Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1858-06-23
riages which are worse than celibacv

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These are the five great evils of man
kind to-day, whence many lesser once
proceed-drunkenness, crime in its
thousand forms. / do not speak to
scold mankind, still less to scold Amer
lea. In all respects save one, we have
the best institutions in the world and
certainly the human race had never SO
glorious a welfare as to-day. These
evils, they were never before so small
History, it is not retreat backward, it
IS progress forth, upward, on. These
things are not 4 finality; they are to
mans attainable condition what stumb-
ling is to walking, stammcring to speech,
the boys clumsy, mistaken scravl to
the clear current writing Of the man.
We are to outlearn these five evils
war, wicked government, slavery, sell
fish antagonism in society, the degrada-
ton of woman. We shall outgrow
these things. God has given us the
fittcst Of all possible means for attaining
the end. One ofth mightiest of mans
helpers is this Religious Faculty in us I:
this, nothing else, can give us strength
to do that work.
No doubt there must he primary
churches to teach the a, 3, G, Of re-
hgion, and ministers fit for that work of
nursing babies; and also academic and
collegiate churches, and ministers for
that grand function. Let neither des-
plse the other. 50, then, the functions
OF real church ofreligion will by part
ly critical, to war against the wrong,
partly creative, to show us the right
and guide as thither, at least thither-
ward.
The ministers come mainly from that
class Of people who are most affected
by religious emotions and ideas, where
human sympathics are the strongest
They seldom are borne by the misera-
bic poor or the ruinously rich. They
have two advantages; birth in the mid
die class, where they touch the ground
and touch the sky; and superior culture
above that class. Add to this, more
over, they commonly enter the minis
try with good motives, more self-denial
than selfindulgencc; they are usually
free from gross vices, the crimes of pas
sion; they have the best opportunities
to teach the churches, and to help pro-
mote the critical and creative function
which balnn~s thn~oto.
But now, alas taken as q class. they
do no such thing-they attempt none
such. They do not count it their busi-
ness to remove any one Of these five
great social evils, and so enable soci-
ETY. to raise up noble individual men,
Nay, they seldom take much pains to
remove the lesser evils which have
leaked out from those five great tubs of
malarious poison.
x
Why is all this? Two months ago
spoke OF the t, ;lise 3 rietIous stf OF Iheol!
ogy. The Christian Church followed
that method, and while teaching many
truths and doing very great service to
mankind-which should be the last to
deny-it made three monstrous errors.
Here they are:
First,it has false conception of God,
its God is devil, who means damna-
ton.
Second, it has a false conception Of
man; its man is a worm, who is reIig-
iously good for nothing; the ''natural
man. fit only for damnation.
Third, it has false conception of re-
ligion; it's Religion is to save man from
hell, and it is only fit for that. But it
does not do even that for more than
one Of out a thousand; for the other
nine hundred and ninety-nine, it is alb
solutely necessary good for nothing on
earth or beneath it; and the one saved
is not borne to heaven on mi ghty wings
of plety and morality, tanning the thin,
cold air of the world, but by the magic
miracle of the atonement. which turn
off Gods wrath, and carries man into
eternal JOY which he has done nothing
to merit and to earth.
These ideas are the minister's tools
to work with / am not scolding him,
only stating facts. Poor man he is
far more to be pitied than blamed. He
sees a vast amount of evil in the world |,
and thinks it all a tinality; it is Gods
will, and his decree that it shall last
forever. The evil cannot be removed
here and now-it is in the nature of
things; and even in the next life, it will
never be diminished to all eternity
Man cannot remove it; God will not
for he loves none but church members;
who believe the church theology; he
will ruin all also;-and damned for once
is damned foreyermore.
Hence ministers in churches do not
make if principal thing to try to re-
move these evils, to develop mans ma
ture, to set the religious faculty, that
greatest River of God, to turn the NOR
ais of society. They aim chiefly to re-
move unbeliefin ecclesiastical doctrine
to admit men to the church, to save
their souls from the wrath of God by
belief in the magic of atonement. 'Nc
man." they say, ''goes into heaven fol
his religion, for any merit of his own
with whole life of piety and morality
ending in the eruelest martyrdom,y he
cannot buy a ticket of entrance" while
4 moments belief in the ecclesiastical