3. Conclusion—All will be blessed with eternal life.
About this time, I held an oral discussion in Chambersburg, Fountain county, with a Baptist minister—have forgotten his name. I arrived in due time, but my opponent did not make his appearance. There was a large assembly, in a beautiful grove; and after waiting about one hour, another minister took his place, and the discussion proceeded. He made one speech, and while I was replying the expected man made his appearance. When I was through he proposed, that each of us make one speech, and then close the debate; but I insisted that we should occupy two days according to agreement. He was rather a weak brother; but he knew the book of Revelation from A to izzard, and all the other mysterious portions of the Bible. He could tell how deep was the “bottomless pit,” how large was the “red dragon,” how big was his “head,” “horns,” and “crown;” could give the exact length of his “tail,” that cast to earth the “third part of the stars of heaven.” He was deeply versed in all that kind of lore, but drank shallow draughts of useful knowledge or common sense. But a large number attended the discussion, and I had an excellent opportunity to talk to the people.
CHAPTER X.
Moved to Terre Haute—Lectured in Fort Wayne—A Discussion There—Dr. Thompson—Visited Illinois—Opposition—Discussion in Charleston—Prayed For—Called Infidel—Debate in Green Castle—Conditions of Salvation—God’s Will—All are Spirits—Form of the Teacher Changed—J. Burt and J. H. Jordan, Editors—Oliver Cromwell—Foundation of Character—In Many Places—A Celebration—Meeting in the Rain—Fourth of July Celebration—Debate in Martinsville.
In 1843, I moved the Teacher to Terre Haute, ninety miles down the Wabash river, as I deemed that place a better location than Lafayette for its publication. Also made that town my head-quarters. The country north and west of Lafayette, in those days, was thinly settled, but in the southern portion of the state, there was a denser population, hence a better field in which to circulate the Teacher. I still continued my monthly circuit on both sides of the Wabash river, from Terre Haute to Lafayette, preaching in twenty different places. B. F. Foster was pastor of the Terre Haute society, and a meeting-house was being erected in that place. But soon my services were so urgently demanded west and south of Terre Haute, that I dropped some of the places on the circuit, and supplied the wants of friends elsewhere. I did so with much reluctance, as there was no one to take my place. There were then thirteen societies within that circuit where there was not one when I first visited that region, and one meeting-house was finished, and two being built.
At the earnest solicitation of Dr. Thompson, of Fort Wayne, I visited that place, and delivered a series of discourses. These were the first sermons on the Restitution ever delivered in that town, and they caused much excitement. An Episcopal clergyman proposed debating with me, and we accordingly spent two days in discussion. The assemblies were large, and, I trust, much good was effected. Dr. Thompson was a prominent citizen of Fort Wayne, and an intellectual and christian man. Three years after, while a candidate for Congress, he died, lamented universally where he was known. While on that journey, I preached in Huntington, Wabash, Peru, and several other places, where Universalism was hardly ever heard of before.
I took a trip westward into Illinois, and preached in Elbridge, Paris, Grand View, Brewetts’ Creek, Bloomfield, Oakland, Charleston, Shelbyville, Cold Springs, Marshall and Greenup. In not one of these places had the people heard a discourse in defense of “the restitution of all things,” and, of course, my preaching was a great curiosity. In Paris, a minister lifted up his warning voice, but would not let me occupy his house to reply. He wanted his people to hear his side only. I, however, made an expose of his sermon in the Court-house, to a large assembly, and obtained a large number of subscribers for the Teacher. In Oakland, I found some excellent friends, and subsequently preached there monthly for two years. In Charleston, the meetings stirred up sectarianism to its depths, and a preacher by the name of Tichner dared me to debate with him. Not being badly frightened by his bluster, I agreed to debate with him four days. The first proposition was, “Immortal blessedness is conditional!”
In my first speech in the morning, I showed the result of the position, that immortal blessedness is conditional in the sense Mr. Tichner intended. If he is correct, I remarked, but a small portion of mankind will ever partake of that blessedness. 1. All children, dying in childhood, are lost, as they comply, in this world, with no conditions. 2. Idiots neither believe nor obey the gospel in this world—comply with no conditions here—and will never, consequently, partake of immortal blessedness. 3. All who lived and died before Christ’s advent, complied with no gospel condition, hence all those countless millions are lost—forever lost. 4. Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, since Christ’s day, have all gone down to their graves, without faith in Christ or the gospel, and therefore they are all lost beyond redemption. My friend is a Campbellite, and will not admit that any comply with gospel conditions, who are not immersed in water—down then goes Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, yea, all who are not immersed. If he is correct, only one here and there will be saved, while the mass of mankind, nearly all, will be doomed to suffer immortal agony, for one of his propositions affirms the endless punishment of the unsaved. The gentleman may not believe all this—I cannot say how that is—but I am dealing with his proposition; and it involves the ruin of nearly all mankind. I once heard him deliver a sermon on the conditions of salvation, and in that discourse he did not intimate that one could be saved without immersion. His creed unchurches all but his little sect, and sends all to perdition but his party.
He had another speech to make before adjournment, and he occupied only half of his allotted time, but said not a word about what I had shown to be the result of his proposition. In my reply, I called attention to my former speech, and to the fact that no attempt had been made to refute it, and remarked, that the gentleman must either show that my deductions are false, or abandon his proposition. He must do one or the other. He dared me to debate with him, boasted that he would annihilate my faith the first day before noon, and many of his friends are here to see him do it. We adjourned till two o’clock in the afternoon. Met according to adjournment. Mr. Tichner and his friends were in trouble. They knew not what to do. They saw that I had their man in my grasp, and meant to hold him. I looked on, but said nothing. Finally, one of his brethren came to me, and admitted that I had the advantage of brother Tichner, and wished me to release him. The preacher looked blue; he did not know which way to turn. I pitied him, and proposed that we drop the first proposition, which we were to debate two days, and take up the second proposition—“Will all mankind enjoy immortal blessedness?” He readily consented, and the discussion then went on. Mr. Tichner and his friends were much mortified at the result of the debate. He soon ceased preaching, went to California, and made shipwreck of his faith and character.
I lectured in Greenup; and while there, a preacher prayed the Lord, either to convert the Universalists, or send them to hell, and he did not seem to care which disposition was made of them. A Presbyterian minister in Grand View, delivered a labored sermon against “Infidelity in all its forms,” and, of course, “the grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men,” was one of its worst “forms.” “That phase of infidelity,” said he, “is the best baited of the whole batch. Read not their books, their papers, their Teacher—hear not their preachers, talk not on that subject with any of the believers in that damnable system. Pray for them, but don’t talk with them. It is a heresy hot from hell, and have nothing to do with it.” A Methodist divine in Shelbyville, gave notice that he would, the Lord permitting, preach a sermon against Universalism, the next Sunday. But notwithstanding this opposition, I thanked God and took courage. Many rejoiced in the testimony they heard, and resolved that their lives should correspond with the purity of their new faith.