The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-10-24

more clearly, but not more surely,
than by the laws of heat and motion
and gravitation. But, 80 far as l
know, there is no more of steam in
the world than there was five thou
sand years ago. There is no more
electricity, no more gravitation.
From the divine side, then, Gods
word expressed in these manifold
laws of our world remains just what
it has always been. 1t has not null
tiplied. 1t is no more, no less. But
from the human point o view there
has been marvellous multiplication.
If l may use the figure, the seed of
electricity has always been ready to
fructify. From the foundation of the
world it has been floating about.
The moment it is caught and planted
it grows up as if by magic into tele-
graphs and telephones, into lines of
communication, into commercial en-
ergy. Nothing but vapor, nothing
but steam Yes, but another one Of
Gods words! And oh, how old as
old as the world, and yet it seems
but an hundred years old. But in
the one century how it has multiplied.
Gods word speaking in every land
through steam, in steamboat and ar
senal and factory, in the field, on the
sea, anywhere, everywhere. And if
we may speak of gravitation as yet
another expression of the Divine
word, it would seem in the alliance
about to be made between the waves
of the sea and the dynamos that we
were, perhaps, on the eve of the most
marvellous multiplication of Gods
word in the world yet seen.
And yet singularly enough, just
this which seems to me to be filling
the world full of the voices of God,
until instead of having two, three or a
dozen prophets, we are getting ten
thousand prophets; just this seems
to be bringing dismay to the hearts
of great many good people. Shall
one sorrow for Peter because there
was a Paul? Shall one lament the
coming of Phillips because of Gar
rison? Shall one be jealous for the
reputation of Washington because
there came half century later an
Abraham Lincoln? Should Brooklyn
with her Beecher be troubled because
across the river is New York with
her Chaplin? Shall he who enjoys
the clear melody of the soprano be
angry with the harmony of the other
three parts in song? Shall the vio-
Inns "E'' be sacrificed for the &c" or
the ga" for the "D"? Does not God
have more than one way of preach
ing? Has he but one sermon? Shall
he not sing to man with more than
one voices Why not be glad if God
has enough voices to speak with the
varied language of mighty symph-
ony, OF the beauty of holiness and
the glory of his creationa
g. 1t is singular and most in
teresting fact, that, upon the whole,
all the tides of human attainment
seem to rise to about the same level.
Like the squirting of the horses on
the race track, one thing may for a
time seem to outstrip others. Phil
osophy may outrun the science of
history, art may lead science, but if
so, having made the squirt each one
will usually settle down until the
others have caught up once more
And this prepares me for the obser-
walton that this is an age for the ap-
plication of religious truth. Just as
the discoveries of Newton and the
later discoveries of Edison are receiv-
ing wider and wider application to all
the varied industries of life, so likewise
are the fundamentals of religion, dis
covered and setin order by the Master,
receiving today wider application to
mans manifold lifethan ever before.
There was time when religion con-
cerned itself chiefly with the grave
and the things on the other side of
the grave. If men studied religion in
the present, it was not for the sake of
the present. 1t was not for the sake of
anything in this world. 1t was only
for the sake of some future world.
We need not, therefore, be surprised
that all theological teachers had a
great deal of time to pave the streets
of the city of God with gold, and not
even a moment of time to ask how
the streets of this world could be
paved with stone. They knew per-
fectly we'll that the gates of Heaven
were to be made of pearl, but they
couldn't have told you to save their
lives whether the gate of their own
front yard had hinges or not. So far |
as their preaching was concerned,
you would never have guessed that |