The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-06
MESSAGE OF
GREAT UNKNOWN
Delivered at Time When Jews Were
in Despair.
FALSE ORTHODOX CLAIMS
REV. FRANK FAY EDDY DIS
COURSES ON UNITARIANIsM

The Unitarian Example" was the
theme of Rev. Frank Fay Eddy's dis
course at the services in Unitarian hall
yesterday. The text was from Isaiah
w. 1. "Ho. everyone that thirsteth,
come We TO the waters. and he that
hath no money. come We buy and eat;
yea. come buy wine and milk without
money and without price" Mr. Eddy
spoke in part as follows:
Jewish history presents the strange
anomaly that from the darkest hour
of misfortune, when the Israelites were
broken and crushed. captives in a
mighty city swollen in the pride of its
victories and enriched by the spoils of
the conquered-Out of this time that
would naturally engendeT hOpelessness
and despair, there arose a pean of tri-
umphant prophecy In that day or
evil fortune when Jerusalem lay IN
ruins far away on the hills he loved
that Jew. unknown even as to name
by us addressed his wonderful prophe-
cies 20 his people. so lofty in diction,
so profound in faith and so aspiring in
hope that we may say without exag-
gsration that in them the literature of
the Jew strikes it's highest note.
A Theme For Today.
Today I would bring to you a theme
from the heart of this great un<nown's
message. 1t is not because 1 want to
draw any far-fetched analysts between
modern Unitarians in the Judaism OF
the exile, but that / may remind you
OF the glory and power of the evangel
given into our keeping. We need to
hear some prophet voice that We may
e persuaded of it's intrinsic worth We
of all Christians ought to go forth 10
this modern world. proud i'm it's ma
teTial cOnquestS, mad in its lust for
pelf and place and power. yet deep in
its heart crying for spiritual satistac-
ton, for to this era we have peculiarly
the broad gospel which viii at once
still the duestionings of the intellect
and feed the needs of the spirit. But
given the strength of conviction and
the passionate eaTneStnesS to match the
worth of an evangel, we shall go forth
and upon our lips shall be the cry, 'Ho.
everyone that thirsteth, come go to the
waters
Mr.. Eddy then said that in the
work of building up the church OF the
free spirit in this city it was necessary
to realize that the thing of primary
Importance was that all the member
ship should be infused with this conVic-
ton of the strength and soul-satisfying
character of the gospel they accepted.
The sermon then continued:
Doctrine of Liberalism.
"In our thoughts of God we find i'm
piled all the rest of the doctrines, the
illogical and humanitarian, of which the
Unitarian evangel may be said TO con-
sist In the modern thought of the
free churches of liberalism the concept
of the divine presence is rounded out
and completed. In the monotbeistio
idea to be discovered in the religious
history of almost every great people
whose past history has been read, we
find the ancient history of our thought
II ,4GTa
the two great concepts of GOd-God
creating and governing the universe
from without and God fused in the uni
verse and expressing himself III every
manifestation of life and being.
THE first concep tiOn is the gift of
the Jews They enlarged their tribal
deity until they saw in him the master
of the world and finally the governor
of the universe. But their idea is ever
that of a deity self-eXistent and indie
pendent of the universe. But the
Greeks bring US the thought of a spirit
of reason, an imminent and eternal in
teIIigence which abides in all things
And 10 this may be added the panthe-
istic thought of the Orient of the di-
vine spirit expressing itself in all the
myriad forms and forces of the uni
verse. The Jewish concept is weak in
its philosophy; the Greek and oriental
doctrine lacks the element of divine
personality. 1t is by fusing the con-
ccption of the divine innocence with
the Jewish thought of divine being.
that we get the perfected ideal of God.
Shortcoming of Orthodoxy.
with this wide thought of God we
must see the sacredness and the limi-
tations of all Bibles; the ChristoloGy
of orthodoxy seems to have about it an
inadequate and partialistic invention,
diSboyor \ like TO the Christ * exploits
and the man il would save; our view of
human history becomes inclusive and
q chosen people would be an inexplic-
able anomaly: and in all things are
found the revelation of God. The
whole is an unfolding unity and in it is
no discordant note. The philosophic
mind must look with suspicion on any
doctrine that needs a special and arti-
fetal adjustment TO the facts of hu-
man experience as does the ChriStology
still in the creeds of Christendom.
The test of doctrine is salvation. Is
T-nitarianism sufficient for salvation?
Yes i'm the only way God has provided
for escape from sin, by the evolution
of character BY spiritual growth in ac-
oOrdance with laws of spiritual being.
The fostering Of the delusion that di-
vine grace could be poured into an
empty human soul as one pOurS water
into a cup has wrought measurelesS
harm. as has the thought that through
the blood OF Christ sins could be wiped
out of human souls as we wipe from
slate the problems we find unsoIvable.
But by the Unitarian evangel we may
discover the way of widening truism to
the perpIexed soul, we may point out
the righteousness that is indestruct-
ibIe and the love that is the solution
of lifs's perpleXities."
|. The sermon concluded with a sum