The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-03-14

when all things shall be subdued I'M
to him then shall the son also himself
be subject unto him that put all
things under him, that God may be
all in ALL" Can we say that God will
be all in all if the devil through all
eternity is to have dominion over the
greater part of the beings God has
created?
One of the prominent members of
the Free Methodist Church of this
place, came to our house one evening
to talk on the subject of religion. In
the course of our talk / said to him,
"You believe, do you that ninety nine
one-hundredths of all the beings God
has created, will spend eternity in
hell?" He said, eyes that is what the
Bible teaches" According to this
view it seems to me the devil will come
a great deal nearer to being "all in
all" than will God, but we as Univer-
salists deny the truth of any such
doctrine and say emphatically the
Bible does not teach it.
On the next point in question 1
concede that Rev. Mr.. Stokesbury
represented our doctrine fairly when
he said: "Universalists believe that
God wills the salvation of all men
and so all men will be saved, for moth.
ing can defeat the will of God" The
Bible tells us He will have all men to
be saved and to come unto the knowl-
edge of the truth" God is omnip-
otent. Whatever he wills to be done,
is according to our belief sure to be
accomplished. His next statements
were, however, full of error. He said
our doctrine represented the devil
as being better friend of man than
God," and said that according to our
belief "God made couple of idiots
and put them in the garden of Eden;
the devil persuaded them to SIM
sin and suffering are necessary to
mans happiness because if it were
not for sin and suffering here we
would not be able to enjoy heaven;
that according to this doctrine those
who were the worst here would have
the most happiness in heaven, there
being more contrast,-those who were
the best here would have least happi-
ness, while for the infant who had
never sinned, their could be no hap
piness. 1t would be as though he
were thrust down into hell,-so in
stead of making the happiness of
heaven reward for goodness, Uni
versalists make it a reward for sin.
If mans sin secures everlasting hap
piness what is there to make him
good2 If disobedience wins more
than obedience, then sin is a grand
elevating force" [ wrote while he
was talking and l think I have given
this quotation nearly in his own
words, except that he enlarged upon
the points somewhat. This is perhaps
what might be termed logic. A per-
son can prove anything by logic. l
have heard people prove by logic that
there is no such thing as motion.
Nevertheless everyone knows there
is such thing as molten. However
much of logic there may be in these
statements. every one who under
stands the principles of Unversalism
knows that in them there is nothing
of truth. 1t is part of our creed
that "holiness and happiness are in
separable." We do not believe that
person can live life of sin and yet
be happy. We believe that person
cannot commit sinful act and escape
punishment. You will never hear
Universalist speak of the pleasures of
sin, for we do not believe there is any
pleasure in sin. We believe that by
living true, noble lives we not only
enjoy ourselves better here, but we
are better fitted to enjoy the life be-
yond the grave. Now just here let
me say few words in reference to
the stand we take in regard to revival
meetings. 1t is commonly supposed
that we do not favor revival meetings.
We do favor them if conducted in
such way as to appeal to the best in
mans nature; but as commonly con-
Quoted, we believe they do more harm
than good that the appeal as COM
monty made is to one OF the worst
passions in human nature-selfish-
ness-love of self. The thief steals
from Others that his own possessions
may be increased; inordinate love of
self is at the root of the crime COM
mitted. 1t is the same with the MUIR
derer, the crime of murder is COM
mitted, almost without exception, for
the advancement of selfish interests.
Selfishness is at the root of the most
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