| Show UN DER TUE LUEflAG Presbyterian General Assembly Meets Under tfc Most Triumphant Auspices t I Philadelphia May 4with every board out of debt with mortgages lifted lift-ed from houses of worship with Institutions Insti-tutions of learning enlowed and with the probability that the debt on Its splendid building in New York will bo materially reduced the Presbyterian general assembly this year will be one exultation The material prosperity I mentioned is not the only for cause rejoicing I re-joicing nor the chief one along with Increased gifts to the work of the church there have gone many opportunities for service and a large ingathering Into I the membership of the body which already al-ready exceeds a mlllionsouls Mission I work in Cuba Porto Rido J and the Phil The assembly meets this year in the I I mother cily Philadelphia where for the first fifty years of its existence the I meetings were held with few exceptions I excep-tions Philadelphia is a Presbyterian city the stated clerk of itp presbytery said a few days ago that ias nearly as could be estimated onoJfourth of the entire population the city were Presbyterian members or adherents It is natural therefore that the blue flag of the denomination should float only second to the Stars and Stripes Three of the boards of the church education ministerial relief and publication and Sabbathschool work have their offices in the fine WJtherspoon building in Walnut street The Historical society I Is here as well as the office of the stated clerk this building may properly prop-erly be called the headquarters of American Piesbylcrlnns All that local pride and denominational denomina-tional Interest can do to make the cornIng corn-ing meeting successful will be done Competent committees have arranged for the stated meetings in the Calvary Presbyterian church while popular I meetings will be held in the Academy of Music the Wltherspoon hall and in I several of the churches In various parts of the city that the information gathered I gath-ered and the inspiration resulting from the conferences may be widely dissem mated An historical exhibit In the I Academy of Fine Arts and another In the rooms of the Historical society will show what Presbyterians have done I for 300 years a picture of George Washington receiving the cup from the I hands of a Presbyterian clergyman at a communion service in New Jersey is among the possibilities A social reception re-ception and one or two excursions will gjvc the visitors an Idea of Philadelphia hospitality But there is more than eating and drinking and sightseeing in store for the Presbyterian commissioners who are due here on May 16th There is argument ar-gument and debate and the worldling says politics ahead It is true that there Is no heresy case on the docket and Wurszawlak the BLUe Jew from New York is not expected here with his case Ibis year but there Is a question as vital to the Presbyterian church as life Itself for any one of Its members the attempt to revise the Wcstminslcr confession of faith or worse the effort on the part of several schools of thought to shelve the historic his-toric document and cubsiilute for it i V f j r f n fr I 1 1 1 l 11 1 f < < 11 1N > 7 > Hev Dr Charles A Dickey M oclorator of the General Assembly Ippines has been carried on with an enthusiasm born of having new fields 1 I to conquer while the siege in Peking and the massacre of several of its brightest and most successful missionaries mission-aries In other parts of China has placed a rjalo about those who have left home and kindred and have gone to distant lands to carry the banner of the cross to heathen peoples 1 a statement couched in modern English and expressing in popular terms the present faith of the church For a dozen years or more the revision move ntent has been before the public Ten years ago It was silenced by the heresy trial of Dr Briggs of New York but it was brought to the front a year ago by Dr Ilillls of New York who in a sermon ser-mon repudiated certain of the most cherished doctrines ot the confession An able committee has been at work for a year trying to prepare a report which will give relief to those troubled by some of the doctrinal statements of the confession After several conferences confer-ences and a great deal of correspondence correspond-ence the committee has decided tore to-re ommend 4lT1HLtn cpmmltfec as provided for by ths form of government chapter 23 section 3 appointed bythis assembly That commitlcevbe instructed to prepare a brief summary of the ret re-t faith bearing the snc relation to the confession of faith which the shorter catechism bears to the larger catechism and formed on the general model of the consensus creed prepared I for the assembly of 1S32 or the articles lof faith of the Presbyterian Church of England both of which documents are I appended the committees report and submitted to the assembly to be referred I re-ferred to the committee that may be 1 appointed I This summary Is not to be a substitute substi-tute for the confession and Is not to affect tho terms of subscription but to vindIcate and clear the doctrines of the church from all false aspersions and misconceptions to give better understanding under-standing on what is most surely believed be-lieved among us and is In no sense to Impair but rather to manifest and maintain the integrity pf the reformed faithThat That this committee be Instructed to prepare amendments to chapter 3 chapter 10 section 3 and chapter 21 section 7 chapter 22 section 3nnd chapter 25 section 6 of our confession of faith either by modification of text or by declaratory statement soas more L closely to express the view of the church wIth the additional statement concerning the love of God for all men missions and the Holy Spirit It being understood that the revision shall in no way impair the system of doctrine set forth in our confession and taught In Holy Scripture At present every Presbyterian minister min-ister whether a pastor or editor or secretary sec-retary insurance agent has an equal voice In the presbyteries Some of the men in charge of the churches have felt that this was an Injustice that those who are doing the work of the church should not have their votes nullified by those who might not be inactive in-active sympathy with the pastors At the St Louis assembly last year an overture wup adopted and submitted to the presbyteries defining a presbytery presby-tery and the rights of its members According lo hits plan a presbytery would consist of 1 active members namely all pastors and one ruling elder el-der from each congregations within a certain district also all ministers re Biding In such district appointed tho presbytery or by a superior Judl catory to some particular work of the church under control of the appointing judicatory while engaged inlUch I I work and 2 all other ministers on I its roll In presbytery all members have the right to sit and speak to serve on committees and could be eligible to office but active members only could vole No presbytery could consist of less han I five ministers who were ac tire members By the provisions of this plan all edi tors mission workers and secretaries of benevolent gocielics not under the care of the presbytery could speak but not votc But wore than that a clergy man honorably retired after thirty or forty or fifty years of service would have to keep still young men without experience but with a church of per haps a score of members could decide the policy of the presbytery and voto grants of money for causes of which they knew next to nothing The dis franchising of more Ulan a thousand clergymen was so manifestly unfair and foreign to the spJrlt of Presby terianlsm that the measure has found few friends In the presbyteries to which it was sent for approval The question of candidates for the ministry is also a vital one at this time in view ofthe rapidlydecreasing number In the theological seminaries of the church The Board of Education this year has 100 less students under its care than it had a year ago and about iOO less than were registered and received aid six or seven years ago One of the overtures now before the presbyteries provides that ministers connected with other denominations applying for membership In a presbyter presby-ter shall submit satisfactory evidence of possessing qualifications character char-acter and scholarship required of candidates can-didates and licentiates of the Presbyterian Presby-terian church shall be examined in theology and in the discretion of presbytery pres-bytery in other subjects and shall answer an-swer In aflinnallve questions 1 to 8 contained in section 12 chapter 15 of the Form oC Government This provision is Intended to bar the way to men from other denominations who have been Imperfectly or unsatisfactorily unsatis-factorily trained from a Presbyterian point of view but who have been licensed li-censed and ordained and seek a transfer I trans-fer to thc denomination whose examination exam-ination they could not have sustained had they come before the body as students stu-dents Once Irslde the denomination by birth or adoption and In charge of a church the assembly seeks to guard the minister against any possible use of money power in a congregation that might seek to lessen his Income and force him out of his position Having I called a pastor at a fair salary church officers desiring to get rid of him havo been charged with reducing his salary unnecessarily An overture jiow under un-der consideration says No change shall be made in the amount of salary stipulated In the call without the consent the presbytery unless both minister and congregation agree thereto and only the congregation congrega-tion regularly assembled shall have power to bring such a question to the attention of presbytery Whether these overtures and others submitted the last assembly have carried will not be known until the staled clerk reports the answers but It Is known that the Wcstchesler overture over-ture relating to the membership and duties of presbyters has failed Last year the presbytery of South Florida asked the assembly for a petition peti-tion to the United Stales Government for a Constitullonal amendment making ma-king polygamy a felony The assembly assem-bly in its answer submitted by the Rev Dr Robert F Sample of New York saidThose Those who have given the mailer careful study are convinced that the only way to exterminate the practice of polygamy In our land is to amend the Federal Constitution by incorporating Incorpo-rating provision making polygamy and polygamous cohabitation a crime and providing for the disfranchising I those who persist in living in polygamous polyga-mous relations and Impowering Congress Con-gress to legislate upon the subject so as to bring Ihe prosecution of polyga I misls under the Jurisdiction of the Federal Fed-eral courts = I I Resolutions embodying this declaration declara-tion were adopted and forwarded to President MCKinley and to the Senate and House of Representatives It is probable that the Mormon question will come up In some form at tho meeting this year Congress having failed to provide for the Constitutional amendment amend-ment desired California and New York have each two candidates for the modoratorahlp Dr J W Dinsmore and Dr H C Minton representing Pacific coast and Dr George B Stewart and Dr < George T Purves the Atlantic const Theological lines are drawn very closely close-ly this year but probability Is that Dr Purves will be chosen unless the Californians unite their forces Whoever Who-ever Is chosen tho coming assembly promises to be a worthy one with which to open the twentieth century California and New York are also understood un-derstood to be rivals for the next assembly as-sembly and It is well nigh ertain that New York will be chosen |
