The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-06-29
FORKS, NORTH TUESDAY, JUNE 30 1909

violent denials from his ANTAGONISTS.
ne declares he ts stanch member, is
not Protestant denomination any
more than 1t is Roman Catholic. His
foes. he declared, have missed the
real issue from the first.
THE religious world in the western
hemisphere has reached q great cri-
sis," he said. Then, assuming the role
OF q Moses who would lead the Bap-
lists out of what he regards as slav-
cry to sacraments into the promised
land OF transcendent spirit, he made
a full explanation Of his position.
Rockefeller's Pastors Disagree.
Prot. Fosters statements, followed
developments at Cleveland, O., where
the Rev. DR.. w. w, Bustard, the new
pastor Of the Euclid Avenue Baptist
church, of which John o. Rockefeller
Is member, denounced the. Rev.
Charles F. Aked of the Fifth Avenue
Baptist church in New York, at which
the oil king Is an attendant. DR.. Bus
tard said he believed in immersion
as the only true form Of baptism and
in communion only with believers and
church members. DR.. Aked does not
favor such limitations.
The controversy on points of Or
thodoxy between Mr.. Rockefeller's
two pastors Is similar to that in all
denominations" Prot FostAr said,
Something will happen soon. The
tension is growing greater and great
er. There will be a break"
Believes Opponents Missed Point.
Why 1t lie" Prof. Foster was asked,
that you regard yourself as a Bap-
tist rathen than Unitarian, Metho-
dist or even Roman Catholic?" You
admit that you think the doctrines of
the trinity. the divinity OF Christ, the
communion and baptism are worn-out
IDEAS"
In answer PORT: Foster brought
forth a copy of his latest book. "The
Function Of Religion in Mans Strug-
gle for Existence"
my Baptist friends seem to have
missed the whole point" he said. If
they really read the book carefully l
don't see how they could have avoided
hesitating over this paragraph"
He pointed out the passage with
his finger.
THAT goes to the root. That is
where everything hinges"
Says Baptists are Cathollcized.
The paragraph read: Closely al
lied to the foregoing "a discussion of
the historic forms of external authori-
ty) is the advocacy of the objective
truth Of the Christian religion by an
appeal to the external authority of a
book of immediate divine origin. Thus
the doctrines of the commandments of
thia ro1{o{1y1 1or; a.. -
course. Is the protestant position; I
mean, the position, of the mighty &C.
clesiastical professionalism of postre-
formation history. Against this pro-
testantism of external authority the
independents. appealing to the inter-
nal authority Of the: inner light or
the 'indwelling spirit to the 'compe-
tency of the soul in religion, protest.
ed. OF these the Baptists were the
chief. But subsequently even the
Baptists fell upon evil days, were
Catholicized and outpoped the pops
himself in the dedication Of an exter-
nal authority. In our day, however. a
few men. unafraid of the calumny and
ridicule-hoary weapons, these
hurled at them by insolent and quar-
relsome ecclesiastics, are seeking to
recover the Baptist position of the
autonomy of the human soul, for
which our Baptist fathers fought, bled
and died."
Would Return to Old Position.
"You mean to say" Prof. Foster
was asked, that you do not regard
the Baptfsts as protestant denomina-
tion?"
Precisely. Originally they pro-
tested against the protestants. The
Roman Catholics set up the pope as
infallible. The protestants rebelled
against this and said that the bible,
not the pope, was the infallible basis
of religion. The Independents, in
cluding Baptists, Unitarians, Quakers,
and several others, revolved against
both of these. They held that the
only basis of religion is the inner
light the sum of those convictions
which are in mans own soul.
But all institutions tend to harden
and to transform spirit into form.
The Baptists could not escape this
tendency. The 'hard-shell' element
arose and held control for while.
1t has been put down gradually, but
AOS oASo6OSASAs gill AE3AIAu6 1OI d
return to the original Baptist posi-
tion."
Immersion Held Not Essential.
"Do you believe that baptism by
immersion is essential to the Baptist
faith?"
"No. What difference in a mans
spiritual life. can the putting of water,
however much or little, on the out
side of his skin make? 1t is the in
ner being of the individual that
counts. External forms are unneces-
sary."
do you consider this necessary in
all cases. 1t depends on the culture
Of the individual. A truly cultured
man does not need to depend upon
forms. do not object to the old
doctrines and sacraments for those
to whom still have meaning. But
the trouble is, they have practically
lost their meaning. We must have
new doctrines and new ideas to meet
the demands of a new time"
Have you worked out to any ex-
tent what you think these new ideas
should be-"
"Onlv roroh1r Inf ono ~ t.,o.,