Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1874-06-11
THE PROGRESSyvE SWING.
From the Stockt ton Lcader.l

The Presbvterians have been quite as
much scandaliZed by the fear of some
Of their pet theories of past genera
tons being abandoned or supplanted
altCg,the by more rational and con-
siStent views as were the Congreua-
tionalistS IL few years since, over the
alarming antics of the irreprcSsible
Beecher, who gave the doctrine of i'll
E,nt damnation, and endless hell. etc,
q severe Overhauling. and final dismiss
sal at last from his creed, years ago.
The Reverend Swing has penetration
and good sense enough tO discover,
that the great cause of infidelity is not
lack of religion. or religious inS,ruc
tion. but the obnoxious qualities of
which some systems are compoScd;
aid like Colenso Of England, his call
to his workers in the Lords Vine
yard to aid i'm sitting ont the chatl, that
he pure wheat might be fed to fam
ished souls, is responded to by denun-
,iation and his rejection even from the
ministry. The following is an extract
fro II a sermon by the Rev. Mr.. Swing.
the Almighty and contains Il pityng
rebuke to those who would lead souls
to Christ through terror. not love:
at is only Il human religion such as
that of Budha, or Thor, or jupiter. that
NAV fear The growth of Intelligence e..
and that may fade as the light of real
son dawnS: but of il religion from God,
given bv inspiration, the first distin-
g ,iShed principle must be that it will
veal lis reaSonablenesS As fast as man
II folds his own Intelligence, and still
b come more glorious where there is
tn, most culture. The medieval
clriS ianity having been diStigured by
ignorance and superstition, the subse-
Qrent growth of religion had to eX-
pre- 80 itself in intidelity. Whena Dante
describes hell to mankind, and his
frightful pictures become the tie Ogy
of the church sweeping thro lgh Ro-
maniSm over in Pro.es antism until
T. iwardS says God will dash the sim
npr down on hell's floor and stamp
upon him, the infidelitv must follow,
not simply to save man from such
horrors, but to re>cue COTS blessed
name from such unSpeakab'e in'amy.
II such a hell as Dante's it is not man
lat is punished-it is God that is de-
royed. From such ideas we must
tiv to a more reasonable religion, car
rying the cross and our holy faith
away from such degradation. We must
indeed separate forever the righteous
and the wicked; but, as the drunkard
i, punished in this world. and as the
murderer accepts of his arrest without
Blaming God as the soul feels its own
wickedneSS and does not reprolch the
creator, so the lost world is a place. not
where God is seen as Il cruel monster.
but where the human free will stands
forth in all its divine powers, and re-
vealS >eltpuni>hment over which we
can almost imagine the Heavenly
Father Himself to she'd tears. Such is
the perdition of reason "a place
not where the Savior and God
b come an inquisiti pn, but where
the sinners own will and own
heart have woven themselioS g,r-
ments of perpetual >ackloth. and
VIII re the tears OF SORROW fall not from
n malicious decree of God. passed from
eternity, but fall out of the sinners :
own wretched soul and misspcnt life.
Thus, owe almost every ldeal of the
Christian religion, there is lying Il
drapery reason + esh from the God
of infinite wisdom, and beautiful to
man the image of the rational uod.'