The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-06-20

OF the God head. Servctus was a
| nltarian in faith and good man in
all the relations Of life. Sometimes |
lear we have too much complcxity Of
doctrine. mean some Of the preach
cr' and theOlogians Of the schools.
The people are all right and give
lhcmsclvc, very litt!c concern about
doctrine. They want preachers to
prcach about life and duty, how to
live and how t. de 1t i, not doe
trlnc that take converted people into
this church or that church. 1t i, as
SociatIon rrcdilcction our father,
were there or our mothers or our suc-
cial ilicnds, and we worshippcI there
ar attended Sunday school when chill
drcn, and We feel more at home there.
The peculiar doctrines Of this church
or that church arc not considered.
Not one member in ten can tell the
difference between Calvinism and
Arminianism, and | doubt whether q
dozen confessions of faith can be
found among the members of any
Presbyterian church in the State.
What the humble Christians of any
Protestant church want is q simple
Christian faith untangled with alb
strusc doctrines and long words of
learned length and laundering sound.
They put our heavenly Father away
off almost out of reach, though St.
Paul declares that he is very near to
every one of us. l recall some verses
that come home to me whenever |
hear preacher indulging in doe
trincs concerning election, prcdestina-
tion and free agency and shooting
away over the heads Of the people.
A parish priest Of Austcrity
Climbed up Ii high church stccpc
To be nearer God, and from there hand
down
Ills word unto His people.
When the sun was high,
" HNII tIt Duh WIS low,
lie sat nnhcc,ling sublunary things,
And with the Lord was ever plead
ing.
Now and again when he heard the
crcak
or the weather vanc q turning,
He closed his eyes and said: 81 know
From Cod now am learning.
His pious thoughts he daily wrote,
Thinking that they came from
heaven;
lie dropped them down Oh lis peoples
heads
Twice every day in seven.
In his old age God called and said:
'COme down and die"
And he cried from out the steeplc,
"Where art thou Lord?"
And the Lord rcplicd;
clown here among My people"
That is beautiful hymn that Mrs.
Adams wrotc-"Nearer My God to
Thee" and it would grieve me to have
it left out Of the new hymn book. She
was very pious and gifted woman,
though she was q Unitarian. Com
plant has been made that the hymn
ignores the trinity, but it was founded
on the story Of Jacobs dream and
there is no trinity in that. Let it stay
there. DR.. How, Mrs. Prentiss and
Mr.. Charles Robertson have three
others close by on the same subject
that have the same meter and enough
of trinity to satisfy anybody. Many
of the most beautiful hymns in our
collection were written by non-Pro-
testants and non professors. Some
of them are by Roman Catholic priests
and some by Tom Moore, who was
said to be the most liccntious poet in
all England and did no. belong to the
church. He wrote volume Of hymns
and among them is "Come Yc Discon-
solate.' Who would rule that out?
These reflections on old Father
Jacob and his ladder provoke me to
say that it must have taken a doc
trinc of election and some amazing
grace to have kept him in the favor Of
God, for he was selfish man and
kept an eye out for his personal gain.
He began by defrauding his brother
out Of his birthright, and later on
tricked his fathcr-in-law out of his
cattle, and after he awaked from that
dream at Bethel he tried to make
bargain with the Lord and said: eff
God will be with me and give me
bread to eat and raiment to put on,
and I come to my fathers house in
peace, then shall the Lord be my
Cod" Almost any sinner would do
that now and even some church men,
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