suasion,— that God in tbe conversion of a sinner, doth only morally persuade, and no more ? He sets his promises before them to allure ihom to good, and his threaten- in<rs to deter them from evil ; and here is all he doth. But sure moral persuasions alone are insufficient to the effectual call : how can the bare proposal of i>romises and threatenings convert a soul ? This amounts not to a new creation, or that power which raised Christ from the dead ; God doth not only persuade, but enable, Ezek. xxxvii. 27. If (iod, in conversion, should only morally persuade, that is, set good and evil before men, then God doth not put forth so nnich power in saving men, as the devil doth in destroying them. Satan doth not only j)ro- pound tempting objects to men, but doth concur with his temj)tations : therefore he is said to " work in the children of disobe- dience," Eph. ii. 2. The Greek word, to work, signifies imperii vim, Camer., the power Satan hatb in carrying men to sin. And shall not God's ])ower in converting, be greater than Satan's power in seducing? The effectual call is mighty and powerful ; God puts forth a divine energy, nay a kind of omnipotency ; it is such a powerful call that llie will of man hath no power effec- tually to resist.
A. 2. It is an higb calling, Phil. iii. 14., " I ])ress toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God." It is an high calling, 1^^, Because we are called to high exercises of religion ; to be crucified to the world, to live by faith, to do angels' work, to love Ciod, to be living organs of his praise, to hold comnmnion with the Father and the Son, 1 John i. 3. — 2dly, It is an high calling, bi-cause we are called to high privileges; to justification and adoption, to be kings and priests unto (iod ; we are called to the fellowship of angels, to be co- heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. IT. They who are effectually called, are candidates of heaven ; they are pi'inces in all lands, Ps. xlv. !(>., though princes in <lisguise. — Sd/f/, It is an immutable call, Roni. xi. J)., " The gifts and calling of (i'>d are without repentance ;" that is, those gifts that flow from election, (as vocation and juslifica-
is a mighty powerful call. Why then do | tion) these are without rei)entance. God the Ai-minians seem to talk of a moral per- | rei)ented he called Saul to be a kmg ; but
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EFFECTUAL CALLING.
he never repents that he calls a sinner to be a saint.
Use 1st. See the necessity of the effec- tual call, a man cannot go to heaven with- out it. First, We must be called before glorified, Rom. viii. 30. A man uncalled can lay claim to nothing in the Bible but threatenings ; a man in the state of nature IS not fit for heaven, no more than a man in his filth and his rags is fit to come into a king's presence ; a man in his pure na- turals, is a God-hater, Rom. i. 30. ; and is he fit for heaven ? Will God lay his ene- my in his bosom ?
Use 2d. Of trial. Whether we are eflfec- tually called ? we may know it by the an- tecedent and consequent of it.
L By the antecedent. Before this ef- fectual call, an humbling work passeth up- on the soul : a man is convinced of sin, he sees he is a sinner and nothing but a sin- ner ; the fallow-ground of his heart is bro- ken up, Jcr. iv. 3. As the husbandman breaks the clods, then casts in the seed, so God, by the convincing work of the law breaks a sinner's heart, and makes it fit to receive the seeds of grace. Such as were never convinced, are never called, John xvi. 8., " He shall convince the world of sin." Conviction is the first step in con- version.
2. By the consequents, two, (L) He who is savingly called, answers to God's call. Wlien God calle<l Samuel, he answered, " Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth," 1 Sam. iii. 10. When God calls thee to an act of religion, thou dost run at God's call, Acts xxvi. 19., " I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." If God calls to duties contrary to flesh and blood, we obey his voice in every thing ; true obedience is like tJie needle which ])oints that way which the loadstone draws. Such as are deaf to CJod's call, shew they are not called by grace. — (2.) He who is effectually called, doth stop his ears to all other calls which would call Iiim off from God. As God hath his call, so there are other contrary calls : Satan calls by a temptation, — lust calls, — evil company calls, — but, as the adder stops its ear a- gainst the voice of the charmer, so he who is effectually called, stops his ear against all the charms of the flesh and the Devil.