In time, however, the two factions came to understand each other better, and in 1892 effective steps were taken to heal the breach. Finally at the meeting of the National Conference in 1894 the constitution was again revised 1 in a way so broad as to satisfy both conservatives and radicals, and it was adopted unanimously by acclamation. With this action the doctrinal differences that had disturbed the peace and hindered the growth of the denomination for over half a century subsided, and have not again arisen; for it is realized that perfect spiritual freedom has been achieved.

From that time on the life of the denomination has been healthy, and its progress in strength, though not rapid, has been steady. Many new churches have been planted in the far West and in the South, as well as on the eastern seaboard; an important missionary enterprise in Japan was undertaken in 1889, and more efficient organization of forces has been steadily won. The forming of the Young People's Religious Union in 1896 was the beginning of a movement of great and increasing importance; and in 1919 the Laymen's League took its place beside the Woman's Alliance and brought undreamed-of vigor into the life of the churches. The organization of the International Congress of Free Christians and Other Religious Liberals in 1900, and of the National Federation of Religious Liberals in 1908, have brought the denomination into active sympathy with kindred movements in other lands and other churches.

At the end of the first hundred years of the American Unitarian Association the Unitarian churches of the country are more than twice as numerous and far more than twice as

1 "These churches accept the religion of Jesus, holding, in accordance with his teaching, that practical religion is summed up in love to God and love to man and we cordially invite to our working fellowship any who, while differing from us in belief, are in general sympathy with our spirit and our practical aims."

strong and well organized as they were when the National Conference was organized. They are far more united in spirit, more positive and wholesome in their thought, and more hopeful of their future than they then were. Their contributions for common work are now more in a single year than they formerly were for many years together, and their annual circulation of books and tracts has been multiplied by twenty. Their share in the work of education, philanthropy, reforms, and public leadership has always been far out of proportion to their numerical strength. Their thought has been so largely assimilated by other denominations that many churches calling themselves orthodox, and holding themselves quite aloof from Unitarians, are now much farther away from Calvinism than Channing was. Yet on the other hand they see great multitudes whose religion seems to belong rather to the eighteenth century than to the twentieth. Much as has been accomplished to spread the enlightenment and the inspiration of liberal Christianity, there seems as yet no end to the work for them still to do; and at the end of their first century's history American Unitarians face the future with clearer vision of their opportunity, with stronger faith in their cause, and with firmer confidence in its destiny, than at any time in the past.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE MEANING AND LESSON OF UNITARIAN HISTORY

We have come to the end of our history. It has been a long story-nearly four centuries, almost as long as that of Protestantism itself. We have followed the course of a movement which has profoundly influenced the religious life of Poland and Transylvania, England and America, has furnished important episodes in that of Italy and Switzerland, Germany and Holland, and has left a lasting impression on the thought and tendencies of the Protestant world. The orthodox Protestantism of the twentieth century, in both its teachings and its spirit, is a far different thing from what it would have been if Servetus, Socinus and David, Lindsey, Priestley and Martineau, Channing and Parker had never lived, and if Calvin and Luther had been suffered to rule the thought and life of their followers unchallenged and uncriticized. In so far as the religious life of our time is comparatively free, reasonable, and tolerant, and lays greater stress upon personal character and lives of service than upon the doctrines of theology, the pioneers and prophets of the movement whose course we have been tracing deserve much more credit than has generally been given them.

Now that we have heard the story, what is the real meaning of it all? It has not been merely a long attempt to substitute one set of doctrines for another. That has often

been involved in it, it is true; but beneath all this has been something far deeper and more important. For if men are to change their beliefs from one age to another, as they get new light or discover new truth, their minds must be left free in their search, and not be barred in this direction or that; nor can their new beliefs be shared with others unless there is also freedom of speech and of press. Hence the first thing that has characterized this history has been its steady tendency toward perfect spiritual freedom. When creeds or dogmas were opposed, it was not more because they were disbelieved than because they stood in the way of freedom of thought in religion with a “thus far but no further," and because free spirits were unwilling that other men should forbid them to judge for themselves as to the teachings of the Bible or of their own consciences. Unitarianism, then, has meant first of all religious freedom and escape from bondage to creeds; and throughout their whole history Unitarians have stedfastly refused to set up any creed, even the shortest, as a test which must be passed by those who would join them.

Yet freedom may go wild unless it is guided by some wholesome principle. This principle Unitarians have found in the use of reason in religion; and this has been their second main point of emphasis. They have believed that God would most safely and surely lead them into more truth when they most used the faculties he has given them for discerning truth from error. They have therefore seen little cause to follow traditions from the past simply because they were old, unless they could show good reason for being. At first they were content to ask simply whether doctrines could be supported by Scripture; but at length they came to realize that even what the Bible teaches is merely what men of olden time thought and felt and did,

and that reason and conscience must decide for us whether their ways must be ours, or whether we must come to fresh convictions, experiences, and principles for our own new time.

Once again, Unitarians were not long in discovering that if they were to claim for themselves the right of full freedom of belief and of teaching in religion, they must of course grant similar freedom to others. It was at first hard for them to accept the consequences of this principle, and for a time they yielded to the temptation to repress or to cast out from their number those who seemed to them to go too far from familiar ways; but they eventually saw that there can be no perfect freedom in religion unless there is perfect mutual toleration. And this was well; for just as truth can be trusted in the long run and in a fair field to stand on its own merits without fear or favor, so it may be trusted that error will in the end be discovered, and will certainly perish of itself.

It is the emphasis on these things, far more than on any mere Unitarian doctrines, that during nearly four centuries have more and more given Unitarianism its distinctive character; and perhaps the most that need be said about those doctrines is that they are the ones that men will be most likely to come to when their minds are left unbiased and free in relation to religion, when they make unhindered use of reason in thinking about religion, and when entire religious toleration is given them. Yet after these points are gained, something still remains. What is religion for, practically, any way, and what is the final test of it? The Unitarian answer has consistently been that the true test of a good religion is not orthodoxy of belief, but that it is to be found in the kind of characters it produces; and that we do not realize its whole purpose until we get beyond