Benoni Stinson's Second Speech
on Hume's Second Proposition
STINSON'S LAST REPLY,
ON THE LAST PROPOSITION.
Gentlemen Moderators: In my present speech I have but few things to reply to. I shall not contradict his experience. He has told it twice, for the purpose, doubtless, of proving his doctrine true. So far as his experience goes, in establishing the doctrine he has undertaken to prove, will be for the people to judge. Neither have I any reply to make to his good exhortation. If he saw fit to make one, and thought it would do more good than argument, it was his privilege to do so. He has made a new point, according to my understanding of our debate. He has come to the word faith; he has worked all round it; he has turned it over and over; he seems to think at all times, that it is the gift of God altogether, yet some scriptures come in his way that will not lead quite to that conclusion. He can not get around it, to make faith exist independent of the voluntary operations of the human mind. You all see his difficulty. How does he get around it? In this way? that man does not believe in order to be saved, because he is already saved. He makes this point definitely. That the sinner, or Christian he may call him, is already saved. I hope he alluded away back to his election and choosing.
[HUME.--Do you want an explanation, sir?]
No, sir, not now. He said he would surrender if I could find the text that said, "If thou believest thou shalt be saved."
[HUME.--Those are not my words.]
What did he say then?
[HUME.--I said if thou wilt believe, or will believe, thou shalt be saved.]
Is there any difference between that expression and "if thou believest thou shalt be saved?" The point he makes is that man is saved before he believes, and that, therefore, belief, although it may, to some extent, include the operations of the mind, yet that these operations never existed until after the sinner is saved. I am no scholar, but this debate will be read by scholars, who will be able to see the force of such reasoning. I will now quote from John's gospel iii, 14, 15: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." Is not this in the future tense? "But have eternal life." He has stated that they believed because they already possessed everlasting life. Another text without chapter. There was a certain sinner at Philippi (just allow me to say that after God had taken them out of prison), the jailer, fell down and said, sirs, what shall I do to be saved (or rather what shall I do because I am saved already)? Here is the question in point. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because you are already saved:" is that the answer? Is that the way the apostle answers him? Elder Hume answers us so. No, my friends, but "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." If he has admitted to let the argument hang upon this truth, that faith does not precede salvation, I claim a victory, because I have quoted a text that can not be construed otherwise, and receive its legitimate meaning. Another text, without chapter and verse. This I will bring in to prove that unconditional salvation is not taught in the Bible. There was a certain young man that came to Jesus running and kneeling. He said: "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life." Suppose this man were to come to Elder Hume, running, with the same inquiry? I do not mean that Elder Hume would say this to him, but his doctrine would say to him, you are altogether mistaken, it is not suspended on anything you can say or do, the whole matter is outside of you, my dear young friend. If you are one of God's elect he will save you, but if not you are not counted. But what does Jesus say to him? Here was a fair chance to teach the truth. He first refers the young man to the laws, and he said these he had kept from the days of his youth; then Jesus says to him: "If thou wilt be perfect sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor, and come follow me." Are we to suppose that he could not see any conditions in this? Jesus tells him how he can obtain it; did that young man understand Jesus that there were conditions in it? Let the result explain it. The young man went away sorrowing for he had great possessions. Jesus looked on him and loved him; and what did he say? It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. I ask, are there no conditions taught here, either expressed or implied? Respecting the feast, he admitted my criticism that God did not use any violence in compelling them to come in. But what does he say? Does he tell us the reason why the men who were first bidden did not come in? He did not say it was because they could not, but he has said as much in many other cases. He could not have sufficient courage to work into this case. How did he dispose of it? By saying a man never eats till he is hungry; the reason they did not come to Christ was because they had no appetite.
But what does Jesus say? Does he say they had no appetite; therefore they would no come in; or that they had plenty at home that satisfied them? No. But they all began to make excuses: one had bought a tract of land; one some oxen; one had married a wife. Not because they had no appetite. The whole quotation proves, according to my mind, that man is a moral agent and to show this is clearly the object of the whole parable. But his having admitted that God did not force them in, takes away the last glimmering ray of hope out of his "compel them" to come! He brings in another point, which, for the life of me, I can not see. he has told you, throughout the whole of this debate, that his system makes the salvation of infants certain. Now, is there an argument in the debate upon that question? The only thing which I remember having been said about the salvation of infants, was in connection with the remarks on Ishmael and Esau; since them he has never referred to that once. But then he replied to it by a remarkably singular stroke of his criticism, and said he did not mean their posterity. I ask you, according to his affirmation, has he proved that infants would certainly be saved? He says his system proves that infants would be saved, and that idiots would be saved. This admits at least my first proposition, "That Jesus Christ make an atonement to the Adamic law for the human race." For him to make it appear from his system that all infants are saved, he has to show how it happened that in God's choice he elected every one that would die in infancy. Has he given us the most remote evidence that God, in this choice, embraces certainly every person who dies in infancy, and every idiot? I must now refer to my exposition of his premises yesterday, and he has never objected to my showing that his doctrine involved the reprobation of a part of the human race. The confession of faith of the old Baptists, called Predestinarians, says that all infants dying in infancy are saved, but supposes that it is uncertain whether all infants are elected or not. Has he so explained his doctrine as to demonstrate the truth that all infants are saved? If he has, I have failed to see it. Brother. H. first introduced the idea in his closing argument; he has given me no chance of attaching it to his system; but I undertake to say that he doctrine of unconditional salvation is one of unconditional reprobation. No man can explain or make it certain, according to this doctrine, that all infants are saved. There is no text in the Bible that I have ever found that says all dying in infancy are elected. Then how has he shown it? For he has denied the general atonement, which is the only system, according to my view of the matter, that renders the salvation of infants certain. If they are free from the curse of the Adamic law, as I tried to prove them, then, if they died before they committed sin personally, there can be no guilt upon them. They do not suffer condemnation of eternal hell, but God says the penalty is, "Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return." The general atonement teaches us, first, that the condemnation for original sin was removed by Jesus Christ; that he came to take away the sin of the world. Secondly, it teaches that the body that dies must be raised again; that Jesus Christ has secured a resurrection of the dead. These two put together, make the salvation of all infants certain. Although Elder Hume can not reply, still I would like to know if he can, on any other principle, establish the certainty of infant salvation?
The doctrine of which I have been the affirmant has some wonderful bad consequences. What is his most formidable objection to it? He has shown us that it was bad among the unconverted; but he intended to bring up one sweeping argument--that if the doctrine was true, every sinner might be saved, or every sinner might be lost. I will not reply to this point; it pries so deep into the metaphysical that I do not regard it as worthy of reply. I will now say a few words of his doctrine, which he has attempted to prove in so many ways.
I have a few objections to it. First, I say I object to it because it is contrary to every text of scripture that teaches Jesus Christ died for all men.
I object to it, secondly, because it contradicts every scripture that offers salvation to the human race. These two objections are enough to show that there must be something in the doctrine radically wrong. The elder knows this difficulty is there; hence, his great effort to show that Jesus Christ did not die for all, and that salvation is not offered to all. I claim to have quoted scriptures which he has failed to show meant anything else. He has told us that the word ALL does not mean the race. We are willing to admit, in some cases, it does not. He has told us the EVERY MAN does not mean the race. But has he told us that the words ALL MEN, ALL THE WORLD, EVERY MAN, never do mean the race, as we have quoted? Has he shown this, that they never do mean the race? If he has failed to do this, my evidence stands as a Gibralter against all his arguments. The doctrine of irresistible and personal salvation contradicts the experience of every man.
[HUME--There is one man here whose experience it don't contradict.] (Laughter.)
He tried to sustain this point by a very happy appeal to the audience. I will make another appeal, and in it I include Elder Hume. Did God save any of you without your having done anything that pointed toward your salvation? Nobody answers. I did not expect it. Elder Hume, unfortunately for him, has told us his experience. He has told us that he was saved by believing on Jesus Christ, and that he did seek the Lord Jesus entirely outside himself. He sought him away out in a pawpaw thicket, with intensity of heart. If we had been within hearing of him, we would have heard him groaning in tears, that God might save him, and now he tries to show you that you are saved outside of yourself, without any condition. But we must close, having but a few moments more of time.
Elder Hume, in the goodness of his heart, tells you that his motive has been good in this investigation. I claim to be actuated by the same principle. He has repeatedly asked you to take the subject home with you and investigate it for yourselves, as it involved you salvation; yet when I spoke of my responsibility, the other day, he told us, in his next speech, that he never had anything to do with saving men. He did not feel in that way. Paul says to Timothy, when instructing him how to preach, that "in so doing thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee." God says that if he sets the watchman upon the walls, and he see the sword coming and blow not the trumpet, the blood of the sinner shall be required at the watchman's hands. None of these apply to our beloved brother, according to his doctrine, for unconditional and irresistible salvation precludes the possibility of all instrumentalities. Paul was mistaken when he said, "We are co-workers together with God." You see the weakness of his argument. And now, I will charge upon that doctrine, that, if it be true, the sinners who believe it act consistently. They will never seek salvation till God irresistibly compels them to seek it.
One of the most affecting sights I ever witnessed, was that of a young man who had been brought up in this faith. I talked with him often; he was taken sick; I visited him; I knew his views upon this matter; I saw he was not concerned; I spoke to him of the short time he had to live, and of the importance of making preparation for eternity. He turned to me, as unconcerned as I ever saw a man, and said, "Sir, you know my opinion upon these things." Here was a man entering eternity perfectly unconcerned, from the fact that he believed, that if he was one of the elect, heaven would be his home, and that if he was not elected, hell was his doom, unconditionally.
(Time expired.)
THE END.
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