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July 10, 1912] THE
Editorial 1
It is to be observed that both the Republican
and Democratic national conventions were opened
with prayers by papal officials at their organization.
A local priest officiated at Chicago
iuid Cardinal Gibbons, whom they now call "a
prince of the blood," at Baltimore. Of course
the conventions were not especially impressed
with the need of the offices of these men, but
selected them as a bid for Romanist votes. Such
events may be regarded as non-essentials, but
they are constantly occurring and '' we arc. confronted
by a condition, not a theory."
Without regard to politics or nominees or
anything else of that nature, we express the
pleasure which multitudes of right-thinking people
feel in the adjournment of the Democratic
National Convention in Baltimore from Saturday
night to Monday morning. It was almost
universally expected that if its sessions were
prolonged into Saturday night without conclusion
it would keep on at its business, as Congress
often does, well into Sunday and perhaps
through Sunday. But better principles prevailed,
despite the excitement, at fever heat, despite
the intensity of feeling, the ardor of partisans,
the keen desire to get through and start home.
All honor to the delegates!
Now that the great political conventions are
over, it is to be hoped that they are the last
of their kind ever to be held in this country.
Never before have personalities entered so unhappily
into the contests, and never before has
the country seen a president in office and an
ex-president engaged in such a scramble before
the people, assailing each other in language and
charges unworthy of dignified men in any calling,
much less of those whom the country has
honored with the highest office within its gift.
Tihe disgust which the scene has produced is
widespread, without reference to parties or political
divergences. The country has had enough
nf *u:_ l_i? J - " ?
"i mis Kind ox ining.
The Presbyterian Church in Virginia and the
<!arolinas is greatly indebted to Rev. Dr. "William
H. Foote, of Romney, for the preservation
of its history. Foote's Sketches of the Presbyterian
Church in Virginia, in two voflumes, has
been an invariable store house of local Church
history and of biography. This work was followed
by Dr. Foote's Sketches of the Presbyterian
Church in North Carolina, a history closely
related to that in the Sketches of Virginia.
These books have long since been out of print.
And as their value has appreciated a demand
has arisen that it has been impossible to supply.
We hear that Foote's Sketches of North Carolina
where it has been found at all is held at
fifteen dollars. A number of our brethren in
North Carolina are planning to issue an edition
of this volume that is greatly needed and will
be of enduring value to the Church. It is de
sired to secure a list of subscribers that will at
least in some degree, protect the edition from
serious loss. We would most heartily commend
to our readers the intelligent and loyal zeal of
?ur brethren in the matter, and suggest that
ministers and laymen in the Carolinas, and the
scattered sons of Carolina send their names to
The Reprint Company," Dunn, North Carolina.
The book will be sold to advance subscribers
at $2.25 net, which we suppose can be
Paid when the book is delivered.
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
Notes and
Tidings have been received of the lamented
death of Rev. H. F. Hoyt, D. D., at Commerce,
Georgia, on June 29. Funeral services were held
at Maysville on the day following, conducted by
Rev. S. J. Cartledge, assisted by Revs. E. L.
Hill and Geo. M. Telford. Dr. Hoyt was the
son of Rev. Nathan 'Hoyt, D. D., and was born at
Athens, Ga., in 1833. He graduated with distinction
from the University of Georgia and
from Columbia Theological Seminary. His first
pastorate was at Albany, Ga., where he served
until the opening of the war between the states,
wuwi ne up uia uuarge aiiu, uueriug iiiwseii
to his country, served as chaplain in the Confederate
Army throughout the entire war. For the
last thirty years Dr. Hoyt has been a member of
Athens Presbytery and for the greater part of
this time has been its Stated Clerk. During this
period his several pastorates included the
churches of Elberton, Hebron, Mt. Hermon,
Madison, Lavonia, Clarksville, Commerce, Maysville
and Cornelia. At the time of his death he
was pastor of Maysville and Cornelia churches.
Dr. Hoyt was a distinguished member of a distinguished
family, a great man and great preacher,
honored and loved by all. His wife and one
daughter, Mrs. Dr. Speer, of Lowndesville, S. C.,
survive. The life of such a man remains a lasting
heritage to the Church and to society.
It appears on the last analysis that Presbyterians
and universities got a square deal at the
National Democratic Convention. As all the
world now knows, Woodrow Wilson was nominated
for the office of President of the United
States. He is a Presbyterian and the son of an
eminent Presbyterian minister. Before becoming
Governor of New Jersey he was president of
Princeton University. He has received the degree
of Doctor of Laws from seven colleges and
universities, beside otner literary ana educational
honors. Governor Thomas R. Marshall of
Indiana, was nominated for Vice-President. He
is a Presibyterian and has received the degree of
Doctor of Laws from three prominent educational
institutions, and other tributes of eminence
in scholarship and statesmanship. If these gen-,
tlemen are elected we believe their Presbyterianism
will serve them well in imparting force, balance
and effectiveness to their administration,
and all Christian Churches will alike feel that
the cause which they represent has received
hearty sympathy and substantial support in the
wise, just and faithful discharge of duty on the
part of the nation's two most distinguished servants.
One of the triumphs of sound Christianity
wherever it has flourished, has been the emancipation
of woman from the burden bearing and
menial service that are, from every moral, social
and physical consideration, the work of men.
The position of woman in any state of society
is justly regarded as a fair test of the genuineness
and worth of the prevailing religion In
an interview published in The Advance some
time ago, Dr. Graham Taylor of Chicago Theological
Seminary, who had just returned from
a visit to Italy, said: "The overburdening of
women and children is simply appalling. I saw
women carrying cn their backs loans of saplings.
which were used for stakes in the vineyards,
three times higher than themselves; and others
with loads of iron crowbars and pickaxes. They
sweep the streets and unload the gravel and coal
from freight cars. They cut the grain with little
hand sickles, doing the hardest work in the world
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Comments
for the least pay." Italy has been a priest ridden
land for centuries. Over it the pall of the
Vatican still hangs, that oppressive despotism
still binding upon its victims burdens grievous
to be borne, but will not move them with one of
its fingers.
THE PROPOSED BRIEF STATEMENT.
The impression prevails to a considerable extent
that the effect of adopting a Brief Statement
of doctrine as proposed by our last Assembly
would be to modify our confessional standards
so that we should no longer be justly liable
to the charge of teaching doctrines that are not
congenial to popular taste. This impression is
justified in the judgment of The Cumberland
Presbyterian Banner, by the address and appeal
4/L_ ' ' " -
ui luc ministerial commissioner from Panhandle
Presbytery from which Presbytery the
overture for a brief doctrinal statement came.
The Banner quotes from the address as follows:
""What we want is a creed we can use; and
we cannot use the Westminster Confession of
Faith. We have got to have something to answer
the Methodists with. All over our territory
the Methodist missionaries go around and
read to the people out of the Westminster Confession
and say, 'This is what the Presbyterians
believe.' They read all about foreordination
and elect infants and say that is our faith. And
so they turn the people away from us and we
don't have a chance to resist them. What can
we say? It is all there in our creed and we e?n't
deny it, and yet we know it is not what we believe,
and you men here know it, too. We want
something that shows what we really believe.
In one town where we were going to have a
church a Methodist preacher got up and read
the Westminster Confession of Faith and the
whole town turned away from us."
It was in response to this address and one
which followed that the Assembly changed from
treating the overture as not calling for serious
consideration, to its approval and adoption. It
is not unreasonable therefore for those who read
the record to conclude that the Southern Presbyterian
Church Is in process of issuing a brief
doctrinal statement which shall so explain its
Confession, and to such an extent supplant it,
that its stauneh Calvinism shall be a thing of
the past.
The Continent gets similar comfort out of
our Assembly'8 action and remarks: "The commissioners
eould not get away from the reality
of his plea, and they did the best they could by
him by naming a strong committee to draw up
a statement of doctrine in modern terms, which
will doubtless obviate Panhandle Presbytery's
difficulties and sorrows, as thus graphically expressed.
The young minister's speech has thus
already registered itself in history."
It has occurred to The Presbyterian Advance
that the Southern Church might adopt the Brief
Statement of the Northern Assembly and "what
a fine thing it would be if when both Assemblies
meet together in Atlanta it might go forth to
the world," etc. It is to be observed that the
editorial talent of the three papers quoted above
is of strictly Cumberland origin and it is fair
to infer that it may be the expectation of some
disinterested outsiders that a Brief Statement
would have a tendency toward a reversion to
what our Cumberland brethren conceive to be
the original type.
Commenting on the speeeh referred to in these
quotations the staunch and strong Presbyterian
of Philadelphia, says:
"This is a very strange speech. We are inclined
to think that there are some mistakes in
the report of it. But if we have anything like
the correct report, then, first of all, we are sorry