The rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are observed in many Unitarian churches, but Unitarians do not retain the old belief in these matters. They attach no serious importance to them. The idea that immersion or sprinkling or signing with the cross with water upon adults or babes can effect any spiritual regeneration or in any way change the relation between a human being and deity is rejected. Ritual or Sacrament can, in their judgment, possess no saving power. In Unitarian practice °baptism' is generally spoken of as °consecration?' The purpose of the service of consecration of children is to express the parents' desire that the children shall grow up into purity of life and nobility of service. The same idea is carried out in the consecration of those of °riper years." It is a consecration of life °to God and his truth and to the service of your fellowmen." The observance of the Lord's Supper is found only in the older Unitarian churches, and in these its observance tends to gradually disappear. Where it is most regu larly observed the sacramental idea is wholly eliminated. The form is retained as is some of the old phraseology which conveys the ancient belief that the communicants are partaking of a sacrifice, but the idea is wholly foreign to Unitarian thought. What Unitarians have in mind is in the nature of a memorial service re calling the life of the Master. The tendency to abandon it altogether is due to the fact that it is exceedingly difficult to avoid being mis understood. An ancient ritual is a poor medium through which to convey modern ideas. The idea that great spiritual merits are obtained by this or any sacrament is not accepted by Uni tarians, but they believe that in so far as ob serving the Lord's Supper inspires a passionate love of the character and work of Jesus it is good.
The one purpose of real religion, Uni tarians believe, is not to prepare people for another life, but to inspire them to live this as it ought to be lived. This explains why Unitarians have been most conspicuous in all enterprises which aim to improve the general well-being, morally, intellectually and even materially. Thus it happens that in an un usually large number of instances Unitarians have been pioneers in philanthropic and edu cational enterprises and have been pre-eminent in literature. A few instances may be quoted. The founder of the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, a pioneer movement, was Dr. Samuel G. Howe, and to Dorothea Dix must be given credit for starting the movement which resulted in a more humane treatment of those in prisons, in almshouses and hospitals for the insane. A Unitarian layman, Henry Bergh, was the founder of the Society for the Pre vention of Cruelty to Animals. The first woman advocate of the °rights of in die United States, Margaret Fuller, was a Unitarian, and conspicuous in this movement have been such women as Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, all of them Unitarians. Horace Mann, pioneer in educational reform, was a Unitarian layman, and Henry Barnard writes that Thad it not been for Cyrus Peirce (Unitarian minister) I con sider the cause of Normal schools would have failed or been postponed for an indefinite period.' Peter Cooper, founder of Cooper Union in New York City, was an earnest Uni tarian. The first library in the United States that was free to all the inhabitants of a town or city was opened in Dublin, N. H., by the
Unitarian minister of that place, the Rev. L. W. Leonard; and in the adjoining town of Peter borough, under the leadership of the Unitarian minister, the Rev. Abiel Abbott, the people voted to tax themselves to maintain a library the first library in the country supported from the tax rate of a municipality. The United States Sanitary Commission, which did such splendid service in the Civil War, was originated by the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City. This devotion to humanitarian work is not accidental, it is Uni tarian religion, and in their churches emphasis has been and is always put upon the religion of service, making the most and the best of this life.
This goes to explain how it comes to pass that Unitarians have been so conspicuous in literature, statesmanship, in the judiciary and elsewhere. The Unitarian representation in literature is out of all proportion to the size of the denomination. In American literature Uni tarians are represented by Henry W. Long fellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, William Cul len Bryant, Bayard Taylor, Nathaniel Haw thorne, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Wil liam D. Howells, Bret Harte, Louise M. Al cott. Among historians, Bancroft, Prescott, Motley and Parkman might be mentioned. Thomas Jefferson was an outspoken advocate of Unitarianism. John Adams and John Q. Adams, Millard Fillmore and William H. Taft are among the men of this faith who have oc cupied the Presidency of the United States. John Marshall, Charles Sumner and Daniel Webster were also Unitarian laymen. The list is a long one and is referred to only to indi cate the character of Unitarianism through the type of men and women who have been identi fied with it.
Unitarian contributions to hymnology are out of all proportion to the size of the de nomination, and the quality of those contri butions is second to none. The catholicity of their spirit and the excellence of their de votional and spiritual character are evident from the wide approval which many Unitarian hymns have received. There is hardly a hymnbook of importance which does not contain a num ber. See HYMNOLOGY.
Bibliography.— The material for this sub ject is voluminous, particularly on the subject of Unitarian belief. There is no one formal statement which has more authority than an other. An excellent presentation is contained in the article by Prof. F. G. Christie in Ameri can Journal of Theology, 17 Oct. 1918; consult also Savage, Minot J., (Pillars of the Temple' ; Chadwick, John White, and New Uni tarian Belief' ; Emerton, Ephraim, (Unitarian Martineau, James, (The Seat of Authority in ; the sermons and ad dresses of W. E. Channing, Theodore Parker, R. W. Emerson and M. J. Savage, and pamphlets issued by the American Unitarian Association.
ON THE HISTORY.—Allen, J. H.,
Lib eral Movement in Theology) and (The Uni tarians> (in