THE QUAKER'S ANSWER.
Brother Quaker, as you profess to get light from above, perhaps you can throw some light on this dark question. We have not yet heard your answer to this puzzling question. Can you tell us "what to do and believe in order to be saved"? "Most certainly I can," replies the inspired disciple of Fox and Penn. "There can be no mistake about what the Bible teaches on the subject. It is perfectly plain, and easily understood. You are to retire into the quiet, and turn your minds inward with a prayerful desire to know the will of God. In this state of mind, open your Bible and you will learn that you are to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, and become established in the true faith: for the Bible declares that, 'without faith, it is impossible to please God;' that is, faith in his beloved Son, whom he sent into the world to die a propitiatory offering for the sins of man."—"What!" exclaims the Hicksite Quaker, "do you mean to teach the dark and bloody doctrine of the atonement? Do you mean to say that we have to swim through blood to get to 'the house of many mansions'? If you do, you are egregiously mistaken. You are teaching and preaching an old, worn-out, bloody, heathen doctrine that never did and never can save a single soul."—"Now, look here," cries the Orthodox Quaker, "the Bible declares, 'There is no other name given under Heaven whereby men can be saved than that of Jesus Christ;' and you are blaspheming his name by denying the efficacy of his death and sufferings. Therefore your chance for salvation is a hopeless one. You will be lost, and consigned to the pit where there is eternal weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." So away go both the Quaker orders, each booked by the other for eternal perdition. But we most stop, or we will swell this chapter on the war of conflicting creeds to a volume. We have now interrogated all the leading churches relative to what it is necessary to do and believe in order to make a sure thing of salvation, and escape the awful and dreadful fate of endless damnation. And what is the result? No two churches—and it could easily be shown that scarcely any two Christians—agree upon this all-important question, upon which they tell us is hung the salvation of the world. As we have shown, the churches all virtually shut the door of heaven against each other. They are all off the track, all on the road to eternal damnation, according to the testimony of their own witnesses. In the name of God, what is the use or sense, then, of professing to believe in the Bible, or claiming to be Christians, when it is thus demonstrably proved that nobody knows any thing about what the Bible teaches, or what it takes to make a Christian? The picture we have presented is no mere fancy sketch. It is not the work of mere imagination. Hundreds, if not thousands, of quotations could be furnished from the writings of eminent Christian writers of the different churches to show that it is a solemn reality, and that they differ in the way, and as widely, as we have represented. And what is the solemn lesson taught by it? Why, the absolute impossibility of our finding the road to heaven through the churches and it is an entire waste of time, besides being demoralizing to the mind, to attempt it. We are often told by the orthodox Christians, by way of defending their creeds, that the churches are agreed upon all the leading doctrines of the Christian faith.
Well, let us see how this is, and whether they in reality agree upon any thing. We will institute another court of inquiry, and briefly examine and compare the views of the various churches relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian religion.
1. Moral Depravity.—The first in order will be the fall and depravity of man.
Well, brother Calvinist, as you hail from the oldest Protestant Church, we will first solicit your views upon this all-important question. We wish to know whether you believe that man fell from a state of purity, and became morally depraved by the fall. "Oh, yes! we believe he fell so low that he became totally depraved by the fall; so that all men are now the children of wrath, born in sin, and conceived in iniquity, and covered with corruption from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot."
Brother Arminian, what do you think of this view of the matter? Is it Bible doctrine, or not? "No: it is neither according to the Bible, nor according to common sense, but a damnable doctrine, that will send any man's soul to hell who believes in such outrageous doctrine. It is not only untrue, but it is demoralizing to rob man so completely of his moral attributes as to make him feel like a brute, and, consequently, act like one."
2. Man's Restoration.—How is this to be effected, brother Calvinist? "Why, by the outpouring of the blood of Christ, the propitiatory offering." Brother Arminian, is this true Christian doctrine? "No, it is not. Man's salvation is effected in no such a way. Every man is to work out his own salvation. I can prove it by the Bible."
3. Endless Punishment.—Most Protestant sects hold and preach that the wicked, when they die, are consigned to a place or state called "the bottomless pit." (How they are kept in it with the bottom out, the Lord only knows, or perhaps we should say the Devil). But the Universalists affirm that the Bible teaches no such doctrine, but tells us that, "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive;" which proves, as they affirm, the ultimate salvation of all the human race. But the Restorationists prove that there is "a mediate place for souls, which is neither heaven nor hell, but a preliminary and a temporary abode for all souls, good and bad." And there is another class of Christians who find in the same book a still different doctrine, that of the absolute and total destruction of the wicked. They quote Phil. 3-19. Which of these four Christian sects teach the true Bible doctrine? Who can tell?
4. Divinity of Christ.—Most of the Protestant sects tell us that the Bible makes a belief in the supreme divinity of Jesus Christ essential to salvation; but the Parkerite Christian, the Hicksite Christian, and the Unitarian Christian affirm that it does not, that it only makes him a perfect or superior specimen of manhood. Which is right? Who can tell?
5. Polygamy.—Most of the churches once believed that polygamy is a Bible doctrine, and practiced it for eight hundred years. But now they tell us it is not. The Mormons, however, declare that it is sanctioned in the Old Testament, and not condemned in the New, and hence is a Bible doctrine. Which is right? How can we tell?
6. Marriage.—Nearly all the sects hold that marriage is a Bible institution. But the Shakers declare that it is not, and quote Christ's own words to prove it as found in Luke 20-35. "The children of this world marry and are given in marriage; but they who shall be counted worthy of that world, and the resurrection, neither marry nor are given in marriage." They reasonably conclude that those who shall not be considered worthy of being saved (which includes all married people) will not be saved, being cut off by Christ's positive prohibition of marriage. Which is right? Who can tell? The text, however, furnishes a consoling hope for old bachelors and old maids, to say the least.
7. The Sabbath.—Most of the churches keep the first day of the week as the Bible sabbath. But the Seventh-day Baptists affirm that it is not, that the seventh day of the week is the true sabbath of the Lord; while other sects tell us that Christ, both by precept and example, labored to do away with all sabbath observances and all holy days. Which is right? Who can tell?
8. The Godhead.—All Trinitarians teach that there are three persons in the Godhead. The Paulite Christians say there are but two, while the Unitarians affirm there is but one. Which is right? Who can tell?
9. Baptism.—The churches are not agreed with regard to baptism as to what it is, how, and when it should be applied, and on whom it should be administered. Some hold to dipping, some to douching, and some to sprinkling, as the scripture mode of administering it. Which is right? Who can tell?
I should prefer the dipping process. It would do something toward saving the body of the sinner from disease, if not the soul from hell, if frequently applied. He should be baptized once a week, if not once a day, with water and soap. We have now enumerated nearly all the leading doctrines of the Christian faith, and shown that the views of the churches, with respect to them, are about as different as day from night. The important query then arises, What progress have we made towards determining, by the Bible or by the churches, what we must do and believe in order to be saved? Why, about the same progress the boy had made toward reaching the schoolhouse, who, on being interrogated by the teacher as to the cause of his late appearance, replied, "Why, master, you see the road was so slippery, that, when I attempted to take one step forward, I slipped two steps backward."—"How did you manage to get here, then?" asked the teacher. "Why," replied Tom, "I turned round and went the other way." I would suggest that the churches try this policy of turning round, and going the other way. My conviction is they would find the true road to salvation much sooner, and be better prepared to settle the question as to what they should do and believe in order to be saved. It is a question, however, they never can settle. The Bible is a very old book; and, the farther we get away from the age in which it was written, the more difficult it will become to understand it: for human language, and even human thought and the meaning of words, are constantly changing. These circumstances will constantly augment the difficulty of ever understanding any old Bible, or of determining what it teaches or designed to teach with respect to an important doctrine.
10. The Number of Hells.—When the disciple of the Christian faith talks of a hell in the presence of a Hindoo, he tells him he don't know any thing about the matter: that there are no less than three institutions of this kind. But here the Mahomedan rises up, and says, "You, too, are totally ignorant on the subject; for there are no less than seven institutions of this character. One of them is set apart for Christians who believe in the divinity and atonement of Christ." Lieut. Lynch, of the United-States navy, says that a Mahomedan told him, "No man or woman can be saved who believes that God was born of a woman, and then became a malefactor to a human tribunal; for the doctrine is blasphemous." Which of all these opinions is right? Who can tell?
11. Bible Doctrines constantly changing.—The increase of intelligence, and the growth and expansion of the human mind, have the effect to change the views of the people generally and constantly upon almost every subject that occupies the mind; so that the creeds of the churches are constantly changing. Hence the Bible is made to teach widely different doctrines in different ages; and what is Christianity to-day is infidelity to-morrow, and vice versâ. (See Chapter lviii.) And so thorough is the change wrought upon the meaning or interpretation of nearly all the important texts in "God's perfect revelation," that it virtually makes a new Bible for each generation. I will present some proofs and illustrations of this statement by comparing the doctrine of the churches of the last century with those of the present. In the days of Jonathan Edwards, a hell, constituted of a lake of fire and brimstone, was preached in nearly all the Christian churches; also the doctrine of infant damnation, when the Methodists sang that beautiful and charming hymn,—
"For hell is crammed
With infants damned,
Without a day of grace;"
also the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election and reprobation, the doctrine of purgatory, the doctrine of Christ's descent into hell, &c. All these and other similar doctrines were preached in nearly every pulpit nearly every sabbath; and the preacher who would have neglected to preach these doctrines would have been denounced as on the road to hell. But now the clergyman who should attempt to preach these old Calvinistic tenets would be denounced as "an old fogy." Hence the important query arises, When were the churches preaching Bible doctrine, then or now? Who can tell? Such changes are unceasingly going on. Important changes are sometimes made in the popular creed in a few years' time, as we will cite a case to prove. Just before the last war the peace doctrine was becoming quite popular in nearly all the churches, and sermons were often preached from such texts as the following: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more." But, when the war broke out, new texts were hunted up, and the preaching all ran in the opposite direction. "Cursed be he who holseth back his sword from blood" (Jer. xlviii. 10); "He who hath not a sword, let him sell his coat, and buy one,"—then constituted the texts for a sound sermon. Now it is evident that a book which thus teaches opposite doctrines virtually teaches nothing. Its moral force is destroyed. If a man wants to perform a certain act to-day, and an act of an opposite character to-morrow, and can find a warrant for both in the Bible, then it is evident the Bible can have no effect whatever towards changing his course of life. When every moral duty is both commanded and countermanded, and every crime both sanctioned and condemned, as appears to be the case with the Christian Bible, then it is evident that a man with the Bible would act exactly as the man without the Bible; for whatever he may naturally feel inclined to do, or whatever he wants to do, he finds Bible authority for. Hence it is evident the Bible can't change his conduct in the least; for it merely tells him to do what he wishes to do, and had made up his mind to do. I will prove this position by citing several cases for illustration. We will suppose a man has become convinced by observation, or his own experience, that it is wrong to drink intoxicating liquors, and wants Bible authority for preaching temperance. He can find it by turning to Isa. v. 22: "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine." But a friend of his, a member of the same church, living in the city, where there is great demand for intoxicating beverages, wants to make some money by selling it. He finds the authority for that act also in Deut. xiv. 26: "Thou shalt spend thy money for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul lusteth after." Another Christian becomes very angry, and filled with the spirit of a murderer towards a neighbor, and concludes to kill him. He finds Bible authority for it in the text, "Go ye out and slay every man his companion, every man his brother, and every man his neighbor" (Exod. xxxii. 27). Another pious Christian has become convinced, by "the logic of history," that all war and fighting is wrong, and hence concludes to preach the doctrine of peace. He finds Bible authority for that in the Decalogue: "Thou shalt not kill." Another devout Christian, whose common sense has taught him that it is wrong for one human being to enslave another, wants Bible authority against the practice. He finds it in the text, "Thou shalt proclaim liberty through all the land," &c. Another godly saint, living in a slave-holding country, and being both a tyrant and a mammon worshiper, wants Bible authority for trafficking in the blood and bones of his fellow-beings. He finds it in Lev. xxv. 45: "Of the heathen round about you shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids, and they shall be your possession for ever;" so he knows it is all right. And thus this exposition might be continued so as to show that there is no crime, no sin, no vice, and no wicked deed but that is both sanctioned and condemned by "God's Holy Word," and no moral duty that is not both commanded and countermanded; thus proving it to be absolutely impossible to follow it as a guide without being led into the commission of every species of sin, crime, and abomination, as well as prompted to the practice of virtue. Every person who has not made shipwreck of common sense must see at once that it is utterly impossible to learn any thing about what is right and what is wrong, what is sin and wickedness, and what is virtue, what is morality and what is immorality, or what he should approve, and what condemn, what he should do and what leave undone, or, finally, any thing about the duties of life or the rules and principles of morality, by such a book. What can such a book, then, be worth, either in the cause of religion or morality? Where, oh! where is the common sense of Christendom? It is wonderful to what extent rationality and good sense have been banished from the human mind in all Bible countries by a false and perverted education. It can not be wondered at that we have so many antagonistic churches with innumerable conflicting creeds, when we examine and learn something about the endless contradictions and confusion of the teachings of the book on which they are founded.