The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-10-02

the acceptance of the teachings of
the Scriptures as having supreme and
absolute authority. The Universalist
Church stands on doctrines that are
revealed, and however much it may
be able to show the accord of it's
teachings with philosophy, science,
or whatever else may be set up as
tests of reasonableness, our highest
authority must be "Thus saith the
Lord" Universalism is the doctrine
OF Gods purpose concerning the race,
in Jesus Christ, who 'spake as never
man spake," and for knowledge of
whose teachings we are wholly in
debted to the Scriptures. To omit
from our Profession of Faith any
recognition of this truth is to omit
the basal foundation of all Christian
belief. The first article, therefore,
unless we are ready to announce our
selves as not a Christian church,
ought to stand as our fathers framed
it. And we are happy in believing
that great majority of our people,
preachers aud laymen, object to it's
being cast aside. However others
may ignore the Scriptures, the Uni
versalist Church builds its all on its
teachings; and so long as this is its
attitude it should not fail to declare
it in it's Profession of Faith.
A Jealous advocate of the Meriden
substitute, just after the action on it
in 1895, but now strongly opposed to
its being ratified, made this as one
of the strongest of his objections to
the Winchester Profession: 1T
makes too much of the Scriptures"
1t was sufficient, he thought, to
accept Jesus Gas spiritual leader"
But how does he or anybody else
know anything about Jesus save as
he learns it from the Scriptures?
And do not those same Scriptures as
plainly teach that Jesus is the re-
vealer of God, commissioned in a
special sense to show men the Father:
"the brightness of Gods glory and
the express image of His person."
the only being to whom God has
committed the reconciliation of the
world to Himself, and through and
by whom "God shall be all in ala"
''Too much of the Scriptures" What
spectacle!" A man by means of
the Scriptures raises himself to the
recognition of Jesus 'as a spiritual
leader" and then knocks from under
him all the authority that has made
the recognition possible Can any
tLing be more absurd?
To Article ii: "We believe that
there is one God, whose nature is
Love, revealed in one Lord, Jesus
Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace
who will finally restore the whole
family of mankind to holiness and
happiness; three objections have
been put forth, and originally the
only change sought in the whole
profession by those who advocated
change was the substitution of
anotho word for the word restore"
But of late it has been thought by
the opposers of the profession that
other and quite as significant errors
are in this article. What has been
alleged as one of these errors is, that
to all intents and purposes, it teaches
Trinitarianism. We do not discover
any possible analysis of the language
of the article that can allow such
statement. The zone God revealed
IN one Lord Jesus Christ, by one
Holy Spirit of Grace, " cannot possibly
be Trinitarian statement. The
propositions in the declaration rule
out such motion and make it utter
ly impossible as deduction or infer
ence from such language.
Besides for eight years prior to
1903 the denomination had been
rapidly becoming Unitarian in it's
thought of God and Christ; and by
1905, according to DR.. Hosea BalIou
I'd, it had, 80 far as its preachers
were concerned, all renowned Trim
itarianism with only two or three
exceptions. There is no doubt but
that two years before the date which
he names, the year of the Winchester
Convention, majority had become
Authoritarian. 1t is not to be sup
posed that they would have assented
to Trinitarian statement in their
Profession of Belief. Certainly
Hosea Ballou, the pioneer, in 1895, of
the Unitarian movement, would not
have reported the article and recon-
mended its adoption if he had re-
garded it as setting forth the dogma
of the Trinity. Walter FERRIS, who
drafted the Profession of Belief, was
among those who had come to dis
A. A.