The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-16
RECTOR DISCUSSES DR. LYMAN ABBOTT Rev. Mir. Ewing Comes to De-
 fenSe of Famous Divine DIR. WAS MISUNDERSTOOD MT. Ewing Does Not Think That pr. Abbott Preached lnfldelity to
 the Harvard students-con-
 text Must be Considered.
DR. WAS MISUNDERSTOOD


 Abbott an 1nfdel?"
 His texts were as follows:
 'Whither shall 1 go from Thy spirit, or whither shall flee from Thy presence? If l ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If l make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there."-Ps. 139.
 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. For the very hairs of your head are all num- bered. Matt 10, 29-30.
 For in Him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said. For we are also His off, spring. Acts F, 2S.
 Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness. "-2 Tim. 3, 16th V.
 Wherefore God also hath highly exalt- ed Him, and given Him a name which Is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philip. ?, 10-1.
 mon said:
 There is conspcuously placed in Eng fish courts of law this injunction, Audi alteram partem"-"hear the other side. .' It would be well if we all took this in- junction to heart. and schooled our minds never to forget 1t any moment or any day.
 The facility with which men and women in this age of knowledge and culture, when, as never before, impulse should be held in leash by intellect-the facility with which they form the most positive opin- ions, and arrive at the weightiest con- clusions, upon insufficient evidence, with out hearing the "other side" is nothing less than astoundingl Let the most ab- surd bit of gossip get started by some one who is adept at the business and the probability Is, that, as it runs Its course, 1t will be accepted as true by the majority of people whose way 1t crosses, no matter how startling a re- versal 1t may demand of deep-rooted opinions concerning men or things. There is not a business man in this city, what ever his reputation for nice honor and ex- alted honesty in all his dealings, whom hundreds here could not be made to be- lieve dishonorable and dishonest, on the fimsiest ex parte evidence. And I much doubt if there are as many as three pastors of churches in Birmingham whose characters could not be blasted for scores of people within a weeks time, by some well-concocted scandal resting on testi- mony less strong than the average f1nan- cier demands for the genuineness of a hundred dollar check
 Too Timid to Investigate.
 For ever one person who insists upon weighing and analysing evidence which involves the good repute of another, and holding his Judgment in abeyance till ev- idence weighed and analysed compels a positive verdict for or against, there are are at least ten-perhaps a hundred-who find it much more agreeable to believe what they are told, than to put them- selves to the trouble of discovering, if possible, that it Is not believabe. This is unfortunate and most lamentable. For it is both morally wrong and Intellectually stupid to believe anything which demands reversal of former fixed opinions, e~- cept upon sufficient evidence; and it Is hard to qualify with charity the grievous uncharity of the man or woman whc would rather pass judgment of condemna- tion on another, than search seriously for more light which might render the passing of such judgment unnecessary and impossible.
 We have recently had remarkable ustration-confined not to one locality but exhibited in many-of how easily and with what dispatch the most astounding conclusions may be arrived at, the most improbable things accepted as certainly true, on testimony that vannishes into thin air the moment it is seriously weighed and analysed
 To-day there are thousands of intelli- gent people in this city and elsewhere from Maine to California. who are firmly convinced that about three weeks ago the Rev. Lyman Abbott, one of the ablest and most widely known ministers in the land, stood before a body of Harvard students and professed "infidelity," by protesting what is incompatible with Christianity. Here Is a man who was chosen years ago as the successor in Plymouth church, Brooklyn, of one of the greatest preachers this, or any other age or land, ever saw; a man who, since resigning Plymouth pulpit, has been chief editor of one of the most popular mag azines among the clergymen of all Prot estant denominations in the United States man who has grown gray preaching and teaching the gospel of Chriat-in many pulpts, in a number of books in hundreds of essays lectures, addresses; a man who, by his preaching and teaching, has made thousands of devout men and women his intellectual and spiritual debt ors-whose own active intellectual and spiritual life. reaching back through decades to his boyhood, would be a blank and a darkness if we took Christ and His Gospel out of 1t!
 Many Misunderstood.
 Surely we should not conclude of such