The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-09
MR.. GLADSTONE ON THE FUTURE
LIFE.

AuOilCdu ltcNlcW dIGtClc vi H6 L u
ture Life and the Condition OF M n
Therein to extended notice and
treats it in very much the same way
that any of our American Universalist
writers would deal with the distin-
guished statesman's speculations on
the future of the righteous and the
unrighteous. The Christian Life ar
ticle is very clear and emphatic re-
pudiation of Mr.. Gladstone's argu-
ment for the use of the alleged
"threatenings" of future woe as a
basis for making Christians. Mr..
Gladstone, says Christian Life, "is
apprehensive that in these days the
pulpit and the press are emptying of
their force what he calls Evangelical
threatenings' with regard to punish
ments of the wicked hereafter. Such
emptying, he considers, must 'sorely
hinder the rescuing of souls We
do not suppose Mr.. Gladstone is a
believer in the doctrine of eternal
torments, but we gather from this
essay that he thinks the punishment
of the wicked hereafter will certainly
not be of brief duration. The artic 9
prompts few remarks of our own.
"It always seems to us that the
Christian Church, speaking Of it as a
whole, has gone far astray in its as
sumptions as to the efficacy of the
fear of punishment as restraint
upon human wickedness. We are
convinced that this efficacy always
has been, and still is, greatly exag
gerated. We hold that fear of any
kind plays but very minor part in
influencing human conduct. 1t may
restrain a man from doing some one
evil deed which now and again he
may be tempted to do, but it has no
abiding effect upon character, for the
simple reason that it does not touch
any of the springs of character. 1t is
never more than transitorv emotion
produced by transitory events. There
is no passion in the mind, says Lord
Bacon, 80 weak but it masters even
the fear of death, revenge triumphs
over death, love Sights it, honor as
pires to it, grief flieth to it.
"To master the fear of death, virtu.
ally means, to master the fear of what
may happen to us after death. 1t is
the very business of priestism to play
upon mems fears. But it can only
play upon the fears of the ignorant
and the feeble-minded. Men of edu-
cation, intelligence, and independent
judgment, are never frightened by
priests or by anybody else. 1t was
the ignorance of the masses in by
gone times which gave priestism its
power. The universal spread of
knowledge will ultimately destroy
that power.
ut is the growing enlightenment
of the age which is compelling the
Christian churches to lay less and less
stress upon doctrines of terrorizing
character, and more and more stress
upon the doctrines deducible from
the Fatherhood of God as revealed
by Christ. Mr.. Gladstone may rely
upon it that this change in the tone
of Christian preaching is no change
for the worse, but distinctly fer the
better. No man was ever yet terror
lied into goodness.
"Who does not know that numbers
of criminals come forth from incar-
ceration in gaol simply hardened by
legal punishment, and not one whit
morally improved? This appears
from the fact of their reyerting to
their old evil courses on the very
first opportunity. If, on the other
hand, we could have the true stories
of the conversion of all really repent
ant sinners and actually reformed
criminals, we should probably find
that in almost every case the mere
dread of punishment of any kind
had little or nothing to do with the
transformation of their characters.
The transformation was gradual
they grew sick and weary of wrong
doing: they outgrew their meaner
selves, and became by degrees better
men. Conscience, not fear, wrought
out their reformation"
The article closes as follows:
THE truth is. that Mr.. Gladstone can
never have had time TO give any thought
to questions of theology, though he has
a great taste for the study of them.
Whenever he writes about them, he only
indicates how thoroughly his mind is
saturated with the Churchly ideas on
sacred subjects in which he was trained,
and how utterly unable he is to escape
the influence OF these ideas. This is
very plainly seen in the article to which
we are referring. He says. there has
never been any period or condition Of
tha church in which Christian thought