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PAGE 143
THE caption of this
article has been selected as expressive of a startling
truth, in which all men, profane and pious, are equally
interested. There are in the world two great objects
of desire, which all profess to hope for and to which
all who profess them aver that God has called them; hence,
they may be still further characterized as the Two Hopes
of the Two Callings. These two hopes are different in
all their details; they are opposite and antagonistic,
and so contrary, therefore, the one from the other, that
if one be demonstrated to be God's truth, the other is
thereby proved to be no hope at all, because in fact
a mere vain imagination. For this reason Paul, in writing
to the brethren who were sorrowing for some Christian
relatives, who had fallen victims to the power of the
enemy, exhorts them not to mourn as did "the others",
the Pagan Gentiles, "who had no hope"; for
they should embrace them again, when Jesus should raise
them from the dead (1 Thess. 4:13).
We say that the phrase "the others", in Greek, hoi
loipoi, with the definite article the, imports the Heathen
Gentiles. This will be still more evident from Eph. 2:12,
where Paul defines the state of Gentiles out of Christ. "Remember",
says he to the Adopted Israelites of the Ephesian Body, "that
ye, in time past, were Gentiles in the flesh, and styled the
Uncircurricision by the circumcised Jews": (Eph. 2:11) "at
that time ye were choris Christou, separate from Christ,
being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the Covenants of Promise, having no hope, and atheists
-- atheoi, i.e. without God - in the world." Not
to multiply quotations, it is clear from this that the Gentiles
not in Christ and in God are "the others who have no
hope". Let it then not be forgotten by any, pious or
impious, that the scriptures write that man hopeless who is
alien from the Jewish State or Polity. "The Hope of Israel" (Acts
28:20) is not such a Gentile's hope even though he may speculatively
believe it; what shall we say of those pietists who repudiate
its details, general and particular, as "husks" and "useless
speculations"? Their hope it is not; they also are self-convicted
as hopeless of the truth.
*As a result of preparing this
and the next two articles, Dr. Thomas
recognized that when he was immersed
by Walter Scott he was ignorant
of the One Hope : see Introduction,
pages 11-45. Momentous Truths was
an appropriate title.
This then is certain,
namely, that it matters not what a man hopes for, if
that hope be false or spurious; if it be not the Hope
promised in the Covenants of the Promise, he is repudiated
as hopeless in the scriptures of truth; and further,
that even if in theory he believe it, if he continue
in his Gentilism, i.e. if he become not an Adopted Citizen
of the Jewish Polity (politeia), he is without
Christ, without hope, and without God. Let the prophets
and diviners of the living age, the leaders of the people,
professors, editors and preachers give ear to these things;
for we speak to them especially as to those who cause
this people to put their trust in things which form no
part of the truth of God.
But indeed, though the heathen were hopeless of the true hope,
and atheists as respected their acknowledgement of the one
only living and true God, they had a hope and a godliness
of their own imagining. These are termed by the apostle in
2 Cor. 10:5 logismoi (reasonings), which exalt themselves
against the knowledge which comes from God; and speaking of
them to the Christian Disciples at Rome, he says in chapter
1:21, that they were "vain in their imaginations (dialogismoi,
reasonings or dialogues, such as Plato's Dialogue on Laws)
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves
to be sophoi, wise men, they became fools". They
hoped for things relating to souls which were vain dialogisms
or speculations. Believing in the inherent immortality of
corruptible flesh, because they imagined it to be pervaded
by an immaterial soul, they hoped at death to be delivered
from present evils by the reabsorption of their imniortalities
into the Divine Essence. To them the idea of a resurrection
of the mortal body was a monstrous absurdity; hence they laughed
Paul to scorn when he announced it on Mars' Hill at Athens.
They deceived their foolish heart by the vain imaginings of
the translation of their souls on the wings of demons to the
Elysian fields in the region of everlasting light. The terms
being changed, angels being substituted for demons, and heaven
for the Elysium, the hope of the present generation of Gentiles
is identical with the heathen dialogisms of the apostolic
era.
We repeat it. Let the reader examine into this matter, and
he will find, that the hope of the Catholic, Protestant, Mohammedan,
and Pagan communities of the 19th century, is the same, substantially
the same, though philologically metamorphosed, as the hope
of the heathens of Greece and Rome. Episcopalians, Presbyterians,
Methodists, Universalists, Baptists, etc. all teach it as
the "one hope of their calling"; the translation
of their immortalities at death from earth to heaven on angels'
wings is believed by the people and preached by the clergy,
and advocated by partisan editors as the revealed truth of
God! They pray for it in prayers, eulogize it in their rhapsodies,
and sing it in their hymns, as the consummation most devoutly
to be wished!
We shall not pause here to argue against these absurdities
when we show what the true hope is, they will be as conspicuous
as the sun at noon-day. We shall now content ourselves with
affirming simply that the scriptures do not teach these things.
They belong to the New Platonism of the Egyptian Theology.
To sing these things is to pour into the ear of the Deity
what is not of the truth, and therefore as saith the apostle,
lies; for what is not of the truth is a lie.
Nevertheless, these are all items of the hope, both of the
pious and undevout of this generation. Suppose we grant that
it is the true hope; it must then be the hope of Israel, and
if so, it will be found in the Covenants of the Promise made
to the Fathers, and confirmed by the oath of God. Will any
one be kind enough to show us where any such hope has been
promised to Israel? And if this were promised, how comes it
that Paul saith the Gentiles had no hope, seeing that they
had indulged in these items of expectation almost from time
immemorial?
Here then is one of the hopes -- the hope of the pious, the
hope of the impious, and the hope of the hypocrite as well!
A hope which the scriptures aver is no hope, and that all
who trust in it are doomed to utter and irretrievable disappointment.
We have already hinted what we now affirm, namely, that the
character of a man's faith, whether it be living or dead,
may be determined by the hope he assuredly entertains.
The One Faith embraces the things which relate to repentance
and remission of sins in the name of Jesus, as well as to
those which pertain to the hope; whereas the hope relates
to things in the undeveloped future; hence the apostle says "hope
that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he
yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do
we with patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:24,25).
A man may believe all things relating to repentance, and the
remission of sins, but if his faith do not embrace the true
hope, he does not possess that faith which pleases God. This
appears from Paul's teaching in Hebrews. "But",
says he, "we are not of a drawing back unto destruction,
but of a faith unto an acquisition of life. Now faith is an
assured expectation (hypostasis) of things hoped for;
a conviction of things unseen." Having thus defined the
Faith unto Life, which is nothing less than a belief of "things
which are eternal", (2 Cor. 4:18) he tells the Hebrews,
that without it, it is impossible to please God (chap.10:39;11:1,
6). This was saying in effect, that unless their faith comprehended
the things contained in the Covenants of Promise, they could
not be saved; for, says he elsewhere, WE WERE SAVED BY THE
HOPE (Rom. 8:24); that is: "Christian disciples in Rome,
when ye were saved from your past sins through the name of
Jesus, it was not only by faith in his death, in the sin cleansing
efficacy of his blood, and in his resurrection abstractly
considered; but by an assured expectation and conviction of
the things unseen and eternal, which are comprised in the
hope of the Gospel". "For", as if he had continued, "even
the redemption of your mortal bodies from corruption is purely
conditional on your adhesion to the hope."
We wish here to be distinctly understood. We affirm that no
man hath the remission of past sins, a title to the Kingdom
of God, nor will he obtain possession of it, unless his faith
include a belief of the true hope, and unless he keep this
hope in mind stedfast to the end. Now let the prophets and
diviners of this age give ear to the proof we now present
for their conviction.
In Hebrews 3, the apostle is discoursing concerning the One
Hope, or "Rest which remains for the people of God":
(Heb. 4:9) "Holy brethren", says he, "partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider Christ Jesus; whose house
we are IF indeed we hold fast the confidence and the hope
firm unto the end. For we have become associates of Christ,
IF indeed we keep in mind the principle of the assured expectation
(hypostasis) stedfast to the end (verses 1,6,14). You
see here what is predicated on an "if". If you possess
not the assured expectation, you are neither of the house,
nor associates of Jesus.
Again, in 1 Cor. 15, Paul discourses of the hope into which
the Christian disciples in Corinth had been immersed. In this
chapter he speaks of the Resurrection of the Dead, the Second
Advent of Jesus, the delivering up of the Kingdom, the duration
of his reign, the complete subjection of his enemies, baptism
for the resurrection of the dead, the nature and appearance
of the saints when glorified, the impossibility of mortal
men inheriting the Kingdom, the instantaneous transformation
of the saints in the flesh into incorruptible and immortal
persons, the abolition of death, the subjection of the Son
to the Father, etc. He treats of all these things as of so
many items of the glorious hope, which made the things he
delivered to them glad tidings or Gospel. These astonishing
revelations to the heathen mind, were all predicated on the
fact of the resurrection of Christ according to the Prophets.
If he had risen, as Paul testified, all these things would
come to pass; but if he had not, then none of them would happen.
It was certain that Jesus had risen from the dead; their belief,
or disbelief, would not alter the fact; though it would materially
affect themselves individually: for if they denied the true
hope in relation to the resurrection; if they affirmed that
there was no future resurrection, or, what was equivalent
to it, that "the resurrection was past already",
as some of them did -- then they were in effect denying the
resurrection of Jesus, and by implication, everything consequent
upon it.
But upon what ground did they conclude that there was "no
resurrection of the dead", or that "it was past
already", by which conclusion their faith was overthrown,
and shipwrecked? The foundation of their error was the adoption
of the "profane vain babblings, and oppositions of a
false gnosis, or science", (1 Tim. 6:20) "which
was then being taught pretty extensively, in the churchs by
such men as Hymenaeus and Philetus. These sophists inculcated
the reveries of Plato, and other heathen philosophers, about
souls, immortality, heaven, hell, etc. They taught that all
men were inherently immortal, because of the immaterialities
which pervaded their bodies; and that at death, the immortal
part of man went direct to heaven or hell. Hence resurrection
and the judgment day, the Second Advent of Jesus, the waiting
for the Kingdom of God, etc., were all superfluous incumbrances,
which might very well be dispensed with as so many "useless
speculations", which tended only to prejudice the literary
and philosophic community against the doctrine of remission
of sins in the name of Jesus, and the acknowledgement of the
one God, "without making men any better, or increasing
the Christian virtues!" Professing to be wiser than the
Apostle, they became fools; nevertheless, many embraced their
notions as less unpopular than the teaching of Paul. Now to
these pious professors of another hope, and therefore of another
gospel", the apostle says, if you hold these profane
or heathen notions, which are subversive of the true hope,
you profess a vain faith; ye may indeed believe that Jesus
died for our sins according to the prophets; that he was buried,
and arose again as predicted; but if you abandon the hope
of Israel, for which I hazard my life daily, and embrace the
heathen philosophy concerning the "immortality of the
soul", "ye are yet in your sins", (1 Cor. 15:17)
and consequently "without Christ, aliens from the Jewish
Polity, strangers from the Covenants of the Promise, having
no hope, and atheists in the world". (Eph. 2:12) You
thus become heirs of perdition, and the horizon of your destiny
is limited by the things seen and temporal. Alas for you;
for, "if in this life only you have hope, ye are of all
men most miserable!" (1 Cor. 15:19)
Now let this make an indelible impression upon our minds,
namely, that these Christian disciples at Corinth had attended
Paul's reasonings in the Synagogue every Sabbath Day, by which
they had been persuaded of the truth, both Jews and Greeks
(Acts 18:4). Having heard, many of the heathen Corinthians
also believed and were baptized (verse 8). In writing to these
persons, he tells them that "they are washed, sanctified
(or made saints) and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 6:11). But upon what
principle? Upon the very same as were the Christian disciples
in Rome: they were saved by the hope.
Their salvation, then, from their past sins, and their continuance
in a saved state, were conditional. Hear what Paul saith to
them: "But I now make known to you, brethren, the glad
tidings which I myself announced to you; by which also ye
are saved, if ye hold fast a certain word (tini logo)
I myself brought to you, unless indeed ye have believed it
to no purpose" (1 Cor. 15:1,2). What was this certain
word, or tis logos? The things he recalls to their
recollection in this chapter; and which he predicates on the
death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, as en protois,
among the first things, he delivered to them. If they did
not hold fast to this word, or hope, which made his annunciation
glad tidings, he declares that they would go to perdition,
although they had been washed, sanctified and justified as
aforesaid.
Again: in Colossians the Apostle also makes the hope of Israel
the topic of discourse. No one, we presume, will venture to
affirm that the hope of the gospel is not identical with the
hope of Israel, for which Paul was bound in chains and carried
prisoner to Rome. We say then that he discourses in this epistle
of the hope of Israel, because he treats of the hope of the
Gospel. This hope is contained in the "word of the truth
of the gospel" which he preached. He says he was made
a minister of the hope, that he might fully preach the word
of God concerning it. He styles it, "the Mystery which
hath been hid from previous ages and generations, but now
(in his time and by his agency) is made manifest to his saints:
to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory
of the Mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you
the Hope of Glory" (chap. I: 5, 25-2 7). As the minister
of this glorious hope, wherever he went he proclaimed it to
the people; and so indefatigable were he and the rest of the
Apostles that within thirty years from the Ascension it had
been made known "to every creature under heaven".
(Col. 1:23) The Colossians had received it. It taught them
that their "life was hid with Christ in God"; and
that "when Christ their life shall appear, then shall
they also appear with him in glory" (3:3,4). It taught
them this, which excluded all speculation about going to glory
at death, and having immortal life within them. Still they
were no more than others proof against the Gnosis of
the Hymenaeus and Philetus class of preachers, whose word
ate like a canker, as is evinced in this day. Like a phagedenic
ulcer upon the body, it has eaten out and thoroughly eradicated
from the human mind almost all vestiges of the Hope of Israel.
Where is the prophet, where the divine, where the scribe,
that does not inculcate the "profane babblings" of
Hymenaeus and Philetus? "Beware", says the Apostle
to the Christian disciples at Colosse, "lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (2:8).
He knew how that men from among themselves would arise, teaching "perverse
things to draw away disciples after them". (Acts 20:30)
Hence, he exhorts them to "let no man judge them in meat,
or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or the new moon,
or of the Sabbath; nor beguile them of their reward in a voluntary
humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things
which he has not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind" (2:16,18).
These teachers were "false apostles, deceitful workers
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ" (2 Cor.
11:13) Paul styles them "fools" (verse 19); who
preached "another Jesus, another Spirit, and another
gospel" (verse 4), by which, "as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtility" (2 Cor. 11:3) they corrupted
the minds of the brethren from the simplicity that is in Christ
(verse 3). Now, says he to them at Colosse, of such men "beware".
Be on your guard, lest ye slip your cable; for the safety
of your vessel depends on holding fast to the anchor. Remember,
that formerly ye were alienated and enemies in your minds
by wicked works, but now are reconciled, that ye may be presented
holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight (chap.
1:21,22).
Ah! exclaim the Diviners, here is a case in which the reconciliation
is absolute, and not at all conditional upon holding fast
to the hope of Israel! Not so fast. The presentation of these
Christian disciples before the King, as "holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable" persons, is predicated on the following
conditions, namely: "IF ye continue in the faith, grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,
which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature
under the Heaven; whereof I, Paul, am made a minister" (Col.
1:23).
Here, then, are two indispensable conditions of salvation,
1st. -- A continuance in The Faith without vacillation;
2nd. -- Immobiliy from the Hope of the Gospel.
The first condition implies that The Faith has been embraced;
for a man cannot continue a believer unless he primarily believe.
The second presupposes that his primary belief comprehended
the knowledge of the Hope of Israel; for it is enjoined upon
him that he "hold fast to it stedfast to the end",
that is, "be not moved away from it".
You perceive then, if a man would be saved, he must have the
right kind of a hope. If he hopes for things which God has
not promised, he hopes for things which will never exist,
and therefore his hope is a mere delusion. Now the scriptures
style God, "the God of hope"; (Rom. 15:13) is He
God of a true hope, or of a false hope? If of a false one,
then He is God of no hope; but, if of the true one, then be
assured that as men are saved by the hope, God will save them
only by that which is true. This is just, however calamitous
to the man; for, if one hope that his "immortal soul" will
go to the right hand of the majesty in the skies at the instant
of death, he would be exceedingly disappointed at finding
himself on earth at the coming of Jesus; and that he had never
been where he hoped he should have been at all. If a man hope
for a nonentity he has no hope; and therefore being de facto
hopeless, he is an heir not of salvation, but of destruction.
PAGE 151
Thus, then, we have shown,
1st. -- That the heathen Gentiles had a hope of immortality,
predicated on the speculation of man being constituted of
two principles, the one material and the other immaterial
and therefore immortal;
2nd. -- That, though they had a hope yet as it was a false
one, the scripture regards them as having none;
3rd. -- That the hope of the ancient heathen is substantially
the hope of the Romanist, Mohammedan, Pagan and Protestand
communities even to this day; and therefore no hope, but purely
a delusion;
4th. -- That the character of a man's faith is determined
by the things which he hopes for;
5th. -- That the hope of the Gospel relates to things in the
undeveloped future;
6th. -- That a faith destitute of the true hope is displeasing
to God;
7th. -- That men are saved by the Hope of the Gospel;
8th. -- That salvation by the true hope is conditional on
not being moved away from it;
9th. -- That the "profane vain babblings and oppositions
of science falsely so called", taught by the ancient
heretics, Hymenaeus, Alexander and Philetus, "whose word" hath "eaten
like a canker", constitute the theology inculcated from
the pulpits and presses of the present age; (1 Tim. 6:20;
2 Tim. 2:17)
10th. -- That this speculative and corroding theology has
not only eaten out "the One Hope of the Calling",
(Eph. 4:4) that the world has lost all knowledge of it; but
it has popularized the religion of Jesus, stultified the public
mind, seared its conscience, and lulled it into a profound
sleep; and shut the Kingdom of God against the people;
11th. -- That the spurious hope inculcated by the ghostly
leaders of the world is subversive of the Gospel, and therefore,
inimical to the well-being of mankind;
12th. -- That the hope which saves through Jesus was unknown
until it was announced by the Apostles;
13th. -- That the command to preach this hope "to every
creature" (Col. 1:23) was executed within thirty years
after the Ascension, by the Apostles; hence, no rational expectation
of converting the world by stationary or missionary clergy,
founded upon the text in Matt. 28:19,20, can be entertained:
it is not salvation, but damnation, which awaits the sapless,
fruitless and faithless Gentiles of these latter times; and
14th. -- That teachers of a false hope are deceiving and being
deceived.
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