The sun., 1905-08-13
m. 0OLDWIN SMITH A CHRIs.
TlAN.
His nightful Flaco IN . Churoh Which
Really Expresses Chrfgtianity.

His Rightful PIaee in, . Churoh Which
Really Expresses Chrfstiauity.
TO rHS EDITOR OF TEE 6uN-Sir: Why IA
not Mr.. Goodwin Smith . Qhu rchmanp Tia
snswer 10 easy. Because hs does not 60 u
church. Or. u he does. because ho selects
. church where theology u preached instead
Of Christianity.
Not believing In the Mosaic story Of creation
and ths blood atonement. Mr.. Goldwln Smith
thinks hs docs not belong among church
people. But he does. He 10 Just as much
Christian a. many Of the ministers who ar,
worrying about his attitude toward Chris
tianlty." and. whether hs knows II or not, be
belongs In q Dow every Sunday.
/ have no acquaintance with Mr.. Goodwin
Smith beyond that conveyed through his
wrltlngs-sensrally and Justly held to be 4
pretty sound basis for estimating a mans
position. ! repeat. therefore. that Mr.. Gold.
win Smith 10. In the widest sense Of the word
(not the fullsst), . Christian and ought to be
outlived the period Of medievalism through
which they all had necessarily to pass. would
admit him. Some would not. SO much the
worse for them. He 10 Christian because.
U) He accepts the Sermon on the Mount
the crux OF Christs law mot Paul's theology
nor Dean Farrars apolog getlcs. but the law
OF kindness. patience. justice. mercy and
self Observation-Disclosures Christianity.
(2) He keeps the Ten Commandments
(that is. as well as most OF US do who pay
pew remit.
And that Is all there is to 1t. No church
has any right to 60 further. That much
granted, the oross Of baptism and the hand
Of fellowship should follow. II demanded.
And In most Gases they would. We advise
Mr.. Smith 10 Try the experiment. Let him
take to any brosdminded minister his
conduct Of life, his belief In the moral law,
his reverence for his reason. his respect for
right doing and thinking az stimulated by
the words OF the Founder OF Christianity.
and plainly state his case. Let him rehearse
the articles OF his unbelief and see II they
will keep him out. Let him say Il do not
believe In any opoe-for-all inspired revela-
tion; do not believe In the fall Of man myth
do not believe the world was created out
Of nothing In six days; do not believe in the
infallibillty OF ohurch or book: do not
believe In the survival from pasanlsm known
az the blood was -shed-for-me doctrine: do
not believe In the miracles"
This much stated. let him pre- sent the ar
ticles of his faith. Il believe, with Herbert
Spencer. in an eternal energy from whom
ali things proceed: believe in human re-
sponsIbillty; I believe reverently in the dis
coyeries Of science and that through them
and through the human heart we may reach
God; I believe In a divine plan known a.
natural law; believe in the brotherhood Of
man; believe In the church chiefly because
she has outlasted the men whohave preached
and the people who have practsed believe
In tho pursuit OF truth. justice. love and
mercy. and 1 believe In Jesus Christ as the
greatest exponent OF those virtues tnat the
world has ever known"
Let Mr.. Gold win Smith take these state
ments. IL they represent in general way his
belief, to DR.. Huntington. Dr. Greer. DR..
Jefferson, or dozen other ministers IN New
York. and see II they. would say no To- his
Se saoh Rs Bar to tSe set prpo
tions as presented by the writer to Clergy
man In the West The answer was made
rather than in believing; that the church
asks the spirit Of reverence to God and
OF service to man. rather than striGt inter
I. e' ssss q Seller In Jesus Christ rather than
a belief IN what many writer's (m0st of Hem
adent hsys sbs saa Se church
and the 5seeptlss sprlt hst " ysTy efIss
gets neither in its sas
ad vaneed much further II Ieasonsbleness
fhsn those whS Sou pisase plain chr
that other things have. Medicine has been
Astronomy, mechanics. sociology, Where's
dosmstI.t. sf sss dsctrInsIre. the bisS. 1ox . !.
does not know at all.
In 1880 the churchman scarcely knew wnas
It belongs as much as to biology, Now It Is
1ss 1ssd ony one Side o tse I Keep
the views they rot from Huxley thirty years
ago. when religion and science were indeed
soil var Would fsS have aeS nothing but straw man
to beat about In the air u he lectured
to-day. The spirit Of investigation. OF COM
best theological schools as 1t is In our best
receptacle that holds once for all the faits hss
nothing to do but take. what is given them.
Revelation comes al way, 2! HoG once .ed n1~n s
an fntuitive and ever developing habit 81
seeing the best in others and Initiating ,t,,,t It
by little, as % we learn like children to listen
and and ideals ei Jesus Of Nazareth. .
times just as the eyes are about to close on
this world. But, are We. 70 be kept out q
that7 s M iry Goodwin Smith
not ahGss pfnedse S e III. o,
them 10 tno CT eCt JndC lneTe are
of churches and hundreds OF ministers who
as / have submitted. There will be, other.
who quote from sermons to show that the
blood atonement and the fall Of man are
preached from hundreds Of pnlplts all over
the United States. And both the contestants
will be right These sermons and these
preachers do not. however represent the
church In its advanced thinking. and az such
do not count for discerning minds, any more
than the schools count that teach that the
earth Ia fat and prove 1t too. According
TO the Outlook there are such In some OF the
There are broad churchmen In every sect.
and they need the help Of the thinking men
and women of to-day. Heaven knows, the
forces Of evil In the world are well enough
or ganlzed to need concentrated opposition
from those who believe in goodness. AS long
as the churches offer a system OF theology as a
battle front they won't make much headway
What they need 10 more thinkers and workers
This Is why Mr.. -Goldwin Smith ought to
be q churchman. What a. pity that he misses
FelloNship with superstition and Marcy
my my dear sIri Not because the former are
not to be found in the church. but because
you don't belong with them; The Fellowship
you would find would be that OF the finest
truth telling Though. the heavens falD;
eupremely honest In both thought and en-
deavor: Wise, candid. ANALYTICAL, reverent,
far seeing and devoted tfor the sake Of Him
who commanded) Unto the least Of these.
Such men the church holds. and II is her
salvation. The church needs Not 50 much