Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1859-05-07


Protest egninss H,ilasssce.
T5H I,yasewz. Uafss B,1,o p,,st
iH tabislmeat, Dayton. b.
GENrrgMFN.--l have quite recently scor
book, published BY your order. entitled
"Oniyersalism calmly and seriously consid
cred" ! know not who is is author, nor
when II was published, nor does Il matter
much, since you present yourselves as its Ne.
sponslble indorsers, aud, BY nfllxine no date
TO II, leave me 10 regard il as having becn
punished on the day on which frst saw
Il. You offer this book to the public as n
calm and serious"--by which may un-
dorstand you 10 mean, fair, honorable. Chris
tianl--considerntion Of the doctrine which |
believe and teach; |, therefore, feel free, and in
deed compelled, by the position which / oc.
cupy, TO remark, In this public manner, that
from the beginning TO tho end Of your work
you have so completely misrcpresentod Uni.
yersalism that your readers could not possi-
bly, get the remotest idea Of what Il is--not
even the remotest idea Of what we mean by
Universal Salyationy and thus, and by 9th.
er false statements, your book becomes
most unjust and pernioious slander upon me
and all other Universalists, and sheer inn
position upon the public Whether your
course Is fair, honorable, or Christian. | will
leave others to decide
Now, ask you, gentlemen, if he who at
tempts 10 give "calm and sorious,n or any
other kind Of exposition Of any system
should not make himself pretty well ac
quainted with, at least, the general princi.
pies Of that systemi This, in the case Of
Universalism, would not have been difficult
IN Il f,,sa all r. 4.
ton have laid down those principles very
plainly; their published works are scattered
through the country, and may be easily oh.
tanned by him who would understand them.
And yet your book betrays the fact that you
have NOT read our literature, or listened to
our sermons, or else that you have knowing
ly and intentionally falsifod concerning our
views and our teachings, Can il be posi-.
bic that you only wished to excite prejudice
against the term Universalism, and therefore
cared not TO present IL fairly; or did you fear
the influence II might have on some Of your
readers ifit were presented correctly, and
therefore purposely misreprescnt it, or
purposely neglect to acquant yourselves
with 1t, in order that you might not be able
to give it fair exposition!
IL matters little with me now what your
motive was-tho fact is what complain Of;
the fact that you have most outrageously
misrepresented Universalism and Uniyer-
salsts. You give evidence of having seen
or heard Of some Of the objections which we
urge against the doctrine Of endless misery;
and that you should strive to remove those
objections, and prove your doctrine true, is
well enough; but when you 90 further, and
pretend to give an exposition Of what we
believe, why should you not do us the JUS
tice to state our views fairlyi On page lis,
for instance, you say at (Universalism)
promises eternal life, uHoonditionaHy, to ali
the children. Of men, whether they are pen
itent or impenitent; whether they live vir-
tuously or wallow in vice; all shall go direct
ly to Heaven when they de-" &c; and
again, same page, it ''confounds all distinc-
ton between virtue and vice, sin and holi-
ness, and secures eternal life to all, without
any reference TO their own character and
.--H.' tr'' M,