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April 14, 1909. THI
to those who while discarding the
authority of the Bible and Church, profess
to lind an authority in Christ
independent of either. Passing over the
fact that we muse assume the authority
of the Bible to the extent of trustworthiness,
at least, in order to get any Christ
at all, the lecturer proceeded to show
that unless we assume the Scriptural
view of Christ's person to be true we
have absolutely no ground for allowing
him any authority whatever. In other
words, a purely human Christ can have
no more authority over the mind and
conscience than any other human being.
In dealinir wilh the nnthnriiv or' th.-?
reason the ground taken was briefly
this: The Protestant view of the right
of private judgment is the true one, in
that every authority, be it of Bible or
Church or what not, must submit its
case and make good its claim at the bar
of the individual reason. But this does
not mean that reason itself is the sole
and final authority in matters of
religion. The reason furnishes us with
the canons and means of judging what
is authoritative, but is not itself the
authority.
On many of his hearers the sermon
on sin made an even deeper impression
than did the lectures?leading as it did
step by step through the current philosophical
conceptions of sin up to what
was shown irrefutably to be the only adequate
conception, philosophically as well
as religiously?-sin in its exceeding
siniillness as transgression of the divine
law. ,
To those who have heard Dr. Pnt.ton it
will be enough to say that both in sermon
and lectures he was at his very best. To
those who have never heard him it were
ideal to attempt to convey any idea or
that marvelous combination of depth and
simplicity, of keen humor and intense'
seriousness, of magnetic power and iron
logic which characterises his utterance.
The most eloquent testimony to his
effectiveness as a speaker is the fact
that handling subjects as abstruse as
these were, he could hold his hearers
spellbound for ueriods raneint^ from
sixty-five to eighty minutes, and that
his last audience was quadruple the size
of his first.
One of the things which it is impossible
to reproduce and yet impossible to
forget about Dr. Patton is the wonderful
pit and aptness of his illustrations. In
these days when the illustration which
docs not illustrate and the anecdote
which diverts the attention rather than
claims it for the point to'be made are so
commonly met with, it is as unusual as
it is striking to happen upon a series of
illustrations that are invariably like the
sting of a honey-bee?leaving both
impression and point behind. And Dr.
x-Miion 8 illustrations certainly have that
merit. He draws them froip every
sphere of life. Particularly noteworthy
are the ones taken from two of the most
widely diverse of human callings?seafaring
and the law. In both the language
used is that of the expert. Any lawyer
could tell that Dr. Patton had read law
as well as theology, and any sailor
would know that he had (been often
among those who go down to the sea in
ships. Many of his figures are colloquial,
almost, in matter and expression, and
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replete with humor that is both homely
and keen; but there* is never the
slightest approach to the undignified or
malapropos. Any attempt to reproduce
them on paper were vain, but a brief
description of one or two of his illustrations
may not be amis3.
Iu the first lecture he was speaking of
minute objections to the Bible, the
infinitesimal disagreements and inconsistencies
that men spend their time
over to the neelert <-?f tho
mental issues; and to show how utterly
irrelevant and immaterial these were he
drew an illustration from a supposed
case at law. The point at issue in the
case is the fact of death of a man who
is alleged to have jumped overboard
from an Atlantic Liner. The evidence is
that the man?Mr. A he may be called?
disappeared after the concert in the
saloon of the vessel on Saturday night,
and was never seen again. An attorney
is examining a witness, who testifies that
he was on deck outside the door of the
smoking-room shortly after the conclusion
of tha concert, and that while
there he saw a man jump overboard.
Question: Was it Mr. A. that you
saw jump overboard?
Answer: I could not tell who it was?
the night was too rlarlr- hut T soi?
body jump overboard.
Question: Had you seen Mr. A beloro
during that evening?
Answer: Yes, I saw him at the
concert.
Q. Did he appear in good spirits
then?
A. Yes, he presided at the concert
and appeared in a jolly mood.
Q. Would you recognize the program
of the conceit if you saw it?
A. Yob, certainly.
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that program?
A. Yes.
Q. According to the program Mrs.
B is down for a song, is she not?
A. Yes. she is down to 3ing "Annie
Laurie."
Q. Did she sing "Annie Laurie"?
A. No, she sang "The Last Rose of
Summer."
Whereupon, the testimony having been
concluded, the opposing counsel requests
the court to rule as a matter of lay that
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the testimony in the case is wholly
confused and contradictory and that
there is no legally sufficient evidenca
tending to show the death of Mr. A.
A more bewitching specimen of the
genus reductio ad absurdum it would be
hard to furnish.
A very striking figure of speech came
in the final discourse when the lecturer
was characterising the modern tendency
toward the elimination of the supernatural
from religion and pointing out its
inevitable result. In an almost dramatic
outburst he exclaimed, "The
passengers are all on board the train
and have taken their seats, ready to
start.' The conductor comes through and
shouts, 'All aboard! This train makes no
stops! The first station is Agnosticism!'
"
One more example will suffice. Referrlnir
tr\ nmrloen
c .w ?i irirtsuiaiism as expounded
by Prof. James and others, he paid his
respects to the theory which reduces all
truth to relativity and takes as the
.criterion of the truth of any given proposition
the question whether or not it
"will work."
He said: "A man In New York City
steps out into the street and holds up
his finger to a street car; and the car
stops. It works. The next day the
same man steps out and hold up his
finger to an automobile, and the automobile
does not stop. It doesn't work.
And the coroner's jury renders a verdic t
that the deceased came to his death as
the result of a false theory of the
universe."
So much for his illustrations. There
Is no doubt about the fact that they
leave an indelible impression behind
them. But the thing of all others that
stands uppermost in the mind of the
hearer at the conclusion of a series of
lectures such as this, is the assuring
conviction that, even in these days of
radical criticism and radical theology,
the faith of the fathers does not lack for
able defenders. There are giantg in
these days as in days of old.' The true
propneis are not all dead. "Yet have
1 left me seven thousand In Israel, all
the knees which have not bowed unto
Baal, and every mouth which hath not
kissed him." (I Kings 19: 18).
Chapel Hill, N. C.