The Universalist. [volume], August 14, 1897, Image 1

About The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897

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VOL. XIV. rHEv^.VxNxX^SE9T1CHICAGO AND CINCINNATI, SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 189T._ MO. 33
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CONTKNT8.
CHICAGO. SATURDAY, AUG 14, 1897.
Pace One.
The Highest Evidences of the Troth of
Christianity.
Change of Emphasis in Baptist Preaching.
The Purifying Eire.
Universalist Thought.
Pace Two.
Sermon—Requirements of Christianity.
New Books.
Well Known Persons.
Pace Three.
The Sunday School besson.
Pace Four.
Editorial:
The 70th Anniversary of "The Star in the
West.”
John A. Hurley.
Universalist Personal.
The Religious Press.
Pace Five,
Chnrch News and Correspondence.
Page six.
The Family Page. Farm. Harden and Dairy.
Page Seven.
Onr Boys and Hirla.
Pace Eight.
News of the Week.
Church Notices and In Memoriam.
OUR CONTRIBUTORS.
THE HIGHEST EVIDENCES OF THE
TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.
KE^ SaSt._
I.
The evidences of the truth of our
religion are found, first, in the his
torical records of the lives and do
ings of Christ and his apostles, which
we have in the Bible. Biblical criti
cism, sometimes called “Higher Criti
cism,” now admits, in the persons of
its best and most learned authorities,
contrary to what it has hitherto held#
that the writings called the New
Testament were made during the first
century, Boon after the death and
resurrection of the Saviour, as we
have always believed them to have
been; and that they were written by
those whose names they bear, eye
witnesses of the wonderful works
they narrate, and ear witnesses of the
words of him who spoke as never
man spoke, which they record. The
opinions of Baur, the leader of the
Tubingen school, that they were
products of the second century, writ
ten by nobody knows who, long after
the original witnesses were all dead,
and therefore of no more authority
than any uncertain tradition, are en
tirely given up. Prof. Harnack of
Berlin, the highest living authority
among these critics, admits that even
John’s Gospel,about which there has
been the most dispute, was written
about the close of the first century,
during the lifetime of the beloved
disciple. He holds that Paul was
converted within a year of the resur
rection of his master, and that all
his epistles were written before 65,
in which year he suffered martyrdom
—only 35 years after the crucifixion.
Now if this is all true, as even these
critics themselves have come to ad
mit, it should seem that common
sense would force any reasonable man
to acknowledge, that the evidence
they furnish of the truth of Christ
ianity if irresistable. That the sacred
writers, one and all, were honest and
sincere, thoroughly in earnest in their
belief, is abundantly manifest on
every page of the New Testament; and
as they wrote of what they had seen
and heard, it is impossible that they
could have been mistaken. Then the
record is true; it is authentic history.
If it is not, there is no history. The
recorded doings of the human race
in the past, which we call history, are
but dreams. There were no Greece
and Rome in ancient times. The tradi
tion that Alexander conquered the
world is a myth. That Rome sue
ceeded Greece in universal empire,
that Ca*sar conquered England, de
feated Pompey atPharsalus, and was
murdered in the senate chamber by
Brutus and Cassius, are only foolish
superstitions. To such conclusions
are we necessarily driven if we deny
the testimony of such writers as John
and Paul. But if we do not, and can
not, then historical Christianity is
true. Our Master actually spoke the
-'uderful words which have rang
ugh the world for nineteen cen
turies, turning and over turning all
false systems of religion, and all man
made codes of ethics, and raising the
civilized world on to a higher moral
plane than was ever before dreamed
of. He actually performed the mighty
works that testified to the truth of his
claim that all power was given to
him. Nature’s laws were but his ser
vants. He was a higher law, and the
higher superseded the lower. He
burst the bands of death, led cap
tivity itself captive, and gave gifts to
men. In these gifts we recognize
the highest evidences of the truth of
Christianity, that he was indeed the
Son of God, and the fulfillment of
inspired prophecy. The argument
from miracles, as we term these
mighty works, is conclusive to a nor
mal mind, and was one of the princi
pal planks in the platform upon which
rested the faith of the primitive
church, as indeed it is to this day.
We are not to under-value this ar
gument, or surrender it to accommo
date the weak faith of those who fear
a conflict between science and relig
ion. The God that made the world,
and upholds the laws of nature by his
power, can show his power when he
sees fit, by suspending the action of
those laws, or superseding them by
a higher law; and he can delegate
this power to an agent when he
chooses, especially to his Son. In
conversation lately, a professed athe
ist^ reader of the Boston Investigator,
affirmed that if there was an Almighty
God, he could make water run up
hill, which was impossible; and,
therefore, there was no God! Such a
sequiter as that seemed to lit the ca
pacity of his mind, as did an argu
ment he showed me in his paper. The
writer would refute the first verse of
the Bible by asking, if God created
the world out of nothing, how much
nothing did it take! How much noth
ing does it take to make something!
Well, there are such men, and it is
fortunate we have higher evidence
than that of miracles, even—moral
and religious evidence that appeals
to the higher faculties of the human
mind—the moral and religious facul
ties. This cannot be gainsaid so
easily. Reason, on which men pride
themselves, is a valuable faculty if
not perverted, but it seems sometimes
to have a wonderful facility in get
ting round a plain truth. When the
moral judgment is concerned it is
not so easy to evadethe truth. Hence
the value of moral arguments. He
“gave gifts unto men.”
The Gospel itself is its own high
est evidence. The character of the
revelations it makes, and its influence
upon the life and conduct of its sin
cere believer is the strongest proof
we can have of its truth, and it came
from God. Compare its moral code
with that of the Koran, for instance;
although all that is best in the Ko
ran was derived directly or indirect
ly from the Bible. The law of love,
which Christ made supreme, is alone
sufficient. “Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and
thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy
self. On these two commandmems
hang all the law and the prophets.”
Love is the supreme duty of man.
Nothing like this ever before fell
from human lips. Nothing so grand
and glorious was ever conceived
by the human mind. Nothing so
blessed ever entered the human
heart. Its utterance was an echo of
the music of heaven,as it is heard day
and night around the Father’s throne.
Blessed be the hallowed lips that
first sang this highest note on earth!
Compare it with the war cry of the
false prophet—“The Koran or the
sword!” And think of the revelation
that made obedience to the first and
great commandment possible. It is
impossible for the heart of man, his
highest self, to love that which is un
lovely. But what does the Master
say! ‘‘God is love.” He is the
Father of the human race: “Our
Father who art in heaven.” God so
loved the world that he gave his own
Son. While we were yet sinners Ctorist
died for us. A few feeble rays
had penetrated the darkness through
the revelatious of the prophet, but
outside of Israel the world had wor
shiped only monsters — molocks.
What an announcement waB this!
The creator and ruler of the universe
was a loving and impartial father.
Love to God—the worship of love—
was thenceforth possible for man.
And as all are the children of the
Heaveuly Father, we are all bretb
ren. That was another echo of the
heaveuly music. Nobody bad ever
heard it, or ever imagined it before.
Now also obedience to the second
commandment, like unto the first,
had become possible, as it was not
before. This is among the highest
evidence we have, or can have. The
revelation of the great law of love,
and of the foundations upon which
it rests, in the character and relation
ship of God, and the relationship of
the human family, if there was no
other proof, is abundantly sufficient
to convince us of the truth of our
holy religion.
Ft. Scott, Kan.
had taken place since he was early
pastor of the church and of the larger
hope for the future life, said: ‘‘That
if any are finally lost, it is because
the infinite resources of infinite love
are baffled in the attempts to save
them.” These words from a nominal
Calvinist illustrates to what an ex
tent God has been shorn of his sov
ereignty and saving power. Think
of “infinite resources and infinite
love being baffled” by the sinful,
weak, tempted irresolute will of maul
This is to deny God’s sovereignty and
theologians say that he who asked
this question asked from curiosity or
a cavilling spirit. It would be more
just to say: the question was aBked
by one whose heart was heavy at the
thought that most of his fellowmen
would suffer punishment for ever and
be alienated from God.
This question was raised in olden
time. Even in Esdras we read “What
profit is it for men now in this present
state to live in heaviness and after
death to look for punishment.” It is a
question raised now by hearts that
STAR IN THE WEST.
EDITED BY J. KID WELL JiJxD D. D. HALL:
“He that is first in his own cause, seemeth to be just: but his neighbor cometh and scarcheth him
outj'_Prov. ch. xviii. 17th v.—Thuth has nothing .to fear from investigation.
Vol. 1. EATON. OHIO, AUGUST, 1827. No. 1.
An Address to the Patrons of the Star
IN presenting you with the first number
of the Star, it wilt be expected that we give
an outline of its character. It is considered
necessary, in all periodical w-orks, that edit
ors lay down certain rules by w hich they in
tend to be governed. The object 6f this
work, as stated in our prospectus, “is to dis
seminate Gospel Truth, and offer the Chris
tian public a fair opportunity of examining
and investigating the controverted doctrine
of the sacred Scriptures, which has long
been the cause of unhappy division's in the
church of Christ ” We have also stated, that
in the investigation of any doctrine, “our col*
umns shall be entirety fiee, not only to those
who may be of our favorite opinions, but
likewise to those of our Christian brethren,
of every denomination, w ho are disposed to
call our liberal views of the Gospel in ques
tion.”. The only restriction we have thought
proper to make, is, that “nothing of a per
sonal or abusive nature will he admitted on
our pages; but such matter and argument on
ly, as may be calculated to inform and itn*
prove the public mind.” This injunction
we shall tenaciously adhere to. It is therei
fore expected that our correspondents will
not trouble us with any communication of an
offensive character- A friendly, dispassion
ate investigation of truth, shaVrcharacteme
this humble little work. The Christian world
have too long indulged themselves in the nn
lioly practice of substituting hard names, un
friendly expressions, and bitter epithets, fur
sober argument.
In theological .litigation, volumes without
number have- Jueen w ritten—much zeal em
ployed—and nearly all of what is most mi;
poi tant in religion, (chanty and good tem
per,) has been lost. In this bitter and uofried
iy mode of investigation, the pious have had
their feelings wounded, and the spirit of in
quiry has been enervated, while the more
daring and independent, have, many of them,
become so disgusted at the glaring inconsis
tencies of the various schemes ofwfiat is
called Christianity, that they have, imper
oeptihly sllddep into the depths of intidility.
If Christian divines hud been less censorious,
aud more rational in their investigation of
the Scriptures, and addressed themselves to
the good sense of their brethren, instead of
having pursued each other with fiery fagots,
and denunciations of eternal vengeance, in
order to frighten the unlearned, aud dragoon
the more enlightened into their favorite
dogmas, happy would it have been for the
Christian world.
When we look back on the days of yore,
! when *‘blood and carnage” marked the foot*
' steps of theological argumentations, we are
astonished at the deptavity of human nature!
But when we see the same spirit of bittev
opposition prevail, less or more, over liber
al sentiments, in this enlightened day of free
inquiry and general tolcnuion, and that no
thing but the bulwark of om civil policy can
shield the more liberal and reflecting part of
society from the vindictive spleen of religi
gious bigotry, we are truly mortified and
■ ashamed of the blindness, and the ur.chanU*
j bleBCss of many of our Christian brethren.
; If Christians would only consider, what is
no doubt a fact, that al.l their brethren, of
every sect and denomination, whatever may
■ be their favorite opinions or mode of worship',
. are equally as sincere as- themselves^ and
’ that those whom they persecute and despise,
*! are only exercising a right which ali hold
'• equally sacred—a right which is guaranteed
! to every man by the Great Jehovah, as well
i as l>v our constitution and laws, we are led
v ebeve they would be less censorious, and
more liberal in their feelings and sentiments
towards each other.
We have no reason to doubt that all re
flecting people are desirous of kuovving the
ti uth;SL when we consider the different circmn
stances i.-uder which we have been educated
—the variety of grades in the human intel
lect, and the variousvnodcs of comparing and
comprounding those ideas which are the an*
press ions of external objects on the mind,
tv Inch objects scarcely ever.-strike the minds
of two persons in precisely the same p.oint of
vic-v, vve ate not surprised that s«ch.a diver
sity.of opinion exists in the world—-nor, that
all men ate not equally successlos m.arm.ng
at a true know ledge of fact* We should
really be much more surprised to find a uni
ji fornnty of sentiment, under such circumstan
‘ ccs# it' is.woi'ltiy of observation, that on a
I , .—-—
CHANGE Of EMPHASISIIN;BAPTIST
PREACHING.
BY MARK HOLROYD.
I am the sod of a Baptist minister.
Am in my 82nd year and have been
in the United States 62 years, and
have a clear recollection of how Bap
tist preachers, preached in those days
and how they emphasized the sover
eignty of God and with what anima
tion they would sing.
“The sovereign will of God alone,
Creates us heirs of grace;
Born in the image of his Son
A new peculiar race.-’
At the close of sermons on th9 dis
tinguishing and sovereign will of God
I heard them eulogized as sound
in doctrine and comforting to the
soul. I cannot fail but notice the
change of emphasis from God’s will
to that of man’s will that now obtains.
Then finalities were referred to the
sovereign will of God and not much
said by such preachers to arouBe
alarm, or appeal to fear. Is the
change of emphasis from God’s will
to man’s will wholly a good change?
Has it not a tendency to present to
the mind a maimed and frustrated
God? We are told in Sunday-schools,
that man holds his eternal destiny in
his own hands. A preacher told me
man’s will was almost omnipotent.
Lately in an union service, the
preacher after a discourse full of ex
hortation, asked that sinners would
arise and manifest a desire for the
salvation of their souls. None rising,
he exclaimed “W’hat a pity it is, that
God who desires the salvation of your
souls should be frustrated.” In the
Outlook of May 1, 1897, Rev. George
W. Field, D.D., at the fiftieth anni
versary of the Congregational cburcn,
Bangor, Maine, speaking on the
change of emphasis on doctrine that
power which permeates both the Old
and New Testaments. It weakens
confidence in God “who,” we are as
sured “can turn the hearts of the
children of men as he does the rivers
of waters.”
Man’s will is a factor in salvation,
but not an invincible one and will
yield to infinite love, in “due time”
and that willingly. Man's will is free,
but not so free as to defeat infinite
love in its efforts after universal har
mony.
The emphasis now placed on the
power of love to save is all right, but
to enthrone man’s will as invincible
at the expense of dethroning the sov
ereign will of God is not Christian
theology. If preaching love leaves a
few lost, it is not victory. The battle
between the finite and infinite will
must be decisive. It is not a question
whether few or many are lost. Is
evil made eternal in the conflict? “Is
God really master? or is sin to oust
him from any part of his own house
forever?” The question, “Are there
few that be saved,” is not solved by
preaching that love will save all but
a few whose wills frustrate the sov
ereign will. Yet it points to the doc
trine that when the chief shepherd
gives up his shepherding the last
lost sheep will be in the fold, and also
shows that we have given up our fa
thers’ ideas of few being saved. The
question, “Are there few that be
saved” has come to thousands of hu
man hearts. It came in the time of
Jesus. One cannot help sympathiz
ing with the one who said to Jesus.
“Are there few that be saved ?” He
had read in the scriptures—the Sep
tuagint version that “The number of
the saved will only be as gold is to all
the clay of the earth, or, as a drop of
water is to a great wave.” (2nd Esdras
viii. 2 and ix. 7.) We know many
feel for others. A deacon of a large
Baptist church in Chicago, a believer
in “Life in Christ,” told me that end
less torment all through his Christian
life, had been a source of great heavi
ness of heart and that when he found
it was not a Bible doctrine, a joy
came over his heart,like that when he
was converted. This broadening
hope now preached on this continent
by the orthodox is the result of the
preaching of universal salvation dis
tinctively by the UniversaliBt Church
and by other churches that in a full
sense accept the doctrine of the Fa
therhood of God and the brotherhood
of man.
All down the ages there have been
clear heads, and kind hearts, that
have protested against the doctrine
of God’s partialism and who taking
the love of the Eternal Father,
guided by his infinite wisdom and
executed by his infinite power have
taught the final harmony of God-hu
man family. And research into the
history of the apoBtolic fathers and
their catholic views as to the final
completeness of the work of the Christ,
reproduced within the past one hun
dred years and distinctively an
nounced by the Universalist Church
has surely compelled the orthodox to
a change of emphasis. The Univer
salist and other liberal denominations
if thev do not numerically attain to
some others may be well satisfied as
workers for God in clearing his char
acter from the pagan conceptions of
a fitful and angry Jove thundering
out bis revenges.
COBW1TH, xa.
—If the threatened outbreak among
the Mohammedans of northern India
should prove to be the result of Turkish
intrigue, as conjectured, England may
be merely paying the penalty for her
protection of the Sultan against those
who would have bad him punished for
bis crime against Armenia.
THE PURIFYING FIRE.
BY ERMINA C. STRAY.
We are reminded of the purifying
effects of the consuming fire in some
of the natural products of earth
which have to pass through heat in
order to become pure; and we know
that gold and silver are always tried
by fire. They are not accepted at
their real value until they are so
tried, because no one would know
how much of the earthy mixture was
spurious, or how much was real.
They are cast into the crucible and
come out of the furnace with the
dross purged away, and the pure
metal alone left. Then the metal
which is left, all there was which
was gold or silver, (for the purifying
effects of fire do not destroy the real
metal: only burn and purge away
the dross,) is taken and worked, and
hammered and polished, until the
hand that worked it into its present
perfect form can Bee his own face in
its polished surface. And yet,
through all this process, through all
this burning, and beating and work
ing, not one atom of the pure metal is
lost.
Can we not see the application. So
God will purify his children by the
fire of his judgment, but not one will
he lose. Sometimes we think the
blows upon our heart-strings are
enough to rend the spirit from the
body; but sometimes we are so one
sided and mishappen that it takes
tremendous blows to train us into a
semblance of our Lord and Saviour;
and how many, many blows and heart
rending sorrows he had to endure!
Can we not patiently bear some in re
turn to be made in his likeness? The
fire that purifies the purest metal
and separates it from its worthless
surroundings has often to burn to a
white heat, which is, of all fires, the
most terrible destructive; and yet it
must be applied to bring about the
necessary separation before the puri
fied gold is fit to be molded into the
desired form. So God’s consuming
fire oftimes has to rage around us,
in and through us, to destroy the
worthless and the bad, but when the
desired end is attained, the great
Creator of the universe can see his
own likeness in the purified elements
left.
This [is why God is likened to a
consuming fire. It is his purpose to
keep this fire burning day and night
and night and day until every parti
cle of.dross and filth is purged away
from the heart of man. It is natural
for us to rebel against this consum
ing element, and wonder if anybody
ever had so much trouble and sorrow
before, but just as long as the re
bellion and the bitterness lasts, just
so long is it necessary to apply the
fires of purification and the chisel
and hammer of transformation. And
if the end is not accomplished in this
life,{I am quite sure the work will
continue in the nest, until it is ac
complished. Indeed, I see no reason
for doubting it, for God never un
dertakes to do anything that he can
not do, and he will never allow man
or evil to balk him in his designs.
Those designs are the ultimate
holiness and happiness of all men
which must be brought about through
the travails of the soul, through
trouble and sorrow and trial, through
severe afflictions worked in each indi
vidual according to his need of purifi
cation, and some undoubtedly need
more than others. But through all we
can see the wisdom and love that
prompts it, and we are gratified that
we can understand its necessity. His
consuming fire will cleanse and purify
ail the elements of our nature and
fashion us more and more into his
own image, and beat and polish us
until he can see his own likeness in
the work of his hands.
Noble, O.
—How are we saved by the death of
Christ? Not by the mere event of the
death. Nowhere do the Scriptures
teach this. It is by the construction of
language that we have the death of
Christ and man’s salvation, two eminent
truths, so intimately blended. Christ
died—giving man all the aseurance of
God's grace that he needs—assurances
of life and salvation here and hereafter
—salvation by the knowledge, the pow
er, the efficiency of divine truth in the
soul. Whenever we recur to Christ’s
death, these great truths of God are con
nected with it. That death manifested
in the strongest possible manner love of
the sinful, love of the rebellious, the re
deeming influence of good over evil. It
is thus that man’s salvation by the Fa
ther is to be effected, in the present or
in the future—whether wesleepor wake.
And it is this perpetual life which is
ever speaking to us from the brow of
Calvary, from that victim on the cross;
the life of God within us—everlasting
godlike action—everlasting progress—
everlasting love.
Universalist Though tlj
. OUR OWN WRITERS. A
The Survival of the Fittest.
A very intelligent Methodist clergy
man with whom we recently conversed
on the subject of conditional immortal
ity cited in illustration of the epiritual
suicide hypothesis, the Darwinian doc
trine of "the survival of the fittest.”
But many of the fittest, morally and in
tellectually, in past ages have never
k nown Christianity, and, according to
this test, muBt have perished. The doc
trine of limited immortality is uncon
genial with the Christian optimism of
the age, and is not destined to prevail.—
Rev. L, C. Browne.
Political Parties.
Political parties ought to be, and
some day will be, so managed as to be
promotive at all timeB of personal and
social advancement in the good and
wholesome virtues of honesty, purity
and justice. To bring about this desir
able state of things in the political world
it is necessary that men, and women
too, who believe in applying the higher
virtues to every department of human
effort, express themselves to this effect
in unmistakable terms and exhibit that
manly independence in their political
action which they exercise in other
ways. IhuB will come to pasB a better
co ndition of things in political, buEiress
and social life.—Rev I.J. Mead.
The Function of Music.
To degrade music is to degrade man,
the home, the family, and society. Its
influence is pre-eminently domestic and
social. It operates powerfully sn the
domestic, moral and religious emotions
and affections; and these control life,
character and conduct. It is all import
ant that music should attain and main
tain a high moral standard. The purity
of society demands this; and the moral
elevation of the church Bnd'the state
alike make it necessary. It is not sur
prising that music should be degraded
from its high moral function in the
world. We know that all the great
forces of nature, life and society can be,
have been, and are being, perverted by
man to purposes of evil and wrong. Why
should not music meet the same fate of
ail the great natural, moral, social and
religious forces of the world? This re
sulte from the weakness and the wicked
ness of men. The moral degradation of
man’s divinely endowed nature is the
cause of the vital, social and moral de
generation of society. Music with every
thing elee that belongs to man’s socia]
condition must share in this degenera
tion.—Rev. William Tucker, D.D.
The Church and its Ideals.
The church must have ideals. What
ever men may say about the neceseity of
being practical, I contend that the moet
unpractical man in the world ie the
man without an ideal, and the most un
practical reformer in the world would
be a reformer without an ideal. I heard
of a man, in the good old days when
plows were run by oxen, who wbb con
stantly worried because his oxen would
not keep the furrow. They were now
o ut on the right, now on the left, now
making a bee-line for water, and again
a bee-line for grass. At last, entirely
worn out and thoroughly vexed, the
driver used the lash vigorously and
said, “There, go where you like. This
ti eld is all to be plowed, anyhow.’’ We
admire the philosophy of the driver, but
we cannot recommend his wisdom. This
may do for an overworked man trying
to drive an unruly pair of oxen, but it
will not do tor the social reformer. The
social reformer must have ideals, the
c hurch also must have ideals, and every
man who shall amount to anything in
this world must have ideals.—Rev. O«o.
\ L. Perin, D.V.
The Poorest Kind of Policy.
It ie reported, though it seems incred
ible, that some of our churches have
never yet made an offering toward the
maintenance of the Japan mission. Let
us not misjudge them. Perhaps they
have been diffident about offering the
mite that is all they can give. They
must not forget the poor widow’s tribute
in the temple and what our Lord said of
it—“more than they all.” Perhaps it
has seemed poor economy to give ef their
sle nder means when their own sbliga
tions at home were not fairly or seasona
bly met. But the experience of all the
great missionary bodies is that the dead
est local church is always the noB-mis
sionary church. Said the treasurer of
the Baptist Missionary Society ef Eng
land in 1889—the year in which that de
nom ination of non-conformists raised
the splendid sum of 9400,000 lor their
annual missionary output, and resolved
to make it 9500,000 the next year: "The
Congo mission”—he was referring to
that one particularly—“has been ef im
mense spiritual advantage to a!l our
home churches, reviving us and stimu
lating us, and creating in us missionary
zeal and enterprise by which our own
souls have been blessed.” There is not
a church in our communion today that
would not be richer in church life, more
abundantly able to meet local require
ments, if its zeal were greater and its
gifts more generous for the missionary
enterprise of our denomination. It jB
the poorest kind of policy, from an eco
nomical point of view, to live ealy for
self.—Bev. Charkt Conkhn.