Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-03-29

| VINO Is pfeuOulnnntiy loyal, uechuse ne ouSu
to do So But every man who has not Tough
Gettysburg and Richmond, every man wht
is predominantly disloyal. will find that with
out holiness there can be no blessedness
As evil choices progress there is more ligh
sometimes thrown around men in this world
Do they always see it How do We know
that more light in the next world will b,
loved, or even seenf
The later Uniyersalism has given up wha
Was once called 'the death and glory theory.
No scholarly Universalist now, as l suppose
would care to be responsible for the old
Grade form OF assertion inside the ranks o.
Universalism, implying that death is a bath,
washing of whatever habits We have OF evil
and giving us at once harmony with the I'm
seen Holy.
| 4. The Second Probationist view. This
does not necessarily teach that all men will
be saved, but that those who die impenitent
will have second chance, and that those
who do not improve will fall into eternal sin
and go into eternal punishment.
5. The Annihilationist view. This afflrms
that the incorrigibly wicked will sooner or
later cease to exist
6. The Universalist view.
T. The Restorationist view. Now that the
doctrine have just referred to has been re-
pudiated, there is very little difference be-
l
| The Universalist is Restorationist of per-
| haps q more emphatic sort than the man who
previously was called Restorationist, but
| not Universalist.
s. The Agnostic view. Those who hold
this say that there is a background of mys-
| tery, and that the Bible reveals nothing on
this theme
9. The Optimistic view. This is Canon
Farrars position, and it afirms neither the
Universalist nor the Restorationist nor the
Agnostic propositions. but simply an eternal
hope.
might say that, in the last place We have
amaterialistic view which sometimes calls it
self Christian. attempting to twist out Of
the Scriptures the idea that there is no i'm
mortality for any soul. We have erratics,
unscholarly. foolish persons who find no
teaching OF Immortality in the Old Testa-
ment. or even in the New. Indeed there is
no use in carrying forward a debate with
men SO twisted by native constitution that
they can twist the Bible into the negation of
one of the plainest of its teachings. certainly
in the New Testament, that there is immor-
tality for both the evil and the good.
CONTRAST OF WORTH.
The worth of an opinion in the world may
be estimated by the number who mold it, and
by its practical effect in making men good.
am not prepared TO affirm that the agnostic
doctrine is powerful in making men virtuous.
or that the optimistic ia, or that the second
probationist is. Try the experiment of put
ting down opposite each one of these nine
views figure representing the prevalence of
the opinion Eighty. out of hundred. of
the protesting Christians Of the world, hold
the Orthodox view. Some very important
eIcresences on the Orthodox position are in
cluded in the Romish view. But throwing
out the eIcrescences, and putting Romish
and Orthodox together. certainly eighty per
cent of those who profess Christianity hold
that there is endlessness in future punish
ment. Well now, l believe that has been an
effective doctrine, on the whole. in making
people virtuous. Put eight tor the figures
representing the prevalence of this Orthodox
view, and eight as the figure representing its
power to do good. and multiply the two to-
Rether and you have the figure that should
represent the weight of that view-say sixty
four. Take your second probationist. take
your optimistic, take any other of the nine
views and estimate their weight in the same
way by the product Of two factors represent
ing prevalence and usefulness. How do they
work. Wendell Phillips said in my hearing
the other day, before the Free Religious As
sociation Il am proud to be your lecturer.
but your doctrine will not work. Tested by
history. tested by philosophy. tested by hu-
man nature, you will find that it will not
work" That was his phrase. repeated four
times. Facts oblige us to say concerning |
these other forms Of the doctrine of future |
punishment. that they do not work. 1t is
historically certain that they have not been
effective in obtaining supporters among those |
who profess to be serious men and women, |
and who take the Scriptures for their guide. |
They have obtained many followers outside |
those who reverence the Scriptures they |
have obtained many inside the range of the Bo- |
hemian and the Sofa theology. But l am
now speaking Of earnest, serious men, who |
are about to go hence. and try the personal
experiment of putting themselves on this or
that platform. Where are the figures that |
the true weights of those doctrines,
as estimated by their prevalence among seri-
Gus men, and their effectiveness in making
bad men good? With the highest figures |
my conscience will justify. cannot raise any
one OF these doctrines to a position above
ten as compared with siIty-tour. l do not
find that their prevalence in the world, and
their power to do good, fits them to be weigh
ed against the more serious view and so
merely to the rule of count of
heads and clack of tongues. there is really
to be said for the orthodox posi-
ion.
MOODY AND ISaEEsoIL
What does serious man Of age mean by
coming into the field of controversy with
BOWS and arrows whitfield by Thomas Paine
N the last century? am not unwilling to
admit that wit and rhetorical power may
1raw even q broken arrow to the barb and
ct it fly ; but what if your arrow has been
bree times broken already. who is hurt
~ aN,.1a &c okS,o Il.
rs 1t Is amusing as a most piquant anach-
onism. 1t belongs to Paine's outgrown day.
L is as much out Of date as a windmill is
where steam engine should be employed.
The West has trained two men of opposite
haracters. One of them calls together oc-
asionally 5000 persons. but ceases to attract
rowds after q sixth or seventh hearing in
he same place. The best reply to him is to
ngage him to defend his peculiar views ten
lines before the same audience. He will
all on the last five. The other, who yester-
lay called together 10, 900 people in the Tab
rnacle yonder. has done similar work day
fter day and month after month in Edin-
,urg and London, Philadelphia, Boston,
sew York and Chicago The latter repre-
ents the West better than the former, and
he future also You think the West is given
lp to loose ideas of theology. and that it yet
eeds itself upon the forgotten books Of
Thomas Paine. 1t knows that better argu-
nents than his are needed to defend infideli-
y. 1t knows perfectly well that there are
leedle guns now at the 'front.' where once we
lad bows and Arrows If dashing guerilla,
With spear and war club and bow and arrow
ppears at the front. why the best thing you
An co for him is to engage him as public
how Rufus Choaie once wrote to Charles
summer: ''Out of Burke might be cut fifty
L., u l,vxAz L.. l.. \ a.