The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-10-12

no other struggle in which men en-
gage. Having thus added pleasures
to power in the acquisition of knowl-
edge, God leaves men to penetrate
ioyfully the region of the unknown"
But love, and faith, and hope, and
peace in believing lie too deep in
mans nature to be easily reached,
and they lie not at all in the things
outside of man himself. Scientific
truths lie outside of man, in his nat
ural surroundings, but spiritual
truths lie wholly inside of man. A
knowledge of the supreme worth OF
these formative elements in the three
fold nature of man could be given to
us only by laying bare the laws and
principles which govern them, or by
revealing man to himself. This in
ward subjective realm required not
revelation concerning its setting, or
surroundings, but concerning itself.
Men must know themselves. Jesus
revealed man to himself. He came to
bear witness to this aspiring, hoping,
loving element in human nature, and
to the peace and joy, the uplift, the
zeal, which belong to the exercise of
it. To this end was he born, for this
cause came he into the world, that he
might bear witness to the innate no.
bleness, the inherent divineness of
our human nature. He came to bear
witness to the infinite worth of the
spiritual capacities of men independ-
ent of both the physical and mental
capacities. He made it his meat and
his drink to do the will of the Father;
then turning upon the world of man
kind, said, "Follow mel" He came
teaching, not as the scribes and Phar-
isees, but as one having authority,
then said, "Ye believe in God, believe
also in me-"
The world was sunk in error, spir-
ituality was at low ebb, religion in
it's highest sense, that of feeling OF
kinship between God and man, was
in danger of being lost out of the
world, and in its place there was to
come superstitious fear of the I'm
seen Powers, which is the bitterest
element of paganism. We know but
little, but speaking from our knowl-
edge we may say that the only way
in which God could speak to the
world was the way he-chose to incar-
nate the world in human soul, send
that soul into the thick of the strug-
gle between truth and error, inspired
by his Holy Spirit to teach and live
the truth even unto death.
"For nineteen hundred years the
Word has been sounding on through
cathedral aisles, through pompous
ceremonials, through humble church
and meeting house, through the
mouths of those who are only babes
in knowledge, most of all through
the sanity lives of good men and
women down to our day, and the
world has hardly learned yet to speak
this sacred Word, the Word which is
the fulfilling of the whole divine law,
the one word, Love-"
| am not one who wages war with
the world. l believe that this day is
the best day the world ever saw. To
morrow will be better than today,
and SO on through all the shadowy
tomorrows that are to dawn out of
the infinite future; because men and
women are learning to speak with
more power the all-fulfilling word,
Love; Love to God; Love to man.
There is more of the true Christ
spirit in the world today than ever
before. The sacred Word has been
spoken, not into mems ears by angels
from heaven, but into their hearts by
one man who had so much of Gods
spirit within him that he took the
whole world into fellowship, saying:
"Whosoever doeth the will of my Fa-
ther in heaven is my brother, my sis
ter, my mother. With Jesus of Naz
areth as our guide to truth; with him
as the incarnate Word spoken to our
consciences, we may live the divine
life, initiate the divine ideal, and so
aim for the bringing in Of the reign
of righteousness and peace.
OSHKOSH. Wis.