The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-08

This and the depIorable arrest of one man
OF the cloth for OBTAINING little girl, the
death of another in alcoholic ward AT
Bellevue. the unSeemly row in 81. Barthol-
omew's over the discharge OF the soprano
who had sung there fifteen years, and the
similar humiliation of the famous cholr-
master OF Old Trinity after thirty years
of service, together with the police meth
DDS INDUCED IN by Grace Church people
and detectives TO entrap an aged rascal
VITO was stealing purses while at PRAYER.
followed by their infamous but unsuccess-
full exertiOn of a pull 10 prevent prose-
cution only after they found the old man
was related to wealthy Episcopal worship
ers--an these things happening in week
have caused the ungodly 10 make remarks
on top of all this Mr. Ingerson adds his
thcs belief In Jack the Giant Killer;
.cindrella'. and Little Red Riding I H9od II
Is as essential to salvation as oehei IN
Jonah or the book Of Esther.
The more serious phases of the excite
ment are to come. DIR. Abbott may De
tried for heresy. In no other way VIII the
wrath of the orthodox of all denominations
be appeased. The bold and fearless sue
cessor Of Henry Ward Beecher fears no
Beecher did. In the meantime there are
some mighty interesting sermons DelnS
preached in Plymouth Church
heresy but already war has been declared
on the new president of Union Theologlcai
DIR. Hall wrote two textbooks, Does God
Send trouble and 1.-THE Gospel of the
Divine Sacrifice" His critics of the old
TO the Westminster confession. AT meet
ing OF the Brooklyn Presbytery last week
efforts to bring about charges OF heresy
were defeated. They may be renewed.
As IL to offset all these diScordant notes
comes a sweet refrain from an obscure
Baptist church in Brooklyn. Protracted
meeting began there Wednesday night.
Evangelist Pratt was in the pulpit and his
audience was large. The excitement De
Three times he tried TO close and three
times the benediction was pronounced his
hearers wanted more. however. ana preach
tinued until Z o'clock Thursday morning.
Evangelist Pratt has just begun In View
of this, what matters IL II President JORDAN
of STANDARD University does boldly denounce
religious revivals as "a species or 1ntoxlca-
ton that are no more worthy OF respect
than common drunkenness?
One of the features OF the war on Ut lad taD-
bott Is the position taken by EDITOR Dana,
OF the Sun. The great journalist has de de-
cided that the Brooklyn divine Is an lhhoel-
In an editorial the Sun says:
I'VE publish elsewhere several letters md
ing fault with US for calling Dr.. Lyman
Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale; or
the great fish, as the Scripture descriDeSs
il. Speaking on the subject in Plymouth
Church. DIR. Abbott's remarks were In a
1ocular vein, which caused merriment
among his audience. with the result tnal
he has been called to task sharply by other
ministers of the Congregational Church as
false 10 his professed religious convictions
I'VE said ana we now repeat tnat the ac-
cusation was well founded, and that DR..
Abbott Is really an infidei while proieSSmS
to hold and TO preach the Chrlstidna ia ti1a;
belief in Christ does not require faltn In MS
supernatural origin. or His divinity. pus
HIS doctrines. AS one of them expresses 1t,
there is no reason why the doctor OF any
one else may not reject the supernatfut ,h
reject the idea of the infalllpliity OF the
Bible and still be a Christian.
.'Such a man may be Christian as he
maIy De sp pe Gerbert but he is
not a Christian in the sense OF the relglouS
belief I'm Jesus Christ, which IS required OF
ton in a Congregational Church A deciar-
alton of faith adopted by Congregationalists
I'm 1860 expresses their belief as stu heid
with regard to the divinity or CHRIST:
We confess our faith in God, the Pa
Their the Son. and the Holy Ghost. the only
living and true God; in Jesus Christ, the
incarnate Word. who is exalted to be our
Redeemer and King; and In the Holy com
forter, who Is present In the Cnurch 10 re-
generate and sanctify the soul.
THAT is the religious belief in Christ
which Dr. Abbott and his defenders reject;
and hence they are infideIs; tbey p SeYs
reason for so doing Is not the question. In
denying the supernatural origin and au,
they reject the essential and fundamental
doctrine of the Christian faith. III they
agree with the teachings OF Jesus, and &C,
only as far as this agreement goes, on the
ground that the truth of the Master needs
no supernatural proof To-Day their pehef
Is no more religious faith than II they ac-
cept any other human philosophy. They are
not Christians in the sense OF the Congre-
gational declaration from which we have
BELIEF in Jesus in that sense necessarily
implies belief in the infaliibility of the Bible
and in the miracles recorded therein. Reve-
lation itself can come only by miracle. 1t
must be supernatural in its source. Man
can know of the ways of God only by reve-'
lation. for they are past finding out by any
human investigation. The knowledge of
of them must be derived. If ii Is derived at
all from supernatural and infallible au
thority alone. The greatest of all miracles
is the Incarnation. upon which depends me
whole faith of orthodox Christendom- The
Resurrection was a miracle defying the laws
of nature as science knows them: and the
authority for il rests solely in the infalli-
bility of the Scriptures.
Moreover this very miracle or Jonah and
the whale the biblical account of which
was treated comically by DR.. Abbott,
was specially confirmed by, Jesus him
self and referred to shadowing forth
the Resurrection Here are Ills words In
the twelfth chapter of the gospel of st.
For as Jonah was three days and three
nights i'm the whales belly. so shall the Son
OF Man be three days and three nights In
the heart OF the earth
..Tt will be seen, therefore that DIR. Abb
bolts ofense against the Christian faith,
I'm making sport of this particular miracle.
was peculiarly fragrant. Why, too, is there
any more reason for refusing 10 believe the
story OF Jonah's experience with the whale,
which elsewhere copy from the Bible,
than for rejecting any other of the mi
raculous occurrences described in the Scrip
lures. and upon which the whole Christian
faith rests? IL one falls because il is i'm
possible under natural law. all the rest
must fall with il. Consequently the Rev.
DIR. Lyman Abbott. pastor of Plymouth
Church. in Brooklyn, is incontestably an
unbeliever: i'm other words. an infdel He
does not believe in the Bible. and not be-
Ieving in the Bible, he cannot believe IN the
Christian religion"
a Business by Itself.