Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-09-10

no undertook to expose the falleoy Of
the arguments advanced for what he
considered heresy For years he
was employed IN this work lie
wrote numerous treatises ON theology
and formulated the doctrines concern.
Ing GOd slni the origin of man, re-.
dempten, oico IN accordance with the
Hight De- was capable Of drawing from
tho Scriptures and from his own pecu-
liar experience, Especially strong was
Augustine upon the subject Of justlnca.
ton by faith "Upon no subject says
Dr. Tulloch aid nv bestow more Of his
intellectual strength and In relation to
no Other have hls views no dsoply and
permanently affected ,he course Of
Christian thought 10 In we'll worth
studying tho inner workings of thg
mind OF a mgn that stood Nv near tho
apostolic aye, and whose Influence up.
ON the theology VI an succeeding ngea
has been 10 great and On hla Con
fossiona.' more shan 80 any other " hls
works can this be done, Here we con
yiow him In his experiences os % ohlld,
q schoolboy q student OF sciences a
professor Of rhetoric at Carthage Rome
and Milan, and here we can follow
him IN HE search for light ana peace,
Here we also see passing before Us
the venerable figures Of Monica, Am
brose, Faustus. and others, 10 IL M
OF the few representative books Of ph-
tristic literature. IL d best be %classed
with Thomas A, Kcmpis', or John
Bunyan's immortal works,
The thoughtful reader of our day,
who prizes intelligence above AN, win,
ms he proceeds to listen to the 'confes.
sions' Of the celebrated bishop Of Hip,
po, marvel nj the dim light with which
he, q great leader Of men, was salts.
fed, For instance. ON the doctrine Of
sin he exclalms. 'Who remindeth me
Of the sins Of my infancy? For in
thy sight non IL pure from SIN not
even the infant whose life is but a day
upon the enrth?' II this Is true, what
effect has the redemption Of Christ?
Baptism he regarded as a cleansing
from this, and all, Gin. As a boy he
took sick and asked for baptism. But
he became well, and the rite was de-
ferred. aud So he says, "as n
must needs be again polluted should
/ live, my cleansing was deferred, be-
cause the dehlements Of sin would, att
err that washing, bring greater and more
p]erilous guilt In other words, sin
committed before baptism is not quite
as sinful as that committed after!
Concerning the eternal origin Of man,
Augustine was In total darkness, rs
the following clearly shows: Say,
Applying, to me, thy pltiable onei
say, aid my infancy succeed another
age Of mine that died before e.? Was It
that which ! spent within my mothers
womb? And what before
that life again, o God, my JOY was
anywhere or anybody? For this have
none to tell me-, neither father nor
mother, nor experience Of others, nor
own memory How feebly ala
the light Of revelation really enlighten
that age upon such an important dues-
toni
with regard to the doctrine OF the
Deity, Augustine had the works OF his
predecessors to guide him, and he spent
more or less Of thirty years Of his time
In explaining the impossible conception
OF the god Of A%thanasius, which IS
really pagan In origin. The following
his confessions reveals the confu-
sion Of his mind on this subject But
thou who Allest all things, hllest thou
them with thy whole self? Or sine
all things cannot contain thee wholly,
40 they contain part Of thee? And all
It once the same part? Or each It's own
part, the greater more the smaller
And Is, then, part Of thee
greater, another less? or, art thou
wholly everywhere, while nothing con-
thee wholly?
This will suffice, TO give Al idea Of the
Intellectual status Of the age OF Angus
line. And when that Is understood, 1t
= also easily comprehended how sub
lie errors could creep In and gain cur
.ency. The leaders Of the churches at
hat time were gifted men, They were
well yersed In philosophy and In
he sciences, But the light Of reve-
shono but dimly into their hearts,
because hey were filed with the phi
osophy Of their time, and they substi-
uted very often for truth, their own
ogical deductions; for revelation, phil
And so great errors came aud
drove true Christianity out Of the