and purposes of the Infinite One. We can never by searching find out God.
We must not attempt to lift with presumptuous hand the curtain behind
which He veils His majesty. The apostle exclaims, “How unsearchable are
His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”(923) We can so far
comprehend His dealings with us, and the motives by which He is actuated,
that we may discern boundless love and mercy united to infinite power. Our
Father in heaven orders everything in wisdom and righteousness, and we are
not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, but to bow in reverent submission.
He will reveal to us as much of His purposes as it is for our good to
know, and beyond that we must trust the Hand that is omnipotent, the Heart
that is full of love.
While God has given ample evidence for faith, He will never remove all
excuse for unbelief. All who look for hooks to hang their doubts upon,
will find them. And those who refuse to accept and obey God’s word until
every objection has been removed, and there is no longer an opportunity
for doubt, will never come to the light.
Distrust of God is the natural outgrowth of the unrenewed heart, which is
at enmity with Him. But faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it will
flourish only as it is cherished. No man can become strong in faith
without a determined effort. Unbelief strengthens as it is encouraged; and
if men, instead of dwelling upon the evidences which God has given to
sustain their faith, permit themselves to question and cavil, they will
find their doubts constantly becoming more confirmed.
But those who doubt God’s promises, and distrust the assurance of His
grace, are dishonoring Him; and their influence, instead of drawing others
to Christ, tends to repel them from Him. They are unproductive trees, that
spread their dark branches far and wide, shutting away the sunlight from
other plants, and causing them to droop and die under the chilling shadow.
The life-work of these persons will appear as a never-ceasing witness
against them. They are sowing seeds of doubt and skepticism that will
yield an unfailing harvest.
There is but one course for those to pursue who honestly desire to be
freed from doubts. Instead of questioning and caviling concerning that
which they do not understand, let them give heed to the light which
already shines upon them, and they will receive greater light. Let them do
every duty which has been made plain to their understanding, and they will
be enabled to understand and perform those of which they are now in doubt.
Satan can present a counterfeit so closely resembling the truth that it
deceives those who are willing to be deceived, who desire to shun the
self-denial and sacrifice demanded by the truth; but it is impossible for
him to hold under his power one soul who honestly desires, at whatever
cost, to know the truth. Christ is the truth, and the “light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”(924) The Spirit of truth
has been sent to guide men into all truth. And upon the authority of the
Son of God it is declared, “Seek, and ye shall find.” “If any man will do
His will, he shall know of the doctrine.”(925)
The followers of Christ know little of the plots which Satan and his hosts
are forming against them. But He who sitteth in the heavens will overrule
all these devices for the accomplishment of His deep designs. The Lord
permits His people to be subjected to the fiery ordeal of temptation, not
because He takes pleasure in their distress and affliction, but because
this process is essential to their final victory. He could not,
consistently with His own glory, shield them from temptation; for the very
object of the trial is to prepare them to resist all the allurements of
evil.
Neither wicked men nor devils can hinder the work of God, or shut out His
presence from His people, if they will, with subdued, contrite hearts,
confess and put away their sins, and in faith claim His promises. Every
temptation, every opposing influence, whether open or secret, may be
successfully resisted, “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts.”(926)
“The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto
their prayers.... And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of
that which is good?”(927) When Balaam, allured by the promise of rich
rewards, practised enchantments against Israel, and by sacrifices to the
Lord sought to invoke a curse upon His people, the Spirit of God forbade
the evil which he longed to pronounce, and Balaam was forced to exclaim:
“How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom
the Lord hath not defied?” “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let
my last end be like his!” When sacrifice had again been offered, the
ungodly prophet declared: “Behold, I have received commandment to bless:
and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity
in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is
with him, and the shout of a King is among them.” “Surely there is no
enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel:
according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath
God wrought!”(928) Yet a third time altars were erected, and again Balaam
essayed to secure a curse. But from the unwilling lips of the prophet, the
Spirit of God declared the prosperity of His chosen, and rebuked the folly
and malice of their foes: “Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is
he that curseth thee.”(929)
The people of Israel were at this time loyal to God; and so long as they
continued in obedience to His law, no power in earth or hell could prevail
against them. But the curse which Balaam had not been permitted to
pronounce against God’s people, he finally succeeded in bringing upon them
by seducing them into sin. When they transgressed God’s commandments, then
they separated themselves from Him, and they were left to feel the power
of the destroyer.
Satan is well aware that the weakest soul who abides in Christ is more
than a match for the hosts of darkness, and that, should he reveal himself
openly, he would be met and resisted. Therefore he seeks to draw away the
soldiers of the cross from their strong fortification, while he lies in
ambush with his forces, ready to destroy all who venture upon his ground.
Only in humble reliance upon God, and obedience to all His commandments,
can we be secure.
No man is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Especially should we
entreat the Lord for wisdom to understand His word. Here are revealed the
wiles of the tempter, and the means by which he may be successfully
resisted. Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own
interpretation upon passages, by which he hopes to cause us to stumble. We
should study the Bible with humility of heart, never losing sight of our
dependence upon God. While we must constantly guard against the devices of
Satan, we should pray in faith continually, “Lead us not into temptation.”
33. THE FIRST GREAT DECEPTION.
[Illustration: Chapter header.]
With the earliest history of man, Satan began his efforts to deceive our
race. He who had incited rebellion in heaven, desired to bring the
inhabitants of the earth to unite with him in his warfare against the
government of God. Adam and Eve had been perfectly happy in obedience to
the law of God, and this fact was a constant testimony against the claim
which Satan had urged in heaven, that God’s law was oppressive, and
opposed to the good of His creatures. And furthermore, Satan’s envy was
excited as he looked upon the beautiful home prepared for the sinless
pair. He determined to cause their fall, that, having separated them from
God and brought them under his own power, he might gain possession of the
earth, and here establish his kingdom, in opposition to the Most High.
Had Satan revealed himself in his real character, he would have been
repulsed at once, for Adam and Eve had been warned against this dangerous
foe; but he worked in the dark, concealing his purpose, that he might more
effectually accomplish his object. Employing as his medium the serpent,
then a creature of fascinating appearance, he addressed himself to Eve,
“Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”(930) Had
Eve refrained from entering into argument with the tempter, she would have
been safe; but she ventured to parley with him, and fell a victim to his
wiles. It is thus that many are still overcome. They doubt and argue
concerning the requirements of God; and instead of obeying the divine
commands, they accept human theories, which but disguise the devices of
Satan.
“The woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of
the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”(931) He declared
that they would become like God, possessing greater wisdom than before,
and being capable of a higher state of existence. Eve yielded to
temptation; and through her influence, Adam was led into sin. They
accepted the words of the serpent, that God did not mean what He said;
they distrusted their Creator, and imagined that He was restricting their
liberty, and that they might obtain great wisdom and exaltation by
transgressing His law.
But what did Adam, after his sin, find to be the meaning of the words, “In
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”? Did he find them
to mean, as Satan had led him to believe, that he was to be ushered into a
more exalted state of existence? Then indeed there was great good to be
gained by transgression, and Satan was proved to be a benefactor of the
race. But Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence.
God declared that as a penalty for his sin, man should return to the
ground whence he was taken: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.”(932) The words of Satan, “Your eyes shall be opened,” proved to
be true in this sense only: After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, their
eyes were opened to discern their folly; they did know evil, and they
tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.
In the midst of Eden grew the tree of life, whose fruit had the power of
perpetuating life. Had Adam remained obedient to God, he would have
continued to enjoy free access to this tree, and would have lived forever.
But when he sinned, he was cut off from partaking of the tree of life, and
he became subject to death. The divine sentence, “Dust thou art, and unto
dust shalt thou return,” points to the utter extinction of life.
Immortality, promised to man on condition of obedience, had been forfeited
by transgression. Adam could not transmit to his posterity that which he
did not possess; and there could have been no hope for the fallen race had
not God, by the sacrifice of His Son, brought immortality within their
reach. While “death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned,” Christ
“hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”(933) And
only through Christ can immortality be obtained. Said Jesus, “He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life.”(934) Every man may come into possession of this
priceless blessing if he will comply with the conditions. All “who by
patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality,” will receive “eternal life.”(935)
The only one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great
deceiver. And the declaration of the serpent to Eve in Eden,—“Ye shall not
surely die,”—was the first sermon ever preached upon the immortality of
the soul. Yet this declaration, resting solely upon the authority of
Satan, is echoed from the pulpits of Christendom, and is received by the
majority of mankind as readily as it was received by our first parents.
The divine sentence, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,”(936) is made
to mean, The soul that sinneth, it shall not die, but live eternally. We
cannot but wonder at the strange infatuation which renders men so
credulous concerning the words of Satan, and so unbelieving in regard to
the words of God.
Had man, after his fall, been allowed free access to the tree of life, he
would have lived forever, and thus sin would have been immortalized. But
cherubim and a flaming sword kept “the way of the tree of life,”(937) and
not one of the family of Adam has been permitted to pass that barrier and
partake of the life-giving fruit. Therefore there is not an immortal
sinner.
But after the fall, Satan bade his angels make a special effort to
inculcate the belief in man’s natural immortality; and having induced the
people to receive this error, they were to lead them on to conclude that
the sinner would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness,
working through his agents, represents God as a revengeful tyrant,
declaring that He plunges into hell all those who do not please Him, and
causes them ever to feel His wrath; and that while they suffer unutterable
anguish, and writhe in the eternal flames, their Creator looks down upon
them with satisfaction.
Thus the arch-fiend clothes with his own attributes the Creator and
Benefactor of mankind. Cruelty is satanic. God is love; and all that He
created was pure, holy, and lovely, until sin was brought in by the first
great rebel. Satan himself is the enemy who tempts man to sin, and then
destroys him if he can; and when he has made sure of his victim, then he
exults in the ruin he has wrought. If permitted, he would sweep the entire
race into his net. Were it not for the interposition of divine power, not
one son or daughter of Adam would escape.
Satan is seeking to overcome men to-day, as he overcame our first parents,
by shaking their confidence in their Creator, and leading them to doubt
the wisdom of His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his
emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to
justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors to
shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father, that
he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion
from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He
presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild
sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of
Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to
God.
How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of
justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and
brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief
earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet
this doctrine has been widely taught, and is still embodied in many of the
creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: “The sight of
hell-torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they
see others who are of the same nature and born under the same
circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will
make them sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words:
“While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of
wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of
the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable
objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”
Where, in the pages of God’s word, is such teaching to be found? Will the
redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and
even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the
indifference of the stoic, or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is
not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed
in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men; but they
are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong
expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of
bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our
Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye,
turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?”(938)
What would be gained to God should we admit that He delights in witnessing
unceasing tortures; that He is regaled with the groans and shrieks and
imprecations of the suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames of
hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is
urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show
God’s hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of
the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God’s hatred of sin is the
reason why it is perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these
theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched
victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are
forever augmenting their load of guilt. God’s glory is not enhanced by
thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.
It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has
been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible,
full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by
superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false
colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our
merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views
of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit
have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.
The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that
constitute the wine of the abominations of Babylon, of which she makes all
nations drink.(939) That ministers of Christ should have accepted this
heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk, is indeed a mystery. They
received it from Rome, as they received the false sabbath. True, it has
been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not
come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the
light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines
in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God’s word, and accept false
doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation
pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abominations.
A large class to whom the doctrine of eternal torment is revolting, are
driven to the opposite error. They see that the Scriptures represent God
as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will
consign His creatures to the fires of an eternally burning hell. But
holding that the soul is naturally immortal, they see no alternative but
to conclude that all mankind will finally be saved. Many regard the
threatenings of the Bible as designed merely to frighten men into
obedience, and not to be literally fulfilled. Thus the sinner can live in
selfish pleasure, disregarding the requirements of God, and yet expect to
be finally received into His favor. Such a doctrine, presuming upon God’s
mercy, but ignoring His justice, pleases the carnal heart, and emboldens
the wicked in their iniquity.
To show how believers in universal salvation wrest the Scriptures to
sustain their soul-destroying dogmas, it is needful only to cite their own
utterances. At the funeral of an irreligious young man, who had been
killed instantly by an accident, a Universalist minister selected as his
text the Scripture statement concerning David, “He was comforted
concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.”(940)
“I am frequently asked,” said the speaker, “what will be the fate of those
who leave the world in sin, die, perhaps, in a state of inebriation, die
with the scarlet stains of crime unwashed from their robes, or die as this
young man died, having never made a profession or enjoyed an experience of
religion. We are content with the Scriptures; their answer shall solve the
awful problem. Amnon was exceedingly sinful; he was unrepentant, he was
made drunk, and while drunk was killed. David was a prophet of God; he
must have known whether it would be ill or well for Amnon in the world to
come. What were the expressions of his heart? ‘The soul of King David
longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon,
seeing he was dead.’
“And what is the inference to be deduced from this language? Is it not
that endless suffering formed no part of his religious belief? So we
conceive; and here we discover a triumphant argument in support of the
more pleasing, more enlightened, more benevolent hypothesis of ultimate
universal purity and peace. He was comforted, seeing his son was dead. And
why so? Because by the eye of prophecy he could look forward into the
glorious future, and see that son far removed from all temptations,
released from the bondage and purified from the corruptions of sin, and
after being made sufficiently holy and enlightened, admitted to the
assembly of ascended and rejoicing spirits. His only comfort was, that in
being removed from the present state of sin and suffering, his beloved son
had gone where the loftiest breathings of the Holy Spirit would be shed
upon his darkened soul; where his mind would be unfolded to the wisdom of
heaven and the sweet raptures of immortal love, and thus prepared with a
sanctified nature to enjoy the rest and society of the heavenly
inheritance.
“In these thoughts we would be understood to believe that the salvation of
heaven depends upon nothing which we can do in this life; neither upon a
present change of heart, nor upon present belief, or a present profession
of religion.”
Thus does the professed minister of Christ reiterate the falsehood uttered
by the serpent in Eden, “Ye shall not surely die.” “In the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods.” He
declares that the vilest of sinners,—the murderer, the thief, and the
adulterer,—will after death be prepared to enter into immortal bliss.
And from what does this perverter of the Scriptures draw his conclusions?
From a single sentence expressing David’s submission to the dispensation
of Providence. His soul “longed to go forth unto Absalom: for he was
comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.” The poignancy of his
grief having been softened by time, his thoughts turned from the dead to
the living son, self-banished through fear of the just punishment of his
crime. And this is the evidence that the incestuous, drunken Amnon was at
death immediately transported to the abodes of bliss, there to be purified
and prepared for the companionship of sinless angels! A pleasing fable
indeed, well suited to gratify the carnal heart! This is Satan’s own
doctrine, and it does his work effectually. Should we be surprised that,
with such instruction, wickedness abounds?
The course pursued by this one false teacher illustrates that of many
others. A few words of Scripture are separated from the context, which
would, in many cases, show their meaning to be exactly opposite to the
interpretation put upon them; and such disjointed passages are perverted
and used in proof of doctrines that have no foundation in the word of God.
The testimony cited as evidence that the drunken Amnon is in heaven, is a
mere inference, directly contradicted by the plain and positive statement
of the Scriptures, that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God.(941)
It is thus that doubters, unbelievers, and skeptics turn the truth into a
lie. And multitudes have been deceived by their sophistry, and rocked to
sleep in the cradle of carnal security.
If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly to heaven at the
hour of dissolution, then we might well covet death rather than life. Many
have been led by this belief to put an end to their existence. When
overwhelmed with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy
thing to break the brittle thread of life, and soar away into the bliss of
the eternal world.