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388
CHURCH
Figures are worth ver
rate. The time has coin*
making our statistical rt
Presbyteries and General
compile them. The accu
sessions.
From an acquaintance
writer is convinced that i
names.
Some one has said, "A
that can stand upright ai
know church rolls.
The first field I serve*
with two half-alive chui
ing 85 members for 10 y<
of the cemetery, so we re
The next was a large
old Stated Clerk had add
ed those he knew were <
the session purged the r
425 actual members.
The next church repoi
interregnum Kinaiy laia
the new pastor came. A
roll were invisible.
Another church report'
roll handed to the new pa
The others were not evei
were out of sight.
Of another church, the
on his roll, the most dilij
The deacon of another
1,000 members. We hav<
find members where past
Atlanta Presbytery re
?but a net gain of 55. S
purging the rolls.
This leads to the pres'
(rAtn Tr\ 4-^ Ar> ?
tiutvu i i win X W IU ptl L
This means a hardship
(1) On our church pri<
bership and this same m
sion of faith, it would si
we could boast more.
(2) On our pastors. 1
people who, as far as tl
and we have the reputai
churches than we reallv
(3) On the church. A
on our membership. Tf
pay for those who are n
We suggest:
(i) There ought to t
ting rid of names of pe<
the church, either by p
Chapter 15, Section 4, c
known.
The remedy of chur<
Church discipline is a dif
they can be found, the el
and exhort with all long
THE PRESBYTERIA
STATISTICS.
y little unless they are accue
in our ecclesiastical year for
'ports. The Stated Clerks of
[ Assemblies can do little but
racy thereof must lie with the
with many church rolls, the
many of them carry too many
tomb-stone is the only thing
id lie on its face." He did not
d was a Home Mission field,
dies. One had been reporters.
I could find only 52 out
ported 52 members,
church, reporting 526. The
nrl f lin orl/1 if inno
vvi niv, ouuitiuuo anu ouuii actlead.
When he passed away,
oil and found the church had
rted 525 one year, but in the
72 on the retired roll before
t least 20 of those left on the
ed over 400 members, but the
.stor had only 366 names on it.
1 named. At least 50 of these
pastor said of the 800 names
a^ent search only revealed 400.
church said: "We report over
e only 850." And deacons can
ors can not.
ports 1005 additions in 1909,
ome of the churches have been
umption that our rolls are inent.
t
ie. If we had a smaller memLimber
of additions on profesiow
a larger per centage, and
We are kept busy looking for
ie church goes, are non sunt
tion of havinsr much stronerer
have.
Ve are apportioned ordinarily
le members who are, have to
ot.
>e some orderly way of get5ple
who show no interest in
resence or gifts or prayers,
loes not apply, for many are
:h discipline will hardly do.
ficult thing. Of course, where
Iders ought to reprove, rebuke
-suffering and patience, but in
N OF THE SOUTH.
the meantime ought they to b<
ing members, when they are n
(2) That clerks of session hi
attention of sessions, and try tc
accurate report to Presbytery.
Atlanta, Ga.
SHALL WE HAVE A P
OLIGARCH
There has been presented to th
crn Presbyterian Church by 01
ministers a carefully wrought o
Presbyterian oligarchy. One ha
ings of the various sections in
trend of the whole argument,
Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs.
A "trust" may be defined as
power for the betterment of tl
if you please. This enemy furr
in civil affairs today, and it w
ecclesiastical affairs in the days
Knox. That yoke of papal t\
shoulders of our forefathers, ?
not be permitted to be replac
today.
You may call it an "Execu
College of Bishops, or the Pope,
it has the semblance and effec
thing.
Indeed, it is a lamentable fa
to go far into the inner shrine
day to be convinced that there
this oligarchical spirit manifest
A veteran missionary rece
nil-J '
>v11lv.i iic waa niicu wix.il sname
to see the church courts, and c
in the grasp of a few men. P<
ecclesiastical politicians not a f<
It is true that the civil powei
tered in Washington, and there
nopoly in Rome, but we do not
House of Lords" located yet.
for us conservative Presbyteri
ern brethren have not reached
they seemed to have contemp
advocated in "The Assembly's .
but the "politicians" have not
them.
No, brethren, let every Presl
civil and religious liberty pur<
our noble ancestrv onnn?<>
^ ? r J V *
ranks for a College of Bishop:
There are some things worst
Scriptural distribution of eccle:
of those things is ''The Geners
Commission," or the ecclesiast
of the House of Lords of the
Church.
The writer of this article des
1. ? -I- 1 - '
mgniy esteems tne writer of tf
believes him to be the last mar
seek self-preferment and eartf
widely differs with him on the
ation.
March 30, 1910.
: reported as communot?
ring this matter to the
) send up an absolutely
A. A. L.
RESBYTERIAN
IY?
e people of the Southle
of her distinguished
ut scheme for a superb
s to read only the. headthat
article to see the
viz: Concentration of
undue concentration of
te few?for selfish ends
fishes the battle-ground
as the battle-ground in
> of Luther, Calvin and
ranny thrust from the
generations ago, should
ed by their loyal sons
tive Commission," the
as you please; after all,
:t of one and the same
ct that we do not have
of Presbyterianism to:
has been too much of
ed in our ranks already,
ntly remarked to the
when in the home-land
hurch affairs in general,
diticians are legion and
ew.
r of this country is cenis
an ecclesiastical modcsire
the ."Presbyterian
That is too advanced
ans. Why, our Norththat
point as yet. True,
lated nearly everything
executive Commission/'
forced the issue yet on
byterian who loves that
:hased by the blood of
ery move made in our
3.
e than an equitable and
siastical power, and one
il Assembly's Executive
ical oligarchy composed
Southern Presbyterian
ires to say that he most
le paper referred to and
i in our beloved Zion to
dy honor, but be most
subject under considerConservative.