Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-04-18

Il rules of honest and unpreJudlceu IN
Interpretations: abstain from pressing the
literal aceeptation of passages most OBJ
viously metaphorical; give due weight
TO the countless passages of Scripture
from Genesis to Revelations which
speak of Il love and mercy and a tri-
umph of long suffering over offended
justice which are to us irrsconcilable
with the belief that the unhappy race
of Gods children in this great family
of man are all but universally doomed
to endless torture, at the very thought
of which the heart faints and is sick
with horror; give to the reason and
conscience of man some voice in judg-
ing of a scheme which seems to outrage
all that is noble and noliest within
them; separate from the notions of hell
the arbitrary fancies of human ignor-'
ance and human passion: accept the
merciful opinion which the church has
always permitted, though she has not
formally adopted them-that the fire of
Gehenna is metaphorical, that there is
La possibility of future publication,
that most men Will at least be saved;
do this, and you have removed the
greatest of all stumbling blocks from
the path of faith and added incom-
paribly to our love of God and to the
peace. the hope, the dignity and the
happiness of human life
Who can read these words without
deep emotion, now that the author of,
them has himself passed into that I'M
seen world, the mysteries of which he
tried, with great modesty and with pro-
found learning to explain to the human
mind? DIR. Farrar's life was one of
singular purity. His conceptions of
truth We're always clear and defined.
He always taught from the very words
of Holy Scripture, he felt felt Very
keenly the brand of heterodoxy which
had been placed upon him by his bro-
Their clergy, and now he has passed into
that world of charity where I'VE shall
know even as we are known
How little do many of us realize what
a load has been lifted from our minds
by such views as those which DR.. Far
rar endeavofed to PROFOUND.
How many Christian souls have clos
ed their eyes in death with most terri
bic forebodings of endless misery. The
poet Cowper, the disciple of Newton
the great evangelist preacher, died with
the honest conviction that his soul was
lost aud that he was going to hell.
Oliver Cromwell the great Puritan
Protector. was troubled with the same
fear on his death bed. Tell me- he
said to his chaplain, "can man who
has been once in grace fall away and
be lost for eternity" No. was the
chaplain's reply. Then" exclaimed
the dying Protector, Il am safe, for I
know was once a saved SOUL Yet in
the face of all these facts we find this
stupendous question of future punish
ment ignored by preachers. ridiculed
in our comic papers and made the sub
ject of wit. in our theatres. and in our
social gatherings. And then when a
man like Farrar attempts to explain.
the mystery, he is branded as her
etc" or suspected as dangerous
The truth is that this devout soul. this
eminent scholar this eloquent preacher
in Englands great Abbey. did more to
remove agonies from the minds of dy-
ing people than any other teacher pro-
Tossing Christianity within the memory
of the present generation. May he rest
in peace, ana may the perpetual shad-
ow of the Almighty rest upon him.
New York, March %. b. D., OXon.