New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-02-19

Judgment in the verbal collections of memory.
It 10, therefore, incumbent on the honest inquirer
for truth to seek for some other path than that
which 10 opened by eccl< sssticL theology.
The solution proposed By DR.. Edward Beecher
in bis "Confict Of Ages is only another proof of
the iItrinsic viciousness of the prevailing meth
DDS. The burden imposed on the Thoughtful
mind by the problem of evil is not relieved by
any plausible efforts 70 push back the historic
besippiDes Of our responsibility. And the detect
Of DR.. Beechers book, considered So Theodi y,
grows cut Of the specific intellectual disqualified.
ton produced by the current theology. This
theology" says Mr.. Jsues, "asains. whose stony
udders my own infsntile gums equally With yours
have been lore and socitously pressed, only to
be withdrawn again like your OVID, lacerated and
bleeding, not merely makes it impossible 10 sp-
prebend Alright any moral problem. but also, when
fairly interpreted fatty denies the possibility Of
morality and turns it's existence into an Illusion
The damaging charge brought aginst this theol-
ogy is the faint Of Ns,urali.m which cleayes to il
amid its loftiest spiritual assumptions. Ii seeks
TO vindicate divine aud supernatural truths by the
principles Of nature. Ii looks upon Time aud
Space, which are the universal elements of ma
ture, as absolute, furnishing also the elements of
the Divine existence; and hence, it regards crea-
alton as primarily natural, or as phenomenon of
space and time. 1t suppOses that there was
certain time when creation was not and GER
tain space where it was not, until tue Deity
emerged from an antecedent inertia aud COM
4. 49, IL IL. al. ~ r-ia,hf Ia
ture. On this theory, God must have been es-
seltially incarnate, or psrtaker in his own
Lsiure of pbysical attributes-else he would have
been incapable Of discerning the difference be-
tween natural objects. the Creator of nature
must have himself possessed a natural or physical
organization, wherewith to observe the facts of
natural order, and pronounce them very good
He must have possessed natural organs OF vision
wberewith to discern the difference between day
ard night: He must have possessed natural or
cans of smell TO discern the difference between
the lose and the violet He must have possessed
natural organs Of hearing to discern the differ
enoe between the inaIticoate sounds of nature
and the srticulate speech OF man. and 80 forth
But this hypothesis unspirituslizes the Divine
existence and operation, reduces God to the
dimensions of nature. and assuming bis essential
incarnation yacstes the truth of his alleged his
torcsl incarnation in Christ. Indeed, the pre-
vaipg theology does more than this. IL not only
vscates The logical truth of the historic fact, but
denies its physical possibility. For if God as
essentially incarnate, or subject 10 nature, his
incarnation can never become historical process.
Still further, the Daturalistic or sensuous theo-
~ of creation supersedts the rational ground on
which the historical incarnation of God in Cns'-,,
is founded. For this ground wa 'A' 'P""
death Of man az eyinced in LIS moran co'iuP"o
lint the theory in question cuts Oh the existence
os uor,l s;stibciiobs; for if crestOn be Ppyslca'
act Of God, the phenomena OF the moral wofia oe-
.oue impor,ible; and in that case the Cfea'"t
alone i, responsible for the crsAtlon' ahd Tue
c,e,,ure i, unable to draw q moral breath.
put ieavIpg the pregnant topic, on which Mr.
James expatiates with Singular diaiecfic fosce'ne
great question comes up, How Can evil exist
...,dcr the government or perfect goodness ana
infinite wisdom' The philosOphic inquirer
10 not anxious to prove the justice OF the
Deity in relation to evil-tbe divine projections
will take care If themselves-but to prevent the
obscurston of those projections by the Anterior
fact of the orgination Of evil. DR.. Beecher, on
the other baEd, urges his Investigation IN the In
teres,s of a certain notwithstanding to
nrove the iustice Of God in the damnaticn OF men,
and thus prevent an intellectual revolt against
the current crteds and standards OF the Church.
The success Of the Boston divine in accomplish
ing this object is submitted TO the test OF pitt
less apsJy.is. After the cool dissection which
bis theory receives from the logical scalPe OF Mr.
James it loses whstever original symmetry 1t
seemed to possess, becomes blOodless, CHASTITY
skeleton unable to stand alone and glarng horrible
di.may on the beholder from the sockets OF lie
cycles forehead.
But il is time to inquire what conception Of the
Divine power is entertained by the author, BY
which the existence of evil is sbow n to be con-
patible with the sovereignty Of Infinite Goodness
In the first place the evil whose origlni sought,
according to Mr.. James, is not phenomenon OIL
sen,e, but purely spiritual condition. The cru
dition which the problem exacts belongs more to
the heart than the head, and the only dectorate IL
confers ia upon the regenerate Dan. Whatever
c,ea,pess msy be attained 10 the scientific state
mept of the question-hOwever potent the chain
of logic by whch it may be sustsined-convicsion
ran be carried only to the prepared mind-the
mind which has been vi.slized by the influence OF
spiritual discipline. But moreover, when we
sneak Of sscertaining the origin of evil, We do not
mean phy.icsl evil, or the evil which one suffers
nor moral evil, or the evil which one does-oH