All that it requires is, that they
should be Christians and do Christian work, that they should believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ as one who spake with authority and whose religion is the
divinely appointed means for the regeneration of man individually and
collectively, and that they should labor earnestly, intelligently,
affectionately, and perseveringly to enthrone this religion in the hearts
and make it, effective over the lives of men." Such a statement as this,
indeed, was quite as conservative as anything put forth by Unitarians in
New England; but behind it was an attitude of free inquiry that gave to
western Unitarianism distinctive characteristics.
In 1854 a committee reported on the doctrinal basis of the conference, in
the form of a little book of sixty-five pages, bearing the title of
Unitarian Views of Christ.[10] It was widely circulated, and served an
excellent missionary purpose. When the conference accepted the report, in
which it was declared that Jesus is the Son of God and the miracles of the
New Testament facts on which the gospel is based, a resolution was
unanimously passed, asserting that "we have no right to adopt any statement
of belief as authoritative or as a declaration of the Unitarian faith,
other than the New Testament." In 1858 it was the opinion of the conference
that "all who wish to take upon themselves the Christian name should be so
recognized.
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