Section 5. The Properties of the Divine Call

5. The Properties of this call. 1. It is a sweet call. God doth so call as he doth allure; he doth not force, but draw. The freedom of the will is not taken away, but the stubbornness of it is conquered, Psalm 100:3. Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power. After this call there are no more disputes, the soul readily obeys God's call: As when Christ called Zacchaeus he did joyfully embrace him into his heart and house.

2. It is a holy call. 2 Timothy 1:9. Who hath called us with a holy calling. This call of God's calls men out of their sins; by it they are consecrated and set apart for God. The Vessels of the Tabernacle were taken from common, and set apart to a holy use; so they who are effectually called, are separated from sin, and consecrated to God's service. The God whom we worship is holy, the work we are employed in is holy, the place we hope to arrive at is holy; all this calls for holiness. A Christian's heart is to be the Presence-Chamber of the Blessed Trinity; and shall not Holiness to the Lord be written upon it? Believers are Children of God the Father, Members of God the Son, Temples of God the Holy Ghost; and shall not they be holy? Holiness is the Badge and Livery of God's people, Isaiah 63:18. The people of thy holiness. As chastity distinguishes a virtuous woman from a harlot: So holiness distinguishes the Godly from the wicked. It is a Holy calling: Let not any man say he is called of God, that lives in sin. Hath God called thee to be a Swearer, to be a Drunkard? Nay, let not the moral person say he is effectually called: What is civility without sanctity? It is but a dead carcass strewed with flowers. The King's picture stamped upon Brass will not go current. The civil man looks as if he had the King of Heaven's Image stamped upon him; but he is no better than counterfeit metal, which will not pass for current with God.

3. It is an irresistible call. When God calls a man by his grace, he cannot but come. You may resist the Minister's call, but you cannot resist the Spirit's call: The Finger of the blessed Spirit can write upon a heart of stone, as once he wrote his Laws upon Tables of stone. God's words are Verba creativa, Creating words; when he said, Let there be light, there was light; and when he saith, Let there be faith, it shall be so. When God called Paul, he answered to the call, Acts 26:19. I was not disobedient to the Heavenly vision. God rides forth conquering in the Chariot of his Gospel; he makes the blind eye see, and the stony heart bleed. If God will call a man, nothing shall ponere obicem, or lie in the way to hinder; difficulties shall be untied, the Powers of Hell shall disband, Romans 9:19. Who hath resisted his will? God bends the Iron sinew, and cuts asunder the Gates of Brass, Psalm 107:16. When the Lord touches a man's heart by his Spirit, all proud imaginations are brought down, and the Fort-Royal of the Will yields to God. I may allude to that, Psalm 114:5. What ailed thee, O thou Sea, that thou fleddest? and thou Jordan, that thou wert driven back? The man that before was as a raging Sea, foaming forth wickedness, now on a sudden he flies back and trembles, he falls down as the Jailor, What shall I do to be saved? What ails thee, O Sea? What ails this man? the Lord hath been effectually calling him, he hath been a working a work of grace, and now his stubborn heart is conquered by a sweet violence.

4. It is a high calling, Philippians 3:14. I press toward the mark, for the price of the high calling of God. It is a high calling; 1. Because we are called to high exercises of Religion; to die to sin, to be crucified to the world, to live by faith, to have fellowship with the Father, 1 John 1:3. This is a high calling, here is a work too high for men in a state of nature to perform. 2. It is a high calling, because we are called to high Privileges, to Justification and Adoption, to be made Co-heirs with Christ. He that is effectually called is higher than the Princes of the earth.

5. It is a gracious call, it is the fruit and product of free-grace. That God should call some, and not others; some taken, and others left; one called who is of a more rugged morose disposition, another of acuter parts, of a sweeter temper, rejected, here is free-grace: That the poor should be rich in faith, heirs of of a Kingdom, James 2:5. And the Nobles, and Great ones of the world for the most part reprobated, 1 Corinthians 1:26. Not many Noble are called. What is this free and rich grace? Matthew 11:26. Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. That in the same Sermon one should be effectually wrought upon, another, no more moved than a dead man with the sound of Music; that one should hear a Spirit's voice in the Word, another not hear it; that one should be softened and moistened with the influences of Heaven; another, like Gideon's dry fleece hath no dew upon him; behold here distinguishing grace! The same affliction converts one, hardens another? Affliction to one, is as the bruising of Spices, which cast forth a fragrant smell; to the other is as the stamping of Weeds in a Mortar, which are more unsavoury; whence is this, but the free-grace of God? It is a gracious calling, it is all enameled and inter-woven with free-grace, Si cogitare coeperis O anima mea, quot, & quales sint qui hanc quae tibi data est gratiam consequi non potuerunt; audisti certe quod multae gentes pertransierunt, quae omnes sine cognitione Dei in interitum sempiternum dilapsae sunt omnibus illis redemptor tuus te praetulit, gratiamque ejus largitus est; & quare hoc? nullam praeter salvatoris Charitatem, invenire poteris Causam; elegit te in omnibus, assumpsit te ex omnibus, amavit te pre omnibus, ut memoriale ejus semper esset apud te.

6. It is a glorious call, 1 Peter 5:10. Who hath called us into his eternal Glory. We are called to the glorious enjoyment of the ever-blessed God: As if a man were called out of a Prison to sit upon a Throne. Quintus Curtius writes of one, who digging in his Garden was called to be King. Thus God calls us to Glory and Virtue, 2 Peter 1:3. First, to Virtue, then to Glory. At Athens there were two Temples, the Temple of Virtue, and the Temple of Honor; and no man could go to the Temple of Honor, but through the Temple of Virtue. So God calls us first to Virtue, and then to Glory. What is the glory among men, which most so hunt after, but a feather blown in the Air? what is it to the weight of glory? Is there not great reason we should follow God's call? He calls to preferment; can there be any loss or prejudice in this? God would have us part with nothing for him, but that which will damn us if we keep; he hath no design upon us, but to make us happy; he calls us to salvation, he calls us to a Kingdom: Oh how should we then, with Bartimaeus, throw off our ragged coat of sin, and follow Christ when he calls!

7. It is a rare call; but few are savingly called, Matthew 22:14. Few are chosen: Few, not Collectively, but Comparatively. The word to call, signifies to choose out some from among others. Many have the light brought to them, but few have their eyes anointed to see that light, Revelation 3:4. Thou hast few Names in Sardis that have not defiled their Garments. The Devil hath the Vintage, God hath only a few gleanings. How many Millions sit in the Region of darkness? and in those Climates where the Sun of Righteousness doth shine, many there are, who receive the light of the Truth, not the love. There are many Formalists, but few Believers. There is something looks like Faith, which is not. The Cyprian Diamond (says Pliny) sparkles like the true Diamond, but it is not of the right kind, it will break with the hammer: So the Hypocrite's faith will break with the hammer of Persecution. But few are truly called. The number of precious stones are few to the number of gravel-stones. Most men shape their Religion according to the fashion of the times; they are for the Music and the Idol, Daniel 3:7. The serious thoughts of this, would make us work out salvation with fear, and labour to be in the number of those few, whom God hath translated into a state of grace.

8. It is an unchangeable call, Romans 11:9. The Gifts and calling of God are without Repentance; that is (as a learned Writer saith) those gifts which flow from Election. When God calls a man, he doth not repent of it: God doth not as many friends, love one day, and hate another; or as Princes, who make their Subjects favourites, and then throw them in Prison. This is the blessedness of a Saint, his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded upon his decree, and his decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out his people's sins, but not their names. Let the world ring changes every hour, a believer's condition is fixed and unalterable.