New Britain herald., 1922-10-17
BAPTIST MINISTER
 STARTLES MEETING
Essay on Evangelism Eliminates Devil, Hell and AtOnelnent

Intimating that modern theology is taking a modern intelligent view of religious matters and that Christianity is becoming more practical, people are getting away from superstitions ard demanding the why's and where fores Of things whether in the Bible or not, Rev F R Haggard, of Hart ford, created a sensation in his es- say, Evangelism, Old and New" al the 4lst conference of Baptist min isters ot Connecticut which opened the state convention of Baptlsts here yesterday
 The essay, which eliminated the theory of personal atonement, a liter al hell Of fire and birthstone and q personal devil, created much active discussion during the meeting. which showed that the opinions Of this sub ject are about evenly divided between the old school ministers and recent Theological graduates. IL was the one subject Of discussion following the meeting
 Extracts from the essay are as fol- lows
 Following the American revolu- tion Christianity again fell into de- plorable state of dilapidation and seemed on the verge of collapse No less 3 man than Thomas Jefferson predicted that Christianity would die out within a generation. Suddenly. as from nowhere a great revival broke out and the 18th century was ushered in with spiritual upheaval which left rich deposit Of missionary zeal and the beginnings of a splendid lot of Christian institutions II was in this revival that the Am merican camp meeting came into existence.
 Revival Spirit Spreads
 ''The revival spirit spread and whole communities were regenerated and made respectable The move ment came up through New York and New England and broke out in the colleges. where infdelity had been most blatant. This revival brought a phenomenal growth in church membership. The Presbyterian church increased in membership from 10000 to IFS, ,0o0; the Congregational church from 75oo0 to s4o.ooo: the Baptist church from 100. o0o to 30o.- GOO; the Methodist church from e4.- GOO to 476,oon
 Popular Theology.
 Whatever may be the cause or causes, 1t must be admitted that evangelism which leaned hard upon the old time revival is in trouble to- day With few exception evangelists have never been theologians They have taken their theology ready made from others or constructed it along simple lines upon literal interpre- tation of the Bible or simply held to the popular Christian theology
 Fire and Birthstone.
 Practically all of the greater and lesser evangelists held a somewhat mechanical view of the plan of sal ration, as they called it. Fear was the most conspicuous instrument among all their tools Not every ser mon preached had as its topic, hell and eternal torment but every ser mon kept these things conveniently near and few congregations were dis missed before they had smelled sul- phur.
 We have a new psychology which has given us a glimpse of the human mind so vast and varied in it's work lngs that it staggers us to think of it.
 New Theology.
 Whether we like it or not we have a new theology We may not accept it as our own, but it is here never theless and we shall find it necessary to understand it and deal with it be- fore we win the attention of the peo- pie we seek to win, There is a new popular theology current today and it is chiefly distinguished by certain negative statements very positively made.
 Robbed of He'll
 Let us see for a moment what these negative statements have taken from us. We have been robbed of hell, at least the fearful hell that was for so long in effective use by the evangelist. We have lost that horrible pit over which Edwards dangled his hearers as by a thread until they lit erally fainted for fear, the hell that Whitefeld never let his audience for get and the hell with which Billy Sunday still closes about eighty-five per cent of his sermons. We have DeeH COHl pell'u lO give up the leNll. Washington Gladden. one of the pion- eers of the new theology crippled him so badly, that he never recovered Some still cling fondy to him and hope for his revival but If you will look carefully into the mind of the people you will find that most of them have joyously sped the parting guest and wished him no return Whether real and personal or exist ing merely as figment of ina gination he did harm enough while he lasted But we cannot use him very effective ly in these days as a terror to those who threaten to loose their grip on righteousness.
 Drifting To Untversalism.
 we have but lost the last remnant of our belief in the moral finality of death With the growth of the hu- manitarian spirit men have drifted unconsciousy into a form of univer- salism The Universaists as a separ- ate denomination have not attained any considerable size and perhaps have no future, because the univer- salists are too widely scattered through all the denominations today, The popular mind has abandoned the thought that men suddenly cut off are instantly thrust into an irrevoca- t,lH be1l-a hell from which thny n-