SERMON XXI.

THE UNIVERSAL CALLS AND INVITATIONS OF THE GOSPEL CONSISTENT WITH THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF MAN, AND PARTICULAR REDEMPTION.

BY THE REV. JOHN BONAR, LARBERT.

Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.”—PROV. viii. 4, 5.

THESE are the words of Christ. They are the words of Christ to men in general-to all men-" to the sons of MAN." They are the words of Christ to all men-to every child of Adam, "To hear and to be of an understanding heart."

Now, we lay it down as part of Divine truth, that all men are by nature dead in sin, and utterly impotent to spiritual good; and we lay it down as equally part of revealed truth, that Christ has a people-that he died for their redemption-and that their being brought out of their state of sin and misery into a state of salvation, is the direct fruit of his suffering in their room and stead.

If these things be so, if all men are dead in trespasses and sins, and yet all men are called-if Christ died for his people, to redeem them to God, and yet salvation is offered to all-it follows necessarily that an obligation to spiritual duty is not inconsistent with total spiritual inability, and that a universal offer neither rests upon nor implies a universal atonement. Many think otherwise, and many who do not, are yet greatly perplexed by what such advance. On both of these points, therefore, we would now make a few observations, and having thus sought to clear the way to the full impression which the text should make, we would endeavour to do the thing which it expresses, and call all men everywhere now to repentance.

I. First, then, let us consider the call of the text to spiritual duty, as addressed to men-to all men-" to the sons of man."

Nothing more is required to vindicate this way of dealing with men, and to show that it is consistent with the highest wisdom, than that, as means, these calls should, in their own nature, be fitted to produce a right state of mind, and that they should be addressed to beings who, in their nature, ought to be moved by such calls. But many cannot be satisfied with this. In the pride of their heart they say, God could not No. 21.--SER. 21.

call unless man could comply-nay, that it would be unjust in God to exhort, call, and urge, to what man had yet to get the help of God to do; and, increasing in boldness as they advance in this course, they ask, whether it be not a mockery, unworthy of God, to call dead men to walk, and impotent to rise, and all to do what He knows no man can do without His special grace given to them?

Now, if the inability of man was the inability of "natural brute beasts," as the apostle Peter speaks, and the call a call to the service of rational creatures-or if the inability was the inability of men, and the call a call to such to yield to God the service of angels or of archangels --or if the inability was the physical inability of a lame man to walk, and the call that he should rise and walk-though we would wish, even then, to speak with more reverence-there would be more weight in the vaunting words of these objections. But if the inability be the voluntary act of an intelligent being preferring the darkness to the light—if the inability be the inability of such a being to love his God, not with the love of an angel, but with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his strength-if the inability be that of a being who walks after the flesh, because he minds the things of the flesh, and not of the spirit-if the inability be that of a man who cannot find it in his heart to love and to serve the blessed God, and can find it in that very heart to give that love and service to the creature-then there is neither truth nor power in such statements, however vauntingly put forth as unanswerable.

And this is the real state of man. There is utter inability in him to spiritual duty, but it is just because sin is preferred. This inability is hopeless, but it is just because this is the governing power of the mind. There is utter helplessness in man, but this is just because this power will always prevail, if help does not come from God; and there is in all this the deepest and darkest depravity, and that surely can never remove man from his obligation to serve God, or take away God's right to deal with man as a responsible being.

Such being the true nature of man's inability, it is evident that every hour of continuance in it is an hour of chosen rebellion, and, therefore, of deepest sin; and such being the true characteristics which every hour presents to God, there is no inconsistency in God demanding obedience, and no injustice in his punishing those who are not subject to his law, neither, indeed, can be; and no mockery in his calling these men to turn from their sins.

That this is indeed the case will farther appear, if we consider the following plain truths, to which, as helping to a right judgment of the matter before us, we earnestly entreat your attention.

And, first of all, we would say, however startling it may appear at

first sight, that God can command what men are utterly unable to fulfil -else, men must be able to keep the whole law of God in thought and word indeed, for God beyond all question does command this-else God could not command anything whatever which man could not performelse God's right of sovereignty would be measured by man's willingness to comply with it, and God's moral government over the wicked would be at an end. Secondly, we would say, God can blame and punish man for not doing what yet he CANNOT do-else the more depraved man became, the less blameable he would become; for, if total inability be a complete excuse, partial inability is a partial excuse; and thus the more a man's heart is set in him to do evil, the less blameable he would become; the more thoroughly hardened a man became, the less responsible he would be. Thirdly, we would say, God can demand what man can do only by the aid of his Spirit-else that which the Spirit of God works must be something which man, as the creature of God, is not bound to possess; for if the Spirit only works in me, what is at that moment, and at every moment, my duty as a creature in such circumstances to be and to do-and the Spirit of God does this and nothing more- -it must still be my duty to be in that state whether the help of the Spirit of God be sought or refused. In this case, as in every other case of a moral nature, my want is my wickedness-my weakness is my condemnation. Fourthly, we would say, God cannot demand less of man-cannot demand other of man, than what his Spirit alone can work in the soul; for God cannot demand other than spiritual service-God is a spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth-God looketh on the heart, and any other service offered to him is a mockery-God is truth, and the Father seeketh such to worship him as worship him in spirit and in truth. And, fifthly, therefore, we would say, God can and does demand of man, and cannot but demand of man-of sinful man—of man lost, undone, and dead—of man without strength, and utterly impotent-repentance and conversion; for, what is conversion, but,just the right state of such a creature towards the blessed God? What is the meaning of me not being able to convert myself, but just that I am so utterly depraved that I cannot love the ever blessed God, and do love the sin which he hates; and what is this but darkest and deepest sin? And what is repentance, but just that state which I cannot be without, for a moment, without in that moment involving myself in deeper rebellion, and contracting to my soul new guilt.

But still it may be said, if in any way man is so impotent and utterly unable, without special grace, to comply with the call of God, why should God use this way of dealing with him-why multiply, as the word of God does, calls, and exhortations, and warnings-why press him to turn

and live to make to himself a new heart-to repent and be converted? To this we answer generally, that such calls certainly do not imply an innate power of compliance, any more than the law being given implies an innate power of fulfilment—that the one and the other implies only that that state of mind to which these call men is the right state of mind which they should have toward God, and that this state of mind, therefore, God must claim, and claim every moment. But, along with this, such calls and invitations serve the most important purposes, some of which we shall merely state.

1st, They show us our duty and obligation-duty which lies on us at every moment-duty from which nothing can set us free. This is the great design of all the calls of God to the sons of men. They set forth, not man's power, but God's claim--not what we are able to do, but what we ought to do--not our ability, but our duty.

2d, These calls of God show the connection betwixt the state to which we are called, and the enjoyment of the blessing promised. There is a connection of co-existence, though not of cause and effect, and it is of vast importance to hold this constantly before us. As certainly as without Christ there is no salvation, so certainly without a personal union to Christ there shall be no salvation to us. As certainly as without shedding of blood there is no remission, so certainly without our washing in that blood shed, there will be no participation, and hence the gracious, and constant, and urgent call to "take" and live.

3d, These calls point out and hold before us what must be accomplished in us, if ever we be saved. They shew us what we are perishing for lack of,-what, if it be never found in us, we shall never see life; and what, if it is found in us, will certainly write us among the heirs of salvation.

man.

4th, These calls are all designed, intended, and most blessedly fitted, to shut us up to the faith now revealed—to the only way of life for fallen In the gracious procedure of God, what is required as duty is promised as grace; what He demands from us, He promises to work in us; and the demand is not to show us our strength, but to shut us up to his promise.

5th, These calls and exhortations are intended to shew us what we ought to pray for. Some have found out that men ought not always to pray. They have found out that, as we cannot pray without faith, so we should not pray till we know that we have faith; and instead of being on their knees crying to God, have learned to argue on the uselessness and impossibility of unconverted men praying. We enter into no controversy, but we do know that one at least who was unconverted-who was in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity--was directed to pray, and

that by infallible authority. "Pray God," said Peter to Simon, even when he perceived that he had neither part nor lot in the matter-"if peradventure the thought of thy heart be forgiven thee." Doubtless he that cometh unto God, must believe that he is--doubtless he that cometh acceptably, must come in the new and living way; but, without fixing ought about precedence in things which, when they exist, brook neither the order nor the bounds which men would set, we would say that it is at once the duty and privilege of every soul to cry to God, and these calls, exhortations, and warnings teach them what they ought to pray for, and how they ought to ask it.

And, finally, and above all, these pressing and urgent calls are designed by him who knoweth all that is in the heart of man, and how he clings to refuges of lies, to shut us out of all so-called neutral ground in spiritual things, and to shut us up to that in which all our safety lies, even the present and instant reception of Christ and conversion to God. The great delusion of men in general is, that they are doing something for their souls-that they are from time to time taking a step in advance, and that the path in which they are, will at length wind its way to salvation. The great anxiety of men is to get something to do, in the mean time, which may bear the look of religion, and yet let them alone to pursue their own course. It ministers to this delusion if you advise to read, as if, while reading, they might rest without an interest in Christ. Or if you advise to pray, as if, while praying, they may be satisfied without receiving. Or if you advise to seek, as if, while seeking, there was a degree of safety without finding. It meets this delusion, and there is no other way of meeting it, to leave no resting-place in all the accursed field of nature -to tell all men plainly that there are and can be no mean times with God -to say at once God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ and repentance unto life, and thus to shut men up to that wherein safety can alone be found.

Yes! what God requires-what he cannot but require, if compliance with his requirement is to include salvation, is conversion, saving faith, repentance unto life. Till this is done, nothing is done. Till Christ be received, death reigns. If you live on, separate from Christ, you but add sin to sin, and therefore treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. If you die in that state, you perish for ever, notwithstanding all your anxieties. If you pray and yet keep back your heart from God, you sin. If you worship, while yet you refuse to give yourself to the Lord, your very worship is mockery-all, all is sin, and danger; and death, till you return to the Lord-till you yield yourself to him-till you repent and be converted. O most blessed day, when the sinner feels this