The times., 1899-10-19

! tiOu the same inspiring doctrine of hope
and trust which Claiming and Theodore
Parker preached to the individual soul
We need not dwell on the material
/ greatness Of the American people. present
I or future. We ought rather to dwell on
/ the moral greatness Of the nation il
can be and ought TO be-.
We are likely to have more influence
. than any other nation on the civilization
az the twentieth century Our influence
VIII be due 10 something more than our
: vast Industrial power. We shall be a new
nation, made up by combining the national
. characteristics CT several OF the strong
races Of northwestern Europe-suhstan-
TALLY the same races which combined to
. form the English n2tiCn. There is no rea-
. son 10 believe that these races viii de-
I teTlOT2te under the American climate, or
that their combination in America viii be
. less virile than it was in England. The
/ English language will have more influence
than any other on the intellectual life Of
the twentieth century. and We shall con-
stltute more than half Of all the English
4 speaking people of the world.
Il think the average American does not
i give so large part OF his life and though
10 making money as he did thirty OF forty
I years ago. Life in this country has more
varied interests than it had then. Still,
the danger Of too much industrialism re-
mains. To overcome it is the service
which the Unitarian Church owes to the
national life OF the twentieth century.
+ It cannot be overcome by authority, or
by any religious doctrine Of fear. It can
only be overcome by appealing to the dig
nifty Of human nature and the possible
nobility Of human life. II is the doctrine
f of hope. which so many writer's and
. preachers of today-0rthodox as well as
4 UnitaTiaH-have derived directly or in
directly from the Unitarian pulpit Of the
nineteenth century"
Religious Reconstruction.
Rev. Paul R. rockingham. Of New Bed
ford, Mass, spoke next on The Appeal for
/ Religious Reconstruction. He said the
/ question Of what appeal could be made by
! Christians was easily answered. It was
( the appeal for religious reconstruction.
This was the one great object that should
. be worked for. There was certain amount
( OF truth in the assertion that the doe
( tTines and dogmas OF Christ were settled.
/ The religious appeal for the nineteenth
1 century was for destruction, and now the
world was waiting for religious reconstruc-
tion.
There was much good material in the
; way OF religious ideas that had been thrown
I into the nineteenth century wastebasket.
There was need for a new liturgy, a new
/ theology. new atmosphere. Unitarian
: leaven was not at work and signs were
! visible everywhere in the world that men
were waiting for something new IN reli-
gion. The old creeds are full of superfui-
ties. which should be reduced to a solid
basis and then rebuilded into something
definite
DR.. Frnthingham questioned the asser-
ton OF Senator Hoar in his opening ad-
dress IN saying that il was the glory OF
Unitarianism that IL could not be defined
He thought It was far from being glorlous.
Something definite must be builded This
should be based on the religious instinct
Of man which is the same today as it was
in the days of Elijah and of Christ It must
be established on the impregnable rock of
human nature.
Hr. Hudson's Remarks.
On the Appeal Of the Unitarian Church
to Christian Sentiment" the Rev. AdeI-
bert l. Hudson, of Buffalo, n. Y, said in
part:
Our Western civilization is profoundly
swayed by sentiment We may affect a
sort Of anthracite culture-heat without
hame-but give US an occasion worthy to
Hndls our enthusiasm. and We show our
selves at once as inliammable as dry drift
wood. The sentiment which has most in
huenced our progress during the present
century is reverence for liberty OF thought
as expressed IN our national and individual
life The special contribution OF Unita-
rianism TO that progress is that it has won
q place for this sentiment in religion. This
IN itself is no slight achievement. It has
meant salvation from despair to thousands
whose hearts have longed to hold fast the
religious idsals Of their youth. while their
minds have revolted from the creeds and
dogmas with which these ideals have
seemed hopelessly involved. And equally
it has meant salvation from Indifference to
other thousands who. in outgrowing old
beliefs have come dangerously near to los
ing faith IN the eternal verities. But the
chief value Of the work of Unitarianism in
this century is that IL has prepared the way
for nObler work in the next.
Rational thinking is an essential eIe-
ment in the highest civilization But its
value is small compared with the dyna-
mic power of lofty ideals. Il attains its
greatest usefulness when it furnishes the
soil in which these high ideals may fnd
most perfect growth. II is this opportunity
for usefulness which invites the most earn
est effort OF Unitarianism in the second
century of its organized activity
Real Source of Power.
The real source Of power of the Chris
LLaA ie4ABtDL 4Dee LDL lie IN Its outward
effort to identify the personality of Jesus
with the eternal God. It inheres rather In
the subconscious ideal Of a human Christ.
inspiring the heart and vitalizing the viii.
The tremendous revelation, stiI but faint
ly grasped, Of the essential unity OF God
and man. the possibility Of human nature.
present in all stages Of its iucompIateness. /
10 attain perfection through the unfolding
Of a divine life resident within itself and
the promise OF such attainment held out by
the example Of one human life which was
graIdly true TO what is in you and me.
This has always been the real substance OF
the Christian s faith
The elaborate and irrational worship OF
Jesus as God has hindered hitherto the
best Developments Of Christian sentiment.
As this hindrance becomes gradually re-
moved fuller opportunity Is given 20
make the ideal Of the Christ life con-
trolling force in all conceivable relations
Of the complex life Of man But this ideal
IS not hard and fast. Il contains a germ
Of the divine life capable of infinite ex-
pansion- Creeds cannot circumscribe il
nor definitions limit its unfolding tower
It's radiance Illuminates the untrod path
ways Of the coming century with the light
and promise OF Gods tenderness and love
and we turn with reverent affection from
the Christ that was and the Christ that is
he Christ that rp he