The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-05-18

think of God, as he really is, but be-
cause of sin or guilt he thinks of him
as God of terror. While purity of
life, obedience on mans part, makes
God seem to him as his father, God
of love, and thus it is that the pure
in heart do truly or rightly see God.
"Without holiness no man shall see
the Lord" And without repentance
and reformation there can be no holt
ness. Our conceptions of God are
imperfect conceptions at best; we
cannot know him perfectly or COM
pletely while in this earthly state, be-
cause here we do not attain unto per-
feet or complete holiness; but in the
immortal state we shall attain unto it,
and then 1--WE shall see as we are seen
and know as we are known"
Then all should forsake sin, live
correct lives, and seek to know God /;
by refusing to do so, or by deferring
it we suffer loss, and the longer we
defer it, the greater the loss. Gao
quaint myself with God and be at
peace" is Bible language; and if we
would have true peace and happiness
as individuals, and as a nation, we
must acquaint ourselves with Gods
character.
And even after having done this.
there is danger that we again forget
God; and for this reason we should
not neglect the church, because it is
there we can learn truth and right
eousness, and it is Righteousness
that exalteth nation, but sin is re-
proach to any people," and "The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and
all the nations that forget God" Of
course we Universalists know that
shell" means something very differ
eDt from what it has generally been
thought to mean. We believe in a
hell of mental suffering, not hell of
physical torture. But here in this
connection we will say that it means
that all individuals and nations who
forget, lose sight of, or cease to know
or have true ideas of God, cannot
truly love and obey him, and conse-
quently will come to condition of
moral and spiritual degradation.
Having once been reached, intellec-
tual, moral and spiritual attainments,
like material ones, to be retained, de-
mand unceasing vigilance and watch
fulness. There is no such thing as
standing still; we are either going
forward or backward, acquiring or
losing, learning or forgetting.
This church is set for the promul-
cation and defense of Christianity,
and the incubation of righteousness
or right principles and practices, and
will labor to persuade men to forsake
sin, cease to do evil and learn to do
we'll. We don't propose to do de-
structive but constructive work. We
are not here to pull down, oppose or
antagonize other sects of Christians,
but to aid men to come to knowl-
edge of truth and the way of duty;
help bring them to Jesus, who said
of himself, 81 am the way, the truth
and the life" We want to do this
because truth will liberate from the
doubts, torment and agony that men
have in consequence of ignorance of
the true character of God and his
dealings with man. Without Christ,
or rather without the truths impaired
to us by correct understanding of
him, we would be far from God, but
with him we shall be brought nearer
to God if we but follow his guidance.
We must believe that "God is, and
that he is rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." Without
knowledge of God we cannot trust
in him and this knowledge is the re-
ward of labor, of study, investigation
and search. We can become possess
ors of it only by seeking; if we never
seek we will never find. "Ask and
you shall receive, seek and you shall
find, knock and it shall be opened
unto you"
knowledge of God and his love
for us comes first, then comes conf
dence or faith in his wise direction of
all our troubles and trials; then res
ignation to his will and then an
abiding peace, no sorrow, no evil can
disturb. These are the natural, inevita-
BILE sequences, linked into each other
as cause and effect.
For the information of those who
may not know it., l will say that we
have creed. 1t was adopted by our
United States Convention, at its an
nual session, held at Winchester, N.
H., in 1903, nearly one hundred years
ago. 1t consists of but three articles