Having now followed the fortunes of the Unitarians up to the point where
they obtained a recognized position among religious organizations, we
need not enter into the minute details of their denominational history.
Less than seventy years have elapsed since the passing of the
Dissenters' Chapels Act, and less than a century since the judgment in
the Dedham case. The congregational increase, though substantial, has
not been great; Unitarians claim rather to have influenced the advance
of thought in other denominations than to have created one more sect. At
present their numerical strength may be estimated from the following
particulars.
In the British Isles and colonial centres there are nearly four hundred
places of worship, and a similar number of ministers; in many cases the
congregations are small, and the list of ministers includes some that
are retired and others who are regarded as 'lay-workers' only. There are
about five hundred ministers and congregations in the United States. Two
or three colleges in England and a similar number in America train
students for the ministry, but many join the ranks from other
denominations. Women are eligible as ministers, but actual instances are
rare. Local unions exist to a fairly adequate extent. In England and
America National Conferences meet at intervals; the Unitarian
Associations continuously publish literature, send out lecturers, and
promote new congregations. There are several periodicals. The most
noteworthy in England is the _Hibbert Journal_, which follows in the
line of other reviews of high standard in past years, and which
specially illustrates the spirit animating a large and influential
section of the body. It is promoted for free and open intercourse
between serious thinkers of all schools of theological and social
philosophy, and is reported to have a circulation quite beyond that of
any similar publication. The 'Hibbert Lectures,' connected with the
trust founded in 1847 for the diffusion of 'Christianity in its simplest
and most intelligible form,' further exemplify the broad interpretation
of this duty. Scholars of different churches have contributed to the
series of volumes well known to religious students. The principle
followed in general is stated in the oft-quoted phrase--'Free Learning
and Free Teaching in Theology.'
It is needful, perhaps, to guard against the inference that the
Unitarian movement is only, or in the main, an intellectual one. Since
1833, in consequence of a visit by _Dr. Joseph Tuckerman_, from Boston,
'Domestic Missions' were founded, to promote the religious improvement
of the neglected poor, and to-day this kind of work still goes on with
much social benefit in our larger cities. Similar benevolence has marked
the American side. Many congregations, too, are composed largely of
working-people, and in recent years a Van Mission has carried the
Unitarian message into the country villages, mining districts, and other
populous parts. These aspects of their activity are apt to be obscured
owing to a pardonable disposition of Unitarianism to point to the 'great
names' associated with their churches. In the American list, for
example, we find Emerson, Longfellow, O.W. Holmes, Bryant,
Hawthorne--Whittier and Lowell had close affinities; Bancroft, Motley,
Prescott, Parkman; Margaret Fuller, Louisa Alcott; and statesmen,
jurists, merchants, and scientists too numerous to set down here.
Obviously, the English side cannot rival such a brilliant roll; the
_élite_ of society has not been here, as in New England, on the side of
the newer theology. Yet English Unitarianism has its eminent names also,
alike in literature, science, politics, philanthropy, and scholarship of
various kinds; and the body is credited with a civic strength out of
proportion to the number of its avowed adherents, while its
philanthropies have been of the same broad and enlightened kind as those
which enrich the American record.