Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1859-02-04


which be murders good neral. bnt lin or
thodox phrase) an uDregeu crate man. This
moral man goes to the reg ons Of endless
woe. The assassin, after tr, ing in vain the
power Of his legs and al the tricks legal in
genuity can devise to avoid the scaffoid, re.
pents through fear Of an endless hell, and is
swung into heaven, to rejoice, not ''with his
! victim" but Deer the miseries. the unaiter
able miseries Of his victim, world without
end What blessed thing that pistol
was to that assassin. Had not he sent .
good man to hell with its deadly bullet, he
might have gone on in wickedness, died q
natural death, and gone to hell himself,
Your correspondent says severely" at-
tackled every class Of christians in my re-
ply to your editorial. deny the charge.
l have great respect for Christians wherever
found, but have no respect for b'gots and
canting Pharisees, who put on the form Of
godliness and deny the power thereof. !
love good man wherever I find him.
believe the church Of Christ is composed,
not of bigoted sectarians but Of those Who
do justly. love mercy and walk humbly be-
fore God, the kind. good and pure.
"rhe one selected race,
OF al prsfesSons and In every pla>e."
We hold that . man has Just the amount
OF religion that he has moral goodness.
When the editor Of the Nesos Tor somebody
writing as the editor) said that U Universalists
were seeking to debase men TO the vileness
Of the internal regions, did, to show that
those who live in glass houses should not
throw stones, call the readers attention to
few of the bloody deeds Of the self-styled
orthodox ssints to show how they have acted
when they have had the power to do IS thev
pleased, and none can say, Why do ye go !?
Let me, Mr. Editor, here give you the words
of the great and good DIR. Dick. After
speaking Of "diabolical cruelties" which had
formerly been practiced by those who called
themselves christians, he says: "In our
times the more appalling and horrifc forms
which persecution formerly assumed, have
been set aside by the civil laws Of the coun-
try, but its spirit still remains, and mani'ests
itself in . variety Of different shapes What
other name can be given to power which
prevents q numerous and respectable body
Of men from holding certain civil offices and
emoluments, that denies to = diseentsr or
his children the privilege Of being inferred,
in what is called consecrated ground 7 1t is
true indeed. that fires, ard racks, and thumb
screws, and tortures. and gibbets are no
longer applied as punishment for difference
OF opinion in religion, for the strong hand Of
the civil law interposes to prevent them.
But were no such power interposed. the
principle which sanctions such deprivations
as those now mentioned. if carried out to
its legitimate consequences, might soon lead
to Us dreadful prosecutions as those which
have already entailed endellible disgrace
on the race Of man. Such spirit of intol
erspce and persecution is directly opposed
to every rational principle. to every gener-
ous and humane feeling, to every precept of
christianity, and to every disposition incul-
Gated by the religion OF Jesus"
Dicks remarks apply, especially to Great
Britain, but the same spirit of persecution
has crimsoned the pages of American his-
tory. Here men have been deprived of ftheir
just rights by self styled Christians, and it
is not to old orthodoxy, tnat we are in
debted for the privilege we now have to
''sit every man under his own vine and fig
tree but to the principles OF liberty and
right, which liberal christians and friends
have advocated in peril, to reap .
reward in triumphant security
Passing other remarks of Orthodoxy"
for fear ] shall trespass too long on your
indulgence, l notice concluding observa-
tion of his. He says God "makes . law |
Of universal obligation, and if his crea.
lures do not obey it, they must suffer the |
penalty of disobedience.' Here "Ortho-
doxy" is however anything but orthodox
Universalists believe that il man does not |
obey (or disobeys.) the divine law, he MUST
SUFFER the panaty of disobedience. But |
orthodoxy is perpetually telling men how
they can escape that penalty. The whole
scheme of vicarious atonement is . plan to
substitute the innocent to suffer instead Of
the wrong doer himself. Universalism
knows no such outrage upon justice. We
believe with Paul, that che mot some one
else) that doeth wrong shall receive for the
wrong which he hath done, and there 10 no
respect Of persons" And we also believe
that God furnishes in both justice and love
.'for our profit, that we may be partakers
of his holiness" We do not believe that d.
vine justice will infict any more punish
ment than is for the good of the punished,
but that W HON the Lord loveth, he chasten-
eth, and chastens because he loves, loves to-
day, tomorrow, and eternally. When it
can be shown that endless punishment can
do the subject of it any good, car profit
him. we may believe in it, but not till then.
SO Mr.. Orthodoxy" whoever you are,
dof your anonymous cloak, and over your
own signature, try your logical powers in
showing us how q punishment that never
ends can contribute to the profit or Loli-
ness of men. Tell us. while you are about
II, if those who disobey Gods law, must
suffer the penalty Of disobedience." and
that penalty is endless misery, how you ex-
pect to avoid the certain doom ofevery sin
IL L |
TO avoid that penalty which must he infict-
ed on the disobedientl Light. Mr.. Or
thodoxy,' light upon this subject. we pray
you. l remain, Mr.. Editor,
Truly yours,
G. WooDHousE.
moline, Jan. 2s, 1859.