Unitarianism in America: A History of its Origin and DevelopmentCooke, George Willis
History
Unitarianism in America: A History of its Origin and Development
Cooke, George Willis
Unitarianism -- United States
Such details of individual and local opinion as have here been given are
all the more necessary because there was at this time no consensus of
belief on the part of the more liberal men. Each man thought for himself,
but he was very reluctant to depart from the old ways in ritual and
doctrine; and if the ministers consulted with each other, and gave each
other confidential assistance, there was certainly nothing in the way of
public conference or of party assimilation and encouragement. A visitor to
Boston in 1791 wrote of the ministers there that "they are so diverse in
their sentiments that they cannot agree on any point in theology. Some are
Calvinists, some Universalists, some Arminians, and one, at least, is a
Socinian."[40] Another visitor, this time in 1801, found the range of
opinions much wider. In all the ministers of Boston he found only one rigid
Trinitarian; one was a follower of Edwards, several were Arminians, two
were Socinians, one a Universalist, and one a Unitarian.[41] This writer
says it was not difficult to find out what men did not believe, but there
was as yet no public line of demarcation among the clergy. There being no
outward pressure to bring men into uniformity, no institution or body of
men with authority to require assent to a standard of orthodoxy, little
attention was given to merely doctrinal interests. The position taken was
that presented by Rev. John Tucker of Newbury, in the convention sermon of
1768, when he said that no one has any right whatever to legislate in
behalf of Christ, who alone has authority to fix the terms of the Gospel.
He said that, as all believers and teachers of Christianity are "perfectly
upon a level with one another, none of them can have any authority even to
interpret the laws of this kingdom for others, so as to require their
assent to such interpretation." He also declared that as "every Christian
has and must have a right to judge for himself of the true sense and
meaning of all gospel truths, no doctrines, therefore, no laws, no
religious rites, no terms of acceptance with God or of admission to
Christian privileges not found in the gospel, are to be looked upon by him
as any part of this divine system, nor to be received and submitted to as
the doctrines and laws of Christ."[42] Of Rev. John Prince, the minister
of the First Church in Salem during the last years of the century, it was
said that he never "preached distinctly upon any of the points of
controversy which, in his day, agitated the New England churches."[43] The
minister of Roxbury, Rev. Eliphalet Porter, said of the Calvinistic
beliefs, that there was not one of them he considered "essential to the
Christian faith or character."[44]
[Sidenote: King's Chapel becomes Unitarian.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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