The Kingdom of God.—No. 15.
By J. H. WAGGONER
EVERY one possessed of the spirit of the gospel must entertain feelings of pity for the heathen, as for all others under the dark and blighting influences of sin. The apostle felt for them, and was willing to lay down his life for the privilege of laying the offer of life before them; but having the mind of Christ, he “knew what was in man,” and faithfully described his natural state. See Rom. 1:18–32; 3:9–19. Missionaries, and all who have dwelt in heathen lands, and all authentic history, assure us that wickedness of the most abominable kinds, and to an awful extent, prevails and has ever prevailed among the heathen. Of a truth it is said, “The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” We are informed by those who have resided among them that their ignorance of right is not so great as their hatred of right. Those who claim another probation for them attribute their wickedness to their blindness and ignorance; whereas the Scriptures attribute their blindness to their wickedness. Rom. 1:28. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” See also verses 22–26; compare Isa. 29:13, 14; Rom. 11:7–10, 20; 2 Thess. 2:11, 12. Of the very best of the heathen, their sages and philosophers, Melanchthon observed, “I admit that there were found in Socrates, Xenocrates, and Zeno, constancy, temperance, chastity. Those shadows of virtue existed in impure minds, and sprang from self-love; and therefore ought they to be regarded not as genuine virtues, but as vices.” Of this expression the celebrated historian D’Aubigné says: “This may seem a harsh judgment, but only when Melanchthon’s meaning is misapprehended. No man felt more disposed than he was to own that the pagans had virtues worthy of human esteem; but he maintained that great truth, that the supreme law given by God to all his creatures is, that they should love him above all things. Now, should man in doing God’s commands, act from love to himself, not from love to God, could God ever approve of his thus daring to substitute himself in the room of his Infinite Majesty? And would there not be vice in an act involving express rebellion against the supreme God?” It must be confessed that all whose minds have not been renewed by grace through faith (which, of course, includes the heathen), are considered carnally minded. But “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.” This justifies the sentence that “to be carnally minded is death.” To the same intent, and of the same general application are the words of Paul in Gal. 5:19–21. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.” These are placed in opposition to the fruits of the Spirit; and as surely as the fruits or graces of the Spirit abound where the Spirit dwells, and the Spirit cannot dwell where these are not, so do those prevail in all flesh, where the flesh with its affections and lusts is not crucified, or subdued by the grace of God. Not that all have outwardly committed all these crimes, but they inhere in the carnal mind, and are very often more restrained by circumstances than by the will. That which is perfectly subject to the law of God is perfect in love, for “love is the fulfilling of the law.” But that which is enmity against God, and not subject to his law, is complete in hatred to God, and a transgressor of his holy law in every respect. That all are by nature the children of wrath, and have carnal minds, will not be denied; and therefore all who are not justified by faith and made at peace with God through Christ, are in the deplorable condition described by the apostle. These statements of the apostle naturally grow out of the supremacy of God, and the universality of his law, as revealed by the plainest declarations of Scripture to which reason itself demands that all assent. “Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; THAT EVERY MOUTH MAY BE STOPPED, AND ALL THE WORLD MAY BECOME GUILTY BEFORE GOD.” Rom. 3:19. In this connection the apostle says that God is the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, and also that we have “proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.” It does seem that, when they are already convicted and their guilt is plainly declared by inspiration, the mouths of opposers ought to “be stopped,” and they should cease their efforts to excuse sin and to impeach the divine plan of salvation. God is not under obligation to any sinner. But if such teachers as are here referred to are correct; if the justice of God cannot be vindicated without saving them, or giving them a better chance than the gospel affords; or, in other words, if obligation of any nature rests upon God to provide for their salvation, then that salvation is not of grace, but is only the discharge of a legal obligation resting upon God! This conclusion is just, and cannot be evaded. We must express our astonishment that the teachers of that theory are not shocked at the tendency of their own doctrines. But the testimony of the Scriptures is equally pointed on the universality of the gospel means. The apostle says, of Jews and Gentiles, “There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom. 3:10–18. Now on such plain Scripture we found the following argument:— “All have sinned.” Chap. 3:23. Therefore all are under condemnation to death. Verse 19. These truths need neither confirmation nor comment; if any would deny them, we have only to say, “Who art thou that repliest against God?” But they might as well deny the statements at once as to deny the conclusions to which they unavoidably lead. As surely as these Scripture statements are true, so surely are they fatal to the position we call in question. They would be a sufficient vindication of the justice of God should he at this instant destroy them all from the face of the earth. And they must and will be so destroyed when the just judgments of God fall on a guilty world. The means and conditions of the gospel do not admit of a new system of probation in another age, for any who are under condemnation in this age, inasmuch as the penalty of their transgressions is of such a nature that it is impossible for them to avail themselves of another probation. They now stand condemned, and death is the penalty. When Jesus comes to take vengeance on his enemies, the wrath of God will fall on “them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel.” Who, then, will escape? They only who have complied with the conditions, which are “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” The following scriptures show what is required of all in order that they may escape the coming judgments:— John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.” Luke 13:3: “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Heb. 12:14: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Rom. 8:9: “Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” 1 Cor. 16:22: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be an accursed creature.” Gal. 3:22: “The scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” 1 Pet. 4:18: “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Matt. 12:30: “He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” There is no neutral ground. It is either gathering or scattering; righteous or wicked; life or death. Not the bare absence of inveterate or openly avowed hatred, but active, perfect love, is required. Not merely abstinence from great, out-breaking sins, but holiness of heart, and walking in the Spirit. A prominent teacher of that system once wrote:— “To prove that probation, in the present dispensation, will close when Christ comes, and to prove that there will be no probation in the future age, are very different things.” The above may justly be called a play upon words. We have never thought it necessary to prove that “probation in the present dispensation will close when Christ comes;” for it is universally admitted that the dispensation itself closes at that time; and of course probation in this dispensation could not possibly continue after the dispensation terminated. One truth is undeniable, to wit: that all are on probation in this dispensation; and that the probation of all ceases before Christ comes is evident from the proofs adduced that all are under condemnation, or “subject to the judgment of God” (Rom. 3:19, margin), and I have never yet heard of any method by which condemned probationers of this age may be shoved over and given a new and different probation in another age. Reason, justice, and Scripture, all show that they will be held to account under the claims of the present age, in which they are already under condemnation. The judgment of all classes is clearly revealed, and the time given in Rom. 2:12–16. Any system to give them another probation in another age would do violence to revealed principles. Again, the same author said:— “God’s mode of saving men may change without change in principle. It was not the same in the Jewish dispensation as it is in the Christian.” In these quotations it will be noticed there is an acknowledgment that probation terminates with this dispensation, though he thinks it will be renewed in another; and that the mode of probation would be different from that of this age. But the latter declaration, in this connection, is somewhat ambiguous; for, if by the “mode of saving men,” he merely refers to positive institutions, his statement does not reach the case, as will be shown; but if by it he would embrace the plan of salvation, he is in error. This plan has never changed. It has ever been the same, though there have been different methods of illustrating and enforcing its saving truths. Each shadow of the Jewish age was equivalent to a promise; and these promises are now in process of fulfillment in the work of Christ in the sanctuary in Heaven. But not one declaration of the Bible can be produced to show that its conditions will apply to any in a future age. Reference to a change of “mode,” and a change from the past to the present dispensation, is of no avail, as there was no termination of probation at the close of that age, nor did the Judgment act upon the transgressors of that age, as will be the case at the close of this. Hence there is no analogy; it is reasoning from unlike to unlike. The question is not in regard to types and positive institutions, but to the duration of the gospel system on which all these institutions and ordinances depend for their existence. Positive institutions have only a relative importance. Those of the Jewish age looked forward to the work of Christ—to his death and mediation—and without these they would have been of no importance whatever. The positive institutions of this age refer to the same things. But there is this difference: those of the Jewish age all looked beyond that into the present age, while those of the present do not look into the future. Baptism represents the burial and resurrection of Christ; the supper represents his death, and this only, “till he come.” The close of this age brings us to the last link in the chain. All past dispensations have been clearly connected, but there is no connecting link between this and any future time of probation. As this departs, the Judgment of the great day of God’s wrath opens before us. The Saviour’s work in the heavenly sanctuary will then be finished; he has entered Heaven once as a priest after the order of Melchisedec; when he leaves that station the saints will be sealed with the seal of the living God, and the filthy and the unjust will be so still. See Rev. 22:11, 12. It is easy to perceive how a change of positive institutions has taken place in the past, in strict conformity with established principles, as they all refer to a work now being done. “Things hoped for” are symbolized in this manner, but when his intercession ceases—when the atonement is fully made, they can have no further efficacy, as no remission can be granted after that time except on the principle of granting indulgence for future sins, by pardoning the crime before it is committed. The importance of the truth on this subject cannot be estimated. A mistake here may lead to fatal results. To cry, Peace, when there is no peace, and to promise security, and to build up hope where destruction is impending, is the work of false prophets. They say that the coming of Christ and the introduction of the day of the Lord will be a means of blessing to the nations now in darkness and in sin. But the Lord says: “Sound an alarm; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” It is the time of the judgment of the heathen. It is the time of the smiting of the image of Daniel 2, when the kingdoms shall be destroyed from off the earth; when all the wicked shall be given to the sword. It is the time when the seven last plagues, in which is filled up the wrath of God, shall be poured out upon men; when they shall drink of the unmixed wine of his wrath. It is the time when they who cry, Peace and safety, shall not escape from the sudden destruction which shall come; when the blind and their blind leaders shall fall together.