The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-31
MARTINEAU's FIVE POINTS.

|
Calvin's theology and are retaine !,
with more or less modification, in the
current Calvinistic body of doctrine at
the present day. There are also five
points of Arminianism which in like
manner are characteristic of the
Arminian system and are at the
base of Methodism in all its forms,
with the exception of the receding
Calvinistic branch. DIR. James Mar
tineau, whose philosophical writings
have rendered in this generation sig
nal and distinguished service in the
conflict with all forms of materialism,
proposes the following as the five
points of the Christian faith:
| /. We may rest our faith in the moral percep-
| lions of man. Man is, by the structure of his
| nature led to love and revere whatever Is great
| and excellent in character, to abhor the mean
and base.
| 2, The moral perception of God. 1t Is by our
| moral rather than our Intellectual nature that
| we apprehend God. 1t is no more posi-
| BILE that what would be evil in man should
| be good In God than that circle on earth should
| be a square in heaven.
8. The strictly divine and inspired character
| of our own highest desires and best affections.
That which is included within the mind of man
is not, therefore. excluded from the mind of
God.
4. Christ as the Revealer of Gods moral per-
| lection. Christ lived and died, not to persuade
the Father, not to appease the Father, not to
| make purchase from the Father, but to 'show
| us the Father"
S. Human Immortality. If Christ did not teach
| the reality of God In this matter. sure we are
| that none else has ever done so. That flu
| ture life which means retribution for the wick
| ed means also restoration. Beyond the
dark close of life rise before us the awful con-
| trasts Of retribution; and. in the further dis
lance, the dim but glorious vision of purified,
redeemed and progressive universe of souls.
These five points are in essential
harmony with the Universalist inter-
probation of Christianity, surveyed
from comprehensive and undog-
matte standpoint. Universalists have
always contended for what Martineau
styles ''the moral perceptions OF
man" as against the theory of mans
inherent depravity. Man is endowed
by nature with the upward look"
and is capable of aspiration and soul
development. Passing the problem
as to whether God is best recognized
by the intellectual or moral faculties,
which is as yet disputed point
among the philosophers and meta
physicians-we cleave to the PROPOSE
ton that God is the Infinite Good
and source of goodness; that nothing
can be good in Him which evil is in
me" as Whittier sings. Universalists
always teach the divine origin and
nature OF the highest desires and
best affections" man develops in the
pathway of human progress. These
are the things that lift us near to
God and they are inclusive of the di-
vine. 1t is Christ, and Christ alone
of all the worlds teachers, who brings
the "good news of God;" who reveals
the moral PROJECTIONS of Him who
is the Father and is always infinitely
fatherly."
In the matter of destiny, DIR. Mar
tineau, as the reader will perceive, is
Restorationist, but Restorationism
includes Universalism - is only a
form of Universalist conclusion. We
agree that If there should be any
wicked" in the future life there
will exist for them "the awful con-
trasts of retribution," but on this
Universalists are careful not to be
wise beyond what is written. 1t the
future brings to view these "dark
contrasts" we may rest assured that
the Infinite Love is present amid all,
and that God does not violate any of
his own projections in the discipline
of his children there any more than
he did here. We rejoice, finally, in
DR.. Martineau's vision (dim to his
eyes as yet, but not uncertain, and
confessedly "glorious") of "the puri-
fed, redeemed, and progressive uni
verse of souls" emerging after the
shadows to the full contamination
of immortality. This declaration is
specific enough to satisfy and COM
fort all Universalists. 1t leaves no
place for doubt or uncertainty re-
garding the final issue. 1t fifty
crowns DR.. Martineau's five points of
Christian faith in the spirit of an all
inclusive Christianity and embodies
its great hope.