“Ecclesiastical Littleness.”
Since our last issue we have received the following from Bro. Hart and Boyd of the western Iowa tent, which will explain itself in a manner to be of much interest to our readers. It appears that some men have been born five hundred years after their time. They belong back in the Dark Ages. Bro. B. writes in regard to it:— A short time after the tent was pitched in Fremont, Nebraska, the congregation dropped off. Through a friend, we learned that postal cards were in circulation among the pastors of the different churches, one of which we soon obtained. We sent the following to the Fremont Tribune, which appeared in that paper, Sept. 25, 1874:— There have always been those who denounce without one investigative thought any position, however firmly established and clearly demonstrated, which is not received by the masses. The fact that the teachings of God and the Bible, of Christ and the apostles, establish a doctrine, is without weight, if not popular. The first inquiry in the minds of some in the days of our Saviour was, “Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed on Him?” We remember reading in the Sacred Book that the chief apostle to the Gentiles was shamefully treated and commanded to—what? Not speak anything contrary to established creeds. During the Dark Ages of papal supremacy, millions were put to death in the most cruel manner that wicked men and demons could invent. Helpless women and children, driven from their once happy homes, perished amid the winter storms in the Alpine mountains. What was the cause of this cruel persecution? We hear the answer echoed down the annals of time, “They were veritable heretics.” Unpardonable sin! Their bitterest enemies admitted their lives to be pure and inoffensive; their doctrines, founded on the Bible, to teach morality and holy living. But they were teaching a doctrine not in harmony with the Catholic faith, and this constituted them “heretics.” The following, being a verbatim copy of a card, several of which were sent gratuitously, through the mail, to the pastors of the different churches at Fremont, reminds one very forcibly of the days of Pope Alexander III., when he decreed “that the doctrine of the Vaudois was a damnable heresy of long continuance.” And many of their sect were put to death in the most cruel manner, simply because they rejected the Romish creed and took the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of their faith. Wahoo, Saunders Co., Neb. “Your name I obtained in the Fremont Tribune. Please warn your people, and all Evangelical Christians, and all other sensible people against ‘Boyd and Hart,’ the tent men. Do not welcome them nor bid them God-speed. Give them no encouragement whatever, for they are veritable heretics, and very possibly disguised Mormons, though they deny it. Take care that they do not get into your assembled congregations, and announce their meetings. You will find them very eager to get prominence among the people, especially the weak-minded and ignorant.” Your friend, FREDERICK B. WELTY. During the stay of said “tent men” at Wahoo did they walk disorderly before the people? did they covet any man’s silver, gold, or apparel? Did they even ask their daily bread from the respectable citizens? Were the doctrines they promulgated demoralizing and wanting in scriptural proof? No such accusations are brought against them. They asked no contributions, boarded themselves, except when invited by the hospitable to their homes, and it is admitted that their doctrines were founded on the written word of God, and their conduct that of Christians. What, then, is the great crime of which they are guilty, and for which they are thus advertised? Surely, their aspirations are not criminally high; only seeking prominence among the “weak-minded and ignorant.” The influential citizens of Wahoo, who openly admit that only Bible doctrine was preached by said “heretics” are in danger of being classed with the “weak-minded and ignorant.” Critical condition! We remember reading that “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” Does Bro. Welty feel that he has done his duty as a teacher in Israel, to try to point out their errors to these “heretics,” and get them on to the right road? Several times a day he passed our tent, but never once entered to say, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Does he think us too far gone to be reclaimed? The Bible gives directions for calling back the erring. Has he followed these directions? If we are lost, will he be clear in the Judgment? We are young. The elder are to exercise a watchcare over the younger. Again we ask, What is the crime of which we are guilty? Again we hear the echoed response, “They are veritable heretics, and very possibly disguised Mormons.” We ask, “What is truth?”