The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-09-26
DR.. PAIGB'S SERVICE TO UNIVER-
SALISM.

IT is with difficulty that the younger
generation of Universalists can appre.
ciate the immense service which, in the
exigency of the time, DR.. Paige rendered
the cause OF Universalism. An effort
should be made to estimate the estate
of religious thought and feeling in which
the most scholarly and reverent divines
did not hesitate to rest the eternal sal.
walton of the mass of mankind on the
meaning which they attached to the
word oioD! A Greek noun of four let
ters was to the theology of the time what
the word gravity is conceded and
affirmed to be in astronomy. The whole
Calvinistic doctrine of immortal destiny
was based almost exclusively upon few
thorized Version seemed to teach the
doctrine of unending woe. A Univei-
salist might quote his proof-texts. or
reason from the Divine Goodness, and
especially from passages affirming the
Universal Fatherhood of God, and in
their Interpretation might borrow from
the very words of Jesus in the Sermon
on the Mount But rarely were these
averments met with argumentative reply
but on the contrary almost uniformly
with certain passages, such as tine
wicked shall be turned into HE'LL" Hath
never forgiveness, neither in this world
nor in the world to Gomez" rs in danger
of eternal damnation;" I'm hell he
opened his eyes, being in torment" 1T
had been better for that man had he
never been BORN" These shall go away
into everlasting punishment" and a few
others. With these passages in hand
the old divines assumed that they were
exempt from any obligation to answer
Universalist reasoning or exposition. or
proof passage. The Universalist inter-
preta tons of the so-called hard texts"
were called the explaining away of
Gods holy word;" the wrestling of holy
Scripture to their own distinctions" "the
ingenious devices of the evil one to be
guile souls to his dark dominion;" and
SO on.
These complacent Pharisees were
however soon destined to meet an argI-
ment which literally confounded them,
and one which it was vain summary to
dispose of as the device of Satan.
modest, quiet. scholarly. pains taking
man had got together all the great or
thodox commentators of the time. at
least all that were available. To his
surprise. possibly. certainly to his COM
fort, he found that with two or three ex.
captions what were scornfully cast aside
as Universalist perversions, were not
peculiarly Universalist at all. The
"perversions" ware for substance found
in one and another of the orthodox Com
mentators Soon came out book, "Se-
lections from Eminent Commentators"
in which these alleged Universalist "per-
versions" but in fact orthodox interpre-
tations were collected. The Universal
list community was ecstatic over the ex-
egetical discovery, and old orthodoxy
was dumb-founded. Ever after this
when the assailants Of Universalism pre-.
sumed to characterize Universalist ex-
positions as the invention of the Enemy
of Souls" he was at once driven into
corner and silenced by copious extracts
from the pages of their own revered
scholars from Selections from Eminent
Commentators" the author modestly
indicated: "By L. r. Paige"
Nor was this all. A commentary by
a competent Universalist was neces-
sity, at least one on the New Testament.
Upon this the same 81. r. Paige" was
soon busy. Never impatient, seemingly
never weary. never letting a passage go