The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-04-27
DIR. LYMAN ABBoTTs OPINIONS.
BY MARK HoLRoYD.


with power and surround him with
circumstances which l know will
prove his ruin, whence does this law
of limitation come, and will he from
whom this law comes do that which
he prohibits me from doings
There is a good deal in name. A
hundred years ago Universal Fa
ther" was seldom on the lips of the
Calvinist. God was the awful Judge
before whom all souls must appear to
hear their doom. Take these exam
Piles from DR.. Watts:
Terrible God that reignest en- high,
How awful is thy laundering hand;
Thy fiery bolts, how fierce they fly,
Nor can all earth or hell Withstand.
Here is another:
Adore and tremble for our God
Is consuming fire.
His jealous eyes his wrath infame
And raise his vengeance, higher.
Almighty vengeance, how it burns,
How bright his fury glows
Vast magazine, of plaques and storms
Lie treasured for his foes.
Such hymns were constantly sung
when / was young man. Now the
Universal Fatherhood is taught from
most pulpits, but "ist" added to
"Universal," designating a company
of believers who believe in Gods per-
feet and efficient Fatherhood, and
the word becomes the synonym of
danger.
1t will not be far from truth to say
DR.. Abbott is destructionist. Why?
Because it is more humane to think
some go. out of existence, or rather
never attain to true existence, than to
be tormented endlessly, resultless of
good to the tormented. Perhaps the
good Doctor has consulted the evils
dom of Solomon"from the Septuagint,
which reads, "God created man to be
immortal and made him to be an i'm
age of his own eternity. Neyerthe-
less, through envy of the devil came
death into the world, and they that
do hold to the devils side find
death"
From his language DR.. Abbott
holds that man has the "awful power
to take life or reject it.
If 1 understand Universalism it
holds to the moral freedom of man,
but not to the invincibility of his will;
also to the essential Immortality of
the soul. And it has no dead line,
either in this or any other state. Con-
sequently, as Universalism believes
there are motives and influences sufi-
cient to sway human wills into har-
mony with the will of the Father at
different periods in this life, God has
in his infinite reservoir sufficient mo-
tives and influences to draw all souls
to him in the ages to come. A good
mechanic adapts the power to remove
the obstruction. Does God do lesss
Moving from point to point, one
comes in contact with orthodoxy, and
it appears to me that current ortho-
doxy is letting go the hope of the
world-the good will of God-and
clothing humanity with will invinc-
ible to Gods moral omnipotence.
Some say to me omnipotence has only
respect to matter and force, as if he
were not omnipotent in the moral and
spiritual realm. Force in matter is
grace in soul matters, and grace is
love and "love never faileth."
Probably DR.. Abbott does not be-
lieve evil will hold eternal possession
of any one soul. Rather than believe
this. he believes in the death of the
soul, the not attaining to Immortality
with God through Jesus the Life
Giver," and with him it is an awful
thought. With Prof. Henry Drum
mond, he would probably say, Il do
not wonder at what man suffers, but |
wonder often at what he loses"
Dr.Lyman Abbott is not a"Univer-
salist." Most believers in condition
al Immortality" are quite ready to say
81 am not a Universalist." l am in
possession of letter from a promi-
nent Congregationalist minister in
Illinois who has become a believer in
conditional immortality, who says
she is not a Universalist."
1t may be that the good DR.. Abbott,
being a Congregationalist, has ad-
vanced quite near enough to Univer-
salism and the salvation of all souls
from sin, for his own safety. But
retreat is not the course for him. By
not few he is regarded as danger
ous man as respects the Faith. Some
little time ago asked d. d. of the
same denomination what he thought
Of DR.. Lyman Abbott.
"He is boring holes in the church
es" was his reply. Within a month