St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-05

Rev. T. I. Fisher Will Not be Burned
for HereSy.

for Eeresy.
Methodists will remember that Rev. Frank
/. Fisher, the young and promising pastor
of the First Methodist church of this city,
read in April before the Minneapolis minis
ters' meeting paper on The Use and
Abuse of the Old Testament, which created
some inflammation among the brethren.
After some remarks about the book in gen.
eral. he specified some of the ways in which it
could be abused. First, when it is used as
a textbook Of morality. Under this head
he said: Neither its preceptS nor examples
exhibit the highest moral law. Many peO-
pie still cling to the old ten commandments.
Excruciating attempts have been made to
prove that Jesus did not superSede the
moral precepts of Moses. In his sermon
on the mount Christ distinctly put his
teachings in opposition to those of the
Mosaic law. The Christian morality has
Outgrown the precepts Of the Old Tesla
ment even the ten commandments" The
speaker adduced the divine sanction Of
polygamy, slavery, etc., to SubStantiate his
statements.
In the second place, he said, the use of
the Old Testament as text book of religion
is an abuse. To treat those ancient writ
ings as collections Of aphoristic sayings
of Interchangeable truth indicates puerility
or hypocrisy. The attempt to teach the
great doctrine Of atonement by the crude
sacrificial notions Of Judaism is not only
misleading, reading into the doctrine much
of bloody cruelty, but truly blasphemouS
by ascribing to deity a disposition that
would shame q savage parent. In the
third place, he said, IT is an abuse of the
Old Testament to read it indiscriminately.
10 ord Il
religion as final and place it on an equality
with the New Testament.
SUCH WORDS AS THESE
of course SAVIOR of heresy, and created con-
siderable talk among the brethren, which
eliminated recently in the appointment by
Presiding Elder Warner of a committee of
nine to investigate the matter and see if
Mr.. Fisher is guilty of hereSy.
That committee met yesterday morning
in the Jackson Street church. and was con-
stituted as follows:
Rev. Cyrus Brooks, d. D., st. Paul: Rev
William Mckenzie, D. D., Red Wing; Rev. ID.
C.. John, ID. D., Winona; Rev. c. A. Van
Anda, ID. d., Minneapolis; Rev. John Stafford,
st. Paul; Rev. S. g. Gale, Hamline; Rev. A
w. Edwards, Austin; Rev. II. c. Jennings,
Faribault.
These are all eminent clergymen ofthe
where could be safely trusted thedelicate
and difficult question. Rev. S. b.
Warner, the presiding elder of the st. Paul
district, presided, and Rev. w. S. Matthew
Of st. Paul was the secretary.
The charges were three in number:
First, that the paper to which objection was
made denied the inspiration of the Old
Testament; second, that it denied the pres
ent authority Of the decalOgue; third, that
it asserted that to use the Old Testament as
a text book of religion was to abuse it.
The investigation being opened by prayer
the charges were read, and the newspaper
report on which they were based.
Witnesses were introduced to prove that
the report was substantially correct. This
was all the testimony for the prosecution
Mr.. Fisher presented then two witnesses.
d. Morgan of Minneapolis and L. II. Hol-
man of st. Paul, who testified that they
heard the papers, and that the newspaper
reports, because of omissions. were mis-
leading, producing false impression of a
destructive attack on the Old Tesla
ment, whereas the paper, as they
heard it, was largely constructive.
Mr.. Fisher claimed that they had not made
out case against him and the testimony of
his witnesses Offset that of the prosecution.
They could not convict him of heresy upon
mere newspaper reports, and he might re-
fuse to present his paper and the case
would have been stopped there. But he be-
lieved his paper to be his best defense, and
he was therefore perfectly willing to pro-
duce it, being confident it would clear him
Of the charges.
He then read his paper in full, and
answered all questions of the committee
as to the meaning of different portions. He
then read quotations from Methodist aIl-
thorS to show that the main position of his
paper had already been taught. The cate
chfsm. John Wesley's sermons. Pope's
Theology and Pressense' Christianity. were
quoted especially establishing his position
that the ten commandments did not con-
stitute the standard of perfect morality.
The main position of the paper that the
Old Testament revelation was progressive
and preparatory, leading to the perfect
revelation of the New Testament, was
shown not to be new in Methodist teaching.
His defence rested there.
The committee then took a recess for
dinner, after which they discussed the mat
Ter by themselves and unanimously reached
the following verdict:
We, the committee called to act in the above
case, report the following findings. to-Uit.
We do not find the paper, under Brother Fish
er's explanations, TO sustain the report OF
heresy, but we do find some statements of q
very dangerous character, and that
such teaching has a tendency to create dis
senslon and false Impressions and we dc
most earnestly and afiectionately admonist
and request him to avoid such expressions in
the future, both in public and in private.
THE MILITARY SHOOT.
1r1o