St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-01-11

Art. V /. Tor liberty TO DelleVe VHdt He
will OF the holy scripture, but why IS
not Art. VIII. equally binding upon
him? MaRifestly it was never Intended
by the church to allow such license as
to permit one to impugn a creed whose
truthfulness every service OF the church
compels one to reaffirn. Whether or
not creeds are infalllbIe for the church
thew are authoritative standards for
clergymen; whether or not the church
as whole would have right to alter
the creeds, no individual can. 1t is only
by process of law that the general con-
vention can change it; surely it IS not
open 10 an individual bearing the COM
mission of the church to attack its
standards.
This argument was tersely stated. but
with none of the zeal Of hereto hater
and hunter, and one could not but feel
that DR.. Bates wished that the duty OF
prosecutor had fallen to others.
The Dcfendant's Talk.
The defendant replied in speech one
hour long, which only partially covered
one of the charges made i'll the present
ment-yiZ., denial of the Virgin birth.
His reply was written, but at times he
forsook his manuscript and became elo-
quent, yet never rabid, bitter or senSa-
tional. winning the careful attention of
the court and the congratulations of
many who do not agree with him for the
ability and tone of his reply.
To the charge Of unfaithfulness to Or
dination VOWS, he cited the VOWS and
the Sixth article as proof that he was
priest, subscribed to the Holy Scripture,
not to creedS, and that the theory of the
church is that cIeedS are to be tested by
Scripture and not Scripture by creeds.
''If the belief of the church-is forever
settled in creeds made years ago, why
so diligently exhorted to search the
Scriptures% 1t is conceded by the prose-
cutor that many doctrines of the Thirty
nine Articles are not accepted by many
of the clergy. and yet they are not
deemed hereticS. Evidently. the right
of reason and private Interpretation can
20 so far and no further. but who is
to decide how far? The general con-
vention? But how is the general con-
vention to have the opportunity unless
individuals like myself hold and preach
views and create sentiment that will
secure recognition there? Who is to de-
eide what the church at large holds. If,
the moment voice in favor of new
view is raised. it is to be siIenced by
Vi ~ DO lAittO VI q iiOlNtiS. IL h"o
been tacitly assumed and often eX-
pressly asserted that the first church
councils were infallibIe. but the tWen-
ty-first article disproves that view. The
fact that the majority has always be-
lieved certain things to he true does not
make them true. Had not Paul lived to
combat the majority, there would have
been.quite all altered Christianity; had
not AthanasiuS lived, Christianity
would not have been Trinitarian; had
not Luther been willing to be in the
minority. there would have been no
Professionalism.
. s"But, while respecting the infalliDil-
4ity Of councils and the majority" said
Mr. MacQueary, II accept the decreSS
of the council of Nice, for that council,
which met to define the doctrine of the
incarnation, actually omitted any arti-
Gle on Virgin birth and did not define
the resurrection, in proof of which see
Principal Tulloch's article On 'CreedS'
in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and
Schaff's History of Creeds.' Thus we
see that AthahaSiuS, the fOnnder OF
orthodoxy, did not insist Oh what is now
deemed as important. Even so late as
the council of Chalcedon many of the
bishops held views on the subject now
deemed heterodoX. Justin Martyo, in
his Dialogue With Typho,' refers to
those in the church who denied the
Virgin birth, and he did not brand them
as hereticS.
Belief in the Incarnation.
Mr.. MacQueary reiterated his belief
in the Incarnation, his acceptance of
Art. 2, but his distinction between the
divine birth and the divine character of
Jesus. He pronounced as false the
statement that he denies the ''miracu-
lous conception" but he believes that
Jesus had two human parents instead of
one, and that the miracle OF his divine
nature, this being so, still remains
when it is asserted that Joseph was
Jesus father. He read long extracts
from DR.. Edwin Abbott's ''Kernal and
the Husk," ana the Rev. H..
K. HaWeis' "ChriSt and ChriStianity'
as cOrroborating and APPLY stating his
own views. He Said: "While reject the
traditional and popular Interpretation
of this article of the creed, | accept it
in the sense defined by Isaiah, whose
as authority for his statement. | accept
Christ's virgin birth, therefore, in the
Scriptural, though not in the traditional
and theological sense of the word, and
[ accept his divinity and miraculous
conception. My contention is that ira
ditional and popular theology has ce-
parted from Scripture, not only in the
use of this word (yirgim in the sense
spoken of, but also in its rejection OF
the human fatherhood of our Lord"
He quoted from the Rev. Ii. r. Haweis'
Christ and Christianity" as express
Ing his views as follows: Luke and
Matthew, being later than Mark. give
the tradition of the virgin birth, but
also embody the earlier view of Joseph s
paternity, and accordingly give the
genealogy of Joseph. The miraculous
conception blots him out, and his gene
alogy should have therefore been omit
ted altogether. but these accounts of
his pedigree record what the early
Christians believed for a long while"
Mr.. MacQueary added: Remnants
| of this belief crop out in Matthew, xiii,
| SIS; John vi, AZ, where Jesus is called
son of Joseph. by his acquaintance,
who professed to have intimate knowl-
edge of his family, and Jesus did not
| correct this false impression, il such il
were. In Luke H.. 4S. Mary her
self calls Joseph his father. Thest
| passages in the gospels are like
| Llle DOuluerS WHICH. tHOttSH LIE
sea has left them high and dry, yet i'll
dictate that the sea once flowed over thai
part of the land. AT first sight we may
/ be disposed to attach to them little i'm
| portance, and to ridicuIe him who cite:
them as evidence of the human father
hood of Jesus, but we must remember
! that the Gospels were writteR long aftel
| the death of Jesus, and were gradua
| formation from oral tradition and hence
various stories about the birth arose
| and were indiscriminately incorporated
in these books. Having thus two views
| of the birth in the scriptures, we mus
make a choice, and we may choost
either without violating the principle
of this church."
Wild to Lend Money.