Show THOUGHTS or OF A under the atla title of tile persistence of log dogmatic matle theology N est westminster minster lie ile bew ew NL ember mi 0 0 gheen wood orthodoxy ortho dixy and cuts cut into established doati ines and beliefs with mith a blade chiefly with ridicule among othel things lie he hilda finds it impo bit to billea in ili the doctrine of the trinity lie ahles not tile the slightest anon ii anon to bellee bellec lit in it and even the most sting of the orthodox will not lic imagines ask him to believe without filling soine boina reason creaso ill for such belief q ahe lie doctrine of tile the appears to him to be the most preposterous of nil all tile the dogmas which hae been babilt abed by tile the ler jer veree erse ingenuity of theologians 10 quote briefly as a sample cf f the argument he says I 1 if indeed it nit atre re pi plowed on ed to me that this loc lilno bested uron a revelation giom god clod I 1 would of course couise acct acca it as aa truth though en een ell so BO I 1 be to the limitation no ao well ex blessed pi eased by archbishop socker seeker let any be dell delivered Wred to us as aa coming from clod or front from man we me can belli vp it no further them than we understand it all aal I 1 therefore it if we do not understand it at all we me can not believe i 11 1 at hll in this case cabe heowener ho weer weNer I 1 am i ecy ery gl BUIC u lle that thu the dogma Is but the invention of man and to me the marvel la Is how men of intelligence after fully and dIm dispassionately passionately considering the facts facia can call stilt still believe in it the fa facts acts we find indred that tha t free thought thouy lit anil and flee hae made tile lie most satisfactory an I 1 encouraging during the last fifty ears and we may confidently hope that these advances will be even more rapid during the coming century nevertheless we find 11 nd that dog dogmatic matle theology still atall holds its own if not argumentatively at any rate numerically take tak e the ordinary man of which the socialists call bourgeois society and inquire as to his religious belief you will find that in the vast majority of instances he the orthodox falth faith lie ile Is IF a regular attendant at church or chapel lie believes not only in the nicene but probably also in the so called athanasian Athan aslan creed though he expresses elpi esses some mild doubts as to the id damnatory amna ory clauses of the latter lie he believes so no he will tell you that the old testament as well as the new to Is the revealed word of bod lie he believes in the story of 0 the creation n the fall and the deluge as told in the book of genesis le nests though 1 possibly he may admit of some alle g goricar gorica 1 interpretation ile he believes that the creator of the universe took evening walks in the garden of eden that he be showed himself to and talked with adam moses mosen and others he be llever to take a few example that elijah went up in a chariot to heaven that jonah lived three days and three nights in the belly of a whale under tile the sea that dead persons persona have been frequently braught brug ht to life again that devils have been cast out of men and sent into swine that multitudes have been fed on a few loaves and fl ashes 8 hes ile he believes bel levea these and a hundred 0 ther other strange and miraculous things and he la Is extremely angry with mith you if yo you U venture to express tho the opinion that there Is no evidence and indeed no foundation in reason to support such beliefs or any of them now the devout orthodox may perhaps say that the very fact braot of the continued prevalence of these belleta beliefs 1 la of itself a proof of their divine origin we can afford ho heowener howe weNer cr to pass by such an assertion with a anille for the t truth ruth Is that so go many causes conspire to maintain the existence of dogmatic theology that it would be indeed extraordinary tra ordinary it 1 that existence were not almost indefinitely prolonged it la Is all very well to shout magna est veritas et but a very cursory study of human history Is sufficient to show that falsehood prejudice passion ignorance superstition and credulity hane hae constantly been vic victorious victorio torto u a oner oer and I 1 much doubt whether cheth er the true maxim for this world should not rather be expressed great Is error it shall prevail 11 |