The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-04-22
GOSPEL OF JOHN
IS CRITICIZED
Rev. Frank Fay Eddy Declares
Christ's Divine Origin
Is Fictitious.
PURPOSE OF UNlTARIANS
MODERN CHURCH SHOULD BE
"HoMocENTRic."

At the services OF the First Unitarian
society yesterday Mrs. Smith sang the
offertory solo and Unity quartet rem
dered the usual anthem. Rev. Frank
Fay Eddy took for his theme THE
Church of the Holy Ghost or the
Church Of the Human spirit-which? ?"
Mr.. Eddy said in part:
Johns Christ Fictitious.
1--WE read in John that Jesus said to
His disciples in the course of His last
discourse TO them, TT is expedient for
YOU that I go away; for If go not
away the comforter will not come unto
YOU And in later verse he assures
them that When He, the spirit OF
truth. is come He Will guide you unto
all truth. Such words are natural
enough for the Christ of the fourth
gospel to utter. This Christ was be-
ing who incaTnated the spirit OF Wis
dom, the logos. and as such monopoi-
lied during the period of corporate ex-
istence in the human form the very
principle Of truth itself. But the Christ
of Johns gospel is as fictitious, as
much a creation Of the imagination as
Millions Satan.
the other three gospels we are in a
different atmosphere. We now get
broken and frag1nentary accounts OF
one Jesus Of Nazareth, evidently
enough a man, talking and acting as
other men do. This man is strikingiy
different from the celestial visitant of
Pauis vision. or the hero of that book
of philosophical fiction we call the
fourth gospel.
Jesus, Democrat, Not the christ-eod.
This difference is fundamental. The
Kind of a church we can construct Win
Christ the Goldman as the central fig
ure must differ radically from the
church we build about the life and say
ings of Jesus the NaZa, enc. We are all
familiar with the church of the first
type It is the church which asserts
peculiar and divine origin for itself;
which assumes the dispensation of all
the merit which was in this Christ-God
and procIaims that the Holy Ghost re-
sides in it as a guiding principle
L need not tell you that these are
familiar assumptions on the part of the
Christian church of the past. In the
creeds of Christendom the neo-platonic
philosophy and the theology of Paul
are strangely jumbled, but they reflect
not at all the loving democrat, Jesus.
But this type of church did not end
with yesterday. It survives in today,
with all the outward signs OF power,
privilege and wealth. All of the
Christian church which is allowed TO
call itself orthodox, makes these old
assumptions still in creed if not from
pulpit
FruitIess Lamentations.
But we hear on all sides laments
over the prevalent religious indifference
and tales of woe relating TO the I'M
churched army that the church is rap
idly losing its directing power because
IT has lost in no small measure it's vi
tai relationship to modern life.
we also see on the part of the Prot
estant church of diverse denominations
an attempt TO put the new wine into
the old bottles. There is a vast output
of books of apologetics largely con-
cerned with matters of definition. The
purpose of the authors of these useless
and soon TO be forgotten books seems
to be TO indicate q way of retaining the
phraseology of the old doctrines and
vet make them carry new and modern
meanings While this work is largely
wasted, it does indicate the general
drift of religious thought.
But why can we not organize a
church on the basis of the greatness IN
man? There is friendship to build up
on. said by some to be the master pas
sion KropOtkin tells US that mutual
aid is one Of the prime factors in the
evolutionary process. Assuming this.
our effort becomes scientific if IL is
filled with the ideal of friendly serv-
ice"
The Effort of Unitsrians.
Mr.. Eddy then went on to show that
there is in humanity warmth Of SYM
patty. a bond OF comradeship and a
capacity fer heroism upon which a
church may be founded.
In conclusion he said: 'Sueh a
church must be homocentric. not
Christo-centric This world and this
prssent humanity must be its chief
concern, rather than preparation for a
future estate. In our Unitarian
church We are making just this attempt
10 construct a church of men, by men
and for men. We find leadership in
Jesus the man rather than in Christ the
God. We are making the most signifi-
cant experiment I'm modern religious
life by supplanting the church of the
Holy Ghost with the church Of the hui
man spirit"