The daily gazette., 1878-02-23
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY.
Comm unieated. z
PUBLISHED by REQUEsT.1

ltODLhpnhD Di hEQt hbisJ
The Repubiican of February 11th, con-
tains a speech uttered In Wilmington, by
the Rev. j. b. Mann, In which find
the following sentence: -.-.
"The theory that the commission OF
sins Is visited upon the perpetrators
while In their mortal stage alone, as
taught by Unlversalism, Is false, and he
hela that man who teaches such doc
trine should be confined in the penIten-
tiary; be was a liar from the top Of his
head TO the soles Of his feet"
The doctrine that the way of the
transgressor Is hard, and that the path of
virtue Is the path of peace, Is certainly
taught In the Bible and illustrated
pretty generally by human experience,
but / have no desire for Bible discuss
sien. / only mean TO say that there is
sufficient ground for 1t in scripture TO
shield an honest teacher Of 1t from the
penitentiary, and that it Is anything but
clerical manners, TO call him ga liar from
the top Of his head to the soles Of his
feet" II q common man were TO use
such language, he would be set down as
blackguard and he might possibly get
one of his peppers closed in mourning,
butthe pious biackguardism Of minister
of the gospel may be of sach different
character that 1t only merits larger
pew rent.
He represents the doctrine, that sin Is
Its own avenger, as one that offers a
premium TO crime, and would finally ad-
init Probst into heaven. Where Probst
now is IL takes one of his audacity TO
ial hnt ~ "a M sffnxkad m Iao.,aty
like other murderers, 1t must have been
because he was a poor ignorant Catholic
and had not Methodist parson for his
spiritual adviser.
The idea Of sending q man to the
penitentiary for merely uttering that
which he believes to be the sacred truth
Is natural outgrowth of belief In an
endless hell. That belief is the fiendIsh
parent VI the inquisitlon, and Of all the
prosecutions among warning christians
during the dark and bloody ages Of the
past. Luckily for me I have the best Of
orthodox authority for this opinion. An
eminent DIR. of Divinity of present good
standing In the venerable Episcopal
church is my right hand bower; the Rev.
Il. A. Holland, ID, ID. OF st. Louis,
says: .
"Every one must admit that this dog
ma, If false, merits execration equal TO
the havoc 1t has wrought among man
kind. How great that havoc has been,
history withits long and bloody catalogue
Of outrages, fails fully TO record. From
the earliest supremacy Of tho church
through q peroid of more than 1,00C
years, every tool of torture which the
genious of fanaticism could event was
applied and kept in operation by the
belief that heresy was a sin deserving
eternal punishment, and that, conse
quently, no transient agony could be tot
severe which might stay Its spread. One
immortal soul is worth more than 9
whole race of mortal bodies; hence, what
matters 1t II, TO save such soul, millions
Of mortal bodies smart and perishp"
The Rev. j. b. Mann will doubtless
call the Rev. DIR. Holland, ga liar from
the top of his head TO the soles Of hi
feet" but that will not hurt him no
convince anybody else. The man wht
publicly proclaims IN the City of Will
mington,in the year 1875, that an opinion
such as before mentioned, should sub
ject its advocate TO a cell in the peniten
| 10 lilo OilC W oCbd hio NANeia
there II lie could. A belief in endless
torture,is wall calculated 10 make a mar
ferocious and barberous. He naturally
desires to inprison and burn here, such
as his God will imprison and burn eter
nally hereafter. No man can impute u
his God cruelty that he would not like
to practice himself, if he had the chance
That which his God should do, is doing
and will continue to do forever, is-w
may fairly infer-just what he would d.
himself, If he had the power. Fortu
nately for us heretics, he is no longer abl
to send people to the dungeon, or tn
} stake for doubling his hellish dosmas
The Rev. J. b. Mann was born too lat'
for that pious work here, aud will hag
TO wait until he goes into the golde
harp business hereafter. When he get
up among congenial spirits he can pla,,
aud dance 10 heavenly airs over the ago
MES of the damned in the fiery abys
below, but not till then can his hol
vengeance be glutted. s. STEBBINs.