The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-05-26

RELIGIOUS.

H B~LOODHOUNDS OF ORTHODOXY.
Pulpit Review of Current Events by Rev. Thos.
Dixon, Jr-, for Sunday, May 10, 1891.
Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr., preceded
his sermon this morning in Association
Hall by the following review of current
events:
1t seems there are still some people
who profess faith in Jesus Christ who
believe that the way to preach the Cos
pei Of the lOwly Nazarene is to get out
the hlOodhounds, and hunt down the
heretics. Thomas was the first hereto
in the Christian Church on the subject
of the resurrection. Christ dealt with
Thomas personally. He set us an ex-
ample which the modern howlers for
traditiOnalism seem entirely to over
look. He did not give the hereto a
single harsh word. He did not cast
him out. The heart of Christ seems to
have gone out IN special tenderness
toward this doubling one. He spoke
to him in accents Of love, seeking to
persuade him, to reassure him, to dis
pei his doubt. Heresy hunting is
utterly foreign to the Spirit of Jesus
Christ.
BORN IN HE'LL.
The whole business of heresy hunt
ing in the Christian Church from the
earlier ages down to the present, is of
the devil. It was born in hell.
The heresy hunter seems to lose the
instincts of a man when he enters his
Internal work. He thirsts for blood.
He is satisfied with nothing short of
the utter humiliation of his victim.
Love is a word unknown to his vOcabu-
larry. God is love. He pretends to be
serving God, but in his zeal to serve
God he goes into partnership with the
devil. These are the men who have
been the b~IoOdhounds of orthodoxy in
the past. They never dried a tear, or
soothed a heartache, but they have
caused rivers of tears to flow, and mil
lions of hearts to break. They never
lighted the darkness of doubt for a
single human soul. But they have
destroyed the faith of generations.
They eve added one joy to the life
of man. But they have rolled on his
soul the burden of centuries of ignor-
ance and pain.
RECORD OF H RAIL
These are the men who haunted
Jesus Christ to death, crucified Him on
Calvary and Knocked Him while dying.
They crucifed Him because He kept
not the traditions of the elders.
These are the men who slew the apOs-
ties and disciples of Christ. These are
the men who, later, crawling into the
Church, turned and slew the saints
and heroes. These are the men who in
the name of the Christ, whom, with
lip they hOnored and in heart they
have heaped upon the Church a his
tory OF cruelty and inhumanity. These
are the men who hooted and bounded
and prosecuted John Knox until God
gave him Scotland for an inheritance
These are the men who prosecuted,
slandered and lied about John Wesley
until God gave unto Methodism the
masses of the English world. They
called Wesley a liar, a swlndler, and
the most notorious hypocrite living
Now these same men claim him as
their forefather and patron saint
These are the men who exhumed the
bones of old Wycliff, burned him as {
hereto, and took his ashes and poured
them mo the brook that he might no.
have a resting place on earth. But the
water rolled on the sea to and mingled
the ashes with the tides which swept
them to the uttermost limits of the
globe. God gave Wycliff the earth fol-
his inheritance.
WHIPPED THE BAPTISTS.
These are the men who whipped the
early Baptists of Virginia. The Bap-