New-York tribune., 1870-09-22
UNIVERSALISM.
CENTENARY SERMON BY THE REV. A. A.
MINER, ID. d., OF BOSTON.

end The dr and The last ID Peter day with
thousand years. and thousand years one day
BELOVED FRIENDS: In the name Of all the churches
hiring Won Christian greeting. As you come to-day
from your various fields Of abor-from your pulpits,
your churches your Sunday schools institutions Of
learning your homes made peaceful by Gospel grace and
hope-I bid YOU welcome. one ana ALL most welcome
From the rugged East and the outstretched West from
the shores Of the Great Lakes and the rising states be-
yond from the British Provinces and the Pacific Coast
Won come with your garnered sheayes OF gladdening
barvest Medatng with gratitude upon the extending
light Of the centuries past looking with still kDdngj joys
pop the promise Of the centuries to come drecognzng
the provdenoes of God in ALL you gather at this Mecca OF
our church. buttresscd by mountain ranges on the one
hand and by the Sounding sea on the other and listen
ing hear the echoes, as 1t were, OF the Reyeat0rs
prophecy which the Church scarce yet dares
believe am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the
end the first and the last" Such promise at the
closing OF the sacred volume recalls the sublime
declaration AT its opening: 4" In the beginning, God
created the heaven and the earth.' such solution
of the problem OF the universe, such an aflirma-
ton OF Monothesm. such implication OF the DIVINE
Unity and all in age before human science OF philoso
phy was born stamped with the signet OF heaven the
Mosaic announeenents In kindred spirit Moses else
where saws Before the mountains were brought FORTH
or even thou hadst formed the earth and the world even
from everlasting TO everlasting, thou art Cod In rever
ence TO the everlasting God are we here to-day. In
honor OF his servant, who century ago landed on our
shores and afterward planted this rockbound coast
the first Unversalist Church in America, do we confess
our faith In hope the full redemption OF our race
when God shall be the end He is the beginning, do we
take up the refrain OF the angelic hosts, and shout
Gory to God in the highest and on earth peace good
will toward men,"
NATURE JUsTIFIEs OUR HOPE.
Nor il this an idle confidence As biography reveals
individual character, and history the character OF
- God
The eyerchangng aspects OF the earth and heavens tho
manifold laws cry stalzaton shaping myriad forms.
from the snowflake to the diamond; the exuberant
beauty and fragrance Of the floral world the sporve
delights and swelling harmones Of animated nature all
attest that God is powerful, wise, and good Even bis
rational creatures sinful though they are, are not
thereby excluded from his Instantly, as we shrlnK
from that which has bruised the flesh, the recuperatve
energies the body begin its esoraton thus iustrat
ing the forgiveness OF sin when shrink from It's fatal
power as that which bruises the spirit Goodness then
becomes mercy wisdom brings deliverance and power
Is seen enthrOned In the moral domain. Even inc
facts seemingly conflicting with this benevolent order,
are found in many ways to subserve It, The severties
OF climate the rage Of the elements, the ferocty ana
deadliness OF various creatures ana the nanou haa
dies OF our race discover many kindly and wholesome
relations The part they play in the complex problem OF
physical good is not wholly unknown and the relation
they the development of mans moral nature mas
been the theme of many moral essay showing 'ha'
they are among the instrumeDtaes OF human culture.
Nothing here seems to the devout soul Impossible
While Science boldly traces the ransmutations of the
black mold OF the earth into the blush OF the maidens
cheek and the flashing fires of the of genus can
not doubt the power Of God TO make the vrenee OF Ma
turo not less than the wrath OF man, TO praise Him, ana
the remainder to restrain. hesitate not, therefore, 10
say with the Psalmist, The Lord is good to all ana MS
tender mercies all his works"
mi itV Of
subordinates every seemingly refractory element to the
ends Of the whole. BY virtue OF this unity Science alone
would establish MOnothesm against Poythelsm; and,
after like fashion, Immortality being granted, Science
may at length establish Unyersallsm as against PARTIAL
ism Does not the Revelator hint this, in recognizing
but one aim in creation "Thou art worthy, Lord TO
receive glory. and honor and power; for thou hast
created all things and for thy pleasure they are ana
were created" The reverent joy begotten by the SIM
pes aspects Of is in wise abated by the boast
ed light Of modern Science. Let Geology demonstrate
her innumerabe ages since creation began; let The
nebua hypothesis be accepted showing the process OF
word-making get the Darwinian doctrine OF develop
ment deliver from catastrOphes and the direct crea
ton of Species Spencer add his suggestion OF develop
ment in the direction Of least resstance let Buckle s
ride upon the wings OF the wind substituting mountain
for miracle the mountain itself being among the greatest
of miracles; let Huxley establish his doctrine OF
the physical basis OF life with his protoplasm and
proteine; let Professor Barker prove the correla
ton OF forces both potential and actual-the posi-
bic resolution into each other of light, heat
electricity magnetism, motion the vital forces generally
and even thought itself What thenl Because we have
traced the dominion Of law to the very threshold OF
the temple where dwels the awgver s there therefore
no Lawgiver1 Because observe the correlation
OF parts in the creation Of God is there therefore
alton Of God this Interpretation Of Nature the work
OF thought and is Nature herself the product Of nc
thoughts Does resolve the universe yet is man
himself his best estate only level to the ordinary
things of that unversei thought is expanding
force, has soul. no Immortality no blessed desti
N.Y. Can Science answer such questions as thesei Oh
shall We not rather say with a modern disci
pie Of Sciences "These questions lie beyond
her boundary. No crucible, no subtle mag
netc needle can answer them. No word but His who
formed us break the awful silence. In presence OF
such a revelation, Science is dumb and Faith comes in
joyfuy accept those higher truths which never
be the objects Of physical demonstration Rejecting all
that Is Panthestic or possibly atheisic even in tend
ency the OF modern scentists would say
with Stirling Strngs Reply to Huxley, This universe
is not accidental cavity in which an accidental Gust
has been accidentally swept into heaps for the accidental
evolution of the majestic spectacle OF organic and inor
ganic being That majestic spectacle IS spectacle as
plainly the eye of any diagram of the math
ematcian. That majestic spectacle could have been con-
structed, constructed, only in reason, for
reason, and by From beyond orion
and the Pleiades, across the green hem
of earth, up to the imperial personality OF man. all
the furhest the deadest the dustiest it is for fusion in
the invisible point Of the single EgO-which alone glo
rifles it, For the subject and on the model OF the sub
ject, all is made" leaning, then, the arm OF faith
we accept with our wonted JOY the testimony OF the
Psalmst, "The Heavens declare the glory of God, and
the armament showeth his handiwork. Day with day
uttereh speech and night unto night showeth knowl
edge" Has not the Savior himself ascribed unto God
upholdng of the sparrow, and the clothing of the
grass Of the field in glory transcending the glory OF
Solomon.
REVELATION AFPIRMs 1T.
But, while nature teaches Of God, God has not e1