The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-10-13
CONVENTION ADDRESS.
THE UNIVERSALIST DEN0MINA-
TION
Its Purpose. Its Field, and The Need OF
Maintaining Its Machinery.
BY A. j. cANFIELD, d. D.


ence that came to me in Venice
about two years ago. We were in
gondola on the Grand Canal under
meath the arches of the Rialto,when
strain of penetrating music, mellowed
by the moist evening atmosphere,
through which it vibrated with in
creasing energy Of volume until the
twilight trembled and throbbed with
the melody and all distracting sounds
and thought were blended and sub
dued into a perfect harmony OF al
most breathless expectation. Some
thing like that experience, it seems to
me, has been the masterful effect
upon our hearts tonight of the we'll
chosen words of youthful loyalty to
which we still are listening; and as
the songless eagle, when he feels his
wings becoming stiff with age, seeks
and finds and puts himself upon a
column of uplifting air and is there
by upheaved to heights he could not
otherwise have reached, so /, whose
home is amid shadows and not above
the fog, shall feel supremely happy
if I can take advantage of this mag
nifcent strain of youthful enthusiasm
on which to float my more sedate
speech.
The subject selected for me by the
Program Committee is, "Our De-
nomination, its Purpose, its Field,
and the Need of Maintaining its Ma
chinery." According to the Century
Dictionary, a denomination is So
ciety or collection of individuals
called by the same name, specifically
a religious sect. In the nomenclature
of the Christian Religion sectarianism
is an inclination to emphasize some
particular tenet, opinion or doctrine
which is usually held by it's devotees
in contradistinction to the general
principles adhered to by the whole of
Christendom. Universalism as re-
ligious philosophy undertakes to
emphasize universal ideas and claims
to comprehend within it's capacious
sympathies the entire body of Chris
tian truth, having felt the fullness of
the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.
This is certainly a thoroughly Catho-
lie position and would seem to be III
consistent with every form of sectari-
anism; and yet as Christian Univer-
salists our assemblage in this Con-
vention is substantially sectarian. We
have entered into denominational
fellowship with each other from free
choice for personal and social impro-
vement and in order to advance the
welfare of that branch of the Chris
tian church to which we acknowledge
supreme allegiance. 1t is eminently
fitting, then, that we should OCCASION
ally come together as here and now,
from our various stations and several
sections of the State, to seek counsel
and encouragement of each other as
brethren of one common household
of faith,-not the only household of
faith, but the one in which we have
special interest and for whose vary
ing fortunes we are unitedly respon-
sible. I am aware that such gather
ings and occasions of social self con-
graduation are apt to degenerate
into fanciful conceits and sectarian
comparisons of doubtful utility. 1t
is difficult even in the case of individ-
uals to point out precisely the causes
under the operation of which men,
bers of the same community, and
sometimes of the same family, grow
up with ideas and dispositions so
adverse. Nobody can tell why it is
that children of a common parentage
so seldom resemble each other. 1t
seems of course to be much more diff
ficult to perform a similar analysis on
a subject so subtle and complicated
as that of a Christian denomination
composed as it is of representative in
dividuals, societies and communities
widely differing from each other in
many respects, all liable to local and
peculiar prejudices and working out
the final result only after the lapse of
generations, not less perhaps by mu-
tual contradictions, criticisms and
controversies than by conscious frater-
nal corporations. But, as in the case
of individual development, there are
influences of undoubted operation
which go far to determine personal
success or failure in life, so in religi-
GUS institutions there are influences
equally certain, of growth and excel
lence on the one hand and of degen-
eracy and of ruin on the other.
1t would be interesting and proper
for us to investigate these causes, to
describe the circumstances which as