(From the "Universalist Herald," February 15, 1891)
What is Universalism? The belief that every soul will obey
God sometime, somewhere. Suppose the soul says, as thousands do, "I will
not obey?" God will punish it until it comes to itself and says, "I
will obey." Suppose the sinner dies and goes to hell in that condition? He
does not have to die in order to go to hell. Every soul that says that is in
hell already, but death makes no difference with the necessity laid upon him to
repent. God wants him and he cannot go to any place where God is not. He must
obey, but is not may free? No, only in a limited sense. Man is under law which
he cannot evade and a necessity to obey which he cannot escape.
Has man no freedom? Yes he can choose how much he will force
God to punish him before he will yield and obey.
May he not exhaust God's resources and wear out His patience?
No, it is impossible. In view of this, what is the only sane thing for man to
do? Turn at once in obedience. Since he must obey some time, why postpone it?
Because every hour it is put off means an hour of loss and pain not only for the
sinner but for the whole race of man, since while one is wretched all must be
and every step into sin is a step which must be painfully retraced.
Does not this doctrine encourage laxness? No, it brings men
face to face with the irresistible God and shows them that the fight against Him
is the fool's fight.
What is the effect of this on the true believer? Seeing
the folly, pain, and uselessness of disobedience, he begins at once a sincere
effort to learn and obey God's will himself and then, uses every possible means
to turn his fellow men to obedience.
Does not this doctrine cut the nerve out of missionary
enterprise? No, it is itself the nerve and sinew of all true missionary
enterprise.
What of those who sometimes take our name but do none of
these things? They are not Universalists. They are only anti-orthodox or some
other negative people. (The Church of the Redeemer, 1891)