The Washington times., 1924-05-31
To LOSE
IN HERESY
TRIAL
Verdict of Church Court Sure
to Go Against Venerable
Episcopal PreIate
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Continued from First Page1
trial the doctrine Of the church
which Bishop Brown is accused OF
violating has not been identified or
produced by the church prosecutors.
And yet" he said, Il suppose you
are going to drive this man from
the church, still preserving that mi
raculous silence as to doctrine"
"Other men have been convicted
OF heresy," STARTS continued, but
how? Always because they changed
words and altered texts"
Never In history has a man
been convicted for believing.
Make no mistake about the is
sue in this case, gentlemen, 1t is
belief.
Conviction for Belief.
You have heard this man sit
in yonder chair, heard me read to
him the Apostles Greed, the Nicene
Greed, the Book of Common Prayer,
in which you yourselves say the
doctrine Of the church is to be
found. All this you have heard
me read to him and you have heard
him say, I believe, believe, I be-
lieve.'
And yet you are going to con.
vict him now for that belief"
Guilty Verdict Certain.
A verdict is to be had today.
That it will be against the white
haired sixty nine-year-old clergyman
Is certain. Before nightfall he will
be adju6ged guilty Of doctrinal
error and recommended for expul.
sion from the house Of bishops and
deprivation Of the prestige that
goes with the black and white robes
of bishopry.
There have been few more dra-
matte moments in any court room
than when the aged bishop, older
than any Of his judges, mounted
the witness stand and related in his
own words the remarkable story
OF his conversion from an orthodox
churchman into an ecclesiastical
free thinker"
Relates Life Story.
Step-by-step he recounted to an
interested jury and an intent room.
ful OF spectators his early struggles
In the ministry, from an orphaned
boyhood in Ohio to the headship Of
the diocese OF Arkansas; how doubt
first began to assail him because
OF his inability ito do anything for
the colored people" of his diocese:
how finally, in desperation, he
turned to Darwin, Huxley, Spencer
and Haeckel for research; and how
at last he became convinced that
the world is the product of evolu.
ton and not of Divine creation,
and scientific naturalism instead of
the experimentation Of the Bible is
responsible for the worlds develop.
ment and growth.
Il had been preaching against
Darwin all my life; vet never
read him till ] was past fifty" he
said simply. And when I did. I
saw that the world must be di.
vided into two periOds--before Oar.
win, the age of traditional super.
naturalism; after Darwin, the age
OF naturalistic science"
The reading of Darwin and his
colleagues, however, only intensi.
fled his personal problem, the bishop
said, for:
II loved the church. loved what
1t stood for, and I wanted to stay in.
SO wrote to all my brother bishops
ana asked them what could be done
Tor man who was drifting away
from the church, as I was. The re-
plies received--a whole trunk full
convinced me that the ministry
was absolutely bankrupt intellectl.
ally.
How could I stay in the church
and reject experimentation?
Il wrestled with It a great deal,
ana then q great light came to me.
remembered that in preaching nv
sermons about miracles / had usu.
ally drawn a parable. And then It
came to mel BY Interpreting the
supernatural stories Of the Bible
as parallels, that is, symbolically, I
could still retain my faith and at
the same time explain the world and
its wonders by the development OF
naturalistic science. Heaven Is a
parable, hell is a parable; for there
Is no heaven above the earth, no
he'll below It.