The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-01-10

| place, that for every one so qHOted two cal
be. adduced OIL the other side. There wa
an old, sensible, admitted rule OF theolog
that phrases which belong to metaphor, t.
imagery, to poetry. to emotion are not to b
formulated into necessary dogmas or crys
talizel into rigid creeds. II this rule b.
used to test them, nine-tenths of the phra
ses on which these views are built fall utter
| ly to the ground. But even were it other
wise, once more, in the name Of Christian
light and Christian liberty; once more, il
the name Of Christ promised spirit, he pro
tested against the ignorant tyranny of iso
! lated texts, which had ever been the CURSE
| Of Christian truth, the glory of narrow in
tellects, aud the cause OF the worst errors Of
the worst days of the most corrupted church
| Ignorance had engraved texts upon hel
sword, oppression had carved them upon
her pillars, cruelty had tied texts upon hel
faSgots, and ignorance, again, had set
knowledge at defiance Will, texts woven on
her nag.
iii this awful doctrine had to be decided
by texts, then the original language must
be appealed to, and interpret din its prop
cr and historical significance. They would
have to be interpreted not in that sense
which makes them convey thousand no.
tons which did nof originally belong to
them. Now, ask you,' continued the
preacher very solemniy, ''where would be
the popular teachings about hell if VIC calm
" and deliberately erased from our English
Bibles the three words. .damnation, hell
and 'eyerlasting: Yet say anhesltatingy
Il say, claiming the fullest right to speak
with the authority OF knowledge say,
with the camest and most unfiinciling sense
OF responsibility say, standing here in
the sight of God and my Saviour, and, it
may be, Of the angels and the spirits of the
aead-that not one of those words ought to
stand any longer in our English Bibles; and
that being, in our present acceptation 0 +
them, simply lnistranslations, they most un-
questionably will not stand in the revised
version of the Bible If the rcvisers have un-
tlerstood their duty.
In the second sermon Canon Farrar sought
TO answer tho question s'Arc there few
that be sayed:'' taking for his text Luke
xii, %, "a. This passage, he remarked, gives
us the very essence of the Lords teaching
respecting the present aud the future. What
is the answer of Divine wisdom to the ques-
ton OF the text: Is it some glaring dcluge
OF fire and birthstone for millions Of years :?
Is it in that style In which the coarse terror
ism Of the Puritan is at once with the coarse
terrorism OF the Iuquisition No; but it is
a refusal to answer. 1t is tacit lebuke to
tile very question. 1t is strong warning
to the questioner. There is not one word
here about ALI irreyersible doom to material
torment. The spirit OF the answer of our
Lord on this occasion is this ''Thc fate Of
tie souls whom lie hath mate is in the
hands of Him who made them, and not in
thine. Enter thou in at the straight gate. :"
After combating the idea that it was dam
gerous to hold any her view than that of
endless torment being the destiny OF the
wicked, Canon Farrar continued: What is
Atheism, and to entangle Others under
frightful superstition, and to crush yet 9TH
ers with horrible despair by representing
to them Him, whose name is love, as a re-
morseless ayenger instead of as Father,
gracious and mercful, slow to anger, and OF
great kindness. After showing how the
more hopeful view OF the future life found
countenance in the scriptures, and in the
writings of the greatest and best of the faith
ers, and how it had been preached in this
age by many OF the saints, at whose feet he
would gladly sit, Canon Farrar asked If
we see truth, are we to become orthodox
liars for God by SURPRISING it, because
those think it dangerous who believe in no
more potent motive for virtue and the love
Of Gctl than CHASTITY fear: | would rather
accept as rejecting the mind of God, the
broad humanitarian Of charity-tlle keen and
tender scnsibilities-tha the hard systems
of heartless tleologians.
Having pointed out that there are in the
main three classes Of men--saints, repro
bates, and that vast intermediate state lying
between, yet standing off by infinite grada-
tons from these two extremes--Canon Far
rar, after, in an eloquent passage, thanking
God for the first Glass, asked What Of the
reprohaIes? What of the other extreme? If
you ask me wheti er must not believe in
endless torments for these reprobates OF
earth, answer, Aye, for them, and for thee,
and for me, too. until we have learned with
all our hearts to love good and not evil. |
know that for these reprobates Christ died.
The bigos may judge their souls il he will !;
the Pharsec may consign them. with ortllo-
dox equanimity, to endless torrents; but
cannot-will not. Not mine, at any rate,
shall it be to close against them, with I'M
.petuous recoil and iarring sound, those gates
OF hell, lest they should be more justly
closed upon me; but commend them with
hunblest hope, even after this life of hope
lessness, to Him who did not loathe the
whiteness of the lcper, and VINO suffered the
| woman who was sinner to wash His feet
with tears. Gods Spirit has nowhere taught
us that He who gave cannot give back; that
He who once made them innocent children
4 cannot restore their iAnocence again; that
| He who created thcm--Hc who wills them
\ to be savc1-cannot recrcate them in hi:
own image, cannot obliterate all their vile
ness, in tll.. blood OF Christ, and uncreate
their sins. But the VASE mass of mankind
belong to the third class. They are not ut
/ ter reprobates, they are not perfect saints
They try to face both ways. They halt be
tween two opinions. the angel has then
| by the hand, and the serpent by the heart
Aud it is those who do try to be Gods chill
/ dren who realize their own excessive sinfu
Eess, having shown how many Of the saint
| Hest and tenderest souls had been drve
even to madness, as. Cowper was, by th
false view of God which is given by the pitt
less anathemas of man. Canon Farrar ask
ed his hearers if, when they buried relative
or friends who had not been holy or reli
gious, they dare consign them. even in thei
tIlou0hts To the ,iurltljnU ANGUISH OF til