The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-02
AN ENGLISH CLERGYMAN'S DEC
LARATION.

SINCE the famous decision on
Essays and Reviews of the Privy
Council, says Christian Life, London,
that endless punishment is not a
doctrine incumbent on any Church
of England clergyman, we have seen
much proof of the liberality they en-
joy on this point, and in the affirma-
ton of the doctrine of Universal
Restoration. Here are the words of
a vicar of the church now holding a
living:-Can any stranger fact be
found in the whole history of Biblical
Interpretation than the total neglect
which is SO common-nay, the whole
sale wrestling from this obvious mean
ing-of that great body of passages
in the New Testament which speak
of future restoration OF all thingsa
1t seems as though no less than a
judicial blindness has fallen on most
of our teachers. For these passages
are emphatic /; they are numerous,
they are perfectly clear. They teach
that grace will triumph finally over
all sin, that our Lords object was
the salvation of the world. !. e., of
every human being, and they clearly
assert that he will be victorious.
They declare it to be the Divine Will
one day to sum up in Christ all
things whatsoever (Eph. i. 10)-to re-
concile all things whatsoever to God
(Col. j. 20)-to make all things new
(Rev. xxi. 5)-to remove all curses
lib. xxi. - to destroy the works of
the devil Il John iii. 81 These pas
sages contain no ambiguous words,
no phrases of which the translation
is contested--in this contrasting very
strong with almost every passage
quoted to support the ordinary creed.
Thus our Lord says distinctly, 81,
if l be lifted up, will draw all men
unto Myself" HE is the Lamb
who takes away" Not who tries to
take away and fails) "the sin of the
world" He that sitteth on the
throne will snake all things new
not some things. st. Paul abounds
in such passages as the following
"As by the offence of one judgment
came upon all men to condemnation,
so the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life." "As in
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all
be made alive" Again, God shall,
he tells us, be at the end" ,"All in All"
words that surely authorize, if they
do not compel, the widest possible
hope. And since all men are agreed
that God is love and nobody admits
that God is cruel, the presumption is
wholly in favor of the nobler and
milder view turning out the true one.
And so we feel constrained to charge
the popular creed with mutilating
the New Testament, with grievous
suppression of the truth, with whole
sale though unconscious evasion of
most vital and memorable part of the
teaching of Scripture.
Another English clergymen, the
Rev. W. L. Holland, of Edinburgh,
has just resigned his charge on the
ground that he is no longer in sym
pathy with the traditions and cere-
monies of the Prayer-book, saying:
CATER continuous and prayerful
study of the Holy Scripture, l have
reached the conclusion that am in
conscience bound to act in a way
that | know will not commend itself
to many. 1 have tried hard to recon
cile the traditions and ceremonies of
the Prayer-book with the simple
teachings of the New Testament, but
l find a reconciliation impossible.
The Thirty-fourth Article tells us
they are not repugnant to the Word
of Cod Those who find that to be
so, will not feel any necessity to leave
the Church; but if man does not
find them repugnant, he must not
give his consent to them. 1t would
foGa a lOncr Tina m Hafail ~ vOt1 oil
the points in the Prayer book that l
cannot bring myself to endorse. l
you will find the matter dealt with
generally hereafter" 1t is a daily
marvel to us that so many thousands
of ministers of religion can go on
with the prayers, the ereeds, and con-
fessions of their churches, and the
Bible in their hand.