16 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 1,
' Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.' In all Christ's miraculous cures there are some words used, ' Be thou clean,' and ' Be thou whole,' and 'Be thou opened;' and to Lazarus in the grave Christ useth words of ministerial excitation, ' Lazarus, come forth/ So in con- verting a sinner, there is not only a secret power, but a sweet call and invitation; some word by which this power is conveyed and repre- sented in a way suitable to our capacity. For all these reasons doth God work grace by calling.
Again, God's people are well stj^ed a called people, because they are so many ways called : from self to Christ, from sin to holiness, from misery to happiness and glory. They are called from self to Christ: Mat. xi. 28, 'Come unto me, all ye tliat are heavy laden.' The main end of a call is to bring Christ and the soul together ; every dispensation of God hath a voice ; and God speaketh to us by con- science, by his works, by benefits, by crosses, but chiefly by his word, the application of which by the Spirit is, as it were, an awakening call; but the chief call of God is by the voice of the gospel, wherein the offers of grace are discovered to us : Come, poor wearied soul, come to Christ, and thou shalt find ease and comfort. Again, they are called from sin to holiness : 1 Thes. iv, 7, ' God hath not called us to un- cleanness, but to holiness.' Though the immediate end of divine calling be faith, yet the intermediate end is holiness, as the ultimate end is glory. Thus we are called out of Babylon into Sion, from the tents of Kedar into the tents of Shem, from nature to gi'ace, and the power of Satan into the kingdom of God; in short, this call is a separation from uncleanness, and all common and vile uses. Again, they are called from misery to happiness and glory, from aliens to be friends, from darkness to light, 1 Peter ii. 9, from being enemies to be reconciled, from bastards to become sons, from vessels of wrath to be heirs of glory. With respect to all these sorts of calling it is termed sometimes ' a high calling,' Phil. iii. 14 ; sometimes ' a holy calling,' 2 Tim, i. 9 ; and sometimes 'a heavenly calling,' Heb. iii. 1. It is ' a high calling,' because of the honour and dignity of it ; it is no small matter to be children of God, John i. 12; co-heirs with Christ, Eom. viii. 17; kings and priests to God, Rev. i. 6. Many are lifted up because they have borne offices, and are called to high places in the world : a Christian hath a calling more excellent, he is called to be a saint, a spiritual king, a holy priest to God. It is ' a holy calling,' because of the effect and purpose of it. Man's calling may put dignity and honour upon us, but it cannot infuse grace ; it may change our condition, but not our hearts. It is ' a heavenly call- ing ' because of the author of it, God by his Spirit ; and because of the aim of it ; the grace whereby we are called came from heaven, and its aim and tendency is to bring us thither. See 1 Thes. ii. 14 ; 2 Peter i. 3, ' Called us to glory and virtue,' &c. We are first called to grace, and then to heaven ; first the sweet voice saith, ' Come unto me,' and then the great voice, ' Come up hither :' from self, sin, and the world we are called off, that we may enjoy God in Christ for evermore. You see the reasons, let us apply it now.
Use 1. First, It serveth to press us to hearken to the Lord's call. Many are kept off by vanity and pleasures, others by their own fears.
VeR. 1.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 17
To the first sort I shall only represent the danger of neglecting God's invitation, and slighting a call : Prov. i. 25, 26, ' Ye have set at nought my counsel, therefore I will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh.' God's wrath is never more terrible than when it is stirred up to avenge the quarrel of abused mercy. Men cannot endure that two things should be despised — their anger or their kindness. Nebuchadnezzar, when he thought his anger despised, he biddeth them heat the furnace seven times hotter ; and David, when he thought his kindness despised, threatened to cut off from Nabal * every one that pisseth against the wall' Certainly the Lord taketh it ill when the renewed messages of his love are not regarded ; and that is the reason why where mercy is most free, God is most quick and severe upon the refusal of it : the Lamb's wrath is most terrible, Ps. ii. 10; no fire so hot as that which is enkindled by the breath of the despised gospel. What a terrible threatening is there in the i)lace alleged ! ' I will laugh at their calamity.' It is the greatest happiness when the Lord 'rejoiceth to do us good,' and the greatest misery when he rejoiceth to do us evil : God's laughing will certainly be the creatures' mourning. Consider, then, what an affront you put upon grace, when every vile thing is preferred before it. When the Lord offered Canaan to the Israelites, and they preferred Egypt before it, he swore, ' They should not enter into his rest,' Ps. xcv. 11 ; and those that pi-eferred a yoke of oxen, a farm, or marriage, before the king's feast, the king protesteth against them, Luke xiv. 24, ' None of those that were bidden shall taste of my supper/ Whoever have glory and grace by Christ, they shall have none.