The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-09-04

tory, as if he were not always in his
tory and history itself we're not divine
providence. 1t troubles me to under
stand how God who is always in his
tory, comes into it.
We are not denying the idea of
progressive creation" or advance
ment in history" Jesus says THE
Father worketh hitherto and work."
Jesus is the revelation and gift of
God; the teacher and instructor in
the great school of mankind; but this
only brings us round to the same
thing we have been saying all the
while. He is the instrument in the
hands of God for the revealment, or
making known of what was a mys-
terry in other ages, till he has "real-
lied it in the world" As mystery it
is not revelation; but having put it
in the hearts of her children, to know
the things that are of God, it be-
comes revelation. To this end it is
that "God has given some apostles;
and some prophets; and some evan
gelists; and some pastors and teach
ers; for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ, till
we all come in the unity of the faith,
and the knowledge of the Son of God
unto perfect man; unto the meas
ure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ" All our working has a gift
at the root of it; for "of him are we
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, and
sanctification and redemption" etc.
But what | wish to insist upon,
and make especially plains that God
is not away back outside of nature,
looking on and watching its move
ments; but rather he is in all things,
and while working by the laws he
has esta blished, as the modes of his
operations, yet it is he that works
nevertheless, always in accordance
with his own laws, and never by the
infringement, the violation or sus-
pension of them, as so many have
been thinking.
And Of this matter of the transcen-
dence of God, it is not God apart from
his universe, or his acting upon it
from without. 1t is his rising above
all in excellence and degree. He is
highest, and first in power and au-
thority. For myself l am consoled
and satisfied with the thought that
God is above all; that he is the Inf
mite Spirit, projecting all else into
being. The living God must be the
constant source of power in us, and
in all things. He must be in this
universe of his in order to any move
ment or life.
The whole history of the world
therefore is his continual immanent Q
of God. Nothing in us, or by US, is
ever wrought but by our being held
in connection with that electric cur.
rent which is the inexhaustible source
of power, and is forever throbbing
and pulsating through the universe.
And now some may think that
have made my argument all against
myself. But the great question as
involved in this inquiry after all is,
What are Gods ways of working?
Are they according to the natural
methods of indissoluble, eternal and
connected causes; or is he necessi-
tated to resort to other methods? If it
is not could he adopt other methods.
Nobody denies that he could per-
form things out of the usual order, if
he was so disposed, for the only linn
itation of his working is self-limita-
ton, by which he is pleased to gov
ern his method of procedure in GER
tain ways. | am supposing that l
might tell lie, or do any other
wrong thing, if so pleased, but it is
better that every ones life be made
to accord with certain safe rules of
conduct. like to think of an un-
changeableness and uniformity in
Gods working and that he has no
reason for violating his cwn laws in
doing what he does. That he will
stop off from his general course and
go to working miracles in the more
popular sense of the term, is just
about as likely as that he will set all
the streams to running up hill, or
reverse the rotation of our globe in
its orbit. His law is that of evolu-
ton from himself, which is a process
of development along the lines of
natural methods, whether biological
or metaphysical.
l claim this, then, for myself; that
| believe in the supremacy of the di-
vine and established order, running
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