This is the affirmative side, or what love will do; but the divine authority does not stop at that, but tells us what love will not do. See the following:

The negative is longer than the affirmative in this enumeration.

The man with his affirmative gospel is like the man with his two oars, faith and works, to his skiff. He pulled one alone for a time, and run round and round one way, and then pulled the other, and run round and round the other way, and then seized both and pulled them at the same time, when his skiff moved straight ahead beautifully. We must take the whole of the divine teaching, the affirmative and negative; what we are to believe, and what we are not to believe; what we are to do, and what we are not to do. We are to show not only what is truth, but what is not truth; what is of divine authority, but what is not of divine authority.

Had some of our affirmative gospel men been in the place of Paul, when he came to Athens, they would have made no attack on the altar with the inscription: “To the Unknown God,” but would have gone on with their affirmative gospel. Paul was not of that type of preacher, but brought their view of the unknown God into direct contrast with the revelation of the true God—the Jehovah. He admits that theirs was to them an “unknown God,”—“God who made the world, and all things therein”—“Lord of heaven and earth,” and who “dwells not in temples made with men’s hands,” and “is not worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needs anything, seeing that he gives to all life, and breath, and all things, and has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined before the times appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.”

Not content with this attack on their altar, and the inscription on it, he proceeds to quote and turn their own poets against them: “Certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’” Hear him as he proceeds, and see how he wades into their ignorance and superstition, and, above all, how utterly exclusive he is: “For as much then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.”

Now for the charitable part of his discourse: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” “The times of this ignorance” was before the gospel came, and the “now,” brought in contrast with it, is since the gospel has come. Seeing that the light has come, men are inexcusable to be in ignorance.

He proceeds to give a reason for the commandment, “to all men everywhere to repent,” in the following words: “Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained.” But he knew that some man might call that in question, when he closed up with the following: “Whereof he has given assurance to all men in that he has raised him from the dead.” That is, he has given assurance to all men, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he has ordained. The logic runs thus: As he raised Christ from the dead, he will judge the world; and as he will judge the world, all men, everywhere, are commanded to repent, in view of the judgment.

The inscriptions to the unknown God must be set aside, with all the doctrines and commandments of men; the traditions of Jewish rabbis and Romish priests, with all the unauthorized lumber of Protestants, and the devotees to each and all of them, must be shown that they are unauthorized, and the man who shuns to do this, only does half work, or rather, only half does his work, and will be responsible to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls.