Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-05
PEOPLES PULPIT
The Courier will publish In this
column articies contributed by
it's readers. The communications
should be typewriter or In
plain hand, on one side cf the
paper, and signed.
Salvation Vi. Morality.

so>>>o,>>.~~>>~r 49, >~-~>~>~>~>~~>s
Salvation VI. Morality.
i Editor Courier:-In medieval times
the church wasted much of it's time
/ formu' ding systems of theology which
lit was generally claimed, was quite
different thing from morality. 1t was
stoutly commended that morality would
never take man to heaven. And so
! for centuries it has been relegated to q
back seat and faith and theology CIV
en- the amen corner Indeed work
ing and abiding morality has often
found more consolation and encourage
ment among free thinkers than Christ
ians; for the latter have persistently
told the world that hell contains mil
lions of those whose hearts had gone
out for their fellow men because they
on examination day, failed to pass on
theology; perhaps were short on the
ordinance of baptism or had some
doubts on Jesus having been tempted
of the devil, or had denied the trinity
or fallen down on faith in general or on
some other theological technically.
This kind of teaching is to great ex-
tent adhered to even to the present
day by the most orthodox in the ORTIZ
odox churches; but many of the best
educated have come to count all rellg'
! ions worthless that do not have for
their full object the betterment Of man
kind in this world. And to do this
morality must have it's highest reward
regardless of it's biological lncllna-
ton. Among these are the higher
critics, Unitarians and Universalists
and the most liberal in the orthodox
churches and many who belong to no
church. the number of which is greater
than is generally known, and rapidly
increasing. The high critics tell us
that after Jesus time there sprang up
something like forty or fifty different
gospels, in part contradictory to each
other, and each claiming for itself per-
feet authenticity. The one called
"the gospel of the Hebrews appeared
to be one OF the earliest, SO the critics
tell us, and it makes Jesus mission
confined to the Jews, and to teach the
observance Of the moral laws OF
Moses as condition of salvation. The
Hebrew Christians held to this gospel
and no other.
| After Jesus time a man by the
name of Paul sprang up who let down
| the bars and admitted the gentiles
into gospel privileges. The teaching
of this man was great surprise to the
| Christian world for<before his day this
doctrine was wholly unknown, which
indicates that it had never been
thought of by Jesus, or taught by him.
The words purported to be spoken by
him viz: Preach the gospel to all ma
tions," the critics say, could not have
been spoken by him, and must have
been an Interpolation, otherwise Pauls
words would not have been a new doc
trine Pauls doctrine was repudiated
! by all the Hebrew Christians who de-
nominated him q hereto as contradict
ing Jesus. While the Hebrew Christ
ians held that salvation was brought
about wholly by works as required by
the Mosaic law as they had heard
Jesus teach and could show proof In
his gospel, Paul went to the other ex-
IRENE and taught there was no saliva
ton by law observance. Finally there
was a compromise made between these
two factions and, it is claimed, the four
gospels We now have was the result
of the compromise. The ones we now
have were the old Hebrew gospels
here and there.
| w ucu D. yOuuS Ludu dShSu
what good thing he should do to in.
herit eternal life the reply was: Keep
the COMPARTMENTS "Thou shalt do
adultery" ETC., Matt. 49,. Yet Paul
shall no flesh be justified in his sight"
In various places in the gospels we find
Jesus requiring good works as means
HTr6 ipo cd
says he, "for was hungry and you
While all through the writings Of Paul
works as means of salvation. 1t
the HebrewJ Christians swung rs
IRENE, to make iout that salvation
cannot come Of deeds he even went
so far as to teach that salvation was
seems to be taught by Jesus. Paul
escape from the penalty of sin while
itself; from the condition that man
was already in instead of from an ex-
posed evil in another world. A sal
NcllSl IAOHl vi uAh
enlless, idleness, unhealthfulness and
poverty, etc. is practical and needed
and it's effects can be seen and realiz-
ed by all But salvation from an i'm
aginary evil after one is dead is spec
ulative only. Noon has ever seen
such an evil nor can single scientist
even prove that there is another life
My opinion is that we can obtain value
only by reading the bible as we would
any other book, accept what appears
to us reasonable and reject the unrea-
sonable. @
Before closing I wish to make a
short criticism Of Mr.. Pearsons article
in the February oath Courier. His
whole article is theology and nothing
of practical nature except as based
on hypothesis. He asks his oppon-
emit: IF You are unsaved what good
will it do you to try to keep the Sab
bath. for by the deeds of the law shall