The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-10-23

The Occasional Sermon preached before the
General Convention, at Akron, o., We'd
nesday, Oct. 90 by REV. G. I. FLANDERS
D. D., of Massachusetts.
Brethren My ministry in the Uni
versalist church virtually began in
Ohio. For thirteen years I went up
and down this beautiful State, from
the lake to the Ohio River, from Penn
sylvania to Indiana, proclaiming the
grace Of God that bIiDgeth salvation to
all men," 1t was period of seed-sow-
ing, and of consequent conflict. 1t was
my privilege to stand shoulder to shoul-
der in the battle with Rogers, Gurley,
ard Pingree, and other noble spirits
now gone up to their heritage of i'm
mortality. The years have gone by,
and the early folm of the conflict is
ended. Through your courtesy, | come
back again to Ohio to testify once more
in behalf of the same precious faith.
In the interval that has elapsed, the
vision of youth has been transmitted
into reality, and what was once but
promise is now absolute certainty. 1t
is true, the battle is not yet fought out,
but a full and fair survey Of the field
over which the conflict is now raging
leaves no room to doubt what the ulti-
mate result will be. Our cause is ap-
pointed to victory To doubt this
would be sin. l beg, therefore, to-day,
to animate your courage, and cheer
your hearts with the words of our great
Leader: Fear not, little flock for it
is your Fathers good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. Luke xii, 80.
In the year of our Lord 33, the civ
ilized world might have been included
in one word, ROME. That wonder
ful eity-a city without parallel from
its foundation to the present day-was
mistress of an empire, if not the most
extensive. at least the most splendid
and powerful of any known in the his
tory Of mankind. 1t eomprehended
within its boundaries territories that
had been the seat of famous republics
and powerful empires Its eagles were
flying in the north beyond the Danube
and the Rhine in the west along the
coast of the Atlantic, from the stormy
Hebride5 to the Lybian desert; in the
south to the borders Of Ethiopia; in
the east beyond the TigTis and Eu-
pirates. It's military leaders, its states
men, its orators, scholars, sages, poets,
wits were unrivaled; while Rome, its
mistress, seated by the Ilber on her
seven hills, shone with a lustre Of mag
nidcence no earthly capital ever before
knew. The population of this great
empire was not less than a hundred
million souls.
In the year 80 the Augustan age
an age SO inustrious for its artistic and
literary hrilliancy, SO marked by genius
and intellectual power that the bright
est period of every nations literature
is commonly called its Augustan age
was at its height. Forty three years of
comparative peace, under Augustus
Caesar, had diverted the attention and
abilities of men of marked talent and
genius into other channels than those
of war and conquest, and the age could
boast of Livy and Tacitus, the histori-
ans, of Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, the
poets; Of Seneca, ant Piny the Elder,
the moTalists-n names of immortal worth
All that was then known of law, litera-
ture, art, refinement, science, was in
cluded in the empire of Rome.
Rome, too, included a powerful relig-
ion with three distinct pantheOns, whose
gods were believed, at least by the com
mon people, to be the rulers of the
world and the dispensers of good aud
evil to mankind, There were temples
AMI sbrines to the gods in all the great
capitals Of the empire, and they sur
passed in wealth and magnifcence ev-
cry other cd.dce upon the face of the
earth.
When Paul went to Athens, he was
astonishtdat what he saw. The whole
city was given up to idolatry. Exhaust
ing tHeir pantheon Of deities, they had
erected an altar to an unknown god
Acquissc4nce III idolatry was universal.
NoL only the common people, but the
cultivated class, in every part Of the
empire, came under its sway, and prac-
ticed IL. r.-es. 1t was the religion Of
the STATE IL was supported and de.
Tended boy rigorous laws strictly en-