The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-05-06
MACQUEARY THE HERETO.
HIS VIEWS OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.
He Declares that II Occurred Along the
Lines OF Natural Generation-He En-
rhaticalIy Denies tho Dogma of
the Physical Resurrection.


and conversed unreservedly concerning
his recent suspension over six months ago
by the ecclesiastical court of the northern
diocese of Ohio. DR.. MacQueary is a
young man, tall and slender, with jet
black hair, an intellectual cast of counten-
ance, and as seen yesterday in negligee,
while resting after the fatiguing travel,
manifested a decidedly unclerical appear
ance. His brown eyes twinkled with an
uncomfortable spirit of fun as he gently
satirized various aspects of punishment
imposed upon him for his alleged unor-
thodox views as promulgated in his work
on the Evolution of Man and
Christianity"
When asked as to his future plans DR..
MacQueary said: "My plans are inchoate /;
1 have received two informal calls
where, l am not at liberty to state The
Redpath Lyceum gave me an opportunity
to enter the lecture field, but l find that
my health is broken, so that / do not
know whether to undertake to lecture. The
offer extends to next fall. at which time
may deliver few lectures; that will de-
my difficulty with the church, as | think
the case viii be 1eopened about the 18th
Of September. 1 delivered lecture on
The Religious Problem" before the
Nineteenth Century club in the Metro
politan opera house of New York and my
effort was we'll received by the club, al
though newspaper criticism was rather
severe. / also delivered the same lecture
n the, church of the Messiah, Chicago.
The acoustic properties of both buildings
were poor and L found difficulty in making
myself heard. / Was to have delivered
the same lecture in Cincinnati, but l
found that city in such a turmoil of polit-
zeal excitement that forbore. / wish to
keep as quiet as possible for a time.
Should 1 accept a charge l shall do so
with the understanding that some one will
fill my place after month or two so that
/ may take summer vacation"
DR.. MacQueary spoke pleasantly re-
garding his suspension, which went into
effect March 49, 81 am being punished"
he said, 'fOr an expression OF unorthodox
views, and the further penalty is held over
my head that If still hold and express
those views after my sentence of six
months is ended l shall be deposed from
the ministry. This is, / maintain, con-
trary both to civil and ecclesiastical law
1t is like the case of the judge who i'm
posed life sentence upon man and then
added one dav as punishment for an i'm
pudent remark made by the culprit /
consider the verdict uncanonical. The
ecclesiastical court consisted of five clergy
men elected at the diocesan convention, and
one member of a standing COMMITTEES of
three clergymen and two laymen which
acts as a sort of cabinet for the bishop,
was appointed to prosecute. The sentence
OF this court may be modified by the
bishop, but not increased"
Then DR.. MacQueary discoursed at
length on the heresles for which tho pun
ishment of suspension was melted out.
''In my book, Evolution of Man and
Christianity | had certain chapter de-
voted to miracles, in which l attempted to
show that Christ was not virgin-born and
that He was not physically resurrected.
That chapter is the head and front of my
Offending. Other chapters, on evolution
and inspiration, the Trinity, the divinity
OF Christ, the atonement, heaven and hell,
the problem of evil, bodily resurrection,
Immortality and the church of The future,
were allowed to pass unchallenged. Now,
II is a false assertion that reject the in
carnation or the divinity of Christ. / &C
cept the catholic doctrine of the incarna-
ton, as set forth in our second article
of religion. The birth and char
acter of our Lord are two
distinct questions. You may accept His
divinity even if you believe He had an
earthly father-Joseph. You may believe
His birth to have been truly miraculous
that is, the result of a special operation of
the Divine will, and yet hold that this
birth occurred along the lines of natural
generation. In other words, the divinity
of Christ depends upon the essential re-
lation Of human and Divine spiritual ele-
ments in Him, not upon the mode of His
birth. He may have been born in the
ordinary way, while His spirit was es-
pecially begotten of God. the Holy Ghost,
the Lord and Giver of Life, working
through the media of a man and woman.
At any rate, L believe that in Christ
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, which influx of Deity into human
ity was due to a special operation OF Gods
will acting along the line of ordinary gem
Grafton. While the possibility OF the
virgin-born is admittei-for what is
not possible yet its improbability is so
great that only the most overwhelming
evidence could prove such a miracle. This
proof is not forthcoming. Matthew gave
simply synopsis of the dlscourses, not a
history of our Lord; Mark also made notes
Oh 81. IelcI 3 seTuOub, WING Luke lOLteQ
down memoranda OF st. Pauls missionary
journeys In such writings there would
be no place for an account of the birth.
This account seems to have originated
from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning a
virgin-bOrn lmmanual. 1t was a natural
thing that a writer OF the first or second
century of our era, in reading this proph-
ecy should apply it TO our Lord
the true Immanuel-and thus
originate the story of the vir-
gin-birth. 1t is we'll known that the
early disciples relied almost exclusively
upon prophecy for proofs of the Messiah
ship and divinity OF Christ. Even il
Matthew and Luke be the authors of the
stories in the gospels, we can readily be-
lieYe that they should so understand the
prophecy. Now, because Luke was ply
stefan and because he says that he had
perfect understanding from the very first,
much stress is laid upon the testi-
mony Of Luke. Assuming, therefore, for
the sake of argument, that Luke is the
author of the whole gospel, which assump-
ton is most improbable, it is quite reason
able to suppose that he accepted stories
current about Jesus without so rigid an
inquiry into every case as a modern ply
siclan would make. Mary was probably
dead at the time, aud she was the only
person who would give unquestionable
testimony on the subject Even the most
careless reader of the English text must