The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-13
DR, P. T. FORSYTH.

l
 | Talk With Him-His Remarks on the Higher Criticism, Politics, the War, | University Life and the Prevailing Religious Dullness- Closing seT- | mon of His Cambridge Pnstorate.
 London, Aug '.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier: Two years ago this fall there was held in Boston an International Con gregational council, the object being to bring the best thoughts and the best methods of English Congregationallsm into actual living Gcontact with the Congregationalism of the Unlted States. Many were the men of distlnc- tion at tending from this side, and on both sides of the ocean the gathering attracted wide attention. Unusual ability marked the speeches and essays, and there were occasions when feeling ran very high. But the only occasion when the emotions of this great as- sembly were too much stirred to allow of the conventional discussion was when a paper had been read on "The Ultimate Seat of Evangelical Authorl- ty." This subject, tame and dull though it may seem to the uninitiated, is vital to Christian faith The lay mind wonders what it can tie to in these days of changing creeds, and there are thousands of ministers who are troubled in the same way, and thls essay, it was expected, would indicate at what point, amid our ever-vary1ng views of the Bible, we might still, and might always, find sure anchorage. The essayist was Rev. P. T. Forsyth, M. A., D. D., of Cambridge, England, who was selected for this task not only because of his established scholarship,
 but because, dwelling continually in the atmosphere of one of the great Eng fish universities, he would be likely to know all that was freshest on the sub- ject and to treat it in that broad sci entific spirit which the universities of England never fail to inculcate.
 The result exceeded expectation, Dr. Forsyths grip of his subject was masterly in the extreme. He went all around it and all through it. He was so liberal toward higher criticism and yet so tenacious of what he held to be the still unshaken and essentially i'm previous message of the gospel, that he carried the judgment of both the tim orous and the advanced. When his great treatise concluded an unusual thing occurred considering that it was a gathering made up largely of minis ters, for nobody felt like saying any thing. Hearts were so moved that lips became dumb The expected discussion went over by default. Handkerchiefs were in requisition for thousands Of wet eyes, yet the feelings had not been directly appealed to in the least. There had simply been a convincing, thoroughly reasoned out demonstration, b va scholarly and masterly thinker ot the most advanced type that, despite all the concessions which intelligent faith Is obliged to make to modern sci entific inquiry, there still remains, as the most unique fact of all history ana as the great living force of Christian l civilization, the life and death Of Jesus Christ. To many present this over- whelming conclusion came as revela- tion; to others who, like pr. Forsyth himself had faced the facts and fought them out, it came only as an ex-cathe- dra confirmation of what they knew
 But upon all the effect was so profound that, as I've said, the ordinary meth ods of expression were paralyzed, ana all that great and intelligent audience could do, representative though it was of the best minds of the Congregation | aHsm of two continents, was to rise to it's feet and sing, as with common lm- pulse Tn the Cross of Christ l glory.
 Since that time Dr. P. T. Forsyth, of Cambridge. Eng, has been much in the | ( chy1 n nnOnln all denominations. So much so that they will he glad. am sure, to near mething further about him, ana es- pecially to get his views on some or the topics of the day. It is a fair pre- sumption too, that those who are aloof from the church and do not understand if will be interested in Dr. Forsyth for, of all men, he is the kind Of man to nut theology and religion before these in reasonable light This conviction is what led me to seek an interview with this learned and influential minis
 ter, and my visit was so so timed that it enabled me to hear the closing ser mon of his Cambridge pastorate After , seven years in that English university town where amid the towering scho- 1astic emblems of the Church of Eng , land he has preached regularly in Non -Conformist pulpit with many Of
 the undergraduates and now few of , the dons to sit under the scintillations of his genius, Dr. Forsyth goes not to take charge of Hackney Theological , college. This is training school for 7 Congregational ministers. He is deci- dedly advanced in his theological views, , and from the fact that out of many
 possibilities, and from amongst many , c,amorous applicants, this thoughtful
 progressive and modestly courageous man is the one upon whom the lot of
 nromotion has fallen, it would seem as . though in the Congregational circles of England advanced theological views l were in favor.
 , The Higher Criticism was one Of the first subjects he was drawn out upon. His response was brief but explicit, and 5 to one who knows so well as your cor , respondent does how many ministers and teachers are treating this subject lightly. his words had in them a tone of rebuke. we were never so much , afraid of it here,' he said, "as religious teachers in America seem to have been.
 Personally l am sympathetic toward l the higher criticism in the main, though | I realize that as it is getting now into
 4,o ,o,r;o,, of tha New Testament it is a