Quotes on ‘Common’ Grace and the Free Offer

This page is to be regularly updated with new quotes that we come across by the Puritans and others on the above subjects. Please note that the newest quotes will be added at the top of this page so you can easily tell if it has been updated since your last visit.

N.B. Not all the Authors quoted below are endorsed

A Promiscuous Offer

“The gospel is generally and promiscuously offered to all sinners… [it] is general, to the intent that none of the elect might be lost, and that all mouths might be stopped; seeing none are excluded that do not exclude themselves: they might all find mercy, if they would but submit to the gospel.”

William Lyford, The Instructed Christian, p.222

A Preposterous Course

“It is a preposterous course, instead of obeying the gospel, and studying to be found in Christ, to be inquisitive whether we are elected from eternity or not. The last clause of the 17th article [of the 39 Articles of the Church of England] before mentioned, is very weighty to this purpose. The words are these: ‘We must receive God’s promise in such wise, as they be generally set forth unto us in holy Scripture; and in our doings, that will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God:’ and that will of God is, that we preach the gospel to every creature; and that every creature may come to Christ, and ‘drink of the water of life freely,’ and that ‘whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out.’”

William Lyford, The Instructed Christian, p.187

Real Tears, Real Love

“Our Lord Jesus was made up of compassion, he weepeth not only for his friends, but his enemies… First he shed his tears and then his blood. O Foolish, careless city that will not regard terms and offers of peace in this her day! He bewailed them that knew not why they should be bewailed; they rejoiced, and he mourned; Christ’s eyes are wetter, because theirs were so dry. And now he is in heaven, how doth his free grace go a-mourning after sinners, in the entreaties of the Gospel!”

Thomas Manton {Puritan}, Unknown

Love That Should ‘Overcome’

“How winning and overcoming should that be? Love doth surround thee; it’s love that thou livest, that thou breathest; it’s love, thou art preserved from hell and damnation; it’s love that thou hast any support at all; therefore the goodness of God in all the creatures thou enjoyest, should lead thee to repentance, Rom.2 [Note: he takes the same view of this text as we do. G.M]. The sun that shines to thee, the earth that brings forth fruit to thee, the health and perception of the senses, should melt thee always into good…”

Anthony Burgess {Puritan}, Spiritual Refining, p.405

Set Forth

“…Christ is publicly and universally set forth as a general refuge for the wrath to come, upon no other condition than such a will as is not only desirous to enjoy mercy, but to submit to his kingdom…”

Edward Reynolds {Puritan}, The Life of Christ, Vol.1, p.454

Condition!

“The condition of the Covenant is faith. ‘This do’ was the condition of the Covenant of Works. ‘This believe’ is the condition of this Covenant.” [Rutherford was one of the strongest Calvinists in his day - a day of strong Calvinists. G.M.]

Samuel Rutherford {Covenanter}, Trial and Triumph of Faith, p.87

Promises Held Out

“But the very sight of a visible wilderness must have had a powerful effect on stupid and hardened men, leading them to percieve that they were in a state of death, and to accept the promise of salvation, which had been held out to them.”

John Calvin {Reformer}, On Matthew 3:3, Commentaries Vol.16, p.182

An Open Offer

“(The Lord)…Maketh open offer of Christ and his grace, by proclamation of a free and gracious market of righteousness and salvation…He inviteth all sinners, that for any reason stand at a distance from God, to come and take from him riches of grace, running in Christ like a river, to wash away sin, and to slocken wrath: ‘Come ye to the waters,’ saith he,”. “But I (may the weak believer say) upon the loving request of God and Christ, made to me by the mouth of his ministers, have embraced the offer of perpetual reconciliation through Christ, and do purpose, by God’s grace, as a reconciled person, to strive against sin… [they also believed it affected the subject of assurance]“. And later, “That is any man shall not be taken with the sweet invitation of God nor with the humble and loving request of God, made to him to be reconciled…”

This is from The Sum of Saving Knowledge, which was probably written by the friends of Rutherford: James Durham and David Dickson. [Note also, that this work has historically been printed along with the Confession as a faithful summary of the doctrine of the Confession on the subject of salvation. G.M.]

‘All and Everyone’

“So that this gracious promise is general to all and everyone, whosoever believes shall be saved; But yet notwithstanding if it shall appear, that God gives the grace of faith, to none but to the certain number, which are his elect.”

William Twisse {Puritan and Prolocutor, or Chairman, of the Westminster Assembly}, Found in The Riches of God’s Love to the Vessels of Mercy, p.110