::R1495 : page 24::

SOME CONGREGATIONALISTS WAKING UP

An evidence of growth of public opinion on the subject of eternal torment was recently afforded in the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, of which Henry Ward Beecher was formerly pastor. The Church takes up special collections for Missions, and it was decided recently that for the year 1893 no moneys should go into their usual Missionary channel, the “American Board of Foreign Missions,” unless at the specific request of contributors; but that instead all should go to a missionary in Japan known to hold views in opposition to eternal torment. This motion was made by the present pastor, and only one person voted against it—a Mr. Bliss, whose name suggests his composure and joy even though all others of the race were in torment.

One gentleman present, Dr. Raymond, speaking on the subject at that meeting, expressed his convictions very earnestly. As reported in the New York Tribune, he said:

“I am sick and tired of going to the American Board in sufferance to aid in supporting missionaries who believe out and out in the damnation of all the heathen, and that damnable heresy that God doesn’t love the heathen. I am tired of the whole miserable humbug, and I won’t give a cent to spread the news of damnation. I won’t let the damnable doctrine be disseminated by my money. That God is love is good news, but it is made stale old stuff by these men who drag a Juggernaut car over the heathen and want us to feed the beasts that haul it. It is my Christian duty not to give to any concern that will teach the heathen that their fathers went to hell.”

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— January 15, 1893 —