The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-09-28
NOT GONE OVER To HETERO-
DOXY.

of me. 1 said moth
ing that could properly be cOnstru-
ed into farewell to orthodoxy"
l did not use that expression, nor
any other by which l meant to say
that. In the morning 1 preached
from the text sand now abideth
faith, hope, charity, these three, but
the greatest of these is charity" Il
Cor, Is cap, 13 w. In a very brief
way and without departing from
generally received opinions, L defined |
these three permanent graces which |
l said compose a religious exper-
ience," and then proceeded to stress |
at some length the latter clause of |
the text, "the greatest of these is |
charity" l took the ground that |
"faith being the foundation of a |
christian character, charity is the SUI
perstructure," quoting st. Peters ad-
vice to "add to your faith virtue, and
to virtue knowledge, and to knowl-
edge temperance, and to temperance
patience, and to patience goodness,
and to goodness brotherly kindli-
ness, and to brotherly kindness
charity" q Peter, chap, 5, z W
Charity being the climax, ] also
quoted from 1 Cor, Is chap, 2 ",
"and though have all faith so that
| could remove mountains and have
not charity, am nothing" Said |,
sit seems to me that the theologians
and preachers have for long time
stressed faith at the expense OF
works. l fear there has been loss
% 90 oh
regarded by many as holding oul
the idea that man may just do a
he pleases SO he has faith" said,
that was exalting dogma above
virtue aud moral goodness" ln the
course of these remarks l quoted st.
James, chap, IL ", seven so faith
if it hath not works is
dead. being alone" and the 18th
verse, "the devil also believe and
tremble" Now, said ], "taith W orks
not by opinion, not by dogma, not
by creed, not by denominations
prejudices but by love-charity." !
said "that faith without charity was
dogmatic and over. bearing, but
charity is tolerant" quoting l Cor
Is chap, W: "Charity sufferetb
long and is kind, charity envieth not
charity vaunteth not itself, is not
puffed up" said that "faith with
out charity was liable to be exclusive
and creedal, but charity is unselfish.
1t is able to climb over our sectariau
walls, and in imitation of Christ and
in obedience to his teachings love
the world. | referred to the belief
of some that all who do not SUBJ
scribe to what is commonly called
orthodox doctrines, will be damned"
Now, said /, "did you ever think OF
the result of such a belief as that ?
| will show you the extent of it by
the following figures, which | take
from recent statements:
There are 8l6,915, 300 heathens in
the world and they must all burn.
There are 105,668,000 MahOmedans
and they too must co. There are
6,216,700 Jews and you damn them
And now of the 1884, III, $50 Chris
tians ESQ called). 1t will not be
allowed that more than 33,477, 1896 OF
these are really professed orthordox
Christians, which leaves the total
unsavaged $780, ,531; in other
words, about one-half of one per
cent of the population of the world.
"Now, my brethren" said ], "are
you prepared to believe that all
these save the little remnant that are
evangelical will be eternally
damned?" "For myself l would
not say it for my right hand" l
then referred to the Jews. "The
Christians have been prosecuting the
Jews more or less for eighteen GEN.
turtles, and do not know for what.
| Christ never commanded it and his
doctrines would condemn it, and yet
we have deprived them of nation
allty and they are thereby citizens
of almost every country, while
they can call no country their
home. l once asked a preacher
what he thought would become
of the Jews and ..he said
they would every one be damned.
What! said l, every one? Yes. Now,
my brethren, are you prepared to
endorse the answer to a similar
question? I confess L am not. l
have lived among the Jews and /
find many of them pious and wor-
shipful. They are good nelghbors,
they visit the sick, they give aims to
the needy. They take care of the
orphan children; their poor never
beg in your streets. They pay their
taxes and are patriotic; and now tell
me why do you want to damn, in
discriminatory, people who, upon
the whole, are about as good as we
Methodists are? Now, why may
not the good, the virtuous in all
these people-Jews, Mahomedans
and heathens, be saved? For, with
St. Peter, 'ot truth 1 perceive that
God is no respecter of persons; but
in every nation he that feareth him
and worketh righteousness is ac-
cepted with him" They have the
natural law, and st. Paul says
"For as many as have sinned
without law shall also perish
without law; and as many as have
sinned in the law shall be judged by
the law, for not the hearers Of the
law are just before God, but the
doors of the law shall be justified ;
for when the Gentiles, which hav e
not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having
not the law are q law unto them
selves which show the work of the
law written in their hearts, their
conscience, also bearing witness, and
their thoughts meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another" Rom.
iii:l2-15. Besides these expressions,
l do not recall any others that would
be likely to give any offense to the
most ardent lover of our orthodox
creeds. At night l preached on the
human character of Christ. In my
introduction 1 said: "There are
two phases in his character, called
the divine and the human, but l am
going to preach on the human char
actor only. AS an example of prac-
tical piety and useful living we are
to initiate the man, Christ, and L was
careful enough to ask the congrega-
ton not to misunderstood me. My
text was Matthew tx. 9--"Follow me-"
[ set Christ before the people as an
example worthy to be followed:
1. In having an opinion of his own,
which he sustained regardless of the
orthodoxy of his day.
2. In the purity of his doctrines,
which be. gave to the world without
any creed.
8. In his spirit and disposition to-