Edward Hoare

“ And, more than that, there is something so grand in the magnificence of creation, that we cannot be surprised if our judgment naturally decides in favour of that which claims to be the broader view of the religious government of God. We fully acknowledge therefore the attractiveness and persuasiveness of breadth, and are fully prepared to admit that the broad has much more to commend it than the narrow, and that the probability of truth lies on the side of the broadest, the widest, the freest message. ”

“ But, thanks be to God, we find in Scripture the universal offer side by side with electing love; so that, accepting Scripture as we find it, we learn that election does not narrow the breadth of the offer, or take away its universality. It does not blot out the “whosoever” from the words of our Saviour. It does not contract the glad tidings; but it leaves the Gospel perfectly open to every man, without qualification, without limitation, and without the necessity of any evidence of election to precede a trust in the Lord Jesus for pardon, life, and immortality. ”

“ Our Gospel proclaims to him pardon, and our Saviour gives him life, even at the time of the deepest ruin. But what does nature do for him? What does conscience do to restore him? It leaves him condemned, ruined, sunk, and helpless; and holds out to him nothing better than the hope, that when he has got out of the pit, he may find mercy through the benevolence of God. If that were the Gospel, it would be glad tidings to those only who have already recovered themselves from their ruin. The Lord Jesus would be a Saviour for only such as do not need one. ”

“ If it were a human plan, then I could perfectly understand that other human plans might be equally effectual,—or, I should rather say, equally fruitless; but if it be really God’s plan, then it must stand alone as the only way of restoration to life. ”

“ In other words, we know that salvation is the result of God’s election, and we believe in the words of our Lord,—“No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” But we have all probably felt, at some time or other, the difficulty of reconciling such a fact with the free offer of life to all. It is not unnatural that men should argue, that if the elect alone are saved, to them alone must the salvation be offered. ”

“ For there might be an offer made to every one, but yet on such terms that no one could accept it; and so would this have been, had God required that there should be one act of sinless obedience on our part, as a preliminary qualification to our being saved in Christ Jesus. The person who is possessed of nothing is as little able to pay one pound as a hundred; and the ruined man, dead in sin, is as little able to produce one act of life as a hundred. ”

“ Our missionary spirit therefore should be wide as the world; and those who boast of the superior broadness of their principles, ought to lead the way in a large-hearted effort to follow up the directions of their Saviour:—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” ”

“ The invitation is as broad as the world itself, and there is no man, woman, or child under the whole heaven, to whom God, in His unbounded mercy, has not sent the gracious message of free and complete salvation. ”

“ We do mean that God has not promised salvation through a conscientious devotion to Buddha, or Vishnu, or Mahommed, or reason, or the light of nature; but that God, in giving Christ as our life, gave Him as the only Source of life, and not as one amongst many Saviours. ”

“ So persons, laying claim to great anthropological wisdom, appear to regard the Gospel as something never meant for the African. But there is no limitation in Scripture. African, Indian, American, New Zealander, are all alike included in the message as found there. The Jew of old believed that it was only for the Jews, and some English in modern times seem to regard it as intended only for the European. But the Word of God says it is for all; experience proves it to be for all ”

“ I should like to know from those who boast of the superior benevolence of their system, what that system does for the helpless,—for the man whose soul is paralyzed, and whose power to rise is gone, being deadened by his sin. ”

“ Did the world ever produce an offer so free? p. 13and was there ever yet a religious system in the world which presented such a salvation, on such terms, to the sinner?
III. But still there is an exclusiveness in the Gospel.
Let us however clearly understand, when we speak of exclusiveness, that we do not mean exclusiveness in the glad tidings, for, as already shown, these glad tidings are freely sent to every man; but what we do mean is,—that Christ Jesus is the only Saviour, and that “there is none other name under heaven, given amongst men, whereby we must be saved.” ”

“ As the message is sent to all men, in all countries, and under all circumstances, so also is it conveyed through all kinds of instrumentalities;—Episcopalian and Nonconformist,—ordained and unordained,—Churchmen, Dissenters, Presbyterians,—Churches at home and Churches abroad,—teachers, preachers, pastors and evangelists; for there is a breadth in the agency as well as in the sphere of action, and the same Lord over all, who is rich unto all that call upon Him, is rich also unto all who labour for His Name. ”

“ The blessed message is not limited to any one channel. The Holy Spirit is free as the winds of heaven; and it is perfectly clear that God, in saving souls, has not tied Himself down to the employment of any particular Church organization. ”

“ The subject has, I presume, been chosen for our discussion, in order to meet the aspersions of those who claim for their own system the merit of breadth, comprehensiveness, and large-heartedness, while they speak of our Gospel as the narrow-minded theology of a body of men whose contracted intellects are so cramped and stunted that they are unable to take in the broad views of the nineteenth century. Such persons consider themselves broad, and us narrow ”

“ God forbid that I should say one word that should appear for one moment to make light of Christian order, for I believe it to be a subject far too much forgotten by devoted men in the present day. Evangelical zeal is considered by some to have full license to override all authority, and break through every regulation. There are many excellent, zealous, faithful, and fervent spirits, who are contending manfully for the inspiration of the whole of Scripture, but who appear completely to ignore such words as those by St. ”

“ In such a matter we are entirely limited by the Divine statements, p. 16and man’s opinion is utterly worthless; for the counsels of God, in their very nature, lie quite beyond the limits of human enquiry. If we do not believe in the words of our blessed Saviour, we have not the slightest evidence of any salvation at all ”

“ Whatever conclusions men may derive from their own ideas of Divine benevolence, there cannot be a question that this is the testimony of Scripture. If men place greater reliance on their own opinion of what they think God ought to have done, than on what God Himself declares He has done, we can only say, as St. ”

“ I fearlessly ask the advocate of mere natural religion, what the p. 12religion of nature can do for such an one. His moral sense may teach him his duty, and his conscience may bring him in guilty of not having fulfilled that duty ”