The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-02-20
AT THE M. E. CHURCH.
Discussion Between Messrs.
Watts and Braden.
ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY.
A Large Attendance, and an Inter
ested Audience-The Discussion
Again This Evening.

the Methodist Episcopal Church la
night between Chasrles Watts. who
has gained some little favor al d
notoriety in Salt Lake from
his recent lectures in the Fed
eral Court Room, aud the Reversed
Clark Braden. drew out very large at
tendance. Judge Mcbride acted as
moderator. The subject was THAT
Christianity is of divine origin" Mr..
Braden affirming and Mr.. Watts an
swering.
MR. BRADEN
opened with the statement that no is
sues were more important than those
to be presented and asked that no de-
monstrations Of approval or dis
approval be INDUCED in. He had no
apology to offer for appearing before
the audience II such q debate, for
Christ himself had occupied 8 similar
position. The Bible Lad commanded
as to prove all things and hold fast TO
sense, Christianity is the history of the
Bible. We should Judge of it by its
final results. Christianity meets the
wants of man by placing before him a
system of rules. We only regard that
as Christianity which is taught by
Christ and his apostles. / affirm that
man is religious being. You can not
name tribe of beings on the earth that
has not a religion on may call
it superstition il yoa willard the
religious world has been led by the
master. minds of the earth. The
his hest utterances of mans nature
are these great religious ideas. If
| nature be true, and her laws be true,
we are bound to accept these great
religious ideas. If nature be our
standard, we affirm that there is God !;
in the next place that He can make a
revelation of himself to mankind. If
one man can inspire another man, God
can inspire him. Man will accept no
system, nor be guided by no system,
that does not come from above. They
all realizs that whatever man makes
comes from beneath him. Man believes
in revelation, and is not satisfied with
out it. God has established relation
between himself and Us as his chill
dren, and revelation was necessary to
complete this relation. The master
minds accept the Bible as revelation.
The master minds are also believers Of
christianity. The human and the
superhuman cannot be separated. Then
that it has all the elements that any
had. 1t; speaks with all the con-
fidence of truth. The age in which the
book came into being was learned and
skeptical age; it found stern, hostile
aud deadly criticism. and yet it existed
SkeptIoism has been compelled to &C.
cept all save what they call the super-
human elements of the book. Again,
we say that the human and super
human are inseparable. Why do we
claim sll for Christianity? Because it
contains all the ideas of mans religious
nature. L, ls an sbsolut e Iigion each
idea has been ex o &c ed int universal
tru h-ideas that 8 man can never out
grow. We claim for this religion that it
Is of divine origin, Because it teaches of
an absolute being. This absolute being
is God. This heavens may show the
handiwork of God, put they do not
show the will of God. This must come
from revelatiC n. Christianity gives to
the world he idea of an absolute being,
and He Is resented to rs as the great
divine moral governor of the universe.
The basis of the ideas of all thought,
Christianity Is the revelation from this
being. 1t is revelation from that
being who has made US as We are
Christianity meets the longing of the
human soul by presenting to Us our
highest spiritual wants, and 1t alone
can supply these needs.
NE. WATT,
opened by saying: 1t is my duty and
my business to might to search the ar
guments of the previous speaker, and
see how far they 60. There are three
different modes Of attack upon Christi
anity. l do not believe in all of them
do not believe in all of them. / be-
lieve Christianity has been Of great ser.
wee 70 al, as have all great truths
that have en- Q late from bright minds.
Some say the Christian sect deserves
Immediate extinction. do not believe
in that. Every person who believes in
Christianity has right to do so. ]
only ask that they accord me the same
privilege. Others believe that Christi
anity is not the only system of truth. II
is to this school that belong. The dis
cussion tonight vas to have been on
the origin of Christianity. have not
heard one word as to where Christian
ity originated nor bow it originated.
This is what want to hear. do not
object to his definition of Christianity.
l would ask my friend to tell me one
thing in Christianity that cannot be
found in other religions. In the opinion
of the Rev. Isaac Taylor, the Nohame-
dams set US an example that We would
do we'll to follow. In my opinion the
birthplace of Christianity can be found
in Asia, India and Greene. The SAN
sentiments expressed by Christianity
existed long before Christianity was
ever thought of. Christianity added
little or nothing to these. All experience
goes to prove that all that has origin
ated has originated from the human
mind. Christianity had to be subject to
conditions. In the middle ages. what
my brother calls, Christianity laid dor
mant for thousand years. What has
Christianity done to correct the great
evils2 You have had to discard it and
form other associations apart from it in
order to better YOUR fellow men aud
women. If God were all wise, all
powerful, He would have impaired it to
His children thousands of years be
fore He G id. How was it that
it failed t. penetrate society up 10 the
time of Constantine the Great? Why
two-thirds of the world of the present