Los Angeles herald., 1908-10-26
BIDS ELOQUENT
ADIEU TO FLOCK
LATE HERESY TRIAL LEADS TO
RESIGNATION
REV. &. H. BROOKS breaches
ON SPIRIT OF CHRIST
Declares That He Has Erred in lay
ing Advanced Truths Before
Those Who Are Spiritual
Dwarfs

AS elimination of the recent
"heresy" trial Rev. Il. H. Brooks
preached his farewell sermon as pastor
of the Figueroa Street Baptist church
yesterday morning. Although acquit-
ted by the trial. Rev. Mr.. brooks de-
cided that he could not preach the
sermons seemingly demanded by his
congregation ana. SO far as he is con-
cerned, closed the whole subject in his
sermon yesterday.
Mr.. Brooks, who has been in the
Baptist ministry for the past twenty
five years and has held large pastor
ates In the east, started the Sunday
school that resulted in the present
church about two years ago. For the
past twenty-one months he has worked
without q vacation, with the result
members and Sunday school of 150
members.
The whole dissension has arisen in
the past two months, as friends of the
pastor aver, from gossip and jealousy.
While modern man with modern
ideas, Mr.. Brooks is no more so than
are many other prominent Los An
geles pastors. In one sermon he
spoke of the theory of develop
ment, and maintained that the uni
verse was the unfolding of q
great plan. Some of his church mem
bers stuck to the literal creation of
the world in six days, and did not
agree with Mr.. Brooks ideas. In an
other sermon he said he did not be-
lieve In a literal, materialistic- hell,
where people were burned forever, but
that he believed wrongs had their pun
ishment. The idea of no hell fire
greatly troubled certain members and
heresy trial was resorted to.
Mr.. Brooks took for his text Romans
90 "a
spirit of Christ he is none of His" He
said in part:
This expression, None of His Is
deeply significant. 1t signifies to be
without the Christ principle or life.
TO be none of His and at the same
time to make Christian profession
by baptism, by church membership,
public testimony, prayer before others,
holding official positions in the church,
is to be guilty of base pretense. The
worst thing q person can do in human
society is to be a religious hypocrite.
Hypocrites are mere adherents to
Christianity as barnacles adhere to the
outside of the vessel at sea. Hypo-
critics are doing more to retard the
progress of Christianity than any other
class of people.
His Life Ambition
''In my ministry of many years I
have been under the influence of this
conception of life. 1t was in this kind
of disposition that / was led to labor
here. My desire was, in harmony with
the Baptist principles, to build up
church in this community, cosmopoli-
tan, Baptist, where would be free
to teach and administer Christianity
according to the best evangelical in
terpretations and methods of the pres
ent age, as a Christian church first
and Baptist afterward.
'I realized deeply and painfully that
the church as an organized body was
losing it's hold on the people because
it had been too content with theories
and methods outlawed by time; that
unless it could make new adjustment
of itself to the great changes that have
taken place, and are taking place, to
the new methods now required and to
the new knowledge that is dawning on
the world and thus meet the burning
needs Of today it was doomed to pass
away.
''In the light of Scripture teaching
I can see now where I have made my
great mistake. Jesus says Cast ye not
your pearls before those who cannot
appreciate them, lest they trample
them under foot and turn again and
rend or tear you,' and this is just what
has been done.
"Then Paul writes to the church peo-
pie at Corinth: And I, brethren, could
not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal, even as unto babes
in Christ But after a man or woman
had made Christian profession from
twenty to fifty years or more he can
hardly be called a babe In Christ. He
must be a dwarf
"This is my mistake, that gave you
lessons for the advanced class when I
was talking to many in my audience
who are still in the primary depart
ment.
II seem to hear Paul saying to my
accusers, Put on heart of compass
sion, kindness. humility, meekness,
long suffering, forbearing one another
and forgiving one another; if any man
has a complaint against any, as the
Lord forgave, you, so also do ye.'"
Rev. Mr.. Brooks made a clear state-
ment of the trouble in the church,
dealing with 1t in no uncertain terms.
and saying that he should not allow
1t to interfere with the work of his
ministry, but that he should put his
faith on principle and not in people.
Disrespectful