The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-26
Something of Modern Thought

A recent issue or the New fofk sun
 contained an editorial headed Progress l sive Unitariansm" in which 1t was stated
 that a Methodist clergyman in the west
 attracted attention by discourse warn l ing the country against the steathy diff 1 fusion of Unitarian doctrines among the l members of the Evangelical commun- 1 ions.' The Sun then goes on to say that
 precisely what is meant by Unitarian doctrines would not be apparent were il
 not tha. the Methodist clergyman de
 nounces the denomination as distinctly
 non Christian"
 There have been in recent years various l types of Untarianism. The Charming 1 Unitarians, known 10 former genera | tion. were unquestionably Christians, al- l though not orthodox according to the
 standards of Trinitarian bodies. But pr. Charming, the prince of American 1 Unitarians in his day, believed in the
 divinity of Christi although not in the
 doctrine of the holy Trinity. The radical type Of modern Unitaranism is far away from the Channing school.
 Prof. Ephram Emerton of the Harvard Divinity school. in his recently published
 book entitled Unitarian Thought de- clares: Let it be clearly set down at the outset that Unitarians believed Jesus
 of Nazareth to have been man like
 the rest of us' The same authority fur
 ther says; 'The person of Jesus thus takes it's place in Unitarian thought as
 one in a long line of revealers to men
 of the law by which they are called upon to live. He was not the first; He will not he the last"
 Professor Emerton tells us that Uni tarians meet the whole proposition of the miraculous with a general denial. .There is" he says, mo such thing as mir ace" The Sun concludes its editorial l thus.
 l The color scheme in Professor Finer 1 tons conception of present day Unita- rianism Is rather pallid. It would chill
 to the bone many of those good men and
 women who used to call themselves Chan 1 ming Untarians."
 | Unitarans of all schools have been
 noted for their virtuous living. I have | known many of them and have never 1 been acquainted with one, and have never | known Of one, who was not a person of
 good morals The Tntarians have cer-
 tainly been distinguished for their benev-
 olence and their neighborliness; but the l Methodist divine, If he had in mind the
 modern type, was right in characterizing those Of the advanced school" as non
 Christians, for there if Is In black and
 white-there 1t is presented in plain lan- guage by Professor Emerton. The | "stealthy diffusion of Unitarian doc | trines," against which the Methodist min
 ister raises his voice, is found In Eu- rope even to larger extent, perhaps. l than in this country. Germany is full | of nominal Christians, but agnosticlsm
 Is rampant in Berlin. It is also ram
 pant in Geneva. the home of John Cal
 win. the greatest of all the Protestant | theologians. Within the memory of men
 now living ratonalism has spread and ! has become a menace to orthodox Chris
 tianity Some say that science has
 wrought this change in thought of many enlightened people Many persons seem l to be upset as the result of modern ad- | vanees made in the study of evolution,
 sands of learned men who hold that sci- ence and belief in the supernatural 1 do not conflict in the least.
 I have read infdel books and have heard | infidels discuss religion and ridicue doc I trines held dear by Christians. Their
 smattering of science and their very
 new psychology sought to discredlt or l invalidate the Bible as a dlvnely l inspired book. Agnostics speak of the
 Gospels as if they were mythical mar
 ra tives. I have often wondered how the modern savant who rejects orthodox l Christianity would dispose of St. Paul | the apostle. No one can read the writ
 ngs of Paul without being impressed with the authors culture and metaphy- 1 sical turn or mlnd, HS well as ms pas
 sionate faith. If there was ever logl-
 cian whose syllogisms were perfect and
 easily applied to human conduct Paul
 was one. He knew the world thorough l ly: his head was full of hard common sense, and he was the last man on the earth to be deluded or carried away by some visionary spell. I can easily un- derstand how the human mind could
 become unsettled in religious matters. but 1t is not easy to understand how
 any educated persons could read St Paul
 and doubt the truth of New Testament
 revelation.