Unitarians, a general name for those bodies of professed Christians who do not fully recognise the equality of the three Persons in the Godhead. The essential errors of Unitarianism, as evangelical Trin-
UNITAS FRATRUM
647 UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST
itarians regard them, are a denial (n) of the true di- vinity of Jesus Christ; and (6) of the inherent and total moral depravity of human nature. These two are claimed to be not simply dogmas, hut facts sustain- ed by observation and history as well as by the plain and constant teachings of the Holy Scriptures. They are intimately correlated to each other; for if Christ be not truly divine, then there is no adequate atone- ment for human sin; and, conversely, if man be not es- sentially a sinner, he needs no such divine Saviour. Hence our Lord in treating with Nicodemus announced the necessity of a radical, moral change as the first and all-important condition of Christianity (John iii, 1-13). Accordingly the doctrine of a spiritual and fundament- al regeneration will be found to be the true touchstone of all evangelical orthodoxy, and those branches of Christendom who lay most stress upon it prove to be the most efiicient in the moral renovation of mankind. Humanitarianism alone can never be more than a neg- ative and powerless, because a really false, view of the actual condition and relation of the race as respects their Creator and Redeemer. See Humanitarians.
In the same summary manner, Unitarians reject, as being to them unpliilosophical and unintelligible, the divinity of the Holy Spirit, a doctrine which all who have passed through the pangs of true contrition into the joys of conscious pardon and heavenly communion find so comforting and necessary to the explanation of their own religious experience (Rom. v, 1-5 ; 1 Cor. ii, 10-14). See Trinity.
While pointing out these, as we deem, radical defects in Unitarianism as a system of Christian faith, we nev- ertheless are bound to bear witness to the literary cult- ure, social refinement, and moral virtues which Unita- rians as a body have exhibited, and to their amenity and ameliorating influence in the defence of civil rights and the general cause of philanthropy. These we at- tribute, however, not so much to their creed as to the hereditary effect of early Puritan training and the pow- er of a sound Christianity diffused tlirough the commu- nity in the midst of which they live and operate. See Unitarianism.
Unitas Fratrum. See Moravians.
United Armenians, a name applied to those Armenian Christians who acknowledge the pope; the orthodox Armenians being called Gregorians. The Armenian rite in the Roman Catholic Church has one patriarch and primate (in Cilicia), four archbishops (at Constantinople, Aleppo, Seleucia or Diarbekir, and Lem- berg), besides two in pai-tibiis, and sixteen bishops. Their union toolc place from 1314 to 1344. They num- ber some 100,000, of whom 78,000 are in Turkey and Persia (20,000 under the archbishop of Constantinople, 56,000 under the patriarch of Cicilia, and 1000 in Mount Lebanon). Austro-Hungary, in 1870, had 8270 United Armenians; Russian Caucasia and Siberia, in 1869, had 13,722. In 1872 a very considerable part of the Turk- ish United Armenians left the Roman Catholic com- munion and joined the Old Catholic movement. See Armknian Church.
United Brethren in Christ, the full title of a body of evangelical Christians in this country.
I. Origin. — In the year 1752, the Rev. Philip William Otterbein (q. v.), a distinguished scholar and missionary in the German Reformed Church, emigrated from Dil- lenberg, in the Duchy of Nassau, Germany, to America. Not long after his arrival in his new field of labor, he became deeply impressed with the necessity of a more thorough work of grace in his heart than he had ever before experienced. Lancaster, Pa., was his first pas- toral charge, and, early in his ministry there, on a cer- tain occasion, he passed from his pulpit to his study, and there remained in earnest prayer until God, in his mercy, poured upon his soul the spirit of grace and power. Mr. Otterbein, from this time forth, preached with an unction which neither he nor his people had
realized before. Having now entered, as it were, upon a new life, he was eminently fitted for a leader. He was calm, dignilied, humble, and devout. After six years of service at Lancaster Mr. Otterbein transferred his labors to Tulpohocken, Pa., at which place he intro- duced evening meetings, and in them read portions of the Bible and exhorted the people to flee from the wrath to come. At this time there was not a Methodist socie- ty in America. The German churches of the land, es- pecially, were simken in lifeless formality'. The "new measures" of Mr. Otterbein brought upon him severe criticisms, if not actual persecution.
While Mr. Otterbein was engaged in enforcing ex- perimental godliness at Tulpohocken, the Rev. Martin Roehm, a zealous Mennonite, was led into the light of a new life. These men were ministers of churches wide- ly different in doctrines and modes of worship. Two awakenings were now in progress — one under the la- bors of Mr, Otterbein in Tulpohocken, the other led by Mr. Boehm in Lancaster County, Pa. During a "great meeting" held in a barn in that county, these two min- isters met for the first time. Mr. Boehm preached the opening sermon in the presence of Mr. Otterbein. As the heart of the preacher warmed with his theme, it kindled a flame in the soul of the other. At the close of the sermon, and before Mr. Boehm could resume his seat, Mr. Otterbein arose, and, embracing the preacher in his arms, exclaimed aloud, "ITe ai-e brethren.'' These words afterwards suggested the name which the denom- ination now bears.