The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-11
PEOPLES CHURCH STARTED
THE HYPERION CROWDED LAST
 EVENING.

DIckerman and OIhers-Many Denc m-
 nations Represented on the PIatfor HE
 The Speeches in Detail.
 The formal opening of the new Peo-
 ple's church, held in the Hyperion last night. was from every standpoint a
 thoroughly one. The theater
 was crowded to the doors. There were a few vacant seats in the rear of the
 gallery. but with this exception the house was packed. The new church
 has had an suspicious beginning.
 Great enthusiasm was displayed at
 times, the people breaking into sponta-
 neous applause at some of the more
 telling phrases of the speakers.
 Services were opened by singing
 Nearer My God to Thee," after which
 Rabbi Levy of the Orange street temple
 read the 61st chapter of Isaiah. MT.
 Williams solo, which was the next
 number. was sung with great express sion. Mr. Williams voice is one of
 great sympathy and power, and is par
 ticularly we'll adapted to sacred music. The musical solos were well selected and of pleasing effect. Professor Nichols, we'll known among mission workers. &C., companied the musical selections on the piano.
 A collection was taken which proved amply sufficient to pay for the use of the theater for the next three meetings.
 MT. Irvine asked those present not to
 put any Indians (meaning pennies) in | the hats if they could avoid it.
 Of those who we-e invited to sit on 1 the platform the ones who, as Mir IT, vine expressed it, "were brave enough l to come, were Judge L. W. Cleaveland, MT. Butteraeld Of the Calvary Indus | trial Home. Rabbi Levy of the Orange
 street Temple, the Rev. MT. Dickerman of the Universalist church. and A. H.
 Brown of Simsbury.
 | MT. Irvine's address was as follows: REV. MIR. IRvINE'S ADDRESS. At the formal opening of this move-
 ment it is fitting that I should give a
 reason for the hope that is in me, and | for the hope that is in you. It is said
 that when Xenophon and his followers
 came in sight of the sea they em- braced each other and wept for joy. l We stand tonight on the verge of the sea of liberty. We are about to launch
 a ship in which we hope the Christ will be, but not asleep. We have emerged not from the mountains of | Armenia but from the intricacies of Connecticut ecclesioldgy.
 We desire community organized in liberty and unconstrained equality
 where every man and every woman
 will count one. We desire a simple and comprehensive plan which will appeal to those who at present neither have nor desire any affiliation with | organized religion. The manual work | CTS, mechanics and artizans are con- | spicuous by their absence in our city churches. The reason is not doctrinal but social and economic. One of the free churches on the Green has abol- ished all credal tests for membership | and the other has a pastor and teacher with a national reputation for liberal thinking. We cannot hope to be more | liberal in theology than they are; and yet we submit that there is need of an- other type of assembly-an assembly not confined to type, for that, too, f would be a class assembly, but one on a more democratic basis-a basis of manhood and womanhood. No time | will be wasted in criticism of exclu- ! ciyyn snaiafiAes p7n to Ia bo fao If that since certain elements in the com
 munity cannot be brought into har-
 mony on democratic religious basis
 the next best thing to do is to organize
 each element to the best possible ad-
 vantage to the community as a whole. l We desire also a larger freedom for
 the teacher. The ordinary case is that | the. preacher is a procession. As long as the people on the reviewing stand
 are pleased the procession stops. When
 they are displeased the procession l moves on. This is reversed in the new order; the people form the procession
 and when they are not pleased they
 move on. Lorenzo the magnificent thought that Sanonrola should move l on when his message was not receiv- ed; he did finally by the gateway of | faggot and flame but on this occasion he said: Lorenzo may go, but Sanan-
 rola the priest shall stay" Now few plain words here may save much
 misunderstanding later on. The leader of this community will be publicist l as well as preacher; he will not ask
 for any privilege for himself or his
 children that he will not seek to secure for all on equal terms, but when the Almighty sends him message wheth- CT it be for labor union or corpora tion he will take counsel of no man
 and will be responsible only to God. ] Now lest the thought of 8 creedless ! assembly might mislead some let me say that while we abolish credal tests we will have some mighty definite | doctrines. Here are some of them: I 'The fatherhood of God; the brother i hood of man; the way of Jesus, and | the final restoration of the image of I God in all the sons and daughters of men, This does not necessarily cut out | the doctrine of hell, dear to many, but it limits it to one world. By voice and pew and class and catechism we will emphasize these things But the gos-
 pei of work will have a large place. I The whole scheme will be to give ev- | cry man and woman career in re- 1 ligion; creed of labor to be worked