Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 97. N. 38.
ian of the South
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RICHMOND, VA. September 20, 1922
IRGINIA SYNOD is holding its one hun
dred and thirty-fifth annual session at
Union Seminary in Richmond. This is the
l>eginning of a new arrangement for its meet
ing. It has become more and more difficult, each
year to find a church that could entertain bo
large a body. At its last session the Svflod
selected the Seminary as its permanent place
of meeting, and will meet there from year to
year, with the proviso that each alternate year
it will accept an invitation from any church
that wishes to entertain the body. So far as
possible the members of Synod will l>e lodged
in the dormitories of the Seminary and the
Training School. As it is probable that these
will not accommodate all who will come, others
will be provided for in private homes. This
year the Synod will be the guests of the Ginter
Parle Church, which will serve meals in the
Seminary dining-room. But hereafter it is
HchHuffler Hall, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Va., where the Synod of Virginia In meeting.
planned that the Synod shall entertain itself.
Arrangements will be made with the Seminary
to furnish meals. This is the first time in the
South, so far as we know that any court of the
Presbyterian Church has adopted a permanent
meeting place, or has planned to entertain it
self. When the new buildings of the Training
Sch(>ol are completed it will be easier to acs
commodate the Synod. It is claimed that this
arrangement will have some decided advant
ages. The members of the Synod will be
thrown much more closely together, and they
will be able to see much more of each other
than when scattered among many homes. They
will also be able to transact the business of the
Synod more expeditiously. The sessions of the
Inxly will be held in Schauffler Hall, the new
model Sunday School Building. This building
was a gift to the Seminary by Mrs. Kennedy,
of New York.
SYNODS generally are meeting much earlier
than usual this year, and many Presby
teries will meet later. This is in accordance
with a very wise suggestion of the General As
sembly. Some times in the past matters have
been sent down by the Assembly to be passed
on to the Presbyteries. As the Synods usually
met after the fall meetings of Presbyteries,
communications from the Synods did not reac
the Presbyteries until the spring meetings,
which, were held after the beginning of another
ecclesiastical year. Now such matters can l>e
passed on without unnecessary delay. This
will add to the importance of the Synod
and will put it in the place to which it belongs
in the economy of the Church.
DR. HARRY EMERSON FOSDTCK is a
Baptist minister, ordained to pveach the
gosj>el of salvation through faith in a Saviour,
l>orn of the Virgin, and crucified on the cross
to make atonement for man's sins. For some
time, in response to the call of tliat Church, he
has been preaching every Sunday in the great
First Presbyterian Church of New York. In
his preaching he has attacked and denied and
denounced almost all of the fundamental doc
trines held by the Church which ordained him
and by the Church for which he is now preach
ing for a pretty good salary. The Continent,
speaking of him and his preaching savs: "Dr.
Fosdick takes the same view of the authority of
the Bible and of the essential doctrines taught
in it and accepted by the Church, as did Colonrl
Robert Ingersoll. They both reject the Old
Testament, and rehoarse ita mistakes. They
accept the New Testament in its social teach
ings of Christ, but reject all of ite great funda
mentals. Both Dr. Fosdick and Colonel Inger
soll were brought up in the church. The dif
ference between the two is this: When Colonel
Ingersoll knew his beliefs were antagonistic to
the church, he withdrew and'' carried on his
propaganda independently, accepting the re
sponsibility and maintenance of the same him
self. Dr. Fosdick is determined to remain in
side the church and fight her by the boring pro
styhin her own walls, and compel the church
to maintain him and be re?pon8ible for'him and
his propaganda. Rather than withdraw and
follow his own course in his own way and with
his own support, he moans to stay in the church,
and by a hitter tight compel the chnrch to en
dorse him or exclude him and his followers.
How does this differ from the purpose and ac
tion of the bandits who force their way into
a home and compel its occupants to throw up
their hands or yield their property and their
lives? In the case of the bandits, the only
question is, has the man of the house power
to resist? If not, all is lost. If the church
has not the power to resist, she too will be de
vastated."
ROGER BABSON, the well known busi
ness man, in speaking to the question,
"Why I Go to Church," said :
"The need of the hour is not more factories
or materials, not more railroads or steamships,
not more armies or more navies, but rather
more education based on the teachings of Jesus.
The prosperity of our country depends on the
motives and purposes of the people. These
motives and purposes are directed only in the
right course through religion. In spite of their
imperfections, this is why I believe in our
churches, and why I am a great "optimist on
their future. We stand at the cross-roads. We
must choose between God and mammon. Ma
terialism is undermining our civilization as it
has undermined other civilizations. Unless we
heed the -warning in time and get back to the
real fundamentals, we must fall even as the
civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome fell
? and for the same reason. Statistics of every
nation indicate that true religion is the power
necessary for the development of its resources,
and for its successful continuation. The chal
lenge goen out to every man to support his
church, to take an active part in the religious
life of his community, to live according to the
simple principles upon which this, the greatest
country in the world, wtos founded three hun
dred years ago." ?