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

ly, lOT IL Is Tie animal lll0, COmnOu
to all animal existence; while the
latter is the distinctive and unspeak-
able possession of man. What is it9
Who can tell? Like animal and
vegetable life it is a mystery; we call
it Spiritual Life. Spiritual Life may
be more abstruse than other life; it
may not be SO readily discerned by
the senses; but for all that it is as
real as the life which animates the
animal or gives beauty and perfume
to the flowers. 1t has to do with the
soul, the ego,-even as the physical
life has to do with the body. There
can be soul without life, there can
be body without it,--both being
dead. If you were to ask me what
that life is which animates the soul,
l could not answer any more than
you, if l should ask you, What is
the life of a fowers
To our finite minds life is an un-
solved mystery. But Paul's defini-
ton may wonderfully aid us: "To be
spiritually minded is life;" without
this, we have but an artificial exis-
tence.
From a distance both flowers look
alike. Only when we examine them
more closely do we ascertain that one
is real, the other artificial. Without
careful scrutiny two persons may
seem alike; but examining more
closely the daily lives and works of
the two, We will find that one has
life the other little dreams of, life
which the varying scenes and acci.
dents of the world cannot take from
him.
Mans supreme desire is to have
this life; it is that for which he longs.
The song of the Hebrew Psalmist
was,
''As the heart panteth after the water
brooks,
So panteth my soul after Thee, o God I"
The same desire inspired the En-
glish poet to sing,
'Tis life where of our nerves are scant;
Oh life, not death, for which we pant,
More life and fuller, than l want
David and Tennyson are two ex-
amples. widely separated in time, of
the heart warnings of the entire hu-
man race. Mans natural condition
is to be full of life, full of spiritual
mindedness. Mans soul longeth for
the living God. He is not contented
with what he is; he is hoping and as
piring, ever striving for the ''far off,
unattained and dim;" painting for
completer and fuller life. How
can we have this life7 Jesus came
that we might have "life," and that
we might have it more abundantly.
Jesus said. II am the life" How
is he my life, your life? In the same
sense that the soil, and air, and moist
ure is the life of the flower, it absorbs
them, and makes them it's own. All
of us can say to certain extent, II
am the life of some one." He is not
the only one who is our life. We
have missed the quaint essence of
living if we cannot say regarding
some one, he or she is my life! When,
for the first time, we experience this
new sensation, and feel that some
other being is our life, can words de-
scribe the joy, the happiness, the
new life, the birth from above which
comes into our own existence? This
lovable man of Nazareth is life to
many soul.
He is life also in this wise: mind is
quickened by coming in contact with
other minds already quickened. The
heart is purified by communion with
other hearts that are purified. Hence,
the need of Intellectually quickened
and morally purified associates if we
wish TO become thus. Blackstone is
the life of the lawyer; Euclid of the
mathematician; Raphael of the paint
er; Jesus of the Christian. Jesus
had real life, hence he was mystery
to the world and has been called
God. Had he simply existed artific-
tally he would have been called
man, and we perhaps would never
have heard of him. A great many
exist, but few live. He lived; he was
natural; he was loving. The more
love we have the more divine are we.
Here is where the divinity of Jesus
excelled our divinity. He has more
divinity than we have in proportion
as he has more love than we have.
His divinity was not special gift
bestowed through miraculous means
by way of birth, but he loved, and he
became more God-like as he loved.
Jesus Christ has been too far removed
from our human affairs; he has been
made super-human. WhY7 Because
he was natural. This loving-human
has been called a super-human. Thus
we get hint of the power of real