Particular Election
A Sermon
(No. 123)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 22, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: For
so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."–2 Peter
1:10-11.
IT is exceedingly desirable that in the hours of worship and in the
house of prayer our minds should be as much as possible divested of
every worldly thought. Although the business of the week will very
naturally struggle with us to encroach upon the Sabbath, it is our
business to guard the Sabbath from the intrusion of our worldly cares,
as we would guard an oasis from the overwhelming irruption of the sand.
I have felt, however, that to-day we should be surrounded with
circumstances of peculiar difficulty in endeavouring to bring our minds
to spiritual maters; for that depends upon mental abstraction, election
times are the worst. So important in the minds of most men are
political matters, that very naturally after the hurry of the week,
combined with the engrossing pursuit of elections, we are apt to bring
the same thoughts and the same feelings into the house of prayer, and
speculate, perhaps, even in the place of worship, whether a
conservative or a liberal shall be returned for our borough, or whether
for the City of London there shall be returned Lord John Russell, Baron
Rothschild, or Mr. Currie. I thought, this morning, Well, it is no use
my trying to stop this great train in its progress. People are just now
going on at an express rate on these matters; I think I will be wise,
and instead of endeavouring to turn them off the line, I will turn the
points, so that they may still continue their pursuits with the same
swiftness as ever, but in a new direction. It shall be the same line;
they shall still be travelling in earnest towards election, but perhaps
I may have some skill to turn the points, so that they shall be enabled
to consider election in a rather different manner.
When Mr. Whitfield was once applied to to use his influence at a
general election, he returned answer to his lordship who requested him,
that he knew very little about general elections, but that if his
lordship took his advice he would make his own particular "calling and
election sure;" which was a very proper remark. I would not, however,
say to any persons here present, despise the privilege which you have
as citizens. Far be it from me to do it. When we become Christians we
do not leave off being Englishmen; when we become professors of
religion we do not cease to have the rights and privileges which
citizenship has bestowed on us. Let us, whenever we shall have the
opportunity of using the right of voting, use it as in the sight of
Almighty God, knowing that for everything we shall be brought into
account, and for that amongst the rest, seeing that we are entrusted
with it. And let us remember that we are our own governors, to a great
degree, and that if at the next election we should choose wrong
governors we shall have nobody to blame but ourselves, however wrongly
they may afterwards act, unless we exercise all prudence and prayer to
Almighty God to direct our hearts to a right choice in this matter. May
God so help us, and may the result be for his glory, however unexpected
that result may be to any of us!
Having said so much, let me, then, turn the points, and draw you to a
consideration of your own particular calling and election, bidding you
in the words of the apostle, "the rather, brethren, give diligence to
make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye
shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ." We have here, first of all, two fundamental points in
religion–"calling and election;" we have here, secondly, some good
advice–"to make your calling and election sure," or, rather, to assure
ourselves that we are called and elected; and then, in the third place,
we have some reasons given us why we should use this diligence to be
assured of our election–because, on the one hand, we shall so be kept
from falling, and on the other hand, we shall attain unto "an abundant
entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ."
I. First of all, then, there are the TWO IMPORTANT MATTERS IN
RELIGION–secrets, both of them, to the world–only to be understood by
those who have been quickened by divine grace: "CALLING AND ELECTION."
By the word "calling" in Scripture, we understand two things–one, the
general call, which in the preaching of the gospel is given to every
creature under heaven; the second call (that which is here intended) is
the special call–which we call the effectual call, whereby God
secretly, in the use of means, by the irresistible power of his Holy
Spirit, calls out of mankind a certain number, whom he himself hath
before elected, calling them from their sins to become righteous, from
their death in trespasses and sins to become living spiritual men, and
from their worldly pursuits to become the lovers of Jesus Christ. The
two callings differ very much. As Bunyan puts it, very prettily. "By
his common call, he gives nothing; by his special call, he always has
something to give; he has also a brooding voice, for them that are
under his wing; and he has an outcry, to give the alarm when he seeth
the enemy come." What we have to obtain, as absolutely necessary to our
salvation, is a special calling, made in us, not to our ears but to our
hearts, not to our mere fleshly understanding, but to the inner man, by
the power of the Spirit. And then the other important thing is
election. As without calling there is no salvation, so without election
there is no calling. Holy Scripture teaches us that God hath from the
beginning chosen us who are saved unto holiness through Jesus Christ.
We are told that as many as are ordained unto eternal life believe, and
that their believing is the effect of their being ordained to eternal
life from before all worlds. However much this may be disputed, as it
frequently is, you must first deny the authenticity and full
inspiration of the Holy Scripture before you can legitimately and truly
deny it. And since, without doubt, I have many here who are members of
the Episcopal church, allow me to say to them what I have often said
before, "You, of all men, are the most inconsistent in the world,
unless you believe the doctrine of election, for if it be not taught in
Scripture there is this one thing for an absolute certainty, it is
taught in your Articles." Nothing can be more forcibly expressed,
nothing more definitely laid down, than the doctrine of predestination
in the Book of Common Prayer; although we are told what we already
know, that that doctrine is a high mystery, and is only to be handled
carefully by men who are enlightened. However, without doubt, it is the
doctrine of Scripture, that those who are saved are saved because God
chose them to be saved, and are called as the effect of that first
choice of God. If any of your dispute this, I stand upon the authority
of Holy Scripture; ay, and if it were necessary to appeal to tradition,
which I am sure it is not, and no Christian man would ever do it, yet I
would take you upon that point; for I can trace this doctrine through
the lips of a succession of holy men, from this present moment to the
days of Calvin, thence to Augustine, and thence on to Paul himself; and
even to the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. The doctrine is, without
doubt, taught in Scripture, and were not men too proud to humble
themselves to it, it would universally be believed and received as
being no other than manifest truth. Why, sirs, do you not believe that
God loves his children? and do you not know that God is unchangeable?
therefore, if he loves them now he must always have loved them. Do you
not believe that if men be saved God saves them? And if so, can you see
any difficulty in admitting that because he saves them there must have
been a purpose to save them–a purpose which existed before al worlds?
Will you not grant me that? If you will not, I must leave you to the
Scriptures themselves; and if they will not convince you on the point,
then I must leave you unconvinced.
It will be asked, however, why is calling here put before election,
seeing election is eternal, and calling takes place in time? I reply,
because calling is first to us. The first thing which you and I can
know is our calling: we cannot tell whether we are elect until we feel
that we are called. We must, first of all, prove our calling, and then
our election is sure most certainly. "Moreover, whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Calling
comes first in our apprehension. We are by God's Spirit called from our
evil estate, regenerated and made new creatures, and then, looking
backward, we behold ourselves as being most assuredly elect because we
were called.
Here, then, I think I have explained the text. There are the two things
which you and I are to prove to be sure to ourselves–whether we are
called and whether we are elected. And oh, dear friends, this is a
matter about which you and I should be very anxious. For consider what
an honourable thing it is to be elected. In this world it is thought a
mighty thing to be elected to the House of Parliament; but how much
more honourable to be elected to eternal life; to be elected to "the
Church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven;" to be
elected to be a compeer of angels, to be a favorite of the living God,
to dwell with the Most High, amongst the fairest of the sons of light,
nearest the eternal throne! Election in this world is but a short-lived
thing, but God's election is eternal. Let a man be elected to a seat in
the House: seven years must be the longest period that he can hold his
election; but if you and I be elected according to the Divine purpose,
we shall hold our seats when the day-star shall have ceased to burn,
when the sun shall have grown dim with age, and when the eternal hills
shall have bowed themselves with weakness. If we be chosen of God and
precious, then are we chosen for ever; for God changeth not in the
objects of his election. Those whom he hath ordained he hath ordained
to eternal life, "and they shall never perish, neither shall any man
pluck them out of his hand." It is worth while to know ourselves elect,
for nothing in this world can make a man more happy or more valiant
than the knowledge of his election. "Nevertheless," said Christ to his
apostles, "rejoice not in this, but rather rejoice that your names are
written in heaven"–that being the sweetest comfort, the honeycomb that
droppeth with the most precious drops of all, the knowledge of our
being chosen by God. And this, too, beloved, makes a man valiant. When
a man by diligence has attained to the assurance of his election, you
cannot make him a coward, you can never make him cry craven even in the
thickest battle; he holds the standard fast and firm, and cleaves his
foes with the scimitar of truth. "Was not I ordained by God to be the
standard bearer of this truth? I must, I will stand by it, despite you
all." He saith to every enemy, "Am I not a chosen king? Can floods of
water wash out the sacred unction from a king's bright brow? No, never!
And if God hath chosen me to be a king and a priest unto God for ever
and ever, come what may or come what will–the lion's teeth, the fiery
furnace, the spear, the rack, the stake, all these things are less than
nothing, seeing I am chosen of God unto salvation." It has been said
that the doctrine of necessity makes men weak. It is a lie. It may seem
so in theory, but in practice it has always been found to be the
reverse. The men who have believed in destiny, and have held fast and
firm by it, have always done the most valiant deeds. There is one point
in which this is akin even with Mahomet's faith. The deeds that were
done by him were chiefly done from a firm confidence that God had
ordained him to his work. Never had Cromwell driven his foes before him
if it had not been in the stern strength of this almost omnipotent
truth; and there shall scarcely be found a man strong to do great and
valiant deeds unless, confident in the God of Providence, he looks upon
the accidents of life as being steered by God, and gives himself up to
God's firm predestination, to be borne along by the current of his
will, contrary to all the wills and all the wishes of the world.
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling
and election sure."
II. Come, then, here is the second point–GOOD ADVICE. "Make your
calling and election sure." Not towards God, for they are sure to him:
make them sure to yourself. Be quite certain of them; be fully
satisfied about them. In many of our dissenting places of worship very
great encouragement is held out to doubting. A person comes before the
pastor, and says, "Oh! sir, I am so afraid I am not converted; I
tremble lest I should not be a child of God. Oh! I fear I am not one of
the Lord's elect." The pastor will put out his hands to him, and say,
"Dear brother, you are all right so long as you can doubt." Now, I
hold, that is altogether wrong. Scripture never says, "He that doubteth
shall be saved," but "He that believeth." It may be true that the man
is in a good state; it may be true that he wants a little comfort; but
his doubts are not good things, nor ought we to encourage him in his
doubts. Our business is to encourage him out of his doubts, and by the
grace of God to urge him to "give all diligence to make his calling and
election sure;" not do doubt it, but to be sure of it. Ah! I have heard
some hypocritical doubters say, "Oh! I have had such doubts whether I
am the Lord's," and I have thought to myself, "And so have I very great
doubts about you." I have heard some say they do tremble so because
they are afraid they are not the Lord's people; and the lazy fellows
sit in their pews on the Sunday, and just listen to the sermon; but
they never think of giving diligence, they never do good, perhaps are
inconsistent in their lives, and then talk about doubting. It is quite
right they should doubt, it is well they should; and if they did not
doubt we might begin to doubt for them. Idle men have no right to
assurance. The Scripture says, "Give diligence to make your calling and
election sure."
Full assurance is an excellent attainment. It is profitable for a man
to be certain in this life, and absolutely sure of his own calling and
election. But how can he be sure? Now, many of our more ignorant
hearers imagine that the only way they have of being assured of their
election is by some revelation, some dream, and some mystery. I have
enjoyed very hearty laughs as the expense of some people who have
trusted in their visions. Really, if you had passed among so many
shades of ignorant professing Christians as I have; and had to resolve
so many doubts and fears, you would be so infinitely sick of dreams and
visions that you would say, as soon as a person began to speak about
them, "Now, do just hold your tongue." "Sir," said a woman, "I saw blue
lights in the front parlour when I was in prayer, and I thought I saw
the Saviour in the corner, and I said to myself I am safe." (Mr.
Spurgeon here narrated a remarkable story of a poor woman who was
possessed with a singular delusion.) And yet there are tens of
thousands of people in every part of the country, and members too of
Christians bodies, who have no better ground for their belief that they
are called and elected, than some vision equally ridiculous, or the
equally absurd hearing of a voice. A young woman came to me some time
ago; she wanted to join the church, and when I asked her how she knew
herself to be converted, she said she was down at the bottom of the
garden, and she thought she heard a voice, and she thought she saw
something up in the clouds that said to her so-and-so. "Well," I said
to her, "that thing may have been the means of doing good to you, but
if you put any trust in it, it is all over with you." A dream, ay, and
a vision, may often bring men to Christ; I have known many who have
been brought to him by them, beyond a doubt, though it has been
mysterious to me how it was; but when men bring these forward as a
proof of their conversion, there is the mistake; because you may see
fifty thousand dreams and fifty thousand visions, and you may be a fool
for all that, and all the bigger sinner for having seen them. There is
better evidence to be had than all this: "Give diligence to make your
calling and election sure."
"How, then," says one, "am I to make my calling and election sure?"
Why, thus:–If thou wouldest get out of a doubting state, get out of an
idle state; if thou wouldst get out of a trembling state, get out of an
indifferent lukewarm state; for lukewarmness and doubting, and laziness
and trembling, very naturally go hand in hand. If thou wouldest enjoy
the eminent grace of the full assurance of faith under the blessed
Spirit's influence and assistance, do what the Scripture tells
thee–"Give diligence to make your calling and election sure." Wherein
shalt thou be diligent? Note how the Scripture has given us a list. Be
diligent in your faith. Take care that your faith is of the right
kind–that it is not a creed, but a credence–that it is not a mere
belief of doctrine, but a reception of doctrine into your heart, and
the practical light of the doctrine in your soul. Take care that your
faith results from necessity–that you believe in Christ because you
have nothing else to believe in. Take care it is simple faith, hanging
alone on Christ, without any other dependence but Jesus Christ and him
crucified. And when thou hast given diligence about that, give
diligence next to thy courage. Labour to get virtue; plead with God
that he would give thee the face of a lion, that thou mayest never be
afraid of any enemy, however much he may jeer or threaten thee, but
that thou mayest with a consciousness of right, go on, boldly trusting
in God. And having, by the help of the Holy Spirit, obtained that,
study well the Scriptures, and get knowledge; for a knowledge of
doctrine will tend very much to confirm your faith. Try to understand
God's Word; get a sensible, spiritual idea of it. Get, if you can, a
system of divinity out of God's Bible. Put the doctrines together. Get
real, theological knowledge, founded upon the infallible word. Get a
knowledge of that science which is most despised, but which is the most
necessary of all, the science of Christ and him crucified, and of the
great doctrines of grace. And when thou hast done this, "Add to thy
knowledge temperance." Take heed to thy body: be temperate there. Take
heed to thy soul: be temperate there. Be not drunken with pride; be not
lifted up with self-confidence. Be temperate. Be not harsh towards thy
friends, nor bitter to thine enemies. Get temperance of lip, temperance
of life, temperance of heart, temperance of thought. Be not passionate:
be not carried away by every wind of doctrine. Get temperance, and then
add to it by God's Holy Spirit patience; ask him to give thee that
patience which endureth affliction, which, when it is tried, shall come
forth as gold. Array yourself with patience, that you may not murmur in
your sicknesses; that you may not curse God in your losses, nor be
depressed in your afflictions. Pray, without ceasing, until the Holy
Ghost has nerved you with patience to endure unto the end. And when you
have that, get godliness. Godliness is something more than religion.
The most religious men may be the most godless men, and sometimes a
godly man may seem to be irreligious. Let me just explain that seeming
paradox. A real religious man is a man who sighs after sacraments,
attends churches and chapels, and is outwardly good, but goes not
farther. A godly man is a man who does not look so much to the dress as
to the person: he looks not to the outward form, but to the inward and
spiritual grace, he is a godly man, as well as attentive to religion.
Some men, however, are godly, and to a great extent despise form; they
may be godly, without some degree of religion; but a man cannot be
fully righteous without being godly in the true meaning of each of
these words, though not in the general vulgar sense of them. Add to thy
patience an eye to God; live in his sight; dwell close to him; seek for
fellowship with him; and thou hast got godliness. And then to that add
brotherly love. Be loving towards all the members of Christ's church;
have a love to all the saints, of every denomination. And then add to
that charity, which openeth its arms to all men, and loves them; and
when you have got all these, then you will know your calling and
election, and just in proportion as you practise these heavenly rules
of life, in this heavenly manner, will you come to know that you are
called and that you are elect. But by no other means can you attain to
a knowledge of that, except by the witness of the Spirit, bearing
witness with your spirit that you are born of God, and then witnessing
in your conscience that you are not what you were, but are a new man in
Christ Jesus, and are therefore called and therefore elected.
A man over there says he is elect. He gets drunk. Ay, you are elect by
the devil, sir; that is about your only election. Another man says,
"Blessed be God, I don't care about evidences a bit; I am not so legal
as you are!" No, I dare say you are not; but you have no great reason
to bless God about it, for, my dear friend, unless you have these
evidences of a new birth take heed to yourself. "God is not mocked:
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." "Well," says
another, "but I think that doctrine of election a very licentious
doctrine." Think on as long as you please; but please to bear me
witness that as I have preached it to-day there is nothing licentious
about it. Very likely you are licentious, and you would make the
doctrine licentious, if you believed it; but "to the pure all things
are pure." He who receiveth God's truth in his heart doth not often
pervert it and turn aside from it unto wicked ways. No man, let me
repeat, has any right to believe himself called, unless his life be in
the main consistent with his vocation, and he walk worthy of that
whereunto he is called. Out upon an election that lets you live in sin!
Away with it! away with it! That was never the design of God's Word;
and it never was the doctrine of Calvinists either. Though we have been
lied against and our teachings perverted, we have always stood by
this–that good works, though they do not procure nor in any degree
merit salvation, yet are the necessary evidences of salvation; and
unless they be in men the soul is still dead, uncalled and unrenewed.
The nearer you live to Christ, the more you imitate him, the more your
life is conformed to him, and the more simply you hang upon him by
faith, the more certain you may be of your election in Christ and of
your calling by his Holy Spirit. May the Holy One of Israel give you
the sweet assurance of grace, by affording you "tokens for good" in the
graces which he enables you to manifest.
III. And now I shall close up by giving you THE APOSTLE'S REASONS WHY
YOU SHOULD MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE.
I put in one of my own to begin with. It is because, as I have said, it
will make you so happy. Men who doubt their calling and election cannot
be full of joy; but the happiest saints are those who know and believe
it. You know our friends say this is a howling wilderness, and you know
my reply to it is, that they make all the howling themselves: there
would not be much howling, if they were to look up a little more and
look down a little less, for by faith they would make it blossom like
the rose, and give to it the excellence and glory of Carmel and Sharon.
But why they howl so much is because they do not believe. Our happiness
and our faith are to a great degree proportionate; they are Siamese
twins to the Christian; they must flourish or decay together.
"When I can say my God is mine,
Then I can all my griefs resign;
Can tread the world beneath my feet,
And all that earth calls good or great."
But ah
"When gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call him mine;
The streams of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline."
Only faith can make a Christian lead a happy life.
But now for Peter's reasons. First, because "if ye do these things ye
shall never fall." "Perhaps," says one, "in attention to election we
may forget our daily walk, and like the old philosopher who looked up
to the stars we may walk on and tumble into the ditch!" "Nay, nay,"
says Peter, "if you take care of your calling and election, you shall
not trip; but, with your eyes up there, looking for your calling and
election, God will take care of your feet, and you shall never fall. Is
it not very notable, that, in many churches and chapels, you do not
often hear a sermon about to-day; it is always either about old
eternity, or else about the millennium; either about what God did
before man was made, or else about what God will do when all are dead
and buried? Pity they do not tell us something about what we are to do
to-day, now, in our daily walk and conversation! Peter removes this
difficulty. He says, "This point is a practical point; for you can only
answer your election for yourself by taking care of your practice;
whilst you are so taking care of your practice and assuring yourself of
your election, you are doing the best possible thing to keep you from
falling." And is it not desirable that a true Christian should be kept
from falling? Mark the difference between falling and falling away. The
true believer can never fall away and perish; but he may fall and
injure himself. He shall not fall and break his neck; but a broken leg
is bad enough, without a broken neck. "Though he fall he shall not be
utterly cast down;" but that is no reason why he should dash himself
against a stone. His desire is, that day by day he may grow more holy;
that hour by hour he may be more thoroughly renewed, until conformed to
the image of Christ, he may enter into bliss eternal. If, then, you
take care of your calling and election, you are doing the best thing in
the world to prevent you from falling; for in so doing you shall never
fall.
And, now, the other reason, and then I shall have almost concluded.
"For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the
everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." An "abundant
entrance" has sometimes been illustrated in this way. You see yonder
ship. After a long voyage, it has neared the haven, but is much
injured; the sails are rent to ribbons, and it is in such a forlorn
condition that it cannot come up to the harbour: a steam-tug is pulling
it in with the greatest possible difficulty. That is like the righteous
being "scarcely saved." But do you see that other ship? It has made a
prosperous voyage; and now, laden to the water's edge, with the sails
all up and with the white canvass filled with the wind, it rides into
the harbour joyously and nobly. That is an "abundant entrance;" and if
you and I are helped by God's Spirit to add to our faith virtue, and so
on, we shall have at the last "an abundant entrance into the kingdom of
our Lord Jesus Christ." There is a man who is a Christian; but, alas!
there are many inconsistencies in his life for which he has to mourn.
He lies there, dying on his bed. The thought of his past life rushes
upon him. He cries, "O Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner," and the
prayer is answered; his faith is in Christ, and he shall be saved. But
oh! what griefs he has upon his bed. "Oh, if I had served my God
better! And these children of mine–if I had but trained them up
better, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord!' I am saved," says
he; "but alas, alas! though it be a great salvation, I cannot enjoy it
yet. I am dying in gloom, and clouds, and darkness. I trust, I hope I
shall be gathered to my fathers, but I have no works to follow me–or
very few indeed; for though I am saved, I am but just saved–saved so
as by fire.'" Here is another one; he too is dying. Ask him what his
dependence is: he tells you, "I rest in none else but Jesus." But mark
him as he looks back to his past life. "In such a place," says he, "I
preached the gospel, and God helped me." And though with no pride about
him–he will not congratulate himself upon what he has done–yet doth
he lift up hands to heaven, and he blesses God that throughout a long
life he has been able to keep his garments white; that he has served
his Master; and now, like a shock of corn fully ripe, he is about to be
gathered into his Master's garner. Hark to him! It is not the feeble
lisp of the trembler; but with "victory, victory, victory!" for his
dying shout, he shuts his eyes, and dies like a warrior in his glory.
That is the "abundant entrance." Now, the man that "give diligence to
make his calling and election sure," shall ensure for himself "an
abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ."
What a terrible picture is hinted at in these words of the
apostle–"Saved so as by fire!" Let me try and present it to you. The
man has come to the edge of Jordan; the time has arrived for him to
die. He is a believer–just a believer; but his life has not been what
he could wish; not all that he now desires that it had been. And now
stern death is at him, and he has to take his first step into the
Jordan. Judge of his horror, when the flames surround his foot. He
treads upon the hot sand of the stream; and the next step he takes,
with his hair well nigh on end, with his eye fixed on heaven on the
other side of the shore, his face is yet marked with horror. He takes
another step, and he is all bathing in fire. Another step, and he is up
to his very loins in flames–"saved, so as by fire." A strong hand has
grasped him, that drags him onward through the stream. But how dreadful
must be the death even of the Christian, when he is saved "so as by
fire!" There on the river's brink, astonished he looks back and sees
the liquid flames, through which he has been called to walk, as a
consequence of his indifference in this life. Saved he is–thanks to
God; and his heaven shall be great, and his crown shall be golden, and
his harp shall be sweet, and his hymns shall be eternal, and his bliss
unfading;–but his dying moment, the last article of death, was
blackened by sin; and he was saved "so as by fire!" Mark the other man;
he too has to die. He has often feared death. He dips the first foot in
Jordan; and his body trembles, his pulse waxes faint, and even his eyes
are well nigh closed. His lips can scarcely speak, but still he says,
"Jesus, thou art with me, thou art with me, passing through the
stream!" He takes another step, and the waters now begin to refresh
him. He dips his hand and tastes the stream, and tells those who are
watching him in tears, that to die is blessed. "The stream is sweet,"
he says, "it is not bitter: it is blessed to die." Then he takes
another step, and when he is well nigh submerged in the stream, and
lost to vision, he says–
"And when ye hear my eyestrings break,
How sweet my minutes roll!–
A mortal paleness on my cheek,
But glory in my soul!"
That is the "abundant entrance" of the man who has manfully served his
God–who, by divine grace, has had a path unclouded and serene–who, by
diligence, has "made his calling and election sure;" and therefore, as
a reward, not of debt, but of grace, hath entered heaven with higher
honors and with greater ease than others equally saved, but not saved
in so splendid a manner.
Just one thought more. It is said that the entrance is to be
"ministered to us." That gives me a sweet hint that, I find, is dwelt
upon by Doddridge. Christ will open the gates of heaven; but the
heavenly train of virtues–the works which follow us–will go up with
us and minister an entrance to us. I sometimes think, if God should
enable me to live and die for the good of these congregations, so that
many of them shall be saved, how sweet it will be to enter heaven, and
when I shall come there, to have an entrance ministered to me, not by
Christ alone, but by some of you for whom I have ministered. One shall
meet me at the gate, and say, "Minister, thou wast the cause of my
salvation!" And another, and another, and another, shall all exclaim
the same. When Whitfield entered heaven–that highly honoured servant
of the Lord–I think I can see the hosts rushing to the gate to meet
him. There are thousands there that have been brought to God by him. Oh
how they open wide the gates; and how they praise God that he has been
the means of bringing them to heaven; and how do they minister unto him
an abundant entrance? There will be some of you, perhaps, in heaven,
with starless crowns: for you never did good to your fellow-creatures;
you never were the means of saving souls; you are to have crowns
without stars. But "they that turn many to righteousness," shall "shine
as the stars, for ever and ever;" and an entrance shall be abundantly
ministered to them. I do want to get a heavy crown in heaven–not to
wear, but to have all the more costly gift to give to Christ. And you
ought to desire the same, that you may have all the more honours, and
so have the more to cast at his feet, with–"Not unto us, but unto thy
name, O Christ, be the glory!" "Rather, brethren, give all diligence to
make your calling and election sure."
And now, to conclude. There are some of you with whom this text has
nothing to do. You cannot "make your calling and election sure;" for
you have not been called; and you have no right to believe that you are
elected, if you have never been called. To such of you, let me say, do
not ask whether you are elected first, but ask whether you are called.
And go to God's house, and bend your knee in prayer; and may God, in
his infinite mercy, call you! And mark this–If any of you can say–
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;"
if any of you, abjuring your self-righteousness, can now come to Christ
and take him to be your all in all; you are called, you are elect.
"Make your calling and election sure," and go on your way rejoicing!
May God bless you; and to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be glory for
evermore! Amen.