Oxford eagle., 1911-06-22

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prominent religious
- AEl people were con
kIA5IsEllGSsLA9 spicuous 10 TIE
large audience
Profound impressions were undoubied
ly made. Speaking from the text.
Holy. holy. holy. Lord God Almighty;
the whole earth shall be filled with
thy glory CIevelation iv. g.. the speak.
er said
Three General Views
There may be said to be three differ.
ent theories prevalent In Christendom
on the subject. All three Of the>c
views declare that the Almighty. with
full power 20 have done otherwise. so
created humanity that n child once
born into the world can never die
must live somewhere increasingly
either In pain or in pleasure. By what
authority any make these declarations
we have never ascertained-
Our Catholic friends tell us that by
Divine arrangement. terrible purga-
torial experiences await practically
every member Of our race. in the hope
that. II rightly exercised thereby. after
centuries OF torture. an eternity Of
bliss viii be gnined IL not this also
q blasphemy against the Holy Name?
Who could deny It? Surely such .
theory L. blasphemous. horrible.
Werss and Wer.s-Prsdestins
Is II any wonder that. in early life
our childish hearts were filled with
fear rather than with love toward our
Creator and toward His Revelation.
the Biblei Is II any wonder that q,
required all kinds of fighting with our
common sense to believe. as we were
taught we should. that God lovingly
predestinated that all human families
should suffer eternslly except n sanity
handful-because He was pleased to
have & so-because lie foreordained
that Il must lie so-because He had
made a great place called hell before
He made the earth. and made IL large
enough to hold the entire human fam
ily-because lie created fre-proof de-
mons to inf,lct tortures upon the ppor
unfortunates who were shapcn in in
iquity. In sin conceived by their moth
ersl
ssiII Another Blasphemy.
A considerable proportion Of think
Ing Christian people Will Join with US
In saying. Alb. surely Brother Calvin
grievousiy erred and grievously mis-
represented the God Of love when be
taught the doctrine Of the predestina-
ton OF the wicked to eternal torture.
All. say these Christian friends. our
hearts rebel against that theory Of Di-
vine predestination- We claim that
the Almighty Is Love itseif-that He
Is sympathetic with His creatures. and
Is using every effort to avert the great
calamity Of eternal torture for the
great majority Of the rae.
All, my friends. is not this still an.
other form Of blasphemy? II some OF
rs blasphemed the Holy Name In repre-
senting our Heavenly Father as merci.
less. loveless. have we not in another
way blasphemed that same Holy
Name In declaring that He lacks the
power and the wisdom to do the good
which His loving heart would prompt
Do we worship a stupid and impotent
God. one who blundered In the crea.
tion Of our race. and who. for six thou.
sand years. has been striving to rec.
tify that error and all the while has
been allowing thousa nds Of millions OF
His creatures whom be loves to &c
down to an eternity Of torture? Alas.
1t would be nearly rs easy to worship
an all-powerful and loveless God as
to worship an all-loving but unwise
and impotent God who foolishly. sin
fully. brought thousands of millions
Of Intelligent beings into existence only
TO suffer an eternity of agony through
His Incompetence.
sheiy. Holy, Holy. Lord God"
We come now to our text. II de.
clares that the time Is coming when
the whole earth shall be full of Gods
glory. All! glorious dayi Then the
shadows Of ignorance. superstition,
misunderstanding and misrepresenta.
ton In respect to the Divine charac.
ter win all fee before the light Of the
knowledge Of the glory Of God-the
appreciation Of the Divine character
as manifested In the Divine Plan for
human salvation Could this Scrip
ture ever be fulnlled. could the Divine
character ever be appreciated BY In.
telligent. honest, just and loving
hearts. II in any corner Of the Uni.
verse there were such orgies and tor
tures Of His creatures a. the creeds Of
the Darker Ages have set forth
Surely not! On the contrary. In this
glorious Day will be fulfilled the
Scripturai prediction. "all In heaven
and In earth and under the earth
teverywherel heard I saying. praise.
glory. honor. dominion and might Be
unto Him that sitteth on tho throne.
and unto tho Lamb forevef!