Rev. George E. Ellis, in his Half-century of the Unitarian Controversy;
Rev. Joseph Henry Allen, in his Our Liberal Movement in Theology; Rev.
William Channing Gannett, in his Memoir of Dr. Ezra Stiles Gannett; and by
Rev. John White Chadwick, in his Old and New Unitarian Beliefs. The attempt
here made has been to supplement these works, and to treat of the practical
side of Unitarianism,--its organizations, charities, philanthropies, and
reforms.

With the theological problems involved in the history of Unitarianism this
volume deals only so far as they have affected its general development. I
have endeavored to treat of them fairly and without prejudice, to state the
position of each side to the various controversies in the words of those
who have accepted its point of view, and to judge of them as phases of a
larger religious growth. I have not thought it wise to attempt anything
approaching an exhaustive treatment of the controversies produced by the
transcendental movement and by "the Western issue." If they are to be dealt
with in the true spirit of the historical method, it must be at a period
more remote from these discussions than that of one who participated in
them, however slightly. I have endeavored to treat of all phases of
Unitarianism without reference to local interests and without sectional
preferences. If my book does not indicate such regard to what is national
rather than to what is provincial, as some of my readers may desire, it is
due to inability to secure information that would have given a broader
character to my treatment of the subject.

The present work may appear to some of its readers to have been written in
a sectarian spirit, with a purpose to magnify the excellences of
Unitarianism, and to ignore its limitations. Such has not been the purpose
I have kept before me; but, rather, my aim has been to present the facts
candidly and justly, and to treat of them from the standpoint of a student