The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-05-19

by which moral worth is to be Stl-
mated, for Jesus said, "Suffer the little
children to come unto me and forbid
them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven" and' Verify say unto you, ex-
cept ye be converted and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven
This spiritual heritage makes every
child a spiritual descendant of Christ,
''the second ADAM whom God made
"a quickening spirit, as well as nat
ural spirit descendant of the "frst
ADAM" whom the Lord God made "a
living soul,'' for "as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made
alive" This is the first distribution
and the individual result of the atone
ment.
The woman who lost one of the ten
pieces of silver in her keeping is type
of the Church, the great spiritual in
stitution into whose keeping hath been
committed great treasures. The church
is the house, or institution, while her
agencies in teaching and caring for the
souls every one born into the world
committed to her charge constitute the
housekeeping. These spiritual coins
are put out at usury by the Master, and
the church is expected, not only to use
them for the good of the world and the
glory of God, but also to develop them
and increase their value, that at the
last, when the Lord of the Church shall
come and call for his own, they may be
returned to him with usury.
But the woman lost one coin only
one. Had she used the proper care
this would not have occurred. But
when she saw and felt the loss, she i'm
mediately instituted search, and pros
ecuted it to success; then she rejoiced.
The church loses many of the coins
committed to her keeping. How does
she lose them? l answer, by failing to
train the children up in the right way !;
by failing to exercise the proper )cial
and domestic watchfulness and discip-
line; 1 mean the discipline of love as
well as of correction. The light of the
gospel, which should ever shine in the
Church Of God, grows dim through neg
lect of duty, and is sometimes per-
verted by formality or eclipsed by
worldly-mindedness
We may be profited by inquiriDg just
when these treasures are committed to
the care of the church. Here, my
friends, raise no controversy with the
views of any, but shall content my
self with stating what the Scriptures
teach upon this subject, so that the
controversy, if any, shall be between
you and God: "Gather the people to-
gether, men and women and children
and thy stranger that is within thy
gates, that they may hear and that they
may learn and fear the Lord your God
and observe to do all the words of this
law" But God, foreseeing the quib-
BILE that would be raised by the creeds
of those churches which exclude chill
dren from their rightful place in them,
restated it in terms so plain, that il
should put an end to controversy. He
adds: "And that their children which
have not known anything may heal
and learn to fear the Lord your God. y
(See Deut. XXI. 12,13.) What The
little children that have known moth
ing ? Yes; he would have the sense of
hearing the first to be developed, to
be saluted with his divine teachings
They are the special wards of the
church as soon as they come into the
, world, and God demands for them the
most attentive nurture and the strict
est oversight. The church, through
the Christian family, her holy sacra.
ments and teachings, should labor to
, keep from evil all who are given to her
in charge.
, If the church in her practice was
equal to the full measure of her respon-
sibilities, the children of the church
, would all be saved in this life, and
have "part in the first resurrection
J But she is imperfect in her organic
structure; and the most perfect and
Scriptural organizations fall short in
practice and the children pass to the
period of responsibility, perfect theil
infantile justification, sell their spirit
ual birthright for mess of sensual in
diligence, and plunge into sin; whereas
if the influence and example Of family
religion and church religion had been
such as to surround them by prepon-
derance of good, they would have &C.
cepted Jesus Christ by loving ODE
dience, as the very first act of indie,
pendent mental and spiritual volition;
and thus universal salvation would be
the primary result The children would
"grow up into Christ" their ''living
head" without ever having anything
more to repent of than the short com.
ings incident to every Christian life.
If / believed in the dogma of the
"fnal and unconditional perseverance
of fine aainta ,, the nalnahla truth of