July 1897

“The Last Call” The Gospel of Health, 1, 7, pp. 110-112.

ATJ 

(Report of a talk to the students of the Summer School by Elder A. T. Jones. 

I WISH to study with you this evening the parable of the marriage supper. Let us turn to the fourteenth chapter of Luke, and read it: Then said he unto them, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them that were bidden; Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.” Verses 16-24. GOH 110.1

Now when was this call first made?—At supper-time, the last hour of the day. How many invitations were issued?—Three. What was the first invitation?—“Come, for all things are ready.” But the people did not come. Then a second invitation was issued. This one was carried to the people in the streets and lanes of the city. Thirdly, the king’s servants went into the highways and hedges with orders to compel the people to come in, that the house might be full. GOH 111.1

Notice the different classes here spoken of. The first was well-to-do. One man had bought a piece of land; another had gotten him oxen; the third must have had some prospects in life, else he would not have married. The second class consisted of people in rather poor circumstances. They lived in the streets and lanes of the city, without homes that they could call their own, still they had something over their heads. But the third class had nothing but the hedges to shelter them. They came in answer to the last call. GOH 111.2

We have seen that three calls are mentioned here. How many messages are brought to view in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation?—(Class) “Three.” Do the messages of Revelation fourteen and Luke fourteen cover the same ground?—(Class) “They do.” GOH 111.3

Let us turn and read these messages: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornicacation [sic.]. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,” etc. GOH 111.4

We have studied the fourteenth chapter of Revelation a long time. We have studied what is said of the “loud cry.” We know that the time has come when the earth is to be filled with God’s glory. But you and I have not seen that “loud cry” in operation yet. GOH 111.5

This parable in Luke presents the call at supper-time, the last hour of the day. Then don’t you see that it describes the work of God in our day? Surely, for there is no call after the third one. Well, then, in your connection with the work of God, have you seen anything that indicates that we have come to that part of the parable where the invitation goes to the highways and hedges?—(Class) “Yes.” Then have we not reached the time when the last call is being given? GOH 111.6

Now you are here in this summer school to qualify yourselves to go out in the highways and hedges. Then inasmuch as the invitations to the marriage supper itself were issued at the close of the day, and the third one was the last of the three, don’t you see that we are engaged in giving the last call of the last call? How much longer shall things continue? How much longer shall the supper wait when it has been ready all this time? GOH 111.7

We have looked for the power of God to take hold of us, and make the work advance faster than it ever has done. But we haven’t seen it. Now if it doesn’t come with the work of giving the gospel to the people of the highways and hedges, the poor, the needy, and the outcast everywhere, when will it come”? GOH 111.8

But you are wrapped right up in this work; tell me, then, is it coming or is it not coming? Is that power of God to be manifested in his work? Of course it is. Then you who go out to do this thing, you who are this thing, I ask you, Upon whom is that power to rest? Through whose ministration will that cry be heard? You see we are just shut up to that one thing that we are to expect the power of God to so manifest itself through as that the earth shall be lightened with its glory. This work of giving the truth to the lost, the helpless, the homeless, of every sort, the tramps and outcasts, those who have to make their homes on the highways, that have to seek shelter under the hedges: this work, I say, is the last committed to God’s people. It is the loud cry of the third angel. What else can it mean when we read there in Luke that the servants are bidden to go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that the house may be filled? GOH 111.9

The well-to-do people who have had the truth presented to them have asked to be excused. Well, God lets them stay away. Then the people in the streets and lanes of the city have had a chance; but God goes on farther than that, the very lowest classes are invited. GOH 112.1

Not that the first are excluded after the first call; many of them will come in under the second and third calls. God never abandons people. They may spurn his gifts, but he continues to offer them just the same. GOH 112.2

Now I want to call your attention to one or two things. Last winter thirty-nine of our State legislatures were in session. Every member of all those legislatures, together with the members of Congress, received the American Sentinel. Next winter the rest of the State legislatures will be in session, and their members will be supplied. So it has gone on for years. Then haven’t the chief men of the country had enough knowledge of the truth to be able to decide one way or the other? GOH 112.3

A great many of the women in the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union have been reached since January 1. Every Baptist minister has been reached. Every Methodist minister has been reached, and a great majority of our lawyers and judges. GOH 112.4

Then take the work done by the tent-meetings, city missions, tract societies, etc. Can we help concluding that the vast majority of the people of the United States have, in one way or another, been brought in contact with the message? Then is it not true that the whole United States fits that part of the parable which says, All things are now ready”? GOH 112.5

And Australia, the third angel’s message is going in that country. The issue there is the same as we would have here if an amendment to the Constitution were before this country. GOH 112.6

Don’t you see how easy it would be for God to raise some such issue in England? There is Germany, dotted all over with persons who are holding up the light of truth. There is the condition of the Eastern question. How easy for things to take such a turn that the message will spread over the whole world like wildfire. GOH 112.7

But remember one thing: you and I must be ready ourselves. How can we go out to the world and give people the message: “Come, for all things are ready,” unless we are altogether ready ourselves? Now, then, this is the time when the power of God is to be sought. GOH 112.8

The Saviour said: “Ye shall receive power when, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” GOH 112.9