The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-03-17
0lmiuer5a1is1n.
WHY | Am A UNIVERSALIST.
BY REV. STEPHEN HULL,
kansas City, Mo-


of the divine nature. Gods wisdom is
the wisdom of love; his power is the
power of love; his justice is the justice
of love; his omniscence is the omnis-
cence of love; his eternity is the eter-
nifty of love; and as God is unchange-
able all his purposes must eliminate in
good. Again, Universalists believe
that God is the Father of all mankind.
Hence we are his children, and all men
are brethren. That God is our Father
we have the most abundant proof. By
the Apostle Paul we have the witness
that there is one God, the Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and
in all (Eph. A.. And again, that =" to us
there is but one God, the Father, of
whom are all things, and We in him."
q Cor. viii. 1.-THE Lord, the God
of spirits of all flesh" Mum. xvi. 81
And the Saviour has given to the world
a beautiful formula of prayer, begin
ming with "Our Father, which art in
heaven" not your Father, or my Faith
er, but our common Father. In the
18th of Acts Paul endorses the senti-
ment of the heather poet, that all men
are the offspring of God ''as certain of
your own poets have said, for we are
also his offspring"
In the parable of the prodigal, re-
corded in the 18th chapter of Luke, we
are clearly taught that this relation
exists independent Of character. Virtue
did not create it nor can vice destroy
it. The hayward prodigal was legit-
innate child before he ever left the pa
rental mansion, and when he had gone
into far country he was son still,
and when he says, 81 will arise and
20 to my father" the father says, in
recognizing this relationship: This
my son was dead and is alive again,
was lost and is found" If God is our
Father, then his government is found
ed on parental principles. Then it is
true that punishment is corrective in
its nature, and not vindictive. 1t is
not for Gods pleasure but for our profit.
Paul says in the 18th of Hebrews:
" Furthermore we have had fathers OF
our flesh which corrected US, and we
gave them reverence, for they verify
for few days chastened us after their
own pleasure, but he for our profit,
that we might be made partakers OF
his holiness. Now no Christening for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous. Nevertheless afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruits of right
eousness unto them who are exercised
thereby" Hence God loves us with a
fathers love; he watches over us with
a fathers care; he reproves us with
fathers tenderness, and Furnishes us
with fathers design. THE Lord
will not cast off forever, but though he
cause grief, yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his ten
der mercies.'' Even if punishment
was cruel and vindictive it could not
be endless, for the tendency of all pain
is to corrode and destroy, whether it
preys upon the body or upon the mind.
Perpetual pain of either would sooner
or later destroy them, for the same
reason that fire will go out when it has
consumed the fuel upon which it preys.
Jehovah says, 81 will not contend
forever, neither will be always wroth,
for the spirit would fail before me, and
the souls which 1 have made" God is
compared to an earthly parent, and the
feelings of the one are indicative of the
PROJECTIONS of the other. That earthly
parent who would cruelty beat his
child, though prodigal, for single
week, would be taken by an indignant
community and hung to the nearest
lamp post. Yet the heavenly Father
will visit torture on his helpless chill
dren through eternal ages, greater than
pencil can paint or tongue describe !
"Can a mother forget her sucking
child? Yea, she may forget, yet will
not forget thee, saith the Lord" 90,
yes" says one, "God will abundantly
bless his obedient children" But is
this all that is taught by the compari-
son? Does not the good mother love
the prodigal as we'll as the obedient
child? Does she not cling to him
wherever he may go, even down to
death, water his ignominious grave
with tears of anguish, and in the Bit
terness of her soul exclaim, "Oh, my
child my child would to God had
died for thee 7" We know as well as
we know that we exist, that these kim
bred ties make our destiny one for hap
piness or misery. We are bound to-
gether by ten thousand ties that en-
Irvine around our hearts, and the pains
as well as the joys that others feel come
to us; they are portion of our inner
itance. God has made US so, and we
cannot alter our destiny. Hence togeth-
er we must suffer or together rejoice.
When an old pagan king was about to
step down into the water to receive
baptism he asked the missionary to
assure him that he would again meet
his forefathers when he died. The
DriaSt sadly shook his haad and ranIiad.