OCR Text |
Show CALL DR. ABBOTT A REVIVER OriflNDOOISM- Protestant Critics Denonnce the Erratic Theo-Icgssn Theo-Icgssn " 'f. D." Inferentially Suggests the Pet and the Kettle. CWrittcn for lntermountain Catholic.) Dr. Lyman Abbott, a distinguished Xew York r! 1 vine, preached in Boston recently. The views he r;ireel respecting God and tlic world have been .-..lwdcivd heretical by many of his brother ministers, min-isters, or as expressed in the Associated Press dispatches, dis-patches, the doctor in progressing backwards. The .-iipatch follows: "Boston, Dec. 25. The Bev. Dr. Lyman Abbott's Ab-bott's address in Apploton chapel, Cambridge, last Sunday evening, has stirred up a number of Boston clergymen, who denounce him as a heretic, a man of j false theology and a reviver of Hindooism. The Jvev. Charles X. Field of4St. Augustine's, says: "Dr. Abbot is repeating things which many heretics have said before him." The Rev. Dr. Lewis Bates, father of the governor, gover-nor, declares that it is ''simply going back to Ilin-elooism." Ilin-elooism." The Bev. James L. Barton of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, is surprised at Dr. Abbott's utterances and apparent change of front. The Bev. William Albright of the Pilgrim Congregational church holds that Dr. Abbott Ab-bott is theologically erratic, and the Bev. Charles L. Page says that the doctor "will soon find himself i high and dry." t The question which naturally suggests itself is: j By what authority do these ministers condemn Dr. Abbott '. lie is a firm believer in the Bible from which he takes his creed. One of his critics, Rev. Br. -William J. McKittrick, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, St. Louis, accused the Xew ; j York divine of ''following Herbert Spencers views" 1 in his belief of a personal God. ; "He diddered that the' eastern divine has under mined the faith of 100,000 youths in this land in the Bible, in which Dr. Abbott himself believes, and upon which he has written several brilliant, com-1 com-1 nientflries. Dr. McKittrick's audience listened most M Ktieritively; The -fr that' Dr. McKittrick "is re- f gardi-d as one of the most liberal theologians in the ! Presbyterian church in America, makes the reply all t lie more notable." The members of his own church did not question f Dr. Abbott's orthodoxy when he succeeded I Ib ury Ward Beecher. A man who has "writ- f ton several brilliant commentaries on the ' Bible." and who has the right to interpret the Bible for himself, will not be disturbed by the anathemas of his cn-laborers in the preaching of the gospel. Tor him there is no supreme court to decide that his prct. nt religious views are heretical, i I- Bev. Charles Field infallible in his dictum ' I ' when he says: "Dr. Abbott is repeating things ' '.which many heretics have said before him?". Dr. Abbott could, as iheologians say, retort the argu- nic.it and say truly, "you, too. Bev. C. X. Field, maintain and teach many things which heretics f taught am) maintained before you." He could non- k plu the father of the governor of Massachusetts r wi-b. the same retort. Why Bev.' J. L. Barton "Mioni,) be surprised at Dr. Abbott's utterances and rpjian nt change of front" is still a greater surprise v Tiy logical mind wlio knows the privileges and latitude f private judgment. If Dr. Abbott "is ' H-a'ic" a Bev. W. If. Albright of the Pilgrim Con-;-'-rt:atioi.a elnirch declared him to be in theological -M'!"ct. then 1 here -arc many erratic ministers in in- ov ii communion, who. as Bev. C. L. Page says, "would ednii find themselves high and dry." High, !oc;nw they like "fools enter where angels fear in ad." jiiid dry, because instead of preaching, ' i' and acting as Christ did in the most simple y ! him Lie manner, our modern preachers will not .' -,, !,, to enforce the simple messages contained 'no p.-pc, lell yteople how and why they should : : .. i,, !. better, but will talk about scientific reli--'. aiid v;ly apparently wise and learned things ;' 'interatomic energy," or "dynasphiric force." ' i;r.'!H'- not infrequently exhausts 1he energy ' ' i,!'rrct;alien, who call for a revival, which is ;". ''' nl only in proportion as abuse may be ' vf-d upon some other church. Bis enough about "the high and dry land mark" v ' '" i" reached by the Xew York divine accord- !;- 'be pre.pl iet. Bev. C. L. Page. We return to ' ' S1. Louis divine who said: "1 w .nder if Dr. Abbott knew that he was u-dng precisely the exact language of Herbert ' '"'! I If T believed in a personal Gcd. like Dr. ' ' ! ,; ays lie does. I think I would put footnotes ' '" Spencer reference, interline it with ex- a 'ions. -or not quote from a material pantheist 1 a.-:de with my profession of a personal God. ' ; ' !-' i-:n is an old, exploded idea. Pantheism en-j ''' '' overlooks the divine revelation in the person -haracter of ', Testis Christ, who could make the '' "' i incarnate out of pantheism f ' '' -McKittrick, in directing attention to Dr. 1 " t s pantheistic leaching, is either forgetful or i-:.f i';jni of the' great changes taking place in his ' V' church. Quite recently Dr. Samuel Carter, , 1::-'"r "i the First Prebbvterian church of Jamaica, j ''; renounced sonic of the fundamental dogmas I ' ; Westminster Confession. Such a reunucia-''u. reunucia-''u. until quite recently. wouM be heretical, yet by j ' iniaiiiinous vitc of his congregation lie is sus- : :,. d. ; In bi own defense before the Presbytery he ! ?;.il: . r "J hero is no stub God as the God of the Con-' Con-' --ion. There is no such world as the world of the (o-f,.si,,n There i no eternity as the eternity if' ' of the Confession. It is all rai, exaggerated and Jul no'erly untrue. The hard, cold and severe God of Ii' Confession wjt, tie ove 0ft out ;s not our y"d ; ihere is no such God as the God of the Confession." Con-fession." .All of ibis is undoubtedly true, ami it must be , . vri "y revolting to Dr. Carter's idea of a loving 1 (Continued on Page 1 I ''' - ' - ' i' HT. REV. JOHN P. CARROLIt ). r (Bishop of Helena.) j Dr. Carroll was born in Dubuque in 1864 and received his first lessons in Christian education in what was known as "Father O'Beilly's School." In early manhood he entered SL Joseph's college r.t the head of Fourteenth street, where he studied theology and read the classics. These were later pursued in the Grand Seminary of Montreal in 18S3-1S89. There he received his D. D. cap and : was raised to the priesthood in the latter, year, re- turning to Dubuque after his ordination when he became a member of the faculty of his alma mater and was assigned to the chair of mental philosophy, a position which he has since filled with distinguished distin-guished ability. Wheji iuther Cooney retired from the presidency of St. Joseph's college in 1894 Dr. Carroll was unanimously . chosen to succeed him. In this capacity Dr. Carroll has had ample scope for the exercise of his executive ability, and under his regime the college received a freshimpetus and has made rapid strides of progress. ' (AIL DR. ABBOTT A REVIVER OF flllDOOIffl (Continued from Page One.) and merciful Father, but even contrary to his reason rea-son and common sense to suppose that unconditional uncon-ditional election and reprobation were a part of divine revelation. Yet to deny that God foreordains foreor-dains the wicked to sin necessarily, that he may be justly damned, was heresy for a Presbyterian in good standing. Is Dr. Carter, who refuses to swallow swal-low his pill, a heretic? He says: "It is all rash, exaggerated and bitterly untrue." In pleading his case-before the Presbytery, he said: Do you condemn me; do you cast me out of your ministry; welcome me again to my place in the Presbytery with the beautiful understanding that there shall be greater theological freedom in the Presbyterian church than has been allowed heretofore, here-tofore, and permit me to make a motion in the Presbytery that the brief statement of the Reformed Re-formed Faith be adopted as the living, working creed of our church, and that the Westminster Confession Con-fession be declared to be the creed and the testimony testi-mony of our honored fathers." Dr. McKittrick could not resist this pleading, for he is said to be liberal and broad-minded. But such an admission would mean "that the Westminster West-minster Confession be declared to be the creed and the testimony of his honored forefathers." Would this not be an open avowal that the Presbyterian church was a self-created body, without authority from God, and its creed, like that of Dr. Abbott, was-changing? To the innocent looker-on and ordinary or-dinary layman Dr. Abbott, who selects for his master mas-ter Herbert Spencer, is as authoritative as any of his critics; nay, more so, because he has made a special study of the Scriptures, was editor of the "Literary Record" of Harper's Magazine, also associate as-sociate editor of The Christian Union with Henry Ward Beeeher, whom he succeeded as pastor of Plymouth church. He has written many books which have won for him fame. A few in the long list are: "Christianity and Social Problems," "Jesus of Xazareth," "Old Testament Shadows of the Xew Testament," "-Truth." "How-to Study the Bible," "In Aid of Faith," "Life of Christ," etc. Xone of these books bearing on Christian Science and theology was placed in. the. Index by evangelicals. evangel-icals. Xone of his critics has left to posterity any works that will compare with them; and as the rule with evangelicals is to ignore and repudiate any divine. or infallible authority Li matters of faith, to all ordinary individuals Dr. Abbott's word is, if not superior, at least equal to his critics ; and as time moves on, the latter, not he, "will soon find themselves high and dry." " We are not pleading for the present editor of Outlook, but we wish to show the inconsistencies and incongruities of his critics, who are constantly appealing to the Bible as the infallible word of God, and yet forget or are ignorant of the fact that they are God's word only iu the sense intended by the Holy Ghost. Having no infallibje suoreme court to decide this all-important question, they arc groping in the dark, are blind leaders, and "if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the ditch." F. D. |