Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-05-26
DaiIp kennebcc Journal.
UNITARIAN ANNIVERSARY CLOSES.
pei cit Hyde Of Bo~doin, Speaks on '''"ts'
urstioa Of Christian Faith"

poston. Nav 25.-The anniversary
reek of American Unitarianism, when
hroucht together in this city minister
IN, and lay delegates from parishes IN
oil narts of the country, closed, tonight,
-,.i.b an impressive service in fremont
r.mple and the enthusiasm which
imbued the great audience told OF IN
spiration drunk in during the many
sessions throughout these last seven
days. Most of the delegates VIII larry
vet a day and see a little OF the social
side of New England life and IT'S many
picturesque places, and, sunday, the
more distinguished amoug the clergy
men will occupy the chief Unitarian
pulpts in the East.
An immense audience filled fremont
Temple. this afternoon. There were
four addresses made on Charming,
Parker. Emerson and Martineau. the
great leaders of the Unitarian denom-
nation. President S. y. Eliot intro
duced each speaker in felicitious Ian
guage. Rev. w. c. Gannett of Roch-
ester. n. Y. spoke on Charming, an
Apostle of Spiritual Life" Rev. c. G..
Ames. D. D.. on Theodore Parker and
HIS w bIhS. iOA- q. II. iiioSNA -
Emerson and His Relations to Relig-
ion:" and Rev. Alfred LaZenby of Chi
cago. on James Martineau."
The closing meeting of anniversary
week in fremont Temple was held,
this evening. President Eliot intro
duced President w. Dewitt Hyde OF
Rowdoin College, whose topic was lnc
Indignation of the Christian Faith.
Evolution" he said. proceeds by
successive stages of differentiation and
intcgratiOn. The close of the 18th cen
tury marks the climax of religious diff
ferentiation This differentiation mas
brought both loss and gain. When the
church of England came out from the
Catholicism it lost something. Wher
the Congregationalists came out OF tht
Church of England, they lost much
When the Unitarians came out from
the Congregationalists, they of course
lost more. Yet in universally, the
Church of England gained nationality
In losing nationality the Congregation
lets gained individuality. In losing the
orthodoxy of their day, Unitarlans
gained the priceless pearl of per1ec'
intellectual liberty.
Your gain of liberty mas peeh
blessing to us all; especially TO tht
Congregationalists from Whom you
went forth For the fact that we con
gergationalists have. today, suiflcleht
not only to do our own thinking unfno'
Tested. but to shelter refugees from
PRESBYTERIAN and other folds is chlel
lv due to the influence and example:
of the brave Unitarians in the earl,
part Of the century, who broke thel'
letters with which even the sons o.
the Puritans were consenting TO b'
bound, and in reverence and sincerity
and sacrifice founded the association
whose 18th anniversary we celebrate
today.
Liberty, however, is the condition
not the conclusion of your spiritua
mission. You have cut the trees, pull
ed up the stumps. hauled off the rocks
that filled the fertile fields of New
England theology at the beginning o.
the century; and to have cleared the
ground so well of these distractions il
Il wears is work of which you may
we'll feel proud The task has beer
done so thoroughly that little remains
TO be done in that direction. You,
TASK Tor the next quarter VI Il 'Shlui ;
must be constructive seed-sowing; of
at the end of your first century yor
are to reap the harvest we all expect
from you: the harvest of reasoned
body of spiritual truth in which every
fact Of science, every result of criti-
cism, every insight of philosophy, every
imperative of ethics, every intuition OF
poetry. every experience of life which
bears on mans spiritual problem, shall
be set forth in clear, rational relations
and made so plain that every devou'
and earnest soul can see its transpar-
ent rcasonablenesS and feel its mora
authority, and own its heavenly sway.
President Hyde was followed by
President Charles W. Eliot Of Harvard
University.