QUEST. I.—WHAT IS IT TO BE SAVED?
Second. As we may be said to be saved for the purpose of God before the foundation of the world, we may be said to be saved before we are converted or called to Christ. And hence "saved" is put before "called"; "he hath saved us, and called us"; he saith not, he hath called us, and saved us; but he puts saving before calling (2 Tim 1:9). So again, we are said to be "preserved in Christ and called"; he saith not, called and preserved (Jude 1). And therefore God saith again, "I will pardon them whom I reserve"—that is, as Paul expounds it, those whom I have "elected and kept," and this part of salvation is accomplished through the forbearance of God (Jer 50:20; Rom 11:4,5). God bears with his own elect, for Christ's sake, all the time of their unregeneracy until the time he has appointed for their conversion. The sins we committed before conversion, had the judgment due to them been executed upon us, we had not now been in the world to partake of a heavenly calling. But the judgment due to them hath been by the patience of God prevented, and we saved all the time of our ungodly and unconverted state, from that death, and those many hells, that for our sins we deserved at the hands of God.
And here lies the reason that long life is granted to the elect before conversion and that all the sins they commit and all the judgments they deserve cannot drive them out of the world before conversion. Manasseh, you know, was a great sinner, and for the trespass which he committed, he was driven from his own land and carried to Babylon; but kill him they could not, though his sins had deserved death ten thousand times. But what was the reason? He was not yet called; God had chosen him in Christ and laid up a stock of grace, which must be given to Manasseh before he dies; therefore, Manasseh must be convinced, converted, and saved. That legion of devils that were in the possessed, with all the sins which he had committed in the time of his unregeneracy, could not take away his life before his conversion (Mark 5). How many times was that poor creature, as we may easily conjecture, assaulted for his life by the devils that were in him, yet could they not kill him, yea. However, his dwelling was near the sea-side, and the devils had power to drive him too, yet could they not drive him further than the mountains that were by the sea-side; yea, they could help him often to break his chains and fetters, and could also make him as mad as a bedlam, 3 they could also prevail with him to separate from men, and cut himself with stones, but kill him they could not, drown him they could not; he was saved to be called; he was, notwithstanding all this, preserved in Christ, and called. As it is said of the young lad in the gospel, he was by the devil cast oft into the fire, and oft into the water, to destroy him, but it could not be; even so hath he served others, but they must be "saved to be called" (Mark 9:22). How many deaths have some been delivered from and saved out of before conversion! Some have fallen into rivers, some into wells, some into the sea, some into the hands of men; yea, they have been justly arraigned and condemned, as the thief upon the cross, but must not die before they have been converted. They were preserved in Christ and called.
Called Christian, how many times have thy sins laid thee upon a sick bed, and, to thine and others' thinking, at the very mouth of the grave? Yet God said concerning thee, Let him live, for he is not yet converted. Behold, therefore, that the elect are saved before they are called. "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins," hath preserved us in Christ, and called us (Eph 2:4,5).
Now, this "saving" of us arises from six causes. 1. God has chosen us for salvation and will not frustrate his purposes (1 Thess 5:9). 2. God has given us to Christ, and his gift and calling are without repentance (Rom 11:29; John 6:37). 3. Christ hath purchased us with his blood (Rom 5:8,9). 4. They are, by God, counted in Christ before they are converted (Eph 1:3,4). 5. They are ordained before conversion to eternal life; yea, to be called, justified, and glorified; therefore, all this must come upon them (Rom 8:29,30). 6. For all this, he hath also appointed them their portion and measure of grace, and that before the world began; therefore, that they may partake of all these privileges, they are saved and called, preserved in Christ, and called.
