I HAVE not time to speak of the Baptists,--that Jeremy Taylor said
were as much to be rooted out as anything that is the greatest pest and
nuisance on the earth. He hated the Baptists because they represented,
in some little degree, the liberty of thought. Nor have I time to speak
of the Quakers, the best of all, and abused by all.
I cannot forget that John Fox, in the year of grace 1640, was put in
the pillory and whipped from town to town, scarred, put in a dungeon,
beaten, trampled upon, and what for? Simply because he preached the
doctrine: "Thou shalt not resist evil with evil." "Thou shalt love thy
enemies."
Think of what the church must have been that day to scar the flesh of
that loving man! Just think of it! I say I have not time to speak of all
these sects--the varieties of Presbyterians and Campbellites. There are
hundreds and hundreds of these sects, all founded upon this creed that I
read, differing simply in degree.
Ah! but they say to me: You are fighting something that is dead. Nobody
believes this now. The preachers do not believe what they preach in the
pulpit. The people in the pews do not believe what they hear preached.
And they say to me: You are fighting something that is dead. This is all
a form, we do not believe a solitary creed in the world. We sign them
and swear that we believe them, but we do not. And none of us do. And
all the ministers, they say in private, admit that they do not believe
it, not quite. I do not know whether this is so or not. I take it
that they believe what they preach. I take it that when they meet and
solemnly agree to a creed, they are honest and really believe in that
creed. But let us see if I am waging a war against the ideas of the
dead. Let us see if I am simply storming a cemetery.
The Evangelical Alliance, made up of all orthodox denominations of the
world, met only a few years ago, and here is their creed: They believe
in the divine inspiration, authority and sufficiency of the holy
Scriptures; the right and duty of private judgment in the interpretation
of the holy Scriptures, but if you interpret wrong you are damned.
They believe in the unity of the godhead and the Trinity of the persons
therein. They believe in the utter depravity of human nature. There can
be no more infamous doctrine than that. They look upon a little child as
a lump of depravity. I look upon it as a bud of humanity, that will, in
the air and light of love and joy, blossom into rich and glorious life.
Total depravity of human nature! Here is a woman whose husband has been
lost at sea; the news comes that he has been drowned by the ever-hungry
waves, and she waits. There is something in her heart that tells her he
is alive. And she waits. And years afterward as she looks down toward
the little gate she sees him; he has been given back by the sea, and she
rushes to his arms, and covers his face with kisses and with tears. And
if that infamous doctrine is true every tear is a crime, and every kiss
a blasphemy. It will not do. According to that doctrine, if a man steals
and repents, and takes back the property, the repentance and the taking
back of the property are two other crimes. It is an infamy. What else
do they believe? "The justification of a sinner by faith alone," without
works--just faith. Believing something that you do not understand. Of
course God can not afford to reward a man for believing anything that
is reasonable. God rewards only for believing something that is
unreasonable. If you believe something that is improbable and
unreasonable, you are a Christian; but if you believe something that you
know is not so, then,--you are a saint.
They believe in the eternal blessedness of the righteous, and in the
eternal punishment of the wicked.
Tidings of great joy! They are so good that they will not associate with
Universalists. They will not associate with Unitarians; they will not
associate with scientists; they will only associate with those who
believe that God so loved the world that he made up his mind to damn the
most of us.
The Evangelical Alliance reiterates the absurdities of the Dark
Ages--repeats the five points of Calvin--replenishes the fires of
hell--certifies to the mistakes and miracles of the Bible--maligns the
human race, and kneels to a god who accepted the agony of the innocent
as an atonement for the guilty.