" Let him also that heareth, say. Come." Those to whom the foregoing invitations are announced, should unite their efforts to make them known, and to induce every creature under heaven to accept them. Think not. Brethren, that you have performed your duty when you have heard these invita- tions from the lips of your Minister ; no, nor when you have yourselves complied with his advice. You are all to be Preachers in your own circles ; all to repeat to your friends and relatives, your families and dependents, the glad tidings which you hear of a free and full salvation ; and, with one heart and one voice, should join in saying to all around you, " Come, come, come." This was the conduct of Andrew and of Philip, when they had found the Saviour ' ; and this must be the conduct of us all, in our respective spheres.]
2. The freeness, to counteract despondency — [" We are all invited to " take of the water of life freely." If we are " athirst," we are the very persons whose names, if I may so speak, are especially written on the cards of invitation. Indeed, if our names had been expressly re- corded in this passage, we should not have had a thousandth part of the assurance of God's willingness to accept us that we now have ; for there might be other persons of our name :
but '' Oint. \.A. ''1 Tim. iii. 15,
' iiph. ii. ](). 'John 1.40,-11,43, 45.
but no mourning penitent in the universe can err in tracing his name in the designation that is here given.
It may be, however, that some may say, ' I am not suffici- ently athirst to be able to appropriate to myself this character. I should be glad indeed to obtain mercy of the Lord ; but I do not pant after it as the hart after the water-brooks, and therefore I have not in myself the qualification that is here required.' To counteract such desponding fears, the Saviour says, " Whosoever ii tU, let him take of the water of life freely." If you have not all the tfiitst that you can wish, have you the incl'mat'ion P have you the desire P Then you are the person invited : and you must not dream of staying till you can bring certain qualifications along with y ou, but come and take these blessings "freely, without money and without price*."]
To impress this subject the more deeply on your minds, let me address a few words,
1 . To the reluctant —
[Many are the excuses which you urge for your declin- ing the invitation sent you in the Gospel: and to you they appear perhaps sufficient to justify your refusal. But your Lord and Saviour will not be deceived : he sees the radical indisposition of your mind to the blessings which he offers you ; and will say of you, as he did in reference to those of old, "They shall never taste of my supper"." You may be offering a variety of pleas : but he will put the true construc- tion on them all, " Ye will not come unto me that ye may have hfe "." O think, how bitterly you will regret your pre- sent conduct, when you shall see unnumbered myriads, who were once as far off from him as you now are, sitting down at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and you yourselves be cast out into outer darkness ! What weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth will you then experience to all eter- nity^! How will those words sound in your ears at the last day, " Often would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings; but ye would not^!" Do but reflect on this one moment, — "/ uonld ; and ye would not" Verily, that reflection will constitute the very sunnnit of your misery in hell. I pray you, hold not out any longer against the urgent invitations which are now sent you ; but come unto the Saviour, and accept the Rest which he has promised to all that are weary and heavy-laden.]