The Irish standard., 1909-06-26
FOUND GUILTY OF HEREsY.

conference last Monday had lively
discussion over the heterodoxy Of Prof.
George Burman Foster, professor of
the philosophy OF religion at Rookie
feller's. University After bitter and
acrimonious -.wrangle. during which
personalities were freely used, Prof.
Foster was dropped from the Baptist
conference. by a. vote Of four to one;
but he still is.past9r of Baptist church
at Hyde Park and holds his chair of
theology at the University. As John
D. Rockefeller has admitted that he
faYors the. :Xiews OF Prof. Foster. the
latter will probably be retained in the
Institution. despite the fact that the
great majority Of the Baptist ministers
look, upon bt1m Is a Unitarian. That
they, aged ~ lYpIstifisd in calling him by
that 4 rsa4ns ,iss eYIdent in the discourse
deliYse9Fassa by IhiE a1 last Sunday in Uni
tartan se;lh1pprch 1n4I the. Windy City. He
is ?renortfdf to theve said: ..
Il DO -nat- hspeve. Jesus: had, the
knowledge of the modern scientific man
81 today. hHees{WsasssF'u nechooied and un-
taught and had not even the opportun-
tiles affordedf in btffe lowest grades OF
OUR pdblfc senebis.."
Now, thatsdt is Unitarianfsm. pure
and simple. nrrhe Unitarians deny the
divinity, 81 Christ and believe that
God 'existstHonly iii one person-God
the: Father They reject God the Son
and God the Holy Ghost. while the
Baptists believe In the Trinity, and all
the essentials of Christianity as taught
in the New Testament. They believe
that. Christ was God and man and
that he came on earth to save man
kind. 50
They also believe he knew all things
and that there was no necessity for
him to 60 to school. They believe
the Gospel or ST Luke in which is
related that at the age of twelve
Christ was'found by his parents in the
temple att Jerusalem, sitting in the
midst Of the doctors, hearing them and
asking them questions; and all that
heard him were astonished at his wis
dom and his answers" When his
parents found Jesus after three days
and his mother said to him: "son, why
hast thou done so to- us?" He said:
Did you not know that I must be
about my Fathers business" And the
Evangelist adds: And they understood
not the word that he spoke unto them
Neither does Prof. Foster: but the
Baptists understand 'the word" and
believe that Christ is divine.
Therefore they are right in calling
him a hereto from their religious stand
point and in expelling him from men,
bership In the conference of the Bap-
fist ministers Of the city.
It is only a question Of time when
his congregation at Hyde Park will
compel him to resign and. later on
he may lose his position in the Bap-
fist University. He ought to join the
Unitarians. This is what he preached
in Unitarian church last Sunday:
Modern man no longer believes in
the modern dogma of the Trinity. He
may think he does, but he probably
does not. The teaching Of the Trinity
is so rhetor ically involved by modern
churches that Christ himself would
not understand it ii he were on earth
today" O..-..
Prof. Foster pretends to believe that
he knows more than all the orthodox
churches combined and declares tina:
the. Baptist ministers who voted for
his .!expq}sion~ have acted from "the
standpoint, Of sthe. Roman Catholic
ChuHohg .rIf they have. 80 much the
better. s.of course. Prof. Foster does
not understand the dogma Of the Trim
ity. That is mystery beyond his COM
prehension. no matter how deep or
cultivated his mind may be- Jona-
than swift the greatest man Of letters