Turn where we may, from the sky to the sod,
Where can we gaze that we see not a God?”
We cannot see the spirit that inhabits this mortal body, but we can behold its work. It builds up and controls the body; gives strength to the muscles, vigor to the hand, brightness to the eye, manliness to the form, and genius to the brain. It constructs our railroads, steamships, and performs all the works of art. It employs human bone and muscle; but they are only its servants; the indwelling spirit plans all, executes all. What the spirit is to the body, God is to the universe. I can as easily comprehend the Great Spirit as I can my own spirit; I can as easily understand how God can be present in the whole universe, as I can understand how my spirit can be present in the whole body. Take the spirit from the body and the body dies; take God from the universe and the universe would die—become an immense corpse. When we know our spirit, we know God; when we know our body, we have a philosophy of the universe. Man, then, is godlike in his nature; he is a spirit, has the attributes of a spirit, one of which is immortality. If God is immortal, man is, as he is in the image of God. I see no way to avoid the conclusion, if the premise is admitted, and if we deny that, we discard the plain teachings of the Bible.
What has been said concerning man being in his nature in the divine image, is confirmed by the scriptural testimony, that God is the Father of mankind. “Have we not all one Father?” Mal. ii. 10. “For to us there is but one God the Father.” 1 Cor. viii. 6. “One God and Father of all.” Eph. iv. 6. Jesus instructs us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven.” “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh.” Num. xvi. 22. This is repeated (Num. xxvii. 16) and the apostle Paul (Heb. xii. 9) quoting it substitutes “Father of spirits” for “God of spirits.” As God is the Father of mankind, we are his children—his offspring, hence the declaration, “Inasmuch as we are the offspring of God.” Acts xvii. 29. Children always partake of the nature of their parents. As God is the “Father of spirits,” we must partake of his spiritual nature—be in his immortal image. This body is of mother-earth and partakes of earth’s perishable nature; the spirit is of Father-God, and partakes of his immortal nature. And when death severs the connecting link between body and spirit, the earthy returns to the earth whence it came, and the spirit to God whence it came.
If these premises are correct—if the spirit of man is in the image of God, if God is the “Father of spirits,” it follows that man, with other rich endowments, is blessed with an immortal nature, and Mr. Russell’s position, that man is all mortal is incorrect. This heaven-endowed spirit is often spoken of in the Bible. When man was created, it is said that God breathed into his body, and he became a “living soul.” We are also told that he formeth the spirit of man within him; (Zech. xii. 1) that “the body without the spirit is dead.” We read of “the spirits in prison;” Jesus on the cross gave up his spirit to God, committed his spirit to God; when he appeared to his disciples they thought they saw a spirit; but he told them that a spirit hath neither flesh nor bones. We are informed that the Sadducees believed in neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believed in both; and when the latter heard the apostle Paul say, that the risen Christ had appeared to him, they said, if a spirit had appeared to him, they ought not to fight against God.
From all this testimony, we learn that God is the Father of mankind, and that consequently we partake of his nature—are created in his image; and as God is a spirit, man is a spirit; as God is immortal, man is immortal. Man’s moral character may or may not be godlike, in the divine image. The Christian only is said to be in God’s moral image, to be a partaker of the divine character; but it is the nature of man I speak of at this time, not his moral character. Children always are of the nature of their parents, but their moral character may be very different. So mankind, being the children of God, partake of his divine nature, but their moral character may be ungodly. And it is the purpose of heaven that man’s nature shall unfold till his moral character shall be in harmony with the divine as his nature now is. Corrupt as may be man’s moral character, he still retains the image and glory of God his Father in his soul, but in various degrees of distinctness. Some, by the great apostle, are compared to the sun, others to the moon, and others still to the stars, (1 Cor. xv.) and we are taught by the wise man that this divine glory will grow “brighter and brighter to the perfect day.”
From Dayton I proceeded to Joliet, Ill., about one hundred and forty miles distant. There had recently been heavy rains, and the bridges on the Illinois’ rivers were nearly all swept away or much damaged, and I had to swim my horse across the streams, or repair the broken bridges to get my precious charge over the turbulent waters. We had some dangerous passes through the streams, and over the frail bridges I had repaired. In pulling the carriage over one bridge I came within an hair’s breadth of being pushed into the creek, and the buggy falling on me. The flood of this year was not quite equal to the flood of 1844, spoken of in a previous chapter, but it probably did more damage, as the country was more improved. When I reached Alton, some of its streets were navigable for skiffs, and the levee at St. Louis was all submerged. But after much hard traveling and toiling we made Joliet; and from thence I went to St. Louis alone, leaving Mrs. Manford to spend the summer with her sisters in Joliet and Lockport.
St. Louis at that time contained eighty thousand inhabitants, and was rapidly increasing in population, in business, and in wealth. At the present time it contains two hundred and ten thousand inhabitants—an immense increase in fifteen years. It is built on the west bank of the Mississippi river, eighteen miles below the junction of the Missouri river with the “Father of Waters.” The ground on which this noble city stands, is high and rolling, its streets are well paved, and the buildings generally are of a substantial character, being mostly of brick. Its beautiful site, its central location, its sixteen hundred miles of river navigation, its railroads extended or being extended in all directions, the vast agricultural region of which it is the center, the immense mineral and coal fields at its door—these advantages all combined must ultimately make St. Louis one of the largest cities of the world.
Several spasmodic efforts had been made to establish a Universalist society in St. Louis. J. Libbey, G. T. Flanders, N. M. Gaylord had preached there, but for two or three years previous to my removal to St. Louis all effort in that direction had been abandoned. I lectured in the city occasionally; a society was organized, and the next year G. S. Weaver from Ohio became pastor of the society.
I had moved to St. Louis to publish a paper there, and to travel and preach in Missouri and in the neighboring states. An immense field was before me, a vast amount of labor was to be performed, and I went to work with a resolute heart. In all Southern Illinois we had not a minister, a meeting-house, nor a society, and, of course, our friends were few and unknown. It was the same in Missouri, with two or three exceptions. There were a society and preacher just emerging from Dunkardism, in the southern part of the state. In Troy we had a meeting-house, but the society was dead. In the southwest part of the state L. C. Marvin had labored some, but then he was not residing in Missouri.