The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-11-10
MAINE MINISTER'S
Held Meeting in Portland Yester-
day.
LEARNED ADDRESS BY PROF
MeGIFFERT.

His Subject Was "The Study of Early
| Church History'-Dr. Dixie Spoke in
the EVENING" Profitable Meeting.
The eighth meeting of the Maine
Ministers association was held in this
city yesterday and proved to Ee one of the
most interesting gatherings the assooia-
tion has yet known. There was a large
attendance of ministers from various
parts of the state. The Rpr .EehnSC.
Perkins of Portland. presided Il the
meeting which was held in the yestry OF
the State Street Congregational church.
There was an unusually large attendance
of ladies and laymen After the business
session which occupied about an hour.
Prof. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, D. D.,
professor of church history in the Union
Theological Seminary of New York, was
introduced in a most pleasant manner by
Mr.. Perkins as the speaker of the after
noon.
The paper which Prof McGiffert read
to the association yesterday was one OF
the most scholarly and instructive adj
dresses it has been the good fortune of the
association to hear in a long time. His
subject: "The Study of Early Church
History is one with which he is most
familiar, and to which he has devoted the
greater p art of his life. Prof. McGihert
is not an old man. indeed he does not APP
pear to be much more than thirty i've
years of age. but in his knowledge OF
church history and in the reputation he
has made as writer and student OF this
matter he is ranked with older men whose
regulations as students have long since
been made.
1t would be impossible to do Justice to
Prof. McGiffert's paper in the short space
allowed in report, nor could q fair idea
of the scholarly paper be given by an abb
stract. 1t was the opinion of Prof. Mo
Giffert that the history of the early
church affords most fertile field for
close study. During the past tan years
large number of valuable writings which
throw much light upon the dark spots III
the historyfof the early church have.been
upearthed, and the study OF those d3cu-
ments have given the historian clues to
many things connected with the early
church which have heretofore escaped OBJ
ssrvation. Prof. McGiffert went on to
give brief list of some of the more i'm
portant documents which have been dis
covered and he told where and how they
happened to be brought to light and
showed their importance to the stud ents
of the early history of the church.
He then proceeded to discuss the
methods and discoveries of the early his
torians of church history and told how
the various schools had conducted their
researches into the early church history.
Nearly all of these historians were in
fluenced In their study of the documents
pertaining to the early Christians by dog
matte theories to substantiste which they
often times misconstrued facts. The
later school of historians are more liberal
in their views and in their researches.
recognizing the fact that there may be
conditions found in the early Christian
church which may not harmonic with
modern thought ideas, but determined to
follow the historical clues to the end.
Prof. McGiffert then spoke of the neces-
sary qualifications of student of early
church history and said that he Juust
have constructive imagination, in other
words be able by logical reasoning to sup
oily the missing links in the chain Of re-
search, and thus by using what is known
to be true and what is reasoned may be
true, to construct an iron chain of
historical facts concerning the early
Christian church. 1t is the duty of the
historian to construct true pictures of the
early Christian church without using the
local eoloring which makes Walter Scott's
historical romances SO attr active. He
must use the facts as he finds them with
out ornamentation or distortion.
Then Prof. McGiffert went on to speak
of the interesting connection between the
civilization of today and that of the early
Christian church, of the many customs
and Practices of today which originated
hundreds of years ago. and were common
in old Syria, or Palestine or Egypt. His
paper was SO finely prepared and so en-
tertainingly delivered that he held the
closest attention Of bis audience for an
hour and half. and most profitable
hour and half it was.
At six O'Clock the visiting ministers
and those from Portland enjoyed sup
per at the Preble house at which Prof.
Alfred W. Anthony of the Cobb Divinity
school, Lewiston, presided. There were
one or two speeches made after dinner
and at half past seven O'CLOCK the
ministers adjourned to the State Street
church where they listened to an address
on Patriotism and the Home" ty Rev.
Samuel w Dixie, LII. D., of Boston.
DR.. Dixie said in part: The church is
interested in social questions and will be-
come more and more so as time goes on.
Yet it is more her duty to help this work
by inspiration than by direct contact.
The Institutional church is helping to
solve this social problem. The church
- f;o%S,x ,%I