SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



567 



tstant Faith, or Salvation by Belief. It is 

 not, as its title might imply, a devotional 

 treatise, but a series of arguments directed 

 against certain time-worn dogmas still large- 

 ly held by orthodox churches. Starting 

 out with a summary of the causes of the 

 Lutheran Reformation " an intellectual 

 rather than a religious movement " Mr. 

 Olm stead, in a few pages of terse reasoning, 

 demonstrates that the retention of the dog- 

 ma of justification by faith vitiated the en- 

 tire Lutheran system, since belief and unbe- 

 lief are equally involuntary, and therefore 

 neither blameworthy nor deserving of re- 

 ward. This point, he claims, strikes at the 

 very existence of the churches, and is fatal 

 to their present form and organization. The 

 psychological barrier with which orthodoxy 

 is thus confronted is further strengthened 

 by certain ethical considerations. "Salva- 

 tion," says the author, " is not a proper in- 

 centive to the performance of duty " ; and 

 " the theology that looks to the mere salva- 

 tion of the soul, whether from punishment 

 or from sin itself, can be defended neither 



on principle nor, paradoxical as it may seem, 

 on the plea of expediency; certainly not, if 

 he be the happiest who is the most virtu- 

 ous." Thus abandoning these tenets, which 

 in the verbiage of the pulpit are called " es- 

 sential truths," the author sees in the indi- 

 vidual conscience a higher criterion of mo- 

 rality and a nobler guide to salvation, the 

 conscience itself being derived from the ag- 

 gregate of beliefs entertained for the time 

 being by the individual. Here he recog- 

 nizes the changeful character of all human 

 thought, and makes provision for further 

 development of religious belief. Although 

 published originally nearly half a century 

 ago, the work is still well abreast of the 

 times, and a newly written introduction on 

 the limitations of thought puts the book in 

 the van of liberal thought. Mr. Olmstead 

 has built up his thesis as if he were con- 

 structing a pyramid. His arguments are ce- 

 mented with a cold and dispassionate logic 

 which goes far to justify his own characteri- 

 zation of his doctrine as the Philosophy of 

 the Undeniable. 



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