Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-04
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE pIsPArcH.i

BOSTON, March 3.-Joseph Cook de-
livered his fifth lecture in fremont Temple
at noon to-day. The subject of the prelude
was "Unitarian and Universslist Missions
in Japan" He said:
at may be truly said of all Asia, as EN-,
erson once incidentally said of New En-
gland, that 1t is out in search OF q religion.
Imported unbelief is a greater mischief
among the educated classes of Japan than
inherited misbelief, which has been largely
cast of. Japan is seeking the best in re-
hgion as she is in politics and education.
Prof Hitchcock, of New York, has said:
Men will have religion, and they will have
the best religion but he might have added
that they make many mistakes in the sift-
ing process. There is no sieve for religions
like time.
1T is unpleasant for me to say anything
apparently uncourteous toward religious
bodies that have more or less merit in politics
and philanthropy and great prominence in
social life, especially in Eastern Massachu-
setts. revere the name of Charming; /
reverence the ability of Martineau, espe-
cially as writer on natural religion. l am
forced to frankness by no local reasons. but
the gravest kind.
DEISM AND UNITARIANISM.
Unitarian and Universalist missions are
now being organized and pushed with a
vigor that is new among those demomina-
tions. 1t is time that the Orient knew all
that the Occident knows about sitting the
unevangelical sets during the centuries.
Unitarianism in Boston has been local
giant; after 100 years of unparalleled op-
portunity it has become a local cripple.
Both these facts are notorious in New
England; it is time they should
become notorious in Japan. 1t is a little
over 100 years since Unitarianism reached as
much strength in New England as to Or
ganize church. English deism was the
grandfather OF New England Unitarianisn.
Deism was once the fashion in London and
became the father of that English Unitar-
ianism which in turn became the father Of
New England Unitarianism Deism can
not be spoken of with intellectu respect
to-day. Unitarianism would have had very
little intellectual or literary eminence if it
had not been associated from the first with
circles OF politics and social distinction.
There was a time here in Massachusetts,
when to succeed in politics one must be a
Unitarian. German transcendentalism
seized upon this new order. Hegel Schleier-
macher and Strauss were the chief in
structors of Unitarianism in its youth.
Theirs was pantheistic school which we
have practically outgrown. Unitarianism
began to have power through this new phil
osophy. The chief intellectual power of
Unitarianism was derived, not from English
deism, but from German rationalism. EN-
erson and Parker were the true leaders of
Unitarian thought, but Claiming believed
that one Lord and Savior was not a mere
man, that he was unique superhumau.
MERELY HUMANITARIANs.
''But the mass of Unitarians in our time
are mere humanitarians. They assert the
mere humanity of Christ and yet pray to
Him. 1t must be asserted that to-day Uni
tarianism shows a tendency to degenerate
into the deism from which it sprung, What
does q Unitarlanism mean as an organization
of churches? DR.. w. II. Bellows says: "A
man may be pantheist or atheist and yet
join the Unitarian Church if he be OF moral
life and call himself Christian Contrast
this statement with that of ex-President Nc
Coosh made on this platform ten years later,
in which he says: 'Unitarianism is dead and
laid out for decent burial
"Does Japan want cripple? Does it want
a corpse? The distinction between Evan
gelical and unevangelical denominations
ought to be made in the Orient for the same
reasons that it has been made in the Occi-
dent. Look at a few commanding facts:
First-U nitarian and UniversaIists are shut
out from active fellowship in the Young
Mems Christian Associations. They are
shut out because unevangelical. Coleridge
said, "a Unitarian may be Christian, but
Unitarianism is not Christianity Practical
experience has shown in the Occident that
Evangelical and unevangelicai views are SO
different that it is clear that in the interests
of peace they should be represented by DIFF
ferent ecclesiastical organizations. In this
am quoting not the opinions of an hour.
but of a century.
EvANGELISM'S FRUITFUL WORKS.
"The evangelical determinations have been
the great and predominating forces in build
ing up the churches Of America and found
ing colleges and schools. They have borne
almost exclusively the burden of missionary
labor. They have promoted great revivals
of religion as the unevangelical have not;
the latter have been spiritually untruitful
as compared with the former. For the past
Is years the Methodist Episcopal denomina-
ton alone has built two new churches every
working day: The record of the past 100
years is that in all our feebleness and not
withstanding all our faults, we have ele-
waited the Evangelical Church membership
of the land from 1 in IA to 1 in 8 of the pop |
ulation, built schools, promoted revivals, |
carried missions to the ends of the |
earth, and have maintained unity of doc |
trine. The Evangelical Alliance, which |
recently met on this platform, is a proof of |
this; SO is the Worlds Missionary Confer |
ence, which met in London in 1885, From |
the various evangelical denominations, as |
from so many corners, we wish arches to
spring into the glorious vault of cathedral |
nm dor rrh Ioh 1x-axr riSh m tba
millions of Japan.
Very few young men are coming for |
ward in unevangelical pulpits to take the |
place of fathers and leaders. Since the |
death of the lamented james Freeman
Clarke 1 do not know that we have a |
preacher of the Unitarian faith among us |
whose distinguishing theological opinions |
are worth studying New England Unita-
rianism in that last generation
HAS NOT DEVELOPED
q great theologian or church historian do |
not know, that Universalists have produced
such a man within that time. But on the
other hand, let it be understood in the Orient
AMI in England that New England ortho-
doxy has been sharpened by the controver-
sizes of the century. If Japan is to have the
best, let it choose New England orthodoxy
OF the most exalted type. Unitarianism has
been eminent in literature, rather than in
theology. 1t has developed philanthropists,
but not more than orthodoxy. But the |
financial sacrifices of the evangelical
churches shows the seriousness of their faith.
We give our money and our lives for the
support of those views which are commonly
called evangelical. L do not think radical
Unitarianism is much above the best forms
Of religious instruction of the iightof Asia
81 am not Unitarian, because I do not |
find in Unitarianism any ineligible ac-
count OF how man is to be delivered from the
0uilt of sin. 1t knows nothing Of vicarious