The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-24

Of our God that he II q consuming fire" Il
often quoted as 1! It read. For God out Of Christ
Ia a consuming fre; whereas the whole teach
ing OF the book Is TO enforce upon Christians
the truth that their God-God in Christ--is a
consuming fire. All that Is corrupt and worth
less In them-their present form Of being In
which sin inheres must be destroyed in the
eternal fire. The doctrine OF evolution. alike
with Scripture, reveals this eternal law a.
operative In the whole realm of created life.
And there IA no respect Of persons with God,
The everlasting fire is thus seen 10 be a present
fact. and he'll is no more truly a future than a
present reality, II our eyes were opened we
could see the slow burning Of its unQuenchable
fire In the whitening Of human lives and tina
blighting of human hopes all around us. This
law Of nature and OF God alike requires that
the goal OF an existence. enanclpatsd from
suffering and immortal, can be reached only
through conformity TO the ideals OF perfect
being as they exist In the Divine mind.
But II science and Scripture both reveal an
honorable law Of retribution. they both slso
reveal a gospel. The fact Of progress in life
higher forms succeeding the death of the lower
is q germinal gospel. Scripture carries this
law into the higher region. and reveals 10 man
the way. not OF escape from judgment for
sin. but the way by which. through submission
10 II, he may be transformed into that perfect
form OF being OF which Christ IL the pattern
and the source, The resurrection Of Jesus
Christ from the dead and His exaltaton to
dominion over this created system was the
first complete realization OF the Divine ideal
Of manhood. And the Gospel which announces
this a. its chief fact afirms that from Him.
rs thus exalted. there flows a stream Of regen-
crate life by which tho dormant spiritual nature
In man Is ouickensd into new lfs and equipped
for ultimate victory over the law OF sin and
death which Is in his members
just here is discovered the point at which
the old theology has long stumbled la It's con-
ception OF the Divine plan in creation and re-
demption. II has falsely assumed that sinful
and corrupt being In man IA essentially i'm
mortal. that his punishment for sin Il mainly
in tho future, and that the resurrection OF un-
lust men Is therefore the completion and per-
petuation OF their existence In eternal damna-
ton. This violates tho whole analogy Of
nature and vitiatss the whole Gospel idea OF
resurrection. Scripture sfirms. indeed. that
the highest form of lfs-that which ia forever
exempt from subsection TO corruption and
DEATHS reached only as the Christ-nature
Is formed In US. the hope Of glory" The resir-
rection OF unjust men-unworthy of this high
form OF belng-cano only be on TO lower pianos
OF life where they must remain under judy
ment and correction. From this point OF view
they are still In the furnace OF fire" and In the
"pangs OF hell" Multitudes Of men all around
us are more or less prisoners In this pit. And
again and again the fires must burn for the
destruction Of the flesh. A long a. sin has
dominion in either body or soul It's wages must
be paid down. which are death. But the fact
remains that the law Of resurrection or recovery
TO life Is uniformly redemptive. In II tho en-
ergy OF God Is ever operating for the uplifting
OF human souls to higher levels OF manhood.
To degrade this Divine process-which Scripture
uniformly connects with that great uplifting
OF humanity accomplished in the resurrection
OF Christ from the desd-into an unspeakabls
curse TO the most OF mankind WIZ have hltherto
lived Ia to-day the Gospel.
II Is because OF this denial. wrought into the
fabric Of tho Westminster Confession OF Faith,
that the Presbyterian Church is looking this
way and that way for relief. She will never
find 1t through vain and illogical tamperinR
with the doctrine that God Is Sovereign In this
world Of ours. She must seek II in the meagre
and monstrously unworthy outcome that Con-
fesston gives us OF this Divine world system.
While science Is affirming that the law In ore
alton OF renewed life through death lie a Law Of
progress, and while Scripture holds up its ban
ner OF hope toward God that there shall be
a resurrection OF both tho just and the unjust
every man. however, In his own order. and
TO every seed his own body"--that Confession
evacuates this Divine law OF progress. OF every
element Of hope or Of benevolenoe, except In
the case OF that hitherto very small rem nant
OF the race whom II calls the elect; forgetting
that there can be no Church Of the first born
unless there be later born and no first fruits Of
Gods creatures" unless there be later fruit.
and a subsequent harvest. L. C. BAKER.
PRINCETON. y. j., June L.