UNITED SYNOD
656
UNIVERSALISM
Lake region and the Mississippi valley from France. See Roman Catholic Ciiuucii in the United States. The Quakers (q. v.) originated in England, and found their waj' among the American colonists. They found- ed large and flourishing colonies of their own, and prop- agated their doctrines witli unprecedented zeal.
II. Ecclesiastical Statistics. — These are given in de- tail under each denominational hea<l in this Cyclopadia. Their aggregate is presented in tabular form at the foot of the preceding page, and is made up from the census of 1880 and other sources.
United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. See Presuvtehian Churches, 16.
United Syrians, one of the Syrian churches which dates from the 17th century, when a numerous party under Andreas Achigian, their first patriarch, se- ceded from the Jacobites, and acknowledged the au- thority of the pope. They have a patriarch at Aleppo, styled patriarch of Antioch; and archbishops of Aleppo, Babylon, Damascus, and Seleucia, besides eleven bishops. TheV number about 30,000. See Syrian Churches.
Unity, as a philosophical term, signifies mieness. Aristotle makes it the element of number, and defines it as indivisibleness. In the Kantian philosophy it is defined as "that mental representation in the under- standing by which the manifold is thought of as linked together." It is by the same authority classified as analytic, OT unit}' of a logical connection; and synthetic, or unity of intentions in the concept of an object.
As a theological term, unity is employed to signi- fy a oneness whether of sentiment, affection, or behav- ior (Psa. cxxxiii, 1). The " unity of the faith" is an equal belief of the same great truths of God, and the possession of the grace of faith in a similar form and degree (Eph. iv, 13). The " unity of the spirit" is that union between Christ and his saints by which the same divine spirit dwells in both, and they have the same disposition and aims; and that unity of the saints among themselves by which, being joined to the same head, and having the same spirit dwelling in them, the}' have the same graces of faith, hope, love, etc., and are rooted and grounded in the same doctrine of Christ, and bear a mutual affection to each other. When Christian unit}' is spoken of in the New Test., it generally means the unity of dispensation fur the various classes of con- verts. It is expressive of the great principle that all were to be under one fold and one Shepherd.
UXITY OF THE Church is a phrase employed to denote that all true believers are "one body in Christ." The Church is not to be considered as one on account of the common origin of the different societies, but be- cause they were formed on common principles. There is no necessity for a visible head, as is now claimed by the Church of Rome, in order to unite all parts of the universal Church into one communion; nor is it nec- essary that the whole Church should agree in all rites, ceremonies, and observances in order to the same result. The circumstance of its having one common head, Christ, one Spirit, one Father, are points of unitj' which no more make the Church one society on earth than the circumstance of all men having the same Cre- ator, and being derived from the same original pair, renders the human race one political community. The scriptural representations of this unity of believers in Christ is thus summarized by Chrysostom : " He is the head, we are the body; he is the foundation, we are the building; he is the vine, we are the branches; he is the bridegroom, we are the bride ; he is the shepherd, we are the sheep; he is the way, we are the travellers; we are the temple, he the inhabitant; he is the first-born, we are the brothers; he is the heir, we are the co-heirs; he is the life, we are the living. These things are man- ifesth' one." The unity of the Church is not so much an accomplished fact as the original design would have it, nor as must be in the future. The intimacy of this union is indicated in our Saviour's intercessory prayer,
in which he asks that the members of this body may be one, as he and the Father are one. See Neander, Hist, of the Church, i, 180, 181 ; Hagenbach, llist.oJ'Doct. i, IDo ; Bingham, Ch. A ntiq. bk. vi, ch. iii ; bk. xvi, ch. i.
UNITY OF God is a term used to denote that there is but one God or self-existent being. The unity of God is argued from his self-existence, his independence, the perfection of his nature, his omnipotence, and the unity of design in the works of nature. The doctrine was lost sight of by heathens, and maintained by Israel and in the Gospel. The Scriptures make no attempt to prove the doctrine, but assert it unequivocally. See Exod. XX, 3; Deut. iv, 35; vi, 4; Psa. Ixxxvi, 10; 1 Cor. viii, 4, 6, etc. AVhen the doctrine of the Trinity (q. V.) was forrwdated, it became necessary for the Church to declare that this does not conflict with the doctrine of his unity. See Hagenbach, Hist, of Doct, i, 102, 330; Van Oosterzee, Christian Dogmatics, i, 250.