Newspaper Page Text
-22 THE
RELIGION IN THE HOME.
(Coutinned from Page 19.)
son for the deterioration? Is it not that
parents have discarded the high prerogative
of the teacher? Nor is that all. For,
as Mr. JoAvett lias said, "With the household
teacher has gone the household
priest! It is not only that the home is no
longet a school, it is no longer a temple!
The altar is overthrown"!
Fathers and brethren 1 have selected
rats suu.icci ior your opening iiieaiiauon
in this great Assembly because, of all
the subjects that can engage your attention
as leaders of the Church this is
the most important. The Christian home
is the hope of the world. And the Christian
home in our land is threatened as it
has never been threatened before. In
tens of thousands of nominally Christian
homes the parents have abdicated the
seat of prophetic instruction and forsaken
the altar ol priestly intercession. Can
we not as ministers recall them to a
true appreciation of their supreme function?
Can we not rouse them to a sense
of their duty? And shall we not give
thorn the requisite guidance as to what
to teach and how to teach? Shall we
not make this a main point of our ministry?
A keen observer of our modern church
oiCllVKdtS 9|ICiUUi U1 Ulf 'U III triviality
of many of our meetings." the
spemling of our strength on minor purposes
-which might be serving a greater,
the covering of the whole field with a
multiplicity of little, shallow miues which
only sera1 eh the surface, instead of sinking
a limited number of deep shafts with
concentrated strength and equipment to
reach the buried ore, and he adds: "there
is nothing which would so revive the
modern church as to diminish the oppressive
multitude of our meetings and to
concent rale upon more radical aims and
labor. We might appear to be doing
very much less while in reality we should
be doing infinitely more."
These are wise words, and the most
fundamental of these large tasks calling
for the concentration of our energies is
the task of making the Christian home
once more both a sanctuary and a school.
Why should we not give the whole subject
of home training a larger place in
our pulpit work? Why should it not be
IVl'OCQnf o/l ovotomot Iw MAMXIA.
j/tv?vuvwu t9j9win? uiv.au/ ill tiiC 1 CJjUlill
Sunday services from time to time? Why
should it not be a frequently recurring
subject for study and prayer in the midweek
meetings? Why should wo not
hold spocial meetings for mothers and
special meetings lor fathers in which we
might consider in detail <the principles
and methods of teaching? Why "should
the subject, not have the place of honor
in our summer schools for Christian
workers? Why should we not use evgiy
legitimate method that can be devised
to revive the teaching of religion in the
home?
Is any tusk more imperative? Is any
work more faithful? Let us rememoer
that if we take care of the home, the
caurcn win take care or Itself, that the
measure of the church's power of selfpropagation
Is the spiritual life of the
homes that compose It, that no amount
of activities at the ends of the earth
can compensate for the defending influence
ot neglected homes, that no
amount of diligence and care in the
gathering of fruit can compensate for
: PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU'
the lmpovei'fehing neglect of the roots
of the tree. A ministry makes its largest
contribution to a community or a
country or the world, when it teaches effectually
the divine conception of fatherhood
and motherhood, and wncu it vitalizes
and deepens the sense of parental responsibility.
To accomplish this in the
case of even a single heme "is to redeem
any ministry fuom the commonplace and
to open out perspectives of possibility
wnr.n stretch beyond our dreams."
May God give us wisdom and grace
to meet the solemn obligation which
rests upon us as pastors of the parents,
as guides and helpers of those who are
the God-appointed teachers in the home!
Proceedings of Assembly Second Day
Continued.
The report from the Alliance of the
Reformed Churches, was referred to the
committee on Foreign Correspondence.
The report of the ad interim committee,
the enacting [tower of the General Assembly,
was read and referred to a special
committee, of which Dr. J. Al. Wells is
chairman. The report is as follows:
To the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, meeting in Savauiiab,
Georgia, .May, 11(00.
The ad Interim Committee appointed by the
last Assembly to canvass the whole question
of the enacting power of the General Assembly.
WOlllit wanwUnlli' -- *
....... I" tin* ilSSlMUUiy
In session In Savannah, Georgia, May, liHJb,
as follows:
In the opinion of your committee there are
two elnsses of questions which should lie distinguished,
the one from the other. In considering
the enacting power of the General
Assembly.
1st. There Is n class of questions concerning
proposed amendments to the constitution of
the Church, as provided for In chapter VII of
iae Form of Government.
It seems to your committee that the wide
difference of views as to the enacting power
of the Assembly is probably due to an ambiguity
in the language of paragraph 11 of
tills chapter. * The ambiguity turns upon the
construction of the last clause of the paragraph,
which may be construed as a subordinate
clause depending on the "when" of the
preceding clause, or as an independent clause
tanking it muiidntory on a succeeding Assembly
to enact an amendment recommended by
a previous Assembly and voted upon affirmatively
by 11 majority of the l'resbyterles.
In the view of your committee, paragraph
III avoids this ambiguity by specifying three
co-ordinate conditions to be fultllled iu the
case of the proposed amendments, namely:
The recommendation of one Assembly, the concurrence
of the required proportion of the
l'resliyterles, and the enactment of the proposed
amendment by a subsequent Assembly.
\our Committee Is of the opiulon thnt paragraph
II Is to be Interpreted as specifying the
same coordinate conditions which are found in
paragraph 111.
This opinion Is confirmed by noting that the
General -assembly of 1S84 refused to put a
different Interpretation 011 It. An overture
was presented to that Assembly asking thnt
the paragraph be amended so as to rend.
lue dikik or unarcn uroer may be amended
by the following process: (1) The General Assembly
may at Its discretion transmit the
proposed amendment to the Presbyteries. (2)
If a innjorlty of the Presbyteries shall enact
It, (3) The succeeding Assembly shall announce
It to be the law of the Church." (Alexander's
Digest, p. 3.)
Your Committee Judge that In declining this
overture, the General Assembly implied tne
contrary Interpretation.
In regard to this class of questions, your
Committee would recommend the following
action:
It Is the Judgmeut of the Assembly that
the amhlgnity of paragraph II Is to be regarded
as cleared up by the language of paragraph
111; that Is paragraph II is not to be
construed as making It mandatory upon the
General Assembly to enact the proposed
amendment therein referred to. It lies within
the discretion of the Assembly either to enact
or to decline to enact. The Assembly of lUOtl,
In the exercises of this discretion, declined to
enact the amendment touching Commissions.
(Minutes of Assembly 11HIH, pp. 52-53.)
2d. The inntter which rl?c ?"
overture from Mecklenburg Presbytery to the
Assembly of 1008 belongs to another and n
different class of questions, namely: Questions
In regard to which the Constitution of the
Church vests In the General Assembly alone
the power to take flnal and authoritative ae- _
Hon. Among the powers defined by tne constitution
as belonging to the Assembly alone. Is
7
rH. May 26, 1909.
the power "to correspond with other
churches." (Form of Government, 1KM
As to ?is class of questions your Committee
would recommend the following answer:
'1 tie General Asesmbly can not divest itself
of the constitutional responsibility that rests
upon it to "decide the ways and means of
correspondence with other ecclesiastical
bodies."
One Assembly may refer questions of this
class to a succeeding Assembly, but the succeeding
Assembly can not be shorn of power
constitutionally lodged in the General Assembly
alone, by the Irregular act of a previous
Assembly referring the question to the l'res1
kt* t a.V laaw I-..- I-? 'CI...
u. won. mi- iit-nwyierics may
properly express their opinions in such matters,
ami tne expressed opinions of a majority
of tlie 1'resUyterles would naturally have much
weight with tlie Assembly, l?ut the power to
decide rests with tlie (toneral Assemlily alone.
(Signed) It. F. CAMPBELL,
C. It. HKMl'HILL,
It. C. ltKKI).
M. F. ANSEL.
Dr. J. \V. Itosehro agrees with the rest of
the committee in the answer to the Mecklenburg
overture. I>ut dlsseuts from the report in
tue matter of amendments to the Constitution.
At 12 m , an admirable address was
delivered by Dr. R. C. Reed, of Columbia
Theological Seminary on "John Calvin's
Contribution to the Reformation." The
thanks of tlie Assembly were expressed
by a rising vote.
The treasurer's report was read by the
stated clerk and referred to the Auditing
Committee.
Second Day?Friday Evening.
The report of the Assembly's permanent
committee on Ev:inp-olwnti<-?ii uroo
read by the chairman, Rev. C. R. Nesbit,
as follows:
A special committee wa3 appointed to
consider this report, consisting of Rev.
A. M. Eraser, Rev. G. H. Cornelson. Rev.
J. L. Bachman, and Elder W. C. Smith.
As a part of the Assembly's proceedings,
a strong and highly instructive address
was delivered by Dr. C. Johnson,
of Union Theological Seminary, on "Calvin's
Contribution to Church polity," after
which the Assembly adjourned with
prayer, to reconvene at 9:30 a. m. tomorrow.
Third Day?Saturday Morning.
After devotional exercises the minutes
of yesterday's sessions were read and
approved.
The report of the Ad Interim Committee
on judicial cases was read and Its
recommendations were referred.
An overture was read from Paducah
Presbytery, asking that the Laymen's
Movement co-operate in both homo and
foreign missions.
Majority and minority Teports were
made by the Ad Interim Committee on
the tithe and were referred to the committee
on systematic beneflcience.
The report of the Ad Interim Commit
tee on the re-publication of the Distinctive
Principles of the Church, was
read and adopted and its recommendations
referred to the Executive Committee
of Publication. The report is as
follows:
nifi KliruKT OK THE AD INTERIM COMMITTEE.
On Republication of "THE DISTINCTIVE
PRINCIPLES."
The Ad Interim Committee appointed by the
last Assembly, to whom wns referred the
work of editing certain historical documents
iMinutes of Assembly 10(17, page 1201) setting
forth the distinctive principles and positions
of our Church would respectfully report as
follows:
The papers which were listed In Ave groups
In the Minutes of the Assembly of 1907 were
distributed, a group to each member, among
the several members of the Committee. After
a careful examination of all the papers, the
Committee came to the unnnlmous conclusion
that It was both unnecessary and unwise
to republish nil of them. In the manner contemplated
in the resolutions. We do not believes
there Is urgent need In our Church for
such a volume; the expense attending Its
publication would be great and the sale small: