726 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



comply with these. Apologetic and polemic 

 theo logy belong to several of the above-men- 

 tioned four classes at once. The Scholastic tluol- 

 ogy attempted to clear and discuss all questions 

 by the aid of human reason alone, laying aside 

 the study of the Scriptures, and adopting instead 

 the arts of the dialectician. 



Theos'ophy, according to its etymology 

 the science of divine things. Hut the name of 

 theosophixts has generally been applied to persons 

 who in their inquiries respecting God have run 

 into mystici-m, as Jacob Bohme. Swedenborg, 

 St. Martin, and others. At the present day the 

 term is applied to the tenets of the Theosophical 

 Society, founded in New York in 1875 by a Col. 

 Olcott, the objects of which are: to form the 

 nucleus of a universal brotherhood of humanity. 

 to promote the study of Eastern literature and 

 science, and chiefly to investigate unexplained 

 laws of nature, and the physical powers of man, 

 and generally the search after divine knowledge 

 divine applying to the divine nature of the 

 abstract principle, not to the quality of a per- 

 sonal God. The theosophists assert that human- 

 ity is possessed of certain powers over nature, I 

 which the narrower study of nature from the 

 merely materialistic standpoint has failed to 

 develop. 



Unitarian Church. A communion com- 

 prising all who maintain that God exists in one 

 person only. The name Unitarian is applied 

 specially to a small Christian sect whose dis- 

 tinguishing tenet is the unity as opposed to the 

 trinity of the Godhead. In the more general 

 sense the name of course includes the Jews and 

 the Mohammedans. From the middle of the 

 Second Century to the end of the Third Century 

 there was a succession of eminent Christian 

 teachers Monarchians who maintained, 

 against the ecclesiastical doctrine of the Logos, 

 the undivided unity of God. There are said 

 to have been two classes of them those who 

 taught that Christ was God in such a sense 

 that it was the Father who became man and 

 those who held that Christ was in nature a mere 

 man, but exalted above all other prophets by 

 the superior measure of Divine wisdom with 

 which he was endowed. The latter class was 

 represented by Theodotus, Artemon, and espec- 

 ially Paul of Samosata. The grand theological 

 struggle which followed in the Fourth Century 

 between the Arians and the Athanasians may j 

 be regarded as a phase of the Unitarian con- 

 troversy. Unitarians of all shades of opinion 

 are agreed in rejecting the entire orthodox 

 scheme including the doctrines of the 

 Trinity, the vicarious atonement, the deity 

 of Christ, original sin, and everlasting pun- 

 ishment as both unscriptural and irra- 

 tional. They celebrate the Lord's Supper in 

 their churches, not as a sacrament, but as a 

 service commemorative of Christ's death, and 

 expressive of spiritual communion with Him. 

 They also adhere generally to the rite of infant 

 baptism, though there are a few Unitarian 

 Baptist churches. 



United Brethren in Christ. A de- 

 nomination of evangelical Christians, founded 

 through the labors of Rev. William Otterbein, 

 a minister of the German Reformed Church. 



His meeting with Rev. Martin Boehm. a minister 

 of the Mennonite Society, about 17C>ti. marked 

 the beginning of a wide-spread revival, in which 

 he and Boehtn were the recogni/ed leader.-*. 

 Preachers were licensed, the Church \vas to a 

 certain extent brought under >y>tem, confer- 

 ences were held in 17N!> and 17!M, but the re- 

 ligious movement did not take the form of a 

 Church till 1800, in which year an important 

 conference was held at Peter Kemp's in Fred- 

 erick County, Maryland. At this time the name 

 of the denomination was definitely lixed. and 

 Otterbein and Boehm were chosen bi.shojx. 

 Thereafter conferences were held yearly. The 

 Church is Arminian in doctrine, very aggressive 

 in work, and has been characterized by a >tn>ng 

 reform spirit, standing from the first opposed 



; to slavery, intemperance, and connection with 

 secret societies. 



Universalists. A religious sect who 

 maintain as a fundamental article of their belief 

 that saving grace is given to all men, without 

 reserve, and that its operation is universal 

 whence their denomination. Universalists. it 

 may be observed, generally differ from the pre- 

 valent bodies of Christians in other important 

 doctrines, though it is not because of such dif- 

 ferences that they have received their name, 

 nor is it necessary to merit the name that one 

 should share these differences. Most of them 

 agree with Unitarians but there are eminent 

 examples to the contrary in rejecting the 

 doctrine of the Trinity; they are also Pelagian 

 in the matter of original sin, and reject the 

 notion that the new birth is something super- 

 natural. Universalism, as a mode of belief, is 

 of very ancient origin; but it was in 1770. that 

 the Rev. John Murray became a propagator 

 of Univeralist views, and some years later I'ni- 

 versalism, as a sect, was founded in the United 

 States by Hosea Ballou (commonly called 



I "Father Ballou"), a learned divine and indefat- 

 igable preacher. 



X-Rays. Invisible rays producing fluores- 

 cence upon striking certain substances and acting 

 upon a photographic plate. Obtained by dis- 

 charging a high-pressure electric current through 



: a vacuum glass tube. They differ from cathode 



I rays in not being deflected by a magnet. Their 

 practical use in photographing the skeleton and 

 interior organs of the human body is of great 

 service in locating foreign bodies in surgical 

 operations, and facilitating the setting of broken 

 bones, etc. 



Young Men's Christian Associa- 

 tions. Among the first of these was that 

 founded in Lonolon, in 1844, by Mr. George 

 Williams. Its object was the holding of religious 

 meetings in business houses in the center of Lon- 

 don. The movement extended, and became one 

 not only for the religious but for the general 

 culture and social well-being of young men 

 engaged in business. In 1908, the young men's 

 Christian Associations, all of which are self-gov- 

 erning while forming an organized union, were 

 7,771 in number. Of these, 1,952 associations, 

 with 437,178 members, were in the United State* 

 and Canada. In the United States, in 1 ( .><>7, 

 current expenses, $6,000,000; value of property, 

 over s:; i, 000,000 



