Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-09-12
NErTHER LEGEND NoR MYTH.
Mr. Newton's Ideas Of the Life and
Miracles of Christ.

MIR. NewtonS Ideas OF the Life ana
Miracles of Christ.
New York Times.
In the course Of bis morning SER
mon recently, the Rev. X. Heber
Newton, of n. Y, said at is fact
that Jesus of Nezareth actually lived.
You may sometimes hear this state
ment challenged among not over we'll
educated people who have been read
ing rather belated objections to Chris
tianity. Possibly you may have come
across some curious books which en-
body the results of large reading in
wholly undigested forms which
oracularly intimate that their writer's
bad discovered the secret of
THE ORIGIN or CHRISTIANITY,
and that the secret is one which
would forever dissipate the notion of
any bis torical Jesus. Uneducated
minds, on becoming aware of the
curious coincidencs between Christi
anity and our Eastern legends, aud
of the action in the early church of
the myth-making process which is so
widely spread among mankind, are
fascinated by the (to them) brand
new notion that Christianity is only
the result of the working over of the
more ancient legends and myths
which took place in an age of unrval-
ed mental fermentation and that it is
destitute of any historical basis. Such
learned nonsense is ever reappearing
and making an immense sensation in
certain quarters. This sort of stuff
carries no weight whatever with real
students
Mr.. Newton defined the Christian
faith in Jesus Christ as consisting of
the recognition ola historical fact, of
a spiritual institution concerning that
fact. and of philosophy justifying that
spiritual institution 10 terms of the
intellect His sermon was almost
wholly occupied with the 6rst oftbcse
factors-a historic fact, whose full
recognition, he claimed, would natur
ally lead men on to the spiritual insti
tuition, which spiritual institution
would inevitably make necessary
some philosophy interpreting it in
terms of reason, and would lead men
on to the sublimities of
THAT SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY
which, rightly read. was the Nicene
Greed. Mr.. Newton claimed that
there is no more question about the
historic reality of Jesus of Nazareth
than there is about the historic reality
of Juli.s Caesar. The nature of the
evidence is one and the same in each
case. while the amount and character
of the evidence is vastly more impress
sive concerning the Nazarene Rabbi
than concerning the Roman states
man. In arguing that Christ lived
substantially as reported by the three
cvangelists, Mr.. Newton said: "You
ask, Are our gospels thoroughly win
moved of the chaff of legend and
myth p | answer, could books writ
ten by real men in such a creative
epoch have been absolutely free from
such influences? Books which pur-
ported to be
TIE STORY OF JESUS,
and which were free from such marks,
would be convicted of being unhistor-
ical documents. But you ask, if it be
granted that there are still left traces
of legend and myth, how can we be
sure what is fact and what is fancy
in our gospels ? Practically there is
not much difficulty about this matter.
The incidents that one most suspects
another suspects also There is O
clear consensus of opinion among
thoughtful readers about the really
dubious points. They are not so
many nor so important as to affect
the substance of the story. If every
touch thus drawn were rubbed out
the face of Jesus would stand sub
stantially as we now see it,"
In discussing what are called the
miracles of Jesus, Mr.. Newton con-
sidered them accountable to higher
natural laws and higher forces than
those usually recognized. "There
should be no difficulty" be said, ION
the part of any intelligent person in
recognizing that the forces of inner
nature, the forces which are stored
in mind, in conscience, and 10 will,
may y~be well nigh omnipotent over
the physical nature. Try to serious
IL consider what stupendous force,
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL,
must have been stored 10 the man
who made Christianity; what an en-
thronement above the physical nature
there must have been ia one who
lived in perfect obedience to the laws
of the moral nature; what undreamed
| powers must have stne1medsfrom Him
wke lived so close to the heart Of