Section 1. A Distinction About Calling

1. I shall lay down a Distinction. There is a twofold call. 1. An outward call, which is nothing else but God's blessed tender of grace in the Gospel, his parleying with sinners, when he woos them to come in and accept of mercy: Of this our Savior speaks, Matthew 20.16. Many are called, but few chosen. This external call is insufficient to salvation, yet sufficient to leave men without excuse.

2. There is an inward call, when God does wonderfully overpower the heart, and draw the will to embrace Christ; This is, as Saint Augustine speaks, Vocatio alta, and efficax, an Effectual call. God, by the outward call, blows a Trumpet in the ear; by the inward call, he opens the heart, as he did the heart of Lydia, Acts 16.14. The outward call may bring men to a profession of Christ, the inward call brings them to a possession of Christ: The outward call does curb a sinner, the inward call does change him.