The Temper of the Day by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 4, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 18.

The Temper of the Day

By Editor

The "Temper of the Day."—There is a significance in this expression by the Springfield, Mass., Republican:-

If the Methodist Episcopal Church had wanted a trial for heresy, they had an excellent opportunity offered them in the case of Professor Bowne. He could easily have been found guilty,—a great many heretics have been discovered and stigmatized for less free and less divergent opinions than his. But the temper of the day is not healthy for such proceedings.

By the "temper of the day" we understand the growing tendency of the ministry to depart from the old standards of faith.

This is greatly encouraged by the so-called New Thought movement, which sets up one's "inner consciousness," or individual imagination, as the supreme authority in matters of doctrine. No doubt this accounts for the fact that, altho the one accused of heresy "could easily have been found guilty," the "minister who made the charges was turned down by the conference." But it is not only in the M. E. Church that the "temper of the day is not healthy" for proceedings against heresy. In fact, the church standard that fails to recognize "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12), or that by faith in Christ we establish the law of God (Rom. 3:31), is not itself entirely clear of heresy.