By REV. JOHN P. MACQUEEN.
AMONG the many sad signs of declension and backsliding in present-day professedly evangelical and orthodox Churches there are four doctrinal errors, diametrically opposed to Reformed Theology, which need to be examined and exposed in the light of Scriptural theology. Their recrudescence and popularity in these professedly evangelical circles are sure signs of prevailing backsliding. They are:—(1) Arminianism, or free will, as opposed to Calvinism or free grace. Arminianism, or free will, attributes to the will of fallen man the inherent power and strength to believe and repent when and how he pleases, whereas Scriptural free grace declares that the salvation of sinfully and spiritually helpless man is all of almighty grace. (2) Antinomianism, which denies that the Christian, or believer, is any longer under the Moral Law even as a rule of faith, conduct, and morals, thus producing moral laxity and looseness among its adherents, relative to the universally and perpetually binding Divine commandments, in the teeth of Scripture: “If ye love Me keep my commandments.” (3) Universal Atonement, which declares that Christ died for all indiscriminately, as opposed to the Scriptural doctrine of particular redemption, that He died only for those given Him of the Father in the everlasting covenant, and who are enabled savingly to believe in Him. (4) Pre-millennarianism, which is the theory that Christ will come to reign personally for a thousand years on earth, as distinguished from His invisible then generally acknowledged spiritual reign during that period, called the Millennium. Calvin said regarding Pre-millennarianism: “This fiction is too puerile to be refuted.”
Although the four foregoing false interpretations of Scripture generally go together nowadays, we intend, in the following extract, to confine ourselves to the Post-millennarian view of the Second Advent, as exposing the falsity and untenability of the Pre-millennarian view, and also as typical of the view traditionally and historically held by Reformed theologians generally, and especially in Scotland. Before quoting this extract, however, one may say, in passing, that it is now becoming fashionable also, among Presbyterian denominations, even in Scotland, as another evil sign of the times, to denounce the Reformers, especially the godly and learned compilers of the Westminster Confession of Faith, for having identified the Pope of Rome as the Scriptural Anti-Christ. Evidently these men have no scruples in subscribing the Westminster Confession of Faith as their confession of faith, without qualification, at their ordination, thus manifesting that dishonest mental reservations are not a monopoly of the Jesuits. Such are thus helping to heal “the deadly wound” of the Beast of Revelation (Rev. xiii, 3 and 12). “Verily, they shall have their reward.”
A peculiarly sad aspect of the present-day prevalence and popularity of Arminianism and Pre-millennarianism, in these professedly evangelical circles, is that so-called “priests,” when they leave the Papal System (some of them, doubtless, genuinely converted men), are inextricably entangled in these false views and theories, as these Arminian Pre-millennarian professed evangelicals are generally the first type of Protestants they come in contact with, after abandoning Popery. Thus their usefulness, as new Protestants, is considerably vitiated. The popular, and loudly applauded, and much-advertised Greater London Campaign, conducted by Dr. Billy Graham, was also brimful of the four foregoing errors and false views.
The following extract, then, is the concluding part of a sketch of the life of the saintly, faithful Mr. Donald MacQueen, missionary in Bracadale and Duirinish, Isle of Skye, for the space of 70 years. He died on the 13th November, 1885, while engaging in family worship, on the 100th anniversary of his birthday. He was for many years a school master in Skye and Soay, as well as missionary. His ministerial biographer concludes the sketch as follows, thus describing the world-wide building up of Zion, or the Millennium:—
“We miss the presence, fervent prayers, sympathy, and kind counsel of our aged father, a man who never ceased to pray for the spread of the Gospel at home and abroad; ever pleading the promise that the time would yet come when ‘the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ (Heb. ii. 14)—a man who always followed with his prayers every effort put forth by the Church to make the Gospel known everywhere, whether by the Children’s Record, or more likely means. But though we miss those who have served their day well, we believe the faithful remnant is increasing, in various parts of the world, who know and believe that the harvest is great, and, therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers to His own harvest. It is, therefore, incumbent on us to do all in our power to make the Gospel known to the ends of the earth: ‘Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,’ but the apostle adds, ‘How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher’ (Rom. x. 13-14). But Christ has all means in His hand, and He is king of nations (Jer. x. 7), as well as king of saints, and, therefore, the isles, to the uttermost parts of the earth, shall wait for His law. The millions of poor benighted heathen who have not yet heard the Gospel shall hear it in power. And those who have heard it, but have not yet obeyed it shall obey it. This is not matter of doubt or speculation but of express revelation. The blindness, enmity, and idolatrous spirit which seem to reign in the hearts of the heathen cannot make the promise regarding them null and void, which is, ‘All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee’ (Psalm xxii. 27). When we think of the obstacles that are to be encountered on our part in seeking to bring the Gospel to the heathen, in order to bring them to the knowledge of the truth, ‘the Holy One of Israel must not be limited.’
“The conversion in a day of a nation, with its teeming millions, is the same in the Lord’s sight as the conversion of an individual. When He says to an individual ‘live,’ he lives. And when He says in a day of His power, ‘Bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth’ (Isaiah xlii. 6), they come. As the God-man, Christ has given to Him power over all flesh that He might give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him (John xvii. 2). And though the efforts of the Church hitherto, in seeking to make the Gospel known abroad, have not met with the success wished for, and seem comparatively as nothing yet, they cannot be lost. The Lord never said to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek ye Me in vain’ (Isaiah xlv. 9).
“Eventually showers of blessing will be given in answer to the united prayers of the Living Church. When the prophet Elijah prayed for rain he did not receive an answer all at once. He had to wrestle for the blessing ere it came. While praying for rain he sent his servant again and again to see if there was any sign of rain, and the servant came back several times saying he saw nothing. But this did not discourage the prophet, or cause him to cease from wrestling. He would assuredly be glad for the rain or the sign of it. But his faith did not rest absolutely in either, but in Him who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand (Isaiah xl. 12). He, therefore, saw abundance of rain before the rain came. When the sign of it was at first given it was only like the size of a man’s hand, which could not of itself avail much; but what was at first only like the size of a man’s hand gradually expanded so as to cover the heavens, and then there was abundance of rain. The true Church is still wrestling for the spiritual showers in the same way; and though they may not see the blessing largely forthcoming presently, they faint not, because they are upheld. And they have the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts. And that which they pray for is promised, and will eventually be given. And the spiritual showers will be so copious and abundant as to cover the earth, for that day and that hour will come when this truth shall be verified, that ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’ (Isaiah xi. 9).
“Wherefore, however slowly and silently, the kingdom of Christ is making progress; and, though some may overlook this or disregard it, yet nothing, according to the Word of God, is more certain than that progress is being made. The little leaven is leavening the whole lump. The element of prayer is the element of all the Lord’s anointed ones; and they cannot cease praying, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ They know the hardest hearts can be melted, and the most unpromising become living branches. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, but the Lord can change his heart, and, therefore, it is foretold that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God (Psalm lxxiii. 31). The heathen cannot serve the Lord God with a stony heart, but the stony heart is to be taken away, and a new heart given, and then they shall serve the Lord in spirit and in truth, according to His precious promise (Ezekiel xxxv, 25-27).”
Then the horrors and cruelties of war shall cease. The destructive weapons used for the destruction of mortal man shall be used for other purposes than those for which they were first intended. Instead of using them for the destruction of life, they will be made the means of maintaining it. Instead of one man using his destroying weapon against his fellow-man, his weapon will be used for the tillage and cultivation of the earth. And the result will be plenty of food for man and beast, ‘They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isaiah ii. 4).
Merchants’ ships and ships of war, instead of carrying deadly weapons for warfare, will have none of these. Their chief and sacred commodity will be the Bible, for their ships will be dedicated to the Lord to make the Gospel known to the ends of the earth. ‘Surely the isles shall wait for Me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee’ (Isaiah lx. 9). As the risen Lord and Saviour Christ ‘has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.’ And He is thus claiming His right, and will not cease to claim it till ‘all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ.'”