The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-12-11

glorious uhVelilng Oh God, and vision |
of his beauty as it is" Says the elo-
quent Charming, "There it is the spirit |
becomes truly conscious of its capaci-
ties; that truth opens before us in in
finity; that the universe is seen to be
boundless sphere for discovery, for
science, for the sense of beauty, for
beneficence and alteration. We shall
see what before dimly cleaned on us;
the capacities, the mysteries Of the hui
man SOUL" This is what Charming re-
marked; and because it seemed reason
able to him, and harmonized so beauti-
fully with all his highest conceptions
of what was consistent and proper.
People talk about "no change after
DEATH" more than the passing out of
one wo-ia into anotherl But does not
the Apostle say, 1--WE shall all be
changed, in moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump; for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changedp" Does he not say,
SIT is sown in corruption" that is, we
live here and die in corruption; "but it
is raised in interruption. 1t is sown in
dishonor, but it is raised in glory?" This
you may say is "the death and glory
SYSTEM Yes: this is what Paul
teaches, death, and the resurrection in
to better and more glorious world;
the one to follow the other; not 5000
years afterwards, but Immediately, as
the event shall transpire.
sit is sown in dishonor; it is raised
in glory. 1t is sown in weakness" the
weakness of human nature, "but it is
raised in power" etc. We here possess
the earthly nature, but we are hereafter
to possess the heavenly nature. We
may say that Adam represents our
earthly condition, while Christ repre-
sents the heavenly, and here we are in
the likeness of the one, while there we
are to be in the likeness of the other.
The Fathers denied that the instinct of
reason, the revealed law or will of God,
or any principle of moral philosophy,
taught any other doctrine than this.
Is it not most singular circum-
stance, that while the Scriptures teach
a change of the greatest possible mag
nitude; there should be those who do
not know as there is to be any change
at all, of moral and spiritual charac-
ter? We ask that those who decried
reason so long, and indeed all others,
insisting that everything be settled by
the Scriptures, stand with us now to
the Scriptures, rightly and reasonably
interpreted. Are we privileged to re-
pudiate, and cast to the winds the
teaching of Paul and Jesus, as before
referred TOP Having accepted both rea-
son and revelation, let there be no re-
treating from either. Reason and rev.
elation, say we, reason assisted by reve-
lation; and revelation made clear to the
mind by reason.
1t is true that progress is the law of
perfection; but itrequired no very keen
discernment on the part of these Faith
ers, to discover that there were sudden
illuminations and transformations of
character, even in this world; and that
it was by no means proven, that we
might not discern at a glance, as we en-
ter upon our new sphere of being in
the eternal world, a thousand times
more than all we ever discovered in
this. The apostle Paul represents him
self as Caught up to the third heavens, !"
and seeing sights which it was impos-
sible for him to give utterance to.
There are, as we know, ecstatic con-
ditions, like what we call trance, in
which the minds of men are opened to
see things in different way from
that in which they are ordinarily seen
by the external senses. There is the
psychometrical perception, by which the
whole being is lighted up with won
drous light, and it is with us as though
we were seeing heaven opened, and an
gel messengers ascending and descend
ing from earth to heaven, and heaven
to earth, to bring life into our souls.
And so at death. There is a spiritual
liberation of the soul, as it merges out
of this terrestrial to the celestial and
heavenly spheres, and to the limitless
fields of light, and life, and liberty.
The emancipated spirit, awakening
into a more blessed, luminous atmos-
phere, and experiencing an everlasting
quickening, lives henceforth in its own
native, genial element; and to what
new world, and to what new influences,
it is now introduced
The pure mind is intuitional, and
radiant with vast power and glory;
and to be endowed, not with single
sense, not with thousand senses; but
with all sense, all intellect, all con-
seriousness, becoming insphered with
its own intuitive revelations, in the
midst of its most exquisite sensibili-
ties, and the being within us which has
been struggling with sin, now stands
forth free, strong, erect, pure and glad.
And it mounts with a sudden flight up