The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-02-04

| and educational instruments and imple-
ments. Our hope is in the infinite
magnanimity which we see in our Lord
Jesus Christ, in his gentleness, his
pitifulness, his giving himself to men,
in his seeking the lost until they be
found. If we take this to be the char
acter Of Jesus walking in Jerusalem
and Palestine and transfer it to the
divine sphere, if we take the traits,
tendencies and disposition which Christ
manifested, and transfer them to our
conception of the divine being if you
advance this thought into Infinite
spheres, and conceive that the universe
is administered by God who with His
infinite power carries the great princi-
| pie Of love and beneficience-if you do
these things then you viii have ground
| for hope. If the nature of God is such
to you, so wise, so rich in goodness,
! that out of these whirls and eddies of
time, these currents and cOnfusiOns,
| there shall at last rise up a glorious
| triumph, that is ground of hope.
That was the way Paul reasoned, and
at the end of his reasoning he exclaims:
Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
orperil, or sword? Nay, in all these
things we are more than cOnquerors
through Him that loved u.s." 1t is not
conflict that hangs in doubt as to
which side the victory shall be given.
1t is not conquest which is only next
to defeat. 1t is victory, large, ample
and decisive. Then he goes on to say /:
:" l am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor municipalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus, our Lord" o,
Christian friends, what view of God,
what a hint Of the divine nature, what
an inspiration of confidence, what a
tower of strength and hope that is!
There is ample ground for the largest
hope. You can hope too little, but you
cannot hope too much.
Now, if these views are correct, then
hold that the comforting power of this
love depends on your receiving it. The
man that is in darkness will not be
comfoTted by being told that the sun is
up. If he will not rise up and come
forth out of that darkness, though the
sun may be up and may roll in all its
i glory ard osauty over his head day by
day, there is to him no sun, no warmth,
So the blessings of the divine nature,
Gods mercies innUmerable, must be ap-
propriated by us, if we would have them
avail us anything. This is true in re-
gard to the promises of the gospel.
We are to take things for true that are
true, and when it is taught in this New
Testament that:-''The creature shall
be delivered from the bondage of cor
ruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God''-we are to believe
that. We are not to receive such
statements with allowance and caution.
To do that would be to distrust the
whole divine economy that is over the
world of human hearts and souls. How
confidently men will rely upon the
word of one another, If imperfect
men can be thus trusted, how much
more should we hopefully expect the
fulfiIlment of Gods loving providence
He is all and in all. Will you accept
this God and hope in this mercy, which
is from everlasting to everlasting?