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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28678-h.zip b/28678-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76795ea --- /dev/null +++ b/28678-h.zip diff --git a/28678-h/28678-h.htm b/28678-h/28678-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5de272d --- /dev/null +++ b/28678-h/28678-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2110 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific And Religious Journal, + Volume 1, December, 1880, No. 12, by Various. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; text-indent: 1.25em; + line-height: 130%;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 50%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .tr1 td {border-bottom: double; border-top: double;} + + a {text-decoration: none;} + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: 0.8em; text-align: right; + position: absolute; right: 2%; text-indent: 0em; + padding: 1px 1px; font-style: normal; font-family: garamond, serif; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; + color: #000; background-color: #CCFF66;} + + .tn {background-color: #EEE; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;} + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} + + .center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left; text-indent: 0em;} +--> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific +and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 12, December, 1880, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 12, December, 1880 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Aaron Walker + +Release Date: May 3, 2009 [EBook #28678] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION, DECEMBER 1880 *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> + +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span></p> +<h1>Scientific and Religious Journal.</h1> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Publish Date"> +<tr class='tr1'> + <td align='left'><span class="smcap"><big><b>Vol. I.</b></big></span></td> + <td align='center'><big><b>DECEMBER, 1880.</b></big></td> + + <td align='right'><span class="smcap"><big><b>No. 12.</b></big></span></td> + +</tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='center'><br /> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#IS_THE_SINNER_A_MORAL_AGENT_IN_HIS_CONVERSION"><b>IS THE SINNER A MORAL AGENT IN HIS CONVERSION?</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OUR_INDEBTEDNESS_TO_REVELATION_No_VI"><b>OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION—No. VI.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#WHERE_SHALL_WE_TAKE_INFIDELS_TO_GET"><b>WHERE SHALL WE TAKE INFIDELS TO GET</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#COUNCILS_No_II"><b>COUNCILS—No. II.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#FREE-THOUGHT_IN_GERMANY_FRANCE_AND"><b>FREE-THOUGHT IN GERMANY, FRANCE AND</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#AXIOMS_LYING_AT_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_ALL"><b>AXIOMS LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF ALL</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ESTOPPELS_OR_FOSSILIZATION"><b>ESTOPPELS; OR, FOSSILIZATION.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#TO_KEEP_A_ROOM_PURE"><b>TO KEEP A ROOM PURE.</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INTERESTING_FACTS"><b>INTERESTING FACTS.</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<h2><a name="IS_THE_SINNER_A_MORAL_AGENT_IN_HIS_CONVERSION" id="IS_THE_SINNER_A_MORAL_AGENT_IN_HIS_CONVERSION"></a>IS THE SINNER A MORAL AGENT IN HIS CONVERSION?</h2> + + +<p>There are a great many questions asked upon the subject of +conversion, and as many answers given as there are theories +of religion, and many persons listening to men's theories upon +this subject are left in doubt and darkness in reference to what is +and is not conversion. You ask the Mormons, who fully believe +their theory of conversion, and they will refer you to their +own experience and the experience of the loyal, self-sacrificing +devotees of their faith. Ask the Roman Catholic and he will +give you an answer corresponding with his theory of religion. +All Protestant parties give you their experience, and refer you to +their loyal and self-sacrificing brethren for the truthfulness of +their theories of conversion. In the midst of this conflict and +medley of contradictions what are we to do? Shall we accept +their experience as the infallible rule by which to determine +the right from the wrong in matters pertaining to our present +and eternal salvation? A strange rule, in view of the great +contrariety of opinions and our liability to be misled. It +would justify Mother Eve, she being deceived. But "she was +found in the transgression." We may be deceived and found +in transgression. This strange rule would justify Saul; for he +verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to Jesus, +which things he did, and did them in all good conscience +towards God and man, yet he was a blasphemer and injurious. +The Master, in view of our liability to be deceived, gave us a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>rule of conduct in reference to our communications in these +words: "Let your communications be yea, yea, and nay, nay." +It requires heroism and manhood, which is the highest degree +of moral courage, to say nay where questions of personal interest +are involved.</p> + +<p>The rule in reference to God's word is different, being based +upon his immutability and perfections. He is not deceived, +not misled, not mistaken. Paul says in reference to the word +of God, which was preached by himself, Sylvanus and Timotheus: +"Our word toward you was not yea and nay, but in +him was yea, for all the promises of God in Christ are yea, +and in him amen unto the glory of God by us." 2 Cor. 1, 18–20. +"Let God be true though every man be a liar," was in +the times of the Apostles and first Christians a rule which +they had no hesitancy in affirming. A moral agent is one +who, with a knowledge of the right and wrong, exercises the +power of action. In conversion it is the exercise of the +power that begins conversion. If the sinner has not this +power, then he is not a moral agent in his conversion. All +the differences among men upon the subject of conversion +grew out of their different notions of God and of men. It is a +matter of the greatest consequence to have correct notions of +God and of self. As conversion relates to both, wrong notions +of one will create wrong notions of the other. Those who +have been taught to debase themselves under the pretext of +giving glory to God, consider meanness and wrong as natural +and inherent imperfections of their being, and attributable to +Father Adam and Mother Eve, and neglect to exercise the +powers at their command. Being taught that they are unable +to do anything to help themselves, they are left to throw the +work all back upon God or give it up in despair. If they +throw it back upon God, and regard themselves as passive recipients +of the work of conversion, then they must wrestle +with God, for there is no use in wrestling with the powerless +one.</p> + +<p>With this view of the subject the world's condition is incomprehensible, +and in direct conflict with the revealed character +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span>of God. We would naturally suppose when we read +that "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all +should come to repentance," that none would be allowed to +perish on account of any neglect upon the divine side. But +thousands do die in their sins. Do you say it is because of +their great wickedness? In what does wickedness consist? +Is it the neglect of that which is not in their power? Does +not the system that God interposes in the conversion of the +sinner rest upon the idea that the sinner is helpless in respect +to his conversion? It certainly does. Then why should +the sinner he blamed? This view of the sinner's moral condition +necessitates a view of God utterly at variance with his +character, viz: that he is <i>now</i> and <i>then</i> on the giving hand, +that he consents to pour out his Spirit occasionally, and does this +only where the good people wrestle with him and give him no +rest day nor night. One would think that "he who spared +not his own son, but gave him up for us all," would send that +Almighty Spirit everywhere, and at once bring about the +millennial glory. What is the trouble? "<i>God is love!</i>" +"Tell them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have <i>no pleasure</i> +in the death of him who dieth, but rather that he would repent +and live." This theory of the sinner's helplessness is +the foundation of the entire system of mystical conversion +through mystical operations of the Spirit of God. And as +for plain and easy conditions of pardon and peace that we +know all sinners can comply with, this system of mystical +conversion sets them all <i>aside</i>. So you see that difficulties +are multiplying on our hands, and unless we can start off upon +another foot, we must be lost in the mystical and incomprehensible. +As reformers, our greatest work is to clear away +mystical and false notions of men in reference to themselves +and their God; to make men sensible of their dignity and responsibility, +as beings endowed with God-like attributes.</p> + +<p>We have succeeded, in most communities, in killing the <i>tap-root</i> +of the mystical tree of conversion—<i>i.e.</i>, the tenet of total +hereditary depravity, but the tree still stands erect, and men +claim that a wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God has, in +many days and nights, resulted in 100 or 200 or 300 conversions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span> +But what is conversion? It is lexically defined "<i>to +turn upon, to turn towards</i>." In a moral sense, "<i>to turn upon +or to, to convert unto, to convert from error, to turn to the service +and worship of the true God</i>." "And all who dwelt at +Lydda and Saron saw him and <i>turned</i> to the Lord." Acts +ix, 35. The word <i>turned</i>, in the above text, is a translation +of the Greek term that is nine times rendered <i>convert</i> in its +forms and thirty-eight times <i>turn</i> in its forms. They, the +people of Lydda and Saron, <i>turned, converted to the Lord</i>. Did +they do it? Then they were active and not passive. It was +an act of their own. "Repent and turn yourselves."—Eze. +xviii, 30. Here the Lord commanded sinners to <i>convert themselves</i>. +"Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby +ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new +spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Eze. xviii, +31. "If the wicked will turn, convert, from all his sins that +he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that +which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." +Eze. xviii, 31. Here we discover that the burden of conversion +and the entire responsibility of an unconverted state is thrown +upon the sinner.</p> + +<p>The Apostles taught men to convert themselves. See Acts +xiv, 15. "We also are men of like passions with you, and +preach unto you, that ye should turn, <i>convert</i>, from these vanities +to the living God." Paul says, "He showed first unto +them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem and throughout all the +coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should +turn, <i>convert</i>, to God, and do works meet for, worthy of, +repentance." Acts xxvi, 20. Speaking of the unbelieving +Jews he said, "But their minds were blinded; for until this +day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of +the Old Testament, which vail is done away in Christ. But +even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their +heart. Nevertheless, when it shall <i>turn</i>, <i>convert</i>, to the Lord, +the vail shall be taken away." 2d Corinthians, iii, 14–16. +Here we find that the heart must do its own <i>turning</i>, <i>converting</i>. +<i>Poor Jews!</i> Could they help themselves? Yes, it all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span> +depended upon their own actions. The <span class="smcap">Infinite One</span> did +as much for them as for any others. They closed their eyes +and stopped their ears, lest at <i>any time</i> they should see with +their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with +their hearts, and be converted and healed. Why did the +Master not say, "And I should <i>convert</i> and heal them?" <i>Ans.</i> +Conversion is a commandment of God, and sinners must obey +it or perish.</p> + +<p>The above quotation is made from Isaiah vi, 10, where it +reads: "Lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with +their ears, and understand with their hearts, and <i>convert</i>, and +I should heal them." Paul, speaking of the disciples in Macedonia +and Achaia, says: "They themselves show of us what +manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned, +<i>converted</i>, to God from idols to serve the living and true God." +1 Thess., i, 8, 9. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," is +passive in our translation, but imperative active in the original. +In the Geneva text it reads: "<i>Amend</i> your lives and turn. +So conversion is a commandment of God. If there is anything +necessary to conversion that is not in the power of the sinner, +why should he be commanded to convert? If the trouble is +in his corruption, through inborn depravity, why are <i>some +converted</i> and <i>others not</i>? If there is anything in conversion +that is not in the power of the sinner, then he must of necessity +be saved without it, or remain unavoidably in sin—<i>doomed +to misery</i>."</p> + +<p>Webster defines the term <i>convert</i> "to change from one state +to another, as to convert a barren waste into a fruitful field; +to convert a wilderness into a garden; to convert rude savages +into civilized men; to change or turn from one party or sect +to another—as to convert Pagans to Christianity, to turn from +a bad life to a good one, to change the heart and moral character +from enmity to God and from vicious habits to the love +of God and to a holy life." Hence the ancient commandment: +"Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you +die." Eze. xviii, 32. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God +with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> +strength." Is this out of your power? Then who is to blame? +Does the blessed Father command you to do what you can +not? Are you thus lost without remedy? Does the Lord +mock you with commandments that you can not obey? The +importance of conversion is in the fact that it is the turning +point or dividing line between those who serve God and those +who serve him not.</p> + +<p>I. The Lord commands sinners to convert.</p> + +<p>II. The Lord's commandments are duties that sinners owe +to God.</p> + +<p>Therefore, conversion is a duty that the sinner owes to God. +It is the sinner's duty; then he must perform it. We have +seen that the Lord commands it, and that sinners did perform +it. Do you say it is a work begun upon them and accomplished +by them? Then sinners must be passive in the beginning +of this work, and the beginning is most essential, for unless +the thing is begun it will never be accomplished. Is this +beginning the work of God wrought upon the sinner by a +special operation of the Holy Spirit? If this be so it follows +that the entire Christian life is of necessity, and not of choice, +for the root always bears the tree, and not the tree the root. +If the cause is the unconditioned power of God, the effects +growing out of that cause are the fruits of necessity; and so +the Christian is a necessitated creature, and entitled to neither +praise or reward, for it was not he that did it, <i>but God</i>. And +in this case the sinner is not a moral agent, for in moral agency +the sinner, with a knowledge of the right and the wrong, begins +the work <i>himself</i> and does it himself. This does not exclude +the instrumentality of Christ, the Apostles, prophets +and Christians, who, by the words of the Holy Spirit, have +placed before sinners all the knowledge necessary to give them +correct ideas of duty, and also the motives to be accepted. An +agent is one who has power to begin action, and moral agency +in conversion is the exercise of that power, with a knowledge +of the right and the wrong, and so it comes to pass that conversion +to God always makes a Christian, provided, however, +that the man, knowing what to turn from and what to turn to,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> +honestly turned from the wrong to the right, which is the same +as to say that he was a moral agent in his conversion. A man +may <i>turn</i> without a knowledge of the right and the wrong, +but it is turning <i>round</i> and <i>round</i> and remaining in the same +place, <i>i.e.</i> in ignorance of God's will, and so remaining in +disobedience. Such may be and often is.</p> + +<p>In all such cases the person has been the creature of passion, +wrought upon by excitement, and left in ignorance of duty +in disobedience to the gospel of Christ. A good rule by +which to determine when such is the case, and it is the Master's +rule, is the unwillingness of the person to do the commandments +of God, and to receive for instruction upon the +subject of duty, his word, an unteachable disposition, which +not only refuses to obey when the commandments are presented, +but absolutely persists in opposing them. A man in +this condition is worse than ignorant, his heart is irreconciled +to the government of God, and he may turn around and +around and die in sin and transgression. Do you object that +God controls in conversion, and, therefore, the man is illuminated +in a mysterious manner, and necessitated aright—that +he is a necessitated moral agent? Necessitated moral agency +and free slavery are identical. There is no such thing as +necessitated moral agency. What I am compelled to do is +not mine, but his who compelled me. All that we call moral +or immoral, virtuous or vicious, praiseworthy or blameworthy, +in our conduct, depends wholly upon the will. It begins in +us and is done by us. It is ours and we will answer for it. +No man is to be blamed or praised for that which he neither +had power to do or avoid. This, in harmony with the words +<i>agent</i> and <i>action</i>, is saying no more than that a man is to +be praised or blamed for actions done by himself and not by +another. It is the gospel rule, "that every man shall receive +according to that which he bath done; that every man shall +give account of <i>himself</i> to God."</p> + +<p>If the sinner is to blame for remaining in an unconverted +state, then of necessity conversion is his own voluntary act; +a duty imperatively enjoined upon him, in the performance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> +of which he needs to be guided by the knowledge of the right +and the wrong, as much as in any other duty. On the other +hand, if it is a work wrought upon the man by a special effort +of the Holy Spirit, then the man is free from all responsibility +in the premises, for he will answer only for his <i>own +work</i>.</p> + +<p>"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the +issues of life." Prov. iv, 23. "He taught me also, and said +unto me: Let thine heart retain my words; keep my commandments +and live." Prov. iv, 4. "Hear thou, my son, +and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way." Prov. +xxiii, 19.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Man, with naught in charge, could betray no trust,<br /> +And if he fell, would fall because he must.<br /> +If love reward him, or vengeance strike,<br /> +His recompense in both would be unjust <i>alike</i>."<br /> +</p> + +<p>If the sinner is passive in his conversion he can claim no +reward, for it is the act of another. All action is the work +of an agent, of a being who acts. And every being who acts +is the beginner of the motion which constitutes the action. +The bullet that kills the man, the explosion that makes it fly, +the sparkles from the cap which produce the explosion, are +not agents, all being equally passive; nor is it the finger operating +upon the trigger that begins the motion; that also is a +passive instrument; it is the mind giving to the finger direction +and energy which is the mover in this business, and as +such, is, properly speaking, the agent. But if we were super-naturally +informed that the mind thus exerted was made to +do so by the mysterious and irresistible impulse of a superior +being, we should instantly declare <i>that being</i> the agent, and +the mind irresistibly influenced only a passive instrument, and +no more to blame than the gunpowder. Now, if the sinner is +passive he is no more to blame or praise than the passive instruments +employed by the murderer. And if he is not passive, +but active, then the thing is begun and done by himself +<i>as the real agent</i>. Action implies motion, and where there is +no power to begin motion there can not be action, <i>but rest</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> +If the sinner has power to begin that action called conversion, +then he is a moral agent in his conversion, provided that he +begins it with a knowledge of the right and the wrong in +their relations to the subject, for action without knowledge of +duty is not conversion to the service of God. In this case +the moral element is wanting, the man acts blindly from impulse +or passion; which is no more than saying that men +must know what to <i>convert from</i>, and what to <i>convert to</i>, before +they can act intelligently as rational moral agents. As +such, the thing of first importance is to teach men the will of +God upon the subject of conversion, that they may know what +to do. Anciently men were told what to do. And the gospel +of Christ tells men the same story yet. If the sinner is +the agent in his conversion then he should give himself no +rest until he learns his duty and does it. But if he is not, +then he might just as well rest contented, for the passive stone +that has no power to change its place <i>must rest</i>. To say that +the sinner has the power to change is giving up the question. +And when this is once given up all good people will go to +work upon sinners to teach them their duty, and persuade +them to turn, convert, to God. And the Lord will no longer +be regarded by sensible skeptics as a very changeable being.</p> + +<p>The ancient Christians did not wrestle with God in the work +of saving sinners. He was always willing that men should be +saved, and is yet willing. If we were to wrestle with him in +solemn prayer all our days he would not be more willing than +he is at this moment.</p> + +<p>Why is it that <i>all men</i> are not <i>saved</i>? Ans.—The Lord commands +men to convert, turn and live. Turn from what? +Ans.—From the will of the flesh and from the will of man. +To what? Ans.—To the gospel of Christ. And they refuse to +do it. To say the sinner has not the power is to relieve him, +forever, of all responsibility for his continuance in an unconverted +state, and throw it, forever, upon God. To say the +sinner has not the power, and in the next breath tell him that +he has, is a square contradiction and a self-evident falsehood, +only equaled by the statement that a thing is a round square,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> +or that ice is red hot. Let whatever fall that may, it is true +that a thing can not <i>be</i>, <i>exist</i>, and <i>not</i> be, not <i>exist</i>, at the same +time. The sinner is either passive or active in his conversion. +He can not be both. If he has not the power to begin and +<i>convert</i>, it follows that all who have died in sin were fated to +ruin without remedy. Philosophers have said, "that the will +is determined by motives, purposes, intentions, or reasons." +Granting this to be true, we <i>can not</i> admit that the will is +<i>necessarily</i> determined by motives and purposes; for it is the +self-determining power of the mind that gives a motive, or +reason, that weight and influence whereby our course is determined. +In other words, it depends on ourselves whether we +will act from one motive or another.</p> + +<p>Action from motive always begins in ourselves. And if +conversion is the result of motive power, it begins in ourselves +and by ourselves. Let a man be tempted to steal, his +motive is the love of money. But <i>if he</i> refrains from the +deed, his motive is a regard for duty. If he suffers himself to +be governed by the first, he is a thief and deserves punishment, +but if he allows himself to be governed by the second, +he has done well. The laws of every country suppose that +men have it in their power to give to either motive that regard +which will determine their conduct. The divine laws allow +the same, placing motives high as heaven before sinners for +their acceptance, and warning them with restraining threats +deep as hell. And if sinners will not receive these threats and +act accordingly, they are without excuse. The scriptures allow +that men convert from God. How is this? Have men +power to cross the chasm backwards, and are not able, at the +same time to cross it in a forward movement? Strange logic, +this! It is the same old philosophy that sinners have the power +to go to hell, but none to get to heaven; that they are free, +like the slave, to do the tyrant's bidding; that they are free +like the water that stands in the pool; that they are mechanically +free, are simply active when wrought upon, the +same as any machinery. If this be so, why is it that so many +are left in an unconverted state? Is it because the good Spirit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> +prefers the existence of iniquity and crime? If the Lord +brings about the salvation of some, through a mighty outpouring +of his Spirit, then we shall never comprehend his +ways. Why is it that he does not give us one general outpouring, +one grand revival all over our country, and bring +about the long prayed for millennial day? Answer.—Conversion +is a commandment of God. It must be obeyed or the +country lie, in direct opposition to the will of God, in sin. +His will is expressed in the words, "Let the wicked forsake +his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him +return, <i>reconvert</i>, unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon +him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."</p> + +<p>"To Israel he saith, all the day long have I stretched forth +my hands unto a gainsaying and disobedient people." Ro. +x, 21. "The Lord strove with them by his Spirit in the +prophets, and bore with them many years, yet they would not +hear." Nehe. ix, 30. "They made their hearts as an adamant +stone lest they should hear the law, and the words which the +Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets." +Zech. vii, 12. Jesus wept over them when he stood upon +Mount Olivet and expressed the greatness of his great heart +in these words: "How often would I have gathered thy +children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her +wings, and ye would not." Lu. xiii, 34. Their failure was +not because the Spirit did not strive with them as it did with +others who were saved. "God is no respecter of persons." +Neither was it on account of inborn depravity. For if any +were corrupted in their moral nature by Adam's sin, all were +corrupted alike. So that each one would be in this respect +equally hard to overcome. But why bring up inborn corruption +and helplessness? Is not the Spirit of God able for any +task which is in its own line of work? Jesus gave the true +solution of the question. He said: "Their hearts have waxed +gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they +have closed, lest at <i>any time</i> they should see with their eyes, +and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and +be converted, and I should heal them." The words "at any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> +time" deserve particular attention, for the Lord's time is <i>all the +time</i>. He is unchangeable. "He is not willing that any should +perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Pet. iii, 9.</p> + +<p>Many people talk and act as though the Lord was the most +changeable being in the universe. They seem to think that the +unchangeableness of the Lord is in the idea that he is everlastingly +changing. Let us imagine a perfect circle with a stone +permanently fixed in the center and a man walking within, and +every move he makes from side to side affecting his relations +to the center. So it is with God and the children of men. He +is immutable. He is the center of the circle. In the right +hand side of this circle are the innocent and the obedient, in +the enjoyment of all its riches, peace, pardon and all spiritual +blessings. These blessings were provided for all men, and +presented in the gospel of peace; and in the left side of this +circle are all the threatenings of God and all the wickedness +and miseries of men. The wicked at the left are able to <i>convert</i> +around to the right. In doing this they leave their sins +and miseries and come around where all the blessings of the +great salvation have always been, are, and will be until time +is no more. In all the work of human redemption there is no +place for change in God. The center has never changed. Man +<i>alone</i> changes. God has not bestowed <i>special</i> pardoning grace. +Such phraseology is unknown in the gospel. "His grace was +given us in Jesus Christ before the world began." 2 Tim. i, 9. +All that we or any others have to do is to live on the Christ +side of this circle—the right hand. If we are sinners it is +our duty to convert around to the right into new relations +containing all that is grand, glorious and desirable. The sinner, +led by the motives of the gospel, changes sides; leaving +the kingdom of darkness upon the left, and crossing the line +drawn through the center of the circle, he passes into the +kingdom of light. It seems strange that intelligent men and +women should be constantly throwing mystery around a matter +that is so plain and simple. But we are aware that, by +long dwelling on an idea, and from the excited and abnormal +sensitiveness of the mind, we sometimes lose ourselves to truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span> +amidst our own creations, which become in the imagination +stern realities, producing a species of monomania or religious +insanity.</p> + +<p>Long dwelling upon the idea that conversion is a special +work of God destroys all disposition <i>to convert</i>, and causes men +to be at ease in disobedience. We will to do those things, and +those only, which we believe to be in our power. We are not +so destitute of common sense as to undertake that which we +know to be out of our power. I never attempt to fly, or raise +a weight that I know to be far above my strength. So it is +in the question of conversion. If I believe it to be a work +that is beyond my power, there will be a corresponding indifference +upon my part. As long as men are made to believe +that God must convert them by a special interposition of his +Spirit, so long their minds will be directed, beyond the plain +duties of the gospel, to the realm of the mysterious and incomprehensible. +In ancient times, when men were plainly +told to convert—<i>turn</i>—to God and do works worthy of repentance, +when the mists and mysticles of the schoolmen and +dogmatists of all sects and parties had not, as yet, beclouded +the minds of men, nor corrupted the simplicity of the Gospel, +thousands were converted in a day. Christianity overran the +inhabited earth in the space of a few years. Judaism and +Paganism trembled and crumbled before its mighty power. +But now the religious world is contending with sin and crime, +under the great disadvantages of a perverted mind and a Gospel +beclouded with the smoke of Babylon, and the result is +that three-score souls brought into the church is a great success +for the labors of weeks, and even months. Why should this +be so? It need not be. It would not be but for the wrong +teaching consequent upon creeds. It is said, "That many of +the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized." Their +minds were clear upon the great subjects of human duty and +the goodness, love and mercy of God. They had no long sessions, +in which they were wrestling with God as though he was +insensitive and indifferent upon the subject of the sinner's +salvation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span></p><p>They were told the story of God's love, and made acquainted +with the great fact that all things were ready for their reception; +"that Christ had finished the work which the +Father had given him to do," and that it only remained for +them to believe and obey the Gospel and all would be well. +They were commanded <i>to convert</i> to the service of God. +This work was not given into the hands of Christ to perform. +It is the sinner's own work. Christ will not believe for you. +He will not repent for you. He will not convert for you. +Conversion is the overt action of the will carried out in +"breaking off from sins by righteousness." It begins in the +heart, but it does not end there. Murder begins in the heart, +but its consummation is the action of the will carried out. +The man first yielded to the temptation by saying, in his +heart, I will. The next thing in the order was carrying out +the will in the deed. Nothing short of the deed done would have +met the statement in the heart, <i>I will</i>. So it is in conversion. +The man first says in his heart, <i>I will</i>, I will forsake my former +course of life and be a Christian, I will obey God, I will +do his will. And nothing short of doing the will of God as +it is addressed to him in the Gospel will carry out the action +of the will, and meet the demands of the statement, <i>I will</i>. +"Whosoever will let him come and take the water of life +freely." So the "tree is known by its fruits." "He that +saith I know him, acknowledge him, and keepeth not his commandments +is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 Jno. +ii, 4.</p> + +<p>As regards the instrumentalities employed in persuading +men, I have only to say, that men were always free as moral +agents, to convert—<i>turn</i>, under the weakest instrumentality, or +refuse under the most powerful. The Lord himself "strove +with the ancient Jews by his Spirit in his prophets, and they +would not hear but resisted the Spirit." Stephen, after he had +made one grand effort to instruct his hearers, said, "Ye stiff-necked +and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always +resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did so do ye." Acts vii, +51. Was the condition of those fellows unavoidable? If it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span> +was, they were not to blame. But there was nothing in their +condition that was not in their power. If there was, why +should we find these words in their law, "circumcise the foreskin +of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." Deut. x, +16. The Lord has made the salvation of all men possible, +otherwise those remaining in an unconverted state, and dying +in their sins, are unavoidably lost. And who is to blame? +The Father "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten +son to die for every man. He sent him to be the Savior of +the world. The Gospel is the ministration of the Spirit. The +Apostles preached it with the Holy Spirit sent down from +heaven. They received grace and Apostleship, for the obedience +of faith among all nations, for Christ's name." Rom. i, 5. +A great and grand law governed them. In obeying it they +did all that they ever did for the world or for the church. +There were just three duties prescribed in that law. The first +is in the word "teach," or, the <i>better rendering</i>, disciple. The +second is in the word "baptizing;" and the third is in the +phrase "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I +have commanded you." The whole is beautifully rendered +thus, "Going therefore, disciple all nations, baptizing them +into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy +Spirit." And the whole is rested upon a declaration of kingly +authority, viz: "All power in heaven and upon earth is +given into my hands," going <i>therefore</i>,—you see the connection.</p> + +<p>Go to the Acts of the Apostles and read for yourselves and +see how they turned men to God. Paul says, "That he +showed first to them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and +throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, +that they should repent and turn, convert, to God, and do +works meet for repentance." Some disobeyed under the +preaching and teaching of the Apostles. Some under the +teachings of Christ. And many "rejected the council of God +against themselves in not being baptized of John's baptism." +Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel +to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> +saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Paul was +preaching at Corinth; many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, +and were baptized, and Jesus appeared unto him in a +vision by night, and said, "Speak boldly and hold not thy +peace, and I will let no man set on thee to hurt thee."</p> + +<p>Christ gave the commission and Paul was carrying it out. +The Savior's visit to Corinth, in vision, was to encourage Paul +to go on. Would all the preachers in this country encourage +such a work by speaking well of it? Would they say, Go on? +If I was preaching in a great city under the same circumstances +that surrounded Paul in Corinth, and the days of miracles +were not past, I might rationally conclude that Jesus would +encourage me in the same manner. Be that as it may, one +thing is doubtless true, viz., the same work is the Lord's work +yet, and his visit to Corinth to encourage Paul is a great +source of encouragement to us. The primitive Christians were +all baptized believers; all converted to the service of God; +none of them on probation, but all in the fellowship. All were +"sanctified unto obedience," all had "purified their souls in +obeying the truth through the Spirit." Many reverse the order +thus: "Get your souls purified and then obey the truth." +But Christ has become the "Author of eternal salvation unto +all those who obey him." Heb. v, 9. Jesus said, "Except a +man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into +the kingdom of God." Whatever this language may mean +<i>it</i> is accomplished when the sinner is begotten in Christ Jesus +through the gospel and baptized into Christ.</p> + +<p>Paul said of the Corinthians: "In Christ Jesus have I begotten +you through the Gospel." And they, "Hearing, believed +and were baptized." And James said: "Of his own +will begat he us with the word of truth." Consequently, the +entire meaning is in the power of all sinners who have access +to the Gospel of Christ. Otherwise, the sinner is unavoidably +lost for his unavoidable unbelief. But we are told in John's +Record, i, 12, "That as many as received him to them gave +he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe +on his name." So the power of the sinner to become a son of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> +God depends upon his belief on the name of the Son of God, +and if he can not believe it is no fault of his. <i>Poor fellow!</i> +Is he thus doomed? If he can believe on the name of Christ +he is able to reach the relation of a son. For the divine law +grants the privilege, liberty or power to as many as believe on +the name of Christ. The primitive Christians were the "children +of God by faith in Jesus Christ, for as many as were baptized +into Christ put on Christ." Gal. iii, 26, 27. John said: +"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doth righteousness +is righteous, even as he is righteous." 1 John iii, 7. +"If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that +doth righteousness is born of him." 1 John ii, 29. The great +appeal to man as a moral agent is in these words: "Know ye +not that to whom ye <i>yield yourselves</i> servants to obey, his +servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, +or of obedience unto righteousness." Rom. vi, 16. Do you not +know this? Do you not know that you will receive, in the +great day, according to that which you have done, whether it +be good or bad? Then why not obey the Gospel and enjoy +its promises?</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="OUR_INDEBTEDNESS_TO_REVELATION_No_VI" id="OUR_INDEBTEDNESS_TO_REVELATION_No_VI"></a>OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION—No. VI.</h2> + +<h3>BY P.T. RUSSELL.</h3> + + +<h4>THE NATURE OF MAN NECESSITATED REVELATION.</h4> + +<p>The above proposition rests upon and is in harmony with +all the relations existing between natural wants and supplies, +being itself a supply. Does the power of vision make light a +necessity? Yes; without it the eye would be useless. Could +man create his own light? It has taken ages upon ages to +invent the limited artificial light which we now have. Man is +endowed with the powers of locomotion. Could he create an +earth to move upon? Could he create the air for breathing?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span> +Were these and all such matters necessities? And was man +entirely unable to provide for his own natural wants? The +faculties with which man is endowed call for these supplies, +and they are necessities on account of the existence of these +faculties. Think of a being, if you can, with the powers of +vision in the entire absence of light, with no air to breathe +nor earth to move upon. Do you say such would be a grand +failure? So it would. But the Creator has not given powers +to man for which he has no use, having nothing to meet their +demands. The existence of a faculty or power leads logically +to the conclusion which all candid, intelligent people have +reached, viz: that the Creator has made a supply for the use +of every faculty, or power which was designed and provided. +Do you ask, what of all this? I answer, man has the power to +become religious, but he had no more power to invent a supply +for this faculty than he had to create light for the eye or +air to breathe. So the necessity for this must be met with a +supply from the Creator as well as all other natural demands +or powers.</p> + +<p>Now, as we have a desire for the knowledge that we are approved +of God, and as religion consists in this knowledge, and +in the knowledge of our relations, dependence and obligations +to God; and, as we have but one means of obtaining +this knowledge, and that is the means of his will concerning +us, then by knowing through that will that our actions are +such as he desires and approves, the one question remains to +be answered, How can man obtain the knowledge of the will +of another concerning himself? Ans.—Only by a revelation +of the will of the one to the other. I know not the will of +the reader of this essay concerning myself. My style of writing +may not please him, but if he would tell me just how he +wishes me to write, then, by following his directions, I should +obtain the knowledge of his approbation as a necessary result +experienced in my own mental nature. This is plain, but no +more plain than God's revelation to man and its results experienced +in conscious knowledge.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span></p><h4>AN IMPORTANT THOUGHT.</h4> + +<p>In order to man's highest happiness, all his powers must be +so called into activity by education that each faculty may act +with energy, but at the same time in exact harmony with all +of its kindred powers. There must be no clash, no jar nor +friction. No one power must be highly exercised and cultivated +at the expense of the rest, but each must be brought +out by its own appropriate food. Material food is for the +body—it can not feed upon thought, nor mind upon bread. +"Man should not live upon bread alone." This is an axiomatic +truth endorsed by man's two-fold nature. If you feed +and exercise the body only you may acquire the strength of +an Ajax, but your countenance will be as stolid and your eye +as dull as the Hottentot's. Such a fellow would be of almost +no use whatever. Add to the education of the body the cultivation +of the intellect only; now the prospect is fearful, for +the intellect always works for its master, and in this case, the +man being without moral and religious training, the master +Will be his animal desires. Can you imagine the depth of +infamy and pollution that is possible in this case? The entire +motive power that moves his intellect is carnal, sensual and +devilish. He now needs the sanction of a higher authority. +The man is but half educated. There are two groups of +faculties in his nature that are lying dormant. His moral +and religious powers have not as yet been brought into action—they +have had no food nor exercise, and without this +there can be no development. These, as well as the intellect and +the body, must have their own appropriate food, which must +be in kind with their nature. Moral truth is for the moral +powers. This directs us in our moral relations and obligations +to our fellows with whom we may be associated. Religious +truth is for our religious faculties. Now add to all this the +sanction of the authority of God, which is like the balance-wheel +in a watch, regulating and controlling every movement. +Man, thus educated, is prepared to act in harmony with his +entire nature. He can now reach a position of moral, religious, +social and intellectual grandeur worthy of his nature.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span></p><p>Reader, is all of this demanded by the elements of our nature? +Then a revelation of God to man of the knowledge of +his being, wisdom, goodness, power, authority and law was +and is a necessity, without which man must have remained in +part uneducated, not perfectly developed.</p> + +<p>Is the development of man's religious nature necessary in +order to a full, perfect and harmonious growth? Yes. There +neither is, nor can be, a harmonious growth while any one +power is dwarfed by starvation. Without the knowledge of +God man's religious powers must remain dwarfed, and these +can not be fed without a revelation. Are these powers so +many empty buckets, never filled and never to be filled? No. +Hence my conclusion, that man's nature made revelation a +necessity, rests upon the bed-rock of truth. Let him who feels +able try to shake my position.</p> + + +<h4>REVELATION PROBABLE.</h4> + +<p>Our series of essays are such that this requires no argument +here. There are certain analogies that we may, nevertheless, +speak of, which will not <i>down</i> at the bidding of David's fool. +The facts stand thus: a supply for each and every one of our +other faculties, sufficient in quantity for all their necessities, is +placed within our reach for their use. Now let us look at +the analogy. I have food to eat, good water to drink, +light for the eye, air to breathe, and a good earth to walk +upon and space in which to move, beauties of nature to admire, +its music to listen to with rapture, and things with their +combinations to perceive and think of.</p> + +<p>Now, Mr. Skeptic, you know that man has religious faculties, +otherwise he could never become religious, no more than +he could see without eyes and hear without ears. Now, what +say you? Did the author of all things make a mistake here +by conferring upon us a power that would be of no use? Is +this the reason of your rejection of religion? Do you say it +is of no use? Or do you say that the Great Creator and wise +and merciful Provider forgot to give a supply just here? +Come! You boast of reason. Give us your <i>reason</i>. Will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span> +you? To one or the other of these conclusions you are irresistibly +driven. No other retreat is open. Take either, and, +if true, the harmony of the universe is destroyed. Take +either, and your folly is so plain that it needs no words of +mine to point it out. This is the true conclusion; all analogy +points directly and clearly to the probability and fact of a +revelation.</p> + + +<h4>A REVELATION OF THAT WHICH WAS NECESSARY?</h4> + +<p>To answer this question we must keep in mind the nature +of man's religious powers, and from this deduce the nature of +the supply that is called for. Would the simple idea of the +existence of a first cause, or creator of all things, be sufficient? +This idea, by itself, could not quicken reverence and adoration +and a desire to worship, and without these there is no religion. +Would a knowledge, by revelation, of the power, intelligence, +wisdom and goodness of God be sufficient in the +absence of anything more? No. What more? Would it +not be enough, in addition to what you have named, to have a +knowledge of our relation to and dependence upon him for all +we enjoy? No; we must have one thing more shown to us +or the whole will be imperfect and unworthy of God as its +author. Religion can not be without something to do, and +that something must be done upon or by the authority of its +author. Add this to all the other items and the system is complete, +meeting perfectly the necessities of man's nature.</p> + + +<h4>THE NECESSARY ORDER OF REVELATION.</h4> + +<p>The proper arrangement of the various parts of any communication +designed to convey knowledge from one to others, +is an important factor in this subject of <i>revelation</i>. Remember +"the clear is the true." This is the case in all +methodic arrangements; to this rule there are no exceptions. +The fundamental truth must first be developed. A child must +first be instructed in the rudiments of numbers in order to +learn the science of mathematics, otherwise no sensible progress +can be made. Intricate problems in Euclid are not to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span> +be presented to beginners for solution. So, in religion, the +primary thought of the existence of God is the first great +truth made known. Second, we are taught that he possesses +power, wisdom and goodness. This instruction must also be +adapted to the capacity of those who are to be taught. We +know that the very young mind needs more simple instruction +than the adult. As, of necessity, there was a first man, and a +time when that first man began to be, so, of necessity, in the +beginning of the life of that man, however perfectly developed +his body might have been, his mind was infantile—destitute +of the first principles of an education.</p> + +<p>Object lessons were called for. Here they come in hills +and dales, dry lands and running waters, in trees and vines, in +shrubs and grass, flowers and fruits, beasts, birds and winged +insects and creeping things, and higher up in the sun with his +brilliant light, and in the moon with her paler rays, and in all +her attending, sparkling stars. Here are the objects for man's +first lesson. Just now the wise man of this world, a skeptic, +asks the question, Could not the first man, with all these objects +before him, learn by the use of reason the fact that all +these objects originated from a creator? And if he could he +certainly needed no revelation, for, reasoning from nature up +to nature's God, he might then, from the order, beauty and +harmony of all, reach the idea of his character, and from this +deduce a knowledge of his will, and if so a revelation was +not necessary. This seems to me very clear, and you often +say "the clear is the true." This is my reason for rejecting +the idea that a revelation was ever made.</p> + +<p>Will you, Mr. Christian, grapple with this? I would with +pleasure if there was anything in it to grapple with, but you +will see nothing real in your premises, for objects teach nothing +without an instructor. There lies a brick, pick it up and +examine its surface closely; do you, from it, reach the idea of +its maker? No. Yet I know it must have been made, for I +have seen other bricks made, and this resembles them. Very +well. Did you ever see worlds made, and, if so, does our +earth resemble them? But when you saw those bricks made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span> +were there not several men engaged in their manufacture, as +well as horses? There is no analogy in your premises; you +beg the question entirely; you take the whole foundation for +granted; your argument is "as clear as mud."</p> + +<p>Had you seen others made by only one maker, then and +only then could you by analogy have reached even the idea +that ours was made also. Also, the makers of those bricks +may have been of the most base and malignant disposition, +for you can learn nothing of their disposition from the bricks; +they only testify of the skill of their makers—this is all. Do +you not see that you give me nothing to grapple with? The +truth is this, nature gives you no sufficient foundation for +religion. Revelation must of necessity furnish us with that. +Without revelation no one can learn of the existence and character +of God. The knowledge of his existence, power and +wisdom might excite reverence, but this alone could not +bring man's religious powers into activity. To this must be +added the knowledge of his goodness and kindness towards, +and his love of, those who are required to worship him. And +in addition to all this, there must be a revelation of the divine +will concerning human action, for the term <i>worship</i> indicates +submission and obedience; without this, very important +elements would be wanting, and the system show great imperfection +and want of wisdom—as man could not learn his +relation nor obligation to that great Creator and Preserver of +all. But give in addition the knowledge of man's relation to +and dependence upon God, with a knowledge of his will in +the form of law or commands, with promises of good annexed, +resting upon the condition of obedience. Such a system of +revelation would be perfect, fitted to the necessities of human +nature. And you, Mr. Skeptic, have agreed with me, that the +nature of man was true and right. Now, when we find a +perfectly straight edge, and then find another edge that fits it, +we know that the last is also perfectly straight, for straight +and crooked edges do not match. Having already found the +kind of a revelation that human nature made necessary, in +my next I shall show that such a revelation is contained in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> +the Bible. Then as human nature is true, and as the Bible's +revelation is exactly fitted to it, the inevitable conclusion will +follow that the Bible does contain a revelation from God to +man.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="WHERE_SHALL_WE_TAKE_INFIDELS_TO_GET" id="WHERE_SHALL_WE_TAKE_INFIDELS_TO_GET"></a>WHERE SHALL WE TAKE INFIDELS TO GET +THEM OUT OF UNBELIEF?</h2> + + +<p>Goethe says it is a law of the demons that they must get out +at the same place where they sneaked in. This is a very suggestive +expression. If a mathematician makes a mistake in +the solution of a problem his only chance to get out of the +difficulty lies just at the point where the mistake was made. +He must remain in perplexity until he finds the mistake and +corrects it. This law holds good in all our intellectual operations. +Many men are professedly in unbelief. How shall we +get them out? This is an important question and needs to be +well studied by all Christian ministers. If we can find out +just how they got in, then it will be easy to get the honest +ones out. But it is well to remember that many professed infidels +are <i>only skeptics</i> in heart. They are unbelievers at will. +The most effectual remedy for such unbelief, as yet known, is +an attack of cramp colic, or some other fearful affliction. Under +such circumstances they always surrender. There is not +much chance for Gospel means as long as a man's unbelief is +simply a profession. His disease is not one of the head, but +of the heart; yet our law holds good here. The man himself +may repent; may make to himself a new heart and a new +spirit. This is his way out. If a man gets into unbelief +through a misunderstanding of Bible facts he will never get +out short of a better understanding of those same facts.</p> + +<p>If he gets in through the impression that science and the +Bible are in conflict, there is no way to get him out short +of a removal of the impression. Hence the importance of +ministers being scientists. Many unbelievers claim that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span> +Bible and science conflict, who have never investigated them, +and know comparatively nothing of either. This class, too, +is in the majority. They are men who ape certain leaders, +being under their influence. Many of them love to have us +know that they know something about such men as Strauss, +notwithstanding their ignorance of <i>even the man</i>. To have +such a mind do their thinking is the highest of their ambition. +There is a good deal of heart disease about these fellows. +They really glory in the names of such men as Strauss. He +was so far away that they never learned the fact that "he was +divorced from his wife, the former actress, Agnese Schebest, +and spent his days going about from place to place. His +pseudo-theology or mythology ended in a theatrical comedy, +and the comedy in a tragedy." "In 1839 this famous Dr. +Strauss—who resolved the gospel history of salvation into an +incoherent and self-contradictory mythological poem, and denied +the existence of a personal God and the immortality of +the soul—was duly elected professor of Christian dogmatics +and ethics in the University of Zurich, by the party then in +power, which consisted mostly of demagogues and frivolous +infidels."</p> + +<p>But the free Swiss would not submit, so the people of the +Canton of Zurich rose in their republican majesty and marched +to the city under the lead of an energetic pastor, and with the +weapons which they hastily collected scared the Strauss clique +away; they very courageously took to their heels; then the +people of the Canton of Zurich placed the government into +the hands of conservative, trustworthy Christian men, and +quietly retired to their mountain homes without shedding a +drop of blood. The new government elected Mr. Lange in +the place claimed, but never occupied, by Strauss; but Mr. +Strauss claimed half the salary, and it is said that he enjoyed +it, up to 1857 at least.</p> + +<p>How much influence could such a man in our own country +exert over the American mind? For these facts touching the +life of Strauss, see "Germany; Its Universities, Theology and +Religion," by Phillip Schaff, pages 101, 386. The reader<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span> +may rely upon the quotations given above. I have taken +them with the book referred to open before me.</p> + +<p>Infidels who investigate the Bible honestly, with reference +to an understanding of its contents, are unknown to us. The +master spirits in unbelief give abundant evidence of their ignorance +of the scriptures of the Bible. Not one in a thousand +ever investigated the scriptures of the Bible with pure +and honest motives. Many have never investigated it at all. +To read a chapter here and there for the sole purpose of finding +fault and getting up a difficulty, is not investigation. An +honest investigation requires a very different course. All the +evidence must be brought into the court and presented in such +a manner as to be understood, just as it was given, otherwise +the court is not qualified to decide righteously in the case. +That all such men as Col. Ingersoll have failed to thus investigate +the Bible is evident from the fact that they, to be like +him, must be infidels in all their history. It is published to +the world that the Colonel was born an infidel. He has been +hacking away at religion and the Bible ever since he was a +small boy. So his infidelity is not the result of an intelligent +investigation of either science or religion. I will not undertake +to say what the Colonel's trouble is, but if he was born +an infidel it is possible, according to our law, that he will die +an unbeliever.</p> + +<p>Many infidels, governed by a spirit of fanaticism, undoubtedly, +have labored with as much earnestness as if the world's +salvation depended upon their efforts, without the least hope +of bettering its condition, for the false philosophy of materialism +which they advocate gives to a man nothing to live for +except his own animal nature. This philosophy says all is +well as long as you dodge the sharp corners of the laws of +your country. If the materialist can avoid paying fines, along +with all other penalties of the laws of his country, what need +he care for one course of life in preference to another? Do +you say he has a conscience? Well, it may be that it is not +seared so that he is past feeling. Very few men, I know, ever +reach such a depraved condition. And this is doubtless the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span> +greatest reason why all infidels, as a general rule, get into +mental distress during great bodily afflictions. Many of them +are converted by disease of the body, for two reasons: first, +they were unbelievers at will, just because it suited their desires, +and, second, because they are in possession of a religious +nature or conscience. But men who are converted by disease +of the body are liable to go back to the old wallow as soon as +prosperity and health crown them again.</p> + +<p>Many men are driven to irreligion through its abuses. I +have often thought it a misfortune that we Americans are +under the necessity of meeting the infidel literature of the old +world, for the simple reason that it is evolved out of the +circumstances peculiar to state churches. In America our +religion is heroic; that is, it rests upon the merits of its own +evidence, and is supported by the voluntary contributions of +the people. But in Europe, where the mass of our infidel +literature comes from, Christianity is not free and independent, +but entangled with the affairs of state, and supported by +the secular arm. The result is that difficulties are continually +arising out of the unholy alliance which are disgusting to the +independent scientific mind. The natural result is to drive +such persons into irreligion. Where men are educated in +both science and religion, and have not been all their lives +called upon to look upon religion in a secular light, tangled +up in the interests of politics and law, there should be no +fears on account of any literature that infidels may pass +around. The misfortune that I speak of is not with such +men, but with the uneducated in religion and science, who are +more than anxious to find an excuse for irreligion. Christianity +fears nothing in the light.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> desires that have only a bodily end and aim, that are +unconnected with the high, holy, and noble purposes of a pure, +true, and good life, are false desires, and should be cast off.</p> + + + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="COUNCILS_No_II" id="COUNCILS_No_II"></a>COUNCILS—No. II.</h2> + +<h4>UNITY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.</h4> + + +<p>In our October article on Councils we closed with the council +that was assembled by Mrs. Irene in the year 787. The +Franks, having heard that a council at Constantinople had +ordained the adoration of images, assembled, in the year 794, +by order of Charles, son of Pepin, afterwards named Charlemagne, +a very numerous council. In this council the second +council of Nice is spoken of as an impertinent and arrogant +synod held in Greece for the promotion of the worship of +pictures. This council, held at Frankfort, was composed of +three hundred clergymen from England, Italy, France and +Germany. Aventin, Hinemar and Regina say the Frankfortians +rescinded the decisions of the false Grecian synod in favor +of image worship.</p> + +<p>In 842 a grand council was held at Constantinople, convened +by the Empress Theodora. Here the worship of images was +solemnly established. The Greeks still have a feast in honor +of this council called "<i>Orthodoxia</i>." Theodora did not preside +at this council.</p> + +<p>"In 861 a council was held at Constantinople consisting of +three hundred and eighteen bishops, assembled by the Emperor +Michael. St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, was +deposed and Photius elected.</p> + +<p>"In 866 another council was held at Constantinople, in +which Pope Nicholas III. was deposed for contumacy and +excommunicated.</p> + +<p>"In 869 was another council at Constantinople; in this +Photius, in turn, was deposed and excommunicated and St. +Ignatius restored.</p> + +<p>"In 879 another council was held in Constantinople, in which +Photius, already restored, was acknowledged as true patriarch +by the legates of Pope John VIII., who declares all those to +be Judases who say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the +Father and the Son.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span></p><p>"In 1122–3 a council was held at Rome, in the church of +St. John of Lateran, by Pope Calixtus II. This was the first +general council assembled by the popes. The emperors of the +west had now scarcely any authority, and the emperors of the +east, pressed by the Mahometans and by the crusaders, held +none but little wretched councils. In this council the bishops +complained heavily of the monks. 'They possess,' said they, +'the churches, the lands, the castles, the tithes, the offerings +of the living and the dead; they have only to take from us +the ring and the crosier.' <i>The monks remained in possession.</i>"</p> + +<p>"In 1139 was another council of Lateran, by Pope Innocent +II. It is said a thousand bishops were present. Here +the ecclesiastical tithes are declared to be of <i>divine right</i>, and +all laymen possessing any of them are excommunicated.</p> + +<p>"In 1215 was the last general council of Lateran, by Pope +Innocent III. Four hundred and twelve bishops and eight +hundred abbots were here. This was in the time of the Crusades, +and the popes have established a Latin patriarch at +Jerusalem and one at Constantinople. These patriarchs +attend this council. This council declares, among other +things, that 'no one can be saved out of the Catholic church.' +The word transubstantiation was not known until after this +council. It forbade the establishment of new religious +orders; but, since that time, no less than eighty have been +instituted. It was in this council that Raimond, Count of +Toulouse, was stripped of all his lands.</p> + +<p>"In 1245 a council assembled at the city of Lyons. Innocent +IV. brings thither the Emperor of Constantinople, John +Puleologus, and makes him sit beside him. He deposes the +Emperor Frederick as a felon, and gives the cardinals a red +but, as a sign of hostility to Frederick, and the source of +thirty years of civil war.</p> + +<p>"In 1274 another council is held at the city of Lyons. Five +hundred bishops are present, seventy great and a thousand +lesser abbots. The Greek emperor, Michael Paleologus, that +he may have the protection of the Pope, sends his Greek<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> +patriarch, Theophanes, to unite, in his name, with the Latin +church; but the Greek church disowns these bishops.</p> + +<p>"In 1311 Pope Clement V. assembled a general council in +the small town of Vienne, in Dauphiny, in which he abolishes +the order of the Templars. It is here ordained that the +Begares, Beguins and Beguines shall be burned. These were +a species of heretics '<i>to whom was imputed all that had formerly +been imputed to the primitive Christians</i>.'" So says Voltaire. +He does not, like the pitiful blaspheming infidels of +to-day, try to heap all this corruption of the dark ages upon +primitive Christianity. No! The hull of Voltaire's soul +was too great for such a deed.</p> + +<p>"In 1414 the great council of Constance was assembled by +an emperor who resumes his rights, viz: by Sigismund. +Here Pope John XXIII., convicted of numerous crimes, is +deposed, and John Huss and Jerome of Sprague convicted of +<i>obstinacy and burned</i>.</p> + +<p>"In 1431 a council was held at Basle, where they in vain +depose Pope Eugene IV., who is too clever for the council. +This was a stormy council, and it is said that Eugene regretted +in <i>his</i> old age that he ever left his monastery.</p> + +<p>"In 1438 a council assembled at Ferrara, transferred to +Florence, where the excommunicated pope excommunicates +the council, and declares it guilty of high treason. Here a +feigned union is made with the Greek church, crushed by the +Turkish synods held sword in hand.</p> + +<p>"Pope Julius II. would have had his council of Lateran in +1512 pass for an ecumenical council. In it that pope +solemnly excommunicated Louis XII., King of France, laid +France under an interdict, summoned the whole Parliament of +Provence to appear before him, and excommunicated all the +philosophers because most of them had taken part with Louis +XII. Yet this council was not like that of Ephesus, called +the council of robbers.</p> + +<p>"In 1537 the council of Trent was first assembled at Mantua,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> +by Paul III., afterwards at Trent, in 1543, and terminated +in Dec., 1561, under Pius VI." See vol. Phil. Dic.</p> + +<p>"Pope Pius IX. convened a council in 1869, which in July, +1870, decreed the <i>personal infallability of the Pope</i> in matters +of faith and morals, to be a dogma of the church."</p> + +<p>Reader, if you will digest this little piece of history, you +will doubtless discover good reasons for asserting the right of +private judgment and the liberty of conscience. <i>Truth stands +true to her god; men alone vascillate.</i></p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="FREE-THOUGHT_IN_GERMANY_FRANCE_AND" id="FREE-THOUGHT_IN_GERMANY_FRANCE_AND"></a>FREE-THOUGHT IN GERMANY, FRANCE AND +RUSSIA, OR RUSSIAN NIHILISM.</h2> + +<h4>BY FITZ CUNLIFFE OWEN. LIBRARY MAG. VOL. 3.</h4> + + +<p>Rationalism and radicalism exist to a certain extent in every +country of Europe. But the Social Democrats of Germany +and Austria and the Communists of France and Spain turn +with horror from Russian revolutionists, who consider the +programme of the Paris commune of 1871 condemnably weak, +and Felix Pyat, Cluseret and their companions as little better +than conservatives. The Social Democrats and even the +Communists of the rest of Europe have in view aims which, +no matter how fantastic, are always of a sufficiently defined +nature. They look forward to an entirely democratic form of +government, and hope for a recognization of the social world, +under which all capital and property would be held either by +the State or Commune for the equal benefit of everybody. +They are levellers, but they are not destroyers. Take the right +of property from the citizens of a government and the greatest +motive to industry and prosperity is gone.</p> + +<p>The revolutionary party in Russia has no definite aims of +either reorganization or improvement. In its sight everything +as it now exists is rotten, and before anything new and good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span> +can be created all existing institutions must be utterly destroyed. +Religion, the state, the family, laws, property, +morality, are all equally odious, and must be rooted out and +abolished. It is because "nothing," as it exists at present, +finds favor in their eyes that they have been called "Nihilists." +They maintain that no one should be bound by laws or even +moral obligations of any kind, but that every body should be +allowed to do exactly as he pleases. They desire to break up +the actual social organization into mere individualism, with +entire independence for each separate person. Their object is +anarchy in the very truest sense of the word. They are only +modest enough to decline the attempt to create a new order of +things in the place of what they propose to destroy. That +they intend to leave for a better and more enlightened generation. +The following, from a Nihilist paper, Narodnia Volya +(The Will of the People), which is published at St. Petersburg +by means of secret presses, will set them forth in their +true inwardness:</p> + +<p>"The Russian press is bent almost double by the imperial +government. Notwithstanding its disagreeable position it +does its utmost to curry favor of its oppressors. Whenever +thefts, murders, or incendiarisms take place in Russia the +press invariably attributes them to the Nihilists. There is an +old proverb which says, 'Slander, slander; some result will +always be obtained.' Judging from the tone of the press some +result has been obtained. According to its statements the +Nihilists are little better than wild beasts. We do not venture +to assert that there are no bad men in our ranks, but are +yours entirely free from them? The number of bad persons +among the Nihilists is so very small that we need hardly +enumerate them. Since 1862 over 17,000 persons have been +exiled to Siberia for political offenses.</p> + +<p>"You accuse us of adopting means of action which are unjustifiable +in every way. But what can we do? We are reduced +to silence. We only adopt questionable means of action +very rarely, and then only in self-defense; whereas you use +them daily.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p><p>"The money obtained from private individuals by means of +theft and blackmail has not been levied by order of the 'committee,' +but by certain unscrupulous Nihilists acting on their +own behalf. However, we are all the more ready to admit +that such things have been done when we remember that only +five such cases are known to have taken place.</p> + +<p>"Do not accuse us of being murderers, because of our attempts +to take the life of His Most Sacred Majesty? Why, +we would most gladly accomplish his destruction, and he has +only escaped until now in consequence of the many cowards +in our ranks! It has been stated that Solowjew's attempt in +April last has disturbed the rest and peace of mind of many +harmless and respectable citizens. Some of the Liberal papers +even go so far as to say that it will have the effect of producing +a reaction in favor of the government. Why, what idle +and stupid talk! These good newspaper proprietors, who love +their ease and their books, must have been asleep not to have +perceived that the reaction began sixteen years ago, not in +favor of the government, but against it.</p> + +<p>"We are quite persuaded that if Solowjew's attempt had +succeeded, everybody would talk in a different manner, +even the slaves and asses who surrounded the throne would +have rejoiced.</p> + +<p>"Do not be surprised at these political assassinations, but +rather be astonished that they are not more frequent. Unfortunately +for our cause, the Nihilists are too humanitarian, and +hence are incapable of carrying out many necessary measures. +Perhaps in time they will acquire the aptitude necessary in +critical moments; perhaps it will be your conduct which will +effect this change in them. Then in that case the responsibility +of terrorism and assassination will rest with you, and +not with us."</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">How</span> many amusing and ridiculous scenes should we witness +if each pair of men that secretly laugh at each other were +to do it openly!</p> + + + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="AXIOMS_LYING_AT_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_ALL" id="AXIOMS_LYING_AT_THE_FOUNDATION_OF_ALL"></a>AXIOMS LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF ALL +PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION.</h2> + + +<p>Out of nothing, nothing comes. Into nothing, nothing goes. +These are foundation axioms underlying the entire system of +Christian theology. The first looks backward, and the second +looks forward. The first correllates with the saying, "So +things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." +The converse of this is the following: Things which +are seen were made of unseen things; that is, the visible universe +is the manifestation of the invisible. The real universe +is the invisible. There is nothing that can not be thrown into +the invisible. Even the diamond has been thrown into solution, +and all solutions may be thrown into the invisible +by heat. The question, What is matter? has puzzled +the best minds of earth, and puzzled all, both infidels and +Christians, as much as any other question. The visible, organic +universe was created, but it was created out of the +invisible. The invisible is eternal. There is an eternal world, +and that is the invisible and real universe, without which the +visible would not be, for of nothing, nothing comes. All +matter is to be referred to antecedent substance—that which +lies under and causes it to be. Substance, strictly speaking, +lies in the invisible. Matter, properly speaking, is an effect, +which is the visible manifestation of an unseen substance, and +this is eternal.</p> + +<p>God created the universe by means of eternal substance. +He is the king eternal. The time never was when he was the +king of nothing. It is said of Leibnitz that he thought inert +matter insufficient to explain the phenomena of body, and had +recourse to the entelechies of Aristotle, or the <i>substantial +forms</i> of scholastic philosophy, conceiving of them as primitive +forces, constituting the substance of matter, atoms of substance, +but not of matter <i>imperishable</i>, but subject to transformation. +This view of the atomic theory is two-fold: First, +the atomic invisible, as the very term <i>atom</i> indicates, for it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span> +is from "ha temno," which means <i>not cut</i>—literally <i>indivisible</i>. +You can't cut an atom chemically or otherwise, unless you +are working upon that which is an atom in the loose and more +modern sense of the term. You may reduce matter chemically +to the invisible or underlying substance, but beyond this +you can not cut? Can you run it into nothing? No. Into +nothing nothing goes. Physicists are indebted to the oldest +philosophers, who lived prior to Democrites, for the use of the +term atom. Those oldest philosophers used the term to indicate +something that was not matter, viz: immaterial substance. +The term in its primary sense is applicable nowhere else.</p> + +<p>The invisible world of substance is undoubtedly eternal. +But those men who try to make this fact an argument against +the existence of God are guilty of the most stupid nonsense +and impudence, for, having allowed eternity not only to substance, +but to <i>material</i> substance, they have no right in logic +to deny eternity to life and mind; because it is as easy, and +as rational, to conceive of the eternity of one thing known to +exist as of another. But the idea that the visible world is +eternal is in direct conflict with the facts of science, which establish +beyond contradiction the mutable nature of all organized +bodies. Aristotle, though a believer in the existence of +God, did affirm the world's eternity, and therefore held that +there never was any first male or female in the history of any +animals whatsoever, but affirmed, on the contrary that one +begat another infinitely, without any beginning. This thought +was so repugnant to common sense that Aristotle himself +seemed to be skeptical about it, admitting it to be a disputable +thing. After affirming his notion he added, "If the +world had a beginning, and if men were once earth-born, then +must they have been, in all probability, either generated as +worms, out of putrefaction, or else out of eggs." But the +question comes up for an answer, From whence came the +eggs?</p> + +<p>Old Epicurus, after Aristotle, fancied that the first men +and animals were formed in certain wombs or bags growing +out of the earth, by a fortuitous concourse of dead atoms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span> +Here we have the last <i>home stretch</i> of all physicists in their +efforts to get rid of the Christian idea of creation; beyond it +no modern infidel has traveled in his speculations, nor ever +will.</p> + +<p>But if men were formed from eggs growing out of the +earth, or from bags, or from wombs created by a fortuitous +concourse of dead atoms, by chance, why, the motion of +atoms being as brisk and vigorous as ever, should we not expect +the same thing to occur occasionally throughout all the +ages?</p> + +<p>Anaximander, however, concluded that men, because they +require longer time than other animals to be hatched up, +were at first generated in the bellies of fishes, and there +nourished till they were able to defend and shift for themselves, +and were then disgorged and cast upon dry land. So we are +driven to the conclusion that there is nothing in the world too +absurd for those men, both ancient and modern, to swallow +down in their efforts to get rid of the notion of an intelligent +creation by the hand of an intelligent creator.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="ESTOPPELS_OR_FOSSILIZATION" id="ESTOPPELS_OR_FOSSILIZATION"></a>ESTOPPELS; OR, FOSSILIZATION.</h2> + + +<p>In our religion we find no law requiring uniformity of +thought. Think the same things. Be of the same opinion. +These and like statements are no part of our religion. Faith +and opinion are not the same. All Christians have one faith, +"the faith of Christ." "Be of the same mind and of the +same judgment." "Speak the same things." These are to be +taken in their proper relations. The made up judgment is the +result of faith in the judgment of Christ. "I judge nothing +by myself; he that judgeth me is the Lord." The one great +mind enjoined is the result of thought upon the one great subject +of the life of Christ, which is given as the light of men. +These imperatives are summed up in the beautiful expression, +"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span> +Uniformity of thoughts or opinions is a very different thing. +A man would be considered worse than a knave who would +throw chains around the human intellect, so as to put an end +to progress in thought; it would be the stagnation of all in +which we are most interested. Christians are not to be charged +with any such wickedness, for they are using all their powers +to produce thought; money and talent are freely bestowed in +many ways to get men to think, and then decide, not in reference +to opinions but facts; not in reference to things which +are matters of opinion only, but of the living object of faith, +Christ and Christian duty. There is no system of things in +which investigation, liberty of thought and action, upon all +matters of interest to our humanity, both as respects this +world and the world to come, is more encouraged and insisted +upon. Wicked and unholy thoughts only are prohibited.</p> + +<p>Who would paint every flower of the same hue? Who +would trim all the trees of the forest into one and the same +shape? Or, who is so foolish as to want all faces cast into +one mould? Who would chain human thought or mould the +opinions of men so that they should not only be one in +Christ, the greatest living fact in history, but one in every +other being known in the world's history—one in opinions? +The freeist thing in the universe is thought. The liberties of +thought are charter liberties from the King of Kings. The +spirit of man is free in its normal state. You can not chain +it in slavery against its will. No. It knows no servitude +but the voluntary. But, then, its wanderings are many. In +the field of search after beauty, rectitude and truth, many +minds may come into collision. But greater evils would result +from chaining them all to one spot, and thus ending progress +in many things of interest lying in the realm of thought. +Of all the varieties known among men those of thought are +the most sublime and useful.</p> + +<p>This variety causes the investigation of every interest; it +brings every truth and every error to the surface.</p> + +<p>Men have made many attempts to check the onward march +of intellect. But every attempt in that direction is marked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> +by some great dread. Men are not anxious to put on the +brakes unless they are in fear of being wrecked. Nothing +is more dangerous in any government than perfect indifference +to public interests. Men in places of public trust always +need watching. Irresponsible power, it is said, would +corrupt an archangel, and is, doubtless, unknown among the +inhabitants of the better land. Among men there is great +liability. Every political candidate has his accusations, his +promises, and scheme, with which he confronts his rival and +agitates the minds of the people. So we have been saved +from that stagnation of thought which has retarded progress +among other nations. Many men, seeking office, have been +wise enough to see the danger to their interests of an expose +of corruption. So they have been perfectly willing that +mechanics, artisans and farmers should investigate and expose +to public view all the questions of interest belonging to our +government, but good Christians, "and especially preachers, +entering the field of political investigation, at once forfeit +their right to the crown of life.(?)"</p> + +<p>But just how it is that lawyers, doctors and politicians will +all reach heaven in spite of political action, and preachers will +sink to perdition on account of the same, is a problem among +problems that has never yet been satisfactorily solved. Are +we to conclude that such men as Generals Hancock and Garfield, +along with a great many more, had, and have, no religion +to be disturbed? Or is there a double portion of sacrifice, +the sacrifice of principle and liberty, demanded at the +hands of ministers of the Gospel of Christ? How is this? +We are anxious to know. Are the politicians of the country +the voluntary scapegoats of the nation, who risk their own +salvation for political toil, which, from its character, would, +according to a very common opinion, kill out the religion of +all the saints in America? Surely we ought to feel grateful +to the political sinners who so willingly take all the risk of +being shut out of Paradise that they may have the exclusive +right of controlling the offices of the government. They seem +to say to us Christians, Hear us, ye hard-thinking toilers and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span> +aspirants to the realms of bliss while we proclaim to you the +perils of our position; we warn you against the crime of accustoming +yourselves to the investigation of the political and +civil interests of the day, and let not your devout meditations +be disturbed by secular pursuits. Read your Bibles and other +pious books; attend to all your prayer meetings and all your +philanthropic societies.</p> + +<p>What is the object of all this pious policy? Is it to keep +the national mind as far as possible in a state of political +stagnation, or, otherwise, to ostracise politically the preachers +of the land with reference to party success? How is this? +Are the preachers of the United States a dangerous element +in our land? If they are, then the fewer we have of them +the better we are off. Do any but infidels take that view of +the subject? It correllates with infidelity, but not with +Christianity.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="TO_KEEP_A_ROOM_PURE" id="TO_KEEP_A_ROOM_PURE"></a>TO KEEP A ROOM PURE.</h2> + + +<p>To keep a room purified it is only necessary to keep a +pitcher or some other vessel full of water in it. The water +will absorb all the respired gases. The colder the water is +the greater is its capacity to hold the gases. At ordinary temperature +a pail of water will absorb a pint of carbonic acid +gas and several pints of ammonia. The capacity is nearly +doubled by reducing the water to the temperature of ice. +Water kept awhile in a room is unfit for use. The pump +should always be emptied before catching water for use. Impure +water is more injurious than impure air.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Man</span>, being essentially active, must find in activity his joy, +as well as his beauty and glory, and labor, like everything +else that is good, is its own reward.</p> + + + +<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTERESTING_FACTS" id="INTERESTING_FACTS"></a>INTERESTING FACTS.</h2> + + +<p>Glass windows were used for lights in 1180.</p> + +<p>Chimneys first put up to houses in 1236.</p> + +<p>Tallow candles for lights in 1290.</p> + +<p>Spectacles invented by an Italian in 1240.</p> + +<p>Paper made from linen in 1302.</p> + +<p>Woolen cloth made in England in 1341.</p> + +<p>Art of printing from movable types in 1440.</p> + +<p>The first book printed with movable types in 1450.</p> + +<p>Watches first made in Germany in 1447.</p> + +<p>Telescopes invented by Porta and Janson in 1590.</p> + +<p>Tea first brought from China to Europe in 1501.</p> + +<p>Circulation of blood discovered by Hervey in 1610.</p> + +<p>Newspaper first established in 1629.</p> + +<p>Pendulum clocks first invented in 1639.</p> + +<p>Barometer invented by Torricelli in 1535.</p> + +<p>Steam engine invented in 1649.</p> + +<p>Bread made with yeast in 1650.</p> + +<p>Cotton planted in the United States in 1759.</p> + +<p>Fire engine invented in 1685.</p> + +<p>Telegraph invented by Morse in 1832.</p> + +<hr style='width: 25%;' /> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cure for a Felon.</span>—"Take common salt, dry it in the +oven, then pound it fine and mix it with turpentine, equal +parts. Put it on a rag and wrap it around the finger, and as +soon as it gets dry put on some more, and in twenty-four +hours the felon will be as dead as a door nail."—<i>Old Mr. Mix.</i></p> + +<hr /> +<div class="tn"><br /><br /> +<p class="center"><big><b>Transcriber’s Note</b></big></p> + +<p class="noin">The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious +typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p class="noin">A table of contents has been generated for the HTML edition.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, +Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 12, December, 1880, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION, DECEMBER 1880 *** + +***** This file should be named 28678-h.htm or 28678-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/7/28678/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Christian Foundation, Or, Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 12, December, 1880 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Aaron Walker + +Release Date: May 3, 2009 [EBook #28678] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION, DECEMBER 1880 *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + +Scientific and Religious Journal. + +VOL. I. DECEMBER, 1880. NO. 12. + + + + +IS THE SINNER A MORAL AGENT IN HIS CONVERSION? + + +There are a great many questions asked upon the subject of conversion, +and as many answers given as there are theories of religion, and many +persons listening to men's theories upon this subject are left in doubt +and darkness in reference to what is and is not conversion. You ask the +Mormons, who fully believe their theory of conversion, and they will +refer you to their own experience and the experience of the loyal, +self-sacrificing devotees of their faith. Ask the Roman Catholic and he +will give you an answer corresponding with his theory of religion. All +Protestant parties give you their experience, and refer you to their +loyal and self-sacrificing brethren for the truthfulness of their +theories of conversion. In the midst of this conflict and medley of +contradictions what are we to do? Shall we accept their experience as +the infallible rule by which to determine the right from the wrong in +matters pertaining to our present and eternal salvation? A strange rule, +in view of the great contrariety of opinions and our liability to be +misled. It would justify Mother Eve, she being deceived. But "she was +found in the transgression." We may be deceived and found in +transgression. This strange rule would justify Saul; for he verily +thought he ought to do many things contrary to Jesus, which things he +did, and did them in all good conscience towards God and man, yet he was +a blasphemer and injurious. The Master, in view of our liability to be +deceived, gave us a rule of conduct in reference to our communications +in these words: "Let your communications be yea, yea, and nay, nay." It +requires heroism and manhood, which is the highest degree of moral +courage, to say nay where questions of personal interest are involved. + +The rule in reference to God's word is different, being based upon his +immutability and perfections. He is not deceived, not misled, not +mistaken. Paul says in reference to the word of God, which was preached +by himself, Sylvanus and Timotheus: "Our word toward you was not yea and +nay, but in him was yea, for all the promises of God in Christ are yea, +and in him amen unto the glory of God by us." 2 Cor. 1, 18-20. "Let God +be true though every man be a liar," was in the times of the Apostles +and first Christians a rule which they had no hesitancy in affirming. A +moral agent is one who, with a knowledge of the right and wrong, +exercises the power of action. In conversion it is the exercise of the +power that begins conversion. If the sinner has not this power, then he +is not a moral agent in his conversion. All the differences among men +upon the subject of conversion grew out of their different notions of +God and of men. It is a matter of the greatest consequence to have +correct notions of God and of self. As conversion relates to both, wrong +notions of one will create wrong notions of the other. Those who have +been taught to debase themselves under the pretext of giving glory to +God, consider meanness and wrong as natural and inherent imperfections +of their being, and attributable to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and +neglect to exercise the powers at their command. Being taught that they +are unable to do anything to help themselves, they are left to throw the +work all back upon God or give it up in despair. If they throw it back +upon God, and regard themselves as passive recipients of the work of +conversion, then they must wrestle with God, for there is no use in +wrestling with the powerless one. + +With this view of the subject the world's condition is incomprehensible, +and in direct conflict with the revealed character of God. We would +naturally suppose when we read that "God is not willing that any should +perish, but that all should come to repentance," that none would be +allowed to perish on account of any neglect upon the divine side. But +thousands do die in their sins. Do you say it is because of their great +wickedness? In what does wickedness consist? Is it the neglect of that +which is not in their power? Does not the system that God interposes in +the conversion of the sinner rest upon the idea that the sinner is +helpless in respect to his conversion? It certainly does. Then why +should the sinner he blamed? This view of the sinner's moral condition +necessitates a view of God utterly at variance with his character, viz: +that he is _now_ and _then_ on the giving hand, that he consents to pour +out his Spirit occasionally, and does this only where the good people +wrestle with him and give him no rest day nor night. One would think +that "he who spared not his own son, but gave him up for us all," would +send that Almighty Spirit everywhere, and at once bring about the +millennial glory. What is the trouble? "_God is love!_" "Tell them, as I +live, saith the Lord God, I have _no pleasure_ in the death of him who +dieth, but rather that he would repent and live." This theory of the +sinner's helplessness is the foundation of the entire system of mystical +conversion through mystical operations of the Spirit of God. And as for +plain and easy conditions of pardon and peace that we know all sinners +can comply with, this system of mystical conversion sets them all +_aside_. So you see that difficulties are multiplying on our hands, and +unless we can start off upon another foot, we must be lost in the +mystical and incomprehensible. As reformers, our greatest work is to +clear away mystical and false notions of men in reference to themselves +and their God; to make men sensible of their dignity and responsibility, +as beings endowed with God-like attributes. + +We have succeeded, in most communities, in killing the _tap-root_ of the +mystical tree of conversion--_i.e._, the tenet of total hereditary +depravity, but the tree still stands erect, and men claim that a +wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God has, in many days and nights, +resulted in 100 or 200 or 300 conversions. But what is conversion? It is +lexically defined "_to turn upon, to turn towards_." In a moral sense, +"_to turn upon or to, to convert unto, to convert from error, to turn to +the service and worship of the true God_." "And all who dwelt at Lydda +and Saron saw him and _turned_ to the Lord." Acts ix, 35. The word +_turned_, in the above text, is a translation of the Greek term that is +nine times rendered _convert_ in its forms and thirty-eight times _turn_ +in its forms. They, the people of Lydda and Saron, _turned, converted to +the Lord_. Did they do it? Then they were active and not passive. It was +an act of their own. "Repent and turn yourselves."--Eze. xviii, 30. Here +the Lord commanded sinners to _convert themselves_. "Cast away from you +all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a +new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" +Eze. xviii, 31. "If the wicked will turn, convert, from all his sins +that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is +lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." Eze. xviii, +31. Here we discover that the burden of conversion and the entire +responsibility of an unconverted state is thrown upon the sinner. + +The Apostles taught men to convert themselves. See Acts xiv, 15. "We +also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you, that ye +should turn, _convert_, from these vanities to the living God." Paul +says, "He showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem and +throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they +should turn, _convert_, to God, and do works meet for, worthy of, +repentance." Acts xxvi, 20. Speaking of the unbelieving Jews he said, +"But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same +vail untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which vail is +done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the +vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall _turn_, _convert_, +to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." 2d Corinthians, iii, 14-16. +Here we find that the heart must do its own _turning_, _converting_. +_Poor Jews!_ Could they help themselves? Yes, it all depended upon their +own actions. The INFINITE ONE did as much for them as for any others. +They closed their eyes and stopped their ears, lest at _any time_ they +should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand +with their hearts, and be converted and healed. Why did the Master not +say, "And I should _convert_ and heal them?" _Ans._ Conversion is a +commandment of God, and sinners must obey it or perish. + +The above quotation is made from Isaiah vi, 10, where it reads: "Lest +they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and +understand with their hearts, and _convert_, and I should heal them." +Paul, speaking of the disciples in Macedonia and Achaia, says: "They +themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and +how ye turned, _converted_, to God from idols to serve the living and +true God." 1 Thess., i, 8, 9. "Repent ye therefore and be converted," is +passive in our translation, but imperative active in the original. In +the Geneva text it reads: "_Amend_ your lives and turn. So conversion is +a commandment of God. If there is anything necessary to conversion that +is not in the power of the sinner, why should he be commanded to +convert? If the trouble is in his corruption, through inborn depravity, +why are _some converted_ and _others not_? If there is anything in +conversion that is not in the power of the sinner, then he must of +necessity be saved without it, or remain unavoidably in sin--_doomed to +misery_." + +Webster defines the term _convert_ "to change from one state to another, +as to convert a barren waste into a fruitful field; to convert a +wilderness into a garden; to convert rude savages into civilized men; to +change or turn from one party or sect to another--as to convert Pagans +to Christianity, to turn from a bad life to a good one, to change the +heart and moral character from enmity to God and from vicious habits to +the love of God and to a holy life." Hence the ancient commandment: +"Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die." Eze. +xviii, 32. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and +with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." Is this out of your +power? Then who is to blame? Does the blessed Father command you to do +what you can not? Are you thus lost without remedy? Does the Lord mock +you with commandments that you can not obey? The importance of +conversion is in the fact that it is the turning point or dividing line +between those who serve God and those who serve him not. + +I. The Lord commands sinners to convert. + +II. The Lord's commandments are duties that sinners owe to God. + +Therefore, conversion is a duty that the sinner owes to God. It is the +sinner's duty; then he must perform it. We have seen that the Lord +commands it, and that sinners did perform it. Do you say it is a work +begun upon them and accomplished by them? Then sinners must be passive +in the beginning of this work, and the beginning is most essential, for +unless the thing is begun it will never be accomplished. Is this +beginning the work of God wrought upon the sinner by a special operation +of the Holy Spirit? If this be so it follows that the entire Christian +life is of necessity, and not of choice, for the root always bears the +tree, and not the tree the root. If the cause is the unconditioned power +of God, the effects growing out of that cause are the fruits of +necessity; and so the Christian is a necessitated creature, and entitled +to neither praise or reward, for it was not he that did it, _but God_. +And in this case the sinner is not a moral agent, for in moral agency +the sinner, with a knowledge of the right and the wrong, begins the work +_himself_ and does it himself. This does not exclude the instrumentality +of Christ, the Apostles, prophets and Christians, who, by the words of +the Holy Spirit, have placed before sinners all the knowledge necessary +to give them correct ideas of duty, and also the motives to be accepted. +An agent is one who has power to begin action, and moral agency in +conversion is the exercise of that power, with a knowledge of the right +and the wrong, and so it comes to pass that conversion to God always +makes a Christian, provided, however, that the man, knowing what to turn +from and what to turn to, honestly turned from the wrong to the right, +which is the same as to say that he was a moral agent in his conversion. +A man may _turn_ without a knowledge of the right and the wrong, but it +is turning _round_ and _round_ and remaining in the same place, _i.e._ +in ignorance of God's will, and so remaining in disobedience. Such may +be and often is. + +In all such cases the person has been the creature of passion, wrought +upon by excitement, and left in ignorance of duty in disobedience to the +gospel of Christ. A good rule by which to determine when such is the +case, and it is the Master's rule, is the unwillingness of the person to +do the commandments of God, and to receive for instruction upon the +subject of duty, his word, an unteachable disposition, which not only +refuses to obey when the commandments are presented, but absolutely +persists in opposing them. A man in this condition is worse than +ignorant, his heart is irreconciled to the government of God, and he may +turn around and around and die in sin and transgression. Do you object +that God controls in conversion, and, therefore, the man is illuminated +in a mysterious manner, and necessitated aright--that he is a +necessitated moral agent? Necessitated moral agency and free slavery are +identical. There is no such thing as necessitated moral agency. What I +am compelled to do is not mine, but his who compelled me. All that we +call moral or immoral, virtuous or vicious, praiseworthy or blameworthy, +in our conduct, depends wholly upon the will. It begins in us and is +done by us. It is ours and we will answer for it. No man is to be blamed +or praised for that which he neither had power to do or avoid. This, in +harmony with the words _agent_ and _action_, is saying no more than that +a man is to be praised or blamed for actions done by himself and not by +another. It is the gospel rule, "that every man shall receive according +to that which he bath done; that every man shall give account of +_himself_ to God." + +If the sinner is to blame for remaining in an unconverted state, then of +necessity conversion is his own voluntary act; a duty imperatively +enjoined upon him, in the performance of which he needs to be guided by +the knowledge of the right and the wrong, as much as in any other duty. +On the other hand, if it is a work wrought upon the man by a special +effort of the Holy Spirit, then the man is free from all responsibility +in the premises, for he will answer only for his _own work_. + +"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of +life." Prov. iv, 23. "He taught me also, and said unto me: Let thine +heart retain my words; keep my commandments and live." Prov. iv, 4. +"Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way." +Prov. xxiii, 19. + + "Man, with naught in charge, could betray no trust, + And if he fell, would fall because he must. + If love reward him, or vengeance strike, + His recompense in both would be unjust _alike_." + +If the sinner is passive in his conversion he can claim no reward, for +it is the act of another. All action is the work of an agent, of a being +who acts. And every being who acts is the beginner of the motion which +constitutes the action. The bullet that kills the man, the explosion +that makes it fly, the sparkles from the cap which produce the +explosion, are not agents, all being equally passive; nor is it the +finger operating upon the trigger that begins the motion; that also is a +passive instrument; it is the mind giving to the finger direction and +energy which is the mover in this business, and as such, is, properly +speaking, the agent. But if we were super-naturally informed that the +mind thus exerted was made to do so by the mysterious and irresistible +impulse of a superior being, we should instantly declare _that being_ +the agent, and the mind irresistibly influenced only a passive +instrument, and no more to blame than the gunpowder. Now, if the sinner +is passive he is no more to blame or praise than the passive instruments +employed by the murderer. And if he is not passive, but active, then the +thing is begun and done by himself _as the real agent_. Action implies +motion, and where there is no power to begin motion there can not be +action, _but rest_. If the sinner has power to begin that action called +conversion, then he is a moral agent in his conversion, provided that he +begins it with a knowledge of the right and the wrong in their relations +to the subject, for action without knowledge of duty is not conversion +to the service of God. In this case the moral element is wanting, the +man acts blindly from impulse or passion; which is no more than saying +that men must know what to _convert from_, and what to _convert to_, +before they can act intelligently as rational moral agents. As such, the +thing of first importance is to teach men the will of God upon the +subject of conversion, that they may know what to do. Anciently men were +told what to do. And the gospel of Christ tells men the same story yet. +If the sinner is the agent in his conversion then he should give himself +no rest until he learns his duty and does it. But if he is not, then he +might just as well rest contented, for the passive stone that has no +power to change its place _must rest_. To say that the sinner has the +power to change is giving up the question. And when this is once given +up all good people will go to work upon sinners to teach them their +duty, and persuade them to turn, convert, to God. And the Lord will no +longer be regarded by sensible skeptics as a very changeable being. + +The ancient Christians did not wrestle with God in the work of saving +sinners. He was always willing that men should be saved, and is yet +willing. If we were to wrestle with him in solemn prayer all our days he +would not be more willing than he is at this moment. + +Why is it that _all men_ are not _saved_? Ans.--The Lord commands men to +convert, turn and live. Turn from what? Ans.--From the will of the flesh +and from the will of man. To what? Ans.--To the gospel of Christ. And +they refuse to do it. To say the sinner has not the power is to relieve +him, forever, of all responsibility for his continuance in an +unconverted state, and throw it, forever, upon God. To say the sinner +has not the power, and in the next breath tell him that he has, is a +square contradiction and a self-evident falsehood, only equaled by the +statement that a thing is a round square, or that ice is red hot. Let +whatever fall that may, it is true that a thing can not _be_, _exist_, +and _not_ be, not _exist_, at the same time. The sinner is either +passive or active in his conversion. He can not be both. If he has not +the power to begin and _convert_, it follows that all who have died in +sin were fated to ruin without remedy. Philosophers have said, "that the +will is determined by motives, purposes, intentions, or reasons." +Granting this to be true, we _can not_ admit that the will is +_necessarily_ determined by motives and purposes; for it is the +self-determining power of the mind that gives a motive, or reason, that +weight and influence whereby our course is determined. In other words, +it depends on ourselves whether we will act from one motive or another. + +Action from motive always begins in ourselves. And if conversion is the +result of motive power, it begins in ourselves and by ourselves. Let a +man be tempted to steal, his motive is the love of money. But _if he_ +refrains from the deed, his motive is a regard for duty. If he suffers +himself to be governed by the first, he is a thief and deserves +punishment, but if he allows himself to be governed by the second, he +has done well. The laws of every country suppose that men have it in +their power to give to either motive that regard which will determine +their conduct. The divine laws allow the same, placing motives high as +heaven before sinners for their acceptance, and warning them with +restraining threats deep as hell. And if sinners will not receive these +threats and act accordingly, they are without excuse. The scriptures +allow that men convert from God. How is this? Have men power to cross +the chasm backwards, and are not able, at the same time to cross it in a +forward movement? Strange logic, this! It is the same old philosophy +that sinners have the power to go to hell, but none to get to heaven; +that they are free, like the slave, to do the tyrant's bidding; that +they are free like the water that stands in the pool; that they are +mechanically free, are simply active when wrought upon, the same as any +machinery. If this be so, why is it that so many are left in an +unconverted state? Is it because the good Spirit prefers the existence +of iniquity and crime? If the Lord brings about the salvation of some, +through a mighty outpouring of his Spirit, then we shall never +comprehend his ways. Why is it that he does not give us one general +outpouring, one grand revival all over our country, and bring about the +long prayed for millennial day? Answer.--Conversion is a commandment of +God. It must be obeyed or the country lie, in direct opposition to the +will of God, in sin. His will is expressed in the words, "Let the wicked +forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him +return, _reconvert_, unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and +to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." + +"To Israel he saith, all the day long have I stretched forth my hands +unto a gainsaying and disobedient people." Ro. x, 21. "The Lord strove +with them by his Spirit in the prophets, and bore with them many years, +yet they would not hear." Nehe. ix, 30. "They made their hearts as an +adamant stone lest they should hear the law, and the words which the +Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets." Zech. +vii, 12. Jesus wept over them when he stood upon Mount Olivet and +expressed the greatness of his great heart in these words: "How often +would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her +brood under her wings, and ye would not." Lu. xiii, 34. Their failure +was not because the Spirit did not strive with them as it did with +others who were saved. "God is no respecter of persons." Neither was it +on account of inborn depravity. For if any were corrupted in their moral +nature by Adam's sin, all were corrupted alike. So that each one would +be in this respect equally hard to overcome. But why bring up inborn +corruption and helplessness? Is not the Spirit of God able for any task +which is in its own line of work? Jesus gave the true solution of the +question. He said: "Their hearts have waxed gross, and their ears are +dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest at _any time_ +they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and +understand with their hearts and be converted, and I should heal them." +The words "at any time" deserve particular attention, for the Lord's +time is _all the time_. He is unchangeable. "He is not willing that any +should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Pet. iii, 9. + +Many people talk and act as though the Lord was the most changeable +being in the universe. They seem to think that the unchangeableness of +the Lord is in the idea that he is everlastingly changing. Let us +imagine a perfect circle with a stone permanently fixed in the center +and a man walking within, and every move he makes from side to side +affecting his relations to the center. So it is with God and the +children of men. He is immutable. He is the center of the circle. In the +right hand side of this circle are the innocent and the obedient, in the +enjoyment of all its riches, peace, pardon and all spiritual blessings. +These blessings were provided for all men, and presented in the gospel +of peace; and in the left side of this circle are all the threatenings +of God and all the wickedness and miseries of men. The wicked at the +left are able to _convert_ around to the right. In doing this they leave +their sins and miseries and come around where all the blessings of the +great salvation have always been, are, and will be until time is no +more. In all the work of human redemption there is no place for change +in God. The center has never changed. Man _alone_ changes. God has not +bestowed _special_ pardoning grace. Such phraseology is unknown in the +gospel. "His grace was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began." +2 Tim. i, 9. All that we or any others have to do is to live on the +Christ side of this circle--the right hand. If we are sinners it is our +duty to convert around to the right into new relations containing all +that is grand, glorious and desirable. The sinner, led by the motives of +the gospel, changes sides; leaving the kingdom of darkness upon the +left, and crossing the line drawn through the center of the circle, he +passes into the kingdom of light. It seems strange that intelligent men +and women should be constantly throwing mystery around a matter that is +so plain and simple. But we are aware that, by long dwelling on an idea, +and from the excited and abnormal sensitiveness of the mind, we +sometimes lose ourselves to truth amidst our own creations, which become +in the imagination stern realities, producing a species of monomania or +religious insanity. + +Long dwelling upon the idea that conversion is a special work of God +destroys all disposition _to convert_, and causes men to be at ease in +disobedience. We will to do those things, and those only, which we +believe to be in our power. We are not so destitute of common sense as +to undertake that which we know to be out of our power. I never attempt +to fly, or raise a weight that I know to be far above my strength. So it +is in the question of conversion. If I believe it to be a work that is +beyond my power, there will be a corresponding indifference upon my +part. As long as men are made to believe that God must convert them by a +special interposition of his Spirit, so long their minds will be +directed, beyond the plain duties of the gospel, to the realm of the +mysterious and incomprehensible. In ancient times, when men were plainly +told to convert--_turn_--to God and do works worthy of repentance, when +the mists and mysticles of the schoolmen and dogmatists of all sects and +parties had not, as yet, beclouded the minds of men, nor corrupted the +simplicity of the Gospel, thousands were converted in a day. +Christianity overran the inhabited earth in the space of a few years. +Judaism and Paganism trembled and crumbled before its mighty power. But +now the religious world is contending with sin and crime, under the +great disadvantages of a perverted mind and a Gospel beclouded with the +smoke of Babylon, and the result is that three-score souls brought into +the church is a great success for the labors of weeks, and even months. +Why should this be so? It need not be. It would not be but for the wrong +teaching consequent upon creeds. It is said, "That many of the +Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized." Their minds were clear +upon the great subjects of human duty and the goodness, love and mercy +of God. They had no long sessions, in which they were wrestling with God +as though he was insensitive and indifferent upon the subject of the +sinner's salvation. + +They were told the story of God's love, and made acquainted with the +great fact that all things were ready for their reception; "that Christ +had finished the work which the Father had given him to do," and that it +only remained for them to believe and obey the Gospel and all would be +well. They were commanded _to convert_ to the service of God. This work +was not given into the hands of Christ to perform. It is the sinner's +own work. Christ will not believe for you. He will not repent for you. +He will not convert for you. Conversion is the overt action of the will +carried out in "breaking off from sins by righteousness." It begins in +the heart, but it does not end there. Murder begins in the heart, but +its consummation is the action of the will carried out. The man first +yielded to the temptation by saying, in his heart, I will. The next +thing in the order was carrying out the will in the deed. Nothing short +of the deed done would have met the statement in the heart, _I will_. So +it is in conversion. The man first says in his heart, _I will_, I will +forsake my former course of life and be a Christian, I will obey God, I +will do his will. And nothing short of doing the will of God as it is +addressed to him in the Gospel will carry out the action of the will, +and meet the demands of the statement, _I will_. "Whosoever will let him +come and take the water of life freely." So the "tree is known by its +fruits." "He that saith I know him, acknowledge him, and keepeth not his +commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 Jno. ii, 4. + +As regards the instrumentalities employed in persuading men, I have only +to say, that men were always free as moral agents, to convert--_turn_, +under the weakest instrumentality, or refuse under the most powerful. +The Lord himself "strove with the ancient Jews by his Spirit in his +prophets, and they would not hear but resisted the Spirit." Stephen, +after he had made one grand effort to instruct his hearers, said, "Ye +stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist +the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did so do ye." Acts vii, 51. Was the +condition of those fellows unavoidable? If it was, they were not to +blame. But there was nothing in their condition that was not in their +power. If there was, why should we find these words in their law, +"circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." +Deut. x, 16. The Lord has made the salvation of all men possible, +otherwise those remaining in an unconverted state, and dying in their +sins, are unavoidably lost. And who is to blame? The Father "so loved +the world that he gave his only begotten son to die for every man. He +sent him to be the Savior of the world. The Gospel is the ministration +of the Spirit. The Apostles preached it with the Holy Spirit sent down +from heaven. They received grace and Apostleship, for the obedience of +faith among all nations, for Christ's name." Rom. i, 5. A great and +grand law governed them. In obeying it they did all that they ever did +for the world or for the church. There were just three duties prescribed +in that law. The first is in the word "teach," or, the _better +rendering_, disciple. The second is in the word "baptizing;" and the +third is in the phrase "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I +have commanded you." The whole is beautifully rendered thus, "Going +therefore, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." And the whole is rested +upon a declaration of kingly authority, viz: "All power in heaven and +upon earth is given into my hands," going _therefore_,--you see the +connection. + +Go to the Acts of the Apostles and read for yourselves and see how they +turned men to God. Paul says, "That he showed first to them of Damascus, +and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to +the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn, convert, to God, and do +works meet for repentance." Some disobeyed under the preaching and +teaching of the Apostles. Some under the teachings of Christ. And many +"rejected the council of God against themselves in not being baptized of +John's baptism." Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the +gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be +saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." Paul was preaching at +Corinth; many of the Corinthians hearing, believed, and were baptized, +and Jesus appeared unto him in a vision by night, and said, "Speak +boldly and hold not thy peace, and I will let no man set on thee to hurt +thee." + +Christ gave the commission and Paul was carrying it out. The Savior's +visit to Corinth, in vision, was to encourage Paul to go on. Would all +the preachers in this country encourage such a work by speaking well of +it? Would they say, Go on? If I was preaching in a great city under the +same circumstances that surrounded Paul in Corinth, and the days of +miracles were not past, I might rationally conclude that Jesus would +encourage me in the same manner. Be that as it may, one thing is +doubtless true, viz., the same work is the Lord's work yet, and his +visit to Corinth to encourage Paul is a great source of encouragement to +us. The primitive Christians were all baptized believers; all converted +to the service of God; none of them on probation, but all in the +fellowship. All were "sanctified unto obedience," all had "purified +their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." Many reverse the +order thus: "Get your souls purified and then obey the truth." But +Christ has become the "Author of eternal salvation unto all those who +obey him." Heb. v, 9. Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of +the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God." Whatever this +language may mean _it_ is accomplished when the sinner is begotten in +Christ Jesus through the gospel and baptized into Christ. + +Paul said of the Corinthians: "In Christ Jesus have I begotten you +through the Gospel." And they, "Hearing, believed and were baptized." +And James said: "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." +Consequently, the entire meaning is in the power of all sinners who have +access to the Gospel of Christ. Otherwise, the sinner is unavoidably +lost for his unavoidable unbelief. But we are told in John's Record, i, +12, "That as many as received him to them gave he power to become the +sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." So the power of the +sinner to become a son of God depends upon his belief on the name of the +Son of God, and if he can not believe it is no fault of his. _Poor +fellow!_ Is he thus doomed? If he can believe on the name of Christ he +is able to reach the relation of a son. For the divine law grants the +privilege, liberty or power to as many as believe on the name of Christ. +The primitive Christians were the "children of God by faith in Jesus +Christ, for as many as were baptized into Christ put on Christ." Gal. +iii, 26, 27. John said: "Little children, let no man deceive you: he +that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." 1 John +iii, 7. "If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that +doth righteousness is born of him." 1 John ii, 29. The great appeal to +man as a moral agent is in these words: "Know ye not that to whom ye +_yield yourselves_ servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye +obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." +Rom. vi, 16. Do you not know this? Do you not know that you will +receive, in the great day, according to that which you have done, +whether it be good or bad? Then why not obey the Gospel and enjoy its +promises? + + + + +OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO REVELATION--No. VI. + +BY P.T. RUSSELL. + + +THE NATURE OF MAN NECESSITATED REVELATION. + +The above proposition rests upon and is in harmony with all the +relations existing between natural wants and supplies, being itself a +supply. Does the power of vision make light a necessity? Yes; without it +the eye would be useless. Could man create his own light? It has taken +ages upon ages to invent the limited artificial light which we now have. +Man is endowed with the powers of locomotion. Could he create an earth +to move upon? Could he create the air for breathing? Were these and all +such matters necessities? And was man entirely unable to provide for his +own natural wants? The faculties with which man is endowed call for +these supplies, and they are necessities on account of the existence of +these faculties. Think of a being, if you can, with the powers of vision +in the entire absence of light, with no air to breathe nor earth to move +upon. Do you say such would be a grand failure? So it would. But the +Creator has not given powers to man for which he has no use, having +nothing to meet their demands. The existence of a faculty or power leads +logically to the conclusion which all candid, intelligent people have +reached, viz: that the Creator has made a supply for the use of every +faculty, or power which was designed and provided. Do you ask, what of +all this? I answer, man has the power to become religious, but he had no +more power to invent a supply for this faculty than he had to create +light for the eye or air to breathe. So the necessity for this must be +met with a supply from the Creator as well as all other natural demands +or powers. + +Now, as we have a desire for the knowledge that we are approved of God, +and as religion consists in this knowledge, and in the knowledge of our +relations, dependence and obligations to God; and, as we have but one +means of obtaining this knowledge, and that is the means of his will +concerning us, then by knowing through that will that our actions are +such as he desires and approves, the one question remains to be +answered, How can man obtain the knowledge of the will of another +concerning himself? Ans.--Only by a revelation of the will of the one to +the other. I know not the will of the reader of this essay concerning +myself. My style of writing may not please him, but if he would tell me +just how he wishes me to write, then, by following his directions, I +should obtain the knowledge of his approbation as a necessary result +experienced in my own mental nature. This is plain, but no more plain +than God's revelation to man and its results experienced in conscious +knowledge. + + +AN IMPORTANT THOUGHT. + +In order to man's highest happiness, all his powers must be so called +into activity by education that each faculty may act with energy, but at +the same time in exact harmony with all of its kindred powers. There +must be no clash, no jar nor friction. No one power must be highly +exercised and cultivated at the expense of the rest, but each must be +brought out by its own appropriate food. Material food is for the +body--it can not feed upon thought, nor mind upon bread. "Man should not +live upon bread alone." This is an axiomatic truth endorsed by man's +two-fold nature. If you feed and exercise the body only you may acquire +the strength of an Ajax, but your countenance will be as stolid and your +eye as dull as the Hottentot's. Such a fellow would be of almost no use +whatever. Add to the education of the body the cultivation of the +intellect only; now the prospect is fearful, for the intellect always +works for its master, and in this case, the man being without moral and +religious training, the master Will be his animal desires. Can you +imagine the depth of infamy and pollution that is possible in this case? +The entire motive power that moves his intellect is carnal, sensual and +devilish. He now needs the sanction of a higher authority. The man is +but half educated. There are two groups of faculties in his nature that +are lying dormant. His moral and religious powers have not as yet been +brought into action--they have had no food nor exercise, and without +this there can be no development. These, as well as the intellect and +the body, must have their own appropriate food, which must be in kind +with their nature. Moral truth is for the moral powers. This directs us +in our moral relations and obligations to our fellows with whom we may +be associated. Religious truth is for our religious faculties. Now add +to all this the sanction of the authority of God, which is like the +balance-wheel in a watch, regulating and controlling every movement. +Man, thus educated, is prepared to act in harmony with his entire +nature. He can now reach a position of moral, religious, social and +intellectual grandeur worthy of his nature. + +Reader, is all of this demanded by the elements of our nature? Then a +revelation of God to man of the knowledge of his being, wisdom, +goodness, power, authority and law was and is a necessity, without which +man must have remained in part uneducated, not perfectly developed. + +Is the development of man's religious nature necessary in order to a +full, perfect and harmonious growth? Yes. There neither is, nor can be, +a harmonious growth while any one power is dwarfed by starvation. +Without the knowledge of God man's religious powers must remain dwarfed, +and these can not be fed without a revelation. Are these powers so many +empty buckets, never filled and never to be filled? No. Hence my +conclusion, that man's nature made revelation a necessity, rests upon +the bed-rock of truth. Let him who feels able try to shake my position. + + +REVELATION PROBABLE. + +Our series of essays are such that this requires no argument here. There +are certain analogies that we may, nevertheless, speak of, which will +not _down_ at the bidding of David's fool. The facts stand thus: a +supply for each and every one of our other faculties, sufficient in +quantity for all their necessities, is placed within our reach for their +use. Now let us look at the analogy. I have food to eat, good water to +drink, light for the eye, air to breathe, and a good earth to walk upon +and space in which to move, beauties of nature to admire, its music to +listen to with rapture, and things with their combinations to perceive +and think of. + +Now, Mr. Skeptic, you know that man has religious faculties, otherwise +he could never become religious, no more than he could see without eyes +and hear without ears. Now, what say you? Did the author of all things +make a mistake here by conferring upon us a power that would be of no +use? Is this the reason of your rejection of religion? Do you say it is +of no use? Or do you say that the Great Creator and wise and merciful +Provider forgot to give a supply just here? Come! You boast of reason. +Give us your _reason_. Will you? To one or the other of these +conclusions you are irresistibly driven. No other retreat is open. Take +either, and, if true, the harmony of the universe is destroyed. Take +either, and your folly is so plain that it needs no words of mine to +point it out. This is the true conclusion; all analogy points directly +and clearly to the probability and fact of a revelation. + + +A REVELATION OF THAT WHICH WAS NECESSARY? + +To answer this question we must keep in mind the nature of man's +religious powers, and from this deduce the nature of the supply that is +called for. Would the simple idea of the existence of a first cause, or +creator of all things, be sufficient? This idea, by itself, could not +quicken reverence and adoration and a desire to worship, and without +these there is no religion. Would a knowledge, by revelation, of the +power, intelligence, wisdom and goodness of God be sufficient in the +absence of anything more? No. What more? Would it not be enough, in +addition to what you have named, to have a knowledge of our relation to +and dependence upon him for all we enjoy? No; we must have one thing +more shown to us or the whole will be imperfect and unworthy of God as +its author. Religion can not be without something to do, and that +something must be done upon or by the authority of its author. Add this +to all the other items and the system is complete, meeting perfectly the +necessities of man's nature. + + +THE NECESSARY ORDER OF REVELATION. + +The proper arrangement of the various parts of any communication +designed to convey knowledge from one to others, is an important factor +in this subject of _revelation_. Remember "the clear is the true." This +is the case in all methodic arrangements; to this rule there are no +exceptions. The fundamental truth must first be developed. A child must +first be instructed in the rudiments of numbers in order to learn the +science of mathematics, otherwise no sensible progress can be made. +Intricate problems in Euclid are not to be presented to beginners for +solution. So, in religion, the primary thought of the existence of God +is the first great truth made known. Second, we are taught that he +possesses power, wisdom and goodness. This instruction must also be +adapted to the capacity of those who are to be taught. We know that the +very young mind needs more simple instruction than the adult. As, of +necessity, there was a first man, and a time when that first man began +to be, so, of necessity, in the beginning of the life of that man, +however perfectly developed his body might have been, his mind was +infantile--destitute of the first principles of an education. + +Object lessons were called for. Here they come in hills and dales, dry +lands and running waters, in trees and vines, in shrubs and grass, +flowers and fruits, beasts, birds and winged insects and creeping +things, and higher up in the sun with his brilliant light, and in the +moon with her paler rays, and in all her attending, sparkling stars. +Here are the objects for man's first lesson. Just now the wise man of +this world, a skeptic, asks the question, Could not the first man, with +all these objects before him, learn by the use of reason the fact that +all these objects originated from a creator? And if he could he +certainly needed no revelation, for, reasoning from nature up to +nature's God, he might then, from the order, beauty and harmony of all, +reach the idea of his character, and from this deduce a knowledge of his +will, and if so a revelation was not necessary. This seems to me very +clear, and you often say "the clear is the true." This is my reason for +rejecting the idea that a revelation was ever made. + +Will you, Mr. Christian, grapple with this? I would with pleasure if +there was anything in it to grapple with, but you will see nothing real +in your premises, for objects teach nothing without an instructor. There +lies a brick, pick it up and examine its surface closely; do you, from +it, reach the idea of its maker? No. Yet I know it must have been made, +for I have seen other bricks made, and this resembles them. Very well. +Did you ever see worlds made, and, if so, does our earth resemble them? +But when you saw those bricks made were there not several men engaged in +their manufacture, as well as horses? There is no analogy in your +premises; you beg the question entirely; you take the whole foundation +for granted; your argument is "as clear as mud." + +Had you seen others made by only one maker, then and only then could you +by analogy have reached even the idea that ours was made also. Also, the +makers of those bricks may have been of the most base and malignant +disposition, for you can learn nothing of their disposition from the +bricks; they only testify of the skill of their makers--this is all. Do +you not see that you give me nothing to grapple with? The truth is this, +nature gives you no sufficient foundation for religion. Revelation must +of necessity furnish us with that. Without revelation no one can learn +of the existence and character of God. The knowledge of his existence, +power and wisdom might excite reverence, but this alone could not bring +man's religious powers into activity. To this must be added the +knowledge of his goodness and kindness towards, and his love of, those +who are required to worship him. And in addition to all this, there must +be a revelation of the divine will concerning human action, for the term +_worship_ indicates submission and obedience; without this, very +important elements would be wanting, and the system show great +imperfection and want of wisdom--as man could not learn his relation nor +obligation to that great Creator and Preserver of all. But give in +addition the knowledge of man's relation to and dependence upon God, +with a knowledge of his will in the form of law or commands, with +promises of good annexed, resting upon the condition of obedience. Such +a system of revelation would be perfect, fitted to the necessities of +human nature. And you, Mr. Skeptic, have agreed with me, that the nature +of man was true and right. Now, when we find a perfectly straight edge, +and then find another edge that fits it, we know that the last is also +perfectly straight, for straight and crooked edges do not match. Having +already found the kind of a revelation that human nature made necessary, +in my next I shall show that such a revelation is contained in the +Bible. Then as human nature is true, and as the Bible's revelation is +exactly fitted to it, the inevitable conclusion will follow that the +Bible does contain a revelation from God to man. + + + + +WHERE SHALL WE TAKE INFIDELS TO GET THEM OUT OF UNBELIEF? + + +Goethe says it is a law of the demons that they must get out at the same +place where they sneaked in. This is a very suggestive expression. If a +mathematician makes a mistake in the solution of a problem his only +chance to get out of the difficulty lies just at the point where the +mistake was made. He must remain in perplexity until he finds the +mistake and corrects it. This law holds good in all our intellectual +operations. Many men are professedly in unbelief. How shall we get them +out? This is an important question and needs to be well studied by all +Christian ministers. If we can find out just how they got in, then it +will be easy to get the honest ones out. But it is well to remember that +many professed infidels are _only skeptics_ in heart. They are +unbelievers at will. The most effectual remedy for such unbelief, as yet +known, is an attack of cramp colic, or some other fearful affliction. +Under such circumstances they always surrender. There is not much chance +for Gospel means as long as a man's unbelief is simply a profession. His +disease is not one of the head, but of the heart; yet our law holds good +here. The man himself may repent; may make to himself a new heart and a +new spirit. This is his way out. If a man gets into unbelief through a +misunderstanding of Bible facts he will never get out short of a better +understanding of those same facts. + +If he gets in through the impression that science and the Bible are in +conflict, there is no way to get him out short of a removal of the +impression. Hence the importance of ministers being scientists. Many +unbelievers claim that the Bible and science conflict, who have never +investigated them, and know comparatively nothing of either. This class, +too, is in the majority. They are men who ape certain leaders, being +under their influence. Many of them love to have us know that they know +something about such men as Strauss, notwithstanding their ignorance of +_even the man_. To have such a mind do their thinking is the highest of +their ambition. There is a good deal of heart disease about these +fellows. They really glory in the names of such men as Strauss. He was +so far away that they never learned the fact that "he was divorced from +his wife, the former actress, Agnese Schebest, and spent his days going +about from place to place. His pseudo-theology or mythology ended in a +theatrical comedy, and the comedy in a tragedy." "In 1839 this famous +Dr. Strauss--who resolved the gospel history of salvation into an +incoherent and self-contradictory mythological poem, and denied the +existence of a personal God and the immortality of the soul--was duly +elected professor of Christian dogmatics and ethics in the University of +Zurich, by the party then in power, which consisted mostly of demagogues +and frivolous infidels." + +But the free Swiss would not submit, so the people of the Canton of +Zurich rose in their republican majesty and marched to the city under +the lead of an energetic pastor, and with the weapons which they hastily +collected scared the Strauss clique away; they very courageously took to +their heels; then the people of the Canton of Zurich placed the +government into the hands of conservative, trustworthy Christian men, +and quietly retired to their mountain homes without shedding a drop of +blood. The new government elected Mr. Lange in the place claimed, but +never occupied, by Strauss; but Mr. Strauss claimed half the salary, and +it is said that he enjoyed it, up to 1857 at least. + +How much influence could such a man in our own country exert over the +American mind? For these facts touching the life of Strauss, see +"Germany; Its Universities, Theology and Religion," by Phillip Schaff, +pages 101, 386. The reader may rely upon the quotations given above. I +have taken them with the book referred to open before me. + +Infidels who investigate the Bible honestly, with reference to an +understanding of its contents, are unknown to us. The master spirits in +unbelief give abundant evidence of their ignorance of the scriptures of +the Bible. Not one in a thousand ever investigated the scriptures of the +Bible with pure and honest motives. Many have never investigated it at +all. To read a chapter here and there for the sole purpose of finding +fault and getting up a difficulty, is not investigation. An honest +investigation requires a very different course. All the evidence must be +brought into the court and presented in such a manner as to be +understood, just as it was given, otherwise the court is not qualified +to decide righteously in the case. That all such men as Col. Ingersoll +have failed to thus investigate the Bible is evident from the fact that +they, to be like him, must be infidels in all their history. It is +published to the world that the Colonel was born an infidel. He has been +hacking away at religion and the Bible ever since he was a small boy. So +his infidelity is not the result of an intelligent investigation of +either science or religion. I will not undertake to say what the +Colonel's trouble is, but if he was born an infidel it is possible, +according to our law, that he will die an unbeliever. + +Many infidels, governed by a spirit of fanaticism, undoubtedly, have +labored with as much earnestness as if the world's salvation depended +upon their efforts, without the least hope of bettering its condition, +for the false philosophy of materialism which they advocate gives to a +man nothing to live for except his own animal nature. This philosophy +says all is well as long as you dodge the sharp corners of the laws of +your country. If the materialist can avoid paying fines, along with all +other penalties of the laws of his country, what need he care for one +course of life in preference to another? Do you say he has a conscience? +Well, it may be that it is not seared so that he is past feeling. Very +few men, I know, ever reach such a depraved condition. And this is +doubtless the greatest reason why all infidels, as a general rule, get +into mental distress during great bodily afflictions. Many of them are +converted by disease of the body, for two reasons: first, they were +unbelievers at will, just because it suited their desires, and, second, +because they are in possession of a religious nature or conscience. But +men who are converted by disease of the body are liable to go back to +the old wallow as soon as prosperity and health crown them again. + +Many men are driven to irreligion through its abuses. I have often +thought it a misfortune that we Americans are under the necessity of +meeting the infidel literature of the old world, for the simple reason +that it is evolved out of the circumstances peculiar to state churches. +In America our religion is heroic; that is, it rests upon the merits of +its own evidence, and is supported by the voluntary contributions of the +people. But in Europe, where the mass of our infidel literature comes +from, Christianity is not free and independent, but entangled with the +affairs of state, and supported by the secular arm. The result is that +difficulties are continually arising out of the unholy alliance which +are disgusting to the independent scientific mind. The natural result is +to drive such persons into irreligion. Where men are educated in both +science and religion, and have not been all their lives called upon to +look upon religion in a secular light, tangled up in the interests of +politics and law, there should be no fears on account of any literature +that infidels may pass around. The misfortune that I speak of is not +with such men, but with the uneducated in religion and science, who are +more than anxious to find an excuse for irreligion. Christianity fears +nothing in the light. + + * * * * * + +The desires that have only a bodily end and aim, that are unconnected +with the high, holy, and noble purposes of a pure, true, and good life, +are false desires, and should be cast off. + + + + +COUNCILS--No. II. + +UNITY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH. + + +In our October article on Councils we closed with the council that was +assembled by Mrs. Irene in the year 787. The Franks, having heard that a +council at Constantinople had ordained the adoration of images, +assembled, in the year 794, by order of Charles, son of Pepin, +afterwards named Charlemagne, a very numerous council. In this council +the second council of Nice is spoken of as an impertinent and arrogant +synod held in Greece for the promotion of the worship of pictures. This +council, held at Frankfort, was composed of three hundred clergymen from +England, Italy, France and Germany. Aventin, Hinemar and Regina say the +Frankfortians rescinded the decisions of the false Grecian synod in +favor of image worship. + +In 842 a grand council was held at Constantinople, convened by the +Empress Theodora. Here the worship of images was solemnly established. +The Greeks still have a feast in honor of this council called +"_Orthodoxia_." Theodora did not preside at this council. + +"In 861 a council was held at Constantinople consisting of three hundred +and eighteen bishops, assembled by the Emperor Michael. St. Ignatius, +patriarch of Constantinople, was deposed and Photius elected. + +"In 866 another council was held at Constantinople, in which Pope +Nicholas III. was deposed for contumacy and excommunicated. + +"In 869 was another council at Constantinople; in this Photius, in turn, +was deposed and excommunicated and St. Ignatius restored. + +"In 879 another council was held in Constantinople, in which Photius, +already restored, was acknowledged as true patriarch by the legates of +Pope John VIII., who declares all those to be Judases who say that the +Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. + +"In 1122-3 a council was held at Rome, in the church of St. John of +Lateran, by Pope Calixtus II. This was the first general council +assembled by the popes. The emperors of the west had now scarcely any +authority, and the emperors of the east, pressed by the Mahometans and +by the crusaders, held none but little wretched councils. In this +council the bishops complained heavily of the monks. 'They possess,' +said they, 'the churches, the lands, the castles, the tithes, the +offerings of the living and the dead; they have only to take from us the +ring and the crosier.' _The monks remained in possession._" + +"In 1139 was another council of Lateran, by Pope Innocent II. It is said +a thousand bishops were present. Here the ecclesiastical tithes are +declared to be of _divine right_, and all laymen possessing any of them +are excommunicated. + +"In 1215 was the last general council of Lateran, by Pope Innocent III. +Four hundred and twelve bishops and eight hundred abbots were here. This +was in the time of the Crusades, and the popes have established a Latin +patriarch at Jerusalem and one at Constantinople. These patriarchs +attend this council. This council declares, among other things, that 'no +one can be saved out of the Catholic church.' The word +transubstantiation was not known until after this council. It forbade +the establishment of new religious orders; but, since that time, no less +than eighty have been instituted. It was in this council that Raimond, +Count of Toulouse, was stripped of all his lands. + +"In 1245 a council assembled at the city of Lyons. Innocent IV. brings +thither the Emperor of Constantinople, John Puleologus, and makes him +sit beside him. He deposes the Emperor Frederick as a felon, and gives +the cardinals a red but, as a sign of hostility to Frederick, and the +source of thirty years of civil war. + +"In 1274 another council is held at the city of Lyons. Five hundred +bishops are present, seventy great and a thousand lesser abbots. The +Greek emperor, Michael Paleologus, that he may have the protection of +the Pope, sends his Greek patriarch, Theophanes, to unite, in his name, +with the Latin church; but the Greek church disowns these bishops. + +"In 1311 Pope Clement V. assembled a general council in the small town +of Vienne, in Dauphiny, in which he abolishes the order of the Templars. +It is here ordained that the Begares, Beguins and Beguines shall be +burned. These were a species of heretics '_to whom was imputed all that +had formerly been imputed to the primitive Christians_.'" So says +Voltaire. He does not, like the pitiful blaspheming infidels of to-day, +try to heap all this corruption of the dark ages upon primitive +Christianity. No! The hull of Voltaire's soul was too great for such a +deed. + +"In 1414 the great council of Constance was assembled by an emperor who +resumes his rights, viz: by Sigismund. Here Pope John XXIII., convicted +of numerous crimes, is deposed, and John Huss and Jerome of Sprague +convicted of _obstinacy and burned_. + +"In 1431 a council was held at Basle, where they in vain depose Pope +Eugene IV., who is too clever for the council. This was a stormy +council, and it is said that Eugene regretted in _his_ old age that he +ever left his monastery. + +"In 1438 a council assembled at Ferrara, transferred to Florence, where +the excommunicated pope excommunicates the council, and declares it +guilty of high treason. Here a feigned union is made with the Greek +church, crushed by the Turkish synods held sword in hand. + +"Pope Julius II. would have had his council of Lateran in 1512 pass for +an ecumenical council. In it that pope solemnly excommunicated Louis +XII., King of France, laid France under an interdict, summoned the whole +Parliament of Provence to appear before him, and excommunicated all the +philosophers because most of them had taken part with Louis XII. Yet +this council was not like that of Ephesus, called the council of +robbers. + +"In 1537 the council of Trent was first assembled at Mantua, by Paul +III., afterwards at Trent, in 1543, and terminated in Dec., 1561, under +Pius VI." See vol. Phil. Dic. + +"Pope Pius IX. convened a council in 1869, which in July, 1870, decreed +the _personal infallability of the Pope_ in matters of faith and morals, +to be a dogma of the church." + +Reader, if you will digest this little piece of history, you will +doubtless discover good reasons for asserting the right of private +judgment and the liberty of conscience. _Truth stands true to her god; +men alone vascillate._ + + + + +FREE-THOUGHT IN GERMANY, FRANCE AND RUSSIA, OR RUSSIAN NIHILISM. + +BY FITZ CUNLIFFE OWEN. LIBRARY MAG. VOL. 3. + + +Rationalism and radicalism exist to a certain extent in every country of +Europe. But the Social Democrats of Germany and Austria and the +Communists of France and Spain turn with horror from Russian +revolutionists, who consider the programme of the Paris commune of 1871 +condemnably weak, and Felix Pyat, Cluseret and their companions as +little better than conservatives. The Social Democrats and even the +Communists of the rest of Europe have in view aims which, no matter how +fantastic, are always of a sufficiently defined nature. They look +forward to an entirely democratic form of government, and hope for a +recognization of the social world, under which all capital and property +would be held either by the State or Commune for the equal benefit of +everybody. They are levellers, but they are not destroyers. Take the +right of property from the citizens of a government and the greatest +motive to industry and prosperity is gone. + +The revolutionary party in Russia has no definite aims of either +reorganization or improvement. In its sight everything as it now exists +is rotten, and before anything new and good can be created all existing +institutions must be utterly destroyed. Religion, the state, the family, +laws, property, morality, are all equally odious, and must be rooted out +and abolished. It is because "nothing," as it exists at present, finds +favor in their eyes that they have been called "Nihilists." They +maintain that no one should be bound by laws or even moral obligations +of any kind, but that every body should be allowed to do exactly as he +pleases. They desire to break up the actual social organization into +mere individualism, with entire independence for each separate person. +Their object is anarchy in the very truest sense of the word. They are +only modest enough to decline the attempt to create a new order of +things in the place of what they propose to destroy. That they intend to +leave for a better and more enlightened generation. The following, from +a Nihilist paper, Narodnia Volya (The Will of the People), which is +published at St. Petersburg by means of secret presses, will set them +forth in their true inwardness: + +"The Russian press is bent almost double by the imperial government. +Notwithstanding its disagreeable position it does its utmost to curry +favor of its oppressors. Whenever thefts, murders, or incendiarisms take +place in Russia the press invariably attributes them to the Nihilists. +There is an old proverb which says, 'Slander, slander; some result will +always be obtained.' Judging from the tone of the press some result has +been obtained. According to its statements the Nihilists are little +better than wild beasts. We do not venture to assert that there are no +bad men in our ranks, but are yours entirely free from them? The number +of bad persons among the Nihilists is so very small that we need hardly +enumerate them. Since 1862 over 17,000 persons have been exiled to +Siberia for political offenses. + +"You accuse us of adopting means of action which are unjustifiable in +every way. But what can we do? We are reduced to silence. We only adopt +questionable means of action very rarely, and then only in self-defense; +whereas you use them daily. + +"The money obtained from private individuals by means of theft and +blackmail has not been levied by order of the 'committee,' but by +certain unscrupulous Nihilists acting on their own behalf. However, we +are all the more ready to admit that such things have been done when we +remember that only five such cases are known to have taken place. + +"Do not accuse us of being murderers, because of our attempts to take +the life of His Most Sacred Majesty? Why, we would most gladly +accomplish his destruction, and he has only escaped until now in +consequence of the many cowards in our ranks! It has been stated that +Solowjew's attempt in April last has disturbed the rest and peace of +mind of many harmless and respectable citizens. Some of the Liberal +papers even go so far as to say that it will have the effect of +producing a reaction in favor of the government. Why, what idle and +stupid talk! These good newspaper proprietors, who love their ease and +their books, must have been asleep not to have perceived that the +reaction began sixteen years ago, not in favor of the government, but +against it. + +"We are quite persuaded that if Solowjew's attempt had succeeded, +everybody would talk in a different manner, even the slaves and asses +who surrounded the throne would have rejoiced. + +"Do not be surprised at these political assassinations, but rather be +astonished that they are not more frequent. Unfortunately for our cause, +the Nihilists are too humanitarian, and hence are incapable of carrying +out many necessary measures. Perhaps in time they will acquire the +aptitude necessary in critical moments; perhaps it will be your conduct +which will effect this change in them. Then in that case the +responsibility of terrorism and assassination will rest with you, and +not with us." + + * * * * * + +How many amusing and ridiculous scenes should we witness if each pair of +men that secretly laugh at each other were to do it openly! + + + + +AXIOMS LYING AT THE FOUNDATION OF ALL PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION. + + +Out of nothing, nothing comes. Into nothing, nothing goes. These are +foundation axioms underlying the entire system of Christian theology. +The first looks backward, and the second looks forward. The first +correllates with the saying, "So things which are seen were not made of +things which do appear." The converse of this is the following: Things +which are seen were made of unseen things; that is, the visible universe +is the manifestation of the invisible. The real universe is the +invisible. There is nothing that can not be thrown into the invisible. +Even the diamond has been thrown into solution, and all solutions may be +thrown into the invisible by heat. The question, What is matter? has +puzzled the best minds of earth, and puzzled all, both infidels and +Christians, as much as any other question. The visible, organic universe +was created, but it was created out of the invisible. The invisible is +eternal. There is an eternal world, and that is the invisible and real +universe, without which the visible would not be, for of nothing, +nothing comes. All matter is to be referred to antecedent +substance--that which lies under and causes it to be. Substance, +strictly speaking, lies in the invisible. Matter, properly speaking, is +an effect, which is the visible manifestation of an unseen substance, +and this is eternal. + +God created the universe by means of eternal substance. He is the king +eternal. The time never was when he was the king of nothing. It is said +of Leibnitz that he thought inert matter insufficient to explain the +phenomena of body, and had recourse to the entelechies of Aristotle, or +the _substantial forms_ of scholastic philosophy, conceiving of them as +primitive forces, constituting the substance of matter, atoms of +substance, but not of matter _imperishable_, but subject to +transformation. This view of the atomic theory is two-fold: First, the +atomic invisible, as the very term _atom_ indicates, for it is from "ha +temno," which means _not cut_--literally _indivisible_. You can't cut an +atom chemically or otherwise, unless you are working upon that which is +an atom in the loose and more modern sense of the term. You may reduce +matter chemically to the invisible or underlying substance, but beyond +this you can not cut? Can you run it into nothing? No. Into nothing +nothing goes. Physicists are indebted to the oldest philosophers, who +lived prior to Democrites, for the use of the term atom. Those oldest +philosophers used the term to indicate something that was not matter, +viz: immaterial substance. The term in its primary sense is applicable +nowhere else. + +The invisible world of substance is undoubtedly eternal. But those men +who try to make this fact an argument against the existence of God are +guilty of the most stupid nonsense and impudence, for, having allowed +eternity not only to substance, but to _material_ substance, they have +no right in logic to deny eternity to life and mind; because it is as +easy, and as rational, to conceive of the eternity of one thing known to +exist as of another. But the idea that the visible world is eternal is +in direct conflict with the facts of science, which establish beyond +contradiction the mutable nature of all organized bodies. Aristotle, +though a believer in the existence of God, did affirm the world's +eternity, and therefore held that there never was any first male or +female in the history of any animals whatsoever, but affirmed, on the +contrary that one begat another infinitely, without any beginning. This +thought was so repugnant to common sense that Aristotle himself seemed +to be skeptical about it, admitting it to be a disputable thing. After +affirming his notion he added, "If the world had a beginning, and if men +were once earth-born, then must they have been, in all probability, +either generated as worms, out of putrefaction, or else out of eggs." +But the question comes up for an answer, From whence came the eggs? + +Old Epicurus, after Aristotle, fancied that the first men and animals +were formed in certain wombs or bags growing out of the earth, by a +fortuitous concourse of dead atoms. Here we have the last _home stretch_ +of all physicists in their efforts to get rid of the Christian idea of +creation; beyond it no modern infidel has traveled in his speculations, +nor ever will. + +But if men were formed from eggs growing out of the earth, or from bags, +or from wombs created by a fortuitous concourse of dead atoms, by +chance, why, the motion of atoms being as brisk and vigorous as ever, +should we not expect the same thing to occur occasionally throughout all +the ages? + +Anaximander, however, concluded that men, because they require longer +time than other animals to be hatched up, were at first generated in the +bellies of fishes, and there nourished till they were able to defend and +shift for themselves, and were then disgorged and cast upon dry land. So +we are driven to the conclusion that there is nothing in the world too +absurd for those men, both ancient and modern, to swallow down in their +efforts to get rid of the notion of an intelligent creation by the hand +of an intelligent creator. + + + + +ESTOPPELS; OR, FOSSILIZATION. + + +In our religion we find no law requiring uniformity of thought. Think +the same things. Be of the same opinion. These and like statements are +no part of our religion. Faith and opinion are not the same. All +Christians have one faith, "the faith of Christ." "Be of the same mind +and of the same judgment." "Speak the same things." These are to be +taken in their proper relations. The made up judgment is the result of +faith in the judgment of Christ. "I judge nothing by myself; he that +judgeth me is the Lord." The one great mind enjoined is the result of +thought upon the one great subject of the life of Christ, which is given +as the light of men. These imperatives are summed up in the beautiful +expression, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." +Uniformity of thoughts or opinions is a very different thing. A man +would be considered worse than a knave who would throw chains around the +human intellect, so as to put an end to progress in thought; it would be +the stagnation of all in which we are most interested. Christians are +not to be charged with any such wickedness, for they are using all their +powers to produce thought; money and talent are freely bestowed in many +ways to get men to think, and then decide, not in reference to opinions +but facts; not in reference to things which are matters of opinion only, +but of the living object of faith, Christ and Christian duty. There is +no system of things in which investigation, liberty of thought and +action, upon all matters of interest to our humanity, both as respects +this world and the world to come, is more encouraged and insisted upon. +Wicked and unholy thoughts only are prohibited. + +Who would paint every flower of the same hue? Who would trim all the +trees of the forest into one and the same shape? Or, who is so foolish +as to want all faces cast into one mould? Who would chain human thought +or mould the opinions of men so that they should not only be one in +Christ, the greatest living fact in history, but one in every other +being known in the world's history--one in opinions? The freeist thing +in the universe is thought. The liberties of thought are charter +liberties from the King of Kings. The spirit of man is free in its +normal state. You can not chain it in slavery against its will. No. It +knows no servitude but the voluntary. But, then, its wanderings are +many. In the field of search after beauty, rectitude and truth, many +minds may come into collision. But greater evils would result from +chaining them all to one spot, and thus ending progress in many things +of interest lying in the realm of thought. Of all the varieties known +among men those of thought are the most sublime and useful. + +This variety causes the investigation of every interest; it brings every +truth and every error to the surface. + +Men have made many attempts to check the onward march of intellect. But +every attempt in that direction is marked by some great dread. Men are +not anxious to put on the brakes unless they are in fear of being +wrecked. Nothing is more dangerous in any government than perfect +indifference to public interests. Men in places of public trust always +need watching. Irresponsible power, it is said, would corrupt an +archangel, and is, doubtless, unknown among the inhabitants of the +better land. Among men there is great liability. Every political +candidate has his accusations, his promises, and scheme, with which he +confronts his rival and agitates the minds of the people. So we have +been saved from that stagnation of thought which has retarded progress +among other nations. Many men, seeking office, have been wise enough to +see the danger to their interests of an expose of corruption. So they +have been perfectly willing that mechanics, artisans and farmers should +investigate and expose to public view all the questions of interest +belonging to our government, but good Christians, "and especially +preachers, entering the field of political investigation, at once +forfeit their right to the crown of life.(?)" + +But just how it is that lawyers, doctors and politicians will all reach +heaven in spite of political action, and preachers will sink to +perdition on account of the same, is a problem among problems that has +never yet been satisfactorily solved. Are we to conclude that such men +as Generals Hancock and Garfield, along with a great many more, had, and +have, no religion to be disturbed? Or is there a double portion of +sacrifice, the sacrifice of principle and liberty, demanded at the hands +of ministers of the Gospel of Christ? How is this? We are anxious to +know. Are the politicians of the country the voluntary scapegoats of the +nation, who risk their own salvation for political toil, which, from its +character, would, according to a very common opinion, kill out the +religion of all the saints in America? Surely we ought to feel grateful +to the political sinners who so willingly take all the risk of being +shut out of Paradise that they may have the exclusive right of +controlling the offices of the government. They seem to say to us +Christians, Hear us, ye hard-thinking toilers and aspirants to the +realms of bliss while we proclaim to you the perils of our position; we +warn you against the crime of accustoming yourselves to the +investigation of the political and civil interests of the day, and let +not your devout meditations be disturbed by secular pursuits. Read your +Bibles and other pious books; attend to all your prayer meetings and all +your philanthropic societies. + +What is the object of all this pious policy? Is it to keep the national +mind as far as possible in a state of political stagnation, or, +otherwise, to ostracise politically the preachers of the land with +reference to party success? How is this? Are the preachers of the United +States a dangerous element in our land? If they are, then the fewer we +have of them the better we are off. Do any but infidels take that view +of the subject? It correllates with infidelity, but not with +Christianity. + + + + +TO KEEP A ROOM PURE. + + +To keep a room purified it is only necessary to keep a pitcher or some +other vessel full of water in it. The water will absorb all the respired +gases. The colder the water is the greater is its capacity to hold the +gases. At ordinary temperature a pail of water will absorb a pint of +carbonic acid gas and several pints of ammonia. The capacity is nearly +doubled by reducing the water to the temperature of ice. Water kept +awhile in a room is unfit for use. The pump should always be emptied +before catching water for use. Impure water is more injurious than +impure air. + + * * * * * + +Man, being essentially active, must find in activity his joy, as well as +his beauty and glory, and labor, like everything else that is good, is +its own reward. + + + + +INTERESTING FACTS. + + +Glass windows were used for lights in 1180. + +Chimneys first put up to houses in 1236. + +Tallow candles for lights in 1290. + +Spectacles invented by an Italian in 1240. + +Paper made from linen in 1302. + +Woolen cloth made in England in 1341. + +Art of printing from movable types in 1440. + +The first book printed with movable types in 1450. + +Watches first made in Germany in 1447. + +Telescopes invented by Porta and Janson in 1590. + +Tea first brought from China to Europe in 1501. + +Circulation of blood discovered by Hervey in 1610. + +Newspaper first established in 1629. + +Pendulum clocks first invented in 1639. + +Barometer invented by Torricelli in 1535. + +Steam engine invented in 1649. + +Bread made with yeast in 1650. + +Cotton planted in the United States in 1759. + +Fire engine invented in 1685. + +Telegraph invented by Morse in 1832. + + * * * * * + +CURE FOR A FELON.--"Take common salt, dry it in the oven, then pound it +fine and mix it with turpentine, equal parts. Put it on a rag and wrap +it around the finger, and as soon as it gets dry put on some more, and +in twenty-four hours the felon will be as dead as a door nail."--_Old +Mr. Mix._ + + +Transcriber's Note + +The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully +preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Christian Foundation, Or, +Scientific and Religious Journal, Volume I, No. 12, December, 1880, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION, DECEMBER 1880 *** + +***** This file should be named 28678.txt or 28678.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/7/28678/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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