Paul Dean’s Lectures: the fifth lecture

This is the fifth of the lectures in Paul Dean’s 1832 A Course of Lectures in Defence of the Final Restoration, an homage to celebrate the Universalist minister’s 240th birthday.

The numbers in brackets are the beginning of the page in the original.


LECTURE V.


ANOTHER OBJECTION CONSIDERED.

TITUS II. 11, 12.

“FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION, HATH APPEARED TO ALL MEN, TEACHING US, THAT DENYING UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY AND GODLY IN THIS PRESENT WORLD.”

The marginal reading of the eleventh verse is to be preferred, not on account of its being more favorable to our views, but as expressing the meaning of the apostle more clearly. The reading referred to is this: the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared, teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. If the grace of God, exhibited in [87] the gospel, had in the days of the apostles appeared to all men, it must have been in some very refined and spiritual sense, seeing many had never heard of it; but that it had then appeared to the apostles and christians of that day, and was designed to carry in its progress through the world the glad tidings of salvation to the whole human race, teaching them, as it progressed, to abandon all false religion, and to live in obedience to God, is perfectly consistent with the spirit and genius of Christianity, and gives an easy and consistent view of the passage. Should any choose to abide by the authorised rendering, it will make no difference for or against the salvation of all men; for as the grace of God bringeth salvation, in every sense in which it hath appeared to all men, salvation must have appeared to and for them.

St. Paul seems to employ in the text, a most beautiful and striking metaphor taken from the sun, which is seldom noticed. As the sun appears or shines out from the east upon the darkness that broods over the face of the earth, and commences by his diurnal rotation upon his own axis, and his revolution in his orbit, his course of successively imparting light and its thousand blessings to the whole creation, so the gospel of the grace of God, has shined out, and will successively enlighten, sanctify, and bless the inhabitants of every part and region of the world, and in Heaven’s great [88] year, it will finish its course by bringing all flesh to see the salvation of God.

It is the leading sentiment of the passage before us, that the same grace that brings salvation to men, teaches them, and tends to produce in them, the habits of piety to God, benevolence and justice to their fellow men, and of personal sobriety and purity in the present life as a preparation for the glory and happiness of a future state, and consequently that all false religions tend, either directly or remotely, to form and strengthen opposite habits, and to disqualify men for future happiness. This sentiment is likewise supported by the general voice of Scripture. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” “sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” The true faith works by love and purifies the heart — and overcomes the world. The christian is required to yield his members servants to righteousness unto holiness: and called unto virtue and to glory. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another; for love worketh no ill to its neighbor, and is the fulfilling of the law. The good tree is known by its fruit; for the fruits of the Spirit are in all, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness and faith. While on the other hand, it is affirmed with equal truth, in vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrine [89] the commandments of men — evil communications corrupt good manners — and they that sow to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. Therefore, although we would give all due credit to the sincerity of those who are honestly in error, yet we cannot for a moment agree with those who affirm that all doctrines, whether true or false, are equally salutary in their influence upon the hearts of those who believe them, and upon the moral condition of the society in which they are promulgated. Nor do the scriptures warrant the belief that errors in sentiment have no influence, and are therefore harmless. Still less do they countenance that pretended charity, which says there are as good men — men as strongly fortified in virtue, and as thoroughly guarded against temptation, among infidels and unbelievers, as are to be found among christians. If we appeal to history, it will corroborate the prophetic testimony of the scriptures, by giving us the most satisfactory proofs that Christianity has already greatly improved the political, moral, social and religious condition of mankind.

What if there were some bright stars, that shone to relieve the darkness of the long and dreary night of pagan superstition, whose light borrowed a peculiar lustre from the surrounding darkness? Is not their light perfectly eclipsed by the rising sun, whose day we live to see? But if it be inquired [90] why the christian character has not arisen to a much higher standard of perfection than we can as yet claim for it among professing christians? this is our answer: because Christianity has, through ignorance or design, been adulterated and mixed with the errors and darkness of former times, which have served, in some degree, to neutralize its heavenly influence. And hence, one method of detecting error, is to trace its influence upon the mind that receives it, and thus to expose its licentious tendency in society. On this ground, that is, its licentious tendency, our distinguishing doctrine, the final and universal restoration, has been seriously objected to; and therefore we cheerfully put it upon trial, that its guilt, or its innocence of the charge may appear, as compared with its opposing sentiment.

The vast importance of the Restoration to the hopes and the happiness of mankind, and the equal importance of the objection to it, which is now under consideration, claim for this discussion a most devout and serious attention. And that we may proceed understandingly, we shall present a concise view of the doctrine objected to, the objection to it, and then endeavor to obviate and remove the objection.

First, then, the doctrine is briefly this, viz. that God, having created the human race to do his will, and to enjoy his care and goodness, and they [91] having rebelled against his law, and forsaken his service to their own condemnation and ruin, was pleased in conformity to his original design to make known by the gospel, his plan of infinite grace for their salvation or restoration, to the service and happiness for which they were at first created, by turning them from idolatry and confirming them in the habits of practical holiness of heart and life — that for the accomplishment of this most glorious purpose of grace, he instituted the kingdom and government of the Mediator, extending from the commencement of the gospel to the resignation of said kingdom in perfect subjection, at the consummation of all things — that he has constituted all the human race the moral and accountable subjects of the government of Christ, not only while living here, but also in a future state, for all their secret thoughts, feelings and actions, wherever exercised or committed — that therefore Christ will here or hereafter, and previous to the resignation of his kingdom, reward every man according to his virtue, and punish the wicked according to their neglect of, or disobedience to that gracious gospel that bringeth them salvation, and that he will continue so to punish them, till they by a sincere and hearty repentance towards God, find peace and pardon in believing; and hence, punishment, in all cases, being not an end of Christ’s government, but a mean, cannot [92] be endless; for having accomplished its design, it will of necessity subside and give place to the salvation brought to light by the grace of God. From this short statement of the Restorationists’ views in regard to the purposes of God, the issue of the Redeemer’s reign, and of the design and character of punishment; it will be seen that their sentiments do not subvert but establish the scripture doctrine of salvation by grace, and at the same time furnish sufficient checks to vice, and the most efficient motives to reformation and the practice of virtue in the present world. Second, to this however it has been objected; and many have alleged, that these sentiments do not sufficiently guard men against the allurements of sin, and the indulgence of sinful pleasure, ambition, and revenge; nor give to them the highest motives to self-denial, submission to Christ, and to the obedience of the gospel — that it does not sufficiently impress, alarm, and awaken the conscience of sinners, to induce their repentance, reformation, and return to God, with full purpose of heart to serve him forever; and hence that it cannot prove to be practically the power of God unto salvation.

These objections are supported by too reasons, 1. because the Restoration extends the work of grace beyond the present life; and supposes that those who leave this world impenitent and unbe-[93]lieving, will ultimately be subdued and reconciled to God. 2. because it presupposes punishment to be limited in degree and duration to the character of the sinner, the aggravated circumstances of his guilt, and the obduracy of his heart; and hence however long and severe it may be, it will at last come to an end and the sufferer be made happy. Therefore it is said the sinner will be encouraged to continue in his sinful course, saying to himself, if I do not repent and reform here, I shall have the opportunity of doing so hereafter; and if the punishment which I shall merit comes upon me, yet it will not be interminable and so 1 shall be happy after all let me do as I will. But if there were no future days of grace held up to view, and the punishment were to be represented as strictly endless, he would have no such excuses to make. Having thus clearly and fully stated the objection and the reasoning on which it is founded, we would here only remark for the present, that the abuse of any religious sentiment is not to be urged against its use; for if it be, the whole doctrine of grace must be abandoned. — 3. In our reply to this specious, and by many thought to be an unanswerable objection, we shall inquire into the motives by which men are governed in their conduct, and the influence which limited and endless punishment are respectively calculated to exert upon those motives.

[94] The motives by which the conduct of men are governed, may be reduced to three, fear, hope, and complacency.

As far as free moral agents permit their self-determining power, their caprice, self-will, or their sense of right, to be influenced in their decisions by motives, so far they may be said to be governed by those above named. The fear we allude to, is the apprehension and dread of evil, sufferings, or punishment, which will be incurred by the perpetration of vicious actions, as the natural consequences of sin, the awards of society, or the inflictions of Deity, for the violations of his will; and whether these threatened evils, sufferings, or punishments, relate to the body, the mind, or the condition, or be apprehended in the present, or future state, they form motives or inducements to abstain from such actions. Hope is the pleasurable expectation of good, natural or spiritual, in the present or future world, to be obtained as the result of good actions, done for the benefit of men and in obedience to the will of God; and as such becomes a powerful motive or excitement to the practice of religion and virtue, from the first moment it is entertained. Complacency, is that pleasure and satisfaction which the mind of a good man experiences in performing noble and worthy actions, the keeping of a good conscience, and in doing the will of God from a conviction that it is [95] perfectly good and holy; and hence it is the happiest motive which can influence the good man to persevere, and differs from hope in that it is more immediately from himself, and refers especially to the present; whereas hope regards the future.

These motives act upon all persons in exact proportion to their intelligence, aversion to sufferings, and desire for happiness, influencing them in all the duties and transactions of life. The vicous will therefore be naturally most influenced by their fears, the virtuous by their hopes, and the perfectly good by their complacent feelings; and hence when these motives all unite and act to one end, their influence is the most powerful, and when the last only in connexion with gratitude and assurance is sufficient, as will be the case in heaven, then the subject will be the most perfectly happy, and obedience be bliss itself.

But fear, to be salutary, must not be superstitious, that is, founded upon imaginary evils, such as have no existence in fact, such as God’s word does not denounce upon sinners — it must not be slavish, a mere dread of punishment, without any consciousness of its justice, and our own deserts, for that degrades the mind and hardens the heart — it must not be excessive, without degree or measure, such fear is despair, the palsy of the soul, which prevents the possibility of reformation, and places the unhappy victim beyond the reach of hope. Nor [96] must hope, to be efficient, be presumptive, founded merely on our wishes; not delusive, having no foundation in reason, fact, or the promises of God; such for instance as the hope of sinning wilfully and escaping a just punishment, without sincere repentance and faith in Christ; the hope of arriving at angelic perfection in the present life; or of living our whole lives here in sin, and going immediately to glory. Such hopes, being unsupported by the scriptures, tend to encourage pride, arrogance, and a bold contempt of piety and prayer, benevolence and faith in Jesus; and therefore instead of being motives and incentives to virtue and religion, are while they last, productive of the very opposite; hence he that is flattered by them will be sorely disappointed, and the staff on which he leans, shall pierce his hand. It is then a mistake not only to suppose that hopes such as banish all fear from the sinner, are most favorable to religion; but it is equally so, to conceive that the greatest degree of fear, that which banishes every ray of hope from the breast, can favor the cause of reformation and righteousness.

Fear, to be healthful, morally speaking, must he [ sic ] mixed with love and hope, and of consequence the punishment which excites it must be just, that is, proportioned to the sins of the sufferer, and the aggravated circumstances under which they were committed, both in degree and duration. It must [97] be reasonable, such as an unperverted conscience cannot but approve as right; it must be benevolent, tending to the emendation of the sinner, such as a good father, looking to its effects, could consistently administer upon the children of his care and love; it must be scriptural, such as is clearly supported by the general voice and spirit of revelation, that the believer may have no doubt of its truth; it must be certain in all cases but that of genuine repentance and reformation, as in the case of the prodigal son in the gospel, and in that case it must be sure of pardon, in the name and for the sake of Jesus, who died “the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God.” It must be sufficient, (not to expiate guilt, for that it neither can nor was it intended ever to do,) but to subdue and humble the sinner; and therefore it must be continued till it has produced that effect, and then cease forever, that grace may henceforth reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

This scheme of punishment, making it just, reasonable, scriptural, certain to the impenitent, while he continues to be such, remissible only to the penitent; and certain of accomplishing its design before it can cease, and certain to cease when the sinner is humbled, will not fail to exert a most salutary influence on the mind and conscience of the impenitent sinner, and be a most powerful [98] auxiliary to his repentance and reformation. It commends itself to his sense of justice, his reason and conscience, and to his own best interest; and being sustained by the plain letter of the scriptures, it will readily command his full and undoubting belief; and his faith thus established will excite his fear and apprehension of an evil which will far more than balance the pleasure he can promise himself by the gratification of his sinful propensities. And the fear thus founded on such clear and high authority, will affect his reason and understanding rather than his excited imagination, and cause him to dread the commission of sin rather than the hand that punishes it; and consequently it will be neither superstitious nor slavish, but healthful and vigorous, awakening to a sense of real danger, quickening and strengthening every resolution and effort to escape by the only door of hope; and therefore this view of punishment, and the system of doctrine and practice properly connected with it, cannot be licentious in their tendency. This is the view entertained by Restorationists, of the scripture doctrine of punishment, and its tendency upon the moral condition of mankind.

The doctrine which limits rewards and punishments to the present life, is liable to the most serious objections, as being not only unfounded in scripture, and inconsistent with reason and justice; [99] but as leaving vice without a sufficient check, and virtue without an effectual support; and must therefore be licentious in its influence upon society, being neither sufficient to give energy to the moral government of Deity, or to secure the order and peace of community. And although the advocates of this sentiment arrogantly claim for it the highest character for being benevolent and emendatory, yet nothing can be more manifest to our senses and experience than it is, that in a great variety of cases it utterly fails to produce the least visible emendation of heart or life in multitudes who notwithstanding it, live and die in sin, and without the least appearance of penitence.

A still more objectionable feature necessarily connected with this doctrine is this, that rewards and punishments are not only limited to the present state, but that they are, by the Divine Counsel, limited to the natural effects or consequences of vice and virtue, in those who practice them; which amounts to a denial of the existence of rewards and punishments, in the common accep ation [ sic ] of those terms. Let this sentiment be followed up to its result, and it will repeal the penalties of all laws, human and divine; and leave vice uninterrupted and virtue unaided by the Deity or human governments, in their struggle for the mastery in society.

This modern opinion has been adverted to, [100] merely that the reader may see and feel the difference between that and the sentiment above stated, and the difference of their spirit and influence upon good and bad men, in the world; for it is the chief object of this part of the lecture to compare our view of future limited punishment with that taken by those who believe it endless; that by so doing we may the better judge of their comparative influence, and thereby show that ours is free from the just charge of being licentious.

If future punishment be without end, it must be entirely different from that which is experienced in the present life, which is confessedly emendatory in its design; and therefore he that does not so improve it as to be made better by its administration, increases his guilt. But to suppose such a difference in the character and design of God’s moral government, in the present and future states, is not supported by scripture or sound reason, as we understand them; and hence the sentiment can have but a slender hold upon the conscience — if it be vindictive, and expressive of unalterable displeasure in God, it will naturally harden the heart, and the fear of it will be slavish and degrading to the soul, depressing the mind by degrees to unutterable despair; — if the fear of interminable misery, unalleviated by hope or a sense of the Divine compassion, once takes possession of the mind, it will render it weak, gloomy, [101] and superstitious. In proof of this position, we may successfully appeal to the heathen who worship Gods, malicious and revengeful, and to many cases of persons within our own knowledge, who have unfortunately despaired of divine favor, and given themselves up to the dread apprehension of unceasing anguish, as their certain and unavoidable doom. What if it be said these are extreme cases? they are the very cases to try the principle.

Having thus stated the two schemes of limited and endless punishment, and the kinds of fear they naturally produce in the human mind; if any doubt remains as to which of them will exert the most salutary influence, let us consider what it is that renders punishment the most effectual to reform sinners, or to prevent the commission of crime. Surely it is not its endless duration; because the apprehension of sufferings far short of endless, would be sufficient to deter any one from sin. Who would purchase the momentary and sensual delights of a short and uncertain life of pleasure and dissipation, at the expense of only one thousand years of excruciating and unalleviated torments? No one; it is not in human nature so to do. Much less would he accept such pleasure upon the certain condition of suffering therefor long and uncertain periods of severe punishment, though he were certain it would afterwards come to an end, and he should be made for [102] ever happy by the grace of that Saviour against whom he had sinned. Then, it is not the length but the certainty of sufferings for sin, whether limited or not, that deters men from its indulgence; for to the very same degree in which punishment is uncertain, there is no occasion to fear: and besides, we are always prone to flatter ourselves that the chance will be in our favor, especially where the allurement is great. Now for punishment to be practically certain to us, we must sincerely believe in its truth; for what we do not believe, is nothing to us. Which then is capable of the clearest and strongest proof? Surely that view of punishment which is most scriptural, reasonable, just, and salutary, will most easily obtain the credence of mankind, and by them be deemed the most certain, as coming from God. The reason why men are no more restrained from sin by fear, is not because they believe in limited future punishment, but because they do not believe in any; that therefore which will most readily commend their belief, will have the best influence when preached to them. Nor is that fear the most effectual to check vice, and at the same time to cherish and fortify virtue, which is the most intense, but that which is most properly mixed with hope; so that while we fear a punishment sufficient to subdue and humble us at the feet of Christ, by a sense of the evil of sin, and a sincere and [103] hearty repentance therefor, and at the same time leaves us the hope of relief by that repentance — this, I say, is the most salutary fear.

Therefore as the gospel addresses men as being already sinners, the true secret of successful preaching is that instituted by Jesus and his apostles, of so addressing the fears by the denunciation of a just, reasonable and disciplinary punishment, as to prevent their continuance in sin, and at the same time so to encourage hope by the promise of pardon and reward, as to produce repentance and reformation. Excessive fear discourages the sinner, and hurries him to despondency; and fallacious hope, without reformation, makes him arrogant and reckless in his course of wickedness; but a just mixture of hope and fear, will make him the humble, yet cheerful, devoted and spiritual follower of Christ — check his propensities to evil, and strengthen his resolutions to goodness — chasten the enjoyment of worldly prosperity, and comfort and invigorate the heart in affliction and death; — and hence, we come to the conclusion, that the doctrine of a future, just, and salutary punishment, connected with the holy doctrine of the final restoration of the whole human race, is not justly chargeable with being licentious. No man in the full belief of its truth, and acting in the presence of God, and with reference to a future impartial judgment, ever said to himself, [104] because my punishment will not be endless, therefore I am resolved to sin on, indulge my propensities, and knowingly subject myself to the pains of this life, and the just retribution of a future state. And not only this, but on the other hand, we are persuaded that, if properly taught and enforced, it will conduce more effectually and properly to alarm the sinner to a just sense of his condition by a strong appeal to his conscience, and also to fortify the believer, by strong and certain hope, mixed with trembling, against all the allurements of temptation, than does the less reasonable, and, as we have shown in the previous Lecture, the less scriptural doctrine of endless misery.

That sentiment clothes the character of God in terrors little suited to the Father of mercies and God of infinite, impartial grace; and throws around religion a saddening gloom, which ill comports with the clear shining of the true light from heaven, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world: thus rendering them repulsive to the finer and more manly feelings of the heart; for who could desire for himself or for any human being, the solemn and awful reality of endless woe?

But the restoration gives to the Father of the Universe the most glorious character for justice, mercy, and truth, — to religion the most inviting aspect, and to the human race the most reasona-[105]ble and irresistable motives to virtue and piety; and therefore we are constrained to believe that it will prove itself to be the power and grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, teaching all nations and people to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

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