Year: 1876

THE UNITARIAN CREED.


Discourse delivered by Mrs D. n Utter in Olympic


Hall, on Sunday evening" the 9th inst.


- BE ready always to give an answer to
every man that askcth you reason for the


1t Is good for US to pause occasionally,
and examine the ground upon which
we are standing and the path that has
led us to it, and tonight, without wait
ing for any man to ask us, let us look at
some of the beliefs and opinions we
hold, to discover why we hold them.
In many cases, this most wholesome ex-
ercise is too much or wholly neglected;
no doubt many persons grow up to mid
die age, supposing themselves to believe
things which in reality they do not be-
lieve at all, individually. They take
their opinions like sealed letter, of
whose contents they are ignorant, from
the hands of parents, or perhaps their
minister, or the sect into which they
were born, and carry it about with them
unopened. It is possible to live hap
PLY and successfully in this way for
many years, but it is not safe. There is
likely at any time to arise some test ques-
ton, where individual decision is i'm
perative, and the opinions of others can
no longer be taken unquestioned for
our own, and then the effect is like a
glare of light to eyes long closed-be-
wilderment, dazzle and pain. The only
right and natural course for us, to
whom God has given eyes, is to open
and use them. If any of us have not
done so heretofore, let us begin now.
To begin then at Che beginning of the
path, why are we Christians, in the
broadest sense of the word-not Ma.
homedans, or Buddhists.. think the
first and truest answer to this question
is, because we were born in q Christian
land and all the influences that surround
us and all the laws of inheritance COM
Mned to make us so. OF course, if we
had been born of savage parents, in
some remote corner of the earth, where
the name of Christ is unknown-if there
be such a corner in this age of mission
aries-however moral and upright we
might have been, we could not have
been followers of Christ consciously.
And here the question occurs to me,
confess for the first time, Is this suffi-
cient reason, Or is it really every
mans duty to examine for himself other
religions, for whose sake men have been
willing to lay down their lives, or un-
der whose influence they have lived
nobly and we'll? Although the principle
of the text, strictly carried out, would
lead to that, do not think it would be
worth while under ordinary circumstan-
ces. If life were long enough to enable
us to follow every path that opens as far
as it goes, no doubt there would be
much interest and some profit in thus
comparing the religions Of the world;
but considered as duty think we are
quite justified in taking the ex.
perience of past generations for our
own to that extent. We know that in
Christ we have noble guide and leader;
we see and feel that every attempt to
follow in his footsteps, every effort to
ecome like him, unselfsh and SELF
sacrificing, in life and spirit, lifts US up
and makes us nobler and truer men and
women; and until we have mastered
this lesson and learned to carry out
perfectly in our own lives the principles
that governed his, we are under no OBJ
obligation, as believe, to look else
where. But such q study would not be
lost if it taught us, as think in many
cases it would, to respect the moral lead
ers that have beenand are still venerated
by the followers of other religions
whose lives were to their people in some
degree what the life of Christ is to US.
Were not they too sent by God to help
his children rise one step nearer to him
But we do believe that more of Gods
spirit was shown to men through the
words and deeds Of Christ than any
other way, and Therefore we are Christ.
ians in our relision-theoretically, OF
least. .I.


J And now why are we Unitarian
Christians Some of us perhaps by
birth, but all of us hope who call our
selves by that name, by conviction also
for as regards thsaaet 10 which he be-
longs, think it IN sssasspsrson's plain
duty to think and decide for himself
and act up honestly to the conclusion
at which he arrives. With oil respect
for the good people of every sect who
honestly differ, it does seem to me
that the doctrines held by the great
body of Unitarians contains more Of
Gods truth than those of any other sect
of Christians, and that is why 1 am
Unitarian.


It seems to me that we occupy mid
die ground between the two extremes,
of the Evangelical churches on one
hand and the Free Religionists on the
other, more free from error and more
conducive to right living than either.
Take for instance our ideas OF the
right use of Sunday. The custom Of
the Puritans in regard TO the observance
OF this day was almost strictly Jewish;
they retained the Jewish name of Sab
bath, and made their Sunday laws in
the spirit of the Fourth Commandment,
exactihg strict penalties from all Of
tenders and making the breaking OF the
Sabbath q sin not to be lightly passed
over. Perhaps in many homes in the
land the shadow of this Puritanic Sab
bath still 1inpers hushinu tho ninth nj