Newspaper Page Text
10 (686) ; T H 15 1
SOME HIGH CRITICISM.
Some weeks ago we received a clipping from
a secular paper in which it was announced that
Rev. Edward Eells had returned from the General
Assembly at Louisville, Ky., feeling that
his doctrine of salvation beyond the grave was
upheld by the action of the Assembly. It seems
that Mr. Eells had appealed from a decision of
the Synod of New York which sustained the action
of his Presbytery in refusing to give him a
letter of dismission to another Presbytery. The
account states that the Assembly's 'committee to
whom the appeal was referred, had "carefully
examined the papers in the ease, most important
of which was Mr. Eells' original request for a
letter of dismission from the Presbytery of Boston
to that of Westchester in order to test as
completely as possible that his doctrine of the
universal salvation through the preaching of the
Gospel in eternity was evangelical theology.
The committee reported it failed to find that the
Synod of New York in any way impaired Rev.
Mr. .kelis ngut as a rresnytenan minister, it
thtrefore recommended that the appeal or complaint
of Rev. Mr. Eells be dismissed. The report
was adopted.
The significant part of the report lay in the
fact that while taking entire cognizance of Rev.
Mr. Eells' views the committee recommended
no criticism or condemnation of them. Mr. Eells
has been careful to have circulars of his two
books sent to each member of the committee so
that they could act intelligently.
Rev. Mr. Eells said: "Thus the doctrine of
evangelical universalism is admissible as a part
of Presbyterian teaching. The General Assembly
has effectually given notice to all its ministers,
9,000 or more, that they are at liberty to preach
the same doctrine as I do. This action leaves me
free to hold my ministerial standing in the
staunchest, noblest denomination on earth, and
yet allows me to preach the blessed Gospel of a
faith in a Saviour who saves everywhere and
saves always, and will keep on saving until the
misery of sin is banished from his unverse.''
The Herald and Presbyter, in commenting on
the claims above stated, nresented the case in a
very different light in the following extract,
though it is evident that much remains to be
done by the Presbytery of Boston before the
sound Presbyterianism of that body is fully
vindicated.
"The record of the case before the Assembly
shows that Mr. Eells asked the Presbytery of
Boston to give him a letter of dismission to the
Presbytery of Westchester; that the Presbytery
refused; that he complained to the Synod, which
decided against him, and then to the Assembly,
which also decided against him. That is all there
is of it. To make this a vindication of his doctrinal
views is as silly as for a man who has
sued a neighbor and lost his case to make the
verdict against him a proof of his Republicanism
or Demoeracv. or of his Euronean or African de
scent.
Mr. Eells avows himself a Universalist. He
seems to have had the idea that if he could be
dismissed from one Presbytery to another, and
then to another and another, it would be proof of
his "good standing" in the Church and an indorsement
of his Universalism. Now that he is
refused a dismissal, he announces that this refusal
is such an indorsement. He says:
" Thus the doctrine of evangelical universalism
is admissable as a part of Presbyterian teaching.
The General Assembly has effectually given notice
to all its ministers that they are at liberty to
preach the same doctrines that I do.
He also proposes to have the publishers of his
hooks state in circulars that his doctrine has the
recognition of the Assembly, and adds:
< < f 1. f ll 1 1-. ill 1 Pi 1
rj?i7ii coy,y ui luow uuukh win imreaiier nave
an imprint on the title page: 'Officially recognized
by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Ohnrch in tthe United States of
America.' "
Of course, every sane man, having knowledge
of the case and of Preabyterial judicial procedure,
knows that the question of his doctrinal
view wgs not before the Assembly. What it passed
upon was the right of the Presbytery to refuse
him a dismissal, and this, as he did not propose
to move out of the bounds of Presbytery,
was a very simple proposition,,find capable of no
other solution than that given by the Assemlby.''
J
PRESBYTERIAN OP TRE SO
THE USE OF TIME.
Time is a very strange thing, in some respects.
It is the one thing that all men possess, that all
can use, and yet which none can make while all
can waste, and which is the one thing that is
saved by using. To srpenxl it aright is to keep
it! It is so common a possession, however, that
as a rule it is the least appreciated of all that
mm have. The value of it can be estimated by
a little multiplication. One hour a day wast
ed is nearly three years out of a life time of
seventy years. So also one hour a day well
used, in good works or reading or study, is
equivalent to three years in the course of a life
three seore years and ten. How important, then,
becomes the duty of so using one's time as to
make it tell in the developing of character and in
the making of life.
First of all, it is well to have a plan, as far as
possible, for the use of one's time. This possession
should be cared for and husbanded like any
other valuable thing that we own. In that plan,
a certain, definite part should be given to God.
He should not be robbed of his share. A half
hour a day devoted to reading the Bible, meditation
and prayer, is surely little enough. God's
part of the day will sweeten all the rest. It will
cast its glow over all the hours. It will pour its
strength into all the days. Not a moment of it
will ever come to be regarded as lost time. A
definite amount should be taken out and appropriated
to the culture of the mind. Books are
within reach of all. They contain the intellectual
wealth of the world. We cannot afford to
let this rich store pass us by, leaving us poor and
ill furnished. A certain part should be devoted
to family life. The day is so practical that there
is danger that we will think our duty done in
the home when we have obtained the necessary
food and clothing and shelter. The world of
love should not be ignored.
There is no discouragement in the Bible of
recreation. God's Word tells us to sing and
laugh. It provided, even under the severe Jewish
laws, for regular seasons of rest. The Mast
er himself wrought his first miracle to gladden
the spirits of the guests at a wedding feast. The
conditions around us should impel to a wise and
diligent use of time""redeeming the time, hecause
the days are evil." The allurements to
multiply wasted minutes into fruitless years are
as numerous as the minutes themselves. He is
wise who sees the danger and resists it. And
yet the times are not all had. It is upon the use
we make of them that all depends. There is in
them occasion to he full of thankfulness and
joy. We may make them what we will, and in
the effort we will find God a very present holp.
The wise will find the days full of opportunities
and rewards, abundantly justifying the constant
effort to walk circumspectly. The "accepted
time" is "now." Indeed, this is the only time
that any one really hah. The past is gone the moment
we utter it. The future is not ours except as
a problem. But "now," the golden present, is
ours. "Do it now" is hung as a motto in many
an office and workshop. Men know its value. Tt
is a suggestion born of reality and experience
and reason.
""Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with
thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither
thon goest."
Did you see that sun set? Yes! Well, did it
go down on your wrath 1 Tn other words, are
you angry with your neighbor at sundown?
Before the sun rises to brighten the day, let
forgiveness make your neighbor glad. Try to
get ahead of the sun in shedding brightness.
The sun is not so bright as a forgiving heart.
OTB [June 26, 1912
THE LAW OF INTELLIGENT FAITH.
How shall we demand an intelligent faith in
opposition to the implicit faith of Romanism and
yet save ourselves from the absurd position of
Rationalism? Does not the recoil from the one
carry us into the other?
There is a way. A 'belief is a judgment p*.
pressed in a proposition. This proposition, logically,
consists of subject, predicate, and copula.
Now the law of intelligent belief is, not comprehension
of the predicate or of the subject, but
. ecing evidence to sustain the copula. One may
know nothing of the nature of wireless telegraphy,
but one may know that he can send a
message from an ocean liner to his friend. It
would be absurd to deny it. There is evidence
sustaining the copula, the affirmation that a message
can be sent, though one may comprehend
nothing about how it is sent. Another illustration
: We hold here on the palm of our hand a
corn of wheat and say to you, "It is alive."
You look at it and you see that the affirmation
that it is alive is true, and you assent to it as a
tact, you see evidence to sustain the copula;
but neither you nor the greatest physicist living
can comprehend the predicate "alive." What
is life? No man knows, but you know that the
corn of wheat is alive. You know the fact,
though you know nothing about vegetable vitality
involved in the predicate. Remember then
that the law of intelligent belief is, seeing evidence
to sustain the copula, not comprehension of
the predicate. The apostles were perfectly competent
to bear witness to the resurrection of
Christ. He was not dead; they could affirm
that. There was evidence to sustain the affirmation,
whether they understood all about death
or not. Then he was alive again. They saw him,
they talked with him, they touched him, there
WflQ n'Vlllnrlnnf ovrirlnnno 4iT?r?4- "Ur*
u uTiuuuvt u* Kl t 11C WOO ail VC, W lie tiler
they understood what was involved in this
resurrection or not.
The statement that faith and reason contradict
each other is utterly false. It is absurd.
It is more; it is psychologically impossible! One
earn not put an act of the soul, as faith, in oppoposition
to a faculty of the soul, as reason.
Reason and faith are friends, not foes, in all the
walks of life. Henry Rogers says, "Reason and
faith are brother and sister. Reason, the brother,
is deaf, and faith, the sister, is blind. Reason
walks in the light by sight; but when darkness
comes, faith becomes the guide through hearing.
Faith ever listens to the voice of God and walks
without sight."
We walk by faith in religion, and it is equally
true that we walk by faith in every other walk
in life if we walk to any numose. The men ot
power in the world are always the men of faith.
No man can accomplish anything worth while
unless he be a man of faith. This is true in
finance. John D. Rockefeller is the richest man
in the world because he had faith in oil, and
no one else had it. He saw by faith the po?ibilities
of oil, and he invested in oil, and his
faith in oil has been justified, and he is now
the richest man in the world. It was because
he had faith in oil that h? is a success in finance.
Who are the successful business men that you
know? Are they not the men who had faith in
what they were doing? In Richmond, Atlanta,
Chicago, New York, the successful men are the
men who had faith in the future development
of those cities. Astor had faith in real estate.
Morgan in stocks and bonds, Carnegie in steel.
FTarriman in railroads. They were all men of
faith, and believed in these things and their
future.development, and men who were walking
by sight were left hopelessly behind.
Science, too, has learned walk by faith.
That is why she is accomplishing so much these