The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-21
Suecia1 Contributors.
REV. NEIL DOUGLAS
THE EARLY PREACHER OF UNIYER-
SALISM In GLASGOW.
BY REV. R. s. BOWIE. OF SCOTLAND.

Notwithstanding all that had been
said and done by enemies to keep people
from hearing Mr.. Douglas, and in our
day it is scarcely possible to conceive
that the preachers and teachers of the
Gospel of our blessed Lord would have
taken such extreme measures as they
appear to have done, he was not alto
gether forsaken. In the forenoon Of
the first Lords day, on which he
preached after it became known that he
was believer in the doctrine of the
restoration, the audience was a mod
erately large one and in the evening
the church was crowded.
Speaking of his sensations on the oc-
casion, he says: II felt my mind not a
little impressed at the beginning of the
service, but integrity and truth were
my shield and buckler. May the Lord
give me grace to be faithful to the end
and cause his truth to triumph. 1t is
not a bad sign of the truth of doctrine
when it makes manifest the latest cor
ruptions of the heart, and produces
effects similar to those of the Gospel
at its first PRONUNCIATION" ;"
ssSome," he further remarks, "who
would be thought pious, twice zealots
for truth, are often heard scofingly to
say. oh, we may now live as we please,
there is no hell What idea can these
men have Of their Maker, who thus
sneer at the terrors of his wrath if
these anti Christian views of it are not
retained? 1t is not little remarkable
that they are equally hostile in general
to the doctrine. In my little inter-
course with men have often wondered
how such crooked, rough, knotty
pieces of timber, as many of them are,
could be formed into vessels Of honor
fitted to the Masters use, and indeed
many under a smoother surface are
equally distant from such a change.
For, though polished as marble, they
are as marble hard; but to God all
things are possible.
''It is easy to give vile names to per-
sons and things. The blessed author
of our own faith has had his own share
of this usage, and truth itself has often
passed through the same ordeal. Peter
speaks of the restitution of all things,
the great truth for which am contend
ing, but instead of calling it by that
name, many brand it with the most
odious epithets, such as the doctrine Of
devils and the like.
"Wild statements like these may
impose upon superficial observers and
procure their authors reputation for
doing God eminent service, but we have
an unerring rule by which to try them
to which you would do well to give
heed. Our Lords rule for such is this:
'Ye shall know them by their fruits;
do men gather grapes of thorns or figs
of thistles?' The spirit of the Lord,
which is the spirit of love and peace,
never moves men to conduct forbidden
in his word. Such opposition to doc
trine which has so much to support it
in Holy Writ, instead of moving us to
give it up, should rather confirm us in
the truth of it."
"Some think it a crime in minister
of the gospel to add to his faith the
knowledge and profession of any point
in religion which he formerly did not
see or profess. but the wisest and best
of men have been of a different opinion.
One of three things which that eminent
reformer, Luther, thought necessary in
a minister of the Gospel is, that he
should be always learning, and the say
ing of a certain heather is worthy, in
my opinion, of being adopted as a
Christian maxim:
"Life's eve I spend in learning something
new."
The new truth, as wehave seen from
the foregoing. whichhad dawned upon
the mind of this earnest enquirer was,
that God had created all mankind for
glory, honor and immortality, or as the
shorter catechism puts it, ''Man's chief
end is to glorify God and enjoy him for
ever" and that no matter how many OBJ
stacles may intervene to the accom-
plishment this great end,i the day
will most assuredly come when this pur-
pose shall be accomplished, and man
shall answer the end of his creation by