'^2. To this it is replied that this whole statement respeiiting a believer's calling is without any support from the Scriptures. * To call' signifles to invite to the blessings of the Gospel, to offer salvation through Christ, either by God himself, or, under his appoint- inent, by his servants ; and in the parable of the mar- riage of the king's son (Matt, xxii, 1-14), which ap- pears to have given rise, in many instances, to the use of this term in the episties, we have three descriptions of ' called* or invited persons. (1.) The disobedient, •who would not come in at the call, but made light of it. (2.) The class of persons represented by the man who, when the king came in to see his guests, had not on the wedding garment, and with respect to whom
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our Lord makes the geiranl remark, ' For many axe called, but few are choeen ;' so that the persons thus represented by this individoal culprit were not only * caUed, ' but actually came into the company. (8.) The approved guests-^ those who were both called and choeen. aIb far as the simple calling or invitation is \ concerned, all stood upon equal ground — all were in- j vited ; and it depended upon their choice and conduct | whether they embraced the invitation and were ad- mitted as guests. We have nothing here to counte- nance the notion of what is termed * effectual calling.* This implies an irresistible influence exerted upon all the approved guests, but withheld from the disobe- dient, who could not, therefore, be otherwise than dis- obedient, or, at most, could only come in without that wedding garment, which it was never put into their power to take out of the king's wardrobe, and the want of which would necessarily exclude them, if not from the Church on earth, yet from the Church in heaven. The doctrine of Christ's parables is in entire contradiction to this notion of hrresistible influence ; for they who reftised and they who complied but par- tially with the calling are represented, not merely as being left without the benefit of the feast, but as in- curring additional guilt and condemnation for refhsing the invitation. It is to this offer of salvation by the Gospel, this invitation to spiritual and eternal benefits, that St. Peter appears to refer when he says, * For the promue is unto you and to your children, and to aU that are afer off, even as many as the Lord our Qod shall caU* (Acts ii, 89); a passage which declares * the promise' to be .as extensive as the * calling,' in other words, as the offer or invitation. To this also St. Paul refers (Rom. i, 6, 6), * By whom we have re- ceived grace and apostleship, for obedience to the feith among all nations, for his name ;' that is, to publish his Gospel, in order to bring all nations to the obe- dience of faith; * among whom ye are also the ctzUed of Jesus Christ;' you at Rome have heard the Gospel, and have been invited to salvation in consequence of this design. This promulgation of the Gospel, by the personal ministry of the apostle, under the name of cattin^y is also referred to in Gal. i, 6, * I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that caUedyou into the grace of Christ,' obviously meaning that it was he himMlf who had called them, by his preaching, to em- brace the grace of Christ. So also in chap, v, 18, *For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty.' Again (1 Thess. ii, 12), * That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you,' invited you, * to his king- dom and glory.'
**8. In our Lord's parable it will also be observed that the persons called are not invited as separate in- dividuals to partake of solitary blessings; but they are called to * a feast,' into a company or society, be- fore whom the banquet is spread. The Ml revelation of the transfer of the fisible Church of Christ fttim Jews by birth to believers of all nations, was not, how- ever, then made. When this branch of the evangelic system was fully revealed to the apostles, and taught by them to others, that part of the meailing of our Lord's parable which was not at first developed was more particularly discovered to his inspired followers. The calling of guests to the evangelical feast, we then more fully learn, was not the mere calling of men to partake of spiritual benefits, but calling them also to form a spiritual society composed of Jews and Gentiles, the believing men of all nations, to have a common fellowship in these blessings, and to be formed into this fellowship for the purpose of increasing their num- ber, and difinsing the benefits of salvation among the people or nation to which they respectively belonged. The invitation, 'the calling,* of the first preachers was to all who heard them in Rome, in Ephesus, in Corinth, and other places; and those who embraced it, and joined themselves to the Church by faith, baptism, and "'Hitinued public profession, were named, especially
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and eminently, 'the called,' because of tiieir obedisaee to the invitation. They not only put in their dsin to the blessings of Christianity individually, but be- came members of the new Church, that spiritual soci- ety of believers which God now visibly owned as \m people. As they were thus called into a common fel- lowship by the Gospel, this is sometimes termed tfadr 'vocation ;' as the object of this Church state was to promote ^holiness,' it is termed a 'holy Tocatkm;' at sanctity was required of the members, they were said to have been 'calledto be saints;' as the final result was, through the mercy of God, to be eternal life, we hear of ' the hope of their calling,' and of their being 'call- ed to his eternal glory by Christ Jesoa.'