, 1881-09-11

| The verdict Of the court of inquiry in The
| case Of DR.. Thomas was not unexpected. 1t
| amounts simply to :an ecclesiastical inuIct-
nlent. or presentation for trial. without
prejudice tu the causc; ami the sentence of
Suspension until the conference ran pass
upo. the merits Of the case is 4 hfHtum fu1-
men- Practically, DR.. Thomas has been s1,s-
pended since he relin4uishcd the pastoral
charge Of Centenary Church. liz received
no appointment from the last conference.
The work which he is now duiny in lIouley's
Theatre is unauthorized by tie Methodist
Church. HI is temporarily tho head OF an
independent organization. It can be no
hardship, therefore, tor him to BE- declared
officially independent bya jury CONFUSED Of
his former associates.
DR.. Thomas was arraigncti fur ''tISspm-
inatil4g erroneous teachlngs'' in relation to
the Inspiration Of the Scriptures, the atone
lntnt and future punishment. The cvi-
dcnee against him was considerably fur
nl>lie.f by himself in a scrluun prepared for
That express purpose. 1t W;ts explicit. The
Doctt'r has the courage Of Ills opinions. lie
was hot ayeyse to a trial on account Ut what
he believes and teaches, and lie desired that
there should be no doubt on this score among
his clerical brethren. For this reason we
think it was unfortunate, to say the least,
that the court Of Inquiry did NOT see fit 10
accept the proposition Of his counsel and
try him only for the views expressed
i'll lis published Sermons IIearsay cy-
idence is proyerhial!y uncertain; and
since Dr. Thomas had the courage to state
in public precisely what lie lid believe and
teach, he should have been tried for these
deliberate opinions aud for 10 o.Lers ltd
trsctcd from the dignity OF tile council to
have private conversations and the babble Of
the ladies' prayer-lnectings introduced in
evidence.
Tie testimony and the arguments natural
~ fell into three parts, and for the sake OF
convenience it may be well to consider tlle1u
SO.
i. With reference TO tile inspiration Of the
Scriptures. Ur. Thomas was convicted Oh
this specification by (; vote of 6 to ). 1t would
have been impossible to convict Linn FROM
his published utteranccs. But it was
shown that he had spoken disrrspectfully
in private Of Joshua anu ".lA Job'
lie didn't believe that story about the sun
standing still. lie had never been able to
decide to his own satisfaction whether .sold
job" ever lived or not. Here again Dr.
Thomas masnanilluusiy lent i helping hand
to the prosecution. lie took the Witness
stand and confessed his tiubety about Job.
These confessions showed that his doctrine
concerning the inspiration If the Scriptures
carried him Il long way. lie might have
said, as he did in lis published sermons,
that lie dill mt believe all parts Of the Script
urcs were equally and in1:lllibiy Inspired !
without causing anxiety in the Church; but, |
w1tn lie began to par,icularize in tl,e case !
Of Joshua and job he alarmed the brethren. |
Therein he cxemp|itica the evils OF indiviti- /
4 liberty i'll such matters. Fur il Joshua
Job are permitted to 20. who can insure !
yar0:ty of Moses aud Isaiah .f ,,;f,,.
+, o,, court voted five to. c1,
~ theory O. :: ,.'rahce 10 South
Park. ~ his is Il portion of
grounds known as "lone Place.
and is one OF the finest residence
sites about the city. For terms.
&C., apply to
GEO. NICHOLS,
1t6 Madis0n-st.