George
Storrs
1796-1879
SERMON FOUR
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
1Thess. 5:21
TO
prove, in the sense of the text, I conclude, signifies to try - to
bring to the test. The apostle was far from adopting the theory of
some, in the present day, who seem to think it evidence that a man is
a heretic if he presumes to examine for himself with regard to the
truth of those theories which men, who have been in reputation for
wisdom and piety, have seen fit to baptize as the true faith. They may
have seen the truth clearly, or they may not. Whether they have or
not, it does not release us from the obligation of proving all things
for ourselves. Not to do this, we might nearly as well have been
constituted idiots; as, in point of fact, we make ourselves so, by
taking, for truth, without investigation, the opinions of fallible
men.
We are not indeed to despise
helps in our investigations; but every thing is to be brought to the
test - the infallible words of God.
Nor are we to allow ourselves
to think, as some seem to maintain, that we are to exercise a blind
faith in a theory, however contrary to reason. Reason, it is true,
cannot find out God, nor the things of God, unaided - Hence God has
been pleased to give us revelation; and that revelation is made to
man's reason, or understanding. To talk about believing that which is
contrary to reason, is the most consummate folly. Is it possible for a
man to believe that two and two make six? or that unequal things are
exactly equal? To propose such absurdities for belief is to attempt to
annihilate all tests of truth, and leave a man to wander in the mazes
of conjecture. We hardly know which to pity most, the man who attempts
such a work, or those who are duped by it.
The fact is - God appeals to
man's reason. "Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord."
The disciples "communed together, and reasoned." See Luke 24:15. Acts
17:2, we are told, "Paul, as his manner was - reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures." And chap. 18:4, "He reasoned in the synagogues
every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Before Felix he
"reasoned" till his royal hearer trembled.
We may rest assured, then,
that God has given us our reason to be used; and we are commanded to
be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us.
There may be many truths that
reason can never find out; hence the necessity of revelation; but
revelation can contain nothing contrary to reason - that is
impossible; for, I repeat it, it would be no revelation at all, but
darkness and obscurity itself. Reason then occupies an important
place. It is its province to judge of the truth of that which
professes to be a revelation; if that professed revelation is clearly
contrary to reason, no man can credit it but a rank fanatic: It is to
confound truth and falsehood, and take away all power of
discriminating between them.
Reason, however, is to be
allowed to do her work untrammeled. Reason may be blinded. There is no
way in which it is so likely to be perverted as by the love of sin. If
men are in love with sin, and are determined to persist in it, they
may expect to reason incorrectly - though their decisions, in that
case, can hardly be said to be the voice of reason; it is rather the
voice of passion, or appetite; for, even in such cases, the strife of
reason, to be heard, is easily discovered, if a man will observe the
workings of his own mind. But our Saviour has decided that the man who
"will do" the will of God, i.e. has a purpose, or determination, to do
that will, wherever it may lead him, "he shall know of the doctrine."
– Before reasoning, then, we should see to it that we have that
purpose: else we may go astray.
With these remarks, I proceed
to a further examination of objections to the theory I advocate. If
those objections are reasonable, and the unreasonableness of them
cannot be shown, then you are bound to "hold" them "fast," as "good."
If they are to your mind shown to be without reason, as well as
without Scripture authority, you are equally bound to give them up.
EXAMINATION OF OBJECTIONS CONTINUED
It is said, "the fathers
believed in the endless torments of the wicked." In reply, I remark,
Our Lord and Master has prohibited my calling any man father. But,
if the fathers, as they are called, did believe that doctrine, they
learned it from the Bible, or they did not. If they learned it
there, so can we. If they did not learn it from the Bible their
testimony is of no weight. It may have been an error that early got
into the Church, like many others.
Mosheim, in his Church
History, tells us, as early as the third century, that the defenders
of Christianity, in their controversies, "degenerated much from
primitive simplicity," and that the maxim which asserted the
innocence of defending truth by artifice and falsehood,
"contributed" to this degeneracy. And he adds: -
"This disingenuous and
vicious method of surprising their adversaries by artifice, and
striking them down, as it were, by lies and fictions, produced,
among other disagreeable effects, a great number of books, which
were falsely attributed to certain great men, in order to give these
spurious productions more credit and weight; for, as the greatest
part of mankind are less governed by reason than authority, and
prefer in many cases, the decisions of fallible mortals to the
unerring dictates of the divine word, the disputants, of whom we are
speaking, thought they could not serve the truth more effectually
than by opposing illustrious names, and respectable authorities to
the attacks of its adversaries."
This practice, spoken of by
Mosheim, increased as the darker ages rolled on; and through those
dark ages, what there are of the writings of the "fathers" have come
down to us. It is a truth, also, that the practice of corrupting the
simplicity of the apostolic doctrine was commenced much earlier than
the third century. Enfield, in his philosophy, says: "The first
witnesses of Christianity had scarcely left the world when" this
work began. Some of the "fathers" seemed intent on uniting heathen
philosophy with Christianity, and early commenced the practice of
clothing the doctrines of religion in an allegorical dress.
You may judge, my hearers,
what dependence can be placed upon the "fathers" in settling what is
Bible truth.
Again it is said, - The
Jews held the doctrine of eternal conscious being in torments. This
is proved, not from their Scriptures, the place where it should be
found, if true, but from the writings of Josephus.
The same may be urged
against the infallibility of some things found in Josephus, as in
the "fathers;" for it is certain, as I have before shown, that there
was a large class among the Jews that did not believe it; viz. the
Sadducees, who did not believe in the existence of spirits at all,
and of course could not have held to their eternal conscious
existence in sin and suffering.
But what if the Jews did
believe it? They believed too "many other such like" foolish things.
Are we to go to their ignorance and superstition to learn the
knowledge of the Most High? The fact is, the Jewish Scriptures, the
Old Testament, no where teach that doctrine.
My attention will be called
to Is.33:14. "Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? who
among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" This looks the most
like teaching that doctrine of any thing in the Old Testament. But
the text itself refutes the theory it is brought to prove; for it
tells us, expressly, the fire is a devouring fire. What is the
meaning of the term "devour?" According to Walker, it signifies "To
eat up" - "to consume" - "to annihilate."
Surely then, my opponents
gain nothing from this text, for it is wholly in my favor.
Besides, such questions
often imply the impossibility of a thing; e.g. "How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation?" i.e. There is no escape. So -"Who
shall dwell with devouring fire?" implies the impossibility of any
person doing it, as it will utterly destroy, or consume him. I will
give the objector one text from the old Testament, that he may weigh
along with this. It is Ps.92:7, "When the wicked spring as the
grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that
shall be destroyed forever." I have said, the Jewish Scriptures no
where teach the common theory; so far from it, they wind up with the
most solemn declaration, calling the attention of all men to the
fact, "Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven: and all
the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day
that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it
shall leave them neither root nor branch."
But suppose I were to
admit, that the Jews did hold the doctrine of endless suffering, as
my opponents say: what then? Why, say they, that is strong evidence
it must be true; because, if it had not been, the Saviour and his
apostles would have taught the contrary.
I reply, first: Many of the
Jews believed in the pre-existent state of souls; or, their
existence in some other body prior to those they now inhabit. It was
owing to this idea, that we find the disciples of our Lord in John
9:2, asking him, "Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was
born blind?" This question shows, that even the apostles had imbibed
the notion common among the Jews at that time. They supposed that in
some previous state he might have sinned; and hence, as a judgment,
was born blind. Does not the same reasoning which says, the Jews
believed in the eternal sinning and suffering of the wicked, and
therefore it must be true, because the Saviour did not refute it,
prove that the doctrine of the transmigration of souls is true,
because the Jews believed it, and our Saviour did not refute it?
But again, - I maintain,
that Christ and his apostles did teach the contrary of endless sin
and suffering: and that, as clear as language could make it; and I
think I have already shown this. I have read the New Testament
carefully through, and noted down every text that speaks of the
final destiny of the wicked; or that can be construed as referring
to it. Let us look at these texts, and see if any language could
well express more clearly and forcibly, the utter extirpation of the
wicked. TESTIMONY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT John the Baptist. Matt.3:10 - "Every tree that bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." It appears to me
–This language imports, clearly, an utter extinction of being, and
nothing short. Again in the 12th verse, John says of Christ - "He
will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Here the language
denotes nothing less than the previous: and is, most clearly, a
reference to the words of the Lord by Malachi, chap. 4:1. John 3:36,
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life." John, then, does not
teach the common notion of eternal conscious being in torments, but
utter destruction of being, if there is any meaning in language. If,
then, the Jews did hold the doctrine of endless sin and suffering,
or the immortality of the wicked, as some pretend, John's preaching
was directly calculated to overthrow it. The next witness is, |
The next place where we find the apostle speaking on this subject is Rom.1:29,-32. Let us first attend to the description he gives of the wickedness of those of whom he speaks. He says, v.28-31, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those thing which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable unmerciful." Can a blacker catalogue of sins be furnished than this? Surely if any men deserve unending being in indescribable torments these do. Let us hear what further the apostle has to say concerning them: "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy" of endless torments in hell fire! Is that what they "are worthy" of, Paul? "No, I did not say any such thing." Well, what did you say? "I said they are worthy of DEATH." Is that all? Those who profess to be your "regular successors" tell us such wicked men are immortal, and cannot die, but must live eternally in misery. However, we believe you, and think those who claim to be your "successors" may not have sufficiently heeded the apostolic injunction to "beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit; after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the [pagan] world, and not after Christ." I now follow the apostle into Rom.2. After showing that God's judgment of men will be impartial, both on the Jew and Gentile, he give us to understand who will have "immortality, eternal life," viz: those "who seek for" it, by a "patient continuance in well doing:" while the opposite character will have "indignation and wrath:" and that this will be the case with all who have sinned "without law," or "in the law;" so, that "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," they shall "perish." In this chapter, then, the apostle gives no countenance to the theory that wicked men are immortal, or that any man can have immortality unless he "seek for" it: all others shall experience the "wrath" which they have "treasured up," under which they shall "perish" in the day of judgment. To "perish" and have "immortality, eternal life," are put in contrast by the apostle. Next, look at Rom.6:21-23, "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is endless torments!" Have we read Paul right? Does he talk thus? Let us look again, "For the end of those things is death." Modern divines say it is "endless misery" - Paul says it is "death." Which shall we believe? Paul continues, "But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the END EVERLASTING LIFE," He then adds, "For the wages of sin is" everlasting life in indescribable and unutterable torments! Is that right? Did he say so? He ought to say so, if modern theology is true. Let us take off the old sectarian spectacles and look at this text again. What did Paul say? He said "the wages of sin is death." Well, we thought so; but his words have been so often "tormented" to make them speak "endless misery," we did not know but we might be mistaken, and that death meant life. "No," cries the apostle, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Thus Paul has a perfect contrast - Death to the sinner - Life to the saint. One dies, and his death is eternal: he other lives, and his life is everlasting. Thus far Paul is clear of the heresy of endless life in sin and suffering. Rom.8:13, the apostle says, "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." How perfectly plain. It needs no learned perverters of God's truth to make common sense men understand it. So sure as one lives, the other will die: and just as certain as life implies consciousness, death implies unconsciousness. "To be, or not to be," depends on the character men form here. If they have been made free from sin and had their fruit unto holiness, they live, by the gift of God, eternally. If destitute of this character they die, and thus reap the wages for which they labored. Rom.9:22: the apostle inquires, "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" What, Paul! Are you coming out a Destructionist? Beware how you favor that class of men, for we hate them, as Ahab did Micaiah. 2Chron.18:7. Again, Paul says, Rom.14:15, "Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died:" and verse 20. "For meat destroy not the work of God." Now, that is provoking, Paul: we called you, as Balak did Balaam, to curse our enemies, and behold thou hast blessed them altogether. But, come I pray thee unto another place - and curse me them from thence. Very well, answers Paul, we will go to 1Cor.1:18: "For the preaching of the cross is to them that are to be endlessly tormented foolishness." Will not the endless misery theorists cry out now, as did Ahab king of Israel to Micaiah, when he said with the false prophets, Go ye up to battle, and prosper, &c.; and the king said, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord? Very well - if truth is what you want, then I, Paul, say, "The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness." Well, have you anything more to say? Yes, "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy:" 1Cor.3:17. More destruction! Yes - "and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died:" 1Cor.8:11. And, "if the dead rise not - then they also that have fallen asleep in Christ are perished:" 1Cor.15:17-18. Worse and worse - truly Paul, you only prophecy evil of our theory: for, you not only teach the wicked are to be destroyed, but that the saints who die are perished if there is no resurrection, and if so, they cannot be conscious now! But we are not satisfied yet, Paul; so please come with us to another place, it may be we shall make out these Destructionists heretics from there. We turn to 2Cor.2:15-16, "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that" are preserved in endless misery! Have we read Paul right? No - He did not say any such thing. What did he say? "In them that perish." But, don't that mean preserve? No, for "to the one we are the savour of death unto DEATH; and to the other the savour of Life unto LIFE." But, Paul, by such testimony do you not corrupt the word of God? "No - we are not as many who corrupt the word God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ:" v.17. Alas for the advocates of inherent immortality - take Paul to what place they will, he is stubbornly set in giving no countenance to their Pagan fable. Let them, however, try him to their heart's content, and Balak like, drag him to another place. Gal.6:8, What do you see now Paul? "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, [not immortality,] but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." Phil.1:28, "And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God." Also, chap. 3;19, "Whose END IS DESTRUCTION." 1Thess.5:3, "Sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape." Shall not escape what? Destruction. But they would escape it if eternally preserved. Now, Paul, do let us try you once more: come to another place. Speak now, we pray thee, so as to confirm our theory this once, for we cannot bear to think we and our fathers have been in error, and that we are not gods. 2Thess.1:9, "Who shall be punished with everlasting" preservation in indescribable agonies, where "the presence of God in his vengeance catters darkness and woe through the dreary regions of misery; for God is present, himself, in hell to see to the punishment of these rebels; his indignation kindles, and his incensed fury feeds the flame of their torment, while his powerful presence and operation maintains their being, - and renders all their powers most acutely sensible; thus setting the keenest edge upon their pain, and making it cut most intolerably deep." Now, immortal-soul believers, shout and clap your hands, for you see Paul is fairly and fully on your side! But stop one moment: we have made a mistake. We began with Paul, but the railroad track has got so badly worn by much travel that we run off, and took Benson's track, in his Sermons on Future Misery. Badly as we are off the track of Paul, we must get back again. We start anew then: "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power," &c. Thus Paul differs from Benson and his immortal soul coadjutors immensely. Again, the apostle, in speaking of the man of sin, chap. 2:10, says his working is "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved: and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned [condemned] who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Then Heb.6:8, he says, "That which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned;" not preserved; for John the Baptist declares, Matt.3:12, that the chaff, same as thorns and briars, shall be "burned up with unquenchable fire;" no preservation, but utter destruction. Let us hear Paul once more, Heb.10:26-27, "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Devour, which signifies to eat up, to consume, to annihilate. "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition," [destruction,] v.39. Thus closes up the testimony of Paul. I have now placed before you every word that he has spoken on the doom of the wicked, so far as recorded in the Bible. And where is one solitary expression that gives countenance to the theory of endless sin and suffering? Again I ask - Where? Paul a sustainer of the God-dishonoring theory shadowed forth in the words of Benson, quoted above, which is the doctrine of all who, like Benson, believe in endless misery! No - never. Paul did not so learn of Christ. The endless sin and suffering theory was manufactured in a Pagan and Papal mill. Paganism is the father cause, and Papacy the mother cause of the fable of endless torture to any being in the universe. Well did Bishop Newton say "It is impossible for any creature to live in endless torments." And again he said, "God is love; and he would rather not have given life, than render that life a torment and curse to all eternity." Whatever Bishop Newton might think or say, a greater has said, even the eternal Jehovah himself - The soul that sinneth it shall die: Eze.18:4,20. Also, by the Spirit of God, the Psalmist says, But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke they shall consume away: Ps.37:20. CONCLUDING REMARKS
God, has set life and death
before us. We are called upon to choose life. God invites, commands,
expostulates, entreats, and warns; but God cannot compel man to turn
from death without destroying man's moral agency, which would be, in
fact, to unman man, and make him as incapable of higher happiness as
any other mere animal. Man must turn and live, or he will pass on
and die, - die because he would not have life; - die because he is
unfit for any purpose of life – wholly disqualified for the
employment of life. And the sinner, persisting in the course of sin
and death, will as certainly pass the period of being restored, and
when death entire must be the result, as certain as the man with a
fatal physical disorder will certainly, by neglecting proper medical
aid, pass the period when death cannot be arrested. And if you would
think the man unwise, and acting insanely, that procrastinates, and
puts off application to a proper remedy in such a physical disorder,
how much more is every careless and dying sinner chargeable with
folly and madness, who delays applying to Christ, the great
Physician? Every day increases the danger; and every day the moral
disease is increasing in malignity - every day is bringing the
sinner nearer to that point, where, when once past, there is no
recovery - destruction and death must follow. Let none, then, delay longer: - God is now calling - "look unto me and live." The Lord Jesus Christ is stretching forth his hands, and saying, - "This is that bread which came down from heaven, that a man might eat thereof and not die." "Whosoever drinketh the water that I shall give him" - it "shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Hasten to Christ, then, who only has eternal life to give - believe in him, trust in his power and skill to make alive; abide by his directions - follow him. Remember no man can come to the Father but by Christ. There is no other way of salvation, or eternal life, but by the Son of God alone. All other physicians and remedies are of no value. If you stay away you die. O, come to Christ and live.
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