In the previous chapters in this series it has been shown how the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is the teaching of the old Baptist confessions and articles of faith, and has been the accepted faith of the Hardshells till recent years. It has been shown that this modern rejection of perseverance is a further departure from the true primitive Baptist faith and therefore today's Hardshells have no grounds for claiming to be "Primitive Baptists." In this posting further testimony from leading Hardshells of the 19th century will be cited which show that the doctrine of perseverance was their accepted belief. First, let us look at what Elder Grigg Thompson taught on the subject.
Thompson wrote:
"God, by his almighty power, created the world, and it is the same almighty power that supports it, and continues its being; the world owes its preservation, as well as its existence to the power of God. So in the new creation, the same power that creates the sinner anew must preserve and keep him in his new life. "Preserved in Jesus Christ;" Jude i; "Who are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation;" I Pet., i, 5. It is in God we live, move, and have our being; Acts, xvii, 28; and it is equally so in a spiritual sense, for it is by the quickening, renewing, and reviving, influence of his Spirit that we continue to believe and delight in God and his service, and without this continued influence upon our souls, we would perish; John, xv, 5." (From "The Primitive Preacher" by Elder Grigg Thompson, section on the "A New Creature in Christ")
Thompson clearly upholds both preservation and perseverance in these words. He says that God's preservation is what causes one to "continue to believe and delight in God and his service." He said further:
"As God lives to himself, so this regenerated soul lives to God; II Cor., v, 15. As God loves holiness, and is of too pure eyes to look upon sin, so does the new creature, and desires it above all earthly honors or riches." (Ibid)
Here is another clear statement on perseverance. "As God loves holiness...so does the new creature." God does not ever fail to continue in loving holiness, and so it is with the called.
Thompson said:
"But in the new creature you find the cause of this great change, the electing love of God; I Pet., i, 2; Eph., i, 4-6; and in the new creature you find all the effects of an interest in Christ, and the indwelling of his Spirit. These are all the fruits of the Spirit, the works of obedience; Eph., ii, 10; Rom., vii, 4." (Ibid)
I do not believe that today's Hardshells will willingly accept these words of Thompson. Do they believe that "all the effects of an interest in Christ" are in the new creature? Do they not rather believe that only a few of the effects are present in the life of the new creature? Thompson calls these "effects" the "fruits of the Spirit" and the "works of obedience." Is faith in Christ and love to God not "fruits of the Spirit" per Galatians 5: 22, 23?
Thompson continues:
"There is hatred and opposition to sin,; "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not;" I John, v, 18."
Thompson says that these things are true of all who are "new creatures." He says that they hate and oppose sin, which is but another way of saying that they overcome sin, and persevere in holiness. He even cites I John 5: 18 that I cited in the previous chapter. Every new creature is not only kept by God, but he "keeps himself," or perseveres.
Thompson continued:
"There is love to the people of God. Every one that loveth is born of God; I John, iv,' 7. There is a conscious respect for the duties and ordinances of the house of God; Eph., iv, 24. There is faith in Christ. "Whosever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God;" I John, v, 1."
Remember that Thompson is talking about what characterizes the "new creature," the one who is "born of God." He is talking about what is essential to the "new creature," what is characteristic of all who are "born of the Spirit." Notice how Thompson says that "there is faith in Christ" in the heart of every new creature! Will today's Hardshells accept that view? Will they deny that Thompson was a leader of 19th century Hardshells and expressed what they generally believed? Also, from the way Thompson cites I John 5: 1, he believes that all who are born of God are believers in Christ. He cites it in order to prove his statement which avers that "there is faith in Christ" in all who are "new creatures." Further, Thompson is not talking about some non-cognitive "faith," or simple theism, or some king of "dormant seed faith," but "faith in Christ." An evangelical faith!
Thompson may have rejected the view that the gospel was a means in "regeneration," but such comments of his leads one to believe that he nevertheless, like the first Hardshells, believed that all the elect would also be "converted" by the gospel.
Thompson wrote:
"He delights not in the way of the sinner, "but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night;" Ps., i, 2. There is perseverance in the service of God, and victory over all temptations, "For whatsoever is born of. God, overcometh the world;" I John, v, 4. All these fruits of the Spirit are not means or conditions performed by us to get to be new creatures in Christ, but are evidences of our new state and condition, and settle the matter beyond any reasonable doubt, for the Master himself has said, "The tree is known by his fruit;" Matt., xii, 33." (Ibid)
No words could be clearer and contrary to the views of today's Hardshells who deny the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. How they can legitimately claim to be "primitive" and yet deny what Thompson here affirms is fantastic. Thompson says that the new creature is the one who "overcomes," or who perseveres. This overcoming involved "victory over all temptations." With all those who are "begotten" there is "perseverance in the service of God." But, this is denied by today's Hardshells! Shame on them!
Thompson wrote:
"The man that is in Christ is renewed in his practice. The regenerated not being what they were, can not act and live as they once did; Rom., vi, 2; for they have been quickened into a new life. "And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world;" Eph. ii, 1, 2. They were carried away in the stream of sin and iniquity by the strength of their corrupt natures and the customs of this world; but their case is now altered; they are lead (sic) by a new spirit, and walk in the paths of righteousness; Ps., xxiii, 3. When the apostle calls the mind of the saint back to his old companions in sin, and describes their corrupt practices, he says, "And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God;" I Cor., vi, 11. This indeed is a wonderful change in practice, and in the state and condition of the soul; this change is so wonderful and remarkable that it sets all the world wondering at them, for they know not the power by which it is effected..." ("The New Birth")
Again, this is very clear. Grigg Thompson believed in the perseverance of all the chosen and called, and he defined what he meant by "perseverance," which is contrary to neo-hardshellism. Thompson says that the one "born of God," the one who has faith in Jesus, "can not act and live as they once did." Thompson believed that those who were regenerated are they who have experienced a "wonderful change in practice."
Elder Sylvester Hassell wrote:
"...by which change (regeneration) the understanding is illuminated, the affections consecrated, and the will rectified, so that the regenerated sinner habitually, though not always, hates and puts away sin, and loves and practices righteousness, and at the same time, the more grace he has in his heart, the more he feels and mourns over the remains of indwelling sin."
"...while the principles which we derive from our heavenly Father, in our birth again or from above, and which habitually control these faculties after we are born of God, are called, in the Scriptures, the seed of God, the new man, the law of our mind, the Israelite, the spiritual, the heavenly..." ("Interpreting the Scriptures-The Error of Denial of a Change of the Soul in Regeneration" - The Gospel Messenger—September, 1894)
http://primitivebaptist.info/mambo//content/view/836/36/
These words need little comment for they are very clear and express. Sylvestor Hassell is universally recognized, like Grigg Thompson, as one of the greatest leaders of the Hardshell cult. Hassell says that those who are born again do not practice sin as a lifestyle, or habit, for their prior regeneration insures it.
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