Jesus is indeed the savior of the world, not by having redeemed mankind with the purchase-price of his own blood; but by his life and words in teaching men how to live, and by his death how to die, if necessary, for the right.
I know of no more fitting close to this my view of Jesus, than a quotation from Ernest Renan's Apostrophe to Jesus. Ernest Renan was called an infidel because he abandoned the church of his fathers, and with it the deity of Jesus. But he found in Jesus the supreme model of all human life, the most perfect and complete reflection of the God-life in mankind the world has ever known.
"Repose now in thy glory, noble founder. Thy work is finished; thy divinity is established. Fear no more to see the edifice of thy labors fall by any fault. Henceforth beyond the reach of frailty, thou shalt witness from the heights of divine peace the infinite results of thy acts. At the price of a few hours of suffering, which did not even reach thy grand soul, thou hast brought the most complete immortality. For thousands of years the world will depend on thee: Banner of our contests, thou shalt be the standard about which the hottest battle will be given. A thousand times more alive, a thousand times more beloved, since thy death than during thy passage here below, thou shalt become the cornerstone of humanity so entirely, that to tear thy name from this world would be to rend it to its foundation. Complete conqueror of death, take possession of thy kingdom, whither shall follow thee, by the royal road which thou hast traced, ages of followers."
LIBERTY
MY NEW CHURCH RELATIONS AND SECOND CALL TO THE MINISTRY
I have thus outlined, perhaps at greater length than was necessary, the processes thru which I passed in my religious life from my early childhood to mature middle life. I have shown how I was born in the bondage of orthodoxy; and how I was ultimately driven to abandon, not only it, but religion altogether. I then outlined the processes thru which I passed that led me to a satisfactory settlement in my own mind, of the problems embraced in the general and comprehensive term Religion, which I have tried to describe as "My New Confession of Faith." From the time I left the church and ministry until I reached the conclusions herein outlined, was about fifteen years. I reached them purely by my own investigations, not knowing that there was a church on earth that would accept me in its fellowship while holding them. I could not perjure myself by subscribing to a creed which I not only did not believe, but despised, merely for the sake of the social prestige or business advantage such church membership might give me, as I have known some to do, and was often importuned to do myself. Whatever other shortcoming may be charged to my account, it can never be said of me that I was untrue to my own moral convictions in these matters; altho this tenacity to principle, or as it was often called, "hard-headed stubbornness," has more than once caused me embarrassment, and put me at some disadvantage in business. I could not "let the tongue say what the heart denied."
My views of the church itself had also necessarily changed with my changed views of its theology. I no longer looked upon it as an institution of supernatural sanctity and authority. To me it is simply The Assembly. Any assembly of people gathered together for the worship of God is a true church. It does not depend upon any particular form of organization, the maintenance and administration of any particular ordinances, or so-called sacraments. It does not depend upon "Succession,"—Apostolic, Baptismal, Ordination, organization or otherwise. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." This is all that is essential to a true church. It depends upon unity of purpose, rather than uniformity of belief. Hence, any assembly of people, anywhere, united together for the worship of God, striving to live better lives themselves, and to help others to do the same, and thus make this world better and human life happier, meets all the essentials of a true church of God, regardless of any form of organization, ordinance, sacrament, creed, belief or ecclesiastical pedigree.
But for years,—as will presently appear,—I did not know that any church existed, that would come any way near meeting this definition. I naturally supposed that any organization calling itself a church was based upon belief in the Bible as the infallible word of God, and the sole source of authority in all matters of religion. This I had completely abandoned and could never go back to it. In fact I did not trouble myself to inquire for a possible church fellowship. I supposed I was forever barred from any church membership whatever, except that I felt a welcome in attending the Reformed Jewish synagogue, where the preaching was on a high intellectual plane, sane and rational, dealing with modern problems instead of ancient creeds and dogmas; and I liked this. But I was not a Jew; and I knew I could never accept their theology. All I could ever expect was to be a welcome visitor, "a stranger within the gate."
However, I must go back a little. Some few years after I left the ministry of the Methodist Church, and while still living not far from the last church I served, a friend one day asked why I had left the Church and ministry. I told him very briefly a few of my doctrinal difficulties; to which he replied, "Ashley, you are a Unitarian." I thought but little of it. I was not really interested in churches any more anyway. But he handed me a pamphlet to read and told me he was a Unitarian back in Ohio where he came from. I read the pamphlet at his request. I do not now remember what it was, or just what it was about. But I was impressed with the fact that the views therein expressed were very similar to my own; and if that was Unitarianism I was also probably a Unitarian. But still it aroused no special interest as there was no Unitarian church anywhere about. If there had been, I might then have been led to investigate further. But years went by, and all the perceptible effect was that I would occasionally think how nearly I must be a Unitarian, until I finally determined that if I ever had an opportunity I would investigate the matter further.
In the summer of 1912, business relations led me to move to Dallas, Texas. Passing on the street one day, I noticed the sign, First Unitarian Church. A new inspiration came to me. I now had an opportunity to investigate just how near my religious convictions coincided with those of this church. When the church opened after the summer vacation I began to attend its services, only occasionally at first, reading in the meantime much of its literature kept at the church for free distribution. I became intensely interested and by the spring of 1913 I was a regular attendant. The more I read the more I found myself in substantial accord with what I understood to be the salient points of twentieth century Unitarianism. I found especially these points that impressed me very deeply: It had no creed. It had no specific statement of beliefs. It had no doctrinal standard or test of religious faith as a condition of church membership. It not only permitted, but encouraged the greatest freedom of thought and the most searching investigation of all subjects presented for consideration, believing firmly that truth had nothing to fear from such a course. I found it had no test of membership but that of human character. I found a man was judged by what he is, and not by what he thinks or believes. I found its service to be reverent and dignified, but free from useless ceremonial. The preaching by Rev. George Gilmour, its minister, I found to be profound and scholarly, yet deeply spiritual and inspiring, dealing primarily with present-day religious and social problems rather than creeds, dogmas or beliefs. I was profoundly surprised and much gratified to find a church and people and minister so broad, so liberal and so fraternal as I found this First Unitarian Church in Dallas. I soon found that whether I agreed with all other Unitarians or not, I at least had here a free and cordial fellowship for the worship of God and the service of man, without any ecclesiastical harness to put on, or any strings to limit me to prescribed bounds. A new light dawned upon me. The bondage of orthodoxy I had broken years ago. But I wandered for years in the desert of agnosticism, famishing and unfed. I had found in my own heart the bread of life; but I had no table at which to spread it—and man being a social animal as well as a religious one, cannot live alone.