3. The ends of this calling. They are either subordinate or ultimate.
First, Subordinate: in the word ' Whereunto he hath called you ;' that is, to faith, holiness, and salvation ; we are called to all.
[1.] God calleth us to the faith of the gospel ; he hath not only or- dained us to believe, but called us to believe. Without calling there can be no faith : Rom. x, 14, ' How shall they believe in him ot whom they have not heard?' But upon calling there must be faith, or else we make void the dispensation of God which we are under.
(1.) There must be a belief of the gospel in general. The voice ot the creatures calleth upon the Gentiles to believe an infinite, eternal power, that made man and all things ; and the condemnation of the
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Gentile world is that they know not God, and glorify not God as God, after this revelation made to them. But to believe in Christ is a mystery to nature, and dependeth upon God's special revelation in the gospel. Therefore the external and internal power of the Spirit acconipanieth it, to convince the world that it is sin not to believe in Christ — the external power in miracles, and the internal in the illumination of the mind : John xvi. 9, ' The Spirit shall convince the world of sin, because they believe not in me ; ' that is, receive not the faith of the gospel, or believe not that Christ was the true Messiah, the great prophet and doctor of the church.
(2.) This call doth aim at not only a belief of the truth of the gospel in general, but also a particular aftiance in Christ according to the terms of the new covenant. General assent to the truth of the gospel is only considerable as it leadeth on other things .Now, that I may not wander, I will refer them to two things — (1.) A fiducial assent; (2.) An obediential confidence. This is the belief of the truth we are called unto.
(1st.) The assent must be fiducial, or accompanied with a trust in Christ : Eph. i. 13, ' In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.' The meaning is, the Gentiles, after they heaixl the gospel and believed the truth, they did trust themselves in the hands of Christ, to be brought by his saving and healing methods to eternal happiness. It is a mighty thing to have such a belief as may produce trust, or a venturing ourselves in the hands of Christ against all hazards, and, whatever befalleth us, be content to save our souls on his terms. This breedeth holy security or courage : 2 Tim. i. 12, ' For 1 know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.*
(2dly.) This confidence must be obediential, not a devout sloth or caielessness. To trust in his mercies and neglect his precepts crosseth the tenor of his covenant : Ps. cxix. 60, ' I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.' It is true religion when faith, hope, and love concur: Jude, vers. 20, 21, 'But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.' I know there is a trusting in his })ardon for our failings, and that justification is a great privilege, as well as salva- tion ; but pardon is promised to the sincere, that with an honest heart perform their duty : Ps. xxxii. 2, ' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile ;' and Piom. viii. 1, ' There is no ondenmation to them who are in Christ .Jesus, who walk not after the fiesh, but after the spirit.' So that still our confidence in Christ must be obediential.
[2.] We are called to holiness ; this is everywhere asserted in the scripture : 1 Tlies. iv. 7, ' For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.' And it enforceth it on several grounds ; as —
(1.) That there may be a likeness between the person calling and the persons called: 1 Peter i. If), ' But as he that called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conveisation.' It is true religion to imitate what we worship ; for knowledge and esteem always work an
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assirailation ; and therefore, if we know the true God, and love him, we will istiuly to be like him. Certainly, we have not a true know- ledge of Grod if we do not know him to be a pure and holy God. He hath showed it in his laws, showed in his providence, and showed in his gospel by which we are called. The gods of the heathen taught sin by their own example. Their impure lives are recorded by their poets. Austin telleth us of a young man who was incited to wanton- ness by seeing the picture of Jupiter on the wall committing adultery. Qico pacto nou faceret, cum in templo adorare cogeretur Jovem 'potius Catonem quam ? But our God is pure, as appeareth by his laws, which are all ' holy, just, and good,' Ps. cxix. 140. Surely such holy pre- cepts could come from none but a pure and holy God. As also by the work of his Spirit on his people : Eph. iv. 24, ' And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness ; ' and 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image,^ from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' He puts us into a nature that is very tender and shy of sin, troubled at it in others : 2 Peter ii. 7, 8, ' And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversa- tion of the wicked; for that righteous man dwelling amongst them, ^a seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.' He that made the eye, shall not he see ? He that put into us a clean heart, is not he pure and holy ? This ap- peareth also by the dispensations of his providence : Hab. i. 13, *_ Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and boldest thy tongue, when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he ?' Judgments on sinners, so on his own people : Prov. xi. 31, ' Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in earth ; much more the wicked and the sinner,' As, for instance, in David : the child died, his daughter is deflowered, Amnon slain, Absalom is in rebellion, his wives ravished, himself banished from his house and kingdom. Eli's sons slain, the ark taken, his daughter-in-law died, himself brake his neck. But chiefly in the very foundation of the gospel : the Son of God dieth a shameful, painful, accursed death before God would relax the rigour of his law and set afoot the gospel, and all that there might be a perfect demonstration of his justice and holiness, and displeasure against sin : Kom. viii. 3, ' For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the like- ness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin, in the flesh.'