The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1859-12-07

CT BOWS us uSstu, anu Ddioo MS Ds'Se ~
the blows; and tho Infatuated father
strikes again and again with a club of
iron, till at last the feyered blood breaks
from that pure heart and death takes his
prey! Then the father as he looks at
the mangled corpse, wipes his dark brow
smiles complacently, and says he is sstis-
fed.
"Once twas a seat of dreadful wrath,
And shot deyouring flame;
Our God approved consuming fire.
And vengeance was his name.
Rich were the drops of Jesus blood,
That Gained his angry face,
That sprinkled DER the burning throne,
And turned the wrath to grace
This picture falls sh ort of that conceiy-
ed of the Atonement by the dominant
church. God demands eternal damnation
as the penalty for the sins of this short
life. Jesus, the innocent brother suffers
this penalty, and thus opens q way Of sal
vatien from far off hell He pays the
debt, and yet man is safe only by pro-
viso! Though Justice is satisfied, yet a
contingency is in the way, and the great
or portion Of our ra g is doomed, despite
fhe sacrifice!
Do we publicly ignore such an Atone
ment? We say yes, most emphatically.
We say it has no foundation in Scripture
or reason. We would not thus blaspheme
the uano of God. We hold tho Influence
Of such belief is most degrading to the
mind and deadning to moral energy
How many cherishing it, think themsel-
selves entitled to heaven, which they To-
cate far off, because thoy trust in the A
tenement. Anger may live in the heart,
selfshness rule the action, persecution
against those who would institute bet
ter order of things, may burn in the fiery
wor and Pharasaical look, yet are they
justified by faith! Safe as to the future,
if faithful to the church! The justifica-
ton of tho Christian" says Luther, sis
not an essential justification, but repu-
ted one" Calvin teaches the same doc
trine. ave are accounted just in Christ,
which in ourselves We are not" Thus
also Rowland Hill. ''God secs no sin in
believers, whatever sin they may commit,
My sins might disploase God, my person
is always acceptable to him. Though l
should out sin Manassah, should not
be less pleasant child, because God al
ways views me in Christ. Hence in the
midst of adulteries, murders aud incests
he can address me with, Thou art all
fair, my love, ray undefled; there is no
spot in thee p" When l read such ex-
pressions, and hear ministers endorse
them, by saying in substance eve are
infinitely unworthy in ourselves, and yet
infinitely worthy, when viewed in Christ
/ cannot help exclsiming in the language
of another, "Iow few of our celebrated
pulpits there are, where more has not been
said for sin than against it" We say
then, without fear of successful contradic-
ton, that the time-honored dogma of a
T;carious Atonement, together with its
correllative, Infinite Righteousness. is the
chief hindrance to religious progress and
To the embodiment of our spiritual be-
ing.
1t is true that such monstrosities are
publicly secuted by the thinking minds
of our age. 1t is no use to forge the
chains; the people will not wear them
They mean to be free from the crushing
weight of the Babel that is piled upon
them. 1t is notin the secluded valley Of
the st. Croix alone, where the "phenom-
enon'' is seen, but all through the north
ern range of states, back to the Atlantic
coast, where the Pilgrim Fathers first
planted the seeds we are reaping. There
is an upheayal of the masses to rise to the
light of that Truth which flames in fresh
baptsms of inspiration from heaven. ~-
Let all who are full of horror at our atti
tude, believing we are 'stotally depraved,
understand that there is not only I'M
shackled thought, but a zeal and action sc
potent, that no power of the dominan
church can stay our hands from building
up holier institution than that which
seeks to crush us; and thus do we wis!
to bless our accusers. Whatever geoc
they foster, we foster, and great dea
more. God grant thatwe may be instru
mental by tho power Of Truth and Elk
bample, in redeeming the church from it
saTi 6 III = IL be .1