Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1872-04-11
Hepworth and Heterodoxy.

I
I seek far to find the reason. Mr.. Her
worth gave it very naturally at tn
Congregational Conference, on the lst
/, OF January, in Plymouth Church
: Brooklyn. Taking himself to represen
the average man in moral weakness
, wickedness, and need, he had said I,
himself: "A man cannot save me,
| don't care how big he is. | cannot b.
: saved by Hebrew philosopher. Ill
must be more than that That littl
statement covers, or suggests, tn,
whole philosophy of the matter. Earn
est men who believe in ANYTHING be
lieve that Jesus Christ was only man
OF truly God, according to their view:
: toi their own natures and needs. A mar
VINO believes that his nature is who'll
good, that he bears within himself nc
hereditary depravity and no dominan,
principle of seltishness, feels neces
sariiy, that he does not need to be
saved. Jesus Christ the man-th,
great human teacher-is enough for
MN. In his opinion, all he needs is tc
oe led aud taught. lie apprehends and
icels no need of divine Saviour. Oh,
Tue other hand, the man who believes
Ms nature To be depraved, and realizes
that he needs something more than in.
structlon,-that lie needs and must
nave help, inspiration, salvation,-must
believe III Jesus Christ armed with
divine power, and mighty to save"
lie sees himself to lie lost and he be-
Iicves that the being who came "to
seek and to save that which was lost. {"
came 10 that office of purpose, from
some realm and form of pre-existence,
WHinc!y ordained, dIvineIy informed.
ana divlncly endowed. He must be-
lIeEc tins, or conclude that Christianity
lS powcrlcss scheme, 50 far as he il
I concerned.
We suppose it must be matter OF
common observation that As soon as a
+ hltarian clergyman really begins in
earnest the work of saving men, he
bcSinS TO drItt toward the evangelical
I view OF Christ. SO long rs Unitarian
Ism works among the refined and the
! h!+h.y educated, even if thev are
I politely selfish, it gets along very well,
/ but the moment it is called upon 10
\ present the motives of reformation TO
the wicked, the brutal, the degraded, it
hnds itself inexprcssibly weak. The
man who breaches nurture and culture
aLd development TO a congregation of
/ brutal men and vicious women, preach
es that which every man and woman
before HIM knows 10 be nonsense
Iherc Is not one of them who does not
heed To be say ed, and who does not
Kho" that the process OF salvation in
NolSes ! revolution. or a reformation.
that combines all these processes They
are weak a@d nee'i help; they are sin-
iul, and need pardon they are lost
and need to be saved. TO tell sDch
people that Il Hebrew philosopher"
who pretended TO be inspired and TO
teach with authority, but who was in
reniIty only good man, can save
them, Is to feed starving men with
chau. The wicked, selfish, degraded
world we live in can never be under
very great obligation to d religious
teacher who laughs at the phrase: "a
change of heart AS soon rs a man
realizes the necessity of such change
for himself and the world, he realizes
the necessity of holding as the central
figure OF his religious system some
thing more than Hebrew phioso-
pher. Only his God can be his
Saviour, aud his Saviour must be his
I God.
Those who haye commented on Mr.
uepworth's conversation to the evan
Seilcal view OF Christ have praised or
| blamed according to their own views
| OF the nature and needs OF men.
wv arlington, the we'll known cor
respondent of The Spr.nqfeid Repu6H-
can, has spoken with his usual fullness
/ upon the matter, though of course, with
| that gentle forbearance which is his
| distinguishing characteristic. He only
calls Mr.. Hepworth "a humbug." when
| it would have been so easy to have
/ called him villain, or n scalawag, or
an incendiary, and to have done it
with no greater sacrifice OF truth.
But "Warrington" is untitled by his
nature and his needs to comprehend
Mr.. Hepworth's position. \ man who
does not need To be saved has no right
to criucise one whose need is over
whelming. If Mr.. Hepworth possessed
"Warrington's ligious-nay, hls an
elic-temperament, his sweet amp
tender ways, his broad charity, his
white innocence OF soul, his exquisite
delicacy OF senslbilitv, his transcend
ent loveliness of character if his brow
and his form had been impressed at
birth with those insignia of saintliness
and kingliness which enable War
rington" to present 50 grand and gra-
cious front 10 mankind if his life
had been, like Clearinghouse" an un-
broken series of personal sacrifices for
the public good; if he had labored
sin.le-handcd like him for the delight,
the comfort, the consolation, the pur-
fication and the spiritual up-building
of his race; if, in short, he had, like
"Warrinpton,' 'been sanctified in the
womb ito use the impressive phrase
OF our Puritan great-graRdmother)
then he would have felt no need to be
saved, either from the devil at whom
good people throw ink-stands, or the
devil who throws his ink-stand at good
people.
The most ordinary observer canno
have tailed to notice two divergine
drifts of belief in the Unitarian
Church and these will make their de
posits in the future as they have made
them in the past. One has born,
: Huntington, Osgood and Wentworth
: out of the Church into Trinitarianism
the other ought long ago to hav
carried out of the Church, in the op
posite direction, others as we'll know
a as those whose names we have mer
: toned. One can hardly understan
e the motive which induces a ce:tai
Il | II a