The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-05

moro noticeable. Just a. the century
turned, the Church In plymouth. which
had been that Of the Pilgrim fathers, be-
came quite definitely Unitarian, the more
orthodox Of the communicates soon after
ward Withdrawing and setting up for them
selves" Generally. as the gulf widened,
the communicates, or Church proper,
were found on the orthodox side, and the
society which owned the church prop
erty. upon the other. The course pur-
sued by the Church OF the Pilgrim fathers
had a far-reaching influence. More than
a hundred churches ouided by the Puri-
tans followed It's lead. When Henry Ware
In 1905 was made Hollis professor Of the
ology In Harvard Collegs the incident sas
recognized on both aid rs as critical. II
was obvious that by this act the college
became Unitarian. and reaction set in.
one outcome Of which was the establish
ment Of the Andover Theological Seminary
in 1908.
There Is no doubt tina the Unitarian con-
troversy reached its acute stage In 1915,
and II was in this year that William Ellery
Charming set forth the principles OF the
liberal movement In an article entitled
The System OF Exclu ZION and Denuncia-
ton In Religion" Mr.. Chadwick, one OF the
few men Of our day that have read 1t. con-
siders IL much less elal sorate than the more
classical treatment o the same subject
a few years later by Jsmes Walker. Chan
ming contended that he honor Of religion
would never suffer by admitting to Chris
tan fellowship men. Of irreproachable
charity whatever might be their theology
cal creed. All that vas asserted In this
and several subsequent articles was set
forth more fully and carefully In the famous
Baltimore Sermon preached at the or
dination Of the Rev. Jared Sparks In 1919.
This sermon Ii regarded by Mr. Chadwick
as the strongest ever preached by Chan
ming on distinctly Unitarian lines and as
his most important contribution to the
Unitarian controversy and to the definite
indignation OF tine Unitarian body, as dis
tinguished from, orthodox Congregational
ism. Several editions OF this sermon
presently appe Ared. and its circulation Is
said not to hav, been exceeded by that Of
any other Amer ican publication up to 1880.
1t Is we'll known that the Unitarians tri-
umphed in 1890. when the famous -Dedham'
decision was rendered by the Supreme
Court Of Mass achusetts. We quote Mr..
Chadwick's sue cinct account Of this epoch
making inoide nt .The Dedham parish
had settled Alran Lamson two years be-
fore. Charming had been one Of
the ordaining 'souncil Very soon the ma
jority OF the church members (communi-
cants) became dissatisfied with Mr.. Lam
sons Unitaria n preaching. whereas a ma
jority OF the phrish we're moro than pleased
with II. The, decision. Of the Supreme
Court left the majority Of the parish In
possession o. the church name, records
and even the communion plate Our
author point out that no other circum-
stance did So much TO embitter the rela-
tons Of the orthodox and liberals The
decision seeiiied TO reverse all the tradi-
lions Of New England churches, and.
whereas those had long subordinated the
secular to the ecclesiastical powers. the
decision subjected the latter to the use
and sway ~ the former.
Although ut subsequent period Claiming
described himself as little of a Unitarian
our author holds that he did as much "a
any one to stamp the new departure with
it's Unitari an name. -Mr. Andrews Norton
gives him the credit or the blame Of being
the frst mong the liberals to name himself
and thoes In substantial agreement with
him Uni tarians. With him and others
there Wis, however. some wavering at
first; q general preference for the term
Liberal or Liberal Christian.' yet with
hesitatio n. lest this might prove the as
sumptioil OF a virtue where they had It
not II, il certain that with every year
after Is2 o the aggregation Of the Unitarian
churche, into a distinct denomination was
more ,sured. The first number Of the
Chrisfidn Register. which had In view
a popular presentation of the rational and
liberal exposition. was published 1901.
We noi.e in passing that there has been
no bre ak in the line OF it's weekly publi-
cation since Aug. - Of the year just men,
toned In 1924 the Regisfer was sup
pleme,,ted by the Chrishan Examiner,
which continued to be printed until 1859.
Finally, in 1925. the American Unitarian
Association was definitely organized At
that tirae the Unitarian churches numbered
about l22. Twenty years later they num-
bered some $50; there are now about $40
Unitarian churches in the United States,
although they are by no means agreed
as to creed.
II.