A49258:496
A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 1.10.…
A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 1.10. Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithful servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury, London.A treatise of effectual calling and election In XVI. sermons, on 2 Peter 1.10. Wherein a Christian may discern, whether yet he be effectually called and elected. And what course he ought to take that he may attain the assurance thereof. Preached by that faithfull servant of Christ, Mr. Christopher Love, late minister of Laurence Jury, London.
London: printed for John Rothwell, 1655
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, that many of Gods dear children, they may lie a very long time in the want of this assurance, touching their effectual calling. Psal. 88. It is said of Heman, 14, 15, 16. verses ⟨p. 159⟩Lord, why hast thou cas• •ff my soul? and why hast thou hid thy face from me? Mark his complaint: I am ready to die. And was this only a fit of desertion, or was it a continued act? yes; Vers. 16. From my youth up I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted, and thy fierce wrath goes over me. Heman lay under the state of desertion from his childhood; for here he tells you his estate, that he was not troubled for a day, or two, or three, and then his troubles were over; but from his youth up he lay under this perplexity, that he thought God had cast off his soul, and the terrors of God lay upon him: And yet this man none questions his goodness. For he was the man, as Ainsworth thinks, that made this Psalm; and sure God would never honour a wicked man to be a Pen-man of the Scripture. The Psalm is called a golden Psalm; and it is so called, because hereby he would teach afflicted consciences, that they may from their youth up lie under great horror, and lie under sad suspense▪ concerning their everlasting estate, and yet they may have grace at the root for all this. And Heman doth not only express it, as if he had an ordinary trouble of mind; but he expresseth it, that he lay under an extraordinary weight of Gods wrath, Vers. 7. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit of darkness, and in the deep, and thy wrath it lies heavy upon me. He did even lie, and sink, in his own thoughts under the sense of Gods wrath upon him. This therefore is another comfortable conclusion, That godly men may not only by fits and starts, but for a long time, for many years together lie under a state of spiritual desertion. For some men think of Heman, that he was above threescore years of age, when he wrote this Psalm; yet from his youth up till that age, he lay under this horror and perplexity.
Secondly, that many of Gods dear children, they may lie a very long time in the want of this assurance, touching their effectual calling. Psal. 88. It is said of Heman, 14, 15, 16. verses