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Invitations of the Gospel
We have received a communication from the north, over the signature, “A Friend of Truth,” desiring our views in regard to what are called the invitations of the gospel; whether they are addressed indiscriminately to sinners or exclusively to the quickened children of God. We learn from the letter that some of our esteemed brethren are differing seriously on the subject. Such passages as Matthew 11:28-30: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” etc. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” The marriage of the king’s son: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Also the first and eighth of Proverbs. Some brethren take the position that these are invitations to sinners indiscriminately, and others contend that these are invitations addressed only to the children of God.
In giving our views we beg leave to differ, very respectfully, however, from both parties. We deny that there are any invitations, either in the law or gospel, to saints or sinners. We think that a little reflection on the subject will satisfy all honest inquirers after truth that it would be altogether incompatible with the eternal perfections of Jehovah to issue invitations to any of His creatures.
First. We will remark that none of the communications from God
to men are anywhere in the Bible called invitations, and it is therefore
speculative and idle to argue theologically a position or question which
has no scriptural foundation, and therefore, like the endless genealogies
and questions about the law, which the apostle warns us against, is only
calculated to gender strife, but cannot edify or comfort the family of
God.
Second. An invitation is a complimentary request or message from
a party having, and claiming to have, no authority to enforce the request,
or message, which concedes to the party invited the undisputed right to
respectfully decline the invitation, leaving it entirely optional with
the party invited to accept or decline without transcending his right.
Third. All those who have been brought to a saving knowledge
of God will admit that He speaks the word, and it stands fast; He commands
and it is done. “Where the word of a king is, there is power,” and
God is the King eternal, and the word that proceeds from Him shall not
return unto Him void of the work whereunto He hath sent it. Even the carnal
Jews perceived that our Redeemer spake as one having authority, and not
as the scribes.
Should the writer of these remarks receive a card of invitation from
the President of these States, or from the Governor of New York, the fact
of its being an invitation guarantees the right to accept or decline without
involving a wrong or a crime in doing either. But should either the President
or Governor, as chief magistrate of the nation or the State, send an authoritative
message to any citizen, summoning him to be or appear at any place, that
message would be clothed with all the authority and power of the magistrate
from whom it issues; but it could not be regarded as an invitation, because
it does not concede to the party to whom it is addressed any right to decline
or disobey its authority.
Will any of our brethren contend that when the God of heaven peremptorily
says to the seed of Israel, “Seek ye my face,” that they have a
right to disobey or regard it only as a mere invitation? If He says to
them, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for
I am God, and there is none else,” does this imply that the people
thus addressed have the same right to decline it as an invitation to obey
it as a sovereign mandate from the throne of God? Since God has commanded
men to look to him for salvation, have they a right to look anywhere else
for that salvation? If there be any authority implied in the address it
destroys the nature of the invitation. Indeed, we cannot, without detraction
from a proper sense of the eternal power and majesty of Jehovah, entertain
the preposterous idea that He deals in invitations to any of His creatures
in heaven, earth or hell. All His words are big with power and high in
authority; He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, and
submits nothing to the volition of any of His creature’s wills. But in
regards to the passages referred to, they bear the impress of His divine
authority; they can none of them be disregarded or disobeyed. The passage
referred to, Isaiah 45:22 is a sovereign command to the seed of Jacob scattered
to the ends of the earth, to look to Him for salvation, because He is God,
and beside Him there is no Savior. All who looked anywhere else, or to
any other being, or to themselves, for salvation, were not only guilty
of disobedience, but also of idolatry.
The passage, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,”
etc. is sufficiently clear and explicit. It is addressed to all who labor
and are heavy laden, and to no others; and whenever and wherever these
words are applied by the Holy Spirit to any poor, laboring, heavy laden
sinner, that sinner will as surely come to Jesus as it is sure that the
dead will rise when the voice of God calls them forth. The dead neither
labor nor are they heavy laden, they slumber unconsciously in their graves;
and all men are dead in sin, and as destitute of spiritual vitality until
they are quickened by the Spirit, as the body of Lazurus was of natural
life before Jesus raised him from the grave. But as soon as a sinner is
quickened by the Holy Ghost he becomes a laborer, and is burdened with
a heavy weight of guilt, and such are called to Jesus and find rest to
their souls in bearing His yoke, which is easy, and His burden, which is
light. To take the yoke of Jesus is to come under His law, to be baptized
in His name and be yoked together in communion and fellowship with His
disciples in all the privileges of the church of God. But are the unregenerated
called to be baptized and identify themselves with the church of God? Philip
did not so understand it when he said to the Eunuch, “If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest.” (Acts 8:37) None but believers
are called or commanded to be baptized and come under the yoke of Jesus,
for they must first be delivered from the yoke of Moses, the yoke of bondage.
In Matthew 20:16, in the conclusion of the parable of the householder
and his hired laborers for his vineyard, Jesus used these words, “So
the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few
chosen.” There was murmuring among some of the disciples; the sons
of Zebedee desired distinguished places in the kingdom and some said, “We
have forsaken all,” etc. “What shall we receive?” The parable
was to rebuke this selfish principle, and to show not only the right of
our Lord to choose from the whole company of His called children whom He
pleased, to labor in His vineyard, but also to reward them equally. Those
who had labored the most or the longest were amply rewarded, but Jesus
chose to make those who had labored least, equal with those who had borne
the heat and toil of the day.
Again in Matthew 22:14, the same words are used at the end of the parable
of the marriage of the king’ son. The application was made to the Jewish
nation, which had been called as the carnal or fleshly descendants of Abraham,
and under the covenant of works. God, by the prophets, had informed them
of the approaching marriage. In the type they were bidden to the marriage,
but in the election of grace they were not the chosen people of God. As
the apostle Paul explains, “For they are not all Israel. which are of
Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:
but, the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Rom. 9:6-8)
Although the whole nation of Israel was called in the type, or shadow of
good things which were to come, how very few of them were found to be included
in the covenant of grace. Esias, also cried concerning Israel, “Though
the number of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.”
(Rom. 9:27) “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
for; but the election [or the few chosen] hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded.” (Rom. 11:7)
We have not time nor space to enlarge on these parables, but it is sufficient
for us to demonstrate that there are none called by grace but the chosen
people of God, whose salvation is fully secured in our Lord Jesus Christ.
“For whom He [God] did foreknow, He also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called;
and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them
He also glorified.” (Rom. 8:29,30) In this calling none but the predestinated
are called, and all who are called are justified and ultimately glorified.
They are saved and called with a holy calling, not according to their works,
but according to His own [God’s own] purpose and grace which was given
them in Christ Jesus before the world began. (II Tim. 1:9) To prove, therefore,
that they are the called according to God’s purpose, is to prove that they
love God; that all things work together for their own good; that they are
predestinated to bear the image of the Son of God; that they are justified
and glorified in Christ. The passages, therefore, which speak of many being
called, do not, nay, they cannot possibly relate to this holy calling in
which Christ, the good shepherd, calls His own sheep by name and leads
them out. For in this calling, the dead shall hear His voice, and they
that hear shall live. (John 5:25) The promise of God is unto “all that
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:39)
The declaration of Christ to the self-righteous Jews that He had not
come to call or save righteous people, but to call sinners to repentance,
does not admit of the construction that He had come to call all the sinners
of Adam’s race to repentance, for millions of them had already left these
mortal shores. The Pharisees upbraided him for associating with publicans
and sinners, and He told them that this was His business in the world,
to save sinners. The whole did not need a physician, nor did the righteous
need one to save and purge them from sin.
The first chapter of Proverbs is also referred to as favoring the doctrine
of invitations, etc. But an examination of the Proverbs of Solomon will
show that Solomon personifies Wisdom; and Wisdom, we are told, is justified
of her children. In a spiritual sense, Christ is the Wisdom of God to His
children. He is of God made unto them wisdom and righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. But wisdom, abstractly considered, is the opposite of folly
and madness. As rational beings, we disobey the maxims or proverbs of wisdom
when we transgress her dictates; and wisdom will laugh at us in our calamities,
into which we foolishly plunge ourselves, and mock us when our fear cometh.
The voice of wisdom is loud in her reproofs when we rush heedlessly into
trouble. But the wisdom of God is only known to those who are made wise
unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
Brethren should be careful to avoid any interpretation of the Scriptures
which will clash with other plain declarations of the inspired word. We
may fail to comprehend or understand some portions of the divine testimony,
but our ignorance will not justify us in forcing interpretations which
must necessarily conflict with the teachings of the word and the Spirit
of the Lord. If our views are right, both the word and the Spirit will
harmonize with our views, but if we entertain opinions or views which the
Scriptures do not so justify, they must be discarded as wrong and pernicious.
Now, in conclusion, we will reiterate to our legally inclined brethren
of the north the appeal which the great apostle to the Gentiles made to
the bewitched Galatians: “This only would I learn of you, Received ye
the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye
so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the
flesh?” (Gal. 3:2,3) Review your own experiences, see if in your own
salvation you only accepted an invitation and availed yourself of it to
secure your acceptance with God, or were you awakened to a sensibility
of your guilt, lost and helpless condition by the irresistible and almighty
power of God? Was it left optional with you to decide whether you would
live or die, when the arrows of the Almighty you were arrested and arraigned
before the bar of eternal justice? Why did you there cry, “Lord, save,
I perish?” Why did you not say, “Lord, I will accept thy invitation.”
MIDDLETOWN, NY
MARCH 1, 1863 |
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