The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-12-22


These words are part of beautiful
prophecy concerning the little chilo
at whose birth the legends tell us
angels sang and the stars shone with
unwonted lustre. The theme OF the
heavenly singers, on that night OF
wonder, was Behold, we bring glad
tidings of great JOY which shall be to
you and all people"
What is that message OF glad tld
ings the stored songsters pro-
claimed? That there is possible
deliverance from the dominion OF SIN
and evil for the individual soul and
for the entire world; that in each
heart righteousness shall reign, and
over the whole world love shall I'M
fold its wings in benediction. Ills
name shall be called Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sins,
not from penalty, not from justice,
but from sin itself. A sensitive soul
does not think of penalty; it is the
stain of sin that troubles. In the life
of this Supreme Man, crowned with
loving kindness for all and lowered
with the scepter of moral authority,
we find the mightiest influence that
has wrought for human uplifting in
the past, and that is full of glorious
promise for the future.
Let us try to discover, this morning
some of the elements that have made
Jesus the saving power that he is to
the world. Setting aside the popular
idea of sanguinary atonement to
allay the wrath of brutal deity, or
to crafty perverted sense of justice
in the breast of tyrannical governor;
setting aside the complementary no.
ton of substitutionary guilt and
ELECTROMAGNETIC shall find the real
sources of his spiritual empire in very
different directions.
/. Our conception of his mission
will be largely shaped by our concep-
ton of human necessities.
What do we really need9 What is
there in our condition that demands
help? We do not, for one moment,
imagine that there was any break in
the Divine plan at Eden; that the sin
of Adam or any one else SO shattered
human nature that it must be rebuilt
from the ground up, and that this is
the work of Christ. Men do not need
a new nature: they need a recon
structed and completed character.
2. How shall this be brought. out?
According to what model? Under
whose direction?
We need moral development, ripen-
ing, inspiration. By what processes
shall the end be attained? We need
the kindling of our hopes, the awak-
ening of our nobler attributes, the
winging of our aspirations for upward
flight. Who shall bring the sacred
fire? Who shall sound the arousing
trumpet? We need some one whose
words and life shall be to us what
the sunlight is to the unripe fruit in
the orchard and the wrapped-up
germs of beauty in the plant, some
one who shall bring our possibilities
of manhood to the blossom of summer
and the fullness of autumn. Weneed
an ideal and one to help us to attain
it. We need encouragement and love.
This is the work of Jesus. In this
way he redeems from sin, from an
imalism, from evil. In this way he
iustifies the title that the consent of
ages has bestowed him.
/. The FIRST ELEMENT IN THIS WORK
is HIS INTERPRETATION OF THE UNIVERSE.
The position of man in this present
system of things is peculiar, even ter
rible. Into his experience enter all
the elements of pathos and tragedy,
pain and tears, disappointment and
loss. He finds himself encompassed
by destructive forces. The earth be-
meath his feet heayes with earth
quake, the air about him whirls with
storms and throbs with thunders.
The lightnings of the sky smite his
house and temple. He fixes his heart
upon some cherished object-only to
find the eyes grow dim and the lips
turn to marble. The earliest lesson
that the first man had to learn was
how to dig a grave. 1t is lesson
that he must practice to the last.
How many questions throng upon
him. What does it all mean? Is
there anything back of all this9 Is
there any plan' Is there any COM
passion9 Or is there nothing but
the play of relentless forces? Who
shall answer9 Who has pierced far
enough into the realities of things to
determined Who shall interpret for
lis this strange, strange universe?