Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1891-02-02

ASe~seA Over the usnay ~ nsv.
Dr.. Abbott. On Christianity.
TIE GzRIsIIly sIIlER suI IpEG



has under consideration, II should be
remembered, Is What Is Christianity
tie - not particularly concerned With
ether issues. sueh as, Is Il true on can
u be proven tfuez Indeed, the theme
= - sast that II Is IDLE TO essdesvor to
meet any OF the side questions The
man who Becomes = convert 10 Christi
snity from any other cause save It's
sweet feasoliab.eness. IS not = very yalu-
able acquisition. A man who is 4 mere
hAnger-on, a spiritual suller, as IL were,
or "a war correspondent" Is but a
sorry Christian. surely, q soldier ia
the army OF the Lord" who would de-
seft II he were not afraid of the eonse-
quences. is not an ideal soldier. The
true friends OF Christ are those who
love him fos what he was IN himself;
those who feet = hunger for the purity
oil soul which he possessed; those who
see and feel the beauty OF holiness.
IL any man has not the spirit %
Christ he Is none of His" Only the
man who has Christ IN hmm knows what
Chrstinity is. or can know what it's.
Archbishop French truly says. "A
miracle does not prove the truth of a
doctrine. or the divine mission of him
that brings i. 10 pass. The doctrine
must first commend itself to the con-
science as being good, and only then
can the miracle seal 1t as divine. The
first appeal is from the doctrine to the
conscience. to the moral nature OF
man." And Or. Motley emphatically
affirms the same doctrine when he
says: "a miracle cannot oblige us to
accept any doctrine which is contrary
to our moral nature, or to a funda-
mental principle Of religion" These
two writers are leading orthodox au-
thorities, but 1t may not be amlss for
the sake OF certain readers of this pa
per to quote from lctter-box another
who need not be named: 1.-The instant
we abandon the only true guides We
have-reason and moral consciousness
we must inevitably go astray." Ter
tulllan's andacious paradox: 81 believe
becauseft is impossible" Is but q cry
OF enthusiastic credulity.
The upshot of all this is that in order
for any man TO reach stable assurance
as regards the nature Of Christianity he
must make dilligent use OF the powers
which God has given him with the cx-
pectatlon that if Christianity is true it
will commend itself to him as euch.
We must not only go ourselves to the
fountain-head, but when there we must
ask, seek and knock if We expect the
truth will be opened to us. We should
also remember that reasonable assur.
ance is all We can expect, but we need
not feel at all ashamed or afraid to
scornfully reject what seems to US un-
reasonable and thus untrue; for were
we more certain that our reason and
moral natures are from God than that
any books are. The only authority any
man is bound to respect is the authority
Of his own reason and conscience. DIS
loyalty 10 these is treason indeed.
am very glad for one that dogma
tlsm in regard TO religious truth, and
especially as regards Christianity, is
now in its death throes. Unfettered
and unbiased scholarship has given it
its mortal wound. l mean by this that
no pope, or council, or convocatlon.
can any longer Issue any DEGREES, at
least any DEGREES having authority, de-
ciaring: 1--WE authorize the followers
OF this doctrine 70 assume the title of
Catholic Christians, and es we adjudge
that all others are cxtravagant mad
men, we brave them with the impious
., Of
dosius. hacked up by the general coun-
Gil OF Constantlnople, \. ID. 3Sl, could
issue such DEGREES and do their brand
ing with hot irons, but not In these
days. We may cali ourselves "Catholic
Christians IN our day, regardless of
what Pope or church may think about
it. The horetics, (protestants), now as
then, are the noble army, and their
weapons now, as we'll as then, are not
carnal but spiritual.
1t seems well in the space which re-
mains for this article to call attention
TO some of the reasons why no man
can now dogmatlcally affirm Christi
anity TO be this or that. I feel con-
fident that no man who has any re-
putation for scholarship to sustain will
care to deny any of the following state
ments:
/. Christianity in its purity was
found alone in the four gospels.
?. Unfortunately for dognatists. the
manuscripts OF those gospels are lost !.
Not only are the originals lost. but all
the copies made for nearly four hum
dred years afterward, arc likewise lost
The earliest extant manuscript is a
copy of an unknown number of copies
made by some unknown person or per-
sons presumably IN the fourth century.
3. Worse yet for the dogmatists; the
titles given 10 these gospels are no part
of the original text. We have only
tradition for assuming that Matthew,
Mark. Luke and John were written by
the men whose names they now bear.
The books themselves were anonymous.
Anonymous writers furnish weak
foundation for any man TO build great
creeds upon.
4. Marx and Luke were not apostles,
and so far as Is known not even dis
clples of Jesus Several Marks are ap-
psrently mentioned IN the New Tesla
ment, and almost nothing is known OF
the history of either of these men.
Even il they wrote a gospel, which can
not be proved, not beng eye witnesses,
their testimony has no great weight.
The author Of Luke declares that
many have taken IN hand 10 draw up
q narrative and he also esssys the
same task, but declares he writes from