REVIEW.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8169, 28 April 1888, Page 5 (Supplement)

REVIEW.

re The Reign of Grace: A Discussion of the Ques1S tion of the Possibility of Salvation for All :d Men iv This Life or in the Life to Come, id By William Salmond, D.D., Professor of id Mental and Moral Philosophy, University of ie Otago, New Zealaud, Dunedin: W. Hors,h burgh. 1888. d The interest of this pamph'et Is pHpejy ner--8 sonal. It contains nothing that is new, except '' the information that Dr Salmond has embraced T, Universalism, and entertains the hopo that all n men will be saved at thu last. As Dr Salmond is a Presbyterian minister, and was, until n lately, head of an institution for train- )* ing 'Presbyterian ministers, bis conversion tp v views inconsistent with Presbyterian standards ' of belief will doubtless'atlrapt general attention, but in tlje yiows themselves there is nothing remarkable. Th,ey ape yfpsyp, he tells us, which have already full posspssiou of the ) churches of Germany, are current oyer, threefourths of the Episcopalian and Nonconformist churches of England, and aro with rapid strides possessing the Presbyterian and CongregatiqnaU fist churches of America. This being so, thero 3 seems something overstrained in Dr Salmond's . description of tho labour pangs this Innocent literary birth has cost him, of his hesitations 1 and cunctations before venturing to publish, and * his distress of spirit whilst going about with "a solemn belief hidden as a secret in bis heart-" He says:— " I had no rest ju my cpirit till I sat down at my desk and poured out my soul's : cou tents on paper; aud I have ever found the pen a magio weapon for making the thoughts clear, and discharging $!}' oyerhurdened mind aud heart. The views here' ejgresspd ¥Pf3 familiar to ray mind 30 years ago, ""eyeji V?he*.i as yet "a stqileiit j cherished when as yet'f "scarcely kpew one who sympathised witli them* spipetimes possessing me with luminous clearness, apd ftnop falling under a cloud of doubt and embarrassment i occasionally preached and openly declared, then for years put out of sight under tho pressure of the active duties which are a minister's best shield from harassing thoughts, yet ever anew in hours of meditatjop, of by force of circumstances, coming back like an armed hojjfc apd reasserting their hold j and now, at length, after many ups and downs and revisions, have obtained from my mind that sort of inward affirniatiou which brings to one tho security that he will not chaugfl nor falter again, and that if ever he has to speak he may speak now I have resolved to publish, and meet whatever joy pr sjorrpw, love or hate, blessing or reviling may betide. I can no longer help myself." ' This is somewhat after the manner of Luther's famous ultimatum at Worms: " Here stand I; I can no other; God help me 1" A tone so tragic seems in Dr Salmond's caso hardly called for. Uo doubt it is adopted iv view of tho possi- i bility of a ueicpy Jjunt, iv which the ex- ' professor of theology would bo assigpod thp ' leading part. Iv explanation of** his delay I ' in making " open confession," he says, I ' " } feared the Btorra and bitter fury of theo- I j logical"aiiinjosjpy—Jp rue ahfayp an appalling j ' spectacle, causing me tp"sh'uddfcr witji 4 great ' amazement." This sentence might have been ' inspired by penitential rominisceuces of "tho ' storm aud bitter fury " of a famous controversy recorded in our files of 1876, a controversy—we ■* hope we 6hall be forgiven the reference— originated by Dr Salmond, and in which he was chief combataut, *f}ut, says the rev. doctor, " a great and blessed change hao come over the c theological temper of the Church " :— t ' '.' A low years ago [say 12-], every new and E diyergept dopjripal view was greeted with a low, t wjld howl of fndignatlon, reproducing iv living a form the very spirit qf tho Jewish ijanjiedrim: c and thpre prevailed an intellectual terrorism that g strangled thought, made true science impossible, a droye many puf.e apd pople mjnq£ atyay ffom ti the active' spryipe of the Ghurchj qnd' caused c; many a deep and sensitjye spirit to consume I away its life in secret; aud, to this hour, is fbrcr g ing some to the uso of allegory, romance, and a poetry, as a veil cast over dogmatic expression si of belief. We have grown wearied and ashamed ti of it." , c

This is satisfactory, but to know how far thp I' grost snd blessbd change" has extended;'we must wait untij we see what fate is res.er.yed ' fp' r th.c ajitho^ of thi3 pamphlet. In bis o*,vp case the change is e'vii")eht beyond dispute, aud wo aro inclined, to think that should Dr Salmond ever write an Apologia pro Vita Sua, he might note with truth, as a leading factor iv his owu intellectual and theological evolution, the Duuediu Evolution controversy of 1876. Coming to the substance of the pamphlet, we may speak with unqualified commendation of nearly all that Dr Salmond has written. His brief restatement pf the moral argument agaiust tho Puritan and .Calyinlst dogma of eternal torluie is excellent. 'If there are still persons in the*1 Churches for whom insistence on this argument is necessary— i.i, persons who attribute to the Heavenly Father the moral qualities of a fieud, conceiving Him as bringing coijntless millions into existence with the" solo design of torturing' them' in fire through endless ages,^-such persops may be commended tq a perusal of tho " Reign of Grace," For himself, Dr Salmond has reached tho clear couvictiqn that opportunities of grace aro not limited to the present lifo. This has always been the Roman vipw; and it was admitted oven by Luther, notwithstanding his j hostility to the grotesquo and repulsive presentation of it in the Roman doctrine of Purgatory. Luther thought of that doctrine very much as the Church of England speaks of it iv her 22nd Article— -as "a fond thing, vainly invented." Nevertheless he writes: " God forbid tbat I should limit tho time for acquiring faith to the present'life. In the depths of tbo piyine mercy there may be opportunity to wiu it ji) thp future state." Charles IJingsley's defence of the' damnatory clauses of the Athapasian creed on the samo grounds is well known. " The Athanasian creed," he says, " is now construed by tho people in the light of the Puritan doctrine of the future lifo—i.e., of the doctrine which the Puritans (so far as I know) introduced first, namely, that the fate of every man is irrevocably fixed at the moment of death. I need not tell you that thia is not tho Catholic doctrine. In whatsoever ago the creed was composed, it was composed by men who believed in the possibility of salvation after death, and there is nothing in its language to hint that there was no hopo after death for the unorthodox." If, through " defects of doubt or taints of blood "the knowledge of God is not attained in this life, it may be attained in the iiext, possibly "after heavy paiiis and long wanderings "; yet at last tho infidel and heretic "shall discover his Saviour and his God, and discover that for Him he had been seeking, though ho know it not." This was Kingslcy's doctrine, aud it is also Pr Salmond's. The opposite view he l' rejects 'aa ' & 'poisonous error aud a parasitical growth;" he (' abhors it as a falsehood against tbe love 'of God and the mercy of Christ." He believes " that to the end of time the heart of God remains opon as a refuge to every creature whom His hands have fashioned." Apparently Dr Salmond would go as far as St. Martin of Tours, and even offer meroy to tbe Devil: "If thou thyself, 0 wretched one, wonldst desist from the persecution of man and even vow repent, I, with true assurance in the Lord, would promise to thee the pity of Christ." This is an anticipation by centuries, as Archdeacon Farrar remarks, ot Burns' famous " Ad* dress to the De'il:" Then fare ye weel, auld Nickle-ben I () wai! ye tak' a thocht and men' I Ye aiblins might—l dhina kenStill hae a stake— The magnificent charity of the Ayrshire bard might shelter beneath the authority of more than one ancient Father. Dr Salmond does not hide from himself that ho has departed utterly from the teachings of the Westminster Confession, and ho waits, iv evident anxiety, to know what the authorities of his Church will do with him. Ho thinks that he amongst his ministerial brethren who is without siu—in tbe matter of doctrinal laxity—should throw the first stove, and that ou the whole thoy would do well to lot him alono. Wo think so too. It is true that in much that he has written here ho is unnecessarily perfervid aud provocative, c g.—" Oh, men and brethren! by the mercy of God, by the love of truth, and by tho sorrows of Christ, let us tell no more lies. Ob, hard, relentless Orthodoxy! Have pity ! Have pity on tho tons of thousands of souls around you sickening into Atheism," kc.,ka. This kind of apostrophe, aud particularly the clause we have italicised, will not tend to conciliate to Dr Salmond tho sympathy of his judges. And ypt it is un. doubtedly true, as he asserts, that the temper of his Church on questions of theology has greatly changed. The teaching of tho Scotch pulpit has grown more humane, and iv that samo fact we may sco ono of the surest signs that the Gospel of Christ is beginning to be better understood. It is to the development of tho sentiments of humanity, justice, and charity that we owe tho general uprising of the human heart in our day against tbe frightful doctrines Dr Salmond has found courage to repuJiato. Then the mental condition of tho laity on theological questions is ono of puzzlement, hesitation, often indifference. The kirk older is no longer cock-sure of everything, and his own election firsfc and foremost. The theological old woman—grim Presbyterian Megacra, who in tho early days of Guthrie and Norman Maeleod used to summon the young minister, trembling in his shoes, to " gang ower the foouilamentals "—is a type hardly to bo found in Otago. There is a story of a Calvimstic damo of this class who, in reply to the expression of a hope that after all the greater part of the human race might be saved, sternly mado answer, " But wo hqpo for better things!" Not much of this epirit can be surviving amongst Otago Presbyterians, Of the spirit of the saintly Samuel Hopkins, who thought that "if the fire of eternal punishment ceased it would put an end to a grnafc part of the happiness and glory of the blessed," thero cannot now be .surviving anywhere, one would think, a vestige. Tho Puritan and Goneviui system of tho universe has fallen into disrepute amongst many of those even who havo not formally repudiated it; the modern Presbyterian temper is favourable to outspokenness; ministers and peoplo alike aro growing impatient of the restraints which hinder them of the intel-

• [ lectual liberty enjoyed by their follow Christians i in other demnninations. For theso reasons wu i venture to hope that Dr Salmond may bo per- . mitted to dwell in peace, that—to quote his own * words—he may " bo left alone, without the Church hastening to any kind of formal decision whicii might only lay up stores for future n> pentauce." No doubt it will be said that when a minister finds himself obliged to contradict the doctrinal standards of his Church, he .should desist from his ministry, or exereiso it elsewhere. We aro not so sure of that. Creeds and confessions of faith are not like the axioms of geometry; they are not final statements, proved true onoo for all, for ever after unchallengeable. At the best a creed, in its origiual form, cau ouly represent tho opinions current at the time it was framed ; if. it is to have anything better than a galvanic lifo it must chango from ago to age as opinion changes, As a matter of fact the historic creeds of Christendom have been modified again and again, sometimes by retrenchment, sometimes by supplement. Belief in the sacrosavipt im yioJuhility of creeds Is a superstition which might he corrected, one would think, by a little study of ohuroh history. If a oreed or Confession of Faith may be modified, a fortiori it may be discovered to be in need of modification. This seems to bo tho head and front Of Dr Sulmond's offending, if offending it may be called. He has discovered that the doefcriual stapdarj of tlifi coninmulon cf which he is a 'minister needs rpyisiug.' In these circumstances bpght he to go out or stay in ? We offer him no unsolicited ad vice, but on the adstract question as to the duty of a religious tiachpr iq his position it ia. open tq anyone to • form an opinion." Qur own opinio*! is, that the best seryico a clergyman at varianco with the accepted standards am render to his denoroina- ' tton Is tq rpiflaln within It and use whatever influence be possesses to promote reform. Pro- ! bably this wjl) be Dr Salmond's course. It may be that the usual martyrdom of heretics awaits ' him, but, jf we do pot mistake the tope of his pamphlet, Dr Salmond is'prppared for that, *