The Book Of Religions

This is a term which has been applied to a considerable number of persons in various parts of the Northern States, principally in New England, who have recently come out of the various religious denominations with which they were connected; -- hence the name. They have not themselves assumed any distinctive name, not regarding themselves as a sect, as they have not formed, and do not contemplate forming, any religious organization. They have no creed, believing that every one should be left free to hold such opinions on religious subjects as he pleases, without being held accountable for the same to any human authority. Hence, as might be expected, they hold a diversity of opinions on many points of belief upon which agreement is considered essential by the generality of professing Christians. Amongst other subjects upon which they differ is that of the authority of the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, some among them holding the prevailing belief of their divine inspiration, whilst others regard them as mere human compositions, and subject them to the same rules of criticism as they do any other book, attaching to them no authority any further than they find evidence of their truth. They believe the commonly-received opinion of the plenary inspiration of the writers of those books to be unfounded, not claimed by the writers themselves, and therefore unscriptural, as well as unreasonable. Whilst, then, they believe the authors of the Gospels to have been fallible men, liable to err both in relation to matters of fact and opinion, they believe they find in their writings abundant evidence of their honesty. Therefore they consider their testimony satisfactory as regards the main facts there stated of the life of Jesus Christ, at least so far, that there can be no difficulty in deducing therefrom the great principles of the religion which he taught. They all believe him to have been a divinely-inspired teacher, and his religion, therefore, to be a revelation of eternal truth. They regard him as the only authorized expositor of his own religion, and believe that to apply in practice its principles as promulgated by him, and as exemplified in his life, is all that is essential to constitute a Christian, according to his testimony, (Matt.7:24,) -- "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock," &c. Hence they believe that to make it essential to Christianity to assent to all the opinions expressed by certain men, good men though they were, who wrote either before or after his time, involves a denial of the words of Christ. They believe that, according to his teachings, true religion consists in purity of heart, holiness of life, and not in opinions; that Christianity, as it existed in the mind of Christ, is a life rather than a belief.

This class of persons agree in the opinion that he only is a Christian who has the spirit of Christ; that all such as these are members of his church, and that it is composed of none others; therefore that membership in the Christian church is not, and cannot, in the nature of things, be determined by any human authority. Hence they deem all attempts to render the church identical with any outward organizations as utterly futile, not warranted by Christ himself, and incompatible with its spiritual character. Having no organized society, they have no stations of authority or superiority, which they believe to be inconsistent with the Christian idea, (Matt.23:8,) -- "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." (Matt.20:25, 26,) -- "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you."

As might be inferred from the foregoing, they discard all outward ordinances as having no place in a spiritual religion the design of which is to purify the heart, and the extent of whose influence is to be estimated, by its legitimate effects in producing a life of practical righteousness, and not by any mere arbitrary sign, which cannot be regarded as a certain indication of the degree of spiritual life, and must consequently be inefficient and unnecessary.

Their views of worship correspond, as they believe, with the spiritual nature of the religion they profess. They believe that true Christian worship is independent of time and place; that it has no connection with forms, and ceremonies, and external arrangements, any further than these are the exponents of a divine life; that it spontaneously arises from the pure in heart at all times and in all places: in short, they regard the terms Christian worship and Christian obedience as synonymous, believing that he gives the highest and only conclusive evidence of worshipping the Creator, who exhibits in his life the most perfect obedience to his will. These views they consider in perfect harmony with the teachings of Jesus, particularly in his memorable conversation with the woman of Samaria.

They also agree in the belief that the religion of Christ asserts the equality of all men before God; that it confers upon no man, or class of men, a monopoly of Heaven's favors; neither does it give to a portion of his children any means of knowing his will not common to the race. They believe the laws of the soul are so plain that they may be easily comprehended by all who sincerely seek to know them, without the intervention of any human teacher or expounder. Hence they regard no teaching as authoritative but that of the Spirit of God, and reject all priesthoods but the universal priesthood which Christianity establishes. They believe that every one whose soul is imbued with a knowledge of the truth is qualified to be its minister, and it becomes his duty and his pleasure, by his every word and action, to preach it to the world. It follows, then, that, as Christ prepares and appoints his own ministers, and as they receive their commissions only from him, they are accountable to him alone for their exercise, and not to any human authority whatsoever. They therefore reject all human ordinations, appointments, or control, or any designation by man of an order of men to preach the gospel, as invasions of his rightful prerogative.

Amongst the prevailing sins, against which they feel bound to bear testimony, are slavery and war; and it is alleged as the main reason why many of them have disconnected themselves from the professedly Christian denominations to which they belonged, that those bodies gave their sanction to those anti-Christian practices. They believe slaveholding to be sinful under all circumstances, and that, therefore, it should be immediately abandoned. They believe, not only that national wars are forbidden by Christianity, but that the taking of human life for any purpose, by governments or individuals, is incompatible with its spirit. A large proportion of them, also, consider all resort to punishment, as a penalty for crime, equally inconsistent with the law of love. Hence they deem it their duty to withhold their voluntary sanction or support from human governments, and all institutions which claim the right to exercise powers which they thus regard as unlawful.

In various places, these persons hold meetings on the first day of the week, which are conducted consistently with their views of Christian freedom and equality. It is understood that the object of thus meeting together, is to promote their spiritual welfare. For this purpose, they encourage a free interchange of sentiment on religious subjects, without any restraint or formality. They have no prescribed exercises, but every one is left free to utter his thoughts as he may feel inclined; and even those who differ from them in opinion are not only at liberty, but are invited, to give expression to their thoughts. They believe this to be the only mode of holding religious meetings consistent with the genius of their religion, and for an example of like gatherings they refer to those of the primitive Christians. They meet on the first day of the week, not because they believe it incumbent to devote that portion of time more than any other to objects regarded as peculiarly religious, -- for they regard all days as equally holy, and equally devoted to the service of the Lord, -- but merely because they have become habituated to abstain from their ordinary occupations on that day, and it is, therefore, the most convenient time for them to assemble.

The practical acknowledgment of the moral equality of the sexes is another distinguishing characteristic of these people. They regard woman as equally qualified to hold any station in society from which she is not excluded by her physical disability; and that she alone must decide for herself what position she shall occupy, or what duties in the community she shall perform; the control of woman never, as they conceive, having been delegated to man by the Creator. Therefore they consider her equal in all mental and intellectual pursuits. And when they associate together for religious and benevolent objects, they exercise the various duties pertaining to them indiscriminately.

The number of persons who hold a similarity of opinions on these subjects cannot be known. It is, at present, comparatively small, but rapidly increasing.