Review of Wellcome and Goud.
GOSPEL IN THE HEARTS OF THE GENTILES.
Rom. 2, they quote and comment as follows: “When the Gentiles which have not the law [written] do by [studying the righteousness of God] nature the things contained in the [written] law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. 2: 15, 16. That this law is embodied in the new covenant, the law of faith, is evident from its being written in the heart, and therefore by the Spirit, and not the old covenant or letter on stones.” Page 129. It is not possible, I think, for any one with an unprejudiced mind to read Paul’s argument in Rom. 2 and onward, and apply what he says about “the law” to the new covenant or the gospel. There are many reasons against such an application, a few of which I will notice. 1. The statement of verses 12, 16, dropping the parenthetical remark about the Gentiles, is this: As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the gospel. The resurrection of Christ is purely a gospel fact. But in Acts 17: 31 the Judgment is made to depend on that fact; it is our strong “assurance” of a future Judgment. Hence, Paul could say with all propriety that it was “according to my gospel” that there shall be a Judgment, but all men will then be “judged by the law.” The law and the gospel are as distinct and different in Rom. 2, as are the law and the faith of Christ in chap. 3. 2. In verse 17 Paul appeals to those who were called Jews, who rested in the law. But they who were called Jews never rested in the gospel. Therefore Paul did not mean gospel when he said law in Rom. 2. 3. He proceeds to quote from or refer to the law in which the Jews rested, and speaks of the commandments against stealing, adultery, and idolatry. By these, the law is easily identified. The commandments “Thou shalt not steal,” “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” belong to a system which condemns sin, but will never justify the sinner. Messrs. Wellcome and Goud, on page 56, refer to this law as “constantly condemning and killing, but never justifying and giving life.” Yet on page 129 they confound it with the gospel! What a gospel they must preach! Further proof might be given on this point from chaps. 2 and 3, but it seems unnecessary, especially as the next point noticed stands closely related to this. THE GOSPEL IN THE VOLUME OF NATURE.
Referring to the same scripture, Rom. 2, they remark: “The careful reader of the scripture above quoted, with its context, will not fail to see that the law which Paul alludes to as the rule for those who sin in the law, and the law which he says is written in their hearts who have it not otherwise, and who work good, is the same which he declares in chap. 1: 16, to be ‘the gospel of Christ,’ and in chap. 2: 16, ‘my gospel.’ The same law is alluded to by the psalmist when he says, ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.’ Ps. 19: 1–7. Please read all the Psalm.” Page 233. And again, in immediate connection with the comment on Rom. 2, referred to before, they say: “To this also agrees the testimony of the psalmist: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork: day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.’ ‘There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.’ And in view of this the prophet exclaims, ‘The law of the Lord [thus written in the volume of nature] is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.’ Ps. 19: 1–7. Please read the whole Psalm. Paul refers to it thus: ‘But I say, Have they not all heard? Yes, verily their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world.’ Rom. 10: 18. From these scriptures it is shown that the working of this ‘royal law’ of faith is not confined to those who have the written word, but is preached by the works of nature, by the Spirit, and finds disciples in heathen lands, in whose hearts it is written by the Spirit.” Pages 129, 130. The errors contained in these extracts are very serious; they contradict the plainest teachings of the Scriptures concerning the faith of the gospel, and are calculated to subvert every principle held sacred by believers of the Bible. 1. Psalm 19: 7, and onward, does not refer to the instructions of “the volume of nature,” but to the teachings of God’s word, which are contrasted with the teachings of nature. The law, testimony, statutes, commandments, or judgments of God, (Ps. 19: 7, 8, 9), are not taught by nature, as they are revealed in his word. “Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward;” verse 11. To which, dear reader, does this refer; to the instruction received from the sun, moon, and stars? or to that received from the word of God? The most intolerant revilers of the gospel—the most persistent advocates of “natural religion,” could ask for no more than Messrs. Wellcome and Goud have granted them in these extracts copied from their book. It was Dr. Young who wrote— “An undevout astronomer is mad.” I fully believe all that is written in Ps. 19: 1–6, and concede all that is expressed by Dr. Young on that subject. The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork, even as a watch or a building gives evidence of a designer and mechanic. But as a watch or house gives no evidence as to the moral character of the maker or builder, so the heavens or firmament give us no instruction in regard to the principles or precepts of God’s moral government. The feelings of the mere enthusiast, the infidel, or even the reviler of Christ, may be raised to a frame of devotion by viewing and studying the wonders of God’s creation, but these feelings are no evidence that he who indulges them is an accepted worshiper of God. Jesus says that they who worship the Father must worship him in Spirit and in truth, John 4: 23. And again, he said to the Father, Thy word is truth. Chap. 17: 17. The wonders of creation may beget devotional feelings; but the word and Spirit of God must guide our devotions to make them acceptable to him. 2. To refer what Paul says in Rom. 10: 18, to the evidence of nature is a perversion, yes, a plain contradiction of the apostle’s words. In quoting this text they refer the pronoun “their” to the heavens, the firmament, spoken of in Ps. 19: 1–6. But the context utterly forbids such an application. Commencing with verse 14 we read: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” These, and not the works of nature, are the subjects of Paul’s remarks. And the verse next preceding26that quoted by them reads, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Quite different from faith’s being revealed in “the volume of nature!” Such recklessness in quoting and commenting on the Scriptures is seldom seen as is shown by Messrs. Wellcome and Goud in this book. Were it not that verse 17 states explicitly how faith does come, their perversion of verse 18 would appear less glaring; but as it is, it seems entirely without excuse. 3. Ps. 19: 1–6, and Rom. 2: 12–15, do not refer to the same thing, as they teach. It is a truth that the work of the law is written in the heart of those who are ignorant of God’s written revelation. But it is not true that it is written there by the study of astronomy, and it is not true that the law so written is the gospel. Go into whatsoever land you will, and you will find more or less a recognition of right and wrong. You will find that such sins as theft, murder, &c., are acknowledged to be wrong, and the secrecy in which they are committed shows that the consciousness of wrong accompanies the commission. How they obtain this knowledge of right and wrong, we cannot tell. Whether God has ordered that it should be transmitted by tradition, or that it is what is termed intuition, is difficult to determine. The fact we know as stated by Paul, and missionaries who have visited heathen lands all attest it. That it is not obtained by any recognition of the power of the Creator is evident; for they have lost all ideas of the Creator, and worship the works of their own hands. But this intuitive knowledge—this recognition of right and wrong—is confined to the elements of morality; to the works of the law; to the plainest and simplest principles of government. But this intuitive knowledge never extends to the facts of the gospel. The law of God is purely moral—it is elementary. But the remedy for sin must necessarily be positive. The performance of one moral duty can never make amends nor prove our penitence for the neglect or violation of another moral duty. The terms or conditions of pardon rest entirely on the will of the governor, and therefore cannot be known intuitively, but are subjects of direct revelation. And we may take those who understand the rules of morality, yes, who are convicted of sin, and yet if they are left to their moral sense, or to their intuitions, they will never learn that Christ died for sin, or that repentance, faith, and baptism, are elements of the plan of redemption. What I state is so evident to all that it needs no argument to prove it. And all this goes to show that Messrs. Wellcome and Goud have shown themselves to be both careless readers of the Bible and superficial reasoners concerning its truths. Closely related to this is another error which they have advanced. It is concerning THE GOSPEL AS THE RULE OF JUDGMENT.
On this subject, they write as follows. And this quotation is the paragraph following that last quoted, showing that it is related to the errors just noticed, being a part of their comment on Rom. 2: “That all men have personally sinned against the law of Moses—the old covenant—and for that will be brought before the judgment seat of Christ, no well-informed person will pretend to claim. But that all persons of sufficient mind to be accountable to law, have sinned against law, is proved clearly enough by the scriptures above quoted, to satisfy all who are properly called Bible believers.” Page 233. To fully perceive the contradiction in which they have involved themselves in this statement, we must bear in mind that they constantly affirm that the old covenant—which they here say all men have not sinned against—is the ten commandments; and that they also say on this same page, 233, as before quoted, that the law which all men have transgressed, and by which all will be judged, as in Rom. 2, is the gospel or law of faith. With these, we will compare some other statements of the book. “A code of law, therefore, embracing rules and regulations of life, addressed to the living man Adam, the unit of the race, when he knew no death because he knew no sin, may properly be called a book of life, as it contained the rules of life for a living race, who must have been all included in this code of law, as all were alive in Adam.” Again on pages 30, 31, in describing the sinful condition of the race, they say: “Some of our readers may wish to be excepted from being identified in this class. Such should read.” Here they quote Rom. 3: 10–19, closing with the following: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” This must be identical with the code given to Adam for the race; and so they plainly declare, as we shall see in another place. In the last above quotation and comment, they strongly affirm that all the world, Jews and Gentiles, have sinned against, and are subject to, the judgment of the law spoken of in Rom. 3; and deny to “some of their readers” the privilege of being excepted. I think the Judgment day will awaken them to the fact that they are not excepted themselves. On pages 54, 55, under the head of “the old covenant,” by which they mean the ten commandments, they say: “Thus the law reveals man’s fallen, sinful, lost condition, and in its ordinances, as a schoolmaster, points us to Christ. To the above sentiments agree the declarations of Paul, ‘Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now [since the faith has come] the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference [under the law]; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ Rom. 3: 20, 23. Thus, while the law exposes our sinfulness by nature, it affords no relief,” &c. And on page 60, referring to the ten commandments, they say: “In the eyes of this law, all men are sinners, condemned to die, and no life or justification is to be obtained from it.” And yet again, on page 140, speaking directly of the ten commandments, they say: “This covenant was the code which in its germ was given to Adam, and, in an elementary sense, may be called the Adamic covenant, for the government of the Adamic race, while multiplying, replenishing, and subduing the earth.” Now if the fact, that all men are sinners against the ten commandments, that all the race, without any exception, are guilty before God because of their transgression of the ten commandments, can be more clearly affirmed than they have affirmed it in the foregoing quotations, I do not know what language should be used. Where I chosen to defend the ten commandments as a rule of obligation for all the race, as the code against which all have sinned and which proves all men sinners, as the law by which all are proved guilty in the sight of God, I would be willing to adopt the words of Messrs. Wellcome and Goud on this point. True, they say that “no well-informed person will pretend to claim” such a thing; but I do not think their self-condemnation amounts to much, while they have sustained the claim by such strong and direct Scripture evidences. I only regret that they have not shown themselves as “well-informed” on other points as on this. Certain it is that the law by which is the knowledge of sin, is the law by which men will be judged. Our authors have quoted Rom. 3: 19 to prove that all men are guilty in the sight of God; and they have directly affirmed that all men are sinners in the eyes of that law. Of course men will be judged by the law which proves them sinners, and Paul says that law will not justify the sinner by which is the knowledge of sin. So far all is straight and clear, and our authors stand in harmony with the word. But again, they affirm that all men are not sinners in the eyes of that law but in the eyes of the gospel! that the gospel is the rule by which all will be judged. Then when Paul says, “By the law is the knowledge of sin,” he must mean the gospel, according to their statement; all the world becomes guilty before God by the gospel, not the law. If it means so let us read it so. Now we know that what things soever the gospel saith, it saith to them who are under the gospel; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the gospel there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the gospel is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the gospel is manifested, &c. It does not read well. It does not mean the gospel; for it is not the gospel that proves men sinners. It is not the gospel by which men will be judged. That Messrs. Wellcome and Goud have contradicted themselves as well as the apostle, is plain to see. And there is no way for them to extricate themselves but by acknowledging the truth, that the law is the rule of life—the rule of Judgment; that it convinces of sin, and condemns the sinner; that the gospel is the means of justification; and in that day when men “shall be judged by the law,” when “every work” is brought into Judgment, it will be seen whether the gospel has been so embraced and obeyed that the “body of sin” has been thereby destroyed, and the life and character brought into conformity to the law of God which is not made void by faith, but established by it.