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THE

ESSENTIAL FAITH

OF

THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH;

DEDUCED FROM

THE SACRED RECORDS.

BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.

'Nulli praeclusa religio est; omnibus patet, omnes admittit, omnes
invitat; non elegit domum nec censum; nudo homine contenta est.'

BOSTON,
LEONARD C. BOWLES.
1833.

_Minot Pratt,----Printer._




ADVERTISEMENT.


In March 1830 the Committee of the British and Foreign Unitarian
Association offered 'a premium for three tracts, to be approved by them,
the object of which should be the introduction and promotion of
Christian Unitarianism among the Roman Catholics, the Jews, and the
Mahommedans respectively.' Each of the Essays was to be sent to the
Committee with the name of the writer in a sealed note, which would be
opened only after the decision in favor of the successful candidate.
Miss Martineau obtained the three prizes. The celebrity which she has
acquired in this country by those of her works which have been reprinted
here has induced the belief that these Essays would be read with
interest, although if they had come from an unknown author the nature of
the subjects might prevent their general circulation. The ability, the
tact, and the fine spirit which they display must increase the
admiration of Miss Martineau's talents which already prevails among us.
For grasp and vigor of thought, for a rich and felicitous style of
expression, and for general power of argument, without the slightest
mixture of asperity or unfairness, they will bear comparison with almost
any writings of the same class. The author has judiciously adopted a
different method of treating each subject, and may therefore expect that
opinions will be various about the comparative merits of the three
Essays, according to the intellectual habits or tastes of readers. But
no one can fail to pronounce them all remarkable productions.

The Essay addressed to the Catholics was first published. It is
therefore now first reprinted, and will be followed immediately by those
written for the Jews and the Mahommedans.

E. S. G.

BOSTON, May 1st, 1833.




PRELIMINARY ADDRESS.


As Christians addressing Christians, we, whose faith is called
Unitarianism, invite you, our Roman Catholic brethren, to join with us
in investigating the origin and true nature of that Gospel which we
agree in believing worthy of the deepest study, the most unremitting
interest, and the highest regard. We agree in believing every Christian
to be bound to promote the welfare of his race to the utmost of his
ability; and that that welfare is best promoted by the extensive spread
and firm establishment of Divine truth. We agree in believing that all
other gifts which the Father of men has showered on human kind are
insignificant in comparison with the dispensation of grace: or rather,
that their value is unrecognised till interpreted by it. We alike feel
that the material frame of the universe, fair as it is, is but as a
silent picture till a living beauty is breathed into it, and a divine
harmony evolved from it by its being made the exponent of God's purposes
of grace. We alike feel that the round of life is dull and tame, and its
vicissitudes wearisome and irritating, till it becomes clear that they
are preparative to a higher state. We alike feel that worldly pursuits,
and even intellectual employments, are objectless and uninteresting,
till they can be referred to purposes whose complete fulfilment must
take place beyond the grave. We alike feel how pervading, how perpetual
is the influence of Gospel principles in ennobling every incident, in
hallowing every vicissitude of life; in equalizing human emotions; in
animating the sympathies, in vivifying the enjoyments, and blunting the
sorrows, of all who adopt those principles in full conviction of the
understanding, and in perfect sincerity of heart. We agree in feeling
how the whole aspect of existence changes, as the power and beauty of
the Gospel become more influential;--as we learn where to deposit our
cares, where to fix our hope, what to prize as a real possession, and
what to regard as but loss in comparison of our inestimable gain. We
feel in common how endurance may become a privilege, and earthly
humiliation our highest honor, when sustained in the spirit, and
incurred for the sake, of the Gospel. Feeling thus alike respecting the
value of a common possession, desiring in common that all our race
should be partakers of it, making it the most earnest of our prayers
that we may receive it in its purity and employ it righteously, why
should we not help one another to apprehend it and hold it firmly? We
know, from the records of history, how the adherents of your faith have
so prized it as to sacrifice all things for it; how Catholic confessors
have borne long and painful testimony, and how Catholic martyrs have
triumphantly sustained the last proof of the strength of their
convictions. We can refer you to similar examples among those who
believed as we believe; and neither you nor we can doubt, that should
occasions of self-sacrifice again arise, every true Christian in your
body and in ours would show once more what the Gospel can do in
divesting the world of its allurements and death of its terrors. Why
then should we not congratulate each other on our common hope? Having
laid hold on the same anchor of the soul, why should we not rejoice in
each other's strength? And, differing as we do in the mode of holding a
common privilege, why should we not reason together to ascertain where
the difference lies, whence it arose, and by what means it may be
obviated? Though you and we may not regard variations in Christian faith
with an equal degree of regret and dread, we yield not to you or to any
on earth in our appreciation of the value of truth, and in our desire
that it may become the common possession of our race. Therefore it is
that we now propose to you an investigation into its principles; and
therefore it is that we seek the removal of all impediments to our
joining in hand as we already do in heart, in bringing those who are
astray to the fold of the true Shepherd.

The same means of ascertaining Divine truth are in your hands and in
ours, if, as your best writers declare and as we believe, you have free
access to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Our versions of
those Scriptures are, it is true, not exactly alike. It appears to us
that yours are, in various minor, and in some considerable points, less
correct than our own: but fair investigation will settle this
difference as well as others; and if not, such variations constitute no
insurmountable hindrance. The essential truth of the Gospel is not
involved in any or all of those modes of expression in which our
respective versions of the Scriptures differ. The difficulties which are
thus originated are of very inferior moment to those by which our
separation is perpetuated, and which depend on our application of the
spirit rather than our interpretation of the letter of the sacred
records. When we can as perfectly agree in our opinions concerning the
person of Christ, as we do in our veneration and gratitude for his
holiness and love; when we shall mutually rejoice in the universality as
well as in the blessedness of the salvation he brought, we shall not
dispute respecting the letter of some of his instructions, or long
lament the difficulty of reconciling some apparent discrepancies. If, as
you declare, the Scriptures are in common use among you, they must be
allowed to be the rule of your faith as well as of your practice; they
must be intended for your instruction as well as your confirmation; they
must supply subjects of thought as well as of feeling. Do us the justice
then, thus to use them as often as you hear us appeal to them. Compare
our interpretation of the Gospel with the records themselves. Compare
our deductions from facts with the original statement of those facts,
and with all which throws light on them from the history, the
discourses, the epistles which follow. To whatever common ground there
is between us, let us repair; and since that common ground is the very
spot where the living waters first sprang up, there can be no doubt but
that a patient search will bring vital refreshment to us all.

We know, brethren, that our mode of belief appears to you under the
greatest possible disadvantage, as being, even more than Protestant
religion generally, divested of the claims and graces of antiquity. You
regard our sect as newly formed from the dispersed elements of other
sects which have melted away. You find no mention of our heresy in the
records of the middle ages, or only such hints of the doctrines now held
by Unitarians as might serve as suggestions of our present opinions: and
you therefore naturally conclude that the parts of our faith to which
you object are but of yesterday, and consequently the impious inventions
of men. If it were so, our present address would indeed be indefensible;
our challenge to investigation would be an insult; our appeal to the
Scriptures would be blasphemy. But to shake your conviction of this
assumed fact, to convince you if possible that the reverse is the fact,
is the object of the exposition of our opinions which we now present to
you, and of every effort to explain and defend our faith. It is because
we believe our religion to be primitive Christianity that we are
attached to it as other Christians are to theirs. It is because we feel
that we can carry back our opinions to a remoter antiquity than other
Churches, that we prefer them; and though they were completely hidden
under the unauthorized institutions of the middle ages, we find no
difficulty in establishing their identity with those which were diffused
by the messengers and under the sanction of God. He who sees a stream
gushing forth from the cave, and can trace it back no further than the
darkness whence it issues, may reasonably conclude that he stands near
its source; but there may be a wayfarer who by observation and
experience knows and can attest that this is no subsidiary spring, but
the reappearance of a hidden stream, whose source is hallowed and whose
current is inexhaustible. We only ask you to listen to our evidence of
this, and to admit it or not, as you shall be afterwards disposed.

We agree with you in your reverence for antiquity in respect of the
faith; and desire nothing more than that by their comparative claims to
antiquity our respective religions should be judged. We feel that grace
as well as authority is conferred by every evidence of long duration. We
can enter into your reverence for your doctrines, because they were held
by Saints in cloisters which have crumbled to dust, by heroes and
anchorites whose arms were the relics of centuries gone by, or whose
rocky abodes have retained their sanctity for a thousand years. We can
understand your emotions on receiving sacraments or witnessing
ceremonies which fostered the devotion of the saintly and the heroic of
the olden time, and which filled the Christian temples abroad with music
and fragrance, while in our land the smoke of Druidical sacrifices was
ascending offensively to Heaven. But we thus sympathise because we too
refer our worship to ancient days. Our hearts also thrill under the
impulses which are propagated from afar. We also delight in spiritual
exercises, because they are sanctified by long-tried efficacy; and
enjoy our devotion more, because the same hopes exhilarated, the same
trust supported our spiritual kindred of the remotest Christian
antiquity. In our Churches we believe we feel the spirit of brotherhood
which first gave to the believers one heart and one soul. In the silence
of our chambers, or amidst the solitudes of nature, we are open to the
same incentives to prayer and praise which visited Peter on the
house-top, and Paul amidst the perils of the sea. When intent upon the
words of life, we, like the Apostle, are impelled to exclaim, 'O! the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!' And were
the times of persecution to recur, we doubt not but that, at the very
stake, the consciousness of fellowship with the holy Stephen would add
vigor to our courage and splendor to our hopes. We refuse to perpetuate
the imposing ritual of the early ages because it is not antique enough:
but whenever we behold two or three gathered together to worship with
the heart and voice alone; when we see men assembling on the first day
of the week to break bread in remembrance of Christ, in the simplicity
of the primitive ordinance; when we see teachers, in all external things
like their brethren, gathering wisdom from the fowls of the air and the
lilies of the field,--we could almost forget the lapse of ages in
sympathy with those from whom they separate us.

Such a sympathy, if originated here, will be perfected hereafter; for it
is too purely spiritual to be dissolved by death. It will then be also
extended to all in whom the spirit of the Gospel is a vivifying
principle; as it would be here, if we could throw off our prejudices and
see each other as we are. If it is to be, why should it not already be?
With the Gospel before us, with some portion of its light beaming on
each of us, some measure of its kindly warmth glowing within us, why
should we turn away coldly and silently from communion respecting our
best treasure?

If either body believe their brethren in error, is it right to leave
them so without an effort to reclaim them? If both believe the truth
destined to prevail, is it not incumbent on them to assist that
prevalence? We believe it is; and therefore we address you; mingling
with our entreaties for your co-operation in the development of Divine
truth earnest prayers that the Father will abundantly administer to all
the resources of that intellectual power and Christian love which
constitute a sound mind.




THE ESSENTIAL FAITH OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH.


The primitive Christian Church, gathered together in Jerusalem by the
command of Christ, and sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit,
consisted exclusively of Jews. The three thousand who were baptized on
that memorable occasion, the numbers which were daily added to the
Church, the multitude who were converted to Christianity during the next
fifteen years, were all Jews. In some cases, the process of conversion
was probably gradual; but in many, we know it was sudden, being caused
by the immediate and irresistible evidence of miracles. The change of
conviction which it was necessary to work in converting a Jew, was of a
nature which could be effected speedily and completely by the display
of one miraculous testimony. It was not a change in all, or any of his
views of Deity and Providence. He was not required to relinquish a
single article of religious belief which he had previously held under a
divine sanction. The fundamental doctrine of the Jewish religion,--the
strict Unity of Jehovah,--he was authorized to retain. He was confirmed
in his dependence on all that the Prophets had spoken, in his
conceptions of the Divine attributes, and in his trust in Divine
Providence. The only question on which depended his adhering to the Old,
or embracing the New Dispensation, was, whether Jesus of Nazareth was or
was not the promised Messiah. As the Jews were bound by the requisitions
of their own law (Deut. xviii. 19) to receive implicitly whatever should
be taught in God's name by a divinely authorized prophet, their
reception of the doctrines of Christianity was a sure consequence of
their acknowledgement of the Messiah; and that their acknowledgement of
Jesus in that character was the only thing essential to make them
Christians we have consistent and abundant evidence in the whole
Scripture history. In the preaching of the Apostles to the people of
their own nation, we find no intimations of any needful change in their
conceptions of God, and of his mode of government. On the contrary, it
was because the Jews were already prepared for their reception of
Christianity by their belief in the Unity of God and the consistency of
his moral government, that they were the most immediately and the most
easily incorporated with the Christian church. For proof of this, we
refer to the whole of the discourse delivered by the Apostle Peter on
the day of Pentecost, and to every other discourse addressed by the
Apostles to Jewish hearers.

The first Gentiles who were converted to Christianity were not
worshipers of a plurality of Gods; but men who from intercourse with
Jews, or from other opportunities of spiritual advancement, had attained
to the belief of One God, indivisible in his nature and unrivalled in
his supremacy. The same mode of teaching which sufficed for the Jews,
sufficed for them also, as far as the essential truth of Christianity
was concerned; and the same method was therefore adopted, as may be seen
in the discourse of Peter in the house of Cornelius.

The next converts were from the disciples of the Pagan theology of
Greece and Rome; with them a different method of instruction was
needed. Till they knew something of the Divine nature, it was useless to
open to them the Divine dispensations. The discourse of Paul at Athens
did not therefore begin with announcing the Saviour: if it had, his
inquisitive hearers would perhaps have inquired whether this messenger
was sent by Jupiter himself, or whether he was a deputy of some of the
inferior gods. The Apostle named not the name of Christ till he had
taught the fundamental doctrine--that Jehovah is not only supreme, but
sole; that all infinite attributes are centered in him; that all
dispensations proceed from him; not only those of nature, by which the
human race is created and preserved; but--the way being now prepared for
the annunciation--that of grace, by which the world is to be redeemed
through him whom God had ordained to be a Prince and a Saviour.

The heathen converts of the latter class had much more to learn, before
they could become confirmed Christians, than their more enlightened
brethren who had been prepared by intercourse with Jews. They were
equally ready in admitting the evidence of miracles, but not