George
Storrs
1796-1879
SERMON THREE
"Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life,
and they are they that testify of me;
and ye will not come unto me
that ye might have life."
John 5:39 - 40
SOME
translate this text, "Ye do search the Scriptures," &c. It makes very
little difference which way it is understood, whether as a command of
what should be done, or as a declaration of what was done. Either way,
it shows the immense value of the Scriptures, because they reveal
eternal life: and it shows, too, that the object they had in
searching, was to learn about eternal life. And further, it shows that
the Scriptures are the proper place to search for that inestimable
blessing. Every man is bound to do this for himself, and not trust to
his teachers alone, as I fear too many do. |
Teachers may be good men - honest men; they may intend to lead the people into truth, and preserve them from error: yet they are but men - fallible men, and may "err not knowing the Scriptures;" and besides, it is possible they may be bad men, who may have some other object in view than to "save souls from death;" but if this is not the case, and they are sincere, still it must be recollected, we have all received our education, from the first dawnings of intellect, under an influence that has necessarily given our minds a bias to a particular theory, or mode of interpreting the Scriptures; that mode may be right, or it may be wrong; be it which it may, our teachers themselves have most likely had their opinions formed by it, and will teach it; but they cannot give an account for us to God; every man must give account of himself. It will
avail us nothing, at the judgment, to plead that our teachers taught
us so, - or, that ecclesiastical bodies decreed or established such a
belief, or articles of faith. It will roll back in thunder tones in
our ears - "Every one must give account of himself to God." "You had
the Scriptures, and the injunction to search them - and if you have
erred to your ruin through false teaching, you have done it with the
words of eternal life in your hands; but which you have trusted others
to interpret for you, without giving that application of your own
minds to the subject which it was your duty to do, instead of being
absorbed by the things of time." Would
not such words be dreadful words in our ears at the great judgment
day? Should we not then fully realize the truth of that Scripture
which saith, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man?" Teachers
may be helps to understand the Scriptures, but should never be trusted
as infallible guides; nor should they ever be allowed to decide
authoritatively for us, what the true meaning of God's word is. Any
such attempt on the part of teachers, is a manifest usurpation of the
prerogative of Jehovah, and should always be resisted. Let teachers in
religion keep to their appropriate work; which is not to be "lords
over God's heritage," but to be "helpers" and "ensamples to the
flock." They are not to decide who are heretics and who are orthodox,
but to show men their sins –their perishing, dying condition, and
point them to Christ, the Great Physician, that they may "have life." The
expression of our Lord - "Ye will not come unto me that you might have
life," shows that men are exposed to death. The question, with us, in
these discourses, is, to determine what that death is: - whether it is
eternal life in sin and suffering, or destruction of being. My
position is, that it is the latter; and I have endeavored to establish
that point from the standard version of the Scriptures; that version
has its imperfections, but is as safe to follow as any of the improved
versions, that have been, or may be gotten up in these times of strife
among the multitude of sects that are in existence. How far I have
been successful in my attempt, others will judge for themselves. No
man can believe without evidence. Some, it is true, will not believe
whatever the evidence may be, unless they could find the thing
proposed for belief was likely to be popular. But no one need
calculate on popularity who sets himself to follow truth wherever it
may lead him. Our Lord himself was despised and rejected of men. In my
last discourse, I had brought down my examination of objections nearly
to the close of the Bible. What remains for us to do, is, in the first
place, to finish that examination; then, I shall take up objections
from other sources; after which, I shall sustain my position by a mass
of Scripture testimony not yet introduced but in part.
AN EXAMINATION OF REV. 14:9-14 "If
any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his
forehead or his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his
indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb;
and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and
they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image,
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." It is
maintained, with great assurance, that this text teaches, that
"eternity of eternities" is the period of the torments of all wicked
men: and, therefore, proves them immortal. In
order to make this text available to our opponents, they must prove
three things. First - That it is spoken of ALL wicked men. Second -
That it relates to their punishment beyond this life. And, Third -
That the term "for ever and ever" is used in its primary and
absolute sense of endless. Neither of these points have they ever
proved, and I am persuaded they never can. It is not enough for a
man to affirm all these points; let them be proved. I say again, it
never has been done and never can be. Is this language used in
reference to all wicked men? I
answer, no. It is a specified class, viz: "If any man worship the
beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his
hand." This is the class spoken of and threatened; and it comes
almost infinitely short of embracing all the wicked. Let us
examine the connection and see when the "beast and his image" arose.
The previous chapter shows that they did not come into existence
till after the Christian era; nor indeed till the old Roman empire
was in its divided state - as the ten horns clearly show - which
could not have been earlier than the fourth or fifth century after
Christ. Hence, the wicked spoken of in the text under consideration,
did not embrace any that lived before the Christian era, nor any
that lived for three or four hundred years after. Here, then, is a
large exception of the wicked. But we shall probably find a still
larger exception, by an inquiry as to which beast is spoken of; for
two are mentioned, viz: a ten horned beast, and a two horned one:
and nearly all commentators are agreed that the two horned one came
up at a much later period than the other; and some doubt if it has
ever appeared yet. If the two horned beast is the one spoken of in
the text under consideration, then an exception must be made of the
wicked during the centuries that elapsed from the rise of the first
to that of the second beast. Hence here is another large number of
the wicked who are not embraced in the threatening. That it is the
worshippers of the two horned beast, who are threatened, seems
likely from the fact, that it is that beast that causes the image to
the first to be made. Thus another period must elapse, after the
second beast arose, before men could "worship his image;" and hence
many other wicked would not be embraced in the judgment denounced in
the text we are examining. Then we must inquire who or what power
this "beast and his image" represent. Protestants, quite generally,
say, it symbolizes Papacy. If that be so, then no Protestant sinners
are included in the text; so that none of them need fear the
threatening, whatever it embraces, unless they turn Papists.
Possibly the Papist might say, the beast, &c., is Protestantism. If
so, then all Catholic sinners escape. Thus, we see, it is a mere
assumption to say, "This punishment foreshown, Rev.14:9 to 11" is
"precisely" that to which "all the wicked will be subjected," as D.
N. Lord said, in his review of Dobney on Future Punishment,
Theological Journal for 1850, p. 416. The
dynasty of rulers symbolized by this beast and his image are of late
origin, if yet in existence; hence it is impossible that more than a
small portion of the race of Adam can come under the threatening of
chapter 14. This fact alone shows the absurdity of our opposers
quoting it in support of their theory, which is, that all wicked men
will be involved in endless torment. Does the judgment
threatened in this text relate to wicked men beyond this life? Can our opposers prove that it does? They can assume it; but assumptions do not pass for evidence in these days of investigation. Have they any evidence of their position? If so, what is it? and where is it found? But as they have none, I proceed to affirm, that those inflictions, on the worshippers of the beast and his image, relate to judgments inthis life, "on the earth," and not in some fancy hell in another world. The previous chapter gave us an account not only of the beast and his image, but the threatening of the beast, "that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed;" verse 15. To counteract this, God caused an angel to make the terrible threatening in the text; and its appropriateness to deter men from obeying the beast is apparent. The chapter following the text opens thus - "I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; and in them is filled up the wrath of God." The original is "In them was completed the wrath of God.
Mark well, these plagues
are the last on some body; and they are to have a completion; hence
it is impossible that they can be eternal, or endless. Now observe,
verses 7 and 8, it is said, "One of the four vital beings gave unto
the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God," &c.
"And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and
from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till
the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled," or
completed. Let it be distinctly noted, these plagues are THE LAST, and that they COMPLETE the wrath of God on the power to be visited; and also that no MAN can enter into the temple of God till they are COMPLETED. Now what follows – If these plagues, or any part of them, fall on the wicked spoken of in chap.14:9-11, then either no man ever can enter the temple of God, or the wrath spoken of will have been completed, or finished. Now listen - "I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God [where?] UPON THE EARTH:" not in hell, nor the moon, nor any other fancy location. "And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth." Well, what happened? "And there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had THE MARK OF THE BEAST, and upon them which WORSHIPPED HIS IMAGE." Here is the commencement of the exact fulfillment of the threatening in chap. 14. There we find the threatening; here the wrath in a course of accomplishment, and it has not missed the persons threatened. These plagues are all to fall on men upon the earth; chap.16:1; they are the "filling up of the wrath of God," and they are the "the last:" and till they are filled up and completed, no man can enter the temple of God: then what becomes of "the eternity of eternities" of their torment? It has passed away, like other fancies of mere theorists. The judgments embraced in these seven last plagues are fully developed in the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th chapters, and result in the entire destruction of "Babylon the great" - which seems to be only another symbol of the beast. Babylon is judged, condemned, thrown down, burned with fire, and to "be found no more at all," chap. 18:21. The terrible torments inflicted on her, and her devotees, as set forth in the chapters named, is a full and perfect fulfillment of chap. 14:9 to 11; and it is seen to be "on the earth;" and no support or countenance is given to the assumption of endless sin and suffering by it.
As I have shown that the
threatened wrath is to be "upon the earth," and that it must have a
completion, or no man can ever enter the "temple in heaven," it is
unnecessary to spend time to prove that the term, forever and ever,
in the text, is used, as often elsewhere, to signify no more than an
undefined period. I might greatly extend remarks on this subject;
but trust enough has been said to convince all candid inquirers, and
more would not avail with bigots, and dealers in mere assumptions. The last resort
of the advocates of the eternal sin and suffering theory is
Rev.20:10, "The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone -
and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." In reply, -
to say nothing of the fact that it is evidently a symbolical power
that is here spoken of, I remark: Some
of the most learned men, and men, too, who believe in the common
theory of unending sin and misery, have admitted that the "terms
`everlasting,' `forever,' and the like, are uniformly used in the
Scriptures to denote the longest possible duration of which the
subject to which they are applied is capable." If this view is
correct, and I see no reason to dissent from it, then the text under
consideration proves that the devil and his associates in misery,
are to be tormented during the whole period of their being: and of
course cuts off restorationism; but does by no means prove that
Satan, or wicked men, are immortal; on the contrary, we are
expressly taught, Heb.2:14, that Christ shall "destroy the devil."
Not destroy the "happiness" of the devil - that is done already; but
his person, his being. Any other construction of the words, I
conceive, is uncalled for and unnatural, unless it can first be
shown that he is immortal, and that immortality can suffer. It is
further evident that the devils themselves expect to be destroyed.
"Hast thou come to destroy us," said they to him who will finally do
that work.
Whatever may be the views of the devil in the matter, the blessed
God has said of the seed of the woman, that "It shall bruise thy
head:" Gen.3:15. The work for which Christ was "manifested" will
never be complete till the "old serpent's" head is bruised: which
expression denotes the entire destruction of the life principle.
Bruise a serpent anywhere, except his head, and he may live; but
crush that, and he dies. The devil then is to die. Whoever he is, or
whatever he is, the finale is total destruction, however hard the
death may be, or long in being accomplished. The
argument used by my opponents to prove the immortality of the
wicked, is drawn from the language which speaks of their punishment,
or torments. And why do they infer, that this language proves the
eternal conscious being of the wicked? Because, say they, the soul
is immortal! That is the very point to be proved. Their argument
runs thus: First
proposition: - The soul is immortal.
Inference: - The wicked will eternally sin and suffer. Second
proposition: - The wicked will eternally sin and suffer.
Inference: - Therefore they are immortal. Here
an attempt is made to establish the truth of the first proposition
by an inference drawn from that proposition; when the truth of that
inference, itself, depends upon the truth of the first proposition.
Nothing can be proved in this way to sustain the doctrine of the
immortality of the wicked. It is reasoning in a circle, and assuming
the whole question at issue, instead of proving it. Here, again, I refer to the language of Richard
Watson, in his "Institutes." Though he believed in the eternal being
of all souls, yet he says, vol.ii. [1st Am. Edition] page 250, the
notion "that the soul is naturally immortal is contradicted by
Scripture, which makes our immortality a gift, dependent on the will
of the giver." And again, page 167 and 168, 2d volume, he calls the
doctrine of the "natural immortality of the soul" an "absurdity."
The question then is, does God "give" immortality to any but the
"holy?" OTHER OBJECTIONS Having examined every important
text that I know of, relied upon in the Bible to establish the
common theory, I do not consider that my opponents have any claim
upon me to answer other objections, not having their foundation in
the Scriptures; as the book of God is the only infallible rule of
faith. I have no fear, however, to meet and examine objections from
other sources, and shall notice such as have come to my knowledge.
But,
the notion that benevolence requires the greatest possible
punishment to be inflicted, is expressly contradicted by the Bible.
Our Lord Jesus Christ informs us that some "shall be beaten with few
stripes." Of course the greatest possible punishment is not
inflicted, but only such as is necessary to secure the honor of a
violated law, and answer the end of government. It is
said, "sin is an infinite evil, and therefore the sinner must have
an infinite punishment." And I ask, if it may not be said, in an
important sense, that punishment, from which a sinner never
recovers, is infinite? But how is it proved that sin is an infinite
evil, which is committed by a finite being in time? The answer is,
it is committed against an infinite God. I reply, that, upon the
same principle, a punishment inflicted upon a finite being, in a
limited time, is an infinite punishment, because inflicted by an
infinite Being. Again,
it is objected to my views, that "it is no punishment at all." "If,"
continues the objector, "the wicked are to be struck out of being,
it is quick over, and that is the end of it." The
man who can make such an objection as this, gives sad evidence that
he is sinking below the brute creation, in his sensibilities; for a
brute makes every effort to live, or protract its life as long as
possible. Besides, he manifests that he has no clear conception of
the value of life: he, in fact, tells his Maker that he does not
thank Him for life. But does the objector really feel that what he
says is true? Is it nothing to die - to be cut off from life - to
perish "like a beast" – to lose that which may be filled up with
unmeasured and unending enjoyment? Is all this nothing? Is it no
punishment? If so, in the objector's mind, I repeat it, he is
already too degraded in the scale of being to be expected ever to
rise above a mere animal. His case is exceedingly hopeless. He may
count himself a Christian, but I fear he is ignorant of the grand
principle which characterizes such, viz: love to God. If be
possessed that, death - to cease eternally from conscious being -
would be to his mind the most tremendous punishment. The advantage
of teaching this punishment, is, it is something definite to the
mind; and therefore more likely to influence a rational being, than
a punishment of which he can have no clear conception, and the
justice of which does not commend itself to the human
understanding. Henry,
in his Commentary, says - "By the damnation of the wicked the
justice of God will be eternally satisfying, but never satisfied. This
doctrine is undoubtedly correct, on the supposition that the common
theory is true; but it represents God as incapable of satisfying his
justice, or as wanting in a disposition to do so. Either of these
positions, one would suppose, are sufficiently absurd to be rejected
by a reflecting mind. The
penalty of God's law is something to be inflicted, or it is not; if
it is not to be inflicted, then men may not be punished at all for
their sins; but if it is to be inflicted on the impenitent, then it
cannot be eternal sin and suffering; for in that case, it would only
be inflicting but never inflicted; indeed, in that way justice could
not be said to be even satisfying; for that cannot be said to be
satisfying that is never to be satisfied; that is a plain
contradiction. Could a man be said to be satisfying his hunger if it
was impossible ever to satisfy it? Or again, is the "grave"
satisfying, of which the wise man says, that it is "never
satisfied?"
Benson, the Methodist commentator, outstrips Henry. So far from the
justice of God making any approach towards satisfying itself,
according to Benson, the sinner outstrips justice in the race.
Speaking of the damned, he says: - "They must be perpetually
swelling their enormous sum of guilt, and still running deeper,
immensely deeper, in debt to divine and infinite justice. Hence,
after the longest imaginable period, they will be so far from having
discharged their debt –that they will find more due than when they
first began to suffer." How
much glory such a theory reflects upon the infinite God, I leave
others to judge. The same Benson says in another place - "Infinite
justice arrests their guilty souls, and confines them in the dark
prison of hell, till they have satisfied all its demands by their
personal sufferings, which, alas! they can never do." So, it
seems, the Great and Infinite Being is perfectly incapable of
obtaining satisfaction to his justice! But I will not dwell upon
this point. I will
call your attention to one thought more before I close this
discourse. Are we to suppose that the Creator of all men will
inflict a punishment on men of which he has given them no
intimation? For example - wicked men who have not revelation to
unfold the unseen world. Are we to believe that they are to be
punished by being plunged into a state of necessary sin and eternal
suffering? a state of which they had never heard? They
have had no intimation of eternal conscious being in misery. They
know there is misery, for they experience it, but they have always
seen misery terminate in death. Of misery followed by death, they
have something more than intimation; but of eternal suffering they
can have no idea. No - nor can we, who have that doctrine taught us
by ministers. We can have no idea of a life of misery that never
results in death. We may have illustrations given us, but they
cannot touch it, and no finite mind can have any conception of it;
this is evident from the illustrations used to attempt to describe
it; for example - Benson after painting the unutterable miseries of
the damned, till his own soul chills with horror, and his "heart
bleeds," thus attempts to describe the duration of that misery:
"Number the stars in the firmament, the drops of rain, sand on the
sea shore; and when thou hast finished the calculation, sit down and
number up the ages of woe. Let every star, every drop, every grain
of sand, represent one million of tormenting ages. And know that as
many more millions still remain behind, and yet as many more behind
these, and so on without end." Now I
ask if any definite idea is conveyed to the mind by such an
illustration? And if not, what influence can it have upon men? If it
produces any action, it must be as lacking in definiteness as the
ideas that possess the mind. Tell a
man of something concerning which he can form a definite idea, and
it must have more influence upon him. Tell him he is dying,
perishing - really, actually, literally, not figuratively perishing:
of that he can form some idea, and hence, it will be more likely to
move him to right action, than that of which he can have no such
definite knowledge.
CONCLUDING REMARKS I have
endeavored to establish the position, that men are perishing; in
other words, that they are laboring under a fatal disease, that will
result in death, or in utter extinction of conscious being, unless
it is removed. All men are dying. The death to which they are
hastening is the effect of sin, and sin is the transgression of the
law of their moral nature, which will as certainly result in the
entire dissolution of the man, so that he will cease to be man, as
the violation of the law of our physical nature will result in the
death of the body, unless that order can be restored which has been
interrupted by these violations. In
this view of the subject, we have a beautiful and forcible parallel
between the disorders of the body and those of the mind - and
between the attempts to heal the body, and the attempts to heal our
moral diseases, or to save us alive. There are, it is true, quacks
in both. I will not stop now to determine who they are in either
case; my business is to show unto men their disease and danger, or
their sins, and the consequences to which they lead; and then point
them to the sure the faithful, the kind and glorious Physician, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He came down from
heaven, and entered our moral graveyard, where souls are dying, and
proclaimed Life - ETERNAL LIFE. He
calls us to believe in him. And what does this faith imply? It
implies, of course, that we feel we are morally diseased and dying.
No man would ask, or receive the aid of a physician who felt himself
whole; for "the whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick." Again,
faith in Christ, the great Physician, implies confidence in his
ability to heal, or save us alive. No man employs a physician in
whose skill he has no confidence. When a sick man finds one in whom
he has perfect confidence, he shows his faith in him something like
this: "Doctor," he says, "I know you are a skilful practitioner, and
I believe you perfectly understand my disorder, and I wish you to
undertake for me - I wish to put myself entirely under your care."
"But," the doctor replies, "I cannot heal you, unless you will
strictly follow my directions; no medicine, however valuable, and no
physician, however skillful, can restore health, and prolong life,
if you persist in the violation of the laws of your physical nature;
you must therefore determine to give yourself entirely up to follow
my directions, or you must die; you can have your choice." Now, if the man consents to do this, he acts faith in that physician; and when he gets well, he will doubtless give the doctor all the credit of his cure, and be very likely to recommend him to others. Now, my hearers, that is faith, active faith. Go to Christ the great Physician, in the same way, and your sins, which are a moral disease, will be removed, and you, who are perishing, dying, will be made alive - yes, have life, and live eternally: but if you refuse the great Physician, you must die - die past hope, past recovery - die under an awful weight of guilt - die eternally. But you do not die without a mighty effort on the part of Christ and his followers to save you. Jesus wept over dying men when here on earth; and with all the compassion of the Son of God, in the most tender pity he said, in the language of my text: "Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life." - Shall the Saviour make this lamentation over any of us? O, come to Christ and live.
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