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About Christian herald. (Portland ;) 1882-18?? | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1883)
9 CHRISTIAN HERALD. sometimes in our lives, long, dark places filled with sadness and gloom, and God dQes not tell us what they mean—we could not un derstand^ but we wait, and in good time come the sunshin« and the -r1— hi . ..1.1 al - 4 tery of the faith,” it should be “ in How well does this accord with a pure conscienceand no con the experience of the people of God sideration should avail to induce us generally. Rarely will you find to ignore it, or to condemn ourselves one who has not met with such in what we allow. Those whom passage-tunnels of greater or less we gratify are allowed a triumph length, and of more or less dark- when we” tKus recognize their in 1 n- ness and gloominess, hi tlie isterial character and the scriptural- pilgrimage of life. So was it with ness of the body that ordains them; the saints of ancient times. So was and they ask, logically, how we can it with Abraham in Ins journey of condemn them>^amL_ justify uuj >. three days withhi^belovcd Isaac selves. If, when we preach the to Mount Moriah. A dark tunnel gospel, we know no man after the all the way. So was it with Job flesh—or after " a church,” but call during that sad period of his his upon all men everywhere, simply tory, of which w e read in the book . as sinners, to repent and to obey that bears his name. A long, dark, the truth—just as the apostles-— unalleviated night was that. And who knew no man as a Pharisee, a •so was it oftentimes with David. Sadducee, an Essene or Herodian— How many were I he dark passages we should be consistent also, in all in his troubled life ? that is given us in charge “ as Not greatly unlike theirs has «towards of the manifold-grace of been the modem God and treat a sectarian how saints. Not unlike wasT that of the pious soever—as needing to be* young ladv, from whom we have openly reconciled to God. To quoted. Her illness was to her » countenance error will not correct it. long night of affiiction. And for It will, in this latitudinarian age, one cause and another, such nights be regarded as illiberul, narrow have been common with the people minded, uncharitable, and far out of God of all times anil of all of the spirit of the age, to “ hold countries. With some it* has come fast the form of Sound words;” but, from sore bereavements ; with some whether we, as a people, have,,at from frustrated plans and for “ pur tained to a knowledge of that furm poses broken off',” and with others or not, the principles above asserted from the hidings of their- Father’s are unassailable ; and no one who lac«. They have walked in dark understands and—tqienly avows ness, seeing no light. them, can contravene them without But, take courage, all ye be betraying the cause in which they nighted and troubled souls; the inhere. He who does not under dark tunnel will ere long be passed stand the identity of the Christ through, and you will emerge from with hia disciples; or, that he bus it amidst bright uiid joyous scenes. no liberty to do what Christ would To quote again from, the diary al not do, or to say what he would not ready mentioned : ” Most beautiful ■say, should not undertake to be a day. However dark the days may leader or a guide» in the Kingdom be f<>r a time, sunshine always of Heaven. The guests at the comes again.” Fairer far than Lord’s Table am furnished by the sunny Italy is that heavenly laud host with the w’ediling garment: towards which you are journeying. They have “ put on Chiist.” He is Your days of gloom and sadness in them; and they in him.— Old will all soon be post and gone for Path Guide. ever. Soon will "come the sun shine and the flowers,” the " never withering floweis.” Soon will you “ Tunnels in our Lives.” have become an inhabitant of " the I have recently been reading the city that hath no need of the sun, letters and diary of a pious-gifted neither of the moon, to shine in it; young Scotch lady, who was an for the glory of God doth lighten it, invalid and traveled abroad for her ami the Lainb is the light thereof.” health. After having described, in All tears forever wiped away, you one of her letters, her passage shall dwell amidst the splendors of in through the Mont Cenis tunnel, she a cloudless, eternal day.—H. thus moralized : “ We have tunnels Observer. ask a preacher, not in the Kingdom of Heaven, to officiate, in whole or in part, in this institution^, it may be that we place ourselves in his position; and renounce, thus, all claim to a separate one for our- The New Theology Again. • That promise of Christ was Robin son’s warrant for saying that more light would yet break forth from Not a few ministers, and laymen God’? Word. As the New Testa as well, are in the position which ment grew up fiom the Old, so the Dr,-. Meredith championed at the Newest grows out of the New as WHAT IS THE NEW THEOLOGY? ft ology ” in the Boston Congregation al Club. Some might announce themselves for the new theology and others for the old theology, but he refused to be classified with either side. This is a question with more than two sides. Many of us do not indorse either Augustine or Newman Smyth. We go back of the new theology to the New Tes tament, and back of the church Fathers to the grandfathers ; the Apostles and the Evangelists. There is an oldest theology and an old, a new and a newest. We do not accept the old theology of Calvin, but the oldest—that of the whole-Bible. We accept the new theology of the New Testament, but not the newest theories about the mistakes of the Bible, the after death» probation, and ■ the one- sidedness of th«T atobelueiit related to love only, not at all to law. If, as the people generally understand, the three points of the new theology are: first, that the Bible contains the word of Godi adulterated with jnyths and mis takes ; second, that the atonement of Christ was nothing more than moral suasion to win man’s heart to God ; third, that we are to talk and write about an after death proba tion, instead of leayjpg that secret thing which belongs unto God where he leaves it—under the self answering question, “ Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?”— if thesfe theories on inspiration and atonement and probation are the new theology, very many of us see no reason to accept it, while at the same time refusing to be considered unprogressive or 4-ugustinian. If The Christian Union’s broador classification is to be accepted, and Phillips Brooks and Dr. Gordon are to be considered representatives of the new theology, then a majority of the evangelical preachers of to day probably belong under the same banner of “ progress in theology.’ Jesus said, “ I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” That was a promise of the Newest Testament of mod ern history and experience, in which the modern missionary move ment is one gospel, and the Sunday- school movement another, and the temperance movement another. words warranted Webster in say ing, “ There is more of valuable truth yet to be gleaned from the Sacred Writings that has thus far escaped the attention of commenta tors than from all other sources of human knowledge combined.” --If-- it is belief in progress of theological knowledge, rather than talking of after-death probation, that is to be the badge of the new theology, then it has a large following. But that is not at present the understood meaning of the term. The majori ty of ministers, if I mistake not, think that the mediaeval creeds need revising, not in light of the new theology but of the New Tes tament. For instance, on the doc trine of inspiration few ministers believe that the Bible claims verbal inspiration, but.dewer .still find any . established facts ofBiblical critic ism to lead them to believe that Ezra deceived Christ in regard to the authorship of the “ Pentateuch,” as Robertson Smith claimed at his trial. Could a good man deceive the God-man ? It seems to me, then, Mr. Editor, that we need a better definition of the new theology and a more uniform use of the term, to avoid misleading statements as to men’s theological positions.—W ilbur F, C rafts , in Christian Union. — ■ — - • • Prompt Obedience. A prompt and unquestioning obedience should be rendered to all God’s commands. Nd objections or excuses should be made. When God commands obedience it is to be rendered because he commands, not because it will be wise and profit able to obey. No time should be spent in considering the reasonable ness of the command, or the re wards of obedience. The time shouTiTbe spent in obeying. It sometimes happens that a duty is set before the Christian. He hesitates to enter upon its per formance, on account of the difficul ties which he foresees he may meet with. The obligation is clear. The way is open, but he is not sure that he will succeed. When Christ ordered the disci ples to feed five thousand men with five loaves, they proceeded at once to obey the command. They did