Year: 1878




what was once called 1.-The death and
glory theory" No scholarly Universalist
now, as | suppose, would care to be re-
sponsible for the old crude form of as
sertion inside the ranks of Universalism,
implying that death is a bath, washing
off whatever habits we have of evil and
giving US at once harmony with the I'm
seen Holy. Within a few weeks dis
tlnguished gathering of Universalists in
this city has issued series of propositions,
expressing the poin is in which they agree,
and distinctly repudiating that theory


This event marks an important improve
ment upon the first form in which Uni
versaism was taught in New England.


Applause.


4. The Second Probationist view. This
does rot necessarily teach that all men
will be saved, but that those who die i'm
penitent will have a second chance, and
ahat those who do not improve will fall
ilto eternal sin and go into eternal pun
ishment.


5. The Annihilationist view. This af-
firms that the incorrigibly wicked will
sooner or later cease to exist.


6. The Universalist view.


7. The Restorationist view. Now that
the doctrine l have just referred to has
been repudiated, there is very little diff





torationism The Universalist is a Res
torationist of perhaps a more emphatic
sort than the man who previously was
called Restorationist, but not q Univer-
salst


s. The Agnostic view. Those who hold
this say that there is background of
mystery, and that the Bible reveals roth
ing on this theme.


9. The Optimistic view. This is Canon
Farrar's position, and it affirms neither
the Universalist nor the Restorationist
nor the Agnostic propositions but simply
an eternal hope.


l might say that, in the last place we
have a materialistic view which some
times calls itself Christian, attempting to
twist out of the Scriptures the idea that
there is no Immortality for any soul. We
have erratics, unscholarly, foolish persons,
who find no teaching of Immortality in
| the Old Testament, or even in the New.
| Indeed there is no use in carrying for
ward q debate with men so twisted by
native constitution that they can twist
| the Bible into the negation of one of the
plainest of its teachings, certainly in the
New Testament, that there is immortal
ty for both the evil and the good.


The worth of an opinion in the world
may be estimated by the number who
hold it, and by its practical effect in max
ing men good. i am not prepared to
affirm that the agnostc doctrine is pow
erful in making men virtuous, or that
the optimistic is, or that the second pro
bationist is. Try the experiment of put
ting down opposite each one of these nine
views figure representing the prevalence
of the opinion Eighty out of hundred
of the protesting Christians of the world
hold the Orthodox view. Some very i'm
portant excrescences on the Orthodox
position are included in the Romish view.
But throwing out the excrescences, and
putting Romish and Orthodox together,
certainly 80 per cent. of those who pro
fess Christianity hold that there is end
lessness in future punishment. Well,
now, l believe that has been an effective
doctrine, on the whole, in making people
virtuous. Put eight for the figure rep
resenting the prevalence OF this Orthodox
view, and eight as the figure representing
its power to do good, and multiply the
two together and you have the figure
that should represent the weight of that
view-say siXty-four Take your second
probationist, take your optimistic, take
any other of the nine views and estimate
their weight in the same way by the pro
duct of two factors representing preva-
lence and usefulness. How do they work?
Wendell Phillips said in my hearing the
other day, before the Free Religious AS
sociation: II am proud to be your lee
turer, but your doctrine will not work.
Tested by history, tested by philosophy,
tested by human nature, you will find
that it will not work" That was his
phrase, repeated four times. Facts oblige
US to say concerning these other forms OF
the doctrine of future punishment that
tbou do oOf 10
tain that they have not been effective in
obtaining supporters among those who
profess to be serious men and women,
and to take the Scriptures for their guide.
They have obtained many followers out
side those who reverence the Scriptures
they have obtained many inside the range
of Bohemian and the Sofa theology. But
l am now speaking of earnest, serious
men, who are about to go hence, and to
try the personal experiment of putting
themselves on this or that PLATFORM
Where are the figures that represent the
true weights of those doctrines, as esti-
mated by their prevalence among serious
men, and their effectiveness in making
bad men good 4? With the highest figure
my conscience will justify, can not raise
any one of those doctrines to a position
above ten as compared with sixty-four. l
do n OF find that their prevalence in the
world, and their power to do good, hts
them to be weighed against the more Sc
rious view; and SO, according merely TO
the rule of count of heads and clack of
tongues, there is really something to be
said for the orthodox position.


If you were to send out your ballot box
and take up vote, | believe that you
would find the opinion of the Church far
less changed as to substance than many
of you suppose. One of the religious
newspapers of this city has shown that
more than seventy per cent. OF the men
in the evangelical ministry of my denom-
iuation teach the orthodox view in sub
stantial unity. The evangelical creeds of
the world are practically a unit on the
propositions which | have given here as
deductions from established ethical sci
ence. l do not know an evangelical de-
nomination on the globe that will deny
either of these six assertions. Give me
these six propositions, which have thus
far seen battle, but not defeat, and | am
willing to face any theology which stands
simply on the spirit of the time and not
on the spirit of eternity. Applause.


Oliver Goldsmith once maintained at
table, in presence of Burke and Johnson,
that in eating he did not move his lower
Jaw Burke and johnson made no reply,
and other listeners contented Themselves
with saving that an able man sonnet mes
delights in paradox. Suppose that your
able man had an able father, naughty,
overbearing, and a little sour? What IT
that father, when the son was young and
impressible marries second time; and
what if the wife after years experience
of the rough, tyrannical, somewhat cruel
husband, leaves him, forever, in spite OF