As stated in the preface, I have not undertaken to deal in detail with all the doctrines and questions raised in Mr. Grant's tract. Some of these have been mentioned cursorily, and I believe sufficient has been written to show those who care to inquire into the matter, what the nature of the system is, and what its tendency is. It is not without reason that its author has been captivated by its apparent consistency. But surely that fact alone should open the eyes of the reader as to the danger of it, when he is alive as to the way in which it is arrived at. There is no pleasure in mere criticism; but the examination of the word of God carries with it its own joy and refreshment for the soul; and, I trust, a better acquaintance with, and increased assurance in, the doctrines we have hitherto received without question.
It has been loudly asserted and often repeated, that Mr. Grant's tract does not touch fundamental truth. Every reader will form his own conclusion when he sees what the theories are. There is a certain difficulty in the matter, for on examination it is found that habitual expressions are not used in this tract in the accustomed sense. At times this is explained, but often the reader is surprised to find that he has gradually lost what he thought he held firm. There is not a truth of Christianity which is left intact by this system: all is modified, if not nullified, as far as its living power in the soul goes.
Is it faith that is spoken of? God owns an undeveloped "germ" because of the strength He foresees it will gather under His hand.
Is it justification I It is taken out of its proper scriptural connection, misinterpreted and misapplied, through mixing up Romans and Colossians. It is so far severed from faith, that the knowledge of it in the soul is rendered problematic: "the real sentence as to it was when Christ rose," His resurrection being the justification of all for whom He died; "we come under it when we believe," but whether we know it or not is another matter. And besides, as a result of the special doctrine as to "propitiation," God's sovereign elective grace is so presented as to cloud it, for Mr. Grant, reasoning upon the value of the substitutionary sacrifice, states that "you may say it is sufficient for the whole world. In itself it may be of value enough, but available it is not," and again, "You cannot say the work is done for all if it be not so." How different to the apostle's words in 1 Tim. 2:3-73For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. 7Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. (1 Timothy 2:3‑7)! Could an evangelist, penetrated with this corrupt doctrine that the provision made in atonement is "sufficient for all the world" but "not available," go forth honestly and say, "Whosoever will, let him come”? What becomes of the words in Rom. 3:22: "righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all"?
Is it peace with God in Rom. 5:77For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. (Romans 5:7) This, Mr. G. would tell us, is the peace Christ made on the cross; so that a soul may have it and not know it.
Is it forgiveness ? This is half severed from righteousness, which is itself, by reasoning upon it, reduced to a human level. And forgiveness is only appropriated to the soul that is quickened, so that it is left to get the knowledge and enjoyment of it as best it may. And it is told that in a certain sense forgiveness is " the very opposite of justification.” This agrees with the way in which "repentance” is spoken of.
Is it substitution? It is all confused, so that the sinner's blessing is set above God's glory; propitiation in its full meaning is evaporated and gone.
Is it deliverance? A soul sealed with the Holy Ghost may yet be in bondage, and striving after holiness under the law; and this is sought to be proved from the scripture, as indeed all the rest.
Is it the seal of the Spirit? This is disconnected from faith in the work of Christ, and made to go with faith in His Person Only, as risen and glorified.
Is it eternal life? It is universalized and lowered, and made to be merely eternal and divine, while bereft of the relationship which scripture presents as characterizing it, and consequently of the affections and responsibility which go with the relationship. Its communication to us is separated from Christ's death and from His place in glory, in spite of the most positive declarations of the word of God. And this is the mainspring of the doctrine; for the distinction between Christianity and Judaism is touched in the Person of Christ, and is really obliterated.
When we think of what is at stake, should it not open our eyes to the nature of this attack of the enemy of souls, doing now in another way, what he did with the Galatian saints, and that more vitally; for it is a question of the doctrine of life now, and not mere legality and formalism.
Has Mr. Darby's last warning already ceased to echo in our midst, that so many are allowing themselves to be blindly led away, as if they were spiritually unable to detect the evil at work? I recall his words:—
“I do add, let not John's ministry be forgotten, in insisting on Paul's. One gives the dispensation in which the display is; the other, that which is displayed.”
But the doctrines, disastrous as they are, fall into a secondary place when compared with the habit of reasoning engendered by these writings. They are the high road to rationalism. If I have ventured to print on the subject, it is because I have the deep conviction that no one can lightly take them up and use them for" edification," without falling in a measure under their corrupting influence, and getting his spiritual sensibilities gradually paralyzed. The mind is fascinated by fanciful interpretations of scripture, which foster worldliness; and one learns to like it. But a really simple soul occupied with the Lord, and reading these writings, though unable perhaps to put the finger upon what is wrong, feels instinctively that it is not Christ which is ministered, and turns away from what savors not of things which be of God, but of things which are of men.
Forty years ago, a cultivated mind allowed itself to indulge in speculation upon the scriptures, with the result of falling into blasphemous doctrine as to the Person of the blessed Lord. Now the written word itself is the object of the enemy's assault, so as to reach the saints in their last fortress, and disarm them. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" If the word of God become food for human reasoning, instead of reaching the conscience and judging the thoughts and intents of the heart, what can become of the Lord's testimony in these last days, in the hands of saints who are to wait and watch for Him with their loins girt and their lamps burning—to "tarry till he come" who, by His own presence in His FATHER'S house, has prepared for them a place, where the "eternal life" will be enjoyed and manifested for His glory in its own proper sphere?
May the Lord arouse those who have been led astray to recognize His hand in the exposure He has already permitted to be made of these doctrines, and use the trial, painful as it is, as an incentive to lead them afresh to the living fountains of truth, so as to find new strength there in communion with God who gave them! And may He, in His own ways of grace, open the eyes of their author, that he too may see and own whither he has been led!
May the Lord make it an opportunity for deepening in our souls the blessed sense of the relationship in which His grace has set us,—of all that is contained for a "little child" in the wonderful word "FATHER,"—that our hearts may be filled with "the love of the Father," and so grow in divine intelligence, and that we may know, in living power, the life of dependence upon God, manifested in obedience by Him who, as Son of the Father and Son of man, could say, "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him." (John 8:28, 2928Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:28‑29).)