Telegram-herald., 1890-12-08
rHE raoueArs % = cRANK


ire eonnesnee n iss tF0tafplness. TIE
aoubt fer wh.ch msn are aaaneo i nos
= matter II tie ihtsllsck II ghoaghi
Chriss ever declared that men woala
b< eteFnsliy tormeated because their
enyiFonmsns and hsrszry bequesth-
meat AS sneh that thes could nog
embrace tAe scaled gospel breaches
By AS pfvlsnaed followers age alter
age 1 would heneeforsh decline 70 eall
myself Christian. Doubtless millions
Of men have honestly rejected tne gos-
pal thai wzs preached them because
they yerliy believed they were
n0lofing Col by .1eing 50. AL
that Wss tenoeFest and modest IA them
revolted.agSiE tne horrible doctr nee
y nseh passed current as Christianity.
Mould God damn man Tor disiseiiet
ing fnat Nn4cu ue really believed dis-
honorng Goay / trow nos. Ne should
remember that this much quoted pass
age "He that belieyeIh not shall be
damned, Is not found IA the earliest
manuscripts. The last eleven verses If
Marx. IA winch TINS passage occurs, are
Il spurious addition made by some
later and unknown band. - Christ
never used these words al all.
More than that, every clergyman IN
tins city, with any pfetens.Ou 10 learn
ing, also knows tuat Christ never used
the words damned" or "damnatl0n.f
neItaer did He ever use any words
which conveyed any such meaning as
later generations put into the words
damn" ana ''damnatou." The new
version of the New Testament, the
work of the most learned orthodox
scholars OF the world, drops these
words entirelyi snd substitutes IN their
places words having a far different
meaning. Intellectual and moral
honesty at last prevailed, and the world
was told the exact truth of the matter;
and with this telling of the honest truth
hoary creeds, born OF intolerance and
nate, are fast crumbllng into ruins. /
ignore this particular passage then, en-
tirely, as Christ never uttered IL He
did say, "He that belieyeth not hath
been judged already" John 8: 49,
and He did say men should be "con-
demned" for rejecting Him and His
teachings; but never cid He say they
would be damned in a far-oh eternity.
What He really did say was reasonable
and just; and it is high time that
Christianity should be delivered from
the odlum cast upon 1t by later gen.
eratlons OF blind bigots
PauPs true teachings are as free
from such terrible ImpTecatlOns as are
those of Christ. In Romans xiv, %, he
was made TO say that man was
damned" for eating meat offered to
idols! What he did say was that the
man, being weak, felt condemned for
so dong, as Le did violence 10 MS con-
sciencel And yet, men have built
great systems of theology upon such
fiimsy foundations as these! So also
the words Sheol, Hades, Gelenna, and
Tartarus, words borrowed from myth
ology, have been given new meanings,
and nave been twisted so as to apply TO
matters utterly foreign TO their original
signfication. Ii is neither far nor
honest for any man 10 Judge the rellg-
ion of Christ by the counterfeit article
passed upon a credulOus and super
stitious world by designing and unsci u
pulous men.
Now, what is the doubt which Christ
condemned? He did not condemn
| Thomas for his doubt, because Thomas
was honest; he was true to himself.
| lie would not believe mere reports
which might be baseless. He desired TO
see and know for himself; and when
Christ honored him by taking especial
pains to remove his doubt, Thomas was
no longer an unbelieyer.
The doubt Christ condemns is not OF
the intellect. 1t is a doubt which has
its roots IN depraved will. This is
the Judgment" SAID He, "that the light
is come into the world, and men loved
! the darkness rather than the light; for
their works were evil. For every one
that doeth Ill hateth the light, and
cometh not to the light lest his works
| should be reproyed."
Here is doubt that damns, using the
word in its true sense. The man who
hates the truth because the truth con
demns him; the man who loves dark
ness because his deeds are evil; the man
who does not believe IN honesty, and
virtue, and sobriety, and benevolence
the man who is continually doing vlo
lence To his better judgment, and con
stantly hardening his heart and blind
ing his eyes because he loves carnon. sc
TO speak, is damned already. There Il
a strange sense about dog that mskci
him delight TO roll IN carrion; and there
Is strange, yea, awful pollution Of &
| mans nature on account of which he
too, at last, loves to virtually roll II
carrion. This doubt as TO the desir
ableness of purity; this preferenc,
for dripping lust, Is what j,
meant by 1.-The fall of man.
1t is another picture of tn,
prodigsl son wasting lis substance il
rotous living" and at last becoming s
companion Of swlnel l have always
been glad. however, that Christ. ia TN
incompatible sliegory, did not leay'
the r)digal IN this pitable condition
shutting him oft from hope and home
bat restored him at least 10 MS fathar
home. So, every man who still ha
any regard for his interest and ma,
well hold a conference with himsel
after and seriously debate the ques
ton, "Why am not a Christian
10 because of the numerous and tre
mendous questions which arise as
read the Gospels and every thought
ful man knows this weight, or q Il be
cause /. after ll,pTefer darkness rathe
than light, vice rather than virtue
I This is what Christ condemned, thI
/ choice Of the soul for the things waic
damn the soul; that e. pullute It. par
slyze il; the things winch defie to-
| temple OF God. 80 that the Holy Spir
can no longer dwell therein. u seem
20 me that any reasonable man ca
readily see that Chrlst's solemn sdmor
itions repeated IN so many ways. an
under 80 many figures, were for tim
J spiritual philosophy. which viii remai
mistaken 20 long a. a single man sha
. tread tais mundane sphere.
Gamma X Grpsox