The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-19
LOlAl MINISTER BREACHES
AT HARTFORD CONVENTION
Occasional Sermon at Unver- salist Session by Rev.
 Mfr. Fischer.


 morning at 10 o'clock, at the Church of the Redeemer, with prayer by the Rev. Joseph F. Cobb of Norwich Following the prayer, the Rev. pr. John Coleman Adams, pastor of the church, gave a brief address, in which he welcomed the people to Hartford and to his church which had been built since the last convention had assembled in Hartford. Hartford had always been a great religious center, the pastor said and gave a brief sketch of it's religious activity together with that of the state, especially in the Con- necticut valley
 Charles G. Lincoln of this city, president of the convention, presided.
 The committees appointed for the convention were as follows;
 Elections-Davis T. Ruby. Norwich; Dr. Richmond Fisk, Middletown; L. L. Hubbell, Danbury; Mrs. ". K. Bacon, Giddletown.
 Religious services-Dr. J. c. Adams, Hartford; Miss $. A. Hall, Stamford. Official Reports-Dr. F. A. Dilling- ham, Bridgeport; the Rev A J. Car dall Danbury; the Rev. Theodore A. Fischer, New Haven; Edwin A. Tracy, Norwich; Mrs. E. c. Piney, Stafford,
 Nominations-Th Rev. A. J. Car i dall: the Rev w. A. Moore, Meriden; w. K. Bacon, Middletown.
 Resolutions-Rev. T. s. Robjent ! Stamford; Charles Gay, New Haven; Rev. Willis A. Moore, Meriden.
 Auditors w. K. Bacon; James Ste- vens, Hartford
 l The occasional sermon was preached by the Rev. Theodore A. Fischer, of ] New Haven whose theme was Our Place and Work in the Religious , World" The speaker opened his ad- 1 dress by saying that the purpose of the ] annual coming together is two-fold i to transact and map out the necessary work of our organizations, and to gain i inspiration and power to do that work. The preacher of the occasion al sermon to meet the requirements of his office should bring to the conven- l ton the message he has received from his Master Jesus Christ He is to tell the vision he has seen, for this is still the day of open vision. The re- ,,ato11tv, his doleful story. He cites facts of un- mistakable failure and of decadent life. He has the figures to show i, the falling off in church attendance. After describing other views of the pessimist the preacher said that cer- tainly the pessimists have succeeded in many cases too we'll They have in- stilled fear and produced gloom, and have not quickened zeal or called l forth new effort; they have discour- aged and not inspired. We have our discouragers. When we need enthusi- asm and encouragement they sug- gest failure, and it is just that sort of thing which paralyzes.
 Dr. Fischer explained that his pur- pose to-day was not to take a survey of the whole religious world, but to restrict himself to 8 narrower field the field of the Universalist branch of the church. We have been told by those without and by those within our fold that our work as a separate church is done. We have fulfilled our mission, they tell us. We fill no par ticular place to-day. Our reason for existing as a separate organization is gone. The logic of the whole matter from this viewpoint is to disband our l forces and go over to those bodies which still have a mission, We have a place in the religious world to-day which no other religious organization does or can fill for us. What the church needs Is that modesty and I gratefully we should recognize and appreciate the dignity and greatness of the work to which under the provi- dence of God we have been called on | as a church to do No one church can do all there is to be done. No one church has all the truth, for l truth is many sided Each church has some special phase of which to dc which it does better than any other and just aus different lights blended to- gether produce the white light, so all the churches together are promoting the Kingdom of Light To change the I figure of the homely illustration of an- other: "The work oe the churches re- sembles a wash-day." The Methodist picks people up, tho Baptist washes them, the Presbyterian blues them, the Episcopal church Etarches them and the Universalists iron them All true churches continue toward the great end, that all Christian churches have in view, and we are glad wher they succeed in doing this work
 After emphasizing that he would no belittle the work of the other churche, in any way. Dr.. Fischer entered into describing what he considered the spe. ciaI fitness, call and duty of the Uni versalist church. Tn closing pr. Fisch CT said that the church is in the worlC for the benefit of humanity, otherwise it would have no reason for being. | has no right to deprive humanity ot the great blessing it has to confer "Universalists of Connecticut! First O all believe in your Gospel. Get satu rated with it's spirit, Believe in you mission, enthuse over it. Work to dt your part of Gods work. As churcl we have much work to do in thi! state. Let us do more than talk abou it. Let us do it."
 NORWALK WITHOUT WATER.