BY THE REV. NEIL CAMERON.
TWO books, called “Deliverance” and “Hell,” by J. F. Rutherford, have been sent me by a Kirk-Session of our Church. These books have been circulated widely, I understand, throughout the country. They are extremely dangerous books, as they contain most ruinous heresies. As I have been urged to give my opinion of their contents in the “Free Presbyterian Magazine,” I give the following short review of one of them, as I consider that will do for the other also.
(1) On page 12 of “Deliverance” the expression occurs—”The Logos (that is Christ) was the only direct creation of God.” This means that our Lord Jesus Christ was not God equal with the Father, but was only a creature. The Word of God places beyond the region of doubt that He was God. The Gospel according to John begins thus:—”In the beginning (that is, in eternity) was the Word (Logos) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word (that is, God) was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, i. 8, we read—”But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” The Father calls Him God, therefore this daring man will have to answer for making God a liar. Again, on page 169, he writes:—”The Lord Jesus appeared on a number of occasions to His disciples. . . . He did not appear in the body that was crucified.” On page 170, he says—”Some-where Jehovah miraculously preserved that body. . . . When Jesus was raised from the dead, He was no longer a man, but, on the contrary, He was the express image of Jehovah, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (page 245); Christ Jesus the divine was born three days after His crucifixion.” All the above anti-scriptural averments are set forth in order to maintain the old heresy of the Socinians—that there is only one person in the Godhead. Further, this is a very dangerous heresy to the souls of men, as well as being most dishonourable to our Lord, and it is hoped that the people into whose hands such a daring travesty of God’s Word came are too well fortified in their minds by the Shorter Catechism to swallow this poisonous mixture of error with a little of the truth set forth in these books.
(2) On p. 80 it is stated that—”The Eternal God is One.” On p. 216 it is stated that “Ecclesiastics teach the unscriptural, God-dishonouring doctrine of the Trinity.” That means that our Lord Jesus was not God co-equal with the Father. He also states that the Holy Spirit is only a power proceeding from God. All these false and, I am almost tempted to say, blasphemous statements concerning the one living and true God are as opposed to the infallible Bible as darkness is to light. Our Lord Christ says:—”Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John xvi. 13). Christ, in these words, shows that the Holy Spirit is a person, and that He does the work of a person. Again, He commanded His disciples—”Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt xxviii. 19). If this does not imply Three Persons, language has lost its true meaning. But the daring manner in which the writer of this book contradicts the clearest statements of Scripture truth, reveals a very irreverent spirit, and a boldness that betrays a very proud and self-confident man. The only use he has for the Bible is to make its infallible statements support his own vain heart’s erroneous imaginations.
(3) On page 17, he states—”No man can possess a soul.” This lowers man to the level of the brutes, and belies the experience of every thinking man as to his own knowledge of his having a soul. Surely the readers of this infamous book will not believe that they are without a soul. The Bible, throughout, teaches that man has an immortal soul. Our Lord taught—”What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” Again—”The rich man also died and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment.” His body was buried, but his soul went to hell. Are we to believe this babbler in spite of the clear statements of our Lord Jesus, and of the corroboration of the whole of God’s Book?
(4) This book teaches universal redemption and salvation. On page 157 he writes—”But could the perfect man Jesus provide redemption for Adam and of all the human race? Yes, God has planned it thus.” This is contrary to God’s Word, which clearly teaches that the elect only shall be saved by our Lord’s mediation and atonement. Our Lord said to the Jews—”But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life” (John viii. 26).
(5) This daring, ignorant man, in the teeth of the Word of God, and with great subtlety, teaches, on page 215—”Ecclesiastics teach that all men have immortal souls, which cannot die, which doctrine is supported only by Satan’s great lie.” Our Lord Christ teaches—”Then shall he say unto them on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. xxv. 41, 46).
The advice that I would give to our people and to all who will take it, is—Burn these two pernicious books. May the Lord in His mercy open the eyes of their writer.