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I January 8, 1913]
I TFedert
Rj R?t. Robert M<
R It was my privilege and very great
H pleasure to be present, as an accredited
delegate, representing the Southern
Presbyterian Church, at the Second
Quadrennial Meeting of the Federal
| Council of the Churches of Christ In
America, held in Chicago, uecemwr *-?,
1912.
I have waited patiently and modestly
for some free and public expression on
the part of some other member or members
of our delegation, but none has
been given, so I feel that I must speak
out In meeting myself.
The opening session of the Council
was held Wednesday night, December
4th, in Fullerton Hall of the Art Institute
on Michigan Avenue. This hall
was comfortably filled by delegates and
visitors, some 600 in all.
Bishon E. R. Hendrlx, <yf the Southern
I Methodist Church, president of tho
Council, delivered the opening address.
H Tho subject of his address was: "The
I Symphony of Prayer," a paper carefully
I and pleasingly prepared and closely
| read.
The next morning the Council met in
the Assembly Hall of the La Salle hotel,
where all the day sessions were
' held. From several points of view this
' gathering was found to be a remarkable
one. There were something more than
300 delegates present and answering to
their names, two of them being women,
representing the Society of Friends.
I The delegates hailed from every part
of the United States, from Maine to
| California, and from the Great Lakes to
the Gu'.f of Mexico. These delegates
represented 32 different denominations
of Protestant Christians, about 17,000,000
church members, and probably from
40,000,000 to 50,000,00 adherents. There
were enrolled 25 bishops, representing
several Methodist and Episcopal churches,
some of the latter being comimendably
low-church, while some others
were apparently very high. Besides
these there were many Theological
Seminary and College presidents and
professors. There were 15 Negro delegates.
That so (many divergent clerrentB
could he fused into an apparently
homogeneous mass for- the endurance
of discussions running through
davs. without apHonaW falUnc out. was
I in itself truly remarkable. However,
this homogeneity was apparent rather
than real.
Some very good things were to be
found In the Council. The underlying
thought of Christian unity in the whole
movement, whether ever to be realized
by moans of such a movement or not, is
undoubtedly the ideal of our Saviour In
pohn seventeen. There were many
|deeoly spiritual and earnest spirited
I men, seeking to find and follow the
mind of the Master here. Foreign Missions,
Home Missions, and Evangelism,
with the problems of denominational
overlapping and duplication of activities,
were freely if not fully discussed.
"The Hymns of the Church," prepared
.for our use on a leaflet, were all that
[could be desired, being the old hymn*
jwith wMch we are most familiar and
Iwbieh we love so much.
' With two or three notable exceptions
|the addresses made before the Council
|d1d not rise above the general average
|we are ?*
.. -11!?a to near any flay ?n
^ the floor of the Syqod of Texas. Thurs^Hdny
nteht in Orchestra Hall, Jamea A.
jjj^BMaononald, 7,7,. D., editor of "The
Hoiohe," Toronto, Canada, delivered a
unusual add rose on "The Forward
Movements of the Churches." This ad flress
was tremendously effective, hut
I
r H fc PKESbfTEKl
al Council
:Alplne Hall, D. D.
he was rather more optimistic than the
signs of the times and New Testament
prophecies, fairly interpreted, will
justify.
From the writer's point of view the
greatest address of all was delivered
Friday night in the Second Presbyterian
Church hy Gov. Thos. R. Marshall,
vice-president-elect of the United
States. This address was on "The Relations
of Young People's Organizations
to Christian Unity." This was indeed a
great address, solid, sane, sound, and
h? tipoH not 'have announced himself to
be a Presbyterian, for not only did this
soon become evident, but that he had
been grounded and trained In the faith
in an unusual manner, from bis youth
up.
'Monday afternoon Just before the final
adjournment of the Council, Bishop Wm.
F. McDowell, of the Methodist Church,
and of Chicago, addressed the Council
on the subject of Evangelism, iln this
address the Bishop was exceedingly
happy, aB well as very effective. He
was calm, deliberate, evangelical, evangelistic,
persuasive, Intense. His personality
is most pleasing and lends a
charm to all ihe says.
Now, there are some things I must
say I wish might be left unsaid, and
mere ara some taings x snail nut wucu
upon at all. It is a good thing to get
away from home and see for oneself
hsw other people live and what they
are thinking about, and how. There are
several things I am compelled to say In
criticism of the Federal Council.
1. Before leaving home, and after a
careful examination of the program and
the literature sent out by the Executive
Committee, I expressed the fear that
the Council was treating symptoms Instead
of the disease itself. T am sorry
to say I found this to "be the case.
Painting the pump will never cleanse
the tnfoeted water in the well! Paint
Ing pumps was a large part the performance!
Social Service problems
took up a large portion of the time and
thought of the Council. Every Christian
man must be deeply Interested In
the proper solution of the problems
arising In connection with such subjects
as "The Worker versus the Employer,"
"The Industrial Community," "The Agricultural,
Urban and Suburban Community,"
"Wages," "Proper Housing,"
"The White Plague," "The Hookworm,"
and such like, but T submit that we utterly
fall to find bere a Scriptural program
for the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which church h?? hnon
ed and Is operating under a -very different
and, at the same time, a very definite
commission. <Tf we really wish tc
ehanfre the effect we must first of all
heaH the cause. A union of all the
churches of Christendom and a universal
reformation of all the people node:
the sun would not result in the eradication
of sin from the lharman heart
Jesus Christ cut vastly deeper thar
this, and he expects his church to d<
the same. TTe was not ? rcformpr
a regenerator.
2. From the very nature of the cam
the Council found It exceedingly dlffl
cult to accomplish nnythlnsr of a xer:
direct and positive character. Tt wai
Impossible even to resolute with an;
marked decree o? doflntteneea. Tn a re
nort hrouc^t In hv toe Ksecutlve Oom
mlttee the following lancuare was nsed
"The fact of tihe substantial unity o
the Christian nrnl Pmteatan*
of the ration . . .** The demand wn
eo Insistent that the -words, "and Prot
estant," h?d to he eliminated from tfi
report. There were ao many phases <
AH or T B E 8 0 U T fl
thought to be placated, and so Immense
was the desire for unity that i
principle became attenuated Into a r
negligible quantity. There was great i
applause when a man from New York c
City reported a meeting held tinder tne c
auspices of the Social Service Com- ?
mission, over whloh a Presbyterian mln- i'
lster presided, a^Jewlsh Rabbi led the
congregation in the recitation of the \
Lord's Prayer, and a Roman Catholic t
priest took bo me prominent part* to
'Peace at any price" would le^d to na- v
tlonal dishonor. I do not believe our o
Lord wants an artificial unity among a
his people at all, and there oan be no
real unity at the heavy cost of sincer- n
Ity and principle. t
q
8. And now coxes the heaviest
charge of all. The Council was not 11
loyal to the Word of God!
e
fal Sundav afternoon in the Olvmnle
theater a great mass meeting was held c
in the interests of the Social Service
wing of the Council's work. The prin- i
clple speaker at this meeting was Prof. /
Edward A. Steiner, of Grlnnell, Iowa. 2
He is a converted Jew and a 'brilliant
scholar. His address was unique and 0
most interesting, but in the very begin- t
nlag, the whole thing was spoiled for ?
anyone who reveres the Bible as the a
Word of God. In his introduction he j
relegated the Book of Daniel to a place
among the myths of the Bible! Of r
course we know what he thinks of the g
opening chapters of Genesis, and yet, t
upon these things depend the accuracy, ]
and even veracity of our Lord, and
therefore his deity. Prof. Stelner's
name does not appear on the roll of delegates.
taut he was an honored guest,
and the address referred to above was
applauded almost from the ftrat word
to the last.
(b) The crowning mistake, I had almost
-written the word, crime, of this
Council, was the election of Dr. Shallor
Mathews, Dean of the Divinity School
of the University of Chicago, president
for the next four years. This Is the
very thing the destructive critics have
heen clamoring for, recognition, and
now It has been handed to them on a
silver platter! Let us take a glimpse '
Into Dean Mathew's record. In this
connection, for a number of years, 'with
the Chicago University, he fell under
the supreme Influence of the late Dr. <
"Win R. Harper, a prince among higher i
critics. As a natural result of this In- :
ftuence we find Dr. "Mathews personally
connected with the school of destructive
higher critics, and he himself a member
' of avd a teachvr In that school. This
f ' v-oaujr eccu ticu i rum a curaury examination
of hi* writings. I have hefore
me now a copy of his hook, "The
Church and the Changing Order,"
bought over the counter of a Chicago
hook-store on the 9th day of this month,
and therefore hardly out of date. Here
are only a few extracts from this book:
"The biologist who is devoting his
days to finding the secret of life is
taught by his pastor?if be has a pastor?that
a spirit was breathed into a
man miraculously made of clay, creatine'
in him Sti pntlrplv Alffftront nnlof
> life from that found In the rest of the
t .animal world, and that woman was
made miraculously from Adam's rib.
e The student of comparative rellgloa
- who has watched the slow accumulation
r of the sacred literature of the nations
s Is told that the literature of the Hef
brews was written under such dictation
- of the Holy SplTlt as to be Infallible and
- permanently authoritative not only In
t. religion but In science, history, and
f literary criticism. It Is little wonder
s that the world of wSholarshlp, profes*
slonal or merely amateur, finds Itself
. inrreanlntfty out of sympathy with the
*> oh-urch as the representative of suoh
'eachlny."?Pa*e 18.
IT
"The world of scholarship still finds
tself In perplexity as it listens to the
lutboritative word of the church. For
n the New Testament there are conepts
which the modern world under the
lomination of science, finds it imposilble
to understand, much less to beieve."?Page
16.
"For the last twenty years our uniersitleu
have bean opposed to auhority,
as such, in science. Everything
tas become an open question. We lnestlgate
not only atoms, but the origin
f morality and the history of the idea
f God."?Page 21.
"A. young man comes into this atmosphere
(1. e. the university). He has
ieen taught by parent and pastor and
Sunday sobool teacher that the Biblo
a fhft Inorront on^nrila^lva /v#
iod. He has never seriouely questlond
the basis for such an affirmation
. . Inevitably his religious faith beomes
unsettled."?Pages 22-23.
"The greatest formative principle In
he world of thought today is biology,
ind biology means evolution."?Page
8.
"The rise of highest criticism and its
doption by practically every biblical
eacher of scholarly significance in the
vorld is one of the most striking char
icteristics of today's religious life."?
" age 29.
"We have a new psychology, a new
netaphysics, a new biology, a new
lociology. It Is inevitable that there
>hould be a call for a new theology."?
Jage 34
"Because we And difficulty in accept?.4
as strictly historical the accounts
>f the so-cnllod nature miracles, such
is walking upon water and turning
water into wine, is no argument for an
jff-hand rejection of the gospel narra,!ve
as a whole."?Page 67.
"Facing a world in the darkness of
'catheuisim, a submerged tenth rotting
n our clticB, an industrialism that is
nore murderous than war, why should
tho church stop to make a belief in the
historicity of the great fish of Jonah a
.est of fitness for co-operation in aggressive
evangelisation."?'Page 105.
But surely this is sufficient to make
very plain the drift of this movement
The election, as president, of a man
with such views ought to be enoneh tn
break up this Council forever. Every
church that honors the Word of God
nnd means to remain loyal to tl*at Word
should withdraw at once.
It was distressing to see how lightly
the presumably orthodox members of
the council took all this. Almost everyone
with whom I talked admitted a
blunder had been made. From a number
I heard such expressions as.
not bring any of these things to the
front." "He is coming straight." "Take
the good, ignore the bad, and make the
best of it," etc.
At the great banquet attended by
more than 400 people Monday night, Dr.
Harry Pratt Judson, President of the
University of Chicago, presided, -while
Dean Mathews, the new president of the
Council, was principal speaker. As we
lcok ahead, we are compelled to see, unless
we are blind, that at least for the
next four years, the Chicago University
is going to hold a commanding influence
over the destinies of the Federal
Council, and what that means we ought
to know without being told. And In the
meanwhile we are, whether we like It or
not, sponsors for that Institution, a veritable
hot-bed of the destructive higher
criticism, as well as other forms of Infidelity,
and our ftirther connection with
the Council will be used In drawing our
young women and young men Into th!?
irreat antl-Ohr1atlan Institution. "Mr
conclusion of the whole matter Is that
thin Council, with many good men In It,
men thai are Innocent of any ench thin*
(Continued cm page fO.)