THE SALVATIONISTS.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4711, 12 February 1884, Page 2

THE SALVATIONISTS.

(To the Editor gf the Evening Star.) - Sik, —If it would not be considered. sacrilege I should like to make a few remarks upon what is now going on around us. We appear to be right in the midst of a gale of- religious excitement, and when people pre very much excited they cannot see things as they really are; they are unable to think. This is an age in which we judge things by results : when we want to know if anything succeedswe ask for the result, and "by that we judge of its success. The people engage! in this stir around us ought ti be reminded that wicked people can go to meetings, sing hymns, go to the penitent form and. ■ pray and believe in Christ,.depend upon his merits and right, ousness, and be baptise d. This is not satisfactory. But if it ends in making pe Dple more sober, more truthful, more kind, and more liberal—makes bjd fathers, bad mothers, bad brothers and sisters goci—this result would always tell well with the outside public. It is not the leaye-vand blossoms they want, but the fruit. If there pre only a few grains of coin amidst bushels of chaff,-that would be tomethiog; if people were made better we could put up -. with the noise and clatter. I know a grrjt de.il ?_m bo said for and against thece movements, but there is a certain amount of bigotry, intolerance, and un» charitableness that cannot be separated from it. . If they truly belieTe ; that this * , is the only way to Hevren, and thatno .;" one is converted but those" who get this r Sslv-tion by going up to the penitent form, then the gre-t mass of the.people are doomed to damnation, for not one in a thousand goes through this process. Then, if people cab get salvation in this way, it doe 1? away with the nc'od o? wording out our salvation by struggling hard and 16 eg to conquer self and overcame sin and wrong doing. Christ did not appear to know of this plan when he was a^ked, what people hrd to do to go. fa v Heaven. He said, "Keep the command*, "• merits." What a strangely heterodox answer. He should have said, "The' tvay to fir iven wfs by believing, not by doing"; that doing is very Pharisaical |' and dangerous. The time is coming when '■-*- children will be; brtd right, born,right^-.?----and treined right, and then they will not {I need to be born again. It is evident that Christ did not think that all needed t/be" converted when He said, " The f wholes! need not a physician, but those that are sick." 'He~ knew that all were not Bick.rrn He also said that He did cot come to call- ■■ the righteous to repentance, but sinners ; those who were right He did not wish to interfere with, His mission being to raise the fal!en, and to seek alter those lost. I do not object to emotions or excitement when they are rightly guid; d by the intellect. The heart is emblematical of the affections, and the heart of the intellect. It is always necassary to keep th'ngs right for the head to guide the heart. Nothing is ever v well done when dons under great excitement, and if anything in the world require? aW, deserves cilm and deliberate thought it is , religion, and if this be wanting the' Whole , thing is brought into ridicule and con- <*, tempt by the thoughti"ul.—l am, &c, „ . . J. HOBN.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.)" ": Sir,—A due sense of dignity. alone should dissuade all true religionists fcom ever countenancing the blasphemous performances of the mountebank crow who ' are holding forth at Lt. George's Hall. With them. Scripture is a mere by-word; Holy-writ is'made a matter of slang-;-the.. Gospel is wriggled into comic sbng'tanei, with doggrel meter; the loftiest thoughts, regarding things divine, Tree made a mere i burlesque of; and all that should be pure ; and holy, is dragged in the mire. This.. might be tolerated in a community blinded . .-' by ignorance, smother-d by prejudice, or,' with one craving for sensation ; but otherwise it cannot be accounted for. Un'ess it be put down to curiosity, a spirit of fun, or something else to be unaccoanted for, it would seem almost impossible to understand why the large number of persona countenance by their presenca -*. the , assemblages which gather at Salvation ; Army meetings. Doubtless the sinews of ' war are required by the warriors,/and« every effort will be made by them to draw from the Thames some "thews'-' as well - as sinews to holp the cause; but I hope ■ .that the people, as a whole, are sensible enough to think that a worthless crew,*-"" who are unable or unwillingto; work ~ earnestly for their living, can 'SJp* their worldy passage easy'by travelog on the. '& weaknesses of * their victims. AH: this"' beautiful rant.and cant seems heaVenly and comforting, bat if it be analysed—ah I then, Let not this tomfoolery carry -urn?. -, anyone. Let those captains, lieateinpti,. ' &c, go to honest work, and not try to trade on the weaknesses and prejudice* of ' their fellow beings.—-I am, &c M .:. . Natubb.