The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-07-18

Incomprehensible Justice.
Incomprehensible, indeed, was the
justice of God which could condemn
to eternal perdition all Jews, Mo-
hammedans, Hindoos, Buddhists and
the immense multitudes of other
peoples classed as heathens because
they did not believe in Christ, of
whom the most of them had never
heard, and could not subscribe to the
orthodox doctrine, the nature of
which they had never dreamed.
This terrible justice was partially
mitigated by the concession that
elect infants and elect idiots who
could not reasonably be held morally
responsible might be saved through
Christ in some extraordinary way;
and if there were any other elect per-
sons outside the sphere of the true
church, God, who worketh when and
where and how he will, might grant
to them, in some inscrutable fashion,
saving grace.
"Others not elected, although they
may be called by the ministry of the
Lord, and may have some common
operations of the Spirit, yet they
never truly come to Christ, and there
fore cannot be saved; much less can
men not protesting the Christian re-
ligion be saved in any other way
whatever, be they never so diIigent to
frame their lives according to the
light of nature and the law of that
religion they do profess; and to as
sert and maintain that they may is
very pernicious and to be detested."
Conf. of Faith, Art. X, Sec. iv)
Prof. Swings Position.
The late lamented and much be-
loved Prof. Swing, in defending him
self against the charge Of heresy pre-
ferred against him by the notorious
heresy hunter, DR.. Patton, drew
| distinction between the church his
torical and the church actual. He
claimed that the Westminster Con-
fession of Faith represented the ideas
OF people who lived two centuries
ago, and that these ideas had been
greatly modified in the minds of
living men by the new modes of
thinking now in vogue and the new
discoveries in science, history and
criticism which had been made. The
minds of men and the ideas of men
do not always remain the same.
Wherever there is life there is growth
and change. And, consequently,
such document as the Confession
of Faith can be held only in a gen
eral way without binding the intel
lects of it's subscribers to an accept
ance of all its details. And the actual
church of today should in every
particular case be the Judge as to
whether ministers or elders were
faithful to their ordination VOWS.
The position of Professor Swing
was right and reasonable but, never
the less, he found it needful to
withdraw from the ministry of the
Presbyterian church, very much to
the loss of that church and to the ad-
vancement of his own comfort and
usefulness. 1t is true, as he claimed,
that, within the bounds of the Pres
byterian church there has been made
very marked and decided progress in
thought, within the last half century
especially, so that the old Calvinism
of the institutes" and the Westmin-
ster Confession does not represent
correctly the living faith of today.
The following details of this change
may be noted, amongst many others
to which reference might be made:
The doctrine of a limited atone
ment is one of the "five points" of
Calvinism and the strictly orthodox
Calvinists must hold that the sacri-
flee of Christ was designed for the sal
walton OF the elect only. Christ died,
not for the world, but for his chosen
people. Almost thirty years ago
this limitation of the atonement to
the elect was ably and fully discussed
by two leading Presbyterian divines
of Edinburgh, the Rev. Professor
Crawford, of the Edinburgh Univer-
sity and the Rev. DR.. Candlish, a
minister of the Free church. The
latter defended the orthodox position
with all the logical acumen and
knowledge of the Scriptures for
which he was distinguished. Pro-
fessor Crawford ably indicated the
broader application of the work of
Christ and the nobler and truer con-
ception of God as the Father of man
kind. l believe that comparatively
few in the Presbyterian churches of
today would defend the narrower
doctrine.