your sins by conversion-conflicts No true security without through sanctity no heaven without holiness no salvation without sanctification Phocas thinking to secure himself with his high built walls after he had killed Mauritius heard a voice saying that sin within would undermine all So though thou be compassed about with natural and temporal good things they are but weak rampiers sin in thine heart will be thy mine if thou have not grace thou canst not possibly have glory I conclude all I have spoken in Moses his S. 28 words Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day for it is not a vain Deut. 32. 46 47. thing for you because it is your life Oh that the Lord would write them on your minds and work them into your hearts that through his mercy and might his goodness and greatness they may be means of affecting your souls of effecting this work of effectual calling upon your whole man which shall be a crown of rejoycing to me of true comfort to you and that which is above over and the end of all of eternal glory to the Lord Amen FINIS The Contents of this Book The first Part. CHap. 1. The Proeme or Entrance page 1 Sect. 1. The dependance and coherence of the words p. 1 2 Sect. 2. The explication and division of the words p. 2 3 Sect. 3. The Doctrine raised from the words p. ibid. Chap. 2. 1 Of the kinds of
doth not flatter By his word did the Lord work in the first creation and by his word in the second by his word he made all of nothing and by his word he makes new of old though that word and this do differ The truth shall make you free John 8. 32. The light of knowledge life of grace liberty from sin come by the means of the word a word of grace a means of the work of grace The Word in all the parts of it Law and Gospel threatnings and promises the dark and light places Old and New Testament the writings of the Prophets and Apostles too every part of Gods word is precious The Scripture in the plain song of it and in those descants and divisions that are run upon it by the comments expositions and writings of godly and learned men wherewith we do abound blessed be the Lord The word read discoursed of you may see the commendation Perk. Rev. 1. 11. of the word of God in reference to this end Psa 19. 7 8. But more especially the delivering of the word viva voce the publike ministring and preaching of it This is the Lords darling his great engine for the battering down the strong holds of sin and Satan whatever 1 Cor. 10. 4. the wretched world thinks of it It pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. They are Aaron's bells that through Gods blessing ring all in the musick of spiritual high sounding cymbals that charmeth souls hath not the seed of the word been first cast into the furrows of the heart and then the fruits of grace have shewn themselves Matth. 13. 18. preaching is prevalent the ministry of the word gets the mastery of our wills This proposition of Gods mind helpeth forward the deposition of the old man The word in the Pulpit is a word for souls profit as David said of Goliah's sword so may we say of the preaching of the word there is none like to it It is Gods power to the salvation of the soul 1 Sam. 21. 9. Rom. 7 16. his strong arm for the conquering of sin his hammer for the breaking of an hard heart in pieces It is a fire to refine sope to scoure a lamp to give light It hath brought many stones to the building of Gods Temple This pipe hath caused many to daunce in the ring of piety This musick hath made many souls Matth. 11. 17. merry in the Lord for the Kingdom of God consists as in righteousnesse so in joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. who is there of the family of faith that must not confesse that the word preached was the means of their grace but there are several sorts of Preachers and peaching It is not every kind of preaching that God owns and crowns I shall therefore shew you what manner of preaching that is which is a means of effectual calling It is and must be 1. Plain Preaching It is and must be 2. Piercing Preaching It is and must be 3. Powerful Preaching 1. Plain preaching The word must be delivered S. 10 in a plain familiar way not with curious but common not novel but known Non ad raptum sed captum not lofty but lowly not elegant but easie words for the work of a Minister is not to confound the head but convert the heart not to rack ones sense but to rectifie the soul not to amaze the mind but to mend the manners not to delight the fantasie but to draw to faith and the plainest expressions are most like to make impression Let Ministers speak as rationally as may be so intelligibly let them speak wisely so not too wittily This Predicator laboret ut intelligenter audiatur plain preaching agrees best to the generality of people whose understandings are but ordinary yea very mean in spiritual things alas they are lost in high expressions and many times cannot see the wood for trees they admire the Minister it may be but understand not they wonder at him and that is all the work that passeth upon them They go away and say he is a great Scholler when themselves have not learned so much as to make them disciples of the lower form It agrees best to the nature of the word of truth the richest coats of arms are plainest they say Truth loves a plain coat and not a gaudy habit Truth cares not for spangled and glittering attire it hath native beauty enough to commend it it needs not artificial Those that wear soft clothing are in Kings houses phalerated and embrodered words are for curious and courtly ears Flosculous Orations are for more common meetings and do not do well in the assembly of Christians Many pepper their Sermons to make them smack but forget to salt them to make them smart Paul was plain in his preaching and I think the best Ministers may be his Schollers Seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainnesse of speech 2 Cor. 3. 12. And so elsewhere When I came to you I came not to you in excellency of speech or of wisedom and my speech and my preaching was not with entising words of mans wisedom 1 Cor. 2. 1 4. The truths of God set out with human flourishes are like a linsey-woolsey garment and the sowing of a field with mingled seed which were forbidden Levit. 19. 12. Spiritual meat is sometimes spoiled with too much sauce All the Sermons that we find upon record in Scripture were plain Sermons Sermons that smell too much of the candle are more for the ornament of the Speaker than the document of the hearer are rather to tickle the ear than to take the heart Bombastick words quaint termes abstruse sentences strained expressions much of Latine and Greek quotations that a Sermon speakes many times half in the Language of Ashdod and half in the Language of Canaan are much below that gravity and seriousnesse wherewith the mind of Christ is to be propounded not that I would have Ministers have no regard to their expressions nor that the word should be so dressed as to render it despised some have their expressions too raw and others too much rost the mean is to be In medio consistit virtus observed I would not have Ministers like the slovenly Sons of Eli who by their homelinesse made the Lords offerings to be abhorred I would have them to look to words as well as 1 Sam. 2. 17. things manner as well as matter both in praying and Preaching Scripture expressions are the best I wish we would all study to speak more in Scripture Phrase and words and these are excellent and right words and as Job saith How forcible are right words Job 6. 25. Right plain words tread sure and leave usually the print of their foot behind them Love plain Preaching it is best for your Soul pray against an itching ear 2. Piercing Preaching It must be such Preaching S. 11 as