The evening times., 1895-10-22

lieve in God, and to believe in man. And
out ur this belief should spring a hope and
enthusiasm capable OF transforming the
world"
IDEA OF GOD.
Defining the Unitarian conception of God,
be said:
I'VE believe in God-n"t in a God out
lined in human figure and located at some
particular spot in the depths of space
But our God is a person, not merely the
diffused and impalpabe spirit OF life. We
proclaim him personal, not. because out
lined and limited like human person.
but because we regard consciousness as the
center and essence OF personality
IF we cannot say of Him that He thinks
and feels and loves, after the type uf
human thinking, feeling, and loving ii is
only because we would not limit him by
these terms. But we believe that that
which corresponds to thought and feeling
and love in man is infinitely higher and
grander and more than these i'll Gud. We
believe in His perfect and universal father
houd
Whatever else and other than this He
may be- He is still our Father. Our finite
spirits look up and claim kinship with him. the
Infinite Spirit. Wedo notbelieve that there
is now. orever has been. any child ofman for
one nument forgotten by HIM or left outside
the limits of His tender care.
I'VE recognize Him as the Power back of
all the PHENOMENA of the universe, as the
Power manifested in and through all the
developments of human history. The God
we believe in is not outside the world He
has made. ruling 1t from afar. governing
it arbitrarily, as an emperor governs his
realm, He Is the power, and the truth and
the justice and the love of this scheme Of
things"
BIBLE AS GODS WORD.
As TO the Bible as being the sole deposi-
tory of truth he said:
THE Word of God is not bound. either by
limitations of creed or nationality OF re-
ligion. OF between the covers of any book.
The universe. and the history of the unfold
ing and development Of human life and
human aspiration-these, so far as we have
been able to spell them out, are the record
of the law, the will. the purpose of God.
When history is accurately written. the
method of God in dealing with national life,
national prosperity, or national decay, is at
last revealed.
The destiny of man and the scheme of
salvation according to the Unitarian church
were thus eXpounded:
Il come now to speak. in the last place.
OF what we believe concerning the destiny
of man. According to the old ideas, death
is the end of human probation and the good
and the bad at that time are assigned to a
final and endless doom. We hold that
death is only an incident in the eternal
career of the soul. There is nothing in
the fact Of death to change the nature or
the destiny of man, any more than in the
going to sleep last night and waking up
again this morning. Under the universal
and eternal laws of God-of cause and
effect-man is continually engaged in
building his own character.
"And, as in this world, he can go up or
down, as he pleases, SO we believe it will
be true in any other and all worlds. Only
we trust that as we go on, the path VIII
be clearer, and men will discern ever
more and more. and go come to prefer
that which is good instead of that which
is evil. Salvation or pertlition are not
matters of place We know enough of the
conditions of human happiness in this
life TO understand that it does not depend
upon where we are. but what We are.
Happiness is conditioned upon our being in
right relations with our surroundings and
all the great facts of life"