The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-31

BY REV. r. S. BOWIE, OF SCOTLAND.
The Rev. Neil Douglas, Master of
Arts, preacher of the Restoration,
Glasgow, Scotland; born in the year
1850, began to preach Universalism in
1900, died Jan. 8, 1923, aged 70 years.
The Rev. Neil Douglas, who in his
day and generation was noted as
preacher of surprising excellence,
under the spell of whose Oratory
hundreds of earnest and devout souls
sat as if listening to prophetic mes
senger, was, so far as 1 have been able
to learn after patient research, the
first clergyman who promulgated,
publicly, the doctrine of universal sal
vation in the West of Scotland and the
surrounding districts, including Green
ock, Paisley, Johnston, Kilmarnock,
Ayr, etc, etc. This being so, an ac-
count of the steps by which he was led
to embrace this godlike doctrine can
not fail to possess the greatest possible
interest to all who read your very ably
conducted paper. Neil Douglas was
from the very earliest period of his life
much given to the study of religion;
and no sooner was his own heart i'm
pressed with a sense of divine things
than the common doctrine of the
eternal prevalence of sin and misery
over thousands and tens of thousands
of Gods intelligent creatures, he hay
ing been taught to believe as the West
minister Confession of Faith puts it
that "God had out of His mere good
pleasure elected some to everlasting
life, and that all the rest were doomed
to the wrath and curse of God, not only
in this life but also in that which is to
come" or in the language which the
poet Burns puts into the mouth of Holy
Willie:
30 Thou, who in the Heavens dost dwell
Who as it pleases best Thyselt
Sends one to Heaven and ten to Hell
A for Thy glory;
And no for any fued or ill
They've dune afore Thee"
gave him more concern than it was
possible for him to express, and it need
hardly be said that it brought him into
a state of the deepest distress, well
nigh bordering on insanity. Just
about this period the works of the
Chevalier Ramsey and Worthington on
Redemption happened to fall into his
hands and though they shed little light
upon his daIkened mind, they did not
remove the difficulties wlich seemed
to him to be inseparably connected
with the subject. Notwithstanding
this, Owever, he had the utmost con-
fidence in his own mind that his Heav-
enly Father would in his own good
time and way, show him that there was
nothing in the revelation which he had
given to mankind to be light to their
feet and lamp to their path, which,
properly understood, would clash with
the doctrine of universal love.
Some time after this some of Mr..
w WOAh
came into his possession. These
presented the leading doctrines of the
glorious system of Universal RestOra-
tion in what was to him an altogether
new and glorious light. He then began
the earnest study of the holy scriptures,
and the result was that the truth of
the doctrine appeared with increasing
evidence, and the difficulties which at
one time seemed insuperable, gradual
ly disappeared. Great was his joy on
making this discovery for he could now
see that particular election and saliva
tiOn were perfectly consistent with un-
iversal redemption and restoration; and
the connection of both in the divine
plan harmOnized, in the most delightful
way, many seemingly contradictory
passages of scripture. He saw that
the first fruits were the pledge, earnest
and pattern of the recovery of their
brethren at length and would have an
honorable efficacy in the ingathering
of the complete harvest. He was only
beginning to taste of the holy joy
which flows from a belief in such a
view of the divine administration, when
he felt called upon to defend the
doctrine by the following circumstance:
A friend of his, upon whom he had
called, informed him that he had late
ly been reading very wonderful
sermon by Elhanan Winchester, en-