The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-16

on Of cause and effect, out of this life and into
the eternal; but If you sweep out that hideous
pit that theology has dug under the world; If
you take away all these grotesque, malignant,
and internal images that populate the ignorant
principles of men; if you consider that in the
future. God is just as plenary in justice and
kindness as He Is in the beginnings here, then
you have taken away all the difficulties that
inhere in the doctrine of the origin of evil and
Of sin as springing from the very nature OF an
evolutionary government In this world.
ETERNAL
And it is these considerations that have revo-
lutionized my educational beliefs. / cannot sep
arate myself from my fellow-men / cannot
content myself with sitting down in a we'll -regu-
lated parish and ciphering at a doctrine of sinful
ness of man and reasonableness of eternal pun
ishment. When / think of the condition Of
men after death l think of Africa for thousands
of years, of Asia, and of every island of the
sea for myriads OF years; / think of the vast
sweep of creation, created in conditions that
imply almost of necessity imperfection and
transgression, and then say what has GOD done
with them all. Are they wailing in unmitigable
tormentS If that be so, let me never mention
the name of God again. Let me never violate
my own nature by calling Him Father. 1t de-
rides, treads under foot the very foundation
ideas Of fatherhood. But if you take that all
away and then, having 8 clear foundation. say
suppose men 60 out Of existence and that is
the end of it. Suppose men attain to eternal
life through faith in Christ so far as they have
unfoided away from animal conditions, and are
susceptible of o further development in the life
to come, plant them again, and. il planted and
having every punishment, they still have not
developed enough morality to be worth a seed
form or trial. What happens when a burning
taper goes out? The earth doesn't shake, the
sun doesn't stop, nobody knows tit simply
goes out. And when a man has spent the force
of his life here, and has not reached those condi-
tions which have made another stage possible TO
him, he simply goes oct! What inhumanity is
there--what q shocki He that would live again
must live well now. and if he does not live again
at the highest point conceivable, ne may live
high enough up to take q new root, . new start,
under better and favorable circumstances. But
as for the rest that: beginning high, go down
steadily lower and lower. until they lose the
susceptibility, the possibility of moral evolution,
moral development, let them keep on, and in the
great abyss of nothingness there Is no gr0an. no
sorrow, no pain, and no memory.
The old theory, then, OF Sin which is going to
be exterminated, l think, by the light thrown
upon the question Of the origin of man and the
conditions on which he has been developed-the
old theory IS repulslye, unreasonable. immoral
and demoralizing. l hate it because l love the
truth. and God, and my fellow-men. The idea
that God created a race, and then that two OF
them, without experience, put under the temp
tation of an arch iend, or whatever the creature
was, fell into disobedience to what they didn't
understand anything about, and that ne not
only kicked them out of the garden of Eden, as
no parent would ever treat a child. and then
Transmitted the corruption that was the result
of disobedience through all after ages-l hate it
because 1 love God, and justice, and truth, and
| won't be silent on the subject. 1t is my
business to make the path of truth
as plain as l can and pick misbeliefs
| out of the way, and this whole theory of sin and
its origin is one of the most mischievous. 1t can
be used only where ignorance prevails. 1t is re-
cited to them, and it is said you have got to &C
cept it or be damned, and then they say, Rather
than be damned l will believe it. But. l say,
| you are damned if you do believe it. 1t is hide
Gus. 1t is turning creation into a shamble and
God into a slauehterer, and the race into the
| condition worse than that of the animal, for the
lion and bear are never blamed for their natures,
but man is made to start and not stop, but 60
On and up steadily, emerging from physical con-
ditions to the glorious liberty of sons of Goo.
So, then, evolution expands the grand fact on
which Christ began His miuistry-repent.
Universal repentance is needed for universal
sinfulness. But the doctrine will be purged and
we shall have a clearer view of the sinfulness of
mankind. ''For the creature was not made
subject to vanity or change willingly, but by
reason of Him who had subjected the soul in
hope.n