St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-12

popular interest. me consul suIlOn ana
statutes of Andover seminary require that
every professor shall be a man of sound
and orthodox principles in divinity, and all
orthodox and consistent Calvinst." and
that he shall Solemnly subscribe creed
provided by the founders. The creed is in
effect the same embodied in the Westmin-
ster Shorter CatechiSin. which declares that
in consequence Of ADAMS disobedience
all men were constituted sinners; that
by nature every man is personally de-
PRAYED, and being morally incapable of re-
covering the image of his Creator, every
man is justly exposed to eternal damnation;
''that the souls of believers are, at their
death, made perfect in holiness and do i'm
mediately pass into glory. but that the
wicked will awake to shame and everlast-
ing contempt, and with devils be plunged
into the lake that burneth with fire and
birthstone forever"
1t is notable evidence of the progress of
liberalism in modern religious sentiment
when five eminent professors in a
celebrated theological SEMINAR of the
reputation OF Andover are arraigned
such a liberal Interpretation tO this fun
damental doctrine of Calvini5m as to
amount, in the opinion of strict con-
structiOniSts, to an actual reputation of the
Whole doctrine, In his bill of indictment
against the heterodoX professors. Rev.
DIR. DEXTER accuses them with being
guilty of perhaps the most stupendous
al, nf frtcf of -nA
by such crimes" Many specifications are
made, but the following extracts from a
book recently published by Prof SMYTH.
entitled Progressive Orthodoxy" will
suffice to show the nature of the charges
against all the defendants who are accused
of teaching similar doctrine:
THE final word concerning destiny is not
pronounced for any man till he knows JESUS
CHRIST and Him crucifed. We may 20 so
far as to sa, that it would not be just for
GOD to condemn men hopelessly when they
have not known Him as He really is. when
they have not known Him in JESUS CHRIST
Our belief is that somewhere and some
! time GOD will reveal Himself to every one in
the face of JESUS CHRIST, and that the des-
tiny of each and all is determined by the per-
sonal relation to CHR ST.
ut is Ineligible, and we think probable,
that those who do not know CHRIST during
the earthly life will know him in the life be-
You'd. The extension of time seems neces-
sary to the absolute and universal religion.
IF CHRIST was given for the whole world,
and if no one can be saved except by faith in
CHRIST, we are almost driven to the con-
clusion that CHRIST will be made known TO
every individual of the human race in all the
generations past, present and future, and
that everlasting destiny Is determined for
every person by his acceptance or rejection
of CHRIST. This conclusion we have there
! fore gladly and unhestatingly adopted. We
have not, however. expressed as positive an
| opinion concerning the circumstances and
reasons within which CHRIST will be revealed
! to those who do not know Him in the earthly
| life. But we frankly admit that il seems to
us probable that those who in this life have
no knowledge of CHRIST viii not be denied
that knowledge, with its corresponding oppor-
tunty, after DEATH
1t may not be entirely new doctrine that
! Prof. SMYTH prOmulgateS but it is new
thing to hear such doctrine taught in the
illogical seminary which rests upon CALVIN
ism as its foundation stone. 1t has only
been a recent matter that DR.. WOODROW, a
professor in the South Carolina Presbyterian
theological seminary, was drawn over the
Goals for cOuntenancing the doctrine of evo-
| luton. 1t would certainly be great sur
prise to the irOn-willed man of Geneva if he
could rise from the grave and hear the as
sertiOns of his successors in the ministerial
work that their belief and teachings were in
harmony with his rugged creed. But the
world has been moving since JOHN CAL
Z WINS day, and it continues to move. The
church is now passing through great
transition stage in its history and when it
has safely passed over it will probably find
itself dwelling in a clearer light than has
| heretofore shone around it.