A study of the sects

Preface

This manual has been prepared at the request of the Unitarian Sunday-School Society for the use of the older classes in the schools to which that valuable body ministers. It may also be found useful to adult readers. Its aim is to present on the one hand a just and sympathetic account of the history and beliefs of the various bodies considered, and on the other hand to show plainly wherein Unitarians differ from them ; to counteract the bigotry and conceit from which Unitarians have by no means freed themselves, and at the same time to show, how weak and inconsistent is the position of those Unitarians who are anxious to have it understood that there is not, after all, much difference between them and their Evangelical brethren. The fundamental idea of this book is that the difference between the two parties is as great as that between the Evangelicals and the Catholics, or would be if our Orthodox friends would stand still long enough to be photographed distinctly. The study of this subject and the consultations I have had with various representative men have surprised me by revealing the state of confusion and change in which all beliefs except those of the Roman Catholics now exist. Few of those who claim to hold the faith of their fathers are aware how far they have

IV PREFACE. •

drifted from that faith, or what chameleon powers words have to assimilate themselves to the mental environment of succeeding generations.

Realizing the danger of misrepresenting the beliefs of others, I have submitted, so far as I could, the various chapters to revision by prominent members or friends of the sects treated in them, and have in every case accepted the corrections made. This is true of the chapters on the Jews, Roman Catholics (doctrine only), Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists, Friends, Universalists, Unitarians, and Spiritualists. I am thus indebted to the Rev. Messrs. Raphael Lasker, Richard Neagle, L. W. Saltonstall, A. L. Plumb, D.D., R. J. Adams, Bishop R. S. Foster, D.D., C. C. Hussey, E. L. Rexford, D.D., Grindall Reynolds, and M. J. Savage.

The entire chapter on the Society for Ethical Culture was written by Mr. W. M. Salter, and the doctrinal part of the one on the New Church by the Rev. J. K. Smyth. I am also greatly indebted to the Rev. H. G. Spaulding, Secretary of the Sunday-School Society, for many suggestions and much aid in putting the book through the press, and to the unknown but acute and learned proof-readers of the University Press for valuable corrections in both form and matter.

The word sect is used in no invidious sense, but as a convenient term for the parts into which the Christian body is actually divided or dissected. The words Evangelical, Orthodox, and the like are employed in their popular sense, without any concession of their literal truth ; nor must the word Liberal be construed as implying that the onl} T liberality in religion is to be found in the bodies so named.

PREFACE. V

The manifold nature of the subject has involved an amount of labor not likely to be appreciated by am T one who has not attempted something of the same kind. Yet the necessity of giving to it only the fragments of a busy life may well have left it lacking in unity as well as mistaken on single points. As I review the extent of ground covered and the number of questions answered which have puzzled the saints and the ages, I fear to draw upon myself the latter half of the judgment pronounced upon Whewell, that 4k science was his forte, and omniscience his foible." Still more do I tremble at nay temerity in daring to state the belief of Unitarians, which I have done against my wish and at the request of the Society which publishes the manual. Yet some such book seems to be needed, — is certainly demanded; and this may serve till a better one takes its place.

W. H. Lyon.

The Study of All Souls Church, Koxbury, May 1, 1891.

XOTE TO SECOXD EDITION.

The only change of importance in this edition is in the remarks on the Society for Ethical Culture, pp. 180, 181. While I am grateful for the unexpectedly cordial reception which this book has found with both the religious and the secular press, I am sure there must be errors which a more careful reading might have detected. I shall be sincerely grateful for any corrections which may be suggested to me.

W. H. L.

Roxbury, Sept. 16, 1891.

Part I. — THE JEWS. Part IL — THE CHRISTIANS

Chapter Page

I. Doctrines held by Christians 13

1. Creeds, 13. — 2. Source of Authority, 17. — 3. God, 22. —

4. Jesus, 24. — 5. Human Nature, 29. — 6. Salvation, 33.

— 7. The Future Life, 39. — 8. The Church and the Sacraments, 45.

II. The Roman Catholics 52

III. The Old Catholics 62

IV. The Eastern Church 64

V. The Protestants 69

Section I. — The Evangelical Protestant Sects

1. The Lutherans, 77.-2. The Reformed Church, 82. — 3. The Episcopalians, 85. — 4. The Reformed Episcopalians, 96. —

5. The Presbyterians, 99. — 6. The CongregationalistSj 109.

— 7. The Baptists, 119. —8. The Moravians, 125. — 9. The Methodists, 127. — 10. The Salvation Army, 135.

Part I. THE JEWS

' Whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh. —Romans ix. 4, 5.

Name. — The Jews were originally called by others Hebrews, or u those who came over," because Abram and his family came over the Euphrates down into Canaan (Gen. xii. 5). They called themselves Children of Israel, after Jacob, or Israel (Gen. xxxii. 28), from whose sons or grandsons the Twelve Tribes were said to have descended. After the Captivity they were called Jews, sl name at first given to the Tribe of Judah, who formed the chief part of those who were carried into exile at Babylon, and who returned to found the nation as we know it.

History. — The word Jew is applied to a nation and to a religion. Until the last century all Jews by birth were Jews by religion also, but since that time a rapid divergence in beliefs has taken place. It is the religion which we have especially to consider.

The Jews belong to that branch of the human race called the Semitic, of which the Arabs, Assyrians, and Phoenicians were also members. They are therefore of different descent from most of the nations among whom they dwell, who are of the Aryan family, — a difference which has probably had something to do with their isolation. From the Semitic races have come three of the great religions, — Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism.

Z A STUDY OF THE SECTS.

The history of the Jewish religion may be divided roughly into three periods, formation, affirmation, and reformation, or, according to their distinctive marks, sacrificial, Scriptural, and rational.

The period of formation extends from the beginning to the return from exile. The family of Abram came down from Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan, and, migrating thence, grew to a tribe, and settled upon the borders of Egypt, from which they were led out by Moses, who made Jehovah, or Jahweh, their distinctive God, and grave them as law the " Ten Commandments" and a few ceremonial precepts. Coming back into Canaan, their religion was much corrupted and confused by contact with the worship of other gods, whose existence they acknowledged, though they claimed Jehovah as the most powerful. Worship consisted almost entirely of sacrifices, offered during their wandering-time in the Tabernacle, but after- David had made Jerusalem the fixed capital, in the Temple. Toward the latter part of the period a remarkable class of men. the Hebrew Protestants, arose, called " prophets,'' or u spokesmen," — in their own tongue, "seers," — who strove to hold the people to the worship of Jehovah only, and to make that worship consist of a just and pure life as well as of ceremonies. These elements were still contending when the Exile ended the national existence.

When the Jews, comparatively few in number, returned (b.c. 536), they were marvellously changed. Their religion gathered less and less around the altar, but more and more around the Book Separated from their Temple and its sacrifices, they had still many of their sacred writings; and their zeal had centred in the minute study of these. The Temple was rebuilt, indeed, and the sacrifices restored on a magnificent scale; but synagogues, or meeting-houses, rose all over the land, in which the reading and exposition of the Law and the Prophets became the centre of interest ; and by the side of the priests and Levites, who conducted the sacrificial worship, rose the scribes, lawyers, rabbis, etc., who were students of the sacred books, and the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, etc., who were divided on their application. Idolatry had disappeared forever ; and Jehovah became to all, not merely the most powerful national god, but the only God of the

A STUDY OF THE SECTS. o

world. As His chosen and peculiar people, the Jews proudly withdrew from all unnecessary intercourse with the " Gentiles,'' or nations, and forbade intermarriage with them ; while as a consolation for political subjection to them, they clung tenaciously to their belief in a Messiah, or " anointed one " of God, who should subdue the nations, and make His people the masters and teachers of the world. There had also crept in or been developed a belief in immortality, in angels and devils, and in the divergent destiny of the good and the wicked, which to most meant respectively Jews and Gentiles.

The appearance of Jesus made no appreciable difference in this religion, except to intensify it under the persecution by his later followers. Christianity became a religion of the Gentiles. The destruction of the Temple with Jerusalem, in 70 a.d,, not only dispersed the surviving Jews over the world, but put an end to the sacrificial side of their religion. It lived henceforth only in the synagogue and the home, and only as a religion according to the Scriptures. The Books became a bond between the dispersed and persecuted communities, and received a wonderful but morbid microscopic study. The comments of various revered rabbis were collected into a second work, called the Talmud, which became almost as sacred as the original books. The first part of this, the Mischna, or commentary on the text, was finished about a.d. 200 ; and the second, the Gemara, or commentary on the first part, about A.D. 400. To keep the text of the Law pure through all copying, there grew up the Masora, or study of the form, under the care of learned men called Masorites. The shameful persecution of the Jews during the Middle Ages, their pathetic fidelity to each other and to their religion, and the development of their national characteristics should be carefully read, but does not belong here.

The third period, the reformative or rational, came on slowly, and has become distinct only in the last hundred years. The Reformation brought the Jews little mercy at first, though the revived prominence of the Bible led to the study of Hebrew, but the growth of kindlier sentiments and broader views in general have gradually freed the Jews from all political disabilities, and set the national talents free for a development which has been no less than wonderful But the change in their religion, thus opened to the influences of modern thought, has been as great. The majority of the more intelligent have thrown off the yoke of the Talmud, and a large and increasing part treat even the Law in a free, rationalizing way, agreeing with the most radical of the Gentile scholars in the treatment of the questions of inspiration, miracle, and the like. Though the national consciousness and loyalty are still marvellously strong, they are melting at their outward edges ; and the race may in time be amalgamated with the rest of mankind.

Doctrine, — As the Jews own no authority above the individual congregation, they have no common formal creed. The variations in their belief are very great, ranging from the extreme " orthodox," who have kept the faith almost if not quite intact, to the extreme " reformed, 7 ' who are hardly to be distinguished from rationalistic theists or even agnostics. Converts to Christianity are extremely rare.

The distinctive doctrines of the Jews in Jesus' day were the one God, the "chosen people, ? the Messiah, and the divine origin and authority of their sacred books, especially the Pentateuch, or Law. Of these, the lofty and pure though severe and cold idea of God has been held against modern trinitarianism, as against ancient polytheism. That the Jews are His chosen and favored people, destined to rule the world, is a belief that is rapidly dying, though still held by the more ignorant in the Old World. It survives, however, in an almost universal pride of race and of its history, which shows itself especially in refusal to marry with " Gentiles," and even to be buried in the same cemetery with their. The expectation of a Messiah, or political and religious eider, who shall be sent by God to gather His people into Palestine again to begin their rule of the world, has even more completely disappeared. The " Mosaic" Law, though treated by many "reformed " Jews with great latitude of interpretation and practice, has still a great hold upon the race as a whole. It is always read at public worship, partly in Hebrew. The Sabbath is observed upon the seventh day of the week, beginning at sunset on Friday and ending at sunset on Saturday, but generally only as a day of public worship, to the men usually nominal. The commandment to do no work on that day is found by all but extreme orthodox Jews impossible to obey in Christian lands. It is proposed to change the Sabbath to Sunday. Circumcision is commonly practised. The distinction between " clean" and " unclean '' meats (Lev. xi.) is still regarded, at least in the home ; and the only tlesh eaten is that killed by men approved by the rabbis, so that the blood (" which is the life ") is surely drained out. A most remarkable change, however, is the entire abolition, or rather silent abandonment, of the sacrificial system, once the centre of public worship, but made impossible by the banishment of the Jews from their own land and its Temple, and their scattered and persecuted condition. On the other hand, belief in immortality and its corollaries, which have been noticed as added to the ancient beliefs before Jesus' day, are still retained. Of course, the denial of Jesus' Messiahship carries with it denial of all the theology which has grown up around it in most Christian creeds, — the incarnation, atonement, etc., as well as the authority of the New Testament.

The modern Jew holds his public worship in u synagogues,' ' or "temples." It is liturgical, consisting of prayers, some very ancient, but varving in different books : reading from the Law and from the Prophets, which are divided into lessons for the purpose; a sermon, and a benediction. The worshipping body is called a " congregation/' and consists nominally only of men who are heads of families, ten at least being necessary, and is governed by trustees with president, etc., like most corporations. In very " orthodox " synagogues, the women sit apart in a gallery, which is sometimes latticed. There is usually a Sabbath-school.

Various religious festivals are observed, as the New Moon ; the New Year (about September 6) ; the Passover (in March or April, like our Easter) ; Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks (May), commemorating the orivingr of the Law from Mount Sinai ; the Feast of Booths, or Tal>ernacles ; and Purim (March), which celebrates the Jewish victory recounted in the Book of Esther.

The debt of Christianity to Judaism is seldom fully appreciated. It was the hardy stock into which the graft that was to overshadow the world was set. That the Jews did not appreciate Jesus when he came is no more strange or culpable than the resistance of Roman Catholicism to Protestantism, of Lutheranism to Calvinism, of Calvinism to Methodism, or of the old faith generally to the new one that is born from it. A frank study of the Hebrew prophets also shows how little resemblance Jesus bore to the Messiah actually predicted by them, though it reveals how much affinity often exists between his teaching and theirs upon the nature of religion.

From Judaism Christianity inherited the conception of a pure and single God ; the belief in immortality ; the custom of preaching as a part of worship, and indeed the general elements of public service ; the Sabbath ; the Ten Commandments ; and many of its finest precepts, as some of the Beatitudes. The defects of Judaism which Christianity filled up were the cold separation of God from His creation, and especially from the human soul, and the separation - of religion from the common duties and affections of life. The God of the Hebrews was far superior to the sensual gods of the nations around them and to the half-human gods of even the classic nations. Though severe, He was holy and reverend, and far above such deeds as the Greeks and Romans attributed to their deities. The Christian idea of His Fatherhood, by which His own life was conceived to be in the souls of men, inheriting this nobility of conception, has brought God near to men without degrading Him or making Him common ; and the Christian idea that " the true liturgy and undefi'ed before God the Father" is daily acts of love and self-respect, has made religion a warm and living thing. As we shall see, however, the popular Christianity, in concentrating worship upon Jesus, has again set God at a distance as a stern and implacable King, while it has degraded religion often into a repetition of Jewish ritualism and ceremonial pettiness.

The treatment of the Jews by ''Christians" is one of the worst stains upon mediaeval and modern history, as it has been in direct violation of the spirit and even of the precepts of him who said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The vitality of the Hebrew stock through all persecutions and the brilliancy of its modern sprouting and blooming are evidence of the vigor of the stem in r o which Christianity was grafted. The peculiarities at which Christians are so incensed are largely the result of the treatment they have given ; but if, as seems likely, there is to be an amalgamation of life, if not of belief, both will be gainers.

In secular life the Jews are remarkable for their aversion to trades and agriculture (a great change from their ancient ways, and due to their exclusion from guilds and the like during the Middle Ages) and their aptness for financial and mercantile life. They have many brilliant representatives in literature, art, and music, — such as Mendelssohn, Heine, Disraeli, the Rothschilds, and many others of note. Their home-life is very pure and domestic. They care for their own poor most generously, and are remarkable for their general health — due to " Mosaic " precepts largely — and freedom from intemperance and crime.

To Unitarians the reformed Jews especially are intellectually akin by their emphasis upon the unity of God, upon the spirit rather than the letter of the Bible, and upon character rather than creed, as well as by the rapid progress they are making toward a purer and more rational theistic religion. Between many Jews of this type and many Unitarians there is warm sympathy. Between the " orthodox," or ritualistic, Jews and the Unitarians the resemblance is only superficial, and the agreement as to the one God only arithmetical.

Statistics. — There are reckoned to be about 7,000,000 Jews in the world, the largest number in any one country being 2,552,000 in Russia. They are rapidly increasing in the United States from immigration, nearly 125,000 having come between 1885 and 1889, most of them from Russia and Poland; and there are probably in this country over half a million in all.

QUESTIONS.

By what different names have the Jews been known ? When did these names arise ? What do they mean ? Into what periods is their religious history divided? What kind of a religion had they in the first period? What is a sacrifice ? Do we make sacrifices now? What is there in common between theirs and ours ? Who were the prophets ? Can you name any ? What did they teach ? What do you know about the Exile ? What changes had come over the re'igion ? What do you call the second period ? What were " the Scriptures" to the Jews? Do they believe in the New Testament ? Why not ? What other books did the Jews study ? What can you tell about the persecutions of them ? Were they just ? Are they continued to-day in any form ? What is the third period ? What is its characteristic? What do you mean by "rationalism"? Name any distinguished Jews of our day. What do you think of the Jews you know? How far are Christians to blame for anything that is disagreeable in them ?

Is there unity of belief among modern Jews ? Why not ? What is the basis of doctrine? How does the Hebrew Bible differ from ours? What variation of opinion about it exists among them? As to God, are they Unitarian or Trinitarian ? How do they regard Jesus ? Do they expect any other Messiah ? What do they think about future destiny ? What is their Sabbath V What can you say of their worship ? What festivals do they hold? What peculiar views have they as to food? As to burial? Marriage ? How are their congregations organized ? What are their meeting-houses called ? What part do women take in worship ?

REFERENCES.

The best handbook is The History of the Religion of Israel, by Crawford H. Toy, Unitarian Sunday-School Society. See also Encyclopaedia Britannica, articles "Israel" and "Jews." Stanley's picturesque Lectures on the Jewish Church, 3 vols., end at the Christian Era; Milman's History of the Jews, 3 vols., brings the story nearly to the present day; J. K. Hosmer's The Story of the Jews gives interesting sketches of mediaeval and modern Jewish history and biography. For a most graphic epitome of mediaeval Judaism and the reform movement, see North American Review, vol. cxxv., two articles by Prof. Felix Adler; also, from the Jewish point of -view, Outlines of Jewish History, by Lady Magnus. Solomon Schindler's Messianic Expectations and Modern Judaism, and Dissolving Views in the History of Judaism, are from the extreme "reformed" standing-point.

For the relation between the two religions, see Prof. C. H. Toy's Judaism and Christianity : a Sketch of the Progress of Thought from the Old Testament to the Newt,

Part II. THE CHRISTIANS

REFERENCES ON THE GENERAL SUBJECT.

The best mere abstract is J. II. Allen's Outline of Christian History, Unitarian Sunday-School Society. The best short history is Prof. G. P. Fisher's History of the Christian Church. If but one book can be bought, it should be this or the first volume of Prof. Philip Schaff s The Creeds of Christendom. The latter contains the " History of Creeds," with a valuable comparison of the doctrines of the great branches of the Church; vol. ii. contains the " Greek and Latin Creeds," and vol. lii. the "Evangelical Creeds." For charming accounts of the rise of the sects which began in England, see Green's Short History of the English People , and Brooke Herford's Story of Religion in England. The cyclopaedias of McClintock and Strong and of Schaff-Herzog , Blunt's Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, and Schisms ; Lyman Abbott's Dictionary of Religious Knowledge ; many articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica ; the histories of Neander, Milman, Schaff, Gieseler, and Baur, and for doctrine Hagenbach's and Shedd's, — are also valuable. See also Dorchester's Christianity in the United States. A very valuable bibliography, both on the general subject and on special periods and movements, is at the end of Fisher.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. — John xiii. 35.

Name. — The name " Christian " was not used till several years after the death of Jesus, and then at Antioch (Acts xi. 26), a heathen city, and probably as a nickname. Before that his followers were called "disciples," " brethren," "believers," "saints * by themselves, and "Nazarenes" or M Galileans " by others. The word " Christian " is derived from the title " Christ," which is a Greek translation or equivalent of the Hebrew word Messiah, or " anointed one," o-iven to Jesus as the true realization of the Jewish national expectation of a divinely sent deliverer and teacher.

History — The history of Christianity properly begins with the first preaching of its founder, Jesus, who having been born probably about 4 B.C., became known to the public about a.d. 26 or 27, Rejected by the religious authorities of his nation, he soon began to preach in the open air; but after a career the length of which is variously estimated from one to three years, he was crucified by the Roman authorities at the demand of the Jews, probably in March, ad. 30.

Hardly a score of years had passed when a division took place among his followers which it is very important to notice. It was the division between ritual and spiritual religion. We have found it between the Hebrew priests and prophets, and it runs through all Christian history. The first Christians were little more than a small Jewish sect, clinging to the laws of Moses and worshipping in the Temple. They differed from the other Jews mainly in the belief that the Messiah had come and that Jesus was he. The persecution which arose after the preaching and death of Stephen drove them from Jerusalem, scattered them among the Gentiles, and brought them into contact with wider and higher thought. A more spiritual Christianity was the fruit of this union ; and it embodied itself first in Saul, or Paul, who denied the necessity of the observance of the Mosaic Law, — an external matter, "dead works," — and based Christianity upon faith, an act of the soul. Bitter dissension arose, ending at last in a compromise (see Paul's story in Galatians). But the two kinds of religion remained, and can be traced down to our own day. Mosaic Christianity, or the Christianity of Peter, died away; but its spirit passed into the more splendid ritual and priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church, whose head is claimed to be Saint Peter. Spiritual Christianity, or the Christianity of Paul, though it gained the victory at first, disappeared under Catholicism during the Middle Ages, to emerge in the Protestant Reformation, whose motto, "The just shall live by faith," and whose general spirit came from the Epistles of Paul. The same fundamental difference may be traced between Protestant sects, and between parties in those sects, from the Anglican ritualist to the silent " Quaker."

The first great division in the body of Christianity was the secession, or excommunication, of the Eastern Church, in 1051, which was due more to national than to doctrinal causes. Then Western Christianity divided, in the sixteenth century, into Catholic and Protestant. These three great branches must be now considered separately.

Government. — In government, Christians may be divided into episcopal, or those under the authority of bishops ; synodical, or those controlled by representative bodies ; and congregational, or those who own no human power above the individual church, or congregation. The first class is by far the most numerous, including Roman and Greek Catholics, most Methodists, the Episcopalians, and the Moravians. The second class includes Lutherans, Presbyterians, Reformed, many Methodists, and smaller sects. The third class includes Baptists, Congregationalists, Christians, Friends, Adventists, and Unitarians.

Another division might be made into those who do and those who do not believe in one visible church. The first of these classes would include the first two of the previous division, the second of these would coincide with the third.

Statistics, — There are in the world about 452,000,000 Christians, as against 340,000,000 Buddhists, 201,000,000 Mohammedans, 175,000,000 Brahmins, 80,000,000 Confucians, 14,000,000 Shintos, 7,000,000 Jews, and — if the entire population of the globe be reckoned as 1,434,000,000—165,000,000 "heathens." Less than one third of humanity is thus Christian.

Of the 452,000,000 Christians, 210,000,000 are Roman Catholic, 92,000,000 Greek, and 150,000,000 Protestant.

Who are entitled to the name " Christian " is a much vexed question. Tn popular usage it signifies anything that is good. Many sects deny it to all who do not hold their interpretation of Christianity. If the question were settled by votes, the Roman Catholics would have the plurality; but if it were decided by the common meaning: of such adjectives, Christian would mean agreeing with Christ in the main points of his teaching. A Darwinian or an Hegelian is not one who believes every word that Darwin or Hegel has said, but one who accepts the main principles of the scientist or philosopher, or at least his characteristic principle. Unitarians maintain that they are Christians because they believe in the main principles of the teaching of Jesus, — as the unity and spiritual nature of God, His fatherhood to all men, the duty of men to love Him and each other, the sure reward of goodness and punishment of wickedness, and the life after death. Whether these beliefs were original with him or not, they were by him made effectual upon the world, — especially upon those from whom we are descended as to religion. Certainly to be a Christian does not compel acceptance of what Paul said, or what the writer of the Fourth Gospel said, or what any one else said who seems to have added to the original utterances of Jesus, or reported or interpreted them in a way which seems now to have been wrong. In a more interior and spiritual sense, to be a Christian is to live the life of love which was the characteristic of Jesus. This is the definition which he himself is said to have given to discipleship.