St. Paul daily globe., 1890-03-24
His Conspicuous Blunder Is
Failure to Properly Con-
ceive God.
Theology Is False That Does
Not Begin, Continue and
End in God.

tiidt 6Ao
suggestions, they become the text books
of faith: as intellectual obligations,
they become the instruments of tyranny.
1t is not the existence of creeds, but the
wrong use of them that has awakened
the modern revolt. When men build
churches upon verbal allegiance,
which Christ and the apos ties
never did: when creedS are no
longer simply the opinions of wise
and learned men, but are flung in as OBJ
structions to the further current of
human thought. nobody wonders if the
rising tide of human life shall one day
sweep them all away. bringing sort of
Johnstown disaster to the churches who
build in the villages below them. The
method of dogmatism and the method
of freedom are directly opposed. They
cannot both be right. The method of
freedom says, IL value the good in all
ages. accept the achievements of the
whole body of Christians. l accept the
church. prize the testimony of eX-
perts in theology as | would experts IN
law or medicine. l find much that is
true in the confessions of faith of all
the churches in all generations; but
while | seek to make use of every good
thing in a loyal and reverent
spirit, decline either to fetter
myself or my fellow man by any dog
matte inheritance that would make fur
ther progress either rebellion or hypoc-
risy." The dOgmatic method is wholly
different. Accepting the legal idea of
religion and the statutory power OF
creeds, the dogmatlst asserts, as in the
opening sentences of the Athanasian
creed. "WhOsoever will be saved, before
all things it is necessary that he hold
the Catholic faith. Which faith, except
every one do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlast-
ingly;;" and after this good, wholesome
dose of damnation there follows an
elaborate creed which no living man is
able either to explain or understand.
The dogmatist makes many blunders.
First he fails to recognize the progress
i've nature of man. Man is growing. and
has been through all the ages. The
ample
Creeds of Early Times
become fetters in more developed ages.
The small boy was very proud Of his
new red-top boots, but by and by he
must have bigger boots or lame feet.
The second blunder of the dogmatist is
failure to recognize a progressive
revelation. To no age has God COM
mitted the full measure of His truth.
The lessons that were fitted for Moses
would not do for Isaiah; and religion
has unfolded as man has unfolded. The
third blunder of the dogmatiSt is in the
Forms of mere intellectual assent are
xuhnIlu QvtarnaI mt nli-h
army simply by putting Oh uniforms.
The uniforms may be well enough as
an accessory, but the army is created
by methods of discipline, by the spirit
of obedience and the spirit of loyal en-
thuslasm. The fourth blunder Of the
dogmatist is failure to recognize
the nature Of religion. The Oh
ject Of the Christian religion is to
secure goodness or godlikenesS among
men. The ages which have been most
given to exterminating heresies of the
intellect have been most fruitful in
fostering heresies of the heart and of
the life. No intellectual assent can
produce transformed character. The
devils, we are taught, believe and trem-
BILE; but they do not repent. The fifth
blunder of the dogmatist is in his fail
ure to see how God deals in His manage
ment of the universe. His universal
method is to permit man to study, to
analyze, to compare, to find out for him
self. Even mistakes are Sanctitied, be-
cause they lend themselves to improve
ment. All the sciences have been ar
rived at by slow and partial processes.
Every age of discovery has been made
possible by a union of conservatism
and audacity. A conservatism which
has been able to use whatever was usa-
ble in the past; an audacity which has
dared to depart from all the traditions
of the past if necessary to secure the
better results of the present. The
sixth blunder of the dogmatist is his
failure to recognize
The Unities Of Truth.
There is but one universe, there is
but one God, there is but one realm of
truth. Such monstrosity as perfect
knowledge in any department of truth
while knowledge in other departments
was small or feeble would be as much
doomed and predestined to idiocy as
baby born with too large head. A
seventh blunder of dogmatists is their
failure to recognize the infinite nature
of truth. Truth is the thought of God,
it is the manifestation of His intellect
ual life. The greatest men, like Moses,
are hidden in some cleft of the rock,
Lord passes by. A perfect statement
of infinite truth in forms of finite
thought and finite language is a mani
fest impossibility. An eighth blunder
of the dogmatist is his failure to pro-
vide for new light. He has his system
completed from what he has already
learned. His system has hardened
into thought and crystalllzed into
words; If he changes any of it he
breaks the whole precious structure.
Historically, in every age, the dogmatist
has been the enemy of progress. And
quite as much In theological learning
and in Biblical criticism as in natural
research and physical science.
But these things of which l have
been speaking are comparatively small
matters. | have yet to disclose to you
the conspicuous blunder of the dog
matist, and that is his failure to have
any proper conception of the Divine
ward and seems so logical. He COM
mences: Goods sovereignty is su-
preme. Not as we will. but as He wills
must we be saved. God has the right
to reveal doctrines and exact from men
belief in them. He is the master of
the whole man, including his intellect.
By revealing doctrines the Creators
sovereignty over the creatures intellect
is asserted. We only defy His authority
if we refuse Him the submission of the
mind" All this seems so logical, while
it is so false, that it may be said to con-
tain the very substance of the whole
dispute. The knowledge of God is mans
greatest possession. 1t is the most
luminous and the most transforming
power in the progress of civilization. 1t
is more definitely related to human
progress than any of the appliances of
mechanics, the discoveries of science. or
the beauties Of art. The progressive
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