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Vol. 97. N. 38. ian of the South * \ rt ?iwig wiuis.ijA > ? * - 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." ?