81 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Union, Ecclesiastical Unitarians
SSS
establishment of a new Evangelical Christian Church by the amalgamation of two sundered Protestant bodies. In the cabinet order of Feb. 28, 1834, union abrogated nothing, and implied only a spirit of toleration which was unwilling to allow individual points of doctrine to form a barrier to external religious unity. Denominational tendencies within the union reached their climax in the cabinet order of Mar. 6, 1852, enacting that the supreme Protestant ecclesiastical council was empowered to represent the Evangelical national church as a whole, and to maintain and protect the rights of the different confessions and the institutions based on these confessions, adding that, in matters which could be determined only on the basis of one of the two confessions, decisions should be rendered not according to the votes of all members, but only of those belonging to the denomination concerned. The development of the organization of the national church in Prussia since 1873 has exercised no direct influence on union, since it was explicitly declared that this organization did not concern union or denominational position. Indirectly, however, it has doubtless strengthened union.
The men who proposed and the churches that accepted union committed no wrong, injustice first beginning when those of different convictions were . prevented from acting accordingly.
5. Present But the problem becomes more diffi- Situation. cult when the right or wrong of Protestant union is considered. This has
been a moot question for over three centuries, and it is more than probable that it will never definitely be answered, for its solution depends not on objective facts, but on judgment concerning the value of unity and. definiteness of the Church’s teaching and on the uniformity of ecclesiastical ordinances. This judgment necessarily varies according to the individual, and absolute uniformity of thought and conduct is impossible, however great the general consensus of opinion may be. Both the advocates and the opponents of union had a certain degree of justification, and the fact that the opponents of the movement prevailed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was due to the conditions of the time. Though at the present there is little likelihood that union in Germany will extend beyond its present limits, the advocates of union seem to be in the ascendency. No national church denominationally Lutheran can maintain a hostile attitude toward the Reformed, and in almost every church the Reformed are admitted to the Lord’s Supper as guests, the few exceptions being due to the objections of the pastors rather than of the congregations. Extended association with members of other denominations has tended to lessen sectarian distinctions by revealing the many points of mutual belief, and progress in theological thought has led to a complete transformation of the sectarian spirit prevailing in the sixteenth century. In proportion, therefore, as the points of agreement between the Lutherans and the Reformed have gained general recognition, decreasing stress has been laid on the points of divergency. Nevertheless, the distinctive tenets of the two bodies, which are more than eucharistic divergencies, still remain. Union
XII.—6
has obviously failed to remove them, and, in the
present condition of affairs, they seem destined to
remain permanently. (A. Hauck.)
Brsuiograpuy: K. I. Nitzsch, Urkundenbuch der evangelischen Union, Bonn, 1853; J. G. Scheibel, Aktenméssige Geschichte der neuesten Unternehmung einer Union, Leipsic, 1834; idem, Mitteilungen tiber die neueste Geschichte der lutherischen Kirche, ib. 1835-36; K. W. Hering, Geschichte der kirchlichen Unionsversuche, 2 parts, ib. 1836- 1838; A. G. Rudelbach, Reformation, Lutherthum und Union, ib. 1839; R. F. Eylert, Charakterziige aus dem Leben Friedrich Wilhelm III., part iii., Magdeburg, 1846; J. Miiller, Die evangelische Union, thr Wesen und géttliches Recht, Berlin, 1854; F. J. Stahl, Die lutherische Kirche und die Union, ib. 1859; T. Wangemann, Sieben Biicher preussischen Kirchengeschichte, ib. 1859-60; idem, Die preussische Union in ihrem Verhiltnis zur Una sancta, ib. 1884; idem, Die kirchliche Kabinetspolitik Friedrich Witlhelms III., ib. 1884; K. H. Sack, Die evangelische Kirche und die Union, Bremen, 1861; F. Brandes, Geschichte der kirchlichen Politik des Hauses Brandenburg, Gotha, 1872; C. O. Firnhaber, Die evangelische kirchliche Union in Nassau, Wiesbaden, 1895; E. Férster, Die Entstehung der preussischen Landeskirche, 2 vols., Tubingen, 1905-07.
UNION, HYPOSTATIC. See Curistotoey, VI., § 1; Trinity, II. UNITARIANS. Modern Doctrinal Position (§ 1). Early and Medieval Unitarianism (§ 2). In Poland and Hungary (§ 3). British Unitarianism (§ 4). Unitarianism in America (§ 5). Genius of Unitarianism (§ 6).
Constituting an undogmatic religious fellowship, Unitarians have no formal creed. Freedom in church as in university is their funda-
1. Modern mental principle. Their ideal is the Doctrinal cultivation of spiritual life in a free Position. fellowship under the authority of reason and conscience. Their churches
are constituted by a covenant of common purpose, the form of covenant recommended by the national conference in the United States being: ‘‘in the love of truth and the spirit of Jesus Christ we unite for the worship of God and the service of man.” Without the constraint of creed Unitarians agree in affirmations of faith. Having abandoned the doctrine of man’s total depravity and moral inability, they assert the dignity, worth, and spiritual capacity of human nature. Affirming the pure humanity of Jesus they cherish an enthusiastic veneration for him as a supreme instance of man’s religious experience of God and as an inspiring prophet of a free and spiritual religion of love to God and man. Having early declared sound reason and historical interpretation to be the standards for the use of Scripture, Unitarians have fully adopted the methods and conclusions of Biblical criticism and value the Bible thus studied as a classic record of man’s religious experience. Having discarded the Calvinist limitation of divine grace, Unitarians reaffirmed the Gospel faith in the universal loving fatherhood of God and have related that faith to their view of human nature. Man is seen as bound to God by kinship of being, impelled by his own nature to seek communion with God and destined to enjoy God’s constant indwelling presence with a consciousness like that of Christ. Salvation means the attainment of this divinely intended character of sonship to God in a perfect likeness to the divine
Unitarians