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

We have one Father and one destiny.
live HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY
TO PROVE THAT CHARACTER is sU-
PERIoR TO CIRCUMSTANCES.
How sad and dark day last Sunday
was to us all, any words of mine would
be too feeble to describe. For myself,
remembered how the hospitable doors
of the old church opened to receive me
when felt called upon, like Abraham,
to leave mine own country and kin
dred;" when / went out, not knowing
whittier 1 went" How keenly must
those have felt the loss who were
longest identified with the society,"
who saw the structure rise as the
conscious stone to beauty crew.
to whom every part of that structure
was crowded with hallowed associa-
tons ! To-day we can all adopt the
language of our text and say, Troubled
on every side, we are not distressed;
perplexed, we are not in despair; cast
down, we are not destroyed" We do
not underestimate the calamity that
has come upon US, but we shall not be
crushed by it. We preach the gospel
of hope and courage; we now have an
opportunity to practice it.
The poor ship-master exclaimed in
storm at sea, so God, thou mayest
save me, if thou wilt; and if thou wilt,
thou mayest destroy me; but, however,
1 will hold my rudder true!" One of
the sublimest utterances that has come
down to us from Old Testament times
is this from Habbakuk: "Although
the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the labor Of
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat; the flock shall be cut
off from the fold, and there shall be no
herd in the STALL yet will I rejoice in
the Lord, will joy in the God of my
salvation!" Manhood is not affected
by mutations of fortune. God sent us
into this world to become, not the fools
and playthings, but the arbiters Of des-
tiny. "Woe unto him." exclaims the
Persian poet, Hafiz, "who suffers him
self to be betrayed by fate"
| Hive SHALL FIND, IN THIS DIS
AsTER, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR vIGoR-
Gus WORK.
1t goes without the saying that the
regular activities of the church, the
Sunday school, the various societies,
must be kept up. All departments of
our work will be more energetically
pushed. Old workers will be made
more Jealous and new ones will come.
There will be more intense spirit of
sympathy and mutual helpfulness. All
who are identified with the organization
will become better acquainted. We
shall be stronger in every way for this
calamity. A present and immediate
object in which our labors can center is
the rebuilding of our church. Out of
the ruins of the old new structure
will rise. "The silver is mine and the
| gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts.
The latter glory of this house shall be
greater than the former, saith the Lord
of Hosts.'
The very magnitude of the task be-
fore us will be an inspiration, sit is
calumny on men," says Carlyle, to
say that they are moved to heroic
action by ease, hope of pleasure, recon-
pense, sugar plums of any kind in this
world or the next. In the meanest
mortal there lies something nobler.
Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, are
the allurements that act on the heart
of man." There is nothing heroic
nature loves better than to grapple with
adverse forces. Difficulty is the mother
of Power.
We shall be inspired by the memories
that gather about the old walls and
tower. By all that the church has
been to ourselves and to others, shall
our efforts be strong aud loving to
rebuild its broken majesty. A day or
two ago, as passed the ruins, stopped
and looked up over the front entrance,
where the beautiful rose window used
to be, but where all is now mass of
ice. do not know what caused it
possibly they were some fragments of
colored glass behind the ice-but as 1
looked, the rays of the sun so fell upon
the spot that the colors of the rainbow
flashed upon the ice. The symbol of
hope was still shining there. The mes
sage of hope comes to us from the his
tory of the past. The gospel of hope
shall again be proclaimed there; and
from every window the light of hope
shall once more shine upon every path
wayl
"Why art thou cast down, o my
soul, and why art thou disquieted
within mep Hope thou in God; for 1
shall yet praise him who is the health
Of my countenance and my God"
THEREFORE,"
Therefore" is the most important