RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
New England Theology
that God is benevolent is made the basis of an argument to show that his benevolence comprises his entire moral nature, and that all his acts are referable to this motive. This is the consistent and full application of the Edwardsean theory of virtue. The love of God is thus made the determinative principle of Park's theology. In his treatment of the Bible, Park prepared for the next stadium of American theology, though not himself entering upon it. The discovery of various readings of the original texts, Stuart's treatment of minor forms of error in the Bible, the rumor of the higher criticism, and the influence of the Origin of Species, had combined to make Park first reject the doctrine of the verbal inspiration of the Bible, and then limit its inspiration to its " religious and moral impression and teaching " as to the matter, and to " suggestion " and " superintendence " as to the manner. Thus some of the most objectionable features of the idea of Biblical authority were removed. Miracles were accepted and defended principally from their necessity to revelation, which makes them so probable that they need very little evidence to commend them to present acceptance. As to the Trinity and Christology, Park left these doctrines where Stuart had left them. The weight of his argument is expended in maintaining the divinity of Christ. He does nothing to advance the rationale of either doctrine. This was itself an almost fatal omission, for the questioning which the Unitarians began in the middle of the preceding century had now become so insistent that not to attempt to meet it was a confession of incompetence to meet the issues of the day. But Park was still hindered from perceiving the full demand of the times by his reliance upon the sufficiency of the Biblical argument to prove any position of theology, although in practise his proof was almost entirely a rational one for the doctrines which he really discussed.
These favorite doctrines of Park, and of New England, are met in the anthropological group. He was a high Calvinist. He maintained the " previous certainty of all events which actually occur."
To maintain this, he also maintained
4. Summary Edwards' theory of the will, not fol-
of Park's lowing Taylor into his modifications
Theology. jn the interest of freedom. Hence he
also defended the doctrine of election, which he founded in God's benevolence by adopting the general principle that God elected as many as he consistently could, that is, as many as he could without interfering too much in the system which he had established. Park taught that all sin is voluntary, and that original sin is not sin " properly so called." The " proximate " occasion of man's sinning is the corruption of his nature; but this proceeds from the sin of Adam, which is therefore the " remote " occasion of man's sinning. As to the theory of the connection existing between Adam and his descendants, Park observed silence. In his treatment of the atonement, Park followed closely his predecessors in the nature and scope of the doctrine, and in the forms under which it was presented, retaining and employing the old governmental analogies. He thus failed to ethicize the theology, and made the idea of atonement unreal
to the modern mind. But he powerfully refuted the idea that God is an angry God to be placated by a blood-offering; he enlarged the idea of sacrifice; he made the whole universe, and not merely this little globe, the theater of the atonement; and he strips from the older forms of the theory many merely adventitious elements. And he defines it formally thus: " The atonement exhibits and honors the holiness, distributive justice, and law of God, and it promotes the holiness and happiness of the universe, so as to make the conduct of God in forgiving men consistent with the honor of his holiness, distributive justice, and law, and so as to satisfy his general justice in rescuing sinners from unconditional punishment, in adopting measures for inducing them to repent, and in eternally rewarding them if they do repent." The underlying idea of punishment which determines this theory is that punishment is an expression of the divine disapproval of sin, eternal in its very nature as the disapproval is eternal, for the ultimate object of preventing further sin in the universe. Thus while the idea that punishment is a satisfaction to justice is outgrown, the idea that it is essentially for the reformation of the criminal himself has not yet appeared. To dispatch remaining elements more briefly: Park's treatment of regeneration did not reach the height of Taylor's discussions, because he did not follow Taylor in modifying Edwards' theory of the will, feeling apparently no necessity for a " neutral point " in the mind to which motives might be addressed; he made the truth the means of regeneration; sanctification is progressive, and men do not actually become perfectly holy in this life; justification is synonymous with forgiveness; and the future punishment of those who die without having surrendered themselves to the claims of apprehended duty, will be eternal.
VI. The Collapse of the School: The theology of Park was a highly elaborated and finished structure and the source of great light to many minds; but, like a great lighthouse, it was placed among the waves, and those waves were destined to rise to an unexampled height and to sweep the edifice away. It is a simple historical fact that in 1880 the New England theology was taught at all the Congregational seminaries with the possible (and only partial) exception of Hartford, and that in about fifteen years, the great professors who represented it had all passed away and were succeeded in every case by men who anxiously sought to separate themselves from all identification with it. And this collapse was the more complete in that no one appeared to maintain the system by formal and careful exposition or defense. And within ten more years the theological tone of the whole denomination had completely altered. The New England theology, as constituting a distinct school, having reoognized leaders, conscious of its own worth and able to resist encroachments and perform the theological service demanded by the day, had passed away. It remains to ask whether there is anything in the history here traced to explain this remarkable end of so long and great a movement. (1) It will be evident that with all its brilliant modifications and substantial " improve-
New England Theolog-y New Jerusalem Church