The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-07-03
THE DUTY OF THE HERETO.

new departure In the matter Of dealing
with heresy which will commend Itself
10 the intelligence Of the age. The gen.
eral assembly has taken up the case OF
Prof. McGinert. but. instead OF having
a sensational trial with all the acrimony
which usually attends such proceedings,
merely requests that he quietly leave
the ministry III he cannot conform his
That is no more than any self-respect-
ing man and conscientious teacher
should do. A man Of sufficient indie
pendence OF thought to be guilty Of her
esy knows prfectly we'll that he is not
performing the duty he assumed when
he became a minister In the church with
whose doctrines he subsequently finds
himself compelled to differ. 1t is neither
fair TO the church whose mission he Is
teachings, TO continue to occupy pull
pit and accept compensation for preach
ing the doctrines OF that particular
church. II Presbyterian minister
finds that his religious convictions have
undergone a change he should absolve
himself from the obligations he has as
sumed and II he desires 10 preach new
views TO do SO in some other place and
not under the guise Of the ministry TO
r. t,,- ~
his orthodoxy.
Neither confession nor conviction Of
slonal ostracism of few years ago. nor
does 1t result in those awful punish
ments which have brought shame upon
every Christian denomination at some
period of its career.
Heresy has even lost the odium which
once attached to it, and the success OF
Prof Briggs and Prof. Smith, who have
risen to distinction and gathered about
them large congregations, In spite of
efforts 10 silence them by DEGREES of &C.
ciesiastical courts, shows that there Is
a movement which cannot be controlled
by arbitrary act on the part of church
bodies. Henry Ward Beecher became
hereto several years before his death;
but. although nominally member Of an
ecclesiastical organization. he had dis
tinct individuality, and his congregation
consisted Of people who had earnestly
followed his new lines Of thought: they
and not to a denomination. The famous
series Of sermons he delivered when he
knew that his life was drawing to a
close was almost sad III the pathos with
which he intellectually relinqushed the
dogma OF sectarianism and became
Christian OF the broadest kind. Even
when h. was gently breaking the
threads which bound his services to doe
trines which he had adopted in earlier
life. he did 1t sadly but with the pro-
found conviction that he was doing
great work fer religion when he pro
his death many departures have been
made by emineIt preachers. They are
all tending in the same direction. We
have not seen Prof. McGifferts book,
and We hesitate 10 use the language III
which 1t is described by one who cam
not be regarded as in sympathy with his
be gathered from the criticism that 1t is
the most daring and thorough going
attack on the New Testament that has
ever been made by an accredited teacher
u the Presbyterian church in America"
and of his work 1t IS said that he de
stroys experimentation altogether by
subjecting the narratives t. scientific
analysis. ana he tests the unknown and
unknowable by the known and mate
rial"
Whatever may be the merit Of the
book 1t Is apparent that no man hold
Ina such views, even in the more moli-
fed G,rIu in Viii thsy woulI probably
a2pvac {. a more impartial criti>. could
yansg.ruttous.y cent!nte % preside over
&. Presbyterian sonrgesa}soo. 1t u not
a 4acs.len whether the doctrines ~ the
Presbyterian ehav,h AK sauDA ct Mt
TIL ara vc]l defined ANA ,h.y arr arm-
y believed in }5. many good AMI earnest
CHRISTIANS. L they or any - chem are