p. 1 | The Judgment by Dr. Cumming

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 25, 1871

The Judgment.

By Dr. Cumming

All men who believe in a God must believe in a Judgment to come. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to evade or to escape the necessity of such a conviction. There are in social life inequalities that need to be leveled or equalized—wrongs to be righted, the incidental success of the guilty to be explained, and the sufferings of the good that demand rectification somewhere and at some time. There is enough in the present world to prove that the Judge still acts in it; but there is enough also to show that judicial decisions do not universally take place and govern it. In man himself there is a court of justice, a ceaseless assize; his affections, intellect, and judgment, the assessors, and conscience the sublime and solemn court in which decisions are ceaselessly enunciated upon every act; decisions that are premonitions, warnings, and presentiments of the great assize—that last judicial act which winds up a world that has gone deeply wrong, and introduces a world that shall be everlastingly right.

There is also in every man's soul a belief which he cannot thrust down, or with all his efforts, when so disposed, eject, that it ought to be, or will be, well with the righteous, and that it ought not to be, and will not be, finally well with the wicked. There is in all, acting with less or greater force, a sense of moral responsibility. The sensitiveness of a nerve to a pin-point is not more real than the vibratory sensitiveness of conscience to right or wrong. This is that sensibility in man which he never can quench. He may drug it with opiates so that it may be lulled and stupefied for a little; he may overwhelm it by the excitements of sense, and sight, and taste, and sound, and so keep it at a distance; but when the sweet sounds are laid, and sense is sated, and the pleasures and excitements of the world are laid, the once hushed and drugged conscience will speak out, and reason of righteousness, and temperance, and judgment, with a power that has ere now made the lions of monarchs shake and the faces of the bravest grow pale. The pope in his bull has condemned, and execrated, and pronounced to be heresy, any man's believing in what is called liberty of conscience, and with which he links the liberty of the press and the liberty of worship. Liberty of worship certainly the pope can put down wherever he is a power, and he has in fact put it down in Rome. The liberty of the press he also restrains. But the poor old priest is sadly at fault when he dreams of putting down liberty of conscience; for he can't do that. The conscience is the holy of holies in the human breast, on which no hand but the hand of the Almighty can be laid. He may prevent us speaking what we think, or writing what we believe, or worshiping according to rites we prefer; but he never can prevent us thinking, feeling, and knowing, in the sanctuary of the conscience, whence there may rise a purer, and a holier, and more acceptable worship than the incense, and pomp, and meretricious splendor, of St. Peter's, can raise to the Almighty. The conscience is in its place an anticipation of the judgment-seat.

We feel that judgment is a reality in the future, because judicial decisions are frequent, however imperfect, in this world of ours. What the pagan called his Nemesis, is, translated into Christian language, the present judicial action of God on earth. The wrong that is done in one generation is reproduced with portentous effect in the sufferings of the next. The iniquity of to-day has constantly somewhere its echo in the retribution of to-morrow. Crimes perpetrated in the gray past in silence and in secrecy sooner or later come into the broad daylight of the future. “The sinner's sin shall find him out.” What are the moldering ruins of Jerusalem, with not one stone left upon another that has not been shattered or thrown down, but a proof of this solemn historic Nemesis? What are Babylon, Palmyra, Thebes with its gates, Rome with its capitol, Athens with its Parthenon, broken, dismantled, and in ruins, but specters projected from the past which teach mankind that while righteousness exalteth a nation, sin is the shame and the ruin of any people?

There is, however, a book that tells us in plainer terms, though not perhaps more impressively, that there is a Judgment, the Judgment of the great day, “the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men,” the revelation of the righteous judgment of God; “the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his coming.” “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment.” “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

What is the nature of the future Judgment? The popular idea, the prevalent and popular idea, is that the day of Judgment is a sort of scene like an assize in a country town in England, only on a larger scale; that it is the Mediator or Saviour seated on the judgment throne, hearing accusations and excuses, and sifting character, and pronouncing decisions in the line of the character that has been developed in the past conduct of mankind. This is a popular fallacy; it is not scriptural, it is not true. In order to get at the correct meaning, let us first try to ascertain what is the language of Scripture respecting it. It is remarkable how little both preachers and hearers look to the Bible for its own explanation of itself. We too fondly take up a popular notion, and keep it. This is allowing tradition to supersede Scripture. We accuse the Romish Church of giving heed to traditions; but the fact is, there is a great amount of traditions current among us, and we often think that to be Scripture which consists of floating, airy inventions, that have neither a place in God's word, nor any consistency with its clearest enunciations.

A judge in holy Scripture is not what we understand by a judge, one presiding at an assize, appointed by the queen to try prisoners. According to the Scriptures, he is a ruler, a king, a governor. Sampson, Jephthah, and Samuel, are called “the judges,” and they judged Israel for a series of years. How did they exercise their functions? Let us try to find out from the word of God. They executed the sentence of the law; but they also protected the rights of the people, punished criminals, maintained the authority of law, in short, were royal judges, sovereigns, kings, or rulers. That such was the meaning and nature of their office is plain from such passages as these. The elders of Israel said, “We will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us”—here is the judge—“that our king may judge us and go out before us, and fight our battles”—here also is the office of a king. And again they said, “Make us a king to judge us.” In Ps. 67, “Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth”; here is also the office of the judge. Again in Isa. 9: 6, 7, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.” In Jer. 23: 5, the prophecy is, “A king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” Another prediction of the Saviour, in Micah 4: 3, is, “He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations.” And Jesus himself says, in Matt. 19: 28, “Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration”—that is, what shall take place then—“when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Just as the Son of Man in the time of the regeneration, or restitution of all things, sits upon the throne, judging, that is, performing the office of a judge; so you, the twelve apostles, shall sit upon thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, the judge of Scripture is the sovereign, the ruler, governing the people, executing the law upon the criminals, and distributing rewards. In fact, he is a judge with royal prerogatives and investiture.

Having thus ascertained what judgment is—namely, rule, and not simply examination of character; government, not simply trial or test, or judicial process; let us proceed to ascertain what the day of Judgment is. God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man”—namely, Jesus Christ—“whom he hath ordained.” Is this a literal day? Does it mean a period of twenty-four hours? Certainly not. The popular notion is that it is to be a twenty-four hours' work, or a twelve hours' work, very short, very severe, very decisive, and then it will pass away forever. The word day in Scripture is used in a very different sense. I ask, therefore, your attention not to my opinion, but to the passages in Scripture that cast light upon this subject. God took six days—take these days in any sense or as representing any length of time you please—to arrange this earth for the new dynasty of man that was to take possession of it. But in the second chapter of Genesis, at the fourth verse, we find these six days called, “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field.” So that the whole period of six days during which God brought forth all recorded in Genesis to have been created by his power, is included in one period—called the day in which he did so. In the Psalms the period of forty years in the desert is called “the day of temptation”—“the day of temptation in the wilderness.” In the inspired prediction of the life of Jesus, and the influence of his doctrines upon earth, it is said, “In that day shall there be a Root of Jesse.” And in contrast we have, “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.” The day of salvation has lasted 1865 years; the day of Judgment corresponds to the day of salvation, and it, too, will be a period far longer than twelve or twenty-four hours; it will probably be a period of a thousand years, synchronous with the millennium, and during that day will be the period of the great judicial process or retribution.

The very word in which we glory, which is our great glory—is a judicial word. What is meant by “justification”? It is a forensic term. A man is placed, if I may use a human illustration, in the criminal's dock; he is tried: if the jury bring in a verdict—not the Scottish one, “Not proven,” which leaves a little of the stain behind; but, “Not guilty,” then the man is perfectly acquitted; he becomes justified; it is a judicial act, a forensic term. There is a process of judgment, so far, going on even in the church now; for what does the Saviour say? “He that believeth in the Son is not condemned; but he that believeth not is judged”—for that is the literal translation—“already.” And again, the Redeemer saith, “Now is the Judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” Still, God “hath appointed a day, in the which,” as a judge—and we have already explained the character, the attributes, and the action of a judge—“he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead”; or as it is explained in a parallel text, the Father “hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man.”

The period of a thousand years, called in popular phrase the millennium, called in Scripture the future rest that remaineth for the people of God, is in all probability contemporaneous or synchronous with what is always called in Scripture the day of Judgment. Like a day, from which the figure is taken, it will have its morning when the Sun of Righteousness will rise, and awaken first the sleeping, pious dead of countless generations, and change in the twinkling of an eye the pious living into his own glorious likeness; and it will have its evening, when after the thousand years are finished, the dead that never received, or rather the dead that when living rejected the gospel, shall be judged, and cast into that retribution in which God shall judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained—Jesus Christ.

A very able American writer upon this subject says, “There seems a duality,” that is, two, “in every fact that is recorded in the Bible. For instance, there is a duality in the resurrection—the first resurrection, which is of believers; the second resurrection, which consists of unbelievers. There is a duality in the law—love to God and love to man. There is a duality in the book of Revelation; the bride, the Lamb's wife, the heiress of eternal blessing; and the woman on the seven hills, drunk with the blood of saints, whose doom is perdition. There is a duality in the nature of Christ; he is God as well as man. There is a duality in the Saviour's advent—he came to suffer, he will come again to reign. So there is a duality in the millennial dispensation, or in the Judgment day—at its beginning the resurrection of the pious dead and the glorification of the pious living; at its close the rest of the dead, who lived not till the thousand years were finished.”**

Shall we be numbered with the unregenerate raised dead, or with the regenerate risen dead? Shall we be numbered with the living that believe, or the living that believe not? If I had no prescription for your eternal happiness, I never would mention these things. Often when anything of this sort of mine is printed, either with my consent or without it, the newspapers say, How dreadful to speak of such things! how dreadful to think that anybody is going to hell! how dreadful to preach these things! It is very sad, no doubt. But a thing does not cease to be true because men put cotton in their ears, and refuse to listen to it. A fact is a fact, whether we believe it or not. If a God the most merciful and loving has stated it, how dare any of his ambassadors refuse to echo it? But if I had nothing to say better than that, and behind that, I would try to be silent. The gospel does not speak to men in order to trouble them, or to alarm them, or to vex them, but in order to make them happy. There is not one for whom there is not instant pardon, instant peace, the certainty of everlasting joy, if he will only accept it. And the only cause of the ruin of a human being is no decree damning him, no predestination crushing him down, no reluctance on God's part, no insufficiency in Christ's work; the whole thing is in these words, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever”—is elect? No. Whosoever reformeth? No. Whosoever repenteth? No. Whosoever has done nobody any harm? No. Whosoever is very charitable? No. Not one word of this sort; but “whosoever will, let him,” say to the contrary who may, “take the water of life freely.”

With Milton we would cry: “O Thou, the ever begotten Light and perfect image of the Father, who is there cannot trace thee in thy beamy walk through the midst of the sanctuary, amidst these golden candlesticks which have long suffered dimness? Come therefore, O Thou who hast the stars in thy right hand, appoint thy chosen priests to minister before thee, and daily to press and pour out the consecrated oil into thy holy and ever burning lamps. Thy kingdom is now at hand. Thou standest at the door. Come forth out of thy royal chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth. Put on the visible robes of thy imperial majesty, for now the voice of thy bride calleth thee, and all creatures sigh to be redeemed.”—Dr. Cumming.