THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES' ANSWER TO THE QUESTION.
And now, brethren of the Christian faith, we will listen with attention to your answer to the important question, "What shall we do and believe in order to be saved?" But Christian sects are so numerous, and their views so conflicting, we can only find room for the answers of a few of the leading churches.
THE CATHOLIC'S ANSWER.
Well, brother Roman Catholic, as you represent the oldest Christian denomination in existence, we will first hear from your Church in answer to this great question, "What shall we do and believe in order to be saved?"—"Well, the question is easily answered. You must believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God; that Jesus Christ is the son of God; and that St. Peter, succeeded by the Pope, is his vicegerent on the earth. You must also worship, or at least believe in the divinity of, the Father, son, and Holy Ghost, and the Virgin Mary; and adhere to the various rites and ceremonies of the Church."
THE GREEK CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER.
Well, brother disciple of the Greek Church, "what shall we do and believe in order to be saved?" What do you think of the Roman Catholic's answer? Is it correct? "No, indeed: far from it. It is an insult to God the Father and God the Son both to put either St. Peter or the Pope at the head of the Church. That is the office and mission of Jesus Christ the Savior; and he will never save you while you believe such blasphemous doctrine." Away then goes the old mother-church, with her hundred and fifty millions of souls, down into the bottomless pit, being ruled out of heaven by the Greek Church; that is, doomed to eternal perdition, according to the testimony of the Greek Church.
THE PRESBYTERIAN'S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION.
Well, brother of the Presbyterian order, we will now listen to your answer to the great question, "What shall we do and believe in order to be saved?" How about the Greek Christian's answer to the question? Is it right? Does he hold the true doctrine, or not? "No: very far from it, indeed. Like the Roman Christian, he believes in the divinity of the Virgin Mary, and consequently he is an idolater and no idolater can be admitted into the kingdom of 'Heaven." So away goes the old Greek Church, with her seventy million disciples, down into the world of endless woe, if the testimony of our Presbyterian brother is to be relied upon. And thus two-thirds of all Christendom, comprising the disciples of the Romish Church and the Greek Church, are doomed to an endless hell, according to their own witnesses.
THE UNITARIAN CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER.
Our Unitarian brother will now please come forward, and tell us "what we must do and believe in order to be saved." Do you indorse any of the answers already obtained, or agree with any of the churches which have been interrogated upon this subject, or not? "No: very far from it." What! you don't dissent from the views of the Presbyterian Church upon this question, do you? "Yes, I do: for they worship 'the man Christ Jesus' (as Paul truly calls him), and, being but a man, they are idolaters (like the Roman and Greek Christians) for worshiping him as a God, and therefore cannot be saved, according to the Bible. He was born as a man; he lived as a man; he ate as a man; he walked as a man; he talked as a man; he slept as a man, and finally died as a man. And he calls himself 'the son of man' more than forty times, which would make him a man. For these and various other reasons we believe he could not have been a God, but only a man; and therefore those who worship him as a God are guilty of idolatry,—the most heinous sin a man can commit, according to the Bible. And hence they can not possibly be saved, if the Bible teaches truly." Away then goes four hundred Protestant sects to the regions of eternal torment, if the testimony of Christian witnesses is to be believed and accepted in the case.