IT is quite apparent to any careful observer that the present tremendous War, with its dreadful horrors and losses, has greatly disturbed the religious faith of certain classes of people. Some cannot understand how such things can happen under the government of a Divine Being at all, and people of this infidel tendency having already but a slender hold of the belief in God’s existence, are disposed to lapse into blank atheism. Others—and they are a more numerous class—have been nurtured all their days in the doctrine that God is nothing but love or benevolence, and that man is a comparatively innocent being, and they also are greatly perplexed at the terrible strokes of the present time. As we might expect, such professors of Christianity find it very difficult to reconcile the present sufferings with their doctrine, and are apt to lose the kind of faith in God that they possess. We do not deny that many things are taking place in individual lives that are fitted to try the faith, even of the most settled of God’s children, but still they cleave fast to Him, and recognise that He reigns amidst all, in harmony with His revealed perfections and government. Much evil arises from a one-sided view of truth. Half-truths are frequently the most dangerous errors. Let us now very briefly notice in this article some of the comprehensive truths concerning God and man, which must be accepted and held fast, in order that we may understand God’s ways, have faith in His government, and bow to His providential will.
I. Let us observe certain truths concerning God.
1. It is the testimony of the Bible and of nature itself that God is the maker and upholder of the world in all its parts.
“For of him, and through him, and to him are all things” (Rom. ii. 36). All creatures, animate and inanimate, are dependent upon His hand. “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts xvii. 28). Though God is not, and cannot be, in the very nature of the case, the author of moral disorder or sin—the offspring of folly and His own opposite—yet He maintains in existence by His power the wicked as well as the righteous, devils as well as men. God in the person of the Son “upholds all things by the word of His power” for the furtherance of divine purposes in connection with the gracious covenant of redemption.
2. It is the testimony of the Bible and of reason that He is the universal Governor.
As He is the maker and upholder, so it follows as matter of necessary right and consequence that He is the King of the universe. The Psalmist declares that “God is king of all the earth,” and that “God reigneth over the heathen” (Ps. xlvi.), while Daniel tells king Nebuchadnezzar that he would be driven from his dwelling until he would “know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.” Nebuchadnezzar was brought to acknowledge the truth that “he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.” Such is the all-pervasive sovereignty of the Most High. The Lord Jesus Himself declares that “a sparrow cannot fall to the ground” without Him. If such an insignificant creature as a sparrow cannot fall without God’s permission, surely an intelligent, responsible being like man cannot. It is clearly Christ’s teaching that nothing whatsoever from the greatest event to the smallest can transpire without God’s hand being in it in one way or another. Thus He must have a sovereign hand in connection with all the terrible things that are presently happening. War, and bloodshed, and death are not without Him.
3. It is plainly revealed to us that God is holy as well as good, righteous as well as merciful, and just as well as loving.
He is the Lawgiver as well as the Benefactor of the race. As Lawgiver, he has given mankind holy and just and good laws which must be obeyed, otherwise penalties will follow. Nothing is more clearly written on the page of divine revelation, or on the page of human history than this. We are told over and over again that God “hath prepared his throne for judgment,” and that He “shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” He is the Judge to whom all are accountable, high and low, rich and poor.
True it is that God has made Himself known as merciful and gracious, rich in His grace and love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John iii. 16). “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him” (1 John iv. 16). This is gloriously true, and a matter of eternal praise. But we are not to think for a moment that He is gracious at the expense of His righteousness. He caused the iniquities of His people to meet upon His Son, and the Son suffered unto the death of the Cross, and satisfied the claims of righteousness in their room and stead. Apart from this there could have been no forgiveness or salvation. His mercy flows through a righteous channel to the guilty. His love also is a holy love. If He loves sinners, He does not love their sins; He loves them with a view to save them from their sins and to make them partakers of His holiness. Further, we observe from the whole teaching of Christ and His apostles, that if the children of men break His laws and reject His Gospel, they lay themselves open, individually and nationally, to sore and heavy judgments. Consider many of Christ’s parables in this connection—the marriage of the king’s son, the great supper, the vineyard and the husbandmen, the barren fig tree, etc. It is made most plain that the King, who provides a marriage feast of heavenly love, is “wroth” with great displeasure when His gracious invitations are rejected and His servants set at nought and slain. He sends fire and sword upon those who prove themselves His determined enemies. His character as the righteous, moral Governor and Judge, as well as the gracious Saviour, must never be forgotten by us. To consider His benevolence and love and to forget His holiness and justice is a fatal error, and fosters a spirit of rebellion against a God of infinite goodness and rectitude.
II.—Let us consider certain truths concerning Man.
1. God made man pure and upright at the beginning, but man, of his own, deliberate free will, at the suggestion of the serpent, sinned and fell from his high and holy estate.
The first man chose the evil and refused the good, and, as a representative person, he drew down all his posterity with himself. They have willingly followed his bad example ever since.
2. Men, as sinners, are criminals against the Divine Majesty.
Sin is not a mere disease or infirmity; it is a crime, a transgression of law, deserving punishment. It is on this principle we find the inspired statement, “The wages of sin is death.” Breaches of human law are treated as crimes, and regarded as punishable. Sin is a breach of God’s law, and renders the transgressor liable to penalty. People in general, as a result of the Fall, are remarkably blind to the guilt of sin, and look upon it with an indulgent eye, but not so those who are enlightened by the Spirit of God.
3. Men, as sinners, deserve suffering here and hereafter.
Such is the plain teaching of God’s infallible Word from first to last. The New Testament, as well as the Old, bears testimony to this. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked” in this present life. And the Lord Jesus Christ in His predictive account of the Day of Judgment declares that “the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment.” This solemn view of sin’s desert is not pleasant or palatable to the natural mind, and thousands entirely resent the idea and will have none of it. But the truth remains the same, and will stand fast for ever. Everyone whose conscience has been awakened by the divine Spirit in connection with the application of God’s truth puts his amen thereto. He feels that he deserves nothing less than hell as the just reward of his sins.
4. Men universally are sinners.
“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” There is no exception—people of all nations, generations, ranks and ages: Germans, Austrians, Russians, French, Italians, British, rulers and subjects, rich and poor, old and young. God’s children in a state of grace are still sinners as well as others, and they deserve and get chastisement. Not that we are to think that those who are most severely chastised are always the greatest transgressors. Not so; the opposite may be true in many cases. But what we wish to point out is that there is no person under the sun, good or bad, but has sin that will justify in righteousness the Lord’s sharpest dealings. This is the aspect of the case that is forgotten by many, and so they form mistaken views altogether of the divine government. There is universal sin, and so there is universal suffering.
It is undoubtedly the case that there are certain seasons in the world’s history when the Most High lifts the rod of correction, and brings it down with greater and more widespread severity than at other times. Truly, the present is one of them—a time, indeed, unprecedented in terrible things on land and sea. Generally those seasons of judgment occur when iniquity comes to a certain height. We must acknowledge that it was so in the present case. God’s people were greatly grieved at the widespread frivolity, wickedness, and contempt of Christ’s gospel and ordinances, and when the War broke out, their faith, instead of being weakened, was strengthened. They saw that the Lord was taking notice of the abounding impiety, and that there was a divine Governor among the nations who would not allow iniquity always to go uncorrected. The Most High is nothing, if He is not a moral Governor.
In conclusion, we would desire to point out, in addition to the considerations already presented that are fitted to instruct and confirm our faith in God, amid all the floods and fires of the present time, the following, namely, that the Most High still shows Himself loving as well as just, and mingles with the trials many undeserved mercies. Many are the common comforts which are yet enjoyed, even by our soldiers and sailors—comforts in field and hospital. The Word of the Lord is also circulated among them, and happy are those who seek and find there the Lord Jesus Christ, and an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. We believe also that the Lord will show His abundant goodness in overruling this awful dispensation for the ultimate good of the world at large. It is the earnest prayer of all who seek the prosperity of Christ’s kingdom that many, who have passed through sore trials, may individually receive eternal blessings. May the death of some prove, under the Lord’s hand, “the life” of others, and to His name shall be the praise!
THE prayer of all should be, “Lord Jesus, as Thou hast got death, and him that hath the power of death, under Thy feet, even so, Lord, put them under ours.”—Romaine.