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

carnage; while Gods ministering an
gels on life's troubled waters are daily
carrying the sunshine to the darkened
home and heart, giving courage to the
faiDting and hope to the hopeless;
while this world of ours is so full of
those silent heroisms known only to God
while the only definition of religion
that there is between the lids of our
Bible shall stand, that "pure religion
and undefled before God and the Faith
er is this, to visit the widow and the
fatherless in their aft fiction and to keep
ones self unspotted from the world"-
so long as this kind of loving, helpful
service and patient endurance is con-
tinued in the world so long will relig
ion be continued.
1 have been deeply impressed and
saddened by one feature of this Whit
tie revival, and that is the silent en-
dorsement by the clergy of the city Of
many doctrines which am morally GER
tain they have come to regard as eIro-
neous. 1 know that many clergymen
in the older communions look upon the
Bible simply as record of divine reve-
lation. While some hold with Dorner
that in some mysterious way that they
cannot explain, Christ has made it pos
sible through the atonement for God to
forgive sin, others believe the essence
of the atonement to be that Christ by
his life, death and teachings revealed
the love Of God. But Major Whittle
breathes quite a different atmosphere.
Apparently he knows nothing of the
great changes in religious thought dur
ing the last twenty years; the better
renderings of scripture, the correct
translation of passages that have long
been made the basis Of fervent appeals
to the unconverted to escape the tor
ments of hell; the more spiritual ideas
regarding the nature OF the life to come
are all unknown to him. His theolo-
gy is the New England theology of fif-
ty years ago,-an infallible Bible, a
personal second coming of the Christ,
the bodily resurrection, and the COM
mercial view of the atonement. And
the educated ministry of our city, who
dwell in quite adlfferent atmosphere in
their study and thought, give Major
Whittle most hearty endorsement,
even going so far as to publicly an
nounce through the press that he de-
clares the truth as one who speaks by
inspiration from the throne of God.
How shall we regard this endorse
ment p? There can be but one explana-
nation: their churches can only be re-
cruited by the old theology and Major
Whittle is brought in as scapegoat
upon whose shoulders it can be loaded
He is expected to bear the responsible
ity for its proclaim alton, and when he
has departed, our city pastors can pose
again before the community as liberal.
Some good will undoubtedly result
from Major Whites work, but evil
will come also. The medieval theology
in which he has such implicit faith and
which he has so boldly proclaimed will
bear fruit in infidelity. The young
people who have nightly listened to
him will not always breathe the atmos-
phere he breathes. Some day they will
discover that his assumptions are false;
that even in religion there are two sides
to question. And there is a danger
that when they drift away from the
shore where he would moor them, they
will be lost to the church and to religion.
Major Whittle seems to have had
great faith in the fficacy of stories re-
garding the conversion of infidels.
Now 1 do not wish to question the
evangelist's veracity, but do seriously
question the truthfulness of the many
incidents he has used as a Gorgeous
head to brighten people from independ-
ent thought. make no plea for infidel-
ity. Sad indeed is the lot of him who
sees in this universe no living, loving
God; and who feels that all there is to
the conscious existence of man are the
few short years from the cradle to the
grave. doubt Major Whittle's stories
because my experience has taught me
that ninety-nine out of every hundred
in6dels have been drawn into infidelity
by the plan of salvation in which he has
such implicit faith. Their iDfidelity
began in protest of the mind and
heart and ended in disgust; and that
which has driven them away from re-
ligion rarely proves attractive to win
them back.
If the churches of Cedar Rapids have
converted an infidel during my three
years residence in the city, 1 do not
know it. doubt if they have, and if
Major White considers it so easy
task; if they are won so readily by the
proper presentation of the plan of sal
walton, the major might render his
friend, DR.. Field, some valuable assist
ance, who made such a lamentable
failure in his recent attempt to convert
that Goliath of in6delity, Robert Inger-
| soil that he was OBLIGED IN take rafnue