"For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith
of God without effect? God forbid; yea let God be true, but every man
a liar." Romans iii:3, 4.
We now resume the argument in reference to Christ the Saviour of men,
as we proposed in our last. We here inquire of the objector--do you
then grant that he is the Saviour of all men--the Saviour of the world
as the scriptures declare? If so, we assure you that, he will save the
number of whom he is declared to be the Saviour. But, replies the
objector, he is not the Saviour of any man till he believes. We ask--
till he believes what? Why, replies the objector, till he believes
that Christ is his Saviour--if he believes so, it will be so. Let us
understand this--you say _he is not_ the Saviour of an unbeliever,
still he must believe that he is, and that will make him so. Then he
must first believe a lie and that will create a truth. This is (as
Paul says) "turning the truth of God into a lie." But let us notice
the record. "This is the record, God hath given us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son." Do you grant, that God has given eternal
life in Christ to every man? No, says the objector. Very well, then
they cannot be called upon to believe it. Finally, says the objector,
grant that he has. This being granted, we would ask, whether they will
not come in possession of it, if God's promise stands? Certainly. But,
replies the objector, it is not theirs, till they believe. Then the
record is not true till they believe it; because, on this principle,
they must first believe, that they have eternal life in Christ before
it exists, and believing this lie will create it.
But, replies the objector, it is impossible that any man has eternal
life given him in Christ, till he believes. We then ask, what truth do
you wish him to believe, so that he may obtain this eternal life? The
fact is, there is none. He must believe _this truth_, itself because
it is the record, but this, you have taken from him. You cannot call
upon a man to believe, till you admit the existence of that very truth
you wish him to believe. In order fully to expose the inconsistency of
this conditional salvation, we will introduce an example. Suppose a
father tell his servant, I have a son in London, nineteen years of
age, who is in poverty and distress. I have given him in my will five
thousand dollars, and I promise that it shall be put into his
possession in two years. It is recorded and that record is true. Go my
servant, and proclaim to him glad tidings of great joy, and call upon
him to believe, so that he may enjoy a salvation by faith during those
two years of suspense, and be made happy even amidst his wants by
looking forward to when it shall be put into his possession.
The servant sets out on his mission, and believes that he understands
his errand. Being arrived, he addresses him as follows--Son, your
father is very rich, and he has not willed you five thousand dollars,
nor given it to you on record; and he never will, unless you _first
believe_ that he has. But, replies the son, according to your message,
if I should believe that he has given me five thousand dollars, I
should believe a lie. Let my father give the money, deposit it in some
bank; send me evidence of the fact, and with joy I will believe him.
Well replies the servant you are a disobedient, stubborn unbeliever!
Because, if you would only believe so, it would be so, and you would
have the money in two years.
You perceive (dear reader) that this servant has presented no truth
for this son to believe. He wishes to give this son the impression
that the obtaining of this fortune depends on his _believing_, and not
on the _testament record, and faithfulness_ of his father. In fact, he
denies the existence of the father's _will_, and the _record_, and
requires the son to believe a lie so as to create the truth. The
servant does not understand his message, and the son does not know on
what certainty to rest for the money.
In the same manner we are called upon to secure an _interest_--an
eternal life in the Saviour. They will not admit its existence till we
believe. Then _belief_ must create it. But may we spend our last
breath in convincing poor sinners that it is already secured in Christ
for them, so that they may believe, and live by faith on the son of
God.
This father sends another messenger. He tells this son of the goodness
of his father, and that he has _willed_ him five thousand dollars,
that the _will_ is put on record, and that this fortune will be put
into his possession in two years. The son does not believe it. Now he
is an unbeliever. But does his unbelief alter the truth of the _will_
or of the record. No. The certainty, of his obtaining the money, rests
on the faithfulness of his kind parent. This servant perseveres, uses
convincing arguments and the son at length believes he is saved by
faith from all his miseries, and he rejoices with joy unspeakable. But
his _believing_ does not make the record any more true than it was
before he believed it. It simply alters his present condition by
kindling in his bosom the joys arising from faith and anticipation.--
We have now answered the objections that would naturally be brought
forward by those who believe that our eternal salvation is predicated
on conditions. As _works_ are not the requirements of the gospel only
so far as they flow from faith in the truth, and as _faith_ must
precede works, therefore the truth of our eternal life in Christ, must
exist previous to our believing. Consequently all conditions are
excluded from the gospel covenant.
We will now meet the objector on the doctrine of election and
reprobation, the substance of which is as follows--After man fell, God
was pleased to provide a Saviour for a part of the human family. That
elect number he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world,
gave them eternal life in him, and for them only he tasted death. The
gospel is now to be preached to the whole world, and as long as they
reject it, they are unbelievers. But the elect shall sooner, or later,
all be brought to believe.
We will examine the foundation on which this statement rests. To bring
it clearly before you, we will take an example. Suppose there is a
congregation of one hundred persons. Fifty of them were elected to
everlasting life before the foundation of the world--were secured by a
Saviour, and the rest were reprobated to endless wo. For them no
Saviour was designed, and no eternal life ever has, or ever will be
given them in him. Suppose a sermon is preached to those one hundred;
and the fifty, who are elected, believe the record of their eternal
life, are brought to the obedience of faith, while the other fifty
remain unmoved. The preacher turns upon them and pronounces them
_unbelievers_. But In what sense are they unbelievers? There has been
no truth presented to them, which they disbelieve. Must they believe
that Christ is their Saviour, or that they have an eternal life in
him? But they would in such case believe a lie. If they believed right
the reverse of the elect,--_believed_ that God was their enemy and
that Christ was not their Saviour, they would be _believers_. But if
they believed what the fifty converts did, they would be
_unbelievers_. We here repeat one premise laid down in our last
discourse--viz. In order for any man to be styled a _believer or
unbeliever_, there must first be presented some truth for him to
embrace or reject.
Now either God has given us eternal life in Christ before the world
began, or he has not. If he has, then we are _unbelievers_ if we
reject it. If he has not given it, and should we still believe that he
has, we would then believe a lie. But neither our _belief, or
unbelief_ can ever alter the fact.
God has "chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will." * * * "Having
made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, he might gather together, in one, all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in
him." Some apply the above to the elect. But it embraces all things in
heaven and earth, which are to be gathered together in Christ, and be
new creatures. In addition to this we will introduce two more passages
"Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." "In hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." In
these scriptures we are assured _first_, that God chose us in Christ,
before the foundation of the world--_second_, that he saved us
according to his own purpose and grace before the world began, and
_third_ that he promised eternal life before the world began. These
things being embraced in his original plan, and purpose, their
performance is therefore certain as that the whole plan of God will be
carried unto execution.
There is, in my humble opinion, a strange inconsistency in the common
doctrine. They contend that on account of the transgression of our
first parent, all mankind were fallen creatures and even came into
existence totally depraved. To show the justice of God in the
constitution of our nature, they contend that Adam was our covenant
head, and had he maintained his original purity, we would also have
stood perfect in holiness, and no one would have had any reason to
complain. Now since Adam has fallen, and involved us in ruin, it is
equally just in God that we should share the fate of our covenant head
in the one instance as in the other. But if we make use of this same
argument in relation to Christ, the second Adam--if we contend that he
was the covenant head of every man, that the covenant was not made for
_this_, but for the _future_ world--that this covenant of grace being
made between the Father and the Son, was to stand independent of man--
that eternal life was promised and given us in him before the world
began--that as our covenant head, he resisted all temptations, and
perfectly fulfilled the law--that he died, and appeared alive beyond
the tomb free from temptation, and in a holy and immortal
constitution. If we contend for this, making use of their own
arguments, saying that it is just as rational that we should appear in
the image of Christ in the future world as that we should come into
this world in the image of Adam, they will pronounce the argument so
far as applicable to Adam, _sound logic_, but so far as this same
argument of theirs is applied by Universalists to Christ, they
pronounce it perfect jargon.
But, says the objector, there is one point you have not settled, and I
will here rest the whole of my argument upon it. It is this--God has,
in no instance, promised eternal to _unbelievers_; and unless you can
prove that the promise does extend to them, your arguments must fall
like rottenness to the ground. We have certainly proved this, and to
attend to the objector's request would but be, in some measure, going
over the ground already occupied. We will, however, just touch this
point again. We will introduce the following words of Paul to Titus.
"In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the
world began."
If God promised his creatures eternal life before the world began,
will they not obtain it? They will for this passage says that he
_cannot lie_. But says the objector, he has not promised it to the
unbeliever. We would then inquire, what is it that constitutes him an
_unbeliever_? Why do you call him an _unbeliever_? Do you say because
he disbelieves the truth of God's promise? Then you must, of course,
admit the truth of God's promise to him. If so, it must stand, for God
cannot lie. You cannot call upon a sinner to _believe_, until you
admit the existence of _that very truth_, you wish him to believe,
God's promise of eternal life in Christ, is the gospel we are called
upon to believe with a sincere heart. If you contend that it is
promised to an elect number only, and not to the reprobates, then if
they should all be brought to the knowledge of the truth, what would
they believe? Ans. The elect would believe the promise of eternal life
was made to them, the reprobates would believe right the reverse of
the elect, and all would be believers. No, says the objector, the
reprobates ought to believe just as the elect do. But in this case,
they would believe that they also have the promise of eternal life.
This would be believing a lie, because you say that God has not made
them that promise? How would you preach to such persons? If you called
upon them to believe the truth of the gospel, which is eternal life,
you would call upon them to believe a lie. How can you extricate
yourself from this difficulty? But inquires the objector, how do you
know that God has promised eternal life to all? Ans. Because the
scriptures do call all men either _believers_, or _unbelievers_, in
view of the promise that God has made. Take away that promise and
belief or unbelief respecting it can no longer have an existence--
_Believers and unbelievers_ would be no more.
But says the objector this is not proof that eternal life is promised
to an _unbeliever_. Well I am surprised at this assertion of my
opponent! First, I ask, what do you call a believer? Ans. One who
believes that God has promised, and given him eternal life in Christ
before the world began. Then, of course, an _unbeliever_ must be one,
to whom God has also promised and given eternal life in Christ before
the world, but will not believe it. But says the objector this cannot
be. I would then ask whether eternal life was not promised, and given
in Christ to the _believer_ before he believed it? Certainly. It must
have been the truth before he could believe. Well, what was he at that
time? An _unbeliever_ of course. Then eternal [life] is promised to
all, because it is the lack of faith in _that never failing promise_
of Jehovah that constitutes an unbeliever. But says the objector--a
man "must do so and so," or he cannot be saved. This is not correct;
he must _believe_, or he cannot be saved. We are saved by faith in the
promise and are permitted to look forward with satisfaction and joy to
an immortal existence where we shall be free from sin, sorrow and
pain. This faith and hope fill the soul with love to God, and induce
us to break off our sins by righteousness. So a salvation by faith can
only be enjoyed in this life, and is to end when faith and hope are
lost in certainty and in joy. Though only few are saved by faith, yet
all shall know the Lord from the greatest to the least, whom to know
is life eternal.