Morning journal and courier., 1883-06-16
Liberal ChrIstIanity To-Day.
Ut IL
 Festival.1


 From Dr. Holmes Address at the Boston Unitarian
 FestivaLl
 There was time when Unitarianism wss forced to be sharply aggressive. It had to work hard to humanize 8 de-humanized the ology.. But the theology of our orthodox brethren is humanizing itself fast enough now, with very little need of assistance. When boy gets hold of a green apple he ''mellows' it with his thumbs to help it to soften, If not to ripen. But, when it yields at once to pressure, he knows it is ripening Of itself, If not absolutely ripe. There is not bough on the great tree of the Protestant church where there is not some fruit ripen- 1ng-lts dogmas softening so that a human being can swallow them without dying of convulsions or indigestion Have we not already the great family of Smiths on both sides of the Atlantic. and shall we not have the Browns, too, before long, softening the old creeds into something of rational con- slsteney 1t seems to me that Unitarianism, or, if you will, liberal Christianity, was never ln such aplacid, amiable, expansive receptive condition as at this blessed day. Unitarian. ism has done most of her scrubbing and securing, and is now dressed and sitting up waiting to receive visitors, many of whom, like Nlcodemus, come by night. We used to think there were two hostile camps-so there are now, in certain sense-there are differ ent flags and different watchwords, but the plckets arc exchanging compliments and con- modities, and we are on the best of terms with nos amis les ennemis
 am afraid shall confuse you with my comparisons, but cannot help making them. The churches of Professionalism are like so many canal locks, their contents of doctrine and practice at different levels We need not stop to dispute which is at the highest l level They are quietly emptying one into another, through the sluices-the gates will open easily at the proper time. No doubt l liberal Christianity has had to attack many l doctrines which it held to be of human ori l gin, and in fiat contradiction to the facts oi history and the highest spiritual instincts 1 All this IS quite consistent with the largest 1 charity toward those who held these doctrines | in less enlightened ages. We can pardon almost everything to the periods of barbar- | ism and semi barbarism Only the weapons | of those times must not be used against us in our modern conflicts. When the names o1 1 Calvin or Edwards are borrowed for aggres | sion or defense, then we must try them by l the standard of to-day
 1 In many things we are most happy to l agree with all the sects of Christendom | We believe in the absolute necessity of rei l zion for the soul of man and the safety ot civilization, openly threatened at this time, | and liable to dangerous assaults in the noi l very remote future We hold many doc I trines in common with the various divisions l of the Christian world around us. We share With them In many benevolent enterprises. | The Little Sisters of the Poor'' stop at our 1 doors. There is not church-unless it may I be a Mormon one-In the whole community, | in the best work of which we have not a l common interest, and which we are not will | ing to aid in some of it's movements.
 We have given up some old and cherished dogmas Some would call free thinkers, as a term of reproach. We trust we are free-thinkers, depolariznig the word by | placing hyphen between it's two portions. 1 What would our friends like to have us | would they rather have us slave thinkers | Not being slave thinkers, we of the liberal l school have broken good many chains which others have not got rid of. There is one peculiarly about the letters which have been forged for human souls under the name of religion. All other chains are just as strong as, and no stronger than, their weak est link. The religious chain alone is treated as if 1t were strong as it's strongest link. One adopts creed, a church, dogma one of many he has considered. The weak link in the chain of his religion is the judg- ment which decided his choice, and which he thinks he strengthens by wrapping his faith about it. But faith itself must pass the or deal of our human judgment, or it is liable to end in literal self eIf-crucifxion, as in the case of the young Venetian in the year 1895, or, as we have seen, not long ago, in delibe- rate child Even the great apostle was modest enough to say, "I think I have the spirit of God.''