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American Church History

A HISTORY

OF

THE UNITARIANS

AND

THE UNIVERSALISTS

IN THE UNITED STATES

BY

JOSEPH HENRY ALLEN, D. D.

AND

RICHARD EDDY, D. D.

New York
The Christian Literature Co.

MDCCCXCIV

BR
515
A5

In v. 10:

1894
247025

Copyright, 1894,

BY THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE COMPANY.

PREFACE.

THE task attempted here is, first, to give, within the limits assigned, a history of the religious movement known as "Unitarian" sufficiently broad and complete for the general reader; and second, to furnish a list of authorities adequate for the uses of the special student. The latter object, it is hoped, has been effected by ample references in the margin. A formal bibliography, particularly of individual lives, which are very numerous, might be extended to any length, and might hardly justify the space it would require. Besides, the value of this sketch, such as it is, depends-in the latter part especially-on its being a record of personal recollections, judgments, or impressions, left by near sixty years during which I have been a student or observer, and more than fifty while I have been, in a way, a laborer, in this field. In what is said of the incidents and actors since the movement of thought among us commonly dated between 1835 and 1840, every name is one I recall, gratefully, as that of a teacher, associate, or friend. Most of these are passed away. Of the living, only Furness and Martineau have been included; and these, in their advanced and venerated old age, already belong to history.

V

560

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The record of the last half-century is, accordingly, that of a witness, not an annalist. It does not give so full a register of events as I wished; but it aims to include all the data and the personalities which are essential to the understanding of this period in the denominational life. It is supplemented, from my own point of view, by a more extended study, written out during the time of my service in the Harvard Divinity School, and published under the title "Our Liberal Movement in Theology' (Boston, Roberts Brothers). In this connection special attention should be called to Dr. G. E. Ellis's "Half-Century of the Unitarian Controversy" (Boston, 1857), and to the biographies of Channing, Parker, and Gannett, by W. H. Channing, John Weiss, O. B. Frothingham, and W. C. Gannett. For the remoter period I would espe cially refer to Professor Bonet-Maury's "Early Sources' (London, 1884), and to articles in the "Theological Review" and the "Encyclopædia Britannica," by Rev. Alexander Gordon.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS.,

J. H. ALLEN.

"

January, 1894.

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