Christiana, Jan. 21, 1879
to leading sinners to repentance; the priests and theologians should encourage this work, then the great chasm which divides these would be bridged over, and all the forces would be gathered together against our common enemy, sin. “Now, when the enemy crowds in by the aid of learning and subtilty, and even publicly attacks, tears asunder, and mocks at the most solemn truths of the Christian apostolical faith of our forefathers, we should reasonably expect that priests and theologians, both with pen and word, would, with the clear testimony of God’s word, refute those false doctrines; but alas! the lay brethren must wait a long time before these witnesses of the truth do anything, and the enemy is allowed to proceed with his work entirely unmolested, and to gather one large audience of church members after another. Such carelessness on the part of the shepherds has caused much dissatisfaction among Christians, and if the priests and theologians do not use their old, and, according to their ideas, sharp words against such an enemy, then we do not know when we shall see the effect of these so-long praised and sharpened weapons (the pure doctrine). It is a very easy way of avoiding the work to cry ‘false doctrine,’ which indeed can be said in a general way of everything that does not agree with the State Church, and, therefore, ought to be characterized as false; but this does not, however, prove that everything is false. “Now the Christians of Christiana desire to know from the word of God, through their teachers, whether we have immortal souls, and whether Satan and the wicked shall be destroyed and not be tormented forever and ever; these matters should be discussed thoroughly. D. Christiana, Jan. 21, 1879