Editorial July 3, 1902 Issue

Changes in English Thought

Editor

The rapid growth of a more liberal thought among the Wesleyans of England has been brought out by the recent effort of an ultra-conservative element in the British Conference to place Dr. Beet of the Wesleyan College under the ban of condemnation for heretical teaching regarding future punishment. It is said that while the learned doctor does not dogmatize, he denies "that either the endless suffering or the extinction of the wicked is taught in the Scriptures." In a recent statement of his case he declares that a great change has taken place in Methodist thought regarding the future of the lost, and says that "very few Wesleyan ministers now adhere to Wesley's teaching concerning it." It is also affirmed that all reference to the subject has been omitted from the revised Wesleyan catechism.

All this is peculiarly interesting to us in view of the fact that the adherents of the faith of Wesley in this country have been severely critical of Christian Science for a position which it would seem that Dr. Beet is nearly ready to defend. Verily "the world do move," and the outcry which has been raised against our contention that in the very nature of things no child of God can ever be "lost," and that only the man of error, the false material sense, becomes extinct,—this outcry will soon become not only a thing of the past but a thing of world-wide astonishment. England's escape from the thrall of traditionalism is further evidenced by the remarkable growth of Christian Science in London and other great centers. The demand for the Lesson Quarterly has more than doubled during the past year and this speaks definitely of a vital interest, the true seeking.

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