The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-06-29
The FULLNESS OF CHRIST
1T Is ATTAINABLE BY ALL CHRIS
TIANs WHO SEEK 1T Alright.
And Many i'm All Lands Attain 1t in
Personal NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Why
Others Are Unsuccessful.

meeting Of the Methodist Ministers Asso-
citation, prior TO the summer vacation, Rev.
Thomas A. Goodwin, the veteran divine,
contributed the following paper:
My theme is The Fullness Of Christ"
called in the Bible The Fullness or the
Blessing of the Gospel of Christ" The re-
vised version gives il, The Fullness or
the Blessing OF Christ" and Paul elsewhere
calls the same experience The FullnesS OF
CHRIST" In the discussion L shall assume
first, that ali Christians believe that the
grace implied is attainable by all who seek
il Alright; secondly, that thousands upon
thousands in all lands, and among all peo-
piles, do attain to it in their personal ex-
perience; thirdly, that for some cause many
many who profess Christ are Indifferent
to it. To point out. If possible. the cause
or causes of their Indifference and failure
shall be the aim of the paper.
In general IL is obvious that the obscura-
ton and perversion OF this truth and many
companion truths during the centuries
known as the dark ages, when monks ana
friars. priests and popes, substituted ira
ditiOns for truth, and the slow return OF
the church to the truth, are chiefly respon-
sible for these indifferences and failures.
Foremost and most damaging of all those
perVersions was and is the Pigment that
the mission of Christ was TO exempt men
from the penalties of sin instead of saving
them from Sinning. Out OF this grew IN
diligence and extreme JUNCTION and prayers
for the dying, and offerings for the repose
OF the dead. and purgatory. with all the
- otAt - y 50
volved. Only a part of these were aban-
doned in the rma the thought still
remaining that to escape the punishment
due TO him was and is the chief end of
life. and that the life and death Of Christ
had this as its chief purpose. These, how
ever, all remain unchanged in the CATHOLIC
Church. TIL Protestant world was shocked
a decade or so ago when John Morrisey,
the notorious prize fighter and gambler of
New York, and every day the vilest man OF
the period. was shrived by the priest in
his last moments and fully absolved from
all punishment for his most conspicuous
life OF sin and crime. the priest publicly
announcing as an evidence of the effective
ness of the ceremonies that the dying man
squeezed his hand in token of his ac-
ceptance. Shocking as this is, the thought
and the usage OF Protestants as late as the
early years of the last century were the
least possible removed from it, and in some
quarters, among Protestants. the central
thought of the proceedings remains in full
force. The preaching in all Protestant
churches less than a hundred years ago
partook of this papal doctrine. Prepare
to meet thy Cod was a favorite and fire.
quent text, but no matter what the text
the sermon drifted into the thought that
to escape eternal burnings was the chief
concern of life, and Ii was often coupled
with the most shocking assurances of the
preacher at funerals of desperadoes that
because in his last sickness the dead man
repented he was safe in Abraham'S bosom.
AN INDIANAPOLIS INSTANCE.
A notable instance of this occurred in
lHOsdldpOlS Olliy d CIV years dSO. a QtS-
perate negro who had brutally murdered
his wife was condemned to be hanged. He
Immediately called in a spiritual adviser, -
who visited him daily in his prison. In
due time the good preacher pronounced him
converted, and when there was n talk of a
short postponement of the execution for
some further legal proceedings. this
preacher went to Governor Williams TO
-
mutation less than an absolute pardon.
giving as a reason that the murderer was
now prepared to die, but he might not be
later on. He was hanged on time, his last
words being that he was going straight
TO heaven TO the society and companions
ship of his beloved wife.
Such travesties upon the mission of Christ
have been evil. and only evil, and their
bearing upon attainment TO the fullnesS
of Christ IS obvious. The remission of
penalties is no part of Christ's mission, for,
whatever is implied in pardon, this is not
even limited at as a possibility for the
eternal truth, that whatsoever a man SOW
eth, that shall he reap" remains unmod-
Iiied forever. Go, sin no more, feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, visit and relieve
the needy, do good 10 them that hate you,
give aims, and follow me, was His COM
mand 10 the new man, and there Is no
genuine conversion that does not lead 10
this, and there is 10 progress towards the
fuliness of Christ without it.
a companion hindrance to attainment to
this Christ-fullness turks in the false no.
ton, also inherited from monkish fg-
ments. that what is called conversion is
the direct work of the Holy Spirit through
some mystical process upon the heart of
man, making him the new creature Mich
odemus was TO become in the second birth,
i'll which the subject takes no part. Even
mental assent is not necessary. for il il
claimed to act upon the dying child to pre-
pare II for heaven, or upon the living child
IN receiving baptism; whereas the mans
conversion is the mans own act, just as his
repentance is. Each verb In the original is
IN the active voice, and is so rendered al
ways in the revised version. 1t was made
passive in all early English translations in
difference to the mOnkish Pigment that was
retained i'll the protesting churches in the
sixteenth century, and it remains in
Protestant discourse TO this day, a per-
petual hindrance to Christian fuilness. The
man unconsciously remains a passive sub
ject waiting TO receive a blessing, instead
OF cultivating a sense of obligation which
would lead him daily to ask, Lord. what
! will thou have me to do?' UncOnSciousiy
he comes to regard religion as having its
chief purpose, q fitness for the life tC
come, instead of cultivating the truth that
it consists In doing good and being good
on earth, each of which is mans work, mol
the Holy Spirits. to be obtained by prayer
or Hastings or penance. To visit the widows
and fatherless is purely mans work. and
keeping ones self unspotted is also his
work, not the Spirits. In snort, the Christ
life which leads to the fullness Of Christ
relates wholly to the life that now is. 1t
seeks the mind that was in Christ. who
htul dbOul bclll1 BOOu-
DOGMA OF INBRED SIN.
One of the monkish Pigments which was
retained in Professionalism, and which has
been a perpetual hindrance TO the obtain
ment of f~ullness, is the horrible dogma OF
inbred sin. In the face of the direct teach
ings OF the Master, who held up a little
child as purity incarnated, saying TO those
who by sin had lost their native purity
that unless they turned about and retraced
their steps and became what they had been
they could not enter the kingdom of heav-
en-. the monks invented the hSment of in
bred sin. This return was TO be their vol.
untary work, not the work of the spirit,
y hundred years ago, and much later, this
unbelievable doctrine was Illuminated from
Methodist pulpits as earnestly as was the
lake OF IRE and birthstone, and by the same
class of preachers, and always to the CON
fusion or young people who had grown W
IN the church. 1t is impossible now fol-
those VINO were not in the discussion OF the
question in the middle decades of the cen
fury TO imagine how vigorously IL was de-
Tended by the old men of the period, but
the younger clement had gained such q
prep0nderance by 1864 that all that related
to the cid Adam in the baptismal ritual
was eliminated with all that implied hap
tsmal regeneration, and the church put
itself on record as holding that a child
may. by good education, holy examples
ana restraining and r%enewin grace, serve
God faithfully all the days of his life" 1t
however, retained the phrase that AL men
are conceived and born In sim" whatever
that may mean. in the light Of the facr
that a child may, through good education
and NJ become a faithful servant OF
God. Evidently II was retained merely q: