Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-11-01
WAR AGAITsT EVIL PRACTICES.

:
Our church folks have had a re-
markably hard road to travel. No
set of men ever had such trials as
our preachers have endured. When
they came upon the theater of action
they found the whole world gone
astray. None did good; no, not one.
The good old Bible had been mis-
translated, and many words not trans
lated at adjust forced in hike a
cooper forces a stave in his barrel af-
ter setting the head hoop. This all
had to be corrected and to accomplish
this which we denominate hobby No.
/, all sorts of designs had to be In
voked to get money. Life member
ships, individual donations, congre-
CATION pledges, &C., &c. This re-
quired vast labor on their part. Then
colleges had to be built, male and fe-
male. This was hobby No. 2, and
opened up field fer vast speculation
and gave room for the display of the
rare gifts peculiar to the pulpit. Then
each preacher concluded that he indi-
vidually (not the Pope of Rome) was
n hot
the Apostles didn't say which one)
and that he heard still small voice
telling him the words of the commits
sion, and that he was now substituted
and specially commanded to go into
all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. This assumption
crazed his brain and set him adrift
from all other duties and consldera-
tions, and whether the idea of preach
ing the gospel to those who had neith-
er intelligence nor knowledge of Ian
guage sufficient to understand him.
or the simple idea of going some
where prevailed most with him, depo-
nent saith not. At all events he went
and did not stay long. Much heather
did not convert. This we shall call
hobby No. 3. At this writing it is
all the go, and the man or woman
who is not ready to fall down and
worship this image must be cast into
the den Of lions. In order to carry
out this scheme and have plenty of
money, church officers are taught
from the pulpit and the religious pa
pers to force their members to pay
such sums as they may demand, in
order to succeed in this direction.
Among the ignorant, who sometimes
rule, as they term it, this is a duty
with them that rises far above many
of the best teachings of Jesus. To
a vain, pretentious church deacon or
elder, what some one of these apos-
tolic successors by substitution teach
is paramount to what the New Testa-
ment contains, because he hears what
he says and knows nothing of what
the scriptures teach. These are all
extraneous matters outside the teach
lngs of the simple gospel, fraught
with many evils, and can be sustained
only by the spectators of expediencY.
These extreme views, bordering on
fanaticism, show that their devotees
are forgetful of the fact that the world
was not made in a single day, and
they are also oblivious of another
great truth, and that is that He who
made the earth and all world, also
created the race of heathens, and that
He yet rules among the children of
men and will accomplish His ends in
His own good time.
The chief error is in the bold as
sumption by the preachers of apostol-
ic succession. Be modest! Don't
claim so much. "The meek shall in
herit the earth" Teach your con-
gregations the one only supreme Tau
Of the Kingdom-love out of pure
heart. Impress your hearers with
your own spiritual life. Breathe into
them the spirit of peace, love, joy,
long suffering, goodness, meekness,
faith. Teach them that life is only a
state of preparation for the solemni-
ties of death and the grave, and,
above all things, put on humility, ex-
hort, reprove, rebuke, not in anger,
but with long suffering, knowing that
the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance.
With the permission of the LEDGER
"Cephas" will hereafter present some
practical lessons, and endeavor to
point out the true way to avoid many
of the quicksands of life, and at last
gam the haven of eternal rest.
| CEPHAS.
| Pioneer Life.
Not long since we had occasion te
call attention to The Romance anG
Tragedy of Pioneer Life, recently