The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-21
clarifying God and enjoying him for

| S4oAhyHS UOu dnu obJoyuS ulm IOI-
ever;
when sin shall cease and love supreme shall
I'LL each SOUL
While ageless ages all undying roll"
Having come to the conclusion that
Universalism was true, he determined
to maintain it against all opposition,
and maintain he did to the end of his
| life at cost which not one in thou
sand of the so-called preachers of the
Gospel would have been willing to pay.
|. When our Lord was on earth preach
ing his blessed gospel to the people,
some said he is good man; others, nay,
but he deceiveth the people. He hath a
devil and is mad, why hear ye him?
And when Paul came to touch the
leading prejudices of those to whom he
was speaking, the cry arose, "Away
with such a fellow from the earth; it is
not meet that he should live." And as
Mr.. Douglas was bold enough to deter
mine to carry such examples and follow
in their footsteps, it was quite to be ex-
pected that similar treatment would be
his. Accordingly we find that no sooner
did the constituted guardians and
directors of the rising generation come
to learn that he was 4 believer in the
restitution of all things, than they
charged the children, of whom they
had the oversight, not to hear him upon
the peril of their eternal damnation, and
threatened to dismiss any teacher who
was known to favor any such hellish
doctrine, the parents of the children be-
ing at the same time admonished not
to go near him on pain of excommuni-
cation. AS for Mr.. Douglas himself he
was forced to resign his charge, and
betake himself, with a mere handful of
his people, who had received the doc
trine with joy, to hall in the town
which they had, only after the greatest
difficulty, been able to secure.
Having been driven from his church
and forced to go to hall, it might have
been thought that the vengeance of the
leaders of the people would have been
satisfied, and that once there with his
little flock he would have found shelter
and a sure retreat; but no, even here
their vengeance followed him, and that,
too, in a manner, the most revolving
and distressing. On the first Sabbath
he occupied the hall, showers of stones
were sent through the windows and
thereafter the venerable man of God
was pelted with rotten eggs, and on the
following Sabbath, when he was about
to enter the little pulpit, it was found
that some Que nid gained admission
to the place and covered the floor and
the seat and the reading desk with filth
of the most abominable kind. But it
would take up too much time to narrate
all that Mr.. Douglas and his followers
had to suffer. Suffice it to say that it
did not force him to yield, that he knew
in whom he trusted, and was persuaded
that neither persecution, nor peril, nor
life, nor death, would be able to separ-
ate him from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here then he remained for years and
preached in season and out of season
the unsearchable riches of Christ, nor
did he leave until in the providence of
God wider sphere of usefulness was
opened up for him in Glasgow, to which
city at the urgent request of number
of friends he removed to establish a
church of his faith. He remained in
Glasgow till his death. He occupied
Trades hall, and preached every Sun
day to very large congregations. His
body rests under a slab (the second
since his burial, the first having crum-
bled) in a small burial place near the
Gallowgate, in a" lair" provided by
parishioner and intimate friend. A long
epitaph is engraved on his monument.
The society continued active for some
years after his death, and was minis
tered unto by William Worrall and
others. AS before stated this eminent
defender of the Gospel died June 9,
1928, aged 79 years.