George G. Lyon

“ Neither the divine holiness nor justice was ever antagonized to the sinner, and therefore never needed to be conciliated, and certainly neither could ever be reconciled with sin; so that an atonement either to dispose God favorably toward sinners or to tolerate sin, or to make any allowance for sin or to pardon sin, is inconsistent with the divine nature. And nothing can be more absurd than the teaching that God was at enmity with the sinner, unless it be the affirmation of those who believe it, that the atonement is "a provision of divine grace or love" ”

“ It is God as the ever-present and efficient force in matter and mind, who "rides in the whirlwind and guides in the storm," who lives, and moves, and has his being in the human heart, and who helps in every infirmity. He is the unseen, intangible subsistence in and of self, and yet not self, which purifies the heart and ennobles the life, and which improves society, and "makes for righteousness" from age to age, and to the ends of the earth. ”

“ The advent and life of our Lord did not therefore impart a new moral element to the world, nor is Christianity a new provision of grace in the plan of human redemption; and the time element in their introduction is a mere question of policy, since they are not of vital importance. That is, it was for divine wisdom to determine when it would be most advantageous to the race to send the quickening example and teaching of Christ into the world, but their advent has in no way modified the relation of God to man, or of man to God, nor made the provisions of human redemption more ample or available. ”

“ The atonement, therefore, is not a provision for sin or for the sinner, but for man; and, had sin never entered the world, the mission of Christ would have been as necessary to the exaltation and salvation of mankind as it is under the reign and power of sin. It is a practical revelation of an ideal which was essential to the highest good of man, and which could be eternally approximated, but which never could be conceived by man without its disclosure in the life and death of our Lord. ”

“ It assumes that saving faith is that recognition of what is right and best which enforces its practice; and the sincerity and strength of faith are determined by the degree of the conformity of the heart and life of the subject to the character and requirements of the ideal. In other words, the aim and effort of a man to be in accord with what he sincerely regards the true and the perfect, whether that be fetichism or Christianity, is the exercise of saving faith, and secures the soul its highest commendation and the divine favor ”

“ It contemplates the divine Creator and preserver with reference to his moral creation chiefly in the light of a loving Father, immanent in all the works of his hand, directing and supporting in every motion, and controlling all forces and agencies so that they shall be in harmony with his law and work together for good. It defines Christianity as that which is worthy of God and becoming to man, and accepts as Christian teaching and life everything from every source which accords with and promotes godliness. ”

“ But since, according to Scripture and science, nothing is made in vain, or to be destroyed, there must be hope where there is life, and since the annihilation of any existence implies a useless act in its creation, or an error in the calculation of its author, it assumes that being, especially moral being, is an assurance of immortality, and that so long as there is a spark of vitality there is a possibility, or, according to the nature and course of things, a probability of an awakening to a higher life and its eternal development. ”

“ As mankind advances in intelligence, the supernatural retires, like barbarism before civilization; and yet, the prevalent belief of Christians is, that there is a supernatural, spiritual agency in the world which enlightens the mind and transforms the heart of man, and which assures of the divine favor and begets the hope of eternal life; and a less prevalent conviction that this divine element has in times past performed miracles, and may even now be controlled to heal the sick, and cure the lame, and do superhuman deeds. ”

“ But virtue is impossible anywhere without the alternative of vice; and, since the tendency to repeat is confirmed by repetition, and since virtue only accords with or is agreeable to the soul, is it not probable that the acquired taste for virtue shall continually increase until all other inclination of the soul shall cease, and virtue shall be loved for itself, and be practiced because it is so loved? And so vice can only be vice when it can be rejected. It, too, may be pursued to a habit, but it is always hostile to nature, and can never be relished ”

“ Consistent thinkers not only accept the doctrine of rewards and punishments, but hold that neither can adequately express the Divine attitude toward holiness and sin, nor man's sense of propriety and justice, unless they be eternal. They do not assume to describe the rewards or the punishments of the future, nor to know their constituents, but presume, from their appropriateness, and from the consistency in the order of divine things, that they will be similar to or identical with the peace and joy of believers, and the commotion and wretchedness of sinners on earth. ”

“ It recognizes and adores Christ as the manifestation of every conceivable attribute and desirable quality contained in the infinite Godhead, and as the only sufficient and perfect Saviour of mankind; and it holds that faith which seeks to be possessed of the mind of Christ regenerates the heart and makes the life Christ-like, and secures salvation to mankind by the divine or Christ-like possessions it imparts. It acknowledges as acceptable worship to the true God the sincere devotion that is paid to any god, and insists that this is conformable to sound reason and sacred Scripture ”

“ There is a disposition in the human mind to repeat its acts, and it acquires the facility of habit by its repetitions, so that one virtuous or vicious act heralds another, but each volition determines, as it also indicates, the character, and therefore, if there be virtue in the future, it must be predicated there as here on a probationary existence, and be secured by deliberate choice. ”

“ And if, as claimed, the natural occurrences are divine operations, then, certainly, no supernatural agency could be more subtile, or more powerful, or more beneficial, than a common process of Nature. Even the advent of Christ can not be regarded as a new or superseding force in human life if he be "God manifest in the flesh," for God has ever made himself known by his works and providence, "even his everlasting power and divinity." ”

“ So that suffering, physical and spiritual, is the cry for mercy from the depths of transgression, and is the sign of hope and the assurance of a "present help in time of need," unless the desire of sufferers exceeds the measure of the divine and human compassion. ”

“ It does not deny that in some way the mission of our Lord, accomplished immeasurable good to mankind, for it recognizes a new and diviner life issuing from Calvary and streaming down through the centuries in ever-increasing volume, purifying the hearts and inspiring the lives of men, and constituting the impulsive force to all that is desirable and divine in human progress ”

“ It is true, the advent of Christ was of intermediation in time, but in essence of being it was contemporaneous with accountability, and was revealed in prophetic language at the first overture of moral delinquency as the seed of the woman "that should bruise the serpent's head"; and has ever, according to all human experience, been recognized in the ideal of good which reproaches every varying thought and deed, and which constitutes the inspiration and the encouragement to all improvement. ”

“ The aim of the atonement is to exemplify a condition and life corresponding to, but surpassing, the highest ideals of men, which may be approximately attained by every individual of the race in every stage of accountability; and the effort to realize this condition and life is the acceptance of its provisions and its accounted righteousness or the transfer of Christ's righteousness to the believer; for the faith that impels to be like Christ is transforming in its effect, and by its continuous exercise believers become Christ-like in character and conduct. ”

“ If, therefore, life is continuous and pain accompanies penalty, the possibility of recovery from the pain of transgression and of a new opportunity in life must be their concomitants, and last as long as "life and thought and being." So that penalty, so long as it is accompanied with pain, is an evidence of probationary being, and there is certainly no philosophic nor scientific reason, and probably no biblical teaching, incompatible with these two principles—the continuity of life, and the remedial nature of pain ”

“ One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the New Theology is its respect for science, indicated by its effort to put all its statements on a scientific basis and submit them in a scientific method, and to question the value or utility of any doctrine which does not come under some general and harmonious law, or which can not be scientifically presented ”

“ From this point the New Theology shades off gradually from the Old. It holds that sin involves death or permanent disability, and that continuous sinning becomes increasingly disastrous, undermining and weakening the moral nature, until it becomes so enfeebled as hardly to be able to perform or to enjoy the pleasures of a virtuous deed, and logically terminates in the extinction of moral being. ”

“ Death—eternal disability—must follow the first and least as well as the last and greatest transgression, and the eternity of its infliction is based on sin and not on continuous sinning. But death does not end life. ”

“ All natural wants, physical and spiritual, are indicative of the divine disposition to help, and are assurances of suitable supplies—material for the body and immaterial for the mind—which, according to all human experience, never ignore nor supersede a natural law or function ”

“ With the Old it accepts all Scripture given by inspiration as divine, and interprets Scripture by Scripture, but it holds in abeyance all biblical utterances which seem unreasonable, and rejects all which are in conflict with the nature of things or the course of Providence, and aims to understand and to corroborate the written word by the works of Nature; and it maintains that no portion of the Scripture can be a revelation of God to man except to the extent that it is understood and conforms to the laws of being. ”

“ As a corollary to this respect for science the New Theology has an antipathy to authority, and insists on personal freedom in investigation, and personal responsibility for conviction. It concedes that authority is necessary as a guide in immaturity, and that most of the knowledge acquired by individuals is derived, but holds that no ipse dixit is final, and that all communication is to be received tentatively and subject to amendment or rejection ”

“ And if, with the diminution of moral energy referred to, there is, as is claimed, an element of pain as a corollary of transgression, it is an additional evidence of the probability of reformation and growth, for suffering is not a penalty in token of disapproval, bat a sign of mercy and an agency of restraint and reformation. The penalty of sin is death—an eternal disability—and the pain that accompanies it is its symptom demanding attention, and the application of curative remedies. ”

“ The New Theology does not claim to make men better Christians, for it teaches that the divinest character is formed by striving after the best, and that no intellectual belief or formal creed can improve moral nature ”

“ Probation is, therefore, of instantaneity and not of continuity, except so far as continuity indicates a succession of moral or probationary processes; character is the tendency evoked by the last determination; virtuous life is a succession of best choices, and finite moral being and morality terminate with probation. ”

“ The New Theology is not a positive philosophy which rejects or agnosticizes the unknowable and the incomprehensible. It accepts authority as the starting-point of inquiry, which is skeptical but open to evidence, and takes the reasonable and the probable rather than the positive or the absolute as the only attainable presumption of truth and error. ”

“ It is not questioned that there is an enlightening, encouraging, and comforting spiritual influence in the world; but why assume that it is supernatural? or that it is a new and distinct agent which is superior to and supersedes Nature? ”

“ No one has yet fathomed the mysteries or power of a single element of nature, and therefore can not reasonably assume that Nature is insufficient to account for all the phenomena attributed to the supernatural, nor can any one show that the supernatural has ever done or can do more than is done by Nature in its ordinary processes. ”

“ To compass this end, Christian theology has resorted to purgatory, universalism, restoration, annihilation of the wicked, second probation, and other subterfuges, and has sought in scriptural teaching and in natural processes for a theodicy that would relieve the Creator from the reproach of the eternal punishment of sinners. ”

“ Starting out with these leading ideas that no creed can be final so long as there is the infinite to explore or the human intellect is capable of comprehending more; that new symbols are of periodicity and of rational expectation, and therefore that all creeds are tentative and adapted only to a transition period ”

“ This, at least, would be in accord with the order of nature, and could neither minify penalty nor reproach law, and would vindicate the divine righteousness in the creation and redemption of man, and be the fullest and the grandest exhibition of the divine wisdom and love to the intelligent universe. ”