The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-11-05
N|TAR|AN|SM IS BRIEFLY OUTLINED The Rev, MT. Billings Addresses
 Large Audience CLAIMS L0FTIEST FAITH The Preacher Said Unitarian Church Stood for Freedom of Thought,
 Deeper Love and
 Nobler Life.

yesterday morning brought cut many peo- pie who expressed a sincere ana sup | stantial interest in the establishment ol a church here The sermon by the Rev. | Charles T. Billings was regarded by those present as one of the ablest expositions of Unitarianism ever listened to in Bir- mingham. not excepting the able dis courses heard here from time to time by visiting Unitarian clergymen
 The present movement, judging rom | the attendance and interest shown ln | the first meeting will result in the build ing of a large Unitarian congregation in | this city.
 1 The music was excellent especially the solo, 70 Lord Be Merciful,' rendered by Miss Ethel Black
 MT. Billings states that he represented the American Unitarian association. and was here to see if people in Birmingham will not be interested in the establishment of a Unitarian church. He will endeavor in the next few Sundays to make the public familiar with it's thought and life, and will be glad to see or call upon any who will make known their interest to him at 1O1S South Sixteenth street.
 Preaching from Rev. q, 1, MT. Billings | subject yesterday morning was: What the Unitarian Church Stands For" and he spoke in part as follows:
 'Iet us first guard against msappre- | hensions. It has often been said that the | Untarians have no faith. We maintain | that we have the loftiest faith. 1t IS often said that we deny Christ. It is true we do | not believe that Christ is God; but we do l hal ic n that links us all very closely to the divin- 1 ity that was in Jesus We believe we are | closer to His thought than any other | Christian body. He nowhere claims equal ity with the Father. He says, indeed I | and the Father are one; but He must mean one in spirit only. For does He not elsewhere confess He is subordinate to the Father? Why callest thou Me good? | He asks the rich young ruler who comes | to Him. There is none good save one even God Several times elsewhere in the gospels He denies equality with God. 1 Now, leaving these misapprehensons | let us see what the mission of the church | really'is. If we understand that mission right it Is to hold up to men the noblest and truest vision of life, humanity and | God. It was vision of the new heaven and the new earth that moved John on the Isle of Patmos. It was vision which impelled Paul to take up Christianity. All | the function of the church either to en- rich this vision by adding to its truth or else make it more real by new appli- l cation to life and duty. That is what 1 every church is doing today, and the real difference in the churches is the diff | ference in the vision they hold before the eyes of men. We of the Unitarian church maintain that our vision is the loftiest.
 Freedom of Thought.
 "Why, then do we maintain this? Let us us see what Unitarianism stands for. In the first place we stand for freedom of thought. There was in the old days a | shrinking from allowing reason to ap- proach the great truhts of religion. The church said you must not use your req | son in studying the Bible or Christ or God And why? Because of the fear that | as reason approached, faith would de- part.
 Tn early times it was not so. Christian ity was a hardy plant and welcomed all the light of truth, because it was so well l able to meet the tempests that seemed to | menace 1t. The real men of faith are not those who fear to lose it when the search ing light of reason is thrown upon 1t, but they who know that no reasoning of any man or any group of men can take from faith anything that is eternal. Theories have their day and pass away. Truth abides.
 ''So the Unitarans said: Let us have all the light there is. God will be more truly God Jesus will mean more to us, as we see the real strength and beauty of | His life.'
 Therefore, they welcomed all the light, and what was the result? At first in- deed. it was merely negative. The search ing light of reason had been kept from | the creeds of the church for centuries. The undergrowth had to be cut away, the clearing had to be made before the foun- dation for the new and fairer temple could be laid. But soon the positive work | began, and faith and reason were found mutually helpful. Even doctrines that seemed subversive of religion really helped it in the end For example, the doctrine of evolution was seen only to enlarge the | purpose of God. It was not a force of itself. It was merely the way in which God worked His creation was longer 1 in the making than we had dreamed. Steadily philosophy kept on its way, un- til it formed the creed we have now We | believe in the fatherhood of God, the l brotherhood of man, the leadership of Jesus, salvation of character, the progress of mankind upward and onward forever. And this creed is prophetic of the larger revelations yet to come.
 Sincerity in Religion.
 Now, what else does Unitarianism ] stand for? Besides freedom of thought, | Unitaranism stands for absolute sin cerity in religion It does not pretend to believe what it only half believes. Sin cerity means giving the whole self and in this giving faith must not be confounded with belief Belief in theories about Christ must not be confused with belief in Him. The only real faith man has is what he believes with all his heart and soul and mind
 'rhe difference between faith and be- lief is well illustrated by the experience of the boy learning to swim who, per suaded of the physical law that the water will bear him up, yet, put to the test, lacks faith necessary to bring him to trust himself to the waters.
 Finally, the Unitarians believe that, great as the power of thought is. yet character is more than creed. Jesus when He asked Matthew and Peter to follow Him. did not ask what they believed l about Him or God. He anly said, follow me-, and something in the great person. | ality of Jesus impelled these men to fol- low.
 Tn the 9 chapter of Matthew where Jesus is describing the final day of judg- ment it is not creed that is to count but service. and service to the least of hu- manity was service to Him. This em- phass on character is needed now. What is the great demand in public life? Men | of character. What better helps a man l. H.