The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-18

immanency Of God. And in knowing
these, he knows God; for God is life
and God is love. That is Greek
theology; and that is Scripture.
But the Latin theology is on the side
of the external conception of God, and
the mechanical theory of the universe.
and hence, DR.. Field, even in his
second and last paper, refers to Paley's
argument, and holds up watch and
says, somebody mus have made
it'll OF course somebody made the
watch; but what has that to do in prov
ing the existence of God, in the light
of evolution, that teaches that the uni
verse was not made, but evolved, or
born?
But DR.. Field was at still greater
disadvantage from the Latin or ortho-
dox conception Of the character of God.
His first difficulty was with the fact of
a God, and hence was largely intellect
ual; the second was one of character,
and this involved moral principles.
What kind of a being is your God?
And here the lawyer compelled the
preacher to stand by his creed, and
face the caricature of the Justice of an
atonement that Furnishes the innocent
to save the guilty; and he bade him
look upon the awful picture of the end
less punishment of the thousands of
millions of human beings whom this
God made, and made them, knowing
that after their few short years of life
on earth, he would torment them for
ever in the fires of hell. Aud Col. In
gersol, not unjustly, but fairly, and in
the interest of truth and right and re-
ligion, asks what kind of being is
this God in whom you would have me
believe? And does anyone think that
this lawyer is severe or profane when
he call such a God ian infinite TOrque-
mada?" 1t should not be forgotten
that a great preacher said hundred
years ago, that ''your God is my devil"
Col. Ingersol has not exaggerated the
orthodox doctrine of endless punish
ment. No one can make it more than
endless; and this orthodoxy does; and
even this gifted orator and rhetorician
can hardly paint the horrors of hell in
words and scenes more awful than did
Jonathan Edwards, or John Wesley,
and Jeremy Taylor. The doctrine is,
in itself, infinitely horrible; and to in
sist upon it, and ask intelligent men
and women in this enlightened age of
reason and moral consciousness, to be-
lieve it, OF to believe in such God, is
not to ask them to faith, but to un-
faith. So horrible is this doctrine, that
Rev. DR.. Gray tells US in the Interior,
that reading an article on "the sweet
reasonableness of endless punishment, I"
he was sure it was written by Ingersol,
but coming to the close, he found the
name of DR.. Shedd, an authority in his
own denomination! And DR.. Gray
thinks that such articles are unfortu-
nate, that they hurt, rather than help,
the cause of religion. And we must all
think that he is quite right. But why
are they hurtful to the faith of this age?
The answer must be that we are not
living in the 18th century, nor in the
18th, but in the 10Th, and that the
world is coming to have nobler views
of God, and of the destiny of man.
But why hold faith that it will not
do to preach, or publish? Why carry
along and burden the religion of Christ
with a doctrine that is hurting the
faith Of mankindp
Years ago 1 felt that to be true to
myself, and to God, and to the truth, l
could no longer teach the old doctrines
of the atonement and endless punish
ment; and there was but one thing to
do, and that was to preach what 1 be-
lieved-not controversially, but in love;
and then accept the conseq uences.
And am profoundly glad to see that
DIR. Field, in his Last Word" to Col.
Ingersol, seems to feel and to confess
the weakness of his position on this
point; and he has the courage to COM
mend to him the External Hope"
views of Canon Farrar, or the doctrine
held by others, of conditional immor-
tality-or the annihiliation Of the
wicked, as a possible relief from an
endless hell. The lawyer has COM
PEELED the preacher to look his own
doctrines squarely in the face, and the
result is that the preacher is willing
for the lawyer to turn away from such
a picture and find better God, and
better hope, in better faith. And
we may all rejoice that the great Pres
byterian Church permits, and the In
terror practically Endorses this advance
step in apologetics, or in dealing with
doubling minds whose clearer reason
and sense of right make it impossible
for them to accept the orthodox theo-
logy.
We are in the beginning of pro-
found and far-reaching reformation of
the Latin theology. We have come
into an age of reason, where religion
must be rational, and the higher moral
consciousness calls for a Just God. A