26. Hear Mr. Campbell again: “The converts made to Christ, by the apostles, were taught to consider themselves pardoned, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, saved.” (page 187.) He then devotes several pages to show that the immersed only are in this condition, or state. Only those who submit to the act, as he terms it, of immersion, are in this new and changed condition, and yet the chief of the apostles tells the world, he was not sent to baptize; that is, was not sent to do the act which alone can put men into a saved state or condition.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Discussion in Pontiac—The Apostle’s Faith—His Argument in Romans—Extensive Traveling—In Kansas and Missouri—Price’s Raid—In Ohio and Indiana—Dark Night and Walk in Toledo—Conversation on Destructionism—The Victory—The Death—President Lincoln—Debate in Milford, Ohio—The Restitution an old Doctrine—The Sentiment Wide Spread—At Work in Iowa—Laborers There—Murderers Saved and the Murdered Lost—Intellectual and Moral Growth—What Man Was—What He is to Be—The Victory—Spiritualism—Immoral Preaching—Saved Without Repentance—Preaching a Means of Salvation—A Methodist Minister Believes—The Suicide.
In the spring of 1861, I resolved to move to Chicago, and publish the Magazine, in that city. The war was still raging, and I was apprehensive it would linger several years longer. I could do nothing in Missouri, and most of my subscribers were nearer Chicago than St. Louis. Accordingly, in May of said year, we bid adieu to the city which had been our home for many years, and took up our abode in the “Garden City” of the West. I had been there but once since 1840, and what a change had taken place! Its population at the present time, is about two hundred thousand, but in 1840 it did not number more than six thousand inhabitants. And it will doubtless continue to make rapid strides in its onward march. Its lake navigation almost connecting it with the Atlantic ocean; its railroads extending in all directions through the most productive agricultural region of the world, must concentrate immense wealth and business in Chicago.
Our denomination has two church edifices in Chicago, and two large societies. Dr. W. H. Ryder is pastor of the first society, and T. E. St. John of the second. Till recently, J. H. Tuttle had charge of the second society. There is also a denominational paper there—The New Covenant—published by D. P. Livermore. It has, I understand, an extensive circulation.
There are far more of the liberal faith in this northern region than as far south as St. Louis. A large portion of the people are from the Eastern States, and they brought with them rational views of the Bible and religion. We have meeting-houses and societies all over this northern section, also ministers at work instructing the people, and uniting and concentrating their efforts.
Soon after moving to Chicago, I had an oral discussion in Pontiac, Ill., with Elder Brooks, on Endless Misery and Universal Salvation. In one of my speeches, I remarked:
The apostle Paul was certainly a believer in the salvation of all men. Some of his statements of this doctrine are remarkably lucid, comprehensive, and weighty. Take, for instance, the fifth chapter to the Romans.
1. In the eighteenth verse he says: “Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” What is this “free gift” to all men? Answer: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life.” Rom. vi. 23. Eternal life, then, is given, made sure, to all men. Not to one here and there; to this sect or that sect; this nation or that nation; but to ALL MEN. Let this be remembered.
2. In the next verse of said chapter, he continues: “For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” By “many” here he means the same as by “all men,” in the preceding verse, the terms being varied to avoid tautology. Parkhurst, in his Greek Lexicon says, “The word many in this verse, signifies the many; that is, the mass, the multitude; the whole bulk of mankind.” Dr. Macknight, a Presbyterian critic, writes, “For as the word many in the first part of the verse, does not mean some part of mankind only, but all mankind, from first to last, who without exception are constituted sinners; so the many, in the latter part of the verse, who are said to be constituted righteous through the obedience of Christ, must mean all mankind, from the beginning to the end of the world, without exception.” The statement of the apostle is this—all mankind are sinners, and all mankind shall be righteous. Can universal salvation be expressed in clearer terms?