Sermon 5

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

The doctrine I am yet upon in the prosecution of these words, is this, that Christians should put forth a great deal of diligence to make this sure to their souls, that they are effectually called by Jesus Christ. In the managing of which, I laid down the last Lord's day twenty propositions; ten in relation to wicked men not called, and ten conclusions for the comfort of them that are effectually called by Jesus Christ. I am now to proceed in the dispatch of six cases of conscience, which I shall handle about effectual calling. Three of which concern men not effectually called, and three touching believers, who are called by Christ to grace here, and to hopes of glory in the world to come.

The three first cases touching wicked men are these:

First, whether a wicked man be able to resist his own call?

Secondly, what temptations does the Devil suggest, to keep a wicked man from entertaining and embracing the call of Jesus Christ?

Thirdly, what delusions does the Devil use to deceive hypocrites, to make them presumptuously believe that they are effectually called, when they are not?

There are three cases more touching godly men: as

First, whether may a man that is effectually called, be any way assured that he is so?

Secondly, if a man may be assured, then what is the reason many a godly man is not assured of his effectual calling?

And then thirdly, how may he come to get the assurance of his effectual calling? I begin with the first, about wicked men that are not called; and the case is this.

First, whether may a wicked man, a man as yet not called, be able to resist and keep off his own call?

And that you may understand the answer hereto, I must lay down this distinction; that there is a twofold calling of Christ:

A significative calling, and an operative calling.

First, a significative calling, which is such a calling whereby Christ in the ministry of the word, signifies and declares what he would have men to do. Now this kind of call, wicked men may resist; this call, I say, and this revealed will of God, in declaring what grace he would have men act, and what sin he would have men forbear. Therefore we read (Acts 7:5): "You stiff-necked people, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have always resisted the Holy Ghost"; meaning the preaching of the word, by the ministry of his Apostles. So (Proverbs 1:24): "I have called, and you have refused, etc."

But then secondly, there is an operative calling, and that is such a call, whereby God does not only signify to a man what he must do, but with the signification of his will, gives a man a power to do what he calls him to do, accompanying the word with his Spirit, making the heart stoop and yield to Jesus Christ.

Now this call no man can resist; grace is irresistible; and this effectual calling by the operation of the Spirit, a man cannot resist. All the gainsayings of the heart, and all the stoutness of the will — it must stoop, and must be brought under subjection to Jesus Christ (John 6:37). "All that the Father has given me," says Christ, "shall come to me." They shall not be able to withstand Jesus Christ, but they shall come in to him. So (Isaiah 55:10): "As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not there again, but waters the earth, to make it bring forth, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth, it shall not return in vain; but shall accomplish that which I intended, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." As all the world cannot hinder the rain from coming down on the earth, no more can any man in the world, if God has an intent to convert and call him, hinder the benefit of the word from redounding upon his soul.

Now the answering of this case thus briefly, will admit of a double use.

First, a use of condemnation to wicked men, that have often resisted the significative call of Jesus Christ. When Christ has signified, this is my will, I would have you leave these courses, and I would have you walk in these ways; Christ signifies his will in the ministry of the gospel; yet let Christ signify what he will, you will do as you please; this is for your great condemnation.

Secondly, the answering this query, is for consolation to elect men, who are not yet converted. Do you belong to God's election? Why, before you are converted, you have a stubborn will, you have a gainsaying heart, you have a stout spirit against God, your heart is as hard as an adamant, as hard as the rocks; yet here is your comfort, all the gainsayings of your spirit, and all the stubbornness of your will, it shall not be able to keep off converting mercy, and shall not be able to keep off calling grace from you. When God has an intent to call you, he will come with power by his call, and make you do what he commands you, and make you embrace what he calls you to. Did not Jesus Christ use an operative call, as well as a significative call, no man in the world would ever be called. And this is the reason, that in hearing the same sermon, and following the same preacher, one man is converted, the other is not. The reason is this: the call of the ministry is only a significative call of a reprobate; only signifying what God would have him do: but there is no power conveyed with the invitation to make the man able to do what Christ calls him to; and therefore one is called, the other is not. Thus much in answer to the first case.

Secondly, what temptations does the Devil suggest to men, who are uncalled, that they should not give entertainment to, or embrace the call of Jesus Christ to grace and glory? And in answer to this, I shall lay down only four suggestions of the Devil, wherewith he entangles a man, that he should not yield to the call of Jesus Christ. And as I lay them down, I shall labor to take them away.

1. The first temptation the Devil will suggest is to you that are young men; and to you he will suggest that you are yet too young to embrace the call of Jesus Christ: it will be time enough hereafter, and you may do it soon enough hereafter. You are too young now to be abridged of your pleasure, and to mortify your lusts, and to betake yourselves to so serious a course as Christ calls you to: and by this temptation, the Devil prevails with young men more especially. And I remember Augustine says that this temptation of the Devil made him keep off for seven years together from embracing the call of Jesus Christ; the Devil would still tell him in his heart, you are too young to leave your drunkenness, and too young to leave your harlots; till at last he cried out, How long shall I say it is too soon? Why may I not repent today? This temptation, I say, has fastened upon many before you, that they were too young to come in to Jesus Christ; and to this end, the Devil will suggest to you that old and false proverb, A young saint, and an old Devil: whereas indeed, if you are young Devils, you will be old Beelzebubs. And therefore this being a suggestion prevailing with many hearts, I shall lay down six considerations to take off this temptation, that it may not prevail with you.

First, if the Devil tempts you that you are too young to hearken to Christ's call, consider that the Devil cannot give you a lease of your lives; if the Devil could give you a lease of your lives, and tell you that you should live till old age, you might then with more safety hearken to his temptation. But your lives are not at the Devil's disposal: God is the author of your life; the issues of life and death are in his hands; you may die in youth uncalled, you may be damned as well as dead. You may be as these men (Job 36:14) that shall die in their youth, and their lives shall be among the unclean. And therefore though the Devil tempts you that you are too young, seeing he cannot assure you of your lives, you have no reason to hearken to his temptation.

Secondly, suppose the Devil could assure you that you should live till old age; yet take this consideration, that in putting off your calling and the work of conversion from your youth, this may so provoke God that he may harden your hearts in your old days, that you shall have no heart to think of and embrace the call and invitation of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 22:21: I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you would not hear, and this has been your manner from your youth; you would not obey my voice. God spoke but they would not hear, and it was from their youth that they did thus; therefore God would never speak more: God hardened their hearts, that they should never receive or embrace the call of Jesus Christ. So Isaiah 6:9-10: seeing the Jews from their youth were obstinate against the word of God, Go, says God, make their ears heavy, and their hearts fat, and their eyes blind, that they should not be called and converted, and I should save them. Let this therefore be a second consideration, that the putting off your call till your old age may so provoke God as never to give you hearts to embrace his call.

Thirdly, suppose all this, that you could have a lease of your lives, and you could be assured that when you come to old age your hearts should not be hardened; yet consider this, that the more sinful and evil the days of your youth have been, the more disquietness of mind and horror of conscience will this breed in you when you are old, though you shall be called and converted by Jesus Christ. Job 13:24-26: You hide your face, you hold me as your enemy. You do drive me as a leaf to and fro, and you do pursue me like dry stubble. Now why does Job complain thus? Mark the next words: For you write bitter things against me, and make me to possess the iniquities of my youth. Job, when he was a young man, it seems he was a wicked man and had many sins in his youth, and this in his old age made him cry out and say that God took him for his enemy, and that God broke him like a leaf driven with the wind. O beloved, the sins of your youth, though you should be like Job, converted, yet they will bring great disquietness and great horror when you come to age; the lusts of youth, and the vanities of youth, and the sensual pleasures of your youthful days, they will lay a foundation of sorrow when you come to gray hairs, to be near your graves. So Job 20:11. And therefore, put the case you should repent and should be called when you are old, you have no cause to put off the call of Jesus Christ, seeing sins of youth will fill you with horror and disquietness of mind. Hence it is that David, after he was called by the power of the word, cries out (Psalm 25), Lord, remember not the sins of my youth; that graveled and galled his conscience, the sins of his youth before his call. It is the speech of an author, that to look on the pleasurable vanities and contents of youth, this will become a heavy burden and bitter vexation to old age. Beloved, the more evil you run out into in your youthful days, the greater and deeper foundation of disquietness and sorrow you lay in your souls in your latter days, though you should be called by Jesus Christ.

4. If the Devil suggest that you are too young to embrace the invitation of Christ: consider that Jesus Christ will take it most kindly at your hands, if while you are young you will give entertainment to his call (Jeremiah 2:2). I remember you, says the Lord, and the kindness of your youth, that you would follow me in the Wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Mark how the Lord speaks, and how kindly he takes it, that they would in their youth follow God; the Lord will remember it, and take it acceptable from you, if while you are young, while the marrow is in your bones, and strength in your joints, you will embrace the ways of Jesus Christ. It is an observation that some have, concerning the Beloved Disciple John (John 20): he is called the Disciple whom Christ loved, and that leaned upon his breast. Of all the other eleven Disciples, Christ did love John above the rest; and divines give this reason of it, John was the youngest of all the Disciples; he was converted and called by Christ, when he was a young man; and Christ seeing a young man follow him, took this very kindly at his hands, and calls him his beloved Disciple. As you that are parents, you let your little children sit in your lap, when your great ones shall not; so John, he being a young man, Christ would let him lean upon his breast, and lie in his bosom, expressing his kindness to him.

Now, O how should this beat off this temptation that you are too young to follow Christ, because Christ takes it so kindly at your hands, if you embrace this call in time? In fact, Christ does take it so kindly, that he does love bare morality and civility in young men; and therefore it is said in Matthew, when Christ saw the young man, and he told him, I have observed these things from my youth, Christ looked upon him, and loved him (Matthew 19:20). Christ showed a general love to the young man, that was but a moral man from his youth; and if Christ love morality, he will much more love piety, and true sincerity. It is observed of Timothy, that of one particular man, Paul expressed more love to Timothy than to any other: read over all the book of God, you shall never find Paul express so much love to any as to Timothy; he calls him Timothy my son, Timothy who serves me as a child, and Timothy my dearly beloved. And why was all this? The reason is, because Timothy from a child was converted, and knew the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:6). He was from a child converted and called by the ministry of the word in Paul's mouth, and this did endear the heart of Paul to him. You read in the book of Leviticus, that when God did require a sacrifice, he would not have an old sheep, but a young lamb, a lamb of a year old, and a kid of the youngest of the flock. And it was significative in this, not only to show that Christ our sacrifice should die and suffer for our sins in the flower of his age, but also to show that Jesus Christ looks upon that as an abominable sacrifice, when you will not be of his fold while you are as young lambs. O Beloved, Christ takes it wonderful kindly, if in your youth you do embrace his call.

Fifthly, yield not to the Devil's temptation, considering this, that though you should be converted in your old age, yet Christ cannot but take this very unkindly at your hands, that you should put him off until your last end, that you reserve — if any part, yet — the worst part for his service. You know when Christ stood all the night for his spouse, till his head was full of dew, and his locks were wet with the drops of the night, he got him gone because she came not, and would stay no longer. O how unkindly — think you — will Christ take this, when he shall wait year after year, and yet you will not embrace his call!

It is said in Isaiah, All the day long have I stretched out my hand to a rebellious people, yet they would not hear. And (Malachi 1) offer the lame and the blind to the governor, will he accept of it?

Christ must needs take this unkindly, that you should give the Devil the flower of your age, and give to Christ but the decrepit and infirm parts of your lives, that the Devil should suck out the marrow of your youth, and only give God the dry bones, a palsy head, a dim eye, a weak body, and so all your services must needs be weak also. And think but how unkindly Christ will take your services thus performed.

Sixthly, consider this, that from your birthday, to your dying day, you have time little enough to carry on the business of your salvation, should you live never so long; and therefore you have no cause to put off the call of Jesus Christ. And thus much be spoken by way of satisfaction, to take off the first temptation, that you are too young to give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ: and this I do for the sake of young men, that they may take heed of being ensnared by this delusion of the Devil.

2. Suggestion 2. Here it may be, the Devil cannot ensnare you in this trap: old men will say, this concerns not me, I am not taken with this temptation, therefore now the Devil comes upon them with this suggestion. Says the Devil to them, You cannot now give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ, for you have callings in the world to follow; you have a particular calling, and you must provide for wife, and children, and family, and lay up for future times, against old age and sickness, and therefore you cannot be at leisure now to give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ. When I am more at leisure, I may look after my effectual calling: and this also sticks very close to a great many.

And to take off this suggestion of the Devil, I shall lay down six particulars also, by way of answer.

First, God never intended that our outward calling should any way hinder us in the work of our conversion. God never intended that our employments upon earth, should jostle out the necessary provision for heaven. But God has so given out our callings here in the world, that he has made and ordained them to be subordinate to our general and effectual calling, to the great business of God's glory and our own salvation.

It is said of Noah, that he walked with God, and was perfect in his generation (Genesis 6:14). And yet Noah was employed by God for some time, to wit for 120 years in a handicraft-calling, to build an Ark, to show that God did never intend that Noah's making an Ark should any way hinder his walking with God, or carrying on the work of his soul. Though you have callings to follow, and families to provide for, yet God did never intend your outward calling should jostle out your inward and effectual calling.

Secondly, consider you that make this plea, whether you do not embezzle away much time from your outward calling, which you do not employ in the concerns of your souls, but in the works of sin and Satan. There is many a man that can plead he has no leisure to pray, nor no leisure to hear a sermon, he must follow his calling; yet this man can follow a whore, and follow a tavern, and these men can spend a whole day upon recreation, and yet can spare no time, find no leisure to hearken to Jesus Christ. This now should be a great conviction to you that pretend you must follow your calling, that you can neglect your calling, to follow your sensual and vain courses, and yet can spare no time to make your souls happy.

Thirdly, you that plead your outward calling in the world, to be an excuse why you cannot hearken to your effectual calling by Jesus Christ, consider this, that this plea has damned many a soul before you, and will damn you also, if you look not to it. This has been an ancient plea (Luke 14:18-20). When Christ called a company of men there to come to him, what excuse have they? Says one, I have bought a yoke of oxen, and I must prove them. I have bought a farm, says another, and I must manage that. I have married a wife, and therefore cannot come, says a third. All these were lawful callings, and yet these callings kept them from heaven, and kept them from Jesus Christ. You read (Acts 24:25). When Paul did startle Felix's conscience by a powerful sermon of judgment to come, Felix's heart trembled; but mark now, how did Felix put off the power of the word? Why, now, says he, I am not at leisure, but go your ways, and in convenient time I will send for you to speak of this matter. As if he should say, I am now to go about some other business, about the affairs of my kingdom, and cannot have leisure to hear you now. And so by some outward employment, he jostled the power of the word from his heart, and had not convenient time to embrace Jesus Christ.

Fourthly, consider this, that this plea of yours (in making your callings an excuse to neglect your effectual calling) it is the only way to provoke God to curse and blast all your outward callings to you, and to engage him to curse all you put your hands to (Haggai 1:6-9). Because they neglected God's worship and God's ordinances, therefore, says God, you shall have much, but it shall come to nothing; and what you get, you shall put into a bag with holes. You shall lose all you get, and all you sow, and all you labor for, because you would not look after God's worship. So (Micah 6:13-14): I will make you sick in smiting you, and desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, and not be satisfied; you shall sow, and not reap; you shall tread olives, and not anoint yourself with oil; and make sweet wine, but shall not drink it. For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the manners of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels. As much as if the Lord should say, You will not hearken to my statutes, and to my counsels, but Omri's statutes, and Ahab's counsel you will hearken to; therefore now, you shall eat, and not be satisfied; sow, and not reap. That is, God will curse what you have, and what you do, because you will not hearken to God's call and counsel. So (Deuteronomy 28:38-46): You shall carry much seed into the field, and gather but little, the locusts shall consume it; there is one curse. And you shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine, nor gather the grapes, the worm shall eat them; another curse. You shall have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but shall not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives shall fall; there is a third curse. You shall beget sons and daughters, but shall not enjoy them; all the trees and fruit of the land shall be consumed. Now what is the reason of all this, that God should thus blast their callings and their comforts to them? Verse 45: Yes, all these curses shall come upon you, and pursue you, and overtake you, because you hearkened not to the voice of your God, to keep his commandments, and his statutes which he commanded you. Here is the reason, they would not hearken to God, nor obey God, and therefore God would blast their comforts to them. Now then, beloved, think of this, you that make your callings a plea why you cannot hearken to the call of Christ; this plea is a great provocation to engage God to blast, and to curse your very callings to you.

Fifth, take this consideration, that God will the more bless you in your callings and prosper you in the work of your hands, the more conscientious you are in hearkening to the call and invitation of Jesus Christ. And the reason is, because godliness has not only a promise of the life to come, but of this life also (1 Timothy 4:8). And (Malachi 3:10-12): Bring indeed all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; that is, says God, use all means, and take all care, that there may be meat in my house, that ordinances may be on foot, that my worship may be maintained. And if you will take care of his ordinances, God bids you prove him, and try him, if he will not take care of you. Mark the words: let there be meat in my house, and prove me now, says the Lord; if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour forth a blessing upon you, and there shall not be room enough to receive it. A strange blessing: that if men will take care to have meat in God's house, and have a care of God's ordinances, God would open the very windows of heaven, and make the earth so fruitful, they should not have room to receive God's blessings. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and all nations shall call you blessed, and call you a delightsome land. Here now you see if you will take care of God's ordinances, and embrace his call, God will bless your outward calling the more; and give you in a more abundant increase, if you embrace the call of Jesus Christ.

6. You that urge your outward callings as a reason why you cannot hearken to the call of Christ: take this for answer, that if truth were known, it is not the urgency of your callings, but the obstinacy of your wills, and the sluggishness of your spirits is the cause, you do not give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ. If it were men's callings that urged them, they would not take pleasure in sin; therefore, it is not their callings, but the badness of their hearts: they do not love Christ, and love his ways, but think it too industrious a work to labor for conversion; and therefore they make this plea. (John 5:40): You will not come to me that you might have life. When will is wanting, says Doctor Preston, any vain excuse will be pretended. When will is wanting to walk in the ways of God, any groundless pretense will be made to excuse their negligence. And thus much to take off the second suggestion, that men have callings to follow in the world, and therefore they have no leisure to look after their effectual calling by Jesus Christ.

3. Suggestion. Thirdly, the Devil suggests, if you give entertainment to the call of Jesus Christ, this will expose you to a great deal of poverty, and persecution in this world; and therefore you must not hearken to his call. And he will urge Scripture for this. First, for poverty, the Devil will urge (Matthew 8:19-20): Christ said, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. The Devil will urge this Scripture, and tell you, you are exposed to poverty, want, and beggary, if you follow Christ. And this we read in history likewise of Lucius, the first Christian King that ever England had (and indeed the first Christian King that ever any nation had, to the glory of England; so Gildas in his life tells us). And this King, though he was turned to Christianity, yet for many years he had this temptation upon him, that the Christians were poorer than the Romans, that did not embrace Jesus Christ; and this temptation he could hardly shake off. The Romans were more wealthy, and the Romans were more warlike, and so had like to have been overcome with this suggestion. Agolantus, a heathen Prince, being taken prisoner by the Emperor and being in his court, he saw thirty or forty poor men in poor clothes walking in the Palace; and demanding of the Emperor who those poor men were, the Emperor told him they are the followers of Jesus Christ. Are they so, says he? If Christ keeps his followers in such a low condition, I will never follow Jesus Christ. The poorness of Christ's followers made him stumble at Christianity. There are many men, especially the gallants of the times, they see a company of poor silly women come with a Bible under their arms; and they embrace the faith, and they love it; and this is a marvelous great offense to them, that they will not follow Jesus Christ, because of the poverty they are exposed to in the ways of Jesus Christ. And then for persecution also, that they are not only exposed to want, but to loss of liberty, and good name, and life also (Matthew 10:38): you must take up the cross. These are tedious terms to flesh and blood, and this does wonderfully perplex and keep back men from entertaining of Christ. Now to take off this temptation of the Devil, that it might not seize upon your hearts, I shall lay down six particulars by way of answer.

First, that the servants of God of old time had rather choose poverty and persecution with the people of God, than to enjoy the vanities and profits of this world with wicked men. And this was Moses's choice (Hebrews 11:24-25): Moses, when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ better than all the riches of Egypt. Moses, when he came to years — it was no childish act, but an act of deliberation; and it was no constrained act, but Moses's choice rather, it was an act of his own choice, rather to have affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season. It was spoken of Mr. Philpot his being in the coal-house at Windsor, a dismal and dark place. Says one, I had rather be with Philpot in the coal-house, than be with Bonner in his palace. And being asked, why, the one being so dismal, the other so beautiful? Says he, the reason is, because Bonner's conscience makes his palace a coal-house; but Philpot's God, and Philpot's Christ makes his coal-house a palace. And Beloved, this is a truth; though a man should be a beggar, if he be rich in faith, he is the happiest man in the world. Though a man should beg his bread from door to door, if he can beg Christ and have it, and beg grace and have it, he is the richest man upon earth. This therefore is my first answer, that the servants of God had rather choose afflictions with the people of God, than have pleasures with wicked men.

Secondly, suppose you meet with poverty and persecution in following Christ, yet consider, Jesus Christ does make you abundant recompense with that inward peace, and inward joy he fills your hearts with, for all the outward troubles you meet with in the world. John 16:33: In the world you shall have tribulation; but mark the cordial — In me you shall have peace, therefore be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Though you have troubles in the world, yet you have joy in me, and peace in me; and therefore why should you be offended?

Third, consider, though you want many things in the world, yet you shall want nothing that is good for you (Psalm 84:11). He will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that live a godly life. If riches be good for you, you shall not want it; if wealth be good for you, you shall not want it; if estate be good for you, you shall not want that; for he will withhold nothing from them that live a godly life.

Fourth, a gracious heart, if he has or can find that he has a real interest in Christ, though he wants much in the world, he thinks he wants nothing: but he has all things in having a Christ; nor will he complain of poverty, when endowed with riches of heaven. Luke 22:25: And Christ said to them, when I sent you without purse, and without scrip, and shoes, lacked you anything? Mark the question. Now, if a carnal man had been to answer this, what would he have said? What? — send a man without a purse, then he wants money; send him without a scrip, he wants meat; send him without shoes, a man is a poor man indeed, that has no shoes to his feet. A carnal man would have said, Yes Lord, we want money, and we want meat, and we want shoes; but ask the Disciples, wanted you anything? They said nothing. And why was this? Because the Disciples knew they had a grounded interest in Jesus Christ, and a right to Jesus Christ, and though they wanted these poor outward comforts, they did not want Christ's comfort, and Christ's graces; and therefore when they had neither purse, scrip, nor shoes, 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 you anything? and they said nothing.

Fifth, you that make poverty and persecution a plea, consider this, that the poor are ordinarily the most people that Jesus Christ does call to embrace his Gospel. The poor receive the Gospel, says 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 has God chosen (1 Corinthians 1:26). And in James, God has chosen 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 pitches most love upon, and does delight to make them rich in grace, who are poor in goods.

Sixth, consider, that if upon this ground you refuse the call of Jesus Christ, you are exposed to more poverty, and to worse persecution than ever you could be exposed to in the entertaining of Christ. In the following of Christ you are only exposed to an outward poverty; but in neglecting the call 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 has not Christ, and has not the treasures of heaven in him, he is exposed to worse poverty a thousand times than he can be for embracing the call of Jesus Christ (Revelation 3:17). Indeed, he is exposed to worse persecution also, that for fear of persecution neglects Jesus Christ. Psalm 83:5: The Lord will persecute them, says David, with fury and wrath, speaking of wicked men. All persecution from man reaches but to the body, but this from God reaches to the soul.

Seventh, and lastly, this should not hinder you from following Jesus Christ, considering, that though you should be poor, and should be persecuted, yet heaven will make you amends for all (Hebrews 11:35). Heaven will make amends for poverty, when you are endowed with all the riches of Christ, and heaven will make amends for persecution, when there the weary shall be at rest, and there the troubled shall be at ease. And thus much be spoken of the third suggestion of the Devil, that if you entertain the call of Jesus Christ, you shall be exposed to much poverty, and persecution here in the world.