The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-03-08

KNOW WOaC we DelleVE anu te4en, DSI
ter than he. Does any man pretend
ing to be y Christian or even to know
what Christianity Is, undertake to say
that this fundamental principle can
not be embodied in life without incur
ring the condemnation of the civilized
worlde Does he know that there are
So S54 protestant orthodox ministers
and 12,lS2. .65l protestant orthodox
church members In the United States
aging nothing of the rest Of the
WORLDWIDE subscribe to this distin
gushing fundamental principle, and
embody 1t in their lives to the best of
their ability, without any suspicion of
having incurred the condemDa' ion Of
the CIVILIZED world. The lecturer pro
ceeds to denoRpce ogr theology as
" narrow, false and dying. and that it
is afraid of the light" Narrowness
and falsity may be matters of opinion,
depending upon the standard by
which you judge them, Judged by
his standard. Wis.,, human opinion, or
rather, Universalist opinion, our theol
ogy seems narrow and false judged by
our standard, viz the teachings Of
Jssus Christ, it is broad and true. His
humanitarian theology or philosophy,
when judged by our standard is false
But when he says our theology is
"dyipg and afraid of the light" he
undertakes to state matters of fact.
The best way to test whether system
of doctrine is dying out or not is by
,he effect it produces. The pumber of
orthodox churches in the UnitedStates
in 1870 was 20, 14S, In 1880 was 97,090,
gain in ten years. 26. .942. In 1886 the
number was 2.744, gain in 6 years
Is. .654; tot&l gain in Is years AZ, ,5a6
churches. What has Universalism
done in the United States during that
period? In 1860 they reported 1864
churches, in 1870, al7 churches, loss in
10 years, BAT; 1880, 656 churches, gain
in 10 years, 80; in 1880, 934 churches,
loss in 6 years, %. They now repor,
$50 less churches than they did 26
years ago. and II more than they did
Is years ago. In view of these facts,
which seems to be the living and
which the dyi1g theology
Universalism and orthodoxy have
been working side by side, with abund-
ant room and equal opportunity, in
this country for hundred years Be-
sides the work shown in the above
figures orthodox churches in the
United States have now 1000 mission
aries in the beathen world and they
gathered into their CHURCHES in the
year 1886, II ,404 converts to Christian,
ity. If lfniveEsalism has eyer sent
out a foreign missionary or won a sim
gle convert from heathenism to Christ
ianity we have never heard of it.
In this light, whose theology is it
that seems to be afraid of the light?
AS to furnishing comfort when we
stand by the impenitent dead, we leave
them whose dead we have burit d
To test fy. One thing is certain, if We
have given any comfort 1t was not
borrowed from Universalism. We
would rather give no comfort than to
give false comfort.
He says: "This theology assumes
to place flaming sword at the gate of
the kingdom of Christ, saying TO all
who do not and cannot accent it. Won
cannot enter here"
The only flaming sword that has ever
been put at the gate oil the Kingdom
is this, Except man be born again
he cannot see the Kingdom of God.n
That sword was placed there by Christ
himself. Our theology neither put it
there nor assumes to take it away.
Universalism assumes to take it away.
He says: 1--WE should always re
spect honest CONVICTIONS That de.
pends upon what the convictions are.
The rebels who rose up to destroy the
American Union had honest convic.
tions, but we did not respect them.
The Chicago anarchists had honest
convictions, but when those convic
tions became menace to the public
welfare they were not respected. In
stead of always respecting honest con-
victions we are morally bound not to
respect them when they are dangerous
to the best interests OF humanity. That
is why we do not respect the honest
of Universalists.
Christ said. II came not to bring
peace on earth but a sword" The
meaning Is that he came to disturb
men in their sins that they may be
brought to repent and turn from their
evil ways. The effect of y Universalism
in its funeral addresses, is to
lead men to hope that they can go on |
through life, and die in their sins anu |
yet come out all right in the end. The
result is, that men do not see the need |
of repenting, or being religious, and |
the consequence is they do neither,
Instead of preaching a gospel that
rouses men up to earnestness and re.
pentance and Christian work, asChfist
and the apostles did. it puts men to
sleep in their sins, and fills their mind
with prejudice against those who seek
heir salvation. One of the worst hin.
frances to the gospel of Christ in this
community is the influence exerted by
his same Universalist minister, who
t hundreds of funerals has made the
'eople believe that they can 60 On