WHEN WILL THE NATIONS BE DASHED IN PIECES?
By James White
THE particular declarations of the Word fully agree with those more general. Of the two classes into which the Apostle divides the world, he says, "We have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin." Rom. iii, 9. Of the individuals of these classes he says, "it is written: 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 sepulchre; 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. iii, 10-18. The following facts and conclusion are plainly revealed in this letter to the Romans:
The wages of sin is death. Chap. vi, 23.
All have sinned. Chap. iii, 23.
Therefore, all are under condemnation to death. Verse 19. The law saith, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."
Who has fulfilled it? "Not one."
Who shall be justified by it? "No flesh."
Who are condemned by it? "All the world." These facts need no comment or confirmation; and if any would deny them we have only to say, "Who art thou that repliest against God?" But some will doubtless say, We do not deny these things; we could not think of arraying ourselves against such truths. Well, I did not expect that an issue would be raised on this point; perhaps not on the next. But whether they will be equally frank to admit a necessary conclusion deduced from such plain truths, time will determine. As the question now stands it will be necessary for them to show that what I have written is erroneous in regard to the priesthood of Christ, the mediation of the new covenant, putting his enemies under his feet, &c., or admit the irresistible conclusion that all his enemies will be destroyed at his coming, and the privileges of probation terminate with the termination of his ministry. I know of but two ways of avoiding this conclusion: either to deny the universality of the law, or to evade the point. But the justice—the necessity of this conclusion will be still more apparent when we consider the next proposition. The first part of the epistle to the Romans contains an excellent treatise on justification, and the main positions are—
The doers of the law shall be justified. Chap. ii, 12.
But there is none that doeth good. Chap. iii, 12.
Therefore none shall be justified by it. Verse 20.
But the righteousness of God is manifested by faith in Jesus Christ, unto and upon them that believe. Verses 21, 22.
Through faith in his blood sins are remitted, and God may be just and justify the believer in Jesus. Verses 25, 26.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Chap. v, 1. Here we have set before us the only way of salvation: the only means of escape from the condemnation of the law and its fearful consequences. We come now to consider THE MEANS AND CONDITIONS OF THE GOSPEL.—The means by which we receive remission, justification, and eternal life, are the death and mediation of Jesus Christ; and the conditions on which we receive them are "repentance toward God," whose law has been transgressed, and "faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," who redeems us from the curse of the law. Acts xx, 21. His death is seen to be necessary, because without shedding of blood is no remission; his mediation is necessary to present that blood, and make intercession for us; and taking the Scriptures as our only guide, we find that the place and manner of pleading this blood, or making atonement, are also essential in the system or plan. In manner it is conformable to the example given in the type; its place is the heavenly Sanctuary. I have before quoted the Scriptures to show that this is a unit work; that Christ himself is the only offering acceptable to God in the sinner's behalf: that his blood is offered but once; that it is offered in but one place; that there is but one mediator; and that his mediatorial office is resigned before his coming. The important question then arises, What is required of the sinner, in order that he may have an interest in the work of our Saviour, and "stand in the battle in the day of the Lord," and escape those plagues which are coming on the earth when the "wrath of the Lamb" is manifested falling on the ungodly? A few quotations from the Word will best show this. John iii, 16. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish."
Luke xiii, 3. "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish."
Heb. xii, 14. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man can see the Lord."
Rom. viii, 9. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his."
1 Cor. xvi, 22. "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be an accursed creature."
Gal. iii, 22. "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
1 Pet. iv, 18. "And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" The promise is only to those in whose characters are developed faith, repentance, holiness, spiritual mindedness, who are pure in heart and righteous, at the coming of Christ. Such, according to many plain scriptures, will be redeemed and have the glorious boon of immortality or eternal life conferred upon them, "when Christ who is our life shall appear." What of those who are not holy—who have not the Spirit of Christ—who have not exercised faith and repentance? They will surely perish. But is there no middle ground between them that are saved and them that perish? Let us see. Says the Saviour, "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." Matt. xii, 30. There is no neutral ground here. 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 outbreaking sins, but holiness of heart, faith in Christ, and walking in the Spirit. I ask all, and entreat them to answer in the fear of God, and in humble reverence of his Word, Is there any medium between those "under the law" and those "under grace?" There cannot be; for as "all have sinned," all are originally under the law; and none can be brought out from under the law except by being placed under grace, or redeemed from the curse of the law by Christ. If they could, the cross of Christ would be of no effect. There can be no ground between justification and condemnation. All who are not justified are surely condemned; and conversely, all who are not condemned are necessarily justified. If there be a class who will escape the judgments of God without availing themselves of the benefits of the Gospel of Christ, then the Gospel is local and limited in its application.42A word in regard to that theory which makes it necessary for God to place the Jews and heathen on a new probation in order to vindicate his justice. Has not the present generation of Jews and heathens as good opportunities to know God's will as the generations have had in past centuries? If so (and indeed they have better) has not God been wanting in justice to them? And if a new probation is necessary for these, would it not be equally necessary that these be raised and put on probation also? Or, rather than these, Are not they who teach such things guilty of charging God foolishly? When the Lord Jesus is revealed taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel of his Son, who will escape "the wrath of the Lamb?" All who are righteous. Who will suffer vengeance? All who are wicked, or condemned, which includes all who are not justified by faith in Christ. This is a necessary conclusion from the premises, and should be admitted from these plain facts, even if the Saviour had not expressly declared it should be so. See Matt. xxiv, 37-39. A correspondent in a friendly epistle on this subject says: "As for your quotations I can make no issue. I believe every one when placed just where the Bible places them, namely, in the Jewish and Christian dispensations; but they prove nothing, either for or against probation in the Age to Come; because they have no reference whatever to that dispensation. To prove that probation, in the present dispensation, will terminate when Christ comes, and to prove that there will be no probation in the Future Age, are very different things." Now the writer of the above either speaks mysteries beyond my comprehension, or else he is very much mistaken. I have never been unwilling to believe in a future probation provided any proof to be produced to establish it. But three things I shall ask, viz.: (1) that the scriptures be given which show it to be a fact; (2) that the means and conditions on which probation is to be based; and (3) that the class or classes be specified who are then to be placed on probation. With this last point I have to do at present; and to me it is an interesting point, for I may, perhaps, have a future probation myself. This they may deny; but I challenge them to show, by what authority they will deny it; for every individual of the human race is condemned by the law as I am, and I design presenting my claims to another probation for their consideration, whenever they clearly prove the existence of the fact. But is it true that there is a difference between proving the termination, at Christ's coming, of probation in this age, and proving that there will be no probation in the future age? I think it is not; for as every individual of this age is under condemnation, they are "subject to the judgment of God," [Rom. iii, 19, margin,] and I know of no revealed method by which condemned probationers of this age may be shoved over into the next age, and given a new and different probation. And further, there can be no method of effecting this object which would not do violence to revealed principles. The same writer, in the same epistle, says, "God's mode of saving men may change without change in principle. It was not the same in the Jewish dispensation it is in the Christian." This is another and a very material mistake. God's plan of salvation has never changed—he has had but one mode. But he has had different modes of illustrating, enforcing, and impressing the same great truths on the minds of his people. And what is here denominated a mode peculiar to the Jewish dispensation was no more than a shadow of the real mode, which was a promise of them, and is in process of fulfillment now, and will be completed and finished when the Sanctuary is cleansed, prior to Christ's coming. In both these dispensations the means and conditions of the gospel are the same, though certain positive institutions are given which are peculiar to each. But not one declaration of the Word can be produced to show that these means can extend, or the conditions can apply to any in a future age; and the writer would soon have found himself in a dilemma had he tried to carry out his declaration to a conclusion. It is true that these positive institutions are important in their places in the conditional plan; and true also that they differ in the two dispensations. But their importance is relative, and that which alone gives them importance has never changed, but will terminate or cease before Christ comes; hence, they can have no importance or significance after that time; neither can others be instituted in their places, for the same reason. The positive institutions of the Jewish and Christian dispensations all point to a work performed and now being performed by Christ as Mediator between God and man—they are all indexes to one common center. And probation in this dispensation necessarily closes with the close of his mediation in the heavenly Sanctuary, as he is the only Mediator of this dispensation. Therefore, to prove the close of probation in this dispensation at or before Christ's coming when his mediation has ceased, is equivalent to proving that there will be no probation in a future age; unless Christ is offered again, or again enters the holies in heaven as High Priest. Hence it is evident that if there will be probation in the Age to Come, the mediation of Christ must be renewed, (which the scriptures forbid,) or there must be another gospel. Let it be well understood that the question is not in regard to a change of types, memorials, or positive institutions, but to the duration of the gospel means on which all these depend for their existence. It is easy to understand how the types of the Jewish dispensation, with the teachings of "the law and the prophets," directed the faith of the penitent to the future work of the Messiah in procuring remission of sins; and easy also to understand how the memorials of the New Testament, with the teachings of Christ and the apostles, point to the same identical work by which we receive the "remission of sins that are past," [Rom. iii, 25;] but as this work ceases before his advent, no remission can be granted beyond that time, except on the principle of granting indulgences for future sins, which would of course belong to that other gospel. Some may be ready to inquire what I would do with certain prophecies, which they think teach future probation. To them I would say, I deny your inferences drawn from these texts. I have already exposed some of the most glaring misconstructions of scripture put forth by the advocates of the Age to Come, and I have now shown by the plainest declarations, and the most evident facts relative to the fundamental principles of God's word, that their inferences are entirely inadmissible. They think certain texts favor the idea of future probation, while I have ever believed they did not so teach. One side must be mistaken; therefore it is just and reasonable that we bring our constructions and inferences to the test of well-defined principles. The plainest, the most certain, and the most important of all principles are "the Law and the Gospel"—not human law and newly-invented gospel, but the Law of God, and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The theory of future age probation conflicts with these, and hence is not founded in truth.