Newspaper Page Text
[March 6, 1912
Live Issuei
THE LOUISVILLE ASSEMBLY AXD
THE SINNOTT CASE.
Certain Reverend Doctors and learned
Editors are greatly d'sturbed at the inhuman
act of the Louisville Assembly
in not reopening and rehearing and
repealing the action of a previous Assembly
in this noted case.
If the long-sufTering public is not
worn out with the case, I beg leave to
subm't a few remarks.
Two facts stand out: The General Assembly
Is both a legislative and Judicial
hnHv. Tt (9 fViA Rnnromo Court nf nnr
Church, and at the same time our
Congress.
Then again: The Louisville Assembly
was not the Lewlsburg Assembly. That
was "dissolved and another chosen." In
fact there was only one man In the
Louisville Assembly who was In the
Lewlsburg Assembly and he had to be
re-elected by his Presbytery. A legislative
act cf one and a different Assembly,
mav and can and often ought to be reopened,
reheard and repealed. Nobody
denies and doubts t^at But every lawyer
who has practiced before a Supremo
Court of State or Nation, knows, knows
without the shadow of a doubt, that a
speclPc case can be re-opened and reheard
under rare cond'tlons and only by
the Court that hps originally heard the
cape. The p'ea for a re-opening must he
made In a very limited time. And great
and grave Injustice must be apparent to
tlie court. A precedent must nave Deen
set that would be disastrous to many.
The reason for this Is apparent. Injustice
may have been done in the
dec'slon, but the courts have held that
Injustice had better be done. I. e., In one
case, than thst end'ess litigation be encouraged.
TblB Is a sound principle of
common sence. It Is an Instance In
which one has to sufter. rather than a
whole people be plunged In endless litigation.
If one case may be easily reopened
and reheard, every case?and as
long as decisions do not usually suit
both rartles, endless litigation would be
the result and the courts of Justice he
overwhelmed with csees, and Injustice
be done by the law's necessary delays.
Now there are rare exceptions. Does
the Slcn^tt case come under this rue
of exception?
The decision of the Lewlsburg Assembly
having been rendered by a large
majority, it is apparent that a great
* many people do not think that any harm
has been done to either Mr. Slnnott or
the kingrom of God. It is not a clear
case of wrong done Intentionally or un
intentionally. The almost unanimous
vote by which the report of the Judicial
, Comm'ttee of the Louisville Assembly
was adopted Indicates that a great people
believe that substantial justice was
done and a mixed and vexing question
disposed of.
So It would seem that at least in the
opinion of many, It Is not proved that
a serious injustice has been done. But
the General Assembly was barred from
re-opening and re-hearing this case, because
it was not the court that heard
JaaMa/I noOrt Arlfflnallv Thft
anu UCtlUCU kUO V/awo ui*5?um?v. ? ?W
Louisville Assembly was not the Lewisburg
Assembly?not even by the finest
stretch of imagination. Therefore it
could not reopen a case that it had
never heard. It would have landed us
in an absurdity of putting ourselves
back in Lewisburg, a year behind, and
going over the case again. ,
The time limit had expired. During
K-.._ the days of the Lewisburg Assembly
after the decision of the Commission
was adopted the Lewisburg Assembly,
If grave Injustice had been apparent,
could hav? re-opened and re-heard the
THE PRE8BTTERI
? Discussed
case. But when that Assembly was
dissolved, the time limit expired.
That speclHc case was settled for all
time.
Now It Is a striking thing, that search
as the Committee did, aided by the
friends of Mr. Slnnott, it eould only
find one case, where apparently, an Assembly
re-opened and re-heard a Judicial
case decided by a previous As.
sembly, which certainly shows that the
commonsenBe of the people has recognized
that there must be a finality of
litigation and that in the decision of
tho Assembly.
Now for these reasons, the Judicial
Committee adopted the report which it
submitted to the Assembly and which
the Assembly adopted by a large majority.
That report was written by one
of the prominent lawyers of Virginia.
I want to bear testimony to the high
Chlrstlan character cf Rev. W. I. Slnnott
I am his friend. I have known
rim wen ior many yearn, ne is aoove
reproach. He simply made a mistake of
ludement, and then in trying; to mend
it aomehodv biineled?but it was not the
Louisville Assembly.
These Reverend Doctors and learned
Editors eeem to be in great fear least
under such actions their characters may
be Jeopard?7ed. Fear not?the good
senae and fair-mlndedneps of the Presbyterian
people will never besmirch
them. Thev a^e Just as safe as they
ever will he till they stand before the
Final Judge.
A. A. Little.
Atlanta. Ga.
THE ASSEMBLY'S PLAN?IS IT
SCRIPTURAL!
In most of the articles that have come
to the attention of the writer the new
plan for systematic beneficence adopted
by the Assembly is said to be thoroughly
Scriptural, and some even go so far
as to Bay that no other plan accords
w'th the Scriptures. The passage upon
which the statement is based is what
Paul says in I. Cor. 16:2: "Upon the
first day of the week let every one of
you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings
when I come." It is said that
this verse authorises the appointing of
a Canvassing Committee, whose duty it
shall be to go to the individual members
of the church and ascertain how much
~ach will give in weekly contributions
for the following year. It is said that
tne verse further authorizes the making
out of a budget of est'mated expenses.
Now, with the utmost respect for the
wisdom and piety of those who hold this
view, it nevertheless seems to the writer
that, so far from supporting the plan,
this verse actually contradicts It. In
my Judgment, the verse teaches two
things: First, that the Indlv'dual Is to
make a weekly return to the Lord of a
part of that which he holds In trust for
God: and secondly, that In determining
what the amount shall he each week,
his conscience Is to be guided by the
prosperity that God has given h'm.
When the committee approaches a man,
how can that man conscientlouslv
promise an amount based on the prosperity
God is going to give him, when
be does not know what that prosperity
will be? It is replied,, the Comm'ttee
will tell a man that, if for any good and
sufficient reason he is unable to contribute
the amount, that w'll be all right
Yes, and yon will soon have all the
Executive Committees of the church involved
In the very trouble 'nto which
the Assemblv's Committee on Foreign
Missions was got by the same plan of
laying ont work according to pledges
made and then having churches (for
AN OF THE SOUTH
good and "sufficient reasons, no, doubt),
fall to redeem those pledges.
It seems to me that the system of
weekly contributions in envelopes,
backed by earnest sermons on stewardship,
squares perfectly with the Instructions
of Paul cited, and that the
new plan does not.
The church that I have the honor of
serving has not adopted the new plan,
and yet last year they gave an average
of a little over eight dollars a member
to Foreign Missions. This Is stated
simply to show that I am honestly of
the opinion that the trouble 's not with
the old system. Equally honest Is my
beMef that the new plan Is not consistent
with the Scriptures. If someone
wh^ believes It will take the trouble to
tell me why, it will be greatly appreciated.
Thos. W. Hooper, Jr.
Mitchells, Virginia.
FITTrXG OFR MEXICAN YOUTHS
FOR SERVICE.
Rer. R. E. Vinson.
I have been associated with the work
among this people for nearly ten
years, and have been brought into intimate
contact with some of their young
men in the work of education, and
therefore feel that I heve the r'ght to
speak a word on this subject. We have
had two Mexican students in the Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary
during its last ten years, and they have
Deen among our most sausraciory siuents.
One of them took the full course
In all departments, doing the work In
the English langvaee, and made such a
fine record for the three yerrs that even
though he did not have a college degree,
the Sem'nary Board of Trustees, upon
the unanimous recommendation of the
Faculty, granted to him the degree of
Bache'or of Divinity upon his graduation.
This Is an honor that has not been
granted to any American student for the
same period, except upon the possession
of the required colleee degree. I refer
to the Rev. Ellas S. Rodr'gues, now
pastor of the Mexican church in Victoria,
TeTas. The other Mexican
student did good work, though hampered
bv dlsepse, from which he died before
completing his second year of work
here.
The Mexican peoive are very bright
mentally, having enough of the Span'sh
b'ood to make them quick and sensitive,
with a sufficient infusion of Indian blood
to give them the proper staying qua'L
tles. There is no question of the'r ability
in this direction, among the people
who know them well, and are determined
to do the best we can for them. It
ought to be a point in their favor that
the Executive Committee of Schools and
Colleges in this Synod, composed of
some of the most careful and widely informed
of the business and professional
men of the State, has undertaken to
raise at once the sum of $50,000 for
the education of the Mexican young men
of Texas.
It should also be remembered that the
first and principal efforts of the TexasMnvlcan
Industrial Inntltn'o Innk
toward the Industrial educat'on of these
young men, fitting them for work on
farms, ranches end in shops, and one
large ranch owner has agreed to give
employment to every graduate of the
institution, as rapidly as the school is
able to equip them.
It is a great work, and one that we
must do, or else be derelict, presenting
to us the opportun'ty not only of the
evangelizption of the great mass of
this people in Texas, but also of carrying
the work into our sister Republic at
the south.
Austin, Texas.
(331) 17
WE ARE SURELY COMING.
The only Presbyterian mountain
school In Georgia continues to thrive In
numbers and Interest. Xacoochee In*
stltute Is decldely on the up-grade, but
she needs more financial power to her
elbow, and needs It now.
To the good friends who have stood
close up to us so splend'dly in the past,
and to all others who may be thinking
of helping us some time In the future,
we may say that we are not yet In the
land flowing with milk and honey. True,
the old debt Is gone, but listen!
When we speak of being free from
debt, we do not mean that we have met
all of our current expenses up to this
moment. In paying the $7,000.00 debt
we were obliged to use funds thPt belonged
to the runn'ng expenses of the
present ye?r. largely because some of
our subscribers to the debt, postponed
paving until assurance was doub'y sure.
Thev waited until the old debt was beyond
doubt, c'ean gone forever, and we
could not, at once, get our money.
To help ub turn this corner, some subscribers
to the current expenses of this
year, kindly consented to pay In advance.
Then the teachers and superintendent
unanimously decided to turn
over several nunared dollars of last
year's back salary due them, to apply on
the debt. In this way tbe old debt was
paid, end we bel'eve that every one
thinks that It was wise to strain a point
to pet the old claims out of tbe way, but
It bas left an empty treasury and close
times for the first half of this school
year.
We are now up to the Red Sea for our
$300.00 per month running expenses for
this year, having, as above stated, used
some of this year's expense money to
finish wiping out the debt. This puts
us several hundred dollars behind
on this year's expenses, as well as having
to provide for the future months.
Having become free from the bondage
of the old debt, we are now seeking to
secure a regular monthly income to cover
our running expenses.
Over and above our revenue from
state money, local tax, music pupils, and
the sale of clothing, we need $300.00
per ironth, to care for the work already
established. This, of course, does not
allow anything for improvement and enlargement,
simply provides for the
present work.
We are asking the Sabbath schools,
missionary societies, ladies' aids, adult
Bible classes, leagues, brotherhoods,
etc., of the Presbyterian Church of
Georgia, to each give us a regular
monthly offering to cover our actual
runn'ng expenses.
We need, as stated, $300.00 per month,
for this purpose, and to spread this
small sum over our many church organizations
in the state, would make
it impossible for any person or church
to be burdened.
How much will you or the society to
which you belong, give us per month?
Please decide what your share Is, and
let us know as soon as possible.
Our Dorm'tory Home is full up. Our
school is in splendid condition. Our
outlook is quite hopeful, and our opportunities
for usefulness are^increasing.
BUT
We need money for running expenses,
and need it now and all the time. We
are engaged In a great work, and we
feel that 'n order to reach our highest
success, it Is necessary to have our
expenses guaranteed and to come in
monthly.
To help early, will help almost twice.
Think of us. Pray for us. Help us
tow.
John Knox Colt,
Superintendent.