UNITARIANISM
What It Is Not, and What It
Is
By
REV. JOHN H. APPLEBEE
May
1914
Published by the Woman's
May
UNITARIANISM
What It Is Not, and What It
Is
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. . . . . . Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater
than these.”--Jesus.
"These churches accept the religion of Jesus,
holding in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up
in love to God and love to man.”--Preamble to the Constitution of the General
Conference of Unitarian and Other
These two supreme commands of
Jesus express the heart of Unitarianism. Unitarianism is the attitude of the
individual soul towards God. It is not a belief, nor a dogma, nor a ritual. It
is the soul turned to God in love. This means love for all that is divine in
the universe and its life. It also means devotion to the noblest and best in
the soul's inmost self. For that is God, in the soul.
But even this is not enough.
The soul cannot be right towards God unless it be right towards fellow men.
"He that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen." It may be that
the love of our brother is the only open way to love of God. Through human
experiences we reach divine realities. We go from the seen to the unseen, from
the known to the unknown. Thus Unitarianism, because it would be love to God,
must be also love to man. And this
not as a mere sentiment, but as a practical principle, to be applied to daily
life.
"Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; (that is to say
with your entire self) and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This,
then, is Unitarianism in a nutshell.
In it, indeed, is summed up
the very essence of religion by whatever name it is called. It is very simple;
also it is very profound. It reaches to the depths of life and life's
experience. It is the solvent of all perplexing social problems. When men live
as well as profess the commandment of love there will be no social problems. It
is the bringer of the world's brotherhood. It is the assurance of the soul's
peace.
Oneness with God and fellow
men is the heart of religion. Oneness with God is the divine life. Oneness with
fellow man is the human life. Both together are,-life.
This, then, is Unitarianism.
It may be much else; but it is certainly this. And here we might perhaps leave
the matter. But it is necessary to go a little more into detail. This is too
general, too vague perhaps, essential though it is. Let us inquire still
further then what Unitarianism may be and may not be.
To begin with, I do not like
the word Unitarian. It has seemingly a too limited meaning. It is too coldly
mathematical; and I never could bring myself to like mathematics. I would
gladly change the name if I could; but I cannot. It is too late to do that. It
has come down from our forefathers; and we must make the best of it. The word
Unitarianism expresses a vital fact in our religious history. It has a meaning
far deeper than the theological conception of the unity of God, the universe,
and life, deep as these thoughts are; and essential as they are to clear thinking.
Like most names, it means far more than it indicates. It has a splendid
connotation of heroic struggle for religious liberty; of devotion to the truth
for truth's sake; of fine lives interpreting the religion of the spirit. To
some of us it signifies the supreme thing in life.
And, after all, names are of
but little moment. It is the spirit that counts. "A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet;" and Jesus by any other name would be the son of God
and the brother of men still. And curiously enough, the names of most of the
Christian sects signify what is superficial rather than fundamental to the
religious life. Methodist, Episcopalian, Congregational,
Baptist, what not? These all signify very superficial matters of mere
church government or ordinance. These, alas, are the things that divide us. And
we are altogether too prone to insist upon them. But underneath all names are
the enduring realities that unite.
We spell the name of the
Eternal Reality G-O-D. Another spells it D-I-E-U. Still
another G-O-T-T. These are the accidents of our environment and
education. But we all worship at the same shrine. We are all children of the
same father. Nothing can rob us of that inheritance. And I think the Father
listens to the heart, and not the lips; and understands all languages that are
spoken in love.
So we will not quarrel with
the name Unitarianism, little as we may like it. We will look beneath the name
to the spirit, the soul, the heart. And the spirit of Unitarianism is
beautiful; the soul of it is strong; and the heart of it is
loving.
We are handicapped in our
inquiry at the very outset by the fact that no man, be he ever so wise, can
speak for Unitarianism, to say just what it is or what it is not. One of its
fundamental tenets is that the soul shall be left free to find its own truth,
and to express it in its own way. What God says to you is the one
important thing for you. Unitarianism has a sublime faith in the integrity of
the soul, a faith which the history of the discovery of truth has amply justified.
Attempts have been made to formulate a common statement of belief for all
Unitarians; but they have always failed. And this for the
very simple reason that Unitarianism is so much more than a statement of
belief.
So we will recognize at the
start that what is to follow is merely my thought of Unitarianism, which may or
may not be of much worth. And even so it must be very inadequate; because no words nor thought can express the life that is
Unitarianism.
Let us first consider some of
the things that Unitarianism is not. This is, perhaps, necessary because
of certain misunderstandings that linger obstinately in the minds of many.
To begin with, Unitarianism
is not a mere negation. You have perhaps heard of the "cold negations of
Unitarianism." These cold negations are a myth. Nothing could be further
from the genius of Unitarianism. It is not a denial; but an affirmation. Always
and everywhere it is an affirmation. It is true that it has felt itself
compelled to deny certain theological dogmas and doctrines that do not seem to
it to accord with reason or right. All seekers for the truth have been
compelled to do this. The mere assertion of any truth is the denial of its
corresponding error. When you say the earth revolves around the sun, you deny,
at least by implication, that the sun revolves around
the earth. Among these doctrines that Unitarianism denies are: The doctrine of
the trinity; the deity of Jesus; the fall of man; the total depravity of man;
the vicarious atonement, and the like. But in making these denials,
Unitarianism affirms the corresponding truths. It affirms the unity of God, the
universe and life; it affirms the divinity of Jesus, and all the sons and
daughters of men. (Mark that his prayer begins with the words "Our
Father," not "My Father." This first person plural
is significant); it affirms that man has risen, is rising, and shall rise
to ever diviner stretches of life; it affirms the essential dignity and
nobility of man as the child of God; it affirms that each one of us shall work
out his own salvation in terms of character. These are larger affirmations than
the doctrines they displace.
Unitarianism, then, is a
positive faith. It destroys only that it may rebuild. I must root up the weeds
in my garden or the flowers will not grow. Unitarianism seeks to root up the
weeds of superstition and error. It cherishes the flowers of faith. A purely
destructive faith cannot live. The time for destruction is passed. It is now
the time for construction. We build our lives and faith not on the denial of
error; but on the affirmation of truth. The truth, by its own power, will drive
out the error. That is the way of truth always. We have passed through the
gloom of Carlyle's "Everlasting No" into the light of the
"Everlasting Yea." "It is with man's soul as it was with nature:
the beginning of creation is --Light. Till the eye have
vision, the whole members are in bonds. Divine moment, when over the tempesttost soul, as once over the wild-weltering Chaos, it
is spoken: 'Let there be light.' "
To that divine moment
Unitarianism has come, not without struggle. It has left behind the gloom of
denial, and entered into the light of faith. Unitarianism is an affirmation of
the things that divinely are.
Therefore it is not atheism.
It seems ridiculous to Unitarians even to say this. For almost a hundred years
God has been preached from this pulpit of
Unitarianism is not a prayerless faith. Indeed there cannot be a prayerless faith. Faith is prayer. It leads the soul
directly to God; and that is the meaning of prayer. To the true Unitarian
prayer is the normal attitude of the soul. God is our Father; we are his
children. What more natural than that the child should commune with the Father?
It is as natural as that the plant should turn to the light. The soul and the
plant are seeking the source of their being. To the Unitarian prayer is the
highest function of life. It is the soul reaching up to God.
Prayer is not mere petition;
not the mere asking for things, though it has been reduced to that low estate.
We do not ask that rain shall be sent or withheld. We do not ask that the
beautiful order of nature shall be set aside for our personal gratification. We
are quite content to leave the universe in the care of God, assured that he
knows best. It is well that man cannot by his prayers change the order of
nature. If he could, hopeless chaos would result. All this is not prayer.
Prayer is oneness of the soul of man with the spirit of God. It is one form of
that very love to God which is the essence of the religious life. It is divine
communion, which merges naturally, and of spiritual necessity, into gratitude.
It gives strength and courage, patience and peace. This has been the witness of
all men of supreme religious genius. They went to the source of all strength,
and were strong. Jesus prayed, alone on the hillside, under the stars, with God;
and Jesus did great things. True prayer is always answered. Itself
is its own answer. Do not ask for things. Do not ask that nature's order shall
be set aside for your sake. Ask for God; and you will find him.
Unitarianism, then, is a
prayerful faith. Oneness with God is its central purpose. This is another
expression of its thought of unity. "I and the Father are one."
Reverently and humbly we venture to echo the words in our own inmost thought,
remembering also that he said "Our Father." Man is at home in
God. Faith and prayer are the two mighty forces that redeem the world.
Nor is Unitarianism a Christless faith, though this charge is brought against it.
On the contrary, it is shot through and through with the spirit of Jesus. It is
a persistent misunderstanding, not to say misrepresentation, that Unitarians do
not believe in, nor accept, Jesus. Nothing could be further from the truth. We
reject certain dogmas about Jesus, and this emphatically and frankly; but we do
not reject Jesus. Robert Collyer was fond of telling
how, when he and his good Methodist mother were going home after she had heard
him preach his first Unitarian sermon, she said to him, "I couldn’t
understand half thee said; and I didn’t believe all that I understood; but I
believe thee, Robert." That is the very
thought. We do not understand half the beliefs about Jesus (at least I do not)
and we do not believe all we understand; but we believe Jesus. And that
is a vastly different thing.
Many who have come from other
communions into Unitarian churches have said that they had never heard Jesus
preached so much in their lives before. And it is to be hoped that it is true.
Were Jesus preached more, and doctrines about him less, perhaps the church
would have a new lease of power. For all men recognize that he was the master
of the art of living.
We do not believe in the
doctrine of the trinity. But that does not trouble us over much. We spend
little time or thought about it. But to Jesus himself we give our highest
reverence and honor. We would have his life the inspiration of our lives; his
teaching we would make our guide. To live in this Twentieth century in the
spirit of Jesus is true Christianity. Most emphatically Unitarianism believes
Jesus; and looks upon his life and the religious and ethical teachings that
sprang naturally from it, as the most precious possession of the world.
Unitarianism, whatever else it may be, is not a Christless
faith.
Unitarianism is not merely
another sect added to the warring sects of Christianity. If it were merely
that, it would not be worth preserving. There are enough sects and to spare.
Their disagreements over the superficialities of the religious life are the
disgrace and the weakness of Christianity. In union only is strength. We are
not much interested in the sectarian aspect of Unitarianism. Unitarianism has
always been opposed to proselyting; yet it has grown
amazingly, and still is growing, opinions to the contrary notwithstanding. And this for the very simple reason that kindred souls, men and
women with a common aim, naturally come together.
We are not interested in the
machinery of Unitarianism; but we are greatly interested in the spirit of
Unitarianism. Were that spirit universal, the sects would forget their
differences in the joy of a common task. There is work for the churches to do
in the world. It is waiting to their hand. And it can only be done as they
learn to pull together.
Unitarianism seeks to unite,
not to divide. It is the union of those who with a common purpose, and in a
united spirit, would worship God and serve man together. What we have in common
are the important things. Unitarians welcome to their fellowship all who agree
with them in spirit and aim; and they leave matters of belief to the individual
and God.
Unitarianism is not merely an
intellectual cult. If much of the intellectual life of the nation is identified
with Unitarianism, we are grateful for it. If its liberal point of view has
stamped itself on our literature as perhaps no other faith has, we are grateful
for that. It has faith in the intellect and reason, as the guides to truth. It
honors all the seekers for truth whatever their name, or wherever they may be.
It holds that God has never left himself without witnesses in any race or time.
All truth is of God, whatever its source.
But religion is far more than
a mere intellectual experience; and Unitarianism in particular is the religion
of the whole man,--intellect, reason, heart, conscience, will, all of
him,--directed Godward. Its simple faith of love to
God and love to man as the summing up of the religious life,
can be understood of all. It is the faith that Abraham Lincoln sought. Its
appeal is universal. It is as broad as humanity, deep as human needs, simple as
mother love. It was not altogether the demands of the intellect that prompted
the Unitarian revolt against the grim theology of Calvinism. It was rather the
instinctive shrinking of the heart from the cruelty of that grim faith and its God of wrath. Unitarianism is not coldly intellectual;
it is warmly human.
Unitarianism is not an
exclusive faith. It is not for an aristocracy of the intellect merely. Its very
genius is democratic. One of its fundamental tenets is its faith in folks. It
fully believes in and trusts our common humanity. In this it stands almost
alone among the communions of Christendom. It is the spirit of democracy
applied to religion. It affirms the universal brotherhood of man. And it means
just that. It means that all are the children of the same Father, born of His
spirit; and that all are brothers; white, black, red, yellow, rich, poor, wise,
foolish, sinners and saints,--all are His children, and brothers. This is the
coming brotherhood of man that some day shall bring peace to the earth, and
mutual respect, understanding and sympathy. It is only a dream yet. But earnest
souls are working for it; and the dream is the inspiration of their work.
Unitarianism, then, by its very genius, by its fundamental attitude towards
man, is essentially democratic. To be false to that would be to be false to its
highest mission. It has faith in the common people, whom God must have loved so
much since he made so many of them, said Lincoln,--himself the embodiment of
the genius of the common people.
Again, Unitarianism is not a
creed or dogma. Indeed we glory in our creedlessness.
Each soul is free to formulate its own belief. We do not ask that all men and
women shall think alike (that would be a misfortune) but only that they shall think. We trust the soul. We have confidence
that the normal soul, left free, will seek the truth as the sparks fly upward.
Unitarianism has broken with
the idea that there is anything essentially sacred or binding in any dogma
whatsoever. The repetition of a creed may be an intellectual stimulant, or it
may be an intellectual narcotic; but in neither case is it religion. Here is a
form of faith that really believes that religion is not creed but life. Not
what you say during one hour on Sunday, but how you live during the other one
hundred and sixty-seven hours of the week is the test of your religion.
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but,--" How many of us can stand
that test? We humble ourselves before the awful judgment. Our futile murmurings
of "Lord, Lord," are shamed into silence before the quiet rebuking
eyes; and we creep out to seek humbly to do His will.
"To
do thy will is more than praise,
As
words are less than deeds;
And
simple truth can find thy ways
We
miss with chart of creeds."
These, then, are some of the
things that Unitarianism is not,--at least in the thought of the present
writer, who professes to speak only for himself. It is
not a mere negation; it is not atheism; it is not a prayerless
faith; it is not a Christless faith; it is not
sectarianism; it is not an intellectual cult; it is not an exclusive faith; it
is not a dogma.
What, then, is it? The answer
has already been suggested. But before we proceed to greater detail, let me
again remind you that no one person can speak for all Unitarians. He can
only give his own testimony. What, then, is Unitarianism to me? It is difficult
to put the answer into words. Can you tell what life is? What love is?
You know these things only by living them. So with
Unitarianism. (Now, indeed, do I wish that it had some other name. This hides, rather than reveals, what I would express.
But we must make the best of it.) Unitarianism is an experience. It cannot be
expressed in words, simply because it is vital, organic. It grows with the
soul's growth, develops with the soul's development. It is not quite the same
today as it was yesterday, nor will it be the same
tomorrow as it is today. It is part of the individual much more than the body
is. Now the body is changing all the time; and yet it is the same body. So my
faith in God is not quite the same today as it was yesterday, because I have
had twenty-four hours God-experience since then; yet it is the same faith. In
the same way Unitarianism is not static, but vital; and vitality is growth.
It has been said that because
Unitarians have no formal creed, they do not believe anything. On the contrary,
they believe so much that it is impossible to put it into a creed. Vital faith
soon bursts the husks of creed. It wants to be a flower and a fruit; so it
breaks out into the sunshine. Most of all do Unitarians believe in believing.
But when you ask them to state their belief while you count
three, they find it extremely difficult to respond; nay, impossible. It takes a
life to express a real belief.
So I cannot tell definitely
all that Unitarianism is to me. Who of us has not experienced the futility of
attempting to put a vital experience into words? What is
really essential escapes. The letter kills the spirit. And there is just
the point. Unitarianism is a spirit. It is not a text book, nor a formula; it
is a spirit. And being so, it eludes definition. In every attempted definition
of religion, there is something left out. Men try again to define it; still
there is something left out. That something is the soul's personal spiritual
experience. It is just so with Unitarianism. It may well be that in the effort
to put it into words we lose the real meaning of it. It is the individual
soul's spiritual experience when left free to live its own life on its own
terms. It is God in the soul.
Is this mysticism? If so, I
am afraid I cannot help it. Is not such mysticism the very essence of the
religious life? All the religious geniuses have been mystics in this sense.
Your soul and God,--are not these the two supremely important facts in the
universe for you? And is it not the aim of religion to make these twain
one in will, in love, in life?
And this at least suggests
what Unitarianism is. For it is an attitude of the soul. Primarily it is
the attitude of the soul towards God. We try to express this by the phrase,
"Love to God." This is the first and great commandment, according to
a very high authority. But the Unitarian must think of God as lovable before he
can really love him. To him God is first of all the Father of infinite
tenderness. That is why the Unitarian rejects the grim God of orthodoxy. You
cannot really love a God who condemns the vast majority of his children to
eternal damnation because they have not accepted a theological doctrine of
which most of them have never even heard. You may profess to love such a God
with your lips; but he is not really lovable. The Unitarian loves God because
to him God is lovable. To him God is in very fact infinite love; and he will
trust that love to the end.
But the love of God means
more than this. It means devotion to all that is good and true and pure. It
means the soul's reaching out for its own divine inheritance of goodness, and
truth, and purity. "Ye that love The Lord, hate evil" Only so can we
love the Lord.
The Unitarian attitude towards
God, then, is one of love for the lovable. It is aspiration towards the divine;
it is communion, fellowship. We would walk with God through life and death,
--to life.
Unitarianism is an attitude
of the soul towards man. God being our Father, then we are all his children.
This is a rather obvious platitude. But its significance is far reaching. It
undermines at once the doctrine of the total depravity of man. This doctrine
is, indeed, repugnant to the Unitarian. His very inmost nature revolts against
it. He cannot bring himself to believe that the all-wise Father made such a
stupendous mistake as that. That God is our Father means that man is in essence
divine. He may make mistakes; he may go wrong; he may commit sin, if you will
(he has done all these things), but the heart of him is sound. Naturally he
turns towards right and truth and love, not towards wrong and hate, and lies.
This is the Unitarian
attitude towards man. It is revolutionary. It is diametrically opposed to the
orthodox conception of the nature of man. To that man is a "fallen"
being, naturally "depraved," and under the curse of God. To the
Unitarian man never fell, but has always climbed, and is climbing still; he is not
naturally depraved, but naturally good; he is not under the curse of God, but
under the blessing of God.
This fundamental thought of
Unitarianism has vast practical applications. It modifies all our ideas of
education and reform. The modern education is trusting more and more to the
natural instincts of the child. Its watchword is not repression, but
expression. In the city of
Now what is the secret of the
To the Unitarian, then, the
soul is a thing of divine origin, and infinite possibilities. Hence the
emphasis that Unitarianism places upon character as the supreme end of life,
and the only salvation. Character is the final goal of all our efforts. The aim
of Unitarianism is not so much to "save" souls as to make souls that
are worth saving. Character is the test of religion. "By their fruits ye
shall know them."
Unitarianism, again, is the
attitude of the soul towards the universe. The universe is the expression of
the indwelling life and love of God. It is not a dreary vale of tears; it is
not accursed. It is good from center to circumference. There is no spot in it
where God is not; and God is love. The universe reveals, not hides, the spirit
of God. Through the gate of the senses it rushes into the soul to make it rich.
Nature is the friend and helpmeet of man. All nature serves his spirit. What we
call evolution is the unfolding of the divine purpose of God in ever increasing
beauty and richness of life. To the Unitarian the world is supremely good. All
its laws and forces help the soul in its high purpose.
Unitarianism is the attitude
of the soul towards life. It holds that life here and now upon the earth, with all its struggle, its suffering and sorrow is good and
beautiful. The possible richness of one day's life is immeasurable. The
universe is offered to us; and we take just so much as our souls are large
enough to hold. Life is a splendid enterprise whereby the soul day by day may
build itself into strength and beauty.
Unitarianism is the attitude
of the mind towards truth. It seeks the truth wherever it may be found. It is
open to every discovery of science, and to every word of prophet or of poet. It
is not interested in proclaiming a dogma; it is interested in discovering the
truth. To it truth is sacred, for it is the expression of the mind of God.
Whether it be in Euclid or Isaiah, it is still the
mind of God.
Unitarians are not afraid of
the truth. We will trust it always and everywhere. We are assured that, however it may seem for a time, each new truth of
science will only make God more clear. Evolution has not driven God out of his
universe; it has revealed him as the inspiration of his universe. So with all truths when reverently received by the open mind.
Science is verily "Thinking God's thoughts after him."
We reverence the reason of
man as the instrument for seeking out and finding the truth of God. We dare to
think that reason, left free, will seek the truth and ultimately reach it. We
know full well that reason will make mistakes, has made mistakes; but we also
know that these mistakes of reason are as nothing to the mistakes of authority
posing as the word of God, enforced, as they have been, by rack, and faggot and
dungeon. Authority in matters of religion has had to give way step by step
before the advance of reason; and the line of her retreat has been marked by
the tortured bodies of those seekers of the truth whom she has slain.
Unitarianism trusts that the reason of man, left free to range through all the infinite universe, will at last find the very truth
of God.
All this Unitarianism is. But
this is but a small part of the story. Unitarianism is the attitude of the soul
towards these realities of God, man, the universe, life, truth. But it is much
more than a mere passive attitude. It is an inspiration, a spur urging the soul
on to ever finer achievements. It is dynamic and vital. It is the stirring of
the very life of God in the soul. It believes that religion is life. It looks
for a high destiny or this God-born man in whom it has faith. Its faith is a
faith that works. It is the persistent goal of the ideal, bidding us
"Rejoice
we are allied
To
that which doth provide
And
not partake, effect and not receive!
A
spark disturbs our clod;
Nearer
we hold to God
Who
gives, than his tribes that take, I must believe.
Then,
welcome each rebuff,
That
turns earth's smoothness rough,
Each
sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go!
Be
our joys three-parts pain!
Strive,
and hold cheap the strain;
Learn,
nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe."
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