The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-15
GODS IMMUTABLE PURPOSE.

eEf bLAIlON GodcHoS us CQaG the
Divine Being, who is represented in
Christianity as "our Father" is eter-
nal, and He who in existence is eter-
nal must be equally immutable and
eternal in all his words and purposes.
1t is, hence, emphatically said, on the
authority of that same immutable
Being, that "the word of our God
shall stand forever" and the word
which goeth forth from out his
mouth shall not "return void" but
shall accomplish all his pleasure. 1t
is further said, that Whatsoever
God doeth, it shall be forever;
nothing can be put to it, nor
anything be taken from it," That
immutable Being who is without be-
ginning and without end, forms his
plans and purposes, and all his acts
are directed to their accomplishment.
Everything which he does, is done
with direct reference to an ultimate
and glorious contamination which
forms the grand and eternal object
of all his plans and purposes.
He has purposed and executed the
creation of intelligent beings in his
own moral image; and he has pur-
posed the eternity of their existe nee,
and their ultimate sanctity and eter-
nal glory and happiness. And this
purpose shall be forever" Every
thing which he has done in direct
reference to it shall be equally en-
during. The word has gone forth
declaring its fulfillment, and that
word shall stand forever.
Man, then, created in the image o.
God was made for eternity, and for
the possession and enjoyment of
ultimate and enduring purity and
bliss. And because God hath made
us for such a purpose, that purpose
shall stand, and shall be forever
Though everything on earth is sub
ject to change and decay, and though
everything sublinary revolves and al
ternates in accordance with the will
and purpose of it's divine author, in
this wide world of light and shade,
and of mingled JOY and sorrow, yet
the moral and intellectual image of
the invisible in every human form
shall endure like himself Through
out all generations" In the language
of the poet:
Even though ambitions snowy gather
ings perish
And each bright hope confined to earth
shall die,
The mind, the immortal mind, can meier
decay;
This must exist e'en when the rock-ribbed
Earth
Shall quake, and trembling nature all dis
solve"
Amidst the devastations of time and
change, this spark of the divine ma
ture shall continue unchanged and
indissoluble; and though buried as it
were, in the silent chambers of the
grave, it shall emerge from the dis
solving ruins of mortality, the same
identical existence, renovated by the
mysterious workings of divine energy,
and invested with immaculate purity
and eternal youth. Even the very
changes of nature and the corrupt
bility and evanescence of all temporal
things, indicate the coming of a
period, such as ancient philosophers
believed to be approaching, when
there shall be wide, entire and uni
versal renovation in all the works of
nature. 1t is a beautiful idea that
out of this possible "wreck of matter
and crush of world" a system shall
rise up like Phoenix from its own
ashes, at once pure and perfect, har-
monious and indestructible.
That idea, however, has Its actual
counterpart in the moral renovation
of imperfect moral beings, and their
awakening from the dreamless slum-
bers of the grave to which they must
be consigned. This great principle
is clearly inculcated in the revela-
tions which our divine Author has
seen fit to make. If, in the revolu-
tions of ages, the visible heavens and
earth are not to be renovated and
transformed in their appearance and
condition, there is still to be a moral
and spiritual regeneration and per-
lection of all intelligent beings. 1t
is certainly a sublime conception,
and every way worthy of that Being,