Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation

by John Bovee Dods

The servant sets out on his mission, and believes that he understands his errand. Being arrived, he addresses him as follows—Son, your father is very rich, and he has not willed you five thousand dollars, nor given it to you on record; and he never will, unless you first believe that he has. But, replies the son, according to your message, if I should believe that he has given me five thousand dollars, I should believe a lie. Let my father give the money, deposit it in some bank; send me evidence of the fact, and with joy I will believe him. Well replies the servant you are a disobedient, stubborn unbeliever! Because, if you would only believe so, it would be so, and you would have the money in two years.

You perceive (dear reader) that this servant has presented no truth for this son to believe. He wishes to give this son the impression that the obtaining of this fortune depends on his believing, and not on the testament record, and faithfulness of his father. In fact, he denies the existence of the father's will, and the record, and requires the son to believe a lie so as to create the truth. The servant does not understand his message, and the son does not know on what certainty to rest for the money.

In the same manner we are called upon to secure an interest—an eternal life in the Saviour. They will not admit its existence till we believe. Then belief must create it. But may we spend our last breath in convincing poor sinners that it is already secured in Christ for them, so that they may believe, and live by faith on the son of God.

This father sends another messenger. He tells this son of the goodness of his father, and that he has willed him five thousand dollars, that the will is put on record, and that this fortune will be put into his possession in two years. The son does not believe it. Now he is an unbeliever. But does his unbelief alter the truth of the will or of the record. No. The certainty, of his obtaining the money, rests on the faithfulness of his kind parent. This servant perseveres, uses convincing arguments and the son at length believes he is saved by faith from all his miseries, and he rejoices with joy unspeakable. But his believing does not make the record any more true than it was before he believed it. It simply alters his present condition by kindling in his bosom the joys arising from faith and anticipation.— We have now answered the objections that would naturally be brought forward by those who believe that our eternal salvation is predicated on conditions. As works are not the requirements of the gospel only so far as they flow from faith in the truth, and as faith must precede works, therefore the truth of our eternal life in Christ, must exist previous to our believing. Consequently all conditions are excluded from the gospel covenant.

We will now meet the objector on the doctrine of election and reprobation, the substance of which is as follows—After man fell, God was pleased to provide a Saviour for a part of the human family. That elect number he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world, gave them eternal life in him, and for them only he tasted death. The gospel is now to be preached to the whole world, and as long as they reject it, they are unbelievers. But the elect shall sooner, or later, all be brought to believe.

We will examine the foundation on which this statement rests. To bring it clearly before you, we will take an example. Suppose there is a congregation of one hundred persons. Fifty of them were elected to everlasting life before the foundation of the world—were secured by a Saviour, and the rest were reprobated to endless wo. For them no Saviour was designed, and no eternal life ever has, or ever will be given them in him. Suppose a sermon is preached to those one hundred; and the fifty, who are elected, believe the record of their eternal life, are brought to the obedience of faith, while the other fifty remain unmoved. The preacher turns upon them and pronounces them unbelievers. But In what sense are they unbelievers? There has been no truth presented to them, which they disbelieve. Must they believe that Christ is their Saviour, or that they have an eternal life in him? But they would in such case believe a lie. If they believed right the reverse of the elect,—believed that God was their enemy and that Christ was not their Saviour, they would be believers. But if they believed what the fifty converts did, they would be unbelievers. We here repeat one premise laid down in our last discourse—viz. In order for any man to be styled a believer or unbeliever, there must first be presented some truth for him to embrace or reject.

Now either God has given us eternal life in Christ before the world began, or he has not. If he has, then we are unbelievers if we reject it. If he has not given it, and should we still believe that he has, we would then believe a lie. But neither our belief, or unbelief can ever alter the fact.

God has "chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will." * * * "Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together, in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him." Some apply the above to the elect. But it embraces all things in heaven and earth, which are to be gathered together in Christ, and be new creatures. In addition to this we will introduce two more passages "Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." In these scriptures we are assured first, that God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world—second, that he saved us according to his own purpose and grace before the world began, and third that he promised eternal life before the world began. These things being embraced in his original plan, and purpose, their performance is therefore certain as that the whole plan of God will be carried unto execution.

There is, in my humble opinion, a strange inconsistency in the common doctrine. They contend that on account of the transgression of our first parent, all mankind were fallen creatures and even came into existence totally depraved. To show the justice of God in the constitution of our nature, they contend that Adam was our covenant head, and had he maintained his original purity, we would also have stood perfect in holiness, and no one would have had any reason to complain. Now since Adam has fallen, and involved us in ruin, it is equally just in God that we should share the fate of our covenant head in the one instance as in the other. But if we make use of this same argument in relation to Christ, the second Adam—if we contend that he was the covenant head of every man, that the covenant was not made for this, but for the future world—that this covenant of grace being made between the Father and the Son, was to stand independent of man— that eternal life was promised and given us in him before the world began—that as our covenant head, he resisted all temptations, and perfectly fulfilled the law—that he died, and appeared alive beyond the tomb free from temptation, and in a holy and immortal constitution. If we contend for this, making use of their own arguments, saying that it is just as rational that we should appear in the image of Christ in the future world as that we should come into this world in the image of Adam, they will pronounce the argument so far as applicable to Adam, sound logic, but so far as this same argument of theirs is applied by Universalists to Christ, they pronounce it perfect jargon.

But, says the objector, there is one point you have not settled, and I will here rest the whole of my argument upon it. It is this—God has, in no instance, promised eternal to unbelievers; and unless you can prove that the promise does extend to them, your arguments must fall like rottenness to the ground. We have certainly proved this, and to attend to the objector's request would but be, in some measure, going over the ground already occupied. We will, however, just touch this point again. We will introduce the following words of Paul to Titus. "In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began."