The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-17

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and care for nothing else: for we
have no power whatever to better our
moral condition or to elevate our
spiritual life.
the idea of total depravity is not
only a false but mischievous
doctrine. 1t is mischievous doc
trine because it plucks hope from
the breast. What is there so sad as
hopeless being who sees no rim of
light upon the horizon of his outlook;
who plods along as quarry slave,
knowing there are no brighter pros
poets? He who robs me of the hope
which lies latent in my breast
"Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed!"
Would you dash the cup of hope
from mans lips? Would you extin-
guish the flame within his soul which
is waiting to be famed into bright
light' Would you deaden the de-
sire or destroy the power to become
Godlike and righteous' Would you
Danish that spirit of love, which
comes only from God, and which dis
tinguishes men as spiritual beings,
and substitute in its place hopeless
despair and hate7 This is what you
do when you teach total depravity;
when you maintain that man is ''des-
titute of holiness, unlike and opposed
to God"
When a soul loses hope, it ceases
to strive for greater heights. A hope
less being is dead being. The fu-
ture is blank, the present mockery,
the past an unfortunate struggle. He
hopes for nothing, he can become
nothing, and woful is his estate!
If the doctrine of total depravity
be true, schools, colleges, reforms,
churches, ministers, divine worship
are in vain and a mockery, for these
things aid in our development; but
we have nothing to develop. Life
from pre-exieting life, is the doctrine
of science,-how, then, can spiritual
life come from totally spiritually
dead being? Is ''the life more than
food and the body than raiment" if
there is not spark of divinity there,
capable of growing and expanding
Unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ?
Over against this false idea of man,
we believe that he is capable of self
development; that God has planted
in the breast of every child a germ
of righteousness, of spirituality, of
Godliness-the divine soul, which
the physical body encases. We
should not allow the earthly treas
ures, feshly appetites, to so engross
our attention that we neglect the
nourishment of the inner, the spirit
ual man. How plain and how beauti
full Jesus words appear to US now,
with Interpretation of life: There
fore l say unto you, Be not anxious
for your (physicaD life, what ye shall
eat or what ye shall drink; nor yet
for your body, what ye shall put on.
Is not life more than food and the
body than raiment?"
The object of life, then, is perceiv-
ed by us ALTO feed the hungry
soul with the bread of life. to develop
the moral and spiritual powers, to
expand our loving nature. There is
no miraculous grating of new life to
us, but the growth of that which is
ours at birth. All the elements of
goodness, of virtue, of love, are in the
soul at it's birth. In the acorn is the
forest tree: in the tiny spore the
graceful fern; in the minute seed the
beautiful flower; in the little babe
the full-grown man; in the sinner the
germs of saint. These must grow.
Will you not aid in your develop
ment? Will you not stimulate the
heart soil, fertilize it with love for the
good, the noble, the true? Moisten
it with tears of regret and repentance.
Flood it with the warm sunshine of
heavens peace; then the seeds of
spirituality which are buried down
deepin your heart, waiting to be ger
minated, will spring forth with in
credible swiftness, and the harvest of
happiness and of peace will be
pleasure to CLEAN, where before it
was but tears and sorrow. This is the
real aim in life.
Build thee more stately mansions. 0 my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low vaulted pastl
Let each new temple. nobler than the last
Shut thee from heaven. with dome more vast.
TIL thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life s I'M
resting sea!
Are you satisfied with simply exist
ing9 Life is not transitory dream
nor an ephemeral delusion. Life is