The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-03-06
Universalist Thought.
OUR OWN WRITER'S.
Three Forces in the Modern Religious
World.
LA CROSSE. Wis

Three Forces in the Modern RELIGIOUS
World.
There are three great forces in the
world today making and modifying re-
ligious faiths. First, there is the char
acteristic of the century, renewed in
terest in the aesthetic side of life. Sec
ond, there is some hint of a return to
the old stalwart righteousness of the
Hebrew prophets. a Righteousness de-
manded in public as we'll as private life;
and third, there is the mystic tendency
in religion, the gift of the middle ages.
encouraged in us by the mind itself, and
the mystery neither religion nor science
can quite explain. When modern relip-
ion has reached it's completeness, it must
partake of all them, but with Arnold it
will say that conduct is three-fourths of
life. and therefore three-fourths of relig-
ion. and the holiness that is connected
with true happiness will be a Wilderness.
of heart and life that gives itself to-
help others.-Rev. Rufus A. White.
DR.. Rainsford of New York.
The time when public men should
give expression to their strong convic.
tions is at hand. DIR. Rainsford has
nobly risen to the occasion which pre.
sents itself and condemned in strong and
eloquent words what he knows to be
wrong. His church, as many NAV not
be aware, is composed of large demo-
cracy as we'll as a tremendously wealthy
aristocracy. He is a scholar, but SYM
pathetic in his nature. He is not an
ascetic. He is in an immensely wealthy
and luxurious atmosphere, but he does
not scorn at poverty. He knows its suf-
ferings and he hears it's cries. He is a
Christian man and stamps this vulgar
worldly show as unworthy men and
women claiming to be Christians, and
at this crisis in our affairs, when the
painfully vast and ever growing contrast
in the conditions of our fellow-men and
the terrible breach between the Sc. called
"classes" becomes. in the minds of such
great thinkers and political economists
as George d. Heron. national menace.
1t is nothing short of crime.-Rev.
Henry Blanchard. ID.
Christ and Human Suffering.
Christ was a divine being. Deity
signifies the eternal. the independent
being, the upholder of all things, in him
self self-sufficient. So when l speak of
the divinity of Christ do not liken him
to deity, for when we can fully under
stand being he ceases to be to us
deity. l think that we have in Christ
a wonderful example of evolution. Jesus
passed through all the stages of life,
I rom boyhood through to manhood, sub
ject to his parents. Though he was the
Son of God he was made to become
obedient through suffering. Suffering
has large place in human life and sig
mites enduring pain to bear what is in.
convenient and unpleasant. No man in
thissmodern time suffers differently in
the body from those who lived ages ago,
We may say, then, that suffering is and
always has been universal.
From what sources was evil emptied
into this world? Our answer is that
suffering is brought upon us for the
further advancement Of our higher be.
ing. The study of athletics today should
be devoted to higher ends than prize-
fighting and football playing. So in the
field of higher athletics. suffering is but
one study in the great curriculum.
There is nothing so pleasing as love, and
yet it carries with it the greatest suffer
ing. We must weep with those who
weep, because God made us organized
beings in that manner. The keenest
suffering often endured is felt by those
who transgress no laws.-ReV. Geo b.
Stocking, ID ID.