The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-01

darted upon one OF our pretty choris
ters, stabbed him with his cruel beak
and carried him to his shambles on
some thorn on which he would i'm.
pale him, until he should desire tc
devour the dainty morsel. And fol
this fountain of song, an incarna-
tion of grace, bundle of magnetic
nerves throbbing with joyous life, a
prospective household of happy be-
ings, had been annihilatedl And all
this was perpetrated by an impulse
an instinct, lodged in the assassin by
the great Creator. And just such
cruelties are being committed every
moment all over the world. Every
tick of the clock registers an act of
violence. Wounds, death, are con-
tinual. Side by side with the zephyr,
the sunshine, the flower, and life, are
the storm, the earthquake, pestilence,
pitiless death. Close by the bird of
silver plume and innocent song, lies
in wait the reptile with poison fang
and tooth of venom. 1t is now and
always will be everywhere, as Gauta-
ma saw it long ago in ancient India:
Lizard fed on ant, and snake on him,
And kite on both, and the fsh-hawk
robbed
The fish-tiger of that which it had seized
The shrike chasing the bulbul, that did
chase
The jeweled butterflies, till everywhere
Each slew slayer and in turn was slain,
Life living upon death.
One vast, savage, grim conspiracy
OF mutual murder, from the worm to
manl;'
In the light of nature, and after
all that science has ascertained or
can teach, earth, sea, sky are apart
ments of one vast slaughter house, in
which are cruel wounds, treachery
hate, suffering, DEATH. What expla-
nation is possible of the cruel busi-
ness? The individual is always sub
ordinate to the general whole; the
unit is sacrificed to the type by myr-
lads involving incalculable suffer
ing. Every hour there are pangs of
torture, untold suffering, incomputa-
BILE misery. running parallel with joy
and gladness.
Are there two Gods, one delighting
in happiness and the other in misery,
Ahriman and Ormuzd-or is the
creator Indifferent to the welfare of
the creature? Nature, science, is dumb
before the problem, which is only
solved by the revelation of Him "who
spake as never man spake," and who
declares that the maker of things and
creatures, the author of all life, is
Universal Father, kind to all, loving
all and in manifold ways blessing all.
Nature does not proclaim this truth;
it cannot explain "the whole creation
Travelling in pain" Science does not
teach it, nor can science tell why
throughout the universe the law of
mutual murder" should everywhere
prevail.
The divine fact of Gods universal
Fatherhood is the only solution of
the problem of suffering. The. fact
that it was ordained or permitted by
the parent of all life, furnishes at
least the key to the solution. The
loving father would not allow in his
universe single thrill of agony un-
less he could make it contribute not
only to the general good of the whole
but also to the welfare of the sufferer.
And how do we learn this great
truth of Fatherhoodi From the words
of Jesus of Nazareth. And whence
did he acquire it? Not by induction
or deduction; not by theorizing, not
from science or the works of nature,
but as himself declares, directly from
God. 1t was revelation from the
Father to the Son.
The only voice that has uttered this
great fact with authority is his voice.
Nature, science, all the wisdom of
mans uninspired reason, cannot ex-
plain pestilence, sickness, sorrow, dis
aster, pitiless death. The telescope,
the microscope, the scapel, all the
weapons of physics and all the re-
sources of metaphysics cannot solve
the mystery. But as the facts of ma
ture are the thoughts of God, and he
is a being of love, it must be true
that
mot worm is cloven in vain,
And Tot a moth with vain desire
Is shriveled in fruitless fire
Or but subserves another's gain"
and his own as we'll.
wish l could express the comfort
ing thoughts that came to me as
gazed on the feathers of my poor lit
tie linnet, and unused on his fate, and
saw that he, without whose notice
and care not n anarrow for a feat herl