RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN NOAH’S TIME.
By G.
THE religious liberty of a man does not cease because he is wicked. This was demonstrated in the time of Noah. Mankind had become so corrupt that God determined on a general obliteration of sinners and the result of sin. He said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and the fowls of the air.” Gen. 6:7. But, that there might be no appearance of rashness in this judgment, a hundred and twenty years of special probation was given, during which time a final effort was to be made for the salvation of the condemned race. Of all men, Noah alone “found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and he was entrusted with the proclamation of the last message of mercy to that generation. The means of salvation from the threatened Deluge was to be an ark; and the method of inducing men to repent and turn to God and live was the Gospel. There is no record of any civil law in the matter at all; there is no record that Noah, or any one else, had authority to enact or to execute any reform law. Altho “the earth was filled with violence,” no effort was to be made to work a moral reform by means of human law. If Noah had been instructed to secure, or had secured, anything in that line, we would have some record of it. God was just as wise then as He is to-day, and He was just as anxious to save that generation as He is to save the people of to-day. So it is evident that if there could have been any efficacy in a civil reform law it would have been forthcoming. But we know that the law of God was in force; for “death reigned from Adam to Moses” (Rom. 5:14), and death is the result of sin (chapter 6:23), which is the “transgression of the law” of God. 1 John 3:4; Rom. 7:7. Where there is sin and death, there must be the law of God in force; for “where no law is, there is no transgression”—“sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 4:15; 5:13. Therefore there would be no need of the Gospel when there was no sin; no matter what the antediluvians did, it would not be sin, and their destruction would be an injustice. God proclaimed Noah to be “righteous” (Gen. 7:1), and his righteousness was the righteousness of faith (Heb. 11:7). Therefore when he preached righteousness (2 Peter 2:5), he preached righteousness by faith. He exhorted men to repent, to turn to God, and to put away their sins. In other words, he exhorted them to come into harmony with the law of God, which they were so grossly viola5ting. This is evident from the statement that, “dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” 2 Peter 2:8. It was by the Spirit of Christ that Noah preached, “while the ark was a preparing,” to those “disobedient” ones who were in the prison-house of condemnation to death. 1 Peter 3:18-20. While Noah was preaching the Gospel to the people, he was building “an ark to the saving of his house.” Heb. 11:7. And God had said, “Thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” Gen. 6:18. God gave direction for the building of the ark—the size, the arrangement, and who and what should go into it; yet there was preparation for only eight people. What does this apparently meager preparation mean? 1. It means that God foreknew that only the eight persons mentioned would believe and accept the proffered terms of mercy. 2. It means that no compulsory method was to be used to induce men to accept salvation from the approaching doom. 3. It means that men can not be saved against their will. They must believe in order to get any permanent benefit from the Gospel; and belief is a matter of the free exercise of the will. Now the Lord has told us that a like condition will obtain just prior to His second advent as existed before the Deluge. Matt. 24:37-39; Luke 17:26, 27. “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,” is another testimony concerning the last days. Matt. 24:12. And the description of the “days of Noah” fits the conditions of the present day, while the testimony of the daily record of events fulfils the prophecy of the apostle Paul, that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” 2 Tim. 3:13. What then shall be the remedy for such conditions? God is the same in all ages; sin is the same in all ages; and there is but one remedy for sin, one way of saving sinners, in all ages, and that is by the Gospel. Acts 4:10-12. The terms are, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” There is no provision for making professed disciples, nominal Christians, by law. “He that believeth not [is not a voluntary disciple] is condemned already,” and no amount of law can save him. It can only make him a hypocrite, which, if possible, makes his condition worse.