The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

IV. Strang—Virile Conditionalist Editor and Scottish Polemicist

M. W. STRANG (d. 1908), of Glasgow, for eight years editor of The Messenger, was competently trained for the ministry, and was an able preacher of the gospel. However, his refusal to accept the Platonic philosophy of the inherent immortality of the soul, which undergirds the creed of the Scottish Presbyterian Church, was an insuperable bar to his entering her ministry. So he founded The Messenger, which he published in Glasgow and edited from 1876 to 1884. This journal heralded the imminent Second Advent and advocated eternal Life Only in Christ. Strang was also author of numerous tracts and poems, and was a participant in the Symposium in The Life Everlasting, by J. H. Pettingell. CFF2 417.3

Convinced that immersion is the true form of baptism, he was thus baptized in 1870 and cast his lot with a small company of some fifty fellow believers from various churches who were united on (1) the doctrine of the premillennial Second Advent, (2) Conditional Immortality and the ultimate destruction of the wicked, and (3) baptism by immersion. On this basic platform they had organized as a company in Dundee, in 1857. Special annual conferences of representatives of likeminded churches were part of the plan, collaborating with other Conditional Immortality groups that were now springing up in various cities in Britain. CFF2 417.4

1. THE MESSENGER A REFLECTOR OF TURBULENT TIME

The vicissitudes of the cause of Conditionalism are reflected in the columns of Strang’s The Messenger, which ever stressed the fact that “immortality is not a quality inherent in man, but the gift of God.” Note a few of the newsworthy high lights from various issues. CFF2 418.1

MAY, 1878: AGITATION WIDESPREAD

“Among all the burning questions exercising men’s mind, none occupies so large a portion of public attention as the Doctrine of Destiny of the Wicked. The old theory of eternal suffering is not now unhesitatingly accepted and believed as a matter of course, but is being subjected to a searching analysis.” Reference is made to increasing numbers of adherents to Conditional Immortality; to the ever-widening circulation of Conditionalist literature; to the opening of the pages of the Christian World to the discussion of the doom of the wicked; to Canon Farrar’s famous discourses in Westminster Abbey, in “impassioned rhetoric,” challenging the doctrine of eternal misery; to the American Christian Union opening its pages to clergymen in the New World to express their views; to the renowned Dr. R. W. Dale’s espousal of Conditionalism. CFF2 418.2

JUNE, 1879: MACRAE DEPOSED

The trial of the Reverend David Macrae, of Gourock, Scotland, by the United Presbyterian Synod, for challenging the Westminster dogma of Everlasting Torment, the questions put to him by the interrogating committee, his deposition, and his farewell speech with its imposing array of Scripture evidence. ⁵² The synod declared him “cut off” from the denomination. CFF2 418.3

JANUARY, 1883: TWO MINISTERS EXPELLED

There is recital of the excommunication of Pastor Charles Byse, of Brussels, by the Belgian Evangelical Church Synod for preaching Conditionalism—the first church on the Continent to take such a step. The activity of Dr. Petavel in his behalf is detailed. Also noted is the expulsion by the Church Missionary Society of one of its ablest missionaries in Japan, the Reverend W. Dening, for his denial of inherent immortality; and the formation of a committee of Conditionalists (including Dean Perowne, Professor Stokes, and Canon Swanson of Cambridge) to enable him to carry on his work. CFF2 418.4

JANUARY, 1884: H. H. DOBNEY LAUDED

The death of H. H. Dobney is noted, his book being one of the early volumes (in the forties) to advocate Conditionalism. It was condemned by Dr. Morrison in the Evangelical Magazine, but lauded by Dr. Pye Smith and Dr. Vaughan in the British Quarterly. Also is noted the work of the Italian Baptist evangelist, Oscar Cocorda, in Torre Pellice, Italy (of Waldensian fame), who was asked to resign for preaching the doctrine of Conditional Immortality and Life Only in Christ in the chief towns of Italy. JUNE, 1884: REMOVAL OF DUBLIN MINISTER CFF2 419.1

The removal, by the Evangelical Alliance, of the Reverend J. S. Whitmed, of York Street Chapel, for holding the doctrine of Life Only in Christ. CFF2 419.2

MAY, 1884: LAUDATION OF GEORGE STORRS

The death of the noted American Conditionalist George Storrs, editor of the Bible Examiner, is noted, who in 1842 was ostracized for preaching that destruction will be the doom of the finally impenitent. CFF2 419.3

The many editions and the influence of his famous Six Sermons are rehearsed. CFF2 419.4

Then follow reports of the various branches of the parent Conditional Immortality Association ⁵³—established in Glasgow, Auckland, Brisbane, Dundee, Edinburgh, Halifax, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Montreal, New York, et cetera, many of them with annual conferences and reports, such as the Glasgow Conference. There is also a list of thirteen prominent Conditionalists scattered over Britain. CFF2 419.5

AUGUST, 1884: TYPICAL CONFERENCE REPORTED

This is the conference in the Hamilton Street Congregational Chapel. Chairman, Henry J. Ward, president of the Association; speakers, Signor Oscar Cocorda, of the Vaudois Valleys; George Mackay, of the Lincoln Baptist church; Charles Underhill, of Oxford, and others. Alfred Watson, of Salisbury, speaking on “The Great Theological Stumbling Block,” declared:
“Belief in man’s natural and inherent immortality and the necessary sequence, the eternal suffering of the wicked, has turned the fair Gospel garden like a withering blight and fruitfulness into sterility .... Belief in man’s natural immortality and in eternal suffering is a stumbling block because it gives a false view of the atonement and robs the work of Christ of its chief glory.” CFF2 420.1

And that was but one of a half-dozen influential Conditionalist journals. CFF2 420.2