The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-30
SERMON TO SKEPTICS.
Rev. Wallace Nutting at Ply
mouth Congregational.
LEADING MEN ARE CHRISTIANS.
ne Bible, He Says, Must BE Taken
esnsib1y-Rev. @. j. Burchett ON
the Dancing Subject.

vnov.nr Young Man" He took for his tart.
Cor xiii:f2-Now know in part.
NJ Eutting said that the learned man might
b concsited, but sns wise man was modest.
Whea Agsssz, the great naturalist, was asked to
delisa three lectures on three successive nights
naugD night he answered that he hadn't
tina Instead OF presuming that he knew
enough Of his science. he felt that he was iust
srtenDg upon its threshold. Applying the same
spirif 70 the study OF Christianity, we shall
pssSr think ourselves possessed of all the facts
IN regard to it, but we shall modestly say with
Paul, that we know in part Continuing, Mr..
Euttng said
Thsse II large class of young men, who,
while drawn towards Jesus of Nazareth, have
stopped short of Him, because they have
learned some things which shake their conf
dence In the entire system OF Christianity. They
have learned that some things 0iieved by some
portions OF Christcndom are not deserving of
bsIisl They have learned that Christians have
sometimes been mistaken, and therefore these
young men fear the same thing for themselves.
The result IL that they receive with great eau
ton what men say OF God.
It has been customary for many religious
teachers to call skepticism blatant. good
Gal of it is blatant. But there is much honest,
thinking skeptieism, and unless we are ready to
meet II, We cannot fill our God-appointed des-
tiny-that OF bringing the world into harmony
With God We have no right to suppose that
man 10 making his skepticism an excuse for not
being Christian. We should not wish to have
men regard our religion as CLOAK; hence, to
fulfill the Golden Rule, We must not regard skep-
Hcism ss a cloak. That 1t often is so does not
alter the case at all.
So We are brought face to face with young
men who think that Christianity is not what
their fathers supposed ii was These young
men think that enlightenment undermines
Christianity. They think our faith il a good
ais,ft
and that men are improved by 1t, until they rise
to zee that after ali ii is only blind religion,
unsuited to the educated man.
1t 10 useless to ignore these facts; IL is even
dangerous; for TO ignore them is to lose hold of
many men who may become Christians. The
Christian minister must come down from dog
matte stills. unless he wishes all the converts to
Christianity TO be as dogmatic a. he is. True
Christianity is gentle, easy to be entrsated,
resdy to give reason for the hope that IL in 1t,
yet with meekness and fear.
Now to these young men whose eyes have
been opened, as they say, to some false claims OF
Christianity, let us recommend as a motto the
words of Paul, ~ know in part" They will
surely confess the greatness of the body OF facts
that go to make up Christian history. And IL
they meet with difficulties it 10 not unlikely
that the difficulties arise from partial knowl-
edge OF Christianity.
The knowing young mani use the term in q
good rense-supposes in the first place that
Christianity is longer the religion of the cul-
tvated. He notices on the worlds arena the
mighty figures of some men like Tyndall, who
do not receive Christianity, and he concludes
that faith 10 no longer compatible with reason,
else these great men would be Christians
But this conclusion is not justified by the
facts. Nearly all the institutions of learning
were founded by Christians, and most of them
are still under Christian control An exception
a IA rirla ha
seats of learning in the Old World were based
on Christianity, and in their very names-Christ
college. Trinity college, ETC., preserve the men,
ory OF their origin. In this country, where state
universities have been instituted, Christian men
have often, and perhaps generally, been selected
for professors chairs The great universities of
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota have ~
their presidents three Congregational ministers.
The young men who have entered the ministry
in the present day have all passed through the
sitting processes of the great schools The men
who stand forth most prominently in the pull
pits OF today have measured the arguments
tending to weaken faith. They are not only
we'll versed in the scientific aspects of Chris
tanity, but many of them are evoiutionists, who
md that faith and fact go well together
The Christian ministry was never 80 well edu-
Gated IS 1t 10 today. But its education shows
forth the glories of Christianity.
In other cRllings, also, knowledge and de-
yoton are seen TO unite. Gladstone says that
fi,yfve out of the sixty greatest statesmen
whom he has known were Christians The
gcoloEist who knows how TO explain the earth
quake that startled US all this afternoon the
Astronomer who explains the armament above
us, the botsnist who has shed most light on
Gods beautiful reyslations-all these ind their
highest representatives in Christians. Look
whore you will, the more inspiring minds, even
OF this modern age, when faith Is said to have
failed, are Christian minds.
We shall not therefore fnd the great majority
Of minds lacking faith in Christianity.
Christianity invites iuvestiga Its beauty
Is not laid upon the surface. Ii can bear the
light, and fades not with age. 1t was never,
since the first century, 80 pure ss IL 10 today. 1t
was never before doing so much for philan-
thropic causes IL Is the friend of intellect
The Reformation, which was the return to the
true spirit OF Christ, marked q wonderful re-
Nval OF learning, and even in the middle ages
what little cultivation remained was found
among the monks. The ridiculous charge that
since the church authorities persecuteda great
astronomer, therefore Christianity is the enemy
Of learning, 10 too feeble to hurt any one No
body claims that the spirit of Jesus fosters
persecution.
Wherever. then, the church ceases TO show
forth His spirit, il ceases to be Christian. No,
my friends, Ignorance is not q badge of tho fol-
lowers OF Jesus. All the greatest retormers
were learned, from Paul to the present time.
And II 10 the glory of the age that the leading
christians are the learned Christians.
The knowing young man also supposes that
the Bible Is no longer capable of holding to-
eether. and that, some of its statements being
weakened, II must go, aud with 1t go Christ
ana bis religion. But Christianity Is not so
mechanical a thing as that Ii is spirit, and
ndoss not depend upon the shapes of type.
bibs was once printed which omitted the mot"
irom the seventh commandment 1t has been
called the wicked Bible, but il did not make q
wicked or unwise God. The Bible IL like
minor TO show us the face of God. You may
nruate the mirror but that does not touch
VOC. And as the years go on we are learning
wal the Bible il q human as well as q divine
BOOK. Since everything human is imperfect,
We Know that God cannot, except by perpet-
VA miracle, communicate His truth TO US IN all
is fallness Our very language forbds such
n'slaton. II the entire Old Testament were
70 corrupted by repeated copying as TO DO
utterly unreliable Christianity would not trem-
eas, because Christianity is founded on Christ,
sho taxes His origin from the spirit and not
nom the letter
But We have no reason TO lose confidence in
our DID Testament The knowing young man
imposes that he has seen errors N It's history.
should be remembered that inspiration is not
ahmed for our translation of tia Bible,
aaea less for its transcription. There 10
"ee aud there . difference IN state
aeh' OF fact between the Kings and the
earoneles. This difference ought 10 lacrosse
ntaeF than weaken our faith. For If the men
sho copied the Ri Die had been manipulating II,
sasy would have made the statements agree.
"sses therefore, THAI honest men worked upon
" and when We find that one book SAWS aVNV
snee another says 1900 We explain IL IN the
way We should explain an error IN any