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FEBRUARY.
Miss Frances Power Cobbe, London
Bev. T. R. Elliott, Hunslet......................
Mr. William Whitworth, Newton Moor...
Mr. Robert Till, Hull................................
Rev. Goodwyn Barmby, Wakefield..........
A Lady, Wakefield ................................
Mr. Peter Reed, Wakefield ................. .
Mr. John Till, Fairburn ........................
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HOW TO JOIN THE BAND OF FAITH.
The Band of Faith is a Brotherhood and Sisterhood—a
religious Order of men and women, consisting of two
ranks—Associates and Members. Those who agree in
the statements of its faith and in the missionary objects
and ecclesiastical organization in which it is engaged, can
easily become Associates by sending their names and a
fee of one shilling, which must be renewed every year, to
its office. They will then not only be in the way of
/ assisting a society in the general principles of which they
agree, but of acquiring the knowledge and developing the
gifts which will enable them to become active members.
The rank of Members in the Order is not so easily
attained. We need active members, who will show forth
their faith by their works, preachers who will go readily
where they are sent, men of business who will labour at
our board meetings for the success of the Society,
women who will form sewing societies for its sales of
work, singers and readers who will exercise self-sacrifice
in promoting its services of worship, doorkeepers who
will esteem any menial service in the sanctuary of God,
honourable, and all these not only to be bound together with
each other, but bound also to God, by solemn vow, which
as the exercise of the will in dedication to Him is the
truest initiatory rite of religion. Except by special dis
pensation, the members of the Order must take publicly
on their admission the following Covenant, which is em-
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MESSENGER.
bodied in a service for the purpose, by joining in it or
responding to it, while receiving the right hand of fellow
ship from the officiant. The Covenant thus reads :—
“We covenant to do all in our power for the honour
and worship of the one and only God, and in making
known His absolute Holiness, perfect Wisdom, and Uni
versal Love and Mercy. And may God of His goodness
enable us to keep this covenant, and to live ever for His
service. Amen.”
It is desirable that friends should become first Associ
ates, and remain such for a year at least before consider
ing themselves eligible for Membership.
Associates form the constituencies of local societies,
and by the payment of their annual fee of one shilling
each, and the registration of their names and addresses
in the Index of the Order, are distinguished as avowed
and recognised friends, from the occasional attendants,
who in common with themselves contribute to the offer
tory.
From Covenanted Members, the various degrees of
Superintendents will naturally be appointed (District,
Provincial, and Metropolitan), in the course of the orga
nisation of the Order. Preachers should especially be
come Covenanted Members, not only for their own benefit
through the consecrating act, but that they may set an
example of holy vowing and public confession to the
general brotherhood and sisterhood. From members also
the Board of Trustees, consisting of twenty-four Elders,
will be formed.
The future, however, holds these things, and for the
present we principally ask for Associates. Let scattered
friends and sympathising attendants upon our services,
at once become Associates and definitely strengthen our
forces. The fees of Associates are now due for the pre
sent year, and, where there is a Local Superintendent,
should be now paid to him, or otherwise transmitted
directly to head quarters. Cards of Companionship for
the year will be forwarded on the receipt of these fees.
Organization will gradually show the measure of our
ability. It is at once the secret of success-and the proof
of power. It is only through Organization that the
�FEBRUARY.
H>
Broad Church of the Future can supplant the narrow
churches of the past and present. All efforts for the es
tablishment of Universal Ideas will prove weak and
abortive, unless authority, order and discipline are freely
chosen by their adherents.
FINALITY IN KELIGION.
By Goodwyx Barmby.
There is no finality in religion, as a whole. Ever fresh,
developments spring forth from it-—a constant evolution
goes on beneath its inspiration. But to every special
process there may be allowed an end, in the sense of accom
plishment and consummation ; and such process remains
one of the great factors of the past in the eternal progress
of the future. It is in this sense that the Messianic Idea
is exhausted when it is completely realised, while the
Divine Idea is for ever inexhaustible. While a dispen
sation may be perfected, 'while a mission may be accom
plished, while a special process may be so fully realised
that it may be considered final and need not be attempted
again, there is no finality in religion itself.
The evidences of the divinity of religion lie in the facts
that it produces. The proof of a good field is in its
ability of producing. It was by his 'works that Jesus
showed fulfilment of his Messianic mission. It was He
that should come to make known the Fatherly Spirit of
God, and to show forth in himself, the filial spirit to the
All-Father and the fraternal spirit to his human family.
The imperfect ever gives way to the more perfect. In
the struggle for existence the stronger conquers. In
natural selection the imperfect disappears, while every
beauty and advantage is perpetuated. It is as in a large
curve however that these truths can only be fully recog
nized. Little minds take little methods, and fail as liter
ally as they literally regard things. Except through a
wide sweep of events, we cannot assign its character or
destiny to a dispensation. Things that swiftest grow,
swiftest disappear. Perpetuity is the sign of perfection,
and the noblest name of God is--The Eternal 1
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MESSENGER.
The influence of Jesus has borne the test of experience
and acquired the proof of perpetuity. Corrupt accretions
have gathered around it, misapplying to themselves the
honour of a holy name; but it has thrown them off, and
is still throwing them off. It has not been povertystricken by bare walls, nor smothered by the rich robes
of its ritualists. Beneath all guises it has equally
touched hearts—beneath the leathern coat of George
Fox or the Episcopal cope of St. Augustine. It has
leavened literature, and directed imagination to choicer
types of character, and to sweeter and brighter results,
than Roman poet or Greek tragedian ever chose or found.
It has ennobled benevolence and forgiveness, as the
highest virtue; and it more especially works, by giving
the light of knowledge to the blind in mind, by causing
the deaf to wisdom to hear the word of truth, by raising
the dead in trespasses and sins to a new life of holiness,
by cleansing the leprosy of selfishness from the heart,
and by causing the lame in effort and infirm of faith to
walk cheerfully and courageously upon the road of
righteousness.
Jesus was He then that should come as the fruits
prove the nature of the tree. He was the Ideal Man
and we look not for another. The spirit of his life covers
all that is humanly good-—all that is divinely human.
I will not be bound to the records of his life, either by
believers or unbelievers. The Spirit of Truth frees the
mind from all such slavery to the letter. When two
people cannot give the same account of facts happening
in the next street, we cannot receive details of historical
testimony as things of greatest moment. The general
features of Jesus have been burned by the sun-rays of
Truth upon the glass of Humanity, and this photograph
is a truer likeness than the portraits of special artists.
The universal truth respecting him is all-sufficient for us.
That which all are agreed upon will be the truest
representation of him. All are not agreed upon his
miraculous birth, upon his supernatural character, upon
his personality in the God-head, or even upon his Christhood as the fulfiller of the Jewish Messianic prophecies;
but all are agreed that /. : was the pious son of God and
�FEBRUARY.
21
the loving brother of Man, that in his love and goodness
there was brightest revelation of God’s mercy and holi
ness, and that he showed forth the perfect Human Ideal
in his filial love to God and fraternal benevolence to
human kind. What can be a more perfect human ideal
than that of a devout son of God and loving brother of
man. For the same spirit which makes a good son and
a good brother, a pious worshipper and a beneficent
friend and counsellor, is good for all the relationships of
life. The great duties of human life apply to all its
relationships, and are not bi-sexual but are the common
law for woman and man. The light of the great prin
ciples which Jesus personified casts its ladiance on all
the details of private and social life. Religion and
benevolence are the true crown and robe of our lives.
To be clothed in them is to be clothed in Christ. To
follow out the ideal of Jesus, according to the surround
ings of our own age, is to attain its highest human
standard. Some people, while in their false pride, scorn
ing the idea of the ascent of man from the monkey, would
make monkeys of men. But it is into no mimicry that
we ought to descend. The true imitation of Jesus is the
participation in the same holy spirit which Jesus pos
sessed. His spirit of love to God and of benevolence to
man, is the perfect—the all-sufficient ideal of human
life.
We look not then for another. The Messianic Idea
Bas been ever attended by temptation and danger, as
even in the early career of Jesus. It presents the idea
of self-pre-eminence to the mind—the kingdoms of this
world and the glory of them. It is connected with the
conception of man-worship when God alone ought to be
.adored. Jesus survived all this and rose above it, and
was more glorious in what he became, than in what he
attempted—when instead of the son of man of Daniel’s
prophecy, he grew to the son of God’s own heart. The
spirit of our age is with us, in asking for no new Messiah.
Its tendency is democratic and social. It wants none
head-high above their fellows. It needs measures rather
than men, and values principles above persons. As
knowledge is more generally diffused there is no need of
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MESSENGER.
such preeminent wisdom. As virtue enters into the
moral life of society, there is no excuse for the exceptional
austerity of the anchorite, or plea for the denunciations
of the prophet. It is of more importance that the Many
should become good, than that One should appear who
is extraordinary. The tendancy of our age is to lift up
the many to where the few have stood, to work out the
principles which approve themselves good, to extend the
process of education until all are enlightened ; and not
to encourage personal illusions or expect miraculous
exceptions, but to act upon the methods of common
sense and of a sound rnind.
While there is no finality in religion as a whole then,
there is one process perfect in the religious development
of human kind. Jesus furnishes us with a perfect ideal
of human life. His exceptional personification of holy
principles is all-sufficient for that end. In his spirit we
may discern the love of God for us, and in his character
the true life for men. He has taught us to call no man
Master, but to acknowledge God as our only Lord. And
we want no other Lords to reign over us, and Him alone
will we serve.
We must never forget, however, the great truth, that
in its wholeness, there is no finality in religion. The
personal embodiment of religion in Jesus, is sufficient in
its sphere of example : but as it accomplishes its work
by inspiring the welcoming of a like dwelling of the
Divine Spirit in each human soul, it gives up its kingdom
to the Father, that God may be all in all. The most
perfect human impersonation of religion, is after all, im
perfect. Finite perfection is not infinite perfection. It
is hence that Jesus is represented as teaching, that it
was expedient for him to go away, as if he went not away
the Spirit of Truth would not come to his followers.
Unless he were removed from his disciples personally,
they would not give heed to truth, for its own sake.
Unless they valued truth, not from his own lips only,
but in the entirety of its essence, its holy spirit—the
blessed Paraclete—would not lead them to all truth.
Such, indeed, is the true progress of religion—from the
authority of the teacher, to its own authority in the
�FEBRUARY.
23
soul—from its reception as a personal teaching, to life in
it as an essential principle. The teacher of truth, perfect
as he may be in his special mission, is succeeded by the
Spirit of Truth, which leads unto all truth. There is
then, no religious finality. As occasion arises, there will
ever be further development in Divine Knowledge, and
new forms of religious life in which it will be embodied.
The Divine Idea is universal and everlasting, and every
acquirement in science will augment our knowledge of it,
will raise our veneration for it, and give us fresh inspiration to lead wise, and holy, and loving lives.
As the different religious dispensations, also, move
onward in their conceptions of the true human life, they
will attain to the Ideal of Humanity which was set forth
by Jesus, and converging together will form that Divine
Universal Church which shall be the glory of human
kind and the salvation of society. We must each of us
realize this divine drama of history, in our own personal
experience, in the life of our own souls, by living after
the human ideal of Jesus, and going on as the Spirit of
Truth leads us to all truth—adding to our faith, know
ledge, and all excellent things, and acquiring from the
revelations of thought and science, ever greater love and
devouter reverence for God. By promoting this, the
Band of Faith would prepare for the practical establish
ment of the Universal Church of God, which is the body
of which true Universalism is the inspiring soul.
NEW LECTIONABY.
Chap. I.—From the Vedic Writings.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
He who gives life, He who gives strength ; whose com
mands the highest revere j whose light is immortality,
whose shadow is death.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
He who through his power is the one king of the
breathing and awakening world j he who governs all,
man and beast.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
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MESSENGER.
He whose greatness the mountains, whose greatness
the sea proclaims ; He whose regions they are.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm ;
He through whom the heaven was stablished—nay, the
highest heaven ; He who measured out the light in the air.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
He to whom heaven and earth standing firm by his
will, look up trembling inwardly.
Leave us not to ourselves, 0 God. Let us not yet enter
into the house of clay.
Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy.
If we go along trembling like clouds driven by the
wind.
Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy.
Through want of strength and light, 0 God, Thou all
strong and all bright Being, have we alone gone wrong.
Have mercy, Almighty—have mercy.
Let not one sin after another, difficult to be conquered,
overcome us; may it depart together with the desire for it.
Create the light which we long for.
May we find for ourselves offspring, food, and a dwell
ing with running waters.
Speak out for ever with thy voice to praise the Lord,
of prayer, who is like a friend—the Bright One.
Fashion a hymn in thy mouth ! Expand like a cloud !
Sing a song of praise !
Chap. II.—From, the Brahmin Scriptures.
Whatsoever hath been made, God made. Whatsoever
is to be made, God will make. Whatsoever is, God maketh. Then why do any of you afflict yourselves ?
Thou, 0 God, art the Author of all things which have
been made, and from Thee will come all things which are
to be made. Thou art the Maker and the Cause of all
things made. There is none other but Thee.
He is my God who maketh all things perfect. Medi
tate upon Him, in whose hands are life and death.
I believe that God made man and that he maketh
everything. He is my friend.
Let faith in God characterise all your thoughts, words,
�FEBRUARY.
25
and actions. He who serveth God places confidence in
nothing else.
If the remembrance of God be in your hearts ye will
be able to accomplish that which would be else imprac
ticable.
0 foolish one ! God is not far from you : He is near
you. You are ignorant, but He knoweth everything.
Care can avail nothing; it devoureth life: for those
things shall happen which God shall direct.
Remember God, for he endued your body with life:
remember that Beloved One, who placed you in the womb,
reared and nourished you.
Preserve God in your hearts, and put faith in your
minds, so that by God’s power your expectations may be
realized.
In order that He may spread happiness God becometh
the servant of all; and although the knowledge of this
is in the hearts of the foolish, yet will they not praise
His Name.
0 God, Thou art, indeed, exceeding riches; thy laws
are without compare; Thou art the Chief of every world
yet remainest invisible.
He that partaketh of but one grain of the Love of God,
shall be released from the sinfulness of all his doubts and
actions.
What hope can those have elsewhere, even if they wan
dered over the whole earth, who abandon God ?
All things are exceeding sweet to those who love God:
they would never call them bitter.
Adversity is good, if on account of God ; but it is use
less to pain the body. Without God the comforts of
wealth are unprofitable.
Whatever is to be, will be ; therefore long not for grief
nor for joy ; because in seeking the one, you may find the
other. Forget not to praise God.
Do unto me 0 God, as thou thinkest best: I am obe
dient to Thee. Behold no other God; go nowhere but
to Him.
Condemn none of those things which the Creator hath
made. Those are his holy servants, who are satisfied
with them.
■>
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MESSENGER.
God is my clothing and my dwelling : He is my ruler,
my body and my soul.
God ever fostereth his creatures, even as a mother
cares for her child and keepeth it from harm.
0 God, Thou who art the Truth, grant me content
ment, love, devotion, and faith. Thy servant prayeth
for true patience, and that he may be devoted, to Thee.
He, that formed the mind, made it a temple for Him
self to dwell in; for God liveth in the mind and none
other but God.
0 my friend, recognize that Being with whom thou art
so intimately connected ; think not that God is distant,
but believe that like thy own shadow, He is ever near
thee.
Receive that which is perfect into your hearts, and shut
out all besides ; abandon all things for the love of God,
for this is the true devotion.
If you call upon God you can subdue your imperfec
tions and the evil inclinations of your mind will depart
from you, but they will return to you again, if you cease
to call upon him.
Chap. III.—From, the Buddhist Writings.
He who is your friend in meaning and not in word
alone is he who prevents you from taking life, or doing
any other evil; he urges you to almsgiving and other
good deeds; he informs you of that which you did not
previously know; and he tells you what is to be done in
order that you may enter the true paths.
As the bee, without destroying the colour or perfume
of the flower, gathers the sweetness with its mouth and
wings, so the riches of the true friend gradually accu
mulate ; and the increase will be regularly continued,
like the constant additions which are made to the hill
formed by the white ant.
Our parents, who have assisted us in our infancy, are
to be regarded as the east • our teachers, as being worthy
to receive assistance, are to be regarded as the south;
our children, as those by whom we are afterwards to be
assisted, are to be regarded as the west; our servants
and retainers, as being under our authority, are to be as
�FEBRUARY.
27
the underside; and our religious advisers, as assisting us
to put away that which is evil, are to be regarded as the
upperside.
As the wise man whose head is on fire tries to put the
flame out quickly, so the wise man seeing the shortness
of life, hastens to secure the destruction of evil desire.
As the jessamine is the chief among flowers and as the
rice is the chief amid all descriptions of grain, so is he
who is free from evil desire the chief among the wise.
The waggoner who leaves the right path and enters
into the untrodden wilderness, will bring about the des
truction of his waggons and endure much sorrow; so also
will he who leaves the appointed path and enters upon a
course of evil, come to destruction and sorrow.
The unwise man cannot discover the difference between
that which is evil and that which is good, as a childknows not the value of a coin that is placed before it.
■ As the man who has only one son is careful of that
son, as he who has only one eye takes great pains to pre
serve that eye ; so ought the wise man continually to
exercise thought, lest he break any of the precepts.
When acts are done under the influence of favor, envy,
ignorance, or the fear of those having authority, he who
performs them will be like the waning moon; but he who
is free from these influences, or avoids them, will be like
the moon approaching to its fulness.
When the seed of any species of fruit that is bitter is
sown in moist ground, it gathers to itself the virtue of
the water and the earth, but because of the nature of the
original seed, all this virtue is turned into bitterness, as
will be seen in the fruit of the tree which it produces;
and in like manner all that the unwise man does is an
increase to his misery, because of his ignorance.
On the other hand, when the sugar cane, or rice, or
the vine, is set in proper ground, it gathers to itself the
virtue of the water and the earth, and all is converted
into sweetness, because of the sweetness of the original;
and in like manner all the acts of the wise man tend to
his happiness and prosperity, because of his wisdom.
The door of the eye must be kept shut. When the
outer gates of the city are left open, though the door of every
�28
MESSENGER.
separate house or store be closed, the robber will enter
the city and steal the goods; and in like manner though
all the observances be kept, if the eye be permitted to
wander, evil desire will be produced.
This advice was given by Budha: He who would
attain Nirwana must not trust to others, but exercise
heroically and perseveringly his own judgment.
Chap. IV.—From the Druid Proverbs.
There is no seeing but in reflection; there is no reflec
tion but in fortitude—fortitude is only where the object
is clear.
There is no perspicuity but in light; there is no light
but in the understanding; there is no understanding but
of conscience; conscience is none other than the eye of
God in the soul of man.
There is none good but the godly ; there is none godly
but the religious ; there is no religion but in believing ;
there must be no belief but in truth; there is no truth
but in being manifest. Nothing is manifest but light.
Nothing is light but God; therefore there is no good
but of light, no godliness but of light, no religion but of
light; there is no light but in seeing God.
A word expresses—expression shows—showing reflects
—reflection instructs—instruction causes to think—
thought reasons—reason understands—understanding
proceeds to know—knowledge will exert—exertion will
be able to effect; ability will effect desire; desire will
act—action will attain the end.
The end of everything is the right; right is everything
in life ; right life is life eternal; life eternal is to be in
perfection ; to be in perfection is to be in God.
The weapon of the wise is reason ; the weapon of the
fool is steel; the weapon of the wise is in his heart.
He that loves fame, let him love what deserves it! He
that sows thistles will not reap wheat.
He that imparts his wish to every one will be late be
fore he obtains it. He that shall be far from his good
shall be near to his harm.
He that knows more than is necessary of another,
�FEBRUARY.
29
knows less than he ought of himself. He that would
have a good word let him not give a bad one.
The abundance of a miser is poverty to him. He that
loves will correct.
Noble descent is the least thing in the world in the
court of wisdom. Little is the seed of the contentious
and less the wisdom that sows it.
It is early with every one when he rises. He that has
one eye is a king among the blind. A small, injury to
another is a great one to thyself.
Hated will be he that importunes. Remembrance of
the good will excite goodness.
Profound is the expression of the heart. Good is every
country that produces wise men.
Every fool is wise while he holds his tongue. Better
is one that takes care than ten who contrive.
The best gold mine is a dunghill. The best dancing tune
is the song of the lark. The best shield is righteousness.
The best revenge is to show the injury and forgive it.
Three things will not be had without every one its
companion : day without night; idleness without hunger;
and wisdom without respect.
Three things which are not easily counted : the parti
cles of light, the words of a talkative woman, and the de
vices of a miser.
The three charities to the age which follows-—planting
of trees, improvement of science, and the education of
children in virtue.
Three persons who ought to have pity shown them__
the stranger, the widow and the orphan.
The three ornaments of a country—a barn, the shop of
an artist, and a -school.
There is no Druid but in name. None can be a Druid,
but God.
PROGRESSIVENESS OF RELIGION.
Religion is a progressive work, inwardly in the soul—
outwardly m society. Goodness is development—onward
and upward—is pure progression.
“Nature,” says
Goethe, “ has attached a curse to /wzse.”
�30
MESSENGER.
To have Life, we must have growth; not the growth
of the fungus, which springs up in a morning and attains
to no further development than mere increase of sizej
not the growth of the ephemeris, hatched by a warm sun
beam and perishing in the evening dew ; not the growth
of the parasite, established upon the existence of a life as
dependent as its own—but rather the growth of the tree |
not swift and evanescent, but steady and enduring; its
roots firmly fixed in nature—each year developing a new
ring in its trunk, an increase in its girth ; each year see
ing it constantly, and therefore apparently unconsciously
aspire higher and higher toward the skies.
See that sapling oak ! Its sap’s blood freely courses
through the fibrous pores of its green young heart.
Spring shines on its clear brown bark, and its fresh glazy
leaves. Autumn comes and its leaves fall. But it is not
dead. It only sleeps, as true men sleep, to gather new
growth and increased strength for the waking hour.
Another spring and its leaves are green again. Another
autumn and it sheds its acorns. Other springs and.
autumns revolve over it, and year by year it puts forth
new leaves, new twigs, new branches, and more benefi
cently showers around upon its mother earth—the har
vest of its seeds. Year by year its bole is bigger; and
within its girth is calendered by a fresh ring, like a con
scious mark of progress in the soul. Year by year its
umbrage is more shady and more generously offers its
green coolness for the nests and songs of birds, for the
shelter of cattle, or for the solace of the children in the
summer heat. Year by year its leafy branches spread
about its bole—its trunk increased in girth, ascends also
in height—spiring upward to the sky, and on its topmost
twig, gilt by a sunray, we see and hear a sweet songbird
carolling its hymn to heaven.
Such then is the growth of life we want—a growth
steady and enduring—a growth implanted like a living
principle rooted deeply in our natures; a growth fixed
in the ground of things—not parasitic—not depen
dent upon the degree of vitality manifested by others,
but derived from the spiritual soil and fostered by the
immediate agencies of the Author of life and Giver of
�FEBRUARY.
31
growth himself. Such is the growth of life we want—a
growth not of a day, but one of perennial progress ; a
growth not niggardly, but a generous growth, increasing
not only in circumference, but in elevation; generously
distributing around it the fruits of each harvest, and at
the same time continually ascending and constantly de
veloping itself towards the higher—the nobler—the purer
—the more heavenly.
“ The new birth into righteousness,” is a development
of the divine—a growth of grace ! It is a winter of
decay and suspended animation passed over, and it is a
spring of new vitality, new vigour and new increase
arisen. But this growth must be continuous, this grace
should be constant—not the flower of a season but a
perennial plant. The progress to perfection is a per
petual path. It is ever before us, and we are ever to
attain it. On every morning we find that a new sun has
arisen—that new dews have been distilled. In each new
morning of every soul, we should see anew the golden
sunshine and the crystal dews of the spirit.
It is not only one new birth, but many new births,
that we require.
It is not only one new life, but many
new lives, that we must have. Daily, we should become
dead to some sin, we should relinquish some selfishness,
we should leave off some bad habit, we should abandon
some vice, we should strive and clear our minds of some
error—we should thus endeavour to die daily. Daily.,
we should become alive to some virtue, we should develope some loving sentiment, we should perform some
good action, we should endeavour to attain to the per
ception of some truth—we should strive to live a new
life, daily—to daily grow in grace.
All goodness is in the soul. The human spirit is
created good by God. Its fall—its error, is to be attri
buted to the accidents of its development in the outward,
serving it for experience and trial, but it is in itself
good—it has all goodness as the basis of its growth, and.
perpetual progress to perfection as its destiny. The
growth of grace is thus developed from within. It is a,
spiritual process of progression. As the soul grows
greater in goodness, as the spiritual increases in power,.
�32
MESSENGER.
as the development towards the divine is higher, stronger,
more inward and central in the spirit: the accidents of
the outward, the external circumstances of existence,
have less influence over it, are subordinated to it, and
the Human Being takes its right place as the Crown of
Creation—the overseer of the universe !
In relation to the attributes of goodness, the growth of
grace is the soul’s sum of addition. We should add to a
new birth of belief in those first principles which are the
oracles of God—a new birth of power over evil, a new
birth of disinterested action—a new life of sincerity, a
new life of love—a new ability of innocence, a new power
of purity. Such are some of the ascensive additions of
the soul!
In fact all grace is a growth, all goodness is a growth,
all practical Divinity consists in the process of develop
ment—piety should be ever progressive. We can never
be too good. That which does not progress, ceases to be
good. That which is right to-day, if not improved upon
to-morrow, becomes vice, not virtue. Stand-still religion,
is no religion at all. The human spirit is not like an
animal form, which grows to a certain age, and then
ceases; but goodness and grace are eternal growths,
and piety an infinite progress.
THE MANCHESTER FRIEND—We read in th®
Manchester Friend, 11 The Band of Faith Tracts and
Messenger, issued by Goodwyn Barmby, of Wakefield,
often touch a very true chord.” The Manchester Friend
is the monthly organ of the liberal portion of the Society
of Friends. It contains articles of great literary ability,
which put forth those broad views of religion which are
akin to the Theism of Jesus, and will help to constitute
the Universal Church of the Future.
BAND OF FAITH BAZAAR.—Our Annual Bazaar
will be held at Wakefield, probably in Easter week.
Contributions of work or goods will be thankfully received.
BARNSLEY.—We hope soon to announce that-W
have a new sanctuary in this town.
�MESSENGER.
159
appointments, by which they could fill the widening
openings of official service in civil or military ranks ; and
as a result the social leaders of the people are intensely
prejudiced and opposed to change or improvement. None
are more so than the Mahomedan Nawabs. By having
a Turkish officer of high rank at our seats of Government,
a man entering into our progressive ideas, wearing as they
do European dress, eating freely with us at our tables,
joining as they would in many acts of social life, and,
above all, representing in a palpable living form the prin
ciple of our friendship with the head of their faith in
distant Roum, we think a new political force might be
set at work, and much good might result.
Turkey to-day can supply dozens of such men in her
civil and military service, many of them fairly accom
plished and wide in their grasp of religious views. Why
not have them amongst us ? Our interests as nations
are identical in the East, and a great moral influence
would affect the bigotted population ; above all it would
show that the Sultan was our friend—and how many
Indian Mahomedans know that to-day, probably not a
hundred? A second phase of the subject is with refer
ence to the action of oui- missionary societies. It is
matter of surprise that the Unitarian organizations in
England have never bethought themselves of work
amongst the “ Unitarians ” of the East, as the Mahome
dans would fain call themselves. No reason exists why
men teaching such doctrines should not act with good
effect upon the Mussulman people. To-day the one-God
principle is so strongly implanted in the Mahomedan
heart, that the mere mention of plurality excites him
to frenzy. The narrow prejudices, too, of half-educated
missionaries who refuse to see in Mahomed a great re
former and one of the ablest statesmen, offends them to
a great degree. But every Mahomedan draws close to
those whose views are Unitarian ; and as a creed Islam
is quite capable of having a new church party developed
in its midst, for no creed has less officialism, less sacer
dotal tyranny in it, or a simpler code of church economy
than it has.
�BAND OF FAITH
160
A body of Christian teachers who would measure Ma
homed at his true worth and join on modem civilized
views to the ancient dogmatic basis of the creed, would
be a well-spring of good to our rule in India. No doubt
the truncheon and the bayonet can keep these warlike Mus
sulman races of India in subjection, and force them to
sullen obedience ; but an empire founded by the sword,
and trusting solely to it will perish in the end by the
means that gave it birth.
At the tomb of Ali, around whose gilded sepulchre
many thousand Indian Mahomedans dwell, a traveller
recently met a well-taught, indeed thoroughly educated
Indian Mussulman, well read and widely informed. He
was a pilgrim from India. He saw around him the ill
effects of an administration, whose aim is not always
the public good. He made flattering allusion to what
we have done in this country for the people, but in his
praises there lay a sting. “ Yes,” said he, “ I know all
you have done for India—good roads, perfect order, a
rule fairly just and striving to be more so. But what is
all that ? Whoever governs us—Russians or whoever
else—they would be better than you ; they would give us
sympathy. It is sympathy we need. You English are
a hard race.” He may, must have thought wrongly ; but
so he and probably many of his class do think. It is a
pity when such men brood over thoughts like this. We
trust too much to perfect codes and elaborate procedures;
and neglect the little things which all can see and
appreciate. The two proposals we mention above might
tend to some great improvements.
J. E. SMITH AND HIS WRITINGS.
The Coming Man, by the Rev. James Smith, M.A. 2 vols.
London: Strahan & Co., 1873.
This is a posthumous publication—the work of a very
wonderful mind. Its author is James Elishama SmithJames by baptism and Elishama by circumcision, although
in his later literary works the Israelitish prenomen is
dispensed with from the title-page. He was bom at
�MESSENGER.
161
Glasgow, 22 November, 1801, and died in the same
place, at the house of his friend, Dr. Herle, '-?9 January,
1857. He was a licentiate of the Kirk of Scotland, but
relinquished its duties a few years after his ordination.
In youth he was a companion of Robert Pollock, and
claimed the suggestion of an eminent line in his poem
“ The Course of Time.” It is to be regretted that so few
biographical particulars are given of him in the admirable
preface to his posthumous work. His outward was, how
ever, of less moment than his inward life. As an Organ
izer he was weak. As a Speculator alone was he strong.
There was a romance of a peculiar kind in connection
with his early life. On leaving the Scotch Kirk, he
joined for a while that branch of Southcottians, called
Christian Israelites, who were under thesupposedprophetic
leadership of John Wroe. When these people had their
New Jerusalem, at Ashton-under-Lyne, he lived with them
as their Hebrew Schoolmaster, and many interesting par
ticulars of the Christian Israelitish Community, which
are given in the pages of “ The Coming Man,” would be
derived from this singular experience. For Joanna
Southcott and the Church of the Woman, as he termed
the believers in her supernatural mission, he ever pro
fessed to entertain much respect and sympathy. He
knew all their prophets and visited women, and especially
entertained a high opinion of Mrs. Marshall, who has
comparatively lately assumed the further office of a
Spiritist medium. His connection in early life with the
Southcottians, must not, however, mislead in the opinion
of him. One of the most universal of men, at least in
the spheres of critical and analytic speculation, he
came in contact also with Rationalists of the Richard
Carlisle school, with mystics of the James Pierrepoint
Greaves school, with disciples of Robert Owen, and more
importantly still, with the writings of St. Simon and his
followers, which contained the germs of many of the
ideas which he afterwards elaborated or counterparted by
analogical developments of his own, in those more im
portant studies of his later life, which will yet make him
eminent as thinker and writer. In fact to St. Simon, his
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BAND OF FAITH
successor Father Enfantin and others of his school, was
due the initiation of the great Socialist Movement of our
days, which must end in the inauguration of a new
general societary state, the heir and successor of an im
perfect civilization ; and which includes more or less in
its ranks, all who recognize the divineness of humanity,
and who regard religion as a practical thing, and look
upon it as the renewer of society, and who consider
history as the revelation of Providence, as J. E. Smith
has done throughout his writings, and especially in his
interpretation of the coming Fifth Act of the Divine
Drama of society.
The development of his views was gradual. He shed
every drop of his intellectual blood, and gave all his life
for them. At first, their appearance was crude. The
acid, according to the order of nature, was developed
before the sweet. After leaving Ashton-un der-Lyne, he
delivered in London, a course of extraordinary lectures,
very negative, but containing the germs of his subse
quent positive views. These lectures he published in the
year 1833, under the following title : “ The Antichrist,
or Christianity Reformed: in which is demonstrated from
the Scriptures, in opposition to the Prevailing Opinion of
the Whole Religious World, that Evil and Good are from
One Source ; Devil and God One Spirit; and that the
one is merely manifested to make perfect the other, by
the Rev. J. E. Smith, A.M.” The sub-title of this re
markable book is “ The Antichrist or Christianity Re
formed : its morals preserved, and its doctrines cast into
its own furnace. He sets the sheep on his right hand and
the goats on his left.” The literary work of this production
is rough and rude. Its parodoxes approach blasphemy.
Not very long after its production it was suppressed by
the author and the remainder of the copies destroyed.
It is now a very rare book.
A more important publication followed—“ The Shep
herd” ; a London weekly periodical, illustrating the prin
ciples of Universal Science, Edited by the Rev. J. E.
Smith, A.M. It reached 3 volumes, and was published
in 1834-5. In this work he produced a system of nature.
�MESSENGER.
163
and developed his love of analogical illustration. It was
a great improvement upon the Antichrist—in various
ways, better written, far more affirmative, containing
choice extracts, collecting around it interesting contri
butors. Among the contributors to the Shepherd, were
Oxenford, the dramatist and critic, Charles Lane, a deep
mystic and editor of the Price Courant, Etienne Vieusseaux, author of the New Sanctuary of Thought and.
Science, and a Dr. de Prati, the exponent of some mag
netical system of Pantheism. As the editor of this pub
lication, J. E. Smith is more generally known in
London as Shepherd Smith. Disgusted at the stupidity
with which the public regarded his teachings, he con
cluded it by threatening to bring out The Swineherd.
A translation of St. Simon’s “ New Christianity a
collection of “ Legends and Miracles”; a strange essay
at prophetical calculation, called “ The Little Book, or
Momentous Crisis of 1840” ; a small work, named “ The
World Within,” setting forth the proposition that the
interior of the globe was inhabited; “ Pope’s Essay on
Man,” with an admirable introductory commentary, and
“ The Universal Chart, containing the Elements of
Universal Faith, Universal Analogy and Moral Govern
ment, 1840,” appeared in quick succession.
By his next publication, he was destined to become
very popular, although remaining unknown personally.
He was the originator and editor of the famous Family
Herald, a periodical known to all, a particular pet of
Leigh Hunt, and a literary organ which, although selling
only for a penny, and largely filled with tales, has exercised,
a pure influence upon a very extensive scale. It was first
published by B. D. Cousins, of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, who
passed it over to John Biggs, of the Strand, whose facili
ties in the publishing system were greater, who made it
a, lucrative investment, and who at his death, bequeathed
liberally to those who had started the periodical, and
been the means of his connection with it. In the Family
Herald, J. E. Smith largely improved his literary style,
and prepared his mind for the production of very far
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BAND OF FAITH
more important works than he had yet issued—“The
Divine Drama ” and “ The Coming Man.” His Family
Herald articles would make several volumes of important
essays, on a large multiplicity of subjects. They deserve
to be published in that form. In his notices to corres
pondents also, he established a kind of confessional upon
a rational system. It is astonishing to notice the infini
tude of subjects upon which he was consulted, and to
which he returned admirable answers, and not less so
to remark the delicate nature of the confidences which
were made to him. No one person, it was held at that
time, could possibly be the author of all these answers.
Whether they were written by man or woman, was a sub
ject also of frequent controversy. J. E. Smith really did
it all, and a wonderful work it was. It was certainly
“ unique in popular literature.” He edited the Family
TZera/cZ,'at least from December 17, 1842, to February 14,
1857,—that is to say after his death—the papers he left
behind him being used as the leading articles. Little did
his readers know of the quiet student life and deeply phi
losophical mind, which week by week had ministered to
their instruction and amusement.
“The Divine Drama of History and Civilization” was
published in 1854, about two years before its authors
death. It was his great work of art—the crowning effort
of his genius. At its appearance, it met with but scant
notice, but yet with an audience, not unworthy from a
few. It is now a rare book, and will become acknow
ledged as a great work, of a period in which great
works are not scarce. It is a great work in its leading
idea, and in the general principles applied to its illustra
tion. Its details cannot all be endorsed. He had the
scientific spirit, but was deficient in scientific method.
He was paradoxical, and gloried in it, and has thus ob
tained a niche in De Morgan’s book of Paradoxes. The
moment he got a glimpse of an analogy, he hunted it to
the remotest nooks and corners, and ran it to the death.
His analogies, however, are superior to Swedenborg’s
correspondencies. They are broader, and have more of
natural foundation in them. Of present advances in
�MESSENGER.
165
biblical criticism, he appears to have had little knowledge.
He explored more ancient mines of theology. Any text
which he could twist into harmony with his thought at
the time was acceptable to him. He used the same kind
of alchemy with regard to the doctrines of obscure sects,
ancient and modern. He found some truth in them all.
All was fish which came to his net. His scriptural inter
pretation is largely vicious and worthless; his religious
expression, although often true and beautiful, descends at
length into the obscure, but his general idea of development
in history, and of the direction under Divine Providence of
the whole social life of man, is fine and noble, and adds
a grand contribution to the systematic study of the sub
ject on which he treats. The leading idea of his Divine
Drama, is the development of human history in analogy
with the providential character and five-fold aspect of the
ordinary Drama. Under the terms of divisional and
unitary, he recognizes throughout it the critical and or
ganic epochs of St. Simon. His specialty indeed, is the
five-fold analogy. With him, history is a pentalogue—a
play in five acts, of which the Supreme Being is the ma
nager. While his setting forth of history is arbitrary,
and does not begin at the beginning, and while other
analogies might be found for its illustration in the course
of its progress, and the various social states in their logi
cal sequences be held to be true stages, and more real
factors in the development of the human race than the
national missions which arise among them, the five-fold
theory of our author is interesting and suggestive, and is
certainly a part of the universal system in which all
numbers have their relative functions. His first act of
the Divine Drama is the Hebrew Mission; the second
act, the Greek Mission; the third act, the Roman Mis
sion. These three acts comprise the Mediterranean Mis
sion. There the Pontifex Maximus—the great bridge
maker is obtained. The Atlantic Mission follows with
the next two acts. Act four shows the Mission of the
North-Western Nations, and is analytical. Act five is the
Universal Mission, in which the leading part is played by
the British Islands, and which is organic and final. We
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BAND OF FAITH
have already sufficiently criticized this theory of histori
cal evolution. It is put forth with much power. It is
adorned with many passages of striking eloquence and
beauty. Its author has grown to be a proficient with
the pen. There is fine word-painting in the scenery he
gives to each act of his historical drama. It is his great
work—the work by which he will be known—the Bible
of his system.
Whether intended to do so or not, “The Coming Man”
may serve as a commentary to the Divine Drama. It
commences in the form of a novel, and continues in this
style for several interesting chapters, but the thread of
the tale becomes at length lost in disquisitions. The
founder is confounded with his own image. His subject
reveals itself too largely for his art. That which gave
promise of being a love-tale concludes with an argument
in favour of astrology, and with tables of prophetical
arithmetic. The work indeed, is a small edition of nature
in its dramatic grandeur and comic absurdities. It is
more generally readable on this very account. Where a
hundred read the Divine Drama, a thousand will read
“ The Coming Man.” Some of the first scenes are equal
to any of the novel-writing of the day, and that is sayingvery much for them. The leading idea of the work, com
mencing with the contention that the ten tribes of Israel
are scattered but not lost, being incorporated with the
Gentiles, is that “ The Coming Man” is purified humanity,
which in the fifth act of the Divine Providential Drama,
will become perfected, and truly reign upon the earth.
Incidentally, a vast variety of subjects are treated. The
sketches of character interspersed are cleverly drawn, and
the disquisitions on morals and manners admirable. A
light is cast upon many obscure sects, and a word said for
many abstruse subjects. A very beautiful robe of charity
is the garb of the author’s thought, which, as of old,
covers a multitude of sins. The two volumes are as
amusing as they are instructive, and show a variety of
power and an encyclopaedic mind, very rarely equalled .in
literature.
A very excellent photographic portrait of J. E. Smith
�MESSENGER.
167
is prefixed to the “ Coming Man.” He was a man of
middle size, with fine broad brows, deep set eyes, and
pale student face, and in society, although of retiring
habits, quite capable of fun and humour.
During the later years of his life, his residence was in
New Palace Road, Lambeth, and there he had collected
around him a library of most unique and extraordinary
works, which were dispersed after his death. The es
sence of his library is preserved in his own writings. His
knowledge was encyclopaedic, and his genius will yet be
acknowledged. Although the exact path he indicated
may not be taken by humanity, his labours will have
tended to prepare it to take that path which Divine Pro
vidence itself shall counsel and control.
HYMN.
BY SIR JOHN BOWRING.
One ! One ! One I art Thou,
Judge and King and God alone :
Thee we worship, and allow
None to share Thy glory—none !
Great, great, great art Thou,
Undivided greatness Thine :
Other gods we disavow ;
None but Thee we own divine.
Wise, wise, wise art Thou ;
Wise beyond our highest thought:
Naught when at Thy throne we bow,
Shall distract our praises—naught!
. Good, good, good art Thou ;
Thou our God that reign’st alone ;
Consecrate Thy servant’s vow,
All-transcendent Gracious One.
�BAND OF FAITH
THE UNIVERSAL LAW.
BT JAMES WALKER, OF CARLISLE.
Onward, onward, ever onward,
Progress is the law of all;
Nothing with us, great or lowly,
But some higher motives call.
Daily to more perfect being,
Daily into greater light,
’Till at last in perfect beauty,
Great and lowly greet the sight.
In the wondrous world of Nature,
Ever since her work began,
Slowly, surely, and completely,
Has been aye her rule and plan ;
Nothing suddenly upspringing,
Perfect to the light of day,
All the end by gradual stages,
Gaining of their destined way.
In the greater world of spirit,
Doth this law as firmly hold,
Only by unswerving labour
Shall the good and true unfold
All their balm and all their wisdom
Unto oui’ repining hearts,
Sinfully in sloth repining,
’Till their energy departs.
If my earthly state is lowly,
Shall I lull my soul asleep,
Shall I fold my hands in quiet,
Or shall I sit down and weep
That the work I would be doing,
Seems to scorn all human strength,
That the road I am pursuing
Seems of hopeless, endless length ?
�MESSINGER.
0, my brother ! 0, my sister 1
Struggling with this evil thought,
Struggling, sinking, and despairing,
Listen to what God hath taught,
On the wondrous face of Nature,
On each part and on the whole—
“ Courage, faith, and perseverance,
Ever shall attain the goal.”
From the genesis of being,
Unto this imperfect day,
Has He shown how their endeavours
Clear all obstacles away ;
Be the worker poor and lowly,
Yet if poor in thought and deed,
H e, the Master worker, aids him,
Gives to him that he succeed.
Action, action, heavenly action
Ever is man’s wisest part,
Laws of God and laws of being,
Ignorance, sloth, and error thwart,
Paralyse, benumb the spirit,
Molehills into mountains raise,
And with misery, pain and error
Hedge us round in all our ways.
Whose example is unheeded ?
Whose good deeds are wholly lost ?
Stalwart warriors are they ever,
Each with an important post,
In the warfare waged with evil,
And, with all arch-angel might,
Win they ever in the contest,
Souls from darkness unto light.
As the ripple from the pebble,
Coming from a child’s weak hand,
Spreadeth o’er the sea’s wide surface,
Unto some far distant land;
�ITO
BAND OF FAITH
So thine efforts, humble worker,
Have an Influence far and wide,
Though to thee, for wisest purpose,
This to see may be denied.
Heed not what despair would teach thee,
Mark not the extent of ill,
Think not thou aid poor and lowly,
On with firmest heart and will;
In the smiling sky above thee—
This fair earth thou livest on,
See the auguries of conquest !
See the destiny of man !
Listen to the past’s deep teachings,
Telling all that has been done,
How by humble, patient labour,
Has our better age been won ;
And if on thou strivest ever,
Strivest as they did of yore,
Thou dost live, thou art God’s servant,
Thou art blessed for evermore.
WHICH OUGHT WE TO BELIEVE,—THAT WHICH
MEN SAY ABOUT JESUS, OR,
THAT WHICH JESUS SAID ABOUT HIMSELF?
BY
T.
R.
MASON.
Men tell us that Jesus is the second person in the God
head, and equal with “the Father;” but Jesus said,
distinctly, and without any qualification whatever, “ My
Father is greater than I.” (John xiv. 28).
Men affirm that Jesus was almighty, but he candidly
acknowledged that he could of himself do nothing.
(John v. 30).
Men teach that Jesus knew all things : but he stated
positively that he knew not when the day of judgment
would come. (Mark xiii. 32).
Men say that Jesus was and is from eternity to eter
�MESSENGER.
171
nity, the all-wise God : yet he actually mistook John the
Baptist for Elias, and said of him, “ This is Elias which
was to come.” (Matthew si. 14). Whereas, when John
was asked, “ Art thou Elias 1” he said, emphatically, “ I
am not.” (John i. 21). Again, Jesus went seeking figs
on a tree before the proper season, and showed his wis
dom (?) by cursing the tree because it had not done that
which was utterly impossible under the circumstances.
Men assure us that Jesus was the all-merciful and
impartial God, notwithstanding that Jesus said to his
disciples, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the
kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all
these things are done in parables, that seeing, they may
see and not perceive : and hearing, they may hear and
not understand: lest at any time they should be converted
and their sins should be forgiven them. (Mark iv. 11.12.)
Men declare that the miracles which are recorded of
Jesus prove that he was a divine being; but three im
portant considerations conclusively show that Jesus
neither held nor taught such a thing:—1st, Jesus ad
mitted that even his opponents could work miracles :
“ If I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your
sons cast them out? (Luke xi. 19.) 2nd. Jesus pro
mised that his disciples should do still greater works than
those he had done ; and 3rd.—The miracles of Jesus
depended largely upon the faith of the people who were
the subjects of them: “ And he could do there no mighty
work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and
healed them. And he marvelled because of their un
belief.” (Matt. vi. 5. 6.) “ And he did not many mighty
works there, because of their unbelief.” (Matt. xiii. 58.)
Men assert that Jesus claimed equality with God when
he said “ I and my Father are one.” But the oneness
here spoken of was that to which all men may attain who
seek not to do their own will, but the will of God. It
was the oneness that the raindrop has in its relations to
the ocean, or that the perfect instrument has with the
worker, in relation to the work performed. It was the oneness
of derived nature and power; of likeness,, not of absolute
identity, and it was this oneness with God, or the assi
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BAND OF FAITH
milation of the human to the Divine Nature, that Jesus
besought his Father that his disciples might possess,
“ That they all may be one as Thou Father in me and I
in Thee, that they may be one in us.” (John xviii. 21.)
In conclusion, let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind, and decide for himself, carefully and wisely
the important question, “ Jesus or God ? The Finite or
the Infinite ?”
NEW LECTIONARY.
Chap. XV.—William, Blake’s Proverbs.
The pride of the peacock is the glory of God : the lust
of the goat is the bounty of God : the wrath of the lion
is the wisdom of God.
The fox condemns the trap, not himself.
Joys impregnate : sorrows bring forth.
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man—friendship.
What is now proved was once only imagined.
The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots ;
the lion, the tiger, the horse, the elephant, watch the
fruits.
The cistern contains : the fountain overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man
will avoid you.
The eagle never lost so much time as when he sub
mitted to learn of the crow.
If the lion was advised by the fox he would be cunning.
Folly is the cloak of knavery : shame is pride’s cloak.
As the plough follows words, so God rewards prayers.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
If our footsteps slide in clay, how can we do otherwise
than fear and tremble ?
Think in the morning, act in the noon, eat in the
evening, sleep in the night.
Energy is eternal delight.
�MESSENGER.
173
fHnfe. XVI.—William Blake’s Song of Liberty.
The Eternal Female groaned ! It was heard over all
the earth.
Albion’s coast is sick—silent; the American meadows
faint.
Shadows of prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the
rivers and mutter across the ocean.
France rend down thy dungeon ; golden Spain burst
the barriers of old Rome.
Cast thy keys, 0 Rome, into the deep down falling,
even to eternity down falling ; and weep.
In her trembling hands she took the new-born Terror,
howling.
On those infinite mountains of light now barred out
by the Atlantic sea, the new-born fire stood before the
starry King!
Flagged with grey-browed snow and thunderous visages
the jealous wings waved over the deep.
The speary hand burned aloft, unbuckled was the
shield, forth went the hand of jealousy among the flaming
hair, and hurled the new-born wonder through the starry
night.
The fire I the fire ! is falling.
Look up, look up, 0 citizen of London ; enlarge thy
countenance !
0 Jew, leave counting gold : return to thy oil and
wine.
. 0 African, black African, come winged thought, widen
has forehead.
The fiery limbs, the flaming hair, shot like the sinking
sun into the western sea : waked from his eternal sleep,
the hoary element roaring fled away.
Down rushed beating his wings in vain, the jealous
king ; his grey-browed councillors, thunderous warriors,
curled veterans, among helms aud shields and chariots,
horses, elephants, castles, banners, slings and rocks;
falling—rushing—running—buried in the ruins in Urthona’s dens.
All night beneath the ruins, the sullen flames emerge
ground the gloomy King.
�174
BAND OF FAITH
With thunder and fire leading his starry host through
the waste wilderness, he promulgates his ten commands,
glancing his beaming eyelids over the deep in dark
dismay.
Then the Son of Fire in his eastern cloud, while the
morning plumes her golden breast, spurning the clouds
written with curses, stamps the stony law to dust, loosing
the- eternal horses from the dens of night, crying Empire
is no more ! and now the lion and the wolf shall cease.
Let the priests of the raven of dawn, no longer in
deadly black, with hoarse notes curse the sons of joy;
nor his accepted brethren, whom he calls free, lay the
bound or build the roof.
Every thing that lives is Holy.
SERIOUS AFFECTION.
BY RICHARD BEDINGFIELD.
0 love divine ! 0 perfect love !
0 smiting Hand Eternal !
We will not own Thy Orb above
Can shine on worlds infernal!
Yet, even here, the woe is long—
The pain makes mortals tearful !
O Spirit in my heart grow strong ;
And never weak and fearful !
I pluck a flower of life serene ;—
When plucked, it soon must languish ;
The amaranth, friend ! is all unseen ;
We feel it—to our anguish.
0 crown of thornes for every son
Of God ! 0 cross and passion !
Whatever we have lost or won,
Thank God in blessed fashion 1
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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The band of faith messenger
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Barmby, John Goodwin (ed)
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [Wakefield]
Collation: p. 17-32 and 159-174 ; 19 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Editor, publisher and date taken from KVK.
Publisher
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[George Horridge]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[c.1870s]
Identifier
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G5720
Subject
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Unitarianism
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The band of faith messenger), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism
-
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d4737e15aa5abde43c6919e023769afa
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Text
222
TALKS ABOUT LIFE.
JMar^B
TALKS ABOUT LIFE.
BY ROBERT COLLYER.
II.
REFERRING BACK.
WANT in this paper to tell what
one of my children used to call
“a truly story.”
It came to me one day when I went
on a pilgrimage to a huge old factory
in the valley of the Washburne, in
Yorkshire, in the summer of 1865. I
wandered about the place in a kind
of dream. The handful of people
left there then were at work among
the wheels and spindles, watching me
between whiles—for strangers seldom
come to that remote place, and I was
clearly a stranger; and then my dress
was not what they were used to/ espe
cially my American “wide-awake.”
They were as strange to me as I was
to them. There was not a face that I
knew — not one. And yet this was
where I was once as well known to
everybody as the child is to its own
mother, and where I knew everybody
as I knew my own kinsfolk. For it
was here that I began my life and
lived it for a space that now seems a
life-time all to itself. And that brings
me to my dream.
I saw, in one of the great dusty rooms
of the factory, a little fellow about
eight years old, but big enough to
pass for ten, working away from six
o’clock in the morning till eight at
night, —tired sometimes almost to
death, and then again not tired at
all, — rushing out when work was
over, and, if it was winter, home
to some treasure of a book. There
were “Robinson Crusoe,” and Bun
yan’s “Pilgrim,” and Goldsmith’s
Histories of England and of Rome,
the first volume of Sandford and Mer
ton, and one or two more that had
something to do with theology,—but
I
it must have been meat for strong
men, for not one of the brood of
children that read the stories, and
the Goldsmith that was just as good
as stories, would ever touch thes$
others after one or two trials.
One of these books that used to lead
all boys captive in those good old days,
this boy I saw in my dream would hug
up close to his bowl of porridge, and
eat and read; and then he would read
after he had done eating, while ever
the careful housemother would allow a
candle or a coal. But if it was sum
mer, the books would be neglected,
and the rush would be out into the
fields and lanes,—hunting in the early
summer for bird’s-nests that the tender
and holy home canon would never
permit to be robbed, and it was always
obeyed; or in the later summer, see
ing whether the sloes were turning
ever so little from green to black, or
whether the crabs — of the wood, not
the water—were vulnerable to a boy’s
sharp and resolute teeth, and when
the hazel-nuts would be out of that
milky state at which it would be of
any use to pluck them, and what was
the prospect for hips and haws.
The men who profess to know just
how we are made, as a watchmaker
knows a watch, tell us that once in
seven years we get a brand-new body
— that the old things pass away in
that time, and all things become new.
I wonder sometimes whether it is not
so with our life. Is not that new, as
well as the frame ? There I was that
day — a gray-haired minister from a
city that had been born and had come
to its great place since that small lad
began to work in the old mill, ag| I
�1870.]
TALKS ABOUT LIFE.
saw him at the end of a vista of four
jESlWiirty years.
I watched him with a most pathetic interest. “Dear little chap,” I
said, “ you had a hard time; but then
it was a good time, too,—wasn’t it,
now? How good bread-and-butter
did taste, to be sure, when half a
pound of butter a week had to be divided among eight of us, and the
white wheaten bread saved for SunKay ! Did ever a flower in this world
beside smell as good as the primrose,
or prima donna sing like the sky
lark and throstle? Money cannot
buy such a Christmas pudding, or
tears or prayers such a Christmas tide,
as the Mother made and the Lord
gave when you and the world were
young! Seven years you stuck to the
old mill — and then you were only
fifteen ; and then, just as they were
(frowning the Queen, you know you
had to give it up, and to give the home
up with it, to go out and never return
to stay. And so I lost you out of that
bad but blessed old life in and out of
the factory, and have never set eyes
on you until to-day,—you dear little
other me, that was dead and is alive
again, and was lost and is found! ”
That was how I came to think of
my story, and that I might tell it as
a word of encouragement to many
that may need such a word—about
that way of life which I have travelled
many miles, since I set out, not know
ing whither I went, to the pulpit and
pastorate of Unity Church.
But I cannot tell the story I want
to tell, if I let myself drift away
just here from that boy in the mill on
the Washburne, and say no more
about him. I like him well enough,
after all these years, to stay beside
him a little longer; and, besides that,
he had a good deal to do with the mak
ing of as much of a man as is now at
the other end of this pen.
I notice in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim,”
that all the characters that great
dreamer creates are so far hard
ened in the mould before he lets us
223
see them, that we feel all the time it
is a foregone conclusion. Obstinate,
Pliable, Ignorance, and the rest on
that side, are bound to come to grief;
while Christian, Hopeful, and Faith
ful, are sure to reach the Shining City,
no matter what may befall. Some
thing like this is true of our common
life. Before we begin to live to much
purpose either way, the things are
gathered and laid up that are to make
or mar us. We are not aware of it,
any more than the young birds, as
they flutter out of the nest to do for
themselves, are aware how they will
be sure to find out when to go north
or south, and how to build and line
their own nests, and where and what
to seek for their callow brood. But it
is all there. Nature has taken care
of that; and Nature and Providence
do together for the fledgling child
what Nature alone does for the bird.
I have heard that the nuns who teach
in convent schools say, “ Let us have
the Protestant child until it is seven
years old, and then we have no fear
for the future; it is sure to come at
last into the Church.” I imagine
that as a rule this is true; and usually
when Protestant parents pay for the
education of their children in those
schools, they pay for an item that is
not in the bill—their conversion to
Romanism. It has been noticed, too,
that when German children come here
from the Fatherland, and eagerly turn
to the English tongue, giving up their
native speech, it is no matter how
long they live in that habit, if the old
man who has not spoken a word of
German since he was a child loses
himself in his last moments, he then
goes back to that other self—the fellow
of the one I saw in the old mill—and
talks German again. So the poor old
knight, whose life as a man had been
one great gluttonous sin, forgot for a
moment on his death-bed his own
awful remorse and the blasting of his
hopes by the breath of the King, and
babbled of green fields where he had
wandered, no doubt, as an unfallen
�224
TALKS AB OUS' LIFE^
child, to gather kingcups and daisies,
and chase the rabbit to his burrow.
That grand and hearty Englishman,
Sydney Smith, used to laugh at ances
tral pride, and to say that the Smith
crest, with which all their letters were
sealed, was the Smith thumb. I can
not laugh with that lord of laughter
there. I would be glad to know that
I came of a great line, if it had been
God’s will.
About a year ago there was a para
graph in the papers, of a murder in
San Francisco, that I read, and read
again, with a wonderful interest.
Colonel Fairfax, so the papers said,
had been stabbed in the streets of .
that city, by some wretch, for a fancied
injury. The murdered man had
strength enough left to draw his re
volver and cover his • assassin, who
then begged abjectly for mercy; when
the dying victim said, quietly: “You
have killed me, and I can kill you;
but I spare you, villain and coward as
you are, for the sake of your wife and
little children.”
If I were not myself, I would love
to be the Fairfax that should succeed
that noble fellow, — not alone for that
splendid piece of chivhlry of which
there was never more need in this land
than there is now, the grace I mean
of forbearance unto death in the face
of the worst injury one man can in
flict on another; — not for that alone,
but because that man was the last of
a mighty line whose name was the
pride of all the boys of my compan
ionship, and whose great mansion
once nestled on the southern and
sunny side of the high land that gave1
us only its northern shoulder. We
were proud of that Fairfax line. It
had disappeared from the country
many a year before I was born; but
the tradition was strong still of the
great Sir Thomas, who fought with
Cromwell for the people against the
King. And we preserved one tradi
tion of him that has never appeared
in print; — how his arm was so long
that when he stood stretched to his
[March,
full height the palm of the hand
rested on the cap of the knee; andjn
some skirmish, also unrecordga^vh^n
our hero was met alone in one of our
narrow lanes by eight or ten of the
enemy, and it was one down and an
other come on, Sir Thomas, by favor
of his long arm and stout heart, cut
down about half the number, and thej
rest galloped away. That Fairfax was
a great figure in our juvenile Valhalla®
He was one of a line of noble men,
with a few exceptions, that had housed
itself there at Denton for many hunt
dreds of years. It saw good reason
finally for settling in Virginia, gave a
great friend to Washington, but not to
the infant Republic; and so came
down to that man murdered the other
day on the Pacific coast.
Pride in an ancestry like that, it
must be good to feel. I think thafe
man remembered he was a Fair®x*
and must not stain his name with
murder for murder, and that had
something to do with his noble fora
bearance. He must die like a Fair!
fax. Such persons bring with them
into the world a vast advantage over
the common run of us. Their organ
ism is like the organ of a great maker
— something unique for its sweetness^
or strength; and their soul, like a greal
organist, makes a music that is all his
own. I think we would all, please
God, belong to a line like that. It is
something still in our life, like the,
separate line of David, by which
should be born in the fulness of tifflfl
the greatest of all the figures in humdn
history.
But when that cannot be, what we
may all be glad and proud of is a line!
that is good as far as it goes. That is
the way I feel about that little man
who was to worry out of that factory I
somehow into a pulpit. The line!
began with the father and motherJ
There was a grandfather who fought
under Nelson and went overboard one
black night in a storm ; he was on the
father’s side. And then on the mother’s
side there was another sailor who went
�i87°-1
TALKS ABOUT LIFE.
down the sea in a ship that never came
up again. Then there were two
widows who fought the wolf while
they were able, and died presently of
the fight. Then, as the century was
Homing in, Yorkshire, with its great
mills, began to be to the South of En
gland what the West has been to the
Bast here in our day—the land of
promise to all who wanted to better
themselves. So a bright orphan lad
in London and a lass in Norwich
beard of it, and were caught by that
impulse to get out of the land of their
kindred which caught their son many
a year after and swept him over the
Atlantic; and I have no doubt, from
what I have heard them say, they
were after that quite of the mind of
the old ballad:
“York, York, for my monie;
Of all the places I ever did see
This is the best for good companie
Except the City of London.”
So what the boy saw when he began
to notice was a woman, tall and deep"chested, with shining flaxen hair and
laughing blue eyes, a damask rose
bloom on her cheek — as is the way
with the women of her nation; — a
laugh that was music, too, and a contagion of laughter you could not escape was at the heart of it; — a step
like a deer for lightness, and an activ
ity that could carry its possessor twenty
miles a day over the rough northern
hills, and land her safe home in the
[evening, no more tired than one
of our fashionable ladies in Chicago
Would be in going from cellar to garret
in their own house. Woman’s rights,
as a natural truth, must have come to
me by that mother. I believe, as I sit
and think of her wonderful genius for
doing whatever she took in hand, that
if she had been told to do it by her
sense of duty, and then the way had
opened, she would have led an army
like the old queens, or governed a
kingdom. What she did govern was
a houseful of great, growing, hungry,
outbreaking bairns,—keeping us all
well in hand, smiting all hinderance
225
out of our way, keeping us fed and
clad bravely, and paying for school,
as long as we could be spared to go,
out of the eighteen shillings a week
the quiet manful father made at his
anvil. The kindest heart that ever
beat in a man’s breast, I think,was his.
It stopped beating in a moment, one
hot July day; and before any hand
could touch him he was in “the rest
that remains.”
But in those brave old days, while
the first fifteen years were passing that
do so much for us all, there we were,
altogether, in one of the sweetest cot
tage homes that ever nestled under
green leaves in a green valley. There
was a plum tree and a rose tree and
wealth of ivy and a bit of greensward
outside; and inside, one room on the
floor and two above; a floor of flags
scoured white so that you might eat
your dinner on it and no harm be
done except to the floor; walls white
washed to look like driven snow, with
pictures of great Bible figures hung
where there was room, and in their
own places kept so bright as to be so
many dusky mirrors; the great ma
hogany chest of drawers and highcased clock; polished elm chairs, and
corner cupboard for the china that was
only got out at high festivals; a bright
open sea-coal fire always alight, winter
and summer; with all sorts of common
things for common use stowed snug
and tight in their own corners, like the
goods and chattels of Ed’ard Cuttie,
mariner. That was the home in the
day of small things; matched then
and still by ten thousand cottages in.
the good old shire, but never surpassed
there or anywhere, when you count
what was done and what there was
to do on.
This must be about all The West
Monthly will print in this num
ber, with wealth of better things at her
command; so I must stop now, and
leave the reader inside that cottage.
If I have a feeling that I have got to.
go on and make a clean breast of it,
ern
�226
LEGEND OF THE CASTLE OF NUREMBERG,
in some such way as Hugh Miller has
done in “ My Schools and Schoolmas
ters,” I shall have to linger about the
cottage I know not how long; for feel
ing, as I have said, how much is done
by the time the boyhood is over and
the youth begins — if such a distinction
can be made — I can see now how
[March,
many things must have been inti
mately at work beside that sweet, good
home, and what was there. Manners
and customs, traditions, stories, reli
gion, superstition, scene, and incident,
all had their place in the lad’s life, and
must have their place in the man’s
story — if it is ever told.
LEGEND OF THE CASTLE OF NUREMBERG.
{From the German. )
BY MRS. E. E. EVANS.
MONGST the many legends and suffered terribly from the ravages of
historical traditions attached to wolves, until, in desperation, the in
the old castle of Nuremberg, is a habitants assembled in force and
curious story of an event which took drove them out of their haunts, kill-,
place about the middle of the thir ing meantime as many as possible.
teenth century. The castle was at Those that escaped, to the number of
that time governed by Count Frederic several hundred, retreated to the moun
III. of Hohenzollern, who lived there tains, and from thence made frequent
in princely state with his wife, the descents upon the scattered farms in
Countess Elizabeth, and their six the valleys, so that scarcely a day
children. It was a happy family. The elapsed without some person having
wedded pair lovecj each other tenderly, been destroyed.
The most horrible event of this
and took pride in the strength and
bravery of their sons and the modest kind occurred three days before Mich
beauty of their daughters. Their re aelmas* In the forests of St. Sebald
tainers were faithful, the citizens of ’ and St. Lawrence (so named from the
the already famous city of Nuremberg two cathedrals of Nuremberg) lived a
held them in honor, the land was no class of peasants who made it their
longer disturbed by war, and through sole business to raise bees and collect
the vigilance and courage of the honey, which was in great demand,
Nurembergers the once dreaded inva as foreign sugars had not yet begun
sions of banded robbers had been to be imported. To such an extent was
the pursuit carried, that the great forest
brought to an end.
Thus peaceful and prosperous was tract was spoken of in the legal in
the existence of this noble family in struments of that period as “ the impe
the year 1264. At that period, John, rial bee-garden,” and the bee-farmers
the elder son, was eighteen and his were allowed to pay their government
brother Sigmund sixteen years old,. taxes in honey. For some reason, the
They were skilled in every knightly magistrate having charge of such
accomplishment, and had already won matters issued an order for the tax to
distinction by their exertions in cer be paid three days before Michaelmas,
tain fierce encounters with the rob instead of on the day itself, when it
would really become due; and in
bers.
In the autumn of that year the vil obedience to the command, a certain
lages in the vicinity of Nuremberg bee-farmer, living on the northern
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Talks about life
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Collyer, Robert
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [California]
Collation: 222-226 p. ; 24 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publication information from KVK.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[s.n.]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1870
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5737
Subject
The topic of the resource
Unitarianism
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Conway Tracts
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SHALL WE NOT GO FORWARD?
A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED IN
THE UNITARIAN CHAPEL, BRIDGEWATER.
BY
WILLIAM
CHATTERTON COUPLAND, B.A., B.Sc.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
1 8 6 5.
�“ Behold,
the former things are come to pass, and new things do
I DECLARE : BEFORE THEY SPRING FORTH I TELL YOU OF THEM.”
�A DISCOURSE.
I
it a privilege to live in this age, when
temporal and spiritual empires which have done
good service in their time, but now cumber the
earth, totter towards their grave; when ancient
systems of thought which have outlasted the cen
turies, refusing to adapt their garb to the altered
circumstances of the time, are fading peacefully
away; when old Jerusalems are melting into the
mist of memory; and new temples rising out of the
deep. A few years ago many must have thought
that all was over with this terrestrial sphere; all
the great men were dead and buried, the highest
minds were given up to restoring and criticising the
works of their predecessors, building “ the tombs of
the prophets” and garnishing “ the sepulchres of the
righteous;” for the world had entered on its dotage,
but a few hours more and the archangel would sound
his trumpet, and Past and Present would cease to be.
But the world was mistaken, and that not for the
first time in its biography. Amidst' all that slum
count
�4
berous period a few lamps were burning brightly,
and 11 while their companions slept” some “were
toiling upward in the night,” sowing new seed and
planting fresh trees, which are even now beginning
to sprout, and yet shall grow into stout trunks and
leafy branches.
The Head-Master of Rugby School declares at
Whitehall that the beginning, as the end, of the
Bible is poetry, not fact; and the Dean of West
minster, not without a merry twinkle one may
fancy, preaches in the venerable Abbey from the
text of Ezekiel, “The hand of the Lord was upon
me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and
set me down in the midst of the valley, which was
full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round
about; and behold, there were very many in the
open valley, and lo, they were very dry. And he
said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?
And I answered, 0 Lord God, thou knowest.”
Dean Stanley knows very well that the bones are
very dry, and is doubtful whether even a divine
breath can re-enliven them. But yet, somehow or
other, people do like the dry bones; and there is
something to be said for them ; for is not a bone a
relic ? and whatever has once been holy surely never
can lose its virtue ? To hang up a prophet’s bone
over your mantle-piece, for instance, what an in
fusion of spiritual vigour would not that afford ?
Why, your room would be a shrine of divinity,
�5
whither a thirsting and weary people might crowd
to inhale inspiration for the loftiest battles of lifeI
So the Catholic Church lives by its bones, and he
must be a bold man who denies the Catholic Church
to be still living. The Protestant Church yet not
less thrives upon its bones, though unfortunately the
vessel in which it holds them is so very fragile that
it is in constant danger of spilling them.
But Ezekiel was doubtful as Stanley whether the
bones could ever live again. It is the essential dis
tinction of the prophet to have no faith in dry bones ;
for I define a prophet to be the living voice of a nation.
He is that organ raised up by God to keep alive a
spirit of hope in the age. Lose your prophet, or kill
him, and you destroy the heart of your nation. That
was the function of the Hebrew prophets through
out the long period of the reign of the kings, and
the Babylonian exile. From Elijah to Malachi it
was the never-sleeping prophet who kept the
Hebrew nation breathing; and when Judaism cruci
fied its last prophet, it sounded its own knell. Is
not that the word which our great English seer,
Thomas Carlyle, has been thundering in our ears,
that the great prophetic man, the hero, is the
desideratum of every age—a man who shall be
shackled by no routine of predecessors, who shall
start the world afresh on its journey, and point its
eyes to the future,—the man who shall dare to
think and do, as if no one had ever thought and
�6
done before; a new creation; no puny dependent
child who ever leans on his grandsire’s arm ? And
Thomas Carlyle has not spoken in vain; I fancy all
the life which this English generation possesses
comes from Carlyle. The burning torch was taken
up by Emerson, and from Emerson passed to Parker,
and kindled an undying flame on the other side of
the Atlantic. So in France, Ernest Renan has lately
revivified the theologic dry bones by publishing
that glowing life of Jesus which has electrified this
time—a work full of errors, doubtless, but which
must be measured by its life-breathing spirit.
Strauss is far sounder, but Strauss gives no life.
The English Unitarians have never been very wake
ful, they have nursed their dry bones from the
beginning; but the Church of England is now
warming a little, and if it were not for its narcotic
of a prayer-book, and that sleep-giving ritual, would
soon wake up into a living life. Politics are
slumberous enough, but when our present leaders
die, having served their term, we may expect a
regeneration there.
I hope great things when
Gladstone is prime minister. He will shake the
dry bones, or I am much mistaken.
We live, therefore, in a favoured age, but I do
not think we make the most of it; nor can we,
until we unreservedly place ourselves in the pro
phetic rank. We must discard all traditions, set no
store by precedent, work out anew for ourselves.
�7
So we go through the routine of all the sects, though
we have no affinity with them. We are not a more
liberal branch of the Church of England, or the
Congregationalists, or the Methodists, but we are a
new Church, whose rock is human nature, and
whose temple is the personal soul. In affirming
this, we by no means cut our connection with the
past—that were impossible : as surely as we are the
descendants of our parents, are we the offspring of
the past; the organic bond no power in earth or
heaven can sever; but we must not look to our sires
to show us the way our feet should tread in the
future. All our sires can teach us is what they
have experienced, but their experience only corre
lates their circumstances; but our circumstances
have never pre-existed, therefore our experiences
have to be shaped anew by ourselves. Popes and
Bibles were indispensable and valuable under the
then conditions of society; but now those conditions
are changed, Popes and Bibles rather hinder than
help us. It is only the Absolute which endures.
And when we say Popes and Bibles have done their
work, we by no means intend to affirm there is
nothing valuable even for us in Popes and Bibles.
The essential truth in the Papal function is, that
every organism must have a head; thus a “minister”
is a Pope—but the idea of a Pope is something more
than that, viz., that one man has the authority and
power to make declarations, which others have only
�8
implicitly to receive, possessing no right to test or
question. That the “ Bible ” is a collection of facts,
truths, ethics, and religious sentiment, is indis
putable ; but that is not what Protestantism means
by a “Bible.” Protestantism means thereby a docu
ment containing a set of divine commands, necessary
for all time, and a set of beliefs which it is abso
lutely incumbent upon us to believe, whether our
reasons say “ aye”, or “no.” Protestantism repudi
ates all homage to a Catholic Pope, and we repudiate
all homage to a Protestant Bible • but neither Pro
testantism surrenders its episcopal establishment,
nor do we refuse to work up into our thought and
life all the good things we find in Jewish-Christian
literature.
It is curious how reliant man yet is. We like to
follow our fathers’ steps as long as we can, and I
verily believe would hold our mothers’ dresses to
this day if we might. Man is naturally a timid
animal. But great deeds were never achieved by
fearful men. What enabled Napoleon to accom
plish his main victories was that he had no fear.
But the many are easily panic-stricken. A sentence
of excommunication uttered amidst blue lights and
ghostly intonations will scare many hearts; and to
fling “infidel” in a man’s face is as effective as to
stab him in the side. Fear is the real “ dweller of
the threshold,” and we must conquer fear before
we can make a step in advance. “Yes, but if we
�9
turn over a new leaf, what will Mr. and Mrs.------?
say?” Are you afraid of the opinion of Mr. and
Mrs.------ ? Then you will never leave the Valley
of Destruction and set out on the way towards the
Eternal City.
Thus, I would have our Sunday
services utterly remodelled myself, permit a greater
elasticity in the arrangement, abolish the stereotyped
monotony of hymn, prayer, biblical chapter, hymn,
prayer, sermon, etc. time after time. I would have
absolute liberty here as in the thought; but do I not
know that if I were to advocate such a change I should
bring down on my devoted head all the tumultuous
shriekings and anathemas of a hundred congrega
tions and the religious newspapers. I suppose
there would be a rain-shower of 11 Iconoclast” and
“Atheist,” “Desecrator of the Pulpit,” and what
not!
But this is only applying on a small scale what
occurs on the large. The world has to fight against
that base tendency in its nature to stand still and
be contented. Contentment is false. You ought
not to be contented: everything is imperfect, and
will be so for many a long day,—I had almost said
for ever. And as the infant when it can run alone
puts off its long clothes, and the child when it be
comes a man exchanges the school-boy jacket for the
coat; so, as the world becomes maturer, must it
leave on one side the apparel of its youth, and take
to itself better-fitting raiment. And if any one
�10
blames this procedure as iconoclastic and revolu
tionary, he is only blaming the baby for growing to
be a boy, and the boy for maturing into a man.
“But,” say some, “what a harassing time you are
making for us ! Are we never to have any rest and
peace, but always to be reforming ?” No, I answer,
you are never to have rest and peace in the sense of
being permitted to sleep half your time, and turn
your tramp-mill the other half, but you are to move
on as Time moves, imperceptibly but surely; and
as it does not harass you to change your skin through
every seven years, and to pass through the stages
of birth, marriage, and death ; so, if you are liberal
at the very core, you will naturally doff the out
grown garments and array yourselves in the bright
robes of the Present. One sees therefore I have
little sympathy with our Conservative gentlemen.
I abhor Conservatism; it is to stop short at animal
existence, it being the great characteristic of brute
as differentiated from man. But of course there is
always the response, “but the time is not ripe.’’
And when, pray, in your wisdom, will the time be
ripe? When will the time be ripe to say, “We
have no need of Popes,” and “ a Bible is a hindrance
to human life” ? Who does not see that each
generation puts up the same plea, and will put it
up as long as the world lasts; but it is evident that
if the plea had never been disregarded, we should
have had no Christianism, no Protestantism, and no
�13
and social imperfection. When we have such a
“Church” as that, I think the nations will flock
thereto as to the prophetic 11 Hill of the Lord,” and
malice and uncharitableness will die away. In such
a community the spirit of God must be permitted to
blow where it listeth; yes, even though it be doubted
to be a spirit of God at all, and through every story
of earth and heaven shall the human mind press,
proving and questioning. In such a society, nought
shall be secular and nought be sacred, the triumphal
march holy as the hymn, and the silent meditation
grateful as a prayer. Chiefest of all, shall the
thoughts of great men of all time and every clime
be spread before a hungering people, and whoever in
India or Arabia, England or Syria, have stood closest
to the skies shall be esteemed venerable, and be
listened to as a heavenly seer.
You smile perchance at this dream, but is it to
be ever a dream ? and must the world wait another
millennial cycle till the thought become a deed?
Who knows ? I think we should not wait long if
some amongst us were more earnest. When the
idea does become an act, it needs no very prophetic
eye to scan the consequences.
Instead of the
ghastly hymn which makes our flesh creep, or the
lugubrious psalm which compels us to think our
selves in a funeral vault instead of a sun-lit hall; I
imagine a melody of inspiration, and a multitude
with beaming faces and joyous hearts, shining like
�14
the teachers of righteousness transplanted to the
skies, feeling at last one with man, and all the
universe.
The tendency of man to seek his paradise in the
past is of old standing—a dream more oriental, how
ever, than western; a thought, too, which could
only be very vivid where trust in an immortal
future was weak. Besides, the problem of evil
seemed to necessitate such a conception: there must
have been a time when sin was not, when man
stood still a erect as a sunbeam,’’ and as yet no
lawless passion had darkened the fair face of nature.
Although we may not have advanced much beyond
those early theories in solving that great problem,
still we have no longer any doubt at which end to
place the true Paradise. Seeing by the light of
Darwin and Lyell, no naturalist may place his
Eden-garden at the dawn of human history. How
ever fair nature might then have been, man could
not have been very lovely. I have never hesitated
to avow the conviction that the only conceivable
explanation of man’s creation lies in regarding him
as the progressive child of the highest Catarhine
primates; I cannot conceive for a moment of any
other origin, corroborated as it is, too, by his whole
physical structure. But, even if that be not con
ceded, evidence is slowly accumulating of the
barbaric beginnings of human history, and our Eden
vanishes more and more into the mist. The growth
�15
of man has been upward from the commencement—
incredibly slow, but ever to a better from a worse.
After much toil we are come at length to a highlyimproved link in the chain, but we have by no
means entered upon Paradise. Our Paradise still
lies before us, the El Dorado of our hopes lies far
beyond the furthest mountain-peaks, and probably
each pilgrim, as he attains a new height, will descry
yet stretching beyond glorious snow-clad summits.
The end is far distant, the way is long, but the sky
is not dark. That consolation we have to sustain
us. The sun is still shining overhead, and will
shine; the birds will still sing gladdening hymns;
and though humanity will reel many times back
ward and forward with passionate folly and mad
ness, beyond the blood-stained battle-field, and the
fierce strifes of parties, lies the chosen country, the
milk-and-honey-flowing Land of Promise. This is
our faith, firm and rooted. But if this be our belief,
does it not shape our duties ? does it not summon
us away from the tombs to the busy throbs of instant
life; from laudation of departed saints, to live out our
lives, and leave our footprints on the temporal sands?
Does it not tell us how futile it were to grow up
under the shadow of any by-gone heroic or holy
soul, there being as great souls now, and greater
probably to come ? The Eden of Adam, naturally
fair as it is deemed; the Eden of Moses, morally
fair as it appears; the Eden of Jesus, radiantly
�16
beautiful as it unquestionably was,—are but Edens
whose memory will never utterly perish, but which
by no means exhaust all natural and divine creation.
We do not add to our capabilities, we only quench
our own powers, by breathing in the atmosphere of
a foreign community. I do not stand one inch
taller for walking always at the heels of some by
gone chief. A superinduced righteousness is no
righteousness worth having; and to put on “the
garment of Christ,” I must put off the “garment” of
personality. I do not want to walk thus masqueraded.
Truly none will be so foolish as to refuse assistance;
the entire human race is mutually dependent for
much, but we only seek the disciple’s stool to receive
suggestions which we must work forward in our own
way. A man forfeits his personality when he be.
comes an echo. And the more intimately we know
any great man the less shall we be disposed to call
him “master.” We see that he can be no autocrat
of our soul. And what is true of a man or series of
men is true of countries and ages. Palestine is
no norm for England, nor St. Paul for Western
Republicans. Paul may have fancied he laid down
the law for all time, but only impersonal minds will
credit him.
What, then, is the moral of this argument ?
That we are to speak our speech, think our
thought, do our deeds, as being our own speech,
thoughts, and deeds, and without ceaselessly affirm
�17
ing it is somebody else’s thoughts, speech, and deeds
that we are to think, speak, and do. They may be
Christian, they may be Brahminic, they may be
Confucian, they may be Hellenic, or what not; that
is not our concern: are they true, right to us ?
Are they the best realization we can give to the
floating ideals of our minds ? That is all we have
to ask, and all that we need be concerned in the
world’s knowing. Before the bar of inner con
sciousness each man must be brought to trial, his
own consciousness and not another’s.
Drop then the skirts of by-gone prophets, and
become yourselves prophets. Be in your generation
the kindling fuel which shall keep alive the dull
embers of earthly love, hope, and truthfulness. Men
walk as in a strange stupor; they know not the joy
they might possess were they only content to trust
themselves to the swaying waters. Have no Fear;
exorcise that phantom, the direst that ever infested
the human heart. Why should we fear? The
stars will not fall from the skies and crush us; the
old destroyer of earnest pilgrims has no longer any
teeth to devour, and can only mock. Let her mock;
her heaven, her hell, does not invite nor terrify us.
The Diabolus of the legends may go about still
“ like a roaring lion,” but his fangs are powerless.
The only Devil, and an ugly one sometimes he is,
who has any power, is Public Opinion, and he who
is not prepared to brave public opinion may as well
�18
at once withdraw from our communion; he has no
part with us, nor have we aught to do with him;
he has yet to learn the first lesson in the alphabet
of Right.
Nor turn your gaze too regretfully towards the
fair cities of the plain which duty orders you to
quit. Bright they were, I know; beautiful those
fretted arches, and venerable those long-used rites.
Many a good man knelt upon this pavement, and
pious lips kissed that book. Yet, beautiful as it all
was, to us it is but a memory; it speaks no longer
our faith, it rolls no longer our anthem; our eyes
gleam on another world, and the past is a corpse no
more to be awakened. “Must I leave thee, Para
dise?” Yes, for even “Paradise” does not endure
for ever; nay, it will be no Paradise to a new
world, who sees with other eyes, and beats with
other throbs. The vows which no longer bind we
do not snap, and it is a puerile thing to mourn when
the destiny is inevitable. Vain is it to put back
the dial. Pleasant it was, doubtless, to sail on that
shining water, glorious to be the sharer of a mar
tyr’s agony; the Olive Mount is ever sacred, and
storied Nazareth fair with verdant glades.
But
well-nigh nineteen hundred years stand between us
and that halcyon time; the sun has gone down
upon that fairy land, and has arisen upon a world
whose aims, thoughts, and aspirations were then
undreamed. Awake, 0 monk! from that childish
�19
trance; here is thy work-day world, here thy Olive
mountain, and Golgotha hath still its counterpart.
Nor, had we trod that fairy-land, should we pro
bably have found it so fairy-like as we imagine.
Gazed at through the mists of time all scenes look
brighter than they actually were; our minds tinge
them with colours which they may never have
possessed, mingling with the actual ideal beauties
flung from the absolute, and lighting with a glory
what then was human, but what we fain would have
divine. Fair and best; yes, if, once for all, the
superhuman flood of light suffused the earth, and
never reappeared. But it is not so: I can see
already a future grander than was ever hoped, which
shall dwarf the splendour of any single age, and
inaugurate a Paradise on earth. There is a Gospel
for us as there was a Gospel for the Jewish-Roman
world; a Gospel, too, born of hours of prophetic
vision, and nights of solemn wonder; a Gospel
which also tells of a kingdom of heaven, or, may
be, kingdom of earth; and which, if we have only
faith, shall not disappoint us.
“ Not where long past ages sleep
Seek we Eden’s golden trees ;
In the future, folded deep,
Are its mystic harmonies.
“ Eden with its angels bold,
Trees, and flowers, and cooling sea,
No less ancient story told,
Than a glowing prophecy,
�20
“ In tlie spirit’s perfect air,
In the passions tame and kind,
Innocence from selfish care,
The true Eden shall we find.
“ It is coming, it shall come.
To the patient and the striving ;
To the quiet heart at home,
Thinking, wise, and faithful living.
“ When all error is worked out
From the heart and from the life,
When the sensuous is laid low
By the spirit’s holy strife.
“ When tlie soul to sin hath died.
True, and beautiful, and sound :
Then all earth is sanctified,
Up springs Paradise around.
“ Then shall come the Eden days,
Guardian watch from seraph eyes,
Angels on the slanting rays,
Voices from the opening skies.
“From that spirit-land afar,
All disturbing force shall floc.
Sth nor toil, nor hope shall mar
Its immortal unity.”
STEPHEN AUSTIN, PRINTER, HERTFORD.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Shall we not go forward?: a discourse delivered in the Unitarian Chapel, Bridgewater
Creator
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Coupland, William Chatterton
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 20 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Stephen Austin, Hertford.
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Trubner and Co.
Date
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1865
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G5263
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Unitarianism
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism
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06a93aeef1990e72b80816a07219bda5
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Text
ROBERT COLLYER AND HIS CHURCH
'* " ’'
'
A
DISCOURSE
DELIVERED IN THE
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH
IN PHILADELPHIA
if 0 V E M B ER 12 1 8 71
BY
■wliHI. ZFTTZRzJSTZESS
MINISTER
King & Baird,
[printed
not published.]
Printers.
��DISCOURSE
I take for my text what thJ3|g|.h elders said to
Jesus when they went, to him in behalf of the Roman
centurion.
He
is worthy for, whom thou shouldst do this.
.
Luke vii. 4.
My Friends:
The religious societies of our denomination have all »
been invited tel aid flniBBflwQBv Church in
Chicago for our dearly ^»veMm?iend and brother?
Robert Collyer, whose' ^^utiSlOlle^ of worship was
burned down in the grS^o^i^gBOH
It is proposed to
fifty thousand dollars for the
purpose. I have no doubt this sum will be raised.
Apart from Robert Collyer’s peculiar personal claims,
there is in the Unitarian E»omirH®n as in all reli
gious denominations, as irf :all»EM^gociated for com
mon objects, what the French call, a spirit of the body,
which prompts the members of the body to liberal
giving, and causes every proposal n^e in its name to
be greeted with favor for the mere |pme’s|sake, letting
alone the intrinsic merit^jof the proposal.
Political
parties as well as religious sects illustrate this spirit.
�4
Even the greatest outrages upon liberty and common
honesty are more than pardoned—they are accounted
honorable and sacred, when perpetrated in the name
of the party or the church.
But, thank Heaven ! we have as striking instances,
and most cheewig instances are they, of the same
spirit in the interest of good 'objects. Witness the
great Rebellion, when, in the name of Our Country,
which makes this multitudinous and diversified popu
lation one body, acts of the noblest heroism were
done, and self-sacrifice became a luxury. Witness
also the generoutftutpOuring >f effective sympathy in
behalf of thejiffering hosts of the West, in the name
of the common humility which makes all mankind
one.
Seeing that this spirit is so strong, I have no doubt,
I say, that attachment to the name, loyalty to the
denomination, will be powerful enough among liberal
Christians to rebuild Robert Collyer’s church in Chi
cago.
I am very ^BrnlSBi desirous, friends and brothers,
that we of this church should take a prompt and
generous share in thi^mgost worthy enterprise. But
for the fulfilment of my ardent desire, I do not rely
upon your zeal for the denomination.
If there is any one Church in our denomination in
which there is less of a denominational spirit than in
�5
others, it is this Church. I do not believe there is
any associated numb® of Unitarian Christians less
disposed than we are (to use a vulgar but expressive
phrase), toBgdJm a? merely denominational
object. I ha^^^H attempted—I should most cer
tainly have wle|H||Oj^Epo use the Unitarian name
to conjure money out of your pockets. I regard it as
a very good thing that it is st^na^tn^^ ^among you
so little of
IWm onoBteMSRnil^^MII whatever
solicits youriw^^^^Mw must stand or fall upon its
merits.
For thB state of things amongst us of this Church,
there are* tb< best of reasons. For a feflg^ime we
were, and we are still, gecBaph^m^fpe|jkihg, on the
outskirtsW^ifffwitfe’^Uni^^^a coSSmrWB n nl in the
closest and most vital connection with it. When I first
became the pastor of this church, nearly half a century
ago, scarcely a si^^^^Orbassfed *ffiaB some one of my
brothers in the ministry from Boston or its vicinity—
the headquarters of the T^taWay
—did
not stand in this pulpit, and thus keep up a living con
nection with the Ka' ’lbfawners and
brothers have, one after aiWthe^ nearly all disap
peared. Their voices are heard B^WwrlM A new
generationJdfel sprung up. W:JWfcKfee^^bft more
and more alone.
Then again the advocacy of the caute of the slave,
�6
which I was “ driven of the spirit ” some thirty years
ago, in a humble way to undertake, tended still further
to isolate us. I was regarded as endangering the
interests of Unitarian Christianity, which it was
pleaded, had as much as it could do to bear the odium
of the Unitarian name without having the added bur
then of Abolitionism. It was impossible that this plea
should increase our zeal for nominal Unitarianism.
What churchlwhat religious wganization on earth
was not bound to go
members could not
feel and speak for the4 oppressed as oppressed with
them 1 What? doctrines,. howeve^pure and simple,
were of any galue if they could not Sustain the cause
of Humanity, howeveilobnoxious that cause might
be'?
Is it any twonder that we grew lukewarm in
the interest of .mere 3Jnitarian Christianity ? Dr.
Channing said a little while before his death that
he cared little for Unitarianism, and this it was that
gave occasion to a re^rt ^abat he had become a
Trinitarian. The’ truth was that he cared less and
less for a denomination, as he was growing to care
more and more for Justice and Humanity.
In addition to the subject once so dangerous and
hateful, the so-wled theological opinions in which I
have been interested, my views of the nature and
miracles of Jesus, have also helped, perhaps, to set our
little church here in Philadelphia apart by itself. We
�7
live to see' both of the great bugbears shorn of their
terrors.
Once more. We hav^feeifl 1S| to wsjtand by our
selves by the origin of ouSSoiwty and by the materials
of which it is composed. Almost all the Unitarian
churches out of New England, with the solitary excep
tion of ours, were, and, I suspect, still are, almost exclu
sively, madeiup of people of New England birth, New
England colonists. Long after two Unitarian churches
had been gathered a^icp^^ro'New York, I was told
by a leading member of one of them, that he did not
believe that they had had a- single accession from
among the nathW of that city. O ur ’ehurch, on the
other hand, had its beginning, gnl five and seventy
years ago, with ^rs@ns exclusively from Old England,
followers and admirers of Dr. Priesfcy, when the name
of that eminent man was regwddd with distrust by
some of the most advanced mS9 in New England.
In fact the autographed f Dr. Prwtley appears on the
records of ou^fcMurch, enaBWi with the names of our
earliest members.
And furthermore, while, from time to time, individ
uals and families from New England have joined us,
many of thos^whom we have had thl happiness of
welcoming to our commfion have come from the'
denomination of Friends|| and if dhey wereQiot here,
they would be, if any where, in Quaker Meeting.
�8
*
All their associations are with Quaker ways, and they
have been moulded by the influence of that eminently
Christian denomination. It is not any attraction of
Unitarian formularies; whether of doctrine or observ
ance, but the liberal spirit of our mode of faith that
has drawn them to us. The Friends are not a prose
lytizing people. According!yu those of you who have
come to us fromghem have no special interest in the
methods adopted for the diffusion of liberal views, in
spreading L»tarianisgfi popularly so termed. You
put faith rath® in the spirit than in collecting
money and building churches, Rooking for moral and
religious results, not to be manufactured by costly
machinery, but to flow from iwlivictual effort prompted
by the inner light, He spirit of Tteuth.
On all these account^* frien®, there is no strong
denominational feeling among us, no burning zeal for
what are termed Unitarian movements, such as, for
instance, the plan recegjly proposed by our Unitarian
brethren of building a so-styled Rational Unitarian
Church in Washington &
We are all learning, I trust, to put less and less faith
in mere organizational and the mechanism of sects, in
measures rather than in men, in making religion by
'the collection of money and the distribution of the
written word; not that money and tracts may not be
serviceable to the good cause, but the man-made letter
�9
is not the God-inspired spirit, although it is constantly
mistaken for it.
In soliciting, therefore, y^ur pecuniary aid to the
rebuilding of Robert Collyer’s churchjC am not dis
posed to lay any stress upofflthe^adwiitage it will be
to Unitarian Christianity. The object proposed stands
before you upon grourgl Inroad and strong of its own.
lie is most
we should do this, most ,
worthy of the specialmMmfi church. This was
the first liberal churcMI^^^B^^E Robert Collyer
ever entered. It was the first certainly in which he
preached. As a minister of a liberal faith, here was
where he first* drew breath. ’ Here was he born into
our sphere, our son, our brother.
Somewhere about fourteen years ago, I met one
evening at the house of a friend, some seven or eight
miles from the city, a young ^Englishman, W workman
in a neighboring hammotfactory, and a Methodist class
leader, accustomed to exhort in the HRigapus meetings
of his denomination. |^*was imprip^M b^hiljthought-
ful air and by his acquaintance with the litellectual
topics of the day. "He- was - evidently a man who was subsisting on food which his fellow-workmen knew
not of, constantly growing, taking into his blood what
ever nourishment books afforded him. He was a
reader, they said, of the Encyclopaedia Brittannica.
Through the influence of Lucretia Mott he had
•
�10
become interested in the Anti-slavery cause; and, as
was almost always the case with orthodox men in
those days, when they touched that great living Cause,
Robert Collyer’s orthodoxy began to slough off like
a dead skin, and he became interested in liberal
religious views.
It was not long after, that he came one evening to
, this church. The weather was .stormy, and there were
so few present that, contrary to my wont, for the first
and only tim% I spoke that evening entirely without
notes. I sujg)oseithis being in accordance with the
custom of the Methodist church may have increased
whatever of interest the services of that evening had
for him.
Shortly afte^fards I went to| Cincinnati to the
marriage of my brilliant friend, Moncure Conway, now
and for some year? settled in London. He too had
been a few yearlW^fore at,<ihe early age of nineteen a
Methodist preacher, in Virginia, his native State, and
although we were then personally strangers to each
other, he had at that time communicated to me the
story of the painful douhtl through which he was
gasping for a freer air. The letter which I received
from him then, -appealing to me for spiritual help,
breathed great distress of mind, and touched me very
deeply. When, after withdrawing from the Methodist
communion, he took charge of the Unitarian church
�11
in Cincinnati, I accepted his urgent invitation to go
thither, and take what part in marrying him the laws
of Ohio might permitti Of ^course this pulpit was to
be provide(|fcfo^g I invited Robert Collyer to take my
place for theh@®e Sunday I was to be absent. Upon
arriving in Cincinnati I desired to prolong my visit
another week. I telegraphed home in reference to a
supply for the second Sunday, and received for answer
that you weii^wellK.onjtwitlaiiilCT mml than satisfied
with my substitute. It is now more than. thirteen
years ago, and Iuloi|®rnot that many of you remem
ber with pleasui^Rqfc^^jOollyer’sfctr^^&ig at that
time. It wannd^gM^^o^mMblfeten.
Upon my return home^v^hing to sh^re in- your
pleasure, I iagited ot® friend to preach for me. He
came again from hisw|l>aG©,oh wm^|to give me a labor
of love. I wait takenjill, and sW'ar fom being able
to come to chuwh, I was^not ajfele todleay mv room.
I had a day or two before received a letter from
Chicago, where van^aitarian Church ^as already es
tablished (now uaafet the charge of Robert Laird
Collyer), inquiring about a remarkable blacksmith, of
whose rare gift^ m,yjE)rre*(|hdeighl understood that I
had had much to tell, and asking whether he would
not make, what they greatly needed in Chicago, a
good “ minister at large,’[/to go among the poor, and
preach to them.
i
The* letter, if I thought him the
�12
right man, invited him to that city, offering him
twelve hundred dollars a year. Of course there could
be but one answer. When Robert Collyer came up
into my room on that Sunday morning, before going
to Church, I handed him the letter, merely hinting at
its purport. He refused to read it then, and put it in
his pocket. In the afternoon he came up into my
room again to see me, and handed me back the letter.
I told him to take it home with him and let me know
his decision. He replied that he had already decided.
He should go to Chicago. He had mentioned to me in
the morning that he had received the evening before
his month’s wages, thirty-nine dollars and some cents.
In a few daysfhe quitted the hammer factory forever,
and moved with ^s little family to Chicago.
There he ministered to the poor, rising so rapidly in
the respect of the community that when the terrible
Iowa tornado occurred, Robert Collyer was chosen by
acclamation at a publid meeting of his fellow citizens
to go to the scene of that calamity and distribute their
benefactions there. He soon gathered so flourishing
a church in Chicago that a few years ago a large edifice
was built for him and his congregation. I suppose
it was quite impossible for our friends in Chicago
to resist the genius of the place which could tolerate
only the big and the costly. A city, whose growth
was hardly outdone by the most extravagant stories of
�13
California vegetation, expanding so rapidly to giant
dimensions, must have a Unitarian Church in propor
tion. Consequently; Robert Collyer’s Church, Unity
Church as it wajHBOTjfed, was buiB- at ancost of nearly
two hundred thoi&n^ OyLlars. including an organ
that cost ten thousand dollars.
Although o® the day of its Dedication,
members
of the Church subscribed with a graadtiliberality to
wards the payment offiHffif,|jgft.
perched, what
the flames could not consume, a debt of sixty-five
thousand dollars. So
was the at
traction of the pa^chwLi that people flocked to the
church, so lo^hpis
sioutlv bore the
burthen.
But the terrible Fire came. And ltrwhen,B writes
Robert Collyer, in his account of the burning of
his church we®!® fought rifefairly as it came on us
from below, and beaten the infernal beasifcso that it
could never burn^s^umbli^Bw^mdltliat it had set its
fiery teeth away up in the roof out of our reach, and
I knew that all was over, I crept up stairs alone to my
pulpit, where I had
K»igW before and spoken
to nearly a th^gfffiid men ancwvK^W^; I took one last
long look at iijphe church and the dea^ sweeji noble
organ, then Xstook the Bible as it lay when| I had left
it, got out at last and-flocked the door and put the
key in my pocket and went away, for by that time the
�I
14
roof was ablaze, and I thought my heart was broken.
That Unity has gone up, like Elijah, in a chariot of
fire, she is not dead to me,—she never will be dead,—
or to those who loved her as I did, my hope and joy and
crown of rejoicing, for I held her for God and Christ,
God knows.”
The church was insured. And it is expected that
the insurance will cover the whole or nearly the whole
debt. Whatever ofWthe debt shall remain, Robert
Collyer says muf t be paid, if they all have to go to
work and earn the money. Not a dollar of debt is to
rest upon the church that is to be built. Taught by
this most severe experience, our friends in Chicago
have no desire now but for “ a plain, simple build
ing,”—not a dollar for ornament, except, as Robert
Collyer writes, where use is ornament.
Now, dear friends, in praying l^ou, as T do most
earnestly, to unite with all the churches of our faith
in building a Church for our rarely gifted friend and
brother, I do not introduce him to you as a mendi
cant who must perish miserably if we do not give him
this assistance. Do I need to tell you of his rich gifts,
his winning graces ? Is not his praise in all our
churches, nay, is it not sounded everywhere at home
and abroad? Can he preach anywhere where the
English language is spoken, where people do not flock
�15
to hear him, whether he speak from the pulpit or
in the lecture room 1
How well, by the way, does he tffend the trial of
his great popularity ! It is no feeblejfest to be put to,
to be so suddenly raised from the anvil to the pulpit,
to pass from the MM®e drudgery of hard manual
labor to a position, commanding the admiring attention
of multitudes, and^Hong them
mostBnlightened in
the land. It has been finely said that, wrhile “ the
prospect of the applause of ^ostgri^ is like the sound
of the distant diSnl which elevates the mini present
applause, flung] <M^etly in one’s face, is W® the spray
of the same ocean wluppn th^^E^rand^geq uiring
a rock to bear it.” > jKat RoberWCollyeruhas been
animated, elatHM iBjVom will, by his great and well
merited success, I do not d®E| It would argue an
insensibility in him if he were not. He is no rock in
this respect.. But notwithstanding the seductive trial,
he stands like a rock by his flock and his work in
Chicago.
Shortly aftelf the great calamity, I wrote to him and
told him that, he, Roberlr Collar, could rebuild the
city, to say nothing of his church. And is it not by
“the Orpheus-like musa^of the wisdom” to which such
as he give utterance that cities are built end nations
led up the loftiest heights of humanity'll You have all
read the words which he spoke the Sunday after the
�16
fire, standing upon the ruins of his clear church. A
Chicago paper tells us that his voice had cheered not
only his own flock, but all the people of the city, thus
justifying my assurance to him.
He has not, he cannot have, any anxiety on his own
account. As he himself says—and I suppose he is
prouder of the fact than of any sermon he ever
preached—that, if the worst come to the worst, he can
make as good a horseshoe as any blacksmith in Chi
cago. I do not know about his horseshoes. I am
no judge of the article. But I do know what
good hammers the young blacksmith was wont to
make by scores every week. They sent the nail
home, even as their maker sends home the truth,
only he does not, like a hammer, break in pieces the
hard and stony heart; by his rare pathetic power he
melts it into smiles of hope, into tears of penitence,
and sympathy and aspiration. But the worst will not
come to the worst with him. There is no likelihood
that he will ever be reduced to the necessity of manual
labor,-although it is no wonder if amidst that wide
ruin he felt for a moment that it might come to that.
What church is there, what community, that would
not gladly welcome him'? He has not the slightest
concern for his bread.
This then must command for him our warmest ap
probation and respect, and insure our bountiful aid,
�37
*
that while he may choose his place, sure of a lucrative
position wherever he may go, the thought of leaving
his flock and the desolated city, heems never to have
occurred to him. After the death of Theodore Par
ker, he was invited^o be the successor of that able
man, and preach in the Music Hall in Boston. But,
while, for obvious reasons,the invitation was very
tempting, he chose <o remain in Chicago. And now
he has no though^utjbf devoting himself and all that
he is to the building up again of all good interests in
that most afflicted ciwl
Believe me, dear friends, I am not using the empty
language of eulogy, nor ong| giving utterance to the
promptings .of personal g'iendship. You all know
that Robert Collyer is a man of peculiar gifts. Cole
ridge seems to be describing just such a man as our
friend, when he says that “ to find no contradiction in
the union of old and new, to contemplate the Ancient
of Days with feelings as fresh as if they then sprung
forth at his own fiat—this characterizes the minds that
feel the riddle of the world, and may help to unravel
it. To carry on jhe feelings of childhood into the
powers of manhood, to combine the child’s sense of
wonder and novelty with the appearances which every
day, for perhaps forty years, has rendered familiar,
With Sun, and Moon, and Stars, throughout the year
And Man and Woman—
�this is the character and privilege of genius. And so
to present familiar objects as to awaken the minds of
others to a like freshness of sensation concerning
them—this is the prime merit of genius and its most
unequivocal mode of manifestation.”
When a man thus endowed with “ the vision and 1
the faculty divine ” gives’ all that he is with generous
ardor to the service of the highest truth, shall we not
give of what we have, and uphold him with our hearts
and hands ? Shall any loss befal him that we are not
eager to repair ? You are sending food and clothing
and money in boundless quantities to the devastated
West. But, believe me, you can render the people
there no more solid and enduring service than to do
and to give allfthat you are able, even to the stinting
of yourselves, for such a creaM^fl centre of beneficent
influence as our friend/ that* he may have a place
where he may stand, and, with the arm of the spirit
stronger than the arm of flesh, which made the
anvil ring again, lift the thoughts and aims of men
above the material interests to which they cling
as all in all—lift them up into communion with the
Invisible and Everlasting, and with the blessed spirit
of the Lord Jesus. For his oWn dear sake, for the
sake of the gracious influence which he has, and for
the sake of Religion, pure and undefiled, of which he is
so powerful an advocate, I pray you, dear friends, let
�19
us all help, and help generously this good object,—to
build him a church.
It has been proposed by the American Unitarian
Association, which has its centre in Boston, that col
lections be taken up in all our churches for this purpose
on this the second Sunday in November. I do not,
however, suggest a collection to-day. There is no
pressing need of haste. I wish to commend the mat
ter to your-most thoughtful Consideration. You may
think it advisable to take up a collection shortly. In
the meanwhile, I shall be happy and proud, as I
always am, to receive for my friend whatever you may
be prompted to give. The appeals, recently made to
you, first in behalf of our brother from Paris, and then
for the sufferers of the West, to whom there are few
who have not given more than once, have been so
cheerfully and liberally met that they create the faith
that, so far from accounting it a burthen, you regard
it as a privilege, as it assuredly is, to give for a good
purpose, and that you are grateful to the Bountiful
Giver for the means that he has blest you with, and
for every new opportunity. By giving, you receive
more and better things than you give, and thus become
rich before God.
In conclusion, let me say that I trust I have not
offended against propriety in speaking so freely in
�I
A.
.20
praise of our friend, as is customary to speak only of
the dead. But I have spoken thus not to flatter him,
but for the simple truth’s sake. And if I have failed
in regard to the truth, it is not in going beyond it, but
in falling short of it. If there is any alloy in the
sense of truth which moves me to speak of him as I
have done, it comes from the fact that he has, more
than once, as I have been told, allowed the kindness of
his heart and the warmth of his friendship to carry
him away and alluded in his pulpit to his old friend,
the pastor of this church, in such terms as have been, I
confess, not without weight among the reasons moving
me to decline his repeated and most urgent invitations
to visit him and preach for him in Chicago. I own to
the weakness of not caring that his people should find
out, as they surely would if I went there, how far
beyond the truth their minister had been carried in the
ardor of his personal regard. Let me confess to you,
dear friends, between ourselves, that I am not without
a feeling of satisfaction in having this opportunity of
speaking of him in a way that necessarily squares a
private account of mine with him.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
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Title
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Robert Collyer and his church: a discourse delivered at the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Philadelphia November 12, 1871
Creator
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Furness, W.H.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Collation: 20 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Text taken from Lukje Vii. 4 "He is worthy for whom thou shouldest do this".
Publisher
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King & Baird, printers
Date
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[1871]
Identifier
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G5367
Subject
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Unitarianism
Sermons
Rights
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Robert Collyer and his church: a discourse delivered at the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Philadelphia November 12, 1871), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Robert Collyer
Sermons
Unitarianism
United States-Religion
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Pamphlet
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Report of the third meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches held in New York, N.Y., October 7-8-9, 1868 together with the conference sermon, the constitution and by-laws of the conference and a list of accredited delegates
Creator
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National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: Botson, Mass.
Collation: 153 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: The sermon was delivered by Rev. Henry W. Belllows. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway.
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Alfred Mudge & Son
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1868
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G5180
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Unitarianism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Report of the third meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches held in New York, N.Y., October 7-8-9, 1868 together with the conference sermon, the constitution and by-laws of the conference and a list of accredited delegates), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Conference proceedings
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism
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1874.] Relation of Unitarians to the Church Universal.
61
RELATION OF UNITARIANS TO THE CHURCH UNIr.
VERSAL *
I am afraid that the tendency of our very freedom of thought,
of our position, as the advance guard of the advance in the inquiry
of the church, throws us Unitarians into danger of narrowness.
In the first place we have been told so long that we are not in the
*
church, that our young folks mighfl be excused if they said that
the Church of Christ probably knew whether we were in it or not,
that they were very well satisfied with the position in which they
found themselves, and that if other people wanted to go on without
us, they were welcome to do so. ’ But that is only a petty, not to
say childish way, of treating a great relation. For the Broad
Church may include all narrow churches ^though a narrow church
of course cannot include the broad. We hold to all that the
Catholic Church holds which does it any good, and we hold to a
great deal more. We hold to all that gives to the Presbyterian
churches their power, and we hold to a great deal more. We have
no difficulty in acceding to all that is generous and hearty in the
ritual of the Episcopal churches, and when they are ready to
listen, we will teach them a great deal more. Our position with
regard to the religion of the world, is not what I may almost call
the pettifogging place, of those wh^are trying to pick out a few
words of creed which they can make everybody agree to; it is — quite
on the other hand — the position of those who know how to intro
duce Religion into all life, and how to find it everywhere. In the
cathedral of the Greek Church, or in the Meeting-house of the
Quaker, we are sure to find it; and there or here we ought to find
ourselves at home.
The danger is, that when a narrow Evangelicism says to us,
“ We have nothing to do with you,” we should say spitefully,
“ Nobody asked you, we are getting on very well alone.” The
Christian answer is the only true answer. Let who will say
to us, “We have nothing to do with you,” our answer is only the
* This article is the substance of the latter part of Mr. Hale’s speech
at the First Church, Boston, Feb. 15, 1874.
�62
Relation of Unitarians to the Church Universal. [Mar.
more earnest, “ We have a great deal to do with you.” We are
in the church because we are God’s children, redeemed by His
Son. Nobody can gainsay that. We could not get out of it, if
we would ; and we would not, if we could.
A narrow bigot tells you sometimes, that Dr. Channing or Dr.
Lowell was almost good enough to be called a Christian. You
are tempted to say, in reply, that Dr. Stanley and Mr. Beecher
and Bishop Simpson are almost as sensible as if they were Uni
tarians. Failing that extreme measure of good sense, you are
tempted to pass by the literature of a people whose creed is not
your creed,—to be indifferent to their worship, though you should
find no worship else,— you are not afraid to let them know that your
contempt for them is quite equal to theirs for you ; and, as I said,
to say, “ If you excommunicate us from your communion, we will
put you out of our thought and our society.” When I was in
college one of our number came into Park Street Church on the
occasion of a protracted revival meeting, to see what was done
there. In the regular course of the meeting a minister came into
the pew where the young man sat, and leaning down, kindly asked
him what was the state of his soul, and if he were in any anxiety
about it. Startled and confused, without answering a question so
tender and so central, he said, “ Oh, I am a Unitarian.” The
natural implication would have been that Unitarians had no souls,
nor any wish to save them; and I am afraid that was the view
his kind friend carried away. But what he meant was, that
because he was a Unitarian he thought his soul was secure;
at all events, that it could not be saved by the processes he saw
there. That answer, if he had made it, would have been
legitimate and kind. But the other answer was to exclude
himself from the tender care of the Church Universal, a
care showing itself in a clumsy way, if you please, but none the less
genuine. I am afraid that story illustrates a sort of intellectual
conceit which has sometimes prevailed among us, a conceit which
is as unchristian as it is unmanly. I remember the protest made
against it by an accomplished and pure Christian woman, who said
in a bitter epigram, that the Unitarians were willing to admit her
into heaven as a fool, as if that were any kinder than to damn her
to hell as a sinner.
�9
1874.] Relation of Unitarians to the Church Universal.
I
63
Now all such intellectual conceit, and the notion that our little
sect here in New England is to stand by itself, are just as petty
as is any bigotry of Hard-Shell Baptists or Old-School Presby
terians. It is the church universal which is to win the victory over
disease, and sin, and the fear of death. It is the church universal,
the whole family of God, which is to make this world God’s home,
and part of His own kingdom. N(||separation, no bigotry, no ex
clusion, and no conceit will help that emjjfire forward. No, and the
great triumphs of to-day are the triumphs, of whatever form,
which make one out of many. The Evangelical Alliance, socalled, was, in its fashion, feeling for it. Every Christian Union,
whether it be a newspaper or a society, is a step towards it.
Every genuine and generous book which fordfes its way outside the
old dogmatic fortresses and circulates and is read among all the
children of God, is a help that way.
The Roman Church, on the other hand, attempted to make
such unity in the poor old fashion of uniformity. That failed.
That was like all other efforts to force freemen. Of course it failed.
Unity is not in unity of organization, but in unity of the spirit.
A fire insurance report in London says that the couplings of the
hose of the different engine companies of that city were of three
or four different gauges and threads, so that you could never rely on
screwing two lengths of hose together in an emergency.
The same writer said that from one end of America to the other,
there was not a length of hose whi^. Wtdd not be screwed into
. another length if occasion came.
I
I do not vouch for the fact. Perhaps it cannot be authenticated.
But let it serve as a parable, which might be true, of the way in
which different meetings, churches, societies, fraternises, unions,
associations of whatever name and whatevei?»order, would combine
if they had the unity of the spirit, in their work for a common cause
against any common misfortune. It does not require any chief
engineer to order them. It only requires mutual sympathy and
respect to make all their several parts work in accord as one.
All this was forced home on my attention as I passed from city
to city in Europe in my summer journey. It is hard to bear the
conceit and self-gratulation of the average American traveller in
other lands. It is a very dangerous habit which he falls into, if
�64
Relation of Unitarians to the Church Universal.
[Mar.
he goes to a church, as if it were only a show, and supposes that,
of course, he is the religious superior of the people who worship
there. I know it is very hard to extenuate the absurdities which are
absurd, or to apologize for the short-comings of other rituals. But
if one goes to a cathedral, one must do his best to make the best
of what he finds. And one always has to ask himself whether he
did the best he could to find other ritual more simple, or worship
more sincere. I have heard a hundred Americans say that the
Roman Catholic service in the Madeleine in Paris was operatic,
and not devotional, for one who told me that he had searched for and
found the hearty company of the French Liberal Protestants, who
were worshipping with M. Coquerel in the obscure Hall of St.
Andr& in Cite d’Antin. Now I have certainly nd quarrel with
the man who joins in the worship at the Madeleine. Only this I
have to say, that if it did not suit him, I do not know why he
went to such a service again and again, instead of finding a place
of worship and religious companionship in which he should be at
home.
This time is the last time of all for the Liberal Religionists of
the world to draw aside from Fellowship with the Church Uni
versal. Grant that in the past, the closely organized sects, those
with hard shells, and hard creeds, have looked askance at us, as
very doubtful allies. In these days, when they find their old
foundations shaken, and antagonists for whom they are not pre
pared, they are fain to rest behind the defences of the very allies
whom but just now they spurned. To take the instance of which
I spoke just now, the intelligent traveller in a-ny city of Europe
may, if he choose, find the Gospel of Liberty, Christianity in its
freedom, illustrated and enforced in churches which are more and
more recognized as the outworks of the church against Atheism
and Nothingism. The Freest Religionist ought not ask for bolder
or more inspiring words than he will hear from Stopford Brooke or
from Stanley in London ; from Coquerel in Paris ; from Father
Hyacinthe of the Liberal Catholics, or from any of the Unitarian
pulpits in Geneva; from Reville and his companions, and from hum
dreds of broad churches in the low countries ; from the pulpits of
the men who are building the German Protestant Association
through all the north of Germany; from Friedrich and the Old
Catholic leaders there and in the South of Germany; ar, if one is
�1874.] Relation of Unitarians to the Church Universal.
» 65
to mention names, from Bracciforti in Milan, from Lange at Zurich,
or, farther east, from our own brothers, the Unitarians of Hungary.
Let a traveller only feel that he is not alone in God’s world and
must not try to be alone, that worship is not complete when it is
the worship of a cell or of a cloister, but must be sometimes united
worship, or what the Latin calls com-munion, — and he will find
that the Church of Freedom in our day has planted the banner of
Faith and Hope and Love in every land.
I suppose this New England habit may be natural enough, or
easily accounted for. Our fathers were driven here, —from lands
which were not too kind to them. No thanks to the Church of
Rome that they came! No thanks to the Anglican Church 1
They came to a wilderness which was very rugged — and they
made it blossom like the rose. No thanks to anybody for their
success in doing so, — but to themselves ! And now that it does
blossom like the rose, — now that they have surrounded them
selves, I do not say, merely, with every oomfort of outward life —
but with every help as well for the nobler culture and the spiritual
longings of men, — now that in the desert that Kedar did inhabit,
these churches have grown to rival the noblest of the old architec
ture, — so that the choicest work of the kilns of Munich and of
London admits the light of heaven for our devotions, that the walls
of these places of our meeting blaze with the glories of Byzantium
and of Italy, — it is not so unnatural that men should say, “ We
were exiled from them, — and we are willing to stay in our exile,
we will let them alone, — with a masterly inactivity.” “ If they
can do without us, we can do without them.”
But this is, after all, as if the hand should say to the foot, “ I
have no need of thee,” or the foot to the hand, “ I have no need
of thee.” The hand is tempted to say so. The foot is tempted to
say so. But the moment either does say so, and acts on its dec
laration, it cuts off at the same time its vital connection with the
head. And when the hand is cut off from the head, — it is lost!
None the less are our churches exposed to this temptation.
They have wrought out, — thanks to their own zeal and to the
ihartyrdom of the fathers,— what, I have no question, is the most
perfect statement of Christian doctrine which has yet been given
to men. Not in vain has the Holy Spirit for nineteen centuries
9
�66 <
Relations of Unitarians to the Church Universal.
[Mar.
led generation after generation into all truth. And they are will
ing to apply this doctrine, — if only they may apply it at their
own fireside. “ We will open the eyes of our own blind, and the
ears of the deaf who live next door to us, and are there any poor
in these streets, we will gladly preach good tidings to them. That
is our place. For the rest of the world, do not ask us to carry
them our religion ! ” I could name to you more than one man in
our own pulpit who is willing to say this. Why, it is only to-day
that my eye rested on what is substantially this statement, in the
printed words of one of our own prophets. He is a prophet who
disproves the old adage. He is not without honor, even in his own
country and in his own home. I sit at his feet and am proud to
say so. I listen to almost every word he speaks with joy and ex
ultation. But not with joy nor w’ith exultation did I find him say
ing, that the work of the Unitarian Church was to leaven, but “ not
to conquer.” “ Not to conquer.” When I read those words I
felt neither joy nor exultation. No ! I remembered what I had
read of that duty in an older book ; and never has the lesson left
me. I have been sometimes enveloped in clouds and murky dark
ness. But with the memories and promises of that older book, and
with the present encouragement of the Living Spirit, it has seemed
to me, sometimes, that I also have seen the clouds rolled back
for a moment and the smoke dispersed, and clear against the
heavens, I could see the form of one who rode upon a White
Horse, whose name was the “ Word of God.” Upon his person
he bore the title, “ King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” I have
not observed in history that his victories were won when his fol
lowers sat comfortably in their homes. The language of the
Revelation seems well chosen, — which says that they were armies
which followed him, mounted on white horses also ; not to enter
into their rest, but to follow the “ Word of God,” even if the
“Word of God” made war. I do not believe that they are
meant to make war as the leaven makes it in the dough. I believe
they are to go forth “ Conquering and to conquer.”
In those armies the Unitarian Church is enlisted ; knowing no
leader but “ the Word of God.” It is so sure of that Leader that
it knows that its mission is to go forth “ conquering and to con
quer.”
Edward E. Hale.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Relation of Unitarians to the church universal
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Hale, Edward Everett
Description
An account of the resource
Place of Publication: Boston
Collation: 61-66 p. ; 25 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. For content of complete issue see: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.8906965 (accessed 11/2017). From the Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine. Vol. 1 (March 1874). "This article is the substance of the latter part of Mr Hale's speech at the First Church, Boston, Feb. 15, 1874". [Footnote].
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
[Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine]
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
[1874]
Identifier
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G5437
Subject
The topic of the resource
Unitarianism
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<p class="western"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (Relation of Unitarians to the church universal), identified by <span style="color:#0000ff;"><span lang="zxx"><u>Humanist Library and Archives</u></span></span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</p>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Language
A language of the resource
English
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism
-
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PDF Text
Text
RE-OPENING SERVICES
OF THE
Unitarian Chapel and Schools, Preston,
7th MAY, 1882,
CONDUCTED BY
Of South Peace Chapel, Finsbury, London.
HYMN I.
All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deed and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.
Nothing useless is or low,
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems but idle show,
Strengthens and supports the rest.
For the structure that we raise
Time is with materials fdled ;
Our to-days and yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.
Build to-day then strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base ;
And ascending and secure
Shall to-morrow find its place.
Longfellow.
Reading.
HYMN II.
Go mark the rill, the new-born,
Trickling from mossy bed ;
The heatli-clad hill just streaking
With a bright emerald thread.
Can’st thou her course foreshadow,—
What rocks o’crleap or rend,
How far in swell of ocean
Her freshening billows send ?
E’en so a truth e’er springeth
In silence, where it will,
Springs out of sight, and floweth.
At first a lonely rill.
But by and by streams meet it,
From sympathetic hearts,
Thousands together swelling
Their chant of many parts.
.
From Keble.
�MEDITATION.
HYMN III.
Be true to every inmost thought;
Be as thy thought, thy speech •
What thou hast not by suffering bought,
Presume thou not to teach.
Woe, woe to him, on safety bent,
Who creeps to age from youth
Failing to grasp his life’s intent,
Because he fears the truth.
Show forth Thy light 1 If conscience gleam,
Cherish the rising glow :
The smallest spark may shed its beam
O’er thousand hearts below.
Guard thou the fact! Though clouds of night
Down on Thy watch tower stoop;
Though Thou should’st see Thine hearts’ delight
Borne from Thee by their swoop.
Face thou the wind 1 Though safer seem
In shelter to abide ;
We were not made to sit and dream ;
The true must first be tried.
Discourse.—“Individual & Species.”
OFFERTORY.
HYMN IIII.
There’s a strife we all must wage,
From life’s entrance to its close;
Blest the bold who dare engage,
Woe for him who seeks repose.
Honoured they who firmly stand,
While the conflict presses round ;
God’s own banner in their hand,
In his service faithful found.
What our foes ? each thought impure ;
Passions fierce that tear the soul;
Every ill that we can cure;
Every crime we can control.
Every suffering which our hand
Can -with soothing care assuage ;
Every evil of our land ;
Every error of our age,
BtTLFINCH.
Benediction.
�EVENING SERVICE.
HYMN I.
Fair lilies of Jerusalem,
Ye wear the same array
As when imperial Judah’s stem
Maintained its regal sway ;
By sacred Jordan’s desert tide
As bright ye blossom on
As when your simple charms outvied
The pride of Solomon.
Ye flourished when the captive band,
By prophets warned in vain,
Were led to far Euphrates’ strand
From Jordan’s pleasant plain ;
In hostile lands to weep and dream
Of things that still were free,
And sigh to see your golden gleam,
Sweet flowers of Galilee 1
Ye have survived Judea’s throne,
Her temple’s overthrow,
And seen proud Salem sitting ’lone,
A widow in her woe :
But, lilies of Jerusalem,
Through every change ye shine ;
Your golden urns, unfading gem
The fields of Palestine I
Strickland.
Meditation.
HYMN II.
Thanks, ever thanks, for all this common life
Can give of rest and joy amidst its strife ;
For earth and trees and sea and clouds and springs ;
For work, and all the lessons that it brings.
For Pisgah gleams of ever fairer truth,
Which ever ripening still renews our youth ;
For fellowship with uoble souls and wise,
Whose hearts beat time to music of the skies.
For each achievement human toil can reach ;
For all that patriots win, and poets teach ;
For the old light that gleams on history’s page,
For the new hope that shines on each new age.
May we to these our lights be ever true,
Find hope and strength and joy for ever new,
To heavenly visions still obedient prove,
The Eternal Law, writ by the Almighty Love 1
F, M. White.
�Reading.
ANTHEM.
Up, sad heart! a Friend is near thee. Love greets
thee, and on thy joyless way joy is thy companion.
Through love shall my heart rise pure, an offering to the
great Heart. Sing then, as thou journeyest, and abide
evermore beneath the protecting shade of love.
Kassim-ol-Enwar.
Discourse.—“The Wounded Christ.’"
OFFERTORY.
HYMN III.
Do not crouch to-day, and worship
The old Past whose life is tied;
Hush your voice to tender reverence,
Crowned he lies, but cold and dead
?
For the Present reigns our monarch,
With an added weight of hours ;
Honour her, for she is mighty !
Honour her, for she is ours !
See the shadows of his heroes
Girt about her cloudy throne,
Every day her ranks are strengthened
By great hearts to him unknown ;
Noble things the great Past promised,
Holy dreams both strange and new ;
But the Present shall fulfil them,
What he promised, she shall do.
She inherits all his treasures,
She is heir to all his fame,
And the light that lightens round her
Is the lustre of his name;
She is wise with all his wisdom,
Living, on bis grave she stands,
On her brow she wears his laurels,
And his harvest in her hands.
Coward ! Can she reign and conquer
If we thus her glory dim ?
Let us fight for her as nobly
As our fathers fought for him !
God, who crowns the dying ages,
Bids her rule, and us obey ;
Bids xis cast our lives before her ;
Bids u.s serve the Great,to-day.
Adelaide Proctor.
Benediction.
Printed
at the
Chronicle Office, 21, Cannon Street, Preston.
�
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Re-opening services of the Unitarian Chapel and Schools, Preston
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Church Services
Conway Tracts
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Unitarianism
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ON
CLERICAL DISHONESTY:
»«9
A REFUTATION OF CHARGES
"?/
AGAINST
REV. CHARLES VOYSEY.
BY
THOMAS P. KIRKMAN, M.A., F.R.S.,
RECTOR OF CROFT, NEAR WARRINGTON.
MANCHESTER: JOHN HEYWOOD, DEANSGATE.
1871.
Price, Fourpence.
�** Id
�PREFACE.
I trust that the learned reader into whose hand
these pages may fall will defend me from the charge
of unbecoming condescension in going out of my
way to correct a small editor. That gentleman
happened to be exactly in my way when I was about
something of far more importance than a criticism
of his utterances. He was a convenient peg for the
fixture of my theme, and I had evidently the right
to use him.
My theme is no part of the controversy between
rational and irrational theology: whether the BroadChurchmen are right or wrong in their views of the
manner and the measure in which God has revealed,
and is revealing, his truth to man, is here not at all
the question. The reader is welcome to assume and
to say that the Divines of the rational school are
ignorant and illogical, inconsistent and unbelieving,
unphilosophical and heterodox, or anything equally
disgraceful. The only thing that I shall call him
to account for affirming is—that we are dishonest.
If you choose to say that, I shall insist on your
proving what you say. A deep thinker once re
marked, “What a pity that lying should be a'sin,
because it is so easy!” This charge of dishonesty
against the thinking clergy of the Church of Eng
land, . and of other communions in which Tradition
�4
Preface.
is trembling before Truth, is both easy and popular.
Nothing tells better or pays better in your Times or
your Telegraph. The charge has surely now been
long enough made, without a syllable of evidence.
The scribes who make it will confess, that I have
taken some trouble to do what they find it so glib
and easy to leave everywhere undone—namely, to
state their case in the fairest and fullest manner, by
examining those solemn and only engagements by
which we clergy of the Established Church are bound
in our Ordination, and which these anonymous
writers so unreasonably and cruelly accuse us of
violating.
POSTSCRIPT.
The manuscript of this paper has been a month in
the hands and at the disposal of others. The only
reason why it has not appeared sooner is, that they
have not been able to see, as I see, the importance of
the Unitarian Herald; so that its publication may be
'taken as a victory of editorial dignity.
T. P. K.
�ON CLERICAL DISHONESTY.
The Editor of the Unitarian Herald, in the number
for July 7, 1871, comes out in a leading article, in
his largest type, overflowing with priestly unction,
and flatuous with pharisaic pride, that easiest and
happiest frame of true religion, which thinketh itself
righteous, and despiseth others. The article is
headed, “The Rev. Charles Voysey.” The pious*
editor laments, as he has a perfect right to do,'
that Unitarians have eagerly opened their pulpits to
Mr Voysey. His regret has deepened since he read
Mr Voysey’s full statement of his religious history,
and he observes, "'We feel bound to repeat our
conviction that Mr Voysey’s statement only makes
his case worse than had been generally supposed,
and that his course has been such as ought to be.
greeted, by all who feel the paramount claim of
clerical honesty, not with honour, but with open
reprobation.” He shows, by Mr Voysey’s own state
ment, that that gentleman “ had given up orthodoxy
before he took orders at all.” He rejects his justifi
cation of his decision to enter the Church by the
prevailing and notorious laxity in interpreting the
import of subscription to her articles: “Mr Voysey
treats the whole question as if it was merely one of
a fresh college subscription, entirely ignoring the
solemn professions of ordination. At his ordering
as deacon, at his ordination as priest, and, ten years
later, on his having to read himself into his living,
�6
On Clerical Dishonesty.
he had to face the most solemn professions and vows,
perfectly different from the mere formal subscriptions
of his University course.” He goes on to acquit Mr
Voysey of being influenced by pecuniary motives ;
but he is convinced that he was unconsciously
swayed to do an immoral act by a sense of the
dignity of being a clergyman of the National Church,
and he treats him as one of those who 11 suffer them
selves to be blinded by this feeling, so that they
never dare to look the morality of their position
fairly and honestly in the face.”
I was not prepared for a confession like this on
the part of either of the editors of this little Herald,
who are, both of them, in the front rank of Unitarian
clergymen. That wealthy body, of whom they are
leading ornaments, must have ways, that I should
never have suspected, of making even such men feel
the indignity of their apparently high position, when
they can attribute to the prospect, by which Mr Voysey
along with so many others of us was led astray from
the path of morality, such a blinding dignity!—the dignity of rustic seclusion and oblivion in a
world mad with money-worship, and rapidly grow
ing richer, round about all these lucky Voyseys,
with their certainty for life of £100, or sometimes
£160, a year, and the additional dignity of a large
family!
Let that peep at Unitarian conceptions of dignity
pass. We have before us a definite charge of dis
honesty and immorality against Mr Voysey in present
ing himself from a mean motive as a candidate for
orders in a shaky state of orthodoxy, and in “ entirely
ignoring the solemn professions of ordination.” The
charge, I would say, is definite in general, if that is
a phrase permissible: there is no mistake about
what the pious editor means; but like all the most
poisonous and malignant slanders, it is thoroughly
indefinite as to particulars. Not an atom of proof
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
>
7
is brought forward in support of these most reckless
accusations ! “ Proof V’ quoth the editor, “ who ever
demanded proof of my utterances in my large-type
article ? ” Proof, indeed ! if I think it my duty to
disseminate a little calumny about clergymen’s
motives, how is it possible to bring proof1? How
am I to get hold of a man’s motives, and exhibit
them to the readers of my paper ? They must, of
course, take all that on the evidence of my sancti
monious self.” The pious editor is right : we cannot
demand that he shall produce this mean motive, “the
lower consideration,” lower than greed of money,
“ which mingles with their higher motives.” Let
that pass also for the present. We proceed to the
other immorality of “entirely ignoring the solemn
professions of ordination.”
Here we have a charge of which some proof can
be demanded and produced. Fortunately, the pro
fessions of Mr Voysey’s ordination are on record. We
shall go through them in order, and consider first
their solemnity, and secondly, the honesty or dis
honesty with which they were faced, and with which
they have been ignored or respected by Mr Voysey.
(a) The first question, after the taking ‘ the Oath of
the Queen’s Sovereignty,’ which was put to him at his
first ordination, was this :—“ Do you trust that you
are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon
you this Office and Ministration, to serve God for
the promoting of his glory and the edifying of his
people ?” His answer was, “ I trust so.” The ques
tion was a solemn one. What proof can our editor
bring forward that the respondent had not seriously
and prayerfully weighed its solemnity, or that he did
not really ‘ trust so1?’ “ Oh,” says the editor, “he was
not orthodox, that is, his intellectual conceptions of
religious truth were no longer those which had been
instilled into his boyish mind : he no longer believed
either in a God-Devil or a Devil-God, such as are set
�8
On Clerical Dishonesty.
forth in much of what is called orthodox theology.”
But if he sincerely thought that those changes
which his views of God’s will and character had
undergone were the inward motions of the Holy
Ghost, which rendered him fitter than before to pro
mote God’s glory and to edify his people, even if
that sincere thought was a sincere mistake, there
could hardly be dishonesty and immorality in his
answering : I trust so.’ The question had no bear
ing at all upon his intellectual conceptions of fact or
dogma, nor did he profess in his reply anything more
than a trust which, as the editor will not deny, may
be honestly felt even by a man not quite orthodox.
(&) The next question was as follows: “ Do you
think that you are truly called, according to the will
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the due order of this
Realm, to the Ministry of the Church ? ” The answer
was, “ I think so.” What proof has our pious editor
that he did not really think so ? “ Oh,” quoth the
editor, “ a man truly called according to the due order
of the realm to the ministry of the Church, means
a man whose theological opinions are those of the
Bishops, and Mr Voysey knew this; wherefore the
truthful answer from his lips would have been simply
—I do not think so.” That Mr Voysey knew this is a
knotty point to prove. Let us suppose that Mr
Voysey, in pondering this, was aware of the notori
ous fact that bishops contradict each other in their
opinions- about the first thing which the Church does
for a child in baptism, and about the doctrine taught
to a child at the beginning of the Catechism, and
about what is generally necessary to salvation, a con
flict of orthodoxy at the very threshold of Church
manship, whose flat contradictions have had since to
be appeased by the highest tribunal of Church law,
by making both contrary sides equally orthodox !
And suppose, farther, that Mr Voysey had asked
himself—how many Episcopal opinions does due
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
9 .
order require me to hold ?—and how’ am I to find
out what the opinions of bishops really and un- ,
feignedly are 1 And suppose, again, that in his
perplexity he had lighted on this most luminous
passage in the Ordination of Priests, “ are you deter
mined to teach nothing, as required of necessity to
eternal salvation, but that which you shall be per
suaded may be concluded and proved by the Scrip
ture 1 ” Suppose all this, and you may depend upon
it he had well studied the matter thus—then, if he
felt that he was honestly purposing to qualify himself
in the spirit of that future vow for his second ordina
tion, he might sincerely say that he thought himself
called in due order to the ministry of a deacon.
Nothing that can be said or hinted by ill-natured
editors can throw more light on the obligation to
teach the opinions of this doctor or of that, contracted
by us in our first ordination, than what is shed by
that glorious engagement which we take in our
second. There are few things definite in what is
called orthodoxy either Trinitarian or Unitarian;
but the obligation of a clergyman of my Church
as to what he is bound not to teach, is defined with
all the rigour of science. All that is indefinite and
inconsistent with itself will pale away from our for
mularies like perished ink; all that is rigorous and
scientific will year by year become blacker, more welldefined, and more indelible. The paling process has
long been accomplished in the Church’s third article’,
of which none but theological experts can now see
the once stupendous import; and in the longer seven
teenth article, which to our recent Protestant fathers
was the battle-ground of burning strife, the process
is well-nigh completed. We see nothing there but a
few bleaching bones of controversies long dead and all
but buried out of sight; and even reverend Unitarian
editors, aching and angry with their defect of dignity,
have learned to be ashamed of taunting us with our •
degrading bondage to Calvinistic atrocities
�io
On Clerical Dishonesty.
(c) The third question put to Mr Voysey at his first
ordination was—“Do you unfeignedly believe all the
Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament ?”
To this he answered by the book, “I do believe
them.” The honesty of the reply was exactly equal
to that of the question. Our editor is awfully im
pressed with the solemnity of this business. He be
longs to a denomination of Christians which has
always been the foremost and boldest in denying
the truthfulness, scientific, historical, and moral, of
hundreds of pages in these canonical books : he dares
not say before the most uneducated man, or even
woman of his own communion, that he unfeignedly
believes them all. Yet he is captivated with the
dignity and solemnity of the scene, where the bishop
in his spotless robes, armed with the plenitude of
parliamentary power, extorts from the quivering
consciences of the anxious youths before him a quib' bling answer to a quibbling demand. The pious
and sympathetic editor imagines himself adorning the
province of that high functionary, and hears in fancy
the grand sonorous tones with which he could roll
out syllable by syllable that interrogation—‘ do you
unfeignedly believe them all V
The editor knows well that God, by His own reve
lations of truth to man in this and the last century,
has made it impossible for any student to prepare
himself for orders in any university, Catholic or Pro
testant in the world, so as to be able to say without
painful evasion, and unworthy violence to verbal
truth, that he unfeignedly believes even the first page
of the canonical scriptures. The bishop, who is forced
by an Act of Parliament of darker days to put this
question, does not even pretend to believe that God
made a water-tight firmament on the second day,
dividing the waters above it from those below. He
knows that that old firmamentum or solidamentum,
which to Job was hard and “ strong, and as a molten
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
11
looking-glass” of polished metal (Job xxxvii. 18),
and which is described by Josephus in his first page
of the “ Antiquities,” as a crystal which God fastened
and hammered like carpenter work (such is the plain
meaning of his Greek word), around his creation to
separate heaven from the whole world, that this old
fixed firmament is nowhere now, having been shivered
to atoms by shots of thought through the first tele
scopes. Three hundred years ago it was perfectly
true to every bishop, priest, and deacon in England,
except to three or four heretical mathematicians,
whom they heartily cursed for their infidelity, that
God made all that stupendous sapphire vault in one
day; and the vault was there in its solid majesty and
marvellous beauty, the transparent floor through
which Moses and the elders saw God’s feet from the
summit of Sinai, there to be seen with the stars of
God stuck in it. And it is no less certain at this day
to every clergyman and educated layman, that there
is not, and never was, any such thing, and that Jeho
vah did not make a firmament, nor any definite
division between earth and heaven, on the second day.
If the reader is curious to see exposed the miserable
and bungling quibbles to which theologians have been
driven by their despair or their dishonesty, in de
fending the letter of the first page of the Bible, I
refer him to my little tract—■“ Where is the firmament
which God created on the second day 1 ” Who doubts
that the chancellors and bishops who put together
our ordinals and articles would have handled me
more roughly for writing that tract than our bishops
have handled Mr Voysey ? And all England would
have applauded their treatment of such a blasphem
ous heretic, for his denial of the clear unquestionable
testimony of the first chapter of the Word of God,
xbout so plain a thing as the firmament.
If there were only a score of propositions in the
canonical scriptures like this one about the firmament,
�1'2
Un Ulerical Dishonesty.
which bishops no more than other educated men un
feignedly believe, it would be worth my while here
to enumerate them; and laying them before the
Churchmen- of England, I would say : Are you con
tent that your Act of Parliament should continue for
centuries to force your learned and godly bishops, in
the most important of all their episcopal functions,
to ask this question of those young candidates : ‘ Do
you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments ? ’ Would it not be at
least more decorous in The presence of hostile critics
of your church, to allow them to bracket the twenty
passages which neither you nor they pretend to
believe—and to demand from the youths an unfeigned
faith in all the rest ? Would there be anything incon
sistent with common honesty, to say nothing of
solemnity, in such a change of your law ? Why
should it be required of your young ministers to
believe even a score of propositions which you and
your bishops well know by the teaching of God Him
self to be untrue, however honestly they may have
been believed by good men of old 1 You may reply,
that the bishop is not compelled by law when he puts
that question, to say that he unfeignedly believes
every proposition in the Scripture himself; and you
may remark, that you see no reason why the young
sters should make a wry face at swallowing what the
bishop, once in their position, managed to get down.
And with that wise observation, and a little chuckle
at your own wisdom, good people of England, you are
very likely to rest content! But I cannot help wish
ing that you had a little more compassion on young
and tender consciences, and a little more fear of
tampering with the love of truth pure and undefiled.
I say, if there were just twenty such passages, I
would copy them out for once in order; but there are
in fact hundreds of them, in which to every educated
Christian mind an unfeigned belief is simply impos*
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
13
sible. Biblical criticism, like astronomy and geology,
is a science of which our Protestant fathers of the
Reformation knew next to nothing; they accepted the
Pope’s Bible, as they accepted his creeds, without sus
picion that either his priests or their predecessors, the
Jewish priests, had ever tampered with the sacred
documents. It may be that our editor, if pressed for
proof of his charge against Mr Voysey of dishonesty
in taking Holy Orders, would be compelled to rest
mainly on this assertion, without expressed reserve, of
belief of all the Scriptures. And he has a right to
press it; but certainly no more right against Mr.
Voysey than against every living clergyman of our
church who is fit to be called an educated man.
“ Very true,” quoth our editor, “it is true against you
all; you all were dishonest in your answer to that
question, and the only honourable course open to you
was to enter the ministry among us Unitarians : we
are not so tight in such matters; and you would then
all have been honestly established, as we are, to be
prophets of the Lord.” To this I reply by quoting
from the same leading article—After the same hard
fashion is the travestie of Biblical criticism by which
he is deliberately trying—under the careful cover of
merely attacking verbal inspiration and the doctrine
of Christ’s Godhead—to undermine the reverence of
men for the Bible, and their discipleship to Christ.”
It is evident that the man who wrote this (I know
not who he is) has often something to say about the
Bible, the force and value of which to the heads and
hearts of his hearers require to be supplemented by
a reverence for the Bible, as distinct from their reve
rence for truth and righteousness. They sound like
the words of one whose business it is to make in
fluence and profit out of such mere book-reverence;
and I hold the mission and the spirit of such a
teacher, at least to thinking men, to be those of an
arrant priest. The teacher- or preacher- craft that de-
�14
On Clerical Dishonesty.
mands as the condition of its useful action in grown
men a reverence distinct from that due to truth and
righteousness is simply priestcraft, more or less
dignified and respectable. If this editor means to
say that Mr Voysey is deliberately trying to under
mine men’s reverence for truth and righteousness,
or their discipleship to Christ as the Great Master
therein, I pronounce the charge to be a deliberate and
a most priestly calumny, and I defy him to prove one
word of it. And my impression is, that by betaking
ourselves to such a fountain of honour as this editor
for our prophetic qualifications, we should jump out of
the frying-pan into the fire, and find his little finger
thicker than the church’s loins. Your true priest is
none the less an arrant priest because he happens to
be a nonconformist, whether with or without dignity.
We proceed with our search for Mr Voysey’s
immorality in the solemn professions and vows of
ordination. (a!) The next question put to him was
this: “ Will you diligently read the same unto the
people assembled in the Church where you shall be
appointed to serve ? ” He answered, “ I will.” Can
the pious editor prove that he did not honourably
keep that promise 1 I have no doubt that he- kept it
at the cost of grievous pain to himself, such as many
of us feel and bear without complaining; the pain of
continual insult, in being deemed incapable of select
ing for ourselves a passage of Scripture to read at
any one service all the year round to our people—and
the pain of being compelled to read as God’s word
what we know well God never said. For example, I
was compelled last Sunday to read the impudent
charge of malice and murder which that baleful arch
pope Samuel brought (1 Sam. xv.) against God.
“ Samuel said unto Saul, thus saith the Lord of
Hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel,
(centuries ago). . . . Now go and smite Amalek and
utterly destroy all that they have and spare them
�On Clerical Dishonesty
15
not; but slay both man and woman, infant and
suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” I am very
sure that holy Samuel said all that, and equally sure
that, when he said it, his holiness was fibbing stupend
ously. I was also compelled to read in that chapter,
“ The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for
he is not a man that he should repent.” “ Then came
the word of the Lord to Samuel saying, it repenteth
me that I have set up Saul to be king.” “ And the
Lord repented that he had made Saul king over
Israel.” Can any of the bishops unfeignedly believe
all this, even on the word of two Samuels, soapless
and saponaceous ?
Next comes the statement by the bishop of a deacon’s
duties, followed by the question, “Will you do this
gladly and willingly?” Mr Voysey answered, “I
will do so, by the help of God.” Is our wise Editor in
possession of any evidence that Mr Voysey ever for
one day neglected to fulfil these duties ? Let it be
observed that in the bishop’s complete statement of
them, not a word is said about its being a deacon’s
duty to be of the same opinion with bishops, not even
if they be editors ; nor is he required to enquire or to
know anything in general or in particular about their
opinions.
(0) The next question is, “ Will you apply all
your diligence to frame and fashion your own lives,
and the lives of your families, according to the
Doctrine of Christ; and to make both yourselves and
them, as much as in you lieth, wholesome examples of
the flock of Christ ? ” Mr Voysey answered, “ I will
so do, the Lord being my helper.”
Does the penetrating Editor find anything dishonest
or immoral in this reply of the wicked Voysey ? Or
does he know, or can he coin, any scandal about that
gentleman’s family which can keep in countenance his
own abominable and public slander of him ?
(/) Once more: the bishop demands, “ Will you
�16
On Clerical Dishonesty.
. reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Min
isters of the Church, and them to whom the charge
and government over you is committed, following with
a glad mind and will their godly admonitions 1 ” Mr
*• Voysey answered, “ I will endeavour myself, the Lord
being my helper.”
No more questions or professions; the ordination
of the deacon followed immediately. If the Unitarian
Editor cannot find a justification of his accusations
against Mr Voysey in the matter of this final profession,
it is clear that he will find it nowhere in this solemn
service of the first ordination. Before we press the
argument farther, it seems best to run rapidly over
the vows and professions of the second ordination,
as we shall then have the whole matter before us, and
give this groaning Editor a wider chance of shelter.
In this, after some due formalities and a collect, the
epistle, Ephesians iv. 7. . . is read, wherein are
enumerated the gifts to men of him who led captivity
captive, in the shape of church ministers, which are
described as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors,
and Teachers. No priests ! let that be well weighed.
No priests 1 yet surely, if the Church of England had
intended to assert priesthood, in the old Pagan and
Jewish sense of sacrificers, mediators, conjurers, necro
mancers, and pardoners, she would have chosen a
passage of Scripture for the ordination service of
priests, in which at least the old word priest occurs.
Then follows either the gospel Matt. ix. 36, or that
John x. i., in neither of which is mention made of
any functionary but the shepherd. Next comes the
bishop’s address, most beautiful and impressive, on the
duties of the office about to be assumed ; but neither
priest nor priesthood, nor anything priestly, no, not a
single syllable, defiles the Christian purity of the long
allocution. “We exhort you, that ye have in remem
brance into how high a dignity, and to how weighty
an office and charge ye are called; that is to say, to
�CJn Clerical Dis Honesty.
17
be Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of the Lord.”
That is the whole definition of the office. ' The.
address being at an end, the first interrogation of the
ordinal is uttered thus,—and mark I pray you the
redoubled solemnity and awe which enchain the eyes > •
of our pious and admiring Editor—(g) “ Do you
think in your heart that you be truly called, according
to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the order of
this United Church of England and Ireland, to the
Order and Ministry of Priesthood ? ” Ah ! poisoning
word, you may say, forced after all into the teeth of
that vanquished Protestant shepherd ! Ah ! mark of
the Beast, for centuries more stamped on a web so
beautiful! Hush, Hush ! ’Tis but a harmless word;
it comes without evil meaning; it is nowhere
defined in all the Church's formularies; you know
priest is merely presbyter ! Woe ! Woe ! You may
quibble on priest and presbyter; but that fatal
priesthood will be claimed as the print of the cloven
foot on a page otherwise so glorious !
The reply of Mr Voysey was—“I think it!” Will
our Editor say that he did not think it 1 Will he
point out a syllable of the eloquent address he had
just heard, to which he did not assent, with all his
heart and soul ? There is no stipulation in it that
the candidates were to come to bishops for their
learning or opinions: they were bid to seek both will
and ability from God alone in the study of the
scriptures ; not a syllable uttered about creeds or
articles, either parliamentary or editorial!
Of
course Mr Voysey, cordially hating the word priest
hood, had to content himself with the non-natural
translation of it into eldership, or presbyterate, and
he was thankful to have no definition more offensive
proposed to him; nor was he ever called upon
to undertake the office in the old Judaeo-Pagan
meaning.
(A) Then follows the glorious propounding of
�18
On Clerical Dishonesty.
that profession, and vow which is the Magna-Charta
of our protestant Broad-churchmanship, the passport
of immunity from all tax and all homage to priest
craft, preacher-craft, professor-craft, and editor-craft
of every hue, dignified or undignified. “ Are you
persuaded that the holy Scriptures contain sufficiently
all Doctrine required of necessity for eternal salva
tion, through faith in Jesus Christ 1 And are
you determined out of the said Scriptures to instruct
the people committed to your charge, and to teach
nothing, as required of necessity to eternal salvation,
but that which you shall be persuaded may be
concluded and proved by the Scripture ?” The
answer of this wicked Voysey was, “ I am so per
suaded, and have so determined, by God’s grace.”
The dishonest wretch ! Does he not well deserve
to have suffered the loss of his bread and the
spoiling of his goods, by his wilful error and obsti
nacy in honouring the sacredness of that vow so
much more than what in his conscience he believed
to be traditions of the elders, and inventions of
men, in creeds and articles, in acts of councils and
parliaments, and in systems of theology?
(i) The Bishop next proceeded thus:—“ Will
you then give your faithful diligence always so to min
ister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the Discipline
of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, and as this
Church and Realm hath received the same, according
to the Commandments of God, so that you may teach
the people committed to your Cure and Charge with
all diligence to keep and observe the same ? The
candidate answered, “ I will do so, by the help of
the Lord.”
We proceed rapidly with what remains.
(/) The Bishop.—11 Will you be ready, with all
faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all
erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God’s
word ; and to use both publick and private monitions
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
19
and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole,
within your Cures, as need shall require, and occasion
shall be given ?” Answer.—“ I will, the Lord being
my helper.”
Observe in (z) and (/) the important restrictions,
“ according to the commandments of God,” and “ con
trary to God’s word.”
(&) The Bishop.—“ Will you be diligent in Prayers,
and in reading of the Holy Scriptures, and in such
studies as help to the knowledge of the same, laying
aside the study of the world and the flesh 1” Answer.
—“I will endeavour myself so to do, the Lord being
my helper.”
(Z) The Bishop.—“Will you be diligent to frame
and fashion your own selves and your families,
according to the Doctrine of Christ; and to make
both yourselves and them, as much as in you lieth,
wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of
Christi” Ansiver.—“I will apply myself thereto,
the Lord being my helper.”
(m) The Bishop.—11 Will you maintain and set
forward, as much as lieth in you, quietness, peace,
and love, among all Christian people, and especially
among them that are, or shall be, committed to
your charge!” Answer.—-“I will do so, the Lord
being my helper.”
In all the above Mr Voysey pledged himself
neither to believe nor to teach any truth, but what
he should find by study of the scriptures.
(n) Finally the Bishop demands.—“Will you
reverently obey your Ordinary, and other chief Min
isters, unto whom is committed the charge and
government over you; following with a glad mind
and will their godly admonitions, and submitting
yourselves to their godly judgments 1 ” Answer.—“ I will so do, the Lord being my helper.”
This differs from (/) at the close of the former
ordination, in being a vow of submission to the
�20
On Clerical Dishonesty.
godly judgments as well as godly admonitions of
superiors.
The vows (/) and (%) are the only ones from which
the Editor can attempt to justify his charge of
dishonesty against Mr Voysey. It is certain that
the latter did not submit to the admonition of his
Archbishop, when his Grace advised him not to
publish his sermons. The question presents itself
here, is there any point, or is there no point, at
which a clergyman may without clerical dishonesty
disregard the admonition of his bishop ? I think
there is one, and only one point, the point of con
science, at which this dishonour can be evaded;
and at that point only when the clergyman openly
appeals from the admonition to the judgment of his
superiors. If the clergyman, having, under the pres
sure of sovereign conscience, felt it his duty to
disregard an admonition, publicly and manfully
appeals from bishops admonishing to bishops in
judgment according to the law of the land, with
a determination to fulfil his ordination vow by
submitting to that judgment, he may be unwise and
foolish in his procedure, but I contend that he
is neither dishonest nor immoral; and the man who
anonymously charges him with dishonesty and
immorality, for so working out the reconciliation of
his conscience and ordination vow, is a slanderer.
Nothing can be clearer than this, that in all our
ordination vows, we reserve our right of appeal to
conscience, holy scripture, and the law of England.
The popular notion is that we are under a kind of
military bondage to a certain shadowy figment made
up of dead men, and called the Church, whose word
of command we obey without appeal, or any consi
deration of reason or consequences. The truth is,
that we contract no allegiance to dead men at all,
nor to any church but the living church of this Realm,
of which bishops and dignitaries are a very insignifi
cant fraction, as to numbers and final authority.
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
21
The vulgar, who have never examined for them
selves to what we are bound by our ordination vows,
will applaud the calumny of the Unitarian editor.
That he knows well; and I affirm that his article
is all the more malignant for the certainty of its
success among the ignorant crowd. The career of
Mr Voysey has been truth, manliness, and honour,
from beginning to end.
The effect intended to be produced by this lead
ing article is that, besides the guilt of subscribing
the thirty-nine articles, and using the' liturgy of the
Church, which Unitarians can hardly help ascribing
to those of us who are not under the bondage of the
old traditionary theology, there was a special dis
honesty in Mr Voysey’s presenting himself for ordin
ation, when he was convinced that much of what his
boyhood had been taught was erroneous, a dishonesty
in what he did and said in that ordination service.
We have confessed the painful difficulty to which
every educated candidate for orders is compelled by a
law, once reasonable, but now alike cruel to the
bishops and their clergy, to submit concerning un
feigned belief of all the Scriptures. Passing that,
Mr Voysey said nothing that in his conscience he did
not believe; he bound himself there in the profes
sions and vows of that special service to no theory or
dogma; he engaged himself to acceptance of no
statement of divine truth beyond what he should
himself conclude from the study of the bible; he
placed himself under no obligation that he intended
to evade; nor did he make a single promise which
he did not purpose and persevere, like an honourable
man, to fulfil. He believed that he could better
serve both God and man by contending for what he
found to be the truth, inside the church, than out of
it; he hoped that he might nobly be, as others had
been, the instrument under God of extending Chris
tian charity and free enquiry in theology ; he never
�22
On Clerical Dishonesty.
gave a pledge that he would not try to extend them;
and he made his effort, not wisely perhaps for him
self and his family, but certainly not after the fashion
of this small editorial attempt to calumniate him,
meanly, anonymously, sophistically. He printed with
his name what he preached, like a brave man;
he gave reasons for his opinions which honestly
satisfied his judgment and his conscience ; he fully
allowed to others the liberty of either answering or
prosecuting him; he fought his battle before his
judges with arguments which have yet to be con
futed, and he has loyally submitted to their judgment.
Let me now say a word about the dishonesty of
Broad-churchmen in general. • Few people choose to
talk about theology; of that few the majority agree
that we are dishonest men, if we remain in our bene
fices. Just so among Roman Catholics, few choose to
think or speak on religious questions ; but nearly all
agree that Protestants are dishonest men, in pre
tending to hold the Catholic creeds, while they rebel
utterly against the Catholic church. A devout
Romanist is shocked and amazed at our hypocrisy
and dishonesty in saying every Sunday, “ I believe
One Catholic and Apostolic Church.” To his con
science this appears an immoral and insolent abuse of
the plainest terms of human speech. We laugh at his
horror justly : we know that we employ the words
in their literal and grammatical meaning. We mean
what we say, and say what we mean. The creed
propounds no definition of the word church, nor of
the terms Catholic or Apostolic ; we have a right to
restrict the term church to a denotation which ex
cludes all the compelling authority of their Popes,
their Fathers, and their Councils. They call this
trifling and quibbling with sacred truth : we justly
call it an accurate and scientific use of words. The
vulgar can never see, what is the foundation of all
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
23
logical precision of language, the difference between
what we call the denotation and the connotation of a
term.
In books of rigorous science all mere connotations
of words are thrown away—each term is used with a
fixed denotation, determined by definition, and all
that is required for truth and honesty in a writer or a
speaker, is that he uses the same term always with
the denotation to which his clear definition binds him.
The Broad-Churchman insists, as he has a right to
do, upon rigorous denotations of terms in the bond of
creeds and formularies which he has subscribed : all
vague connotations he throws away in the true spirit
of science, for his theology is the theory of God’s
revelations of Himself to man, that is, theological
science, not monkish quibbles and legendary moon
shine. In this spirit Mr Voysey has a right to read
the Church’s bond; and the counsel for the prosecu
tion were compelled to confess, facing the logic of the
case, that he had nowhere either affirmed what the
church’s bond denies, nor denied what it affirms.
The court of Privy Council is not a tribunal of
theological science : to that high court Mr Voysey
has submitted in all that is practical, as he was bound
to do; but mentally, and practically too, in the field of
action from which their judgment does not exclude
him, which is simply that of an unbeneficed presbyter
of the Church of England, as legally eligible to a
bishopric as the best of them, he appeals to the
higher tribunal of theological truth, which, as sure
as the tide is flowing, will finally reverse every
decision of every Privy Council which is not rigor
ously scientific. The majesty of English thought,
serenely enthroned on the broad foreheads of our men
of science, can patiently wait along with Mr Voysey,
till Privy Councils can afford to sit and speak every
day in their noblest robes of philosophic accuracy.
They cannot often wear in court at present, anything
�24
On Clerical Dishonesty.
purer than the ermine of legal equity, which deter
mines by a fine analysis, to which none but the most
learned lawyers can attain, the resultant, for a given
time t, of settled rights, of popular ignorance, and of
human progress.
For my part, in reading the church’s formularies
in both the liturgy and articles, I find no difficulty
in taking every sentence in a meaning literal and
grammatical, yet perfectly rational, nor have I ever
pledged myself to read them irrationally or nonsensi
cally.
I reject no definition which is precisely
given in them, no fact plainly asserted in them,
nor any inference explicitly drawn in them; yet I
find it perfectly easy, by confining the terms un
defined to a strict and simple denotation, to read
every word, without a quibble of any kind, into sense
and science. Something of this mode of honestly
construing our formularies may be seen in the tracts
by “ A Country Parson,” in Scott’s series, entitled,
“ The Creeds and the Thirty-Nine Articles, their
Sense and their Non-sense.” If any of those scribblers
in papers, little and big, who are so fluent in their
abuse of Broad-church dishonesty wish to catch the
Broad-churchman in delicto, I advise them to study
that book. The successful exposure of the dishonesty
there perpetrated, will be of more value to the priests
and the Pharisees than a score of tirades in barren
generalities, and prate about principles neither
granted, postulated, nor proved.
Something should be added, in an examination of
the ordination services, on the grand Finale of priest
manufacturing. So" long as the people of England
compel their bishops to employ that old popish
formula in ordination, they have no right to complain
of any deluge of ancient priestcraft and superstition
that may cover the land. No embankment raised
against it is of any value, while that floodgate is
left open. In spite of the protestant character of
�On Clerical Dishonesty.
25
our articles, and even of our ordination services up
to this all dominant conclusion, our High-churchmen
have mostly the best of the argument to a popular
audience about the prayer-book, in affirming that
priestly privilege and power in the Anglican com
munion are precisely what they are in the Catholic,
both Greek and Roman.
From Broad-churchmen, who spurn with scorn
unutterable the insinuation that they have ever
accepted from a bishop the power either to for
give or to retain the sin of any man against his
Maker, it may fairly be demanded, how they read
in a literal and grammatical sense without a quibble
this most portentous formula : “ whose sins thou
dost forgive they are forgiven, whose sins thou dost
retain, they are retained.” I reply for myself, that I
read it by taking as much liberty with the letter as
the High-churchman takes. He reads it thus—and
he has a perfect right to do so, till the people of
England bar out his popish connotation by a strict
definition—“whose sins against God's laws thou dost
forgive, they are forgiven by God; whose sins against
God’s laws thou dost retain, they are retained, i.e.,
unforgiven, by God.” It is simple and unambiguous.
Now I read it thus: “Whose sins against the
church’s laws, (in matters of ritual, creed, and ex
ternal order involving no question of morals) thou
dost forgive, they are forgiven by the church; whose
sins against the church’s laws thou dost retain, they
are retained by the church.” This is equally literal
and grammatical with the other reading, and equally
unambiguous. I have received from the bishop who
ordained me this power both of forgiving and retain
ing. For example, I can forgive any man whom I
consider to be in a proper frame of mind his sins
against church law in matters of fast or festival. Sup
pose that he has eaten bacon on a Friday, or the last
of his wife’s stock of mince-pies on Ash-Wednesday;
�16
On Clerical Dishonesty.
suppose that he has gone to the Methodist Chapel;
suppose that he is not quite sound about the non
human paternity of Jesus Christ, and has the pre
sumption to say that St. Luke in his cautious
phrases and his genealogy was evidently infirm in his
orthodoxy on that point—then, if that man presents
himself as a god-father, and is indistinct in his
answer about the Creed, it is in my power, by virtue
of my ordination, to forgive him such sins against
mother-church; and if I know him to be a moral and
religious man, I can thoroughly absolve him, and he
will be as good a god-father as the Pope himself can
make; I can also retain sins against the church’s
laws. I can' turn an unworthy man away from the
*“■ font-or from the communion table: if he has utterly
neglected the religious training of his child, I can
punish him by various means, such as delaying for
three years the privilege of confirmation. I am as proud
of my power of absolving and of retaining sin as any
“ priest alive. But I am not such a lunatic as to fancy
that I can forgive a man his sins against God’s moral
and physical laws. If he is a drunkard who beggars
himself and his family, or is injured in that state by
his own cart-wheel, or shattered by delirium tremens,
however orthodox and truly penitent he may be,
neither my absolution, nor that of all the bishops and
priests on earth, can diminish by one feather’s weight
the amount of penalty and retribution which God will
surely for that sin lay upon him in mind, body, and
estate.
Here let it not be pretended that in my reading of
the ordination formula I am making a distinction
unwarranted by the church, between sins against
God’s moral laws, and sins against laws of her making.
Is there any doubt, that when our prayer book was
put together there were priests enough in our church,
as there are in all Roman Catholic lands, inclined to
impose on penitents far heavier penance for violation
�On Cierica! Dishonesty.
27
of churcli-law in matters of fast or festival, of church
going or schismatical proclivity, than for drunkenness,
lies, and dishonesty ? If there is no such doubt, my
distinction is both a valid and a weighty one.
Few things in theology are so amusing as the
attempts of high-church Divines who shrink from the
impious claims of pardoning power made by the full#
blown priest, to establish a claim of something less,
yet awfully important, as the clerical contribution to
God’s work in forgiveness of the penitent. Dr.
Goulburn, prebendary of St. Paul’s, is here inimitable.
. In his office of Holy Communion, 4th edition,'' 1865,
he profoundly remarks : “ of course, it cannot be
disputed that truth is truth, whoever speaks it; any
true disciple of Christ, without being an ordained*'
minister, may raise the drooping spirit of another by
pointing him to the evangelical promises which assure
pardon to the penitent and believing, and which Jhe
faithfulness of God stands engaged to fulfil: but
the minister alone can proclaim with authority the '
message of reconciliation. Others may tell it, niay
point it out in scripture ; he alone can pronounce it—
such is the significant word employed in our rubric.”
“How charming is Divine-philosophy/” And how
lucky our Church of England, in having dignitaries
of Dr. Goulburn’s power, and bishops like Dr. Wilber
force, discerning enough to choose the Goulburns for
their examining chaplains!
Croft Rectory,
near
Warrington.
July 10,1871.
TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH
�
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On clerical dishonesty: a refutation of charges against Rev. Charles Voysey
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Kirkman, T. P. (Thomas Penington)
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Place of publication: Manchester
Collation: 27 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Turnbull and Spears, Edinburgh. A comment on the leading article by the editor appearing in the 'Unitarian Herald', July 7,1871
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John Heywood
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Unitarianism
Clergy
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Charles Voysey
Clergy
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism
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f
��MEMORIALS
OF THE
OF THE
First Congregational Church
OF
CINCINNATI, OHIO,
JANUARY 21st, 1880.
PRINTED FOR
THE
UNITY
CLUB.
��D
* OTe^
^IDWDU£TORY
The Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Congregational
Church of Cincinnati was observed by a special service of com
memoration in the church building, corner Plum and Eighth
streets. The altar had been beautifully decorated with green
garlands and flowers. A large company was in the pews and
participated in the printed order of service. The historical
review, communications, and letters read are included in this
memorial volume. At the conclusion of the very interest
ing and impressive exercises, the congregation repaired to the
parlors below, where a collation had been spread by the ladies
of the society, the older members occupying a table together
at the upper end of the room. The walls and tables were
decorated with evergreens and flowers. There was also
exhibited a collection of portraits of former ministers and mem
bers of the church, which included an excellent pencil sketch
of the first church edifice of the society on the corner of
Fourth and Race streets (since demolished), drawn by Mrs.
Ephraim Peabody in 1832, and kindly loaned by her for this
occasion. Brief addresses were made during the evening by
the pastor, who presided over the feast; by John Kebler,
Esq., who made tender reference to various deceased mem
bers of the church, and spoke enthusiastically of its prospects
for the future ; by Capt. Robert Hosea on “The Unitarian
Outlook”; by Judge Manning F. Force, who paid a warm
tribute to the laborsand sacrifices of the women of the church ;
Hon. Alphonso Taft, who affirmed that a free and rational
religion was a necessity for a free state; by Mr. Edward
Goepper, on behalf of the younger members of the society;
Rev. T. M. Johnson, who extended a greeting from the Universalist connection; Michael Tempest, Esq., Dr. Seth Salt
marsh, and other friends. At a late hour the meeting broke
up with the hearty singing of “Auld Lang Sync. "
�1880.
1830.
^ordcr*of*cxcr<ji$c$^
I.
II.
HI.
Organ Voluntary,
by
Theodore Stanwood, Esq.
Rev. C. W. Wendte.
Prayer by the Pastor,
Hymn,
by
Rev. A. A. Livermore.
1.
A Holy air is breathing round,
A fragrance from above ;
Be every soul from sense unbound,
Be every spirit love.
2.
O God, unite us heart to heart,
In sympathy divine,
That we be never drawn apart,
And love not thee'nor thine.
3.
But by the cross of Jesus taught,
And all thy gracious word,
Be nearer to each other brought,
And nearer to the Lord.
IV. A Historical Review of The First Congregational Church,
by
V.
VI.
Reading
of
John D. Caldwell, Esq.
Communications from former Pastors and Members.
Hymn,................................................... by Rev. Jas. H. Perkins.
1.
It is a beautiful belief,
When ended our career,
That it will be our ministry,
To watch o’er others here.
2.
To lend a moral to the flower:
Breathe wisdom on the wind ;
To hold commune, al night’s pure noon,
With the imprisoned mind ;
'
�5
3.
To bid the mourners cease to mourn.
The trembling be forgiven;
To bear away from ills of clay
The infant, to its heaven.
4.
Oh! when delight was found in life,
And joy in every breath,
I cannot tell how terrible
The mystery of death.
5.
But now the past is bright to me,
And all the future clear;
For ’tis my faith that after death
I still shall linger here.
VII. Religious Poems written by Rev. John Pierpont, D.D.,
Rev. C. G. Fenner,
VIII.
IX.
.
read by
and
Miss Clara E. Nourse.
Congratulatory Letters.
Original Hymn—Tune, “Fair Harvard.”
1. They are gone, the first laborers, earnest in toil
Who tilled for the Master the field;
Through their furrows we tread as we cast o’er the soil
The seed that rich harvests shall yield.
Refrain.
•
Rejoicing, not weeping, we fare through the land,
And scatter our handful of seed :
Of each earnest effort, of each ready hand,
The Lord of the Harvest hath need.
z
2.
We sow as we go what we stay not to reap,
“God giveth the increase” alone.
Will His harvest ungarnered be, e’en though we sleep
When the ripe golden grain shall be grown ?
Refrain.—Rejoicing, etc.
3.
The night cometh swiftly—then work while we may
At this task we are trusted to do:
With light hearts at sunset we’ll lay it away
If our toil has been faithful and true.
Refrain.—Rejoicing, etc.
Alice Williams Brotherton.
X.
The Benediction.
A Social Re-Union and Collation in the Church Parlors immediately after
the conclusion of the Exercises.
�6
->-Li$T+OF+çommiTTees^
On Invitations.
Edward P. Cranch,
Robert Hosea,
Ai.phonso Taft,
John W. Hartwell,
John Kebler,
George H. Hivl,
John K. Coolidge,
Rowland Ellis,
Manning F. Force,
Fayette Smith,
Richard B. Field,
Michael Tempest,
John D. Caldwell,
Charles W. Wendte.
On Exercises.
The Pastor,
Mrs. George Hoadly,
Miss Sallie Ellis,
W. H. Venable,
On Social Re-Union.
Mrs. Anne Ryland,
Mrs. H. C. Whitman,
Mrs. Caleb Allen,
Mrs. Josiah Bridge,
Mrs. William H. Sampson,
Mrs. Jeremiah Peters,
Mrs. Theodore Stanwood,
Mrs. Elihu Green,
Mrs. Seth Evans,
Mrs. Mary Russell,
Mrs. Chas. Truesdale,
Mrs. A. O. Tyler,
Mrs. E. G. Leonard,
Mrs. J. O. Eaton.
On Decorations.
Wm. Bellows.
�RISTCWAL SK6TCR
OF THE
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
OF CINCINNATI.
�THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,
N. E. Cor. Plum and Eighth Sts.
�T513CORKZAL SKCCCB
OF
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CINCINNATI
Bv JOHN D. CALDWELL.
‘Aready it is history—
We may tell what, our fathers did.’
Three generations have arisen in Cincinnati since the organization here of the First Congregational Church. But a
few survivors of that pioneer band remain to unite with us in
the felicitations which the attainment of its Semi-Centennial
evokes. It is from their reminiscences and the somewhat
scanty memorials contained in the written records of the
^society, that the following brief account of its destinies for
half a century has been prepared. One of the founders of
the First Congregational Church in Cincinnati, Hon. Wm.
Greene, late Lieut. Governor of Rhode Island, who was, in a
peculiar sen^e, the Father of the Church, and who is—thank
Heaven—still spared to add his testimony and congratulations
to our festival of commemoration, writes us:
“ The first decisive step in the Unitarian movement in Cincinnati, more
than half century ago, was the assembling at the City Council Chamberpot a
large number of citizens in favor of the establishment of a Unitarian Society
in Cincinnati. This meeting was held in response to an invitation published
in the Cincinnati Gazette, at the instance of several gentlemen who were
prominently favourable to the object. At the meeting thus assembled, a conv
mittee was appointed to take the necessary steps for the procurement of a charter.
This was obtained at the next subsequent meeting of the Legislature of Ohio,
and bore the date of January 21 st, 1830. The corporators and first trustees
named in said charter were Elisha Brigham, Jesse Smith, Nathan Guilford,
George Carlisle and Wm. Greene.
“For some time previous to their action at the Council Chamber, those
favourable to and interested in the undertaking had been kindly favoured with
�IO
professional visits by distinguished Unitarian clergymen from New England.
This kindly interest was long continued after the establishment of the church.
I cannot speak too strongly of the great value and constantly encouraging in
fluence of the generous services of our Eastern Brethren.”
Among these Eastern brethren, thus gratefully referred to,
were the Rev. Charles Briggs, of Lexington, Mass., the agent
of the American Unitarian Association, and the Rev. John
Pierpont, D.D., both of whom were deeply interested in the
New West as a field for missionary operations in behalf of
Liberal Christian principles. Mr. Pierpont, at that time pasitor of the Hollis Street Church, in Boston, made a report to
the Association in June, 1828, of his.five weeks’ stay in Cin
cinnati, in which he says, “You ask me what judgment I
formed of that city. I shall tell you as briefly as possible.
It is one of the most flourishing and rapidly increasing cities
of our country. The material for building up a Unitarian
Society in this place I believe to be abundant and of good
quality. The most enlightened among the different sects are
fast becoming at odds with the exclusive and horrible systems
of Calvin and his would-be followers. And if a Unitarian
Church could be built and a pastor settled, there is all good
*
reason to believe that the society woûld soon be, to say the
least, as numerous and respectable as any in the city.
In every place there seemed to be a growing dissatisfaction
with the religious sentiments generally preached. The people
. .. are getting tired of hearing changes rung on *he sublime
t
mysteries of the Westminster Catechism. They want some
thing more simple and practical ; something whose tendency
is bodi to enlighten the understanding and to purify the heart,
and we believe that the doctrines of Unitarianism, which are
those of pure Christianity, are every way calculated to supply
this want and to effect those all important purposes for which
they were designed by the Author and Finisher of our Faith. ”
Mr. Pierpont spoke wisely and truly. At Cincinnati
clustered a cultured few of New England blood, who were the
active movers in initiating Common Schools and educational
institutions in the city and State, and were notably efficient
also in benevolent enterprises. It is not invidious to mention
�I I
here the names of Nathan Guilford, Micajah J. Williams,
Charles Stetson, Timothy Flint, George Carlisle, John C.
Vaughan, William Goodman, James H. Perkins and William
Greene, early members of the Unitarian Church, who were
eminently devoted to such works of culture and philanthropy.
Carrying this spirit of enlightenment and good will into the
realm of religious thought and feeling they speedily became
dissatisfied with the popular theology and preaching of their
day, and for a time met on Sundays at each other’s houses for
conversation and discussion of ethical and religious topics.
These private gatherings led in turn to public meetings at the
City Hall and elsewhere, and finally resulted, as Mr. Greene
has concisely stated, in the organization of the First Congre
gational Church and its subsequent incorporation. During a
part of the year 1830, the Rev. Charles Briggs, who had been
sent out by the American Unitarian Association, officiated as
pastor to the young society, which was‘ under obligations to
thè Universalist and New Church or Swedenborgian societies
for the use of their rooms for its public worship. In the
meantime, a lot of land had been purchased, at a liberal rate,
»¿from Elisha Brigham, on the south-west corner of Race and
Fourth streets, and on the 23d of May, 1830, the society,
with thankfulness and joy, dedicated its newly built temple to
the worship of the One God. The sermon for the occasion
was preached by the Rev. Bernard Whitman, of Waltham,
Mass. An ode had been written by Rev. John Pierpont (see
appendix), and an original hymn by Timothy Flint, Esq.
The young society flourished abundantly. In September,
1830, the Rev. E. B. Hall (later stationed at Providence, R,
I.), became its first regular pastor. Concerning his vigorous
and hopeful ministry, but few memorials are found in the
church records, but his son contributes a genial word to our
Semi-Centennial festival, which will be found in the pages fol
lowing. Mr. Hall also formulated a declaration of principles
which held its own in the church for some years, and was
signed by a number of the members.
On the 20th of May, 1832, the Rev. Ephraim Peabody, a
man of singular purity and loveableness of character, a scholar
�12
and a poet, was installed as minister. Rev. James Walker,
D.D., preached the sermon, and Rev. Francis Parkman, of
Boston, gave the Charge and the Address to the People. In
the course of his discourse Mr. Walker said: *‘I believe that
Unitarianism will prevail in the West. Not that I expect its
spread here or elsewhere will depend wholly or chiefly on the
abilities or exertions of Unitarians themselves. Its spread,
like that of the truth generally, must depend on the progress
of civilization, the diffusion of useful knowledge among the
people, and the general assertion and application of the great
principles of religious liberty and free inquiry.”
The original hymns sung on this occasion, and which were
doubtless written by Mr. Peabody himself, are preserved in
the appendix. Among the activities in which the newly-set
tled minister was engaged was the publication, in 1835 and
following, of “The Western Messenger,” a monthly which
contained valuable contributions, especially those from the pen
of James H. Perkins. Soon, however, this fresh tie was sev
ered by the ill health of Mr. Peabody, and the beloved pastor
was transferred to another field. The tender word his son
gives in another place in this memorial volume, fitly describes
the sentiment still felt towards his gracious memory by all
who came within the circle of his influence. For some time
coming the church had to content itself with pulpit supplies
mainly from the East. Among others, the veteran Rev.
Aaron Bancroft; father of the historian, preached here in
1836. For some six and nine months respectively, the Revs.
C. A. Bartol and Samuel Osgood ministered to the shepherd
less flock. Revs. James Freeman Clarke, Wm. Silsbee and
Christopher P. Cranch (now the poet-painter of Cambridge),
preached before the society during a part of 1837, until, in
August of that year, Rev. B. Huntoon was settled as pastor.
But it was only to resign his post again in the year 1838,
when the Rev. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, filled the
pulpit for six weeks and was succeeded by others. In March,
1839, a call was extended to Rev. Wm. H. Channing, who
had preached with great acceptance during the previous win
ter, and on May 10th his ordination took place; the sermon
�i3
being preached by Rev. F. A. Farley, of Providence, R. L,
the Charge and Address given by Rev. W. G. Eliot, of St.
Louis, and the Right Hand of Fellowship by Rev. J. Free
man Clarke, of Louisville. The hymns were written by James
H. Perkins, and are reprinted in the appendix. Of Mr. Chan
ning’s bénéficient ministry hè has sent a too modest account,
which is given in its proper place. His resignation in Febru
ary, 1844, from conscientious motives, though honorable to
himself, was a severe blow to the society. For some time
after the pulpit was occupied by James H. Perkins, a mem
ber of the society, and a man of brilliant gifts and lofty char
acter. The Rev. C. J. Fenner, a talented and poetic mind,
returning from a southern trip, was invited to the pastorate,
and, although in very precarious health, accccpted the call,
serving the society faithfully from June to November, 1846,
when he relapsed, and a few months later died. In 1847 we
find Mr. Perkins again occupying the pulpit of the society,
this time as its regular pastor, a position he held with the
unbroken respect and love of his people until his too early
death in December, 1849. During his ministry the society
became noted for it$ benevolent activities, and rendered good
service in the many noble causes of which he was the inspirer,
and for which his previous experience as a minister
among the poor had so admirably qualified him. Thus, on
the first of January, 1848, a meeting of citizens was held, at
his call, in the City Council Chamber, and the Cincinnati Re
lief Union inaugurated, of which noble charity he was the first
president and efficient manager. He may also be considered
the father of the House of Refuge for children (in which
enterprise he was greatly aided by the labors of a good
woman, Mrs. R. B. Field, a member of the Unitarian Church),
as well as of other good institutions. His last sermon was an
appeal for the poor, and although eminent as a lawyer, editor,
teacher, essayist, poet, lecturer and preacher, it is this sanc
tified labor for the unfortunate and destitute that best keeps
his memory green among his parishioners and fellow-towns
men in Cincinnati to-day.
In 1850, Rev. A. A. Livermore accepted the pastorate
�T4
and began a useful and beneficent work among us. Thank
God, he is yet spared to gladden us from time to time with
his apostolic presence. Under Mr. Livermore the society was
thoroughly organized for efficient service and made liberal
donations of time, labor and money to good causes. The
various city charities and missionary enterprises of the denom
ination were recipients of its bounty. In 1852 the Western
Unitarian Conference was „organized at Cincinnati. Mr. Liv
ermore felt constrained, however, in 1856, to resign his charge
on account of ill health, and the society chose as his successor
in November of the same year, the Rev. Moncure D. Conway,,
of Washington, D. C. Mr. Conway’s ministry began most
auspiciously. His vigorous, fearless style of preaching, the
literary finish and freshness of his discourses attracted a large
following. In 1859, however, the increasing radicalism of
his utterances from the pulpit sorely troubled some of his par
ishioners of more conservative opinion, and a difference arose,
which, although causing a deal of unpleasant feeling at the
time and for long years after, there is no occasion to dwell
upon here, since it has been quite, if not entirely, out
lived on both sides, and a cordial unity of feeling restored.
The immediate result of this difference of opinion in the
church was the withdrawal of a minority of its members, who
soon after organized a second Unitarian society under the
name of the Church of the Redeemer.
The new congregation purchased from the Second Universalist Society the edifice on the south-west corner of Mound
and Sixth streets (since demolished). Disappointed in their
efforts to secure as pastor the Rev. Thos. Starr King, which
at first seemed likely to be successful, their pulpit was filled
for some time by various Unitarian notables, among whom
were Revs. Dr. H. W. Bellows, Dr. A. P. Peabody, Dr.
Oliver Stearns, Dr. Wm. -G. Eliot, Dr. Thomas Hill, J. H.
Heywood and Horace Mann, Esq. In January, 1863, the Rev.
A. D. Mayo was settled over the society and remained in Cincin,nati for ten years, a hard-working pastor, a gifted preacher, and
rendering great services to the community as a member of the
Public School Board. In 1872 he accepted a call to Spring
�i5
field, Mass., and was succeeded on January 5th, 1873, by Rew
‘Charles Noyes, whose ministry was marked by great fidelity to
his trust, while his catholicity of spirit and geniality of nature
did much to bring about a better understanding between the
two branches of Unitarianism in Cincinnati, and prepared the
way for the coming re-union.
Returning from this necessary digression to the history of
the parent church, we find Mr. Conway continuing his ser
vices as pastor until his resignation in November, 1862, to
accept a charge elsewhere. A call wa% extended to Rev. C.
G. Ames,-who occupied the pulpit during the greater portion
of the year 1863. In February, 1864, the church building
was sold, and the site is now covered by a huge block of
stores. An excellent representation of this simple, but his
toric, structure, in which R. W. Emerson, Theodore Parker,
Orville Dewey and so many other eminent men first uttered
their radical thought in our city, is given as a frontispiece to
this volume. It has been prepared from a pencil sketch made
in 1832 by Mrs. Ephraim Peabody, and kindly loaned by her
for this purpose. The society now migrated to Library Hall
on Vine street. As Mr. Ames was not able to remain per
manently with them, a number of preachers distinguished for
their progressive and radical views, as well as for their pulpit
ability, ministered for longer or shorter periods to the church.
Among them were Revs. Sidney H. Morse, David A. Was
son, Edward C. Towne and H. W. Brown. On the 19th of
September, 1865, the trustees were authorized to purchase
the lot and dwelling on the north-east corner of Plum and
Eighth streets, the site of the present church. January 26th,
1866, a call was extended to Rev. Thomas Vickers, then
studying at Heidelberg, Germany. Pending his acceptance,
the pulpit was occupied by A. Bronson Alcott, Revs. Samuel
Johnson, John Weiss, D. A. Wasson, Robert Collyer and
others. On the 6th of January, 1867, Rev. Mr. Vickers
preached his first sermon and began his pastoral relation.
Services were held for some years thereafter in Hopkins Hall,
on the south-west corner of Elm and West Fourth streets, but
it was now determined to erect a suitable house of worship,
�16
and on the 6th of November, 1870, the present building, on
the corner of Plum and Eighth streets, was dedicated, Rev.
Robert Collyer, of Chicago, preaching the sermon, and the
dedicatory prayer being from the lips of Rabbi Dr. Max Lilienthal. Mr. Vickers remained with the society until he
accepted the post of Public Librarian of the city, and on
Easter Sunday, April 5th, 1874, preached his farewell ser
mon. A man of scholarship and radical opinion, he also took
a prominent part in civil affairs, leading the opposition to the
retention of the Bible in the Public Schools, and conducting
a controversy with the Catholic Archbishop of this diocese
with signal ability and success. For some months during the
year 1874 the pulpit was filled by Revs. A. W. Stevens and
J. S. Thomson, after which services were, in a measure, sus
pended.
In the meantime, the pulpit of the Church of the Redeemer
had also become vacant, Rev. Charles Noyes having resigned.
With considerable differences of theological opinion, there yet
existed a very kindly feeling and pleasant social relations
between the members of the two societies. Both flocks
were pastorless, both burdened with a heavy indebted
ness. Under these circumstances their consolidation into
one society seemed in every way advisable, and was a
subject of discussion. In November, 1875, Rev. C. W.
Wendte, of Chicago, having received a call from the Church
of the Redeemer, and an informal invitation also from the
First Congregational Society, the opportunity for the union
seemed to have arrived. At his suggestion, which was
cordially seconded by Mess. John Kebler, Robert Hosea,
M. F. Force, Seth Evans and J. W. Harper, trustees of the
Church of the Redeemer, and Alphonso Taft, Thomas Vick
ers, Wm. Wiswell, John D. Caldwell and John F. Dair, trus
tees of the parent society, several consultations were held to
consider the consolidation of the two churches, and on
the 29th of December, 1875, a plan of union was unan
imously adopted by the two corporations under the original
name, “The First Congregational Church of Cincinnati.”
Trustees were chosen equally from each of the societies, and
�17
Rev. C. W. Wendte was called as pastor, preaching his first
sermon before the re united flock in the Church of the Re
deemer on the 9th of January, 1876, following. By a happy
coincidence, Rev. M. D. Conway, being in Cincinnati on a
visit, had occupied the pulpit for one Sunday by invitation of
the Church of the Redeemer, and expressed his felicitations at
the re-union. The formal installation of Mr. Wendte took
place on the 19th of January, 1876. Rev. Robert Collyer, of
Chicago, preached the sermon, Rew J. H. Heywood, of Louis
ville, Ky., offered the prayer, Rev. Chas. Ames, of Bos
ton, gave the Right Hand of Fellowship, and Rev. Thomas
Vickers the Address to the People. For two years or more
the society continued to worship in the Mound street temple,
but this edifice having been disposed of, the church on the
corner of Plum and Eighth streets was refitted and refurnished,
and on Easter Sunday, April 13th, 1879, was re-dedicated
with appropriate services in the presence of a crowded con
gregation.
The re-united society has already reaped the goodly fruits
of its forbearance and catholicity. During the past year,
1879, two-thirds of its indebtedness has been paid off, and
extensive repairs made in its church edifice, a new organ
purchased, and liberal contributions made toward good causes.
Notwithstanding considerable difference of opinion on points
of theology, there is a remarkable unity of religious spirit in
the membership. It is not claiming too much to say that the
latter day of the First Congregational Church of Cincinnati
is worthy of that brave beginning and notable history of
which we have given this fragmentary account, and of which
the communications and letters that follow in this volume are
the commentary and elucidation. May we be worthy of our
trust, and another half century find this church still a power
unto salvation to its members and the larger community.
3
�Congregational Unitarian Ctynrcl),
cusroinsrisr^LTT.
CHAS. W. WENDTE, Minister.
1 S'T'S-SO.
Regular Sunday Morning Services
I
Special Sunday Evening Services
at ii o’clock.
|
at
o’clock.
Sunday School at 9^ o’clock a. m.
TRUSTEES.
Fayette Smith,
Theodore Stanwood,
M. E. Ingalls,
Zeph. Brown.
Michael Tempest,
John D. Caldwell,
4-CRG+UnirWLllB-F
A society for self-culture, social entertainment and helpfulness, holds its meet
ings at the church parlors, North-east corner Plum aud Eighth
streets, on alternate Wednesday evenings, at 8 o’clock.
*
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES FOR 1879-80.
Edward Goepper, President,
W. H. Taft, 1st Vice-President,
J. B. Stanwood, 2d Vice-President,
Stephen Wilder, Secretary,
W. H. Williamson, Treasurer,
Miss Annie Sampson,
\
j
f
Executive
/committee.
\
/
^CBe+LADieS’+AID+ASSOPIACIOD^
Mrs. Henry C. Whitman,
.
•
.
.
Mrs. Mary Russell,
.....
Miss Lizzie Allen,
.....
President.
Vice-President.
Secretary and Treasurer.
Meets every Wednesday afternoon, at 3 o’clock, in’ the vestry of the church.
All ladies attending services at this church are invited to join this society.
*CR6+mmiODARY*$O(UeCY*
Manning F.. Force,
.....
Alphonso Taft and George Thornton,
.
Miss Sallif. Ellis, ......
President.
Vice-Presidents.
Secretary and Treasurer.
�(jommunitfÄTions
FROM FORMER
Pastors and Early Members of the Society
��FROM REV. WM. H. CHANNING.
Accept my hearty thanks for your welcome to the SemiCentennial Festival of the “First Congregational (Unitarian)
Church of Cincinnati.” It would be a high gratification to
be one of. your guests on so encouraging an occasion. For,
although it has never been my happiness to re-visit the
“Queen City” since the resignation of my ministry in 1841,
yet all associations with Cincinnati are brightly beautiful, and
their freshness will never fade. But, as it will be out of my
power to be present in person, let me avail myself of your
invitation—as one of the Early Ministers of your Society—to
speak a few words of Good Cheer through the medium of
this note.
And in beginning my pastoral leisure, the memory can
not but move me, that nearly forty years have swept by since
the publication of a “Farewell Letter” to your congregation
explaining the motive for withdrawing my ministry, and ex
pressing deep regret that a sense of honour had compelled
me to loose so dear a tie. That printed “Letter” now lies
open before me, and it would please me to learn that copies
of it are still kept among your elder members and in the
archives of your Society. For that “Confession of Faith”
was written in heart’s blood—to use the common symbol of
emotion—and the purest life of my spirit was infused through
its pages; so truly, indeed, did it express convictions, which
have been growing ever more vivid, that it i^my hope, ere
closing, to re affirm them in a slightly altered form.
But how few of the Elders to whom that “Farewell” was
addressed, survive among you. Other generations have entered
into their labors, to garner rich harvests from fields which their
toils reclaimed, and to pluck ripe clusters from vineyards which
their hands planted. Your people and you are co-heirs in a
�22
domain bequeathed by a noble band of pioneers. And to
some representatives among these prime missionaries of Lib
eral Christianity, it would gladden me, if time allowed, to pay
a transient tribute.
First, however, let me bear a brief testimony of personal
regard to the two friends whose advice brought me to Cincin
nati—one a predecessor, the other my immediate successor in
the ministry - of your congregation—Ephraim Peabody and
*
James H. Perkins. Both were highly endowed, most earnest
and widely useful men, and their images yet remain undimmed
in the records of your Society. Ephraim Peabody was, at
that time, a poet in character and conduct, even more than in
his fervid eloquence and literary compositions. He fold thrown
his ardent sympathies into the heroic life of ’ the vigorous
West, and his imagination was all aglow with visions of the
giant young commonwealths, which, with hands interlinked,
and shoulder to shoulder, were bearing triumphantly onward
Christian civilization beyond the broad prairies and across the
Rocky Mountains to the shores of the Pacific. Most justly
did it appear to him t’hat the generous form of religion called
“Liberal Christian” was the very inspiration fitted to purify,
enlarge and elevate this conquering host of Pilgrims of Hope.
And most lucidly did he expound the Affirmative Doctrine
and Practical Principles of this large type of Christian Faith
and Life, till he not only won the loving reverence of his own
people, but also of the Orthodox Communions, who honoured
his cheerful humanity and lofty trust, while rejecting what
they deemed his heresies. He confided to me, afterwards,
that, according to his own estimate, his tone of thought at
this era was too ideal, and his style of address too strictly intel
lectual. But this self-criticism sprang from his own modes.ty.
For, though aeach year of spiritual struggle, doubtless, served
to refine his religious character, yet from the first shone forth
the devout enthusiasm, luminous wisdom and hallowed serenity
which overspead with softened lustre his sunset years.
Of my cousin, James Perkins, who from childhood was
like a twin brother, as we were of the same age and bred in
close intimacy, it would be delightful to write at length, but
�2$
your ciders, and, let me hope, some of your younger mem
bers, have probably read the Memoir which it was my privi
lege to prepare after his lamented departure; and to that let
me refer as the truest portrait in my power to paint of his
genius and virtues. Like Ephraim Peabody, James Ferkins’
soul was kindled with anticipations of the magnificent future
opening before the people of the West, and being, like Pea
body, also a fervent Liberal Christian, he was pre-eminently
qualified to spread a quickening influence through the city and
State of his adoption. Already distinguished as a sagacious
and well-read lawyer, an effective speaker and a brilliant his
torical and critical essayist, many friends were expecting a
high career for him as a statesman. But, though ambitious
to bear a patriot’s part in enlightening the minds and mould
ing the wills of the young around him, his fine-toned con
science and scrupulous sense of personal dignity repelled him
from the sphere of partisan politics. And at the time of my
arrival in Cincinnati he had made arrangements to settle him
self on the soil as a nursery gardener in the neighborhood of
the city. It is one of my happiest Western remembrances,
that very much through my urgent encouragement, my cousin
was diverted from pursuits, which, however honourable, would
have too much have absorbed his rare intellectual and moral
powers, and was impelled to consecrate them to the ministry
among the poor, for which he became so tenderly loved and
trusted. It was his admirable usefulness in these disinterested
services that led your congregation so unanimously to elect
him as my successor. And then it was that he first became
conscious of his wonderful gift as a pulpit orator. As a lec
turer before literary societies and in platform addresses, indeed,
he had often held large audiences spell-bound by the charm
of his clear, terse, energetic and commanding speech. But
it was only when under the sway of religious emotion, he
sought to reveal to tried and tempted, struggling, yet aspiring,
fellow beings, the Spiritual Laws of which he had caught a
glimpse, that he disclosed that penetrating reason, soaring
imagination, wide-embracing mercy and awe-struck reverence
which lay hid, even from the eye of friends, beneath his
�24
stoical reserve. They, whoever listened to one of these effu
sions, will bear witness with me that there were seasons when
the poet in James Perkins wore the prophet’s robe.
From these slight notices of two esteemed associates, my
impulse is to make mention, next, of the crowd of affection
ately remembered friends, whose images throng round me as
the happy years of ministerial intercourse are recalled. But
discriminating sketches of the chief of these even would carry
me too far, while to omit any would be ungrateful. No
doubt, Brother Wendte, you and our fellow-ministers as
sembled at your festival, would echo my words in regard to
your own Societies, when I say that my old congregation in
the “Unitarian Church of Cincinnati,” appear, on looking
back, like a company of the “Elect,” so unaffectedly devout
were they, so free-thoughted to receive the newest truth, so
closely knit together iri kindly fellowship, and so ready for
good works.
Turning then, though reluctlantly, from the persons and
families who re-appear in that Palingenesia of memory, which
is the pledge of immortal Re union, let me note a few of the
specially bright remembrances of our Congregational Life.
And first rises the recollection of our well ordered Sunday
School. How radiantly from the past shine forth the expect
ant faces of the Bible Class which each Sunday morning con
versed with me and one another on the lesson for the day;
and of the eagerly attentive congregation of little ones who
listened so responsively to my familiar talks. Those refresh
ing half hours of communion with the young come back to
me like a breath of Spring over an orchard in bloom. Your
seed plot of blossoming Trees of Life thrives richly, let us
trust.
Next seem tore-gather our weekly Conferences for study
ing the solution of Theological problems, discussing the prin
ciples of Christian Ethics, and planning methods for applying
these to the needs of the community. Your Committees, it
gratifies me to observe, are admirably organized and doubtless
they are efficient workers. But, believe me, the essays, de
bates and consultations of your predecessors, in our time,
�would not have been unworthy of the notice of this genera
tion, accomplished as it is, for the depth of philosophic thought,
fervent religious feeling, frank sincerity of criticism, openmindedness to the last result of scientific inquiry, earnestness
in reform, and undaunted hopefulness which characterized
them. In a word, our Conference was a company of fellow
seekers after truth and righteousness, wherein every honest
conviction was hospitably welcomed, and whence intolerance
alone was expelled as intolerable.
My next cheerful memory is that the brotherly kindness
kept alive by. our conference and social meetings prompted
a successful effort to clear off an accumulated load of debt
which had long burdened the energies of the Congregation.
The sacrifices, gladly borne, and the genuine sympathies thus
awakened, not only revived the religious life of the society
within, but attracted members from other communions and
newly-come strangers to join us, until, with well filled pews,
we felt that exhilarating consciousness of vigorous growth
which is- the sure sign of spiritual health in a society.
Indeed, we were bound together in perfect harmony, ex
cept in regard to the two practical reforms of Temperance and
Anti-Slavery. As to the first of these, a passing reference
alone is needed. For, although not a few in those days re
garded my principle of Total Abstinence as ascetic to the
verge of fanaticism, yet no attempt was made to check my
most earnest advocacy of the Temperance Cause. But in re
gard to Anti-Slavery, any one who will recall the temper of
Public Opinion as to the constitutional relations between the
Free States and the Slave States all along the Ohio Valley at
that critical period, will readily comprehend how difficult Was
the position of a minister in Cincinnati who uncompromisingly
avowed himself an Abolitionist. It gave proof of the remark
able liberality of the “First Congregational Church,” and of
the genuine friendship between them and their preacher, that
no remonstrance was made against the emphatic declaration
from the pulpit, that the law of Christian Brotherhood com
manded “Immediate PLmancipation. ” But when their pastor
proceeded to read announcements of Anti-Slavery Meetings—
4
�26
when, claiming his right as a pew-holder, he voted in a small
minority that the use of the church should be granted for Anti
Slavery lectures —when, in company with Rev. Wm. H. Bris
bane, from South Carolina, and Rev. Mr. Blanchard, of the Or
thodox Congregationalists, he addressed crowded assemblies,
and finally, when, with the far-famed Editor of the “Philanthro
pist,” Dr. Bailey, he took a stand-on the platform beside
Salmon P. Chase, when that great-hearted Statesman devoted
his whole political influence to the cause of Liberty for all
men—the indignation of not a few waxed warm. And the
crisis came when, amidst the impassioned excitements of the
Presidential Election, when nearly all of my best friends voted
for General Harrison, my ballot was cast for James G. Bir
ney. Then, for a few days, it did look probable that, for the
sake of peace, it might be wise to resign my post. But before
the week was out it was candidly recognized that my course
as a Citizen had been guided by the conscience of a Christian
Freeman, and my hold on the confidence of the society grew
firmer than ever. My chief reason, indeed, for re-awakeriing
these long buried trials is, first, to encourage your young
people to follow the Flag of Duty at all risks, and next, to
place distinctly on record this Fact in the history of the ‘ ‘First
Congregational Unitarian Church of Cincinnati,” that a score
of years before the era of our Nation’s redemption from the
crime and curse of Slavery, its pulpit stood before Ohio as
the representative of impartial Equity, Mercy and Brotherly
Kindness, and as the advocate of Universal P'reedom within
the United States.
And now it may well be asked, “How could you bear to
break a fraternal bond which such trials had only served to
seal?” My answer will be found in the “Farewell Letter”
already referred to. From its’pages it may be learned, how,
under the lead of Transcendental Philosophy then prevalent
in New England, and the ultra-rationalistic criticism imported
from Germany nearly forty years ago, I had become what is
now called a “Theist,” and how, having assumed aground
widely different from that held by the Unitarian denomination
which had ordained me, and from that avowed by myself,
�when the “First Congregational Unitarian Church” had en
trusted their pulpit to my charge, I felt it to be right to resign
my ministry, and with “a sad heart, though a clear con
science,” to bid my Cincinnati friends “Farewell.” But, from
the “Confession of Faith” contained in that “Letter,” it will
also appear how prolonged studies, conference with wise
scholars, calm thought and devout aspiration had brought me
up into a purer, spiritual atmosphere, and into a bright Faith
in Jesus as the Son of Man, transfigured into the Son of
God, which was like the dawn of a new day. Half a life
time has rolled by since that turning point in my ascending
path. And now, at the age of three score and ten, thanks to
“The Father of Lights,” I re-affirm the main doctrine of that
“Credo” with all my heart, and mind, and soul, and strength.
So nearly, indeed, does that Declaration embody my present
convictions in regard to the Character and Life of the Beloved
Son, his Central Relation to the Heavenly Father and to Hu
manity, and his Providential Function in evolving the destiny
of our Race, that I should rejoice to reprint it, with a few
modifications, and place it in the hands of every member of
your society. The chief difference between the views declared
in that “Letter, and to which exhaustive study of Comparative
Religion, Philosophy and History have enabled me to attain,
is that now from serener heights, with vision commanding a
wider horizon, and as in noon-day splendour, I behold
realities which in my early progress were discerned from
afar, half-veiled in morning clouds beneath the flush of sunrise.
[Note by the Editor of the Memorial Volume.—Mr. Channing con
cludes his admirable letter with a philosophic and brilliant exposition of Spir
itual Christianity as the one, universal, world-redeeming religion of humanity.
It is impossible, from want of space, to include in this pamphlet the balance of
his communication, which, however, appeared in the Christian Register for
February 21st, 1880. We have room only for its closing sentences.]
* * *
And now, Brethern and Sisters, Co-citizens
of our Freed and United Republic, could you but behold the
unequaled privileges and possibilities of our people as they
appear to an exile, who follows with longing eyes the descending
sun as he sinks to shed noon-tide on the lands of the west,
�28
you would rejoice and take courage. Receive, then, my Ben
ediction across the seas. Be worthy of your heritage of hope.
There is coming, swiftly coming, to repeat my refrain, a New
Era of Christendom, the celestial signs of which will be the
Revival of Real Christian Life. Henceforth, the United
Christian Church Universal can be content with nothing less
than Living Communion with the Father, through the Son,
in the Spirit of Holy, Heavenly Human Love. Consecrate
your whole being to receive this influx of the Real God with
us. Give your best energies heartily up to the currents of
Charity pulsating through our communities. But clearly
comprehend that this blessed Beneficence, beautiful as it is,
serves but as a John the Baptist to proclaim the advent of the
Real Christ. Does there not flow through you, like a cleansing
fire, the consciousness that the Son of Man, in His Perfect
Manhood, made glorious as Son of God by the Father’s In
dwelling Presence was the Adam of a New-born Race? That
one Transfigured Man was the ideal prophecy and pledge of
a Transfigured Humanity! Brethern, Sisters! Co-sovereign
children of God! Our Nation of United Freemen may be, if
only wise enough to will it, the elect People to realize that
Divine Ideal, and so fulfill the “desire of all Nations" by or
ganizing in every township of our Christian Commonwealth
perfect Societies as Heavens on Earth.
With Christmas and New Year’s Greeting,
Yours, in Good Hope,
William Henry Channing.
Harrogate, England, December ioth, 1879.
�29
FROM REV. CYRUS A. BARTOL, D.D.
I am so over-pressed with cares, I can but send to your
church God-speed for the future, with congratulations for the
past.
I had a happy six months’ work in the dear old temple
on the corner, hard by where Lyman Beecher preached, and
where he was tried for heresy by the Presbytery.
My heart has lost none of its warmth for the friends of
nearly forty-four years ago, but runs deep and steady as the
Ohio River, and never to be frozen as that was, so that I crossed
into Covington, Kentucky, on the ice. But I bear in mind,
too, the flowers I picked with beloved companions—one of
whom at least, ever precious to my heart, still lives—on the
the 1st day of January, 1836.
There is something in a memory—there is a hope in it.
A great and good one may there be in your commemoration,
prays,
Your cordial friend,
C. A. Bartol.
Boston, January ist, 1880.
FROM REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D.
Your Committee on Invitations have kindly remembered
me in your arrangements for your Church Semi-Centennial,
and it would be to me a most interesting festival could I be
present. Great would be the satisfaction of meeting the few
members of the congregation whom I remember and who
remember me/ Equally great would be the surprise at noting
the new faces in the assembly, and the marvellous growth of
your noble city, and all its good institutions, and beautiful arts.
I have a very humble claim to a place on your list of
preachers, for I occupied your pulpit from May 1st, 1836, till
the end of November, and again from February 5th, 1837, to
the middle of March. I did what I could in the pulpit, the
�Sunday School, and in parish work, but I was conscious of
being too green in experience and too crude in culture to meet
the demands of so important a post. There was great kind
ness on the part of many of the people, whilst I was aware
that the need of a popular preacher who could build them up
at once by mingled wisdom and eloquence, was not met by
the raw youth who went West from the Cambridge Divinity
School.
I am sorry to find so few names that are familiar to me
on your list of representative parishioners. E. P. Cranch,
Rowland Ellis, Ryland, Hartwell and Fayette Smith are all
that I am sure of recalling, but there may be others. * *
Mrs. Charles Stetson, to whom, with her husband, I owed so
much for their great kindness, I saw a few days ago in the
repose of death in All Souls’ Church—the same delicacy and
peace in her features as in her hospitable home forty-four
years ago. So the years pass.
God’s blessing be with your church and with you all.
Your friend,
Sam’l Osgood.
New York, January 19th, 1880.
FROM REV. A. A. LIVERMORE.
I thank the committee of the First Congregational Church
of Cincinnati for its kind invitation to attend the Semi-Cen
tennial Re-union of the church on the 21st inst. My duties
here, however, will necessarily prevent me from enjoying that
very great pleasure. But I am glad to send my word of
greeting, and to respond, with all my heart, to your invitation.
It will be thirty years—one whole generation, as time is
reckoned—on the 15th of next May, when my dear wife and
I, having descended the Ohio from Pittsburg, in the Keystone
State, Capt. Stone, landed in Cincinnati and were welcomed
by brother Kebler and wife to their ever hospitable home.
�3i
We were both wholly strangers to the West, as it was then
called. I had b6en settled in a quiet £Jew England town,
Keene, New Hampshire, for thirteen years arid a half. But
chronic bronchitis required a change of climate, and a spon
taneous call from your society brought us to the Queen
City. It was a great change for us, greater than we knew
then. Eloquent and devoted pastors had preceded me, among
whom were the apostolic Peabody, the enthusiastic Channing,
and the philanthropic Perkins. The fermentation of many
new opinions was going on here, both in politics and religion
Different national elements entered into the composition of
society. It was the eventful era of the Anti-Slavery discus
sion, of the rise of Spiritualism, of radical and free religious
opinions, and. of the first mutterings of the thunder cloud
which soon broke forth in civil war.
Th'e old church, at the corner of Race and Fourth, now
occupied by a splendid dry goods store, was a dear place to
our hearts. Home is home, however homely, and that was
our religious home. It was ancient and dingy, but it was
clothed over, within and without, with hallowed associations.
There noble men had lifted up their voices—Emerson, Walk
er, Bellows, Dewey, Parker, Gannett, Hosmer, Mann, and
others of the great liberal household. Th'e only sketch of
■the building, I believe, in existence, is one made by Mrs.
Ephraim Peabody, and now in her possession. I wish I had
it to send you.
The first summer was a cholera season, less fatal than 1849,
but sweeping off thousands. I attended five furierals of those
who died of this disease—Mr. Pollard, Mr. Bates and child,
Mrs. Dr. Price, and Mrs. Lemaire. But we and our people
staid in the city all through the hot weather, and had three
services every Sunday—Sunday school at nine o’clock and
preaching in the forenoon and evening. Unitarians were stal
wart in those days, and minded not wind or weather. And I
am glad to see that of the Committee of Invitation, on your
card sent me, twelve are active still, who belonged to the
society in my day. Happy men, who, after dwelling in tent
and tabernacle, and the wanderings in the wilderness, have
�32
lived to enter the promised land, and even-to behold this fair
temple on Mount Zion.
We did what we could in those days of transition and crisis.
We kept the fire lighted on the altar. We drew as near
Christ and His Father—and our Father—as we could, feeling
that for a working principle and every day religion, lofty prin
ciples and ideals, plus these mighty personalities, were better
for us than the grandest truths, if they were merely abstract
and unsymbolized. In 1852 we organized here the Western
Conference, which has flourished since and become a power
in the land. We reached out a helping hand to Antioch Col
lege and over to Meadville Theological School, when those
institutions were getting under way. We did something in
the book business and circulated several hundred volumes of
Channing’s works and memoirs, and other liberal books in this
community and through the West. More or less of us
worked for the anti-slavery cause, and united in those charm
ing re-unions at the annual spring time in the hospitable
Ernst mansion at Spring Garden, where we met such historic
characters as Garrison, Mrs. Stowe, May, Phillips, Adin
Ballou, and others. The Ladies’ Art Association, the Relief
Union for charity, and the Kossuth frenzy came in for a
share of attention and work. Hearts that are dust now,
spirits that burn pure in heaven now, kindled then with sacred
fire for the cause of God and man. If the fuel of the fire
was not always free from earthliness and grossness, the fire
itself flamed pure to heaven, transforming all to its own
celestial essence.
So we worked, and so dreamed, as the years rolled by. It
was a sweet and happy society, that old Cincinnati brother
hood and sisterhood. There was the old Book Club Sociable.
There was the great hospitable Stetson mansion , and other
hospitable mansions. There were lectures from Parker and
Emerson and Mann. There was Madame D’Arusmont, whose,
funeral I afterward attended, insisting on woman’s rights and
wrongs. There were many eccentrics in Western society at
that time, and the race is not yet wholly extinct, but they
added interest and piquancy to what otherwise might have
proved tame and prosaic.
�33
But at last the work grew heavy. Illness of a sad type
invaded the household. There must be another change, and
on July 6, 1856, I performed the last service as the pastor of
your church, after a ministry here of six years and two
months, and removed to Yellow Springs, O., and the same
fall to New York to take charge of the Christian Inquirer, and
the parish at Yonkers for seven years, and thence removed to
Meadville, in 1863, where my duties are still in the Theolog
ical School.
It was a rupture of many tender and endeared ties to break
away from Cincinnati; but short ministries have been the
customary rule there. I received always from your church
and society the most kindly consideration and generous treat
ment, and not a word or act, so far as I know, ever broke the
charm of a perfect friendship. And whenever, from time to
time, I have visited Cincinnati, I have always met friends
and only friends, and have been made glad with the old love
and the ancient friendly greeting. I wish I could say this
face to face, but as that cannot be done, the next best thing
is to write it.
And now that a great blow has fallen upon me that stuns
me to the earth, I find a sweet, sad pleasure in recalling those
past days, when we, who are now parted, labored together
here and had such blessed communion in duties, anxieties and
trials as must fall to the lot of all who are engaged in the
ministry of Christ.
And now, to bring these desultory reminiscences to a close,
may your re-union be a happy and encouraging one ; gain
say it who will, the work which this church has done in your
city and in the larger community of the State and the Ohio
Valley has not been in vain. It has sowed many a good seed
and reaped many a golden harvest. Noble men and sainted
women have been in your household of faith. The record is
on high and it is one we need not be ashamed of. In how
many things we might have done better is not the thought
for this evening of commemoration, but it- is fervent gratitude
to God that His grace has enabled us to do as we have and as
much as -we have. So we will thank God and take courage.
5
�May your history for the next fifty years round out the
century with still better service to God and man and still
nobler achievements than any you have yet seen or realized.
Your position is a glorious one—to act on the heart and cen
ter of a great and growing nation. Let the heart and soul of
every young man and every young woman of this church, or
at this re-union, catch the fire of a holy resolution to unite to
do something worthy and substantial to help on the Christian
culture and civilization of the great coming nation that is here
to exceed all the other nations of the earth. But to give
solidity and incisiveness to this resolution they need to re
member that only on these eternal paths of righteousness can our
beloved America hold her way in safety, and not go down, as
so many kingdoms and empires before her have done, in irre
trievable ruin. * * * All earthly interests, all worldly
ambitions are but as the small dust of the balance compared
with the eternal truths and the heavenly aims of which your
church stands as the representative, and which will still rise
and shine bright as ever when a thousand ages are past.
Peace and love be with you all!
Ever, most affectionately,
Your old pastor and constant friend and brother,
A. A. Livermore.
Meadville, January 17, 1880.
FROM REV. MONCURE D. CONWAY.
Hearty thanks for your good kind letter and your remen?brance of me in connection with the Semi-Centennial of the
First Congregational Church of Cincinnati. But it astonishes
me! I never had a notion that the church was such a young
thing. I thought it belonged to the pre-historic bronze age
of Cincinnati, or at least sprang up along with the first
catawba vine planted by Nicholas Longworth. I knew it was
very much evolved when I went to it, and, some may add,
�35
considerably involved when I left it. At any rate, I am sure
its present prosperity is an example of the survival of the
fittest. When I come to think of it, there is a good long
stretch of years since the first Sunday I entered the pulpit at
the corner of Fourth and Race streets. I have on my wall
now a photograph of that pulpit with an evergreen arch in
front of it and large lilies each side. Dear Mr. Hoffner sent
them. If my memory does not deceive me, it was on the
occasion of the minister’s marriage, a ceremony in which I
participated. How well I remember the old days!
Now and then, when I meet the eminent London composer
and conductor, Danreuther, I wonder if he recalls my end of
the old church as vividly as I do his thin, small form at the
other end, struggling with the organ keys, which he mastered,
and the pedals which almost mastered him. There were some
happy years at the old corner. No misunderstandings, or
differences which followed them, and no changes since have
ever made me forget any of the brave, earnest, and able men
and women who used to gather with me there, most of whom
I am glad to hear of standing by you now. Goethe says:
“All things would be done so nice,
Could we only do them twice,”
and I sometimes think that if I had my life and ministry at
Cincinnati to live over again, with as many gray hairs as I
have now, I should be able to make it a pleasanter page in
the history of the First Congregational Church. * * * *
I have seen by the papers that your minister has been sug
gesting to the chimneys how they may burn their own smoke,
and trust that the Orthodox steeples will learn the same les
son. The smoke of their torment ought not to ascend up for
ever and ever. I hope that beautiful Cincinnati will become
clean of both coal and dogmatic soot, and as fair as the Queen
of the West should be. My heart will be with you at the
banquet of your year of jubilee, and I shall think of it as a
golden wedding, the fiftieth anniversary of a union of faithful
hearts, based on a profounder union of reason and religion in
earnest minds. May you still be present when the diamond
�5
*
3
wedding arrives to lay on the society’s brow the crown of a
higher success, shining with brilliants yet to be won from the
mines of truth and freedom 1 And, if I may be allowed to
change the similitude, may our children and our children’s
children remember this Semi-Centennial festival as but a vig
orous leaf on a flourishing stem when they gather around the
century blossom whose glory will surely crown our cause.
Across sea and land I pledge the old First Congregational
with the bumper of a full heart.
Ever yours faithfully,
Moncure D. Conway.
London, Christmas-time., 1879.
FROM REV. C. G. AMES.
* * * I was prevented by a sudden call out of the city
and to the sick chamber of one very dear to me from answer
ing your kind note of invitation. The impulse was strong to
send you a telegram merely to say, “The communion of the
Holy Ghost be with you all,” but I had a little fear that by
the time it got to your meeting it would sound canting. But
it is just what I want to say to the dear folks and to you, my
friend and fellow servant.
Charles G. Ames.
Philadelphia, Penn., January 24, 1880.
FROM REV. A. D. MAYO.
My Dear Friends:
When I read your kind invitation to be present at the
anniversary of the First Congregational Church, I was sorry
that in spite of telegraphs and telephones a thousand miles
�37
are not yet as one mile, that I might be with you. It is true
I was never settled over your church, but was pastor of our
dear buried Church of the Redeemer. But in the Christian
faith, in which I rejoice, there is no death or burial, but what
seems to be the going out of one good thing is only the birth
of another. Whatever of the true church of love to God
and man was formed in those eventful years in the breasts of
the men and women and children who used to assemble in
that plain tabernacle at the corner of Sixth and Mound
streets, still abides, and has passed over into the new congre
gation, which gathers about the new minister and approves
itself by its work.
#
<<
^4
^4
^4
jj;
My best wishes are with you, however. I have not forgot
ten one of my old parishioners and I wish I could become
acquainted with all your parish I have not seen.
I have never wavered from my conviction, always expressed
while in Cincinnati, that your city is one of the few strategic
points for Christian work in America. In no American city
are the elements of our nationality so evenly mated and so in
want of a final moulding into a true American type. No
where does the community suffer so much from the violence,
on the one hand, of an intolerant conservatism, and on the
other, from an implacable antipathy to all forms of organized
Christianity. So far the Protestant church in Cincinnati
seems to have failed to reconcile these warring elements and
lead this new metropolis as it should be led in the highway
of public purity and private and social morality. The present
condition of your city is the reproach of the Protestant church
that for a hundred years has stood at the sources of its spirit
ual and moral life. Whether from a theology too scholastic and
impractical, or a want of spiritual tact to seize upon decisive
moments in the life of the city, or from want of courage to
face the insolent Romanism and blatant Atheism that have
filled your streets with a strange clamor of discordant voices,
or from all these combined, the Protestant church of Cincinnati
has not yet come up to the full measure of her responsibility.
I believe nothing but a truly Liberal Christianity can save
�óur American cities, East and West, from a more dangerous
than Roman or Asiatic corruption. Much as I rejoice over
your growth in wealth, in social refinement, in music and art,
*
and highly as I esteem your admirable system of free educa
tion, I have no faith that any or all of these can make of Cin
cinnati the city any truly wise and virtuous citizen desires her
to become. Religion always was and always wilt be the root
of every great and beneficent community, as of every great
and beneficent life. And the religion that seems to me given
by God especially for the healing of a distracted nation is that
absolute, universal faith in a God of infinite love ; a humanity
cradled, trained and disciplined in God’s love. This religion
I find set forth best in the words and person of Jesus of NazHFCtll
I hope there are plenty of men and women in your congre
gation who believe this and that you are working in that faith.
That your counsels may prevail, and your broad and beautiful
hope for man may be realized, in the life of the present church,,
is the fervent prayer of,
Your friend,
A. D. Mayo.
Springfield, Mas&, January 18th, 1880.
FROM REV. CHARLEIS NOYES.
We rejoice with you that the Semi-Centennial comes to find
Unitarian Christians of Cincinnati of one mind and one heart,
one spirit and one purpose, and that the favorable auspices for
their future are the result of their mutual toils and sacrifices.
You are to be congratulated that the debt which was so heavy
an incubus has been so nearly paid, and that young and old,
forgetting the things that are behind, are looking forward with
so much confidence and courage to the things that are before.
May pure religion and undefiled lead you from victory to vic
tory ! Let us hope you may solve the question, so difficult of
i
�39
practical solution, how to bring the many elements of liberal
.strength that are now with you, but in a certain indefinite and
hazy sympathy, to join their forces with yours in an aggressive
warfare against sin, and keeping each to absolute individual
liberty, work together, each with each, and all together with
'God. Could this result be reached, no building in your goodly
city could hold the thousands who are to-day theoretically with
you, but, for various reasons, have not put their hands with
you to the plough of reform.
Shall it continue ever to be true that Unitarian laborers are
few, or that they stand all the day idle ? The divine voice
should be heard all along the line. Skirmishing enough has been
done; the nature of the ground and the position of the enemy
is known. The battle should begin in faith in our principles
strong to move mountains, and victories manifest in works
■ought to be the result
Remember me to all the friends gathered together on the
21 st for council and rejoicing. One body may they ever be,
■“joined together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth.”
Truly your friend,
Charles NoyesClinton Mass., January i6th, 1880.
FROM HON. WILLIAM GREENE.
The valued favor of your committee is duly received. I beg
to thank you and all my old friends of the First Congregational
Church that I am so kindly remembered. I would most gladly
accept your invitation to join you in your proposed Semi-Cen
tennial celebration did my advanced years admit of it. All
that I can say is that my heart is as warmly interested in your
church as ever, that I rejoice in the present prosperous con
dition of an organization of which I still consider myself a
�40
member, and that you have my cordial best wishes for its con
tinued success and usefulness. Appended you will find a
short statement, as desired by you, of the first steps taken
toward the formation of a Liberal church in Cincinnati.
Very truly yours,
W. Greene.
East Greenwich, R. I., January 15th, 1880.
FROM JOHN ROGERS, ESQ.
I thank you for your kind invitation to be present at the
celebration of the half-century anniversary of the First Con
gregational Church in Cincinnati, on the 21 st inst., which I
would gladly accept, and be present, did circumstances favor.
Be assured, I still feel much interest in the little church under
whose “droppings” I was said to live, (my house being next
door) and where I listened to Whitman, and Clarke, and Hall,
and Peabody, so many years ago.
But half a century!—what changes does it make? How
few, probably, are left of those I remember among the wor
shipers of 1830 to 1835. I should be a stranger there and feel
the awkwardness of one, should I come to your meeting. In
spirit, however, I will be there, and assuring you of my sym
pathy, and rejoicing in the prosperity of the old church,
I am very truly yours,
John Rogers.
Boston, January 17, 1880.
�4i
FROM MRS. ANNE RYLAND.
I received your note of invitation, a few days ago, to the
Semi-Centennial celebration of the church, and should have
answered it sooner had I not hoped that my health would
have permitted me to join your circle in that happy hour, but
as that cannot be, allow me to send you my most sincere
sympathy and congratulations on this occasion, with wishes
that the church and all its members may continue to increase
in prosperity and well-doing.
Being the oldest participant, in this city, in its first organ
ization, and a regular attendant till ill health and weakness
prevented, I have watched its growth with the greatest inter
est and love as each year has rolled round, and can hardly
realize that fifty of them have passed. As I cannot be with
you in bodily presence, rest assured that my heart is there, as
warm towards you, as sincere as ever. That your meeting
may be one of joy and happiness to all is the earnest prayer of,
Yours truly,
Anne Ryland.
Cincinnati, January 21, 1880.
FROM EDW. P. CRANCH, ESQ.
I am prevented by indisposition from attending the jubilee
at the church this evening. I wanted to come, for I was a
nursling of the church myself, and was married in it. Pea
body, Channing, Perkins, Silsbee, Osgood, Bulfinch, Eliot
and I were young men together, friends and companions, and
I owe it to them and the charm of their society, that as a
youth I was kept away from many things. But as for me, I
do but count one out of thousands who have to thank God
for the splendid influence of such men and many others like
them. My grandfather, my father and myself have been, in
our time, which covers about a century and a half, avowed
6
�42
and active Unitarians; and, looking back simply to my own
humble experience, I can form a pretty correct judgment of
what must have been the experience of thousands of Amer
ican youth who have been, during that long period, and are
still, cast loose in the whirling current of life, and who have
found in the companionship of some Unitarian pastor, per
haps as young and untried as themselves (some spiritual
friend, perhaps, like James H. Perkins or Ephraim Peabody),
that which removed their deepest doubts and kept alive in
them a spark of honest religious conviction. I do not hes
itate to say, from what I know, that the influence of the
Unitarian clergy upon the minds of young men of education
has been an important factor in the progress of civilization
during the last hundred years.
When our little congregation first came together it was
predicted by our orthodox friends that it would not hold
together for ten years, but our fiftieth anniversary finds it
flourishing, and healthy and influential, and it has become a
necessity to our city. As an old member, I delight to add
my heartfelt congratulations, and to express my belief that
there is in its present organization the germ of still greater
things.
Very sincerely yours,
Edw. P. Cranch.
Cincinnati, January 21, 1880.
�(JOHGRÄTULÄTORY LETTERS.
��FROM REV. JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE, D.D.
I heartily wish I could be with you at your celebration of
the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of your society. I
did not know that when I first saw it in 1833, it was only an
infant three years old. It seemed already hardened into the
sinew of manhood. The society to which I went at Louisville
was founded in the same year, but was not so strong. The
Cincinnati church, at that time, had Ephraim Peabody for its
minister, who was surrounded by a noble body of men and
women—among whom how well I remember Mr. and Mrs.
Chas. Stetson, Mr. and Mrs. William Greene, Timothy Walk
er, the Pomeroys, James H. Perkins, and a multitude of other
bright men and women, of whom the greater part have fallen
asleep. What brilliant meetings were held at the houses of
Mr. Foote, Mr. Stetson and Mr. Greene, which stood side by
side on a lofty terrace overlooking the city, the river, and the
hills of Kentucky! There met the famous “Semi-Colon,”
where so many witty men and bright women made a focus of
literature in the midst of the business life of the young city !
There are some still left among you who can remember and
describe those meetings. There, too, originated our famous
monthly, “The Western Messenger,” edited by Peabody, Per
kins, Cranch, Gallagher and others—until our dear brother
Peabody was obliged to go away from impaired health. The
spirit of the Unitarian Society in those days was full of life.
How glad I was, once or twice a year, to come to Cincinnati
and have the satisfaction of meeting all these generous and
noble souls. And, though years and distance have separated
us, I have never forgotten your society nor lost my interest in
its welfare. I have sorrowed with it in its trial's and rejoiced
in its prosperity. My good wishes and prayers will be with
you on your anniversary, and my congratulations on the
present prospects which open before you. May the next
fifty years see fifty more societies around you, and you the
�46
Mother-Church of the valley, the most active and useful of
all. The church in Pittsburgh was, I think, older, but I fear
that its work has, for the present, ceased ; and the Meadville
(Penn.) Church, founded in 1825, can hardly be considered as
in the Ohio Valley.
When I went down the Ohio, for the first time, in 1833,
the Unitarian churches west of the Alleghanies were only
five—being those in Meadville, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cincinnati
and Louisville. There was then no society in St. Louis nor
in Chicago. Now the number of the churches given in the
Year Book is 57, of which 47 have settled preachers. And yet,
during all this time, we have been told that Unitarianism was
“dying out!” Let us hope that it it may long continue to
die out in the same way.
Very sincerely yours,
James Freeman Clarke.
Jamaica Plain, Mass., January 17, 1880.
FROM REV. H. W. BELLOWS, D.D.
Your letter, announcing the coming celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of the Unitarian Society in Cincinnati,
arouses a multitude of pleasant memories in my mind. In
my early life the Cincinnati church was the very out-post of
our cause, and a sort of a Mecca for Western bound folk who
left the East and never felt at home until they had made the
acquaintance of the delightful little circle that gathered about
that “live coal” that had been taken from the Eastern altar to
kindle the flame of our Unitarian culture and piety in what
was then a wilderness. A venerable uncle of mine—who
died, ninety-six years old, some ten years ago—told me that he
saw Cincinnati when it was a village of 3,000 people, and
when the first experiment to conquer the Ohio by steam
power was being tried at the river’s shore. Even in my recol
�47
lection it was a town of gardens, with outlooks from many
places quite inland to the Kentucky shores and hills. Coal
smoke had not then enveloped it. But, besides its charms as
a beautiful rural town of irregular and varied surface, and all
beflowered with shrubs, it had then a circle of choice spirits
—hospitable, touched with a culture then rare, in music, and
art, and literature—hungry for the sight of faces that came
from the East, which was then “the home" of all Western
hearts. You have, doubtless, fifty times the number of liter
ary and public spirited persons of the same type now—but
“familiarity breeds contempt.” People do not go through a
wilderness now to get to Cincinnati, nor come upon its little
circle as upon a spring in a dry land, an oasis in the desert, as
they did then. Nor was that little circle one that can be copied
or repeated. It had the mingled charm of exile, of pioneer
life, of rarity in tastes, of domestic familiarity, and of a relig
ious bond. These things no longer enter into any life in
America since railroads and telegraphs have put an omnipres
ence, or home-i-ness, everywhere, into all persons at all points.
It meant something to find yourself in Cincinnati after a week’s
travel over the Alleghanies, an upset in the stage, and two
days on a sandbar in the Ohio! And then, to get a welcome
into that charmed circle, small but so kind, intelligent and
hospitable, of which your church was the one center, was one
of the most delightful of surprises, and the most memorable
of experiences. I recollect thinking the dozen families I knew,
all eminently cultivated, and humane and progressive, were
only a sample of the population. Really, they were the
cream, and I found it out by noticing that they rose to the
top every time. At intervals of a year or two, I visited the
place, and always the some clot. There are advantages in not
having too many people to admire. You have the time to ad
mire the few, and appreciatively and at leisure.
I arrived in Cincinnati the first time in the year 1834. My
principal recollection is that I was traveling at twenty years of
age, and had spent more money than I ought, in the cities then
new to me—New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washing
ton—in which I had lingered. A few years later, 1838, I re
�48
member that I arrived at Cincinnati in early May, I think, just
in time to hear Rev. Mr. Huntoon preach his farewell sermon
on Sunday morning. I was asked to preach in the evening
and I filled the vacant pulpit for six weeks. They were among
the most delightful weeks of my life, for I was the guest of
Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Stetson, whose house was then almost
the public hotel of the Unitarian stragglers, in black coats or
black gowns, who wandered into the city. Childless them
selves, they became father and mother to all, with or without
a claim, who needed furtherance or shelter. How delightful
that hill, vheie the Stetsons, the Footes, the Greenes so long
lived side by side in a sort of garden! I shall never be young
again in this world, and so I shall never bring the sauce of
youth to the viands that society spreads before me. And who
can tell whether the sauce or the fish makes the feast? And
so I cannot tell how much my recollections of the Cincinnati
circle owe to the period of life they recall.
I knew very little of the man of genius and lofty humanity,
whose memory is still precious among you, James H. Perkins.
But of your saintly minister, Ephraim Peabody, I am not
likely to forget much, now that his daughter cultivates his
memory at my own hearth! He preached my ordination ser
mon in New York. His portrait looks down upon me as I
wiitc. What a charm of countenance, of speech, of charactei and piesence he had ! The wisdom of this world was never
more completely blended with the wisdom that.is from on high.
He was a wondrous judge of character, and his slow, delayed
and sententious wisdom usually ended with a snap like the
sound of a whip. He had a genius for morals and religion.
He looked, and he was, saintly. His memory is cherished
by his old flock in New Bedford, in King’s Chapel, Boston,
and by the \ ery few who remain who knew him in Cincinnati
and in Meadville, still earlier scenes of his fascinating and
always elevating influence.
My v ife s kinsman, Rev. A. A. Eivermore, I have known
foi nearly fifty years, and always to love and honor. Thank
God, he still remains to receive the respect and love of all the
people who were ever blessed with his transparent purity' of
�49
heart and his calm wisdom of head in Keene, in Cincinnati,
and in Meadville. I rejoice to hear such excellent and en
couraging accounts of the parish health and prospects. Your
church has never wanted hard-working ministers, or devoted
people in the pews. Rev. Mr. Mayo will always be remem
bered for,the unflagging zeal he brought to every one of his
various spheres of ministry. If I should name the good men
and women who have adorned and blessed your church—and
whose connection with the parish is as old as my first knowledge
of it—I should be afraid of injuring the modesty of those I
recall, and wounding the pride of those I should be sure to for
get and omit. . In such a case silence is golden. But when I
speak of noble men and lovely and faithful women in your
church whom I have known these------ ? years—I mean—well,
they know and I know—and that is enough—and I won’t say
I mean—and I really mean everybody who honestly thinks
he is meant or that she is thus delicately referred to !
How I wish I could be with you, but I can't! A great
company of our ministers will be in spirit with you, for how
many have enjoyed your hearty semi-Southern hospitality!
Commend me to any old friends who Will care to hear that I
still remember them, and believe me,
Very affectionately and fraternally yours,
Henry W. Bellows.
New York, January i, 1880.
FROM REV. GEO. W. HOSMER, D.D.
With all my heart I rejoice with you.
I remember the
establishment of the society. It was the spring-time of our
hope for the spread of Liberal Christianity in the West. We
were looking for great things, and we young theological stu
dents were girding ourselves to go into the fields ripe for the
■harvest.
7
�50
At that time Dr. Walker was in Cincinnati, and some man
who had heard him once was invited to go and hear him again.
“No,’ said he, “why, I will not be a Unitarian, and if I hear
that man again I shall .be obliged to be one.”
Five years from the beginning of the society I was in Cin
cinnati, the beautiful, terraced garden city, as it then was—
and how the names and faces of the dear old friends come up
to me now; Ephraim Peabody, my classmate, the pastor, so
wise and loving, the Stetsons, the Greenes—but I must not
write all their names, nor attempt to tell what a charming,
earnest, happy society it was; so young, bright and hopeful.
There were many remarkable persons among them. I have
known much of the Unitarians of Cincinnati from that day to
this, and the memories are bright spots in my life. While at
Antioch College, Cincinnati was one of my homes, and those
good friends there—God bless them!—were always ready to
give help and cheer out of their generous hearts and pleasant
homes. Your society has been very rich in fine characters
and noble lives. What a line of ministers, the living and the
dead! Perkins and Peabody, so unlike, but in each what con
secrated genius,—prophet and saint. Your society has much
to think of and to rejoice in. I am glad you arc all one again
and can rejoice together, and as your second half-century is
knocking at your door, in one mind and heart may you wel
come it, and with reverent, prayerful aspiration try to make
even a better half-century than the last has been.
With earnest congratulation and God-speed, I am with you.
Geo. W. Hosmer.
Salem, January 19, 1880.
FROM REV. WM. SIESBEE.
In the spring of 1837 I first turned my steps Westward.
I he circlet of hills which graced the Queen City was green
then and no pervading smoke soiled her fair robes. The
�51
society was the most charming, take it all in all, that I had
ever known. And the dear church sent out an influence to
gladden and elevate the whole place. It is enough to recall
the memory of one who ministered to them, now long since
passed away, in that remarkable man and preacher, James H.
Perkins, whom I should in vain attempt to describe to those
who never heard him. I cannot refrain from adding my
hearty congratulations to your church on its present bright
prospects. I have great confidence that you will prove not
unworthy of the founders. Such, at least, is the earnest
prayer of,
Your sincere friend,
Wm. Silsbee.
Trenton, N. Y., January 19, 1880.
FROM REV. ROBERT COLLYER.
Your circular came at breakfast this morning, and I make
haste to send congratulations and good wishes to the golden
wedding to be celebrated by your church on Wednesday. It
is an event of the most genuine interest in the history of our
faith in the West. Only our church in Louisville runs back
to 1830, and if you are not twins—also as twins have never
been the good fortune of our Unitarian household, so far as I
know—your happy advent in January of that year will make
you the oldest church of our order in the West. I wish I
could be with you to witness your joy, to hear the story of
the day of small things and see the nobler promise with mine
own eyes, and to wish for you the great career you are sure
to carve out by God’s blessing and your own faithful striving
in the Athens of the West. In France, they say there is a rose
rooted down in sacred ground, they can trace backward for 400
years, abloom still, with no sign of decay about it, but every
year roses foaming over the old walls, covering them with
beauty and making the whole neighborhood fragrant.
�52
So may it be with the fair rose the fathers and mothers
planted in Cincinnati. May the centuries endow it with an
enduring beauty and fragrance from God, is the prayer of,
Your ever loving brother,
Robert Collyer.
New York, January 19, 1880.
FROM REV. E. H. HALL.
I have been delaying my answer to your note, trying to
delude myself into the idea that I might accept your very
cordial and attractive invitation. Unfortunately, I must de
cline, as it is impossible tor me to leave home at this season,
for so long a time ; but, nothing could have given me greater
pleasure than to have celebrated with you an anniversary that
has almost as great an interest for me as for you.
As I left Cincinnati at the early age. of two months, I can
not retain many personal recollections of the town or parish
in those days; but I remember well my father’s continued
affection for the little church which he helped to found, and I
can imagine the vivid interest he would have taken, if he were
still living, in your, commemoration. In a letter, which lies
on my table, written by him to Rev. E. S. Gannett, and dated
Cincinnati, February 21st, 1831, he speaks in the strongest
language, of the importance and promise of thè new move
ment, and of his regret at abandoning it, as his health com
pelled him to do. “A more important, place-than this,” he
says, there is not,-1 believe, in the land. This is often said
of many places, by those who live in them ; but I do think
it may be said pre-eminently of this. This society and its
pastor are to give the character of Unitarianism in the whole
wide and growing West.”
I congratulate you that during the half century which has
passed since these words were written, thè Liberal cause has
been bravely maintained in Cincinnati, and that you can cele-
�53
brate your anniversary with such' bright and cheering pros
pects before you.
With many regrets that I can not be with you, and with
sincerest good-wishes for the future, I am,
Yours, with great regard.
Edward H. Hall.
W orcester, Mass., January 7, 1880.
FROM REV. FRANCIS G. PEABODY.
I am too late to use your very kind hospitality offered to
my father’s son at your Love Feast. Thank you none the
less for thinking of it, and may you begin to-morrow another
long term of prosperity and power.
When I was in Cincinnati, a few years ago, I was much
struck by the lesson which the reminiscences of my father
contained. All who had known him spoke of him to me;
but when I recalled this series of conversations, I discovered
that not one had said a word of his preaching, so absorbed
were they all in the memory of his character and personal
holiness.
This was wl'at was left after forty years, and it was a living
force still; the sermons, which seemed to him, no doubt, his
central work, were dead long ago.
I suppose human nature and needs are much the same still.
Faithfully yours,
Francis G. Peabody.
• Santa Barbara, California, January 20, 1880
�54
FROM REV. HENRY W. FOOTE.
* * * To one who is looking forward to keeping the
two hundredth anniversary of his church before long, your
Semi-Centennial seems to cover but a brief span; but it has
been long enough to give a goodly show of souls who have
made a record for your church in Cincinnati whereof it may
be proud. King’s Chapel shares with you one of the holiest
and purest memories that either church can have in all their
history. As the successor of Ephraim Peabody here, I send
this belated greeting to his successor in his early parish. May
his spirit, purpose and reward be ours.
Truly your friend,
Henry W. Foote.
Boston, January 23, 1880.
FROM H. P. KIDDER, ESQ.,
President of the American Unitarian Association.
* * * Let mc congratulate you and your society on
your present prosperous condition, adding the hope that it
may never be less.
Yours most truly,
H. P. Kidder.
Boston, January 17, 1880.
�appgiídix.
�F
,1
•I
là
�in memoRiAm
MRS. CHARLES STETSON.
This beloved and venerated woman—so long the centre of hospitality to
Unitarian visitors in Cincinnati—died on the evening of January 6, 1880, in
New York, where for ten years past she had resided. She had been declining
for two or three years, but her death was very sudden, as she had been at the
family tea-table at 6 p. M., and died of a paralytic stroke before 9 P. M. Being
at or about eighty, her departure may be regarded as not untimely, and her
state of health did not make life sufficiently desirable to allow her friends any
other regrets than those awakened by the memory of her useful and benevolent
life, and the thought that her gentle face and lovely smile can no more be
seen! She has gone to a great reward, if heaven gives the heartiest welcome
to those who have rendered the law of kindness most honor and obedience
here on earth.
To those who never experienced the charm of the Stetson home—open
for nearly half a century with almost boundless hospitality to all homeless vis
itors with the shadow of a claim on the attention of Mr. Charles Stetson and
his wife—it is difficult to tell the emotions awakened in the hearts of the few
who survive among the hundreds who once knew the loving kindness and care
and delicacy of that noble pair, as they hear that the last of them has
gone heavenward! Rich, childless, unpretending, public-spirited, simple in
personal tastes, refined and cultivated, lovers of music and the arts, fond of
good people and admirers of genius and worth, the Stetsons made their
beautiful and generous home the centre of a copious, yet simple hospitality,
which has rarely been exceeded, either in sum or quality, by any house
known to the somewhat wide experience of the writer. One in feeling and
action, agreeing in a curious fondness for promoting the comfort and pleasure
of those neglected by others, they made it the main business of their lives to
do good as they had opportunity, and to do it, not at arms length, but by per
sonal service. Their house was always full of guests; they welcomed our
Unitarian clergy, artists, philanthropists, strangers from abroad, and rising
aspirants at home, besides doing their full part towards the general society of
Cincinnati. Their horses and carriages were always carrying round others to
see the beautiful country about their city ; and to many Eastern folk the Stet
sons’ home was the largest part of Cincinnati.
�58
How many of our ministers, young forty years ago, must be thrilled with
tender gratitude as they hear of Mrs. Stetson’s departure, and recall the thought
fulness, heartiness, and simplicity of her hospitality to them, when they were
unknown and without any claim except that of their profession and their soli
tude ! We should, perhaps, never have had a Unitarian society in Cincinnati
but for their interest, liberality and hospitality to our ministers. At any rate,
the fiftieth anniversary of our church there, celebrated on the coming 21st of
January, will date back to a time when the Stetsons were better known in
connection with our cause than any household in the West.
Mr. Stetson died about five years ago. He was very unfortunate during the
last decade of his life, and earned his living, after a long career of prosperity,
by the performance of a clerk’s duties in the New York Custom House. But
his sweetness, his wit, his love of children, his pride of character, his charm
of sympathy, his childlikeness of heart never left him ; and he bore his crush
ing misfortunes with manly courage, broken and infirm as his body was, and
wounded and sick as his heart must have been.
Mrs. Stetson, just gone, was a woman who united a sort of Quaker sim
plicity of face and costume with a decided originality of thought and a very
marked individuality. Strength and self-respect were beautifully blent with
modesty, genuineness and unworldliness of nature. She lived in the world and
enjoyed and used it, but she never allowed it to use her. She had not a particle
of cant or sanctimoniousness about her, but she was spiritually-minded in the
truest sense, and religious to the core. Free, and without dogmatic fetters,
she was Christian in spirit and faith. For a woman who had so little love of
change, and so little intellectual ambition, she was singularly courageous and
independent in her opinions. Though childless, she carried an atmosphere
of universal motherliness about her, and a purity and sympathetic ardor that
mixed affection and simplicity with insight and freshness of judgment. She
loved many and much, and was greatly beloved by many who must associate
the happiest years of life with her image.
The beloved sister, who shared her home and became at last the watchful
guardian of her decline, is worthy of the respect and honor she now inherits
as the sole survivor of all the memories of the Stetson household. May every
consolation wait upon her loneliness, and faith and patience attend her remain
ing days!
H. W. B.
�59
5Ymn ujRiTTen for trg dcdioatiod
OF THE
JANUARY 18TH, 1880.
By W. H. Venable.
Our Father, we would consecrate
This organ to Thy righteous name ;
The conscious reeds expectant wait,
Thy solemn praises to proclaim.
Oft may these sacred keys prolong
Devotion’s calm, celestial mood ;
Oft lead the glad thanksgiving song,
And melt the soul to gratitude.
Long may returning Sabbaths greet
Our choral joy in things divine,
Prelusive to the doctrines sweet,
Of him who taught in Palestine.
Yea, let the organ’s solemn breath
Resound Thy praises, Holy One !
Thy grace surviveth sin and death,
Forevermore thy will be done.
The venerable Western poet, Wm. D. Gallagher, whose name is identified
with the early history of the society, also sent to the festival a poem, entitled
“In Exaltis,” whose length, unfortunately, precludes the insertion here of
more than the following fragment:
“And I cried out, O man to the House of Prayer,
Made with hands—go up, for Thy God is there ;
And, in the days of thy beautiful youth,
Bow down, and worship in spirit and truth ;
In the mightier years of thy ripening age,
There still against Sin in the battle engage;
But say not of him who goes out and stands
In that grand old Temple noi made with hands,
And hungers and thirsts, and worships and waits,
And for righteousness strives and supplicates.
1'hat he errs: for Christ and his Cross are there,
And God’s angels come to him unaware.”
�6o
ODE FOR TFjG DCDICATIOD
TO THE
O UNTIE
ALMIC3-HTY
GOD,
COMPOSED FOR THE OCCASION,
By Rev. John Pierpont, of Boston.
I.
To Gon, to God alone,
This temple have we reared ;
To God, who holds a throne
Unshaken and unshared.
Sole King of Heaven
Who’st heard our prayers
And blessed our cares,
To thee ’tis given.
II-
< > thou, whose bounty fills
This plain so rich and wide,
And makes its guardian hills
Rejoice on every side,
With shady tree
And growing grain,
This decent fane
We give to thee.
III.
Thou, who hast ever stooped
To load our land with good,
Whose hand this vale hath scooped,
And rolleth down its flood
To the far sea—
This home we raise,
And now, with praise,
Devote to thee.
IV.
To all, O God of love,
Dost thou thy footsteps show—
The white and blue above,
The green and gold below,
The grove, the breeze,
The morning’s beam,
The star, the stream,—
They’re seen in these.
V.
Where now, in goodly show,
Thy domes of art are piled.
Thy paths, not long ago,
Dropped fatness on a wild.
O let us see
Thy goings here
Where now we rear
A house for thee.
VI.
Nursed by the blessed dew,
And light of Bethlehem’s star,
A vine on Calvary grew
And cast its shade afar.
A storm went by—
One blooming bough
Torn off, buds now
Beneath our sky.
�61
VII.
O let no drought or blight,
This plant of thine come nigh ;
But may the dew, all night,
Upon its branches lie ;
Till towards this vine
All flesh shall press,
And taste and bless
Its fruit and wine.
VIII.
Because, O Lord ! thy grace
Hath visited the West,
And given our hearts a place
Of worship and of rest;
Old age and youth,
The weak, the strong,
Shall praise in song
Thy grace and truth.
May 23rd, 1830.
IX.
The grace and truth that came
By thine Anointed Son,
H ere let such lips proclaim
As fire hath fallen upon
From out the high
And holy place
Where dwells in grace
Thy Deity.
X,
To thee, to thee alone,
This temple have we reared,To thee—before whose throne
Unshaken and unshared,
Sole King of Heaven,
With thanks we bow-^
This temple now
For praise is given.
�62
ORIGIRAL BYIRRS
WRITTEN FOR THE
Ordination
of
As Pastor of
the
Rev. Ephraim Peabody
First Congregational Church,
IN CINCINNATI, MAY 2Oth, 1832.
I.
Oh ! Thou before whose glorious brow,
With veiling wings Archangels bow, •
May our deep, trembling prayer
To mercy’s ear accepted rise,
Through the rich music of the skies,
And blend harmonious there.
Thou wert not in the earthquake’s crash,
Nor in the bannered lightning’s flash
That flamed o’er mount and grove ;
But in the low, soft breath that stirr’d
The conscious leaves, Thy voice was heard
In mercy and in love.
Lord! let that sweet and holy strain
Breathe through this dedicated fane,
Thy bessing here descend,
While praise and incense heavenward roll,
Fill with thy glory every soul,
Our Father and our friend!
May he whose pastoral hand shall guide
This flock where living waters glide,
Here, angel-strengthened be;
With unpolluted lips impart
Immortal truths, and lift each heart
Adoring unto Thee.
�63
II.
That voice which bade the dead arise,
And gave back vision to the blind.
Is hushed but when he sought the skies,
Our master left his word behind.
’Twas not to bid the ocean roll,—
’Twas not to bid the hill be riven;
No,—’twas to lift the fainting soul,
And lead the erring mind to heaven.
To heave a mountain from the heart,—
To bid those inner springs be stirred :
Lord, to thy servant here impart
The more than wisdom of that word.
Dwell, Father, ’round this earthly Fane.
And when its feeble walls decay,
Be with us as we meet again,
Within thy halls of endless day.
Note.— These hymns were presumably written by Mr. Peabody.
�64
ORIGIDAL RYmnS
WRITTEN BY JAS. H. PERKINS FOR THE
Ordination
of
William H. Channing,
AS
Pastor of the First Congregational Society,
CIXTCIXTXT-a.T’T.
IML AY
IO, 1839.
I.
Almighty God ! with hearts of flesh,
Into thy presence we have come,
To breathe our filial vows afresh,
And make thy house once more our home.
We know that thou art ever nigh ;
We know that thou art with us here;
That every action meets thine e.ye,
And every secret thought thine ear.
But grant us God, this truth to feel,
As well as know ; grant us the grace,
Somewhat as Adam knew thee, still
To know and see thee, face to face.
Here, while we breathe again our vows,
Appointing one to minister
In holy things within this house,
Grant us to feel that thou art here.
�65
II.
The storm-shaken winter
Has passed from earth’s bosom,
And spring to our borders,
Brings back bird and blossom—
Through all her sweet life-strings,
Through all her glad voices,
In daylight and darkness,
Old Nature rejoices.
And we have known winter,
The dark storm hath swept us ;
But God, our preserver,
Hath graciously kept us ;
The winter is passing,
The spring bursts around us,
And he has with new bands
Of brotherhood bound us.
To thank him, our Father,
As brethren we come here ;
Our hopes and our wishes—
Henceforth be their home here !
Almighty Redeemer,
We ask not to fear thee,—
But, like our Great Teacher,
To know, love, revere thee.
�CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Introductory Note,
-------
3
Order of Exercises,
......
4
.......
6
List
of
Committees,
Historical Sketch
Communications
of the
Congratulatory Letters,
9
First Congregational Church, -
from former
Pastors and Members,
-•
-
21
45
------
Appendix, ---------
55
« In Memoriam, Mrs. Charles Stetson,
b Hymns
for
Various Oc casions, -
-
-
-
-
*
T( ;
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Memorials of the celebration of the First Congregational Church of Cincinnati, Ohio, January 21st, 1880
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First Congregational Church of Cincinnati
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Place of publication: [Cincinnati]
Collation: 65 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed for the Unity Club. Contents listed on back page. Includes a letter from Moncure Conway p. 34-26 dated 'Christmas-time, 1879'. Appendix I: In Memoriam, Mrs Charles Stetson. II. Hymns for Various Occasions.
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Unitarianism
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Conway Tracts
First Unitarian Church
Memorials
Unitarianism
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Text
How and Why lam a Unitarian.
A LECTURE
BY
J. FREDERICK SMITH,
Minister of
the
1 1
u
Elder Yard Chapel,
Chesterfield,
(Late of the Baptist Chapel, George-Street, Hull,')
Delivered
in the
Bowlalley-Lane Chapel, Hull,
On Sunday Evening, April 12th, 1874.
.....
'.
------- J--------
,
I
HULL:
Sold by J. S. Harrison, Bookseller, 48, Eowgate ;
And at the Chapel Vestry.
CHESTERFIELD :
Sold by J. Toplis, “ Courier” Office, High-Street.
1874
Jj’rice Sixpence.
I
�J
�How and Why I am a Unitarian.
A question very analogous to that we have to consider
to-night is, How and Why am I a Christian ? The two
questions are alike in several respects. It is exceedingly
rare that any number of thoughtful persons agree in their
definition of what Christianity is. The name Christian is
an old historic name of very wide and very various signifi
cance. It can be borne by religious people of very dis
similar, or even of opposite,' theological and moral ten
dencies.
It follows from the compass of the name
Christian, that men call themselves Christians for reasons
as various as the senses in which they appropriate the
name. Those amongst them who are not charitably dis
posed, deny to the larger number of their would-be brothers
the right to use the distinction. The charitable con
fess amongst themselves that no definition of Christianity, t
and no classification of the only valid reasons for professing
•it ought to be attempted. Our reasons for being Christians
are very personal as well as our definition of what con
stitutes a Christian. It is not surprising, therefore, to find
that not a few minds prefer greatly to answer the question,
How and Why am I a Christian ? not directly and ex
plicitly, but indirectly and implicitly. They prefer not to
define Christianity or to formulate the reasons of their ad
�4
herence to it: a reply to the question more congenial to
their ideas and feelings would be found by an examination
of some of the living elements of Christianity and of their
own spiritual necessities. They would thus avoid much un
profitable and repulsive historical and dogmatic discussion,
while at the same time they would probably come much
nearer the real heart and true import of the question.
The question proposed by my lecture, How and Why
I am a Unitarian ? appears to me to be in precisely the
same case. We most of us know many senses in which we
are not Unitarians. Some people are Unitarians because
the Bible they think teaches Unitarianism : but certainly I
should be a Unitarian if the Bible had been an earlier
edition of Calvin’s Institutes. Some people are Unitarians
because they hold that the doctrine of the Divine Unity is
the doctrine of the standing or falling church ; yet I am of
those who were I a Manichean or Zoroastrian on this head,
should still class myself with the bearers of the Unitarian
name. Like the word Christian, it is a historic name with
no precise dogmatic import, but on the contrary of a wide
popular meaning, including amongst its bearers men of very
unlike, often of opposite, feelings and views on very im
portant topics. I will ask you, therefore, to permit me to
deal indirectly and implicitly with the question before us
rather than by the method of strict definition and formal
proof. This method will, I believe, enable us to come upon
what are to many amongst us the really valid reasons for
belonging to churches which are commonly described as
Unitarian.
The substance of the answer to the question before us
which I have to return to-night is this : As a religious man
I stand in great need of certain assistance from religious
association ; this assistance is refused by the churches which
are founded upon authority, but is at least to some extent
�5
supplied by the Unitarian or Free Churches which acknow
ledge no higher authority than the individual reason and
conscience.
A man’s religion is that which he most sacredly loves
and seeks: his profoundest desires, his best and most in
vincible tendencies, the deepest springs of his best feelings,
constitute his religion. Now, some amongst us cannot
overcome, and dare not now attempt to overcome, the deep
desire to come into the right relation and attitude towards
all that is not ourselves—God, Man, Nature ; to use and
cultivate fully all that is ourselves—the powers' of our
nature ; and to fulfil the duties that arise from our consti
tution and our relation to things beyond ourselves. The
religious association that will help us to attain this attitude
towards what is without and to use and perfect what is
within, is an association that feeds and sustains our religious
life : it will be our church, even if it renders but imperfect
help.' On the other hand, the association that throws itself
in the way of our deep longing in these respects comes into
collision with our religion, retards and hinders what we count
the highest and holiest attainment.
Let me explain a little more fully the nature of this
deep religious necessity.
Our acquaintance with Nature is at present com
paratively slight; but it is sufficient to call forth admira
tion, wonder, and gladness, mingled with fear and reserve.
Our attitude towards her must be one of reverent enquiry ;
at present we cannot look upon all her ways with satis
faction. At times we could almost worship her, but not
infrequently we are tempted to curse her. Now and here
she is a loving mother to her children ; but then and there
she is a cruel step-mother. We know her at present as a
being half-divine and half-demonic. Our attitude towards
her is a mixture of confidence and dread, while we wait to
�6
know more. The church that condemns this attitude by
authority, in some form or other, not showing us why we
ought to abandon it, cannot help us. We know that we
must respect Nature and study her assiduously ; and we ask
for aid to maintain, in the face of strong temptation to the
contrary, this attitude of respect and enquiry, until fuller
knowledge may exhaust the revelation and sanction a
new at-titude.
Our knowledge of 'Man shares the imperfection of our
knowledge of Nature. Great questions upon which ancient
churches had formal and final dogmas have of late been re
opened, and many of them answered anew, and in the very
teeth of the received authoritative answers. I refer to such
enquiries as those into the origin of man, the unity of man
kind, the mental, moral, and religious endowments of the
various races of mankind, the history of religious and of
moral ideas. The attitude we feel bound to take up in re
ference to Man with such questions as these still open, is
one of profound interest mingled with reserve and eager
enquiry. Not only shall we feel unable to attach any value
to an authoritative dictum as to man’s history and nature,
but we shall feel compelled to reject any one-sided theory
which will not consider all the facts known, and any final
dogma which will not acknowledge that we are at present
but just commencing an acquaintance with the facts. How
could a church assist us in one of the profoundest instincts
of our hearts—to study mankind, if she opposed that study,
either by laying down a theory which rendered it un
necessary, or by condemning some of the established con
clusions of science?
Just as our present knowledge of Nature and of Man
is deficient, so our faith in God waits for completion and
greater strength. At present our faith is sufficient to produce
adoration and trust, but it stands in great need of accessions
,
�7
both to its fulness and vigour. Our theology is our most
precious treasure, but its jewels are yet uncut and its gold
is u,ncoined. We feel rich in possession of it, and would
die rather than resign it, yet we cannot define it. ' Our
attitude towards God is that of profound reverence and
trust, which does not preclude but rather commands earnest
enquiry. How could that church assist us religiously that
requires the acceptance of final views of the nature and
character of God ?
Let us now turn for a moment to those duties that
arise from the possession of personal endowments and the
relation we sustain to God and Nature and each other.
Xhey give rise to great religious necessities which the true
church ought to satisfy to some degree.
As men we are endowed with powers of thought and
feeling, and the means of using them for ourselves and
others have been put within our reach. These are all
talents that must be employed and not left to lie idle.
If we take the intellect, we may observe that one of
the deepest rooted and most ineradicable sins of our nature
is love of ease, which shows itself especially in our dislike
of hard and continuous thinking. Another sin is often
associated with this of intellectual idleness: it is the sin of
indulging ourselves in pleasant theories and beliefs: a fatal
facility in acquiring and tenacity in holding notions that
make u's happy, with the corresponding slowness to receive
any idea that is unpleasant. These two sins together are
the evil genius of the intellect: they are the fruitful source
of moral and mental ruin in innumerable cases. And the
man who is at all alive to the strength of the temptation
that will assail him from this quarter earnestly seeks help
from those who are stronger and more faithful to the God
who gave them reason than he himself is. He seeks a
church that will drive him to think when thought is
�8
wearisome and when it leads to painful results. His
church must be no bulwark of authority for the faint
hearted who are afraid of thought, no retreat for the weary
who are tired of thought, and least of all a. castle of in
dolence for the idle who will not think.
The culture of our emotions is not of less importance
than the culture of our intellects. Our emotions branch
off into several directions. They are directed towards our
fellow creatures who can appreciate and return them,
towards objects of beauty and grandeur, or towards what
is right and noble in conduct. Now, whether they take the
form of affection, or conscience, or taste, they are in all
cases great endowments capable of wide and fruitful cul
ture. All three forms are essential parts of our nature,
neither of them can remain in neglect without serious in
jury to our character and manhood. Whenever one of them
has been allowed to usurp the place of the rest, individuals,
and society have greatly suffered. Conscience must not
frown down the love of beauty; the love of beauty must
not proceed to sacrifice the sanctity and chastity of affec
tion ; nor may affection disregard the rights of conscience
and pleasures of taste. They are all instincts and powers
which the reverent man will fear to slight; they all deliver
a revelation of higher things when their language is under
stood ; their development is the growth of the individual
and the wealth of society. But it is hard to keep the
balance between such closely allied powers quite true ; and
here, as everywhere, the root-evil of idleness bears poisonous
fruit. Who will help us to train and cultivate our emotions
with wisdom and due care ? The church that will recognise
some of them only, that will condemn others, and destroy
the harmony between them by over-estimating more, is not
the church we need. Within ourselves there is enough of this
unwisdom : we seek those who will help us to get rid of it.
�9
'
These powers of intellect and feeling have been put
v into the hands of creatures who can use them for their own
and other’s good. We have endowments, and we must
apply them. This application of them is attended with
great difficulty. It is a difficult matter to know what is
good for ourselves and others ; and when we know, it is
difficult to do. All about us we see men pursuing wrong
courses of action. Much of the benevolent conduct of men
* is weak, twisted, whimsical; it lacks rationality and thorough
usefulness. Still more is our conduct when directed to our
own interests devoid of reasonableness and adaptation : we
are ignorant of what we really want; we are led by impulse
or by custom : our manners and habits, our pursuits add
occupations, our acquaintance and friends, are largely deter
mined by accident and whim. We call aloud to the wise
and strong for help to assist us in attaining right, rational,
and noble conduct. Our church must be composed of souls
that have at least some help to render in this our need.
We now turn from a brief review of some of the
necessities which a church must satisfy to some extent if it
can be a church to us, to enquire which of the churches
around us meets our wants. Now, there is one vital dis
tinction which will divide the whole of the churches around
us into two separate classes, and leave us free to disregard
i the well nigh innumerable minor distinctions amongst them.
This distinction is that of authority or private judgment ;
and it gives us two groups of churches ; on the one hand,
the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Protestant Churches,
and, on the other, the Undogmatic Free Churches. Roman
Catholic and Orthodox Protestants are alike in this, that
they fall back as their last resource upon some authority
outside the individual reason and conscience, either upon a
church or a book. The Undogrqatic Free Churches, whether
called Unitarian,, Free Christian, Theistic, or by no name at
�IO
all, agree in this, that higher than any authority without is
the living, personal judge within. Neglecting the less
fundamental differences that distinguish them, this common
characteristic of Rome and the Reformed Churches justifies
us in classifying them all together so far as regards the
requirements we put upon our church.
All these churches of authority at some stage or other
obstruct enquiry and growth by the introduction of some
authoritative and final doctrine or model : here it may be
a creed, there a book ; here a canonised saint, there a re
ligious founder; but the difference of form makes no
essential difference in the reality: an authoritative dogma
limits enquiry, and an authoritative life limits personal and
social development. The holiest necessity of our nature is
to enquire in all directions until our intellect is satisfied ;
to cultivate and train all our faculties and emotions without
restraint until they find their true rest in perfection and full
activity ; and to pursue any course of conduct whatsoever
that our reason and conscience may command. But these
churches meet us at some critical point of our intellectual
enquiries with dogmas and theories which have ultimately
no other claim to be received than the supposed infallibility
of their propouriders. So far from assisting us to maintain
perfect loyalty to reason and intelligence, and aiding us to
overcome thebesetting sins of idleness and selfish wilfulness
in thinking, they either forbid the exercise of the intellect
upon all subjects, or they concede its unavoidable demands
suspiciously and grudgingly. Not less do they impose
restraints upon the full and free development of human
nature. Their ideal of humanity was conceived in an un
cultivated and decrepid age : it lacks essential elements of
a full, rounded manhood ; many excresences and deformities
cling to it. Their ideal of society is equally imperfect, their
kingdom of heaven becoming every age less adapted for re-
�II
velation upon the earth. Through all history the social
and political instincts of the best citizen have met with ob
structiveness rather than assistance from these churches.
They have assiduously cultivated some of the virtues of
the good citizen, such as submission to authority, content
ment under suffering, but upon other and still more essential
virtues, such as independence, resistance to injustice, love
of enquiry, they have put their bann. And some of the
vices that have weakened society, such as improvidence,
uncharitableness, untruthfulness, have been sometimes in
directly fostered at others. openly sanctioned as divine.
This authoritative and final model of manhood and society
is commonly imposed by these churches either as the in
fallible teaching or the perfect model of life granted to men
at the commencement of our era.
Having an ideal of man and society that descends
from the remote past when both men and society were in
important respects unlike what they now are,, it can hardly
be expected of these churches that they should be able
either to wisely direct or morally strengthen the conduct of
the individual-^vho is seeking counsel and support. They
do not really know what in our day is the one thing need
ful ; nor if they knew would their theory of human nature
permit them to supply the real strength and motive that
are required. The lives that have been formed, and the
conduct that has been directed by them, have not been of
' the type that we can to-day pronounce exemplary. The
lives of priests and ecclesiastics may be taken as indicative
of the real nature and tendency of ecclesiastical character
and aims. These lives are devoted enough, but the devo
tion is to wrong objects, and is not distinguished for its
sanity and fair, strong manliness. The course of conduct
and prevailing characteristics of the chosen saints of all
these churches have been deformed more or less by inhuman
�12
other-worldliness, and want of clear intellectual sanity and
vigour. The lives of St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi,
Luther, Calvin, John Wesley, cannot be considered as model
and complete lives by those who know how great Heathen
have lived and what Shakespeare and Goethe have taught.
They are the lives of saints protesting against nature rather
than conforming to her highest requirements. The work
they accomplished needed to be done, but their fitness to
do it rendered them unfit to become models of human
character. Their time was out of joint, and they were
born to set it right: but their ability to do this made them
more unfit than a Hamlet to represent human nature
generally. Without doubt in a sick and despairing age,
their course of conduct and character had great charms for
the hopeless; yet we have more and stronger faith than to
believe that the wants of a diseased period of human life
are the normal wants of mankind, or that the regimen of
sick men should be adopted as the law of their lives by
those who are whole. Memento mori is for some few a
needful sermon, but the greater and more general need of
men is to hear the admonition, Memento vivere !
An enquirer for a church who brings with him such
demands as we have been considering, will not, therefore,
find his church in this first class of authoritative com
munities. He will find that they have determined for him
another attitude towards nature, man, and God, than that
which he holds to be the only true and reverent one ; that
they have laid their bann upon conduct and pursuits which
are to him essential parts of his religion ; that they present i
commands for his obedience and examples for his imitation
which he must deem to lack authority, and to be either
useless or injurious. Turning his face from Catholicism
and Orthodox Protestantism, he will come to the few Free
Undogmatic Churches that are around him, with the hope
�13
of finding there help amidst his struggles after a higher life.
Not that amongst the millions who belong nominally to
these churches of authority, there are not thousands who
are seeking just what he seeks : this he is happy to believe,
and thankful to know personally some of them. It is the
legitimate and prevailing tendency and influence of the
churches only which he must pronounce opposed tawhat
he thinks is best and holiest.
The Undogmatic Free Churches to which we now turn,
have this characteristic in common, that they acknowledge
no external authority as entitled to command the opinions
or the conduct of others. They propose to no one any
final and unalterable views of nature, man, and God; they
set up no absolute 'ideal of manhood, which all men every
where, and in all ages, are tp acknowledge as divine. They
do not map out with unalterable lines the course of any
man’s pilgrimage to heaven.
They know nothing of
eternal plans and schemes of salvation. They rather hold
that the beginning of salvation and holiness is in the
individual’s 'practical recognition of the responsibility that
is laid upon him to think for himself, to shape his own con
duct, and to cultivate any power God has given him. On
this point they all speak with fervour and give no uncertain
sound ; but on the great mass of philosophical and theolo
gical dogmas their opinion is divided and uncertain. They
urge upon men by precept and personal influence that their
holiest duty is to think, and to think earnestly and man
fully ; to make the best use they can of any faculty they
possess, training it to its highest perfection ; and to live
a life as far removed from an ignoble and selfish worldliness
as from the pursuit of irrational and useless projects.
On minor points these churches differ greatly amongst
themselves. They have no common name. They are
called Unitarian, Free'Christian, Theistic; and some of
�14
them have no name at all. In most cases the name is not
a dogmatic description, but merely a .convenient and
customary appellation.. This, I take it, is the case with
the name Unitarian. Our chapels are called Unitarian
Chapels, and our ministers Unitarian Ministers, not be
cause we care particularly whether Trinitarian arithmetic is
correct or incorrect. We found our separation from ortho
dox Christianity upon a principle and not upon a dogma,
that principle being independence of external authority.
Again, these churches have no organisation which
unites them into one ecclesiastical body. They are the
most purely congregational of all congregational churches.
There is not even a common association that unites them
all. This leaves each separate congregation absolutely free
to pursue its own line of thought, and to develope its own
type of character, and follow its own tendencies to action.
They differ in still more important respects. The
position which they assign to the Bible amongst books, and
to Jesus Christ amongst men, are very various. While
they agree in ascribing superiority to the Bible and to Jesus
only to the extent to which their reason is convinced, the
measure of this superiority is of a very varying scale.
Some would rank the Bible above all literatures, while
others put but a low value upon some of its books, and
would not place any of them highest in human literature.
So, too, with respect to Jesus. His character and work are
very variously estimated. To not a few He is a son of
God as no other man has been, while there are others
who consider Him as but one amongst other greatest
religious leaders.
'
Not less undogmatic are these churches with respect
to theology proper, or the doctrine of God. They have no
formulated statement of their faith on this great article.
Each enquirer is left free to form his own ideas of God.
�i5
If his tendencies are towards a pure theism, he will find
fellow believers ; if he shrinks from ascribing human attri
butes to the Infinite, he will find that he is by no means
alone. And whether his religious associates agree with
him in his theology or not, they will urge him to be true to
his own light and proclivities.
Based upon this great principle of free unfettered en
quiry, these churches also leave their members free to cul
tivate their own powers as they deem wise, and to put forth
their energies in whatever direction and to whatever pur
pose they think useful.
The influences of these free
societies may feed the springs of character and activity,
but they do not force the streams to flow in any prescribed
channels. Special ecclesiastical work is not cut out for their
members as the only or chief work of God. They do not
recognise the distinction between the church and the con
gregation, and they dare not call any human avocation or
pursuit unholy and profane. They wish to enable men to
do with all the might of religious fervour whatsoever their
hands find to do. All days are holy days, all work is
worship, all earnest effort is prayer and praise, every
service of our kind is a consecrated ministry, every legiti
mate act of nature is an act of grace. Thus members of
these congregations are left as free'to act for themselves as
to think for themselves; they may form their own ideal of
manhood as well as their own theology; they may choose
any spot on God’s earth as their field of labour, and cul
tivate it with what means and in what manner they think
best. Their religious associates do not command them
what to do, but simply to do what they do well.
Based upon this great principle of individual freedom
and responsibility, and possessing this practical breadth
and divergency of ideas and aims, these churches appear
to me to present religious association in a form which may
�be made really and truly helpful. A small number of souls
possessed with the deep religious desire to stand right with
God, nature, their fellow creatures, and themselves, will not
be hindered by the constitution of such free associations ;
and the one religious bond that binds them together supplies
the positive force which will make them mutually helpful.
The mere fact of association upon such a basis gives im
mense strength to each member of it. The moment I know
that those with whom I meet are possessed with the same
sacred open-minded desire as myself to stand right with
themselves and God, my own desire has acquired a vast
accession of strength and support. The connexion with a
society of men who are seeking the good and the true sus
tains us amidst the temptations of life. And these societies
not only admit but seek out earnest and fearless preachers
of whatever truth has been laid upon their hearts as genuine
and of worth. If a man has anything to say, and can say
it plainly, he will be not only patiently but gladly heard.
Thus the simple but powerful elements of all* helpful
association are. to be found in these churches : they have
the sympathy of the like-minded and the animating and
enlightening word of the speaker. These elements were
the only essential conditions of that little church in
Galilee, of another later at Mecca, and of one earlier than
either on the banks of the Ganges. While the churches of
Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed, were simple associations of
like-minded men with a speaker at their head, they were
living sources of strength and inspiration to their members ;
when they had hardened into ecclesiastical organisations,
they became the source of bondage and weakness. Their
simplicity was their strength. So is it with these Free
Congregations. They have no organisation beyond the
simplest arrangement for securing a chapel and the few
services connected with it. The whole influence for good.
�17
of the association is to come from the simple source of
personal communion and alliance ‘in devotional acts and
holy desires, and the exhortation of a brother man.
It seems to me that these societies contain constitu
tionally neither too much nor too little to render the assis
tance which we have seen to be requisite. Of course I know
well that many of them fall miserably short of what they
ought to be. Some of them are untrue to the name they bear
and the very principles upon which they are founded. But
the fault lies in the particular exceptions themselves, not in
the principles upon which they were established ; and the
generality of them are, I believe, in fact, as well as in name,
vehicles of vast moral and religious assistance to those who
are connected with them. And, what is of great importance,
these churches are so constituted, that they are capable of
adaptation to new needs and of indefinite improvement.
They can be made whatever the members who compose
them desire to make them. Everything about them is flexi
ble and expansive. Their past history has been one of steady
but continuous change and progress. They have gone on
to find out gradually the depth and compass of their great
fundamental principle of personal freedom and responsi
bility ; they have gone on gradually to widen their con
ceptions of man’s true attitude towards the great facts and
mysteries around him ; they have gone on gradually to
learn that in conduct sanctity is allied to sanity, that human
righteousness is a sweet and noble reasonableness, that one
mission of. the Messiah was to cast out the legions of *
irrational and whimsical demons that twisted the minds
and perplexed the imaginations of religious people.
Here or nowhere, it appears to me, we have the •
lost church restored. In the middle ages men fabled
that God’s church had been lost-—sunk into the depths
of the sea, vanished from the worldly eye within the gloom
�i8
of impenetrable forests. The spiritual ear could indeed be
surprised by the long lost sounds of holy hymns and chants
coming up from mid ocean or stealing from the depths of
holy woods ; but to the outward worldly eye, the sacred
edifice was lost. Personally, I must confess, that that fable
has long been truth to me. The outward church of God
has been lost. But for the inward ear of the spiritual man
there is still audible here and there, far away from ecclesias
tical splendour and carnality, the sweet, tones of bell and
organ and choir, telling us that still the house of God is
with us, that wherever two or three are gathered together
in His name, He is in the midst of them to bless them.
Only He cannot be with any of us unless we are true to
ourselves and the light He has given us!
KIRK, PRINTER, CHAPEL-LANE, HULL.
���
Dublin Core
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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How and why I am a Unitarian: a lecture
Creator
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Smith, J. Frederick
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [s.l.]
Collation: 16 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Inscription on front page: With J.F.S.s kind regards. Delivered in the Bowlalley Lane Chapel, Hull, on Sunday evening, April 12th, 1874. Printed by Kirk, Hull. Bookseller's J.S. Harrison Hull; J. Toplis, Chesterfield.
Publisher
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[s.n.]
Date
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1904
Identifier
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G5373
Subject
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Unitarianism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (How and why I am a Unitarian: a lecture), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Unitarianism