Improvement Era, July 1930

THE IMPROVEMENT ERA 3^2= Vol. 33-41 JULY, 1930 No. 9 Abominable Creeds By J. PERCY GODDARD Member of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board IN this centennial year of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints it has been most interesting and enlightening to re- view the astonishing progress of the last one hundred years. We are living in a new and miraculous age of change and ad- vancement. Literally a flood of light and wisdom has come upon the world since the heavens were reopened to the Prophet of the latter-days. The purpose of this article is to call attention to the fact that dur- ing this century of most marvelous progress signal changes have oc- curred in the teachings of Christian ministers. Oversight of this fact has caused some among us to be somewhat puzzled to account for these words of the Lord to Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820: "All their creeds are an abomination in my sight." OUR young people hear or read the sermons of present day preachers and, on the whole, they are able to subscribe heartily to the things taught, and they wonder at the word of the Lord. How- ever, in large measure, a new Christianity is being taught today which is very different from that which was taught to our grand- parents and great-grandparents a century ago. We shall present an arraignment of some of the common teachings of Christian pulpits by one who was, himself, an eminent preacher and scholar. In 1877 Dr. F. W. Farrar, Dean of Canterbury, preached five sermons in Westminster Abbey, which, much to his surprise, stirred up a most heated controversy throughout Christendom. Dean Farrar is best known among us, as a people, as the author of a "Life of Christ" and a "Life of St. Paul." Due to incorrect versions of his stand as based upon niewspaper reports of his sermons, Dr. Farrar published the offending sermons in 1878 in a volume entitled "Eter- nal Hope." In this volume were included extended comments and notes in defense of the position taken in the sermons themselves. However, after this publication the controversy became even more heated and reached not only all parts of the British Isles and colo- nies but was taken up in America and in continental Europe. Due to the very widespread dis- cussion, and the numerous attacks upon Dr. Farrar's views, he was led in 1881 to publish another, and much more extended volume, undser the title of ("Mercy jand Judgment." This latter book is altogether a defense of the author's The Author position as set forth in his ser- mons, and is an answer to some of his innumerable critics. The two volumes, "Eternal Hope" and "Mercy and Judg- ment" were reprinted through sev- eral editions. Reference attached to quotations contained in this article are to the reprint editions of 1904. The chief points at issue be- tween Dean Farrar and his critics he summarizes under four head- ings, as follows: "1. That the fire of 'Hell' is material, and that its agonies are physical agonies. "2. That the doom of 'everlast- ing damnation' is incurred by the vast majority of mankind. "3. That this doom is passed irreversibly at death on all who die in a state of sin. "4. That the duration of these material torments is necessarily endless for all who incur them." — M. & J., p. 17. From chapter four of "Mercy and Judgment" I quote below just a few of the numerous descrip- tions cited by Dr. Farrar of the "hell" that had been preached for centuries. Calvin, d. 1564 — "For ever harassed by a dreadful tempest, they shall feel themselves torn asunder by an angry God, and broken by the weight of his hand, and transfixed and penetrated by mortal stings, terrified by the thunderbolt of God. So that to sink into any gulf would be more tolerable than to stand for a mo- ment in these terrors." — P. 99. St. Ignatius Loyola, d. 1548 — (Founder of Jesuit Order) "Let us fancy we see hell, and imagine what is worst to behold — a hor- rible cavern full of black flames.