The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-22

Some part of what was said is sum-
married below:
Professor was the title this good and
great preacher preferred. He was. for
a time, teacher and it is significant
of his conception of the work of a
name, rather than anything savoring
of priesthood. He was a great
preacher though with many external
disadvantages. He read a. his sermons
and was not a good reader With a
very striking countenance he could
not be called handsome but rather the
opposite He had an awkward manner
tones, and yet great audiences hung
literally breathless upon his words,
those most distant often hearing but
little of what he said
r. It is just twenty years since Professor
Swing was accused of hereSy and
tried before the Chicago Presbytery
This rather added to his influence and
reputation than hindered it, though me
was very popular and spoke to great
audiences before the trial. Humanity
speaking one might say that had he
been less popular he might have escaped
the hereSy trial. To such men as Pro-
lessor Patton, his accuser, it must have
seemed rather unfair for Professor
Swing ito stray outside of the confession
and pick up such very interesting
themes belonging to universal religion
and literature, as those with which he
RECALLED his vast audiences. When, at
last, on the Sunday after the death of
John Stuart Mill, Professor Swing came
out with an appreciative discourse upon
his life and among other things said:
even if Stuart Mill stood nominadly
outside of the Christian religion, yet
there is a sense in which he stood, not
oh Int INV ~ Ii, 41,.,
boundaries Of the New Testament
Professor Patton attacked him in the
Interior newspaper, and gaining little
satisfaction, brought the hereto to trial
before the Presbytery. The charges
were two, with twenty-four specifica-
tions under the first and four under the
second, The first charge was that
Professor Swing had not been Jealous
and faithful in maintaining the truths
of the gospel; the second was He does
not sincerely receive and adopt the con-
fession of faith of this church as con-
tanning the system of doctrine taught
in the holy Scriptures"
One of the specifications of his Of
lenses was that he had given lecture
in aid of Unitarian chapel land in
doing so aided in the PRONUNCIATION of
the heresy which denies the deity of
our blessed Lord"
He was accused in another. specifica-
ton OF speaking disparagingly of the
doctrine of the Trinity and treating
other most precious doctrines with con-
tempt, and the following is quoted from
one Of his sermons:
'Over the idea that two and two
make four no blood has been shed, but
over the insinua;tion that three may
be one, or one three there has ioften
been a demand for external influence.
to brace up for the work this frail
logical faculty. It is probable that no
man has ever been put to death fer
heresy regarding the sermon on the
mount. It's declarations demand no tor
lures to aid human faith, but when
church comes along with it's '.legiti-
macy" or with its five points, or with
its prayer book, or its infant baptism,
or eternal procession of the Holy Ghost,
chen comes the demand for the rack
and the stake to make up in terrorism
what is wanting in evidence
The following from one of his sermons
was made the subject of one of the
many specifications: "I doubt not that
Queen Penelope, of the dark land, and
the doubling Socrates have received at
heavens gate a sweeter welcome sung
of angels than greeted the ear of Rus
sia's brilliant but false lived queen"
Catherine II, professedly Christian)
But the worst heresy Of all seemed to
be this: he teaches that fdlth saves
because 1t leads to holy life: that
salvation by faith is not peculiar to
Christianity" This is supported by the
following quotation: Heaven is
height to which men climb on the
deeds of this life. Coming to the grave
he only can look forward with Joy who
can sweetly look back
An impartial judge would doubtless
have decided that Professor Swing was
guilty as charged, as his doctrine was
plainly Unitarian rather than in accord
with the Westminster confession. but
he was surrounded by men who loved
him, many of whom knew that # he
was a hereto they were heretics also,
and so he was acquitted.
Very soon after his acquittal, Prof
essor Swing withdrew from the church
and for twenty years has stood alone
as an independent, preaching to one
of the largest congregations of Chicago.
His influence has been great and its
growth is significant. DR.. Barrows and
DR.. Hail. two of the most prominent
Presbyterials in Chicago, spoke their
eulogies over his bier. He was greatly
beloved and worthy Of all love, He
leaves no successor.