The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-07-25
The Change. of Theology.

recent Ot AA"'N's
It seems to us that ii expresses the same
dea-no moro. no lcss-that was ex-
pressed by. DIR. HOLMES in the -4aonfic
about a car since, and which, coming
from him, excited so much severe erisi-
cism.
Nv friends, navigation is not just one
thing the world over. On the Atlantic
ocean it is one thing, on the Mississippi
river it is another thing, on the OHIO rlr-
%. st = another thing. Each has Difficult
ties and modes of navigation peculiar to
itself. And religious teaching IS notJust
one thing from age to age. 1t is not IN
one aoe a mere rehearsal of what it was IN
a previous age. Theology changes as
the conditions OF mems minds change
As they grow, it grows. We have out
grown the religious formulas Of past ages
We have not outgrown the truths that
were taught in past ages, and wo never
81 all: hut the truths that were taught IN
past ages are nov taught in ways different
from those in which they were taught
then.
Lo@k. for moment, at The state OF the
community in which we live. There has
been q complete revelation on the subject
Of the family in the world since our theo-
logy was formed, We received our
theology largely from Augustine moi
our religion, but our theology. From
that period down to the period Of the
Reformers. all men were tanghtto believe
that personal purity was conccnta'neous
with ignoring the family. The priest
who was held up as the model naaH-and
God save the world wh'o priests are the
model men must not touch human
life by the affections. No man could be
a saint and set up the household = no man
could be q saint and marry; no man be
saint and be the father of children n the
regular way. This was the ideal Of the
world, and such being the Gaze, what
chance had the b bic to preach t rough
the priest the t,therhood Of God? That
ideal has since been changed. The family
has gone up, not only in actpality, bat in
poetry, i'll philosophy, and in the popu-
lar view. n ow the saint is he that car
ries in the bcnefcience Of love a little
congregation, as the frat Of a household
that he has set up,
When our theology vas formed, tho
whole world was under the dominion of
moparchical institutions. There was a
Ieavcn, q virus, an incubation, of indWid
ual liberty, VIII ch had merely power to
fight, but which, having fought from that
dav to this, has led to the establishment
of an entirely new set of doctrines on the
question of human rights. In religion it
was understood that the priest had su-
preme power from God, and that it was
the duty of men to obey him. In political
affairs it was understood that the king
bad right to make the laws. and that
men we're bound to render prompt obedi-
ence to them. Obey; pay taxes; and do
not think nor NEEDLE with law or institu-
tion-this was the shorter catechisin of
politics. 1t was religiously taught, and
relieiously thought, that men were mere
ly so much clay, so much stuff, to be
worked up into the form of priests and
statesmen and kings; and that ,Ley had
nothing in this life, and OILY a dim vision
of something or other in the life to come
Under such circumstances, hoY could
there be evolved from the Scriptures n
right view Of mans nature and RESPONSE.
b;iitv, and of the Divine government? If
we take tue thought in Christ's teaching
that the least man on the face Of the
earth has the kingdom Of God in him and
that all men, whether high or low, are
marching in endless professions through
time 10 a neyeY-eoding citizenship in the
eternal word; how different is our con-
ception of man from that which existed
thcu, and what . different theology from
that which then existed must there be to
express our enlarged view Of personalrisht,
aud character, and duty.
When theology was formed, science was
alchemy, if chemistry; astrolagy, if as
tronomy; and infdeIity, if geology
Everything scientific was inidel. The
church has for ever put down every at
tempt Of God to speak through bis works.
Never would the church bear Gods voice
in nature till It was compelled to. Relig-
ion has always benin favor of science,
but the church and theology were bitterly
opposed 70 it till they could not help
themselves. Tho progress of the world
in our day is such that we are beginning
to see the first dawn Of science; and that
progress is to go on. Science is to be !.
come popuIarized. Moro and more in.
this land, moro and more England and
France, more and more in Hungary, more
and more in Russia, more and more
throughout the civilized world, the masses
of men are beginning to turn the leaves
Of Gods primal reyeation-pature. They
will not reject the written Bible; but they
will 90 to nature as Gods first Bible, and
holding the one, they will read the other.
And do yeu suppose there will be no
changes in mems ways of thinkinga
What is coming to pass in our day p
Are the views of men in the same church
identical? Can you find a single church
whose members are homogeneous in
their belief? You can find churches
enough whose members would unite on
an orihordox platform to run down a
hereto; but can you find church whose
members are agreed on all the points
touching their faith! 1fyou were to Sc
lect from ali the churches with which ron