The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-05-16

had said: Chow helpless all this is
because not completed in eighty
years." what would have been the re-
suit? Where would the jewels of the
world be? They would never have
been, indeed. Nothing of great mo-
ment or of great value would ever
have appeared. Great results in ma
ture are not accomplished in GEN.
fury, and before these results which
have exhausted many centuries in
their achievements, what would be
the meaning of any voice that should
say: IF there is hope in the second
century, then there is no value in the
first? Isn't it time to put away our
little toy world of religion and look
upon God and the soul as eternal
realities, with infinite tasks before us
ala We ought to allow God as much
time for the perfecting of a soul as
we allow for the oak tree or the dia-
mond, or the preparation of the earth
for even the existence of life upon its
surface.
One of our friends says he believes
that suffering will last as long as sin
lasts. As Universalist even | must
in my thought extend the period of
suffering beyond that limit. l be-
lieve the bitterest moral or spiritual
anguish is experienced after the sin
terminates. The sleep walking scene
in Lady Macbeth could not have been
till after the murder of Duncan. 1t
was the revived conscience that could
smell the blood on ''that little hand
the conscience that was going to
sleep beneath the words: But screw
your courage to the sticking point
and we will not fail" The Prodigal
Son she'd more tears on his way home
that when he was going into "a far
country"
The way home was the way of pain,
but it was the way of life. His real
suffering began after he had aban-
doned the evil purpose. And so the
moral suffering of the world is
largely endured after the evil intent
is gone. Remorse is the experience
of a reviving soul: never the expert
ence of sinking one. Remorse is the
redeeming signal, always experienced
after the sin had ceased. 1t is the
signal of hope. If remorse could but
waken in the souls of all who are sim
ming today there would be jubilee
in heaven such as was never known
even if that remorse should convulse
the SHINING heart of all the world
with unutterable agony. 1t will con-
tinue till the Prodigal Son not only
comes home, but is made whole.
Prodigality always comes home, to be
healed. The divine work is not done
when the abandoned doors are re-
opened. Life waits to be renewed,
and so heaven grants the JOY of re-
pentent tears and a strengthening
life in the same compassionate mercy.
Life is a process and not an event,
and sorrow is one of its terms.
The Universalist Church has strug-
gled for century in behalf of these
divine compositions. 1t will stand in
defense of them another century if
necessary. 1t has suffered scorn and
contempt and exclusion from fellow
ships it would have enjoyed, for thus
defending the infinite love of God
and protesting against the inhuman
and profane conception and dogma
of endless torment.
One brother says that human feel
ing must not influence our judgment.
But enlightened human feeling is a
Judge that must not be banished
from this divine council chamber.
Why should it be? 1t is a part of
our civilization of thinking. Its in
tegrity is no more to be questioned
than an enlightened intellect. 1t be-
longs to our judicial equipment and
mans heart is not to be divorced
from his brain when great interests
are to be decided. Our theology has
suffered in the absence of humane
sentiments. We are approaching a
higher level-we are erecting a
higher standard in these days, as we
may readily discover not only in our
local announcements, but in the ut
terances of many others in the Evan
gelical churches.
Archdeacon Farrar, in the English
church, has made all the arguments
for the larger hope of mankind. Sc
did Frederick Denison Maurice and
Frederick Robertson, and SO, too,
practically did Phillips Brooks
These men were criticised and con.
demned. An English clergyman re-
Gently, standing by the grave Of