New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-06-05
SUPPORTING DIR. BRIGGS.
STRONG WORDS FROM THE REV. DR.
LYMAN ABBOTT.
HIS SERMON IN PLYMOUTH CHURCH YESTERDAY

HIS SERMON IN PLYMOUTH CHURCH 1tSihnO"i
DEFENCE OF A BROADER CHRISTIANITY.
In his yesterday morning the heV. VI
Lymhn Abbott, In Plymouth Church, Broohlyh' saiu
{" In 1891 the Rev. Dr. Briggs, in his inaugural au-
dress on taking the chair in Union theological SEM
inary said: At IS the testimony OF human expert
eLcc In all ages that God manlfests Himself 10 men
and gives certainty OF His presence and authori'y
And for that statement he was last week ueciarcd
unworthy any longer To preach the gospel IN Pres
byt-rian pulplts and branded as an ihndel ana j
hereto
lnfdci. What is inhdc' What II not this: To
denv that God IL In Ills world today To
DENY that there Is any way Of coming to God except
the one door that has never been opened1 Hereto!
What hereto II not this: To declare tSat God Is
not the Father OF all mankind, and leaves no door
OF access Himself save the one door OF a wi1tten
word that not free to all the human race! In
your name and In the OF all that believe In a
ling God dwelling in the hearts OF His
children to-day, thank this prophet briggs.
successor Of the prophets Of olden Time
that In all these two years OF cruel
trial he has never recedeG from his one position,
used words In doubtful sense never rctncted
IDS assertion. but has stood firmly and faithfully
against oppressors by this fundamental doctrine that
God is In the heart Of the Individual and IN the heart
OF His Church. and He is revealed In the pages OF His
File II find ep3S>ope fault with him. He has been
too conservative For Tile Blb,c rests the Church
II Is the record of the Church. and the Church rests
the power Of the individual to know God directly
and Immediately. The Church is the Organization OF
all those who have come 10 know God, and love God
and God and he who. denies that there Is
power in the human soul directly and Immediately 10
know God. cuts away the ground on which the
Bible rests, and leaves neither Bible Church In
fhe world. He is like the man that stood on limb
and sawed II of between himself and the tree.
al want, then, TO say to any Of you who imagine
that the Bible and the Church and TIE Institutions
OF religion are being defended by the act OF the
Presbyterian Generai Assembly, that religion lies in
the heart OF the individual man, and that any phil
osophy which denies that God can come into the
soul except through the Bible denies the Bible ITSELF
which Is the record of the experiences Of men I'M
whose soul God has come. II is lot true that we
desire TO leading the way toward less
faith. We impugn ard deny the theology which
denies that there IL religion outside TIN ltbif he
cause Il necessarily cirres with il she denial that
there Is any religion at all. Hold fast the faith
once for all delivered to tho saints That faith is
not creed that has been formulated. 1t is The living
experience Of thu; Hiring soul knowing rs God ana
walking with Him and loving HIN and living in Him
And stand fast against an ecrlesiasticism which ~"
Cares that men Tan know this God only us they come
into a. church." 70.