Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1910-01-19
SCOes~s"~se"s~e~s~eSs~e
PULPIT !.
{. THE COST OF
T CHURCH
FEDERATION
TO CONGREGATIONAL lists
PRESBYTERIANS
METHODISTS
METHODISTS

Evidently there will be few people
in these highly intelligent Christian
bodies ready to insist, as our fore
fathers did. that this element of faith
is essential TO salvation. Few of us
would agree with Brother John Calvin.
the great architect of this creed that
ifelloW-ChristianS rejecting this doc
trine should be burned at the stake
as Brother Calvin decided in respect
to Brother Servetus. No. thank God.
We have OutgrOWn some of the mar
rowness which so terribly fettered
some of our brethren during the dark
ages.
Few any longer believe that there
are infants in hell not span long,"
| because non-elect. Even where the
doctrine of Election is still blindly
/ held. few have the temerity to state
! theif belief that any innocent infant
was predestinated to everlasting tor
ture But Brother Calvin's conten-
! ton expressed in the Westminster
Confession is that there are no innocent
! infants-that the condemnation of
Original Sin was to eternal torture and
|
shapen in iniquity.'' were therefore not
innocent, but guilty-born under the
sentence of eternal torment and sal
vable from it only through membership
in the Church of Christ. indeed we
may say that this theory was still
older than Calvin, for did not st. Au-
gustine first declare the danger of in
20 To of
'sity of their being brought into the
Church of Christ by baptism in order
to escape eternal torture? And is not
the force of this teaching still manifest
amongst both Protestants and Catho-
lies. as evidenced by their fear to
have an infant die unbaptized-so that
some, in extreme cases, even practice
baptism in utero?"
Doctrinally Methodism is indirectly
opposed to Calvinism in every sense
of the word. Possibly Methodists will
have less to cOncede than CaiviniStS.
because, although in Wesley's day the
doctrine of Free Grace was cOmbatted
on every hand. it is now the tacit faith
of the vast majority of Christendom.
! The doctrine that God had premedi-
tated and irrevocably fOreordained the
eternal torture of our race except a
handful of the Elect was too horrible
a one to stand. So the Methodist doc
trine of Divine Love for all and Free
Grace as respects salvation has ap-
peaied more and more to the growing
intelligence of mankind. Nevertheless
we cannot do otherwise than concede
that it will matter little to the thou
sands of millions which all "Orthodox'
creeds consign to eternal torture
whether they shall suffer eternal
agonies as a result of Divine loveiess-
ness in foreordaining their sufferings
or to Divine inability to outwork for
} their benefit the supposed advantages
of Free Grace arranged for them by
Divine Love.
The More Excellent Way.
Our suggestion is that now, in the
tapping time of this Gospel Age with
I the oncoming MiIlenni;;l Age. as the
arc electric light casts the candle OF
the past into the shadow, SO the clear.
er light now shining from the pages
of Gods Word casts into the shadow
all the doctrines of the dark ages,
! relieving US of the horrible nightmare
which once beclouded our hearts anC
lives and made us fearful of our Gre
ator as an all-powerful. but merci
less sovereign. In this blessed light
now shining from Gods Book have We
not basis for Christian NnionP Lee
us see. If we can find in Gods WORD
that the doctrine of Election and the
l doctrine of Free Grace are both true
both Biblical. but that one belongs tt
the Church in this Gospel Age and the
; other to mankind in general in the
= coming Millennial Age. will not this
solve our problem and give us doc
!. trinal uniOn instead Of mere fedora
ton based upon the ignoring of doc
: trine? We can all assent to this, there
: fore let us examine the facts.
The Bible aSsuredly declares a Di
vine election according to a Divine
purpose foreordained-but not such al
:, election as Brother Calvin outlined
: God foreOrdained the selection of
!. Church, predestinating the numbe
: who would constitute it's membership
" and the character of each one wht
;, would be acceptable as member. H,
: foreordained tests of the worthiness O
these members and the glorious re
ward that should be theirs and a grea
work which the! shall be privileged t
do for mankind limitedly now, fully
:, during the Millennium. Accustomed t.
the election of fellow-citiZens TO the
!, Presidency. to Congress, etc., where
. they will have the opportunity fol
:, blessing the non-elect, we should have
;. carried this same thought to the, Di
|, vine election of the Church. We should
:. have discerned that the elect Church
the Seed Of Abraham Galatians iii
29l, is specially intended to be the
channel of Divine blessing to ''all the
families Of the earth" Genesis xviii
14)