Not So, Brother Hassell! (2)

Elder Sylvester Hassell (1842-1928)

In the previous posting (here) I cited these words of Elder Sylvester Hassell:

"It cannot be denied by any informed and honest man that such Scriptures as the following are conditional: "If His children forsake My law, I will visit their transgression with the rod, nevertheless My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from Him.." {Ps 89:30-33} "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.." {Isa 1:19-20} "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.." {Joh 13:17} "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.." {Ro 8:13} "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" {Heb 2:3} "If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.." {1Jo 2:7} See, also, such scriptures as Le 26; De 4:29-31; 7:12-26; 11:13-32; 28; Eze 18:32: Not only is it certain that these Scriptures are conditional, but it is equally certain that the condition, introduced by "if," necessarily precedes the conclusion, which would not take place unless the condition took place first. If the conclusion in these sentences means eternal punishment, than Arminianism is true; but either the text itself, or the context and other Scriptures, prove that the punishment or chastisement threatened in case of disobedience, is temporal and corrective, and not eternal and destructive, for God gives His children eternal life, and they shall never perish, and though their voluntary sins separate them from His face, nothing present or future can ever separate them from His love. {Joh 10:28-30; Heb 12; Isa 59:2; Ro 8:28-39} Thus the conditionality of time salvation is just as certain as the truth of the eternal word of God. Baptists have always heretofore understood it so; nearly all Baptists understand it so now; and this truth is in perfect accordance with Christian experience."

In this posting I want to begin focusing attention on these words of Hassell: "If the conclusion in these sentences means eternal punishment, than Arminianism is true."

I find it ironic that Hassell would say this in light of his writing elsewhere where he condemned the practice of "APPLYING ALL THE SCRIPTURES TO PRESENT EXPERIENCE," an article that describes the prevalent Hardshell practice to interpret things dealing with the future, with eternal life and eternal death, with what is merely temporal. Yet, Hassell does the very thing he condemns!

The reason for this hermeneutic change by the denomination seems quite obvious to me and to anyone well informed about the history of the PB denomination. It is the same reason that produced the modern Hardshell church and made it into mostly a quasi "Universalist" sect.

The "Primitive Baptist Universalist Church," the "No Hellers," was formed for the same reason as that of the quasi Universalists. What led the PBs in the formative years of their development to begin to apply eternal salvation and damnation passages to mere temporary salvation and damnation?

Was it not because they imbibed a false proposition, springing from Hyper Calvinistic notions, that affirmed that nothing a person did had any eternal consequences?

For proof of Hassell's change, or contradiction, I will cite from several other writings by Hassell which are contrary to what he stated in the above proposition, and in regard to the passages he cites as proof.

First, note that Hassell elsewhere wrote (highlighting mine):

"In regard to the parables of Christ, I am well aware that a few of our wisest brethren have, for a generation or so, somewhat differed in their views of some of the characters therein mentioned, and of course latitude may be allowed in such matters; but as for myself, I have no confidence in the greatly superior enlightenment of this pretentious century, and I decidedly prefer the plain old paths in religion to the misty new ones, and the old-fashioned, unsophisticated ways of interpreting the Scriptures to the new subtle ways; and I feel satisfied that there is a radical and essential distinction made by Divine grace between the humbled and penitent and returning younger brother and the angry, unforgiving and pharisaic elder brother, in the parable of the prodigal son; {Lu 15:11-32} between the good-ground hearers on the one side, and the wayside, the stony-ground, and the thorny-ground hearers, on the other side, in the parable of the sower; {Mt 13:1-23} between the wheat and the tares, in the parable of the tares; {Mt 13:24-30} between the good and the bad, the just and the wicked, in the parable of the draw-net {Mt 13:47-50} --"the kingdom of heaven" in verses 24 and 47 is plainly the visible and not the spiritual church; between the five wise and the five foolish virgins, in the parable of the virgins; {Mt 25:1-13} between the five and the two talent men, on the one hand, and the one talent man, on the other, in the parable of the talents; {Mt 25:14-30} just as there is certainly such a distinction between the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the cursed, in the description of the last judgment; {Mt 25:31-46} between the believing who are to be saved and the unbelieving who are to be damned; {Mr 16:16} between the elect, and living, and believing, and loving, and obedient children of God--the vessels of mercy of Paul's epistle to the Romans--on the one hand, and the non-elect, and spiritually dead, and unbelieving, and hating, and disobedient children of the flesh--the vessels of wrath--on the other hand, who wilfully, greedily, and inexcusably sin against God, notwithstanding the light of nature which every intelligent and responsible human being has, suppressing and falsifying even the natural evidences, everywhere around them, of the being and perfections of God (read with especial care the first chapter of Romans, and compare it with 2Ti 3:1-5; Ac 14:15-17; 17:22-31; Job 12:7-10; 38; 39; Ps 19:1-4; Isa 40:26), and who shall at last stand justly condemned and silenced before God {Ro 3:19}..."

These words make it very clear that God's work of grace in the heart makes men "obedient children of God," or "wise virgins," and who are not slothful servants like the wicked servant who buried his talent. The regenerated are not foolish virgins who have no oil, although our modern PBs tend to disbelieve this, affirming that most of the regenerated are foolish virgins.

But, if it is true that regeneration makes one a wise and obedient servant, then why did Hassell affirm that walking after the flesh and being willing and obedient were not characteristics of those who have been born of God? More to come.

Hassell continued:

 "...with one and a half exceptions (within the last three years) all our writing ministers have always thus explained the first chapter of Romans (by "a half" I mean that this minister applies the 18th and following verses of that chapter to both the elect and the non-elect--only one minister applying these verses entirely to the elect, and severely condemning all who do not agree with him in this novel view); between those who are washed, sanctified, and justified in the name, of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God, on the one hand, and the unrighteous, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners, excluded from the kingdom of God, on the other hand; {1Co 6:9-11} between those in whose hearts shine the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, on the one hand, and the lost and unbelieving, who are blinded by the god of this world, on the other hand; {2Co 4:3-6} between the beloved, believing, and obedient servants of God, on the one hand, and the false, and covetous, and adulterous teachers, who, after a vain and transient profession of godliness, relapsed into the sins from which, like the filthy dog and sow, their inward natures had never been cleansed, and whose last state, like that of the man out of whom the unclean spirit voluntarily went only for awhile, was worse than the first, on the other a hand; {2Pe 1:1-11,14; 2; Mt 12:43-45} between the righteous and holy, the blessed, the saved, who are written in the Lamb's book of life, the servants of God, having His name in their foreheads, delivered from the curse, entering into the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, and walking in its light, and reigning for ever and ever on the one hand, and the filthy and unjust, the false, dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, and idolaters, shut out of the Holy City, on the other hand. {Re 21:22} The fundamental and eternal distinction made between these opposite characters--the elect and the non-elect---by the grace of God, should never for a moment be forgotten or ignored. {Mal 3:17; 1Co 4:7; Ec 3:14; Ps 138:8; Php 1:6}" ("The Danger of Applying All Scripture to the Children of God," The Gospel Messenger-February, 1894, see here)

Again, it seems that Hassell is affirming the doctrine of perseverance, believing that those who are elect and called are they who become "believing and obedient servants of God" and thus are they who are "willing and obedient" and who do not "live after the flesh." But, again, more on this later.

Hassell in "APPLYING ALL THE SCRIPTURES TO PRESENT EXPERIENCE wrote:

"This is a most lamentable perversion of the Scriptures, similar to the foregoing, and has been born among us in the present generation. If carried out to its full extent, it blots out all the past and all the future. If we are to believe nothing but what we have experienced, we will deny all the literal truth of Scripture history and Scripture prophecies of all the events that have not yet taken place, including the creation of the world out of nothing, the destruction of the world, first by water, and then by fire, the resurrection of the body, and the eternal realities of heaven and hell. It was exactly this species of heresy--pseudo (or false) spiritualism--that the Apostle Paul condemned in Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus, {1Ti 1:19-20; 2Ti 2:16-18} as gangrenous and ruinous. These wise philosophers applied all that the Scriptures said about the resurrection to the mere spiritual rising of the soul from the death of sin, in present experience, and declared that the resurrection was already past--in other words, they, like the ancient Hindoo and Greek heathen philosophers regarding matter as the source of evil, denied the resurrection of the body, and with this denial, they overthrew the whole system of Christianity. {1Co 15:16-23} And in the latter part of the apostolic age, the same spirit of heathen philosophy, considering matter essentially evil, denied that Christ came in the flesh, or was literally incarnate, but represented His birth, and life, and death as unreal and visionary, and this heresy was denounced by the Apostle John as antichrist. {1Jo 4:3} In the self-same manner heathen philosophy in the Primitive Baptist church today seeks to turn all the literal truths--especially all the future eternal truths--of the Scriptures into fables. Under the magic wand of a pretended spiritualization, the tremendous realities of the final resurrection and judgment, the everlasting happiness of the righteous, and the everlasting punishment of the wicked dissolve into the illusory and fleeting picture of the present momentary life. Such a pernicious system of interpretation is but the echo of the voice of Satan in the Garden of Eden, giving the lie to the word of God. {Ge 2:17; 3:4}"

It is ironic that Hassell would condemn the practice of applying eternal salvation passages to the present, as well as eternal destruction passages to the present, and yet say that the passages he cites cannot possibly be dealing with eternal life and death! But, more on this later.

In another article titled "SIN UNTO DEATH" (The Gospel Messenger--December 1897) Hassell wrote:

"The exact literal translation of 1 Jo 5:16-17,18 as follows: ``If any one see his brother sinning sin not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for those sinning not unto death. There is sin unto death; not concerning it do I say that he shall pray. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is sin not unto death.''

It appears, from the above words of the Apostle John (the present participle sinning, and the noun sin not limited by any article or adjective) that he means, by ``sin unto death,'' not a single sin, but an habitual course of sin, resulting in death; and that the sin is plain, visible, and perceptible (``if any one see his brother ``).

The Apostle does not say that a brother, much less a real Christian, a genuine child of God, can commit sin unto death; but he implies that one professing to be a brother may commit such sin."

I agree with Hassell on this passage. The one who sins "unto death," eternal death in the Lake of Fire (or second death), is the unregenerate, though he may be called a "brother," being a false believer. But, it is ironic that he can find no fault in seeing how "sin unto death" is eternal death in I John but when Paul says "if you live after the flesh you will die" it cannot mean the same thing! But, again, more on that later.

Hassell continued:

"Four kinds of death are spoken of in the Scriptures, all of which are the penalties of sin (Ge 2:17; Ro 6:23)

1st. Physical or Bodily Death, the separation of the soul, which is the life of the body, from the body, followed by the corruption of the body and its return to dust; {Ge 3:19; Ec 12:7} this is the most usual meaning of the word death in the Scriptures; and all the children of God, except Enoch and Elijah and those who are living on earth at Christ's Second Coming, experience this death.

2d. Eternal Death, called in Revelation ii. ii and xx. 6, 14, 15 the Second Death, and in Mr 3:29 eternal damnation, everlasting separation of a creature from the Creator, who is the true life of every creature; also called ``everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power'', {2Th 2:9} and ``everlasting punishment,'' ``everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels''; {Mt 25:41,46} both in this Epistle and in his Gospel, the Apostle John emphatically and repeatedly denies that a real child of God can commit sin resulting in Eternal Death. {Joh 2:25; 7:37-40,44,50-51,53,53; 10:27-30; 17:2-3,11-12,24}

3d. Spiritual Death, separation of the sinner here in the from God, the Spirit of life, called ``death in trespass and sins''; {Eph 2:2; Mt 8:22; Lu 15:24,32; Joh 5:24; 2Co 5:1; Joh 3:14} all human beings are, by their natural generation, in this condition of spiritual death; and from this condition the elect are quickened by the Spirit of God. {Eph 2:1-10; Joh 3:5; 6:63; Tit 3:5}

4th. What may be called Akoinonian (or Non-Fellowship) Death, a loss of the light and warmth and comforts of God's salvation here in time, a separation, not from the love, but from the face and fellowship of God and from the fellowship of His people, described in the Scriptures as darkness, dryness, captivity, sleep, dissolution, and burial (Isa 59:2,9; Eze 37:1-14; 39:23-24; Eph 5:14; Re 3:20; 1Jo 1:5-10); into this miserable death the children of God may temporarily plunge themselves by gross, willful, presumptuous, habitual, persistent sins, but, just as certainly as they do, their Heavenly Father, their holy, faithful, unchangeable, covenant-keeping God, will chastise, humble, and correct them, make them repent of and mourn over and hate and confess and forsake their sins, and, in His own good time, restore unto them the joys of His holy salvation.

If the Apostle, in 1 Jo 5:16-17, means that a child of God can commit sin unto death, the death cannot be the Second or Third Deaths just mentioned; for the child of God never falls into Eternal Death and has been forever delivered from Spiritual Death; and if he plunges into the Fourth or Non-Fellowship Death, he will also be delivered from that, and it would seem that his brethren should love him enough to pray for him {Eph 6:18} that the Lord would fulfill His promise to deliver him from that, and, if so, the Apostle John, the Apostle of love, either does not here mean that a real child of God can commit such sin, or he does not mean Non-Fellowship Death. It is possible that, if he here means that a real child of God can sin unto death, he may mean that such a person can commit a sin tending to result in the First, Physical or Bodily Death {1Co 11:30; Jas 5:13-20; but, if such is the meaning of John, it would seem, from the passage in James, that fervent, effectual (literally, inwrought, inspired} prayers should be made by the elders of the church for the sinning, afflicted, and confessing member, who will, according to the Divine promise, be forgiven of his sins, converted from the error of his way and restored to health; while, if John means sin of a child of God unto Bodily Death, he would seem to differ from James in declining to encourage prayer in regard to it; but, as there can be no conflict in the teaching of inspired writers. It seems certain that John does not mean sin of a child of God unto Bodily Death, nor, as I have shown above, unto Eternal, or Spiritual, or Non-Fellowship Death, so that the conclusion seems inevitable that John does not here mean to imply that a real brother, a genuine child of God, can commit sin unto death. On the other hand, he declares, all through this Epistle, that every one that has been begotten of God, does righteousness, does not, as before regeneration, keep on committing sin willfully, outwardly, habitually, and persistently, believes that Jesus is the Christ, loves God and His children, overcomes the world, and has eternal life given him by God in His Son, and, by the grace of God, keeps himself so that the wicked one touches him not, that is, to his destruction. He is a tree of righteousness, and bears fruit unto holiness, and has, as the end thereof everlasting life. {Ro 6} John says that a brother may sin so unto death; but he does not say that a brother, a real child of God, can sin unto death. The life spoken of in this Epistle is Eternal Life; and so the death spoken of in it seems to be its opposite-that is, Eternal Death.

Agreed! But, is not the life and death spoken of by Paul in Romans likewise talking of mostly eternal life and death? It is just so ironic that Hassell can say the things he has said in the above writings and then find fault with affirming that the passages he mentions (if ye be willing and obedient, if ye live after the flesh, etc.) are dealing with eternal salvation and damnation!

Hassell continued:

"Only the non-elect, the unredeemed, and the unregenerate can commit sin resulting in Eternal Death. One form of such sin is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, speaking evil of, calumniating, reviling, vilifying the Holy Ghost, calling Him an unclean or unholy or evil spirit. {Mt 28:20; Mr 3:24-30; Lu 12:10} Blasphemy means speaking evil of; and blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not sin in general, but the special sin of reviling the Holy Ghost, and it is not the cause but the mournful effect and evidence of a seared conscience, a reprobate mind given up by the Lord to everlasting hardness; impenitence, and unbelief, to utter and endless ruin. Christ solemnly declares that this sin ``shall not be forgiven,'' ``hath never forgiveness''. The occasion of Christ's mentioning the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Ghost was the charge made against Him by His carnal, selfish, jealous, ambitious, proud, bitter, scoffing, malignant, determined enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees, that He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, that the Holy Ghost in Christ was an unclean or wicked spirit, thus making Christ the incarnation, not of God, but of the Devil, not of the Kingdom of Light, but of the Kingdom of Darkness. These evil trees brought forth corrupt fruit, and were known by their fruit; these wicked men had evil hearts that brought forth evil things; they were not for, but they were against, Christ; they were a generation of vipers, filled with the poison of their father, the Old Serpent, the Devil, and utterly hated truth, holiness, and God, and could not escape the damnation of hell. {Mt 12:30-37; 23:33; Re 20:2}"

"Another form of sin unto Eternal Death is apostasy, a drawing back unto perdition by those whose minds have been illuminated by the doctrine of a gracious salvation from sin by the atoning death and justifying resurrection of the Son of God, and who have openly professed to believe and trust in Christ to have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and to have been sanctified by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and then have renounced that profession, and gone back to the law for justification such proud, scornful, contemptuous adversaries of God are worthy of and shall receive from Him, not merely temporal death justly inflicted upon a presumptuous violator of the law given by Moses, but much sorer punishment, even everlasting vengeance, destruction, burning, and perdition. {Ga 5:4; Heb 6:4-8; 10:26-39}"

If only the non elect and unregenerate "sin unto death" then why can we not say also that only the non elect and unregenerate walk after the flesh? That only the elect sin not unto death, and do not walk after the flesh, but rather walk after the Spirit? That the elect and regenerate are they who are "willing and obedient" but the unregenerate are they who "refuse" and "rebel"? But, more on that when we look at the passages Hassell misunderstands.

Hassell continued:

"The true child of God, though a sinner, is, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, humble, penitent, believing, watchful, and prayerful, and is kept by God from committing sin unto Eternal Death."

But, if this is true, then why can he not just as easily say "the true child of God is kept from walking after the flesh"?

In summing up this second posting I note that at the time Hassell wrote his views on the four passages cited (late 19th century), faith in Christ, repentance from sin, confession of the gospel, perseverance in Christ, etc., had all been historically viewed as having eternal as well as temporal consequences.

But, Hassell and his brethren could no longer believe these things. Nothing a man did had any positive consequences after he died! That was the new proposition. To make the passages cited by Hassell to deal with eternal salvation contradicted that proposition. So, in order to uphold the new proposition, those passages had to be re-interpreted as dealing with temporal salvation and temporal damnation. The idea that something sinners "did" determined their eternal destiny contradicted the new definition that this sect gave to what it means to be "saved by grace." To be "saved by grace" meant that no human condition or activity was involved in the eternal salvation of sinners. That idea, of course, was a new idea and not in keeping with the teachings of the forefathers of the PB denomination.

In the next posting we will begin to look at the four passages given by Hassell, they being these:

"If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword." (Isa. 1:19)

"If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.." {Ro 8:13} 

"How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" {Heb 2:3} 

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.." {1Jo 2:7}