The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-06-13
UNIrARIANIsM DEFENDED.

a. UNIrARIANISM DEFENDED.
Discourse by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke
at Music Hall--"Why am a UntarianW
The closing lecture of the series of the
Suffolk Unitarian conference course was
delivered Sunday evening at Music Hall by
the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, d. d.
The hall was crowded as usual, and the
lecturer, in some of bis pungent yet cour-
teous criticisms of the rival doctrine, called
forth applause. His theme was presented
in this interroga,orv, "Why am | Uni
tartan ?" His text was Acts, xiv ia: But
this confess unto thee, that after the way
they call heresy, so worship the God of
my fathers" He said that the reason why
we Unitarians are UnitarIans is not because
we like to stand apart from the rest of the
christian church, or that we find any pleas
ure or satisfaction in being known as here
tics or because we would not enjoy being
in sympathy and brotherhood with the
whole christian church. We find no es-
pecial pleasure in standing apart, yet we
must differ from these brethren who hold to
what is called the Orthodox faith, although
we hold them in respect and honor. Our
reason for so doing being the same which
led the eminent clergyman who was first
IN New England called Unitarlan-Jame
Freeman~-and his contemporaries and i'm
mediate successors, Charming and Henry
Ware, and James Walker and f. w. p.
Greenwood, to thus Come cut and stand
apart from the main body of christian be-
levers. They felt that it was necessary
that they should bear witness to certain
truths of christian doctrine which they
thought had been neglected or forgotten.
To this end they were willing TO endure
any obloquy or opposition that might re-
suit from their action. 1t is said some
times that Unitaranism cannot be defined
because Unitarians have no creed or written
form of doctrine. Bat it does not follow
that because there is no written creed there is
uncommon belief. The professors of any sci
ence which might be named have common
belief in the general truths and fundamen-
tai principles of that science, although they
have subscribed as a body to no written
statement OF them.
There are two ways in which denomina-
tions of believers may be held together,
precisely as there are two ways in which a
flock of sheep may be separated from all
other flocks and held together as one body.
The first is by enclosing the flock in
sheepfold. Then no othtr flock will inter-
mingle with them. In holding together
party or denomination of believers 4 creed
serves IN this way. Yet one who should
travel in the east would frequently have
opportunity to see the Syrian flocks of
sheep each following its shepherd. Two
such flocks will meet on the highway, yet
will not become confused or ntermingled,
but the sheep of each flock are kept togeth-
er by an invisible bond of union, and the
two meet and pass by each other, each fol
lowing its shepherd. One objection to
creed ID that it prevents progress. 1t de-
fines the limits of opinion and tells men
what they are to believe before they begin
to inquire. A written creed exerts an in
fluence on the mind that tends towards n.y.
pocrisy. Not that all believers in creeds
are hypocTitical Far from it. 1t is one of
the regulations of the church of England
that the creed of st. Athanasius shall be
read once year in public at the convoca-
ton. When 90 read On a recent occasion,
one of the learned clergymen IN the house
got up and declared his opinion that there
was no one in the whole convention that
fully believed the creed. No one ventured
to gainsay that opinion, yet the creed is hy-
pocritically read every year as before. In
more direct reference to the subject of his
discourse the preacher continued by saying
tudt Ouc IcdSOu lOT uclllB u OultdI ihu 10 po-
cause the doctrines held IN common by Uni
tarans can all be stated in the simple and
direct language of the New Testament,
while the doctrines the Unitarians. reject
cannot be so stated. The doctrine of three
subsistences or three persons is nowhere
contained in terms in the New Testament.
The words trinity or triad or triune do not
| occur there. He made several apt citations
of scripture to show how clearly the Uni
| tartan view of things may be defined by the
exact language of scripture. Another rea-
son for preferring the Unitarian to any
| othei holiaf in that suDposing II to be DOS
| sible TO dismiss from the RECORDS and the
memories of men all creeds now existing,
leaving only the New Testament intact, ii
would prove to be impossible to frame any
of these creeds from the books of the New
Testament Another reason why the Uni
tarians choose to stand apart from the mass
of christian believers is that they are per.
suaded that their faith concerning God,
| Christ and the Bible is broader and ampler
than If defined by a creed. The lecturer
| entered into an exposition of the doctrine
| of the Trinity TO show that the believer in
1t must necessarily ntrrow his mental and
| spiritual vision to accept it.
| In the course Of his comments on this
| topic, he said that II is claimed the reason
why the Trinity cannot be fully explained
is that it is a mystery, To this the Uni
tarians reply if the doctrine be mystery
that Is a sufficient reason why we cannot
believe it. The other eide reply, "You be-
lieve readily in other mysteries, why refuse
to believe thls3 For example you believe
that the grass grows, yet that is a mystery
| No one can explain how it grows" The
preacher pointed out the fsllacy of this ar,
| gument to be in this that what we believe
about the glass Is the fact that it does grow.
No one knows or can explain the manner
of its growing, aud so we really believe
nothing as TO how it grows. Referring to
the Unitarian belief about Christ as being
not God, but only manifestation of God
through human being, he claimed an ad
vantage Ia that the two fold aspect OF
Chrst's nature thus recognized does not
become confusing to the mind. We look
upon Christ as we might look upon plate
| OF glass or ether transparent object II
we go choose, we can fix our gaze upon the
| glass itself. This il to contemplate Christ
In His merely human nature, as man sim
| ply. Or we can look through the glass,
and thus looking We behold traits OF the
| Divine Being. In beholding Christ we
catch something of the reflected light OF
Deity shining through his face. The Uni
tartan view IT the Bible as a book written
by inspired has, not infallible men, the