The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-02-20
GIVE EVIL BUT AN END

| III " DO AN LINZ
GIVE evil but an end and all is
clear; make it eternal, all things are
obscure" Gods meaning in and
through each power and faculty
which his wisdom has granted to his
human family, is beyond all question
kindly one. The eye, the ear, the
senses, and all things pertaining to
the bodily existence are divinely APP
pointed agencies for an activity that
is agreeable rather than the reverse
And when we rise to the higher range
of gifts, those belonging to the soul,
the faculties of thought, and love,
and morality, and faith, and hope,
and appreciation of beauty, the gifts
that make man only little lower
than the angels, we see the agencies
of supremest delight made over
to us.
1t is true the keenest sorrows may
lodge in these upper powers, as
blight may strike the blossoms and
fruits at the tops of trees; but as a
rule there is good measure of health
and JOY here. Every heart has more
friendships than enmities; every life
is fuller of virtues than vices. In
this city, which is not more sanity
than the average, to say the least,
there are murderers and sinners of all
grades of evil act and purpose, but
they only compose small per cent
of the vast population.
There are many bad lives among
us; but the vast majority are not
bad. If none are perfect none are
demoniacal; and by far the greatest
number are honorable and kindly
and peaceful, and on them the morn
ing smiles with favor as they go to
their tolls, and the evening cheers
them as they return at night. We
must not forget to relieve Providence
from much of the responsibility that
attaches to sin, and to transfer to
man himself much of the blame. 1t
is not God who brews, or buys, or
sells the intoxicating cup, that is the
prolific source of sin and woe; but
all this is an abuse of what he gave
for use; nor is it God who makes the
burglars key, or lights the incendi-
ary's torch, or fires the fatal shot of
the murderer.
Here, then, we see that evil is not
the main thing in our universe, but
an incident, rather, in comparison with
the good. The great cosmos ranging
from flowers to stars, is not work
of malice, the creation of demon,
but evidently love and wisdom have
toiled on the vast mechanism and
filled it with beautiful meanings and
noblest uses.
OF course, this thought does not
explain the wickedness of the world,
but it surely relieves the problem
from something of its perplexity; for
if evil were the rule and good the ex-
ception, if evil were normal and good
abnormal, if the shadows we're many
and deep and the lights few and thin,
if the harpies were innumerable and
the angels few, then our task of ex-
PLANTATION were much more difficult,
and one might we'll sit down in utter
despair.
Then, again, evil in the truly Chris
tian view is temporal and not eternal;
is in the process but not in the con-
summation; has place in the work
ing out of the divine plan but not in
the final issue. If evil is endless in
the universe, then it seriously impli-
Gates God, and we should sit dumb
before the problem; but if it be in
volved in the method of progress to a
final universal good, then we may
take courage and speak little in its
presence. 1t thus ceases to be an alb
solute evil, since the long darkened
path ends in light, and the pains and
penalties are made tributary to per-
feet discipline and final bliss.
As one has we'll written, "In the
making of great painting there is
much in the process that is unseemlY;
but since it is all to be worked away
from the finished picture, we can
pardon its presence in the earlier
stages. Not final are the coarser
pigments, but only basal; not to re-
main are the gray patches of canvas,