History of Rationalism Embracing a Survey of the Present State of Protestant Theology Part 29

and that the _Essays and Reviews_, "its genuine product, may contribute somewhat thereto."[258]

The quarterly organ of the Unitarians, _The Christian Examiner_, has pa.s.sed an encomium on the same exponent of English Rationalism, in which it manifests no tempered gladness at skepticism within the pale of the church. It says, with undisguised satisfaction, that "either these seven essayists must have been in very close and intimate confidential relations as friends or fellow-students, and have held many precious conferences together in which they were mutually each other's confessors; or, there must be quite a large number of very able and very heretical sinners in the Church of England, within easy hail of each other, and so thick in some neighborhoods that it is the readiest thing in the world to pick out a set of them who, 'without concert or comparison,' will contribute all the parts of a _fresh and unhackneyed system of opinion_."

One of the most direct and outspoken of all the organized attacks of American Rationalism upon evangelical Christianity occurred at the first public anniversary of the Young Men's Christian Union, of New York. Its importance was due to the diversity of unevangelical bodies there represented, and to the celebrity of several of the speakers.

Unitarianism, Swedenborgianism, and Universalism mingled in happy fraternity. The speakers were Drs. Osgood, Bellows, Sawyer, and Chapin; Rev. Messrs. Barrett, Peters, Mayo, Higginson, Miel, Blanchard, and Frothingham; and Richard Warren and Horace Greeley, Esquires.

The Union seems to have been designed as a counterpoise to the large and flourishing Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation, which is comprised of earnest and active members of all orthodox denominations. The platform of the former may be determined from the following significant language: "The Anniversary of the Young Men's Christian Union was the first instance in which so many of the leading minds in the various branches of the liberal and progressive portion of the Christian church have met on one common platform, for the purpose of discussing the practical bearings of that higher type of Christianity which refuses to be limited by any dogma, or fettered by any creed."[259] One of the speakers, in explaining the relations of the Union to the church, said: "We maintain, then, that we are _in_ the church, _are_ the church--not a part of it, but the whole church,--having _in_ us the heart and soul of orthodoxy itself, the essence of all that gave life to its creed, the utmost significance and vital force of what it taught and still teaches, in what we conceive to be a stuttering and stammering way, in a c.u.mbrous and outworn language, with a circuitous and wearisome phraseology; but meaning really what we mean, and doing for men essentially what we are doing. All that we claim is a better statement of the old and changeless truth, a disembarra.s.sed account of the ever true and identical story....

We have not separated ourselves from the brethren [orthodox]; we hold them in our enclosure; we are always ready to receive them, to welcome them. We are not expecting they will receive us, on account of their providential position. We have an intellectual perception of what the times demand and what the future is to be. We can see clearer than they.

We can see why they are wrong; they cannot see why we are right--but they will presently.... The actual presence of G.o.d in the world, in all his love and mercy, supplying our deficiencies, helping our infirmities, consecrating and transforming matter, giving sanct.i.ty and beauty to life--this is what the _renewing_ of the old faith offers to humanity.

"The indistinct perception of this faith and the divine craving to see it clearly, and bring it to the sight of others, has led to the existence and organization of the Liberal churches, and indirectly to the formation of the Young Men's Christian Union. Faith in man as the child of G.o.d, his word and residence, authorizing the freest use of thought, the profoundest respect for individual convictions, the firmest confidence in progress and in the triumph of truth; inspiring good will, humane affections, philanthropic activity, and personal holiness; faith in G.o.d as the Father of man--man's universal Saviour and inspirer--man's merit consists wholly in being his child and the pupil of his grace in nature, life, the church, and the unseen world--these are the permanent articles of Christian faith, which is not so much faith in Christ, as Christ's faith."[260]

It is difficult to conceive how the most of the speakers at the anniversary in question could have better served the interests of a bold and unmitigated system of Rationalism. The great evil of the day is declared to be dogmatism, against which every true friend of progress must deal his most destructive blows. Liberal minds must break loose from the fetters of authority, and give play to their own infallible reason. The Protestant evangelical church is placed upon the same footing with Romanism; both of which organizations unchurch all who do not conform to their creed. "The truth is," says a speaker, "this Protestant evangelical church is in the same chronic delusion as its enemy, the Roman Catholic church; it can propose no plan of Christian union which will include the Christians of the country. Its only idea of union is the conspiracy of a few sects to take the kingdom of heaven by violence; monopolize its honors in this world and the world to come; and either compel the rest of mankind to come into its arrangement, or be turned into everlasting perdition--a proceeding which the American people, with due respect to the undeniable rights of this church, begs leave respectfully to decline,--and further to intimate, that it is not at all alarmed about the eternal consequences of a refusal to accede to the pretensions of an ecclesiasticism that a.s.sumes to be G.o.d's vicegerent to the United States of America."[261]

Great fault is found with the doctrines of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, and the efficacy of Christ's blood for man's salvation.

G.o.d is in man; and man's moral instincts, intellectual mould, and spiritual senses are infinitely wiser than we conceive them to be. They are infallible in what they say of G.o.d, and are the best criteria of truth. How much the world has been given up to the worship of the Bible!

"The Bibles will be left here to burn in the general conflagration with the other temporary representations of the Word of G.o.d, which is the eternal Reason, the foundation of our being." This Reason is the "elder Scripture of G.o.d,--the soul, the inspired child of the heavenly and eternal Father." The answer is given to the question, Why does orthodoxy believe in the efficacy of Christ's blood to save the souls of men? "It is because man distrusts his reason, and invents the infallible church, and then the infallible Scriptures, to supply his necessity of anchorage. He cannot think the G.o.d of the universe can be willing to save such a miserable sinner, and he invents a G.o.d of the church, who will. He does not believe anything men can do will ent.i.tle them to heaven, or that human lives can make them acceptable in the sight of G.o.d."[262]

From the preceding statements it will not be surprising to find some of the speakers apologizing for outright infidelity. "Mr. President," says one, "you, in the judgment of very many, are an infidel. The members of this Christian a.s.sociation occupy what is regarded an infidel position.

And that very admirable const.i.tution, which I have read to-day, if presented at a council of churches, commonly reputed orthodox, would be considered, doubtless, the platform of an infidel a.s.sociation....

Infidels, in all generations of the church, have been _progressive_ in every direction; the believers in the present and the future; the people who had confidence in the improvability of man, and the perennial inspirations of G.o.d; the men and women who were persuaded that all the spheres of wisdom and excellence were opened to human powers, and that man was welcomed to all the treasure they contain.... They are a thoughtful, earnest, hopeful people, bent on finding the truth, and doing their duty."[263] Such infidels as these are claimed to have blessed the world. All liberal minds ought to catch their spirit and administer every possible blessing to struggling humanity. But there is a species of narrow-minded infidelity which must be shunned; and it is the only kind of which we need to forebode any evil. "The only infidelity to be feared," says Mr. Frothingham, "the only real infidelity which is a sin in the sight of G.o.d, is a disbelief in the primary faculties of the human soul; disbelief in the capability of man's reason to discriminate between truth and error in all departments of knowledge, sacred or profane; disbelief in the heart's instinctive power to distinguish good from evil; disallowance of the claims of conscience to pa.s.s a verdict upon matters of right and wrong, whenever and wherever brought up. They are the infidels who are untrue to the light they have; who deny the plenary inspiration of that elder Scripture written by the finger of G.o.d upon the human heart; who overlay their reason with heaps of antiquated traditions; who bid their conscience stand dumb before appalling iniquities in obedience to the ill-read letter of an ancient record; who, in the interest of power, wealth, worldliness, not seldom of unrighteousness and inhumanity, plead for a Tract society, a Bible, or a church; who compa.s.s sea and land to make a proselyte, and when he is made, are quite indifferent as to his being a practical Christian; who collect vast sums of money annually for the ostensible purpose of saving men's souls, practically to the effect of keeping their souls in subjection and blindness. As I read the New Testament, I find that Jesus charged infidelity upon none but such as these; the people who made religion a cloak for pride, selfishness, and cruelty; the conspicuously saintly people, who could spare an hour to pray at a street corner, but had not a minute for a dying fellow-man lying in his blood in a lonely pa.s.s. In the judgment of these, Jesus was the prince of unbelievers. Punctilious adherence to the letter, practical disbelief in the spirit--this is infidelity."[264]

The most important event in the history of the American Unitarian Church was the National Convention which met in New York, April 5th, 1865, and was presided over by Governor Andrew, of Ma.s.sachusetts. Six hundred ministers and laymen, representatives of one hundred and ninety churches, were in attendance. The debates indicated wide diversity of sentiment, but there was no open rupture. The sessions were pervaded by a spirit of devoted loyalty to the civil government, liberality toward all Christian bodies, and zeal in organizing educational and missionary agencies throughout the country. An annual National Conference of Unitarian Churches was appointed for the future. The Convention was unable to arrive at a common system of belief. The following declaration of faith was presented by A. A. Low, Esq.:

"_Whereas_, a.s.sociate and efficient action can only be expected of those who agree in certain leading doctrinal statements or positions, _Resolved_, That without intending any intolerance of individual opinion, it is the right and duty of this convention to claim of all who take part in its proceedings, an a.s.sent to the fundamental doctrines. .h.i.therto held by the Unitarian body by reason of which it has acquired its standing in the Christian world, and a.s.serts it lineage in the Christian Church; and, to this end, this convention declares as essentially belonging to the Unitarian faith: 1st. Belief in the Holy Scriptures as containing a revelation from G.o.d to man--and, as deduced therefrom, 2d. Belief in one G.o.d, the Father; 3d. Belief in one Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the Son of G.o.d, and his specially appointed Messenger and Representative to our race, gifted with supernatural power, "approved of G.o.d by miracles and signs and wonders which G.o.d did by him," and thus, by divine authority, commanding the devout and reverential faith of all who claim the Christian name; 4th. Belief in the Holy Ghost, the Comforter; 5th. Belief in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and life everlasting."

These resolutions were at first laid on the table, but afterward referred to a special committee. The refusal of the Convention to adopt them indicates very clearly the unwillingness of a large portion of the Unitarian clergy of the United States to occupy an evangelical position.[265]

Closely allied to the Unitarians in spirit and in doctrine are the Universalists, who date the beginning of their strength in the United States from the arrival of the Rev. John Murray, in 1770. They unite with the Unitarians in rejecting the triune character of G.o.d, and hold that their view of the divine unity is as old as the giving of the law on Sinai. The doctrine of the Trinity is nowhere stated in the Scriptures, for G.o.d would then have given us a religion enveloped in mystery, which procedure he has studiously avoided. The Trinitarian view entertained by the orthodox is not only a self-contradiction, but would be a violation of the harmony and order everywhere perceptible in nature.[266]

Christ is next to G.o.d in excellence; he is "G.o.d manifest in the flesh;"

that is, G.o.d has given him more of his glory than any other creature has enjoyed. Christ was simply sent by G.o.d to do a certain work, and served only as a delegate when he spoke and acted as one having authority.[267]

The Holy Spirit exerts an influence upon the heart by purely natural methods. The new birth is therefore merely the result of ordinary means for human improvement.

The most important article of the Universalist creed is the final salvation of all men. The goodness of G.o.d is infinite, and therefore he will save all his rational creatures through Christ, his Son and Amba.s.sador. Man suffers in this world the natural consequences of his wayward conduct; but when the penalty is once inflicted, there is no need of vengeance. The chief end of suffering in the present life is man's improvement and restoration to perfect happiness. Pain ordained for its own sake, and perpetuated to all eternity, would be a proof of infinite malignity. By virtue of G.o.d's benevolence, man's suffering has a beneficent element, and must therefore be temporary and result in good.[268] When Christ comes to raise the dead, he will relieve from misery all the sons of men, give them a new life, and take them to himself.[269]

The adherents of Universalism insist upon philanthropy and the brotherhood of man. They hold that orthodox theology fosters harsh notions of G.o.d's character, fills the mind with superst.i.tion, and is the source of some of the most flagrant evils of the present age. "We regret," says one of their writers, "that the acknowledged faith and opinions have done no more to elevate the affections, and improve the condition of man. They have utterly failed to correct the heart or the life. They have disturbed his present peace, and darkened his prospects for the future. Thousands of the young and innocent have been induced to relinquish whatever is most beautiful in life--to give up all that renders religion attractive and divine, for a miserable superst.i.tion, which, like the Upas, fills the very atmosphere with death. I am reminded that this dark theology, like a great idol, has been rolling its ponderous car over the world for ages--I follow its desolating track, by the wreck of n.o.ble minds--by the fearful wail of the lost spirit, and the crushed hopes and affections of those I love! Oh! when I look at this picture, drawn with the pencil of reality, in all its deep shadows and startling colors, the brain is oppressed and the heart is sick; and while I would stifle the inquiry, it finds an utterance:--In the name of reason, of humanity and heaven, is there no hope for man?"[270]

This declamatory lament over the theology of the evangelical Christian church is a repet.i.tion of an old skeptical charge. It is the expression of a spirit similar to that which animated the German Rationalists, prompted the criticism of Colenso and of the _Essays and Reviews_, and is now ready to welcome any effort that may promise a revolution of the popular religious sentiment in Great Britain and the American Republic.

Orthodoxy is unhesitatingly p.r.o.nounced a public curse. In reply, we would request our skeptical opponents to remember the historical record of their principles, as seen in the social convulsions of Germany, in the immorality and revolutions of France, and in the religious indifference and prostration of England in the eighteenth century. We would remind them, further, that orthodox theology has here been in the ascendant, and that in no land are public morals purer, the laws more just, humanitarian enterprises better supported, material interests more progressive, or education better fostered than in the United States. The American Church laments that her faith has not been stronger and her zeal more fervent, but her history, with all its dark pages of hesitation and inefficiency, is the answer which she returns to the accusations of her Rationalistic opponents. Meanwhile, she proposes to continue her labor for human salvation, by the promulgation of her present system of theology, nor will she consider her mission accomplished until the gospel of Christ has been preached to every creature.

FOOTNOTES:

[232] Smith, _History of the Church of Christ in Chronological Tables_, p. 74.

[233] _The Reason of Church Government against Prelacy._ Ch. II.

[234] _History of the Church of Christ, &c._, p. 74.

[235] Baird, _Religion in America_, pp. 547-562.

[236] _Unitarianism in its Actual Condition._ Edited by Rey. J. R.

Beard, D. D. pp. 1-4. London, 1846.

[237] Sprague, _Annals of the American Unitarian Pulpit_. _Historical Introduction_, p. xii.

[238] Appleton's _American Cyclopaedia_. Art. _Wm. Ellery Channing_. W.

L. Symonds, Esq., is the author of this biography.

[239] _Works_, _Introductory Remarks_, p. viii.

[240] Ibid. p. vi.

[241] _Works_, _Introductory Remarks_, pp. xviii-xix.

[242] Ellis, _Half Century of Unitarianism_, p. 34.

[243] These words refer to the great Revival in the winter of 1857-58.

[244] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, p. 164-165.

[245] _Controversial Sermons_, No. 1.

[246] Orr, _Unitarianism in the Present Time_, pp. 54, 58, 59.

[247] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, p. 24.

[248] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, p. 26.

[249] Ibid. pp. 122, 123, 136.

[250] Ibid. pp. 156, 157.

[251] Will the Reverend author be kind enough to inform the public of the name and exact locality of these innocent islanders?

[252] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, pp. 228-230.

[253] _Works of H. Ware, jr._, vol. iv. p. 91.

[254] Farley, _Unitarianism Defined_, pp. 208-210.

[255] Bellows, _Restatements of Christian Doctrine_, pp. 306, 307.

[256] Orr, _Unitarianism in the Present Time_, p. 8.

[257] F. H. Hedge, D. D.

[258] _Essays and Reviews, Introduction to Boston Edition._