after took up the task of erecting the desired building. The initiative was
taken at a meeting of the club held December 13, 1882, when Mr. Henry P.
Kidder offered to head a subscription for this purpose with the sum of
$10,000. The proposal was received with much enthusiasm, and a committee
was appointed, consisting of Henry P. Kidder, Charles Faulkner, Charles W.
Eliot, William Endicott, Jr., Francis H. Brown, M.D., Dr. John Cordner,
Arthur T. Lyman, Henry Grew, Thomas Gaffield, and Rev. Grindall Reynolds,
to whom authority was given to raise funds, purchase a lot, and erect a
building. It was arranged by this committee that the Association should
contribute $50,000 from the sale of its Tremont Place building, and that
the club should raise $150,000. Subscriptions were opened February 9, 1883;
and in November over $154,000 had been secured. A suitable lot was
purchased at the corner of Beacon and Bowdoin Streets, and the erection of
the building was begun in 1884. A prolonged labor strike delayed the
completion of the building, so that the service of its dedication, which
had been arranged for the evening of May 25, 1886, was held in Tremont
Temple. The presiding officer on that occasion was George William Curtis;
and addresses were made by Drs. Frederic H. Hedge, Andrew P. Peabody, and
Horatio Stebbins. In July the building was occupied by the Association.
"The denominational house is but brick and stone," said Mr. Reynolds in his
report of 1886; "but it is brick and stone which testify to the new hope,
vigor, life, which have been coming in these later years into our body, and
without which it could not have been reared. It is brick and stone which
are the pledges of a noble future, which stimulate to good work, and
furnish the means of doing it."[5]
[Sidenote: Growth of the Devotional Spirit.]
The last twenty years of the nineteenth century saw an increased use of the
simpler Christian rites in Unitarian churches. In that time a distinct
advance was made in the acceptableness of the communion service, and
probably in the number of those willing to join in its observance. The
abandonment of its mystical features and its interpretation as a simple
memorial service, that would help to cherish loved ones gone hence, and the
saintly and heroic of all ages, as well as the one great leader of the
Christian body, has given it for Unitarians a new spiritual effectiveness.
The same causes have led to the adoption of the rite of confirmation in a
considerable number of churches. Gradually the idea has grown that what
Rev. Sylvester Judd called "the birthright church" is the true one, and
that it is desirable that all children should be religiously trained, and
admitted to the church at the age of adolescence. Mr. Judd gave noble
utterance to this conception of a church in a series of sermons published
after his death,[6] as well as in a sermon prepared for the Thursday
lecture in Boston.[7] The same idea was elaborated by Rev. Cyrus A.
Bartol in his Church and Congregation: A Plea for their Unity,[8] wherein
he contended for the union of church and parish, the opening of the
communion to all as a rite accepted by the whole congregation, and not by a
few church members, and the education of children as constituent members of
the church from birth.
It was not until much later, however, that the rite of confirmation came
into use,[9] largely because of the interpretations of the purposes and
methods of Christian nurture presented by Bushnell, Bartol, and Judd. This
rite could have meaning only as the expression of social responsibility on
the part of parents and church alike, that true religion is not merely a
question of individual opinion, but that there is high worth in those
spiritual forces that are carried forward from generation to generation,
and must descend from parent to child if they have effective power. In a
word, the use of the confirmation rite is an abandonment of extreme
individualism, and is an acceptance of the socialistic conception of
spiritual development.[10] This is distinctly a return to the conception
of a church maintained by Solomon Stoddard at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, and to that broader Congregationalism he desired to see
established throughout New England. It was also theoretically that of the
Puritan founders of New England, who maintained that all children Of church
members were also members of the church, but who inconsistently insisted
upon a supernatural conversion in order to full membership. It is even more
positively an acceptance of the theory of Christian nurture held by the
Catholic and the Episcopal churches. That theory is based on the social
conception of the church, that it is an organic body, and that every child
is born into it and is to be trained as a member by nature and by right.
There has also been a marked change in the forms of Sunday worship,
especially in the general adoption of responsive readings or more elaborate
rituals. The tendency has been away from the bare and unattractive service
of the Puritan churches, which was the acme of individualism in worship,
towards the more social conception that brings the whole congregation to
join in the act and in the spirit of devotion. This social conception of
worship had its first distinct expression in a Unitarian church when James
Freeman Clarke organized the Church of the Disciples, in 1843.[11] His
example was a potent force in introducing into many churches a richer and
more expressive form of worship. Another influence was that of Samuel
Longfellow, who became the minister of the Second Unitarian Church in
Brooklyn, in 1853. He soon after introduced vesper services in place of the
second sermon in the afternoon, making them largely devotional in their
character. "His own taste and deep feeling were largely a condition of the
full success of the vespers," says his biographer, "which were seldom
elsewhere so impressive or seemed so genuine as a devotional act. They
needed, for their perfect effect, the influence of a leader with whom
worship was an habitual mental attitude, and who, combined with the
instinct of religion the art of a poet and of a musician."[12] The form of
service thus initiated was adopted in many other churches, and slowly had
its influence in giving greater beauty and spiritual expressiveness to
worship in Unitarian churches.
About 1885 the tendency to adopt a more social and a more aesthetic form of
worship came to assert itself more distinctly. To its furtherance Rev.
Howard N. Brown gave, perhaps, greater emphasis than any other person; but
there were others who took an active part in the movement. The old
Congregational demand for simplicity, however, was very great; and there
was strong feeling against anything like ritualism. The use of some kind of
liturgy became quite general in the face of this objection, and a
considerable number of books of a semi-ritual character were published. The
most elaborate work of this nature was compiled by a committee appointed by
the Unitarian Association, and published by it in 1891. What is to be
recognized in this tendency is not the more general use of liturgies,
however simple or however elaborate, but the growth in Unitarian churches
of the worshipping spirit. With the development of a rational theology
there has been a corresponding evolution of a simple but earnest attitude
of devotion.
The devotional spirit of Unitarians, however, has found its most emphatic
and beautiful expression in religious hymns and poems. The older Unitarian
piety found voice in the hymns of the younger Henry Ware, Norton, Pierpont,
Frothingham, Peabody, Lunt, Bryant, and many others. It was rational and
yet Christian, simple in sentiment and yet it found in the New Testament
traditions its themes and its symbolisms. Then followed the older
transcendentalists, who sought in the inward life and the soul's oneness
with God the chief motives to spiritual expression. The hymns and the
religious poems of Furness, Hedge, Longfellow, Johnson, Clarke, Very,
Brooks, and Miss Scudder,[13] have an interior and spiritual quality
seldom found in devotional poetry. They are not the mere utterances of
conventional sentiments or the repetition of ecclesiastical symbolisms, but
the voicing of deep inward experiences that reveal and interpret the true
life of the soul. Of the same character are the hymns and religious poems
of Gannett, Hosmer, and Chadwick, who have but accentuated the tendencies
of their predecessors. It is the more radical theology that has voiced
itself in the religious songs of these men, but with a mystical or
spiritual insight that fits them to the needs of all devout, worshippers.
It is these genuinely poetical interpretations of the spiritual life that
most often claim utterance in song on the part of Unitarian congregations.
A body of worshippers that can produce such a hymnology must possess a
large measure of genuine piety and devotion.
[Sidenote: The Seventy-fifth Anniversary.]
Many of the tendencies of the Unitarian movement found utterance on the
occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the American Unitarian
Association. The meetings were held in Tremont Temple, May 22, 1900; and
the attendance was large and enthusiastic, many persons coming from distant
parts of the country. This meeting brought into full expression the
denominational consciousness, and showed the harmony that had been secured
as the result of the controversies of many years. As never before, it was
realized that the Unitarian body has a distinct mission, that it has
organic and vital power, and that its individual members are united by a
common faith for the promotion of the interests of a rational and
humanitarian religion.
This was also a notable occasion because it brought together
representatives from nearly all the countries in which Unitarianism exists
in an organized form, thus clearly indicating that it is a cosmopolitan
movement, and not one of merely local significance. At the morning session
addresses were made by the representatives from Hungary, Great Britain,
Germany, Belgium, India, and Japan. In the afternoon addresses were
delivered by the missionaries of the Association. Other meetings of much
interest were held during the week, that were of value as interpretations
of the past of Unitarianism in this country.
During this anniversary week, on May 26, 1900, upon the suggestion of Rev.
S.A. Eliot, there was organized The International Council of Unitarian and
Other Liberal Religious Thinkers and Workers, its object being "to open
communication with those in all lands who are striving to unite pure
religion and perfect liberty, and to increase fellowship and co-operation
among them." Professor J. Estlin Carpenter, of Oxford, England, was
selected as the president, and Rev. Charles W. Wendte, who shortly after
became the minister of the Parker Memorial in Boston, was made the
secretary. The executive committee included representatives from the United
States, Great Britain, Japan, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and
Switzerland. The first annual meeting was held in London, May 30 and 31,
1901, with delegates present from the above-named countries, as well as
from Holland, Norway, India, Denmark, Australia, and Canada.[14]
The anniversary exercises, as well as the organization of the International
Council, gave concrete emphasis to the growing interest in Unitarian ideas
and principles in many parts of the world. They gave the sense of a large
fellowship, and kindled new enthusiasm. As interpreted by these meetings,
the Unitarian name has largely ceased to be one of merely theological
signification, and has come to mean "an endeavor to unite for common and
unselfish endeavors all believers in pure religion and perfect
liberty."[15]
[1] The Unitarian, June, 1887, II. 156. For historical accounts of this
controversy see Mrs. S.C.Ll. Jones's Western Unitarian Conference:
Its Work and its Mission, Unity Mission Tract, No. 38; W.C. Gannett's
The Flowering of Christianity, Lesson XII., Part IV.; and The
Unitarian, II. and III. A Western Unitarian Association was organized
in Chicago, June 21, 1886. Some of the older and leading churches
were connected with it, including those at Meadville, Ann Arbor,
Louisville, Shelbyville, Church of the Messiah and Unity in Chicago,
Church of the Messiah in St. Louis, Keokuk, and others. Hon. George
W. McCrary was elected the president, and Mrs. Jonathan Slade the
recording secretary. In October, 1887, Rev. George Batchelor became
the Western agent of the American Unitarian Association. He was
succeeded the next year by Rev. George W. Cutter. In September, 1890,
Rev. T.B. Forbush was made the Western superintendent of the American
Unitarian Association, with headquarters in Chicago; and he held this
position until 1896. During the period covered by these dates Rev.
J.R. Effinger was the general missionary of the Western Unitarian
Conference, and he was succeeded by Rev. F.L. Hosmer and Rev. A.W.
Gould. In 1896 the Western churches were reunited in the Western
Conference, and its secretary has been the superintendent of the
American Unitarian Association. As defining the position of the
American Unitarian Association during this period of controversy, it
may be recalled that in June, 1886, the directors adopted a
resolution, in which they said they "would regard it as a subversion
of the purpose for which its funds have been contributed, as well as
of the principles cherished by its officers, to give assistance to
any church or organization which does not rest emphatically on the
Christian basis."
[2] New England, Middle States and Canada, Western States, Southern
States, and Pacific Coast.
[3] These loans are made without interest under established conditions,
one of which is that they must be repaid in ten annual instalments.
[4] Annual Report of 1873, 7.
[5] The building seemed to be ample, when it was first occupied, for any
growth that was likely to be made for many years to come. At the
present time, only sixteen years later, it is crowded; and an
extension is urgently demanded. It does not now afford room for the
work required, and much of that work is done at a considerable
disadvantage because of the want of room. The promise for the
immediate future is that much more room will be required in order to
facilitate the growing work of the Association.
[6] The Church: in a Series of Sermons, Boston, 1857.
[7] The Birthright Church: A Discourse, printed for the Association of
the Unitarian Church of Maine, Augusta, 1854. Mr. Judd's conception
of the church as a social organism was shown in the name given to the
organization formed under his leadership in 1852, called The
Association of the Unitarian Church in Maine. In the preamble to the
constitution he wrote: "We, the Unitarian Christians of Maine,
ourselves, and our posterity are a Church.... We are a church, not of
creeds, but of the Bible; not of sect, but of humanity; seeking not
uniformity of dogma, but communion in the religious life. We embrace
in our fellowship all who will be in fellowship with us." In defining
a local church, he says: "These Christians, with their families,
uniting for religious worship, instruction, growth, and culture,
having the ordinances and a pastor, constitute a parochial church."
[8] Boston, 1858.
[9] Probably Dr. William G. Eliot, of St. Louis, was the first Unitarian
minister to make a systematic use of this rite. He prepared a brief
manual for use in his church, the preface to which bears date of
December 6, 1868. Seth C. Beach, while minister in Dedham, printed a
paper on the subject in the Unitarian Review, January, 1886. He held
a confirmation service in the Dedham church, April 25, 1886. At a
meeting of the Western Sunday School Society, held in Cincinnati, May
12, 1889, Rev. John C. Learned, read a paper on The Sacrament of
Confirmation.
[10] The views of Bartol and Judd are appropriate to a state church,
wherein they first found expression; and their motive is always
distinctly social.
[11] Life of J.F. Clarke, by E.E. Hale, 145
[12] Memoir of Samuel Longfellow, by Joseph May, 193.
[13] Miss Scudder's best hymns were all written while she was a Unitarian.
Unitarian hymnology has been nobly treated by Dr. Alfred P. Putnam,
in his Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith, Boston, 1875. It is
understood that he is preparing a second volume. The tendency to a
deeper recognition of the spirit of worship has found fitting
expression in The Spiritual Life: Studies of Devotion and Worship,
George H. Ellis, 1898.
[14] The addresses and papers of this meeting were published under the
title of Liberal Religious Thought at the Beginning of the Twentieth
Century, London, 1901. They give the most complete account yet
published of the various liberal movements in many parts of the
world, and the book is one of great interest and value.
[15] From the first circular of the International Council.
X.
THE MINISTRY AT LARGE.
One of the most important of the philanthropies undertaken by the early
Unitarians was the ministry to the poor and unchurched in Boston, usually
known as the ministry at large. It began in 1822, came under the direction
of the American Unitarian Association and the shaping hand of Dr. Joseph
Tuckerman in 1826, and was taken in charge by the Benevolent Fraternity of
Churches in 1834. It was not begun by Tuckerman, though its origin is
usually attributed to him. Even before 1822 attempts had been made to
establish missions amongst the poor by the evangelical denominations; but
their work was not thoroughly organized, and it had reached no efficient
results when Tuckerman entered upon his labors. The work of Tuckerman was
to take up what had been tentatively begun by others, give it a definite
purpose and method, and so to inform it with his own genius for charity
that it became a great philanthropy in its intent and in its methods.
[Sidenote: Association of Young Men.]
When the Hancock Grammar School-house in the north end of Boston was being
erected, a young man, in passing it on a September evening, said to a
companion, "Why cannot we have a Sunday-school here?" The proposition was
received with favor, and the two discussed plans while they continued their
walk. They met frequently to mature their methods of procedure, and they
invited others to join them in the undertaking. On the evening of October
2, 1822, these two young men--Frederick T. Gray and Benjamin H. Greene--met
with Moses Grant, William P. Rice, and others, to give more careful
consideration to their purpose of forming a society for mutual religious
improvement.[1]
These young men met with little encouragement, and for some time there was
small prospect of their succeeding in their undertaking. They continued to
meet weekly, however; and on November 27 they formed The Association of
Young Men for their own Mutual Improvement and for the Religious
Instruction of the Poor. In 1824 the name was changed to The Association
for Religious Improvement. The members met at each other's houses weekly,
for the purpose of considering topics which related to their own personal
improvement or to the wants of the community, always keeping in view the
fact that their own religious growth must lie at the foundation of any
great good which could be done by them for society. By degrees their number
increased; and during the six years following, as appears from the records,
the subjects to which their meetings were successively devoted were the
desirableness of employing a missionary and building a mission-house, the
condition and wants of vagrant children, the diffusion of Christianity in
India, the importance of issuing tracts and other religions publications,
the means and best method of improving our state prisons, the utility of
forming a Unitarian Association, the best means to be adopted to abolish
intemperance, the character of theatrical entertainments, the want of
infant schools, and the best methods which could be taken to aid in the
promotion of peace. All of these subjects were then comparatively new, and
they were but just beginning to attract attention. Their importance was by
no means generally understood, and least of all was the place which they
were soon to occupy in public estimation anticipated.[2] The Association
was discontinued in December, 1835.
[Sidenote: Preaching to the Poor.]
One of the first enterprises entered upon by this society was the securing
of preaching for the poor and those connected with no religious
organization. In this effort they had the co-operation of the younger Henry
Ware, then the minister of the Second Church, and of John G. Palfrey, then
the minister of the Brattle Street Church. In November, 1822, Henry Ware
began these meetings; and four series of them were held throughout the
winter, in Charter Street, in Hatters' or Creek Square, in Pitts Court, and
in Spring Street. The Charter Street meetings were at first held in a room
of a primary school, and then in a small chapel that had been built by a
benevolent man for teaching and preaching purposes. In this place Mr. Ware
was assisted by Dr. Jenks of the Christian denomination, and the chapel was
afterwards occupied by the latter as a minister at large. The meetings in
Pitts Court were also held in a school-room. Those in Hatters' Square
occupied a room in a large tenement house and "here the accommodations, and
probably the audience, were of a humbler character than elsewhere."[3]
[Sidenote: Tuckerman as Minister to the Poor.]
Early in the year 1826 Dr. Joseph Tuckerman expressed his willingness to
devote himself to this ministry; and the American Unitarian Association was
appealed to, that the necessary financial support might be secured. Dr.
Tuckerman had been for twenty-five years the parish minister in Chelsea,
but his health was such that he had been obliged to relinquish that
position. On September 4 the sum of $600 was appropriated to the support of
Dr. Tuckerman for one year as a missionary among the poor in Boston; and
Ware, Barrett, and Gannett were made a committee to ascertain what amount
of money could be raised for this purpose. It was thought wise not to use
the regular funds of the Association for so special and local an object.
The women of the Boston churches were therefore appealed to in behalf of
this cause; and during the first year contributions were received from
those connected with the congregations of the Brattle Street, Federal
Street, West, New South, New North, Twelfth, and Chauncey Place Churches,
amounting to $712. These contributions by the women of the churches were
continued until the Benevolent Fraternity was organized.
Tuckerman entered upon his work November 5, 1826. On the evening of that
day he met with the Association for, Religious Improvement, and discussed
with its members the work to be undertaken. He began at once the visiting
of the poor and the study of their condition in the several parts of the
city, though confining himself largely to the north end. In making his
first quarterly report to the Unitarian Association, February 5, 1827, he
said that he had taken fifty families into his pastoral charge. He had
given special attention to the children, had arranged that those should be
sent to school who had not previously attended, and provided them with
shoes and clothes where these were necessary. He had also aided the sick,
provided necessaries for those who were helpless and deserving, secured
work for those out of employment, and given religious consolation and
correction where these were required.