The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-03-21
HENsONIsM.
BY REV. STEPHEN CRANE, DID.


least more are coming whether they
will find room or not. DR.. Henson
of Chicago, seems to be invepting a
new one and putting it on the market
1t is that only Christians are children
OF God; all the rest are the children
of the devil. That is, every soul is a
child of the devil before conversion
but after conversion he is a child Of
God. Strictly speaking, this is nc
new "ism" nor doctrine, for it was
taught years ago. If you dig among
theological fossils you will find it
hoofs and horns and all. But it is
new in our day. 1t had gone so far into
"innocuous desuetude" that its revival
seems like a new invention. 1t is as
though in these days of reapers one
should bring out one of the old
cradles, polish it up, sharpen the
scythe and undertake to cut grain
with it. 1t would be new to this gen.
Grafton, while the old men would say,
''why that is what we used years ago"
All would regard it with curiosity but
agree that it won't do now; it is out
| of date.
So with DR.. Henson's fatherly devil.
He is new to the "boys," but the old
men have heard of him before, and
all will agree that he won't do now.
In fact the devil, save as a figure of
speech, has gone out of business.
The childless old imp once did a
large business on borrowed capital.
He claimed to own all souls save a
very few that God had plucked out of
his hand, and the people acknowl-
edged his claim, and laid all their
sins to him, and between the two they
managed to do vast amount of
devilish business. But that day is
past. The people have lost conf
dence in his satanic solvency. They
more than half believe that he has
looted the bank and "gone to Cana
da," and instead of depositing their
sins with him, they have about con-
cluded to own them themselves and
do business on their Gown hook" No,
the world won't have the devil any
more. 1t has learned to get along
without him, and DIR. Henson cannot
restore him to popular favor, even in
Chicago.
But there are one or two points in
DIR. Henson's recent contention that
are amusing as we'll as curious. Thus
on the Lords prayer he says: ''It is a
prayer that only fits the lips of be-
LEVERS" implying that Christians
only have right to say, "Our Father
who art in heaven" Now, if the doc
tor had only gone step further and
said that this prayer ''only fits the
lips" of Baptists, he would have got
ten down to rock bottom and made
things clear. Then we would have
known just where to draw the line
Now things are rather confused. The
saints shade off so into the sinners
and the sinners into the saints that
one doesn't know whether to say "our
Father who art is heaven" or our ia
Their who art in hell. Don't leave us
in doubt, Bro. Henson. Narrow this
prayer down to Baptists, like yourself;
then we can make no mistake. An
other point is that the denial of the
universal Fatherhood of God does
not necessitate denial of the broth
erhood of man. He says;
"One point is that the denial of the
universal Fatherhood of God carries
with it by implication the denial of
the universal brotherhood of man
than which there could be no more
absurd non sequttar. God hath
made of one blood all nations to
dwell on the face OF the EARTH and
that is the basis of natural brother
hood. l do at least believe in the
universal dictatorship and in the unity
of the human race, and by virtue of
that unity we are bound together by
cords which we cannot sever"
Well, now, the query is, whose
blood is this? Is it the devils blood?
If so, we would reverently suggest
that the Lord better stop making
men of that kind of blood. The
work has been going ON long enough.
Either change the blood or stop the
manufacture.
What the doctor means, we sup
pose, is, that all men are brothers be-
cause God is the creator of all men.
But by the same reasoning all cattle
and horses are brothers. God created
the cattle and the horses, therefore,
there is universal brotherhood of
cattle and of horses.
Verify, what superlative nonsense
all this is. The basis of human
brotherhood lies not in the creator