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

in the New Testament is it said the
son of God forgiveth sin. What shall
we understand by this silence, unless
it be to emphatically assert that it is
primarily an act of man to forgive
sin, and an act not delegated to
priest in his confessional, but the act
of brother man confessing to bro
Their man he has injured9 Field, for
est or workshop is temple for this,
the noblest of all offerings, souls com
ing into harmony with each other.
Injustice never outlaws. The injury
lives. Let the man who wronged his
brother man years ago by sharp
practice go to the wronged one with
principal and interest and say to him,
"This is yours, it is not mine. We
have been enemies, let us be friends"
The injurer becomes a new man.
forgiveness is fellowship. When
we are in true fellowship with man
we are in fellowship with him who
said, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto me-" 1t is then we come into
fellowship with the God we have not
seen. We say again forgiveness is
fellowship. A ray of love on earth,
flowing through human channels,
touching the eternal everywhere
present consciousness of our Father.
is the proof of our love to him and
forgiveness from him by a soul at
peace.
Forgiveness is not remission of
penalty. Many think it is, and ex-
pect to unload their debts against
brother man on their knees and rise
singing
'Jesus paid it all,
All the debt 1 owe''
But the work of Jesus was not of
this kind. He tells you and me
Whatsoever we mete to others shall
be measured to us again, "Whatso-
ever we SOW, that shall we reap" ITO
be glad load that l should bear is
laid on other shoulders is injustice"
Christ's work was not to abolish the
eternal law of personal retribution
for wrong doing. A writer in pro-
verbs, says: "To punish the just is
not good. Nor to strike princes to
make things equitable"
Sixty years ago we sang from a
hymn book of the Calvinistic order:
Justice received the dread command
And armed down she flies,
Jesus submits his Fathers hand,
And bows his head and dies.''
We no longer believe the Father
demanded the blood of his son to be
appeased, nor that he died instead of
the sinner, but with and for the sim
ner. He, Christ, told his disciples
they should drink of the same cup
and be baptized with the same hap
tism.' Self-sacrifice in the Christian
is of the quality of self sacrifice in
our Redeemer.
Sin Against God.
In true sense there can be no
sin against God, before it is against
ourselves or others. Sin cannot di-
minish Gods eternal constant happi-
ness. 1t cannot Illustrate his eternal
purpose, which is one continuous
chain of events out of which not one
link can be taken, not one PERSONAL
ity dispensed with. The simple maid
Ruth, the Moabitess, great-grand-
mother to David is as necessary in
the chain as David, the king. The
impression obtains that our sin
hurts God first, and that unless we
are forgiven, he will avenge himself
OF us as his adversaries. Is this a
correct view Of Gods dealings with
man he calls his child? In Job we
read, "Can man be profitable to
God9 Is it gain to him that thy
ways are perfect?" In another place
we read, "If thou sinnest what doest
thou against God9 If thy transgres-
sions are multiplied what dcest thou
unto Him? Or what receiveth he at
thy hand. Thy wickedness may hurt
man as thou art and thy righteous
ness may profit son of man." In
Jeremiah we read: "Do they provoke
me to anger saith the Lord9 They
provoke themselves to the confusion
of their faces"
Gods anger is justice and lodged
in every mans soul and cannot be
lulled to a continuous sleep. 1t is
sure to waken sooner or later to the
confusion and scourge of the wrong
doer. Jesus never once says his
father gets angry. This is the con-
ception of Mosaism.
The evil of historical Christianity
has been, and now is, in translating
human fluctuations and passions into
the divine mind. 1t is bold to say
there can be no love to God nor par
don from God until there is love to
man and forgiveness to man.
After gem of poetry from LEIGH