The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-01-18

As to the fate of the FINALLY i'm
penitent," Mr.. Torrey says some reck-
less things. "The eternal punish
ment of the wicked is one manifesto
ton of Gods love. He'll is one mani
festation of Gods love. None will
be sent there except those who refuse
to be reconciled and who resist all
the efforts of Gods love and mercy
1t is the only thing God can do"
And yet he had just been insisting
upon the divine "omnipotence."
"God is all-powerful can do anything.
All men are absolutely subject to
Gods word and will. He can do
everything" To view of this affirma
tion-this great truth-it seems sim
ply ludicrous to talk about men re-
sisting "all the efforts of Gods love
and mercy" AS though he was in
deed omnipotent physically, but
morally imbecile. If there is one
thing in false theology more absurd,
more foolish, than another, it is this
talk about the finite will of man, re-
sisting forever all the moral force of
the infinite God. He can shake the
heavens, and destroy the earth, but is
powerless and helpless before the hui
man will. Better Calvinism than
this. Better cruel tyranny than a
government that cannot govern. An
archy is more than despotism.
But best of all is the assurance
given in the Bible that God will
bring good out of evil and in his
own time reconcile all to himself.
That he will by his moral power, his
love and mercy manifested through
Christ, bring the issue of human ex-
istence to glorious termination in
the case of every son and daughter of
Adam. If Mr.. Torrey could only see
this prime truth of the Gospel, it
would save him good many ridicu-
lous utterances. When men are "ban-
ished to eternal perdition-to eternal
darkness" expects, he says, to
''look into the face of God and say Hal
lelujah." He speaks of natural ties
belonging to this life," but ignores
the second great commandment of
the Master, like unto the first, upon
which hung all the law and prophets,
to love our fellows as ourselves. Does
he think any one will be saved until
he obeys this commandment? Or is
this also one of the sites belonging
to this life?" If one does obey, and
any are finally lost in the orthodox
sense, heaven will be to him the
worst part of hell. Salvation would
be delusion and a cheat. There
could be no happiness, unless it was
among the most hardened and heart
less of the damned. Love was the
grand distinguishing characteristic
of Christ and his Gospel, as it is of
God; and to expect salvation by ig-
noring and discarding this, is one of
the strangest alterations of the hu
man mind.
But Mr.Torrey's heart is apparently
better than his creed. He affirms that
GOD loves" and if he loves, he suf-
fers. "There is no being in this uni
verse that has ever suffered as God
has," Then of course theGod like, the
children of God-must suffer in pro-
portion. Why, then, are you talkin
about heaven? All is hell The uni
verse is great hell. The doctrine of
salvation is cheat. There is no
heaven, not even for God. Let us
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
This seems to be his own opinion also,
for he says: "There is not perfect
happiness in heaven now. Heaven
is very lonely place for Jesus Christ
today Satan is there-sin has in
vaded heaven" But he hopes it will
be better some time. 1t surely can.
not be, unless Christian love can be
turned out where Satan and sin arel
What would like to ask is this:
Why will men in prominent positions
in the church, who represent the
church of Christ to the world, and
who apparently are sane, and know
their right hand from their left, make
themselves the laughing stock of Gre
alton, and bring Christianity itself
into derision and contempt among
the masses, by such interpretations
of the Bible as l have quoted from
this, in many respects able, lecturers
1t is puzzle that | cannot solve. If
there was any excuse for it in the
language of the Bible, it would be
different. But even then the major
ity of mankind would always reject
the Gospel as long as they believed
it taught such dogmas as the trinity,
vicarious atonement, sin in heaven,
and endless hell torments. Why play
into the hands of skeptics9 J.B.s