All that we claim is a better statement of the old and changeless
truth, a disembarrassed account of the ever true and identical story....
We have not separated ourselves from the brethren [orthodox]; we hold
them in our enclosure; we are always ready to receive them, to welcome
them. We are not expecting they will receive us, on account of their
providential position. We have an intellectual perception of what the
times demand and what the future is to be. We can see clearer than they.
We can see why they are wrong; they cannot see why we are right--but
they will presently.... The actual presence of God in the world, in all
his love and mercy, supplying our deficiencies, helping our
infirmities, consecrating and transforming matter, giving sanctity and
beauty to life--this is what the _renewing_ of the old faith offers to
humanity.
"The indistinct perception of this faith and the divine craving to see
it clearly, and bring it to the sight of others, has led to the
existence and organization of the Liberal churches, and indirectly to
the formation of the Young Men's Christian Union.
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