Chapter IX
The engagements of Christ, and his interest to preserve us, which arise from his
having actually called us. In our calling he owned us, and took charge of us, as a trust committed to him by the Father. The thing for which we are
apprehended of Christ in our calling is, that he might give forth unto us our whole designed portion of grace and glory which was allotted to us in election, and purchased by him upon the cross. Phil. iii. 1214 explained. Christ
by calling us secures usin safe custody, and by a strong guard. From the time of a m-aris calling Christ begins actually to intercede for him, and then
takes him into his prayers as well as into his cares.
Who hath called us by Jesus Christ. 1 PETER V. 10.
I shall mention such interests only as are proper to Christ from that share and influence which he hath in his actual calling and converting us, such (I
say) as are proper to him therein. And from thence I shall (as from the
former) infer how greatly he is engaged to continue his efficacious influence
to strengthen, stablish, and preserve us.
In general, it is one great difference of the first and second Adam, that
though God would have used Adam, if he had stood, to have conveyed holi
ness, or that image of God, by generation to us, which himself had by crea
tion, he who was but a mere creature (and constituted the head of all the
rest of his kind) could have done that by the law of the first creation ; but
still, if Adam had stood and thus had begotten children, never so many, in
the image of God, yet he should not have conveyed a confirmation of them
in that estate, not a perpetuity or an everlasting certainty of their not falling. That affirmation, by whomever it is asserted, is without warrant ; for such
a perpetual establishment is of grace only, and above the law of creation. Those so born in him should still have been left to the mutability of their own wills for the continuance in that holiness conveyed ; but Jesus Christ, the second Adam, serves not only to beget us in his own image then when
sinners, which is done by calling of us, but as invincibly to preserve and
continue, and uphold it in us, even to bring forth dimmest or but smoking wick unkindled, unto victory. Called in Christ, and preserved in Christ too,
as you heard, are one. But more particularly to speak to this. There are four or five acts or things which are proper to Christ in his
calling of us, and what he doth then for us, that have a binding force upon Christ to preserve you.
1. The first is, a solemn owning of us by Christ then at our calling: John
xvii. 6, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world : thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and they have kept thy word ; speaking of his disciples then living, whom he had
converted. First, he declares to his Father how he had manifested his name to them, and the ground of his so doing
: thine they were, and thou
gavest them me. He gave them to Christ, both from everlasting and in a
renewed act, at that time when he first began to manifest his Father s name
to them ; both which were mighty engagements for him to plead with his
Father, his keeping and preserving them, as also that according to the trust
himself had then committed to him, he should be careful to give an account
of their perseverance hitherto, as that which was the obligation of him upon
their calling, which there follows, They have kept thy word ; and ver. 12,
Whilst I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name ; that is,
856 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
I have hitherto performed my part. And his care in heaven for all whom
he doth manifest the name of God unto is the same, yea, greater, as his
power also is now when he is in heaven. And so as by what he said on
earth, counting those few, shews what his care will be to us all now he is in
heaven ; the same obligation is for ever upon him.
2. Together with this owning of them at their calling, there was also a
taking the charge of them from that time. In the 10th of John there are
two sorts of sheep, some uncalled, and as yet going astray, ores palantes :
ver. 15, 16, I lay my life down for the sheep. And other sheep I have,
that are not of this fold ; that is, the uncalled of the Gentiles, who after his
ascension were in all nations converted to him, of whom he says, Them
nlso I must bring in, as well as I have called disciples out of the Jews, and they shall hear my voice. Now, he says two things of those as yet
uncalled sheep: (1.) That it is a duty of necessity which lay on him to call
them : Them also I must bring. And they being his sheep, he laid his
life down for them ; and so, whom he purchased of the Father, They shall,
savs he, hear my voice, that is, they shall be effectually called by me ;
(2.) Then after they shall be thus called, observe what
"
that is the first.
he as resolutely and peremptorily says concerning them so called by him :
* My sheep hear my voice, and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any (it is translated any man,
ver. 27,
but it is not any, man or angel) pluck them out of my hand. Now, as
he was engaged by his Father to turn them when they had gone astray, so
being turned to him, he becomes anew engaged to them, as becomes the
Bishop of their souls : 1 Peter ii. 25, Ye were as sheep going astray ;
but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. And look
as of these, whilst they went astray, uncalled, he had said, Them I must
bring in ; so after their being turned, they having put themselves under his
charge as their bishop and shepherd, he must much more look upon himself
engaged to keep them and preserve them. It lies upon pastors to take care
of their sheep, much more upon Christ, the great Shepherd, as the same
apostle calls him; and therefore add to this that solemn profession of his, John vi. 37-39, wherein he says this care and charge of such was committed
to him by the Father : All that the Father giveth me shall come to me :
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And when he says that it was his Father s will, and [not] his own, his mean
ing is not as if it were not his will, but that his obligation and endearment
lay not chiefly in this, that it was his own will or first will beginning in and
of himself, so much as that it was a matter of trust committed to him, and
therefore the more engaging him to faithfulness. And the trust is to raise
them up at the last day ; and therefore to be sure he will, to his utmost,
look to them unto that day. And matters of trust to faithful spirits are
matters of greatest moment to them. And whether the parable, Luke xv.,
intend the first calling of a sinner, or some new conversion, after one that
is called has been going astray, it is all one to this my purpose to shew the
special care of Christ after, more than afore, to turn them. And if the
former expression, none shall pluck them out of my hand, be not expres
sive enough of this, you have yet a further one uttered by himself, which
: Luke xv. 5, And when he had found it,
argues still more care on his part
he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing; he unfolds his heart there also under
the metaphor of a shepherd. And that as I observe is, that when he hath
CHAP. IX.] OF ELECTION. 357
found his lost sheep, after his much seeking it, he then takes the safest and most sure way that could any way be thought of to express a shepherd s
: He lays
keeping fast such straying creature from ever getting loose again
it on his shoulders. And that is the most securing way that could be taken, for a shepherd to have the fore feet in one hand and the hinder feet in the
other: He hath it in his hands, saith John; On his shoulders, says Luke. And it is as if he had said, Have I found you ? I will make sure of you from
going utterly astray again; I will not leave you loose in my hands, holding you by a foot or a leg, which leaves the whole body free to wring or wrest
itself away; but I will lay you on my shoulders, and therewith retain your
straggling feet in my hand, as in tutd custodid, in sure custody.
3. There was a most solemn act passed by him, in the presence of his
Father, of apprehending us ; and this done by him at our calling, with this
intention and avowed engagement, to give forth to us the whole (whatever it
be), that is our designed portion in grace and glory, and purchased by him on the cross. This we have in the instance of Paul, Philip, iii. 12, I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Jesus
Christ.
This is a matter of very great moment, both in the knowledge of the thing
itself, as also to our present purpose.
(1.) That this Christ s apprehending him was performed at the time of
his calling, is evident ; not only because he had been afore relating the story of his own conversion, verses 7 and 8, which on Christ s part he terms
Christ s apprehending him, because it began, and led on all that was to
follow ; but chiefly because he termeth that thing for which Christ appre hended him to be, as in the 12th verse, the mark, price, of our calling of God in Christ Jesus, as in verse 14.
(2.) That this is not an extraordinary act of Christ towards him alone
(as converting him himself from heaven was), but it declares what is common
to us also. Christ, in like manner, and for the same purposes, and with
the same intendmente, apprehendeth us also at our callings. And there
fore now he calls that for which he was apprehended, the mark of our calling,
as well as of his own.
Now (3.) the thing for which Christ had then at calling apprehended ^hirn was that which hitherto as yet he had not fully and completely received,
although he had been converted long afore he uttereth this ; so verse 18,
I count not myself to have apprehended, namely, that for which I was at
first apprehended of Christ ; I have indeed received part thereof, but it is
so little, that I, forgetting those things which are past, still reaching to
those things which are before, I press towards the mark, &c. ; so as says
Paul, I now mind not so much, what at the time of his calling me I received
by grace from him, nor what I have received since, as if that had been the
whole, or the main intended me by Christ then apprehending me ; no, but
there is yet a farther thing behind, which the intendment of that Bet takes in.
(4.) The thing wherefore he was apprehended by Christ, for himself to
apprehend, was all and the whole, that was his particular portion for ever .to
be received from God, which Christ on the cross had purchased for him ;
and all that God had in and by Jesus Christ intended towards him, and in
Christ bestowed upon him by everlasting love, as his particular allotment. And that the whole, the total of these is meant, is plain, besides from what
hath been said, that what he had received was but in part, he still pressing
for more, upon that ground that Christ had apprehended him for more ; I
say, besides this, he in the 13th verse doth farther express the whole of his
< If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead.
aim to be,
358 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Now the state of the resurrection of the dead supposeth and includes the whole of our salvation, and supposeth us kept and preserved all along in
grace until that time ; and our being arrived safe ashore in the other world, as that part which the state and perfection of all the resurrection from the dead ultimately brings us into. And this comprehends the whole stake and
* mark and price of the
portion of a Christian, which is therefore termed the
high calling, as that which was aimed at, and set upon by Christ at our
calling, to bring us unto, when he first apprehended us.
(5.) And this was accordingly the great intention of Jesus Christ himself, at the time of calling, and that which by that act he engaged himself to per form, even to give forth the whole of grace necessary to our salvation until
the resurrection of the dead ; which well agrees with his own expression, John vi. 39,
* I will raise him up at the last day. And it is as if he had
said, I mention this of raising him, for then I shall have discharged my engagement.
And as it is finis operaiitis, so also operis, of the whole of calling itself; and in relation unto both it is, that it is styled the price of our high calling. That epithet is given to our calling, because it hath this whole and great portion and inheritance annexed to it as a birthright, as you say an high born prince ; so here. You may further come to understand the importance and intendment of
this act of Christ s apprehending us at calling, by comparing it with two other acts of his of like importance, which do precede, and were done by Christ for us afore our calling, and which in their kind were done for the whole of our salvation.
The first act was, that at and by his death Christ purchased all, and the whole of grace and glory, that even the God of all grace, &c., had designed unto us. That is clear by Scripture
: Heb. x. 14, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Alas for us poor creatures ! We, for a long time after we are sanctified, are imperfect, lacking all and
everything in comparison. How then are we perfected ? Because that Jesus Christ, by that one offering, perfectly purchased all that ever shall go to make up our perfection. It is finished in that sense. He so abundantly thereby procured all, as he needed to offer himself but once. And if there could be anything supposed to perfect a saint, which Christ had not pur chased, his offering had been imperfect. A second act preceding this of his apprehending us, was, that when he
first ascended into heaven, he as an head received every whit, and the whole of all that should be given us by the Spirit from God, even for all the saints that were as then unborn ; all, even all at once, that shall be given forth unto us but by parcels unto all eternity : Acts ii. 33, Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the pro mise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.
And by what was the intendment of those preceding acts, you easily may understand what the intendment of Christ apprehending us then was, when he began actually to apply to us that which he (1.) died for, (2.) received upon his ascension. At our calling, which is the first beginning of the
application of our salvation, it is that Christ doth begin actually to appre hend us, which he had never done afore, nor is said to have done afore
calling. And this is his third great solemn act, subsequent to and executive of the other, and carries with it the whole of the same intendment in its kind that the other two did in their kind, which lies in this, that he then takes hold of a soul which he purchased this all and received all for, actually to give it forth to that soul. He begins but as from that time, and what
CHAP. IX.] OF ELECTION. 859
Christ doth first work in calling is not all or the whole for which he appre hended him ; no, Christ doth but now begin with him, but will not have done with him so soon, but continues the work unto all eternity. So as Paul thus thought and counted with himself, Christ having received the whole of my portion into his hands, as a feoffee in trust, it lay by him, no
part disposed of, until the time came that I was called, then it was that he took fast hold of me, to the end to bestow what was mine upon me. And I now knowing this, that he hath my portion in his hands, and that at my
calling he took upon him the executorship about me, I press him to have
this whole out of his hands.
And because this is the true and real intendment of God s calling us, he
therefore termeth it the price of the high calling. There is no action of God s so high towards us as that, for it is the final issue of all.
And it being there added also in Christ Jesus, this shews that Christ Jesus
being engaged by having called us, that he doth perform it accordingly, which the text falls in with, he having called us by Christ Jesus, by the same Christ he preserves and stablisheth us.
4. A fourth act, which from the time of our calling and his then appre
hending us, as also from the other two, is that he instantly thereupon, at and upon calling us, and ever after, puts us into safe custody, he claps a
guard upon us. As all power is committed to him in heaven and earth,
so he placeth it about a man, extends it and tends it forth as need requires. The phrase that we translate, Jude i., preserved in Christ Jesus, and called,
reryigw evois, is four several times, in the book of the Acts, used and trans
* They laid hands on
lated, put in hold, or safe custody ; as Acts iv. 3,
Peter and John, and put them in hold, that is, secured them with watch and ward. Yea, 1 Peter i. 5, the saints are described to be kept by the
power of God unto salvation. The word used is, kept as with a garrison ; look 2 Cor. xi. 32, the governor under Aretas the king, kept the city with a
garrison. It is the very same word that Peter here useth. Let the soul go whither it will, though it seem to be at a loss, yet it always hath a guard about it, to go with it whithersoever it goes. All the power of God, yea, the Spirit, who is its governor under God and Christ, is sent by them to dwell
in their hearts, as a guardian over them. When Christ says, John xiv. 18,
I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you, the word in the Greek, and so in the margin, is orphans/ And when he says, he would not leave them such, his meaning is, I will commit you to a good, comfortable, and
safe guardian, for to such, parents dying, leave their children. And that
: And I will pray the
guardian he had told them, ver. 16, was his Spirit
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with
you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, &c., who comes with commission
never at any time to leave you. Which, ver. 17, he repeats with additions
to confirm it, he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
5. A fifth act is, that from the time of a man s calling, Christ begins
actually to intercede for him from that time forward ; he takes you into his
prayers as well as into his cares. I say, from thy conversion, as I have
elsewhere * observed. Our calling is in a more eminent manner attributed
to his death (though his intercession procures it also, as it did for these, whom he prayed for on the cross, Father, forgive them, who were, accord
ing to that prayer, converted, three thousand of them, Acts ii.), yet our pre
servation in grace is more eminently ascribed to his life in glory after his
death, and therein, unto this, which is the end and eminent fruit of that his
< The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth.
* In a treatise called,
[Vol. IV. of his Works in the present edition. ED.]
360 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
life, his intercession, as appears by comparing those two scriptures, Rom. v. 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life ; and Heb. vii. 25, Wherefore he is able also to save them to the utter most that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them/ In which words, also, it is inserted, that the persons for whom this his intercession is employed, are those that came to God by him. Art thou come to God by him ? (that is done by calling, he then first drew thee) he will improve his interest to save thee to the uttermost, that is, to carry on thy salvation to the uttermost of cases that shall fall out to the uttermost of time, that is, to the end of thy life, and all along ; in that place in the Romans, he had in brief couched it up in those words,
< we shall much more be saved by his life. And in both places he puts the greatest efficacy upon this his intercession, as to the effectual carrying on of our salvation, comparatively to what his death effects : Much more, says he to the Romans ;
< Able thereby to save to the uttermost, says this to the Hebrews.
Nay, if he takes thee once into his prayers, he will never leave thee out, but prevail for thee, whatever thy case be, or whatever thou fallest into. A man may be cast out of good men s hearts and prayers, as Saul was out of Samuel s, and the people out of Jeremiah s ; but no man was ever cast out of Christ s prayers whom he once took in. If there be a danger in any case, it must be in thy so sinning, for which God should cast thee off. But Christ s prayers will see to that, and prevail to prevent thy falling into such sinnings as of which God hath said, they shall never be forgiven ; as well as to pull thee forth out of the fire in respect of such sins as are capable of being pardoned, if thou fallest into them ; to which full purpose is that of the apostle, If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John ii. 1.
_ And the privilege and benefit which a Christian hath by the means and virtue
^of Christ s intercession is unspeakable, and not enough considered by Christians, to give him the glory of it, and to comfort their own hearts. He intercedes upon all occasions, as the matter doth require ; as Solomon in that so solemn prayer of his speaks, 1 Kings viii. 53. Nor do I imperti nently cite that prayer, or that passage of it, for look as Solomon s conse-
cration^of the temple was the type of the Son of God his dwelling one day bodily in an human nature, consecrated to all the offices of his mediation, so in that high and comprehensive prayer which Solomon made at that con secration, he performed the type or representative part of Christ in his in tercession, ^which he discharges in and by the temple of his humanity, now translated into the heavens. And as Solomon s prayer was that the prayers of the people should be heard, upon this his general prayer made aforehand for them, so Christ s intercession precedes ours upon all occasions, and ours are as the echo or the resound of his.
This constant care of Christ thus to intercede upon all such emergent occasions that might obstruct our perseverance, Christ shewed when he per sonally prayed for Peter, in a case of the greatest need that ever Peter had, and it was done _by Christ out of foresight, I have prayed for thee, per sonally and particularly, upon that occasion of his being tempted, that thy faith fail not. Do we think that Peter alone had the good hap of this privi lege, because Christ was present on earth then with him ? Nay, for all our
sakes^it is written; Strengthen thy brethren, said Christ thereupon, so speaking thereof as of a matter that nearly concerned them all, for their contort as well as his own. And in the execution and performance of this,
CHAP. IX.] OF ELECTION. 361
of interceding for us as the matter shall require, it is that he continues an high priest for us in heaven, even to put in for us in and upon all our needs, especially spiritual ; and thereupon it is that we are bidden to come boldly unto the throne of grace, to find help in time of every need, Heb. iv. 16. And we may in the tenth chapter of that epistle, go into the holy of holies, and pull as if our high priest by the sleeve to remember it, in such and such a need. And he is a faithful high priest, as chap. ii. 17, 18.
^ And he heartily and to the utmost improveth all the interest he hath in his Father wholly for them, lays it all out this way. I pray not for the world, John xvii. 9. And as his righteousness, so his intercession, extends to the benefit and behoof of the excellent ones on earth, and them alone. And if whilst he was on earth his Father always heard him, John xi. 42, when he had not yet finished his work, then much more, now he is in heaven, when [he] hath done the work his Father appointed him, and hath done it in all things to the utmost required by God of him. You heard how he purchased all grace, and relief against all temptations ; and now he is in heaven, he sues out that purchase by parcels as we have need, and when we are in any distress he then vigorously urgeth his own, having been in the like. Thus, Heb. iv., it is spoken of him as of an high priest, whose office was to intercede for the people
: ver. 15, 16, We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
And an intercession thus founded upon and seconding that purchase of
all which we speak of, and which he had so dearly bought, can receive no denial.
And that which may yet further confirm us in this matter is those prayers of his in Psalm Ixix., which was a psalm made for him ; and it shews he
pleads the like unto this day, upon all occasions for us, urging what, and how in particular himself had endured of the like kind, and that because I endured it (says he), free this and that soul from the like ; the words of his you find, ver. 6, 7, Let not them that wait on thee, Lord, the Lord of
hosts, be ashamed for my sake ; let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have been reproached ; shame hath covered my face.
* Let there be light, and there was light. Christ in heaven is able through his interest to speak the same language, and at no less rate doth he speak, Father, I will, &c., John xvii. 24. And then it is so and is effected. I assure you his word in heaven is taken for a greater matter than delivering thy soul out of tempta tion. For his I will there in that place was that heaven gates should be set
You read at the creation God said no more, but
open to let in those he intercedes for. So it follows, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am ; that they may behold mv gl r
y> which thou hast given me : for thou lovedst me before the foun
dation of the world. And if his 1 will thus easily and with a word breaks
open heaven gates, then certainly it will avail against hell gates, that they
* shall never prevail against thee. I might also add, and enlarge upon two further securities and engage ments of Christ to us, at, and by, and from our calling. 1. That then we begin actually to be united to him by his Spirit, engrafted into him to the end, that as root and branches he and we should live, and
(if it should be supposed) die together, which on his part is impossible, but such his undertaking is, John xiv. 19, Because I live, you shall live also;
362 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
* I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you, inseparably, indissolubly ; for himself is in the Father, inseparably and
for he adds, ver. 20,
indissolubly ; it is impossible to pull him out of his being which he hath in the Father, and it is the same of our being in him, and therefore conclude of it, He that believeth on him shall never die.
2. The second is, that we are called into fellowship with Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. i. 9, that is, to be partakers of all, and the same things in our pro portion, that Christ hath been and is partaker of himself, to have all accom
plished and fulfilled in us (as the phrase is in Rom. viii. 4) that was, or is, or shall be done in him from first to last, for this is a declared rule of the
apostle, that if we have fellowship with Christ in one thing, then we must and shall have it in all the rest. Rom. vi. 5,
* For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection. And this is founded on this foregone transaction between God and Christ, that what Christ was, or did, or hath been done to him, it was
all as in, and to, and by a common person representing us therein, which makes all, and every particular thereof (which we are capable of), as well as
any part, to be legally ours, and indefeasibly must be bestowed upon [us] in the end. So the same apostle argues, ver. 6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin. Which he speaks not of that imperfect work of mortification begun only in us, but of all of that which was reckoned as done by Christ in our stead, perfectly and completely, when he hung upon the cross ; and from thence he comforts them, that if they had the least
fruit of what he had done and wrought in them, they might assure them
* Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. And why so, but because as the 9th and 10th verses, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God ? And there fore you, in whose stead he did all this, may reckon upon and count with
selves of the whole, so ver. 8,
* Likewise reckon
yourselves the same of yourselves ; so it follows, ver. 11,
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. You may build upon it as done ; and all this is sealed up by baptism, ver. 3 and 4, which you know is the seal more eminently of
regeneration or calling, and accordingly administered but once. And why, but because at our regeneration and calling (whereof baptism is the seal), the whole that is to come is as certainly sealed up as that now we are called and
baptized ?