,,unitarianism      ,w4,g4 ,,tarrant    
,,london    #aiab            ,,contents 
,,introduction      ,some ,terms        
explained      ,,the ,,earlier          
,,movement ,,in ,,england3      i4 ,the 
,unitarian ,martyrs    ii4 ,influences  
,making for ',latitude'    iii4 ,the    
,old ,nonconformists    iv4 ,the        
',unitarian ,tracts'    v4 ,the ,old    
,dissent      ,,new ,,england3      i4  
,before the ',great ,awakening'    ii4  
,the ,liberal ,reaction      ,,english  
,,unitarianism ,,recognized ,,by ,,law  
,,questions ,,of ,,inheritance          
,,modern ,,unitarianism3      i4 ,the   
,communities    ii4 ,ideas and          
,tendencies    iii4 ,methods and        
,teachings      ,,unitarians ,,and      
,,other ,,religious ,,liberals          
,,introduction      ,in certain quiet   
nooks of ,old ,england1 and1 by         
contrast1 in some of the  busiest       
centres of ,new ,england1 landmarks of  
religious history are to be  found which
 are not to be easily understood by     

every passer-by4 ,he is  familiar with  
the ordinary places of worship1 at least
 as features in1  the picture of town or
 village4 ,here is the parish church    
where the  ,english episcopal order has 
succeeded to the ,roman2 yonder is the  
more  modern dissenting chapel1 homely  
or ornate4 ,but1 now and then1 among the
  non-episcopal buildings we find what  
is called distinctively a ',meeting     
,house1' or more briefly a ',meeting1'  
which may perhaps be styled ',old1'     
',new1' or ',great'4 ,its architecture  
usually corresponds with the  simplicity
 of its name4 ,plain almost to ugliness1
 yet not without some  degree of severe 
dignity1 stand these old barn-like      
structures of  brick--occasionally of   
stone2 bearing the mellowing touch of   
time1  surrounded by a little           
overshadowed graveyard1 they often add a
 peculiar  quaintness and solemnity to  
the scene4 ,mrs4 ,gaskell has described 
one  such in her novel ,ruth1 and       
admirers of her art should know well    

that  her own grave lies beside the     
little sanctuary she pictured so        
lovingly4    ,sometimes1 however1 the   
surroundings of the ancient chapel are  
less  attractive4 ,it stands1 it may be1
 in some poverty-stricken corner or     
court of a town or city4 ,whatever      
picturesqueness it may have had once    
has long since vanished4 ,unlovely      
decay1 an air of desolation1 symptoms   
of neglect1 present a mournful sight1   
and one wonders how much longer  the    
poor relic will remain4 ,many places of 
the kind have already been  swept away2 
others have been renovated1 enlarged1   
and kept more worthy  of their use4 ,not
 all the ,meeting ,houses are of one    
kind4 ,independents1  ,baptists1 and    
,friends1 each possess some of them4    
,now and again the  notice-board tells  
us that this is a ',presbyterian' place 
of worship1  but a loyal ,scot who      
yearns for an echo of the kirk would be 
greatly  surprised on finding1 as he    
would if he entered1 that the doctrine  

and  worship there is not ,calvinistic  
in any shape whatever1  but--,unitarian4
    ,a similar surprise awaits the      
visitor to ,new ,england1 it may be even
 a  greater4 ,for if he should tread ,in
 the footsteps of the ,pilgrim ,fathers 
and find the 'lineal descendants' of    
their original places of worship at     
,plymouth1 ,salem1 or ,boston1 he will  
find ,unitarians in possession4 ,so  it 
is in many of the oldest towns founded  
by the ,american colonists of  the      
seventeenth century4 ,in their centres  
the parish churches1 ',first1'          
',second1' or otherwise1 stand forth    
challenging everybody's attention4      
,there is no lack of self-assertion     
here1 nothing at all like the  shrinking
 of the ,old ,english ,presbyterian into
 obscure alleys and  corners4 ,spacious1
 well appointed1 and secure1 these      
,unitarian parish  churches1 in the     
words of a popular ,unitarian poet1     
'look the whole  world in the face1 and 
fear not any man4'    ,the object of the

 present brief sketch is to show how    
these landmarks  have come to be where  
they are1 to trace the thoughts and     
fortunes of  ,unitarians from their rise
 in modern times1 to indicate their     
religious  temper and practical aims1   
and to exhibit the connections of the   
,english-speaking ,unitarians with some 
closely approximating groups in  ,europe
 and ,asia4    ,before entering upon a  
story which is extremely varied and     
comprehensive1 one or two important     
points must be emphasized4 ,in the      
first place the reader must bear in mind
 that the term ',unitarianism' is  one  
of popular application4 ,it has not been
 chosen and imposed as  sect-name by any
 sect-founder1 or by any authoritative  
assembly4 ,there  has never been a      
leader or a central council whose       
decisions on these  matters have been1  
accepted by ,unitarians as final4 ,even 
when most  closely organized they have  
steadily resisted all attempts so to fix
 the  meaning of ',unitarianism' as to  

exclude further growth of opinion4      
,consequently there is always room for  
variety of opinion among them2 and      
every statement of their principles and 
teachings must be taken as a  sort of   
average estimated from a survey more or 
less extended4    ,thus the significance
 of ,unitarianism as a feature of modern
 religious  development cannot be       
grasped apart from its history as a     
movement of  thought4 ,nowhere is it    
more necessary than here to reflect that
 to know  what a thing is we must know  
what it has been and consider what its  
future naturally involves4    ,secondly1
 amid all the varieties of thought      
referred to1 complicated as  they are by
 the eager advance of some and the      
clinging to survivals by  others1 there 
are two notes to be found undeniably1 if
 unequally1  characteristic of          
,unitarianism4 ,it is both rationalist  
and mystical4  ,if the historian seems  
more attentive to the former than to the
 latter1  this must not be taken as     

indicating their relative importance4   
,obviously1 it is easier to record      
controversies than to unfold the  wealth
 of profound conceptions4 ,perhaps we   
may fairly suggest the true  state of   
the case by the mere juxtaposition of   
such earlier names as  ,socinus1 ,bidle1
 and ,locke1 with those of ,channing1   
,emerson1 and  ,martineau2 or by a      
reference to the earlier ,unitarian     
hymns in contrast  with those of the    
later stages4      ,,some ,,terms       
,,explained    ,a brief explanation at  
the outset may help the reader to follow
 more  intelligently the history of     
,unitarianism4 ,as is well known1 the   
chief  issue between ,trinitarians and  
,unitarians arises in connection with   
the  relation of ,jesus ,christ to ,god1
 questions concerning the ,holy ,spirit 
being usually less discussed4 ,there are
 consequential issues also1  bearing    
upon man's nature1 atonement1 salvation1
 and other subjects1 but  these call for
 no remark here4 ,in its full statement1

 as given for  instance in the          
',athanasian ,creed1' the ,trinitarian  
dogma presents the  conception of ,three
 ',persons' in ,one ,god--,father1 ,son1
 and ,holy  ,spirit--',persons' with    
different3 functions1 but all equal and 
co-eternal4 ,the ,eastern 7,greek       
,orthodox7 ,church differs from the     
,western  7,roman ,catholic7 in holding 
that the ,third ,person 'proceeds' from 
the  ,father alone2 the ,western        
adds--'and from the ,son' 7filioque74   
,the  full dogma as given in the        
',athanasian ,creed' is not thought to  
be  earlier than the fifth century2     
debates as to the 'two natures' in      
,christ1 and the 'two wills1' and other 
abstruse points involved in the  dogma1 
continued for centuries still4 ,at an   
earlier period discussion  was carried  
on as to whether the ,son were of the   
'same substance'  7homo-ousion7 or      
'similar substance' 7homoi-ousion7 with 
the ,father4  ,the latter view was held 
by ,arius and his party at the ,council 

of  ,nicaea1 ,a4,d4 #cbe4 ,athanasius   
held the former view1 which in time1 but
  only after many years of controversial
 strife and actual warfare1 became      
established as orthodox4 ,the ,arians   
regarded the ,son1 as a subordinate     
being1 though still divine4 ,another    
variety of opinion was put forth by     
,sabellius 7c4 #bej ,a4,d471 who took   
the different ,persons to be so many    
diverse modes or manifestations of the  
,one ,god4 ,this ,sabellian idea1       
though officially condemned1 has been   
often held in later times4              
,socinianism1 so far as regards the     
personality and rank of ,christ1        
differed from ,arianism1 which          
maintained his pre-existence1 though not
  eternal2 the ,socinian doctrine being 
that the man ,jesus was raised by       
,god's approving benignity to 'divine'  
rank1 and that he thus became a  fit    
object of ,christian 'worship4' ,the    
,humanitarian view1 finally1  presented 
,jesus as a 'mere man1' i4e4 a being not

 essentially different  in his nature   
from the rest of humankind4 ,modern     
,unitarianism1 however1  usually avoids 
this kind of phrase2 'all minds1' said  
,channing1 'are of  one family4'        
,,the ,,earlier ,,movement ,,in         
,,england      ,i4 ,,the ,,unitarian    
,,martyrs    ,the rise of any           
considerable body of opinion opposed to 
the cardinal  dogma of orthodoxy was    
preceded in ,england by a very strongly 
marked  effort to secure liberty of     
thought1 and a corresponding plea for a 
broadly comprehensive religious         
fellowship4 ,the culmination of this    
effort1 is reached1 for the period      
first1 to be reviewed1 in the  writings 
of ,john ,locke 7#afcb-agjd74 ,this     
celebrated man1 by his  powerful        
arguments for religious toleration and  
his defence of the  'reasonableness' of 
the ,christian religion1 exerted an     
influence of the  most important kind4  
,but we must reach him by the path of   
his  predecessors in the same line4 ,the

 principles of liberty of thought and   
the broadest religious fellowship are   
warmly espoused by ,unitarians1 and     
they look upon all who have advanced    
these principles as in spirit  related  
to them1 however different their        
respective theological  conclusions may 
have been4    ,at the time of the       
,reformation a great deal of speculation
 broke forth  on points hitherto closed 
by the ,church's authority1 including   
the  fundamental doctrine of the        
,trinity4 ,but1 while this new ferment  
led to  departures from the received    
opinions in many countries1 especially  
in  ,poland and the ,netherlands1 the   
,protestant leaders maintained that upon
  the great articles of the creeds they 
were still one with ,rome1 and in  fact 
they soon displayed an eagerness to     
stifle heresy4 ,men often fail  to see  
the logic of their own position1 and    
many who claimed the right  to differ   
from ,rome on points which ,rome        
considered vital were unable to  grant  

that others had an equal right to differ
 from ,luther1 ,calvin1 or  an ,english 
,state ,church4 ,the outrageous cruelty 
of ,calvin towards the                  
,anti-trinitarian ,servetus1 whom he    
caused to be burned at ,geneva in       
#aeec1 affords a glaring instance of    
this inconsistency4 ,but a sad proof  is
 given that1 about that time1 even      
,anti-trinitarians themselves were  not 
always tolerant4    ,among the countries
 where the orthodox dogma was most      
freely questioned  was ,transylvania1   
adjacent to ,hungary proper4    ,here   
the sovereign1 ,john ,sigismund1 took   
sides with the  ,anti-trinitarians1 and 
issued in #aefh an edict permitting four
  recognized types of doctrine and      
worship--,romanist1 ,lutheran1          
,calvinist1  and ,unitarian4 ,the       
,transylvanians were at this time       
largely under the  influence of their   
,polish brethren in the faith1 who still
 practised the  invocation of ,christ4  
,francis ,david1 a powerful religious   

leader in  ,hungary1 having arrived at a
 ',humanitarian' view of ,christ two    
centuries  before it was held by        
,english ,unitarians1 opposed           
,christ-worship4 ,in  #aegi1 when a     
,catholic had succeeded to the throne1  
,david was denounced  for an intolerable
 heretic by the ,polish party1 and1     
being imprisoned1  died the same year4  
,this blot on the record has long been  
deplored1 and  ,david is held in honour 
as a martyr by the ,transylvanian       
,unitarian  ,church1 which still        
flourishes1 and forms a third member in 
alliance  with the ,unitarians of ,great
 ,britain and ,america4 ,as1 however1   
these  ,transylvanian 7popularly called 
',hungarian'7 ,unitarians had until the 
nineteenth century little or no         
connection with the ,english and        
,americans1 and have not materially     
affected the development of the         
movement1 we omit the details of their  
special history4    ,in ,england a      
number of ,anti-trinitarians suffered   

burning in the  sixteenth century1 being
 usually1 but loosely1 described as     
',arians4'  ,the last two in ,england   
who died by fire as heretics were men of
 this  class4 ,in ,march1 #afab1        
,bartholomew ,legate was burned at      
,smithfield1 and  a month later ,edward 
,wightman had the same fate at          
,lichfield4 ,so late as  #afig a youth  
named ,pakenham was hanged at ,edinburgh
 on the charge of  heretical blasphemy4 
,although these were the only executions
 of the kind  here in the seventeenth   
century1 the evidence is but too clear  
that the  authorities conceived it to be
 their duty to put down this form of    
opinion with the severest rigour4 ,in a 
letter sent by ,archbishop ,neile1  of  
,york1 to ,bishop ,laud1 in #afci1      
reference is made to ,wightman's case1  
and it is stated that another man1 one  
,trendall1 deserves the same  sentence4 
,a few years later1 ,paul ,best1 a      
scholarly gentleman who had  travelled  
in ,poland and ,transylvania and there  

adopted ,anti-trinitarian  views1 was   
sentenced by vote of the ,house of      
,commons to be hanged for  denying the  
,trinity4 ,the ,ordinance drawn up in   
#afdh by the ,puritan  authorities was  
incredibly vindictive against what they 
judged to be  heretical4 ,happily1      
,oliver ,cromwell and his ,independents 
were conscious  of considerable variety 
of opinion in their own ranks1 and      
apparently  the ,protector secured      
,best's liberation4 ,it was certainly he
 who saved  another and more memorable  
,unitarian from the extreme penalty4    
,this man was ,john ,bidle1 a clergyman 
and schoolmaster of ,gloucester4  ,his  
,biblical studies led him to a denial of
 the ,trinity1 which he lost  no        
occasion of making public4 ,during      
twenty years1 broken by five or six     
imprisonments1 he persisted in the      
effort to diffuse ,unitarian  teachings1
 and even to organize services for      
,unitarian worship4 ,his  writings and  
personal influence were so widely       

recognized that it became  a fashion    
later to speak of ,unitarians as        
',bidellians4' ,cromwell was  evidently 
troubled about him1 feeling repugnance  
to his doctrine yet  averse to ill-treat
 a man of unblemished character4 ,in    
#afee1 ten years  after ,bidle's first  
imprisonment1 the ,protector sent him to
 the ,scilly  ,islands1 obviously to    
spare him a worse fate1 and allowed him 
a yearly  sum for maintenance4 ,a few   
months before ,cromwell's death1 he was 
brought back to ,london1 and on being   
set at liberty at once renewed his      
efforts4 ,finally1 he was caught        
'conventicling' in #affb and sent to    
gaol1 and in ,september of that year he 
died4      ,,ii4 ,,influences ,,making  
,,for ',,latitude'    ,the foregoing    
sufficiently illustrates the position   
confronting those  who at that time     
openly avowed their departure from the  
,trinitarian  dogma4 ,those who dared   
and suffered were no doubt but a few of 
those who  really shared in the         

heretical view2 the testimony of        
orthodox writers  is all in support of  
this surmise4 ,equally clear is the fact
 that while  the religious authorities  
were thus rigorous a steadily deepening 
undercurrent of opinion made for        
',latitude4' ,how far this ,latitude    
might  properly go was a troublesome    
question1 but at any rate some were     
willing to advocate what many must have 
silently desired4    ,apart from the    
extremists in the great struggle between
 ,high ,church and  ,puritans there     
existed a group of moderate men1 often  
of shrewd  intellect1 ripe scholarship1 
and attractive temper1 who sought in a  
wider liberty of opinion an escape from 
the tyrannical alternatives  presented  
by the two opposing parties4 ,even in   
connection with these  very parties     
there were tendencies peculiar to       
themselves1 which could  not fail in the
 end to mitigate the force of their own 
contentions4 ,the  ,high ,church was    
mostly ',arminian1' i4e4 on the side of 

the more  'reasonable' theology of that 
age4 ,the ,puritans were wholly         
committed to  the principle of          
democratic liberty1 as then understood1 
and in  religious matters set the ,bible
 in the highest place of authority4 ,it 
could not be but that these several     
factors should ultimately tell upon  the
 solution of the problem of religious   
liberty4 ,but the immediate  steps      
toward that solution had to be taken by 
the advocates of ,latitude4  ,among them
 were ,lord ,falkland1 ,john ,hales1 and
 ,william ,chillingworth1  the last of  
whom is famous for his unflinching      
protest that 'the ,bible1  the ,bible   
only1 is the religion of ,protestants1' 
a saying which was as  good as a charter
 to those who based their so-called     
heresies on the  explicit words of      
,scripture4 ,in the second half of that 
seventeenth  century the work of        
broadening the religious mind was       
carried forward by  others of equal or  
even greater ability2 it is sufficient  

here to name  ,jeremy ,taylor among     
,churchmen1 and ,richard ,baxter among  
,nonconformists4    ,there was1 of      
course1 a good deal of levity1 the      
temper of the ,gallio  who cares for    
none of these things4 ,but this was not 
the temper of the  men to whom we refer4
 ,their greatest difficulty1 indeed1    
arose from  their intense interest in   
religious truth4 ,they could not        
conceive a  ,state which should not     
control men's theology in some real way4
 ,even  ,locke did not advocate         
toleration for the atheist1 for such a  
man 7in  his opinion7 could not make the
 solemn asseverations on which alone    
civil life could go forward4 ,nor would 
he tolerate the ,roman ,catholic1  but  
in this case political considerations   
swayed the balance2 the  ,catholic      
introduced the fatal principle of       
allegiance to a 'foreign  prince4'      
,taking for granted1 then1 the necessity
 for some degree of  ,state supervision 
of religion1 how could this be rendered 

least inimical  to the general desire   
for liberty8    ,the reply to this      
question brought them very close to the 
position taken  up by ,faustus ,socinus 
long before1 viz4 that the 'essentials' 
of a  ,christian faith should be        
recognized as few and1 as far as        
possible1  simple4 ,of course1 it is    
from his name that the term ',socinian' 
is  derived1 a term that has often been 
applied1 but mistakenly1 to  ,unitarians
 generally4 ,the repeated and often     
bitter accusation brought  against the  
advocates of ,latitude that they were   
',socinians1' or at  least tainted with 
',socinianism1' renders appropriate some
 short account  of ,socinus himself4    
,this man was one of the                
sixteenth-century ,italian ,reformers   
who were  speedily crushed or dispersed 
by the vigilance of the ,inquisition4   
,those  who escaped wandered far1 and   
some were at different times members of 
the ,church for ',strangers1' or        
foreigners1 to which ,edward ,,vi       

assigned  the nave of the great         
,augustine ,church1 still standing at   
,austin ,friars  in the heart of the    
,city of ,london4 ,it is ,interesting to
 observe here  that a ,dutch liberal    
congregation lineally inherits the place
 to-day4  ,careful investigation has    
shown that among the refugees here in   
the  sixteenth century were some whose  
opinions were unsound on the ,trinity2  
possibly they affected ,english opinion 
in some small degree4 ,loelius  ,socinus
 7#aebe-fb71 uncle of ,faustus          
7#aeci-afjd71 was for a short time  in  
,london1 but interesting thinker as he  
was1 his nephew who never set  foot in  
,england really exerted much more       
influence upon ,english thought4    ,it 
was1 however1 in ,poland especially that
 the influence of ,faustus  ,socinus    
first became prominent4 ,that country1  
then flourishing under its  own princes1
 early became 7as we have seen7 the home
 of an  ,anti-trinitarian form of       
,protestantism4 ,socinus joined this    

group1 and  during the latter half of   
the sixteenth century effected much     
improvement among them1 organizing their
 congregations1 establishing  schools1  
promoting a ,unitarian literature4 ,the 
educational work thus  begun achieved   
great success2 but in his own lifetime  
,socinus met with  fierce opposition and
 even personal violence4 ,he died in    
#afjd2 the  ,polish ,unitarian ,church  
fell under the persecution of both      
,catholics and  orthodox ,protestants1  
and was finally crushed out in #affj4   
,important for our present study is the 
fact that the literary output of  these 
,polish ,socinians was both large and of
 high quality4 ,their  ',racovian       
,catechism' was translated into         
different languages1 and early  found   
its way into ,england4 ,james ,i        
promptly had it burned1 despite the     
fact that the ,latin version was        
dedicated to himself6 ,other books and  
pamphlets followed1 and even if we abate
 something as due to the  exaggerating  

fears and suspicions of the authorities1
 there would seem  to have been no time 
as the seventeenth century went on when 
,socinian  literature was not widely    
circulated here1 albeit at first in     
secret4    ,into the details of this    
literature there is no need to go2 it is
  sufficient to observe its outstanding 
features4 ,they correspond in the  main 
to the temper of the master mind1       
,socinus1 a man who in the absence  of  
imaginative genius displayed remarkable 
talent as a reasoner1 and a  liberal    
disposition considerably in advance of  
his times4 ,the later  ,socinian        
writings1 preserved in eight large      
volumes issued by the  ',polish         
,brethren' 7,amsterdam1 #afff71 exhibit 
in addition the results of  much        
diligent research and scholarship1 in   
which the wide variety of  opinion      
actually held by the ,fathers and later 
,church authorities is  proved1 and the 
moral is drawn4 ,in the presence of so  
much fluctuating  teaching upon the     

abstruser points of the creeds was it   
not desirable to  abandon the pretence  
of a rounded system complete in every   
detail8 ,would  it not he better to     
simplify the faith--in other and        
familiar words1 to  reduce the number of
 'essentials'8 ,in order to discover    
these  essentials1 surely the inquirer  
must turn to the ,bible1 the record of  
that miraculous revelation which was    
given to deliver man's unassisted       
reason from the perils of ignorance and 
doubt4 ,at the same time1 man's  reason 
itself was a divine gift1 and the ,bible
 should be carefully and  rationally    
studied in order to gather its real     
message4 ,as the fruit of  such study   
the ,socinians not only propounded an   
,anti-trinitarian  doctrine derived from
 ,scripture1 but in particular          
emphasized the  arguments against the   
substitutionary atonement as presented  
in the  popular ,augustinian scheme and 
philosophically expounded in ,anselm's  
,cur ,deus ,homo4 ,socinus himself must 

be credited with whatever force  belongs
 to these criticisms on the usual       
doctrine of the death of  ,christ1 and  
it may be fairly said that most of the  
objections advanced  in modern works on 
that subject are practically identical  
with those of  three centuries ago4     
,now there is good reason for believing 
that towards the end of the  seventeenth
 century this ,socinian literature      
really attracted much  attention in     
,england1 and probably with considerable
 effect4 ,but as a  matter of fact no   
,english translation of any part of it  
was made before  ,john ,bidle's         
propagandist activity in the middle of  
the century1 and we  have the explicit  
testimony of ,bidle himself and most of 
the earlier  ,unitarians that they were 
not led into their heresy by foreign    
books4 ,it  was the ,bible alone that   
made them unorthodox4    ,a famous      
illustration of this is the case of     
,john ,milton 7#afjh-gd74 ,in  #ahbc a  
long-forgotten ,,ms4 of his was found in

 a ,state office at  ,westminster1 and  
two years later it was published under  
the editorship  of ,dr4 ,sumner1        
afterwards ,bishop of ,winchester4 ,the 
work is entitled ,a  ,treatise of       
,christian ,doctrine4 ,it was a late    
study by the poet1  laboriously         
comparing texts and pondering them with 
a mind prepared to  receive the verdict 
of ,scripture as final1 whether in      
agreement with  orthodoxy or not4       
,the most ardent of ,milton's admirers1 
and even the most eager ,unitarian1     
must find the book a trial2 but the     
latter can at least claim the author  of
 ,paradise ,lost as an                  
,anti-trinitarian1 and the former may   
solace  himself by noticing that here1  
as in all the rest1 ,milton's soul      
'dwelt  apart4' ,he emphatically denies 
that it was the works of 'heretics1 so  
called1' that directed and influenced   
his mind on the subject4 ,we may  notice
 here the interesting fact that another 
great mind of that age1  ,sir ,isaac    

,newton1 has left evidence of his own   
defection from the  orthodox view2 and  
his correspondent ,john ,locke1 whose   
views appear to  have been even more    
decided1 is only less conspicuous on    
this point  because his general services
 to breadth and liberality of religious 
fellowship are more brilliantly         
striking4    ,locke's ,plea for         
,toleration is widely recognized as the 
deciding  influence1 on the literary    
side1 which secured the passage of the  
,toleration ,act in #afhi4 ,deferring   
for the moment further allusion to the  
position created by this ,act1 we must  
at once observe the scope of one  of    
,locke's works which is not so popularly
 known4 ,this is his  ,reasonableness of
 ,christianity1 which with his          
rejoinders to critics  makes a          
considerable bulk in his writings4 ,in  
pursuance of the aim to  'reduce the    
number of essentials' and to discover   
that in the ,christian  religion which  
is available for simple people--the     

majority of  mankind--,locke examines   
the historical portion of the ,new      
,testament1 and  presents the result4   
,practically1 this amounts to the       
verdict that it is  sufficient for the  
,christian to accept the ,messiahship of
 ,christ and to  submit to his rule of  
conduct4 ,the orthodox critics          
complained that he  had omitted the     
epistles in his summary of doctrine2 his
 retort is  obvious3 if the gospels lead
 to the conclusion just stated1 the     
epistles  cannot be allowed1 however    
weighty1 to establish a contrary one4   
,of  course1 ,locke was called a        
',socinian'2 but the effect of his work 
remained1 and we should remark that if  
it looked on the one hand toward  the   
orthodox1 on the other it looked toward 
the sceptics and  freethinkers who began
 at that time a long and not ineffectual
 criticism  of the miraculous claims of 
,christianity4 ,locke endeavoured to    
convince  such minds that ,christianity 
was in reality not an irrational code of

  doctrines1 but a truly practical      
scheme of life4 ,in this endeavour he   
was preceded by ,richard ,baxter1 who   
had written on the ',unreasonableness   
of ,infidelity1' and was followed during
 the eighteenth century by many  who in 
the old ,dissenting chapels were leading
 the way towards an overt               
,unitarianism4      ,,iii4 ,,the ,,old  
,,nonconformists    ,the reader must be 
reminded here of a few salient facts in 
the religious  history of the           
seventeenth century4 ,all these         
undercurrents of heterodox  thought1    
with but few and soon repressed public  
manifestations of its  presence1 were   
obscured by the massive movement in     
,church and ,state4  ,during the        
,commonwealth the episcopal system was  
abolished1 and a  presbyterian system   
substituted1 though with difficulty and 
at best  imperfectly4 ,after the        
,restoration of ,charles ,,ii the ,act  
of ,uniformity  re-established          
episcopacy in a form made of set purpose

 as unacceptable  to the ,puritans as   
possible4 ,thereupon arose the rivalry  
of ,conformist  and ,nonconformist which
 has ever since existed in ,england4    
,severely  repressive measures were     
tried1 but failed to extinguish         
,nonconformity2  it stood irreconcilable
 outside the establishment4 ,there were 
distinct  varieties in its ranks4 ,the  
,presbyterians1 once largely dominant1  
were  gradually overtaken numerically by
 the ,independents4 ,perhaps it is      
better to say that1 in the circumstances
 of exclusion in which both were        
situated1 and the impossibility of      
maintaining a ,presbyterian order and   
organization1 the dividing line between 
these two bodies of  ,nonconformists    
naturally faded out4 ,there was little1 
if anything1 to  keep them apart on the 
score of doctrine2 and in time the      
,presbyterians  certainly exhibited     
something of the tendency to variety of 
opinion  which had always marked the    
,independents4 ,besides these bodies1   

the  ,baptists and ,quakers stand out   
amid the sects comprised in             
,nonconformity4 ,in both of these there 
were distinct signs of                  
,anti-trinitarianism from time to time2 
as to the former1 indeed1 along  with   
the earlier ,baptist movements in       
,england and on the ,continent          
7especially in the ,netherlands7 there  
had always gone a streak of heresy      
alarming to the authorities4 ,among the 
,quakers1 ,william ,penn is  specially  
notable in connection with our subject4 
,in #affh he was  imprisoned for        
publishing ,the ,sandy ,foundation      
,shaken1 in which  ,sabellian views were
 advocated4 ,it need hardly be pointed  
out that among  the still more eccentric
 movements1 if the term be allowed1     
heterodoxy  as to the ,trinity was easy 
to trace4    ,when the ,toleration ,act 
was passed the old ,nonconformity became
  ',dissent1' that being the term used  
in the statute itself4 ,dissenters  were
 now granted freedom of worship and     

preaching1 but only on condition  that  
their ministers subscribed to the       
doctrinal articles of the ,church  of   
,england1 including1 of course1 belief  
in the ,trinity4 ,unitarians1           
therefore1 were excluded from the       
benefit of the ,act1 and the general    
views of ,dissenters upon the subject   
are clear from the fact that they  took 
special care to have ,unitarians ruled  
out from the liberty now  being achieved
 by themselves4 ,locke and other liberal
 men evidently  regretted this          
limitation1 but the time was not ripe1  
and in fact the  penal law against      
,unitarians was not repealed till #ahac4
 ,unluckily1 too1  for the ,unitarians1 
a sharp controversy1 due to their own   
zeal1 had  broken out at the very time  
that the ,toleration ,act was shaping1  
and as  this had other important results
 we must give some attention to it4     
,,iv4 ,,the ',,unitarian ,,tracts'      
,there are six volumes1 containing under
 this title a large number of  pamphlets

 and treatises1 for and against the new 
views1 published about  this period4 ,it
 is the first considerable body of      
,unitarian literature4  ,its promoter   
was ,thomas ,firmin1 a disciple of ,john
 ,bidle1 on whose  behalf he interceded 
with ,oliver ,cromwell1 though himself  
but a youth at  the time4 ,firmin1 a    
prosperous citizen of ,london1 counted  
among his  friends men of the highest   
offices in the ,church1 some of whom are
 said  to have been affected with his   
type of thought4 ,apart from his        
,unitarianism he is remarkable as an    
enlightened philanthropist of great     
breadth of sympathy4 ,men of very       
different theological bent who were     
fain to seek refuge in ,london from     
persecutions abroad were aided by  funds
 raised by him4 ,we should notice also  
that1 ardent as he was in  diffusing    
,unitarian teachings1 he had no wish at 
first to set up  separate ,unitarian    
chapels2 his desire was that the        
national ,church  should include        

thinkers like himself4 ,we are thus     
pointed into a path  which for a time at
 least promised more for ,unitarian     
developments than  anything very evident
 in the ,dissenting community4    ,the  
situation is aptly illustrated by a     
little book of #ahd pages which  is     
included in the first volume of the     
,tracts4 ,this work is specially        
noteworthy as one of the first ,english 
books to use the name  ',unitarian1'    
though the use is here so free and      
without apology or  explanation that we 
must suppose it had already attained a  
certain vogue  before #afhg1 the date of
 the book4 ,the title is ,a ,brief      
,history of the  ,unitarians1 called    
also ,socinians4 ,neither author nor    
publisher is  named1 but the former is  
known to have been the ,rev4 ,stephen   
,nye1 a  clergyman1 whose grandfather1  
,philip ,nye1 was noted in his day as   
one of  the few ,independents in the    
,westminster ,assembly4 ,stephen ,nye's 
book  takes the form of four ,letters1  

ostensibly written to an unnamed        
correspondent who has asked for an      
account of the ,unitarians1 'vulgarly   
called ,socinians4' ,the opening letter 
states their doctrine1 after the  model 
of ,socinus--,god is ,one ,person1 not  
,three2 the ,lord ,christ is the        
',messenger1 ,servant1 and ,creature of 
,god1' also the ',son of ,god1 because  
he was begotten on the blessed ,mary by 
the ,spirit or ,power of ,god'2 'the    
,holy ,ghost or ,spirit1 according to   
them1 is the ,power and ,inspiration of 
,god4' 7,we may notice here that ,bidle1
 otherwise agreeing with ,socinus1      
regarded the ,holy ,spirit as a living  
being1 chief among angels47 ,nye1       
writing as if an impartial observer1    
presents the ,scripture argument in     
support of the doctrine of the          
,unitarians1 'which1' says he1 ',i have 
so  related as not to judge or rail of  
their persons1 because however  learned 
and reasonable men 7which is their      
character among their worst             

adversaries7 may be argued out of their 
errors1 yet few will be  swaggered or   
chode out of them4' ,he traces the      
doctrine to the earliest  ,christian    
times1 and shows the stages of          
,trinitarian growth4  ,incidentally he  
says that ,arian doctrines are openly   
professed in  ,transylvania and in some 
churches of the ,netherlands1 and adds  
that  ',nazarene and ,arian ,churches   
are very numerous' in ,turkish1         
,mahometan1  and pagan dominions where  
liberty of conscience is allowed4 ,he   
mentions  celebrated scholars who have  
'certainly been either ,arians or       
,socinians1  or great favourers of      
them1' such as ,erasmus1 ,grotius1      
,petavius1  ,episcopius1 and            
,sandius--the last-named a learned      
historian who had made  a special point 
of collecting admissions by orthodox    
writers of the  invalidity of all the   
texts in turn usually quoted in support 
of the  ,trinity4 ,in the subsequent    
chapters ,nye deals seriatim with such  

texts1 and the book ends with a         
commendation from ',a ,gentleman1 a     
,person  of ,excellent ,learning and    
,worth1' to whom the publisher had sent 
it for  remark4    ,upon such levels the
 discussion proceeded1 the skill and    
adroitness of  the heretics contrasting 
with the obvious perplexity of the      
orthodox1  who soon fell to accusing one
 another of stumbling into erroneous    
statements4 ,dons1 deans1 and even      
bishops joined in the fray1 and some  of
 them1 notably ,dr4 ,sherlock1 ,master  
of the ,temple1 got into sad  trouble   
with their brethren4 ,finally1 the      
clergy were forbidden to  prolong the   
discussion1 which indeed promised little
 satisfaction to any  but the heretics  
who enjoyed the difficulties of the     
orthodox champions4  ,the traditional   
formularies were there1 and these must  
suffice4 ,in the  presence of the       
restrictions imposed by the ,toleration 
,act speculation  outside the ,church   
turned towards ',deism'--perhaps the    

best modern  equivalent would be        
',natural ,religion4' ,speculation      
inside the ,church  had to accommodate  
itself to the creeds and articles1 and  
thus there  grew up an ,arianism among  
the clergy which was really largely     
diffused  and produced some important   
books4 ,one of these was ,dr4 ,samuel   
,clarke's  ,scripture ,doctrine of the  
,trinity 7#agab71 a work which appears  
to have  helped many a clergyman to ease
 his conscience while reciting the      
authorized ,trinitarian expressions1    
though in substance his opinions  were  
no less heretical than those for which  
men had suffered under the  law4    ,a  
contemporary case of such suffering was 
that of ,thomas ,emlyn  7#affc-agaa71 an
 ,irish clergyman who was sentenced at  
,dublin in #agjc to  imprisonment which 
lasted for two years4 ,this gross       
treatment1 excited  keen criticism at   
home and in the ,american colonies1     
whither our  attention must soon turn4  
,emlyn was the first minister to call   

himself a  ',unitarian1' but under the  
pressure of the times1 and in accordance
 with  the spirit of ,clarke and the    
other ,arianizing clergy1 he found it   
expedient to declare himself a 'true    
,scriptural ,trinitarian4'      ,v4     
,,the ,,old ,,dissent    ,it is         
estimated that about a thousand ,meeting
 ,houses were erected by  ,dissenters in
 the twenty years following the passing 
of the ,toleration  ,act4 ,after the    
death of ,queen ,anne others were built1
 but in no great  numbers4 ,the         
prevailing impression of the state of   
religion in ,england  during the first  
half of the eighteenth century is a     
gloomy one4  ,formalism and apparently  
an insincere repetition of the doctrinal
  phrases imposed by the law was but too
 evident in the ,state ,church4         
,dissent had its bright features1 but   
these grew dim as years went on4 ,it    
must be admitted that the odds were     
heavy against that party4 ,without      
conforming no one could be appointed to 

public office1 and the  'occasional     
conformity' of sharing the communion    
service at an  established church now   
and again in order to qualify was at    
length  forbidden by the ,act of #agaa4 
,the sons of the ,dissenting gentry and 
manufacturers were excluded from the    
universities1 and though a shift  was   
made by ',academies' here and there1 the
 excellence of the education  they might
 impart could not compensate for the    
deprivation of the social  advantages of
 ,oxford and ,cambridge4 ,by an ,act of 
#agad schools for more  than a          
rudimentary education were forbidden to 
be taught by ,dissenters4  ,thus1 we are
 not surprised to hear1 considerable    
defection went on1 and  early in the    
century congregations began to dwindle4 
,as it proceeded  some became very small
 indeed1 and many died out altogether4  
,the trusts upon which the ,meeting     
,houses were founded were frequently    
free from any close definitions of the  
doctrines supposed to be held by  the   

congregation4 ,much discussion arose in 
later years as to the purport  of this  
freedom2 perhaps there was some         
expectation of changing opinion  in the 
future1 but more probably the doctrinal 
status was taken for  granted4 ,it must 
be remembered that no ,dissenting       
preacher could legally  officiate       
without previously 'subscribing' to the 
doctrinal articles of  the ,church of   
,england or their equivalents in the    
,westminster ,assembly's  catechisms4   
,thus1 while the ,dissenter might alter 
the terms of his  liturgy to a degree   
not allowed to the ,churchman 7though   
the latter  would in those lax days go  
pretty far sometimes71 he was still     
supposed  to be 'sound' on the          
fundamental creeds4 ,it would appear to 
be a  fortunate accident for ,unitarian 
development in some of these old        
,dissenting congregations that1 either  
the prevalent understanding or a  hope  
for speedy inclusion in the national    
,church1 or a prevision on the  part of 

liberal-minded men here and there1 left 
so largely undefined the  basis of      
religious union among them1 as          
congregations4    ,however that may be1 
it is certain that a degree of          
reluctance to  'subscribe' began to show
 itself1 and this1 we surmise1 was often
 due to  other reasons than liberality  
pure and simple4 ,that there were       
broad-minded men who1 while             
conscientiously orthodox themselves1    
refused  to exclude unorthodox ministers
 from their fellowship is shown by a    
notable instance among the ,baptists4   
,before #agjj1 ,matthew ,caffyn1 one of 
their body1 being charged with          
,anti-trinitarian opinions1 was still   
retained in membership by vote of the   
,general ,baptist ,assembly1 this  being
 the first instance of any              
organization's formal acceptance of     
latitude respecting the ,trinity4 ,in   
,ireland1 deterred no doubt by the      
harsh punishment of ,emlyn1 there was   
natural hesitation in avowing such      

latitude2 but in #agba a division began 
in ,ulster between those who  insisted  
on 'subscribing' the creed anew and     
those who opposed2 and a  few years     
later the 'non-subscribers1' being      
excluded from the ,synod1  formed a new 
,presbytery which in course of time     
became distinctly  ,unitarian4 ,the     
historic event for ,english             
'non-subscription' was a  declaration   
made at a meeting of ,dissenting        
ministers1 ,independents1  ,baptists1   
and ,presbyterians1 held in #agai at    
,salter's ,hall1 ,london4  ,certain     
,exeter ministers had become unsound in 
doctrine1 and refused to  renew their   
subscription to the creeds and articles1
 claiming to believe  'the              
,scripture'--a well-understood          
expression in those days4 ,the  question
 of their exclusion was referred to     
,london1 and there again the  point of  
renewed 'subscription' was raised before
 the vote on the ,exeter  case was      
taken4 ,by seventy-three to sixty-nine  

it was decided that the  declaration of 
faith should be confined to 'the words  
of ,scripture'--as  ,sir ,joseph ,jekyll
 put it1 'the ,bible carried it by      
four4' ,this was  widely recognized as  
setting open the door for liberty in    
matters of  religion1 and the           
interesting fact should be recorded that
 ,independents  and ,presbyterians were 
found on both sides4    ,here1 then1 we 
may for the present leave the ,english  
development2 it was  slow1 tentative1   
for the most part obscure4 ,in one      
direction and another  the movement of  
thought might be perceived1 in the      
,church1 among the  ',congregationals1' 
or ,baptists1 or ,presbyterians1 as the 
case might be4  ,it was only long after 
that much preponderance of heretical    
opinion was  distinctive of             
,presbyterian congregations4 ,in the    
,academies men like  ,philip ,doddridge 
7#agjb-ea71 the hymn writer1 were       
affording room at  least for ample      
discussion among the students1 and      

moderate as his own  opinions were he is
 credited with having made so-called    
'orthodoxy' a  byword4 ,the             
,independents1 ,caleb ,fleming and      
,nathaniel ,lardner  7#afhd-agfh71 led  
the way to ',humanitarian' views1 the   
latter being a  learned writer of much  
influence4 ,it is said that another     
great hymn  writer1 ,isaac ,watts1      
finally shared the ,humanitarian view4  
,on the whole1  with some notable       
exceptions1 the ,dissenting preachers   
seem to have been  decorously dull1 and 
uninspiringly ethical4 ,without the zeal
 of the  'enthusiast1' whom they        
severely scanned from afar1 and seeking 
in all  things to prove that            
,christianity was so 'reasonable' as to 
be identical  with 'rational            
philosophy1' it is little wonder that   
when the popular  mind began to be      
stirred by a religious ',revival' they  
were not its  apostles1 but mostly its  
critics4 ,this is precisely the point   
where we  may fitly turn to consider the

 growth of ,unitarianism in ,new        
,england4            ,,new ,,england    
,i4 ,,before ,,the ',,great ,,awakening'
    ,as in the ,old ,country1 so in the 
colonies of ,north ,america1 a great    
evangelical revival took place towards  
the middle of the eighteenth  century4  
,john ,wesley the ,arminian1 and ,george
 ,whitefield the ,calvinist1  were the  
great apostles of this movement1 and the
 latter especially was  very influential
 in ,america4 ,the ,english revivalists 
were not alone1  however2 among the most
 powerful leaders in the colonies was   
,jonathan  ,edwards1 whose name ranks   
very high in the records of religious   
philosophy in the ,states4 ,despite     
preliminary obstacles this preacher of  
the most stern and unflinching          
determinism produced a quite            
extraordinary effect at last4 ,as       
usually happens1 his dogmas were more   
easily repeated by others than his      
reasoning2 violent excitement ran       
through the colonies1 and it was this   

that gave a decisive turn to the        
liberalism which ultimately developed   
into a very memorable phase of          
,unitarianism4 ,the preceding steps may 
be briefly indicated4    ,a familiar    
epigram preserves the acid truth that   
the ,puritan emigrants  who left        
,england in the seventeenth century went
 to ,north ,america in  order to worship
 ,god in their own way1 and to compel   
everyone else to do  the same4          
,religious liberty was certainly not    
understood by them as it  is understood 
to-day4 ,the sufferings of the ,baptists
 and ,quakers1 for  example1 make a sad 
chapter of ,new ,england history4 ,about
 the middle of  the century1 ,roger     
,williams 7#aeii-afhc71 having          
ventilated opinions  contrary to the    
general ,calvinism1 was driven out of   
,salem1 where he had  ministered to a   
grateful church4 ,his pleas for a real  
religious freedom  were in vain1 and he 
was forced to wander from the colonial  
settlements  and find a precarious home 

among the ,indians4 ,after much         
privation1 he  succeeded in establishing
 a new colony at ,rhode ,island1 where a
 more  liberal atmosphere prevailed4    
,it does not appear that ,williams had  
much influence in the general world  of 
religious thought1 but two things at    
least were favourable to the            
modification of orthodoxy4 ,on the one  
hand there was inevitably a looser      
system of supervision in a new country1 
and the pressure of penal law  could not
 be exerted so effectually as in        
,england4 ,on the other hand the        
organization of worship and teaching1   
though intended to be strict and        
complete1 an intention fairly successful
 in practice1 was actually  founded upon
 broad principles4 ,each township       
maintained its 'parish  church1' but    
this1 originally of a ,low ,church or   
',presbyterian' type1  was usually      
accommodated as years went on to a      
,congregational model4  ,these churches 
were looked upon as centres of religious

 culture for the  respective communities
 by whose regular contributions they    
were  supported and endowed4 ,the       
'covenants' by which the members bound  
themselves were often expressed in terms
 quite simple1 and even  touching2 the  
colonists were in the main faithful to  
the parting  injunction of the famous   
,pastor ,john ,robinson1 who sped the   
',pilgrim  ,fathers' on their way with  
the assurance that the ,lord had 'more  
light  and truth to break forth from    
,his ,holy ,word4' ,occasionally1 it is 
expressly declared by the covenanting   
members that theirs is an attitude  of  
devout expectation of religious growth4 
,as would naturally be expected1 the    
conditions of the earlier  generations  
in the colonies were not in favour of a 
deeply studious  ministry2 the leaders  
were more frequently men of shrewd and  
practical  piety than profound scholars4
 ,as things became more settled1 and    
especially after the ,toleration ,act   
had secured a more assured state of     

feeling at home1 the minds of men were  
set at liberty in a greater  degree4    
,locke's works were carried across the  
sea1 and ,dr4 ,clarke's  ,arianizing    
writings soon followed4 ,apparently1 the
 first stir of any  importance was      
produced by the scandal of the          
punishment of ,thomas  ,emlyn1 the      
,irish clergyman who has been previously
 referred to4 ,emlyn's  writings        
received a great advertisement1 and     
although he managed1 like  ,clarke1 to  
avoid further legal difficulties by     
publishing a statement of  his adherence
 to a ',scriptural ,trinity1' his       
defection from the orthodox  dogma was  
clear enough and his arguments against  
that dogma remained4  ,another case     
which was notorious in those days was   
that of ,william  ,whiston 7#affg-ageb71
 the well-known translator of the works 
of  ,josephus1 who was dismissed from   
his professorship at ,cambridge in #agaj
  for ,arianism4 ,a prolific writer and 
a shrewd debater1 ,whiston played no    

small part in the general leavening of  
opinion4    ,but probably the most      
direct of the literary influences in    
this  direction came from the pen of    
,dr4 ,john ,taylor 7#afid-agfa71 one of 
the  most able and learned of the       
,presbyterian divines4 ,his treatises on
  ,original ,sin 7#agdj7 and the        
,atonement 7#agea7 dealt with subjects  
of  the profoundest importance in       
relation to the usual ,trinitarian      
scheme  of doctrine4 ,preferring1 for   
his own part1 to be known by no         
sectarian  name but to be reckoned among
 ',christians only1' ,taylor was        
recognized  far and wide as a writer    
extremely 'dangerous' to the ordinary   
type of  belief4 ,when the ,american    
revivalists were at their height1 there 
were  many quiet and staid ,new ,england
 ministers who found in ,taylor a       
welcome  ally against the extravagances 
which they witnessed and deplored4 ,the 
more logical the ,calvinist was1 the    
more vivid in depicting the horrors  of 

predestined damnation1 the more vigorous
 these men became in  denouncing such a 
doctrine4 ,perhaps the growing sense of 
individual  liberty and personal rights 
had much to do with the reaction4 ,a    
theory  based upon the postulate of an  
absolute and unconditioned sovereignty  
divine did not accord with the growing  
democratic temper4 ,preachers  began to 
insist1 and hearers to agree1 that1     
whatever 'salvation' is1 it  must be    
reasonable if reasonable creatures are  
to enjoy its benefits4  ,here also1 as  
among the ,english latitude-men1 the    
conviction grew that  the essentials of 
a ,christian belief must be few and     
simple and these  such as plain men     
could understand and discuss2 and here1 
as among the  sober ,dissenters at home1
 men looked askance on unintelligent    
outbursts  of emotion4    ,the process  
of change was not very fast1 and a good 
many who were  sensible of change in    
their opinions were reluctant to accept 
new  doctrinal designations4 ,arians    

they might be1 but they preferred to be 
known as standing by a ',scriptural     
,christianity4' ,for1 whatever new      
books might be written1 the ,bible      
remained their chief study and their    
support in discussion4 ,keen1 rational  
rather than mystical1 yet deeply        
interested in moral progress and human  
elevation1 these ,american divines  were
 much of a mind with their ,english     
brethren whose path lay in the  same    
direction4 ,one of the most influential 
preachers was ,charles  ,chauncey       
7#agjf-hg72 who for sixty years was     
minister at the ',first  ,church1'      
,boston4 ,his theology was ,arian and   
',universalist' 7i4e4 holding  the      
doctrine of a final universal           
salvation72 his ,anti-,calvinism came   
out forcibly in his protests against the
 revivalist excesses4 ,it is  recorded  
of him that in his youth1 disgusted by  
noisy fanatics1 he  prayed ,god never to
 make him an orator4 ,his prayer was    
granted--and  still he was a power6     

,,ii4 ,,the ,,liberal ,,reaction        
,with the rise of the new liberalism in 
the ,american colonies no name is  more 
conspicuous than that of ,jonathan      
,mayhew 7#agba-ff71 whose  eloquence was
 of a more modern type than most of his 
day4 ,he is credited  with having deeply
 moved many who became leaders in turn1 
whether as  ministers or laymen4 ,after 
the interruption of normal development  
inevitable during the ,war of           
,independence1 things moved more        
rapidly4  ,the ,french ,revolution      
evoked the warmest sympathy in the      
,united ,states1  and its effect on     
religion there was largely to increase a
 sense of the  worth of man4            
',universalism1' the final restoration  
of all1 became a  conspicuous doctrine  
with some4 ,the need for practical      
measures to  uplift the general life    
here was a theme more to the mind of    
others4 ,the  distinctly ',unitarian'   
trend was from the first associated with
 this  eager attention to the higher    

culture4 ,harvard ,college1 in the very 
heart of ,new ,england1 rapidly         
developed into a fruitful source of the 
newer ideas1 which were embodied in the 
lives of 'statesmen1 merchants1         
physicians1 lawyers1 and teachers'2 and 
thus the community1 in all its  more    
vigorous members1 became charged with a 
fresh conception of life  and religion4 
,in the first decade of the nineteenth  
century we begin to trace  publications 
more or less distinctly ,unitarian4 ,one
 of these was the  ,monthly ,anthology1 
the pioneer among ,american literary    
magazines4 ,one  of its two editors was 
the ,rev4 ,william ,emerson1 father of  
,ralph ,waldo  ,emerson4 ,as the        
divergence of ideas grew more distinct  
debate began to  be fierce4 ,the new    
magazine took a bold line1 while many   
liberals were  still hesitating4 ,in    
#ahjh the trouble came to the surface4  
,harvard was  denounced by the orthodox 
party1 in consequence of the appointment
 of a  liberal minister1 ,henry ,ware1  

to a professorship involving pastoral   
care  of the students4 ,an orthodox     
rival school was set up at ,andover4 ,a 
few  years later a pamphlet appeared    
giving letters alleged to have been sent
  to ,england by ,boston ministers      
reporting that a certain number were    
,unitarians4 ,the name was unwelcome at 
the time1 especially because it  was    
associated with the 'humanitarianism'   
then becoming widely taught in          
,england4 ,the implicated ministers1    
being charged with cowardly evasion1    
replied with warmth2 they were1 in fact1
 mostly ,arians1 and thus their  views  
really were different from the ,english 
type4 ,moreover1 again in  contrast with
 the ,english1 they expressed strong    
dislike of controversy2  all they asked 
was to be left alone to proclaim the    
',simple  ,christianity' in which they  
believed4    ,the upshot showed1        
however1 that controversy was not to be 
avoided1 and  during twenty years from  
#ahae onwards it raged more or less     

severely4 ,an  epoch in this long and   
regrettable warfare was marked by a     
sermon  preached at ,baltimore in #ahai4
 ,the preacher was one of the most      
famous  men on the ,unitarian roll1     
,william ,ellery ,channing 7#aghj-ahdb74
  ,already eminent1 he continued to hold
 a position unique in the religious     
life of ,new ,england2 his saintly      
character and his noble if simple       
eloquence made him a leader in spite of 
himself4 ,for a long time he had        
maintained a mediating position--all    
through his life he resolutely          
disclaimed sectarianism2 but in #ahai1  
after years of discussion1 it was       
obvious that1 for good or evil1 the old 
dogma and the new spirit lay far  apart4
 ,from that date liberals and           
conservatives in the old                
,congregational system of ,new ,england 
were divided1 and ',unitarian           
,christianity1' which was the subject of
 ,channing's discourse1 was a           
recognized type in the land4 ,in #ahbe  

the ,american ,unitarian ,association   
was founded4 ,it was but a struggling   
society at first1 not for lack of       
sympathy with its principle1 but because
 many ,unitarians1 like ,channing1  so  
strongly disliked the notion of forming 
a new sect that they took  little       
interest in methods of propagandism     
common to most religious  bodies4       
,,english ,,unitarianism ,,recognized   
,,by ,,law      ,by a mere coincidence  
the ,british and ,foreign ,unitarian    
,association was  founded almost on the 
same day in #ahbe as the ,american      
,unitarian  ,association4 ,this step    
evidently implies a great change in     
,unitarian  affairs since the times of  
that early ,dissent towards which       
attention  has been previously directed4
 ,we must now endeavour to trace the    
change  in detail4    ,it will be       
remembered that tendencies to           
,anti-trinitarian thought--using  that  
term to cover all the varieties of      
heretical opinion on the  subject--were 

manifested both within the established  
,church and without4  ,as regards the   
latter phase1 the evidence is clear     
that1 whatever the  doctrinal           
'subscription' was worth which          
,dissenting preachers had to  make1     
there was a decided lapse from the      
orthodox standard on the part  of a     
considerable number4 ,this lapse1       
however1 was for the most part  left    
obscure while the pulpits resounded with
 'plain1 moral discourses4'  ,now and   
again1 one bolder than the rest ventured
 to discuss controverted  points of     
doctrine4 ,such a man was ,joseph       
,priestley 7#agcc-ahjd71 whose  career  
is interesting as an illustration of the
 growth of opinion1 and  especially     
important in regard to the              
denominational advance of               
,unitarianism4 ,he began life as a      
,calvinistic ,independent1 and became   
,arminian1 ,arian1 and ,humanitarian in 
turn4 ,his devotion to science is  well 
known1 and he ranks with ,lavoisier as  

an original discoverer of  oxygen4 ,he  
was an indefatigable student1 a         
voluminous writer1 a ready              
controversialist2 and though his        
speaking was marred by imperfect        
utterance he attained to considerable   
influence in public address4 ,no        
,unitarian leader hitherto has displayed
 more activity1 and few1 if any1  have  
possessed greater controversial ability 
than he4 ,his opinions1  indeed1 were in
 some respects peculiar to himself2 he  
called himself a  ,socinian1 but it was 
with a difference1 and no ,unitarian    
to-day would  endorse some of his main  
positions4 ,but his work for the cause  
was  invaluable1 and his personal       
character is held in the highest esteem4
  ,originally he would have preferred   
that the ,unitarians should remain as  a
 'liberal leaven' in the churches2      
eventually he became the chief          
organizer of ,unitarian worship and     
propaganda4    ,the first ',unitarian   
,church1' however1 was due to a         

clergyman1  ,theophilus ,lindsey        
7#agbc-ahjh74 ,after long and arduous   
efforts to  secure relaxation from the  
doctrinal subscription imposed on the   
clergy1  ,lindsey resigned his living at
 ,catterick1 in #aggc1 facing poverty   
and  hardship with a courage that       
elicited warm commendations1 though few 
were found to imitate the example4 ,in  
spite of the terrors of the law1  now   
becoming a dead letter1 he opened a     
,unitarian chapel in ,essex  ,street1   
,london1 in #aggd4 ,the service was on  
the episcopal model1 but  with a liturgy
 adapted to 'the worship of the ,father 
only4' ,this feature  has been claimed  
to be the distinctive characteristic of 
modern  ,unitarianism4 ,it will be      
remembered that ,socinus inculcated a   
sort of  subordinate worship of ,christ1
 and the ,arians of course held to the  
same  practice1 ,humanitarianism1 the   
view that ,jesus ,christ was truly a man
  and in no sense a deity1 obviously    
made it impossible to offer him the     

adoration due to ,god alone4 ,this view 
had been slowly spreading since  the    
days of ,lardner2 ,priestley1 ,lindsey1 
and the active men of the party         
generally shared it4 ,there were        
exceptions still1 however4 ,dr4 ,richard
  ,price 7#agbc-ia71 a ,london          
,presbyterian divine of great eminence1 
remembered as one of the founders of    
actuarial science1 held by his          
,arianism to the last2 this did not     
prevent him from lending a hand in  the 
organization of the ,unitarian forces1  
but there was for a time some           
difficulty on the subject4 ,the more    
ardent professors of the new  doctrine  
of 'the sole worship of the ,father'    
were for excluding the  ,arians from    
fellowship1 and one of the societies    
then formed actually  adhered to a      
rather offensive formula on the subject 
till about #ahcj4    ,a considerable    
number of liberal ,churchmen of the     
laity1 including some  of rank1         
supported ,lindsey's movement4 ,an      

indication of changing moods  is given  
in the fact that in #aggj an ,act was   
passed permitting the  ,dissenting      
ministers to preach provided that they  
made a declaration of  belief in the    
,scriptures as containing the revealed  
will of ,god4 ,this  was considered by  
many a welcome relief from the          
requirement of the  ,toleration ,act    
that the minister must subscribe to the 
doctrinal  articles of the established  
,church1 and it was certainly a much    
less  definite test4 ,priestley1 for his
 part1 however1 regretted the change2   
the old subscription was in reality     
ceasing to be enforced1 and he was      
afraid lest persecuting vigilance would 
set in again4 ,as a matter of  fact1 the
 ,act of #aggi1 long obsolete1 has never
 been repealed1 but very  few people are
 aware of its existence4 ,priestley's   
many controversies  tended to excite a  
good deal of interest1 some of it more  
than  unfriendly1 in the new movement4  
,in #agia1 when a party of ,unitarians  

dined at ,birmingham in celebration of  
the ,french ,revolution1 serious  riots 
broke out1 and ,priestley1 who was then 
minister of the ,new ,meeting  there1   
was made a principal victim though he   
was not one of the diners4  ,his house  
and library were burned1 and he barely  
escaped the violence of  the mob4 ,other
 residences were also destroyed1 and the
 ,old and ,new  ,meetings were burnt    
down4 ,ultimately1 in #agid1 ,priestley 
sought asylum  in ,america from the     
ill-will that pursued him even in       
,london4 ,bishop  ,horsley1 one of his  
sturdiest opponents in controversy1     
said1 'the  patriarch of the sect is    
fled4'    ,it was earlier in the same   
year that the first organized ,unitarian
  propaganda took shape in a ,unitarian 
,society for ,promoting ,christian      
,knowledge4 ,district unions were soon  
formed1 and in #ahjf a ,unitarian  ,fund
 was raised by means of which the first 
itinerant missionary of the  body1      
,richard ,wright 7#agfd-ahcf71 was sent 

literally from end to end  of ,great    
,britain4 ,in #ahac1 ,unitarians were   
set free from legal penalties  by the   
repeal1 so far as they were concerned1  
of the exceptive clauses  of the        
,toleration ,act1 this relief coming    
twenty years after ,charles  ,james ,fox
 had tried to secure it for them4 ,the  
member who was successful  was ,mr4     
,william ,smith1 who sat for ,norwich1  
and whose granddaughter was  ,florence  
,nightingale4 ,in #ahai an ,association 
was founded to protect and  extend the  
,civil ,rights of ,unitarians4 ,it was  
by combining the three  societies--the  
,society for ,promoting ,christian      
,knowledge1 the ,fund1 and  ,civil      
,rights ,society1 that the ,british and 
,foreign ,unitarian ,association  was   
formed1 as has been said1 in #ahbe4     
,in order to understand fairly the scope
 and spirit of that earlier  ,unitarian 
period1 thus at last organized in full  
legal recognition1  though still        
suffering from the prejudice inevitably 

created by more  than a century of legal
 condemnation1 a few salient points     
should be  kept in view4 ,first1 the    
heterogeneous elements in the 'body1' if
 it  could be called such1 were a source
 of weakness in regard to united        
action4 ,instead of belonging1 as their 
,american brethren did1 to one          
ecclesiastical group1 and that the      
dominant one1 the ,english ,unitarians  
included ,dissenters of different       
tendencies and traditions1 with a few   
recruits from the ,state ,church4 ,the  
',presbyterian' congregations1 as  they 
were not very strictly called1 were the 
backbone of the 'body'2  many of these1 
however1 were very weak1 and in the     
course of a few  decades some were      
destined to follow those which had died 
out in the  eighteenth century4         
,converts not infrequently lent new     
force in the  pulpit1 but at the risk of
 substituting an eager missionary spirit
 for  the usual staid decorum of the old
 families4 ,in these the ideals of      

breadth1 simplicity1 and moral          
excellence were stronger than the       
desire1  natural in a convert1 to win   
the world to one's opinion4    ,again1  
it must be borne in mind that then1 as  
generally1 there were men  whose        
thoughts ran ahead of those of the      
majority4 ,priestley1 for  example1     
while adhering to the idea that the     
,christian revelation had  been         
guaranteed by miracles1 had abandoned   
belief in the ,virgin birth as  early as
 #aghd1 and went so far as to maintain  
that ,jesus was not  impeccable and had 
certainly entertained erroneous ideas   
about  demoniacal possession4 ,probably 
there were very few who had arrived at  
these conclusions even thirty years     
later2 some ,unitarians repudiated  them
 at a much later period4 ,the miraculous
 element1 however1 was  formerly        
accepted by all4 ,so was the authority  
of ,scripture1 though here  again men   
like ,priestley were ahead of the rest  
in bringing to the study  of the ,bible 

the principles of historical criticism4 
,thomas ,belsham  7#agej-ahbi71 a       
typical ,unitarian scholar and divine at
 this period1 was  one of several who   
carried forward the science of ,biblical
  interpretation1 and by the use of a   
vigorous and fearless intellect         
anticipated views of ,genesis and the   
,pentateuch which did not find  general 
acceptance till much later4    ,it is   
customary for ,unitarians themselves    
to-day to look back on these  years of  
early zeal and controversy with but a   
qualified sympathy1 so  much was still  
cherished in the body as a whole that is
 no longer  tenable1 and again so much  
that was undreamed then is indispensable
 to  modern thought4 ,one of the        
greatest of ,unitarians1 ,dr4           
,martineau1 whose  important share in   
the development of their ideas and life 
must be  considered farther on1 referred
 in a discourse of about forty years ago
  to three distinct stages in ,unitarian
 theology4 ,first1 he pointed to the    

significance of the struggle for the    
principle of ',unity in the ,divine     
causation1' as against a doctrine which1
 as ,unitarians maintain1  endeavours in
 vain by words to prevent a triplicity  
of ',persons' from  sliding into a group
 of three ,divine ,beings4 ,this        
struggle marks in  great part the whole 
track by which the reader has come thus 
far in the  present story4 ,the second  
stage1 according to ,dr4 ,martineau1 is 
that in  which the ,conscience of ,man  
is emphasized1 in virtue of the belief  
in a  real responsibility and an actual 
power to choose the right or the  wrong4
 ,this ',religion of ,conscience' he    
sees especially illustrated in  the     
principles enunciated and the work      
accomplished by ,channing2 perhaps  it  
would be fair to say that many who had  
preceded the ,american leader  were     
imbued with a measure of his wisdom when
 they insisted1 as we have  seen1 on the
 adaptability of the pure ,gospel       
message to the needs and  understanding 

of men everywhere1 and declared that its
 aim was 'to make  men good and keep    
them so4' ,the third stage1 which ,dr4  
,martineau  considered to be fully begun
 at the time of his sermon 7#ahfi71 is  
that  of the ',religion of the ,spirit1'
 in which the ideas of the ,divine      
,sovereignty and the ,human ,duty are   
rounded into vital beauty and           
completeness by the idea of the actual  
relation of ,man to ,god as a ,son  to a
 ,father4    ,we have referred in       
advance to this compendious view in     
order to show  whither the sequel is to 
lead us1 but before this all-important  
development can be traced there remains 
one more piece of external  history to  
be supplied4 ,happily it may be dealt   
with summarily4            ,,questions  
,,of ,,inheritance      ,the bitterness 
of theological discussion which troubled
 the earlier  decades of the nineteenth 
century received new provocation in the 
shape  of litigation about property4    
,both in ,england and ,america the right

 of  ,unitarianism was challenged to    
hold those ,meeting ,houses and ,parish 
,churches respectively1 to which        
allusion was made in our opening pages4 
,in ,new ,england the chief matter of   
contention was settled as early as      
#ahah4 ,in the ,old ,country the        
struggle was much more protracted1 and  
was  only brought to an end by special  
legislation in #ahdd4    ,the ,american 
dispute may be briefly stated4 ,in      
consequence of the  growing and         
unconcealed departure of the liberal    
,congregationalists from  the doctrinal 
standards of the past there arose a     
feeling among the  conservatives that   
the former group should go out of       
fellowship1 but the  communal conditions
 of the parish made this out of the     
question4 ,all the  citizens had a right
 to share in the provision for religion 
which was  made at the general cost4 ,an
 acute difficulty1 however1 presented   
itself  in regard to the choice of      
minister4 ,should he be of the orthodox 

or the  heterodox type8 ,the appointment
 being for life made an election most   
critical4 ,an incident of this kind     
occurred at ,dedham1 ,mass41 and coming 
into the courts led to a decision in    
favour of the liberals1 i4e4 of the     
',unitarianizers4' ,the case was argued 
in this way3 ,a majority of members  on 
the register being in favour of one     
type1 are they at liberty to  choose as 
they will8 ,or have the citizens at     
large1 being contributories  to the     
maintenance funds1 a right to vote8 ,it 
was decided by the courts  that the     
popular right was valid as against the  
wishes of any inner and  covenanted     
group of worshippers4 ,this meant1 in   
substance1 that orthodox  voters were   
outvoted by heterodox voters who had not
 enrolled themselves  by a religious    
pledge4 ,the chagrin of the defeated    
conservatives was  naturally great1 and 
harsh language ensued4 ,the upshot was  
unaffected1  of course1 and time alone  
has had to soften the angry feelings    

which for  a long time kept the two     
wings of ,new ,england                  
,congregationalism hostile1  to the     
regret of good men on each side4 ,in    
recent years very friendly              
relationships have been happily set up1 
while the ,unitarians remain  undisputed
 heirs of the old ,parish ,churches4 ,it
 should be carefully  noted1 however1   
that in #ahcc the communal support of   
religion was  abolished1 and all        
religious bodies in the ,united ,states 
have been  dependent since then upon    
private resources4    ,in ,england the  
orthodox opponents of ,unitarianism     
tried to oust the  heterodox            
congregations of the old ,meeting       
,houses4 ,a suit for possession  of     
endowment funds which was finally       
decided against the ,unitarians of      
,wolverhampton began in #ahag2 and a    
strongly organized attack followed in   
#ahbe4 ,a rich fund for ministerial     
support1 ,lady ,hewley's ,charity1 was1 
after actions carried to the highest    

court1 declared not to be  applicable to
 the assistance of ,unitarians4 ,this   
decision1 in #ahdb1  looked like the    
beginning of the end for the tenure of  
the ,meeting  ,houses themselves1 the   
,wolverhampton case being now decided on
 the lines  of the ,hewley judgment4    
,but an ,act of ,parliament--the        
,dissenters'  ,chapels ,act--passed in  
#ahdd 7owing in some part to the        
powerful support  of ,mr4 ,w4,e4        
,gladstone71 secured the congregations  
in undisturbed  possession4 ,the        
principle of this law applies to all    
places of worship  held upon ',open1'   
i4e4 non-doctrinal ,trusts2 where the   
congregation can  show that the present 
usage agrees substantially with that of 
the past  twenty-five years1 it is not  
to be ejected4 ,at the time of this     
litigation the term ',english           
,presbyterian' came much into vogue     
among  ,unitarians1 and for some time   
there was a marked abatement of         
propagandist zeal4            ,,modern  

,,unitarianism      ,i4 ,,the           
,,communities    ,having now followed   
the fortunes of the ,unitarians up to   
the point where  they obtained a        
recognized position among religious     
organizations1 we  need not enter into  
the minute details of their             
denominational history4  ,less than     
seventy years have elapsed since the    
passing of the  ,dissenters' ,chapels   
,act1 and less than a century since the 
judgment in  the ,dedham case4 ,the     
congregational increase1 though         
substantial1 has  not been great2       
,unitarians claim rather to have        
influenced the advance  of thought in   
other denominations than to have created
 one more sect4 ,at  present their      
numerical strength may be estimated from
 the following  particulars4    ,in the 
,british ,isles and colonial centres    
there are nearly four hundred  places of
 worship1 and a similar number of       
ministers2 in many cases the            
congregations are small1 and the list of

 ministers includes some that  are      
retired and others who are regarded as  
'lay-workers' only4 ,there are  about   
five hundred ministers and congregations
 in the ,united ,states4 ,two  or three 
colleges in ,england and a similar      
number in ,america train  students for  
the ministry1 but many join the ranks   
from other  denominations4 ,women are   
eligible as ministers1 but actual       
instances are  rare4 ,local unions exist
 to a fairly adequate extent4 ,in       
,england and  ,america ,national        
,conferences meet at intervals2 the     
,unitarian  ,associations continuously  
publish literature1 send out lecturers1 
and  promote new congregations4 ,there  
are several periodicals4 ,the most      
noteworthy in ,england is the ,hibbert  
,journal1 which follows in the  line of 
other reviews of high standard in past  
years1 and which  specially illustrates 
the spirit animating a large and        
influential  section of the body4 ,it is
 promoted for free and open intercourse 

between serious thinkers of all schools 
of theological and social  philosophy1  
and is reported to have a circulation   
quite beyond that of  any similar       
publication4 ,the ',hibbert ,lectures1' 
connected with the  trust founded in    
#ahdg for the diffusion of              
',christianity in its simplest  and most
 intelligible form1' further exemplify  
the broad interpretation  of this duty4 
,scholars of different churches have    
contributed to the  series of volumes   
well known to religious students4 ,the  
principle  followed in general is stated
 in the oft-quoted phrase--',free       
,learning  and ,free ,teaching in       
,theology4'    ,it is needful1 perhaps1 
to guard against the inference that the 
,unitarian movement is only1 or in the  
main1 an intellectual one4 ,since       
#ahcc1 in consequence of a visit by ,dr4
 ,joseph ,tuckerman1 from ,boston1      
',domestic ,missions' were founded1 to  
promote the religious improvement  of   
the neglected poor1 and to-day this kind

 of work still goes on with  much social
 benefit in our larger cities4 ,similar 
benevolence has marked  the ,american   
side4 ,many congregations1 too1 are     
composed largely of  working-people1 and
 in recent years a ,van ,mission has    
carried the  ,unitarian message into the
 country villages1 mining districts1 and
 other  populous parts4 ,these aspects  
of their activity are apt to be obscured
  owing to a pardonable disposition of  
,unitarianism to point to the 'great    
names' associated with their churches4  
,in the ,american list1 for  example1 we
 find ,emerson1 ,longfellow1 ,o4,w4     
,holmes1 ,bryant1  ,hawthorne--,whittier
 and ,lowell had close affinities2      
,bancroft1 ,motley1  ,prescott1         
,parkman2 ,margaret ,fuller1 ,louisa    
,alcott2 and statesmen1  jurists1       
merchants1 and scientists too numerous  
to set down here4  ,obviously1 the      
,english side cannot rival such a       
brilliant roll2 the  lite of society has
 not been here1 as in ,new ,england1 on 

the side of  the newer theology4 ,yet   
,english ,unitarianism has its eminent  
names also1  alike in literature1       
science1 politics1 philanthropy1 and    
scholarship of  various kinds2 and the  
body is credited with a civic strength  
out of  proportion to the number of its 
avowed adherents1 while its             
philanthropies have been of the same    
broad and enlightened kind as those     
which enrich the ,american record4      
,,ii4 ,,ideas ,,and ,,tendencies        
,more important to the general public is
 the question of ideas which now        
prevail among ,unitarians4 ,our         
preceding sketch has shown some of the  
results of the freedom claimed by them  
in one generation after another4  ,we   
have now to see in what respects the    
nineteenth century effected a  further  
change4    ,in the first third of the   
century there can be no doubt that      
,unitarians  adhered tenaciously1 but   
with discrimination1 to the idea of the 
final  authority of the ,bible4 ,in this

 respect they were like ,protestants    
generally1 and though they nevertheless 
brought 'reason' to bear on  their      
reading of the ,scriptures1 other       
,protestants did the same1 if to a  less
 degree4 ,both in the ,united ,states   
and in ,england this attitude was  still
 common up till nearly the middle of the
 century1 and instances  could easily be
 found later still4 ,the miraculous     
element was thus  retained1 though as we
 have seen as early as in ,priestley's  
case there  was a tendency to eliminate 
some part of the supernatural4 ,that a  
thoroughgoing belief could be stated in 
good round terms is evident from  the   
following sentence taken from a book    
issued by ,dr4 ,orville ,dewey          
7#agid-ahhb71 one of the most eloquent  
pulpit orators of his day4 ,the  book is
 entitled ,unitarian ,belief1 its date  
is #ahci4 ,referring to the  ,bible the 
author says1 ',enough is it for us1 that
 the matter is divine1  the doctrines   
true1 the history authentic1 the        

miracles real1 the  promises glorious1  
the threatenings fearful4' ,there is    
good ground for  taking this as a fair  
example of the ideas prevalent among    
,american  ,unitarians at that time4    
,perhaps the statement was made the more
  emphatic in view of some remarks      
recently uttered by two young men whose 
influence1 along with more general      
tendencies1 proved fatal to the old     
doctrine4    ,one of these young men was
 ,james ,martineau 7#ahje-aijj71 who at 
the age  of thirty-one was already known
 as a writer and preacher far above the 
average4 ,he was then resident in       
,liverpool1 where he wrote a remarkable 
little book with the title ,the         
,rationale of ,religious ,inquiry       
7#ahhf74  ,more than fifty years later  
he published an even more remarkable    
book1  ,the ,seat of ,authority in      
,religion4 ,there is1 indeed1 half a    
century of  development between the two 
books1 yet the germinal thought of the  
second may be detected in the first4    

,the point at issue is where the        
ultimate appeal should lie in matters of
 religion4 ,with the keen eye for  the  
weaknesses of his fellow-worshippers    
which always characterized him1         
,martineau said1 ',the ,unitarian takes 
with him to the study of the  ,bible the
 persuasion that nothing can be         
scriptural which is not  rational and   
universal4' ,this fixed opinion1 which  
he ranks along with  the foregone       
conclusions of other types of           
theologian1 was just that  which we have
 observed in the general course of      
liberals from ,locke  onwards4 ,though  
in a note ,martineau concedes that his  
words may somewhat  strongly accentuate 
the common opinion1 he represents       
,unitarians as  virtually saying1 ',if  
we could find the doctrines of the      
,trinity and the  ,atonement1 and       
everlasting torments in the ,scriptures1
 we should believe  them2 we reject     
them1 not because we deem them          
unreasonable1 but because  we perceive  

them to be unscriptural4 ,for my own    
part1 ,i confess myself  unable to adopt
 this language'--not1 he says1 but that 
he does think  them actually            
'unscriptural4' ',but ,i am prepared to 
maintain1 that if  they were in the     
,bible1 they would still be             
incredible4444 ,reason is the  ultimate 
appeal1 the supreme tribunal1 to which  
the test of even  ,scripture must be    
brought4' ,it abates nothing from the   
force of these  declarations that then1 
and for some time afterwards1 ,martineau
 himself  accepted the miracles4 ,the   
'old school' perceived the sharp edge of
 such  a weapon1 and its wielder was    
during many years regarded as a         
'dangerous' innovator4    ,the other    
young writer to whom reference has been 
made was ,ralph ,waldo  ,emerson        
7#ahjc-hb71 son and grandson of         
ministers of the liberal                
,congregational type in ,new ,england   
and himself for a short time minister   
of the ,second ,church1 ,boston4        

,preferring the freedom of the lecturing
  platform1 ,emerson had already        
withdrawn from the ministry1 but in     
#ahch  he gave an ',address to the      
,senior ,class' in the ,divinity        
,school1  ,harvard1 which proved a      
second landmark in the history of       
,american  ,unitarianism4 ,nineteen     
years before1 ,channing had decisively  
pointed out  that ,unitarianism and     
orthodoxy are two distinct theologies4  
,in the  ,divinity ,school ,address1    
,emerson maintained that the idea of    
'supernaturalism' is rendered obsolete  
by a recognition of the reality  of     
things4 ,bringing a gift of pungent     
prose to the service of a poetic        
imagination1 ,emerson startled the      
decorously dignified authorities of  the
 ,new ,england pulpit2 he 'saved us1'   
says ,lowell1 'from the body of  this   
death4' ,he pointed from the record of  
miracles past to an  ever-present       
miracle4 ,to the illumination of        
'reason1' which ,unitarians  had        

followed so loyally--within the proviso 
of a special revelation--he  brought the
 light of a mystic intuition4 ,some of  
his elders judged it to  be 'false fire'
 perilously akin to the 'enthusiasm'    
which their  predecessors had so often  
condemned4 ,in daring simplicity he     
urged that  there had been 'noxious     
exaggeration about the person of        
,jesus4' ',the  soul knows no persons4' 
,the divine is always latent in the     
human4  ,revelation is not ended--as if 
,god were dead6    ,the shock to the    
old-fashioned minds was immense4 ,long  
and far-sounding  debate followed1      
though ,emerson1 with provoking         
self-possession1  declined to argue4 ,he
 simply 'announced4' ,this oracular     
attitude  certainly affected some of the
 younger men greatly1 but fortunately   
for  the success of the new gospel one  
of these younger men translated the     
oracular into a more popular and        
reasoned form4 ,three years after       
,emerson's ,address1 ,theodore ,parker  

7#ahaj-fj7 completed the ,unitarian     
trilogy by a sermon on ,the ,transient  
and the ,permanent in ,theology4 ,it    
may be said to have done for ,emerson's 
message the kind of service  rendered by
 ,huxley to ,darwin's4 ,parker at once  
became a marked man2 most  ,unitarian   
pulpits were closed against him1 but a  
large hall accommodated  the vast crowds
 that came to hear him4 ,it is doubtful 
if such numerous  congregations ever    
listened to a ,unitarian before or      
since4 ,he continued  an arduous work   
for some fifteen years1 but it wore him 
out before his  time4 ,he was an erudite
 scholar and a prolific writer4         
,discarding the  claims of ,christianity
 to be the only 'divine revelation1' he 
based his  clear and always optimistic  
theism on the broad facts of human      
experience4 ,ardently interested in     
social and political questions1 he      
poured satire without stint on the      
religious defenders of slavery1 and     
himself dared all risks along with the  

foremost abolitionists4 ,such a  man    
could not but count for much2 and though
 his radical views in  theology greatly 
disturbed for many years the            
conservatives in the  body--for         
,unitarianism itself had by this time a 
well-defined  conservative type--they   
could not fail to permeate the minds of 
the  masses4    ,of ,emerson's own      
life-work this is hardly the place to   
speak at large1  but in connection with 
the development of that ',religion of   
the ,spirit'  in which ,dr4 ,martineau  
sees the culmination of the theological 
progress  of ,unitarianism1 ,emerson's  
share must be allowed to be a large one4
 ,when  ,dean ,stanley visited ,america 
he is said to have reported that he had 
heard sermons from many pulpits1 but    
',emerson was the one preacher in  them 
all4' ,it is certain that at one time   
the style1 if not also the  thought1 of 
,emerson was extensively copied by the  
preachers1 not always  to the gain of   
solidity4 ,a degree of jauntiness       

appears in the worse  specimens of these
 imitations1 and ,lord ,morley's        
criticism that ,emerson  himself was too
 oblivious of the dark side of human    
suffering and guilt  would doubtless    
apply to much of the ,unitarian         
eloquence at one time  inspired by his  
witching voice4    ,this1 however1 is   
but one side of the ,american message in
 the nineteenth  century2 evidence      
abounds that a ',christocentric' type of
 teaching1 with  adhesion to much of old
 material of the ,gospels1 held its own 
till a  generation ago1 and its peculiar
 accent is not without echoes to-day4   
,on  the whole it is probable that1 as  
at the beginning of the century1 the    
'liberals' in ,new ,england             
,congregationalism were somewhat shocked
 at  some of the daring views of the    
,priestleyan ,unitarians in ,england1 so
  even towards its close the general    
position of thought was more            
conservative there than was the rule    
here4 ,certainly1 also1 there was a     

deep1 tender tone manifested even where 
opinion was most radical among  the     
,american ,unitarians1 and of this no   
better proof can be cited than  the     
large number of hymns of a high order   
both of thought and expression  which   
have been written among them4 ,they     
serve to show that a frank  acceptance  
of the evolutionary philosophy by no    
means necessarily  entails the decay of 
devout personal piety or the loss of    
beautiful  ideals4 ,among the ,american 
hymnists the following are specially    
eminent1  and their productions are     
often to be found in 'orthodox'         
collections3  ,samuel ,longfellow       
7brother to ,h4,w4,l471 ,samuel         
,johnson1 ,w4,c4  ,gannett1 ,j4,w4      
,chadwick1 and ,f4,l4 ,hosmer4    ,on   
the ,english side other sweet singers   
have appeared3 ',nearer1 my ,god1  to   
,thee1' by ,sarah ,flower ,adams1 is a  
world-renowned hymn2 and if the  names  
of ,channing1 ,emerson1 and ,parker     
cannot be equally matched here in  their

 several spheres1 there has been no lack
 of able and scholarly  representatives1
 and one name at least is of universal  
reputation4 ,that  name1 of course1 is  
,martineau4 ,the effective changes from 
the old  ,unitarianism to the modern    
type are best displayed in the story of 
his  long life and the monumental books 
which bear his name4 ,reference has     
been made to his early brilliance2 its  
promise was amply fulfilled in  the     
course of a career more than usually    
prolonged4 ,the note of original        
thought sounded in the ,rationale 7see  
p4 #fc997 was to be heard again  and    
again in other and more permanent       
utterances1 and not seldom to the       
perplexity and dismay of many of his    
,unitarian brethren4 ,alike in          
religious philosophy1 in attitude to the
 ,scriptures1 and in matters of  church 
organization1 he found himself from time
 to time at variance with  most of those
 close around him4 ,his philosophical   
and critical influence  was in large    

measure victorious2 in regard to        
organization the results  were less     
satisfactory to himself4 ,it will be    
instructive to observe his  progress4   
993 third paragraph of ,modern          
,unitarianism3 ,,ii4 ,ideas and         
,tendencies4    ,as regards philosophy1 
it is necessary to remember the         
influence of  ,priestley and ,belsham4  
,these ,unitarian leaders1 following    
,hartley's  psychology1 stood for a     
determinism which was complete4 ,god was
 the  ,great ,cause of all2 not the     
',first ,cause' of the deistic          
conception1  operative only at the      
beginning of the chain of events and now
 remote  from man and the world1 but    
present and immediate1 exhibiting his   
divine  purposes in all the beings      
created by him4 ,christianity1 in the   
view of  this school1 was the means by  
which ,god had been pleased to make     
known  the grand consummation of this   
life in a perfected life to come2       
,jesus1  the ,messiah1 was the chosen   

revealer of the divine will1 and his    
resurrection was the supreme and        
necessary guarantee that his message    
was true4 ,martineau1 like the rest of  
his generation1 was brought up in  this 
necessarianism2 but its tendency1 as he 
reviewed and tested it1 was  to do      
violence to certain irrepressible       
factors of the spiritual life4  ,it is  
only fair to say1 there was even in this
 ,priestleyan school room  for a        
mystical mood2 but on the whole it      
appeared dry and intellectual1  lacking 
the warm and operative forces of a      
deeper devotion4    ,it is interesting  
to find that ,martineau himself         
confessed that the  freshening touch    
upon his own inner life came in a closer
 contact with  evangelical piety4 ,his  
mind was to the end of his many years   
readily  responsive to congenial        
impulses1 let them come whence they     
would1 and  no small part of his service
 to ,unitarianism consists in the       
broader  sympathies which he generated  

in its circles4 ,to ,channing1 also1 he 
expressed gratitude for helping to wake 
in him a new sense of the  meaning of   
life and religion4 ,it was ,channing's  
characteristic to insist  on the        
significance of personality4 ,the worth1
 the depth1 and also the  rights of the 
,human made so vivid an appeal to his   
mind as to react on  his conceptions of 
the ,divine4 ,within1 a few years after 
the ,rationale  was published1          
,martineau is found making an obvious   
change of base4 ,he  has realized that  
the externally communicated religion of 
the old  school1 however sublime in its 
proportions1 fails to meet the needs or1
  indeed1 to fit the facts of the inner 
life4 ,man's personality rises1 in  his 
thought1 into touch with ,god's2 the    
revelation from without can only  be    
recognized as such by the aid of a      
revelation within2 a real  activity1 a  
genuine moral choice1 and a resulting   
character1 the marks  of a truly living 
,soul1 these are indispensable to an    

adequate view of  the religious life4   
,but all this involves two significant  
positions1  each far asunder from those 
hitherto put forth--there must be       
,freedom1  at least in the moral world2 
and the ,divine assurances of moral     
values  and of loving aid to win them   
are no longer confined to an outer      
record4  ,such a record may yield       
invaluable service as a heightener and  
interpreter of individual experience2 to
 the last we find ,martineau  attaching 
a profound and quite special            
significance to the revelation in       
,jesus of the life of sonship to ,god1  
and retaining tenaciously the           
,christian attitude in preference to one
 of simple theism4 ,but his system  is  
based on the internal2 all the rest1 the
 ,church1 the ,bible1 ,nature1  however 
august and charged with meaning1 is     
supplementary to that4    ,in the       
,american field1 under the influence of 
,emerson and the ,german  philosophy1   
what is called ',transcendentalism'     

flourished midway in the  century1 and  
there as well as in ,england its        
extravagances were  deplored4 ,martineau
 himself1 while approaching so nearly to
 the egoistic  centre1 was safeguarded  
from all such vagaries by an            
all-pervading sense  of duty4 ,in his   
volumes of sermon the ,endeavours after 
the ,christian  ,life1 and ,hours of    
,thought on ,sacred ,things1 which      
remain among the  choicest of their kind
 in our language1 his austerity of moral
 tone is  only relieved by an elevation 
of poetic mysticism till then unknown in
  ,unitarian literature4 ,it was1       
indeed1 his conviction that the body    
would  not write poetry for a generation
 or two1 so dry and prosaic did he find 
it2 but at that very time his own       
efforts in hymnody on one side and on   
the other his lyric prose1 almost too   
richly ornate for general wear1  were   
touching new springs of feeling4 ,by and
 by1 he issued in  conjunction with     
others a set of liturgical services1    

which did much to  lend dignity to      
congregational worship4 ,and what gave  
unique influence  to his ideas was his  
intimate connection from #ahdj to #ahhe 
with  ',manchester ,college1' ,london1  
one of the successors to the old        
',academies' 7now after its several     
migrations handsomely housed at         
,oxford74 ,at this college1 as professor
 of mental and moral philosophy  and for
 many years as ,principal1 he made a    
deep and lasting impression  on the     
minds of most of the leading scholars   
and preachers4 ,his great  works4 ,types
 of ,ethical ,theory and ,a ,study of   
,religion1 gathered up  the harvest of  
long study and exposition in these      
subjects1 and are the  most important of
 their kind given by ,unitarians to the 
world4    ,in accordance with what has  
been indicated1 the later attitude of   
,martineau1 and naturally of his        
pupils--though the principle of free and
  independent judgment is and always has
 been insisted upon--has been  radical  

in respect to ,biblical1 and especially 
to ,new ,testament1  studies4 ,an       
influence in this department more direct
 than his own was  formerly found in the
 writings and lectures of ,john ,james  
,tayler  7#agig-ahfi71 his predecessor  
as ,principal4 ,this ripe and fearless  
scholar brought home to ,unitarians the 
wealth of continental literature  on the
 subject4 ,the 'old school' stood aghast
 as the tide of ',german  criticism'    
overflowed the old landmarks of thought2
 and when ,tayler  himself issued a work
 strongly adverse to the apostolic      
authorship of  the ,fourth ,gospel      
distress was extreme4 ,in these matters1
 however1 the  tide proved irresistible1
 and the next generation of preachers   
and  students were among the most ardent
 translators and popularizers of the    
new views of ,jewish and ,christian     
origins4 ,the 'free' character of the   
pulpits has made the way easier than in 
most other denominations for the        
incoming of modern thought in this and  

other directions4    ,the influence of  
natural science upon the trend of       
,unitarian opinion has  hardly been     
second to that of ,biblical criticism4  
,some names in the list  of prominent   
,unitarians are celebrated in this      
connection--,louis  ,agassiz 7#ahjg-gc71
 for example1 on the ,american side1    
,sir ,charles  ,lyell 7#agig-ahge7 and  
,dr4 ,w4,b4 ,carpenter 7#ahac-he7 on the
 ,english  side4 ,a son of the last     
named1 ,dr4 ,j4 ,estlin ,carpenter1 a   
man of wide  and varied scholarship1 is 
now ,principal of ,manchester ,college4 
,a field  in which he is specially      
expert is that of comparative religion1 
and  here also is a source of many      
considerations that have transformed    
,unitarianism into one of the most      
liberal types of thought in the modern  
religious world4    ,it is not to be    
inferred1 however1 that the 'radical'   
tendencies1 while  predominant1 have    
everywhere prevailed among ,unitarians4 
,the  'conservative' side continued in  

the third quarter of the nineteenth     
century to yield important signs of its 
existence and fruitfulness1 and  its    
vitality is far from exhausted still4   
,the miraculous element has  even here  
been reduced to a minimum1 but it has   
left a tinge on the  picture of ,jesus  
which fills the imagination and kindles 
the reverent  affection of many4 ,among 
the more gifted representatives of this 
school  we may name the ,americans ,dr4 
,h4,w4 ,furness 7#ahjb-if7 and ,dr4 ,j4 
,freeman ,clarke 7#ahaj-hh71 and the    
,english ,john ,hamilton ,thom          
7#ahjh-id74 ,thom's sermons are ranked  
among the highest for spirituality  and 
penetration2 they certainly had profound
 effect in stimulating the  wise and    
generous philanthropy of ,william       
,rathbone and ,sir ,henry  ,tate4 ,a    
celebrated representative of this side  
of ,unitarianism is ,dr4  ,james        
,drummond1 still living1 the author of  
several works of ,european  repute among
 ,new ,testament scholars1 one being a  

defence of the  ,johannine authorship of
 the ,fourth ,gospel4 ,he succeeded     
,martineau as  ,principal of ,manchester
 ,college4 ,his volume4 ,studies of     
,christian  ,doctrine1 is the most      
important statement of the ,unitarian   
view  published in recent years4    ,as 
time went on1 it fell to ,martineau and 
other leading ,unitarians to  take up a 
defensive attitude against the extreme  
forces of negation4 ,in  particular1 he 
came to be recognized as a champion of  
theism against  materialist evolution4  
,four volumes of ',essays' contain some 
of his  acutest writings on the subject4
 ,an address presented to him on his    
eighty-third birthday celebrated his    
eminence in this and other ways2 it     
bore the signatures of six hundred and  
fifty of the most brilliant of  his     
contemporaries1 at their head being     
,tennyson and ,browning4    ,all this   
strenuous progress1 however1 was for    
,martineau dogged by a  shadow of       
peculiar disappointment4 ,in youth he   

was as ardent a  ',unitarian' as any2   
but1 about the time of the ,dissenters' 
,chapels ,act  7#ahdd71 he and ,tayler  
and some others felt increasing         
dissatisfaction  with the tendency of   
the more active ,unitarians to          
degenerate into a  sect4 ,as we have    
seen1 the same divergence of feeling    
arose in ,america1  and ,channing always
 strove to keep ,unitarianism there from
 succumbing to  denominationalism4 ,the 
ardour of those especially who had newly
 espoused  the ,unitarian view and found
 it precious to themselves may be easily
  understood1 and they might be forgiven
 some impatience with the apparent      
apathy of those who had no great desire 
to multiply proselytes4 ,some of  these 
eager spirits strove to rescue the body 
from what they evidently  regarded as a 
paralysing indefiniteness4 ,from time to
 time it was argued  that ,unitarianism 
must be 'defined' authoritatively2 then1
 and then  only1 might a triumphant     
progress be secured4 ,mixed with such   

notions  was apparently a desire to keep
 the imprudent and 'advanced' men from  
going 'too far4' ,in one form or other  
this opposition has persisted till  the 
present2 but its acrimony has sensibly  
lessened as1 on the one hand1  the      
'denominational' workers have more fully
 accepted the principle of  unfettered  
inquiry1 and on the other1 the lessons  
of experience have  shown that1 however 
eager the ,unitarians may be for the    
widest possible  religious fellowship1  
they are1 in fact1 steadily left to     
themselves by  most of the other        
religious bodies1 especially in this    
country4  ,martineau himself about forty
 years ago tried to form1 along with    
,tayler1 a ',free ,christian ,union'    
which should ignore dogmatic            
considerations2 but ,tayler died1 and so
 little encouragement was met  with     
outside the ,unitarian circle that the  
thing dropped after two  years4 ,nearly 
twenty years later1 at the ,triennial   
,conference 7held in  #ahhh at ,leeds71 

a remarkable address was given by the   
now venerable  'leader' 7whom1 as he    
mournfully said1 no one would follow71  
in favour  of setting up again an       
,english ,presbyterian system which     
should swallow  up all the many         
designations and varieties of           
association hitherto  prevailing among  
,unitarians4 ,the proposal was          
considered impracticable1  and the dream
 of a ',catholicity' which should       
embrace all who espoused  the free      
religious position1 whatever their      
doctrines1 seemed farther  than ever    
from fulfilment4 ,in later years the    
idea has1 however1  continued to be     
mooted1 and some ,unitarians hope still 
to see the  development of a ',free     
,catholicism' in which the traditional  
distinction  between ,unitarian and     
,trinitarian will be lost4              
,meanwhile1 as has been said1 the       
extension of ,unitarian worship and the 
diffusion of literature goes on with a  
fair amount of success4 ,in  ,america1  

thanks largely to the sagacious toil of 
a remarkable organizer1  ,dr4 ,h4,w4    
,bellows 7#ahad-hb71 the ,unitarian     
,association has proved a  strong and   
effective instrument for this purpose1  
and the ,british  ,association1 whose   
headquarters are now in the building    
where ,lindsey  opened the first        
,unitarian ,church in #aggd1 has also   
thriven considerably  in recent years4  
,it is said that the rate of growth in  
the number of  congregations in the     
,united ,kingdom has been about #cc per 
cent during  the past half-century2 in  
,america the rate is somewhat higher4   
,,iii4 ,,methods ,,and ,,teachings      
,it will not be surprising to the reader
 to learn that a religious body  having 
such a past and being so variously      
recruited to-day is far from            
stereotyped in method4 ,at the same time
 there is practical agreement on  the   
main lines of doctrine4    ,in worship  
different forms are used4 ,many churches
 have liturgies1  adopted at discretion 

and usually supplemented by free prayer4
 ,in others  the free service alone is  
preferred4 ,lessons are chiefly taken   
from the  ,bible1 but selections are    
sometimes read from other devotional    
literature4 ,several hymnals have wide  
acceptance2 a few are peculiar to       
single congregations4 ,the large        
majority of sermons are read1 though    
extempore address is now less infrequent
 than formerly4 ',sacraments' are  not  
considered indispensable1 but the       
,lord's ,supper is retained in many     
cases and is regarded as a memorial4    
,the baptism 7or 'dedication'7 of       
infants is also practised4              
,ministerial ordination is not          
considered as imparting supernatural    
gifts1 but as a solemnity marking the   
entrance of the accredited person  into 
full recognition and office4 ,the       
congregation makes its own choice  of a 
minister1 though in case of its         
dependence upon outside financial       
assistance the advice of the managers of

 the ,fund may be offered4 ,the  support
 of the churches and ,sunday-schools1   
etc41 is generally by  voluntary        
contributions2 endowments exist in some 
instances4 ,church  membership is       
usually granted without insistence upon 
any religious  declaration4 ,new        
buildings are invariably associated with
 the 'open  trust' principle1 the way   
being thus left open for such changes in
  worship and opinion as may hereafter  
seem right4 ,some churches decline  to  
be known as ',unitarian1' and where that
 name is adopted it is usual  to find   
with it the explanation that this does  
not pledge or limit  future development 
or bar the widest religious sympathy in 
the present4    ,reference has been made
 to ,sunday-schools4 ,in this field     
,unitarians have  always been pioneers1 
and their aims have usually been to     
promote  culture without sectarian zeal4
 ,many large schools continue1 as in the
  past1 to form centres of education of 
the widest type1 not only to  children  

but adults4 ,much interest is taken in  
social amelioration2 some  observers    
have asserted that this interest is more
 vivid in many  quarters than any in    
matters theological or philosophical4   
,statements of the teachings usually    
accepted in the churches are  numerous4 
,one here quoted will fairly represent  
the general type4 ,it was  drawn up by  
,richard ,acland ,armstrong             
7#ahdc-aije71 an eager social  reformer1
 a powerful preacher and author1 and    
memorable especially as a  popularizer  
of ,martineau's religious philosophy4   
,of course1 from what  has been already 
said1 such a statement is not regarded  
as an  authoritative creed1 but simply  
takes its place as one out of many      
summaries for popular diffusion4        
',unitarian ,christianity teaches that  
,god is our ,father1 full of love for   
all of us4 ,it learns from ,jesus that  
the ,father listens to our prayers  and 
watches over us with even more tender   
care than over the lilies of  the field 

and the birds of the air4    ',it learns
 from ,jesus too1 that however important
 it may be to have  correct views       
concerning religious matters1 it is much
 more important to  love ,god with all  
our heart and mind and soul and         
strength1 and our  neighbour as         
ourselves4 ,for he says that these are  
the first two  commandments1 and that   
there is no other whatever that is      
greater than  these4    ',it learns from
 ,jesus1 also1 that the way to enter the
 kingdom of ,heaven  is1 not merely to  
hold a correct theology or to receive   
any outward  sacraments1 but to be      
converted and become as little          
children--simple-hearted1 loving1 pure4 
',unitarian ,christianity teaches that  
,god our ,father claims us all as       
children1 and that when ,jesus speaks of
 himself as ,god's ,son1 he means  us   
all to remember that we are ,god's      
children too1 though unhappily we  have 
stained our sonship and daughterhood    
with many unworthy thoughts  and deeds4 

',unitarian ,christianity loves the     
,parable of the ,prodigal ,son1 because 
it shows so clearly and so beautifully  
the love and forgiveness of ,god1  and  
with what tender pity he looks on us    
when we have sinned4    ',unitarian     
,christianity believes that ,god speaks 
to his children now as  truly as he did 
to the ,prophets of old and to ,jesus   
,christ1 comforting1  strengthening1    
enlightening them4 ,conscience itself is
 his holy voice4    ',unitarian         
,christianity sees in ,jesus ,christ a  
supremely beautiful life  and character1
 a marvellous inspiration for us all1 an
 ideal after which  we may strive2 and  
it loves to think of him as our ,elder  
,brother1 of the  same nature as        
ourselves4    ',unitarian ,christianity 
does not believe that ,god will plunge  
any of his  children into everlasting   
woe4 ,such a thought of ,god is a       
contradiction  of his ,fatherhood4 ,he  
is leading us all1 by different ways1   
towards the  pure and holy life for     

which he brought us into being4'        
,along with this may be taken the       
declaration adopted1 as a result of     
somewhat protracted discussions1 at the 
,national ,conference of  ,unitarians in
 ,america1 #ahid2 it would probably be  
accepted in all  similar assemblies4    
',these churches accept the religion of 
,jesus1 holding in accordance with  his 
teaching that practical religion is     
summed up in love to ,god1 and  love to 
man2 and we invite to our fellowship any
 who1 while differing  from us in       
belief1 are in general sympathy with our
 spirit and our  practical aims4'       
,,unitarians ,,and ,,other ,,religious  
,,liberals      ,the broadly sympathetic
 spirit which has been observed at work 
in the  foregoing story has led to      
interesting relationships between       
,unitarians  and some other religious   
bodies4 ,the ,universalists1 who are    
strongest in  the ,united ,states1 are  
cordially fraternal with them2 and a    
large  proportion of the                

',christians'--a non-dogmatic body--are 
equally close  in sympathy4 ,the        
,hicksite ,friends1 named after ,elias  
,hicks1 who early in  the nineteenth    
century avowed ,anti-trinitarian views1 
and some other  religious bodies less   
conspicuous are more or less directly   
included in  the ,unitarian forces1     
though not organically in union4 ,with  
the ,french  ,liberal ,protestants there
 has been warm co-operation for many    
years1 and  the same is true of ,dutch1 
,german1 and ,swiss reformers4 ,since   
the visit  of ,rammohun ,roy1 the       
,indian reformer1 in #ahcc1 the ,english
 in particular  have developed kindly   
relations with the ,indian theist       
movement1 and  students from ,india and 
,japan are regularly educated at ,oxford
 for the  ministry of free religion in  
their own countries4 ,it is in this way1
  more than by the ordinary types of    
missionary activity1 that ,unitarians   
have hitherto attempted to influence the
 non-,christian races4    ,during recent

 years there have been held             
international congresses  promoted by   
the ,unitarians of ,great ,britain1     
,america1 and ,transylvania1  and       
attended by representatives of the      
various sections just named as  well as 
by others from the orthodox churches1   
including ,anglican and  ,romanist1 who 
venture to brave the authorities thus   
far4 ,proposals have  already been made 
for a world-wide union of ,religious    
,liberals1 in view  of the remarkable   
success of these great congresses2 but  
the  circumstances of the different     
groups1 especially in ,germany and      
,holland1 seem to forbid expectation of 
such a development within any  near     
period4 ,on the whole1 ,unitarians      
appear to be encouraged by the  signs of
 the times1 and to do their share of    
religious culture and  benevolent work  
while cultivating the friendship of     
',modernists' of all  kinds1 ,christian1
 ,jewish1 ,moslem1 and ,hindoo4         
,,chronology      #aecf-afab4 ,many     

trials and executions for denying the   
,trinity2 notably  ,servetus 7#aeec72   
four ,east ,anglians1 #aegi-hi2 ,legate 
and ,wightman1  #afab4    #aefh4        
,francis ,david founds the ,unitarian   
,church in ,hungary4    #aegh-afjd4     
,faustus ,socinus active in ,poland4    
#aeie4 ,the ,racovian ,catechism4 ,other
 ,socinian works follow4    #afdj4      
,canon against ,socinian books in       
,england4    #afdd-fb4 ,john ,bidle's   
career4    #afdf and onward4            
,anti-trinitarians among ,baptists1     
,independents1  ,friends1 etc4 ,books   
against ',socinianism4'    #affb4 ,act  
of ,uniformity--ejection of             
,nonconformists4    #afgd4 ,milton d41  
leaving his ,treatise of ,christian     
,doctrine in ,,ms42  discovered #ahbc   
and published4    #afhg4 ,stephen ,nye's
 ,brief ,history of the ,unitarians1    
etc4    #afhi4 ,toleration              
,act--,unitarians excluded4    #afhi-ig4
 ,the ',unitarian ,controversy4' ,being 
suppressed1 ',arianism'  developed among

 clergy1 ',deism' among other writers4  
#afij4 ,presbyterian ,academy 7now      
,college1 ,carmarthen7 founded4         
#afie4 ,locke's ,reasonableness of      
,christianity4    #agjj4 ,general       
,baptist ,assembly accept               
,anti-trinitarian membership4    #agjc4 
,thomas ,emlyn imprisoned for denying   
the ,trinity4    #agai4                 
',non-subscription' vote at ,salter's   
,hall1 ,london4    #agdj4 ,arianism     
diffused2 ,humanitarianism incipient4   
#agdb4 ,the ',great ,awakening' revival 
in ,new ,england1 followed by a         
,liberal reaction4    #agee-ahjd4       
,joseph ,priestley's career4    #aggd4  
,theophilus ,lindsey's ,unitarian       
,chapel1 ,london4    #aghf4 ,manchester 
,academy 7now ,college1 ,oxford7        
founded4    #agij4 ,unitarian propaganda
 active in ,england4    #ahjh4          
,controversy in ,new ,england           
,congregationalism4    #ahac4           
,toleration ,act extended to            
,unitarians4    #ahag4 ,proceedings     

begun against ,unitarians in respect of 
inherited  ,chapels1 etc4    #ahah4 ,the
 ',dedham ,case1' ,massachusetts4       
#ahai4 ,dr4 ,channing's ',baltimore     
,sermon4'    #ahbe4 ,founding of        
,associations in ,great ,britain and    
,u4,s4,a4    #ahcf4 ,martineau's        
,rationale4    #ahch4 ,emerson's        
,divinity ,school ,address4    #ahdb4   
,theodore ,parker's ,discourse4         
#ahdd4 ,dissenters' ,chapels ,act4      
#ahdg4 ,hibbert ,trust founded4         
#ahed4 ,unitarian ,home ,missionary     
,board 7now ,college1 ,manchester7      
founded4    #ahhb4 ,national ,triennial 
,conferences begun4    #ahij4           
,martineau's ,seat of ,authority4       
#aijj4 ,international ,congresses       
founded4            ,,authorities       
,r4 ,,wallace4 ,anti-trinitarian        
,biography1 #c vols41 ,lond41 #ahej4    
,a4 ,,gordon4 ,heads of ,english        
,unitarian ,history1 #a vol41 ,lond41   
#ahie4    ,j4,h4 ,,allen4 ,unitarianism 
since the ,reformation1 #a vol41 ,new   

,york1  #ahid4    ,j4,j4 ,,tayler4      
,retrospect of the ,religious ,life of  
,england1 #a vol41  ,lond4 7#crd ,ed471 
#ahgf4    ,w4,g4 ,,tarrant4 ,story and  
,significance of the ,unitarian         
,movement1 #a  vol41 ,lond41 #aiaj4     
7,gives more detailed references47      
,for statistics and special             
characteristics of the various ,liberal 
,religious bodies in general accord with
 ,unitarians see the following  records 
of the ,international ,congresses3--    
,liberal ,religious ,thought at the     
,beginning of the ,twentieth ,century4  
,ed4 by ,w4 ,,copeland ,,bowie1 ,lond41 
#aija4    ,religion and ,liberty4 ,ed4  
by ,p4,h4 ,,hugenholtz1 jun41 ,leyden1  
#aijd4    ,actes du ,,iii'me ,congrs    
,international du ,christianisme ,libral
 et  ,progressif4 ,ed4 by ,e4 ,,montet1 
,geneva1 #aijf4    ,freedom and         
,fellowship in ,religion4 ,ed4 by ,c4,w4
 ,,wendte1 ,boston1 #aijg4    ,fifth    
,international ,congress of ,free       
,christianity and ,religious  ,progress4

 ,ed4 by ,,wendte and ,,davis1 ,berlin  
7and ,london71 #aiaa4