The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-19
UNIYERSALISTS' MEETING.
GOTH ANNUAL SESSION BEING
 HELD IN THIS CITY.
Interesting Session in the Afternoon Officers VIII be Elected This Morning and is n Most Successful One.

1 hc OOhVchNlOh
 and is Most Successful One.
 The sixty ninth annual meeting of l the Connecticut Universalists is being 1 held in this city, with headquarters at
 the Church of the Messiah, of which
 Rev. W. F. Dickerlnan is pastor. The
 meeting is largely attended and it bids
 fair to be one of the most successful meetings held in recent years. About
 fifty are present, and the reports that
 have been submitted have been very
 encouraging. They show the associa- 1 tion to be in good condition, and the reports of the missionary workers In i the afternoon demonstrate that the | Universalists are doing great work In 1 that line throughout this and other
 countries.
 The meeting is in charge of Rev. pr. w. S. Perkins, of Meriden, the presl-
 dent of the association. The other offi-
 cers are: c. G. Lincoln, of Hartford, ] vice president; Rev. E. M. Grant, Of 1 Stamford, secretary; Herman Hess, or | Meriden, treasurer. It was stated yes | terday that it was probable that these | officers would be reelected at the ses- | sion to be held this morning.
 | After the roll call at the morning ses-
 sion a session committee was appointed as follows: Charles D. Davis, of Bridgeport, w. K. Bacon, of Middle" | town, and George F. Hubbard, of Hart | ford The following committee on res olutions was appointed: Rev. John c.
 Adams, of Hartford, Rev Charles F. Hall, of Danbury, and Lucius F. Sper-
 ry of New Haven.
 Then came the order of reports that are to be considered at the session to be held this morning, including those or | the treasurer, the state superintendent of churches and the executive board. ] There was a celebration of the holy communion at 1045, over which Rev. MT. Dickerman presided, and at 1l:l5 a sermon was preached by Rev. J. f'. | Cobb, of Norwalk. The clergyman took 1 his text from the thirteenth verse or | the fourth chapter of H. Corinthians, "We also believe wherefore we speak. 1 He said ill part:
 "We come together with joyful hearts and unity of spirit. We come together
 to be benefited by our interchange of | views, and if we believe that belief will
 find expression. Every thoughtful man | believes in something. And beliefs have a tremendous influence upon our lives and conduct. We must believe | that God Is God of Mercy and Love. | We look upon Him as magnit1ed man, | Father who is loving and merclful. We do not look upon Him as a re- vengeful tyrant. Voltaire said on one occasion: If we had no God mankind
 would have to invent or create a being in which to believe
 "The mercy of God is great. He is the Creator of the world and of all that is therein, and is a being of knowledge, justice and power He has no cruel
 purpose to. serve towards mankind.
 The foundation stone of our belief is that of Gods love and mercy towards us, His children.
 .The mercy of God is fundamental in government But at the same time God will punish in some way those who disobey His commands The rich and powerful are subjected to His pun ishments as well as the weak and poor. This is evident on all sides. We must be influenced by mercy and love- and not by feelings of revenge. In the terrible crime that was recently conn mitted in Buffalo, by which the presi" dent of the United States was shot and who now is lying dead, the feelings of the people have been terribly excited.
 But we have no right to advocate lynching, as many have done. Let the assassin be dealt with in the majesty of the law. To indulge thoughts of lynching makes us cruel and vindfctlce
 and unjust God exacts justice of us and our belief is that if we do not obey
 His commands we shall be punished.
 But He wants us to be merciful. He sent His Son into the world whereby all those who believe in Him should be
 saved. We must live relig'iously and
 then we shall enjoy religion. If we are governed by conscience we shall
 be filled with love for all mankind and we shall feel desire to see the whole world made better and happier. As the
 suns rays warm and vivify the eart.,
 so will the love that we feel for all mankind vivify our lives for ourselves and others"
 The afternoon session opened at 1:S0 o'clock and from then until 2:30 the time was taken up in discussing "Our
 Sunday School Problems" This topic
 proved an interesting one and several points were brought out and recom- mended as changes in the regular Sun
 day school programme. Rev. W. $.
 Perkins, the second speaker of the af- ternoon, In his remarks advocated that
 the Sunday school teachers be paid a
 certain amount just as the day school teachers are Rev. MT. Perkins said that they could get better results if the teachers were paid and that they would , take a greater interest in their work.
 The speaker also advocated the hiring
 of a missionary to visit the different
 homes and in that way he said all the children could be found and sent to l Sunday school. Rev. MT Perkins said that the ministers should take a more active part in the services during the Sunday school hours and that they should do more teaching than they do. His remarks were to the point, most Of the listeners thought. Another inter esting address was made by the Rev J. | c. Adams on How Shall We Gather and Hold the Children?" He recom- mended systematic forms of teaching that would interest the scholars and said that there might be special lines of teaching taking up different subjects l that would get the scholars interested | O