The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-04-25
HERRONIsM REBUKED.

WI w uOt Care w give tuo oAtIdfd
giant and fantastic views of Profess
sor George D. HI ,rron, of Iowa Uni
versity, any gratuitous advertising,
but it seems necessary now and then
to say word in sharp rebuke of the
teachings of man who in the exer-
else of merely his own individual
judgment, presumes after all these
centuries of Christian progress, to
make such a statement as this: "As
an institution the church is not
Christian. 1t does not represent Je-
sus Christ" Professor Heron, is of
course,su that he himself represents
Jesus Christ very successfully, but
appears to imagine that he enjoys a
monopoly of divine truth. We are
reminded, when speaking of this self
assured theorist, of remark that Mr..
Spurgeon once made, in view of some
intolerance of opinion with which he
had come in contact: 1T is remark
able that certain men, who think SO
much of what the Holy Spirit has re-
vealed to them, should think SO little
of what he has revealed to others!"
To such lengths has DIR. Heron
progressed that the Rev. DIR. New
man Smyth, of New Haven, although
regarded as "broad" and "progres-
sive" man, has felt constrained in a
recent address on the 'Duties of a
Modern Minister" delivered before
the Connecticut Valley Congrega-
tional Club, to take sharp issue with
the wild theorizing of the man who
seems to be making himself liable to
the stern judgment implied in the
question, "Despise ye the church of
God" DIR. Smyth says of the minis
ter that he "should preach of the
state of society resulting from the
fatherhoed of God and the brother
hood of all humanity. Christianity
is not in form and letter scheme of
society; it is not political science,
and if we attempt 80 to take it We
will surely wander from the spirit of
Christ and get into trouble. The
new prophet who has broken loose in
the West has done this, and when he
says that the Christian religion is "a
system of justice, treatise on politi-
cal economy, science of society," he
is far from the truth. Such
a conception of Christianity is in fun
damental opposition to the ethics and
teachings of Christ. Sociology taught
from the New Testament is radical
mistake. Ministers who preach in
this vein say that Christianity is 80
and 80, and every level-headed busi-
ness man in the congregation knows
that it is nothing of the sort" DR..
Smyth is not afraid of criticism of the
church, but believes that this critic
ism should not be of the sort that
tends to widen the breach between
the church and the class for whose
conversion it is laboring. DR.. Smyth
declares of Professor Heron: "What
he says does not proceed from pro-
found realization of the nature of the
church." and points out that it is i'm
possible for us to realize the faults of
the church unless we believe in it's
sacredness. This assertion of DIR.
Smyth is directly in the line of a
sanctifed common sense. Wholesale
railing at an institution or system that
is not perfect, and yet has been actu
ally greatly blessed of God in thep past,
may be the means of gaining a little
cheap notoriety for the Jealous critic,
but shows the latter to be, for one
thing, devoid of the historic instinct,
which is a most important part of the
equipment of any true teacher. And
as DIR. Smyth adds, lone must indig-
nantly rebuke the reckless speech Of
a man who denies to the church the
impulses of a common morality.
Abuse is not argument. He has but