The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-10-31
ANNIVERSARY OF
THE REFORMATION

with God" was the subject of a SER
mon preached yesterday by Rev. f. w.
| Whippen In the Universalist church.
He said. in part:
"The fathCrhood of God involves the
salvation of all men or words have no
meaning, ideas in theology are useless
! and the fathcrhood of God is but a
mocking symbol.
Everlasting punishment. as an idea,
! presents great difficulty. No man can
make 1t appear reasonable. Many even
/ in the old churches do not like to preach
/ it in it's full force. Many do not like
/ to hear 1t preached The church is bur
/ dened by it.
"The dificultieso ot the doctrine of end
| less sin are so great that many have
I given it up. Men have abandoned the
| old he'll and put in it's place the anni-
/ hilation of the wicked.
! "The change is not wonderful. Any
thing Is preferable to the vulgarities OF
! the old doctrine. And yet there is no
more heart in the new idea than in the
old. The error may be more genteel.
but it is still error.
1T Is worth while to notice objections
/ against this doctrine. 1t destroys con =
human soul. II annihilation 10 to be
! Gcd's method of securing harmony,
/ then we don't know. when we place
our affections whether we are loving
real beings or only phantOns.
SAVORS OF DARW1NISM.
"Thia doctrine savors more of Oar
winism than of the gospel. Behind it
we easily see the doctrine of the sur
Vival of the tittest.' Annihilation as a
doctrine is no new thing but evolution
has no doubt helped to bring ii for
ward.
! There is one important thing to re-
member. The way of evolution is not
the way of Christianity Evolution
works by death. Christianity works by
helping the weak and preventing death
Evolution shows US things tn spare
Chris: never intimated that there are
souls to spare.
"Annihilation does not chord with the
love Of God. God loves each soul and
1t is madness to argue that He will
strike a soul from being.
There is another attitude with which
men turn their backs upon the OLD
notion of hell. They say: L do not
know L will not dogmatize.' But the
issues are too momentous to be sci
aside in this way. In view Of what the
church has been teaching for 80 many
years. a man has no business to say;
will avoid the subject of destiny al.
together If preacher has no convic
tions upon the subject, then it is SAFE
to say he has missed his calling. Il
one breaches, and breaches well, HI
must preach something about human
! destiny.
"Universalism is no new thing. /
dates back to the very beginning o.
the Christian church.
Clement bishop of Alexandria, wa.
an Universalist. So was Arizen, hi,
successor. OF the six great schools o
Christendom in the early centuries
four taught the doctrine of universa
salvation. Unversalism was not con
demned in the church until the yea
544 and then not openly but by politi
cal TRADE.
1T AROSE AGAIN.
at went out of sight in the darl
ages as a river might sink into a quick
sand, but after the Reformation i
came up again like a bubbling sprinl
all over Protestant Chrstendom.
This is especially noticeable today
and we know that the world will b
richly blessed by the sweet reasonable
ness and the inspiring hope that /
shining into and through every Chris
tan church on earth-as it has neve
shined before since the world plunge
into the darkness of the middle ages.