The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-01-28

cause we don't understand the spiritual
conditions awaiting us. With this faith
he was willing to 60 through the grave
as the vestibule of heaven, believing
that the good Father would meet him
at the very threshold of the higher
home.
His confidence in God was the
strength of his life. He believed him
to be always and to all men wise and
tender Parent, whose great love, no
finite sin, no circumstances Of life or
death, could in the least diminish.
Hence he cherished for all the "eternal
hope" and believed with all the ardor
of his being in 1.-THE final holiness and
happiness of all mankind"
To the PRONUNCIATION of this beautiful
religion he gave the best years Of his
life-it came to him as ray of light
from the very throne of God. 1t
CHANGED that once being detained by
business, he found himself without
companions and without books, and
asked of a stranger the favor of some
reading matter. He received in res
ponse the works Of Rev. Hosea Ballou.
The earnest perusal of the books
changed him from Partialist in faith
to Universalist. He has often said
that the change in his intellectual and
spiritual perception transformed the
entire face of nature, and inspired in
his heart new hope, and in his life
great light, which never waned in the
least.
That he was sincere in his conversion
and remarkably strong in the faith
none who knew him could doubt, for
he was staunch defender of that faith
when it cost man all that his social
position was worth, as we'll as great
sacrifice in many other ways. He was
an earnest, conscientious and successful
debater, and few, if any, were ever able
to ground their faith more firmly in
scripture than was he. To his unflag-
ging efforts in scattering the seeds of
truth, and to his persistent LABOR as a
pioneer in the earlier years of Univer-
salism, the cause in Illinois owes much.
And we who to-day enjoy the bless
ings of this church home owe to him a
debt Of lasting gratitude and sweet re-
membrance which. so long as we remain
together will be joy to recall.
1.-THE tree is known by it's fruits"
And if it were possible for us to know
how many hearts have been made to
rejoice in the faith of the universal
fatherhood of God through his teaching,
and how wide his influence for liberal
Christianity has spread among those
holding narrower views of God, am
sure we would feel that his work was
well done.
AS we hand this frail and broken
tenement of clay tenderly and reverent-
ly down to its home in the dust, we do
SO with the full and blessed assurance
that already his spirit is with the God
who gave it; and while we mourn, he
has entered upon that day which has
no night, and into that home where
there shall be ncHaiore death, neither
sorrow, nor signing, for with him the
former things have passed away and all
things have become new.
To those bereaved hearts who mourn
fathers loss, it is rich joy, a blessed
realization Of their beautiful faith, to
know what joyous throng of dear
ones gone before wait to greet him on
the other shore.
To loving hearts who have watched
his enfeebled frame for the last few
months, it has been evident that he
was passing rapidly down to the shores
of the river; but yet they scarcely
dreamed that his hand was already on
the latch of the golden gate.