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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	work_v	write_v	wrought_v	16	3	6.9061	4	false

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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

T. Cross Sculpsit 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 LONDON Printed for John Rothwell and are to be sold by John Clark entering into Merc●rs Chappel at the lower end of Cheapside 1653. TO THE Reader Good Reader IT 's a true saying that the Assurance of an eternal life is the life 〈…〉 temporal life The Apostle● 〈…〉 that if in this life only we 〈…〉 in Christ we were of all men most ●●●●rable None being exposed to so many troubles and tribulations in this life a● the best Christian And what could sustain and beare us up under them all but the certain hope and expectation of a better Resurrection This makes Christians glory in tribulation despise all the glory of the world run as swiftly in wayes of duty as the charets of Amminadab in a word to enjoy a Heaven upon earth They therefore are the greatest enemies of a Christians comfort that teach a doctrine of doubting that a Christian must alwayes hang in suspense about his eternal state and can never arrive to any certainty whether he shall be saved or no. But as this assurance is excellent so is it hard to come by Difficilia quae pulchra 'T is not to be obtained without a great deal of labour and diligence 'T is usually the fruit of much prayer and care and humiliation and long-waiting those that come by it so easily and get it so soon have great cause to suspect that their assurance is not of the right kinde Carnal security and presumption is easily attained but Christian assurance not without great difficulty 'T is therefore much to be lamented that there is so little diligence used for obtaining the assurance of our effectual Calling and eternal Election which is of such great concernment to every Christian What care do men take what diligence do they give to make sure their lands and goods and worldly estates They cannot be at rest till they have secured these But upon what uncertainties do they venture the salvation of their precious and immortal souls They run the most desparate hazards of their eternal salvation never consider whether they are in the way to heaven or hell until they drop irrecoverably into the bottomlesse pit Oh what a strange madnesse possesseth the mindes of men that they should look no more to their own safety that they think it wisedome to secure every thing except their own soules What evil have they deserved of you that you should neglect them so much The designe of this Treatise is to awaken men from their security and to stirre them up to give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure It was handled by the Author as a just Consectary from the doctrine of the Glory of Heaven and the Torments of Hell which Treatise is already published as appears in the Introduction to this discourse That seeing there is such glory prepared for the Elect and such torments for the reprobate it concerns every Christian to give all diligence to make sure to himself that he shall attain the one and escape the other So that these three Treatises have dependance upon each other and together make up one compleat Systeme In this last thou wilt finde many practical cases handled of great soul-concernment both for the comfort of such as are sincere and the discovery of those that are unsound If thou shalt reap any profit by the perusal hereof let God have the praise and let them have thy prayers who are Ready to spend and be spent for the good of thy soul EDMUND CALAMY SIME ON ASHE JEREMIAH WHITAKER WILLIAM TAYLOR ALLEN GEERE OF THE ASSURANCE OF OUR VOCATION AND ELECTION SERMON I. 2 PETER 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure TO give you an account why I pitch'd upon these words it is briefly thus Having spent seventeen Sermons in treating of the Glory of Heaven for the Elect and of the Torments of Hell for the Reprobate I deem'd it most meet to shut up those two Doctrines in the prosecution of this Subject of the Assurance of our Election and Vocation that so if this Doctrine be well improved you may have establishment in your own hearts that you are freed from the torments of the Damned and may be confident you shall be stated into the Glory of Heaven which God hath provided for all his Saints And to the end you might have assurance that you shall be freed from the one and shall enjoy the other you must make it your work according to the words of my Text to make your Calling and Election sure Make but that sure and you are sure of Heaven This is the reason why I pitch'd upon this Subject And it is my care in preaching the Word not to chuse those Texts that are most for my ease in study but for your profit in hearing that so one Subject might back another and one Subject might strengthen another and being put together might more serve for your edification and knowledg I shall not stand long in Prefacing All that I have to do in the managing of these words are these three things 1. To shew you the scope and dependance of the words 2. The sense and meaning 3. To draw out those practical Observations which naturally flow from them And then apply the Observations deduced For the scope and dependance of these words you may discern it lies thus Peter who is called an Apostle of the Circumcision that is an Apostle whose work and Office it was to preach to the Circumcised Jewes as it was Paul's Office to preach to the uncircumcised Gentiles he writ this Epistle to the dispersed Jewes that were scattered throughout the world through Pontus Asia Cappadocia Galatia and Bythinia Whence observe Gods people are a scattered people And to them he writes that though they were persons living in different places yet they had the same faith Simon Peter a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith So that you see the Spirit of God where it works in men though they live in different places yet they shall all believe the same Truth and all receive the same Faith Though different in Language yet but one God and one Faith The Spirit of God wrought the same Faith among those scattered Christians And the Apostle writing to these Jewes he begins his Epistle first by way of Salutation ver 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you 2. He writes by way of Consolation ver 4. telling them that they are Partakers of the Divine Nature that they are call'd to Glory and shall enjoy all the Promises of the Gospel These are

by election Now he that is of God God will in time make him heare his Word with delight and love but he that takes no delight therein is not elected of God 1 John 4.5 6. Fifthly The Lord will sooner or latter work in the heart of an elect man love to the people of God and compassion to those who are not the elect and chosen ones of God Col. 3.12 Put on as the elect of God bowels of mercy and loving kindness The Apostle there by the manner of phrase doth seem to intimate thus much Put on as the elect of God c. As if it were a thing ordained to and inseparable from an elect man after his effectuall calling that he should have bowels of mercy towards those that are not called and that he should have loving kindnesse towards those that are called For a man that is once elected and hath the execution of that decree in effectuall calling it is proper to him to have bowels of mercy Sixtly God will sooner or latter work an elect man into a new course of living and of obedience from what he had in times past 1 Pet. 1.2 You are elected according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification to obedience that though you were disobedient before serving divers lusts yet God if he hath chosen you will bring you into a course of obedience Rom. 8.29 He hath predestinated us What to doe that we might be conformable to the image of his Sonne God intends that that person whom he chooseth to life should be conformable to Jesus Christ and that he shall live another manner of life then before that though he hath formerly been subject to sinne and Satan yet then he shall walk in waies of obedience to Jesus Christ Thus having briefly finisht these heads I have onely foure or five cautions to lay down to bound what hath been said within the limits of truth As First Take notice that these six effects doe not extend to children who die while they are children but to men and women that are grown to yeers A child that cannot act reason as he is a child cannot have any of these particulars wrought in him at least in that way and manner men of yeeres have A child as it is an infant hath not conversion in that way a man hath though it hath somewhat equivalent to it as somewhat like sanctification and somewhat like that faith men of yeeres have but what that is and how wrought man cannot determine In pressing of this therefore I say it doth not extend to children who die in their infancy but onely to men come to yeeres of discretion if they live and die without the having of these six effects they may conclude they cannot be elected Secondly that the want of these six particulars for a time is no Argument of a mans non-election for before conversion which is Gods first dealing with a sinner an elect man may be as vile and as bad as any wicked man alive As the Apostle Paul tels us Titus 3.3 In times past we were also disobedient and served divers lusts and lived in pleasure and excesse c. So 1 Tim. 1.12 So that the want of this for a time is no argument of a mans non-election for then it would follow a man unconverted is no elect man which would crosse the whole tenour of Scripture But a man living and dying without these doth not belong to the election of grace Thirdly I doe not presse the having of these effects actually if you have them habitually My meaning is this A man may be elected and yet may not act any thing answerable to effectuall calling nor act with any delight and love to the word nor act any thing in a way of sanctification yet if you have these habitually in the habit of them these may be testimonies or evidences of election Fourthly I doe not presse the having of these effects sensibly to be an evidence of election if so be you have them really There are many men have these really when they have them not in their own apprehension Fifthly I doe not presse the having of these effects gradually so you have them sincerely My meaning is this that a man may be elected yea and he may not onely be chosen in Gods eternall decree but the execution of that decree may be passed upon him that he may be effectually called and yet he may not have all these six effects in a great measure in the highest degree yet he may have them sincerely and so be a pledge to his own heart of his eternall election And thus having finished this third Query I come now to enter upon another depending upon the former which indeed is a very dreadfull subject and a point to be trembled at while it is handling and that is this what probable guesse may be given of a man that he is not within the compasse of Gods election This is a very high point and must be handled with a great deale of seriousnesse and sadnesse it being a point concerning the salvation or damnation of all the men upon earth And therfore I would intreat you to look about you Gods decrees they are in Heaven and it is onely a reall work of grace upon your hearts on earth that can give you evidence that those decrees are for good to you As good wrought is an evidence of Gods purpose to save you so the contrary work may be an evidence of Gods purpose never to save you but of leaving you without the compasse of his eternall election There can be nothing laid down absolutely and certainly yet there may be many probable guesses given of the men that are not within the compasse of Gods election Of which I shall name but six or seven sorts And I wish to God that none of you that are before the Lord this day have your names written in this black book lest you have just cause to feare your names are not written in the booke of life First That man that fals back from a course of profession to a course of prophanenesse without timely returning the Scripture gives a shrewd guesse of such a man that he is not within the compasse of Gods purpose to save I doe not say every backsliding and every decaying affection but a totall and finall relapse when a man falls and riseth not againe when a man runs from God and returns not again the Scripture gives a guesse at him that he is not within the compasse of Gods election Heb. 10.38 39. If any man draw back my soule shall have no pleasure in him Interpreters observe that in these words there is a figure wherein there is lesse expressed then is intended My soule shall have no pleasure in him It is as much as if God should have said My soule shall hate or I will exceedingly hate him But we are not of them that draw back to perdition but of them that believe to the saving of