The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-07-04

to accept in the absence of those which
are better and more conclusive. We
recognize infallibility nowhere beneath
the skies. Our very position compels
tolerance and fraternity. The most illog-
ical being in the world is the illiberal
liberal,-the man whose creed embraces
the race, but whose spirit and sympa
thies are restricted to the narrow bound
aries of single sect. Thus by every
principle of consistency we are bound
to extend to those who differ from us in
their intellectual conceptions of truth,
all the liberty, and all the respect and
all the sympathy which we demand for
ourselves. The very genius of Univer-
salism is federation and fraternity.
Thus far, however, have stated only
half truth. The Universalist Church and
Universalists stand committed not more
to cordial goodwill toward all other
religious bodies. than do they hold them.
selves in readiness heartily to cooperate
with them in every benevolent and
Christian work.
Recognizing, as we do, the equal rights
of the various sects, we believe most
profoundly in the unity of the race. We
are keenly sensible to the fact that the
efforts, however faithfully and effectual-
ly put forth, of no single denomination,
can suffice for the moral and spiritual
uplifting Of mankind. When the conse-
Grated Wesley exclaimed, "My field is
the world" he spoke most nobly, and
yet, how short the arm even of Wesley
and the great host of followers who
we're to rally at his clarion call, when
compared to the mighty task of re-
claiming world from the evil. No mind
is 80 wide of grasp and fertile in imagi-
nation, as to attempt to conceive the
vast power for good which Methodism
has proven and is proving today, but if
this we're all how small corner of the
Lords great vineyard would have as yet
been cultivated If you have read Mr..
Froude's remarkable essay upon the
Influence of Calvinism" you cannot
fail to have been impressed with the
wonderful and far-reaching effects pro-
duced by that school of thought The
social, civil and religious character of
a continent have been changed by it;
while the institutions and life of this
New World still bear its impress. And
yet what if Calvinism had been the
only moral and religious force at work
in our world till now? And so of Papacy,
the old historic church,-her existence
running back unbroken to the first
centuries; her scarlet hand plainly to be
traced in the history of all modern ma.
tons; her devotees to be counted by tens
of millions and her missionaries toiling
unfalteringly under every sky of earth.
What, however, if Luther and Calvin
and Zwingli had left the moral and
spiritual care of the race to Rome?
Single denominations have thus done
much, but how far from all Mr.. Rus
kin has most pertinently written. "When
my thought is irresistibly borne to the
rivera Rhone. a Nile or an Amazon,
majestic in volume and irrepressible in
their flow; would we trace them to their
source what an endless task confronte
us Myriad rivulets to be followed in
their tortuous course up through long
stretches of highland, and to the most
distant mountain tops. Each foot of
soil in valleys continent wide have
yielded of their moisture to make the
river.
Universalism is in happy agreement
with Mr.. Ruskin. The good in the world
today we ascribe to the operation of
thousand different agencies; the greater
enlightenment, the finer moral sense,
the keener spiritual insight, the more
benevolent and practical spirit which
distinguish these closing years of this
nineteenth century we cheerfully &C.
knowledge to be the benign result of no
single force, but conjunction of all the
forces which the spirit of the living God
has made operant in his universe. Louis
XIV, when his reign touched it's zenith,
caused the walls of Versailles to be dec.
Grated with fresco and bas-relief, pic
turing art and war. science, statecraft,
commerce. agriculture. religion,-all the
potent elements of the civilization of
his time, prostrating themselves before
France as their common mother and
mighty patron. There are those who
thus gather up all the good which has
been accomplished in human society and
lay it as trophies at the feet of some
single sect or movement. But such are
guilty of the arrogant folly of the vain
French king. William of Orange was
wiser. When the followers of Fox out
ragged both the non conformists and
churchmen by their eccentricities. Will
liam, you remember, said, Even these
Quakers must have some place in the
divine economy else there would have
been no Quakers." And this is the teach
ing and the spirit of Universalism. We
say there is room and work for all. And
we stand with hand open and extended,
ready to cross the palm of any man or
body of men in every endeavor having
for its end the intellectual. moral. or
spiritual betterment of mankind,