The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-11-16
NO CHURCH CRISIS.
1t Is a Case of Evolution from Cater
pillar to Butterfly Stage.

To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
The Journal of Oct. 80 contained a sermon
preached by DR.. Frazer, of Brazil, Ind,
headed 1.-THE Crisis i'm the Church" Wheth-
er that heading was the work of the editor
or the author is not material; the drift of
the sermon implied the thought. 1t showed
much careful preparation, collating many
interesting facts, but to my mind its con-
illusions were utterly fallacious. There is
no crisis impending in the church. crisis
implies turning point between life and
death. The church Is not about TO die, and
there are no indications of death or enfee
Element. There may be an impending epoch,
a change so marked as to indicate a new
departure from the old to the more vigor-
Gus, but even this Is to be so gradual that
It can be recognized only by grouping half
centuries or centuries in the contrast The
throes of parturition mark definite period
in a continuous life; the metamorphosis
which ends caterpillar life and ushers in the
higher butterfly period marks an epoch in
a continuous life; but metamorphosis is not
death.
1 had just finished reading that marvellous
book, THE Puritan Republic" when the
sermon came to hand. 1 call it marvellous
because. in the first place. it is a marvel
that so modest and retiring gentleman as
Judge Howe-and he living thousand miles
away from BoSton-should attempt to write
anything about Puritans, seeing that BoS-
t6em for more than a hundred years; but
the greater marvel Is that he has so con-
densed into book of four hundred pages
wonderful people; that the reader has it all
in panorama before him, unobscured by
needless detail, but enlivened every once In
a while by a private opinion which will be
ant to shock a full-iedged Puritan, but
which throws sideight upon the piano.
rama that brings out virtues and defects In
Puritan character as few. II any other du-
thor has done. This will strike the thought
full reader as he studies the transition from
the theory of the first stage TO the de-
mocracy of lhe later. The Puritan repub-
lie is an evolution, not a creation, and he
will be impressed with the stout resistance
the founders and their kith made at every
step, whether in doctrine or policy. That
they imprisoned and banished and MANNED
and hanged and burned the refractory Is
not to be laid to the charge OF the individ-
uals so much as to the spirit of the age they
lived in. Men were condemned not more
promptly for what they did contrary TO the
civil law than for what they believed con-
trary TO the standards of theology, and the
zeal manifested in the defense OF what to
this generation seems absurd and horrible
indicates that they honestly believed that
the very existence of Christianity depended
upon maintaining the exact form of words
the church councils established. No doubt
many a defender of the faith emphasized his
diatribe against what he called heresies by
declaring that the very existence OF the
church depended upon crushing out the false
doctrines. even at the expense OF liberty and
life-it was crisis
Let us do these good men justice: they did
not know any better. Their horizon was
very narrow. But is ours any broader
True, I'm the progress of two and a half
centuries We have moved away from their
point of vision and see some things In diff
ferent light, but is not the average animus
of to-day substantially what ii was 20 years
ago? Is there not the same intolerance now
as then? One need not trace ecclesiastical
history in detail all these years TO see that
very much of what characterized the theo-
cratic period of New England yet remains.
What meant the feud In which DIR. Lyman
Beecher was a chief actor sixty years ago,
and which rent the Presbyterian Church
in twain? What mean the later imbrogios
I'm which DIR. Briggs is the central figure.
and the yet unfinished case of DIR. McGif-
fert? There lies before me a religious CD
paper published only Nov. 9, in which the
once successful II. Fay Mills is roundly be-
rated because he has lately expressed a
doubt as 10 some of the so-called orthodox
dogmas while a once popular evangelist,
now practically retired after accommodating a
fortune. Is deyoting his remaining strength
to publishing books denouncing everything
and everybody that calls in question his
theological crotchets. Even the sermon al
luCaed 10 attributes the seeming decline OF
the church which he bemoans to higher
criticism. whatever that Is. Seeing the exact
similarity between the methods now used.
and which have been used all these CEN
maintain the efficiency of the church, and
marking the outcome OF all former struggles
10 maintain the status quo. Is there any
sufficient reason for assuming there Is a