The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-01-12
we as yet anything to meet the Christian

people In. The Junior Endeavor starts
the child In taking sn active interest in
the churcn. Ns no grows older the Sen Tor
Department receives aim, but not usually
TO full membership until ne joins the
church. The other Junior societies train
their mem bers up for the older ones, and
M vacancies occur they are Elled at once,
and the mem bership is intact.
DO We Unitsria.Hs make any provision
plo sucp n chance? Think OF the temp
tation that an active, vigorous child has
to go where, 40 he says, they do some
thing.
Then again, notice Whist the induce
ments are to join the chuch and contrast
them with the mesgre invitation we ex-
lend.
We sometimes act as IL we were afraid
to ask people to join us, and there arc
some who seem TO take q perverse pride
In attending church regularly and paying
the rent without becoming members OF
the church.
IL VIE survey the ground carefully we
shall find that the best organized
churches are growing the fastest. Ii is
her magnificent system that supports
Rome. The Episcopalian denomination
owes as much or more to the business
ability with which it is mansgeo, as to
its elaborate ritual.
II we believe that Unitarianism is the
faith of the future, that il offers the best
solution yet found to the questions that
science and philosophy and human life
present to us. then Ii is our duty to give
1t the best chance We can, to organize 1t
thoroughly and we II and to do our ut
most to further il.
STRONG POINTS OF UNITARIANIsM.
Rev. Mr.. Mott of the Westminster Uni
tartan Church said in part: To. me the
strong point of Unitarisnism Is that 1t
makes much of convictions. It lays stress
upon the prime importance OF right be-
lief.
Convictions are the terminating points
from which all achievement springs.
They are the molding, shaping infu-
snces that decide the direction of mems
con tuct. They are the ultimate cause of
every line OF policy. 1t is contrary TO
common sense to say 1t makes no differ
ence what a man believes. 1t makes all
the difference Ia the world-all the differ
ence between happiness and misery, sue
cess and failure.
Is 1t of no consequences, think you,
whether q man holds duty to be a mere
expedient-to be used when convenient, to
be ignored when inconvenient, or whether
he holds 1t to be q divine command, q
name OF the living God.
II w.u be OF the supremest consequen ce
which view he holds.
The deep and vide abyss that separates
Us from the other churches is due to
difierence'of belief. For the sake OF what
the othordox fol1. We deny ourselves the
pleasures and the privileges of member
shiPTn great and splendid organizations,
not that we do not deeply appreciate the
siiuremeDt and the associations of such
organizations, but We hold that right belief
sacrificed even for beautiful surroundings
and august associations.
10 live in the spirit Of the two great
commandments OF Jesus Christ Is ell that
is necessary to make a man Christian
and to save his soul. That is our creed,
The simplest yet the nest difficult, tho
shortest yet the most potent for good, of
all the creeds of Christendom.
THE NEW UNITARIANIsM.
Rev. Augustus M. Lord said I'm brief:
The very first thing we want to do re-
garding Unitarianism Is to think-to get
clear in our thought just where it stands
and Just what Is stands for. The great
woak uess for a good many Unitarian lay
men and not q few Unitarian clergyman,
is that they do not know just why they
are Unitarians.
Now, one way of discovering the definite
GOSPEL and mission of Unitarisnism is by
oomp pairing them with the Gospel and
mission of other Christian bodies. What
are the leading issues bet tween US and
those closest to which compel both
them and ourselves to insist on q separste
existence, instead Of merging our des,i-
nies In one?
These essential issues, these lines of
divergence are entirely different from
what they were generation ago, and We
are sure to face more new issues in the
generation to come.
Members Of other churches will tell you
that the work Of q separate Unita ian
organization IL doue-it has liberslized the
other churches. They have changed
greatly In the last % years, they have sc-
cspted the best OF the Unitarian teach
ings.
Granted provided 1t is meant by this
the hest OF the teachings of the UnitarisDs
Of 25 or 80 years ago. but while the other
churches have team moving ths Unitarian
Church has not stood still.
Thers is q new orthodoxy-yes! and
there is a new unitarispism. II ia TO this
latter condition that think our clergy
and lsilv need Awakening.