Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-11-12


seriousness the infinite wisdom and infinite
goodness, and show to him thus in the in
finite God, the infinite Father. And in his
perfect humanity, made perfect by the iu-
dwelling of that spirit of wisdom, good
ness and love, exalted through obedience
and service, fillal in character and life
toward God. fraternal in character and
life among men, we see the Son of God,
and learn the divine sonship Of man.
The Psalmist of old, when man was low
er than now, before humanity had yet been
raised to supreme height in Jesus, could
ssy-"When | consider thy heavens, the
work of thy fingers. the moon and the
stars which Thou hast ordained; what is
man, that thou art mindful of hm?-and
the son of man, that thou yisitest him?
For thou hast made him little lower than
the angels, aud hast crowned him with
glory and honor"
This is the Unitarian view of man; of
man in divine conception and design. We
know the depths to which he descends
we see the brutishness he puts on. He be-
comes glutton and drunkard, the slave Of
appetite and passion. He grows mon
ster of seltishness, corruption, cruelty; he
Is scourge Of his kind, curse upon
earth. Yes, he makes himself this; God
does not make him such. God makes him
the smiling infant on his mothers bosom,
rel cd ,vit lpy atch
by angels, and innocent as they. God
makes him with nature that may be un-
folded in glory forever. And all impulse
to excellence. all purpose of good, all long
Ing for the highest and best, all the vision
OF glory the holiest have known, have
come in this nature of man that is given
from God He Is spirit clothed in flesh
that is animal, Angel or animal be may
make himself as he will Reason and con
science lead him upward toward the one;
animal appetite, downward toward the
other He chooses the course that leads
heavcnwsrd, or that goes tow ard the pit
CD helps him in every upward step with
strength, and peace, and the power of his
spirit; aud holds him back in downward
course with shame. and self reproach, and
remor>e, the striving in him OF that same
spirit. But he is not born totally de-
PRAYED, nor totally anything; he is born
spirit and animal, and born as God makes
him in the beginning. When he abuses
his trust, and serves his lower nature. he
deprayes himself, and at every downward
step coutradlcts the purpose OF God in his
creation.
And what is salvation? ltls to he saved
from the downward course, saved in an
upward one. 1t i TO be saved from
evil, not from the effects of evil, saved
from SIM not from the punishment of sin.
No human being was ever saved from the
effects of evil none ever saved from the
punishment of sin. What do We mean by
effect but that joined with cause? Heaven
and earth stand fast in the union of cause
and effect. Punishment as effect belongs
with sin in the nature of sin, and goes
with sin as long as sin exists. Hell is the
condition not more of punishment than of
sin; heaven not more reward of good
than part with good. Think Of 1t. The
image Of God dcfaced In human nature,
the likeness of beast put on. a human be-
ing cast down from elevation of character
in Jesus, and wallowing in wickedness,
the spirit degraded the angel debased and
then the notion of hell of punishment to
come worse than this, from which this Of
fender is TO escape, and climb into heaven
among the just made perfect. The worst
hell possible for such one is to tlnd where
he is, where he is in himself. Ii is the I'M
yelling of himself to himself. This, Gods
spirit working with his spirit in Gods time
may show Aud the light that shows him
himself may light his way back to God.
Man is saved in his true manhood; saved
as through obedience and service to God he
fuhls the purpose Of God in his creation.
And thus he enters into the divine man
hood, when in the life Of the soul, through
obedience to the divine spirit, he becomes
one with God. This is the salvation
through Christ And God has all eternity
In which with the Christ and the power Of
his own holy spirit to help man to this
| salvation.
These are the things which are most
surely believed among US The things
about reason and conscience, about the
| scriptures. about God, about Jesus Christ,
about man, about salvation: the things in
religion that underlie other things. And
these are believed, SO far as they are be-
| lieved among us, not by common subscrip-
tion, but by common consent. And any
one of us has the right among all to be-
leve differently from these things, to be-
worthy to be believed. So there is variety
of belief, and perhaps no one is competent
TO tell everything that is believed in con-
nection with religion and life. But this
is perhaps most generally believed, that the
best value of belief is for life not peace
funess in death so much as usefulness in
life And that is the best belief which
makes the best life. And the power of this
belief is seen as it elevates and retines char
acter and improves conduct, as it makes
the believer loving and loved, as it purifies
and sweetens home, as it helps the com.
munity, as it serves tie country. as i,
blesses the world. These are the true
service to God; these are the best fruits OF
belief.