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Arthur Chamberlain with contributions from Dean Hodges

Briefly, then, we find happiness to be normal for man, and the desire for it to be a law of his being and God-bestowed; we find mortal existence to be a failure so far as any permanent happiness is concerned, and to ultimate in defeat and death; we find that spiritual existence, though held merely as a future possibility, has given men courage and constancy, through ceaseless endeavor, to strive to make real, to some extent at least, a spiritual existence here and now, in flat defiance of material concepts and in the face of all logic based upon them. Confessedly, it is the only possible existence that can, even conceivably, give man what he rightly feels to be inalienably and eternally his own.

Why, then, should we attempt to saddle Deity with the creation of a state of existence for man which is a proven failure, when at the same time we ascribe to God the creation, for man, of a state of existence which is a perfect success? Why not frankly admit that material existence is not a real state of existence at all, but false and unreal; that there is, and can be, but one state of existence,—spiritual, since God is spirit; good, since God is good; perfect, since God is perfect; eternal, with the eternity of God?

Surely "in the bright lexicon of" God "there's no such word as fail." What He created perfect abides perfect. He created naught imperfect and He is the sole creator. Surely God created nothing unlike himself. Let us turn to the Eternal Goodness which alone is I AM to all generations, and, thus turning, humbly, joyfully, reverently, see all evil, like the dreams of the night, disappear in the clear shining of omnipotent Love.

Arthur Chamberlain.
The Christian Register.

The preachers outside of the pulpits should be careful to preach good sermons, for their congregation is very large, very observant, and very critical, and furthermore, in very great need of good preaching. The most effective "preachers" outside of the pulpits are not the ministers in the interval between Sundays, although they can do a great deal of good or evil during that time, but the people who have taken the name Christian and are going about among men, and men by the thousands are watching them and being influenced by them. Every layman is a preacher more effective sometimes than the minister himself.

The Universalist Leader.

The American Revision makes a decided change in the familiar verse, "Suffer little children to come unto me." Instead of saying, "For of such is the kingdom of heaven," it says, "To such belongeth the kingdom of God." That suggests the inalienable right of little ones in the kingdom of Christ. It is theirs as a part of their birthright. To Jesus, and possibly partially at least to Mary, came early this consciousness of divine life over and above and within his own, and his response was prompt and complete.

The Congregationalist.

There He stands, in the midst of all the creeds and the churches, and the confusion of old controversies, assuring us, with the serene confidence of one who knows, that God is, and is good, and intends good here and hereafter. That is the substantial basis both of faith and joy.

Dean Hodges.
The Churchman.

One quality of the best things is their diffusive value. The more love, wisdom, and spiritual energy of any kind one accumulates, the better for every one with whom he comes into relations. One cannot lose by giving the best things, nor can any rob another by taking them.

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