Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-05-29
SICK HEADACHE,

nower over His creatures, to pass by, and
IN ordaiu them 10 dishouOr and wrath Tor
their SID. to-the praise OF His glorious JUS
lice.
The other sections Of the Confession to
which objection is made are these OF the
tenth chapter:
CHI Elect infants, dying in infancy,
are regenersted and saved by Chnst
through the Spirit, who wOrketh when,
and where, and how He pleaseth. SO also
are all Other elect persons who are lncapa-
bic of being outwardly called by the min
istry of the Word.
nv. Others not elected although they
may be called by the ministry OF the Word,
and may have some common operations oil
the Spirit; vet they never truly come unto
Christ. ami therefore cannot be saved;
much less can men not protesting the
Christian religion he saved in any other
wsy whatsoever, be they ever SO diligent
TO frame their lives according 20 the light
of nature aud the law Of that religion they
DO profess; and to sssert and MAINTAIN that
they may, Is very perniciOus, and TO be
detested."
John Calvin was a remOrseless logiclan.
He would have gone to the stake rather
than avoid any logical conclusion from his
premises. and IL was mis- spirit which
animated the Westminster divines. The
doctrine of election is simply that as all
things were foreOrdsined before the foun-
dation of the world was land,
those who were to be saved or TO be
damned, were then fixed upon and deter
mined according 10 the eternal and I'M
mutable purpose, and the secret counsel
and good pleasure of God. That Is
simply another way OF saying that mex
orable law governs the moral Is 1t does
the material universe. IL Is substantially
the doctrine OF fatRlism, which makes
human liberty to be completely and ire
sistibly controlled by destiny. II the
elect are bound to be saved, no matter
how they may resist, aud those not elect
ed are bound 90 he damned, no matter
how hard they may try TO escape
q fate 80 awful. Of course the tatalisuc
theory prevail, Calyinistic thcOlOgiaps IN
all times have split hairs to escape this
harmony between election and tatalism,
and get it remains, according 20 the view
OF ordinary people. Election and free will
sre necessarily at variance, under the
terms of the Westminster Confession.
But, said the old theologians, if you give
np the doctrine OF election. you admit
every b11y to salvation, Justify the pestilent
teaching that thi5 earthly life is not the
only period Of probation, and deny the
doctrine OF eternal punishment, so COM
iortiug to the elect and 20 terrible to those
not chosen. For, of course, no good
Presbyterian has any doubt Of the election
Of his children who died in infancy.
But of late years this terrible doctrine
has lost its force and periinency, for the
general Protestant belief in hell has been
either abandoned entirely or become great
ly weakened. The word itself has been
expunged from the theological vocabulary
and the innocuOus term SheOl substituted.
There is a growing disposition 20 hope, If
not to believe, that in some way aud
through the operation eff Gods bOundless
mercy, nobody is going to be damned eter-
nally, and that, therefore, the doctrine OF
election, so flat- footed in its condemnation
of the vast majority of mankind to hell
and everlasting fortune, ought to be set
aside The young men in our families,
in our seminsries, and our colleges" said
a Nebraska delegate, say they cannot
take in the Westminster Confession of
Faith with these Objectionable sentences
attached to It," Yet, as DR.. Duffield.
professor in the Princeton Theological
Seminary, commended, the doctrine is essen
tial to the logical consistency Of Calvin
ism.
This discussion in the Assembly on Fri
day is only another among very many re-
cent indications of the radical change
which is taking place in religious thought
and opinion. TIE old creeds no longer
express " hat the churches want to believe.
Even the rigid Presbyterisns Of Scotland
are forced to consider protests like those
made to the General Assembly here.