, 1881-10-09
t,Pastor and His Congregation
: on Trial for the Crime :.
Of Heresy. "
An Accou1tant's Examination Of the
American Bible Society's
Report: d
Mat 1t Costs to Distribute Bibles
Notes. and Personals-Church
News.


A HERESY TRIAL.
A sAS FRANCISCO PASTOR AND HIS CoS-.
GlEGATloN.
Nttp York Sum-
1tis not often in the history of the Presby-
+ar;an Church that a pastor and his entire
session arc charged with heresy. Just how
this ca,ue about is interesting, as was the
trial that followed. Mrs. Sarah Is. Cooper,
cousin Of Col. Robert G.. Ingerso1i, has for
many years been the teacher OF a very large
and flourislling Bible class connected with
the Calvary Church. Some weeks ago Dea-
nm James Is. Roberts. of the same church,
hrouent charges before the session against
Mrs. Cooper, alleging that she taught heret-
ical doctrines. The pastor, the Rev. Mr..
He,nphill, and the session voted resolutions
com,nendatoEy Of Mrs. Cooper. Deacon
Roberts called upon them to rescind their
resolutions or be presented to the Presbytcry
for countenancing heresy; and in reply the
pastor and session repeated their vote of con-
fdence in Mrs. Cooper and their commenda-
non of her Bible class work. Hence the trial
for Deacon Roberts was as good as his
word, and brought the matter before the
Pfesbytery.
tied. It was held with closed doors at first,
hut 1t was found that there were so many
ieaky cisterns among the brethren, and that
there:was so much testimony being. reported
III the daily,l,apers, that it was finally de-
ci1ed to permit reporters to be present.
10 ascertain .shether Deacon Roberts
charge against the pastor and session was
we'll founded, il was necessary 10 lind out
whether his charges against MIS- Cooper
were based on, fact Briefly, they were TINT
she had expressed doubts Us to the truth Of
some of the Bible narratives, notably the
story OF Jonah and the whale, and that of
Joshua and the sun: that she had followed
the lead Of Prof Felix Adler Of this city in
which religious instruction was excluded;
fiat she was own cousin to Col. lngersOll,
and had spoken of him with admiration; that
she attended Unitarian church sometimes,
that she had said that she would rather be IN
with men like Deacon Roberts, and that she
had characterized her prosecutor rs "ce-
lestial hound on an eternal hunt for heresy.'
There was much. .evidclice produced on
both sides and there seemed to 9s ; some
defendant herself acknowledged upon the
witness stand that once when DEACON Rob-
e1ts snee1ed in her presence, at picture o.
her cousin Robert, she resented 1t by saying
that If Size s. believed that Heaven was s made d
OF such men as J. Is. Roberts and Hell Of such
te@;H To 20 to i MelH sfie also Acknowledged that
she once, when very angry, spoke OF Nr.
Roberts the eelesai hoa1'a On me ne, ets1, LET,
nut your nose on the ground and trace my
trail back to my childhood, and you will
never find anything that Will not grace
Christian womant's life" As to the kinder
garten charge, It was proved tnat u tnf i.I ll.tle
since there were Hebrew parents who OBJ
iectel to that form Of worship for their chill,
dten Mrs. Cooper herself acknowledged
that she had superintendent a rattle III the
school to ralse money for it. But when It
came to the examination as to Mrs. Cooper's
belief in the Bible, then there was deep dis
CUSTOM: and when it was found that even
the members of Presbytery themselves were
divided 10 their opinions as to what should
he taken as literal and what as allegorical,
the questions ceased. Mrs Cooper dehned
her position in the. following language:
When you. nalt INC down and ask nc whether
Jonah swallowed the whale or Whe etner NC
whale swallowed JCnnh4 cannot tell Tou DO
not know what to say, put l do know that III, IN
important lesson f3conSkycd in the text: Ana
yon ask me % whsaer & sfs t Sun lno 't1 These o
tan Ss cu esp|s sr rs ae Bscve in
on bd e1dnee eo 81 spfip fs% e as
greatest Of all. II sou want tne; dear Presoy- :,
iers, 10 teach Cnrists teaenln:s VII 40 50 nnta
ANYTHING about whales. If you do will say,
There Is the record" If you ask me what
think OF il, ] will tell you It seems singular.
Here isu specimen Of her cross-eNamina-
examiner is a deacon. the witness a teacher
Of a Dibie class of 200 members. and the ex-
animation was before PfesbyteTy:
o-You wrI1e articles for the newspapers
called star observation-disclosures: Al ,, &c:
O-Did you write such an nrttcle on tue quau-
ties Of Naoob whisSy7 Al did NOT .,-.,,-a
nDld you 1neh a,a5tSae na qeScT'9mfe hs don
# f6,6f heae 1eg oufns bs to to me-
The rrcsbytery agreed with Mrs. Cooper on
Q.-Did you say when presented that paper paper
asuinst YOU III the session that was mean
hypocrit! Al Shouldn't wonder II oto7
o.-What did you mean by saying that !
sntered at Go, lugerso!!! A.-Decause you hat'
f suecr on vorr face when Eou raised your lace
after looking ut his picture , .,..
Q,-Wha1 did sou tell INC before that aoouI
him? A.-Tbat be was relative OF na2ne' aho
loved him very much ,;+h 49,
gard to Col 1pgersoll, that be would nave
perch somewhere i'll heaven? Al sa'o tasit - :!
thought he would be leaning over tae o pahasui ,
TO pull you in: that he was large ehonsn a1o
90 u-iapgs enough no az ana good enough to DO It:
AYES + thought be must be very KIND
Su-You re,ncn,bcr the sessions resolution
dsapproytnc OF your proposed d'amono utaes
let rnfte for the benefit. OF rne h1noerRarttn:
Q-What do you mean by tie spirit That act
uated them? Al meant yuu, Mr. hoocrts;
Q.-Wcll am not spirit, trcst! 1a--"eA
it's pity you are no1. lI.aughter.l
Bit. Koberts-I sometimes Wish "e1es w ~
out Of all this trouble ~
Deacon Hoberts indeed seems to nave
found himself III trouble before the tIlal y va: a
over Witnesses testified that he wanted %
boss things, that he declared that he
would get Mrs Cooper out OF the Blole City: ,,s:
ifhe had to split Calvary Church from ccilai
10 dome, aud that it would AFFORD MIN grea,
2 pleasure to blow UP Mrs. Cooper aild nei
Bible class with gunpowder, and ta:t le sa!.
that Pastor Helnphili w;:s such weak 11li ,a;E
that Mrs. Cooper could pull the wool over ";
eyes, aud twist him around her finger at VII
Thai Deacon Roberts had not the entire re.
spect Of his brethren the following cStfae
FROM the proceedings shows:
ElderTho;nas Ma9ee testified TINT Mt 1902. 9s',
erts WAS very donineerIng and tnsoieoe ~ ~ -. :
neetiuS of tho session, where ne uGtnu ; Gun
reconsideration Of tho decision UPON a's' eoop
eE6 case. , a.,xs-
I"was particularly insolent TINT evening:
askrd Mr.. Roberts -:,e ;,s,s+tca
1t ali. think you did yourself 'n1us1,eGi
becausc you were not near so 1nsolcn. % tr usou.
th:uk by your general insolencc ana dosaa'lHGa ~
lGg you fairly earned tho tttlc OF james no9
lnbcrts.''
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