St. Paul daily globe., 1891-01-12
REV. HOWARD MACQUEARY

REV. HOWARD MACQUEARY.
Bishop LEONARD. of Ohio, is a young
man Of great personal attractions, who
has been advanced very rapidly in &c
clesiastical preferment. In strength of
character and learning he is not to be
named with MCILvAINE and BEDELL,
his great predecessors i'll the Ohio biSh-
opric; but his amiability and holy life
have made him prominent III the church
in this day when men of decided opin
ions are considered dangerous. We
think that the good man is making a
mistake in citing the Rev. HOWARD
MACQUEARY to trial by his peers on
charge of heresy. The offending
priest has certainly advanced some
extremely unconventional views OH
the doctrines of the church, but
we are inclined to believe that the
broader and more inclusive Christian
sects are at this time. the more chance
they will have Of filling the purpose of
their existence. 1t has been the glory
of the Episcopal church that any one
who truly and earnestly repented of his
sins and aimed constantly to lead new
life, following the commandments OF
Christ, could stand within its borders.
1t will be too bad if the conviction of
Rev. HOWARD MACQUEARY should
spread abroad the opinion that the EpiS-
copal church has no room for those who
do not believe that Christ was born of
a virgin. On the other hand, if Mr..
MACQUEARY is acquitted, it will be at
considerable expense to church disci
pline. We think that the course Bishop
PORT ER has pursued in similar exigen-
cies is the wisest one. He has de-
pended on his personal influence to re-
strain his lieutenants when they have
shown tendency to become unduly
radical in their positions.
We have to allow a good deal of lati-
tude in this generation, when all the
criteria of truth are being readjusted.
The dogmas of the Christian church
were established when the laws of evil
dence were different from what they are
now, and when the limits of human
knowledge were supposed to be bound
less. Within the last fifty years the
lieye in the supremacy of regularity and
order in physical nature, and to ask for
very definite proofs when it is claimed
that there has been a revolt against
them. For this reason a good many
people have found it hard to believe that
Christ was born of virgin. Again,
the more familiar the facts of history
have become, the clearer it appears to
some students that the prevalence of
belief is no index of its correctness.
Certain temporary fads of thought give
birth to facts to support them,
aud the Investigator looks in vain
for any substantially i'll this foun-
dation. There are some who say
that in the time of the late Roman
republic and the early empire the
mouths of men were filled with stories
of brit hs from virgins, and that SOUS of
gods were as common in society as any
other prominent class Of people. They
hold that when men were thinking in
this way it would not require the same
accurate proof to give currency to the
faith in Cnrist's miraculous birth which
would be required if the idea were ad-
vanced in this day. The number of
Christians who are III open or secret
sympathy with Mr.. MCQUEARY in his
general views from one or both of these
reasons is very large. In spite of their
deficiencies, they get great deal of in-
spiration and help out of their love for
Christ. The church should be careful
not to shape things so as to cast them
into outer darkness in this world, no
matter what their fate in the next.