THE POSITION OF UNITARIANS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11871, 24 January 1902, Page 6

THE POSITION OF UNITARIANS.

'; ; • TO THE EDITOK. . a. . [5 Sir,-— no desire to enter into a fruit- . : i less discussion, but merely, to remove an ua-'i'f jl just, though frequonfc, aspersion, will you i v» permi*- mo to say to Mr.. Gray Dixon that *; '■>% . tho reason ho alleges, as repol ted in to-day's , l| , issue of your paper, for refusing: to recognise \ . £ the Unitarian Church ■■■ as a member of the . 'j t Christian spiritual body - is invalid, at'any || rat©, in the terms ho employs. » "'■* It is untrue that "Unitarians deny, the -; ty Divinity of Christ." They cling so and cher- ■> i i ash that doctrine as their dearest ground, and r , hope of any knowledge of, or : communion ■ with, tho ; Deity. In. defining or expounding his statement >. '; i Mr. Dixon may have given. other reasons (un- | "f» reported) for leaving the Unitarian Church '}- }? severely alone in all works of Christian ac- _ ' £.1 tivity; but, bearing in mind tho cruel tyranny '$ exorcised by words and names, it will he an ' ' act of simple justice to many if you will al-"" low me to make this correction. v <'" i, ~w| '■ The word "Church" wants to be redefined ( in tho spirit of tho day, and removed from >£* the mystic and scholastic into the purely- £ /j humanitarian sphere. That eminent Presby-teria-n, John Watson, better known as lan '■, Maclaren, approaches it very near in his con- ■»' "-i ception of the Kingdom of God, when, in a ; , * V"f scathing differentiation, hr> says: "The .. Church (meaning.thereby. the 5 idea 1 held . by' the ordinary religious person) is a -visible ■ ; and exclusive institution , which 1 menTMHis<ra| manage and us&. The Kingdom is a spiritual T j ami inclusive society, ■&*.■ whose members are ; selected' by natural fitness, and which is Ikyond human control. One must affirm this , or that to bo o. member of the Church; one 'i •fi must be something to bo 'a part of the .8 Kingdom of God. Every.person who is like :>; , s Christ in .character, or is of His mind, is in* m; ?*/£ eluded m the Kingdom." am, etc. ... , William J'ELLIE. • % Auckland, January 23, 1902. - -§1 ... ...