By RALPH ERSKINE.
This extract from Ralph Erskine was sent for publication by Rev. James MacLeod, Greenock, with the following personal note:—
“The following Gospel doctrines from the writings of the Rev. Ralph Erskine are greatly needed to-day: on the one hand to guard against Ultra-Calvinism: and on the other hand to ward off the superstitious teaching of the Modernists. These two extremes are to be opposed, and condemned as contrary to the free, and sovereign invitations of the Gospel to perishing sinners. It is God’s prerogative to elect, and call: it is the divine privilege of the Lords’ servants to invite sinners to Christ. Ralph Erskine was most successful in the Lord’s vineyard in his day, for he preached a full, free, and unequivocal Gospel to perishing sinners. We are all in danger of veering to the right, or left hand. While the erroneous doctrines of the Modernists is to be rejected, and cast out as filthy rags, the restricted Hyper-Calvinism is to be unsparingly, and firmly repudiated as inconsistent with, and contrary to the free offer of the Gospel to sinners; whether the sinner may be a Manasseh king of Judah, or the woman of Samaria, whom the Lord met at the well of Sychar.”—Editor.
1. Its nature.
The nature of the Gospel, properly taken is a promise, a free promise of life and salvation through Christ, as declares our apostle, Gal. iii. 8, “The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed.” What make he the Gospel to be then? Even a free promise, such as that given to Abraham—“In thy seed (i.e., in Christ) shall all nations be blessed.” It is true if we take the Gospel largely for the dispensation of it, we find commands and threatenings both intermixed with this dispensation, to be a fence to the gospel, that people may know their duty as to the improving of it; hence such commands as that, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;” and also their danger in abusing and misimproving it, hence such threatening as that, “he that believeth not shall be damned.” These and the like commands and threatenings intermixed with the gospel dispensation, are a fence to the gospel; the law is thus subservient to it, but the gospel, strictly taken, is neither the command nor the threatening, but it is the thing itself to be believed, namely, the good news of salvation to sinners through Christ, or which is all one, the promise of life to be had in Him. And the reason why we assert this, is not only because the Scripture is plain herein, but also for the honour of God’s law, which is perfect, containing every duty incumbent on us, which it could not be if the gospel taught us some new duty which was not contained in the law; and also for the security of the Gospel, that it may not be adulterated and abused with legal mixtures, to the subversion of the glorious end and design thereof, which is to manifest the righteousness of God without the law, Rom. iii. 21. If the Gospel were a new law, with new precepts and sanctions, besides that law which Christ came to fulfil in our room, then it behoved to be a new covenant of works, and there behoved to be a new righteousness corresponding to that law, besides the righteousness of Christ, for our justification; and how dangerous and destructive this is to the nature of the Gospel, is evident from delusions of some, that hereupon make the act of believing in obedience to the new command, to be our justifying righteousness before God; in opposition to which, our excellent standards, the Confession of Faith and Catechisms, exclude the very act of believing, as well as the fruits of faith, from the matter of our justification before God, and that for a good reason, because we are not justified by the works of the law, among which faith itself is, because it is our act, even through grace; yea, they who make the Gospel a new law, cannot evite (evade) the darkening and perverting the Gospel, even though they should seem to befriend it, Gal. i. 6, 7. The gospel should be valued and prized, for all the saving good that is done to the soul is by the gospel.
The law, rightly used, is the means of conviction, Rom. iii. 20. “By the law is the knowledge of sin;” so as a man may see his need of Christ; also the law as a rule, rightly applied, is for the direction of our path in the way of holiness, when once we are got into Christ; but it is the gospel that converts a man, and brings him to fellowship to God in Christ; it is the preaching of the Gospel that hath converted all the converts that ever were to this day. It is true, the preaching that is all gospel may yet do no good, if it come only in word; but so it is, that when converting power comes it comes by the Gospel. It is true also, that the preaching that has much dross, a legal mixture, and but little gospel in it, may perhaps be the instrument of conversion; but so it is, it is the gospel part of it that does the saving good. It is not the Gospel in itself, but Christ revealed therein, that heals the sinner. It is like the serpent lifted up on the pole in the wilderness, the pole did not heal, but the serpent on the pole, that healed the sting; but the pole held it up to be seen; even so, it is not the pole of the Gospel that heals, but Christ lifted up on the pole.
It is Christ that is to be received, but He is received as offered in the Gospel, and the Gospel holds out Christ to the eye of faith; it is with respect to Christ what the pole was with respect to the serpent. Many think of the Gospel as it were a new law, wherein God stands upon some easier terms with us than in the covenant of works, thus confounding law and Gospel. Indeed, if we speak of law terms upon which our salvation stands, they are no easier than ever they were; a perfection righteousness is the only condition of salvation; and we having that not in ourselves, the Gospel offers it in Christ, and there is the ground of our eternal salvation; but if we speak of the Gospel terms, we need not say you must come up to them, but rather, “Come down Zaccheus, for this day salvation is come to thine house,” and indeed faith, which belongs to the method and order of applying the Gospel, is a coming down from all our legal hopes of salvation for something to be done by us, in order to our being obliged to another, even Christ for all.
2. The ground of the Gospel-offer and call.
To this I answer only in the general; it is only upon free grace, sovereign grace in Christ crucified, and hence the Gospel is called, Tit. ii. 12, “The grace of God that has appeared unto all men,” or as in the margin, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men;” it brings the offer of Christ, and salvation to all men to whom the Gospel comes; and it is grace that does it, without any consideration of any condition or qualification in us. Sovereign grace is a thing that can neither be promoted by our goodness, or hindered by our badness. Free grace that makes the offer, looks neither to the worthiness or unworthiness of the receiver, neither to his merit or demerit, neither to the merits of his virtues nor to the demerit of his vice.
3. The freedom of Gospel-offers.
The offer is universal to all that hear the Gospel. Let the Arminians maintain at their peril their universal redemption, but we must maintain at our peril the universal offer. Necessity is laid upon us, and woe unto us if preach not the Gospel to every creature. Christ is so far given to all the people that hear the Gospel, that it is warrantable for them to receive the gift: it is no presumption for them to take what God gives, they shall not be guilty of vicious intromission in so doing, nay, they shall be guilty, they shall be condemned, if they believe not, and take not God’s gift. It is true, reprobates will exclude themselves, but this Gospel does not exclude them; they have as fair a revealed warrant to believe as the elect have. We cannot say that you are an elect man, or you are an elect woman, therefore believe; we have no such commission. Nay God by His Gospel casts the covenant in among all the people saying whosoever will, let him take, whosoever pleases, let him take, and in taking he shall have a proof of his being an elect vessel. We may say to you, Gentiles, the promise is to you and to your children. I must tell you, it is by the free universal call given to all the people to whom the Gospel comes, it is by this God gathers all His chosen in Christ.
Some will offer Christ on such and such terms saying, “you must be so and so humbled, and so and so penitent, before Christ can be offered to you,” so that a man that finds himself a lost sinful, unhumbled, impenitent, wretched creature, can never come to their hand, or meddle with what they offer; just like a man holding out a cup of excellent wine to his friend, and offering him a drink, but in the meantime he has made the wine scalding hot upon a fire, so as the man to whom it is offered dare not touch it with his lips; even so many offer Christ, and hold forth the cup of salvation to the people, but they heat their gospel-liquor, as it were upon the fire of the law, I mean with so many legal terms, conditions, and qualifications, that the poor soul finds himself a lost sinner, every way sinful, destitute of all good qualifications, dare not to come near, and thinks he ought not to come near with his lips to taste it.
We need be at no pains to hinder sinners from coming to Christ to receive the offer, for they are unwilling enough of themselves. Besides that, they never will have a good qualification till they come to Him and receive Him, and all good in Him, all grace and glory, all holiness, and happiness. The Lord Jesus is offering Himself and all His grace to you, saying, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that has no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Now, you may notice here, that this thirsting was no desirable quality, it was a thirsting for that which did not satisfy, and a labour for that which was not bread; and yet they are invited to come to Him, as one that has a variety of supply, water to refresh, milk to nourish, wine to cherish, and all offered freely, without money and without price. So that here, even those that are thirsting after their lusts, and after the world and unsatisfying vanities, are called. To enlarge on this, it is as if Christ should say, Ho, every guilty sinner come to me for pardon. Ho, every filthy sinner, come to me for cleansing, my blood cleaneth from all sin. Ho, every naked sinner, come to me for a robe of righteousness to cover you.
Ho, every needy sinner, come to me for supply out of my infinite fulness. Ho, every faithless unbelieving sinner, come to me as the Author of faith, that I may give you faith, and help your belief and then increase your faith. Ho, every impenitent hard-hearted sinner, come to me as a Prince exalted by the right hand of God, to give repentance, to give you the heart of flesh promised in the covenant. Ho, every great sinner, come to me for the great salvation, from your great sins, and from God’s great wrath.
Ho, every graceless sinner, come to me for grace and glory and eternal life. The glorious gospel is much clouded at this day (1720) with legal terms, conditions, and qualifications. If my doctrine (Christ is the covenant given to the people) were upon condition that you did so and so, that you believe, repent, and mourn, and pray, and obey and the like, then you shall have the favour of God, I dare not for my life say this is the Gospel; but the Gospel that I wish to preach is, will you have a Christ, to work faith, repentance, love, and all good in you, and to stand between you and the sword of divine wrath? Here there is no room to object that you are not qualified, because you are such a hardened, unhumbled, blind, and stupid wretch; for the question is not, will you remove these evils, and then come to Christ? But, will you have a Christ to remove them for you? It is because you are plagued with these diseases, that I call you to the Physician, that He may heal them. Are you qualified for hell and damnation? And have you much mischief and misery about you? Why, there need be no better qualifications for you to come to Christ. We indeed would have some good qualifications in those whom we invite to a communion table; they should be humble, believing, penitent people, because it is presupposed, that they have come to Christ and received some good out of His hand. But when I call you to come to Christ, I seek no good qualification of you at all, prior to your coming to Him; but that you come with all your black and hellish qualifications, that He might take them away, and put some good qualifications upon you. So whatever bad things be about you, it should rather be an argument for your coming, than an hindrance of your coming to Him; for never, never will you get your ills mended till you come to Him to do it for you.”