Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-05-29

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says in Timothy. John in Revelation xxi.
sees an utter doing away with misery,
| suffering and crying, and Paul speaks in
prophecy when he says that when all
things shall be subdued unto him, then
| shall the Son also himself be subject unto
him that put all things unto him, that
| God may be all and in all"
Ones belief in God depends very large
| ly upon his thought of life, here and In
| eternity.
A god, riding in gorgeous array in a
chariot of the clouds, with the winds har-
. messed for steeds, over whose head Is
diadem of stars, and in whose hands Is
| scepter with which he sends the thunder
bolts Of his wrath upon those he created,
and whose voice, like the roaring of thun-
| der proclaims a day OF Judgment soon to
come, for his glory; this is conception
| of God that is the product of an infant
mind and life devoid of experience.
The ability to comprehend the immi-
| hence OF God requires the exercise of the
intellect and reason; the most earnest eff
fort of faith and the deepest human ex-
periences. To me God is no longer simply
an omnipotent power dwelling above the
: world, but an omnipresent personality
| abiding within the world. The Kingdom
| of God is within you"
| believe If God would elect any one TO
be saved he would elect all. He is no
/ 4
sible for soul to be in perpetual enmity
with God and that It could be put into
| never dying fire. would believe that He.
| whose future Is like the present, would not
| have created such. II T. thought there was
such thing as humiliation of the wicked
F. [ believe God would have annihilated them
| in his mind before He made them. IL l
| believed in never ending fire. could not
! believe IN a never dying love.
| If believed God would allow the weep
| ing sinner to return" at any time he
would in this world could not think that
His entire method would suffer change
| in eternity. Any time with God Is all time
with God and his Sons, true time is eterni-
| ty. II thought Jesus was. the teacher OF
| endless damnation of the wicked. would
esteem him careless and cruel in saying
| nothing about so tremendous truth, or
in saying what he did say in so mistaka-
I BILE terms
Divine fatherhood is the theme of to-
| day In all denominations. My faith in this
| divine infinite father precludes from my
mind all thought Of a possible defeat IN
his loving efforts toward his own.
AS heavenly father expect to find In
him all the good and true and loving A
ever saw in an earthly pareut; and as
| divine infinite father, / am certain that
his Justice love and mercy will trans
! cend a thousand times the most holy and
tender spirit of a human, finite father.
| / do not believe God is too good to pun
ish. Human and divine law demands
retribution to the "uttermost farthing.'
From the petty thief to the murderer
Justice will demand full and complete sat
isfaction for the wrong-doing. What
soever man soweth, that shall he also
| reap" The bread thief and the murderer
have both turned from God, but who will
say that the distance from God Is the
| same in each case. The prodigal thou
sand miles from home has the sorrow.
suffering and misery OF a thousand miles
| Journey back. A life of self-indulgence
and crime will pay full price for its sin.
Immortal torment excludes from my
thought all ideas OF the possibility of in
finite wisdom justice and love In Him who
demands or permits It, Punishment Is
sure to be, here. and hereafter, but pun
| ishment never ending is not punishment,
but torture Punishment is such only with
corrective purposes in view.
Already in this life the flames Of hell
are burning within the breasts Of many
sinful souls; already the heavenly life.
the songs of Moses and the Lamb" fill
the souls of the truly righteous
Eternal torture Is not the demand OF the
lowest human creature toward his tor
mentor,
When President Mckinley fell, HIS first
thought, after consideration of his be-
loved wife, was for his assassin. God is
better than a thousand McKinleys.
Everlasting damnation makes God the
possessor of fewer paternal virtues than
is he Of earth whom we call father.
The Congregational church pulpit is ST.
lent on this great theme, although 1t still
| keeps IL I'm it's creed. This silence Is due
to an inaudible demand from the pew as
well as enlightenment in the pulpit. For
me to believe in eternal damnation and
not preach 1t would be culpable, to believe
| in 1t and not say 50 would be cowardice.
The Universalists believe in a hell, and
one which the reason as well as scripture
! approves. Harmony with God is heaven;
discord Is hell Hell is anywhere where
a soul is out of harmony with God. Heav-
en-is anywhere where a soul is in HARMONY
| with God. Heaven and hell may be in
the lives of two persons, who are togeth-
| er at the same place. Hand and hand
they may go, but their lives are separated
by an impossible gulf, over which no hui
man being can place span, and no per-
| son can leap; but to say that this condi-
ton so easily changeables here is eternally
! fixed there is to show the defeat Of God
and to utterly abolish the principle of the
evolution of the soul. We learn through
scripture that the soul is to be IKE God,
I'VE shall be like him" that nothing here
or hereafter can separate us from the
love of God, and that that kingdom
! which is within" Is none other than God,
and that life in which God dwells. will
| ever De blessed by HIS presence, and from
that heart, God will never be dispelled by
a force weaker than Himself.
The fall Of mae was like that of a
child who falls down to rise up His fails
lift him into intelligence Man in the
midst of toll, working out a character of
his own outside of Eden differs from a
wax figure. When man fell, he opened
his eyes, saw himself, saw the world, saw
| God, and became cognizant of his indi-
vidual responsibility to that which is with
in and without. A willful, hayward child
is better than a wax doll,
Man, coming intog the world with inner
| tied weaknesses in the flesh, is constantly
led astray by them. Christ knew what
temptation was, his physical nature
| fought a severe battle with his spiritual
| but was vanquished in the struggle.
! Regeneration is God and man working
! in harmony for the conquest of the lower
nature of man. Accepting and believing
in Jesus Christ will not alone endow US
with holy character, but participation in
| his life Of service and suffering will pro-
duce in us. Christ-Iikeness and a charac-
i ter, which is the basis of salvation.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save
the world. II, If / be lifted up will draw
/ all men unto me-"
| believe in Jesus Christ, in his divine
character and divine life. Jesus Christ
i came to seek and to save the lost and