The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-10

/ have often heard it said that God is q
monster if eternal punishment is true,
but never before that he is a monster if
he does not punish some souls eterDally.
The preachers face was surely set Pagan
ward.
Cedar Falls.
The parish at Cedar Falls has been
without regular services since last No.
vember. Efforts are being made to locate
pastor here. Rev. E. Manford Clarke,
of Missouri, is supplying the pulpit for
few Sundays. Cedar Falls is the right
place, and we all trust Br. Clarke is the
right man for the place, and that pros
porous union for a series of years will be
the result. If Br. Clarke is prepared to
come into Iowa and do hard work, under
many difficulties, for the Universalist
cause, he will be heartily welcomed.
Boone
Regular services have again been es.
tablished at Boone. Rev. J. f. Schind-
Ter has arranged to supply there for one
year-at present once a month, and as
soon as the work is well organized, once
in two weeks. Boone is an important
city of about 5000 population, and con-
tains large percentage of liberal people.
They need to be organized into church.
What the "AutOcrat" Says.
"We frequently see persons in insane
hospitals, sent there in consequence of
what are called religious mental disturb
ances. I confess that 1 think better of
them than of many who hold the same
notions, and keep their wits and appear
to enjoy life very well, outside of the asy-
lums. Any decent person ought to go
mad. if he really holds such or such opin-
ions. 1t is very much to his discredit in
every point of view if he does not What
is the use of my saying what some of
these opinions are? Perhaps more than
one of you hold such as 1 should think
ought to send you straight over to Som
erviile Gin Iowa we say independence, if
you have any logic in your heads or any
human feeling in your hearts. Anything
that is brutal, cruel, heathenish, that
makes life hopeless for the most of man.
kind and perhaps for entire races
no matter by what name you call il, mo
matter whether fakir. or a monk, or
deacon believes it-if received, ought to
produce insanity in every well-regulated
mind. The condition becomes a normal
one, under the circumstances. I am very
much ashamed of come people for retain
ing their reason, when they know perfect
ly we'll that if they were not the most
stupid or the most selfish of human be-
ings they would become non-compotes
katsenee," ,-.sl.....s,.-.~
1t is unfortunate that this paragraph,
quoted from Holiness "Autocrat of the
Breakfast Table," fits the case of so many
people of this generation. From the
standpoint of the church and her mission,
this is perhaps the most inauspicious sign
of the times. The love of money, pleas
ure, and glory engage at least three
fourths of the people Of to-day;-of these,
two-thirds or more are professed believ-
ers in creed "brutal, cruel, heathenish,
that makes life hopeless for the most of
mankind" But SO few are driven mad
by the force of "logic" OF "human feel
ing" that we are left to conclude that
their faith in the creed is only nominal.
At this point the opportunity for mission
ary work joins with responsibility, in a
loud call to the liberal church to apply
with winning wisdom saving gospel.
The evolution of the human mind has
saved "the world" from "the pains of hell
forever" and lack of faith in the creed
keeps "believers" from insanity. But a
more dangerous mental phenomenon than
the hell of orthodoxy, is its offspring
the prevailing indifference toward all
things that do not promise handsome
gift of money, pleasure, or personal glory.
How to save society from the uneasy
worldliness which tempts men and wo-
men to revel in selfshness and sin-that
is the problem for the liberal church to
solve. J. F, SoHINDLER.
Mitchellville, June %.