I turn to it on this as on every other point, to listen and bow to its decisions. And knowing, for by grace this Word is no stranger to me, that like Christ's flesh it is a veil as well as a revelation,— knowing that it has many things to say which we cannot bear at first, and that, if taken partially or in the letter, it may appear to teach what is directly opposed to Christ's mind and to its true meaning;— in this like not a few of Christ's own words, as when He said, “He that hath no sword, let
him sell his garment and buy one;”1 and again, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;”2 and again, “He that eateth me shall live by me;”1 and again, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;”2 all of which were misunderstood by not a few of those who first heard these words from Christ's own mouth; — knowing too that the words of Holy Scripture, in many places where they seem contradictory, and in its “dark sayings,”3 and “things hard to be understood,”4 ever cover some deep and blessed mystery, I see that the question is, not what this or that text, taken by itself or in the letter, seems to say at first sight, but rather what is the mind of God, and what the real meaning in His Word of any apparent inconsistency. If I err in attempting to answer this, my error will, I trust, provoke some better exposition of God's truth. If what I see is truth, like His coming who was the Truth, it must bring glory to God on high and on earth peace and good will to men.
What then does Scripture say on this subject? Its testimony appears at first sight contradictory. Not only is there on the one hand law, condemning all, while on the other hand there is the gospel, with good news for every one; but further there are direct statements as to the results of these, which at first sight are apparently irreconcileable. First our Lord calls His flock a “little flock,”5 and states distinctly that “many are called, but few chosen;”6 that “strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth
unto life,7 and few there be that find it;”8 that “many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able;”9 that while “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,10 he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him;”11 that “the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment,”12 “prepared for the devil and his angels;”13 " the resurrection of damnation,”14 “the damnation of hell,”15 “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ; "16 that though “every word against the Son of Man may be forgiven, the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world,17 nor in that which is to come;”18 and that of one at least it is true, that “good had it been for that man if he had not been born.”19
These are the words of Christ Himself, and they are in substance repeated just as strongly by His Apostles. St. Paul declares thawhile some are “saved” by the gospel, others “perish;”1 that “many walk whose end is destruction;”2 that “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction3 from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.”4 To the Hebrews he says, “If we sin wilfully 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;”5 that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,"6 for “our God is a consuming fire.”7 St. Peter repeats the same doctrine, that “judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God; for if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear ?”8 He further says of “false teachers,” who “deny the Lord that bought them,” that they “shall bring upon themselves swift destruction," and, like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, “shall utterly perish in their own corruption.”9 St John's words are at least as strong, that “the fearful, and unbelieving, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their place in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death;”10 and that “those who worship the beast, and his image, shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the Lamb, and they have no rest day nor night, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.”11
Words could not be stronger. The difficulty is that all this is but one side of Scripture, which in other places seems to teach a very different doctrine.For instance, there are first the words of God Himself, repeated again and again by those same Apostles whom I have just quoted, that “in Abraham's seed all the kindreds of the earth shall be blessed;”12 words which St. Peter expounds to mean
that there shall be “a restitution of all things,” adding that “God hath spoken of this by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.”1 St. Paul further declares this wondrous “mystery of God's will, that He hath purposed in Himself, according to His good pleasure, to rehead2 and reconcile3 unto Himself, in and by Christ, all things, whether they be things in heaven, “that is the spirit-world, where the conflict with Satan yet is,4 “or things on earth,” that is this outward world, where death now reigns, and where even God's elect are by nature children of wrath, even as other men.5 Further St. Paul asserts that “all creation, which now groans, shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”6 In another place he declares, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,”7 and that Christ “took our flesh and blood, through death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”8 that “if by the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many;”9 that “therefore as by the offence of one, or by one offence, judgment came on all to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, or by one righteousness, the free gift should come on all unto justification of life,” while “they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ;”10 that “as sin hath reigned unto death, so grace might reign unto eternal life,” yea, that “where sin abounded, grace did yet much more abound.”11 To another church he states the same doctrine, that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,”12 and that “the end” shall not come “till all are subject to Him,” that “God may be,” not all in some, but “all in all; for He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet; the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”13 So he says again, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, . . . that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth,even in Him.”14 To the same purpose he writes in another epistle, “that at the name of Jesus, (that is Saviour,) every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;”15 “for to this end
Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living.”1 He further declares that “for this sake he suffers reproach, because he hopes in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those who believe;”2 that this God “will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth;” that therefore “thanksgivings as well as prayers should be made for all,” because there is “a ransom for all, to be testified in due time;”3 and lastly that “God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He might
