The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-08-25
CHRISTIANITY UNIQUE.
BY REV. CHARLES A. ALLEN.

the Mexican Gulf, there flows through
the Northern Atlantic broad and
rapid current, that battles the shores of
the British Islands and gives them a
temperate climate; but when breaches
these coasts, it is so blended with
other waters that it cannot be distin-
guished as separate stream. Such
Gulf Stream is Christianity, coming as
a definite current of spiritual influence
from tropical souls bringing fervent
enthusiasm to nations Of colder blood,
and though blended now with many
other elements in our modern civiliza-
tion, yet pervading them all with dis
tinctiye and powerful sentiment which
makes the social and religious life of
Christendom unique phenomenon in
history.
Like most great words, the term
"Christianity" has drifted into various
meanings. All branches of Christen-
dom claim it; and we must grant that
they all have some right to it, provided
we understand it to mean nothing
more than the common tie of reverence
Tor CHRISTIAN institutions and traditions
which draws them together in one
School Of Christ. In this sense many
churches may claim to be Christian,
that do little honor to the name; and
all our European civilization, though
in some respects still heathenish and
brutal, may, in this sense, take the
title. But just as, when we speak of
the Gulf Stream, we always think of
the tropical current that pours from
the Mexican Gulf-for the waters
around the British Islands, though tenn
pered by that stream, are not the
stream itself, so, if we would know
what Christianity properly is, we must
study it as it first appears in history,
that is, in the life and words of Jesus
himself; and we shall there find a
unique contribution to the religious
life of mankind, namely, the idea, en-
tirely unknown to the world before,
and known to-day only where Chris
tian influences have carried it, of the
Unreasonable value of every human
soul, and, growing out of this, an en-
thusiasm of reverent, hopeful faith and
love toward man, which is distinctive
of Christianity, and reveals its infiu-
ence in our modern world as surely as
the climate of the British Islands tells
of the presence of tropical waters.
We have been in the habit of saying
that the essence of Christianity is the
belief in the Fatherhood of God and
the brotherhood of man. But Judaism
and Free Religion remind us that other
teachers besides the Son of Mary have
taught these truths in one form or an
| other; and, therefore, we are told, we
must remand Christianity to a level
thother W hist ORIG faiths. But, while
we concede that Christianity can lay
no exclusive claim to belief in the
Fatherhood and brotherhood, yet we
maintain that its idea of human
nature is unique, and that this reverent
enthusiasm of faith and love toward
man flowed out into history from the
heart of Jesus alone, because, only
there, were the Fatherhood and broth
erhood intensely realized in all their
depth and grandeur of meaning. Says
Lecky, in his sketch of early Chris
tianity (''European Morals" Vol. II,
PIP. Is and 34): 1.-THE entire movement
1 have traced displays an anxiety, not
only for the life, but also for the moral
well-being of the castaways of society,
such as the most humane nations of
antiquity had never reached. This
minute and scrupulous care for human
life and human virtue in the humblest
forms, in the slave, the gladiator, the
savage, or the infant, was foreign to
the genius of Paganism. 1t is the dis
tipguishing characteristic of every
society into which the spirit of Chris
tianity has passed. The first and most
manifest duty of Christian man was
to look upon his fellowmen as sacred
beings"
In no other religion, 1 said, has this
truth ever been taught, of the inesti-
mable value of every human soul.
Buddhism believed in human brother
hood; but having no faith in the Divine
Fatherhood and the personal immortal
ity Of souls, it lacked the reverent,
hopeful feeling toward man that has
given Christianity its distinctive power.
Judaism was hindered by its race ex-
clusiveness from deeply feeling the
brotherhood of man; for it regarded all
other nations, at the best, as holding
only a second place in the favor of
God. Stoicism cherished its own ex-
clusiveness, that is, pride in mental
and moral superiority; and, therefore,
while protesting to believe in the
Fatherhood and brotherhood, it never
held these truths with any enthusiasm,
and never attained the Christian feel
ing of reverence and hope for every
soul, or the Christian belief in the
sacredness of all human life.
Our Unitarianism, with all its free