The evening times., 1895-10-22
OPENING THE CONVENTION.
Rev.. Minot Savage'S Exposition of
the Unitarian Doctrines.

u
Hundreds failed to gain admission last
night into Metzerott Hall, where iiev. ].
Minot Savage delivered the opening ad-
dress of the convention.
The central figure on the platform was
the speaker, there being with him many of
the delegates TO the convention. including
number or ladies. Among the distinguished
divines and others noted on the platform
were: DR.. c. Carroll Everett, dean of the
Harvard Divinity School; DR.. Rush K.
Shipper, of Al lSuuls' Church. this city;
DR.. Bronke Herford. OF London. England;
E. a. Harton, president of the National
Sunday Schonl Union. Unitarian Church;
John W. Chadwick, of Brooklyn: John c.
Perkins, of Portland, Ne. and Gen. A W.
Greedy.
Rev Ed a Houghton pres ided. the
service being opened by the singing of
oh life that naketh all things ncw," the
hymn of greeting.
The prayer was by Rev. DR.. Brook Her
ford, in which hc invoked the blessing of
God on the conference and its proceedings,
with unity of spirit in the bond of peace"
City OF God, how broad and fair was
next sung.
EVANGELICAL CHURCHES.
Mr.. Savage took his text from l Tim
othy, I'LL. and Luke lilo. The words
quoted were The glorious gospel OF The
blessed God' and behold, / bring you
glad things of great soy" In his intro
duction lie set forth the fact that there
are certain sections of the church which
have assumed the title of evangelical. That
is, they I'M 10 be the ones who, par ex-
cellence, are the briDgers of the good
news-the ones who lay special emphasis
on the essential features of the gospel.
Certain other sections of the church
have tacitly admitted this claim he
said, land have thereby stood at a disad-
vantage before the world, as dealing only
or chiefly with the wisdom of men. And
these evangelical churches have not put
in the forefro Mt of their proclamation
those things which were essential in the
original announcement of Jes us when
he began TO rpeach the coming OF the ing
of God. They have put this Kingdom off
in another world, where Jesus did not
put it. They have established conditions
of membership in this Kingdom which
Jesus did not establish
Speaking of the common church accep-
tation OF the Gudhead, the speaker said
that according to that He is the incarnation
of the grossest egUtism, selfishness, and
cruelty. And if all the human monsters of
history were merged into one character.
ne WOulu not Ue 50 Duu dS III tfllS tpUCtD-
ton of God.
DOCTRINE OF JESUS.
AS to the doctrine of Jesus as connected
with the general scheme of salvation, he
said:
God is declared to have loved the world,
and to have been doing, from the begin
ming, all that he consistently could to save
men. Now He either can save men or He
can not. If He can, and is God of love-
it seems to be the natural and inevitable
conclusion that He will. If He can not,
then, perhaps, it is not an unnatural ques-
ton for us TO ask as To the wherein lies
the profit OF our praying to Him for their
salvation"
The Unitarian belief as to Jesus was
thus declared:
And SO, when1 say that Jesus was n man,
we do not take anything away from Jesus;
we only claim all that he was for manhood.
We believe that He was born as we are
born, that He died as We die. for one,
however, believe that He was seen by,
and talked with, His disciples after pass
ing through the experience which we call
death; believe that He thus assured them
of eternal life, and that from this assur-
ance sprang the great faith and enthusiasm
which was able to conquer the world. In
the authentic word of Jesus, there is no
reason for n belief any other than what
have thus attempted to portray"
II cannot imagine anything higher or
finer than His spiritual attitude toward
God and toward man.. And combining that
spirit with the widest, deepest, highest
knowledge attainable in the modern world,
should result in Fastening the kingdnm,
the proclamation of which was the first
word or His public ministry.
Holding up, then, the real Jesus tn the
gaze of the modern world, would echo the
angel song, Behold, bring you glad It'd
ings of great joyT To believe in such a
Jesus as this is At the same time to be-