THE JEW'S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION.
Brother Jew, can you show us the road to salvation, or tell us what to do and believe in order to be saved? "Oh, yes! it is a plain question, and easily answered. You must believe that the Old-Testament Scriptures are the inspired word of God, and believe in its miracles and prophecies, though you are not to interpret or construe any of its prophecies as foretelling the coming and mission of Christ; for, as we wrote them, we of course know exactly what they teach, and how to understand them. And we know most positively that they do not foretell the coming and mission of any such a being as Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah."
"Now, look here, you wicked Jews," exclaim a hundred Christian sects, "you are denying 'the Lord who bought you' and therefore can not be saved." So six millions of Jews are consigned by their Protestant brethren to endless torment,—given over to the buffetings of Satan to all eternity.
Brother Methodist, perhaps you can do something towards settling this vexed and puzzling question, "What must we do and believe in order to be saved?"—"Certainly," exclaims the pious disciple of Wesley. "It is perfectly plain, and easily answered. You must believe in the Bible as the revealed will and word of God, and in Jesus Christ 'the Son and sent of God;' and pour out your souls in prayer and praises to God, and shout 'Glory' to his holy name."—"Stop! stop!" cries out the good, pious, quiet, broad-brimmed Quaker. "You can not be saved in that way. You drown the inward monitor of the Holy Spirit, which must be listened to and obeyed in order to insure salvation. You, by your noisy way of worshiping God, drown the voice of this inward monitor, and consequently hear and heed not its admonitions; thus proving that you know nothing about the true way of worshiping God, or what true religion is. And therefore there is no chance for you to be saved." And thus two millions of Methodists are doomed to eternal woe by their Quaker brethren.
THE BAPTIST'S ANSWER
Brother Baptist, will you give us your opinion, or answer the question, "What shall we do and believe in order to be saved?"
—"Oh, yes! the Bible is so plain upon that subject that no honest reader can misunderstand it. You are to believe in the Bible; believe in Jesus Christ, and live up to his precepts; and believe in, and practically observe, the sacred ordinance of water-baptism,—without which, according to the Bible, it is impossible to reach the kingdom, or inherit life everlasting."—"Stop, stop!" exclaims the drab-cloth Quaker again. "I perceive that the Baptists, as well as the Methodists, are not on the road to salvation. No man or woman can be saved who believes in, and relies upon, the external and carnal rite of water-baptism. It is a reliance of such outward performances that causes millions of ignorant and unconverted heathen to sink to endless ruin every year. They and you are dwelling in the outer court, and practically know nothing about the true religion essential to salvation, and hence can not be saved."
—"Now, look here," exclaims the Campbellite Baptist, "water-baptism is one of the positive ordinances; and the Bible declares that no man or woman can be saved without a compliance with all the ordinances, from the least to the greatest. Therefore there is no chance for you infidel Quakers to get to heaven; but you will, sooner or later, be consigned to the pit 'where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.'" And thus we might pursue the conflicting jargon of answers through all the churches. But we stop confused and confounded amid chaos, confusion, and contradiction. All seems to be wild conjecture and blind guess-work with regard to what we must do and believe in order to be saved. There appears to be no way of learning any thing about the road to salvation by the churches. What is to be done?
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.