The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-01-18

prets The Bible, and continues the direct revela-
s.on OF truth. The church IA above reason.
VI .ne individual or of collective human
ue roman church through its institutions
selafss what Its members shall do and saw and
$50 what they shall think on matter of faith
Nao"iedse. The Greek church be-
THIS same class, though sep
salnority about any doctrine Is with the
enuIeh- And We may say the Episcopal COM
menion also, that portion which really believes
An tne apostolical succession and ia authority.
may % CHASED with the Roman Catholics a
mater OF TACT the strictest Eplscopeiians are by
VIC iogic OF their high church doctrine often
carried over 20 the Roman Catholic fold Let u.
now turn to evangelical Protestanti.rn Here
ssain we may say all three OF the authorities we
na'e named are believed in. for the Protestant
reasons and takes the reasoning OF others He
oeneves also In the higher collective wisdom of
.ns church as an organized institution and the
sssditions II adopts or symbols or creeds il or
uaansi out his final authority, his supreme
court OF appeal Is the Bible aud the word of God
There contained, which In 10 him
.nIainoie for all spiritual and moral
nuth- Protsstants are, indeed. divided
INTO many sects. according to the Interpretation
which Is put upon the Scriptures, or the en-
phasis OF some doctrine, or form. or method of
. -. government but they unite in declaring
TIC bioie 70 be hnafiy authoritati We For ex-
emple, the CalviDists claim that the Bible
se'ches election and predestination: the Arme-
Dian clsims that the Bible teaches free grace
oHered TO all, and the Seventh-day Adventist
Hnas the perpetual ordinance of the SATURDAY.
oaooatn there; but what really unites them aII
n one body, rs contrasted with Roman Cath
ones. Is that they declare the Bible to be really
about Is only the Interpretation; but they intend
20 ceheve and obey whatever the Bible saws.
suppose the doctrine of everlasting punishment
IL In court. The evangelical Protestant
sccspts 1t simply and only because he
tninks he finds it In the Bible. Many
evangelical believers admit that resson and
conscience protest against it, but the protest il
ste-nly put down and Is called a temptation of
the oeviL Doctrines like the trinity or vicarious
ssonsmenf, or the miraculous conception, or
second advent are generally believed. when be-
LeVeo py Protestants, on the authority OF the
bioie over the reason or the conscience which
may seem TO testify against them.
80 much for the classification of Catholics and
evangelical Pro:estants. You are now prepared,
Trust, by the lines already indicated, to antici-
pate the liberal Christian position. Like the
others, the liberal Christian accepts ell three
authorities. but he takes up the remaining
possible position, as to which is, If not final
and supremely authoritative, at least the high
est authority and progressively final in the his
tory OF our race
The Unitarian receives the Bible and the
cnufch-the former as a historical monument of
immense value, the greatest religious literature
on earth. He values each as repositories of
truth ana holiness, but he holds neither of them
10 De infall bic nor authoritative in any sense of
nnality. The supreme court of the liberal Chris
tan is reason; not, beg you to consider, not
any man ana every mans reasoning; not any
thing that may chance to come into a mans
head, nor even what is called the understand
Ing or logical faculty in man: not the reason of
Asia or Europe, but reason in universal human
isy. We use the word reason in a high and n
generic sense-for the cumulative conscious
ness, thought conscience and continuity of
spiritual apprehension, in man, in men, in
human nature. And in order to convey more
fully what we mean we prefer to say that our
supreme court, our final authority is
the voice OF God speaking in and through
the reason as its perpetual taber-
naele. We regard as the ground of all
truth the perpetual communication of light
and life from God TO man. BY reason we mean
no less than that 1t is the totality Al human
capacity to discover and receive divine truth,
and to receive its testimony down to the pres
emit hour II you ask whose reason, and how
the decisions are made up and become authori-
tative, answer the selection is all the while
going on, and the answers are being registered
in the truths that survive and nourish the race
You will see then how the Unitarian will meas.
ure and interpret any alleged doctrine, as, for
example, OF everlasting punishment The
authority Of the church, though it be so august
as the Roman Catholic with century laden ira
ditions, is not final. Nor the authority of the
Bible, even were that unquestionably testifying
to everlasting punishment, which we do not
think it does, but were that doctrine of eternal
urrfet
would still carry 1t TO the court of higher APP
peal-to the reason and conscience of humanity,
TO the voice of God speaking there, for better
Interpretation OF the facts of sin and penalty,
OF human freedom and divine holiness
and love. To the Second Adventist, with
his doctrine OF world catastrophe
prophesied in Scripture, the Unitarian
again answers with an appeal to higher author
fty God. he says, has written His thought into
rocks and stars, into science well as into an
cient PHILOSOPHERS and experiences, and His
majesty is In the progressive growth of ages,
and the prophecies of His methods in years to
come are seen in His method for ages past Rea-
son-the collective thought AID measure in uni
verssi humanity, the accumulation of revised
intelligence of the present AGES the court of
appeal, the highest we know. Take the doc
trine of the second advent there, and how
speedily it is dismissed with costs" 1t does
not belong TO the order of nature and Gods
methods as revealed TO the living world The
Unitarian's higher authority thus meets and dis
poses of numberiess phases of false or half
true doctrine, and enables him to fear.
les,ly carry TO the Bible itself the
cr ieal inquiries which qualify and
classify it's books and writers and literary form
and contents. / wish / might convey to my
hearers my own profound sense of the mates
tic authority, as from the very prss>nce o.
revealing God. which seems to me the posses
sion OF Unitarian who clearly apprehends the
principles / have just stated For when we APP
peal to reason. that total consciousness OF the
highest and best gifts of God, we are really be-
leving in God living, and realizing
that in him we live and move and have our be-
ing There is phraze which is much used:
The consensus OF the competent" IL means
that for every sphere of knowledge or endeavor
there are best minds and noblest
experiences, whom Others learn to
look up to and trust Such men are the
worlds great masters, and they are gladly
looked to and called authorities. Using the
word in a free sense, authority is everywhere
about us The authority of intelligence, OF the
competent, the physician in disease, the engi-
ncer in a construction, the pilot In a hsrbor,
the statesman in a national crisis, the great SOL
der IN time OF war. There is an authority OF
character The mere word or look of some men
carries a weight greater than hundreds OF in
ferior intelligence. But we never think OF ap-
pealIng TO such authority as final or infalltble,
or class il above reason-the result of some
shaw aat zersN n.