As I say elsewhere, this revulsion of heart and mind is a strong plea that the doctrine is not true. And it is a fearful thing to quench that inner light. I have already quoted Carlyle's trenchant words on this point. But I have just now met with another saying of his of still more scathing intensity; and I would ask you to ponder his words well. He says: "What is incredible to thee, thou shalt not, at thy soul's peril, attempt to believe. Elsewhither for a refuge, or die here. Go to Perdition if thou must—but not with a lie in thy mouth; by the Eternal Maker, no!"
To be sure, such courage and candor might cost dear. Some years ago there was an able and conscientious minister of the Canadian Presbyterian Church who took the risk of being candid. He was a most lovable man; able, eloquent, active, helpful, humorous, candid, tender, devout; in fact, possessed of nearly every desirable quality. But he had the larger hope; and one day he unguardedly gave expression to it in the words of Tennyson:
"O yet we trust that, somehow, good
Will be the final goal of ill—"
and so on. Immediately he was a marked man, and the question was not allowed to settle until he was placed on trial for heterodoxy. There was considerable turmoil and excitement; but ultimately some kind of a compromise was reached by which his orthodoxy was vindicated. He told me that if he were once out of the church of which he was then minister, he could get no other. I suppose he meant that he could not accept the standards of the church; and of course that attitude would debar him.
SOUNDNESS IN THE FAITH.
At the same time it is but right that the Church should protect its soundness in the faith by some form of subscription. The trouble is, however, that the form now in force is subscribed to with reservations. Then what reservations? They are not defined; so it comes to this, that each subscriber makes his own reservations.
As evidence that such is the case, I may say that no minister in the Presbyterian Church of Canada, with whom I have spoken—and I have spoken with many—really believes in endless torment. Yet that doctrine is clearly stated in the Confession of Faith which ministers formally accept. The corrective of such a state of things in my opinion would be the adoption of a simple evangelical creed that men of the most diverse views on other matters could honestly accept.
Even in reference to the manner in which the creed is accepted in the Presbyterian Church of Canada, there seems to me to be a want of candor. When a minister is being received, or installed in a charge, he is asked if he is prepared to sign the Confession of Faith. He is not asked to sign it then and there. To express his willingness to sign it does not seem to be so much of a tax on his candor as actually to sign it. Such a proceeding seems to me to put somewhat of a premium on insincerity. It is well known that there are reservations. Would it not be more honest to accept a short statement of evangelical truth, which could be accepted without any reservation?