The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-02-25

IL, is Cne EVang*ilcal cnurch doc
trine, concerning nan aud his for
tunes, both here and hereafter. That
church has planned way of escape
something like this:s Christ comes to
this world and suffers in his own body;
all the race were doomed to suffer in
consequence of the SIN of our first par
ents; that all such aa will accept Christ
as their substitute by faith may be
saved. If you ask ed the church then:
=" What must doto be saved ?" the
answer will be- do nothing, but simp-
ly believe. There isan old hymn that
fully expresses the church doctrine on
the subject. ELI
Nothing, either great or small,
Nothing, sinners. no.
Jesus did it, did it all,
Long, long ago.
Cast your deadly ooing down.
Down, at Jesus feet,
Stand, in him, in him alone,
Gloriously complete.
There is another class of men that
question this philosophy. 1t is doubted
as to whether the first man was made
perfect. Perfection implies two condi-
tions. The perfect man must be de-
ficient in nothing, and excessive in
nothing. There was no perfect devel-
opment of religious life in the Jewish
church. Jesus stands before the world
as the only perfect specimen of human
ity, and he says to the young man that
inquired what good thing he should do
to inherit eternal life: 'Why callest
Me good ? There is none good but
one, that is God" IF you study the
church founded in his name you will
find no perfection here. Is there per-
fection anywhere this siie Of the grave
This side Of God there is no perfection.
When 1 consider the whole case, do
not believe the church doctrine on the
subject of the perfection of our first
parents. From the bottom of my
heart / do not believe that God created
man perfect, and that afterward he
fell. How could a perfect man fail
We believe that the facts concerning
the historic development of the human
race all disclose the truth, that
man was created at the very
lowest point, without speech, with
out any of those things that dis
tinguish state Of knowledge and re-
finement, and dfromthat1 down point
man has beeif working isfs wa upward
till our day, and he is not anywhere
near perfection yet. There is more to
be known in every way than has been
found out through all the past With
this conception Of man beginning life
in this world, there comes to be an
other answer to our question, What
must do to be saved ?" Salvation, ac-
cOrding to this view, is growth in man
hood, and in coming to this manhood,
we do not do away with faith in Christ.
We accept Christ as our pattern, our
model, our guide, after which this man
hood is to be worked out. Faith in
Christ is the primary act that prepares
the way for everything else; bat deny
with all my heart that there is any such
charm in mans having faith in Christ
as that that one act saves him. That
is not the teaching of the New Tesla
ment. 1t is not the teaching of exper-
ience. 1t has been charged against
the Universalist church by a hundred
pulpit mountebanks that we believed
in the salvation of everybody, no mat
ter what they had been, or what they
are. [ now declare in the face of these
false and unchristian charges, that sal
walton means the mind of Christ in
man. 1t means Christ formed in you
1t means manhood constructed on the
pattern of the life Of Christ, and to the
man that asks, ." What shall l do to be
saved ?" do not answer-Do nothing
Doing is deadly thing. l do not
tell him that morality is dangerous, but
l say-WoIk out your own salvation by
keeping the commandments. Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, might and strength, and thy
neighbOr as thyself LET no corrupt
communication proceed out of your
mouth. Let all bitterness, and wrath,
and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice.
Aud be ye kind to one another, tender
hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you"
l have infinite admiration for a per-
fected nature-a glorious soul such as
was the Lord Jesus Christ. long for
that nature and soul for you and me,
and every man and woman. But l
know that no man or woman is born
from the flesh instantly into the king
dom of God There are no eagles
wings on which we can rise from the
lower life to the higher. There never
was a man converted so that afterward
he had no patience TO exercise, no virtues
to cultivate, no proffers to his vanity to
4.