people returned after him only to spoil, 2 Sam. 23: 10. and so it is here: and herein is the saying verified, "One soweth, and another reapeth," John 4: 37. Our business now is to display our general's trophies; to tell of his victories; and prepare ourselves for his triumph, that we may be suitable attendants on him at that glorious and longed-for day. There are straggling parties, indeed, who watch for our halting, and seldom, else, can they have advantage against us: but their heart is broke; and if followed in our Captain's victorious name, they will still be recoiling; nothing daunts them more than to see you stand to it. Your adversary would make you a bridge of gold, or any thing, even to the half of his kingdom, so you would sound a retreat, or speak no more in that name, "Gird up, therefore, the loins of your mind;" let an holy magnanimity possess you; as knowing your conflict shall end in your being crowned. You run not for an uncertainty, therefore fight not as they that beat the air: for it is nevertheless true that your enemy is stubborn; and your constant pursuit will make him desperate; since he may not have quarter, he will do all he can not to die alone; he will stand on his stumps when his legs are off, or lie on his back and fight, for his malice is im placable: he will never give over until quite out of breath: which yet he will not be without, while we have any: we expire together. But here lies the odds, that we, in the conflict, shall rise again with marks of honor, and our laurel hold green to eternity; yea, we shall sit with our glorious Captain in his triumphal chariot, Rev. 3: 21. But our enemy lies in eternal silence, and his name forgot; or remembered only to heighten our exultation and glory: only, as before, be sure and stand to it; set your face as a flint, as your Lord and master did; and know, that as he was not confounded, so neither shall you: all that he had, you have on your side, and the merit of his improvement added to it; what power the Father gave to him, he delegates to you; even a power over all the power of the enemy:" as it were an antidote supersedeas, to invalidate all that comes against you. Wherefore then should you doubt: though they come about you like bees," in the name of the Lord you shall destroy them," Psal. 118: 12. Remember the advantages you have; besides the bruising of your enemy's head, and that incurably, your own Head is in heaven; and he is there as on a mount, to behold both yours and your 66 enemy's posture, and to send in relief, which he never fails to do at a dead lift, Isa. 41: 17. chap. 25: 4. And "he makes intercession for you," Heb. 7: 25. While you are fighting, his hands are up, and never weary, and therefore you may be confident of success. It was by virtue of his prayer that Peter's faith did not fail, when there was but a hair's breadth between him and death; the devil win. nowed, but Christ stood by, and "held the wind in his fist," Prov. 30: 4. Jer. 31: 11. But, Lastly. Suppose you be foiled; things go not with you as they were wont, as you expected; and that casts you back in your faith; makes you cry out, "If it be so, why am I thus?" Gen. 25: 22. Here the Lord says to you (as once to his servant Joshua,) "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus discouraged upon thy face," Josh. 7: 10. There is something to be done; find out the troubler of thy peace, and give it no quarter; and if it be too hard for thee, as certainly it will, call in the mercy promised in Psal. 12. "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord, and set him in safety from him that puffeth at him," verse 5. And then go on with your work: let nothing stop you of your boast ing in this region, this upper region of grace that is in Christ Jesus; in that let your strength be renewed, the journey else will be too great for you, 1 Kings 19: 7, 8. and in that strength soar aloft; take the wings of that eagle, and mount towards heaven; above all the smoke and dust both of self-ability and self-weakness. Make your "boast of God all the day long: in the Lord have I righte ousness and strength:" Of myself I can do nothing; but through Christ (the strength I have from his redemption) nothing shall be too hard for me. "O death, where is thy sting? O hell, where is thy victory? The strength of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law: but thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen," 1 Cor. 15: 55, 56, 57. EFFECTUAL CALLING. THE doctrine of Calling, (which I term Effectual, to distinguish it from that which is outward only, and prevails not) respects the means whereby, and the manner how, God's elect are actually prepared for that salvation he hath chosen them to: it is God's revealing his Son in them; and he doeth it by the Holy Ghost, whose office is to sanctify whom the Father hath elected, and Christ redeemed, 1 Pet. 1:2. Jude, ver. 1. These three acts of grace are peculiar to the three persons of the sacred Trinity, respectively, and are all predicated of the same subjects; and that as a party select, and distinguished from others: they are "chosen out of the world," John 15: 19. "redeemed from among men," Rev. 14: 4. and taken "from among the Gentiles," Acts 15: 14. Next to the glory of his grace, and the honor of his Son, the Lord hath placed the blessedness of his chosen as the principal scope and end of all he hath done in the world, or will do. It could not, therefore, stand with his holy wisdom, to leave those he was pleased to choose unto salvation, to the conduct of their own understanding and will, with such means and helps as they have in common with other men, and thereon to suspend the whole of his great design; for by such a course it would not only be liable to frustration, but be certainly defeated. For prevention whereof, and that the purpose of his grace might stand, he hath made it of the substance of predestination, to prepare and apply the means, as well as to appoint the end; which in sacred language is termed a "giving of all things pertaining to life and godliness." 2 Pet. 1: 3. The sum of what I intend on the present subject is com prised of the following proposition; namely, Prop. That whatever things are requisite to salvation, are given of God freely to all the elect; and wrought in them effectually, by the divine power in order to that salvation to which he hath appointed them. By salvation here, I understand the saints' perfect settle. ment in blessedness and glory: and, by things requisite thereto, all those gifts, graces, and operations, that are any where necessary to their actual obtainment of that state. The divine power, is that ability of working which God hath reserved to himself; and is not moved or governed by the creature's act, but by the good pleasure of his own will. That divers things are requisite to salvation, needs no proof: my business therefore is to show, I. What these requisites to salvation are. III. Whom they do belong unto, and by what right. I. What these requisites to salvation are. They are three sorts; some to be done for us; some upon us, or in us; and others by us; yet so as not without the special aid and assistance of the first agent, that good Spirit who began the work, and worketh all in all. The great thing to be done for us (next after election,) is redemption from sin: this was a work of infinite moment, and as far above the undertaking of creatures; for, 1. The justice of God that must be satisfied, by bearing the curse due to transgressors: by this we are saved from wrath; and without this, divine justice will not open the house of his prisoners. 2. All righteousness must be fulfilled by an absolute perfect subjection to the law: by this, we are interested in eternal life; and without this, there is no entering into rest. 3. The devil, who had the power of death, must be destroyed, and his works of darkness (by which he leads captive at his will) dissolved; that life and immortality might be brought to light, and the prey delivered. None of which works could ever have been effected, but by one of the same nature with the parties peccant or aggressing, and yet equal in power and dignity with the majesty offended; for which cause and end," God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, and made under the law," &c. Gal. 4: 4, 5. that what the law could not do, because of its weakness through the flesh, the Son of God, in the likeness of sinful flesh, might perform; and so condemn sin in that flesh which gave it entrance, Rom. 8: 3. This was the proper subject of the former head, namely redemption: the end of which, partly, was, to bring in the next sort of things requisite to salvation, that is, such as are to be done upon and in the elect, namely, their reconcilement to God, and receiving the adoption of sons. This is the actual performance of what was intentionally in election, and virtually in the death of Christ, as the necessary way and means to their ultimate end. The sum of these requisites consists in faith and sanctification, 2 Thess. 2:13. the one imports our right, the other our capacity; faith entitles, and holiness meetens: both which, though expressed as two, go always together, as if but one; and are as inseparable as light from the sun: and, without these, our little world would still be in darkness, notwithstanding all the light that shines about us, or within us; neither knowing our danger, nor how to escape it. 1. Faith. This, in general, is that spiritual light in which we see ourselves by nature children of wrath, and wholly unable to change our state, and withal, do appre hend "God justifying freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ," Rom. 3: 24. and to that end, do roll ourselves upon him, and give up ourselves to his law and government. It is of the essence of faith, to empty the soul of self-ability. And, 1. Of its own understanding. It is a beam of divine light, which evidenceth all a man's natural knowledge to be ignorance and darkness, as to spiritual things. The apostle speaks of it as of a faculty newly given, 1 John 5: 20. and the nature of its new objects requires it; for the natural man cannot discern the things of God, 1 Cor. 2: 14. They that have the best eyes now, were sometimes darkness. Faith empties the soul. Faith empties the soul of its own righteousness, 1. By discovering the uncleanness of it, Isa. 64: 6. 2. By showing the necessity of a better, Rom. 3: 20. 3. In whom this better righteousness is to be found, chap. 10: 4. 4. That it may be attained and had, chap. 3: 21. 5. That being attained, the soul is safe, and may triumph over all, chap. 8:34. and chap. 7: 25. 6. That this better righte ousness and its own cannot stand together, Gal. 5: 2. Rom. 10:3. And then, 3. The next work of faith is, to empty the soul of its own strength; that is, of all confidence in himself, as to the obtainment of that better righteousness. He makes it, indeed, his business to get rid of his own, |