——— ————E—————— pia | (019 [INTERNATIONAL SERIES NO. 1] Unitarianism and the Missionary Spirit Lewis G. Wilson a Published for Raw diseibuton AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION Zee araeUN oo Lehner, BOSTON, U.S. A, THE AMERICAN UNITARIAN ASSOCIATION WAS FOUNDED IN 1825 WITH THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSED PURPOSE “The object of the American Unitarian Association shall be to diffuse the know- ledge and promote the interests of pure Christianity ; and all Unitarian Christians * shall be invited vo unite and co-operate with it for that purpose.” (The General Conference of Unitarian and Other Christian Churches, passed the following vote at Saratoga, N. Y., in 1894.) “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.” “The Conference recognizes the fact that its constituency is Congregational in tradition and polity. Therefore, it declares that nothing in this Constitution is to be construed as an authoritative test; and we cordially invite to our working fellowship any who, while differing from us in belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and our practical aims.” UNITARIANISM AND THE MISSIONARY | elec a bd Christianity, among all the great religions of the world, has been committed to international and in- ter-racial sympathies. Its initial exhortation was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”? Whoever breathed the breath of | life was an object of its legitimate solicitude. Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Barbarians, bond and free, all tongues and kindreds, principalities and powers were to receive its glorious announcements. At first, independent congregations, or mere assemblies, were formed and their members were to learn and repeat the gospel of peace and good will, the gospel of a common fatherhood and a common Brotherhood. The old language of imperialism, familiar to the pagan world, and that of a theocratic despotism, familiar in Hebrew literature, were to give place to the language of the family, everywhere prevalent in the gospels. The “ glad tidings ” were so inspiring, the new light they shed upon human nature was so surprising, and the assurances they cast upon the future were so convincing that, every- where, its converts acquired a passion to eonvey the message to others. And well they might, for that message was in no sense merely the philosophical _rearrangement of certain old and familiar life- theories. It was not an abstract and impersonal system of ethical relations. It was a proclamation, an announcement, a startling piece of information 3) 4 about life and destiny. Its sponsors were not peda- gogues and lecturers and theorizers, out for the pur- pose of discussing the subject of religion, Irom John the Baptist on, for at least two hundred: years, the distinguishing characteristic of Christianity con- sisted in the fact that its apostles were criers, telling the news! Without entering into the subject matter of that news which the earliest Christians announced, if bore one characteristic which contrasted it from the prevailing thought of religion. It was altogether prospective. Its concern was about the future. What was to come to pass meant more to it than what had already happened. It cared less for the generally accepted authorities, than for certain great hopes and promises that it entertained. In this remote age of the world, after some twenty centuries of Christian influence it 1s almost impos- sible for us to realize the significance of this atti- tude of Christianity. It was unique among the religions of the world. Judaism was so committed: to Moses and the Prophets that the Jewish Church was absorbed in ascertaining and enforcing what they authorized. It was to many inconceivable that a human being could be religious at all without con- fining his conduct to the established formulas of the past. The Talmud embodied that past and of it an able authority has said —‘* Accepted as a standard study, it became endeared to the people, who, as they were forbidden to-add to or diminish from the law of Moses, would not suffer the work of their Rabbis to be tampered with in any man- ° ner.” Among the Greeks, so far as religion was a con- 5 scilously recognized force in human society, it was also “‘a thing of the past” rather than a hope of the future. The Oracles were ancient and even as long before as the time of Socrates the enemies of that wonderful man could evoke no graver charge against him than that he sought to introduce new divinities, or that he brought contempt upon the antique institutions of the State. And when, five hundred years later, the apostle Paul stood in the’ midst of Mar’s Hill his diplomatic mind saw at once that he could escape arrest only by the adroit appropriation of one of their own familiar deities which he at once indentified with his own ‘ God that made the world and all things therein.” Thus Christianity reversed the attention of the world. It started out with a series of contrasts be- tween the past and the present or future,—‘t Ye have heard it said,” etc., etce., “ but I say unto you,” ete. It enumerated many things that had fulfilled their function, like servility to the memory of Abraham, the infallibility of the law and the prophets, the austere and mechanical exhibition of piety, the pro- tracted repetition of forms, ceremonies and prayers. It proclaimed itself the harbinger of a new order of things, “ Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see.” Always it was looking forward, announcing new laws of conduct for a higher and a better expression of life, foretelling days and centuries when the eruelties and wrongs of the past and the present would be done away, proclaiming among its dreams and allegories the coming of new heavens and new earths. — No wonder, then, that Christianity became the 6 greatest missionary religion. The man who comes to you with good news about the future presents himself in a very different manner from the man who comes to tell you of certain facts about the past. The one is filled with the spirit of anticipation; the other with the teacher’s desire to have you rightly informed. ‘The one includes you in some great good fortune that is about to appear; the other, being himself interested in something that has already happened, seeks to awaken in you a kindred interest for purely intellectual satisfactions. The one is a herald to announce the approach of unexpected bless- ings; the other informs you concerning past events. It should not be forgotten that in this particular respect lies the chief contribution of Christianity to the progress of the world—in the change of atti- tude from the contemplation and servile veneration of the past to the eager and joyous anticipation of the future. And as they became possessed of this passionate expectancy of future good the early Christians nat- urally began to interpret it in such terms as their own capacity dictated. You will remember that Jesus himself never particularizes about the future. He simply proclaims divine glories on the ground that this is God’s world and we are God’s children. He puts all his faith in and he directs our faith towards the inclination and ability of God to do by us the best thing possible. ‘“ Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” But he nowhere undertakes detailed desériptions of what God has provided for his children in this 7 world or the next. The Kingdom of Heaven which. he predicts applies to the conditions of life on earth quite as often as it does to the possible felicities of the world to come. In short, Jesus in turning the attention -of the world from the past to the future leaves us to imagine that future in the highest terms of which we at any given age are capable. And then he also gives us many a precept and parable to show how we may become oe of an ever-improved idea of that future. But those who followed him did not have his ability to appreciate the great spiritual laws of progress, and so they could not be satisfied with his splendid generalization of future good. They at once began to particularize about the future. In the teaching of the new faith, their own -narrow and often selfish conception of human welfare be- came hopelessly involved. Even while Jesus yet spake they urged him to reserve places for his fol- | lowers in the very paradise from which he sought to divert their attention to higher and more important things. And thus, as the Christians multiplied and gath- ered to their numbers thousands who could follow him no farther than to turn their faces from the past to the future, they read into that future, both for this world and the world to come, conditions that would have amazed him beyond expression. They peopled that future with the lost and the saved. They divided it into a localized heaven and a localized hell. They filled the little span of existence on this side of the grave with austerities and sacrifices in order to secure a title to the selfish glories that awaited them upon the other side of the grave. In order to ad- 8 vance the interests of their fantastic heaven they evolved great earthly empires and hierarchies, with endless ceremonials and complex officialism — open avenues for the satisfaction of vanity and pride and the greed of power. This was inevitable. In the light of all that human nature is capable of becoming, the human nature that caught and responded to the Christian impulse was crude, materialistic and selfish. The uninediate purpose of Christianity was accomplished, not in the vast mechanism that undertook to propa- gate it, but in the new attitude and the expectant zeal which it compelled the Western world to adopt. Its apostles taught doctrines which are proved to have little or no basis in fact, its visions of the here- after have often been purely apocalyptic, its atti- tude towards the social and political conditions of this world has often been dominated by the spirit of despotism in church and state. but within its inmost essence the living soul of its founder, despite the errors and abuses that have been harbored, has made its appeal in the interests of an ever new heaven and an ever new earth. Its missionaries have many times circled the earth. They have penetrated into the treacherous gloom of savagery and barbarism and boldly assailed the religious institutions of every civilization in the world. There is no chapter in history which compares with the missionary enter- prises of Christendom. Loyalty to that vision of future good, often seen in distorted outlines and fictitious symbols, has shown to what extremities of courage, self-sacrifice, suffering, endurance, forgive- ness and unquestioning obedience human nature is capable. 9 And thus it has come about that, for fully seven- teen centuries, the efficiency and value of any Chris- tian religious movement has been gauged by its in- terest in and support of foreign and other missions. To this day it is not unusual to test the value and integrity of a Christian denomination by the statistics it can marshal in favor of missionary activities. And now, to come abruptly to the purpose which ~ this paper has in view, in what way and to what extent can the Unitarian body sustain the test which is thus imposed upon it in common with all other Christian denominations? To what extent and in what way does it justify its existence, or propose to justify its existence, by its competency as a mis- sionary body? For, if one consults encyclopedias or other authorities upon this matter he will find such meagre statistics as to almost inspire an appar- ently well-deserved contempt for Unitarianism. And it is often the case that preachers and writers connected with the great proselyting organizations of Christendom point to the numerically small Uni- tarian organizations in this and other countries and hold them up to derision because of their seeming lack of interest in the propagation of their faith. As will be pointed out presently Unitarianism has had its own peculiar and important work to do in this world and it does not need to justify itself or its works by the standards and tests employed by the majority of the Christian sects. And yet, even by those standards it is not wholly to be set aside. It has already been shown that when Christianity entered human society its chief concern was about the future. In this respect it differed from Judaism and Paganism. ‘Its authority was vested in the a LA present possibility of each soul to determine what, for it, was the will of God with regard to the future. This was the position of Jesus. Concerning the character of the future Jesus did not particularize. He announced its perpetual approach and he indi- cated the general laws whereby mankind could ad- just itself to that ever-enlarging future. Up to this point Unitarians have always stood with him. They, too, have the prospective spirit. They believe in the progress of mankind onward and upward forever, and probably no religious body has ever contemplated the future, whether of this world or the next, with greater joy and confidence. But how is it to-day with those ecclesiastical estab- lishments,and those so-called ‘* evangelical” denomi- nations that are able to point to the greatest statistical results in missionary endeavors? Have they been content to leave the spirit of hope, anticipation and trust to lead the world to larger issues? Have they been willing to take the position of their deified Leader and go forth into all truth and all achieve- ment, nothing doubting, and with no attempt to cre- ate specific and detailed conceptions of the world to come ¢ Have they been content, as Jesus was, to leave the past to take care of itself in order that they might throw themselves into the vast, white harvest-fields stretching on before ¢ On the contrary, the organizations that were evolved primarily to turn the attention of the world from a servile submission to antique authorities and to inspire an hitherto unknown zeal in behalf of hu- man freedom, education and spiritual greatness, al- most immediately constituted themselves authorities wet d 11 with temporal and eternal powers over the very peo ple they had been created to release. As soon as they acquired a past of their own it began to adopt the tyrannies of the past they had abandoned. ‘They erystallized their authorities in books, creeds, sacraments, rituals, titles and formu- laries; they developed oppressive systems of disci- pline and graduated scales of dignitaries and officials, until the Christian world could no longer devote itself to the great needs of the future without jeop- ardizing its loyalty to a past that claimed for itself an unquestioning submission. In their interpretations of life they wandered a measureless distance .from the simplicity of the Founder of Christianity, and as they spread forth over the earth through the impulse of the missionary spirit they made their converts on the basis of a the- ology which cannot be reconciled with the sanctions of reality and reason. Now while Unitarianism appreciates all the good that has come incidentally and directly from Chris- tian missions, it has never been able to endorse the hfe-theory upon which they have been and are con- ducted. The Unitarian habit of mind cannot think of human nature as lost and in need of salvation from a primal curse. It believes in the essential in- tegrity of all life. In this world the human soul is subjected to temptations from which it should be pro- tected, to evils from which it should be rescued, to weaknesses and follies that it should outgrow. It must be enlightened concerning the uses it can make of the earth and all that it contains; but it cannot be thought of as the victim of mischance, and the supposed inefficiency of a finite God. 12 For these and many similar reasons Unitarians have never indulged in those sweeping and terrible warnings concerning ‘*‘ the wrath to come,” by means of which millions of converts have been frightened into a “‘ salvation ” which, as a dogma, they could not understand. But they have been able to turn their faces to a progressive future and in the joy of unwavering con- fidence in the ultimate soundness of the universe, to engage with enthusiasm in carrying “ glad tidings ”’ into all parts of the world. Now what is the nature of the missionary work which Unitarians have promoted? ‘In answering this question it 1s obvious that only a brief and gen- eral statement can be made. 1. It is Christian — Christian in the sense of possessing the forward look. It is filled with hope and anticipation. It is not committed to the past. Its authority is not derived from councils, creeds, ecclesiastical tribunals. It trusts human reason, seeks to strengthen and enlighten the conscience of the world and to increase the God-consciousness in every individual. It has been the first of all reli- gious bodies to aecept the conclusions of science and to advocate such readjustments of human society as are in harmény with those conclusions. It has long since accepted the higher criticism of the Bible, and it sees only a reason for rejoicing as the vaster con- ceptions of the physical ‘universe have been un- folded. It is easy to see that, in holding such an attitude, Unitarians have harbored a sane and _ legitimate optimism. Instead of lamenting the passing of the old, they have exulted in the arrival of the new. 13 Instead of looking back with a despairing sigh to so-called “ages of faith,” they have looked forward to ages of confidence. Thankful for the wisdom of antiquity they are equally convinced of the wisdom of posterity. Thus they have come into possession, from genera- tion to generation, of “‘ good news.” Not only what was “news” two thousand years ago, but what is “news ” to-day — about human relations and needs, about the larger and more adequate ideas of God and about the nature of His will towards us. And the same impulse which prompted the disciples to go forth and give to the world the benefit of what was “news” to them has prompted Unitarians to an- nounce to the world that which is “news” to later generations. Thus it must be seen that the missionary spirit, as a Christian force promoted by Unitarianism, re- ceives its inspiration and genius more especially from the teachings of Jesus than from those of the apos- tle Paul and the theologies of later times. And herein it differs from the great missionary movements of the so-called “ evangelistic ” enterprises of Chris- tendom. Its enthusiasm is derived, not from the assumption that the soul must be saved from a primal curse, but that it is the last and most wonderful product of God’s creative wisdom and power on this planet. Its purpose is not to rescue the soul from a fancied perdition in the world to come; but, by working together with God, to assist it in over- coming its imperfections and outgrowing its weak- nesses and healing its wounds. The Unitarian mis- sionary spirit finds in the parables of Jesus and in the Sermon on the Mount and in the example of his 14 life its chief incentive to “ preach the gospel to every creature.” : 2. It is Educational. The missionary spirit has found expression through Unitarianism as an Edu- cational Force. Not only has it not feared, it has believed in and promoted the education of the masses. It is essentially democratic in this respect. It does not argue that it is unsafe to teach the ‘‘ common people ” the truth about religion or science or his- tory. It has never tolerated the policy of suppres- sion. It was no mere chance that Horace Mann, “the father of the public school”, was a Unitarian. It was not a matter of accident that nine successive presidents of Harvard College were Unitarians. Peter Cooper, who founded the great Cooper In- stitute to enable the clerk, the tradesman and the common laborer to acquire an education sufficient to enable him to advance as an American citizen, and a long list of pioneer educators that might be enumer- ated were Unitarians by religious profession. Unt- tarianism had given them confidence in the free spirit and trust in human reason to guide the people out of the bondage of political and religious igno- rance into the “ glorious liberty of the children of God.” | 7 Of course Unitarians cannot claim any monopoly of the free spirit. But what they can appropriate to their credit is the fact that, as a religious movement, Unitarianism has always advocated the education of the common people in religious progress as well as in every other department of human welfare. It has never sanctioned the teaching of one set of ideas about human life, in the name of secular knowledge, and another and different set of ideas about the 15 same subject, in the name of religious knowledge, But the point which | wish to emphasize is this, viz., that it is the missionary spirit — the desire. to earry “ good news *— that has prompted Unitarians to insist on the propagation of knowledge, not among a favored few only, but in all parts of the world and to every creature. ‘They have shown their faith in “the light that is in thee”? and have not been afraid to teach all men, old and young, the truth about life, about the Bible, about human and divine relations — as such knowledge has been revealed from year to year. . While other religious bodies have devoted them- selves to the salvation of souls through ‘‘ conversion ”’, Unitarianism has been advocating a_ process of growth from conditions of ignorance, immaturity and weakness to those of an intelligent understanding of the laws of life, and of moral and spiritual ma- turity and strength. 3. It is Emancipatory. As a religious foree Unitarianism has always sought greater freedom for all. In its view human nature was not spoiled in the making, but was essen- tially good. Hence full and unimpeded self-expres- sion, or freedom, was an end devoutly to be desired. It found expression in those great Unitarians who wrote the Constitution of the United States, and in those who were the first to organize Associated Chari- ties and the various societies for the prevention of eruclty to children. It was significantly the mis- sionary spirit as expressed through Unitarianism that prompted the great philanthropist, John Ilow- ard, in the middle of the Eighteenth Century, to re- form the prisons of Great Britain and LKurope, 16 emancipating their immates from unspeakable — hor- rors and preparing the way to the penal institutions of modern times. This great undertaking by a Unitarian was not, in any sense, an accident. So long as human nature was regarded as corrupt by nature it was perfectly natural to understand it to be the will of God that criminals should suffer such torments as the prison hfe of a century ago inflicted. It was only through those who denied the depravity of the race and af- firmed its priceless value in the sight of God, that such conditions could at that time be changed. The missionary spirit found a true expression of How- ard’s farewell words as he started out from England on his last long journey to Turkey, from which he did not return alive, when he expressed ‘‘a sincere desire of being made an instrument of more extensive usefulness to my fellow creatures than could be ex- pected in the narrower circle of a retired life.” Had Dorothea L, Dix, who reformed the asylums for the insane, or Henry Berg, the champion of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or any one of scores of other great Unitarian philan- thropists sought words to describe the impulse by which they were moved they could not have chosen better ones than these of John Howard. At the present time all churches are interested in progressive social conditions and Unitarianism cannot claim any exceptional distinction other than that its interpretations of human nature permitted it to furnish the pioneers of modern philanthropy. It broke down the barriers that prevented the ignorant, the unfortunate, the weak and criminal classes from aby being treated as the children of God rather than as the lost souls of a lost world. When Jean Irederic Oberlin settled in the pov- erty stricken region of Waldbach in Alsace and found there a degenerate and thriftless community, it was because he saw precious possibilities in the darkened souls of the people that he was enabled to give a Unitarian expression to his missionary zeal. New roads, new houses, circulating libraries, im- proved education, infant schools and the thorough elevation of the people were some of the results of Oberlin’s labor and what he did became the model for thousands of similar philanthropic enterprises. From the great Unitarian. leaders of education, philanthropy and political and religious freedom, in- fluences have spread throughout the world which, while they cannot be registered in such statistics as are usually presented to show the growth of churches, have nevertheless given expression to the Christian missionary spirit as that spirit first found a voice in the teachings of Jesus. When Unitarianism first began to be organized in America there was no desire on its part to add an- other to the already too numerous ** denominations ” of Christendom. It has never been a _ proselyting body. Its aim has been to educate the people and to inspire and promote the spirit of freedom in religion. So emphatically has this been its purpose that it has never even attempted a computation of its member- ship. Unitarianism itself far exceeds its organized strength and no statistics in existence take account of more than a fraction of its numerical constituency. Unsectarian philanthropy has prevailed among 18 Unitarians to a far greater degree than among the so- called ‘‘ evangelical ” bodies” Sums of money have been contributed by Unitarians to causes not under their supervision which, had they been devoted to the aggrandizement of the Unitarian Church would have placed it in the front rank of modern eccle- siastical establishments. The volume of hterature sent out annually by the British and Foreign and the American Unitarian Associations has steadily increased and it is now sent in large quantities to all parts of the world. But, what is even more to the point, the demand for that literature is greater every year. It thus finds its way to every country, permeating the beliefs of all denominations and determining the religious attitude of vast numbers of thinking people, especially in the great centers of learning. This kind of work ean never be gauged in any census; but it is as truly mis- sionary in character as that of any campaign to ‘evangelize’ a modern city or “save” a heathen tribe. It implies a desire to declare “‘ good news” and it inspires a spirit of expectancy and confidence in the ever-unfolding future. It is impossible to enumerate all the avenues through which the missionary spirit finds expression in terms of Unitarianism. The American Unitarian Association with its many departments and its nu- merous funds devoted to the cause, and the British and Foreign Association having its headquarters in London and reaching out into all parts of the United Empire are the two largest missionary organizations. Allied with them are many Societies, Alliances and Unions which, by various methods, convey Unitarian interpretations of religion, ‘There are hundreds of 19 individuals who are distributing literature, conduct- ing correspondence with inquirers and sending mes- sages of liberal thought to isolated people in remote regions and to places where churches have not as yet been established. A large group of Unitarian insti- tutions has existed in Hungary since 1568, where at one time the State Church itself was of that denomi- nation. Recent investigations show that Unitarian- ism is growing in the thought and is represented in re- ligious organizations in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Contradictory as the expression: may seem the American Unitarian Association is engaged in For- eign Missions at home. It is a well-known fact that thousands of foreigners who come to this country, not realizing that there is no civil freedom without law and no religious hberty without righteousness, being released from the restraining influences of old-world monarchies and despotisms and no longer feeling the immediate jurisdiction of any State church, swing to the farthest extreme of lawlessness and irreligion. They frequently interpret their freedom into terms of license and irresponsibility. Within the bound- aries of the United States and Canada there is no mussionary work of greater importance than to teach these hordes that the freedom which they find in this new country is of little avail unless within them- selves is the sense of personal accountability and a frank and obedient recognition of the divine prin- ciple working in human life. Of late years the American Unitarian Association has set itself to the task of helping in this great work of fitting the for- eign born to use wisely the free institutions of a free 20 country and to evolve within themselves a new spirit- ual consciousness. Missions among the Italians that swarm in great cities have been inaugurated, churches and’ settlements among the Scandinavians of the Northwest have for years been promoted, a number of Unitarian Icelandic churches (the only ones in the world) have organized themselves into a conference in the Northwestern Provinces of Canada, having a Field Secretary under the direction of the American Unitarian Association. Work among the Finnish colonies is also of great importance and churches under our missionary guidance, with Fin- nish preachers, are among the most interesting of our ventures among New Americans. In India there is the Khasi Hills Mission, with stations at Jowai, Nongtalong and other places. The Banda Missien exerts a large and increasing’ in- fluence over a wide territory, while ‘* the various sec- tions of the Brahmo Somaj in the Theistie Church of India are Unitarian in their theology.” Besides these there are Unitarian Postal Missions at Bombay, Caleutta, Madras, and Shillong. Through the efforts of the American Unitarian Association a Unitarian fitting school for the minis- try has been established at Tokyo, Japan. This school is now largely supported by the Japanese themselves and the teaching is done almost wholly by Japanese scholars. They have translated many Unitarian books and edit a Unitarian Review. In Australia, New Zealand and ‘Tasmania churches have been established and missionary enter- prises inaugurated. ; Christianity among all the great religions of the world, I repeat, has been committed to international and inter-racial sympathies. It is interesting to no- tice how, in its later developments, Unitarianism has shown and is showing its capacity for international activities. These interests have come into special prominence since the opening of the present century under the supervision of the American and the brit- ish and Foreign Associations. It has long been a matter of profound regret that Christendom has not, especially in these later years, awakened more fully to the immediate possibilities of realizing the first Christian dream of “ peace on earth, good will to men.” ‘The - nations have been drawn into the closest commercial relations; provincialism is rapidly fading out under the spell of a wonderful world-consciousness. lashes of in- telligence transmitted from continent to continent, from sea to sea, from nation to nation, over the en- tire surface of the earth create common interests and inspire kindred sympathies among all the inhabitants thereof. Certain principles of government that in- volve the happiness and welfare of all the people cannot longer be ignored by those who have inherited the ruling privilege, and the differences that have di- vided the religious institutions of the world are be- coming less conspicuous as the sovereignty of spirit- ual a ces 1s more generally recognized. In view of these facts how inconsequential appear those theological crochets over which Protestant sects have contended so bitterly and. so long! How im- portant it is that all religious bodies of every name should hasten to admit the inevitable necessity, and even the desirability, of difference of opinion while they accept and cultivate a genuine unity of the spirit ! 22 Those who have heard the eall of the Twentieth Century and are moved by the same impulse that prompted the disciples of Jesus to anticipate a new heaven and a new earth now realize the necessity of inaugurating the reign of universal fellowship. ‘To this end, in 1900 the first’ of our International Coun- cils was held in Boston, and since then the great gath- erings of Liberals in London, Amsterdam, Geneva and Berlin, under the auspices of Unitarian leaders, are prophetic of far-reaching influences. They promise as much in the interests of religious concord as the Lutheran Reformation was productive of sectarian division and strife. The world is older and wiser in this respect than it was in Luther’s time. Leading men and women are more comprehensive in their sympathies and more sympathetic in their judgments. A world-conscious- ness has turned their attention to larger issues than sectarian loyalty and ecclesiastical prestige. The simple logic of events has committed a large share of this work to Unitarians. Being anchored by no eredal obligations, being ambitious of no ec- clesiastical supremacy, desiring only that the human race should trust the future and work to glorify it, the Unitarian body can and does issue a loud eall to all the contending camps of Christendom and in- sists that the age of little differences has passed away and the time of spiritual unity has arrived. What a challenge is here for the exercise of all the highest faculties of human nature! To utter the prophetic ery for international peace and the perma- nent cessation of that one most horrible survival of barbarism called war! ‘To labor for the recognition of a tribunal of international justice,— a veritable 23 Court of Nations! To. discover and promote the ethical principles of international commerce! ‘To harbor the thought and insist on the growth of a real international citizenship! ‘To take the world into our confidence and to be satisfied with nothing which does not apply to the welfare of all God’s children, because they are God’s children! Surely this is to - rise above the petty antagonisms of denominational self-interest into occupations that are worthy of the new age in which we are living. Unitarianism in the hands of those who have al- lowed themselves to be organized for purposes of re- ligious enlightenment and inspiration has not by any means accomplished all that might have been done and ought to have been done in the name of so true and lofty a gospel. But throughout the world there are signs of a great intellectual awakening. And through this awakening the old, unscientific and ob- solete methods that sought only to rescue the individ- ual from impending ruin will be forgotten in the larger and grander attempt to bring peace and good will to all nations and into all the relations of human society. sionary organization of the Unitarian churches of America, and is supported by the voluntary contributions of churches and individuals. [t seeks to promote sympathy and united action among Liberal Christians, and to spread the principles which are believed by Unitarians to be essential to civil and religious liberty and progress and to the attainments of the spiritual life. To this . end it supports missionaries, establishes and maintains churches, holds conventions, aids in building meeting-houses, publishes, sells and gives away books, sermons, tracts, hymn-books and devotional works. P “HE American Unitarian Association is the working mis- A list of free tracts will be sent on application. A full descrip- tive catalogue of the publications of the Association, including doctrinal, devotional and practical works, will be sent to all who apply. There are thousands of people who are Unitarians, but who, because there are no Unitarian churches near at hand, are not members and do not take the part they would like to take in the propagation of liberal religious ideas. There are other thousands who are Unitarians and do not know it until they read the literature which we are distributing, free of cost, in all parts of this and other countries. In return for one dollar and your signature upon an application card you will be enrolled in our Associate Membership Depart- ment, and you will receive each new pamphlet or tract which is published by the Association. Moreover, you will have the satisfaction of co-operating with us in this work. You will be kept in touch with the activities of our churches, and by your sympathetic interest you can, through this membership, assist others to what they will regard as genuine benefactions. Unitarian Word and Work is a monthly report of denominational news, published as a special department of The Christian Register, from October to June inclusive. It is of special value to Associate Members who are unable to enjoy the privilege of attending a Unitarian church. The subscription price, 50 cents per year, brings it within the reach of everyone. Address communications and contributions to the American Unitarian Association 25 BEACON STREET BOSTON, MASS. Printed in U.S.A.