St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-12
THE USES OF HERETICs.

The old saying, THE blood of the
martyrs is the seed of the church," has
lost its significance of late years. To
be sure. there are martyrs today, as
there were in olden times. but they do
not suffer as they did then. The dark
and loathsome dungeon does not now
yawn TO receive them into a living
tomb, nor are they thrown to the wild
beasts or burned at the stake for the
dedication of gaping crowds. Physical
torture is no longer the fate of those
who dissent from accepted theological
doctrines. They are simply tried for
heresy, the fellowship of the church is
withdrawn from them. and they 90
forth into the world. start independent
organizations, drawfat salaries. achieve
notoriety through the columns of the
press, and become the lions of the hour.
A few of them, through lack of mental
power. sink into oblivion, but the ma
jority ride upon the topmost wave of
popular favor and live on the fat Of the
land.
1t requires brains to be a successful
hereto nowadays. Men of mediocritv
can never be prosperous in the role. In
the first place. it requires Advertising
judicious advertising-and this requires
tact, though not money. The hereto, in
order to win fame, must first become
notorious. He starts with a sensational
sermon, in which ne disputes some of
the cardinal dogmas of the church to
which he owes allegiance. Then will
follow a protest from some leading
members of his congregation; then
trial by the lower ecclesiastical court,
which usually decides against the
preacher. This is followed by an appeal
to higher authority, which results in the
withdrawal of fellowship from the Of
fender. Each of these proceedings is
reported at length in the columns of the
daily newspapers, and talked about IN
church circles. They produce schisms
in the church, which form food for Cos
sip in and out of the circle in which
they originate; the opposing forces
contend in communications to both the
secular and religious press, and all
the time the preacher is chuckling at
the row he has created. When he is
finally driven out of the church he is
followed by large portion of his own
congregation, and attracts to his minis
trations many who had previously &C
knowledged no religious allegiance
whatever.
The development of the modern here
tic has also had notable influence
upon the theology of the age generally.
There has long been an emphatic pro-
test against some of the tenets of me-
di8val Calvinism and the mathematics
tons of Knox. There is scarcely a
church IN the United States today that
would tolerate clergyman who should
preach the doctrine of infant damna-
ton as taught by Calvin and his dis
ciples, or the doctrine of the total de-
pravity of mankind. Such theories are
repuguant to our conceptions of just
and merciful creator. No mother, en-
dowed by God with the maternal in
stinct of love for her offspring, can find
it in her heart to believe that the infant
that has been snatched from her en-
brace by death will suffer endless tor
ment simply because it has not been
baptized. The theory was conceived in
ignorance and fendishness-in a terri
BILE misconception Of the character of
the Deity. Men also prefer to believe
that their fellow men are inherently just
and upright, and that it is circum-
stances and associations that render
them otherwise. not natural bent and
inclination.
The heretics have brought about this
wholesome change in popular senti-
ment. Jonathan Edwards was among