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


scribe the power of evil as much as
possible, seeking to reduce the king
dom of darkness to its smallest pos
ible limits, yet the faith that all this
moral effort, together with the aid of
all the other agencies at the COM
mand of God, would be finally sue
cessful in utterly destroying evil, was
looked upon as great evil in itself;
and for the offense of cherishing
such faith the Universalists were
regarded as unworthy of the Chris
tian recognitions. For the offense
Of believing with the Hebrew Prophet
that all inequalities should be re-
moved and would be, that the
crooked paths should be made
straight paths; that all rough places
should be made plain, and that the
glory of the Lord should be revealed
and will be; and that all flesh shall
behold it together-for this offense
they were excluded from Christian
fellowship. To believe in the uni
versal and eternal righteousness of
all souls, in which God should be all
in all was a religious crime in the
early part of this century and it is
not everywhere pardoned even now.
The clergy of this country could not
have been more indignant with the
Universalist church if they had all
been the paid attorneys of Satan, re-
tanned to defend his possessions. The
Universalists said his power must
and will be destroyed utterly, where
at the whole traditional church was
in an uproar of protest as if they had
all been his sworn advocates. The
Universalists we're branded as infidels
because they did not believe in the
final permanence of evil and in the
tabled hell as the everlasting sign of
this evil. We accepted the reproach,
but it is not so bitter today as it was.
Multitudes turn to the same stand
ard, regardless of their special Sec
tartan affil atoms. "That power not
ourselves that makes for righteous
ness" once recognized by Matthew
Arnold and set in striking phrase, is
being recognized by the many; and
it is seen thatin the moral gravitation
of things that Power must work for
absolute righteousness in it's final
aim and purpose, or it is no right
eousness at all. A human being de-
signing to do only part of right
thing and not designing to do the
entire right drops out of the lists of
moral 1ectitude. There is an intense
absolutism in the spirit of righteous
mesa and to do partial right is not
to do right at all. And an infinite
Being not filling the infinite sphere
of righteousness, but compromising
with evil as fnality, would have no
character for righteousness whatever.
1t is in this spirit and with this
Judgment and philosophy that the
Universalist church has chung to it's
belief in the ultimate and complete
triumph of righteousness in the large
economics of the divine rulership of
the world. Nor does the genius of
this faith forget that these large
achievements in the universal law OF
things must be reproduced with alb
solute fidelity in the most minute
and personal obligations of the indi-
vidual in the daily quality and spirit
of his life. These great results of
the universal must be reached by and
through the personal results OF indi-
vidual fidelity and devotion to the
best. The human being is tremen-
dous factor in this problem of the
universal and final good. Isaiah
does not fail to recognize this never
to-be.f forgotten essential. When he
says that the valleys must be exalted
and the rough places made smooth
and the crooked straight, he nowhere
intimates that these tasks will be per-
formed by any other being than the
human being. In the moral econo-
mics and processes of this human
world do not think that the elevated
places in our lives need to be graded
down. Our highest ideals need to
be retained in their greatest eleva-
tions. We can establish an easy
communication with them by filling
up the depressed portions of our ter
ritory. We can make the very noun
tains seem lower by raising the val
legs nearer to the summit peaks. l
think it would be wholesome inyes-
tigation for all persons to institute,
that should have for its purpose the
discovery of the lowest or deepest de-
pressions in their lives. "What val
ley of habit or prejudice, or selfish
ness is so deeply cut in my life that
it renders an enriching commerce
with the best part of my life most