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ATLNTA IIVERSALIST.
APRIL 6, 1881.
1 F.RMS: Two Hollars Per Annum.
Editor.
D- B. Clay ton.
K. E. Keeld, Jnulor
Editor,
CorrespoiMlinfC EUltors.
KKV. Wm. Hale, Free Hill, Tenu.
T. C. Whstall, Esq., Asheville, N. C.
Correspond**** 8 '
Edward F. Temple, Beaton, Maas.
Rev. J. E. Davesport, Providence.
Specimen Copies.
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terms of subscription
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blood! Parents whipped their chil
dren with raw-hide, and now threaten
to “skin them alive” by this same
rude method of vivisection.
Nothing was more natural than for
gentlemen and ladies to hate each oth
er as hell-deserving, because this was
the outbirth of an idea—the overt ex.
essiou of a principle which went out
into the objective world, like the
smoke of a tar-kiln! If there was
anything bright in the panoramic view
of human existence, it was the lurid
light of hell shining full upon the pic
ture, and the painter did not fail
thereby to heighten the dramatic ef
fect of oil painting on canvas. The
greatest poet was he who could ex
plore the caverned darkness of the
pit in all its labyrinths, in all its se
cret passages to deep, and still deeper
woe, and show millions of damned
ghosts sheeted in flames, treading the
red billows of an ocean of fire !
All beauty went out of life; all
that was hopeful and cheery faded sad-
As friends frequently ask us for our
club rates, we have arranged the fore
going for their information. To re
sponsible parties we will send the pa
per at two dollars a year and let them
pay for it any time during the year;
but at the club rates the money must
accompany the order.
Send by Post Office order, or regis
tered letter at our risk.
Shooting Stars.
BY R. E. N.
A tiling is not true simply because
it is in the Bible; but it is in the Bi
ble because it is true.
Truth is not a geographical fixture,
nor is it confined to metes and bounds.
No fallible church can monopolize the
whole truth and nothing but the truth,
because of the all-pervading sediment
of human imperfection.
Truth is diffusive like the atmos
phere we breathe,—nay, it is omni
present, for “God is Truth,” whose es
sence cannot be bottled up by any
church.
To grow and expand, the mind must
use its wings. One hampered by a
creed, is a bird in a cage.
— you are fenced in. by convention
al agreement to believe and teach cer
tain things forever, you are an ass in
a stable-lot where the grass is scant,
while outside is boundless herbage.
Freedom, with its muniments iu aid
of' mind and heart culture, is a sort of
wealth beside which a cataract of
gems, poured out like Niagara, is
but poverty!
A slavish churchmau, of a broad
brow, is an eagle with clipped wings.
Where all agree, there is no discus
sion—nay, nor vigorous thinking ; the
result is stagnation! Music is the in-
terblending of discord with concord,
God never intended men to be as a
box of soda crackers, square-cnt and
precisely alike.
Freedom is of more consequence
than all the dogmas that have been
strung on a thread like paste diamonds
for people to wear as bracelets—but
they are really—or least sugget the
idea—of hanndcuffs! Pretty labels,
to classify men like bottles of ginger-
pop, severely corked, and kept perpetu
ally on a narrow shelf/
How degrading that is!
Truth vs Superstition.
BY R. E. ».
A principle embodied in the great
lump of degenerate humanity, and
working outwardly into material re
sults, gives its complexion to society
and government far more than super
ficial thinkers apprehend.
The idea of endless torture, inflicted
by an infinitely good and merciful
God, was a seed planted in the dark
ages, which has turned loose more mis
chief among mankind than Pandoras
box. Like a universal fog, it dark
ened the destinies of all who had to
accept life inside of the little horizon
where the smoke of hell was so dense
and the smell of brimstone so intoller-
able that no breath of satisfaction wag
drawn except by priests, who of course
fattened on the miseries of mankind.
A cruel God makes a cruel people,
by the reflex power of an idea. Ac
cordingly we see the horrors of tyran
ny, in government, in society, and in
families. Criminals were stretched
upon the rack until the eyeballs
bursted out of their sockets! Men
hated and killed each other by the
wholesale. The crowning glory was
to go to war and wade knee-deep in
Iy as the eyes we love when quenched
1 *n death. Children, catching the in
fection, became listless and unplayftd,
and finally died of a disease for which
physicians have no name. Tender,
sensitive maidens faded out of exist
ence as bright exotic flowers visited by
killing frost It was thought harmful
to laugh, to sing jolly songs, to play
the fiddle and dance, or to do any
thing whasoever towards mitigating
the sadness of life—as if there would
not be suffering enough when all got
to hell! The anchrorites tortured
themselves with iron girdles, and with
peas in their shoes. The spiritually
dyspeptic, by a habit of pepetual in
trospection, grew to be hypocondriacol
looking every minute for the devil to
fly sway with him. We have seen
several good persons in our day who
beleived themselves reprobates guilty
of “the unpardonable sin.” One said
he knew the day and the hour when
the “Spirit of God”—whatever that
may mean —took wing and flew away
—which way it went we can t say !
Thus this poor planet of ours, this
little atom in God’s infinitude of space
—has hung pendent in the blackest
clouds, for centuries, the most misera
ble in the grand processiou of worlds,
because the most priest-ridden.
’ "It'Is no marvel that this giuftETWitir
its circumference of 25000 miles, has
been belted by misery ; for who, with
human feeling, could be happy with
this incubus of hell resting, with the
weight of a mountain, upon the great
loving heart of humanity?
Fragments of families were on this and
that side of the dark river which the
dead must cross; and parents with
children in hell, could not be cheerful
—nay, the peril of being
“Hair-hung and breez-shaken”
over a seething gulf of fire had : n it
a shadow of unrest which no stoicism
could dispel. This obtrusive ghost
from the under world was at every
feast, pointing to the terrific judgment
bar when the eternal seperation of
loved ones is to transpire, when the
joy of living is to be supplemented
with the pain of dying—‘‘(tying a
death that never dies! ”
At this banquet all eyes see that
spectre! The strong man’s counte
nance shows but the sullen calmness of
dispair; Mobile the cheek of female
beauty, white as the marble slab in
the cemetery, has the inscription ot
unending sorrow, chiselled there by
pillow of toil worn lalwirers. The little
children, who believed Satan was a
roaring lion turned loose in the earth
by the Good Father, feared to^ncoun-
ter him on the highway. The servant
boy, fearing to pamper the fCih, re.
fused his cake and ale, and did pen
ance with his bare feet on the cold
pavement through the long, long night
when daylight seemed never eoming.
Saint Cathrerine had seen tie Devil
who left a stench behind lira like
unto asefetida, with a couple 91 pole
cats thrown in!
Luther also saw Santan, aid threw
his inkstand at him!—though the
hymn-book says pointedly—
“Old Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon hi< knees.”
1 here was a vast amount of igno
rance in those days ; but as. “Igno
rance is tho mother of superstition,”
the priesthood were far from pushing
the matter of education with anything
like intemperate zeal!
Hie poor ones, in the chipo-gaug ot
this vassalage, went to their, masters
for absolution, just as when
Love, the night shall turn to day.
When’Dr. Chapin and compeers threw
themselves rgainst the dark doors of
gloom, they did not obliterate the suf
fering beyond, but with their hands
they wiped from the door those terri
ble : “All hope abandon, ye who en
ter here.”
In the latter part of his eloquent
sermon he says: “The Universalist
controversy has made necessary a res
statement of the doctrine of restitu
tion throughout the Church. The
case has been brought into court and
re-tried. As a rosult of Dr. Chapin
and his friend’s work, we see the
movement spread in churches of all
denominations, honest and intelligent
members of which have so far modi
fied their belief that they now profess
the doctrine of limited punishment, or
mortality.
“I do not personally believe that
the Universalist dogma of restoration
will replace the doctrine of hell. The
truth that “God is Love,” must not
be construed into “God is weakness.”
bodily ailments they went toHlil Bias
Dr. Sangrady to be blooded copiously
and so successful was this practice that
keen.eyed, avaricious hearse-drivers
never failed to whip up their horse:
unmercifully in following the doctors,
who spared neither lash nor spur
when sent for by their patients. It
was hard tell which did 'the most
good, the doctors or the priests; tho’
perhaps the former, since death was
preferable to life in such an age—even
though some sort of hell awaited the
dying they at least escaped from the
clutches of the priests!
The human mind spins a great deal
of yarn, and sometimes gets entangled
in it; so that it is hard to unwind
it, or otherwise dispose of it.
Iu the human fountain of truth
there is a sediment, of mud at the bot
tom, and when that is stirred up, the
stream of thought is far from being
limpid. It is the business of priests
as to keep men’s minds stirred up, so
to obscure the truth. Men are taught
that Reason is a child of ^e. Devil
that Common Senee is a V^'help of Sin
—that thinking in a natural way
saorilege!
Men in the mud of superstition are
Jike-tadpotes ia-puddLs tr water
poljiwogs that must be jumping frogs
on dry land ere their tails are worn
off smoothly; so some men must be
evolved by time and cultuie until they
can tell a pikestaff from a hand-saw,
and then they need not believe Jeho
vah can be crowded inte a wafer, or
that He was once a little boy in this
miserable world.
To be continued.
4th- -Looking at, sin--he re-am inhere.--we see
the pittiless hand that might have
wiped the tears from off all faces!
The youDg mother looked at her
sweet babe that slept on its pillow of
stainless white, an animated snowflake
which had drifted down to her thro’
the blue aisles of the sky, a precious
gift from God ; and as she gazed long
and wistfully at the unspoken word of
“mother” on the rosebud lips, she be
thought her of the perils that awaited
it, and her eyes became luminous with
some dread thought which she named
not to herself nor would trust to an-
self, nor would entrust to another!
Meantime the priests, who were the
bondholders of the Government, were
cutting it fat in the sale of indulgen
ces, for there was much redundent pi
ety for sale, and to luxuriate in sin*
one only had to pay by the schedule of
prices offixed thereto.
The whole business of life was re
duced to the single thing of escaping
hell. At home or abroad this om
nipresent vulture that fed on the hu
man heart. It was Poe’s raven which
sat in the cottages of the poor—the
dark ominous bird that banished joy
from all human habitations!
Even sleep was banished from the
A Tribute to l>r. Chapin.
Extracts from Rev. R. Heber Xeiv*
ton’s Tribute- to the memory atul charac
ter of Rex. E. H. Chapin, P. p.
Mr. Newton is rector of the Authon
Memorial Ptot. Episcopal church, pity
of New York.
“Dr. Chapin's place belongs in a
special branch of Christianity, which
years ago was in bad repute among
Christians in general. To be under
the ban of society was not a light
thing for a man of his feelings ; yet
nothing could could induce him to de
ny his honest convictions. He was a
true representative ot that church
whose doctrine is, “God is Love.”
All the power of his eloquence was de
voted to making this a greal truth and
to letting man see that, through the
gate of death, the sublime light of
hope is shining.
It is hard for us to realize the state
of things before suoh brave men as
Dr. Chapin began their work. Chris
tianity had been dominated by Calvin
ism, a system which preached that
God had chosen a part of mankind
for salvation, and infallibly secured
their redemption, leaving the other
portion to their unhappy fate.”
Then, after speaking of the protest
against Catholocism as having come in
the shape of Unitarianism, and of the
extremes, indefensible in hjs opinion,
but nevertheless a natural reaction to
which both were led as over and
against the doctrine of eternal retri
bution.”
Dr. Newton goes on to say; “But
men saw that in thisgreat movement
there was a new gospel, and of those
who cast themselves into it, none ex
ercised a better influence than Dr.
Chapin. Universalism has since been
steadily rising. It affirms that all pun
ishment is educational and disciplin
ary. It believes that because God is
how it blinds the soul and perpetuates
itself; so I cannot believe that the
dogma of Universalism will ultimately
prevail. But I nevertheless honor
these men because, like the Unitari
ans, they will not make a new “ism,”
but will only leaven the old.”
And these are Dr. Newton’s closing
words: “To the memory of that
brave and ncble man, Dr. Chapin, let
me pay my simple and heart-lelt trib
ute of admiration and gratitude. You
and I owe it to him, that the terrible
anguish is lifted from us when a dear
one departs this life. We are indebt
ed to him, that to-day, when seduced
by the temptations of the world, when
urged to disbelieve in a revengeful
God, our faith remains strong, be
cause we know that “God is Love!”
By request of a good brother, we re
mind the reader of the patent (act that
three fourtha of Christendom are (Spirit
ualists or Universalists.—r, e. n.
'UUW—iwjulbi 1,1.. —
Doctrine at Work.
fExiract Boston Leader.]
No doctrine can long hold its posi
tion as au object of general inlerest,
if it has no other claim to sympathy
than a purely argumentative basis.—
Proofs that a particular doctine is true
-may-be unamwersbjf; ami they -om-
pel assent; but if no further reason
can be produced why people should
manifest a devotion to such doctrine,
its hold on tb,e human heart will not
be such as to evoke enthusiasm.
The 5th of Romans, and the 15th of
of 1st Cor., and the sequences of the
Divine Fatherhood, will ever hold
firm the essentials of Universalist (ioc-
taind, But if very different matter
should fail to supplement those proofs,
Universalism could not have its plate
in the religions of the world.
Though spoken by God arid revealed
by angels, doctrine must show itself in
life, else its charm will dissolve while
it takes its place nmoqg things de
fault,
God is our loving Father ; therefore
we are to love and adore Him.
All men are brethren ; ‘therefore we
are to love and do good to them.
The church that fails in this “there
fore” has no right to a place among
men. If any of us are so favored that
it is in our power to lift up our hum
bier brethren, the doctrine that distin
guishes us must prove its fitness for
that work.
The beauty of Universalism is not
exclusively in 1st. Cor., but in the
truth that it reveals a God whom it is
a joy to worship, and a relationship
among men that impels us to recog
nise and to honor and to bless the
humblest of our fellows.
J. Hyatt Smith.
This revereued gentleman, recently
elected to Congress, gave a lecture at
his church, entitled, “M life as a Con
gressman and Clergyman; a Sermon
of Explanation, before my departure
for Washington.”
He said : “The Church will have a
much broader faith than is now held
by what is called “ The Orthodox
Church.” I do believe that in the
purpose of the God who sem, his Son
to save sinners by the efficiency of the
sacrifice of that Son, every soul God
ever made will ultimately come to a
knowledge of the truth.
I can no longer reconcile myself to
the belief that God sent His Son as a
sacrifice for the race and made s fail
ure. I believe in restitution ; though
I know not wliat process there will be
be in the other world ; but that only 1
out of every 1800 souls can he saved,
and the other 1700 damned to all
eternity, is something I cannot be
lieve. I believe that, ultimately, ev
ery soul will find salvation, and there
fore I won httffrawsEFH" eh ti ruhims
on that belief. It would not necessa
rily be a Universalist church. Gall it
a Christ Church - a church as broad
as the love of God, and one that would
receive into its fold all true workers
for Jesus Christ.
I have now outlined my new life as
Congressman and as a clergyman. I
desire to serve my country aud my
as far as my God will allow me.”
God,
Btgk The following paragraph is in
serted at request of an esteemed friend
who is, we think, a free-thinker :
“1 doubt very much whether men
of science are not more truly on their
knees than men of superstition in our
days. Never did such candor, such
confessions of baffled insight, such a
sense of inscrutable wisdom and pow
er, such a feeling of awe aud depend
ence, seem to prevail in science as
now, when so many theologians are
raising their eyebrows and seeking to
alarm the world at what they call the
Atheism of the most truth-loving, ear
nest and noble men. I would sooner
have the skepticism—reverent and
fearless of these solemn aud awful
inquisitors in the inner shrines of na
ture, than the faith of self-bandaged
priests whoja^thiukijig to %ht the
way to heaven with caudles on the
mid-day altar, or to keep faith in God
alive only by preessions in vestments
of purple and gold.”—Bellows,
thus Science bellows when gored bv
the Burnish hull turned loose from the
aitar of candles!
FINEST of POETRY
My Darling Boy.
L. C. MARVIN.
How could I tread the hallowed plain
Where God and Christ and angels are •
Or how coul heaven to me be gun.
Unitss the lad were with me there?
If not, in death I would have staid
Within the shroud which dead men wear,
Or living, seek the willow’s shade,
And hang my harp forever there.
Or what avails the victor's crown,
Or bright robes which angels wear
Unless the lad be all my own ’
Willi me the bliss of heaven to ’share ?
How could 1 join that wondrous throng
Ul,l .hro“ ed Cr °* n6 »“ d
And know his voice shall but prolong
Hell’s dolorous, deep and c readful groans?
As Gog and Magog warred of old,
Aud from the place ia wrath we’re driven
So would I storm its mighti est hold
Aud war’s loud cla
I’d join some rebel angel throng, *
And power Omnipotent defy! —
The shout of war should be my son-
To s.und rebellion thio’ the air. '
. I d te " r t the l T l,e * ip every fold.
~ Aud wortnless cfay, ’**•'
I d scorn the brightest crown of gold.
Aud throw the paltry thing awav.
I’ardown thro’ space where Satan fell,
Oa strong immortal wiugs I’d fly,
And share the deepes, darkest hell,
Or bring the lad with me on high.
Yes, dearest boy, thy every woe,
On earth ’tis given me to share ;
May God no other world bestow
Unless that boon be granted there.
Such my request. Let Wen record,
And angels this bright record keep
And God to me naught el-e all ird
Save worms and shroud and death’s long
supern-
Your Payer.
Coirespondent Gospd Banner.
The daily newspaper is one of the
seven wonders of the world of modern
times. The daily paper, however,
deals only with the surlace occurren
ces of the world. In can be depend
ed on, in the main, for only
cial knowledge.
The partisan dailies are one-sided,
and their exclusive readers are sure to
be misled.
I have a better opinion of the week
ly paper, and especially of the relig
ious weekly. Whatever its sectarian
bias, it must needs discuss subjects
which cannot lie comprehended in a
short paragraph.
There is scarcely any reading, save
that of the Bible itself, which J, can
more heartily commend, as both inteL
lectuually and religiously helpful, than
he newspaper of your own church.
Cotton Exposition.
I he World’s convocation in the citv
of Atlanta, on the 15th day of Octo
ber next, will lie a grand affair, and as
teaching our local interests, ot tre
mendous importance. More than a
mil ion of strangers, hailing lrom ev
ery point of the the compass and ren-
resenting every civilized nationally
under the sun, will be here. For the
moment Atlanta will be the local point
to which all eyes will be turned from
the ends ot the earth. Then will come
the impetus which is to make this city,
ultimately, the largest and most splen
did metropolis iu the South.
I lie Exposition will be of huge pro
portions. It is said that there will be,
on exhibition, two miles of machinery
when arranged tor sight seers.
Letters are coming here daily from
England, France, Germany, Italy,—
even from Australia.
Machinery for the manufacture ot
all sorts of fabrics, from the gossamer
lace to the osuaburgs, will be on exhi
bition.
I wenty acres of ground are to be
divided into half-acre lots and let to
such parties, in the cultivation of cot
ton, as are willing to contend for pre
miums. The best fertilizers, with the
best methods of raising the staple,
will be employed. Cotton—which
clothes the world—will now come to
the front as king, and be crowded (
his throne in Atlanta!
The essence of true nobility is neg
lect of self.
Let the thought of self taint an ac
tion, and its beauty will be gone like
the bioom of a soiled flower.
Any effort at display is a conscious
confession of weakness.
orni
Dates and Facts.
Children should memorize this :
The first Inciter mafojh was made
The first horse raiload was built
1826—7.
Gold was discovered in Califi
in 1848.
Ihe first locomotive in this count
was 111 1829.
1 he first printing press in the Ui
ted States was introduced in 1629.
i he first Almanac was printed
Geo. Von Furbaeh in 1460.
ihe first steam engine on this con
nent wus, bVmght from. IWlanH
17t>3. *
Measure 209 feet on either side, ai
you will have a square acre within 1
inch.
An acre contains 4,840 S qua
yards.
A sqare mile contains 640 acres.
5,280 feet, or 1,760 yar<
hi length.
A lathom is six feet. ,
A league is 3 miles.
There are moments when—whatever
the attitude of the body—the soul is
on its knees.
Yes, but that is very different from
strutttiug about on rhetorical stilts.
S& The Atlanta Republican h
the nail with a good claw-hammer li<
in tiie following crisp style :
Men who cheat the publisher 1
stopping the paper ofter it has run
few months over their subseriptio
and then decline to pay for those k
months, because they know the su
due is too trifling to go to law-
are frauds of the worst kind.”
abo
The Brief Story of a Kansas Horse
[Atchison Champion.]
Dr. Challis was relating the other day
a singular story about what we are ac
customed to call “instinct”—but for
which reason ” would seem more de
scriptive—in a horse. Dr. Challis some
line ago purchased a horse from his
neighbor, in Cnpioma township, Nemaha
county—Mr. Benedict. From the time
of Ins arrival at the Challis place the
horse manifested every symptom of
home-sickness, and although the horse
is ordinarily a social animal, this one
proved an exception. He would leave
the other horses in the large corral and
go apart by himself into a small corral,
where he would stand for hours looking
over the fence toward his former home.
He maintained his position at the fence
till he wore the hair off his breast.
Whenever any member of the Benedict
household came near the horse betrayed
lively signs of recognition. One dav
Mr. Benedict himself passed and the
horse became almost violent in his dem
onstrations, and shortly after was;
missed, and, what was more singular;,
the gate of the inclosure was discovered
to be missing also. The horse was soon
discovered walking up the lane to Mr.
Benedict’s house, and after some search
the gate was found hanging on the limb
of a tree in the woods, at a considerable
height above the ground. The only
reasonable theory is that the horse, in
his determination to follow his former
master, had broken through the gate
and carried it away with him, and had
afterward ingeniously relieved himself
of the incumbrance. This is a true;
story.
“ Mi friend, flow far is it to the next
town?” asked the. pedestrian. “Only
slioost a little ways,” was the evasive re
ply. “ Well, is it four, six, eight, or ten
miles?” “ Yaas, I think it is,” was the
answer.