(1.) That the gospel contains a declaration, that God designs to save a part of this miserable world; and, that in subserviency thereunto, he has given them a discovery of Christ, as the object of faith, and the purchaser and author of salvation.
(2.) He does not therein give the least intimation to any, while in a state of unregeneracy, that they shall be enabled to believe: and, as the consequence thereof, be saved. Their names, characters, or places of abode, or their natural embellishments, who shall attain this privilege, are no where pointed at in scripture; nor is the book of God’s secret purpose, concerning election to eternal life, opened, so as that any one can discern his name written in it, before he be effectually called; for we have no warrant to look any farther than God’s revealed will, which assigns no evidence of our interest in the saving blessings of the gospel, till they are experienced by us, in this effectual call.
(3.) God plainly discovers to men, in the gospel, that all those graces, which are inseparably connected with salvation, are his work and gift, and consequently out of their own power; or that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy, Rom. ix. 16. Therefore he no where tells the man, who is tied and bound with the chain of his sin, that he is able to set himself free; but puts him upon expecting and praying for it, from the pitifulness of his great mercy. He no where tells him, that he can implant a principle of spiritual life and grace in himself; or that he ought so much as to attempt to do any thing to atone for his sins, by his obedience and sufferings, but suggests the contrary, when he says, Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, Isa. xlv. 24.
(4.) He gives none the least ground to expect, or lay claim to salvation, till they believe; and as faith and salvation are both his gifts, he puts them upon seeking, and desiring them, in their respective order; first grace, and then glory.
(5.) The gospel-call is designed to put men upon a diligent attendance on the ordinances, as means of grace, and to leave the issue and success thereof to God, who waits that he may be gracious; that so his sovereignty may appear more eminently in the dispensing this privilege; and, in the mean time, assigns it as their duty to wait for him, chap. xxx. 18. And while we are engaged in this duty, we are to acknowledge, that we have nothing that can give us any right to this privilege. So that God might justly deny success to his ordinances. Nevertheless, if he is pleased to give us, while we are attending on them, those earnest desires of their being made effectual to our conversion and salvation, we may conclude this to be a token for good, that he designs us some special advantage thereby; and we do not know but that even this desire of grace may be the beginning of the Spirit’s saving work, and therefore an earnest of his carrying it on.
(6.) When God commands persons, in the gospel, to do those things which cannot be performed without his special grace, he sometimes supposes them, when he gives forth the command, to have a principle of spiritual life and grace, which is, in effect to bid one that is made alive, to put forth living actions; which respect, more especially, the progress of grace after the work is begun; in which sense I understand those words of the apostle, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh; that is, hath wrought, in you both to will and to do, of his good pleasure, Phil. ii. 12.
2. If we consider the gospel as holding forth promises of salvation, when, at the same time, it is not in our power to exercise those graces that accompany it; which gives farther occasion to those that except against the doctrine we are maintaining, to conclude, that it represents God as offering those blessings which he does not design to bestow: This may give us occasion to explain what we mean, when we consider salvation as offered in the gospel; whereby we understand nothing else but a declaration, that all who repent and believe, shall be saved; which contains a character, or description of the persons who have ground to expect this privilege: not that salvation is founded on dubious and uncertain conditions, which depend upon the power and liberty of our will; or impossible conditions; as though God should say, if man will change his own heart, and work faith, and all other graces in himself, then he will save him: but all that we mean by it is, that those graces, which are inseparably connected with salvation, are to be waited for in our attendance on all God’s ordinances, and when he is pleased to work them, then we may conclude, that we have a right to the promise of salvation. Thus concerning the gospel-call, what it is, how far it may be improved by those who are destitute of special grace, and what is God’s design in giving it: we now proceed to consider,
3. The issue and consequence thereof, as it is farther observed in this answer, that many wilfully neglect, contemn, or refuse to comply with it, with respect to whom it is not made effectual to their salvation. This appears from the report that Christ’s disciples brought to him, concerning the excuses that many made when called to come to the marriage feast, in the parable: One pretended, that he had bought a piece of ground, and must needs go see it; and another, that he had bought five yoke of oxen, and must go to prove them; and another had married a wife, and therefore could not come. It is elsewhere said, that they all made light of it, and went their ways; one to his farm, another to his merchandise; and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them, Luke xiv. 18-20. compared with Matt. xxii. 5, 6.
And the prophet introduces our Saviour himself as complaining, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, Isa. xlix. 4, 5. And the reason hereof is, because Israel is not gathered; which words are to be understood in a comparative sense, as denoting the fewness of those who complied with his gracious invitations, to come to him, or were convinced, by the miracles which he wrought to confirm his doctrine.
This is also farther evident, from the small number of those who are effectually prevailed upon under the gospel dispensation, which the apostle calls the grace of God that brings salvation, that hath appeared to all men, teaching them to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts; and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. And also, from the great opposition and hatred, which many express to the person of Christ, who is the subject matter thereof; which the prophet not only relates, as what was observed in his day, but foretells, that in after-ages, a great part of mankind would not believe the report made concerning him; but that he should be despised and rejected of men, who would hide, as it were, their faces from him, and not esteem him, Isa. liii. 1, 3. This is certainly the highest contempt of the gospel; for it is an undervaluing the greatest privileges, as though they were not worthy to be embraced, desired, or sought after; and inasmuch as this is wilful, arising from the enmity of the will of man against God, and the method of salvation which he has prescribed therein, it has a tendency to provoke his wrath; so that being justly left in their unbelief, they will not come to Christ, that they may have life. And as they are judicially left to themselves, they contract a greater degree of alienation from, and averseness to God, and so never truly come to Jesus Christ; which is an awful and tremendous consideration.