The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-02-29
THE DUTY OF UNIVBRSALISTS IN
THE PRESENT CRISIS.


crossing the stream 1t is not wise
for the two owners to stop and strike
up bargain while wading through
the swift waters. So we say it is not
wise TO compromise with our theolog-
ical opponents while we are passing
through the transition period that
marks the present time. The old
traditional theology is giving way
before the softening and moulding
influence of middle views. 1t is
"dying faith" and the quicker it
breathes its last, the better for the
cause of Christianity. But it dies
hard and many of its advocates re-
fuse to believe that it is dead or even
in danger of dying. So they cry out
with the old -time vigor in its behalf,
and bolster up the sick man in the
hope and expectation of his reviving
and soon beginning his life anew.
This new movement which some OF
the members of the old orthodox
churches call "a revolution" is due to
various causes, the discoveries of sci
ence, the growth of intelligence, the
application of reason and logic to
the solution of theological problems
the turning of the search-light OF
modern investigation upon that dark
region which has long been wrapped
up in the mantle of so-called ''mysti-
cism," and above all in the revival OF
the ethical element in its relation to
God, man and the divine life.
Can any one deny, who has sur
veyed the whole field of this religious
awakening, that Universalism as pro-
pounded by its earlier advocates and
exemplifed in it's late defenders, has
done much to effect it? We do not
claim that it has done the whole
work. We do not claim that it even
started the movement For that, we
must go back to Schleiermacher, or
even farther, perhaps, to the Platon-
lists of the seventeenth century and
that illustrious band of brave men
who defended the character of God
from unjust aspersions, set forth
Christ as a being worthy to be imi-
itated, and rescued man from the
low estate into which theologians had
placed him, and held him up to the
world as being of moral excellence
and sufficient dignity and worth to
call forth the efforts of the infinite
Father and his spotless Son to save
him. Universalists simply took up
and embodied these tendencies in
compact form and thus proclaimed
them to men.
In this lay the splendid results
achieved. Universalists appealed to
the awakened moral sense and en-
lightened reason of mankind and in
this way accomplished their work
Orthodox theologians like DIR. Lyman
Abbott and DIR. George A. Gordon
candidly acknowledge the debt due
Universalists and Unitarians in giving
more of a humanitarian view to the
Christian religion and redeeming it
from some of the absurd elements
which medieval theology had put
into it. DIR. Allen in his Continuity
of Christian Thought" has done
a good work in this direction by
throwing off the incubus of Angus
tinianism and taking us back to the
Alexandrian period of Clement and
Origen, who more truly represent the
primitive theology of Jesus and Paul.
We are now in transition state.
| Shall Universalists who more truly
than any other religious organization,
represent the reviving religious spirit
of the age, deliberately give up their
efforts to purify the religious atmo-
sphere and suspend all further work
in behalf of others who later came in
to the field and only half proclaim
the truth needed for reforming the
religious worlds Shall we, while
crossing the stream push boldly on
till we reach the further shore, or
foolishly enter into negotiations amid
stream to swap horses with others
who are headed in the opposite di-
rection' Nay, nay, my brethren who
recommend this.
What is the duty of Universalists in
the present crisis? For it is crisis,
turning point from the old to the
"new theology" which has been justly
called "a theological revolution"
"The final philosophical horror" of
Calyinism cannot be modified. 1t
contemplates "the salvation of only
a part of mankind. So long as it
stands, God is against humanity"
DIR. Gordon in his "The Christ of To-
Day." tells us: ut is the acceptance
or rejection of this entire scheme with
which believers in Christ are confront