AN INVITATION TO THE GOSPEL FEAST.

“Come; for all things are now ready.” Luke, xiv. 17.

The parable, from whence I have selected the text, resembles, in its general import, that recorded in Mat. xxii. 2–10. The design of our Lord, in both, is, to represent, under the similitude of a sumptuous feast, the rich provision, which he hath made for his people in the covenant of redemption;—the suitableness of that provision to all the effects and consequences of our fall;—the medium of its conveyance, the divine person and glorious salvation of the Son of God;—the extensive and merciful invitation, given in the gospel to participate of its rich blessings;—and the different reception, which that gospel meets with from the men of the world; some treating it with indifference and scorn, and others, through grace, embracing it as the most acceptable message, that ever addressed the ears of mortals, and as the most invaluable gift, that God could bestow, or sinners receive.

These are the principal topics illustrated in both parables: the analogy, beauty, and important tendency of which must strike the mind of any person, whose eyes have been opened to see the worth of his soul, and the method by which its guilt is to be expiated and its pollutions cleansed; who is athirst for truth, and longs to experience that happiness, which only they feel, who know Christ and him crucified: by such an one, the blessings exhibited in the parable will be considered as the most gracious vouchsafement of Heaven; and the call given in the text, as infinitely superior in importance, to that which would invite the most indigent beggar to the table of plenty and munificence, or raise a fettered captive from the terrors of a dungeon to the splendor of a throne.

Though the parable, when delivered by our Lord, had a more immediate reference to the state of the Jews; yet, as Providence hath distinguished us by a similar greatness of religious privileges; and to abuse and slight these favors is a characteristic of our guilt, as it was of theirs; since, whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning; and it is a matter that involves in it consequences of the most serious nature, whether we receive or reject that greatest of all the favors of Providence, the GOSPEL of the blessed God; I shall take occasion to enforce the important invitation in the text, by considering: I. The nature of the provision to which sinners are invited: II. The extent and freeness of the invitation itself: III. The grand argument to excite obedience to the invitation, viz. “All things are ready.”

1. As to the nature of the provision to which sinners are invited, it is represented under the similitude of a feast; prepared in the counsels of the Trinity before all worlds, and exhibited in the fulness of time, when Messiah, the bread of life, came down from heaven, and “gave himself a ransom for many.” A feast, where all is of God’s providing; and in which, although the entertainment cost an immense sum, and infinitely surpasseth all the delicacies of nature, yet all is offered “without money and without price.” Isa. lv. 1. A great feast, because of the dignity of him who prepared it, the rich provision made in it by the hand of munificent grace, and the multitudes that in all ages have been fed from this exhaustless store. It is called in the context a supper; and the period in which the invitation was given is called supper-time; perhaps in allusion to the period of our Lord’s incarnation, and of the promulgation of the gospel, which happened in the eve of time, and is therefore styled by prophets and apostles “the last days,” Acts, ii. 17. Heb. i. 2, or last dispensation: not, that the blessings of redemption were confined to that period, or commenced only with the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. Abraham rejoiced to see his day; and he saw it, and was glad. John, viii. 56. And the gospel was preached to him, when Jehovah said, “In thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed.” Gal. iii. 8. The promise made to our first parents after the fall was a virtual exhibition of the gospel feast; and the whole economy of Moses, with all its rites, types, and oblations, but “a shadow of good things to come,” of which Christ is the substance. Heb. x. 1. Israel in the wilderness “ate the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For, they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them: and that rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. x. 3, 4. The prophets were raised up at different periods, to unfold the blessings contained in the original promise to preach Christ, and predict his “sufferings and the glory that was to follow.” For, “to him give all the prophets witness,” Acts, x. 43: so that, from the beginning of time, in the family of Adam, the days of the patriarchs, and prophets, and the dispensation of Moses, the same truth was revealed that afterwards shone forth with superior lustre under the gospel dispensation; and believers then feasted by faith on that Paschal Lamb, that was at last actually offered up to take away the sin of the world. But it was not till after a period of four thousand years had elapsed, that the longings of the church of God were indulged with that “feast of fat things,” Isa. xxv. 6, now exhibited in the gospel. As there is but one sun to illuminate both hemispheres, and his rays are sent forth in all directions; so there is but one Sun of Righteousness to both dispensations; and both are illuminated, though with different degrees of irradiation; the light vouchsafed to the church before the coming of Christ, resembling that of the “morning spread upon the mountains;” the evangelical light, like the sun in his meridian brightness. Yet, as the church is one, so is the sun that illuminates her; and that sun is the Lord our righteousness.

Some, guided in their interpretation of scripture, more by sound than by sense, and by the analogy of faith, have supposed, that the feast in the text, to which sinners are invited, is the sacrament of the Lord’s supper; and they have added one fatal mistake to another, by assuming from hence a false authority of giving unlimited and pressing invitations to sinners to approach that sacred ordinance; as if, because, when the bread and wine are prepared for the celebration of it, “and all things” in that sense “are ready,” therefore every man, who receives the invitation, ought to “come.” Without enlarging here on the extreme folly and danger of pressing men to come to the sacrament, before they have by faith come to Christ; I cannot help observing, that the scripture before us affords no room to justify their conduct, or to countenance the absurd comment, on which the temerity of it is founded. Not to say, that the parable looks back to a period long before the sacrament was instituted, and that the extensive invitation before us is absolutely incompatible with the state of communicants in general; it is sufficient to refute the interpretation imposed on the text only to observe, that a parable cannot delineate an ordinance consisting of outward symbols; since this would be to make one set of external images and metaphors explanatory of another; and even to make the latter, the thing signified, when it is itself but a sign. The nature of a parable, and that of a sacrament, may agree in delineating one subject common to both; but they cannot mutually represent each other. Thus, the sacrament of the Lord’s supper is a feast, but it is only so as being in its elements a representation of the body and blood of Christ. These are the “inward part and thing signified.” But to those who receive the sign, without acting faith on the thing signified, the sacrament becomes no feast at all: they have no life or enjoyment in it; and through their unbelief it turns eventually into poison instead of food. So that what is the inward spiritual substance of that institution, constitutes also the divine realities couched under the metaphors in the parable. The supper in both is, Jesus crucified for sinners, with all the riches of his atonement and dying love; on which the soul of a believer feeds, as its richest repast.

This reasoning is further strengthened by the consideration, that in the corresponding parable in Mat. xxii. the kingdom of heaven is said to be like unto a man making a great supper or a wedding for his son. Now, the kingdom of heaven never signifies a sacrament; but is used, when occurring in parables, to represent the spiritual kingdom of the Messiah; or, the manner in which he conducts the affairs of his church at large, with respect to the dispensation of the gospel, and the influence of his grace. And this observation leads us of course to examine one most striking circumstance introduced by St. Matthew into the correspondent parable, as stated by him; which is, that the feast was made upon occasion of “a marriage which a king made for his son.” [138] The marriage is the union between Christ and his church, which he espoused to himself from all eternity in “the counsel of peace which was between” the Father and him. Ephes. v. 32. Zech. vi. 13. He agreed to be the church’s bridegroom; to take her into covenant relation, and into a most sublime and intimate union with himself. He stipulated to purchase her with his blood; and to transfer, as a dowry richer than heaven and earth, the glorious righteousness which he was to bring in by his life and death; together with all the personal excellencies and divine perfections, which make him the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely. The day of his nativity was the day of his espousals; and the hour of his death, the important hour of her redemption. Each ransomed sinner in his regeneration exemplifies this spiritual marriage; and Christ does that actually in time, as fast as his redeemed are called, which he did decretively before the foundation of the world. And when all the purposes of his grace shall be finished, and “the number of his elect accomplished,” then shall the grand and final solemnization of the nuptials between the heavenly bridegroom and his church take place; and heaven and earth shall sing, “Let us be glad and rejoice: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Wife hath made herself ready.” Rev. xix. 7.

It is, from hence, easy to perceive, that the high entertainment provided for sinners, elected, redeemed, regenerated, and united to Christ, is, the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, of which he is the messenger and the mediator; the conditions whereof were fulfilled by his perfect obedience and meritorious death and passion; and all the blessings comprehended in which, are as sure as the stipulation of the glorious Trinity, the inviolable oath and promises of Jehovah, and the redemption of Christ Jesus, could possibly make them. This gracious covenant is the eternal charter of all their privileges; and is, therefore, all their desire and all their salvation. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. They consider it as incapable of being ever invalidated by the requisitions of law or justice, the accusations of Satan, or the demerit of the foulest iniquity. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth: Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.” Rom. viii. 33, 34. They behold the contents of this mysterious volume unfolded in the person of the Mediator—for, none in heaven or in earth was found worthy so much as to look upon, much less to open, the book with seven seals, but himself, Rev. v. 3,—and they see, with rapture, its glorious ratification by his testamentary death. Herein they read, not only their exemption from guilt, but also their well-grounded title to everlasting glory, through the imputed righteousness of God manifest in the flesh. O what a rich feast is this covenant to him who “takes hold” of it by faith, Isa. lvi. 4, to save him from sinking in the gulf of perdition, and to secure his everlasting salvation! With such a hold, he stands the shock of earth and hell, maintains his ground amidst ten thousand difficulties and dangers; sees his enemies all under his feet; sings in the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord; and, “although the fig-tree should not blossom, or fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive should fail, and the fields should yield no meat, the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there should be no herd in the stall: yet,” participating of such a banquet, and standing upon such a rock, he “rejoices in the Lord, and joys in the God of his salvation.” Hab. iii. 17, 18.The covenant agreed upon between the persons of the Trinity, is the feast prepared: the covenant revealed, is that feast exhibited. But, O what a mysterious and gracious exhibition! Behold it in the person, in the obedience, and death, of the Prince of Peace! in that profound mystery, “God reconciling the world unto himself, by bearing their sins in his own body on the tree,” and putting himself in our law-place, to endure the dreadful curse and wrath of Jehovah! 2 Cor. v. 19. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Gal. iii. 13. When the Jews asked, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus answered, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” John, vi. 52, 53. His flesh and blood are the life, the feast, the salvation of sinners. The rending of the one, and the effusion of the other, constituted that great propitiation, by which sin is fully expiated, and inexorable justice completely satisfied. Remission of sins, peace with God, and peace in the conscience, all spring from this mysterious source. When the eye of reason, blinded by unbelief, views the Saviour in his humiliation, his poverty, his sorrows, his death; it sees no form nor comeliness in him, to make him an object of desire or attraction; pride abhors the sight, and self-righteousness turns away with disgust. But in that man of sorrows, covered with blood, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the accursed tree, the believer beholds the most glorious and beauteous object in the whole universe of God; because he considers and trusts in him as that great sacrifice, in the offering up of which all the perfections of Deity shine forth in the most stupendous exhibition. Faith beholds ten thousand charms in a dying Christ, that captivate the heart, and fill it with love and amazement. The beauty and glory of all creation are eclipsed by the superior excellence of this bleeding Prince of Peace. “The chief among ten thousand, the altogether lovely,” are the favorite epithets, by which the enraptured soul speaks its love and admiration of Jesus: and “WHAT SHALL I RENDER?” is the astonished question it utters for a gift so great. What faith sees, and admires, it feasts upon. The flesh of Jesus is meat indeed, and his blood, drink indeed, John, vi. 55, when that appropriating grace is in lively exercise. Hence, every thing that belongs to the crucified Jesus, becomes a feast, for food and delight, for strength and refreshment. His blood and righteousness, his offices, and relations to his people; his several titles that characterize his compassion, and delineate his affection towards them; afford so many inexhaustible themes for delightful meditation; by which the souls of the weary are satiated, and the conscience of the burdened sinner calmed, and set at liberty. His agony and bloody sweat, his cross and passion, are healing springs, from whence ten thousand salutary streams of life, peace, and salvation, flow.

A wond’rous feast his love prepares,
Bought with his blood, his groans, and tears!

Hence, the promises are a feast, because they are all sealed with his blood; and the gospel is a feast, because it publishes a free and complete salvation through his name;—that dear name, which, “like ointment poured forth,” diffuses an exquisite fragrance throughout all the promises, and communicates a preciousness to the gospel, which makes it a rich savor of life unto life. And, when in that sacrament, which, by sacred and significant symbols, exhibits his dying love, the soul is enabled to eat the bread of life, and drink that stream that gushes from the smitten Rock, 1 Cor. x. 4; it then joins issue with the experience of the church in the Song of Solomon, “He brought me into the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love.” Solomon’s Song, ii. 4.

As the provision, which God hath been pleased to lay up in the covenant of grace, and the redemption of his Son, is calculated to communicate entertainment infinitely more exalted and refined, than what can be derived from the highest gratification of the senses; it follows, that the feast we are considering, is of a spiritual nature: it is a feast for the soul, that nobler part of us, which constitutes our real selves, and in which are lodged the quickest perceptions and most permanent susceptibility of pleasure. For, as the soul, in the extent of its desires, the capacious powers of its exertion, and the resources of its enjoyments, surpasses, in so great a degree, that earthly vehicle in which it dwells, and by an union with which its immortal vigor is so much repressed and circumscribed; so are the pleasures of the mind capable of being proportionably more pure, more lasting, more refined, and more sublime. But, as the senses are so intimately connected with the rational faculties, and form those inlets by which various pleasing sensations are conveyed to the soul; hence the enjoyments of the latter are called, in scripture, by those very terms which describe the exertions and distinguish the nature of the former. Thus believers are said, “to taste and see that the Lord is good,” Psal. xxxiv. 8; to “handle the word of life,” 1 John, i. 1; to “drink the river of pleasures,” Psal. xxvi. 8; and to “eat the bread of life.” And those objects in creation which strike the senses with the most exquisite delight, or are best calculated to convey strength and nutriment to animal nature, are selected, by the inspired writers, as symbols of those resources, from whence the rich variety of a Christian’s pleasures are derived. The blessings of redemption are compared by the prophet to wine and milk. Isa. lv. 1. This, the most nutritive—that, the most exhilarating—liquid in nature. The delicious droppings of the honey-comb were inferior in sweetness, in the opinion of David, to the word of God; and even “the most fine gold” had, in his estimation, no value, when weighed in the balance with that sacred treasure. What object in nature is so celebrated as the rose, for its fragrance? the lily of the vallies, for beauty? and the sun, for grandeur and utility? Yet, the pleasure, which the senses imbibe from the splendor of the one, or the perfumes of the other, is languid and transient, compared with the superior satisfaction which the enlightened soul feels, when contemplating the amiable perfections of that Redeemer, who was white in immaculate innocence as the lily; who, as the rose of Sharon, blushed in blood; whose sacrifice sends up an odor before the throne of God, that perfumes the heavens and the earth with the sweetest incense; and who as the Sun of Righteousness, risen with healing in his wings, irradiates and cheers a world, naturally sunk in misery and sin.

From hence it follows, that there is a divine reality in true religion, of which the soul of a Christian is as sensible, as when the eye beholds a beauteous object; the mouth tastes delicious food; or the ear is charmed with harmonious sounds. To dispute or deny this, would be to rob Christianity of its essence, the gospel of its power, Christ of his preciousness, and the soul of its heaven upon earth; and to place the sordid gratifications of the epicure and the brute upon a level with the enjoyments of a Christian living in happy communion with his God, exulting in a sense of his favor, and anticipating the prospect of everlasting felicity. But what pleasure is comparable, then, with that of all the faculties of the mind, engaged in intercourse with a reconciled God? The understanding is feasted with views of the unsearchable riches of Christ. The will is captivated with sweet complacency in the plan of salvation through him. The affections banquet on the sense of pardoning love. And the memory is a repository of ten thousand sacred sweets, collected from that bed of roses, the scriptures of truth, and treasured up there, for the purpose of feeding and regaling each spiritual sense. Thus is the whole soul feasted. And this is the feast of saints on earth; and this, the banquet of the skies.

But, what endears the provision, and the God of all grace, who made it, is; that it is a feast for sinners—for sinners of the race of Adam—for the poor, the wretched, the guilty, and the undone—for those, who have nothing to pay, nothing to plead, and nothing to bring but misery and sin. And this leads me to consider,

II. The extent and freeness of the invitation itself.

We are here carefully to distinguish the general invitation of a preached gospel from the inward and effectual call of the Holy Spirit: because, though in the salvation of individuals they always co-operate, yet experience demonstrates, that, in innumerable instances, the influences of the latter do not necessarily and invariably attend the promulgation of the former. If they did, what multitudes would be saved! Yet, that sinners may be left without excuse for their obstinacy and unbelief, the ministers of Christ are authorized to “preach the gospel to every creature;” Mark, xvi. 15; and to give a general call, to all that have ears to hear, to come to the gospel feast. And, whatever some may argue to the contrary, who affect to be “wise above that which is written,” and who indulge themselves in a sort of mischievous refinement on the system of evangelical truth; yet it is evident, as well from the blessings which have particularly distinguished the ministrations of those, who give a general call, as from the fact recorded in the parable, of multitudes having been actually invited, who made light of the invitation; that the ministers of Christ are warranted to “set life and death before all,” and to beseech them to “choose life, that they may live;” Deut. xxx. 15; yea, to exhort even a Simon Magus to “pray God, if haply the sin of his heart may be forgiven,” though previously in “the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity.” Acts, viii. 22. Yet they know that the power to “choose life,” to “pray with the spirit,” and the blessing of forgiveness, are all of God; that none can “come to Christ except the Father draw him;” John, vi. 44; and that a putrid corpse in the grave could as soon raise itself to life, or the “dry bones,” Ezek. xxxvii. 1–4, in Ezekiel’s vision, form themselves, by their own power, into an army of living men, as sinners “dead in sin,” Ephes. ii. 1, can, without a divine agency, obey the invitation of the gospel. But, knowing that to obey, and not to reason against the divine command, is the duty of ministers; satisfied that secret things belong unto the Lord, who reserves the knowledge of the human heart, and the distribution of his own favors, to himself; and being persuaded that God can make the breath of life accompany the breath of men, for the purpose of “quickening whom he will,” John, v. 21, they, therefore, in imitation of the prophet, who cried out, “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!” say to sinners in general, “Come; for all things are now ready.”

Besides, the gospel furnishes us with arguments so forcible, and contains in itself motives so constraining, as to warrant and encourage an address to all, as rational creatures. These arguments and these motives are principally reducible to this one, that “God commendeth his love towards us, in that when we were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us.” Rom. v. 8. And, as all are in that predicament, it is upon a presupposition of that humiliating truth, and the suitableness of a proportionate remedy, that I proceed to urge the gospel invitation upon all present, and to recommend the great provision of the covenant, because it exhibits a feast for sinners. This is the leading motive.

1. Had man retained his primeval innocence; to delight himself in God as his supreme portion, and to feast the powers of his soul in contemplating his glorious perfections; would have been an employ as easy as it would have been pleasant. In that case, the creatures would have been considered as so many streams leading up to one common fountain of goodness and blessedness; while the wisdom, power, and benignity, which they displayed, would have afforded to the mind an exhaustless fund of love, and praise, and wonder, through everlasting ages. But he sinned; and by sin was cut off from the fountain of his happiness. The crown of honor fell from his head; and the moral image of God, in which he had been created, was lost. So that whatever delight he may have once experienced, in a contemplation of the nature, works, and attributes of Deity; it must have all ceased in the moment of his transgression. He could not, in his fallen state, have derived any comfort from a view of perfections, that bore the tremendous aspect towards him as a rebel against his Maker. But here grace interposed. The guilty fugitive is called back from his apostacy, and invited to a scene, where he beholds all Heaven’s attributes receiving their respective claims, and all harmonizing together for the purpose of his salvation. Even stern justice itself advances to plead the sinner’s cause; and, in sweet concert with truth and mercy, to shower blessings on his guilty head. It points to Calvary; there shews its vindictive sword lying at the foot of the cross, reeking with the blood of the slaughtered Lamb; and cries with a loud voice, “Deliver him from going down to the pit; for I have found a ransom.” Job, xxxiii. 24. Thus justice infinite, joins to spread the most delicious part of the gospel repast; because it is written, “God is just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.” Rom. iii. 26. And, though this part of the feast may be particularly disgustful to the disciple of Sozo, [151] who tramples under foot the blood of the covenant, by denying its atoning virtue, and the Deity of him who shed it; though it may be thought unworthy the notice of the proud Sceptic, who employs his philosophic wit to ridicule what he does not understand; or, though the Pharisee should be so enamored with his dear idol, Self, as to fly from a truth that aims at pulling the dagon of self-righteousness down to the ground; yet to one, who hath felt himself a sinner, and hath been made to dread the requisitions of God’s justice as a bar to preclude the claims of mercy, no saying will appear so worthy of acceptation, as that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save the chief of sinners,” and that God is both “faithful and just,” when he extends forgiveness through his Son. 1 Tim. i. 15. 1 John, i. 9.2. The condition of the persons, for whom the gospel feast is prepared, affords another most powerful motive to encourage our approach to it. The messengers in the parable were commanded to invite “the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind.” Persons labouring under bodily infirmities, here represent poor sinners oppressed with spiritual maladies, and waiting, like the paralytic at Bethesda’s pool, for a cure. Such crowd about the door of mercy; and only such will bless the hand of the great Physician. The call is general: but, to none will it be particular, or welcome, or effectual, but to those who see their wants, and feel their sins. The message of the gospel is manna itself for sweetness, to such as have received the sentence of death in themselves by the law. But the “full soul loatheth this honey-comb.” Prov. xxvii. 7. It would be deemed an insult, to spread a feast for the full; to recommend a physician, or propose a remedy to persons in health; to offer water to him that is not thirsty, or a garment to him who is already clothed; to preach liberty to him who is not bound, or to point him to a fountain who is clean in his own eyes. But, though the “whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick,” Mat. ix. 12, to such as see themselves foul and leprous, lost, and guilty, the streams of Jordan were not more efficacious to eradicate Naaman’s leprosy, than the fountain of Christ’s blood is to cleanse from sins of the deepest dye. Say not then, “I am unworthy; my sins are too enormous to be forgiven; my spiritual maladies of too long standing, and too inveterate, to be cured; and my heart of too stubborn a mould, to be softened or vanquished.” If all the enormities of Manasseh, the blasphemings and persecutions of Saul, the backslidings of David and Peter, and all the guilt of Magdalen, met in thy single person, so as to make thee a monster in iniquity; yet, all this accumulated transgression would be no more to the infinite merit of the Redeemer’s blood, than the smallest cloud to the sun’s meridian brightness, or the debt of one single mite to the treasure of an empire; than a drop to the ocean, or a grain of sand to the globe. “The blood of Jesus cleanseth from ALL sin.” 1 John, i. 7. No patient ever failed under the care of that great Physician: no indigent beggar was ever spurned from his door: no heart ever remained unsoftened under the influence of his grace: no sinner ever perished at the foot of his cross. If you are weary and heavy laden, Jesus saith, “Come unto ME, and I will give you rest.” Mat. xi. 28. If your heart be hard and unbelieving, he saith again, “My son give me thine heart.” Prov. xxiii. 26. If your transgressions are numerous and aggravated, he saith again, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. i. 18. If all the rebellion of the prodigal centres in thy conduct, and thou, nevertheless, art desirous of returning to thy God; see, as in his case, the Father of mercies runs to meet thee, he opens his arms to embrace thee, his house to receive thee, his wardrobe to clothe thee, his heart to love and pity thee, and he spreads his table with the richest dainties wherewith to feed thy famished soul. And if thou still persist to think thy case even worse than his, and unbelief could furnish thee with ten thousand arguments to keep thee from coming to Christ, the following glorious promise is sufficient to overturn them all: “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.” John, vi. 37.

3. But, the last, and by no means the least motive, that I shall mention under this head, as an inducement to warrant and encourage the self-diffident and returning sinner to partake of the blessings of the gospel, is, that they are all the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 23. “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, let him come.” Isa. lv. 1. Indeed a moment’s serious reflection on the nature of the favors requisite to a sinner’s salvation, such as, an interest in the covenant, peace with Heaven, pardon of sin, justification before God, the spirit of holiness, and eternal life; or on the greatness of the price, with which they have been purchased, even “the blood of God;” Acts, xx. 28; or on the demerit of those, who are the recipients of those immense favors;—might convince any one of the folly and presumption of expecting the very least, on the ground of personal worthiness; and yet encourage the hope and banish the fears of the weakest and most depressed sinner upon earth. “Think not” then, as the apostle said to Simon the sorcerer, “that the gift of God may be purchased with money”—with human merit. Acts, viii. 20. Were you a possessor of all the treasures of the earth, or of all the moral excellencies that ever centred in any natural man since the fall, you would not therefore be entitled to even the crumbs that fall from God’s table. Yet the deepest poverty, the greatest unworthiness, are no bars to preclude your receiving the choicest of his favors, even eternal life. As, therefore, you have nothing to pay off the immense debt you owe, so nothing is required; no merit, no works, no recommendation whatever. All is purchased already; and all gratuitously tendered. Nothing remains for the sinner, convinced of his lost condition, but to receive with an empty hand and humble heart what infinite beneficence freely offers. Mercy’s door is open. The ministers of Christ invite you in. The master of the feast bids you welcome, saying, “Eat, O friends, drink; yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” Solomon’s Song, v. 1. The table is spread with ten thousand rich and costly benefits. The banquet is a feast of love; and “the spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth, say, Come, and let him that is athirst, Come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. xxii. 17.—But this leads me to urge,

III. The grand argument mentioned in the text to excite obedience to the invitation, viz. “All things are ready.”

This head of the discourse will contain little more than a recapitulation of the principal subjects already considered; and they might, indeed, on that account, be thought superfluous. But, as upon occasion of a sumptuous entertainment, it would engage the attendance of a guest more, to see presented all together the several delicacies to which he is invited, than to hear a logical discussion about their various qualities; I shall, therefore, now bring together in one view, all that a God of rich grace and profuse munificence hath exhibited in the gospel feast; praying, if it be his blessed will, that all who hear the invitation this day may have grace to accept it.

“All things are ready.”—The great deed is ready, that recites the covenant stipulations between the Father and the Son, and records the names of all the ransomed of the Lord; signed by infinite truth, and sealed with blood. Psal. xl. 6–9. Heb. x. 5–9.

The great sacrifice is ready; on which the fire of vindictive justice fell, in the day of our Lord’s crucifixion; prefigured by the beasts that bled for a long succession of ages on Jewish altars; typified in Isaac, but realized in that propitiatory victim, the crucified Jesus. Heb. x. 1,12.

A pardon is ready; procured for infinite offence; for crimes of the deepest dye; for sinners of the most flagrant complexion; and which speaks its value infinite, bought with the blood of God incarnate. Ephes. i. 7. Acts, xx. 28.

A righteousness is ready; wrought out by the obedience and death of Messiah; the imputation of which covers guilt, screens from the curse of the law; fulfils its precepts, and satisfies justice; a righteousness, which “justifieth from ALL things, and is unto all” as a free gift, “and” as a spotless robe “upon all them that believe.” Acts, xiii. 39. Rom. iii. 20. This is the wedding-garment. Mat. xxii. 11.

A fountain is ready; that gushes from the Saviour’s side, with a mingled stream of water and blood; to wash away the guilt and filth of sin; of efficacy to purify from all uncleanness; where thousands have bathed their leprous souls, and in which thousands more may wash and be clean as an angel of light. Zech. xiii. 1.

A provision is ready; rich in inexhaustible supplies of strength for the weak, of wisdom for the ignorant, of medicine for the diseased, of consolation for them that mourn, of bread of life for the hungry, of water from a never-failing spring for the thirsty; and all in Christ, free for his people as the air they breathe, and deep in boundless fulness as the ocean. John, i. 16.

The Spirit of holiness is ready; to change the desert of the human heart into an Eden, and to make springs of grace arise, where streams of bitterness and pollution flowed before; to take of the things of Christ, and shew them in all their riches to the poor and contrite; to form the new creation, and take away the heart of stone. Isa. xxxv. 1. Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

The promises are ready; to attest the truth of God; to seal the salvation of Christ; to give encouragement to the weary and heavy laden to cast their burdens on him; and to delineate his all-sufficiency: in him they meet: in him they are all yea and amen: from him they derive their preciousness, and every one of them is as unchangeable as the God that spoke them. 2 Pet. i. 4. Mat. v. 18.

The Father of mercies is ready; to receive the returning prodigal, to blot out his rebellions, and love him freely. The Son is ready; to plead the purchase of his blood, and carry the sheep that was lost into the fold of his flock.

The ministers of the gospel are ready; to preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to instruct the ignorant, and guide their feet into the way of peace; and to rejoice in seeing the fruit of the travail of Christ’s soul in the salvation of sinners.

Angels are ready; to take up their harps of gold, and tune them to notes of the sweetest harmony; to make the heaven and the heaven of heavens resound with praises to Emmanuel, and with joy over one sinner that repenteth. Oh! that they may repeat that anthem to-day, which they have had occasion to sing, whenever souls have been brought home to Christ! These blessed spirits watch with eagerness the effects of the gospel-message; and when any one sinner obeys it, they fly with the good news to the realms of light, and diffuse fresh joy through all the spirits that surround the throne. But if angels could weep, surely they would drop a tear, with sorrow and surprise, to see sinners spurn a feast, which their Creator prepared, and to which they themselves would have been proud of an invitation.

Come, then, ye that dread the wrath of God, and wish to escape from those sins that have exposed you to it; ye, who are oppressed with their intolerable load, and can find no relief from all the expedients you have hitherto adopted; O come to this sacred feast of redeeming love! Multitudes, whose case was worse than yours, have been admitted to it; have found the blessings they stood in need of, and are now feasting around the throne of God and of the Lamb. They, like you, were afraid to come; and their unworthiness, which should have driven to Christ, kept them, for a long time, from him; till, having at last seen all resources fail, every creature a broken cistern, and all their works and duties but miserable comforters and physicians of no value; they were obliged to go with all their complaints, and wants, and wounds, to him, who is the sinner’s forlorn hope; and in Jesus they met with a physician and a friend: He bound up their wounds, supplied their wants, removed their burdens, spoke peace to their consciences, and shewed them all the riches of his grace and righteousness to comfort and support. One look by faith to his bleeding sacrifice, dispelled the gloom that covered their desponding minds, and filled them with hope, and joy, and peace. They only wonder now, that they should have so long doubted of his sufficiency and love; and, if any thing could interrupt for a moment the bliss of saints above, it would give them pain, even in heaven, to reflect, that they should have ever entertained a suspicion of Christ’s ability and willingness to save; or have hesitated to come to the gospel feast when God himself invited. But their doubts are now for ever done away; and it magnifies the riches of sovereign grace, that Jesus conquered and pardoned the unbelief, that gave the lie to his promises, and depreciated the great remedy of his atonement. Yet, having “come out of great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” “they hunger no more, neither thirst any more: but the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, doth feed them, and lead them to fountains of living waters; and God hath wiped away all tears from their eyes.” Rev. vii. 14, 16, 17.As the feast recommended in the text is of a sacred nature, it can of course afford no entertainment, and give no encouragement, to those presumptuous professors, who dare “to sin because grace abounds;” who take occasion, from the sumptuousness of the gospel feast, and the benignity of its Founder, to quote his very favors in justification of the most abominable licentiousness of manners; and sit down to his table only to insult him for the liberality that spread it. Grace, it is true, and grace alone, presides throughout with unrivalled glory, in contriving, accomplishing, and applying the great plan of salvation through the Redeemer. And though that grace confers all its favors gratuitously, and strongly presupposes the guilt and unworthiness of the recipients of them; yet as personal holiness is one of the favors it communicates, and makes a considerable branch of the evidences of a sinner’s salvation; they who leave it out in their pretended systems of evangelical truth, or disregard it in their walk and conversation, are convicted by the very fact of fatal error on the one hand, as well as of practical impiety on the other. For “the grace of God that bringeth salvation, teacheth us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteously, soberly, and godly, in this present world.” Tit ii. 12. Whoever sits down to the banquet of redeeming love, is supposed to rise up with a heart overflowing with gratitude to Jesus for the blessings imparted to him, and to go away more wise, more happy, and more holy. To act differently, would be to imitate the outrage of a victorious army rioting on the spoils of the vanquished, and intoxicating themselves with the fruits of their Commander’s conquests. Christ hath conquered for us; and the gospel feast is the consequence of his glorious victory over sin and hell. Believers conquer and feast with him. But their triumph ought to be sober, and their mode of rejoicing suited to the dangers they have escaped, and the sacred service in which they are engaged. But they who make Christ, either in their systems or their practice, “the minister of sin,” bear his name in vain, or expose it to reproach in the face of the world. The gospel, therefore, spreads no feast for the Antinomian; and, where it is abused, the food which it exhibits is turned into poison, and proves a savor of death unto death. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

Ye devotees of pleasure, ye lovers of the world, ye egregious triflers with your immortal interests; ye, who, though hastening to your graves, are still sporting on destruction’s brink, and indulge a false and fatal levity, though the precipice is before you, and one single step would determine your doom for ever; ye, who have been pursuing phantoms, and grasping at shadows, while you suck happiness in a world lying in wickedness, and, amidst all your cares and schemes for this world, forget that you are to die, neglect your souls, and never take one solemn anxious thought about eternity; to you also I bring the invitation in my text: “Come; for, all things are ready.” I invite you this day, in the name of my great Lord and Master, to Christ, to happiness, to heaven. Ye have been long toiling for that which is not bread, and spending your strength for what can yield little satisfaction in life, and none at all in the hour of death. Still time flies with its wonted velocity; and the king of terrors is drawing from his quiver the arrow, that shall ere long lay you in the dust. Satan, the world and sin, strongly unite to keep you in their servitude; and spread ten thousand baits to allure you to destruction. But shall their call be obeyed? and God’s invitation disregarded? Shall hell be preferred to heaven? the care of your bodies to that of your souls? Shall time engross all your solicitude, and eternity, dread eternity, none? Shall the adversary of God and man call with a more attractive voice, than he who bled for sinners? and the biting pleasures of sensuality, be preferred before the joys that are at God’s right hand? God forbid! O sirs, pause a moment! Consider what you are, whither you are going. Your souls are at stake, and you must soon stand before the living God in judgment. Obey the call of the gospel; and all shall yet be well: disobey it; and the call itself shall be more than a thousand witnesses against you: and he who gives it will be clear of your blood. But, embrace the invitation; and my soul shall rejoice over you, even mine; and you shall rejoice with joy unspeakable, when the Judge comes in the clouds of heaven, and time shall be no more. Amen.