The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-11-14

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finite being.
Man is of divine origin. He is a
divine creation, made after Gods like
ness and in his image. In this crea
ton God reveals himself. The hui
man child reveals the divine Father
Through our likeness to God we can
attain to knowledge of him, and we
can do it in no other way. The sci
ence of psychology shows that this
spiritual likeness of man to God exists.
The infinite and the finite have the
| same moral and spiritual attributes.
There is human side to God, and
divine side to man. They are spirit
ually and morally related. They
think, feel, and act alike.
If they did not, it would be i'm
possible for God to reveal himself to
man. If goodness, justice, benevo-
lence, and love, do not mean the same
when applied to God as they do when
applied to man, then, it is impossible
for us to know what they do mean
as applied to him. The language
of Gods inspired word, through
which he would reveal himself to us,
would in that case have for man no
meaning. Itwould convey to ourminds
no thought and reveal to us no truth,
because there would be in our ration
al and moral natures no standard by
which we could interpret it, This
would cut us off from all divine revel-
alton.
For the same reason science as a
mode of divine revelation is grounded
on the fact of mans likeness to God.
L man did not think like God, then
he could not read Gods thought as
revealed in the universe. Science is
the thought Interpretation of the ma
terial creation. 1t is the idealization
of nature. The study of science is
the observation of God at work. To
understand Gods thought man must
think as he does and to do this he
must be like him. Without this hui
man likeness to God, science as we
understand it, would be impossible.
Man being like God we can reason
inductively from man to God. From
mans existence to Gods existence;
from mans personality to Gods per-
sonality; from mans nature to what
is Gods nature; from will in man to
will in God; from the moral action
of man to the moral purpose of God /;
from benevolence in man to the in
finite love and goodness of God.
From mans likeness to God we can
reason from the action of a perfect
human father to what would be the
conduct of the divine Father. God
is the Father of all men, and in this
fact is grounded reason for the con-
clusion that he will save all men. A
| perfect human father would save all
| his children were he able to do so.
| God is able and as he is like man will
save all of his. But the psychology of
man not only finds reason for uni
versal salvation in mans relation to
God but also in mans relation to his
fellow men. In the universal Father
hood of God is grounded the univer-
sal brotherhood of men. This rela-
ton of human brotherhood, like the
relation of Divine Fatherhood, pre-
sents a ground for the salvation of
all men. This alone will satisfy mans
love for and sympathy with his suf-
fering fellow men.
The bond of brotherhood between
men is too strong and tender for part
of the family to be happy in heaven
while knowing their brethren are suf-
fering the pains of the damned in
hell. This is impossible to Christian
lied humanity. We cannot believe
it. Nothing will satisfy mans moral
nature but the prevalence of univer-
sal righte BUSINESS. Human benevo-
lence demands the reign of univer-
sal love; and human compassion
would seek to remove all sin, sorrow
and pain To satisfy mans spiritual
and moral nature. sin, suffering and
sorrow must be destroyed. Selfish
ness must be overcome by benevo-
lence and hate by love. Truth must
triumph over error, right must be
victorious over wrong, peace must
subdue allwar, and harmony destroy
all discord. In other words all men
must be saved from all sin before
mans nature can be perfectly salts
fed. The science of psychology de-
mands this.
The will of man, as an attribute of
the human soul, is immortal and from