The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-07-31
REOUPERATIVE POWER ENDUREs,

some twenty years ago, by Mr..
Joseph Cook, as to the permanence of
all evil character and the eventual
"fixedness" of the -enslaved soul in
its final condition, has very largely
dropped out of the religious dis
cussion of the present day, and is
seldom heard of, even in the most
pronounced deliverances of alleged
orthodoxy in its teachings as to the
final destiny. Mr.. Cooks theory was
worked for all it was worth when it
first came to the front. but has now
been consigned to the limbo of Gin
nocuous desutude." Briefly stated,
the position was that the law of life
is such that SHINING at length fixes
souls in sin, past all hope, and that
as the consequence, they must suffer
forever, because they will sin for
ever. Shining at length breaks
down all recuperative euergies and
becomes a fixed and necessary thing.
Souls cannot turn back on their path
but will be swept on and forever in
their sin and misery, as the bent bow
may loose its spring and stay bent
through its acquired condition. So,
according to Mr.. Cooks argument,
spirits lose the capacity of moral
purpose and the efficiency of the
will, and sin becomes a sort of fate.
Hence it was argued that long sim
ming will reduce the capacity of obe-
dience to zero and the possibility of
a better life will get wiped out and
become powerless.
Passing now the thought which
might be urged against this view, that
it is impossible to conceive that God
of omnipotent power and correspond
ing love for his children, would suf-
fer souls to pass out of the great void
of non existence to enter upon path
of endless self-ruin after this fashion
we may observe that God owes it to
his own character and to the creatures
OF his hand, that no such doom shall
overtake them. To recur to Mr..
Cooks argument, there is nothing in
experience to indicate that the moral
nature ever gets in that condition of
inability to arise and enter the better
ways. The tendency to sin may be
met at any time by counteracting
tendencies which may be awakened;
and it is never too late for these bet
ter aims to arise in the soul and for
the will to give them victory. st is
never too late to mend" is an old
proverb, and true one, based on the
facts of experience. The moral CEN
ter of a moral agent never perishes,
and in time and eternity alike, may
exercise it's prerogative. This is
the ground of hope evermore. The
soul cannot become fixed in sin be-
yond the hope of self-awakening and
restoration. 1t is the perennial latency
that may sometimes be touched and
called into exercise.
The Prodigal Son had tendency,
as it must have seemed at one time, to
abide in sin, and the young man
plunged recklessly onward. But an
other tendency swept up at length
from his deeper soul, and overruled
the first.
An awakened moral sense and an
aroused will struck him amid the
the desolation of the far country,
and he took the back track and saved
himself. Most of the bad tendencies
use themselves up at length, and
leave the better nature to an easy
victory. The enslaving passions play
out, spent by their own reckless riot
and in countless cases, obvious to
every observer, we may see the moral
life rising again in grace and beauty
A French writer informs US that or
dinarily the theatricals of the city,
after running a sinful career, end
their days in the bosom of the church
the soul not bound in sin and fixed
in evil, but waiting it's time. What
millions will find in the death of the
body the emancipation of the higher
life that should have been supreme
all the time, but met an unequal foe
There is a germ of goodness in us
that sin cannot kill, as there is a
power in pure gold to resist the cor,
rosive effect of acid; and this germ is
ever reserved for the touch of the
season of divine grace.
But allowing souls become fixed in
sin beyond self-deliverance, is there
not divine power above and around
them to lend them a helping hand
This once popular theory of Joseph
Cook seems to leave God and all the
divine helps out of the account, and
give the soul over to its own weakness.
They set aside grace, and transfer
the whole task of recovery and saliva