The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-05-07
very interesting, and we quote from II as


ideas, are all those formulas which look
, toward dark lStalism or which destroy
Tue human will, or indicate the damnation
OF some infant, or that God, for His own
:. glory, loreordained vast majority oil the
' race to everlasting death. II has been
, my good or bad fortune 10 speak In public
and IN private 10 large number Of per-
sons hostile TO our Church, and in nearly
, all cases ! have found their hostility bas-
| ed upon the doctrines indicated above,
and 10 all ways ! have declared to them
that the Presbyterian Church had lett be.
hind them thesedoctrines, and that her Teli
. gicn was simply evangelical, and not, pdr
e1csItenee, the religion Of despair. 10 my
peculiar ministry simple silence has not
been sufficient, have, therefore, at many
times, declared our denomination 10 be
stmply q Church Of the common evan
geliCal doctrines.
INFANT DANNATIoN.
Besides the formulas oi It's books, our
Church has suffered more than pen can
record from the wild utterances ol some
ol its great names, and from these It has
been my frequent duty to try to separate
ASA A0A 0hA oWSStSA HlGdGubs kuGIG WeI6
ages when mothers walled in awful agony
over q dead infant because they had been
taught that children mot a span long"
were suffering on the hot floor Of hell, and
that each newborn infant was only q
lump ol perdition;" and under the awful
lashtDg OF these thoughts, mothers used
ID bapiize their dead born little ones, pit
eously beseeChing God TO ante.d date the
sacred rite. In the midst Of this wall Of
infants damned, Luther himself saws,
"God pleaseLh you when He crowns the
unworthy; he ought not TO displease YOU
when He damns the Innocent.
Against the doctrine Of iatalism, as i'm.
piled in the perfect Independence Of Gods
decree as to all human conduct against
the ultra form oi human inability, Il has
been my constant duty, as 1t seemed, 10
protest, and thus defend our Church from
the influence Of ideas 80 repudiated by
modern thought. An eminent church.
man, perhaps Luther, said "All things
take place by the eternal and iuyariable
Will Of God, who blasts and skaters in
pieces the freedom Of the will"
SALVATION BY FAITH.
Next to the banetul Calvinistic esti-
mate Of tho will, comes the overststement
OF the idea of salvation by faith all along
through the Presbyterian history. Said
Luther, "YoI see how rich is the Chris.
Lian. Even II he would, he could not de.
stroy his salvation BY any sins, however
grievous, unless he refuses TO believe"
"Bc thou sinner and sin boldly, still
more boldly 6Glieve. From Christ no
sin shall separate, though thousand
times day we should commit for
nication and murder" In my ministry
have tOied the harder to unite faith and
holiness, because of this dreadful page oi
history written down against tho calvin
tstic branches Of the Protestant Church.
CAUSES OF 1NFIDELTTY.
Next to the injury the Presbyterian
Church has sustained from It's errors as
above mentioned, It has become source
OF actual lnfdelity by lis terrible doc.
trine OF hell. Even TO the day ot Ed.
wards, and since, the pictures OF perdi-
ton have been such as al first, indeed, to
trighten the multitude, but such as after.
ward to destroy the idea OF God. Look
where men might, 1t was perditiou to all
but his sect, and, 10 look upon other sects
in the pains Of hell, was to form part Of
the happiness Of the blessed. The isggot,
tho rack, and tho boiling oil were a re.
sort of potentates, Tor, II God was so
glorying in the torment of heretics Just
beyond, 1t was a email matter II tho
Church tormented them slightly on this
side the tomb. We need not disguise the
TACT, my brethren, that tho dark side Of
CalVlnism gave birth to infidelity in that
age when the Church was narrow iu It's
love, broad only in It's damuation. But
permit me to quote from one who has not
been arraigned ior bad teaching, but
whose words have lust been published
by the American Tract Society.-Theo.
dore Christlieb. He says: at was the
lormer century which prepared the
way among ourselves for the prevalence
Of rationaliam.' Was 1t not the pet.
rlacation Of evangelical faith into dry
forms Of orthodoxy The sermons Of
that period were Tor the most part i
about Cryptic Calvinists,
Sydcredists, Synergisls, Motorists, Anti.
nomians, Osisndriandrians, Weigeliaus,
and Arminiaus. = Il y At
such time, when cold orthodoxy was
almost everywhere substituted Tor living
faith, when slsvish adherence to the |
Uhurch's standards was put In place of |
free inquiry into the sense OF scripture,
and fresh bondage to the letter was in.
troduced, 1t became simple necessity for |
energetic minds like Lesslug to come to |
an open breach with traditional Protest.
antism. + RAtionalism was
right in contending for simple morality
10 opposition to theoretic orthodoxy"
ut must be confessed that the Church |
theology Of the last century was chiefly |
to blame for tho general apostasy from |
the ancient faith which then began. From
the middle oil the eighteenth century 10 |
the end Of the first third Of tho nine.
teenth the chief authorities In pulpits and
institutions oi learning were promoters of
ratIonalism. For this
spirit VIC theologisns have only ourselves
10 thank. We are now reaplng what we
ourselves have sown." '''
Prof SWING claimed In his speech be-
fore tho Chicago Presbytery that It was
only in regard to the views above indicat.
ed that he had expressed opinions at va
rance with those protessedly held by the
ministry Of tho denomination. He be.
lieved that "thC value of single liic;did
not depend upon sectarian relations but
upon evangelical or christian relations"
and on the strength of this belief he was
willing to stand or fall; to remain in the
Church or go out from it, according as
the Presbytery might order. We Judge
from the remarks made by Doctor
swAzEY TO The Presbytery that Psoi.