Sermon 2

1 Peter 2:10. Therefore the rather, brethren, give all diligence to make your calling and election sure.

Having in the morning finished the doctrinal part of this general point, I shall now only make a short use, and then pass to the particulars wherein you should be diligent.

Now is it true, that in all matters of soul concern, you must put forth a great deal of diligence? Then first in applying this doctrine, I must proceed by way of caution, and I shall lay down four cautions, that you may not run into any mistakes about this point.

First, that though God calls for a great deal of diligence at your hands in the matters of your souls, yet this does no way presuppose, as if you could draw out, or put forth this diligence by your own native power; but that God that commands your strength, that God must give you strength to do what he commands. (Psalm 68:28) Your God has commanded your strength: what then? Can a man therefore put forth his own strength? No, but the prayer follows: Strengthen, O God, that which you command us. Implying, that though God did command their strength, they could not put it out by their own power: but they would make a prayer to back the command, Lord you command us to be strong, Lord, strengthen that which you command. So that though God calls for your diligence, and calls for your strength, yet cannot you put forth any strength by your own power. Augustine upon this consideration has this passage: when I have a will, says he, to do good, I have not a power; and when I have power, I have not a will; and in this I see my own weakness, and that I must be beholden to Christ for strength. You can as well carry on the work of creation, as the work of conversion by your own strength. You can as well conquer a world of armed men alone, as conquer one suggestion of the Devil by your own power. Though God does call for your obedience, and to put forth your diligence, yet this supposes not, as if you could do this by your own strength; but that God that commands you diligence, that God must stir it up in you.

When God calls for your diligence in matters of soul-concern, take this caution: that you do not discharge your duty in expressing a great deal of zeal and diligence in matters of your soul, unless you do it in a right manner, and to a right end. People think, if they can be diligent in hearing, and diligent in reading, and diligent in praying, and in receiving sacraments, that then they discharge their duty, and answer the command of my text, to be diligent. No, beloved, you do not answer your duty to God in expressing diligence in that which is materially good, unless you do it in a right manner, and to a right end. You have an instance in Jehu (2 Kings 10). He was a marvelously industrious man in many good matters concerning the worship of God; at one time he killed the worshipers of Baal, at another time he pulled down the houses where they worshiped, and broke the graven images in pieces. At another time he calls out to Jehonadab, to see his zeal for the Lord of Hosts. Wonderful diligent! and yet all this was not done in a good manner, nor to a right end. Not in a good manner because it was done by halves, not thoroughly; for though he destroyed the images of Baal, yet he worshiped the idols at Bethel. And then not to a right end, because he did not show his zeal and industry out of any supreme reference to God's glory, but only out of a political end; to establish himself in his kingdom (2 Kings 10:31). So that you may put forth such diligence in reading, and hearing, and in receiving, and the like; and yet, if not done in a right manner, and to a right end, you do not perform the duty of my text. For take this as a rule in divinity, that when God commands a duty, all the circumstances included in the duty must be observed or else that duty is not done aright. As when you pray, you must not leave out one circumstance or quality required in a prayer; if so, God will not accept your prayer. So here, God commands your diligence, if you are not diligent in a right manner, and to a right end, your diligence is not right.

Though you put forth never so much diligence in the matters of your soul, all those acts you do are none of them meritorious: you do not get heaven for praying, nor get heaven for reading, nor get heaven for hearing, though perhaps you get not heaven without it. Good works, they may be causes of salvation in this sense, causes without which you cannot be saved; but all your obedience, and all your diligence are no causes for which you are saved, or which may any way move God to save you. So that though you are never so diligent, this diligence is not meritorious at all. Why? Because to make it meritorious, say divines, three things must concur. First, the thing must be done freely, not as a debt. Secondly, it must be done with a man's own native and proper strength, and not a borrowed power. Thirdly, it must be done perfectly: and therefore divines say, and that upon good reason too, that all our obedience, and all our actings in the ways of grace cannot be meritorious. Why?

Because, first, we do them not as a free gift, but as a due debt: we owe God this diligence, and owe him this duty; and therefore cannot merit, because we only pay God his due. If you lend a man money, will you thank and reward him to pay you your own? No: it is your due, he ought to repay you. All duties in matters of the soul are God's due, of right belonging to him, and therefore cannot be meritorious.

Secondly, this diligence, could you put it forth by your own strength, you had somewhat in which to boast; but all your diligence is put forth by a borrowed strength, by a strength derived from Jesus Christ, by a strength from the covenant of grace; it is from there you fetch power to perform all acts of obedience and spiritual diligence.

Thirdly, it cannot merit, because it is not perfect. In fact, you are so far from meriting by your obedience, that you merit nothing but hell for the defects in your obedience, and the imperfections that are remaining in your best services.

Take this caution, that though all the diligence you can put forth cannot be meritorious for God to save you, yet take this for truth, that the more you abound in spiritual industry in the matters of the soul, the more likely you are to receive fuller incomes of joy, and fuller increase of grace in your souls. To him that has shall be given, and it shall be given him much more abundantly — that is, to him that has improved his graces, and used them well, they shall be given more abundantly. You have been faithful in a little, you shall be ruler over much. The more you act, and the more diligent you are in the matters of your soul, the more likely you are to be eminent and increasing in grace above others. It is a note that an author has upon the Apostle Paul. Paul was the most eminent of all the Apostles; no Apostle like Paul, none outstripped him. Now theologians ask the reason, why Paul should be more eminent than the rest of the Apostles, who saw Christ in the flesh; whereas Paul saw him only in a vision, and nowhere else; yet Paul was more eminent than any other Apostle? And they give this reason: Paul was in labors more abundant; Paul was more industrious, putting out his gifts and graces, and God did bless that industry with a fuller increase of the graces of God's Spirit than others had. So that, though God gives us not heaven for our growth in grace, yet ordinarily God entails a greater measure and increase of gifts upon the well using of them while we are in this world. Open your mouths wide, and God will fill them. The more wide we are in our desires and expectations, the more we shall be filled.

For reprehension: is it so, that in all matters of soul concern we should put forth a great deal of diligence? Then this should be a great scourge to that sluggishness of spirit that most men in the world are guilty of. What benumbedness, and what sluggishness of spirit do most men lie under? Many men are as David was (1 Kings 1:1), who when he grew old, he was so cold, no clothes could warm him. There are many men, that perhaps have been hot and zealous in profession; yet in process of time they grow so cold, that all ordinances cannot warm them. And though ordinarily, the words of the wise (says Solomon) are as nails and goads — they are as nails to fasten us in a course of profession, they are as goads to put us on — every ordinance is as a goad in our side, still putting us on in a course of holiness. Yet, O that sluggishness, and O that deadness of spirit that lies upon men's hearts — they go but a snail's pace in the way to heaven; whereas they can run as fast as a dromedary in the ways of sin.

It is the observation of a rabbi, that the snail above all other creatures, was by God pronounced unclean, because of its slow and easy pace. God looks upon you as an unclean man, and an unclean woman, who has a sluggish and a slow spirit in matters of Christianity. There are many men that like no life like an idle life; they are never weary so much, as they are weary of doing good, and weary of duties. An hour at a sermon, a day at a fast, a little time at a prayer quite tires them; whereas ways of vanity, and ways of pleasure, they are never weary of. It was the speech of that epicure Marcus Lepidus, who lying under a shady tree upon a sunshine day, stretching himself, cries out, 'O would to God this were to take pains to live at ease.' There are many men as sottish as he: they could wish, 'I would to God to sit in a tavern were the way to go to heaven; I would to God to walk in the fields, to sit at the door on the Sabbath day, that this were the way to heaven' — many men would be saved more easily! Why, how should this condemn that great sluggishness and idleness of men's spirits, that they do so little in the matters of soul concerns?

Beloved, you have cause to labor, because you find many that have taken pains for heaven, that never came to heaven. Many shall strive to enter, but shall not be able (Luke 13). Had not you therefore need to take heed? In fact, Beloved, suppose (it is a supposition Aegydius has, though not true, yet I say suppose it) that all the world should be saved, but one man, yet, says he, you have cause to take pains to be happy, lest you should be that one man should perish. If all the world should be saved but one man only; if one man should be damned, I have cause to labor with all my might, that I be not that one man. Here then, great cause you have not to lie under sluggishness, in all matters pertaining to the soul. You have a great deal of do, and perhaps but a little time; if you knew the greatness of your work and shortness of your time, perhaps you would now set about the business of your salvation. It was the speech of young King Charles of Sicily lying upon his death bed: I have scarce yet begun to live, and now, woe is me, I am compelled to die. Beloved, many of you may have cause to say thus, you have scarce yet done one good action that may give you any evidence to be happy with Christ another day. Possibly you have not yet begun to be Christians, and you may be soon called to die: and what an affliction would this be to you, that you have hardly begun to live a life of grace, and yet you must die the life of nature. This diligence is conversant about many things. 1. In getting grace. Here you have a great work to do, to get grace, above all gettings get understanding: and the difficulty of getting grace, does show the goodness of grace. As we say in nature, the most vile things are most obvious to the eye, and most common to be found; you have stones and dirt everywhere, but things of a more excellent nature are more hard to come by. If you would have gold, you must dig into the earth; if you would have pearl, you must dive into the sea: things that are excellent, nature has made them hard to come by. This shows the goodness of those matters which concern the soul, that they are very hard to be got. Seek for wisdom as for silver, and dig for it as for hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:2-4). And then, 2. Diligence is required not only to get grace, but to keep it; and it is no less skill to keep grace, than to get it, there are so many temptations lie in your way. And then, 3. To watch the heart, that does conspire against your grace, and against your soul (Proverbs 4:23): Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. 4. In examining the heart (Psalm 64:6). The heart is deep (Psalm 77:6). All these considered, you have cause to take pains in all the matters of the soul.

Thus having finished this doctrine; I now pass to the particulars, to which this diligence is applied. Give diligence: to what? Why, to make your calling and election sure. From where, the second observation I shall draw, is this:

That Christians that profess the Gospel, ought to put forth a great deal of industry and diligence to make this sure to their souls, that they are effectually called, and eternally elected. Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.

Now I cannot handle this doctrine in the bulk of it, but must of necessity take it into parts, and handle it piece by piece, that so I may give you the strength of the whole observation in the application of it. And seeing calling lies in the front, I shall in a few sermons treat of that. And the point from there, will be this: That,

That Christians ought to put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls, that they are effectually called.

Beloved, this is a very material point I am now upon, especially in this deceitful age, wherein men plunge themselves into a gulf of presumption, wherein many times men take faith upon trust, and Christ upon trust. It is meet that you that live under the Gospel, should try your calling by the Gospel, whether it be true or no; there may be an external call, when there is no inward calling by the operation of the Spirit upon your hearts.

In the managing of this point, I shall show you these three things.

First, what effectual calling is.

Secondly, why you are required to put forth a great deal of diligence to make your calling sure to your souls.

Thirdly, by what characters or discoveries you may be assured in your own hearts that you are effectually called.

First, what effectual calling is. You say we must make it sure, therefore what is the nature of it? For answer, you may take this description of it.

Effectual calling is the fruit of God's election, whereby God of his free grace works a wonderful change in the heart of an elect person, by the inward operation of the Spirit accompanying the outward ministry of the word; by virtue of which, the soul is brought from under the dominion of sin and Satan into a state of grace, and so made meet for the enjoyment of God in glory. Now I shall not take this apart, but commit it to your memory and judgment to apprehend. Only in this description there are laid down four differences to distinguish effectual calling from that ordinary or outward calling that wicked men have by the ministry of the word. As follows:

1. Effectual calling in the description, is said to be a fruit of God's election; but outward or general calling is a fruit only of common providence. God by an over-ruling providence sends the Gospel among a people, and thereby calls them to an outward compliance and conformity; but effectual calling is a fruit of God's election.

2. It is said in the description, that effectual calling changes the heart, whereby God works a wonderful change in the heart: but an external calling no way reaches the heart, only works some kind of civil or common alteration in the life.

3. It is said, effectual calling is wrought by the inward operation of the Spirit accompanying the outward ministry of the word; whereas an external call is only by the word, but no inward saving work of the Spirit at all.

4. It's said of Effectual Calling, that it is from the dominion of sin; but External Calling is only from the external acts of sin. Indeed by an external calling the word may have that power over a man, as to restrain and keep in the visible and external actings of sin, but it no way works upon the inclination to take off the affection from sin. Whereas the effectual calling works upon the heart, and works to the subduing and destroying of the power of sin, as well as the actings of it.

Secondly, why does God require, that we should put forth such great diligence in making sure that we are effectually called, by the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the Gospel? There are three reasons why this should be.

First, because there are many professing the Gospel, that do harbor ungrounded persuasions that they are effectually called, when they are not. Now if any men be deceived, why may not you? And if any are apt to be deceived about this matter, have not you great cause to be diligent, lest you are deceived also? The Jews of old, they boasted of their calling; and said, We have Abraham to our father: but Christ confutes that; If you were Abraham's children (says he) you would do the works of Abraham: but you seek to kill me, which Abraham did not. But then they go higher (John 8:46), they were effectually called, For God is our Father: No, says Christ, You are of your father the Devil. Thus many men run into these gross mistakes, to believe they are effectually called, when they are not. Many are called outwardly that are not called effectually (Matthew 22:14). And therefore it concerns you, not to be deceived in this great business.

Secondly, because there is this natural aptness in all of us, in things that are of any value concerning the body; you will be sure to make sure of them. It may be, if you have brass and pewter, or baser metals, your kitchen shall serve for that; but things of greater value, as pearls and diamonds, they must be in the closet, and in a cabinet in that closet, you will be sure to ensure them. Why, how much more should you ensure this great and precious jewel of effectual calling, that so much concerns your immortal souls? When you buy land, you will be sure your title is good; to draw up your evidences, so as to be firm in law. You know merchants, if they venture a great or most part of their estate at sea, where perhaps there may be hazard in the voyage, they will run speedily to ensure a great part of their commodities. Beloved, this should you do; this body of yours is the ship, and the merchandise and freight in this ship is your souls; and this ship is going a great voyage to glory, glory is the port where this ship is to come. You shall meet with many dangers in your way, perhaps with storms and tempests of temptation; indeed, perhaps you may run upon the rocks of presumption, or quicksands of despair. O now, run to the ensuring office: what's that? Why, run to seek the testimony of Christ's Spirit in your own spirit, by the word, to evidence to you upon good ground, that the ship shall be safe, and the commodities brought secure to the haven; that ship, body, soul and all shall come safe to heaven. Beloved, if men will thus ensure their estates, you have much more reason to ensure your souls. For believe it, if you make not sure your souls, if you suffer shipwreck, you are turned bankrupts presently; bankrupt to God, you lose him for ever. It is said of an old usurer, that when any man came to borrow money of him, he would hardly trust one in twenty; and being asked the reason, why he would do so? O (says he) it is good to be sure. Why (Beloved) shall a usurer in all his ways be so secure, and so heedful in all his disbursements, that he could say, It is good to be sure? And may not I much more say to you, It is good to be sure of heaven? It is good to be sure you are effectually called by Jesus Christ; it is good to be sure that you are Christians in truth, not in name only; that you are Christians in deed, not in profession only. O it is good to make your calling and election sure.

Thirdly, Christians should labor to assure this, because the more assured you are of your effectual calling, the more it will heighten and increase your inward peace and comfort (1 Peter 1:8). In whom believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. It is very observable, that in all the Epistles of the New Testament, where the Apostle speaks of their effectual calling to be saints, in the very next verse he salutes them with these words, Grace and Peace be towards you (1 Corinthians 1:2). You are called to be saints; grace and peace be towards you. Romans 1:6-7: called to be saints, grace and peace be multiplied towards you: and so in every epistle besides; to note that when a man is effectually called, the more assurance he has of his calling, the more peace he has in his own conscience. It will heighten your peace, and heighten your inward comforts; therefore you should labor after this assurance of your effectual calling.

And thus having shown you what effectual calling is, and why you must give diligence to make this sure, I now pass to a third query.

What are the characters or discoveries, whereby my soul may be assured that I am effectually called by Jesus Christ? And in the dispatch of this, I shall resolve it only by these two general heads.

First, you may be assured of your effectual calling, if God has taken that method with your souls, which he does ordinarily take with those whom he does effectually call.

Secondly, if the Lord has wrought in you those saving effects or concomitants, which do ordinarily accompany those that are thus effectually called: if these two things be done, you may have a seal and assurance in your own hearts that you also are effectually called. Beloved, it is not for ministers to flatter you: there are among many in the world but few that are called; among many that are called but few that are elected; and therefore do not flatter yourselves. If upon trial you find you are not in the number of God's called ones, go home and bewail your unregenerate and unconverted estate. But before I can speak of this method, I must first lay down some mistakes that are held by erroneous minds about the method God takes in calling a sinner home to himself.

A first mistake is of the Pelagians, who hold this, that a man is able to call and convert himself. Now this opinion does quite exclude and jostle out God from having any hand therein: they say a Christian is able to call and convert himself, having only a general concurrence and assistance from God.

2. Of the Arminians, and they hold this: that effectual calling consists only in moral persuasions, and may be resisted by the person that is thus called. And that a man being called into a state of grace, may fall from his calling and fall from his grace, and so have no profit by his calling at all; which is a most uncomfortable opinion. And surely God would never take this method in calling of his people.

3. That of the Papists; and they say that God calls and ordains a sinner to glory, but it is upon the foresight of his good works. God foresaw how good and holy the man would be, and therefore God would choose and call him to glory. But this has no ground from Scripture neither.

4. That of the Familists; and they hold this: that God's method in calling a sinner is not by the outward ministry of the Word, but it is by raptures and revelations, and by divine inspirations, and extraordinary ways of working. But this is not God's usual method, though God sometimes takes this way, as he did by Paul, who was called this way after an extraordinary manner. Yet this is not God's ordinary rule.

5. There is another mistake, and that is of those who press a necessity of such measures of legal horror and terror upon the consciences of men, else they can never be saved. Sometimes ministers have been so harsh now and then (though indeed no such cause to blame them as is pretended), yet sometimes lashes break out, that men must be so and so humbled, in such a measure, and so long for duration. Now this is not God's method to press for measure, but a great mistake about God's manner of calling a sinner; though I must confess, this is the nearest of all the five, to that rule God takes in calling a sinner to glory. Having thus laid down the mistakes, it is the easier now to find out the truth. I come now to speak of that method God takes in calling a sinner. And here I shall lay down a sixfold method, in which God proceeds with those whom he does effectually call, which if he does so with you, you may go home with a seal upon your hearts, that you are effectually called to grace, and you shall one day come to glory.

First, when God goes about effectually to call a poor sinner into a state of grace, he puts a clear light into his soul, whereby he may see the heinous and aggravated nature of all his sins, more than ever he did before (Romans 7:8-9, 13). Paul tells you, before the commandment came, he was alive, and sin was dead; that is, before the power of the word came upon his conscience to convert him, he was alive. That is, he thought he was a good man, and a just man, and he thought sin was dead, sin was destroyed; he never knew sin so sinful. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. But when the word of God came with power upon my conscience, and light upon my judgment, then I saw I was a dead man, sin had killed me, and I saw sin was reigning, and sin was raging in me. And what then? He saw sin to be exceeding sinful; he never saw sin so before conversion, before his calling, when he was a Pharisee. But when the word of God came with power upon his conscience to call him, then he says he saw sin to be exceeding sinful. Now, has ever God done thus with your souls? Maybe you look upon sin with a transient and general view, but do you look upon sin so as to see more evil in sin than ever you saw before? This is the course God usually takes. Methinks God deals with a converted sinner as it is spoken in Job 33:27-28. He looks upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it does not profit me, he will deliver his soul from going down into the pit, and his life shall see the light. That is, God looks upon the mass of mankind in the world, and says, if any man say he has sinned, and it did not profit him — that is, if he look upon sin as an evil, and that he never did get good by it — then says God, I will deliver his soul from hell, and bring him to heaven.

Indeed, but you will say, maybe sometimes God may do thus to frighten men, and trouble men in mind, make them see their sins: but is this God's usual work?

Yes, it is, verse 29. "Lo, these things works God oftentimes with men." Mark, it is not a seldom work, but it is God's work often — he will make you see your sins, see them to be fruitless, and see them to be unprofitable. "Lo, these things God works oftentimes with men." Hence you read, John 16:8: when the Spirit shall come (mark his office) he shall convince the world of sin. The first act of the Spirit in converting a soul, and calling him, is to convince him of sin. And I remember Piscator thinks this accomplished in Acts 2:37, when they saw their sin in crucifying of Jesus Christ — this is the first work of the Spirit of God in your calling: he will convince you of sin. Now, O beloved, to how many do I speak this day, with whom God has never taken this method, since they were born into the world? How many are there that have been told of their drunkenness, and told of their lusts, and of their deceits, and of their licentious living from day to day — and yet to this day they never saw sin to be exceeding sinful? They never were convinced of sin to purpose. If they did indeed see their sin, first, it was but a transient sight, soon come and soon gone; or else, second, it was but a general sight, to say we are all sinners; or, third, if they did see their sin, it was but a confused sight, no way distinct; or, fourth, if they did see sin, it was an unhumbling sight — the sight of sin did never humble them in God's sight. I entreat you, beloved, do not lay hold or have hopes of being effectually called, if God has not shown you the heinous and aggravated nature of your sins. There is a speech in Job 36:9-10: he first shows to men their works, and their transgressions, that they have exceeded; and then he opens their ears to discipline, and commands them to return from evil. Mark, then the Lord does it, when he makes them see their transgressions, that they have exceeded. Now, have you seen that you have exceeded in your passions, and in your pride? Have you seen sin to be exceeding sinful? This is God's first work; and happy are you that are brought into Christ's school, that Christ does take this method with you.

Second, after God has put a light into the soul, to make you see the sinfulness of sin, then God fastens these thoughts on the soul, to make you sensible of the great misery that your sins have brought you into — to cry out with Paul, Romans 7:24: "Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" There Paul cries out of his wretchedness and misery, by reason of that body of death, the sinfulness of his nature, which he confesses did as much trouble him as if a dead body should be tied to his living body — alluding to the custom of the Romans in punishing notorious malefactors, which he takes to be a most grievous punishment. Why, beloved, have you ever seen this? Did you ever see that misery that sin brought upon you — that sin did divest you of righteousness, did rob you of your God, banish you from his presence, entitle you to hell, and make you objects of his wrath? Now were you sensible of this misery? This is God's method, to make you see your misery by reason of sin.

Third, God puts the soul into a kind of spiritual astonishment, that the poor sinner does not know where to go, what course to take, which way to turn, how he may get pardon for his sin, and recovery from his misery. This you find mentioned as God's method in Acts 2:37, upon 3,000 at once: "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" They were even in amaze — the word wrought upon them, and they saw Jesus Christ crucified to be their sin — and now they cry out in great astonishment: "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" When God effectually calls a man, he will leave him a little to himself, that he knows not which way in the world to turn him. Now when I speak of spiritual astonishment, mistake me not — for, first, I press not such a measure of humiliation, nor such a measure of trouble of mind, how great it must be; nor, second, do I press the duration of it, how long it must be, that you must be so long and so long; nor, third, do I press an absolute necessity of this, as if a man could not be called without it. Indeed we read of Lydia, that her heart was opened, and she was never troubled nor astonished; and God sometimes works thus in an extraordinary way. But I press this, that ordinarily it is God's method, in some measure or other, at some time or other, to put his people in such a plunge that they shall not know which way in the world to turn themselves. And so were those 3,000 in Acts 2 — they could not tell what they should do to be saved.

And here further, if you ask me, with whom does God most of all take this course, to put them into such spiritual amazement — to put them into horror and terror about their everlasting estate? I answer: first, those that have lived in a course of profaneness before conversion — let them look to it. If you have been a knotty and stout-hearted sinner against God, God must give you many a blow before he can hammer you to his own will. You that have been guilty of drunkenness, and guilty of adultery, or guilty of Sabbath-breaking in a gross and licentious way — that have made this world a stage to act wickedness upon — look to it; boast not of your calling. If God has not brought you in this way, you have ground to suspect you are not yet called. They that before conversion were loose in their lives, if they find not this spiritual amazement, it is not likely they are called. And therefore I verily suspect your calling, that can jump out of a course of profaneness into a course of profession — that can jump from a course of malignity to delight to hear sermons, and love ministers. You that have been opposers of godliness, if you do not show an eminent work in your conversion, I greatly suspect whether you are converted or no, because it is God's usual method — if men have been men of gross lives before calling — to bring them to great astonishment when they are called.

Second, you that have often withstood, and still withstand God's call — that sermon after sermon, and invitation after invitation would not gain upon you — do you look about you: God will give you many a blow, God will send you many a sad hour, before he brings you to your peace.

3. Those that have often sinned against conscience, that do as it were lay conscience waste; that are prodigal of sinning, not caring for sinning against never so much light, and never so much conviction. Beloved, you shall not have so easy a coming to heaven: God will first lay many strokes upon you, and draw heavy groans from you. David says, By reason of your terrors I am afraid, and my bones are dried up: You are subject to most horror and astonishment, that do sin against conscience. Again,

4. When God has done thus, made you see the aggravated nature of sin, shown you your misery by reason of sin, and brought you into such a condition that you cannot tell how to be saved; then this is God's method, to take you off from your own bottom, beat you off from resting on duties, and beat you off from dependence upon graces, and beat you off from everything in yourselves. This was God's work in Paul (Philippians 3:9-10). I was, says Paul, circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; that is, my father and mother were Hebrews: what then? And I was, touching the law, blameless, Mark, he was so standing upon his own legs, upon his own bottom; that he thought himself a holy man, a man blameless touching the law. But now, says he, what things were gain to me, I count loss for Christ; yes doubtless, I count all things lost, that I might be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness. Here Paul before conversion depended upon his holy living, and honest dealing; but now I am converted, and see my folly; now I desire to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness. See how God did unbottom Paul from any goodness in himself, to make him rest upon Jesus Christ: and this is God's work with you; he will unbottom you from yourself, and make you see you cannot be your own Savior.

5. After he has unbottomed you from yourself, he puts you upon earnest longings and looking after Jesus Christ. When the poor soul has ransacked duties, and gone to this minister, and the other minister, to be satisfied; and he sees duties cannot help him, and prayer will not help him; now he thinks, I see none but Christ to lay my head upon: and I see none but a Christ I must make recourse to. And now he is so longing after Christ, that if all the stones in the streets were gold, and all the building of his house were diamond, and all his garments bespangled with pearl; none of these should interrupt, or stay him from running after Jesus Christ. And this, as I may say, is God's second work: The three first may be in wicked men, they may see their sin and misery thereby, and be in a maze not knowing which way to go: but these two are a form beyond the wicked; they never unbottom themselves, nor ever have any longings or breathings after Christ at all.

6. It is God's method after all this, to make them find abundance of contentment, and acquiescence in Jesus Christ; that they may have occasion to say, I see I have laid my help upon one that is mighty; I see I have pitched upon him that is both able and willing to do me good. (2 Thessalonians 2:16) Has given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. And now beloved, having spoken of these things, how many in the congregation have I left behind, that perhaps the Lord has used none of these methods with their souls? O Lord, I am not able to tell you your misery, but I entreat you take heed, and do not nuzzle up your souls in presumption and groundless persuasions; for believe it, these are God's ordinary methods he takes with most souls in bringing them to [reconstructed: Glory].