The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-11


these, to be widely effective, must be propa-
gated All reformers understand this, and none
ever felt IL more deeply or labored more earn
estly to improve 1t than did Alexander Camp
bell For long life Of unwearied industry he
poured forth his ideas through the pulpit and
the press. and filed the land with the stirring
appeals of his voice and pen. The age was, In
large measure, ripe for change, and soon he
found himself strengthened by the sympathy
and cooperation of other hearts and heads
Men and women strong in faith and mighty IN
knowledge of the word rallied at his call, and
rendered noble service IN the pioneer w0gk t6 ol
full discussion of the origin of this movement
to other hands, and pass to the consideration OF
the question, What has been the effect OF these
ideas upon the religious thought of the agef
To answer this question we must consider
first, what these ideas are, and to what, or by
what, were they opposed. Our time will only
allow us to select such as afford the most une-
quivooal answer to our ques ton.
First-We notice the prevalent methods OF IN
terpreting and using the Scriptures. 1t was
thought and taught that no unoOnverted man
could rightly interpret, at all understand the
Scriptures. That their language not like
the common language of men. That the ordi-
| nary rules of grammar and interpretation could
not be applied to them but that they were TO be
taken In mystical sense-a parabohc, aliegorlc.
or some other sense than the plain grailmatlcal
and exegeticai sense, that would be given TO
similar words on common subjects. The result
of this theory, so generally prevalent fifty or
sixty years ago, was that the Scriptures were
virtually a dead letter. The common reader
either neglected them altogether or read them
no hope Of finding in them The way of salvation.
les effect upon the ministry was
equally bad, the Widest fancies were
associated with the plainest texts, and by allie
CORY and mysticism, the simplest declarations
OF the spirit were converted into conce1ts OF
Interpretation that destroyed their power and
perverted their meaning. Take an illustrations:
Lord Macauley related an instance OF the
Bishop of Ely before the court OF King James IL.
passage from one OF the Chronicles was the
text, and 1t WAS expounded tc this effect: King
Solomon represents King James; AdonIjah was
undoubtedly the forerunner of the Duke OF
MQRmOuth; Joab was a Rye House cOnspiratOr;
>Shimei was a Wing; Abiathar was cavalier.
and he called special notice to two clauses in
the text, one of which, he said, Implied that
King James was superior 10 Parliament, and the
other. that he alone had command of the militia.
tPhelps's Theory of Preaching. p. 169D
To correct this was point Of prime import
ance, and, accordingly, it was conspicuous SUBJ
jecJ of controversy. l need not tell my present
audience how vigorously IL was defended, how
vehemently the criticism of II was denounced as
feet Of an eniishtensd ministry
ga new organon of Interpretation" prevailed,
so chat to-day this heresy OF earlier years Is
the accepted method of the most enlightened or
thOdox Interpretation. True, as popular and
enlightened author on hOniietics, says: 1.-The
struggle for liberty to interpret the Scriptures,
by the rules of good sense, as men interpret the
language OF other books, has been long and
hard-fought, and 1t is by no means ended" Yet
a long step towards deliverance has been made
and how has 1t been effeoted4 and by whoml
Let us not abandon our work. phelps Theory
OF Preaching, p. 1922.
Seeond-We notice a superstitious theory of
conversion, based upon ideas OF spiritual in-
flueIce that were grossly sensuOus and mis-
leading, Visions and sounds and mystical SEN
sations were the staple qualities of valid sex
perence, and no one who had not by long
"seeking" and penItential praying passed
through these evidences of spiritual influence
upon the mind and heart, could claim to have
been converted or to have experienced
the grace of God in the forgiveness of his
sins. Faith was the gift of God, IN the sense
almost, Il not quite, OF the importation by the
r,trff Af far Tho and
was given man was pOwerlesS to do any act of
accept able obedience to accept any condition
of pardon Conversion was sovereign act of the
spirit, distinctly cognlZed In the CONSCIOUSNESS
as sensible change from the awful oppression
of guilt, to the joyful freedom of justification.
There another conflict of ideas. 1t was
seen that these theories were based on specula-
lations that made void the free and rich prom
Uses of the gospel, and stood in The way
of the obedience of thousands who earnestly de-
sired the forgiveness of their sins aud to
give themselves the service of Christ, but
who sought in vain the required operations Of
the spirit. They we're hinirances to the power
of the gospel for the salvation of men. They
degraded man into victim of necessity, VIC
lated his consciousness of freedom, represented
God TO the conscience as merciessly ana arbi-
trarily UNJUST, and made all exhortatiOn to
obedience mockery, and all persuasion to &C
oept the offers of grace Tantalus cup OF de-
spar. Perhaps no wider or more firmly fixed
conviction of the popular theology than this
was ever assailed by the ministry OF the Reform
alton, and no greater Odium was ever cast upon
our movement for any Idea that has character
lied IL than for this.
The discussion was a conflict between a rational
ana grammatical exegesis of Scripture
aud the superstitious conviction of deluded
mysticism. 1t was charged against us as a de-
NAL OF all spiritual influence in conversion, and
as a heresy worthy of ecclesiastical ostraclsm
I will not attempt to describe the conflict fur
thernor IL itfuly ended, But how stands the Gues-
ton with the most enlightened of our quOndam
0pponents2 How has the change been effected
and by whomY
Third-we can give only passing notice to
the issues that have been made about oreeds;
about baptism; about Christian union and other
poinrs In reference to which the influence of our
ideas has been widely felt and effective in mOdi-
flying the thought and convictions of the age.
Fifty years ago a creed was procrustean bed,
to which all orthodoxy was relentessly adjusUed
What was too short was stretched to this meas
sure of faith; whatever was too long was Topped
off by the limitation of this stand
ard. Candidates for the ministry
tried by the Creed: Scripture to be under
stood by lite articles fellowship was restricted
by it's tests. The thought-the speculative sys-
tems-the theology of the past-cry stalled
In the ereed-were to be at once the light and
the Limitation of the thought and of the faith
the doctrine and the confession, not only of
the present. but of tha future. Freedom to in
vestigate the word of God, and to look with
clear vision, as through ''dry light" into the
mind OF the Spirit. was little less than skep-
ticism; and, in the field of argument or lnvestt-
Cation, to travel outside the ARTICLES" was
prima faeie heresy. Calvinism and Arminianism
might fight each other, and these were at liberty
to illuminate against Arianism and lower forms
of n mutilated evangeiicty, but tine great fam
lilies OF Ialtn must stand 5On0 together, under
their respective banners. aud know no baltle-cry
and recognize no standard OF faith test of fell
lowsbip but the shibboeth OF the creed.
do not exaggerate the facts of history in this
statement of the spiritual and ecclesisstical
tyranny of creeds. The clergy afraid of
them, and trimmed their sermons to their nat
tern. The greatest thinkers and writer's among
orthodox laymen claimed the conntenance of
their approval or permission. Col6ridge and De
Quincy, when consciously expanding their free
thoughts beyond the popular interpretations,
claimed the license of the bishop or of the higher
courts of appeal to the limitations of the
standards" They felt that it forbidden
even TO them, TO soar with free wing out into the
realms of religious thought and tell the world
all that they discovered of the mind of q cd,
without in some way attaching label of ortho-
doXy.
Now all this is largely changed. True the
battle Ia not yet over. But creeis have not only
been compelled to fight for their authority, but
to give a reason OF an apology for their very ex-
istence. Have they not, indeed, in many conflict