UNITARIAN CHURCH, THE.
(1) Concerning the Church Doctrine of the Trinity and Founding of Denomination. The Church doctrine of the Trinity, which had been defined with extreme precision in the early creeds, was much questioned or denied in the controver sies of the Protestant Reformation. The point chiefly at issue was the proper deity of Christ ; that of the Holy Spirit appears rarely in the dis cussion, and is treated with considerable variety and freedom of opinion. The representative names of this period are those of Servetus, a Spaniard, (1509-1553 ; burned for heresy at Geneva), who held that Jesus, not being God, yet represents to us all of deity that we can know ; and Socinus, an Italian (1539-1603), who held that Jesus, not be ing God, may yet be worshiped as "a god" (a di vine person), since he is the appointed agent of the Almighty in effecting the work of man's sal vation.
This latter opinion was first made the central dogma of a system of theology about 1578. Un der the personal influence of Socinus a body of something over one hundred congregations in Poland, known as "Socinian," came to be a con siderable power, especially in the field of edu cation. Its chief college, at Racovia, is said to have had more than a thousand students. It was mercilessly exterminated by a decree of exile in 1660. In Transylvania, or Eastern Hungary, Unitarianism was recognized in 1568 as one of four legal "religions," under a royal charter de fining certain privileges, which the Unitarian body there, including one hundred and six congrega tions, enjoys to this day. Its founder was Fran cis David (1510-1579), who died in prison, under a malicious charge of innovation in doctrine.
(2) In Great Britain. In England the Uni tarian opinion appears frequently, both within and without the Established Church, in the first half of the eighteenth century ; but was first em bodied in a religious organization in 1774 by The ophilus Lindsey (1723-1808), who had withdrawn from the establishment the year before. As doc trine, its earlier expounders were Joseph Priest ley (1733-1804), Thomas Belsharn (r750-1829), and Lant Carpenter (178o-184o) ; and it was held to be allied with the "materialism" of Locke and Hartley. It has since been most brilliantly de fended and illustrated by James Martineau (born 1805), who has associated it with a severely in tellectual. and ethically noble religious philosophy, and with. critical studies which exhibit the ex treme breadth of modern liberal scholarship. In the British Islands about three hundred and fifty congregations are known as Unitarian, many of them still retaining, in their official title, their original names as Presbyterian, Baptist, or Con gregational.
(3) In the United States and Canada. The Unitarian body in the United States and Canada includes about four hundred and fifty congre gations (in thirty-six of the states, besides two territories and Canada), of which two hundred and sixty-nine are found in the northeastern states. It was not originally constituted as a sect; and, in general, its members would still disclaim belonging to a sect, or holding any sys tem of doctrinal opinions by which it could be defined. The name "Unitarian" had come, in 1815, to be applied to about one hundred and twenty congregational societies of eastern Massa chusetts, with a few others more or less widely scattered, whose pastors had been known as "lib eral" in the controversies of the day. It was ac cepted reluctantly, if at all (except to define in dividual opinion), by the best known leaders of the liberal body, and is adopted, at this day, in the title of not much more than one-third of its associated churches. The points of agreement
among these are: (i) Denial of the trinitarian dogma; (2) a general tendency, in religious opin ion, to what is known as "liberalism ;" (3) refusal to be bound by any statement of doctrine as a condition of membership ; (4) assertion that char acter and conduct, not opinion, is the true test of Christianity. Many attempts have been made to frame a statement which might define their position more precisely; but no such statement was ever generally accepted among them, until a National Conference at Saratoga, N. Y., in Sep tember, 1896, passed the resolution that "these churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical re ligion is summed up in love to God and love to man." (4) American Leaders. The two best-known leaders of American Unitarianism have been \Villiam E. Channing (178o-1842) and Theodore Parker (1810-186o). These names represent two widely different periods, or types, separated by the sharp and serious division of opinion that prevailed during the discussions of 184o-185o. The name of Channing stands for a religion founded strictly on the superhuman authority of the New Testament, devout and humane in spirit, tending strongly to ethics and philanthropy, wide in sympathy, grave and somewhat austere in temper, attached to forms of piety, as the true means of promoting purity of life. The name of Parker stands for an equal fervor of piety and conse cration of life, but a far bolder and more ag gressive mental independence, greater vigor in at tack on error of opinion or wrongs in the body politic, distinct repudiation of dogmatic or so called supernatural authority, and a frank ac ceptance of natural science as the true ally of re ligious thought. This latter type, blending with the former, almost imperceptibly at first, but with increasing energy, has not only avoided the break of fellowship which it seemed to threaten, but has to a great degree supplanted the other in the common mind. Thus, belief in the Chris tian miracles, accepted sixty years ago without dispute, has never been openly disavowed by the Unitarian body as such: but no Unitarian would now use miracles to define the fellowship or de fend the truth which lie calls Christian theism.
(5) Present Condition and Attitude. So far as can be judged at present, denominational har mony and activity seem to have been greatly pro moted by the distinct acceptance of this position.
Whether vigor of church life or denominational growth will be equally promoted by it, turns on an experiment wholly new in the religious world, of which it would be idle to predict the issue. As to the possibility of union, or co-operating with other religious bodies, it would seem that the question must be divided. The situation is clearly favorable to individual sympathies, and mutual help in many forms of Christian work. But any attempted fusion or alliance among bodies of widely different opinions and antecedents would probably baffle and weaken such mutual help. So far as Unitarianism has succeeded hitherto, it has been as an intellectual or ethical movement, strong in the individual minds it has enlisted. As a form of ecclesiastical life, or sectarian enterprise, it has been, and probably always will be, rela tively weak. J. H. A.