The Portland daily press., 1895-05-20
"THE INFLUENCE OF PAUL AS
THEOLOGlAN."
DIR. B1anchard's Fourth Sermon at Con
gress Square Church.

gress Square Churchs
Rev. Dr.. blanchard delivered the
fourth of his expository sermons yester-
day morning at Congress square church.
The subject was "The Influence of Paul
as a Theologian." The text Was taken
from Acts xxiv-16: "And herein do
exercise myself, to have always con.
science vivid Of offence toward God and
men,
The apostle Paul was one of the great.
est and noblest of men who have lived
upon the earth. Whoever reads his
epistles sees the greatness Of his intel
lect, the ws rmth of his heart, obedience
to conscience, trust in God, passiGeate
devotion to Jesus. Whoever follows the
story of his footsteps as he went from
land to land, is stirred to profound adj
miration of the heroism Of his deeds.
So great in INTEL ect, so strong in feeling,
SO forceful in will, he has dominated the
Christian church. Its theology is largely
built upon the theology of Paul instead
of the religion of Jesus.
The ir1uence sof EPaul, therefore, has
been for harm, as well as for good. How
did he teach his theologya He was
Pharisee. AS such he believed in the
resurrection of the dead, the death of
man through the sin of Adam. the devil,
the angels, the inspiration of the Old
Testament. Changed into believer in
CT bo1 1,rn o1I i,,+a hi
new faith. The cross was stumbling
block He could not believe at first in
crucifed Messiah. But in some sudden
way, chiefly change of thought. what
ever was the outward fact on the Dam
ascus road, he saw that Jesus had been
lifted from the ignominy of crucifxion
to the glory of sitting in heaven at The
right hand of God. Jesus, therefore, to
Paul, was more than man. He was
the IMAM from heaven ;"he was "the Sec
ond Adam" His death became atone
ment and satisfaction to God. BY him,
men who died in Adam, would be made
alive. Justification BY faith. faith in
Christ, saved men, not works of law.
Immortality was only for ose who had
the spirit of Christ.
DR.. Blanchard here referred to Dr..
Cane's books Gospel Criticism and His
torical Christianity and 1.-The Gospel
and its Earliest interpretations" These
great books are honored by many promi-
nenG scholars. They saw that when Paul
wrote TO Romans and Corinthians, he
In nf hric
made immortal.
Paul, then, by his theology had done
great harm. He turned men from the
simplicity of Christ; his theology has
been the foundation on which the su-
perstructure of the theologians' doctrines
of the Atonement has erected.
Jesus did not teach that He was "the
man from heaven, nor "the second
Adam" He did not say men are only
justified before God by faith in his
atonement. He did not teach that
there was need of satisfying Gods JUS
tice. The immortal parable of "The
Prodigal Son" tells only the freedom
of sin, pressure of environment, arous-
ing of the soul, of coming to himself
and arising and going of the Father
He taught Immortality for all, for call
live unto God" For thousand years
the doctrine of atonement was that
Jesus ransomed men from their captor,
the devil. For hundred of years the
same doctrine was that only such be-
ing as Jesus could satisfy the Justice of
cd n in fO,, G.aI
mans enemy till Jesus placated bis
wrath. Augustine, Anseilin. Grotius,
Calvin, Edwards, all thought that
Pauls teachings were foundations to
their statements.
Alas! what misery to the world from
these theologians. Glorious Paul, SO
loving, SO reverent, SO earnest, gave
basis for horrible doctrines. The harm
thus done is immeasureable.
Dr.. Blanchard then showed how
science condemns the views of Paul.
Death came into the world by will of
God and not by the sin of man. I'm
mortality is prophesied by the progress
of man to high physical condition here.
Men are punished or rewarded accord
ing to their own deeds. What wonder
then that as disciple of Jesus the
speaker wished to bring men back from
the subtleness of theologians to the
simplicity of the Master. II he were on
earth today, and could speak from this
pulpit, would he not sny. Love God
and Man. So shall you be saved. Con
slider what have said of myself rather
than what men have said about me. y
And as men see the Christ and heard
Him speaking thus, they will feel n
fresh the great meaning of His words.
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed
be fhy name; thy kingdom come. thy
viii be done on earth as it is in heaven y
DR.. Blanchard then asked the oonore-