In the month of August he attended some general meetings, as they were called, in different parts; one as far off as Clinton, N. Y., not less than a hundred miles. By a general meeting, in those times and since, is meant a meeting of about two days, at which ministers and people came from a considerable distance around, general notice and invitation being given. Very frequently, when the weather and season would permit, the people repaired to the overshadowing groves, where, in the free and open air, they sang hymns, offered prayers, and devoutly listened to successive sermons. Often, with an eloquence as natural as the trees whose leaved branches shaded the mult.i.tudes, has the clear musical voice of Mr. Badger held thousands in listening silence, enchained as by a resistless spell, whilst he unfolded some great theme of the Christian doctrine and life. No man who heard him on such occasions would be apt ever to forget the topic or the speaker. On the 30th and the 31st of August, such a meeting was holden at Pittsford, at which time Mr. John Blodget was by suitable services ordained to the work of an evangelist.
Also, in accordance to the usages of the time, a ministerial conference succeeded it September 1--an a.s.sociation which acted simply as an advisory body, and for purposes of mutual discussion and consultation.
Such bodies in after years exercised the right of receiving new members, who were ordained ministers of the gospel, or licentiates. They also claimed and exercised the right of preserving their own moral purity, by examinations of character and by expulsion.[28] In this month he preached much in his own town, a few times at Mendon, attended funerals at Pittsford and Avon, and baptized at Mendon a few young men who had in the freshness of life"s morning consecrated themselves to pure religion.
As the brown leaves of October were silently admonishing the world of human frailty, as nature was pouring out the influences of a calm and holy peace, Mr. B., untrammelled by creed, and with an Old Book in his hand, whose leaves had ever held the greatest spiritual lessons for the human heart, was preaching the salvation of G.o.d with a grace and composure that, in naturalness, would compare with the spirit and scenes of the creation around him; for emphatically was he a son of Nature, owned and blessed of her. In this October month, he says:
"I started on the 1st for Hartland, Niagara County, to attend a general meeting on the 4th, a distance of about eighty miles from my residence. At Murray, Genesee County, we had a good meeting. On the evening of the 4th I spoke at Hartland, and on the 5th the a.s.sembly was blessed with the presence of our G.o.d; the conference succeeding it was also very good. I returned home on the 11th, where I preached and administered baptism; on the 12th, preached in two parts of the town, and on the 18th rode through Caledonia to attend a general meeting at Leroy,[29] which was attended with signal blessing. At the close, Mr. Hubbard Thompson was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and a church of substantial members was there organized. During this month I preached twice at Mendon, and among the people of my charge, had many good social meetings. In view of the fleeting character of this world"s pleasures, let us draw from the well of salvation, let us seek our heart"s eternal peace.
"In the month of November I spent the 1st, 2d, and 3d at Pittsford, the 4th, 5th, and 6th at Mendon and Lima. At this time the work of G.o.d in no small degree of power commenced. I baptized on the 8th, Messrs. Thomas Smith, Allen Crocker, Jeremiah Williams, Nathan Upton; and I now found it my duty to return to Mendon and to make a stand, as the minds of the people were inquiring, and their hearts were moved. I began to travel from house to house, and for several weeks I held several meetings a day, and in almost every meeting there were some made free by the Son of G.o.d.
Among the incidents of the time, on the 20th it happened that I met with Mr. Cook, a clergyman of Lima, who presented me with this text on which to preach, 1 John 3: 16: "Hereby perceive we the love of _G.o.d_, because he laid down his life for us;"--a text given without doubt to serve as an embarra.s.sment, inasmuch as the word _G.o.d_, which is supplied by the translators, seems to apply to Him who laid down his life for us. It was easy to see that, supposing the p.r.o.noun he to refer to the Son of G.o.d, who is so often spoken of in the preceding part of the chapter, the only inference that follows is, that his death is a display of G.o.d"s love, which is the doctrine of the entire New Testament; or, stripping the pa.s.sage of the supplied words, it only teaches that Christ proved his love by laying down his life for us. I had a fine time in speaking, as the text was a help and not an embarra.s.sment to my mind. He, however, made some opposition, and stated that the Eternal G.o.d died on the cross. This was evidently to his own hurt.
"Several of our meetings, held at sunrise, were attended with good. On the 25th I baptized fifteen who had the inward evidence that they had pa.s.sed from death unto life.
This was a day of brightness; and thus, as from the giving hand of G.o.d, the work continued. On the 24th eighteen united as a church, and December 2d, six others were added to their number; on the 4th eight were baptized, and thus in Mendon and Lima the work continues to the joy of the saints and to the confusion of enemies. A way also opens into West Bloomfield. At Mendon, for the first time, we had a blessed communion on the 28th--a communion to which all who worship G.o.d, and who love the way of holiness were invited, entirely without regard to their different theories of religion. Many others were also added this month. In peace the year closes, and I thank the Father of all goodness for the trials and blessings it has brought.
May the next be illuminated by thy Presence!"
Only observing that since the world begun, _such_ men have always seen and made others see the fruits of their labors, that the power to make the frozen soul of the world melt and run in liquid streams, is one that never leaves its owner friendless or without a sceptre and a helm, I would proceed to lay before the reader more of his truthful narrative.
From letters received, bearing date 1817, we judge that considerable success attended the efforts of his fellow laborers abroad; letters from the Peavys, from Blodget, King, Martin and Shaw; and if s.p.a.ce would permit, we might quote largely from two or three of his own controversial letters in which he kindly and candidly corrects the misrepresentations of some opposing clergymen, and with his peculiar faculty for making others feel the _point_ of his pen when he chose to do so, he reasons on the principles of his faith. We venture only a couple of paragraphs from nearly the close:
"That, Sir, which bore with the greatest weight on my mind, was your manner of introducing this subject before the people. You say that Mr. Smith, of Boston, is the founder of the people called Christians, and that I get my doctrine from his Bible Dictionary. But, Sir, Mr. S. was never the founder of any doctrine that ever I preached; nor is his dictionary any more a criterion with me than is that of Mr.
Wood a criterion with you and with your brethren. To me, Brown"s, Barclay"s, b.u.t.terworth"s, Parish"s, Smith"s, and Wood"s are all alike; there is valuable information, and there are errors in them all, for which I am wholly unaccountable. For Mr. Smith"s errors I am no more responsible than you are for Mr. Wood"s. I am not his counsellor. I am accountable, Sir, for no errors but my own; for these I am willing to answer now and at the Judgment. Still, I shall notice your quotation of Mr.
Smith"s writings, for I esteem them incorrect and unfair.
His writings, some of them, are undoubtedly very erroneous; so are some of Mr. Wesley"s and Mr. Fletcher"s; but can this prove that there is nothing good in them, or that their writings are all bad? Had I selected some things from Mr. Wesley"s Notes on the New Testament, or some sketches from the Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and told the people that these were the faith of all the Methodists, I should certainly have been unfair, for many have discovered greater light and have offered their dissent from these writings. Yet these men were luminaries for the day that brought them forth. I would not injure the kind feelings of my numerous Methodist friends; but what would Mr. R. say, should I go into a place holding in my hand Mr. Wesley"s sermon on Rom. 8: 21, which proves that the beasts will go to heaven and share in immortality?--or his sermon on the Lord"s Supper, which proves it right, or which admits the unconverted to the communion?--then should I say that Mr. R. believes exactly thus, before I had seen or heard you, would you not call it unfair? This is the light in which I view your recent conduct.
"In quoting Mr. Smith, you have taken two whole sentences and part of another, and have so put them together as to make but one sentence. I think I can satisfy you that this is wrong, incorrect and unfair. By the same method I can prove that Joseph Badger should go and hang himself; yet we both know that the act would be criminal. You find the word Joseph in Gen. 45: 28, the word Badger you meet in Ezekiel 16: 10th verse; Matt. 27: 5, affirms of Judas that "he went out and hanged himself;" this is Scripture. "Go and do thou likewise," is also Scripture. Now, Sir, were you to collect these Scriptures by using boldly the principle of which I complain, you have the following, viz., "And he went out and hanged himself"--"Joseph Badger, go thou and do likewise." By splitting a sentence of one of David"s Psalms, you have the saying, "There is no G.o.d,"--but who would dare to charge the king with atheism?
I hope, dear Sir, that the plain remarks I have made will teach you the impropriety of your course, that you will be constrained to make some handsome retraction, and that you will never again descend from your high and honorable station to awaken the prejudices of the ignorant against those whom G.o.d delights to honor and to bless."
In the present day of both genuine and of boasted liberality, we are apt to think of the old pioneers as more narrow than ourselves. We may be unjust in this. Mr. Badger and his coadjutors stood on very broad grounds, their liberality being the liberality of vital religion, not the liberality of mere intellectual speculation and of doubt. They _feared_ being a sect. The following lines from Rev. Elijah Shaw, dated Camillus, December 17, 1817, are an index of the unsectarian freedom of many minds:
"I will do the same about a Conference that I said I would do in my recent letter. I am, and have been for many months, about dead to all denominations on earth. There is so much done to build up and keep up denominations that I am sick of it. Many have spoken against "our religion;" but are not "Christian brethren," "Christian preachers," &c., as much "our religion" as anything else? Those who want such sectarianism may have it. I hate it and leave it forever."
Perhaps, indeed, it may be said, that the nearer we get to the origin of denominations, the more catholic we shall often find them. Methodism at first was not a creed, but rather a large revival of religion in the world, which asked no man, whether minister or layman, a solitary question concerning his _belief_. Age may tend to contract sects, as coal contracts iron and water. The denominational paths of the world are apt to open somewhat largely; nor in their ending would we say that they exactly fulfil the descriptions of a tourist, concerning our western roads, which, he said, opened widely and promisingly under the umbrage of magnificent trees, but gradually grew narrower and narrower in the pursuit, till they at last terminated in a squirrel track, and run up a tree.
Opening the pages of 1818, we find Mr. B. breasting the wintry storms and treading the snows of January, preaching to his flock at Pittsford, administering the communion at Leroy, holding forth at Lima and at Mendon, and attending to the funeral obsequies of departed friends. He speaks of the funeral he attended on the 19th, of the wife of Capt.
Dewey, at Mendon, as to him a solemn and a joyful day. In the Christian Herald, January 24, he said:
"It is now glorious times in different parts of this country. In Mendon, Lima, Groveland, Bloomfield, Leroy, Hartland, Covington, Cato, Camillus, and Livonia, the Lord"s work is now spreading. I intend in a few months to give the names of the ministers and churches in this part of New York. Within one year I have baptized about 100 in this region of the country. A few of us in these parts are about to adopt the mode of ordaining elders in each church to "rule well," not merely to see to the "widows" or temporal cares of the church, but to have an oversight of the flock, without being called to labor in _word_ and doctrine. See 1 Timothy 9: 17; Acts 15: 6; t.i.tus 1: 5; Acts 14: 23. I have learned that it is a small part of a minister"s duty to preach and baptize."
He made a visit to Niagara County in the month of February, which was attended with good results, whilst his success at home, at Lima and Mendon was unabated. "A large number was added to the company of the prayerful." In the month of March, he again preached in West Bloomfield, a town that seemed to have in it several free and inquiring minds. At South Lima he baptized five persons on the 11th, the 15th preached at Mendon, where the prospects of his cause were growing continually brighter, and on the 22d preached and administered baptism at Livonia.
He now found from a survey of the field of his success that it was best to change his residence, to take up his abode in the adjoining and flourishing town of Mendon; and never delaying the execution of purposes that once were thoroughly formed in his mind, he, with the cooperation of kind friends, was conveniently located in this town as early as the 20th. The last days of March were devoted to the people of Hartland.
April, May, and June witnessed additions to the fraternity he had gathered--a fraternity whose aim above everything else, would seem to have been the cultivation of the powers and the joys of the spiritual life. They were evidently inspired by sacred feelings, by inward joys of experience, and so strongly did they love religion, that theology in the common sense, was to them a very subordinate matter.
In the month of July, in company with ministers D. Millard, E. Sharp, and J. Blodget, he journeyed to Niagara Falls, attending on the way three general meetings, one at Covington, Genesee County, N. Y., the others at Murray and Royalton. At the great cataract, which less at that time than now, drew travellers from every part of the country, we have not a distinct record of his impressions. At Covington, June 21st, he gave a discourse in the grove, from Isaiah 42: 1: "Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles"--a sermon which was reported in the religious free press of that day as one well adapted "to confirm the people in the truth," as one that exhibited Christ as the elect alluded to in this pa.s.sage. "Many of the doctrines of men," said two reporters, "were proved absurd, and ingeniously set aside. The exhortation," said they, "was as arrows to the unconverted."
August was pa.s.sed chiefly at home; in September he journeyed to the East as far as Cooperstown, gave five discourses in Hartwick, and in adjoining villages preached to large and attentive a.s.semblies. In this region of Otsego there still flourish societies of the Christian name and sentiments. In the published reports of the meeting at Hartwick, I find it stated that Mr. Badger, in a pleasant grove, September 27, preached the third discourse from James 1: 25: "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." The reporter adds, "The end of the old law was first noticed, and the imperfection that pertained to it. 2. The perfect law of liberty was then portrayed, and the manner in which people might look into it and continue therein. 3. The blessing promised to the doer of the work.
This discourse was to the saints comforting, and to an attentive a.s.sembly enlightening. The meeting then closed with songs and prayer."
Sunday morning the a.s.sembly again convened under the kindly shadows of the primeval trees. The morning pa.s.sed away under the speaking of a somewhat popular orator, Mr. Howard; "in the afternoon," continues the writer, "J. Badger spoke from Rev. 7: 17; a most glorious theme. When speaking of the Lamb in the midst of the throne--of his feeding the saints--of his leading them to fountains of living water; that G.o.d, even the Father, should wipe away all tears from their eyes; the saints rejoiced in hope of the glory of G.o.d, and strangers wept, desirous to share in the great salvation. The meeting then closed, though the people seemed unwilling to depart." There is something beautiful in turning nature into a temple of worship, in mingling hymns with the voices of the breeze, in speaking and hearing truth within the innocent gaze of flowers. Their latent influence is a gleam of divinity to all, and easily mingles with every sincere note that may ever be struck from worshipful hearts. As I pa.s.sed through that region of the State in 1850, there were still many to remember the golden times of the past, and to them the name of Joseph Badger was still a reverence and a charm.
In a written address, to the Conferential Session holden at Hartwick, at this time, to which two other names besides his own are affixed, some traces of his mind are visible. In that address is the following truly catholic sentiment:--
"Remember that this is a free country in which we live, and we ought to be as willing to let others think as to think ourselves. Others" rights are as dear to them as ours are to us, and if a Christian friend does not think as we do it is evident that we do not think as he does. While we trace the pages of ecclesiastical history, and view the uncharitable conduct of priests and rulers in this respect, we mourn the lack of charity, and feel in duty bound to warn our brethren against such pernicious practices. "Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.""
The month of October, which was pa.s.sed at home and in neighboring towns, brought some additions to his cause; and November, which was chiefly employed in the same way, was distinguished by a theological debate, held with Rev. Mr. T., chiefly on the Trinity and on the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ. The debate lasted two days; some other clergymen became in a degree involved in it; and from a minister then present I offer the following lines:--
"Under all circ.u.mstances Mr. Badger possessed a peculiar command of himself. He never permitted ruffled feelings to throw him into confusion or derange his clear equilibrium of mind. His ideas were always clear, and his command of language full and free. Thus he was always prepared on every sudden emergency. Some of his best polemical efforts were called out on the spur of the occasion, and seemingly without any forethought. This intuitive gift always rendered him ready, be the occasion what it might that called him to speak, and especially if to repel the attack of a religious opponent. Nor did he lack occasions of the kind. In the first spread of the Christian sentiments in western New York, public attacks on doctrinal subjects were common, and clergymen of various orders would frequently, after the close of an afternoon or evening discourse, rise and ask questions about the doctrine entertained. On occasions like these Mr. B. was about sure to leave his opponent in the condition of defeat. In every such instance he gained decided advantage and won the sympathy and influence of the ma.s.ses.
"In several instances he was called out by challenges for public discussion. On such occasions he evinced himself a cool, deliberate, shrewd manager. Often it would be said among those who heard his speeches, "What a lawyer he would have made!" Whilst his opponent was speaking he usually took down notes, which he could do with great rapidity. Wo then to his antagonist, where he left weak points in argument, as Mr. B. was sure to fasten upon them in a manner that not only exposed them, but completely withered their effect. He had great skill in making his own arguments stand out in all their strength, and in stripping those of his opponent of all their seeming worth or value.
Occasionally, after he had made a solid fortress by candid argument, he would let loose a volley of sarcasm which was perfectly scathing, and was very apt to so affect the opposite party as to produce confusion of mind, one of the first elements of defeat.
"The Rev. Mr. T----, an aged and able Congregationalist minister, had sent a request to Mr. B. to call on him when convenient. Some weeks subsequent, Mr. Badger, in company with D. Millard, of West Bloomfield, called at his dwelling, but learned that he was absent. Shortly, as they pa.s.sed on, they met Mr. T., to whom they introduced themselves; Mr. B. acknowledging the receipt of Mr. T."s request. Mr. T. soon asked him if he believed the doctrine of the Trinity, the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ, and Total Depravity, to which Mr. B. answered, after drawing him out on the meaning of the terms he employed, that he could not endorse all the views which Mr. T. entertained on these matters. "I perceive," says Mr. T., "that you are wholly off from Gospel ground." "Then you should be alarmed at our danger and convince us of our errors," said Mr.
Badger. "Well, call on me and I will do it," was his reply.
The time was agreed upon, and about ten days afterward quite a congregation a.s.sembled at the time and place selected, to hear Mr. T. show Messrs. Badger and Millard their errors.
"The doctrine of the Trinity was first investigated, each speaking twenty minutes on a side. Mr. T. led off, and dwelt much on the awfulness of the doctrine to be discussed, that none could be Christians without believing it. He said cases had occurred, where persons impiously denying the doctrine of the Trinity had been cut off by fearful judgments sent immediately from Heaven. Arius, for instance, whose death was sudden and awful, a fate he met soon after Constantine had recalled him to Constantinople, from a state of banishment, for rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity. To this speech Mr. Millard replied stating that he could not see that any doctrine could be awfully important which is not even named in the Bible; that he could see no cause for introducing the melancholy death of Arius, unless it was to frighten the a.s.sembly into the belief that they would be apt to experience a loss similar to that of Arius if they should deny the Trinity; and that Mosheim"s Church History contained evidence to show that Arius was secretly poisoned by his enemies.
"In his next speech, Rev. Mr. T. entered systematically on the arguments usually adduced on the Trinitarian side. In justice I would say he did it with ability. Mr. Badger followed him in four set speeches, and Mr. Millard in three. They both amply sustained their ground, but Mr.
Badger"s adroitness and skilful management were peculiarly conspicuous to all present. The way he met the proof texts presented on the opposite side, his critical a.n.a.lysis of a trio of persons in one being, together with the absurdity of the two-nature scheme, made a very convincing impression on the minds of many then present. I should extend this article too far were I to attempt to give specimens of the arguments he used. The debate closed that day with an appointment to renew it one week afterward. At the next meeting a crowded a.s.sembly attended. An able Presbyterian minister was present, as a colleague with Mr. T. in the debate. I think Mr. Badger led off on that day. In his first speech he reviewed the points gained at the previous meeting. He showed just where the discussion then stood and challenged the opposite party to attempt a refutation of the position now occupied by him and his colleague. Mr. T.
and his a.s.sistant did their best. They evinced much ability and preparation for the contest. But Mr. Badger, in particular, was upon them in every position they took and every seeming fastness to which they fled. The debate continued from ten in the morning, with but a brief recess, till nearly sunset; the four engaged in it taking nearly equal parts. When about to close for the day Mr. Badger proposed that if the opposite party desired it, the debate could be continued another day. Mr. T. declined, as he stated, on account of ill health. Thus this animated discussion closed, and I may say with confidence, it left on the public mind a favorable influence for the Christians."
In a New England paper, he says--
"But what is the most pleasant, is to see the good union that exists, and the steadfastness that appears. There are now between eighty and ninety members in connection with the church, and as yet there has not been to my knowledge but one that has brought any reproach on the cause. Our a.s.semblies have been so large that I have preached in a grove the greatest part of the summer past, but we have made a beginning in constructing a meeting-house, and the prospect is that we shall soon have better conveniences. In West Bloomfield, a town adjoining this, the work has been very glorious. Elder David Millard, who had been a few months in the County, last June, had his mind drawn into that town, and as the way opened he began to preach and to visit the people. He immediately saw the fruits of his labors--was soon joined by Elder E. Sharp, of Conn., who had formerly preached in the town. The work has embraced the old and the young, and has been carried on in a remarkably _still_ and solemn manner. Brother Millard has had several debates in public and private, on different subjects; and as the public mind has been much agitated concerning his opinion of _Christ_, he has written a treatise of about 48 pages, 12mo, which is now in press, ent.i.tled "The True Messiah exalted," which I think will be calculated to do good. A few weeks since a church has been planted at Bloomfield, and I think it consists of about thirty members. Prospects are still encouraging."
He now had an able coadjutor in the field, one whose written arguments and oral discourses have long been strong barriers to the advocates of the old Athanasian theology. In December, Mr. Badger visited Canandaigua and preached to the people; the most of the time was devoted to the town of his residence, and in supplying the wants of adjoining places.
Speaking of this year in the retrospect, he says: "One year more of my unprofitable life is gone. In it I have enjoyed myself well, seen much of G.o.d"s goodness, attended many funerals, solemnized many marriages, and at its close am seriously reminded that
""The year rolls round and steals away The breath that first it gave; Whate"er we do, where"er we be, We"re tending to the grave.""
CHAPTER XI.
THOUGHTS AND INCIDENTS OF 1819 AND 1820.
Mr. Badger is now in the twenty-seventh year of his age and the seventh of his ministry, and occupies a position that affords him more leisure for reflection than the activities of his itinerant life had yielded him. Among the subjects that he accepted for the action of his own thought was Universalism, whose pillars and foundations he seemed to have thoroughly examined, as set forth in the systems of that day. His mind was led to this by the circ.u.mstance that his father, for whom his letters and journal only express the kindest filial feeling and reverence, had, after much study and thought, adopted that system as his favorite form of religious belief. The doc.u.ment which contains his views is ent.i.tled "An affectionate Address of a Son to his Father." We offer from this a few extracts, in which the reader can see the candor, cogency and kindness that pervade the whole address, which covers some twenty-three pages of letter-paper, very finely and compactly written.
This is the opening paragraph:
"HONORED AND DEAR FATHER:--With pleasure I once more take my pen to address one for whom I have the most reverential regard, a regard greater than I cherish for any person on earth; one who has with hopeful anxiety watched over the days of my childhood and vanity, and wept at the follies of my youth. My former letters have given you the state of my affairs and prospects in this pleasant part of the country; also, in my several letters, I have noticed the extensive spread of the Gospel, the increase of light, and the effect of those glorious reformations I have been allowed to witness, the subjects of which are now my choice society; and you cannot imagine the unspeakable joy of your son, while a stranger in a strange land, to learn that his aged father has been entertained and comforted by the contents of his letters on those subjects. Permit me, my dear father, in this short treatise, to make a few remarks on the doctrine which you have for years embraced and vindicated relative to the salvation of all men. If this doctrine is true, it is a pleasant thing; if untrue, it is dangerous to rest on the sand. As I have serious objections against the system, I feel it a duty to lay them before you for your consideration, wishing, if I am in error, to be convinced of it; and I hope that, should you find the doctrine you have esteemed as truth, cries "peace and safety" to those whom sudden destruction awaits, you will be willing to exchange it for that truth which opens to the sinner the worst of his case."
After this kind and gentle introduction, Mr. Badger proceeds to take up the chief arguments which his father had, in other years, employed for the support of the system,--arguments from general reason and from Scripture. He then attempts to show the origin of the system in human causes, and its disagreement with the plain teachings of Revelation, and with the spirit and genius of the Christian experience and life. Such is the plan of his treatise. The period to which these arguments belong, was one in which there was a strong controversial clash of theories, each one of which was undoubtedly a fragmentary and imperfect statement of some essential truth in religion; and as Calvinistic reasoning was then generally in the ascendant, as its bold premises were the main foundation of the plea of its opposite extreme,--the Universalian statement,--the subject seemed to take a fresh interest in the hands of one who approached it from an intermediate region of thinking.
"One of your favorite and powerful arguments in favor of this doctrine is, that in the beginning the soul of man was a part of G.o.d, and therefore cannot be defiled, condemned or punished, as Deity will not sentence a part of himself to misery. All the Scripture I ever heard quoted in favor of this view, is that "G.o.d breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soul," which carries a very different idea from the one you derive from it. It does not say that the soul is a part of G.o.d, or that G.o.d breathed into man a part of himself. It means just this, that G.o.d breathed into man the breath of life, and that, as a result of this, he became a _living, active, intelligent creature_.
"Let us further reason on this subject. Can a part of G.o.d be ignorant of another part of himself? Yet are we not ignorant of what pa.s.ses in the breast of our neighbor? Does not one drop of a fountain possess _all_ the qualities of the fountain from which it was taken? But who will say that mortal man has all the qualities and qualifications of his Maker, G.o.d? If the soul is a part of G.o.d, where lies the propriety of those Scriptures wherein he threatens to punish the sinner? Would he threaten to banish a part of himself from himself forever, or say to a part of himself, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity?"
"The supporters of this theory, arguing on the old Calvinistic, fatal plan, say that "G.o.d foreordains whatsoever comes to pa.s.s;"--a popular and highly esteemed idea, from which I must dissent for the following reasons."
Mr. B. proceeds to urge half a dozen reasons for rejecting these theological premises, alleging, from the authority of scripture revelation, that many things have taken place which the Creator has disapproved of; that the premise a.s.sumed puts the decrees of G.o.d and his commandments into exactly hostile relations to each other; that it destroys the justice of all punishment whatever, unless it is just to punish human beings for doing the highest will in the universe, and for doing what they could not avoid.
"If all creation," says he, "moves in exact accordance with the divine will, I cannot find anything in the world that is sin. Where _all_ is right, there can be no wrong. Sin then is rendered virtue, falsehood is truth, darkness is light, Satan is man"s friend and helper toward the "new heavens" and the eternal bliss. Is it not strange that G.o.d should give laws to machines? For this scheme completely renders men such. He does not announce laws to the trees of the forest. What would we think of the goldsmith who should appoint a day in which morally to judge all his watches according to their works? This doctrine gives as much honor to Satan as it does to Christ, as it makes him as active as he is in the salvation and final happiness of men. It certainly makes him the brother of Christ, for Jesus said, "He that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother;"--as universal foreordination causes the devil to do the will of G.o.d, it presents him as the brother of Jesus Christ. If the two ideas, that the soul is a part of G.o.d, and that G.o.d has foreordained whatsoever comes to pa.s.s, are true, then Universalism is correct; if they are not true, the system must fall, for these are the main pillars which support the fabric, and in my opinion they are as weak in their nature as were the feet of the king"s image in the prophet"s vision, which were "part iron and part clay.""