The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-08

comes to one, his grief is beyond his
power to bear, he thinks. He takes
to drink for solace, to drown his fears.
Like magic they are gone. Not for
long. Soon he becomes slave to a
drug,-a poison. His system Graves
it. He is nolonger able to be without
stimulant. 1t is withheld from him.
He must endure fearful agonies. He
is in hell. Who is his saviour? He
repents when he finds out the sin he
has committed in becoming a slave
to drug. By prayer, by resolution.
by the aid of medicine he is restored.
He has been saved from hell. This
is the work Jesus came to do. The
well had no need Of physician, he
said. No one ever repented of sin
but tasted of the pain of hell. For
we suffer, morally and spiritually; it
is hell, the suffering, that brings us to
our senses and makes us reach out
our hand for those who can save.
The mere believing that one is saved
does not save. We carry with us in
character the sum total of what we
have been. We may be on the way
to hell and shall continue in our loss
of heaven until hell has done its
work, to reveal how weak and INSULT
cient we are aside and apart from
God.
Indeed SO strongly did the belief
prevail in the early Christian church
that Jesus's crowning work was to
save the sinner, (for if man sins he
is III hell,) from hell, it taught that
Jesus, between the time of his cruci-
fixion and resurrection, descended in
to hell and preached to souls in
prison.
The popular theology,-but indeed
it is no longer popular,-would teach
men that Christ delivered unto the
disciples the keys of heaven and hell,
and that whatever the disciples bound
or loosed upon earth was bound or
loosed in heaven. Jesus as he ap-
peared in vision to John, upon the
island of Patmos, still retained the
keys of death and Of hades. 1t is the
same Jesus who taught that he would
seek the lost sheep upon the bleak
and bare mountain side, and not give
up the search until he found it. 1t
is the same Jesus who related the
parable of the prodigal son. tits the
same Jesus who said that there was
nora rejoicing in heaven among the
angels over one sinner that was saved
than over ninety and nine just persons
who had no need of repentance. And
what does the book of Revelation tell
us is to bedone with death and hades
finally7 They were to be cast into
the lake of fire and destroyed. There
can be no hell after the destruction
of hell. The work of Jesus was to
unlock the doors of death, to throw
wide open the gates of hell, so that
those who stood in the fear of death.
or through sin were bound in hell.
might come forth and be saved. God
does not punish needlessly. Never
was pain in vain. 1t stands as a
warning, moral or physical pain,- tell
ing us we are losing our health. So
long as there is pain is there hope.
When pain ceases to be then shall
come everlasting death.
We could not think of God turn
ing the earth out of its course in the
solar system to pursue it's mad career
in an infinite void beyond the laws
that bind the universe as one har-
monious whole. We cannot think,
nor is there any warrant in Scripture
to believe, that God can or will cast
off any begotten in the likeness of
the Father, to everlasting exile, never
ending suffering in literal hell from
which there is no escape, not even
through repentance.
A young man was once invited by
a maker of famous violins to go and
examine the wood from which they
were made. He expected to see a
wondrous sight,-precious wood. He
only saw what seemed to him to be
very poor material. But from the
wood the violin maker fashioned the
most exquisite instruments; they lay
silent until the master hand would
play upon them and wake the music
of the spheres, the longing of the
soul. God creates his angels of men
and women. They are wrought up
on by the master hand, they suffer
when having done wrong. God
loves his creation. He sent Jesus
that he might save his people from
their sins, from hell. There is hope
in hell. And he laid his right hand
upon me, saying, "fear not; am tie
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