Dr. Abbott’s Pantheistic Theology

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 25, 1907

Dr. Abbott’s Pantheistic Theology

Dr. Lyman Abbott, at Litchfield, Conn., recently delivered an address eulogistic of the work of Henry Ward Beecher and his father, Lyman Beecher, entitled “A Century of Progress.” As reported in the Outlook of July 20, after showing the relation of the teachings of these men to the religious thought of the times, he sums up the progress made, from which we quote:—

Popular opinion, gradually imbibing the teaching of modern philosophy, no longer conceives of a Great First Cause who has created and set in motion secondary causes, while he sits apart from the world, ruling it as an engineer rules his engine; it is coming to conceive of one great underlying Cause, an Infinite and Eternal Energy from whom all things proceed, a Power not ourselves which makes for righteousness, a spirit in humanity which it calls the Spirit of Humanity.

Since it is necessary “for us to save the church from the paralysis which has always accompanied pantheism,” it seems that he acknowledges this teaching to be pantheism. And it is well to know that he admits it. He continues:—

Popular opinion imbibing the teaching of science has largely come to recognize the fact that all phenomena are interpreted in the terms of growth, that each event grows by natural processes out of the event preceding, and that this is as true of the moral development of the race and the moral development of the individual—that is, in sociology and anthropology—as it is in the development of the animal or the plant, that is, in biology and botany. It is for us to lay hold of this grander conception of God’s method of doing things, and show how the spirit of the living Christ is the power in all moral and spiritual development, personal and social; that, in other words, evolution and redemption are different ways of spelling the same word.

So he would have us believe that it is by “natural processes” of “evolution” that we are regenerated, instead of “being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” And no wonder this is more acceptable, for he expresses his opinion of God’s Word in the following terms:—

Popular opinion, gradually imbibing its ideas from literary scholars, is learning that the Bible is a collection of Hebrew law, history, and literature; that it is to be studied and interpreted as other collections of literature; that it grew up as other collections of literature have grown up; that an infallible book is an impossible conception; that the revelation of God afforded by the Bible is the revealing and unveiling of God in the personal experience of the men who wrote the Bible, and that its authority rests upon this, that their experiences evoke kindred experiences in our own hearts, and to their disclosures of the life of God in the souls of men our souls give a long and loud amen.

So the results of this “century of progress” are that having gradually imbibed the teachings of modern philosophy, science, and literature, the people have, instead of faith in “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,” a belief in an Eternal Energy; instead of the gospel which “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,” “evolution” “by natural processes;” and instead of believing that they should “search the Scriptures,” for “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable,” they are studying it as any other collection of literature. Surely there is need of the admonition, “Be not wise in your own conceits.”