The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-02-16
A PRESBYTERIAN UNIvERsALIsT.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

uOuiiudi HeIHDeT Ol Presbyterian
church has to say in regard to the at
titude of Presbyterians toward the
liberal faith. | say nominal men,
her, for moving, it seems to me, along
the very lines on which she started
me, | have gone SO far that | can
hardly any more claim to be mem
Der of the historic and honored Pres
byterian church. And yet she, too, is
advancing along the same lines, and
will, 1 doubt not, ere long occupy the
ground that / do now.
That there are many within the
Presbyterian fold who do not accept
all The doctrines of the Confession
goes without saying. These are of
many shades of belief. Not few of
them are Universalists with regard to
one point, viz, they do not believe
that part of the human family are
to be tortured eternally in the life to
come. 1nasmuch as the main idea of
Uuiversalism is a protest against that
atrocious doctrine, Universalists are
wont to regard such persons as really
of themselves. And not without rea-
son; for while the logical place of
these people may not be just in the
Universalist church, it certainly is
not in the Presbyterian church be-
cause they are at variance with that
church on the most important doc
trine it holds.
Of course Presbyterian divines will
elevate their eyebrows at the men,
ton of this as their most important
doctrine, but nevertheless it is. Not
being 'divine" l necessarily speak
from purely human standpoint and
therefore say that the existence of, or
existence of, a prison chamber of
endless agony into which l am liable
to come, helpless and immortal, is
the most important question that can
be offered to my mind.
Universalists sometimes ask why
these liberal Presbyterians, being in
sympathy with Universalists on so
important point, do not come out
and show their colors by uniting
with the Universalist Church. To
answer this query, at least in part, is
why write.
In the first place, not all liberal Pres
byterians are really Universalists, if by
that term we mean those who teach
that all men are to be finally saved.
Some of them have in their system
very modified hell indeed as COM
pared with the classic horror of the
Westminster diyines, yet they have
still hell. And they do not know
how any man is ever to get out oft if
once he gets in. At future probation
they look askance. 1t reminds them
of the Catholic purgatory, and their
dislike of that idea has the good rea-
son for being changeless that it is
hereditary. Hence their hell, though
tolerable, is still eternal.
In the next place even those Pres
byterians who cherish hope that all
men are to be finally saved, cannot
see their way clear to connect them
selves with the Universalist church;
for the Universalist church is more
than body of believers teaching that
all men will be saved. It's theology,
whether so expressed in its creed or
not, differs essentially from that of
the Presbyterian church in regard to
the purpose of Christ's death.
The idea of substitutionary sacri-
fee is deeply imbedded in the Pres
byterlan mind. A Presyterian's idea
of Gods mercy is that he allows one
person to escape punishment by in
Aicting the penalty upon another.
Or if any prefer to SO state it, by
suffering the penalty himself. II I
rightly understand the Universalist
position, it is that there is in Gods
government no such thing as penalty
in the absolute sense. and therefore
that substitution is not only unthink
able but would be useless. 1t is
clear that these two ideas are rad
ically different. Hence a person
brought up to entertain the one is
not likely to readily adopt the other.
But it is also clear that there is moth
ing whatever in the Presbyterian or
so-called orthodox idea of substitu-
ton to hinder any one from expect
ing the final salvation of all men
For if substitution can shield one
why not anotheri Why not alli
Nevertheless, this difference of view
in regard to the object of Christ's
death serves as a hindrance to pre-
vent fuller sympathy for Universal
ism among Presbyterians. / will
say, however, that the idea of a sacri-
fetal substitution seems to be losing
force in the Preshvterian mind aa II