The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-07-24

realized that God is love.
See this diamond which flashes
fifty beams of light. 1t has reached
that brilliancy by long processes
from carbon to adamant. Thus, we
hope, through the stages of spiritual
evolution, will men be brought to the
true glory by means of love, chat
mighty spiritual force which wars
with the dullness of our nature"
In the light of such golden text
as "God is love-" one can revise ones
creed in good earnest, and see that
"Cyrus, Socrates, and Paul are brothers
in the church;
While the arms of Christ outstretch to
save a worldn
In Paul's word (Romans V. 1S),
where Adam and Christ stand repre-
sentatively, we find great spoil, and
venture to affirm that if but 1.-THE of
the race be saved, you make Adam to
be greater than Christ; whereas this
text teaches that the influence of the
Second Man is as wide as Adams.
Therefore as by the offence of one,
Judgment came upon all men to con-
demnation, even so by the righteous
ness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life
Hence we may infer that presently, in
spiritual sense, "as in Adam all die,
in Christ shall all be made alive"
Paul, with the large heartedness so
characteristic of him, declares that in
all things Christ shall have the pre-
eminence. The common theology i'm
plies that Satan will, instead. We
have but to open the Gospel and see
Christ treading Satan under his feet,
to be treasured. Socrates refuted
a satire which was on the boards, by
standing up in the theatre; Christ
has but to be seen, to wither up the
gospel of Despair.
In old Virgil you get charming
story of Eneas, who, being anxious
to visit his dead father in Hades, is
directed to secure some fruit from a
gold bearing tree in dense forest;
but is further informed that none can
possibly wrench off this fruit unless
predestined by the gods. He finds
the tree, and clutches at the fruit,
when, 10! it readily yields to his
grasp, and proves an 'open sesame"
to the gates of the lower world. l
take my Bible and find that God
looks down the centuries and antici
pates the golden age when his Son
shall be incarnated, and exclaims,
"Behold my servant, whom | uphold'
mine elect in whom my soul de-
lighteth: l have put my spirit upon
him." and goes on to say presently,
that "he shall open blind eyes, and
bring out the prisoners from the
prison house." etc. And we read in
Revelations that the Lion of Judah
hath prevailed to open the seals of
the book of Fate, and that he has
the keys of Death and Hades. Our
Lord has obtained right to the Tree
of Life whereon hangs the golden
fruit which gives ready access to all
regions of his one kingdom.
An old church legend tells us that
on entering Hades, the second Adam
took the first Adam by the hand as
he stood at the head of an untold
multitude, and preached from the
cross what we call the doctrine of the
Larger Hope to them; and st. Paul
glories in the fact that thus Christ
led captivity captive, comforting the
gifts of salvation on the rebellious.
Our Lord has happily given us that
word "Him that cometh unto me, l
will in no wise cast out" And as
He is the same yesterday, today,
and for ever" there is strong assur-
ance that no soul shall seek him in
vain. In the Lady of the Lake, D
when Douglas received the golden
prize ring from King James, the
monarch gave no sign of lenity,
"While coldly glanced his eye of blue,
AS frozen drop of wintry dew"
1t is treason to suggest that through
the ages men will look into the lu-
minous eyes of Christ and read no
pity there. We have not so learned
him.
Time would fail me to annotate the
multitude of Scriptures which look our
way, so | refer the reader to John xii
80. Romans xi, 80. | Corinthians XIV,
24-2S. Philippians ii. 10-11. 1 Tim
ii, 4-6. l Tim. iv, 10. Revelation
v, ID. We cannot pass on, however
without demurring to the way in
which some expositors treat many
self-evident texts. They regard them
as extinct craters, and say, in sub
stance, "We have been right down
into them, and find no sign of life
whatever;" while to many of us they