St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-02

not true, Notwithstanding they ha We
been held and preached as Gods truth
for over go years. During the debates
in the various presbyteries on this SUBJ
Ject, it has been announced time and
again that the confession does not rep
resent the belief of the church to-day
that the clergy do not preach old-time
Calvinism any more land, as matter of
fact, nine-tenths of the members of the
Presbyterian church have never read
the Westminster creed. This may be
an eXaggeration. for now and then a
Presbyterian pastor can be found who
inheritS the traits of the Scotch Coven-
anters, and takes his Calvinism, as they
did their whisky, straight. But they
are the exceptions, and it is a matter of
everyday history that candidates for adj
mission into the church do not have the
confession read to them, nor are they
required to subscribe to the five car
dinal tenets which are now about to be
eXpurgated.
Yet, whatever we may say or think
about the cruelty Of CALVIN's rem0rse-
less doctrine, it is an eminently logical
system, and we fail to see, when our
Presbyterian brethren have cut adritt
from it. where they are going to land
this side of Universalis IN. If sin
ADAMS fall we sinned alp is true,
then infant damnation, election. repro
baton, and all the other unpopular dog
mas inevitably follow as easily as water
runs down hill, unless it be admitted
that there was universal salvation in
CHRIST'S death and suffering. If the
PresbyterianS propose to get rid of
JOHN CALVIN and his doctrines. then
they must lay the AK TO the root of the
tree and chop ADAM and the Garden of
Eden scene out of the Bible. And if
this is done, where, oh, where. is ortho-
doxy? Only recently st. Paul clergy
man declared that the story of NoAH,s
flood was romance: aud now it will be
in order for some good Presbyterian
brother to announce that ADAM was a
fiction and the tale about the garden an
allegory.
The religious world is marching on,
and the Presbyterians are joining the
procession. In other words, the church
is trying to catch up with the world.
That is all there is in this religious pro-
gression. The old-time religion that
our fathers and our mothers lived by
and died in is not go0d enough for this
fast age. 1t is too old-fashioned to be
popular, and its discipline too strict for
this forward generation, who want to go
to heaven oh aowery beds Please. Con-
sequently, the old doctrines have to be
revised, and even the Bible itself must
undergo revision, in order to ease the
cOnsciences of those who prefer the new
methods to the old. People of the world,
who stand under the electric light of
modern science, say they will not go
into the churches unless these changes
and reviSions are made. The church
authorities get together and decide that
it is important to get the worldIings into
the church, and if MAHoMET will not
come to the mountain then the mountain
must go to MAHoMET. So the church
stikes its tents, and, abandoning the
ground where it has camped for GEN.
turtles, marches forward to the ground
occupied by the radical progressionists.
So much for the creed makers.
But how about the Bible and its
truths? Is the sacred volume true or
false? If it is of humaninvention. what
right have the churches to exist? If it
is of divine inspiration, what right has
man to interpret it other than it is writ
ten? These are questions to be deter
mined in esta blishing an orthodox faith.
If ADAM was a fiction and the whale
did not swallow JONAH, who is to believe
the report of the other prophets and
evangelists? There can be but one
sound orthodoxy, and that is to accept
the Bible as the word of God. and to ac-
cept every statement in it as literal
truth.
The Presbyterians are undoubtedly
allying themselves with the progress
sive thought of the age in throwing
Calvinism overheard. and yet they are
treading upon dangerous ground when
they take that step. Notwithstanding
the antagonists that once existed be-
tween the CaIyinists and the Romanists,
both have always been strict construc-
tionists, adhering closely to the written
text of the sacred volume. They diff
fered, and differed widely, in form
VI SONCi uulOlit3 do W
apostolic succession, but both have
stood like walls Of adamant in defense
of the purity and credibility of Gods
word as it was recorded by the inspired
writers. The Romanists still hold their
position, but the Caivinists are in full
retreat. Having surrendered the five
cardinal points of the Westminster
creed. is it not lust possible that other
essentials that are now considered
important will be suspected of falsity
before they are century Older? The
doctrine of endless punishment will be
the next to go. Already the miracles
are questioned, and next some one will
be assailing the dogma of the trinity,
and thus particle by particle the old
faith will be dissolved. Is it forward
or backward that the churches are