OFFICE OF MANFORD'S MAGA

ZINE.

Chicago, Ill., No. 774 W. Van Buren St., to which all letters should be addressed, for the present.

REV. T. H. TABOR, Editor and Publisher.

THE MAGAZINE.

TERMS OF THE MAGAZINE are the same as usual, $1.50 per annum. NO DISCONTINUANCES until all arrearages are settled.

THANKSGIVING.

This annual observance comes down to us from the distant past where it had a deep religious significance. For it is the echo of the song of praise that rang out loud and long from the fruitful fields and the flowery vales of the promised land. And praise to God, is the music of thanksgiving.

Our thankfulness is measured by the number of our words-our gratitude by the nature of conduct. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude-and gratitude is the completion of thankfulness.

It has been said that President Lincoln was the first to make thanksgiving day a national appointment. But this is a mistake-President Washington made such an appointment in 1795. And the appointment of the Lord, is first of all. Let us all observe that appointment, and unite in reading the one hundred and seventh Psalm.

THE HARVEST.

The harvest is passed, and it was abundant over the most of the great West; farmers of long experience have said to

us, that they never had so fine a crop of corn as they have this year. And some express the opinion that the drought last year, was one of the principal reasons for the great fruitfulness of the earth this year

Some of our subscribers could not pay their bills last year in consequence of the loss of crops. We are expecting to hear from all of these soon. Do not neglect nor disappoint us. Bills have been sent.

ALL SOUL'S DAY.

The church of Rome sets apart the 2nd of November as All Soul's Day. This observance had a strange origin, to which we wish to call attention.

In the dark ages-as we properly call them the doctrine of an endless hell, a pit of fire, was taught with great distinctness. And as that pit of fire must have some opening, gate, or mouth, through which the finally lost must pass, the mouths of volcanoes were supposed to be the gates of hell. Indeed, what other purpose, said they, could they serve! At Cluny, in France, there was one of the largest monasteries of the day. A Cluniac monk, in the eleventh century, passing through Sicily on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, felt a strong inclination to visit Etna, then supposed to be the mouth of hell. He ascended to the crater, and while there, he said afterwards, he heard complaints of the demons, that by the effectual prayers of the Cluniac monks, many souls that had been under their dominion had been taken away. And in the largeness of his soul, the Abbot of Cluny, Odilon, set apart the 2nd of November, calling it All Soul's Day, to free souls from Etna and

all such purgatorial fires. The Pope soon after this issued an edict, that in all the churches, the 2nd of November should be set apart for prayer, alms, etc., for the improvident dead, or as a day of special services for the dead. Etna, as the mouth of hell, and what a Cluniac monk heard there of complaints, is really at the root of the church services of All Soul's Day.

The observance of " All Soul's Day," in the Universalist church, is for a very dif ferent reason. Believing fully in the truth of St. Paul's statemeut, that "None of us liveth to himself, and that none dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living." (Rom. 14: 7, 8, 9). We wish to manifest our faith.

On this account the Universalist church sets apart the second Sunday in November, in each year, to be observed as Al Soul's Day. By so doing, it seeks to emphasize the Lordship of Jesus Christ, over the dead and the living, as a reason for eternal comfort and hope. Believing fully, that as sure as Jesus Christ was lifted upon the cross of Calvary, to die by crucifixion-so surely, he will fulfill his promise, to draw all men to him. And that him that cometh to him, he will in no wise cast out. John 6: 37.

EDITORIAL JOTTINGS.

Our first article this month-"To Die is Gain"—is exceedingly valuable. It was written by one of our most devoted ministers, but a short time before his death. It is richly worthy of being read, and reread, and preserved.

-As this is the month for observing a day of thanksgiving, we give several articles that have reference to this duty in this number of the MAGAZINE. And we are sure that the story we publish

Our Thanksgiving-will be read with pleasure and profit by all our readers.

-If man by Adam's sin became mortal; how did it happen that the angels in heaven who sinned, (if there ever was such a case) did not also become mortal by their transgressions, instead of becoming devils; as we are told they did by Milton and the Orthodox?

-A gentleman asked his neighborWho are meant by the term Orthodox? The man replied, they are those who be lieve that three times one make one.

-The person who is forced to start on the road to heaven by the desire to escape from endless misery, instead of being attracted by the love of God, loses all the pleasure of the journey; because traveling thither with his mind filled with fear-and fear hath torment.

-The manner and spirit of the Orthodox preaching fifty years ago, was faithfully described by Father Taylor, the seaman Chaplain of Boston. He said: "We cut things right down square in those days. We did not mince matters. If we could not lift up the sinner in any other way, we just lifted the door a little, and let him smell hell.”

-We have the assurance of the prophet, that God requires us to love mercy. (Mic. 6:8). But how can we do this, and still believe in endless suffering as the penalty of sin, which has no mercy in it?

-A belief in the common opinions concerning the devil, has laid the foundation for almost every superstition among professing Christians.

-A woman of note, gives the following reason why some marriages prove to be failures. She says: "In this age of the world women marry for money, money, money, and their husbands may go to the devil, get drunk, gamble, go through every article of the catalogue of vice, and they calmly sitting in elegance hear it, know it, and yet never feel it in their hearts. So long as they have money, all else is nought."

-The editor of the Chicage Tribune, has recently said-" One of the reproaches which the Orthodox pulpit habitually and vehemently makes against what is slightingly termed the progress of the nineteenth century, is that materialism has taken the place of religion. It has not dawned up to this time upon these critics that in religious materialism-in the material hell and the material heaven set apart for immaterial souls-skepticism has found its best ally and its inexhausti ble magazine."

-Between these two forms of materialism, Universalism has taken its stand, having no sympathy or fellowship with either, fully determined that with the help of God it will sweep the field.

—Rev. Dr. Manley writes us as follows from Denver: On the 7th of October ult., we organized a little church of six members; but are taking in more all the while; and the prospect seems good.

-A bereaved mother, once said to a Universalist minister, as the tears streamed down her cheeks, over the loss of a darling child, "Oh, that I could believe as you do, or look so confidently forward to the results of eternity. My heart is not now at rest; but then I should be entirely satisfied."

-Twenty-five years ago, our opposers were accustomed to ridicule the Universalist idea of hell. They said, “talk of a hell of conscience, how absurd and foolish." But who believes in any other hell now? Who preaches now about any hell, but a hell of conscience? And if this is the true view of hell now, was it not equally true twenty-five years ago?

STRANGE EVIDENCE, We have read of a woman, who relied upon strange evidence of her acceptance with God, and her fitness for heaven. She said that, "She was brought to feel perfectly willing to be damned. She even prayed that God would send her soul to

hell-yes that He would send her to hell immediately."

It seems unaccountable, that reasonable beings could have ever required such evidence as a ground for hope at any time, or any where. But that it was required, even upon the bed of death, is a fact established beyond a doubt. The Hon. Hugh McCulloch, has just published a book; "Men and Measures of Half Century," in which this is made evident. He is giving his memory of Rev. Thomas Fessenden, of New England, and says he was a Calvinist of the strictest school. With him, the fall of man by the sin of Adam, total depravity, unconditional election, the perseverance of the saints, were cardinal doctrines, the belief in which was essential to salvation. He believed and taught, as did Dr. Griffin of Boston, that one of the highest enjoyments of the saved would be derived from witnessing, as they looked down from heaven, the justice of the Almighty in the indescribable suffering of the lost. The test of faith, according to his standard, was willingness to be damned for the glory of God. I reccollect perfectly well how excited my father was when he described a scene which he had witnessed a few hours before. He had called to see a favorite niece of my mother -one of the most beautiful, as she was one of the most virtuous, of women--who was dying of consumption. While he was sitting by the bedside, Mr. Fessenden came in. Yielding his seat to the pastor, my father took one a short distance from the bed, and listened to the conversation between the dying woman and her Christian teacher. His inquiries were in regard to her spiritual, not her physical condition. After asking her many questions which were answered satisfactorily, he said to her, "Sister, as this may be the last time we shall meet in this world, I must put to you one more question,-a crucial question. Do you feel that you are willing to be damned for the glory of

God?" She heard from the pulpit his descriptions of hell and the unending torments of the lost, and she hesitated to reply. After waiting a few seconds, he put the question again in a tone of much severity, to which she faintly responded, "Yes, I think I am." Not for her own sins, but for the sins of Adam, she was forced to say that she was willing to be doomed to unending and indescribable torment. Could there have been any. thing more horrible than such a question by a minister of the glad tidings of the gospel to a dying Christian woman? I never went to hear Mr. Fessenden preach after that.

THE MOTIVE GIVES CHARACTER TO THE АСТ.

The motive with which an act is performed, determines its character. This fact must not be overlooked in our estimate of men and women and their work. It was this that caused the life of Christ to shine with such divine luster, that attracted the attention and captivated the heart of the world. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister to men. And it was this spirit, put into the simple act of washing his disciples feet, that glorified that act. All common things case to be common, all low things cease to be low, all vulgar, when they are performed under the inspiration of the higher feelings, and when they carry with them, not the flesh, but the spirit; and that, not in its lower, but in its higher and divinely illuminated forms.

This, which is true in regard to that one single act, might be paralleled in almost every line of conduct; for instance, in the performing of disagreeable and vulgar offices. When the wounds of the sick are to be dressed, or when the offal of the hospital to be borne away, if a man is hired who makes that his business for money, we put one estimate upon it. The under-hirelings of a hospital are looked upon as disgustful drudges. But when

Forence Nightingale walks through the wards of Scutaria, and with her own hands dresses the wounds of the sick, and bears away the offal of the hospital, or when, in our own land, a Miss Barton, or Miss Woolsey, or any other of a thousand angelic names, perform these offices, tears drop from men's eyes in admiration, and we all feel that there are no words to express the gladness of our souls. The thing done is the same, whether done by a cur mudgeon or by a saintly woman; but in the one case, it is done from the noblest love, from the most self-sacrificing humanity, and in the other, it is done for money, and by a man that cares only for the money. There are offices which seem disagreeable, but which, when done from a higher and nobler reason, so crown the head, that they who do them seem to wear an aureole around their brows.

NAKED TERROR.

Dr. Lyman Beecher said, "I have not found naked terror to do much execution, either as a means of awakening men, or producing submission."

The people of the present generation will not be able to comprehend the full meaning of the above language, without an illustration. Yet there was a time, when naked terror was in common use, as a means, to make men and women religious. And the course pursued by a Presbyterian minister's wife, to make her children religious, published in 1831, shall illustrate the process. She had spoken of making her children Christians, when they were only one year and a half, and two years old; and was asked to explain the process-she said:

"When I heat my oven for baking (she referred to a brick oven, in which the fire had to be built in order to heat it) I take my children up and hold them to the mouth of the oven while the fire and embers are in the hottest state, and tell them that it represents hell, and that I will throw them in, right into the oven

and burn them up unless they will give up their hearts to God and immediately pray for deliverence. The one that was but a year and a half old, on being thus presented to the mouth of the oven, immediately yielded, kneeled down and prayed, and has been a praying Christian ever since."

The lady to whom this new method of making Christians was explained, related the process to some of her intimate lady friends; and several of them are said to have highly approved the plan.

Had Dr. Beecher used a red hot oven as a means of inforcing his naked terror, it might have proved more efficacious. And it was because such motives were used to make people religious, that the fathers of the Universalist church felt that it was necessary to speak a word in God's behalf.

THE SALVATION OF CHILDREN.. All the Orthodox denominations, so called agree in this; that children are by nature outside the kingdom of Christ, but may be brought into the kingdom of Christ either by something done for them or by something done by them, And yet not one of them will admit, that they believe in infant damnation, or that such a result is possible. But how are children to be saved? Thousands and tens of thousands of children die, without doing anything themselves to secure salvation, or having anything done for them. And no orthodox confession of faith, gives the least information, how this countless host of children passing into the eternal world, are to be saved. This deficiency is not simply remarkable, it is really extraordinary. That children should not only come into this world outside of the kingdom of Christ-but that they should live their little life on earth, and die outside of that kingdom; and yet that no statement should be made as to when, where and how they will enter the kingdom of Christ, is one of mysteries of this world.

And still profossers of religion on whose confessions of faith are not only entirely silent upon this important subject—but who erect a bar at the gate of death, and assert, that beyond that there is no possible hope for any soul-still claim to believe that all children dying in infancy will certainly be saved. But how, when and where! Who that holds this view of the destiny of children, knows or can tell? We, of the Universalist Church, cannot accept the statement, that children are by nature outside of the kingdom of Christ. To us, this statement contradicts the language of Christ himself. When he took children in his arms and said, “of such is the kingdom of heaven." A noted writer has voiced the sentiment of our Church, when he said-The new birth and the first birth may be contemporaneous, the divine life and the natural life may start together. Must a child wait until he has reached certain years of discretion before the divine influence is ready to shine upon him and to bless him and to vivify him? How old must he be? Mathematics, 1 believe, are accepted as the standard of intellectual growth in our schools. Must he get as far

as the conic sections before he can be converted? Or can he be converted when he has reached fractions? or partial payments? or the multiplication table? What is the point before which God will not put love into a child's heart, and after which he will? How old must a child be before you love it? How old must a child be before you will die for it? Oh, shame on us that we should blaspheme the name and thought and love of God so as to think that we love children more than he does, or before he does! The children-not by reason of any baptism, not by reason of any contract, not by reason any parental faith-the children as children come into the kingdom of Christ, and the Divine Spirit is ready to nurture and invigorate and endow and strengthen them; and, therefore, parents are required to "bring up their children in the nurture and ad