The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-24
we see going on in the bosom of the

Again, an influence SCan0S Tor duty.
Having both light" and " life'' in our
keeping, our first duty as church is to
show ourselves ''children of the light"
by loyalty, persistently rallying around
our beacon, intensifying its radiance
by the added luster of our own personal
ity, thus causing our Eight to so shine"
that men "shall glorify our Father
who is in heaven" No truth can
grow and do its holy work unless the
recipients of the truth do their duty
| faithfully and well; truth and light
need the open way, the bearing hands
and feet, else they run no race and in
nowise show forth power and glory.
1t may not be popular" truth, or
light of the prevailing tint, or set in
candlestick like unto our neighbors;
but has not our church fathomed it
and learned it to be truth? Has
she not tested it and proved it a
lightp-a pure, sweet truth; a pure
bright light ? How, then, can she
hesitate, how abandon or forsake
it? Duty demands of the church a
loyalty manifest in ceaseless service;
of those who compose her strength a
profession not only of lip but from
heart and hand; that they shall give
her their presence at the altar, with
that conservation of spirit which whis-
pers to the King: "Here am I,-send
me-"
1t is the bounden duty of the church
to be open-eyed, that it may clearly see
the fresh revelations of God which
are ever coming; open-eared, that even
his faintest whisper may be heard;
open-hearted, that the word of his re-
vealing may find adding place; of
quiet spirit, that in the secret places of
the soul that word may be assimilated;
then of strong feet and open hands,
that that word may be borne abroad
and freely given to every people.
''Freely ye have received, freely give"
Duty calls for PRONUNCIATION, not domi
nation on the part of the church; God
reigns that he may perform the last.
1t is not for the church to drive stake
and cry: ITO this shall ye come, and
beyond it ye shall not gol % but it is to
say to each to whom its word may
come: ooh, brother, sister, 1 have
light for a darkened path; 1 have a
hope to Danish black despair; 1 have a
| truth to eradicate all false doctrine, a
| joy to glorify each sorrow, certainty
for doubt, life for death; and though
1 have no dominion over your faith,
let me, pray thee, be helper in your
joy"
1t is the duty of the church to testi-
! fly. Ofwhat? OF God in the land of
the living; to declare not so much a
tenet as the " unsearchable riches of
God;" to carry forward, not so much a
creed and decretsl, as the truth of the
everlasting gospel Of the living Lord;
to magnify not SO much the baptismal
water of its little font, as though the
river of life only flows through the
faucet in its haos, as that Holy Spirit
wherein all are baptized into one faith
in one common Father, to set up it's
test, letting it be not outward assent
but inward manliness; to have respect
for diversities of human thought, striv-
ing not to bind in letters of formulary,
but to establish each in the divine lib
erty wherein God seeketh to bring each
child to the glory of perfect life, not
as facsimile of all other children, but
with personality of mind and spirit
peculiarly his own. 1t is the duty of
the church to be catholic, in the sense
that it is not partial, narrow, little, but
broad; not claiming to be the only true
branch of the one vine, nor the only
one competent to bear good fruit, but
realizing that every well-developed vine
has many branches, each bearing to the
honor of the vine and to the blessing of
the world as it may. Let it claim kim
ship to each and all in the bond of the
one spirit and the one life, and show
for it the divine unity that prevails
through all human diversities. Thus,
only, can it rise above the partial into
the spirit of that universal love of God,
which we make to be the shining coro-
net of his kingship. If motto is
needed, if watchword be Of use, let it
be: Zone in purpose with Christ,
with freedom of growth for EACH"
Christ came to set men free of bondage,
and it is not the work or duty of the
church to enslave again, but, rath-
er, to prepare the way and usher in
that spirit which on pentecostal day
came rushing freely abroad with such
clothing, form and utterance as enabled
it to interpret itself to each heart to
which it came and be known by it as of
the Father. Let the church, then,
which in such marked way stands a
spectacle" before men, so present it.
self to them, so interpret its word to
their consciousness that there shall be
a unison of intention to attain right
eousness, with perfect freedom for each
in spiritual development.
The great duty of the church which