Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/869

Rh UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, a religious body in the United States of America, especially in the New England States, which has for its distinguishing tenet the doctrine of the final salvation of all souls from sin through Christ. The pioneers of Universalism in America were Dr George De Benneville, who taught from 1741 principally in Pennsylvania; Dr Charles Chauncy, of the First Church, Boston (notably in The Salvation of All Men, published in 1784); Dr Joseph Huntington, of Coventry, Conn, (whose Calvinism Improved was published after his death in 1796); John Murray, Elhanan Winchester, Caleb Rich, and, very specially, Hosea Ballou. Murray is, however, regarded as "the father of Universalism in America." In 1750 James Relly had avowed himself a Universalist, basing his belief on a theory quite peculiar; Murray, who had preached as a Methodist in England and Ireland, was Relly's most distinguished convert. In 1770 he came to America, and, under circumstances so strange that most Universalists regard them as providential, overcoming a deep reluctance, he preached at Good Luck, New Jersey, and organized a society, "The Independent Christian Church," at Gloucester, Massachusetts. Hosea Ballou—a convert from the Calvinist Baptists—took up the cause in 1790, and published the work that is regarded by Universalists as epoch-making, A Treatise on Atonement. The number of ministers increased, and societies were formed. These in due time became the constituents of larger organizations, till a "New England convention" saw occasion, in 1803, to adopt a "profession of faith," which in three short articles avowed belief in the Bible as making known in a Divine revelation the nature of God, the mission of Christ, the final holiness of all souls, and the necessity of good works. In 1866 a general convention, composed of delegates from the State conventions, was incorporated. It has jurisdiction throughout the United States and Canada. It has a "Murray fund" of about $135,000. Under the auspices of the Universalist Church are the "woman's centenary association," the "Universalist historical society," several organized charities, four colleges, three theological schools, and five academies,—the total value of the schools, including endowments, being hardly less than 3 million dollars. It publishes eight periodicals. The Year Book for 1887 gives the following summary:—1 general convention; 22 State conventions; 945 parishes, 38,429 families; 696 churches, 35,550 members; 634 Sunday schools, 51,871 members; 789 church edifices; value above indebtedness, $7,493,927; 673 clergymen in fellowship and 120 licensed lay preachers.  

HE mediæval Latin term universitas (from which the English word "university" is derived) was originally employed to denote any community or corporation regarded under its collective aspect. When used in its modern sense, as denoting a body devoted to learning and education, it required the addition of other words in order to complete the definition, the most frequent form of expression being "universitas magistrorum et scholarium" (or "discipulorum "). In the course of time, probably towards the latter part of the 14th century, the term began to be used by itself, with the exclusive meaning of a community of teachers and scholars whose corporate existence had been recognized and sanctioned by civil or ecclesiastical authority or by both. But the more ancient and customary designation of the university in mediæval times (regarded as a place of instruction) was "studium generale" (or sometimes "studium" alone), a term implying a centre of instruction for all. The expressions " universitas studii" and "universitatis collegium" are also occasionally to be met with in official documents.

It is necessary, however, to bear in mind, on the one hand, that a university often had a vigorous virtual existence long before it obtained that legal recognition which entitled it, technically, to take rank as a "studium generale," and, on the other hand, that hostels, halls, and colleges, together with complete courses in all the recognized branches of learning, were by no means necessarily involved in the earliest conception of a university. The university, in its earliest stage of development, appears to have been simply a scholastic guild,—a spontaneous combination, that is to say, of teachers or scholars, or of both combined, and formed probably on the analogy of the trades guilds, and the guilds of aliens in foreign cities, which, in the course of the 13th and 14th centuries, are to be found springing up in most of the great European centres. The design of these organizations, in the first instance, was little more than that of securing mutual protection,—for the craftsman, in the pursuit of his special calling,—for the alien, as lacking the rights and privileges inherited by the citizen. And so the university, composed as it was to a great extent of students from foreign countries, was a combination formed for the protection of its members from the extortion of the townsmen and the other annoyances incident in mediæval times to residence in a foreign state. It was a first stage of development in connexion with these primary organizations, when the chancellor of the cathedral, or some other authority, began, as we shall shortly see, to confer on their masters the right of teaching at any similar centre that either already existed or might afterwards be formed throughout Europe,—"facultas ubique docendi." It was a still further development when it began to be recognized that, without a licence from either pope, emperor, or king, no "studium generale" could be formed possessing this right of conferring degrees, which originally meant nothing more than licences to teach.

In order, however, clearly to understand the conditions under which the earliest universities came into existence, it is necessary to take account, not only of their organization, but also of their studies, and to recognize the main influences which, from the 6th to the 12th century, served before to modify both the theory and the practice of education. In the former century, the schools of the Roman empire, which had down to that time kept alive the traditions of pagan education, had been almost entirely swept away by the barbaric invasions. The latter century marks the period when the institutions which supplied their place—the episcopal schools attached to the cathedrals and the monastic schools—attained to their highest degree of influence and reputation. Between these and the schools of the empire there existed an essential difference, in that the theory of education by which they were pervaded was in complete contrast to the simply secular theory of the schools of paganism. The cathedral school taught only what was supposed to be necessary for the education of the priest; the monastic school taught only what was supposed to be in harmony with the aims of the monk. But between the pagan system and the Christian system by which it had been superseded there yet existed 