The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-08-28

yersalist with the Unitarian body
as by the holding of union meetings
and joint conventions, and the ap'
pointment of fraternal delegates-lt
seems advisable that certain facts
should be stated in order that we
may not act in so important a mat
ter without a full understanding OF
what is involved.
Unfortunately, when this subject
came up at the Y. 2. c. Z. Conven-
ton lately held in Detroit, no oppor-
tunity was given for discussing 1t
except in a very brief and imperfect
manner and the probability is that but
few of the young people who voted
upon it we're aware of its full signiti
canoe or its real bearing on the well
fare of the Universalist Church. In
so EAR as the affirmative vote which
was taken indicated desire on the
part of the young people to co -oper-
ate with those Of another denomina-
ton who were supposed to hold sub
stantially the same Christian faith,
it was highly creditable to them; and
the more we all have Of that spirit
the better But while the motive
was a good one, the action, we APP
prehend, was not so, inasmuch as 1t
was based on a misunderstanding as
to the actual position of the Unita-
rian denomination with reference to
that Christian faith for which our
own denomination has stood from
the beginning, and to which our Y.
&C. q. is triumphantly committed
both by its title and by its motto
"For Christ and His Church"
For the sorry fact is that the Uni
tartan denomination does not stand
asa whole for that Christian faith. 1t
does not stand for faith in Christ.
Time was when it did; and even now
there are unquestionably some Uni
tarians who hold to the Biblical doc
trine which Claiming proclaimed,
and which is fundamental article
of the Universalist belief, that Jesus
of Nazareth was not merely a good
man, or prophet, to be ranked with
those of Old Testament times, or
with such men as Mohammed and
Confucius and Buddha, but that he
was-as Simon Peter said, and as he
himself testified when on trial before
the Sanhedrim- 1.-THE Christ, the
Son of the living God" But since
Channing's time the Unitarians as a
body have very widely departed from
that Biblical doctrine, and those
among them who still hold to it,
comparatively few already, are be-
coming fewer year by year. If the
question were whether as Universal
lists we should fraternize ecclesias-
tically with that small number of
Unitarians who still avowedly stand
for faith in Christ, the problem
would be much less serious than
now. But the question cannot be so
limited. The conservative Unita-
rians are a part of the whole Unita-
rian body, and it is with the body as
a whole that we have to deal in set
thing the question now before us.
That the Unitarians as whole do
not stand for faith in Christ is evil
dent from the following facts, not to
mention some others which might be
quoted.
At the meeting of the Western
Unitarian Conference, in 1886, after
an earnest and prolonged discussion,
it was voted by more than three
fourths majority to adopt a purely
ethical basis of fellowship, leaving out
all reference to the Lord Jesus Christ,
and admitting to full membership
any person of good moral character
who sympathized with the ethical
aim of the Conference. Under that
action, any person of ordinarily good
moral character, though confessedly
unchristian or atheistic in doctrine,
can be member of the Western Uni
tartan Conference. The dissenting
minority withdrew from the confer
ence because of that action, but
neither their protest nor their revolt
had any power to arrest the so-called
liberal movement which the vote of
the majority represented. On the
contrary, that movement steadily
gained in power, and in lS94-only
three years ago-this is not ancient
historY-the debate was renewed at
the Unitarian National Conference,
held in Saratoga, and there too, the
radical element, which is opposed to
a recognition of Christ, gained the
victory. The constitution was so
changed as to leave out all mention
Of the Christhood of Jesus, and the
only statement of faith which it now
contains is as follows: "These
T