Rev. C. A. Langston joins the Episcopal Church 1905

Atlanta, Ga. The Unitarian Church:  From a marked copy of the Atlanta Journal we learn that Rev. C. A. Langston has resigned his charge and will shortly be confirmed in St. Luke’s, after which he will apply for orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church. After confirmation, the time for which will be decided upon later, he will be licensed as lay reader by Bishop C. K. Nelson of the Episcopal diocese of Georgia, and will then become assistant to Dr. C. B. Wilmer, rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

As reported in the Journal, Mr. Langston, in giving his reasons for the change, said:  “My decision to withdraw from the Unitarian fellowship and apply for orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church is the outcome of several years of reading and thought. I have been ably assisted by the intellectual fellowship of the Unity Club, of which I have been a member since its organization. Without going into details, I may say that my decision to take this step has been influenced by an ever-increasing conviction that the principle of individualism in religion, as practiced by the Unitarian and other Congregational churches, has been overworked and is responsible for the unhappy divisions which now exist among the Protestant churches.

I have gradually come to the conclusion that Christianity is, among other things, a definite historical process, and that no part of its organized history can be understood or interpreted without the whole.  I turn to the Protestant Episcopal Church because I believe it mediates the principles of authority and individualism.  In leaving the fellowship of the Unitarian Church, I desire it to be distinctly understood that my action is influenced neither by pique nor by blind zeal. The Unitarian Church has unquestionably performed a signal service in the development of the best theological thought of the present time. William Ellery Channing, Theodore Parker, and James Martineau, in England, are to be ranked with the best Christians in the church.

Unitarianism began as a movement of thought, and was so interpreted by Unitarians for a number of years after its rise in New England. Without entering into any criticism of the various doctrines represented by Unitarianism I may say that Unitarianism has practically fulfilled its mission, and the great truths which justified it as a system and commended it to intellectual people have now received cheerful recognition by most of the leading denominations. So far as Christianity itself is concerned, it docs seem to me that it has received an adequate interpretation in modern thought; or, in the words of a famous Unitarian divine, when asked if he did not think that the world had about outgrown Christianity, replied, ‘The world has not tried it yet.’ The application of Christian truth to social need is, in my opinion, the next step for the Christian Church to take. I believe that the Protestant Episcopal Church is best qualified to lead in this great campaign of practical Christian work. Believing this, I have asked for her blessing and endorsement.”

Source: Google Books The Christian Register July 20, 1905 page 811