THE BRETHREN IN THE UNITED STATES. 563 ordained at Oley, Pa., the missionaries Rauch and Buettner; and Rauch baptized three Indians from Shekomeco, east of the Hudson, "the firstlings of the Indians." He soon, with his daughter Benigna, and several brethren and sisters, visited various tribes of Indians. For an entire century, from 1742 to 1843, the exclusive polity was enforced. Even those churches which were not in Moravian towns, felt the influences of this system. Aggressiveness was no part of their work. They were looked upon by the synods as little more than preaching-places, with a handful of the faithful clustering around them, who were to do all the good they could by evangelizing, without proselyting. Hence the question with regard to the smallness of the Moravian Church in this country cannot apply to the first century of its existence. It remained small on principle. And when a new era had dawned, in 1844, through the abolition of the exclusive polity at Bethlehem, the mother of the whole province, twelve years elapsed before all the settlements followed her example; Salem, in North Carolina, the last Moravian town, not yielding its position until 1856. Since that time, and not before, the American Moravian Church adopts extension as one of its principles, and stands, in all other respects, on the same basis as its sister denominations of Christians. The ecclesiastical church officers are the bishops, through whom the regular succession of ordination, transmitted to the United Brethren through the ancient Church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, is preserved, and who alone are authorized to ordain ministers, but possess no authority in the government of the church, except such as they derive from being the presidents of the governing boards; the presbyters, or ordained stated ministers of the communities, and the deacons. The degree of deacon is the first bestowed upon young ministers and missionaries, by which they are authorized to administer the sacraments. The Moravians formerly had separate communities at Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz, in Pennsylvania, and at Salem, North Carolina. The first named of these is still their largest establishment in America, and they have there an educational institution which enjoys a large patronage and an enviable reputation. The education of youth is regarded by the Brethren as worthy of the greatest attention, and, therefore, wherever their communities are located the most thorough and excellent schools will be found. At Lititz, Nazareth, and Salem, Moravian schools are located, which, although not enjoying the extensive patronage of the Bethlehem institution, are deservedly popular and well sustained. The Moravians in the United States are divided into the Northern and Southern Districts. The former made strong efforts in 1881-'82 to effect a union of both bodies, but without success. In 1884 the churches enjoyed an increase of 418 communicants and 227 members. The whole number of communicants in both districts, at last reports, was 10,296; of members, 16,775. They supported 29 home missions, having 1,775 communicants and 3,577 members. THE UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. This denomination took its rise in the United States about the year 1755, and is distinguished from the Moravian Church by the additional phrase of "In Christ." In 1752 William Otterbein, a distinguished divine in the German Reformed Church, came to America, and immediately began preaching. He formed a connection with two other divines of his church, Messrs. Beohm and Geeting, and in 1771 Messrs. Asbury and Wright, arriving from England, united with the German Brethren in their religious labors. The number of German Brethren increased rapidly, and the work spread through Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and rendered necessary a union of workers for the benefit of the cause. The first conference was held in Baltimore, Md., in 1789. At this time the Brethren represented not only the German Reformed, but the Presbyterian, Lutheran, Mennonite, and Methodist interests. The first annual conference was held in 1800, when their present name was adopted. Messrs. Otterbein and Beohm were elected superintendents or bishops, and it was agreed that each should be allowed to DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH. 565 act according to his own convictions as to the mode of baptism. In 1815 the first General Conference was held at Mount Pleasant, Pa., and after prayful deliberation a Discipline was prepared, containing the doctrines and rules for the government of the church. William Otterbein, the founder of the church, was born March 6, 1726, and died November 17, 1813. He resided twenty-six years in Germany, and sixty-one in America, all of which latter term he labored in the ministry. DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH. The doctrines of the church may be briefly summed up: 1. They believe in the only true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that these three are one, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father, and the Holy Ghost equal in essence or being with both. 2. They believe in Jesus Christ, that he is very God and man; that he became incarnate by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin Mary, and was born of her; that he is the Saviour and Mediator of the whole human race, if they, with full faith, accept the grace proffered in Jesus. 3. They believe in the Holy Ghost; that he is equal in being with the Father and Son; and that he comforts the faithful and guides them into all truth. 4 They believe that the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments, is the Word of God; that it contains the only true way to our salvation; that every true Christian is bound to receive it with the influence of the Spirit of God, as the only rule and guide; that without faith in Jesus Christ, true repentance, forgiveness of sins, and following after Christ, no one can be a true Christian. 6. They believe that the fall in Adam and the redemption through Jesus Christ, shall be preached throughout the world. 7. They believe that the ordinances, namely, baptism and the remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ, are to be in use and practiced by all Christian societies, but the manner of which ought always to be left to the judgment of every individual. The example of washing the saints' feet is left to the judgment of all to practice or not. The Brethren in Christ oppose Freemasonry, slavery in every sense of the word, and the distilling and vending of ardent spirits, except for medical and scientific purposes. They have home and foreign missionary societies, church periodicals, and educational institutions, and numbered, in 1885, about 100,000 church members. CHAPTER XLIII. UNITARIAN CONGREGATIONALISTS. Distinguishing Doctrines-Historical Sketch-Unitarianism in the United States -Means of Denominational Work DISTINGUISHING DOCTRINES. NITARIANISM takes its name from its distinguishing tenet, the strict personal unity of God, which Unitarians hold in opposition to the doctrine which teaches that God exists in three persons. They believe in only one supreme, self-existent God, the Father, who exists as one person, one being, infinite in his attributes, and the only proper object of the highest love and adoration. They regard Jesus Christ as a person distinct from God, and dependent on God, from whom he derived his being and power. They accept literally his saying: "My Father is greater than I." While agreeing in the doctrine of the subordination of Christ to God they differ very much in their views of the nature of Christ and of his precise relation to God. Some regard him as simply a man, distinguished for his goodness and spiritual endowments, the son of Joseph and Mary; others, as the son of the Virgin Mary by supernatural generation, especially enlightened, empowered, and sent into the world by God; others, as the highest representative of humanity and of God; others, again, believe in his pre-existence, and super-angelic nature. Unitarians have never believed in the Holy Spirit as a person, but regard it as an attribute or influence of God, or HISTORICAL SKETCH. 567 But God himself acting on the spiritual nature of man. there are other doctrines and principles to which Unitarians, considered as a denomination or a class of Christian believers, attach great importance. They believe especially in the fatherhood of God, that his government is paternal, and that his mercy and love are never withheld from his children. As a consequence of this belief, while they maintain that there will be a sure and just retribution for sin, they believe that the punishment for sin which the soul suffers, both in this life and in the future life, is sent in love, not in wrath; is disciplinary in its nature, and is intended to purify the soul, and bring it back to holiness and happiness. They reject the doctrine of the vicarious atonement of Christ, and deny that he died to make it just and possible for God to pardon man, by satisfying the claims of the law, appeasing the divine wrath, or bearing himself the punishment which the sinner otherwise would suffer. Their theory is that Christ saves men by his truth, by the influence of his example and life, by generating in them his spirit of faith, of love, of obedience, and of self-sacrifice; by bringing them to repentance, and to new and holy living. HISTORICAL SKETCH. Unitarians maintain that Christ, the apostles, and the evangelists taught the same doctrine, according to their interpretation of the New Testament. They believe that, as the Jews have ever been tenacious defenders of the unity of God, if Christ had taught a contrary doctrine a violent opposition would have been excited, a record of which would have been preserved in the New Testament writings. In support of the position that only Unitarianism was taught in the Christian Church before the date of John's gospel, which is supposed to have been written after the other gospels and after the Epistles of Paul, about the year 68, they claim that the early Christian fathers knew of no doctrine of the deity of Christ in the Church before John wrote his gospel. In accordance with this admission, all who were converted to |