1824-1869
Matheson was a Scottish evangelist associated with the old Free Church of Scotland
About Duncan Matheson
John Macpherson, Life and Labors of Duncan Matheson, the Scottish Evangelist (London, 1871), p. 47. See also the review in ST 1871, p. 286. As quoted in Iain Murray, Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism: the Battle for Gospel Preaching, 1995, Banner of Truth, reprinted 2000, pp. 138-9
During this period, in his [Matheson’s] insatiable hunger for the truth he read incessantly… In the course of his reading, he stumbled on the writings of [William] Huntington [1745–1813], and for a season was led away into the dreary wilderness of Hyper-Calvinism, where some poor souls seem doomed to wander all their days… For a time he was bound in the strait jacket of this form of fatalism. He dared not speak to every one of the love of God, lest he should give encouragement to one who was not elect. After a while he discerned his error, and was led to see that to close the door of the universal call of the gospel is to close the door of salvation against the elect themselves, since the only warrant to believe is simply the general invitation addressed to sinners of mankind.
Life and Labors of Duncan Matheson: The Scotttish Evangelist, by John MacPherson, (Kilmarnock: Ritchie, n.d.), p. 26, as quoted by Ian Murray, The Cross: the Pulpit of God’s Love, n.d., p. 4. Matheson is speaking.
I was standing on the 10th of December, 1846, at the end of my Father’s house, and meditating on that precious word that has brought peace to countless weary ones: ‘God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). I saw the proof of his love in the giving of his Son Jesus. I saw that ‘whosoever’ meant anybody and everybody, and therefore me, even me. I saw the result of believing—that I would not perish, but have everlasting life. I was enabled to take God at his word. I saw no one, but Jesus only, all in all in redemption. My burden fell from my back, and I was saved. Yes, saved!
Related Pages
The Sincere Free Offer of the Gospel
Historic Reformed Quotes on the Sincere Free Offer of the Gospel