Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-09

Martyrs" and the Bible, which he knew
as few people know it.
When Swing was eighteen. he entered
Miami University. and graduated in the
class of 1852 with Whitelaw Reid, Calvin
s. Brice and Benjamin Harrison as his
classmates. Swing once wrote an anus
ing account of HarrisOn's college expert
ence, and Harrison responded with his
recol!ections of Swing. which were equally
amusing.
Had Doubts About Dogmas.
Swing studied theology with DR.. NJ. l..
Rice, pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of Cincinnati. but before he fin
ished his course was called to profess
sorship at Miami with a salary of 5000 a
year, but he preached occasionally In
the neighborhood as he once said, FOR
Methodists. Baptists. new and old school
Presbyterians. and hence wrote sermons
that would do for any church Or chapel.
l had my doubts about orthodoxy, but
avoided committing myself in regard to
dogmatic beliefs loved best those
truths which had to do with the making
of character and the conduct of life" and
that describes his sermons from the De-
ginning to the end.
In 1866 Mr.. Abram Pence, former pu-
piI at Miami, induced him to accept d
call to the Westminster Presbyterian
Church of Chicago, and he remained In
his life. Two years later Westminster
was united to the North Church and be-
came the Fourth Presbyterian Church OF
Chicago, and since then the most promi-
nent Presbyterian organization on the
North Side.
His Passionate Peaceful.
Mr. Newton reviews Swings peaceful
pastorate and his most acceptable service
to that congregation. and leads gradually
up to his celebrated trial for heresy
which was provoked and conducted b,
Francis L. Patton. then editor Of the In
terror, the local Presbyterian organ, ant
afterward president of Princeton Univer
sity. Mr.. Newton has omitted some i'm
pOrtant facts of a personal character
which had their influence upon DR.. Pat
ton in those days, and it is perhaps just
as well that they should not be recalled
The story. as he tells it. cannot be criti
cised for partisanship or Partially. DIR
Patton was young man and had but re-
Gently come to the city, he says, "anC
it was felt that he was too oft1cious and
pugnacious. DR.. Patton declared that
holding such views as Prof. Swing de-
Tended, a minister with the obligations
of the Presbyterian Church upon him
could not consistently continue in hel
communion. Swing replied. in his gentle
semi-humorous way. that If the church
could endure DR.. Patton as a theologian
humble worker.
DR.. Patton's Persistent Protests.
Patton's attacks upon the most beloved
the most popular and the most influential
minister In Chicago, however. became sc
persistent and bitter that veteran mem
bers of the Chicago presbytery insisted
that, for the sake of harmony in the
church, his arraignment should be made
before the ecclesiastical authorities rather
than the public Patton was thus com
PEELED to formulate his objections to
Swings preaching, and charges Of heresy
were filed in the spring of 1874 There
were two principal charges; first, that
David Swing had not been Jealous or
faithful in maintaining the truths of the
gospel, nor diligent in the exercise of the
duties of his office as minister; and, Sec
ond that he did not sincerely receive and
adopt the confession of faith Of this
church. as containing the system OF
doctrine as taught in the holy scriptures.
Christ's Divinity as He Saw It.
The specifications alleged that he denied
the divinity of Christ. although Swing
IF Christ be not divine. every impulse OF
the Christian world falls to a lower
octave, and light and love and hope alike
decline. If he is mortal only, the human
heart, robbed of the place where the
clouds, is emptied. Not all of God was
in him, but all that was in him was
Godlike. Heaven and earth, meeting in
him could not but give us the Man of SOr-
row and Sympathy"
Swing was also accused of the awful