The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-11

can. for partisan ends purely. What Re
publican theorist on Constitutional self
extension or narrow stickler for free trade
without waiting to test Puerto Rico's own
ability to support 1t, will vote with the
Democrats to leave Puerto Rico in poverty
and s~tagnation indefinitely?
The Battle for Intellectual Freedom
Completely Won.
The Rev. Or. MCGIFPERT, in his letter
withdrawing from the Presbyterian Church,
contends that "the attempt TO determine
the correctness or incorrectness OF his
torical conclusions by their conformity or
non-conformity TO a confessional standard
tends to obscure truths supremacy and To
promote indifference to its claims" He
says further that the question OF first
Importance touching the results I have
reached Is not, DO they accord with Pres
byterian standards but Are they true1''
Again, he says that "it matters much
whether a great Christian communion like
the Presbyterian Church, which has stood
in the past for stalwart, intellectual Prot.
estantism, shall commit itself ~irrevoca-
bly, to the unprotected policy Of closing it's
eyes to all new light, and so make 1t In
creasingly difficult, II not impossible. for
honest seekers after truth to do within It's
ranks their part Of the one great work to
which Gop has called His people"
That Is substantially what was said by
the late DR.. ST. GEORGE MIvART concerning
the Roman Catholic Church when he was
accommodated by Cardinal VAUGHAN for
publishing and refusing to recant his
scientific conclusion that Scriptural nara
tives proclaimed as inspired truth are
really preposterous and mythical stories,
no more entitled to serious belief than
Jack and the Beanstalk." After his con-
demnation DR.. MIvART repeated the Ian
guage condemned and declared fatty that
the attitude OF the Roman Catholic Church
a. to the Scriptures made II impossible for
any educated man to remain in its fold.
That lie, he threw off his subsection to the
Church and gave his sole allegiance Ito
truths supremacy" or to truth as intel
lectually and scientifically discoverable
only by honest seekers after truth"
DR.. McGIFFERr takes a like position when
he says that the question Is not whethe r
his scholarly conclusions agree with tho
Pres byterlan standards, hut whether they
agree with the truth, and thereby he e1-
cludes himself not only from that Church,
but also from every other Church. All
Churches have specific standards OF faith,
N which thar mintstry ia hound h, ,.ol,,n-
tary oaths; and necessarily they must
have them. Otherwise they would have
nothing to hold them together. II their
ministry was left free to hunt for truth,
each man after his own fashion, they would
have no definite theology to stand upon.
A Church would cease to be a Church, it's
orr Rinal function as a custodian and ex-
FOUNDER Of supernaturally revealed and
inspired truth having been abandoned. It
would be no more a Church than is the
Society for the Advancement OF Science,
which Is specifically for honest seekers
after truth" whereas the Church Is es-
tablished on the theory that the truth "
hao already been found and found once for
all, having been impaired to 1t by COP
Himself, and does not need to be sought
for, honestly or dishonesty.
Does the Church, then, compel honest
seekers after truth to close their eyes
TO all new light" Not at all, for IL cannot
compel them to put their intellectual freq
dom under subsection TO 1t. DR.. McGrF-
FERT's independence OF thought andinvesti-
CATION was not put in chains by the Presby.
terian Church, but by himself, when, Of
his own free will, he took its ordina.
ton VOWS, and he is no less free now
20 throw of the shacklcs at his will. He
Is not obliged to remain in this Church,
and he will not be obliged to obstruct
his pursuit of the truth by swearing obe-
dience to the standard OF any other
Church. II is true that at one time he
could not have declared his independence
without being burnt at the stake, as was
GIoRpANo Bruno, or %SRRvErrs, for finding.
as an honest seeker after truth" results
contrary to the teachings OF his theologl-
cal master. Nowadays, however, there ia
no such painful obstruction In the way OF
the seeker after truth. He is free to con-
duct the search in any way and to any re-
suit. whether agreeable with the standa rds
OF any Church or contradictory OF them,
without mourning any penalty, but rather
with gain in intellectual freedom, il 1t re.
lleves him Of their shackles.
The Church, accordingly, now exercises no
restraint on free inquiry, and as a matter
Of fact such inquiry is going on with abso-
lutte freedom and is distinguishing this era
IN all departments OF human investigation.
Where there Is restraint men impose IL on
themselves voluntarily and not at dicta.
ton, for now the Church has no power Of
dictation. 1t can only bind those who
submit themselves freely to its bonds. and
II cannot prevent the bound from obtaining
their intellectual freedom whenever they
assert II,
For nearly twocenturies, more especially,
a long and bitter contest for human free.
dom has been waged ceaselessly, and in
soue directions, perhaps, absolute victory
has not oven yet been secured: but there l.
one aattle where the victory ia complete
and IL II the battle for intellectual freedom.
"Hones seekers after truth' are now