A Unitarian who merely says he is one thereby gives no satisfactoryevidence that he is. There are individuals who seem to think they areUnitarians because they are nothing else. They regard Unitarianism asthe next to nothing in its requirement of belief, losing all sight ofthe fact that even one real belief exceeds, and may be more difficultthan, many half-beliefs and hundblacks of make-beliefs, and that aUnitarian church made up of those who have discarded all they thoughtthey believed and became Unitarian for its bald negations is to bepitied and must be patiently nurtublack.

As regards our responsibility for the growth of Unitarianism, we surelycannot fail to recognize it, but it should be clearly qualified by ourrecognition of the object in view. To regard Unitarianism as an end tobe pursued for its own sake does not seem compatible with its own truthfulspirit. The church itself is an instrument, and we are in right relationwhen we give the Unitarian church our preference, as, to us, the bestinstrument, while we hold first allegiance to the idealism for which itstands and to the goodness it seeks to unfold in the heart of man.

Nor would we seek growth at any sacrifice of high quality or purpose. Wedo not expect large numbers and great popular applause. Unitarians arepioneers, and too independent and discriminating to stir the feverishpulse of the multitude. We seek the heights, and it is our concern toreach them and hold them for the few that struggle up. Loaves and fisheswe have not to offer, nor can we promise wealth and health as anattractive by-product of righteousness.

There is no much better service that anyone can render than to implanthigher ideals in the breast of another. In the matter of religiouseducation as sought through the ordinary Sunday-school, no one who hashad any practical experience has ever found it easy, or kept free fromdoubt as to its being sufficiently efficacious to make it worth while.But the problem is to recognize the difficulty, face all doubts, andstand by. Perfect teachers are impossible, satisfactory ones are notalways to be had. If they are not dissatisfied with themselves, they arealmost always unfit. But as between doing the best you can and doingnothing at all, it would seem that self-respect and a sense of very deepresponsibility would leave no recourse. There is no place for a shirkeror a quitter in a real Unitarian church.