Elder Sylvester Hassell on Means (8)

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

I Thessalonians 5: 21

"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Eph. 1: 11-14)

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (4: 30)

As in preceding chapters in this series, I will begin by citing another text that disproves the view of Hassell and the "Primitive Baptists" before critiquing further Hassell's polemical writing "NO HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY IN REGENERATION," published in Hassell's paper "The Gospel Messenger" (No. 10 for January, 1898; You can read it on page 12  here). 

I would also call the reader's attention to an old post from 2008 titled "Hardshell Ordo Salutis" (here) wherein I gave a lengthy rebuttal to Sylvester Hassell's article "Order of Salvation Divine" published in "The Gospel Messenger" for December 1896. Combining that old article with this series will give my Hardshell brothers and sisters a through refutation of Hassell and the Hardshells on the question of whether the gospel is a means in the eternal salvation of sinners.

In the above texts the apostle Paul mentions the "sealing" of believers, which he also did in his other epistles. In II Corinthians 1: 22 he wrote: "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Is he not alluding to what occurs in regeneration or conversion? Is not the "giving" of the "earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" not the salvation experience? Sealed "unto" the day of redemption is also translated as sealed "for" the day of redemption, coming from the Greek preposition "eis." If sealing involves being given the Holy Spirit and is for the purpose of redemption, then it is something essential to redemption, and if it is, then the Hardshell idea that faith is not necessary for being eternally saved is false because the sealing takes place "after you believed." 

The word "sealed" is from the Greek word "sphragizō" and means to mark a thing for the purpose of owning and authenticating it. It is a way of saying of something - "it belongs to me." When a person, in primitive times, "sealed" a letter, he put his stamp or mark upon it. This seal or mark was often done on wax placed on the folded document. In the process of "sealing" the document an "impression" is made in the wax. Thus, when people are saved, after believing, they are "sealed," owned by God, impressed upon or marked by God, which impression or engraving is in the believer's nature, heart and mind. A signet is a seal or personal mark of identification and ownership. Cattle ranchers call their seals "brands." Each cattle owner had his own brand, his own symbol, his own mark, his own seal. Believers are sealed and branded in their renewed spirits when they are taken possession of by the Lord in conversion and this occurs "after" they believe.

Sealing also refers to protection of property in the Scriptures. Sealing protects items from tampering, and makes them safe and secure. "So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." (Matt. 27: 66) When the Lord saves his people and the Spirit takes possession of them, he seals their hearts and sets a watch upon their souls. The seal also serves as proof of identity. It is put with a signature or in place of it in letters, agreements and private or public instructions. As such, circumcision, as a seal, authenticates, certifies, and attests to the veracity of the inward faith that Abraham possessed and believers possess (Rom 4:11).

The image of sealing also refers to God’s approval (John 3:33; 6:27; 1 Cor. 9:2). Thus we speak of a product or document having a "Seal of approval." Thus we read: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." (II Tim. 2: 19)

Of course, Hassell, Cayce, and the Hardshells will say that this "sealing" has nothing to do with eternal salvation or becoming children of God. They are forced to do so because to connect it with being raised from spiritual death would overthrow their proposition which says "nothing a person does in his life determines whether he goes to heaven," which is what their "Two Seed" forefathers taught. But, it is clear that no one is going to heaven who has not been "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." 

I would just call upon my Hardshell brethren to come and "prove me wrong" in what I am saying in this series. Solomon said: "The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him." (Prov. 18: 17 nkjv) I am proving you are wrong on the question of means and on what precedes and what occurs when a sinner is born again. If you think I am wrong, come and "prove me wrong." Examine my arguments as I have yours.

Now let us pick up where we left off in reviewing Hassell's article titled "NO HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY IN REGENERATION." In it Hassell wrote further (emphasis mine):

"In a similar figurative manner, Paul in Gal. iv. 19, represents himself as the mother of the Galatians. If Paul had said that he gave spiritual life to the Corinthians or Onesimus, he would have flatly contradicted both his own experience and all his other language on this subject." 

This is an example of what is called a "false narrative." Simply because Paul was an instrument God used in saving sinners does not mean that Paul "gave spiritual life" to someone. That is an example of Sophistry and misrepresentation. God gives eternal life but he gives it through his word and when people believe his word they have life through that means. The bringer of the word of God to sinners does make the preacher a means in salvation but he is not the one who does the saving. Paul and all Christians are to put all their effort into "holding fast the word of life." (Phil. 2: 16 nkjv)

"The word of life" is a genitive and it is clear to me that it is an "objective genitive" and so means "word unto or into (or gives) life." The genitive construction here is better taken in the sense of “the message that brings life,” not “the message concerning life." It is the work of the bible interpreter to discern what kind of genitive is intended in a given text. For example, the phrase "the love of God" as an objective genitive means "love for God," but as a subjective genitive means "God's love for us." Therefore "word of life," as an objective genitive would mean "word unto life." It could also be what is called a genitive of apposition and so "word of life" would mean "word which is life." If it is used as a genitive of source it would mean "life which is from the word." N. T. word scholar W.E. Vine says -- 

"The word of life is not here the Living Word, the Person (as in 1 John 1:1); only John uses logos in that sense; it is the (living and life giving) message, the gospel. It is called the Word of life because it ministers spiritual life and imparts the knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, which the Lord said “is eternal life” (John 17:3)." (Collected writings of W. E. Vine; emphasis mine)

Paul perhaps has these words of Christ in mind:

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life...But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6: 63, 68-69 nkjv)

These verses show how Hassell's statement questioning whether Paul had given "spiritual life to the Corinthians or Onesimus" is unfounded. Paul merely "held out" the "word of life," the word that quickens the dead. (Psa. 119: 50, 93) Many "Primitive Baptists" developed the idea that "the words" that Christ spoke are only "spirit" and "life" when he personally utters them but are not spirit and life when those same words are spoken by his messengers, which is ridiculous. That idea forces them to say that when they report the words of Jesus to people they are not then spirit or life, and so must be spiritless and dead words. Every Christian who gives to others the message of Christ, or the gospel or word of God, is giving "the words of eternal life" which "are spirit and life." John Gill, who Hassell and his brethren claim as one of them, commented on verse 63 as follows (highlighting mine):

"the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life; the doctrines which Christ had then been delivering concerning himself, his flesh and blood, being spiritually understood, are the means of quickening souls. The Gospel, and the truths of it, which are the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, are the means of conveying the Spirit of God, as a spirit of illumination and sanctification, into the hearts of men, and of quickening sinners dead in trespasses and sins: the Gospel is the Spirit that giveth life, and is the savour of life unto life, when it comes not in word only, or in the bare ministry of it, but with the energy of the Holy Ghost, and the power of divine grace."

Many Hardshells will also argue that by the words "the flesh profits nothing" means that humans cannot be employed in giving the words of Christ to others and cannot in any sense be a means in sinners being saved and receiving spiritual life thereby. No bible commentator takes that view, nor would any bible reader see that in the text. You have to have help from Hardshells to see that interpretation. It is clear from the context that "flesh" means Christ's own flesh. Notice these words from the context:

"53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." (vs. 53-55 nkjv)

If one could literally eat Christ's flesh (as the Catholics say they do), it would avail nothing. Eating Christ's flesh is done by faith when a believer eats Christ the "bread of life" through meditating upon Christ and taking his message into the heart. We eat Christ when we receive his words which are spirit and life. Surely the Hardshells can come up with a better text to prove their no-means belief! Why don't they simply cite a text that affirms their no-means view instead of reading it into the words "the flesh profits nothing"? 

How did Paul's being an instrument in spiritual birth, either as a father or mother, or a kind of midwife, "flatly contradict both his own experience and all his other language on this subject"? God, as we have seen, identifies himself as both father and mother to his people. So, it is not a contradiction for Paul, as God's instrument, to be both. The same is true with regard to "giving eternal life," as I have explained. 

The argument that when a preacher is used in a work, whether of regeneration or conversion, God is not the one doing the regenerating, converting, or resurrecting is ludicrous. If that were so then God did not bring life to the dry dead bones in Ezekiel chapter 37 because he used Ezekiel as an instrument.

Now let me show the reader, especially those of our readers who are "Primitive Baptists," that many of their founding fathers believed that the word of God was a means in spiritual birth. This being true, why did Hassell not tell us this?

Elder John M. Watson in his "Old Baptist Test" (first published in 1855, revised in 1867) wrote:

"To show that the will of God is in His word, of His own will, says James, begat he us with the word of truth. The proof that His everlasting love is in it, is that with loving kindness He draws believers to Christ." (page 421)

Elder R.W. Fain, an associate with Watson (both were physicians in the Nashville area) wrote the foreward to the later edition of "The Old Baptist Test." He and Elder J.B. Stephens (also a physician and associate of Watson) were editors of "The Baptist Watchman" published out of Nashville after the Civil War and they both contended for God's use of the means of his word in the eternal salvation of sinners. I have several posts in this blog that give citations from that periodical to prove this. Fain wrote the introduction to the second edition of the "Old Baptist Test." 

Elder Hosea Preslar, also an associate of Watson, in "Thoughts On Divine Providence" (1867) wrote:

"...the other is the child of God, that was begotten by the word of truth; James 1: 14; I Cor. 4: 15; I John 5: 1." (Page 112)

"This is the new man begotten by the word of truth; yea, begotten of God; I John 5: 18." (page 185)

He says that the gospel "is moreover to be for a witness unto all nations; Matt. 24: 14; and for the awakening of sinners, who are dead in trespasses and in sin." (page 187)

"But some object to these ideas and say all this is the work of the spirit of God; and the gospel has nothing to do with it. Ah, a gospel without a spirit! Well, God save me from a gospel that has not His spirit. God says His word is quick and powerful, and He says by Peter, This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you; I Peter 1: 25."

I have already cited from Elder Joshua Lawrence of the Kehukee Association, a predecessor of Elder Sylvester Hassell, but an associate of his father C.B. Hassell, said:

"...the effects of the preaching of that gospel on good ground hearers produces the children of his kingdom. Hence it is said, born not of flesh, blood, or will of men; but of the word of God, that liveth and abideth forever. And again: I have begotten you through the gospel, etc." (third volume of "The Primitive Baptist" periodical, 1838, page 306)

"Although Christians are sons and daughters of God, yet they are not begotten of a woman; but through the gospel by the same Spirit that begot the body of Christ by Mary; therefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren." (pg. 310)

Further, if one reads "The Primitive Baptist" periodical of the 1830s up to the time of the Civil War he will see many correspondents who wrote to that paper and espoused the means view. Elder Mark Bennett, the first editor, certainly believed as elder Lawrence. Elder James Osbourn, a recognized leader among the founders of the newly formed "Primitive" or "Old School" sect believed in means as I have shown in several posts in this blog. He was a close friend of Elder C.B. Hassell who we have seen also believed in means. 

Elder John Clark also wrote in his paper "Zion's Advocate" (1854) for June, 1858:

"Now for proof that God does make use of means, or second causes, in awakening dead sinners. "I have begotten you through the gospel" (I Cor. iv. 15). "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance" (1 Thes. 1:5). "Whereunto he calley you by OUR GOSPEL, to the obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thes. ii:14). "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man" (I Cor. 3:5) "To OPEN THEIR EYES, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" &c. (Acts xxvi.18) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ FOR IT IS THE POWER OF GOD unto salvation to every one that believeth, the the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16) "Now when THEY HEARD THIS they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, men and brethren what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me THROUGH THEIR WORD" (Acts xvii.20) "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the SAYING OF THE WOMAN, which testified, he told me all I ever did" (John iv.36). Of his own will begat he us WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, BY THE WORD OF GOD, which liveth and abideth forever. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord WORKING WITH THEM and confirming the word with signs following. So shall MY WORD be that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall ACCOMPLISH that which I please, an it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent it (Isaiah lv.11) If the above named scriptures are not sufficient to convince any unprejudiced mind that God does make use of means and instrumentalities in awakening and making alive dead sinners, then the bible is of but little use; as well without as with it.

In the "Primitive Baptist" periodical for January 8, 1842 (you can read it here) there is a Circular Letter printed by the newly formed South Carolina Primitive Baptist Association (1840) and here is what they say about the gospel being a means in new birth or spiritual resurrection:

"We believe, brethren, all those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased in his own appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his word and spirit, out of that state of sin and death which they are in by nature. Christ enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. Again, Acts, 26: 18 "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins." God has said he will take away the heart of stone, and give unto them an heart of flesh. And we believe he renews their wills by his almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them, to Jesus Christ. Yet they are made willing by that grace given them."

So, why did Sylvester Hassell not tell his readers these things? His arguments on why it is not possible for God to use his word in saving sinners from spiritual death were not believed by his own father C.B. Hassell nor by the first ministers of his own Kehukee Association, nor by most of the first leading ministers of the newly formed "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptist church.