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truth_n	church_n	religion_n	true_a	7,548	5	5.1593	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88594	A treatise of effectual calling and election. In XVI. sermons, on 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Lawrence Jury, London.	Love, Christopher, 1618-1651.; Calamy, Edward, 1600-1666.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682,	1653 (1653)	Wing L3178; Thomason E696_1; ESTC R202781	182,095	256

though they wanted these poor outward comforts they did not want Christs comfort and Christs graces and therefore when they had neither purse scrip nor shoos they wanted nothing Why O Beloved if you were of the temper of these gracious Disciples you would say so too that if you can find a grounded and real interest in Christ though you want many of the Comforts of this world you will say you want nothing Wanted yee any thing and they said Nothing 5. You that make povertie and persecution a plea Consider this that the poor are ordinarily the most people that Jesus Christ doth cal to imbrace his Gospel The poor receive the Gospel saith Christ and blessed are you that are not offended at it Not many wise not many noble are called but the poor things of the world hath God chosen 1 Cor. 1.26 And in James God hath chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith Do not therefore Beloved make this a plea to keep off from Christ because ordinarily they are the people Christ pitcheth most love upon and doth delight to make them rich in grace who are poor in goods 6. Consider That if upon this ground you refuse the call of Iesus Christ you are exposed to more Povertie and to worse persecution then ever you could be exposed to in the entertaining of Christ In the following of Christ you are only exposed to an outward povertie but in neglecting the cal of Christ you are exposed to be poor in faith and to be such a beggar as not to be endowed with one dram of grace and then you are beggars indeed As we say he is a poor man that God hates he that hath not Christ and hath not the treasures of heaven in him he is exposed to worse povertie a thousand times then he can be for embraceing the cal of Iesus Christ Rev. 3.17 Yea and he is exposed to worse persecution also that for fear of persecution neglects Iesus Christ Psal 83.5 The Lord will persecute them saith David with furie and wrath speaking of wicked men All persecution from man reaches but to the body but this from God reacheth to the soul 7. And then lastly This should not hinder you from following Iesus Christ considering that though you should be poor and should be persecuted yet heaven wil make you amends for al Heb. 11.35 Heavē wil make amends for poverty when you are indowed with all the riches of Christ and Heaven wil make amends for persecution when there the weary shal be at rest and there the troubled shal be at ease And thus much be spoken of the third suggestion of the Devil that if you entertain the cal of Jesus Christ you shal be exposed to much poverty and persecution here in the world SERMON VI. 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THe Doctrine I am yet upon is this That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ In the prosecution of which I have resolved one case of conscience and am yet upon the second case namely what suggestions the Devil doth use to keep men off from imbracing the call of Jesus Christ I have laid down and answered three already 4. Now there is one suggestion more when the Devil sees neither of these wil take place then he comes in with a fourth to disswade men from imbracing the call of Christ and that is this Why saith the Devil if you will entertain the call of Christ you will abridge your selves of all the joy and comfort of your lives you will never have merry daies while you live upon earth You see men that pretend to be converted and do hear Sermons what lumpish and melancholy men they are not so jocund and jolly as others are that walk not so precisely if you follow Christ and his Gospel this wil casheer all your merry daies and this wil put you into a sad temper all your jovial daies are gone Therefore to take off this aspersion that the wais of Christ are sad and melancholy waies which hath been an aspersion that from age to age generation to generation hath been as a Gin the Devil hath used to keep men from Christianity And I remember it is one of the great Engines Antichrist useth to support and uphold his Kingdome The Papists to deter men from Christianity and the Protestant Religion they would hold their Disciples in hand with this that the spirit of a Calvinist is a sad and lumpish spirit and therefore they would disswade all Nations from turning to their Religion and this the Priests were to tel in all the Churches of Rome how sad and melancholy they were that turned to the Calvinists Religion and this did mightily stay the people from imbracing the truth And this aspersion hath passed from hand to hand and is many times prevalent upon the spirits of men that are of the true Religion that they must not be too forward in the practice of Religion fearing lest this should work melancholy and sad thoughts in them Now to take off this I shal onely urge four or five heads briefly First Whereas you say they are melancholy and sad that are called by Christ to a profession of his waies I would answer thus That they of all people in the world have most cause of mirth and gladnes and they are the most truly joyful people in the world That they have most cause of rejoycing is apparent When the Disciples came triumphing that they could cast out Devils heal the diseased and work Miracles O but saith Christ Rejoyce not in this but rejoyce that your names are written in the book of Life Luke 10.20 As much as if Christ should say All the indowments and extraordinary gifts of the Spirit they are no such grounds of joy if you had them all but here is your joy and cause of rejoycing that your names are written in the book of Life that you are in Christ and your souls shal be saved And so Paul tels us Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord alwaies again I say rejoyce The Apostle would not speak it to them with a single command but doubles his expression to shew that they that are people that have their sins pardoned that have their souls reconciled that have a Title to glory whose names are written in the book of Life these of all men in the world have most cause of joy and gladness And they have not onely most cause but they do most truly rejoyce and have more real joy in their hearts in one day then the wicked can have all their lives 1 Pet. 1.8 They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory What joy you have in the world the tongue is able to speak of it but the tongue is not able to speak of that inward joy that godly men have in their hearts

places So that it is clear That he might save all or have mercy upon all It is not meant all universally but all with this limitation of Paul here all them that believe Again Another objection or Scripture they abuse is 1 Tim. 2.4 Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth This Text Origen doth grosly abuse holding hence that it is the intendment and will of God that all men should be saved Now to take off this objection We must first distinguish here of Gods will and then of this phrase All. Who will have all men to be saved First of Gods will Voluntas ben●placiti voluntas signi and the Schoolmen give this distinction about it That there is a will of Gods good pleasure and there is Gods signifying will Now the will of Gods good pleasure is that reall purpose in God to save a man And there is no man that in this sence God wils to be saved but he must be saved but in this sence God wils not all men to be saved But secondly there is Gods significative will that is whereby in Scripture God tenders salvation to every man that will lay hold upon Jesus Christ and so Gods signifying will excludes no man from salvation but the Ministers if they preach to ten thousand people they must tender Christ universally to them all because they know not which of them are elect and which reprobate which of them shall be saved and which damned This is Gods signifying will and though God by this will tell you what Ministers must doe to tender Christ and salvation to all yet this doth no way follow that the determinate will of Gods good pleasure is involved under this as if all men should be saved Perkins in his writings hath this distinction of it That there is Gods absolute will and so he wils not all men to be saved and Gods conditionate will that in case every man did believe they should be saved for God envies no mans salvation there is grace enough in God and willingnesse enough in God to save every man in the world But secondly there may be a more distinct answer given to this place God will have all men to be saved All is taken sometimes in a distributive sence and sometimes in a collective sence In a distributive sence for every man under heaven and so God wils not all men to be saved But secondly in a collective sence for all sorts and degrees of men and so God intends to save all that is some of all sorts and of all degrees of men in the world And this appeares if you mark the context He will have all men to be saved that is some of all sorts Some Kings and some great men some rich and some poore some Princes and some beggars And therefore the Apostle bids them pray for all men Pray saith he for Kings and for them in authority for God will have all men to be saved As much as if he should say Pray for Kings because God of his grace may save Kings as well as poorer men that have lesse incumbrances and lesse imployments in the world and lesse withdrawings in their own soule then they have God will save all salvation shall come to all sorts of men and therefore you may lawfully pray for them And so Calvin judiciously expounds this place that God will have all sorts of men to obtaine salvation by Jesus Christ but is not to be extended universally as if every individuall man and woman should be saved 3. These words are to be taken with those that follow after God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth Now that God will be willing to save those that come to the knowledge of the truth is unquestionable all that repent Acts 17.30 all opposition to the time of the old Testament Rom. 16.25 Vse Now is this true that election is not universall but that some men are elected and others reprobated Then to wrap up this query in a short use this should teach you all who are in the land of the living not to deceive your selves lull not your selves asleep in security for it may be you may be in Gods counsell to save it may be not Peradventure you may be in Gods thoughts for salvation peradventure you may be in his counsell for damnation and this should put you upon the work my text calls upon you for to endeavour to make your calling and election su●e 2. A second Query is this Whether may one that is an elect man fall away from his election and come to be a damned man or no This the Protestant Divines against the Arminians and Papists have had large controversies about but I will not handle it in a controversall way onely as it best becomes a Pulpit shew you those positive Scriptures and reasons that may cleare the truth and then answer the strongest objections they produce to the contrary Q. Whether may a man that is elected fall away and afterward perish To this I answer No. A man that is once elected by God can never perish And this I shall give Scripture and reason to plead for it Matth. 24.24 Christ tels us of errour that it came in so easily that if it were possible it would deceive the elect Intimating that it is impossible so to seduce the elect as to make them finally fall away So John 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me that is all that God the Father hath decreed to save by Christ shall come unto Christ Vers 39. This is the Fathers will that hath sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose none This is the Fathers will and Commission to Christ that of all those that by his decree he had given to Christ to save by redemption he should lose none And saith Christ I have lost nothing So John 10.28 29. I give unto my sheep eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man take them out of my hands my Father that gave them me is greater then all and no man shall pluck them out of my Fathers hands By his Fathers hands he means his decree God by his decree intended to save so many and Christ to vindicate his Father tels us that so many as God the Father had decreed to salvation neither man nor divell should prevaile to pluck them out of his Fathers hand So Rom. 11.1 God hath not cast away his people whom he soreknew That is whom God did predestinate he casts none of them away none of them shall perish Many more Scriptures I might multiply to shew that a man once elected can never perish as 2 Tim. 2.19 1 Cor. 1.8 9. 2 Thes 3.3 But I would name reasons as well as Scriptures And First if Election were changeable then God must be changeable which to think there is nothing more absurd If

unto we are elected to eternall glory but our works are finite imperfect no more then our duty yea not done by our own strength but by the power of Gods grace and therefore cannot be that which moveth God to elect us Sixthly because God doth not chuse men to life for the sake of Jesus Christ therefore much lesse for their works sake It is true and mistake me not I confesse and so all Divines that are confesse this that God saves a man for Christs sake but God elects not a man for Christs sake but meerly for his own good pleasures sake God in chusing a man to life hath no reference to Christ as if Christ were the motive Christ was predestinated himselfe therefore could not be the cause of our predestination 1 Pet. 1.20 We are chosen in him its true Eph. 1.4 as the common person God elected Christ first in order and all believers in him but it is not for Christs sake but according to his own will As suppose a Kingdome to be newly set up a King is chosen and his successors to follow after why then all the succeeding Kings are chosen in him that was first elected so are we chosen in Christ God doth chuse a man as freely as if Christ did never die and yet God saves none but for Christs saxe and this makes election on Gods part most free God doth not consider Christ nor the good works we have but t is onely his own good will engages him to save some and neglect others And thus much for proving this point There are some objections now that lie in the way which must be removed God say they doth elect men upon the foresight of their good works and they alledge foure Scriptures to prove this James 2.2 Hath not God chosen the poore of this world to be rich in faith now say they their laying out their estates for good uses and so becomming poore that is the reason why God chuseth them and neglects richer men To which I answer That poore here is onely spoken of Dins elegit sideles us si●t non quia jam ●rant Aug. l. de praedest as the quality of the persons that are chosen not as the cause wherefore they are chosen And this answer Mr. Perkins gives that poverty is not the cause why but the description of the persons that are chosen that Gods decree of election doth commonly runne among the poorer sort of men the more to advance his own grace that man shall not say election is intailed upon works for if poverty should be the cause of their election then all that are poore should be elected which is false Again further they object 2 Thes 2.13 God from the beginning hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and beliefe of the truth Now say they sanctification and faith is made as the channel through which election must run and therefore that is the cause or motive why God did elect them To this we answer That it is true God elects men through sanctification and faith as the end God aimes at in elect persons not as the motive for which he elects them And this answer Rivet gives All elect men shall be sanctified and all elect men shall believe though it is not for this sanctification and beliefe that they are elected It is not for grace but unto grace they are chosen This distinction the Scripture gives 1 Pet. 1.2 Ye are elect according to the foreknowl dge of God through sanctification unto obedience Not for as the motive but to as the end Again Titus 1.1 it is called the faith of Gods elect Now say they it is called so because God elects them foreseeing their faith To which we answer That faith is here called the faith of Gods elect not as if God foreseeing faith did elect men but because all elect men shall believe because faith is a peculiar priviledge belonging onely to elect men therefore it is called their faith And then lastly one Scripture more they alledge 2 Tim. 2.20 If any man shall purge himself from sin he shall be a vessell of honour Now here say they purging that is sanctification and good works it is made a condition of election of being a vessell of honour God makes this condition if he forsee a man will purge himselfe and will live holily that man shall be elected shall be a vessell of honour To which we give this answer That purging and sanctification is here laid down not as the cause but as the signe of their election not as the cause why men are vessels of honour but the signe or evidence that they are so If you are purged you shall be vessels of honour that is if you are sanctified it is a sign to you that you are elected SERMON XV. 2 PETER 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure THe last Conclusion or Doctrine drawn from these words was this That Christians should put forth a great deale of diligence to make this sure to their soules that they are eternally elected by God to life and glory In the prosecution of which I have dispatched severall queries I am now to proceed further in the dispatch of what yet remaines to be spoken concerning this subject A fourth query followes Q. Fourthly Whether the decree of election or Gods purpose to save a company of men being from eternity and being immutable whether doth not this give way to man to be secure and carelesse in the use of the means of grace that they take no care to get grace and to get heaven while they are in the world This is a very usefull point to insist upon seeing the Arminians charge us with this that if we hold election without respect to Gods foresight of workes in men then this layes open a gap for men to live as they list that they shall say If God hath determined they shall be saved they shall be saved if that they shall be damned they shall be damned whether they are holy or profane if God hath elected them to life they shall be saved let them live as they list Thus the Arminians plead This therefore is the query whether this doctrine of election doth administer any ground for such a cavill as this to be in the minds of men To answer which I shall first lay down this generall Conclusion That the decree or the purpose of God about the election of man to life and salvation doth no way administer any just ground to men to make them live as they list and to make them neglect the means of grace and salvation In the clearing of which I shall lay down three particulars to satisfie you about this matter As First that Gods decree about Civill and Temporall matters doth no way give encouragement to men to neglect the use of means and live carelesse of the accomplishment of his decree and therefore not so in