The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-01-31
The Hereafter.

As this letter propounds questions which
many Presbyterians and other orthodox
| believers must be asking themselves at this
time. it is incumbent on us to answer it
comprehensively and carefully:
1.-THE ability logical acumen. and lucidity with
which the great Presbyterian question has been
ed your editorial columns prompt to ask you
folio wing questions,
II. What guarantee l. Pre- ytsrian have that
the new creed shall not stand in need OF revision
much As the old-shs In word the revision shall not
need revisingi
-. On tho hypothesis that Almighty COP has to the
praise of His glorious justice divided. from all
nifty. tho human race into thu elect and nonelect
motive can have Of doing good or avoiding svili
IF of the elect cannot be lost. Then why tor
ture my poor soul with useless concern II tho
none!ect. or doomed. why not have hell of = tins
here rs predestined. in any event. to have hell
Of y time hereafterw
The doctrine Of election Is concrete ex-
preston OF the abstract truth that in the
moral and spiritual world no less than in
the material the reign Of law Is absolute
and Interchangeable. Tho GLORIOUS justice
of GoD." which the Westminster Confession
describes as eternally dominant and as
sufficient for itself and its own vindication, Is
this primal. irreVersible. merciless. and uni
versal law. The punishment of sin. to use the
term Of theology. or the consequence OF an
infractiOn OF the moral law Of tho universe.
is as certain as that fire burns or gravita-
ton operates; and it is eternal. II when
you stamp your foot you move the world
AMI set in play forces which never cease. so
also when you disturb the moral eauili-
brium the effect produced is undyins. To
get down to particulars. the character you
I,til6 on raa wi n ar inf ;,l,
extends through all time. Nobody Is indie
pendent. We are all interdependent, and
our influence is immortal.
Neither is 1t conceivable that personal,
omniscicnt. and omnipotent COP. the author
of this law. should not have foresecn and
decreed It's consequences. When Ho made
the law He made the consequences. for all
things come from Him. and His will alone
prevails throughout the universe.
Thus comes in the conflict between the
Divine decree and the freedom Of the will Of
man. as We conceive that to be. 1t is q
problem insoluble by tho human un-
Outstanding. man is no more capa-
bio OF reconciling the two and ex-
planning their operation than Is on ant.
He must either give up tho ques-
ton as unanswerable by the human
understanding. or he must accept in faith
the answer which theology or tho Church
gives to it as divinely inspired. He must
believe the Bible as direct communication
from COP solving mysteries insouble by
man; or he must believe that the Church is
a source Of Divine authority. continuous. in
fallible, and sufficient. the source through
which the Scriptures themselves came.
In other words. he must be Protestant
who believes that the Bible 10 the precise
and lnfallible revelation Of GODS govern
ment, a Roman Catholic who believes In the
infallibility Of the divinely inspired Church,
or an agnostic or infldel who dismisses the
subject as one beyond the possibility Of
human comprehension. and which the Scrip
tural writer's. the Church councils. and the
Pope have no more right than other men
to assume to settle: in fact. as beyond all
human comprehension.
II our doubling Presbyterian correspond
ent can disprove the doctrine OF election
and at the same time accept the promises
OF Protestant orthodoxy. we should like to
see him do 1t. The only way for him to
escape from the conclusion Is to deny the
premises. Whatever happens or will hap
pen was consequence as surely involved
in eternal law as the seed OF the oak Is con-
tanned in the acorn. Cause and conse-
quence are wrapped up together and are
inseparable. The effect proceeds from the
cause with absolute and eternal certainty.
Why. then. should our friend trouble him
self to gain heaven or to escape from hell
when his creed tells him that his everlast-
Ing fate was decrced and determined before
all time? To use his words. "if one of the
non-elect or doomed. why not have q hell
OF a time here. rs am predestined. In any
event. to have hell Of time hereafter 2"