Morning journal and courier., 1882-05-15
A Sermon to TheolOgians.
Rev. Dr. Ierriman's Address to the Grad
 uating Glass and Others-An Able Dis

Revs Dr. Merriman's Address to the Grad
 uating Class and Others-An Able Dis-
 course.
 Rev. Daniel Merriman D. D., of Worces- ter Mass, delivered the annual sermon be- fore the Yale theological students at Center church last evening" Notwithstanding the storm, the church was well filled by students and others, who listened attentively to the scholarly discourse of the able theologian. The opening exercises were conducted by President Porter of Yale College, who intro- duced the preacher.
 Rev. Dr. Merriman selected as the basis of his remarks the words found in St. John's gospel, chapter viii, verse 46: ''Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth why do you not believe me?" The preacher said: Our Lord here gives us an insight into his method of teaching. The chief concern of ours as religious teachers is to make use of a method. Inquiry and absurdity are prominent points on religious subjects in the present age. It IS no purpose of mine to dwell on unsettled or skept1cal minds, but leaving these I can hardly under stand how any Christian teacher can help thinking, How is this message ot mine going to reach these people There is rationalism passing into skeptlclsm, both of which are to be avoided by the evan- gelical church. The church asks no help from ecclesiasticism on the one hand or ra- tionalism on the other. We fancy some ! times that we can prove the truth of revela- tion, but this is not necessary for they prove themselves. All true science proceeds on ! this basis. Personal argument could not change the mind of the apostles in the truth c ( A1,1 lrNf I,rICt flr1fs ! truth will, I think, govern us in the subject \ which we advance. We are not to cultivate ! an aversion toward the truth which science
 reveals, and any advance toward this I is abandonment of the weapons l which Christianity holds in her hands. ! There is proof that faith may build her tenn ! ples broader than ever with the stones that s skepticism has thrown out. ] do not advo- 1 cate that our minds should be put in bank
 ruptcy. Our simply holding to the truth will ! help us to hold 1t in larger and stronger ! way. The spirit of inquiry and unrest is of ! course deeply affecting the minds of the peo- ! pie. The New Testament is giving fresh revealing Though not perfect, men are sec l ing that life animates the body and many of
 the old conceptions of the Bible are rendered
 irrelevant. It is not pleasant to see the ! skepticism of the present day when the | truths of revelation are their own ! unanswerable argument. The scripture teaches by authority. There is no gem
 so pure that it cannot be polished
 and set. It is easy to substitute defense for things defended, and the hardest thing ! for human nature is to have faith in re- ligion that they had no part in making, and ] it is easier to believe in our defense of rev
 elation than in revelation itself. The divine
 revelation evinces it's own truthfulness, and
 this is enough The Bible asks only to be
 heard and tried. Ehe question, What is the
 legitimate office of dogma? is often asked.
 What is the definition of Christ, in whom ws
 put faith, but dogma? To what extent
 ought faith to be given to creeds? The 1 truth is life, and it outgrows the life, and
 it is idle to say that church can exist long
 without dogma of some kind.
 If the truth is not dead within us,
 we shall surely have some creed, ! for the truth makes the creed and not the 1 creed the truth. The truth is jealous in the
 selection of. her witnesses, and eloquence 1s first of all @ virtue. It is not the sermon but
 the man behind the sermon that tells.. He l who has opinion, however clever, and has not the truth has no office in the pulpit. ln proportion as we study the truths of Jesus
 we will not speak with authority only ln ac
 eordance with his teachings.