.. Of Elef1ion. 449 faid , The Kindom of God u comr nrar yott; very near you; when God ~ rakes the mo!t of hi5 EleCt out of you, and fometimes a whole Falhily of Chap. 8. you, When a King was to be chofcn our of all the Tribes, it was held 1./"'V'.J ground enough for every Tnbe , and every Man of them, to prefent rltemfelves before the Lord; though in the end the Lot was to fall but upon one Man : and fo Samurt bad them do, i Sam. to. ' 9· Nvw therr. f •re prejent your felves hfort the Lord, 6y ; ·o11r Trt/;ts, and 6y yoltr Thouf;mds : for why? it gove a hope ( though but a llonder and remote one) unto every Man, that he might be King; yet it w•s All IfrwJ, the Thoufaods of lfrarl to One. But then when the Tribe of Bntjan in was taken, this gave a nearer hope to every Family and Man of that Tribe : This was but a few to One unto what the other had had before , efpecially feeing there were fewefi of them: This was a Contractiort to a narrower Compafs : But when it came to the Family of Maari, how much nearer came it rhcn , to every one of that Family? though it was to fall but Llpon one Man, yet how great hopes mu!t it needs give, as being thought every Mans then: Every one then had a fair Ca!i for a Kingdom (none of them then knowing that Saut was the Man, thougll Samuel did;) Why? Such hopes, and far larger, do thefe Prornifes give to }OUr Tnbe, to your Family, comparatively to other Men: Fore ·here is a greater Kingdom, and your Tribe (as I may call it ) confi!is of the fewe!t of any other Tribe, or fort of Mankind, compared with it. And this Crown is nor to bo fer upon the Head of One only, but fomerirnes upon All of a Family: 0 confider, what a fair pull here is for Heaven; what would other humbled Souls give for your Lot? (as Heaven is called, Coloff. ,, 11. ) What a fair Gale of Hope have you to fill your Sales with? How many Points of the Compafs harh it on your fide? There are but Two forts of Promifes that I know of, that are indefinite, and do yet bring down Salvation fo near, and to fo narrow a Compafs. The Fir!i fort thofe make which are of fpecial Invitation, as that ih M,Jtth, rr. u!t, [Comt tmto me altJ'f that are weary and hravy ladmj ~c.] and that [Ho, way one that thirfleth, C§c,] Thefe bring it near : for whereas others are invited but in the Crowd , as All were uhto the Wedding; Thefe have a more fpecial, folernn, and particular Imitation by Name: As in Funerals, common People and Neighbours have but an Indefinite and General Invitation; but Thofe of better Rank are fpecially invire.d, and called forth by Name. Thefe Promifes therefore give a fpe· cial encouragement to One that is weary and htavy ltidm: But frill fo, as you are to under!iand, that even fuch Promifes, and fuch Qjlalificatl– ons in you are not to give a ground to your Faith, nor to ferve as infal– lible Evidences that Chri!i is yours; that you Otoilld fo take a comfort cif cafe from them, as many have done, to their ruin. It is but the comfort of a fpecial Invitation to come. The Promif« of Eafe it felf is made ~ to Coming [ comt unto me J only in the mean time it may much eafe the wrary snd htavy laden, in that they are iri an efpecial manner invited to come; for it brings the Promife of Salvation very near to thlili, Bur, Secondly, There are Promifes (as of a fpecial Invitation, fo) of fpecial Defignation; which defign and point out a fort of Mankind, out of whom God harh his Eled; and fuch are rhefe, made to the Children of godly Parents. And it is as if God had pointed, and faid; In that Mafs or Lump do the grcatef< part of my Elect lye. There rs not an)' fort of Mankind ftngled our with fo fpecial a deftgnat ibn. It is like the Star over the Houfe where Chri!t was, which dcfigned the Place of the Meffias abode. So thefe Promifes fer over the H0ufes and Families ofgod– ly Men, do help us to find oHt where EleCtion lies. And as that Star helpt the Wife Men to find out the Meffiah; fo niay thefe Prom1fes help fuch Children tocome to the M,ffiah the fooher,artd with the lefs difficulty. Mmm More
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