The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-09-05

'iOho hoo oOOh my OouoldCtOI. he
who fills my heart with gratitude or
poured some inspiring strains of
music or devotion through my mind
has written paragraph upon my
memory, and I will look back upon
him with gratitude forever. But he
who makes my hour as bitter as gall,
who goes into the closet of his soul
and takes out his fiendish thoughts
or sinks to the level of the nomencla-
ture of the bar room and abandoned
people, and pelts my memory with
dirt and filth, has not done me an
honorable service.
Conscience is word not always we'll
employed. That which we term con-
science is often pure cowardice. Con.
duct often is kind of cosmetic en-
ployed to cover up bad spiritual
complexion. Honest old Oliver
Cromwell said to the artist, "Paint
me as l am" He would not have
been Oliver Cromwell without the
wart on his face. Individuals show
an absolute want of faith in God by
the cowardice they manifest toward
men. How many people in the gilt
edged churches keep deck of cards
each in their homes, and play in day
light with the shades drawn down
and if chance knock comes upon
the door, throw the whole pack under
the sofa or in some blind corner.
Or perhaps they dance when away
from home, or if very straight kind
of moralists, go to the theater in the
city. This class of people are really
towards. They are afraid of their
neighbors, or their brothers and sis
ters in the church, or perhaps the
minister. They have never dreamed
that the sleepless eye of God has
been watching over them every time
the clock licked. What is the signif-
icance of such faithlessness7 That
God is not taken into consideration
and it is people who largely govern
conduct.
If home is the place for innocent
pastimes, and if you have made up
your mind that they are innocent in
the sight of him who is never absent
from your side, do not be afraid of
men, do not dread your neighbor, or
the minister, or seek to make apology
for what you do. 1t is nobody's
business but your own, after all. 1
am not aware that the Gospels tell
us to seek seclusion for any purpose
but that of religious devotion. But
some of these things in life are sadly
transposed. Innocent pleasures are
too often hypocritically pursued by
stealth and religious devotion, which
should be matter for pious seclu-
sion, is gagged too much nowadays
ones ability to get up and talk in
meeting or to make a public prayer.
l believe that the truly religious
person reveres the laws of God, and
shapes his conduct, and employs his
time in way to enhance his own
happiness and make way for the
reign of God in the hearts of all his
children. What does the sleepless
eye of the Infinite require of us? To
be right. No moreno less. Seek
first the kingdom of heaven and his
righteousness. Seek to be right.
That is the sum of all earthly duty.
And what is rights
1t is upon this question that we
begin to stumble, and speculate and
dogmatize, and misjudge and then
persecute. Many poor man has,
like Stephen, looked up into the ap-
proving sky and seen the smiling
faces of the holy, as he died beneath
the strokes of self-righteous persecu-
tors. All, how many laws have men
made and how many parties have
they resolved themselves into, how
many armies have they marshaled,
how many racks and pillories have
they built, how many crosses have
they erected, to force men into GER
tain beliefs and false duties? The
great and wise teachers have taught
men little doctrine but more of the
spirit of life. Let us beware OF these
mistakes, beware of long creeds, be-
ware of many pharisaical rules. The
whole duty of man has been reduced
to one simple rule. The Golden
Rule" of the Sermon on the Mount.
What is right for you may not appear
right to me. Your duty can never be
a precise pattern of mine. Every
planet must pursue its own orbit.
Let us pray that the religious life
may so unfold for us that we realize
the indwelling God. When the hour
dawns, duty, truth and right will un
fold for us, not suddenly to blind us
with brilliancy, but gradually as the