Our Unitarian Gospel | Page 5

this, that certain fallible,
unjust, uneducated, barbaric people have said that God has done certain
things, then it is another matter. I have no direct word from God: I have
only the report of men whose authority I have no adequate reason to
accept.
At any rate, the world came to the point where it demanded that
goodness on earth should be goodness up in heaven, too; that God
should at least be as just and fair as we expect men to be. And that, if
you will think it out a little carefully, is enough to revolutionize the
theology of the world; for the picture of the character of God as
contained in the old theologies is even horribly unjust, as judged by any
human standard.
In the third place, Unitarianism sprang out of a new elevation of love
and tenderness. As men became more and more civilized, they became
more tender-hearted; and they found it impossible to believe that the
Father in, heaven should not be as kind and loving as the best father on
earth.
And here, again, if you think it out, you will find that this is enough to
compel a revolution of all the old theological ideas of the world.

Just as soon, then, as the civilized modern world became free, there was
a new expansion of the sense of the right to think; there was a new
expansion of conscience, the insistent demand for justice; there was a
new expansion of tenderness and love; and out of these, characterized
by these, having these in one sense for its very soul and body, came
Unitarianism.
Now another point. It is commonly assumed by those who have not
studied the matter that, because Unitarians have no printed and
published creed, they are all abroad in their thinking. They take this for
granted; and so it is assumed by people who speak to me on the subject.
They think that there must be just as many views of things as there are
individuals.
If there are any persons here having this idea, perhaps I shall astonish
them by the statement I am going to make. After more than twenty
years of experience as a Unitarian minister, I have come to the
conviction that there is not a body of Christians in the world to-day, not
Catholic or Presbyterian or Methodist or Congregational or any other,
that is so united in its purposes, not only, but in its beliefs, as these very
Unitarians.
And the fact is perfectly natural. Take the scientific men of the world.
They do not expect a policeman after them if they do not hold certain
scientific opinions. There is no authority to try them for heresy or to
turn them out of your society unless they hold certain scientific ideas.
They have no sense of compulsion except to find and accept that which
they discover to be true. The one aim of science is the truth. There is no
motive for anything else.
And truth being one, mark you, and they being free to seek for it, and
all of them caring simply for that, they naturally come together,
inevitably come together. So that, without any external power or
orthodox compulsion, the scientific men of the world are substantially
at one as to all the great principles. They discuss minor matters; but,
when they discuss, they are simply hunting for a deeper truth, not
trying to conquer each other.

Now Unitarians are precisely in this position. The only thing any of us
desire is the truth. We are perfectly free to seek for the truth; and, the
truth being one, we naturally tend towards it, and, tending towards it,
we come together. So there is, as I said, greater unanimity of opinion in
regard to the great essential points among Unitarians than among any
other body in Christendom.
Now, as briefly as I can, I want to analyze what I regard as the
fundamental principles of Unitarianism. I am not going to give you a
creed, I am not going to give you my creed: I am going to give you the
great fundamental principles which characterize and distinguish
Unitarians.
First, liberty, freedom of the individual to think, think as he will or
think as he must; but not liberty for the sake of itself. Liberty for the
sake of finding the truth; for we believe that people will be more likely
to find the truth if they are free to search for it than they will if they are
threatened or frightened, or if they are compelled to come to certain
preordained conclusions that have been settled for them. Freedom, then,
for the sake of finding the truth.
Second, God. The deep-down conviction that wisdom, power, love, that
is, God, is at the