St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-11
WHAT is A HERETO?
The Episcopal Church Tries
to Find Out at the Cleve-
land Trial.
What Rev. Howard MaeQueary
Had to Say in His Own
Defense.
His Reasons for Assuming the
Human Percentage Of the
Savior.
Extracts From His Book, "The
Evolution Of Man and
Christianity"

CLEVELAND, O.. Jan. 10.-Fiye clergy
men. none of them especially yerSed In
Scriptural or ecclesiastical lore, sat as
an ecclesiastical court in this city, and
their decision will settle the clerical
standing of Rev. Howard MacQueary,
formerly rector of st. PauGs church,
Canton. O., and will put the diocese OF
Ohio OH record on theological questions
that men are diSputlng about the world
over. Indirectly and remotely 1T Will
commit the Protestant Episcopal church
in the United States, and thus put on
record a church which never before IN
its history has had just such case and
has always boasted of the latitude OF
belief allowed within its bounds.
The court. as constituted, includes
Rev. Y.~P. Morgan, A. Is. Putnam,
II, d. AYES. Of this city; Rev:
George f. Smythe, Of Toledo, and
Rev. ". IL. Gallagher, of Panesyllle,
with Hon. George L. Chapman as regal
adviser and president. Rev. =. ,: Bates,
now rector Of st. Pauls. this city, put
formerly lawyer. acted as prosecutor.
The defendant had as his couhsel Juuge
!. II. MacAIath, of this city.
standing committee of The diocese
against Mr.. MacQueary, when read,
contained the charges outlined yester-
day. They are that he, in holding and
preaching the views he does regarding
the origin, birth, and resurrection OF
Jesus, teaches doctrines contrary to
those held by the church, and violates
declarations and engagements made at
his ordination. The specifications of
the presentment, upon which the
charges we're based, were these quota
tions from Mr.. MacQuearY's book, The
Evolution of Man and Christianity"
..All the earliest narratives of our
Lords life and teachings fail to furnish
US even approximately satisfactory
proof of the virgin birth, but the eVl-
dence deducible rather seems TO FAVOR
the view that Joseph was the fatfer OF
Jesus. The story of the virgin born as
it stands in the Gospel is so improbable
and the evidence supporting it so uncer-
tain that criticism cannot accept 1t. 1t
were much better for the cause OF re-
Iigion to frankly acknowledge the mea-
gerness and weakness of the evidence
adducibie in support of the traditional
views and to offer an explanation which,
while it rObS the birth. of the Supernat-
ural drapery, vet retains the great fact
that an ayatar of God was born OF Mary
and Joseph. The earliest tradl-
tjon concerning Christ's resur-
rection simply teaches that it
was a spiritual appearance. lie
simply showed Himself in spirit to HIS
apostles. This was not a subjective
hallucination OF theirs, but a real sub
jective manifestation of the spirit OF
Jesus from the unseen sphere. Around
this kernel gradually grew the husky
narratives of the gospel, whose author
ship is SO uncertain. whose conceptlons
are so materialstic, so inconsistent
with the conceptions OF the unseen
sphere which scientific theology forces
upon us, that we must set them aside as
yaIueless. A popular question is: What
became of the body of Jesus If it was
not raised from the grave? This cues
ton is based upon the details about the
grave, etc, given in the gospel, but,
since they are unreliable from late adj
ditions. the question has no force. The
body doubtless crumbled into dust
somewhere, and the disciples who saw
Jesus alive in the spirit would care lit
tie about the body"
mot Guiltv!"
To those charges Mr.. MacQneary
pleaded "Not guilty." forciUly but not
dramatically. When the prosecutor
was asked for testimony he submitted
copy of Mr.. MacQueary'S book, calling
special attention to passages marked
noted in the presentlment. Later IN
the trial he wished he had submitted
other testimony.
Judge MacMath, for the defendantSub-
mitted and read as testimony articles
6. s. 10. and 81 of the Thirtv-nine Arti-
cles: |. Corinthians. XIV; Isaiah vii. the
-Four Gospels, and portions of the Acts;
also decisions of the English Prlvy
Council, Chap. As of Justin Mar
tyr's Dialogue with Typho;"
extracts from Principal Tul-
Ioch's article on "Creeds" IN the
Encyclopaedia Britannica; Rev. Ed
win A. Abbotts opinion of the virg in
birth. as found in .'Yhe Kernel and the
Husk:" the views of Rev. III. K. HaW-
els on the virgin birth and resurrection
as found in his book, 'ChrIst ana chris
tianity,'' and articles by Canon Free
mantle and the Bishop OF carlisle IN
current reviews. When Judge Nc
Math offered as further testimony eX-
tracts from a. sermon on Robert Els
mere and the Question of Miracles" by
Rev. r. Heber Newton, of All Souls
church. New York. the prosecutor OBJ
iected, not to the particular SEN
timent of DIR. Newton, but to
the drift OF defendants teSti-
mony. While the prosecution was en-
tirelV willing to allow the greatest iatl-
tude, it must insist he said, that the
question at issue was not the value of
Mr.. MacQueary's opiuions, or those of
other individuals in the. English or
American church, but the question of
MIR. MaeQueary's conformity to the
standards of the Protestant Episcopal
church in the United States; hence no
decision of an English privy council or
All opinion OF auy American or English
clergyman would have any weight.
Judge MacAIath denied this. He
claimed the right to quote opinions of
men as evidence of divergent views and
of the freedom left to the individual.
He claimed that the question involved
had never been settled. The prose
cutor consented to allow such testimony
to 90 before the court as an expression
of individual opinion, but not as author
itatiye evidence.
MacQueary Not Alone.
During the noon recess the court de
eided to admit DR.. Newton's sermon
and similar testimony, and it was read
Immediately after the reassembling Of
the court. Of all the testimony by men
of to-day offered by the defendant itmay
be said in general that it showed that
Mr.. MacQueary is not alone in believ
ing as he does. although not all express
so uneQuivocally t cir belief. The de
PENDANT also submitted extracts from
pages 22O, 225. 22I and 2S6 of his book
showing what he holds to be the just
Interpretation of his views. For in
stance, he says:
81 hold with Keim and many of the
evolutionlsts thatas great miracle wa:
wrought at the birth of Jesus as was
wrought when life, or self-conscious
mind, was introduced on our globe; 8
distinct leap was made in the process OF
spiritual evolution at his birth, whereby
the goal toward which humanity is
moving was reached in one case. Jesus
A, In Of lar