VeR. 1.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 21
felt and found in them ; there is at least an anxiousness about their everlasting estate. Every soul doth not walk ' in the re<2jion of the shadow of death,' but every soul first or last is brought to What shall I do? which is usually upon some secret or open sin into which God sufFereth them to fall agaiust conscience : there will be care, though not horror ; and solicitousness, though not utter despair. No soul ever came to Christ without a load upon his back, though every one be not ready, with the jailor, to kill himself for anguish. You will be at a loss sometimes ; it is easy security that goeth on from the cradle to the grave in the same tenor of hope without variation. There will be a time when you will ' smite upon the thigh/ and cry, ' What shall I do?' And as there will be some trouble found in them, so some change ; all are not converted from profaneness to religion, some from civility to religion, from profession to sincerity, from servility to ingenuity. Time was when they were careless of communion with God, prayed now and then out of custom, had no delight in the Almighty, but now it is otherwise. Partly because there is a constant calling, so that first or last we shall be sensible of the motions of the Spirit, and the heart's answer : to some God speaketh in thunder, to others in a still voice, but to all he speaketh ; therefore did you ever discern God's calling and your answering? Ps. xxvii. 8, ' The Lord said. Seek ye my face ; my heart said, Thy face. Lord, will I seek.' There is no gracious heart but they are often sensible of such a dialogue between God and the soul. This discourse is constant ; he speaketh to us by the injection of holy motions and the actual excitations of his grace, and we speak to him by serious promises and resolutions of obedience. God calleth us into his presence often, and the heart echoeth, ' Lo, I come.'
Well, now, upon all these considerations labour to get your calling evidenced. That will clear up your title to the great privileges of grace. By it you may rebuke j-our doubts and fears. When con- science asketh. What have you to do with these comforts, to look upon yourselves as objects of God's election, as heirs of glory ? you mny answer, I did not take this honour upon me, I was called of God. But you will say, What are the infallible notes and marks of effectual calling ? I answer — These. I shall contract larger discourses. You may know your effectual calling partly by the preparations made for it. Though the work itself be done in an instant, and many times when we least think of it, j^et usually God maketh way for his mighty work. As the husbandman harroweth and breaketh the clods before he throweth in the seed, so by some preparative conviction God break- eth the heart, and maketh it meet to receive grace. Redemption needed no prepaiation, but conversion doth. Look, as Moses brought them to the borders, but Joshua led them into the land of Canaan, so usually there is some foregoing law work, though we are called pro- perly by the gospel : 2 Thes. ii. 14, ' Called by my gospel.' The law driveth us out of ourselves, but the gospel pulleth in the heart to Christ. Look, as in outward generation the matter is gradually pre- pared and disposed, so is the soul for the new birth. A man is awak- ened by the sight of his own wretchedness, convinced of sin, and the evil consequences of it ; and then the work is done by the mild
22 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 1,
voice of the gospel, Hosca ii. 14 ; Gal. iii. 1 ; as manna came down in sweet dews. It is God's way to speak terror before he speak comfort. Christ showeth the method : John xvi. 8, ' The Spirit shall convince of sin.' The word iXiy^ei, is notable. To convince is to show a thing to be impossible to be otherwise than we represent it.^ So the Spirit convinceth, and maketh the person yield, and say, Certainly I am a sinner, an unbeliever, a very wretch, that hath no interest in Christ. This is God's method. We come to some certain issue about our being in the state of nature, before we come to some certain issue about our being in the state of grace. The soul saith, Surely I am stark naught, in a deplored lost condition. Well, then if you had always good thoughts of yourselves, or only a slight and general knowledge, we are all sinners, &c, you are not prepared. The blind man, John ix., could say, ' I was blind.* Were you ever brought to say, I was a wretch, a miserable, forlorn creature out of Christ ? This feedeth pre- sumption and security, because we never bring the debate to an issue concerning our being in either of the states, but content ourselves with l)lind guesses and loose acknowledgments that we are all sinners, and Christ must save us, &c. This is not enough ; there must be a parti- cular and humbling sense of sin. Unworthiness and wretchedness felt is the first occasion to bring us to Christ. Never a poor soul that taketh sanctuary at the throne of grace but he standeth guilty there, Kom. iii. 19 ; Heb. vi. 18 ; and in danger of damnation.