Evening journal., 1907-01-23
"SAFE GUARDING
CREDEN IIALS''
Splendid Paper Read BefOF
Methodist CIergymen BY
DR.. Kellogg

they become sacred assets, and are pro
tected with jealousy. The suspicion
that any thing is threatening our evi-
dence IS dreadful and fills the mind and
heart with suffering Against the pos
slbility of this the church has set her
self and has wrestled with vehemence.
This explains the conflict with heresy
the record Of which crowds the page
cf religious histcry-the most fierce
conflict chat has been waged in all the
PAST ages. This fear has summoned
councils constructed creeds, institute
system of theology and written vast IL
braries Of apologctics. How much time
and thought has been spent i'm defense
OF belief This explains to the per-
picked layman who has less to do with
preserving faiths the severe conten-
lions Of conferences, and synods over
what seems so often to be insihnificant
differences.
II am not defending this zeal Of the
church. I am only recognizing it. Safe
guarding credentials, rightly under
stood, is justified.
Sometimes &c has been misdireoted
effort-in which IL became an appeal to
accepted traditions and outlived state
ments, sometimes it has been a blind
resistance TO what seemed new
thought or innovations. but even then
the purpose was worthy.
1.-THE greatest mistake has been made
in not better understanding the nature
of true or living faith. In not seem
that its stability is not in its IN
changeableness but in its progressive
adaptabhity to living progressive mer.
The mistaken attempt to safeguard
faith by fixing it in set terms or en-
trenching II i'm a prevailing philosophy
and conhding in its security has
worked AL kinds Of mischief, for an
other generation. thinking in new terms
and according TO larger Information is
apt TO unsettle such confidence and ill
founded trust This accounts for the
stormy revolutions Of the past and such
unwisely directed zeal win prepare the
way for many more.
1--WE cannot can truth. hoping to
keep a brand for future use. It is n
living essence that under such condi-
tions will work and ferment
"But there is a rational element which
is permanent. which it is the duty Of
each generation to protect. Our duty
in this aee Is as imperative as that felt
by the Nicene Fathers if we would
penpetuate the blessing of Christianity
to our children.
q assure myself that 1 meet with no
dissenting voice when I affirm that the
signs Of our religious faith. evidences
supporting belief, have passed from the
outer world to the inner-from the seen
to the unseen. That is simply saying
that the appeal Of faith is no longer to
the sense. but to the higher faculties
Of the soul. TO the consciousness. Here
alone is certainty.
"Nor Is the appeal to the scored writ
ings to establish outward signs so much
as to confirm inward experiences. Tho
supreme authority lies IN the spirit and
not I'm the letter-and that is the direct
cognition Of the reality OF The Divine
rather than in the history Of the work
ings Of that divinity.
This position that we Of this gen.
GRAFTON are accepting with calm COM
placency. is the achievement OF the
ages Of human development. 1t traces
the growth Of mankind in the growth NJ
the cognative powers, and win abide
rs the supreme religious evidence for
true religion. seeking credentials has
always laid hold of the highest within
reach-that 1t. Il has always anDealcd
TO the strongest developed cognitions.
1.-THE movement Of history has been
from the outward to the inward-froIn
sense 70 soul consciousness. The wicked
and perverse generation that Jesus
taught was seeking for a sign, # was
the habit Of mind that the Master
Teacher rebuked. The very end he
sought was defeated-moral elevation
and spiritual endowment. 1t Indicated
n low intellectual and moral state, that
reelected the degenerate condition un-
worthy that age Of Greek thought and
Hebrew refinement
Three stages have marked the his
toric development OF the credentials
OF Christianity. The appeal to the
Church. the appeal 70 the Book, and
the appeal to- tho Inner life. What is
authority has been the actuating spirit
I'M every stage. The review of this
progress has been written in many re-
cent books. and is familiar TO readers
Of current religious thought The con-
clusion universally accepted is that the
last is an advanced position and that
the inner witness is final. I would re-
fer you to the works Of Sabatur or the
recently published lectures Of DR.
Hall. Christian Truth and the Witness
Of Experience"
'This has been gained through rise OF
mind and Illumination of spirit. 1t was
/ the thought, both a psychological and q
religious development Of the sixteenth
century was a protest against the ira
didonal limitations and encumbrances
Of faith. Decarte uttered the common
/ felt demand Of the times when hs
cried: I must doubt everything
"Then he was ready TO lay a new
/ foundation in his famous maxim, =
| think. therefore am Fixing the base
oe ell assurance on the cognition oi
self This was the beginning Of thc
new or modern era. In England, Burke
was the spokesman for the new spirit
+ and gave doubt to external reality. FL
I was followed by Hume, the father q
I Acnosti icism who carried doubt 10 tn
\ rerion OF inner experience, as wel az
historic credibnity. This could not Ion;
last. for no active age can abide il
doubt. Doubt IS negation and WI
not surulv the forces Of life. Construc
ton not destructive must come as tn
abiding principle. So. in Scotland, Rec,
came forth with his philosophy O
common sense and prepared the wa!
FOR the modern credibility OF conscious
mess In Germany the same course wa
followed 90 the same conclusion