WHENEVER an orthodox editor attacks an unbeliever, look out for
kindness, charity and love.
The gentle editor of the _Christian Advocate_ charges me with having
written three "gigantic falsehoods," and he points them out as follows:
_First_--"Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy? but with
a message of eternal grief."
_Second_--"It [Christianity] has filled the future with fear and flame,
and made God the keeper of an eternal penitentiary, destined to be the
home of nearly all the sons of men."
_Third_--"Not satisfied with that, it [Christianity] has deprived God of
the pardoning power."
Now, let us take up these "gigantic falsehoods" in their order and see
whether they are in accord with the New Testament or not--whether they
are supported by the creed of the Methodist Church.
I insist that Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy, but
with a message of eternal grief.
According to the orthodox creeds, Christianity came with the tidings
that the human race was totally depraved, and that all men were in a
lost condition, and that all who rejected or failed to believe the new
religion, would be tormented in eternal fire.