Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-05-30
To TIE EDITOR OF The HanALp -

! To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
Dear Sir: Upon the whole | am
| much pleased with the letter written
by Orleans commenting upon my
communication of May is. 1t is true
individuals differ-diifer in taste for
food, for dress, for literature, in main
ners. They also differ in regard to
what kind of religion or Of life they
hold and profess to believe in. But is
it necessarily right and true for them
to differ? Should not all agree that
poison is not good for foodg Should
not all assert that inordinate and ex-
travagant apparel is not appropriate !?
Can we deny that obscene and trashy
literature is suitable for ones mind?
So in regard to religion. Is it good
unless it comes up to that standard
which the Way, the Truth and the
Life designed and left for all the world
to receive? Did the Founder of the
Christian religion leave Ways, Truths
and Lives that every one may go in
the way that he forms for himself
that every one may live as he chooses :?
10 be short, as many affirm, If a
mans heart is right he is on the way
to glory. Yet does living in error and
wrong make mans heart right in
the sight of an Allwise God? | need
not answer the question. l know that
we should have the fruit of the spirit
which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, meekness, tenn
perance, but let not "faith " be omit
ted. Faith is the rock upon which SO
many chisel out, as Z" Orleans asserts,
" hairsplitting theories" Shall | have
the faith of universal salvation which
is very lenient for wiful sinners? Shall
| hold the faith of eternal punishment
which ought to brighten evil doors into
submission to the Divine viii? Ought
I to have the Unitarian or Trinitarian
idea of the Godhead? Ought l to be-
lieve in the Apostolic succession or not?
Now if any one of these doctrines have
not changed since the foundation of
the Christian religion must they not
be true, for truth is unchanging. For
instance, does history teach us that
the Unitarian theory was what was
taught in all the Christian ages, or did
certain individuals introduce it into
the thoughts of the Christian Church
through imagination that it was true Z?
Has the Trinitarian theory had con.
tinuous place in the creed of the
Church of Christ, or do we find that it
only existed at times during the Chris
tian era? Is the Apostolic succession
an invention of some ecclesiastics, or
has it been q continuous fact since the
times Of the apostles? Has universal
salvation always been taught in the
Church, or have ambitious persons
found out new Interpretation to the
Gospel writings that should be differ
ent from the unchanging? introduce
these for illustrations to show how we
could go to work to find the unchang
ing truths and therefore the true doc
trines of the Church of Christ. Men
who profess to be ministers and heralds
of the Divine Oracles are largely re-
sponsible for the divided and distract
ed state of Christianity, and if they
worked more upon impartial princ-
pies they would look more for the I'M
changing creed that points out the
Way, the Truth and the Life. If it
were SO, there could be holder front
manifested to tear down and assault