Gospel Herald, 1860-11-24

              Dtivoted to Cliristiaiiity, Morality, the Interests of Sabbath Scliools, Social Ii^iproveineTit, Texiiperance, Kducation^ antl C.Tenev.-il Ne-W'S.P'4
VOL. 17.
"BEHOLD, I BRING TOU GOOD TIDINGS 01' GREAT JOT .
ON EAETH PEACE, GOOD WILl. TOWAED MEN.'||'
DAYTON, ()., SATURDAY, JNOV. 24 i8t)0.
i\'0.29.
SELECT POETRY.
The ladian Summer,
J*Qk forth onthe forest ere autumiu wind scat¬ ters Its frondaf^e ol scarlet, aud purple, and gold— That forest tlu'ougli which the great "Fiitlier of AVaters" For tliousands of .yenrs liia liroad cm-reut liiis rolled I
Gazeover tint, fore?!, of opaline hue. With a heaven above it oft;lorious lilue. And say is thore a ,'^i'.ene, in this beautiful world, "Where mituin more puily her flag has uurnrled? Or think'.st thou, tli;it e'eiiin Ibe regions of bliss Ther's alandscupc more truly Elysiaii than this'.'
Behold the d.ii-k suniac iu crimson ararycd. Whose  veins •with  ilie deadliest poisou  are
rife I And, side by lier side, on tlio edge of ilie glade.
The sassafras laurel, restorer of Ufel Behold the tall maples turned red,.in their hue. And  the muscadine vinfe,  with i^clustcrs of
blue; s^ .^¦-
And the lotus, whose IWfros havo scaj^ce time to
un fold, »
Kre tlioj'. drop, to di.scover it..;berries of^jildj' And the bay-tvee, ptirfumed, nevercliangiug its
sheen, But forfever enrobed iu its mantle of green I
And list to tho music borne f:'.'or tlie trees I
It falls on Ihe car, giving pleasure ecstatic— The song of the birds and the hum of tho bees Commingling tlieir tones with the ripples er¬ ratic. Hark I hear you tlie red-orested cardinal's call From the groves of aiinona, from tulip-tree tallV The mock-bird responding below in the glade'? The dove softly cooing in mellower shade? "While the oriole ans-wers in accents of mirth— Oh 1 where is there melody sweeter on earth '1 — Gapt. Maync lieiit.
was   being  follo"wed by  tho extrume heterodoxy of the niuetoeuth.
My reviewer remarlis: "The doc¬ trine of Universal Salvation is ono ex¬ treme, and tbe doctfiite of Univertiul Damnation, wo Bupposa, must be the other; but we aro not a'n^ai'e that lbo world bas been f3winging between these opposite views for the lasltlireeor fiuu'
spoecheH whieh these Apustlos ever da- livtired to the Gentiles!! Muy be ho is like some others, wbo think lliat all Christ and the Apo.st,leH ever siiid is, in tho NcwTe.stiinieiit.
A certain wrir.or on future punitih- raont Biiya: "Though tiie Apoplles ma}' never have preaehed gehcnna to the Gentiles, neither did thoy preach para
coniuries! "    hs he not awaretht-il. not I disu nor  AbraJuan's bosom,  in tiuy Bor-
ORIGINALITIES.
Written for the Gotpct llereald.
Universalism.
Na'2:'
It is a trae adage, that "one word brings on another," I wrote an arti¬ cle on Universalism, which was pub¬ lished in tho Herald, of June 23,1860, One of the 6ditor.s of the ^'Star in tho West," a Universalist paper, pubHs-hod in Oincinnati, has seen it and reviewocJ it. 1 did not anticipate, while writing that piece, that it would ever bo the Bubjeet of editorial criticism. But I make no apology for writing it. "What I have -writUm,'I ha.vewritten." Imight even drop the subject for the present, were it not that my courteous review¬ er has accused 'mo of "begging tho question." Ho says: "You beg the question ; you do not argue it; and you will never stop the progress of Uni¬ versalism in your own sect ,by such cheap dogmatism as this." Is it "cheap dogmatism" to quote tho Scriptures, and say, "You must either reject them or receive what theytetich!" But, perhtips, 1 shall beable to "argue" a lit¬ tle with the gentle^man.
First, however, sotrio of bis criticismB must be noticed.
In my former artiole, I compared public opinion to tho clock ])ondulum, which vibrates between extremes. I said that tho "extreme ortliodoxy of the seventeenth and  eighteenth centuries
only tho Catholics, but nearly ali tho .rroteatantcbtirchesas well, iu the time. of Luther and Calvin, held those doc¬ trines which are daily becoming luon: aud moro obnoxious to true Christians —tliat unhaptized infants are in danger of hell, and that none but those elected from eternily can be .wned ? Is he ignom nt of the fact, that it was tiio general be¬ lief aiiiong Christians of tlioso timi^a, that "few would bt) saved,"and tliat tlie mass of mankind would bo \osi'! And ia ho not aware that they went to ex¬ tremes in preaching "hell and damna¬ tion '!" Ho is not ignorant of tliose tilings, which showed an oxtreme of i popular sentiment; but ho cannot per ' ceive tbe doctrines of Universaiisin to be the opposite ex1;remol No more can ho appreciate tbo aptncsB of tho il¬ lustration of tho clock-pendulum.
But he inibrms mo that "the Catho¬ lic Church at this very day maintains that all unbaptized children are in dan¬ ger of hell!" and that, "in the view of orthodox Christians to-day, all men aro justly ox]iosod—as they are born—to eternal heil-iir.o, on account of Adam's sin." Perhaps he thought ho was "tell¬ ing me something I didn't know."— Doubtless there are many important facts, of which I, being a young man, am still uninformed, 1 do noti^retend to "know it all," But, though, in all probability, my reviewer is much bet¬ tor posted ill Ol' '.rch history than I, yot, I was aw i.iistttho Catholics look upon all, outsi*..^ of their communion, as heretics. I wfiw also awaro, even before I read this red ew, that some Prot¬ estant crecils imply the probable loss of those who are, not, in baptism, cleans¬ ed from the pollution of Adam's sin.— But the mass of the Protestant relig¬ ious world do not really believe this doctrine. And, at the timo of its grciiter prevalence, "about two centu ries ago," the Catholic Church was tho predominant sect; and even those Pro¬ testant churches, who had renounced her authority, still retained much of her erroiiious toaching. Has there not since then, been a groat revolution in tbe popular sentiment?
After quoting my remark respecting the silence of speakers and writers up¬ on the subject of "hell and damnation," and making some romtvrks of his own, he adds; "J'dghteen hundred years ago, there were some very prominent and very faithful preachers, who were quite as silent upon the saixio theme,— Paul never thundered "hell and dam¬ nation;" he. preached ttiirty years among v'ory wicked communities and people, ami never used the word hell. Peter never used it. I^or John. Tho Gentiles were novor threatened with hell atsiU." How does ho know, (for ho speaks positively,) that Paul never used the word hell 7~noi- Peter—nor John?—aud that the Glentiles were never tlireatened witb it? Hero is something for him to prove. But how is he going to do it? .tiMS.he been so fortunate as to obtain reports of all the
ihs txcrjtiles on rt'cord (Aliddoxon Flit. Pun., page'I'd.) Bui: Pet,i;r, W'.'iti'.sg t.o €hrist.ian Jcwh, uses tlie worti Tartarus, v.diicli is rendered iiell:—''Spared not the angels thut sin- iieil, but cant them down to Tartarus," or ''hell." Tartarus is defined (fit Gr. Le.c.,) to ha "ihat part of .Hades icJicre the souls ofthe wicked were confined and lorniented." 11 is synonj'nious with ge- henna. is uot my roviewv'^r mistaken, then, in assorting f.liat nono of the Apoatios mentioiie.u, used the word noil ?
But if the ApoMtU'H did not, vv'bile addressing the Contiles, use gehenna, or tarta.rus, to .'iignif'y the place i.if tornicnt, is it not enough that they spoak of that future pu.ni,\kinent which waste Ito in¬ flicted in that part of Hades called Tartarus? And if tho Jews wero threatened with punisiimcnt after death, in gehenna, or hell, (vvhich ITnivoi'.sa- lists deny), is it not iirubablo that the Gentiles would ho threatenetl with tbo aaraii future punishment, tbough tho word gehenna, or tartarus, be not used ?— Thoroforo, it will only bo ncecRsnry to prove that, that hell, witb whieh the Jows wero threatoticd, ia iho place of puuishment after deatli, atid thttl, the Gentiles-were threatened with after- death punishment.—This, horetif'tor.
The reviewer, after making quite a lengthy extract fronii mj^ article, writes as follows: "JSlothing could be more inconsistent or stupitf than tho ritlicn- lous statement that the belief in a God is not more general, than the belief in endless punishment. Does tbo taan forget himself so easily, or so soon as this? .Has bo not just said tbat tbe religious world is tending towards a de¬ nial of endless punishment? And does ho suppose that tho religious world is tending equally toward atheism, or tbo denial of a God ?" The gentleman is as stupid as 1 am, or ho would havo perceived that it was by the same pro¬ cess of reasoning, by wliieh tho con- clusioii, that tho roligiou,s world i.s tending towani tho renunciation ofthe doctrine of endless punishment, was arrived at, that letl mo to conclude that it was becoming equally skeyitical about the t^xistenco of a God. It is a true sttying, that "actions speak louder than words," , I havo judged tho relig¬ ious world by their, deeds. Though they proless to believe in omllesH pun¬ ishment, yot, if they aro imlifferont about eternal consequences, wc infer that their faith in that doctrine, is "little." And though they profess to be¬ lieve Jn God, yet", if they appear to have "no fear of (Jod 'before thoir cyo8," wo msiy sui^piciori a tendency toward skep{icisin. Men generally "show their laitfi by their works." And, judging froTu tho lives of profes¬ sors generally, I have decided that' tho rehgiouK world is tending, practic¬ ally, toward these two species of skep¬ ticism.—How loany "profofis to ktiow God," who "in works deny bim, I" If I am wrong  in  this judgment, I
am v/iiling to be corrected. As I said beforo, "my observation may not have been suiHciently extensive to justify mo ill being very positive,"
1 shall coficliidc this reply in anoth¬ er article,,
Wm. PlNltEllTON. JR.
Gille.'ipieville, OIilo, Oct. 26, 1800
The Eevival in Ireland,
Mr, Goo. Id, Stuart, of tho reformed Preahy teriaii Cluirch, having just ro turned from a visit of several mouths in Great Britain and Ireland, recently .stated at tho noon-dfly mooting in Ful¬ ton street, N. Y. that thespiritof pray¬ er is woiidcrfidly poured out upon the north of IrcUmd,    •
"To illustrate ihis," said he, "let mo tell you of one of tho prayer-nicctings which I aitotideil. I was riding in an open wagon, tmc eveiiijig in the month of Maj-—one of I ho coldest 1 cver saw ill that couiilry at tliat season of the year, ft.had lioouraining all day, and toward night it, turned off into snow, or sleet and tain—very sloppy andun- pktisant. A'- wo were riding along, going to a cei tain vilhigo, the driver Bidd to me :
" 'Would you like to seo a ]ii'aj er- rneeting, gathered in a country place, without anj- particulsir call or oxcito- inent?'
" '1 wouid,' said 1, and heturned me off the main mail into a tiaiTow htne. After riding.ihout half a mile, we came to a low, tJiatchod barn—a largo barn. When we camo up to it wo found thirty or forty standing without.
" ' What is this?' I inquired, wliy do you stand without?'
"'This is tho outside congregation, mttdo up of those who cannot get in,' was answered.
"An elder in tliePrcsbyteritin Church being with mo, who was well known to the people, they opened a way for UH, and we inado ior tho inside. And what a sight that was I It "was t"uorc than jtirnmed full; for every parent had a child on his or her knee.
"Soon it was noised .about that a stranger was ai"iiong thorn from Amer¬ ica. Thoy got me upon tho block, and my hoad was up among the raftors— and I must speak. I did speak; and the tears were flowing fast, as I went on in my address. When I bad ftnisb- cd, I asked ;
" '^What mean those two holes cut through the end of the barn, yonder?' " 'Why, don't you know,' they said, 'that you have been Bpea,king to anoth¬ er congregation through those two holes? They lead out into tho t;ow- shed, and there is a congregtition thoro who havo heard you, though they couhl tiot see you,'
Whtm tho meeting was diamissed, I questioned one and another, old and young, all through the congregation, putting such questions iia theso :
" 'Doj'Oii hope you aro a '. hristian ? Havo you found an interest io Jesus?' "And in all lirat congregation J did not find one that was not trusting and . hoping and believing in .Josits,    Fiir- morly, there   was   very  little   social prayer in Ireland,    Prayer-meetings," as we understand them, were very, 1(3W, No"!?, they are everywhere; and you may meet, up anddo'wn, everywhere in tho north of Ireland, justsuch gather¬ ings as I liavo described.