The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-02-11

small, handsome or not handsome, my
prayer is that it may be, as the former
one was, in the truest sense a Christian
church, that it shall stand for Christian
purity, honesty and charity, for the
highest, noblest humanity, and or
every form of righteousness.
We have been taught, finally, my
dear friends, another striking lesson of
the mutability of all earthly things.
We built our church of stone, we built
it broad and high and strong, but it did
not abide. Nothing material abides.
And yet our Church of the Redeemer
outlived many who helped to build it.
How little any of US thought or dreamed
that it would fall sooner than we. Had
it remained few years longer, we
should all have gone away from it.
And so it is question only as to which
will reach the grave first, the building
or the builder, the property or its
owner.
But there is something in man, if
there be nothing about him, which can
never perish, which survives all changes,
escapes all accidents, defies all fires and
floods; and this is the human soul.
This we devoutly hope and earnestly
believe is immortal. O1e foundation
there is which cannot be undermined {;
one treasure the flames cannot crumble,
one joy disappointment cannot kill
this is Christ.
REV. MARION d. SHUTTERS ADDRESS.
If 1 wanted a text this morning, 1
should take these words from Paul:
I'VE are troubled on every side, yet
not distressed I'VE are perplexed but
not in despair prosecuted but not for
saken cast down but not destroyed"
q Cor. w. $50
These words are full of agony and
full of joy. They palpitate with pain ;
they break forth into singing. They
are full of thorns; they blossom into
roses. They wall with defeat; they
shout with victory.
This passage is leaf torn from the
experience of Paul and his coadjutors.
They lived and wrought in stormy
time. Without were troubles, perils Of
land and sea, perils Of false brethren
and the prosecutors ash,-failures,
mistakes, defeat; within, perplexities
and doubts; but they were still uplifted
and borne forward on the waves of a
sublime courage and enthusiasm. Per-
secuted, they were not forsaken; per-
picked, they were not in despair; sor-
rowing, they beheld the light behind
the cloud whose darkness was wrathful
overhead. The spirit in which they
met disaster and disappointment is
finely shown in the closing phrase of
the text, least down but not destroyed -
They always rose to their feet, ready
for fresh encounter with adversely.
Let US try to learn lesson to- day from
this undismayed and hopeful spirit.
"Our holy and our beautiful house,
where our fathers praised thee, is
burned with fire, and all our pleasant
things are laid waste" This is the
occasion for the lesson we would learn.
In the famous story, when Uncle
Tom was about to be taken away to the
far South, he tried to comfort Aunt
Chloe by saying, "Dere'll be de same
God dere dat dere is here, Chloe" But
no doubt we have all felt with Aunt
Chloe when she answered, "S'pose dere
will, but de Lord let's drefful tings
happen sometimes. 1 don't seem to
git no comfort dat way" The Lord
does let dreadful things happen, because
this is a universe of law,-not of
chance, favoritism or caprice. But
whatever the philosophy of those
dreadful things" we shall not discuss
it. They are not divine judgments
that smite and blast; they are divine
materials to be wrought into shapes of
glory and beauty. Calamity is oppor-
tunity. 1t is said that when Brahma
walked the earth, the gold in its veins
exclaimed, Here am 1, o Most Emil
nent, take me and do with me as thou
wilt" The calamities and disasters of
earth are veined with gold and they
offer their treasures to the brave. In
the physical world it was once sup
posed the highest mountains are oppo-
site the greatest ocean, and usually the
highest peak of the mountain is opposite
the greatest depression in the ocean.
In human life, it is certain, the noblest
mounts of opportunity are hard by the
deepest oceans of depression.
1.-THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR MAG
NIFICENT BUILDING GIVES US AN
OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE REAL UNITY
THAT UNDERLIEs ALL CREEDs AND
RELIGIONS.
There is one part of the text that 1
do not mean to use; that there is no
occasion for using, prosecuted but
not forsaken." We are not prosecuted.
1t was true of Paul and his fellows; it
is not true of US. We are troubled,
| s.sav H.,