Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/860

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736
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TJNIVEBSALISM. 736 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. kind. Article 2 — We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, vho will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness. Article 3 — We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men. "II. The conditions of fellowship shall be as follows : ( 1 ) The acceptance of the essential principles of the Universalist faith, to wit: (a) The universal fatherhood of God; (b) the Spiritual authority and leadership of His Son, Jesus Christ; (c) the trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God; (d) the certainty of just retribution for sin; (e) the final harmony of all souls with God. The Winchester Profession is commended as contain- ing these principles, but neither this nor any other precise form of words is required as a con- dition of fellowship, provided always that the principles above stated be professed. (2) The acknowledgment of the authority of the General Convention and assent to its laws." During the first hundred years of its existence, the denominational polity was congregational or independent, the several conventions possessing only advisory powers. Since 1870 the General Convention has had authority to make laws on the subject of fellowship, ordination, and disci- pline, to which all subordinate conventions, churches, and preachers must conform. Since 1890 a mission has been sustained in Japan with good success in conversions, the establishing of theological ami literary schools and planting churches, and the distribution of literature. Four colleges and five academies erected and managed under the auspices of the denomination had in 1902 249 professors and teachers, 1896 students. The following theological schools are maintained: ( 1 ) The Canton Theological School, opened at Canton, Saint Lawrence County, N.- Y., in 1858. Although affiliated with Saint Lawrence Uni- versity, the theological school is a separate in- stitution in its management and property. (2) Tufts Divinity School, a department of Tufts College, located at Jledford, near Boston, opened in 1869. (3) At the beginning of the college year in 1881 a theological department ■was opened in Lombard College, Galesburg, 111, In honor of the late Rev. William Henry Ryder, who had endowed the school, its name was changed to the Ryder Divinity School in 1890. The Church statistics for 1903 show 871 church organizations with 53,.508 communicants, 773 Sunday schools with 57.529 members, and church property valued at .$10,158,453. The number of preachers is 750, The Young People's Christian Union has about 10.000 members. BiBLiOGRApnY. The denominational literature is very extensive. The following works may be mentioned: Winchester, The Universal Res- toration, Exhibited in Four Dialognes be- tween, a Minister and Bis Friend (Phil- adelphia, 1792) : Murray, Vniversalism Vin- dicated (Charlestown, 1797) ; Foster, A Crit- ical and Candid Examination of a Late Pub- lication Entitled the Doctrine of Endless Misery Reconcilable mth the Infinite Benevolence of God (Walpole, N. H., 1803); Hosea Ballon, A Treatise on Atonement (Randolph, Vt., 1805) ; Hosea Ballou, 2d, The Ancient History of Vni- versalism (Boston, 1829) ; Whitemore, The Mod- ern History of Universalism (ib.. 1830) ; Smith, Historical Sketches and Incidents Iltustratii-e of the Establishment and Progress of Vniversalism in the State of 'Sew York (Albany, 1843- 44) ; Cobb, A Compend of Christian Divin- ity (Boston, 1846) ; Thayer, Theology of Uni-, vcrsalism (ib., 1862) ; Thomas, A Century of Vniversalism in Philadelphia ayid A'eio I'orfc (Philadelphia, 1872) ; Eddy, Vniversalism in America, 1SJ6-1SSG (Boston," 1884-86), with full bibliography; id., Vniversalism. from Apostol- ic Times to 1S!>3, vol. x. of the "American Church History Series" (^ew York. 1894). There are also a number of published discussions and debates between advocates and opponents of Uni- versalism, as those by Ely and Thomas ( New York, 1835) ; by Campbell and Skinner (Utica, N. Y., 1840) ; by Holmes and Austin (Auburn, N. Y., 1848); by Sawyer and Westeott (New York, 1854), The chief "periodical of the Church is the Universalist Leader, issued weekly by the Universalist Publishing House, Boston. UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. A phrase ap- plied in the specific sense to languages artificially formed for the purpose of ready communication by persons whose natural language is different. The aim is to do away with the difficulties and irregularities with which historical accidents have encumbered the existing languages, and to construct, out of old materials or new materials, a language so simple and regular that any learner of any nation can acqinre it with ease, and use it with precision. Most of the schemes proposed are meant to serve the purposes of business, travel, and correspondence; not to dis- place the existing languages, nor to serve as vehicles of literary expression, A definite attempt at the formation of a scientific language was made by Bishop Wilkins in his Essay Toward a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (London, 1668). This was a classification of ideas and of words by ideas, and a scheme of characters, much like shorthand, to represent them. Various other schemes appeared, but none attracted serious at- tention. It was not till the last quarter of the nineteenth century that the time was ripe for a serious effort at either a scientific or a imi- versal language. At that time the history and nature of language were better known, and the number of students of language was great enough to furnish, in the proportion interested, an in- telligent public to receive such proposals. Accordingly, when Johann Martin Schleyer published, in 1879, his famous 'world-speech,' Volapiik, it attracted wide attention. (See Voi..PUK.) The impulse given by Schleyer moved other inventors: and in a few years more than a dozen 'international languages' were put forth. The chief schemes were: (1) 'La lingvo internacia' ('Internationale Sprache'). by Dr. L. Zamenhof. under the pseudonym of 'Esperanto.' which name was later attached to the language itself, Warsaw, 1894; (2) 'Kosmos.' by Eugene A. Lauda, Berlin, 1894; (3) 'Spelin,' by Prof. G. Bauer. Agram, 1888; (4) 'Myrana,' by .T. Stempfl. Kempten, 1889: (51 'Lingua interna- tional' or 'Mondolingue,' by J. Lott, Vienna, 1890; (6) 'Universala,' by Dr. Eugene Heintz-