The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-10

to life in many respects, destroys a
large part of its working power for
the average person. When we see
real person, of beautiful life, out
among men, on errands of love, the
element of fiction is removed, and the
character appeals to us with its full
working power. We weep and grow
sentimental when we sit with Dick
ems, and see the sorrows of the poor
as they pass in review through his
wonderful stories. But we weep and
the heart grows tender, and we act
when we sit in the abodes of poverty
and see the SORROWS of the unfortu-
nate as they pass in review from real
life.
do not underestimate the power
of fiction. But the working power of
an ideal is limited when it stands
in fiction; while it is given its
full power when it stands in
real life. So if we think OF the Christ
as a beautiful ideal wrough ht out by
the poetry and philosophy and hope
of mans religious nature;5if we
think of the Christ simply as the
wonderful fiction of the human soul,
the character loses most of its infu-
ence and working power. We may
admire the character in fiction, but
we cannot love it. We may form an
exalted conception of the soul in
man that could weave out of it's
hopes and aspirations so divine an
ideal.
In this respect we are benefited.
But the large benefit comes from the
high conception we have of the soul
in man that could create so divine
an ideal as that presented in Christ.
While there is certain value in such
conception, yet its working power
is limited to mere admiration. We
admire the beautiful, the divine ideal,
the matchless fiction of the soul, but
we can go no further. We cannot
love the Christ until the character is
identified with real life. and the real,
full working power of character
for the uplifting of human life is
found only in its ability to call out
human love.
And SO when I look for the highest
working power of Christianity, ] open
the pages of the New Testament, and
read of the persons therein described,
and see them as actual workers
among men. I roll back the tide of
the ages, until l stand in the presence
Of the Christ and see him clothed
with flesh and blood, gathering into
his life all that is pure and holy, and
actually living the highest ideal of
the ages. l see him in JOY and sor-
row, improperly and adversely, al
ways the same pure, sympathetic
soul, with heart whose love pours
out in an all-consuming fame to
burn the dross of life, to purify the
world, to light up the pathway of sor-
rowing, doubling, aspiring humanity,
and SO lead the soul forward along
an illuminated highway, in the grand
march of the ages. Othsrs had
taught beautiful precepts. He lived
them. In SO doing, he blazed the
way for the generations to come, and
thus became their teacher, their guide
and their Saviour. We need not sit in
admiration of beautiful ideal, but
we may love the living Lord who is
Justly crowned king of the divine life
of the soul, and so follow our great
hearted brother as he steps out on
the horizon of the centuries, and
draws us heavenward.
Christ as an ethical ideal calls out
my admiration, and helps me, as I
am always helped by contemplating
the beautiful in poetry and in art
But Christ as person does all of
that and more. In him, soul touches
soul, and the fountains of sympathy
and love are opened, while the loftiest
ideal enthrones itself in human life.
as real personal guide to the king
dom of righteousness and peace and
joy.
But after we have thought of the
Christ as person, we may limit his
uplifting helpfulness, by speculative
dogmatism about his nature and rank
in the universe. We cannot find out
the nature of the soul and its rank in
the universe, though its whispering
may give us an intimation of its
greatness. We only know that we
dream of wonderful possibilities with
in us. And some way we feel that
the soul is one and this intuition may
be only the echo of the reality. As all
bodies come from the common dust,
so all souls may come from the com
mon snirit. Christ tells us that God