brief, we are called to be Saints, a People confecrated unto God; and therefore, as every Veffel in the Temple was holy, fo we being called to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost, every thing in us fhould be holy; our Thoughts fhould be holy, our Affections holy, our Words holy, our De fires holy, every Faculty of our Souls, e very Member of our Bodies, and every AAion of our Lives fhould be holy, every thing within us, every thing about us, every thing that comes from us fhould be holy, and all because our Calling is holy; and we ought to walk worthy of the Voca tion wherewith we are called, Eph. iv. 1.

4. GOD calls us from all carnal and temporal things, to mind Heaven and eter nal Glory. He fees and obferves how ea ger we are in profecuting of this World's Vanities, and therefore calls upon us to leave doting upon fuch tranfitory and unfatisfying Trifles, and to mind the things that belong to our everlafting Peace, not to be conformed to this World, but tranf formed by the renewing of our Minds, that we may prove what is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of God, Rom. xii. 2. To fet our Affections upon things above, and not upon things that are upon earth, Col. iii. 2. To feek the Kingdom of God, and his Righteoufnefs in the firit Place,

Matth.

Matth. vi. 33. Hence it is ftiled an beavenly calling, Heb. iii. 1. and an high calling, Phil. iii. 14. because we are called by it to look after high and heavenly things. He that made us hath fo much Kindness for us, that it pities him to fee us mòil and toil, and fpend our Strength and Labour, about fuch low and pitiful, fuch inpertinent and unneceffary things, which himfelf knows can never fatisfy us, and therefore he calls and invites us to himself, and to the Enjoyment of his own Perfections, which are able to fill and fatiate our immortal Souls

5. HENCE laftly, we are called from Mifery and Danger to a ftate of Happinefs and Felicity. As he called Lot out of Sodom, when Fire and Brimstone was ready to fall upon it, fo he calls us from the World and Sin, because otherwife Wrath and Fury will fall upon our heads. Or as he called Noah into the Ark, to preferve him from the overflowing Flood, fo he calls us into his Service, and to the Faith of his Son, that fo we may escape that flood of Mifery which will fuddenly drown the impenitent and unbelieving World. And therefore we must not think that he calls and invites us to him, because he ftands in need of us, or wants our Service; no, it is not because he cannot

be

be happy without us, but because we cannot be happy without him, nor in him neither, unless we come unto him. This is the only reafon why he calls us fo earneftly to him, For as I live, faith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die, Ohoufe of Ifrael! Ezech. xxxiii. 1.1. Let us not ftand therefore pausing upon it, and confidering whether, we fhall hearken to God's call or no, nor fay feverally within our felves, How fhall I part with my Profits? How fhall I deny my felf the Enjoyment of my fenfual Pleafures? How fhall I forfake my darling and beloved Sins ? But rather fay, how fhall I abide the Judgment of the great God? How fhall I efcape if I neglect fo great Salvation as I am now called and invited to. For we may affure our felves, this is the great and only end why God calls fo pathetically upon us to come unto him, that fo we may be delivered from his Wrath, and enjoy his Love and Favour for ever.

THUS we see what it is that God calls Mankind both from and to; he calls them from Darkness to Light, from Idolatry to true Religion, from Sin to Holiness, from Earth to Heaven, and from the deepest Mifery to the highest Happiness that they

are

are capable of. The next thing to be confidered is, how God is pleafed to call us; for which we must know that

I. HE hath vouchfafed to call fome with his own Mouth, as I may fo fpeak, even by immediate Revelations from himfelf. Thus he called Abraham and Mofes, and several of the Patriarchs of the Öld Teftament. And thus he called Paul, Christ himself calling from Heaven to him, Saul, Saul, why perfecuteft thou me? A&t. ix. 4. And it is obfervable, that whofoever were thus called, they always obeyed. But this is not the Calling here spoken of.

2. GOD calls all Mankind by his Works and Providences. All the Creatures in the World are as fo many Tongues declaring the Wisdom, Power, Goodnefs, and Glory of God unto us, and fo call upon us to praise, honour, and obey him. And all his Providences have their feveral and diftinct Voices; his Mercies befpeak our Affections, and his Judgments our Fear. Hear ye, faith he, the rod, and who hath appointed it, Mich. vi. 9. The Rod, it feems, hath a Voice, which we are bound to hear. But though many, yea all the World be called this way, yet neither is this the Calling our Saviour means, when he faith, many are called, but few chofen. T

3. LAST

3. LASTLY, therefore God hath called many by the Ministry of his Word, and of his Servants the Prophets, the Apostles and their Succeffors declaring it, and explaining it to them. Thus God fpake to our Fathers by the Prophets, rifing up early and fending them to call Sinners to Repentance, by fhewing them their fins, and the dangerous confequents of them. As when he fent his Prophet Ifaiah, he bids him Cry aloud, fpare not, lift up thy Voice. as a Trumpet, and fhew my people their Tranfgreffions, and the boufe of Jacob their Sins, Ifa. lviii. 1. And they being convinced of, and humbled for their fins, then he fent his Prophets to invite them to accept of Grace and Pardon from him, faying in the Language of the fame Prophet, Ho! every one that thirfteth, come ye to the waters, and be that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price, Ifai. Iv. 1,2,3. And God having thus at fundry times, and in divers manners Spoken in time-paft unto the Fathers by the Prophets, bath in thefe baft days Spoken unto us by his Son, whom be bath appointed heir of all things, by whom also be made the worlds, Heb. i. 1, 2. who therefore faid with his own Mouth, that he came not to call the Righteous, but Sinners to Repentance, Matth. ix. 13. Hence

as