[1] Whatever the decrees of God be concerning the eternal state
of men, since they are secret to us, they can certainly be
no rule either of our duty or comfort. And no man hath
reason to think himself rejected of God who does not find
the marks of reprobation in himself--I mean an evil heart
and life. By this, indeed, a man may know that he is out of
God's favour for the present; but he hath no reason at all
from hence to conclude that God hath from all eternity and
for ever cast him off. That God calls him to repentance,
and affords him the space and means of it, is a much
plainer sign that God is willing to have mercy upon him,
than anything else can be that God hath utterly cast him
off. For men to judge of their condition by the decrees of
God, which are hid from us, and not by His Word, which is
near us, is as if a man wandering in the wide sea in a dark
night, when the heaven is all clouded, should resolve to
steer his course by the stars which he cannot see, but only
guess at, and neglect the compass which is at hand, and
would afford him much better and more certain
direction.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.
[2] We have no ground at first to trouble ourselves about God's
election. "Secret things belong to God." God's revealed
will is, that all who believe in Christ should not perish.
It is my duty, therefore, knowing this, to believe: by
doing whereof I put that question, whether God be mine or
no? out of all question, for all that believe in Christ are
Christ's, and all that are Christ's are God's. It is not my
duty to look to God's secret counsel, but to His open
offer, invitation, and command, and thereupon adventure my
soul. In war men will venture their lives, because they
think some will escape, and why not they? In traffic beyond
the seas many adventure a great estate, because some grow
rich by a good return, though some miscarry. The husbandman
adventures his seed, though sometimes the year proves so
bad that he never sees it more. And shall not we make a
spiritual adventure, in casting ourselves upon God, when we
have so good a warrant as His command, and so good an
encouragement as His promise, that He will not fail those
that rely on Him?--_Sibbes,_ 1577-1635.
[3] I see no reason to call in question the truth and sincerity
of that man's repentance who hates sin and forsakes, and
returns to God and his duty, though he cannot shed tears,
and express the bitterness of his soul by the same
significations that a mother does in the loss of her only
son. He that cannot weep like a child may resolve like a
man, and that undoubtedly will find acceptance with God.
Two persons walking together espy a serpent; the one
shrieks and cries out at the sight of it, the other kills
it. So it is with sorrow for sin; some express it by great
lamentations and tears, and vehement transports of passion;
others by greater and more real effects of detestation--by
forsaking their sins, by mortifying and subduing their
lusts; but he that kills it doth certainly best express his
inward enmity against it.--_Tillotson,_ 1630-1694.
[4] Oh who can read of a _Manasseh,_ a _Magdalene,_ a _Saul,_
yes, an _Adam,_ who undid himself and a whole world with
him, in the roll of pardoned sinners, and yet turn away
from the promise, out of a fear that there is not mercy fit
in it to serve his turn? These are landmarks that show what
large boundaries mercy hath set for itself, and how far it
hath gone, even to take into its arms the greatest sinners
that make not themselves incapable thereof by final
impenitency. It were a healthful walk, poor doubting
Christian, for thy soul go to this circuit, and oft see
where the utmost stone is laid and boundary set by God's
pardoning mercy, beyond which He will not go.--_Gurnall,_
1617-1679.