IS^SS^'^V^^As' tihvavy of t:he theological ^emmarjp PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY 'Hi (SV* PRESENTED BY Dana Charry, ¥D and Professor Ellen Charry March 2, 2000 0 Report of Proceedings SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL Presbyterian Alliance, Convened at Philadelphia, September, isao. I^E,IlTa?EI3 BY IDlIiECTI03Sr OrF TiiE GOUiTCIX,. Edited p,y JOHN B. DALES, D.D., and R. M. PATTERSON, D.D. PHILADELPHIA : THE PRESBYTERIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, ISIO CHESTNUT STREET. [Uy special arraiiijemeiit with the ofticial publishers.) Copyright by J. Elliott Condict. 1880. FERGUSON BROS & CO., PRINTERS AND ELECTROTYPERS. PHILADELPHIA. PREFATORY NOTE. This volume is published under the following resolutions of the Council : The General Committee of Arrangements reported, and the report was approved: " The Committee on Publication have made arrangements to secure a lull and accurate stenographic report of the debates and doings of the Council. They have also accepted an offer, subject to approval by the Council, on the part of a respon- sible publishing firm \^The Presbyterian Journal Company, of Philadelphia] to publish in an attractive volume such of the proceedings as may be sanctioned by an editing committee to be appointed by the body, and to place this volume at an early day before the public at a very reasonable price, and without expense to the Council. This Committee, therefore, respectfully suggest the appointment of the Rev. J. 1]. Dales, D. D., of the United Presbyterian Church, of this city, and the Rev. R. M. Patterson, D. D., of the Presbyterian Church, of this city, as a Committee to revise and edit the Proceedings of the Council." The following resolutions were also adopted : 1. That under the provisional arrangement made by the Business Committee, the opening sermon, the essays and documents prepared by invitation of the Programme Committee, and a resume of the discussion on the topics of the programme, together with an introductory sketch of the Council and a full list of members, be published under the direction of the Editorial Committee. 2. That a complimentary copy of the Proceedings be sent to every Programme speaker who has prepared a paper, and to every theological seminary in Europe, America and Africa, in connection with the Presbyterian Church, at the expense of the Council. 3. That the following be the understanding as to the papers submitted to this Council : I. That the papers prepared for the Council be regarded as the property of their authors. 2. That the original manuscript be handed to the editors of the volume, and be retained as a memorial of the Council. 3. That the Council permit the separate publication of any paper for wider circulation in the interests of the Church, on condition that the friends arranging for such publication undertake the entire charge, and that every such reprint bear on it that it is extracted from the authorized report of the proceedings by arrangement with its puijlishers. 4. That the editors of the volume of the Proceedings of the Council be instructed formally to state in its preface that the Council does not make itself responsible for the opinions expressed in the papers submitted for consideration. (3) TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Introductory. Narrative 6 Proceedings OF " f Morning session. 25 First Day, Thursday, Sept. 23 . . -j Afternoon " 37 ( Evening " 71 f Morning session. 103 Second Day, Friday, Sept. 24 . . ■] Afternoon " 148 (^Evening " 176 r,, " T-. o Ox ( Morning session. 197 IhirdDay, Saturday, ^./r. 25 . . | Afternoon - 234 r Morning session. 251 Fourth Day, Monday, Sept. 27 . . \ Afternoon " 305 (Evening " 334 r Morning session. 355 Fifth Day, Tuesday, Sept. 28 . . -; Afternoon " 395 (Evening " 429 r Morning session. 460 Sixth Day, Wednesday, Sept. 29 . X Afternoon " 506 (Evening " 554 r Morning session. 590 Seventh Day, Thursday, Sept. 30 . X Afternoon " 637 (Evening " 701 i Morning session. 729 Afternoon " 796 Evening " 832 Ninth Day, Saturday, Oet. 2 . . Morning session. 870 APPENDIX. Programme Papers Received 902 German Meeting 934 Statistical Reports 959 Creeds 965 Foreign Mission Reports 11 23 Miscellaneous Letters 11 47 INDEX ■ 1 152 (4) INTRODUCTION. BY R. M. PATTERSON, D. D, The " Report of Proceedings of the First General Presby- terian Council, convened at Edinburgh, July, 1877," contains an " Introductory Narrative " from the pen of Dr. Blaikie, which gives a very full and satisfactory account of the genesis of the Council, and of the preparations that had been made for its first meeting. We will reproduce here only those facts which arc essential to make this volume complete in itself The Presbyterian Alliance was organized by a Conference which met in the English Presbyterian College, Guildford street, London, on the 21st of July, 1875, and continued in session for two days ; a preparatory meeting of welcome from the London Presbyterians, which was presided over by the Rev. Dr. Oswald Dykes, having been held on the evening of the 21st of July, in the Regent Square Church. The Rev. James McCosh, D. D., LL.D., of Princeton, N. J., was President, and the Revs. Prof W. G. Blaikie, D.D., of Edinburgh, and George D. Mathews, of New York, were Clerks of the body. Twenty-two different Presbyterian organizations had commis- sioned one hundred and one delegates to the Conference. Sixty- four of those Commissioners were in attendance. They repre- sented the following bodies: From the United States of Amer- ica: The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (commonly spoken of as the Northern Church), The Presbyterian Church in the United States (popularly designated as the South- ern Church), The Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, The Reformed (Dutch) Church in America ; from Great Britain and Ireland : The Presbyterian Church in England. The Presby- (5) 6 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. terian Church of Wales (Calvinistic Methodists), The Church of Scotland, The Free Church of Scotland, The United Presby- terian Church of Scotland, The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, The Presbyterian Church in Ireland; from the British Colonies : The Presbyterian Church in Canada ; from the Con- tinent of Europe : The Reformed Church of France, The Mis- sionary Church of Belgium, The Union of Evangelical Churches of France, and Evangelical Church of Canton de Vaud, Switzer- land, The Evangelical Church of Neuchatel, Switzerland, The Waldensian Church of Italy, The Reformed Church, East Fries- land, and Free Evangelical Church of Germany, and The Evan- gelical Church of Spain. The result of the two days' careful and prayerful deliberation of the Conference was the unanimous adoption of the following CONSTITUTION. " Whereas, Churches holding the Reformed faith, and organized on Presbyterian principles, are found, though under a variety of names, in different parts of the world : Whereas, many of these were long Avont to maintain close relations, but are at present united by no vis- ible bond, whether of fellowship or of work : And whereas, in the providence of God, the time seems to have come when they may all more fully manifest their essential oneness, have closer communion with each other, and promote great causes by joint action ; It is agreed to form a Presbyterian Alliance to meet in General Council from time to time in order to confer upon matters of common inter- est, and to further the ends for which the Church has been constituted by her Divine Lord and only King. In forming this Alliance, the Presbyterian Churches do not mean to change their fraternal relations with other Churches, but will be ready, as heretofore, to join with them in Christian fellowship, and in advancing the cause of the Re- deemer, on the general principle maintained and taught in the Re- formed Confessions that the Church of God on earth, though com- posed of many members, is one body in the communion of the Holy Ghost, of which body Christ is the Supreme Head, and the Scriptures alone are the infallible law. "ARTICLES. " I. Designation, " This Alliance shall be known as * The Alliance of the Reformed Churches throughout the World holding the Presbyterian system.' INTR OD UCTION. II. Membership. "Any Church organized on Presbyterian principles which holds the supreme authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments in matters of faith and morals, and whose creed is in harmony with the consensus of the Reformed Confessions, shall be eligible for admission into the Alliance. "III. The Council. " I. Its Meetings. — The Alliance shall meet in General Council ordinarily once in three years. "2. Its Constituency. — The Council shall consist of delegates, being ministers and elders, appointed by the Churches forming the Alliance ; the number from each Church being regulated by a plan sanctioned by the Council, regard being had generally to the number of congregations in the several Churches. The delegates, as far as practicable, to consist of an equal number of ministers and elders. The Council may, on the recommendation of a Committee on Busi- ness, invite Presbyterian brethren not delegates, to offer suggestions, to deliver addresses, and to read papers. " 3. Its Powers. — The Council shall have power to decide upon the application of Churches desiring to join the Alliance ; It shall have power to entertain and consider topics which may be brought before it by any Church represented in the Council, or by any mem- ber of the Council, on their being transmitted in the manner herein- after provided ; But it shall not interfere with the existing creed or constitution of any Church in the Alliance, or v.'ith its internal order or external relations. " 4. Its Objects. — The Council shall consider questions of general interest to the Presbyterian community ; it shall seek the welfare of Churches, especially such as are weak or persecuted ; it shall gather and disseminate information concerning the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world ; it shall commend the Presbyterian system as Scriptural, and as combining simplicity, efficiency, and adaptation to all times and conditions ; it shall also entertain all suljjects directly connected with the work of Evangelization, such as the relation of the Christian Church to the Evangelization of the world, the distribu- tion of mission work, the combination of Church energies, especially in reference to great cities and destitute districts, the training of min- isters, the use of the Press, colportage, the religious instruction of the young, the sanctification of the Sabbath, systematic beneficence, the suppression of intemperance and other prevailing vices, and the best methods of opposing infidelity and Romanism. " 5. Its Methods.— The Council shall seek to guide and stimulate public sentiment by papers read, by addresses delivered and published, by the circulation of information respecting the allied Clnirches and their missions, by the exposition of Scriptural principles, and by de- fences of the truth ; by communicating the Minutes of its proceedings 8 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. to the Supreme Courts of the Churches forming the Alliance, and by such other action as is in accordance with its constitution and objects. "6. CommiUce on Business. — The Council, at each general meet- ing, shall appoint a Committee on Business, through which all com- munications and notices of subjects proposed to be discussed shall pass. The Committee appointed at one general meeting shall act provisionally, so far as is necessary, in preparing for the following meeting. ''IV. Change of Constitution. '' No change shall be made in this Constitution, except on a motion made at one general meeting of Council, not objected to by a major- ity of the Churches, and carried by a two-thirds vote at the next gen- eral meeting." The following was also agreed upon as the rule of represen- tation in the Council : That the maximum number of delegates should be 300, and that they should be elected according to the following ratio : Churches at or under 100 congregations to send two ; at or under 200, four; and so on up to 1,000, the number in that case being twenty; above 1,000 the additional delegates to be only two for 200; above 3,000, two for 500; at 4,000 and upwards the total to be forty. It was further agreed that the first meeting of the Council should be held at Edinburgh, on July 4th, 1876; and a General Committee, consisting of all the delegates, with Dr. Blaikie as Convener (or Chairman), was appointed to prepare for it. That Committee was divided into local Committees for the different churches, the Scotch Local Committee being specially entrusted with the initiative in the movements that were necessary to be taken. The sessions of the Conference closed with an enthusiastic public meeting, on the evening of Thursday, the 22d of July, in the Marylebone Presbyterian Church, Rev. Donald Frazer, pas- tor, at which the results of the deliberations were publicly an- nounced, and addresses delivered by a goodly number of the delegates. The year 1876 being the Centennial anniversary of the Decla- ration of their Independence by the United States of America, and tlie observance of it being of such a nature that no fair representa- (c? /r-,-7i,=r7- n A '..n rpi "CUIiDEES m^ JOHN ■••l^.uL'fAKNOX r A 0 1638 AD 1643 A O lafiO MELVILLE, HAMILTON SIR.a LINDSAY CAMERON HENDERaON^ RUTNKRFOHD GILtaPIE ! bailie: LOLLAROS.KYLE WELCH WI3HART CHALMERS ARGYLE- fSStiSmiWSS^f^iML^immt INTRODUCTION. 9 tion of delegates could be expected from this side of the ocean, the time of meeting of the Council was changed to July 3, 1877. In accordance therewith on the morning of July 3, 1877, and by appointment of the Committee of Arrangements, the Rev. Robert Flint, D. D;, Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, preached, in St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, a sermon from John xvii. 20, 21; and in the afternoon the Council met formally in the Free Church Assembly Hall, and was organized by the appointment of the Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., of New York, to preside, and of the Rev. G. D. Mathews, of New York, to act as clerk pro tcni. It was reported that in addition to the twenty-two Churches represented in the Conference at London, the following twenty- seven had more or less formally expressed a desire to be con- nected with the Alliance : Reformed Church of Hungary ; Reformed Church of Bohemia and Moravia ; Reformed Presbyterian Church, Scotland ; Reformed Pres- byterian Church, Ireland ; Original Secession Church, Scotland ; Re- formed Church of Holland (Kerkeraad of Amsterdam and of Ooster- meer) ; Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands ; National Church of Canton de Vaud ; Reformed Church, Russia; Free Italian Church; Associate Reformed Synod of the South (U. S.) ; General Synod of Reformed Presbyterian Church (U. S.) ; Welsh Calvinistic Church (U. S.) ; German Reformed Church (U. S.) ; Reformed Dutch Church, Cape Colony; Reformed Dutch Church, Orange Free State; Reformed Dutch Church, Natal ; Presbytery of Natal ; Christian Re- formed Church, South Africa ; Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Aus- tralia; Presbyterian Church of New South Wales, Australia; Synod of Eastern Australia; Presbyterian Church of Queensland, Australia; Presbyterian Church of New Zealand ; Presbyterian Church of Otago ; Presbytery of Ceylon ; Missionary Synod of New Hebrides. The numbers of delegates in attendance were. Principals 220, and Associates 80. The Report of the General Committee which presented the foregoing list also contained inter alia the following statements, which are here reproduced because of their permanent bearing. Commenting on the twenty-seven applying churches, they said : The Committee find that in nearly all of these cases there is no diffi culty. In two or three, a question might perhaps be raised, whether lo THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. they fully come up to the definition of this Alliance — as an Alliance of Churches constructed on the Presbyterian polity, whose creed is in harmony with the consensus of the Reformed Confessions. The Committee think that when there is no plain evidence to the contrary, the resjionsibility of deciding whether they ought to join the Alliance should rest, in the first instance, on the Churches themselves; and they recommend that, in the meantime, the applications be granted. In reference to associate members, they reported : Associates. — By the constitution, the Council has power, " on the recommendation of a Business Committee, to invite Presbyterian brethren not delegates to offer suggestions, to deliver addresses, and to read papers." The Committee feel that it is desirable, on this the first occasion of the meeting of Council, to exercise this privilege somewhat freely. They think that it might be extended: (i.) To certain approved members of Churches which have made no formal delegation, who have been invited by the Committee to attend. (2.) To brethren in good standing, who have come from great distances to be present, and have been commissioned as corresponding members. (3.) To brethren of much knowledge and experience, some of Avhom have been asked to read papers, or take part otherwise in the business. This arrangement, however, is not to be taken as a precedent. As to the organization of the body, they recommended the fol- lowing minute : Officers. — The Committee think that the objects of the Council will be accomplished best by having a separate President for each session. The Committee recommend that the Council, at its meeting on Tues- day afternoon, should proceed to the election of a sufficient number from the Churches composing the Council. They recommend also the election of Clerks and of a Business Committee. The following Standing Orders were adopted for the govern- ment of the house : 1. The President shall have the usual authority of a Moderator. 2. Motions must be handed in to the President in writing before they can be discussed by the Council. 3. The Clerks shall keep a roll of the members and of the asso- ciates ; they shall record the transactions of the Council ; preserve minutes of all papers not otherwise disposed of; sign all official papers and orders, and give notice of appointments to the members of com- mittees, and of the business assigned to them. They shall hold office till their successors are appointed, and act as a Committee on Creden- tials to prepare the roll for the next Council meeting. INTR on UCTION. 1 1 4. No business shall be introduced to the Council except on the re- port of the Committee of Business. 5. At the meetings of the Council, those who have prepared papers shall not occupy more than twenty minutes in referring to them ; those specially invited to speak not more than fifteen, and other speakers not more than ten. 6. It shall be the aim of the Council to avoid voting, but if a vote be necessary when there are more than two motions, all the motions shall be voted on successively, and that one having the least number of votes then dropped. A vote shall next be taken on the remaining motions, and the same course followed until some one motion has a majority of all the votes given, and this shall then be considered to express the mind of the Council. The vote shall be taken by a show of hands, and the result declared by the President. 7. Should the Council find it necessary to adopt the method of sec- tional deliberations, the Business Committee shall make the arrange- ments needful for the purpose. 8. The Council shall, as the first order of the day, on its fourth day of meeting, appoint the time and place of its next assembling. It shall afterwards appoint a Committee of Arrangements to make the needful preparations for such meeting, with power to add to their number. On the evening of Tuesday, the 3d of July, there was a pub- lic reception of the delegates, in the Museum of Science and Art, with an address of welcome from Edinburgh, and short speeches by representatives of various churches — the Right Hon. Sir James Fanshaw, Bart., Lord Provost of the city, pre- siding. The sessions continued until Tuesday, July loth ; the pro- ceedings consisting of the reading of papers that had been pre- pared on request of the Committee of Arrangements, and of dis- cussions on them and on other topics that were raised ; and closed with a valedictory meeting on the evening of Tuesday, at which very enthusiastic and tender addresses were delivered by several of the delegates. Among the acts and utterances that were reached, were the following, which connect themselves immediately with thj Second Council : (i.) The Covmril appoint a Committee with instructions to prepare a report to be laid before the next General Council showing in i)omt of fact — First, What are the existing Creeds or Confessions of the Churches 12 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. composing this Alliance? and, What have been their previous creeds and confessions, with any modification of these, and the dates and occasions of the same, from the Reformation to the present day? Second, What are the existing formulas of subscription, if any, and what have been the previous formulas of subscription used in these Churches in connection with tlxir creeds and confessions? Third, How far has individual adherence to these creeds by sub- scription or otherwise been required from the ministers, elders, of other office-bearers respectively, and also from the private members of the same? And the Council authorize the Committee to correspond with mem- bers of the several Churches throughout the world who may be able to give information, and they enjoin the Committee, in submitting their report, not to accompany it either with any comparative estimate of these creeds and regulations, or with any critical remarks upon their respective value, expediency, or efficiency. (2.) The Council having regard to Foreign Mission work as an essential and urgent duty, needing to be much more earnestly prose- cuted by all Christian Churches, and in which it is of increasing im- portance that there should be the utmost attainable co-operation amongst the Churches of this Alliance, appoint a Committee to col- lect and digest full information as to the fields at present occupied by them, their plans and modes of operations, with instructions to report the same to the next General Council, together with tlie following or any suggestions they may judge it wise to submit respecting the possibility of consolidating existing agencies, or preparing the way for co-opera- tion in the future : 1. The extent of expenditure on salaries and allowances due to missionaries with the view of obtaining uniformity. 2. The employment of native pastors. 3. The place of medical agency in missionary work. 4. The methods of stational arrangements which experience has sanctioned. 5. The stage at which Presbyteries ought to be formed in a district mission. 6. The method best suited to advance missionaries in the languages of the heathen. 7. The general question of missionary literature. 8. The best means for developing the missionary spirit in the home Churches. (3.) The Council rejoices that its membership includes so many representatives of Presbyterian Churches of the continent of Europe, and considering that the difficulties which several if not all of these Churches encounter from the aggressions of Ultramontanism and infi- delity, as well as from other causes, entitle them to the special inter- est and sympathy of the Council, and considering also that it will be INTR OB UCTION. 1 3 impossible for the Council at its ordinar}' meetings to receive from the delegates and associates that detailed information regarding their respective Churches which the delegates may wish to give, the Coun- cil instructs the Business Committee to nominate a special committee of the Council for the purpose of conferring on behalf of the Coun- cil with the continental delegates and associates, receiving such infor- mation as they may have to offer, and for the further purpose of considering the interests of continental Churches, and also the provis- ion made over the continent for the English-speaking residents, American and British. (4.) The Council, appreciating the importance of obtaining full information respecting the existing desiderata of the history of the Presbyterian Churches, and of the materials available for supplying them, agree to appoint a small committee, with Dr. Lorimer, of Lon- don, as convener, to correspond on this subject with all the branches of the Presbyterian Churches represented in the Alliance, and to pre- pare a report of the information which is obtained to the next meet- ing of the Council in 1880. The Council expresses its earnest hope that the office-bearers and members of all the Churches here represented will give liberal sup- port and encouragement to such publications as may be suggested by the committee now appointed, whether in the shape of new historical works or of unpublished ecclesiastical records and documents, or re- prints of writings associated with the names of celebrated Presby- terian worthies. (5.) The Council appoint the next General Presbyterian Council to meet, by leave of Providence, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1880, on such day as may be agreed on by the local Committee of Arrangements, not later than the Tuesday before the last Sabbath of September, 1880, being the 21st of the month. A Committee on Business and Arrangements for the meeting in Philadelphia was also appointed, with power to add to its number. It speedily entered upon its work of preparation by appointing two sub-committees on the programme and busi- ness. The former had its centre in New York, and was in- trusted with the selection of topics on which papers were to be prepared, the procuring of persons to write those papers, and the arrangement of the whole order of procedure. To the lat- ter, in Philadelphia, was committed the duty of raising the money which would be needed for the Council, of securing the place of meeting, of providing for the entertainment of the delegates, and of making all the other business arrangements for the sessions. 14 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. The churches and citizens of Philadelphia very heartily re- sponded to the appeals that were made to them by the Business Committee, and contributed all that v/as necessary, and more than was necessary, to defray the expenses of the meeting. As the day of meeting approached their enthusiastic interest in it increased, and manifested itself in every way. The newspapers, especially, made the event very prominent in their columns. Admirable articles appeared in many of them giving the history of the movements which had culminated in the formation of the Alliance; presenting the strength of the bodies represented in it; giving sketches of the men prominently associated with it ; and limning in advance the questions of interest that would be dealt with in the Council. On the evening of Wednesday, the 2 2d of September, the Governor of the State and the Ma}' or of the city formally re- ceived the delegates, and the friends who accompanied them, in the Academy of Fine Arts, on the corner of I: road and Cherry. The handsome edifice, with its rooms already enriched by num- berless paintings and other works of art, v/as rendered still further attractive through a profusion of exotics that had been secured by a committee of ladies, from the churches, co-operating with the Committee on Entertainment, by whom the arrange- ments for the reception had been made. It was crowded to repletion by those who were connected with the Council, and by invited guests from Philadelphia and other places, among whom were not merely prominent Presbyterians but a large number of representative men from the other religious de- nominations and from the various departments of business, social, and political life. The concourse was in every way a remarkably striking one. The guests as they arrived were received, the delegates to the Council (wearing blue badges as the mark of their position), by the members of the Committee of Arrangements (who wore red badges), and the ladies who accompanied them by the committee of ladies who had assisted the Entertainment Committee in their preparations. George Junkin, Esq., Chairman of the Business Committee, in an exceedingly neat and happy address, introduced the Coun- INTRODUCTION. 15 cil en masse to the executives of the State and city, who stgod upon a platform in the large reception-room. Governor Hoyt and Mayor Stokley responded in hearty speeches, extending the welcome of the State and city to the guests of the evenin<>-. They were followed in brief, varied, and appropriate ad- dresses by Principal Cairns, of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland; Dr. Murkland, of the Presbyterian Church of the United States (South) ; the Rev. Mr. Macintosh, of the Presby- terian Church in Ireland ; Gen. George B. McClellan, Governor of New Jersey, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America; and the Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, from India. At the close of the speeches, which occupied about an hour, the members of the Council were introduced personally and by name to the Governor and the Mayor, and then to the crowded concourse. The rest of the evening. Until a late hour, was spent in a free social interminglingof the delegates with each other and with the guests who had been invited to meet them. A band of music enlivened the reception. On the morning of Thursday, the 23d, the delegates and the resident and visiting Presbyterian ministers assembled in the Chambers Church, at Broad and Sansom, and then marched in procession to the Academy of Music, in which the opening services were to be held. The procession was marshalled by Samuel C. Perkins, Esq., with General Hartranft, ex-Governor of the State; Colonel A. Loudon Snowden, Colonel R. Dale Benson, and Major Samuel B. Huey as aids. The route of the procession was lined by numerous spectators who gazed with eager inter- est upon the scene. It was estimated that not less than a thousand ministers were in the line. They crowded the plat- form and the lower portion of the Academy; and the whole building, even to its standing room, was occupied by an audi- ence of at least four thousand persons. It had been desired, and at a very early day the effort had been made, to secure the Academy of Music for all the sessions of the Council ; but that building had been engaged long in advance for another purpose. Therefore, Horticultural Hall, which ad- joins it, had been obtained for all except the opening morning 1 6 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. an4 two of the evening sessions. After the meeting commenced, however, the Academy was given up by the party that had contracted for it ; and on and after Tuesday, the 28th, the morn- ing sessions were held in the Hall, and the afternoon and even- ing in the Academy. The morning sessions were continued in the Hall, which was also kept open through the day, because of the historical inter- est that centred in paintings with which its walls had been hung. The Rev. Henry C. McCook, D.D., had designed a series of dec- orations which blazoned forth the leading events and heroes in the histories of the Presbyterian Churches abroad, and, under his superintendence, they had been painted on a series of canvas which almost completely covered the walls of the building. They were the theme of universal and constant commendation. The chromo-lithographs 'which accompany this volume very faithfully reproduce those paintings (omitting the evergreens and flags which were hung around them), and save us the necessity of a verbal description.* The Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1334 Chestnut street, at an early day resolved to place its building at the service of the members of the Council for social intercommunion, letter- ■writing, and other necessary purposes ; to present each member with a specially prepared and handsomely bound Descriptive Catalogue of its publications ; and to extend to them a formal reception in their large Assembly room on Saturday evening, the 25th of September. The building was decorated with flags and supplied with flowers during the sessions of the Council. The reception on the Saturday evening was largely attended, and an * Moreover, the publication of a Piiotographic Album of the decorations, accom- panied by a minute description of ihem, by Dr. McCook, has been announced. In addition to the historic decorations, which are reproduced in this volume, over the platform, from the seal of the Trustees of the American General Assembly, bearinjr the inscription Vox clamaiUis in deserto, and the seal below it riiiladelphia vianeto, in the centre, to the sides, were suspended in graceful and parti-colored folds these inscriptions: «'We being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." "There is no other Head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ." " God alone is Lord of the conscience." " lie called the elders and said, Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." " Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief eorner-stone."' INTR on UCTION. >7 apposite address of welcome was delivered by the Hon, E. A. Rollins, ex-U. S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and Presi- dent of the Centennial National Bank, and also a member of the Board.* A large number of invitations to visit public places were re- ceived by the Council, and accepted with thanks, though the Council in a body was able to respond only to one of them. On the Monday after the adjournment, it visited Princeton in a train specially provided for it, and was received by the authori- ties of the College of New Jersey and of the Theological Semi- nary. The Rev. Dr. A. T. McGill addressed the guests in the Seminary chapel, and the Rev. Dr. James McCosh in the First Presbyterian Church, where addresses were also delivered by the Rev. Drs. Main and Lang, the Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, and George H. Stuart, Esq. The sessions extended to Saturday, October 2d, on the after- noon of which the formal adjournment took place. A series of Sabbath-school meetings, however, had been arranged for the afternoon, and of farewell meetings for the evening, of the Sab- bath in churches in different parts of the city. The members of the Council were largely divided among these meetings, which they addressed, and so carried a precious influence to many who could not have reached or gained admittance to one place in the heart of the city. The deepest impression which, from the first and to the end, was made by the assembled delegates was that of concentrated intellectual power. The theological and collegiate professors, who are educating the young men of the generation, and training them for the pulpit and for other influential positions in society, loomed up largely and prominently, and indicated the far-reaching mental influence of the concourse ; while the number of Ruling Elders of high standing in political life, who *It was the intention to publish a report of this reception, as well as of the speeches at the reception in the Academy of Fine Arts, of which full phonographic notes were taken for us ; but the programme papers have so largely run beyond the half-hour each on the basis of which the size of the volume was calculated, and have so increased its pages, that it is impossible to carry out that intention. Ine book is, therefore, restricted to the formal proceedings of the Council. i8 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. were delegates, suggested the leavening influence of our Presby- terianism in civil affairs. This prominent intellectuality was noted with emphasis by the secular press; and it provoked the criticism, in more than one quarter, that the Presbyterian ministry is the intellectual ministry of the denominations. An unusually large proportion of the prepared papers are striking expressions of this mental power and theological culture. The repeated reading of them, in manuscript and in proof, has, in the minds of the editors, one of whose duties it was closely to watch the proceedings, increased the admiration with which they listened to them. And the extempore speeches were equally significant. The writer has had considerable experience in political and judicial bodies. Not even in his boyish days when novelty would naturally exaggerate, did the practised debaters of the United States Senate make a stronger impression of aptness, cogency, and power of debate than was made upon his mind by the members of the Council. A very large proportion of the papers deal with the living polemic questions of the day, but even when they are most severely theological and controversial their practical bearing is marked ; so that the thoughtful among our people, and especially the preachers in our pulpits, will find them a valuable arsenal. Perhaps if any one element predominated over others through the whole proceedings it was that of church work. In reality the Council was in a great degree a missionary convention. The special invitation at the beginning to missionaries to sit as associate members was significant. Several sessions were devoted almost wholly to missions. Furthermore, a large number of the papers prepared by transatlantic members, and giving the history of their struggling churches, are pervaded largely by the strictly mission element. For the mass of readers those papers contain a rich fund of cheering information. While the powerful intellectual tone dominated, and while the programme was so full that the formal proceedings crowded the time, the devotional spirit was very pervasive. The half- hour of prayer and praise with which the sessions of every day opened was marked by a tender spirituality. That also swayed INTRODUCTION. 19 the Council at times in the midst of the routine business. One of the most impressive scenes was presented by the rising of this wave at the close of Principal Cairn's paper on " The Vicarious Sacrifice of Christ." * From the members of the Council compliments to their Philadelphia hosts flew thick and fast, especially on the last day in connection with the resolutions of acknowledgment which were passed. It is but the deserved complement to them to say that the social influence of the delegates upon Philadelphia was of the happiest kind. The Presbyterians of the city feel abundantly repaid for all the preparations which they made for the meeting. Friendships were formed which will bind together hearts in different lands through all the future of this life, and thrill in the social circles of heaven. And how truly ecumenical the concourse was ! How sug- gestive of the Catholicity of Presbyterianism ! To one who sat often upon the platform and looked down upon the strongly marked faces, and added to that an analysis of the roll, the sight was a striking one. The white, the black, the copper colored races were all there. A North American Indian, a Brahmin from India, and Negroes from Africa, sat with Europeans, and made most effective addresses to the thousands of spectators who crowded the places of meeting. The delegates came from all the Continents, and from the isles of the sea. A grouping of the list shows that the places actually represented were : in America — the United States, and Canada ; in Europe — England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Bohemia, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain ; in Asia — Syria, India, Japan, China, and Ceylon ; in Africa, Egypt, Gaboon and Corisco, the Cape of Good Hope, Basuto Land ; in Australia — New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania; and the New Hebrides ; while papers and letters were received from other countries, and from writers who could not personally be present. On the roll of the Alliance, some of * It is scarcely necessary to say that reports of the devotional services are not given in this volume, nor are noted any of the manifestations of applause which were frequent. 20 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. them having had delegates in attendance at the Edinburgh Council, though not able to be in Philadelphia, are Moravia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Natal, New Zealand, Orange Free State, Otago and Southland, and Queensland. The Inter- national Exhibition which the United States held in their Centennial year in Philadelphia was expressive ; the second General Council of Presbyterians, in the interest of Christ's cross and crown, was no less so. This volume is designed to present a permanent pen-photo- graph of the proceedings of the body. It omits the numerous notices and references of merely local and temporary interest and other extraneous matters which appeared in the course of the business; but it contains a full and it is believed an accurate report of the sayings and doings of the Council as arranged for in the Programme. It ought to be understood that it is not, nor does it contain, the technical minutes of the body, and that the clerks are not responsible for its correctness. But for the preparation of it the editors re- ceived the manuscripts of all the essays by their writers, many of whom have also revised and corrected their papers in proof; and had full phonographic reports of the proceedings and dis- cussions made by the official reporters of the Pennsylvania Legislature, under the superintendence of Samuel B. Collins, Esq. They have also had the use of the Clerks' minutes, with which they have checked the reporters' notes of the business proceedings, so as to make sure of their reliability. The arrangement of the volume has proceeded on two simple rules : It reproduces the proceedings, from day to day, precisely in the order in which they took place ; and it places in the first part, all that was read, said, and done in the Council, and in the second part, or yVppendix, all papers which were referred to but not read, or which svere officially handed to the editors for pub- lication.* * In ihe freedom of discussion, which is one of the glories of such an Assembly, there must, of course, be expressions of individual opinion for which none but the speaker or reader is responsible. The utterance of any such views on the i^oor of the Council did not make them the views of the Council itself; the reproduction of INTRODUCTION. 21 The Rev. Henry A. Boardman, D. D., the senior Presbyterian Pastor in Philadelphia, who, as Chairman of the General Com- mittee of Arrangements, was to deliver the Address of Welcome at the opening of the sessions, began to write that address as follows : "Brethren Beloved in Christ Jesus : I am charged with the grateful office of bidding you welcome to our country and our city, our churches and our homes. "First of all, our grateful acknowledgments are due to tliat be- nign Providence which has watched over you on the land and on the sea, shielded you from the perils of travelling, and brought you to us in this goodly convocation, as we humbly trust, in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. The occasion is one which turns back the shadows upon the great dial, not fifteen degrees, but three and a half centuries. Luther and Zwingle, Calvin and Knox, and, their illustrious compeers, stand before us, God's appointed instru- ments for publishing to an enslaved continent this mandate : Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. They heard and obeyed the summons. Breaking away from the ancient thraldom, their first recourse was to that inspired Book, which had for ages been withheld from them. Searching the Scriptures with patient study and earnest prayer, they found there neither pope nor prelate, but a permanent ministry of co- equal rank and authority, and that scheme of doctrine which consti- tutes the life and core of the evangelical theology. It is a pregnant fact that nearly all the churches of the Reformation assumed, and ])reserve to this day, a Presbyterian organization. In Germany, in Switzerland, in the Netherlands, in Scotland, in Italy, in France, they adopted with one accord, and still retain, the primitive Scriptural order, which the Waldensian Church, 'neither Protestant nor Re- formed,' had maintained inviolate for centuries amidst the fastnesses of the High Alps. Even those churches which retained the prelatic element, retained it, with a single exception, not as of imperative di- vine obligation, but purely on grounds of expediency, their bishops being simply primi inter pares, not a superior order to Presbyters. And it is safe to say that England also would have taken this ground, had not the iron hand of the crown laid an arrest upon the beneficent w^ork of her faithful and shackled reformers." But when he had proceeded that far, the gentle hand of death was laid upon his pen, and he was called up higher, as had them, in a full and faithful report of its proceedings, keeps them precisely in the position in which they were uttered as individual opinions unless sanctioned hy a vote of the body. At the same time, it may be noted, there was really very little to require this caveat from any side. The unity in diversity which appears in those pages is far more encouraging, than the diversity in unity is alarming. 22 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. already been the Rev. Elias R. Beadle, D. D., LL. D., his predecessor in the Chairmanship of the General Committee of Arrangements, and the Rev. William Adams, D. D., LL. D., who had been appointed to preach the opening sermon. The Council met, not under the shadow, but under the brightness of glorified death. Not a few of those who were in it may ex- pect, before the Belfast meeting, to be translated to the General Assembly in Heaven. The membership of the earthly assem- blies changes. New acquaintanceships are made ; and the old and the new circles are broken. But the work continues under Him who " liveth and was dead," and is " alive forevermore," and who, " the same yesterday, to-day and forever," invests with his own immortality those who in his service are faithful unto the death. And their work, in its effects here, is also unending, unbroken, interlinked. The different generations and the different meetings have an organic connection, the one life flowing into, and out of, each, and through all, and passing at last into the great consummation. May the rich influence of the London, the Edinburgh, the Philadelphia, and the successive meetings of this Council roll on, strengthening and enlarging Presbyterianism, helping the Church of Christ in all its branches, and increasingly adding to the number of the redeemed, who, in glorified and beatific communion with Jesus, shall be heard saying : " Blessing, and honor, and glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." Amen and Amen. ADDENDA. The roll, as it is given on page 45, was printed in its place from the officially published one which was prepared for the members after the Council had fully gotten under way. But after it had been cast in the electrotype plates the following changes in it were reported to us : The Rev. J. G. Humphrey, M. A., of New York, and Bennett Williams, Esq., of New York, were added to the list from the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Wales. The Reformed Presbytery of Philadelphia was received into the Alliance, and the Rev. T. W. J. Wylie, D. D., and George H. Stuart, Esq., were enrolled as delegates from it. The names of the following missionaries who came within the invitation as associate members were not publicly announced during the sessions, and have only been handed to us since the plates were cast. They are here given to complete the list: Beattie, Rev. Jos. D., D. D., Syria, Reformed Presbyterian Church Synod. Brodhead, Rev. A., D. D., India, Presbyterian Board Foreign Missions. Ballagh, Rev. J. H., Japan, Reformed Dutch Church. Barker, W. P., Seneca Indians, Presbyterian Board Foreign Mis- sions. Ewing, S. C, Alexandria, Egypt, United Presbyterian Church. Holcomb, J. F., Allahabad, India, Presbyterian Board. Helm, Benj., Hongchow, China, Presbyterian Church South. Kip, Leonard W., Amoy, China, Reformed Dutch Church. Lyon, D. L., Hongchow, Presbyterian Board. Martyn, J. A., South Africa, Reformed Dutch Church. Mackay, Geo. L., D. D., Formosa, China, Canada Presbyterian Church. Martin, W. A. P., President Imperial College, Peking, Presby- terian Board. Nassau, R. H., M. D., Gaboon and Corisco Mission, Presbyterian Board. Seller, G. W., Kolapoor. Stout, Henry, Japan, Reformed Dutch Church. Tracy, Thos., Futtegurh, India, Presbyterian Board. Wyckoff, B. DuBois, Futtegurh, India, Presbyterian Board. (23) 24 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. The report of the Committee on Credentials, referred to on page 148, and adopted by the Council, was also omitted from its place ; and it is printed here to make the record complete : Your Committee beg leave to report as follows : I. As to the cases in which Churches have appointed as their repre- sentatives, gentlemen who, although members of Churches embraced in the Alliance, are not members of the Churches deputing them, your Committee, in view of the fact that the language of Article III., Section 2, of the Constitution, is not so explicit as altogether to pre- vent the misapprehension that may have occasioned those appoint- ments, recommend that the gentlemen so appointed should be invited to sit as associates in this Council ; and, further, to avoid the occur- rence of such misunderstandings, recommend that the Council do de- clare that the true spirit and intent of Article III., Section 2, of the Constitution requires delegates to be members of the Churches ap- pointing them. II. With reference to the credentials presented by the Rev. An- tonio Arrighi, of the new Italian Church, your Committee find that the appointment appears to be made by the Evangelization Commit- tee, instead of by a regular ecclesiastical court of the Free Italian Church. The document is signed by the Rev. John R. McDougall, of Florence, whose position, as well as that of Mr. Arrighi, in the Free Italian Church, is within the personal knowledge of your Com- mittee ; and they, therefore, recommend that the appointment should be sustained, notwithstanding the informality. III. Churches not hitherto members of the Alliance. («;.) The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of the United States. In this case your Committee, while recognizing and rejoicing in the good work for our common Master, carried on by this important Church, and without remarking especially on the somewhat informal nature of the application for admission to the Alliance, regret to find themselves obliged to recommend the Council to decline the applica- tion. Your Committee are constrained to adopt this resolution by the absence of sufficient evidence that the Cumberland Church now accept the doctrinal basis of the Alliance, and by the terms of Article II. of the Constitution, which restricts the Alliance to Churches "whose creed is in harmony wjth the Consensus of the Reformed Confessions." (^.) Presbytery of Tasmania. Your Committee recommend the admission of this Church to the Alliance. D. H. McVicAR, Convener. SECOND General Presbyterian Council The Second General Council of the Presbyterian Alliance met in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia, on the 23d of Sep- tember, 1880, at II A. M. The Rev. William M. Paxton, D.D., of New York, preached the opening sermon, as follows : "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew viii. ii. The centurion who drew this utterance from our Lord had cer- tainly exhibited an extraordinary faith. Others before had believed that Jesus could heal by contact with the diseased person, but here was one who believed that he could heal at a distance. "I am not worthy," said he, "that thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed." He not only states his confidence, but explains the mental process by which he reached this conviction. He was a man in authority — a centurion, having soldiers under him. They went and came at his bidding. In the same manner he believed that Jesus was in a position of authority over the forces of nature. All the powers of the universe were sub- ject to his command. Here was a sublime faith, exhibiting itself suddenly in an unexpected quarter, by a heathen man. Our Lord expresses his surprise: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." It might have been expected that the Israelites, who had been familiar with wonders, would believe ; but here was a heathen whose faith was without a precedent. Our Lord points the attention of his disciples to it, and tells them that this is an illustration in a single example of what shall take place in the future on a large scale; that this one Gentile, coming with such an extraordinary faith, is only the first fruit of a future harvest, when they shall come from the North, and the South, and the East, and the West to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God. May I not turn to you, brethren and Christian friends, and say, This day is this Scripture fulfilled before our eyes. Who are these, and whence come they? They are Gentile believers in the kingship of Christ over the forces of the universe : in his power to convert and (25) 26 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. heal this world by his word. They are the men of whom this cen- turion was the prototype. And whence come they? "From the North and the South, and from the East and the West ; " from many nations, speaking many languages — they are the representatives of thousands and tens of thousands of whom the centurion was the first fruit. They represent, not simply churches or presbyteries or synods, but great denominations, many Presbyterian bodies scattered over the wide world. They are the Presbuieroi from the ends of the earth. They take their place in this Council of the Kingdom as representa- tives of a great spiritual host, just as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were representative chieftains of the Jewish nation. And what is this gathering here but the first fruits of the finished harvest when God shall call his sons from afar and his daughters from the ends of the earth ? But this text seems to suggest that there is an order and meaning in this gathering. Our Lord sent out his disciples from Jerusalem, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." It was a command to disperse to every nation. But here they are gathering — coming together from every clime. The great commen- tator Bengel supposes that the points of the compass are here men- tioned in the exact geographical and historical order in which the gospel went out into the world. It started in Syria in the East, travelled westward through Asia Minor, and along the shores of the Mediterranean, then northward to the Scandinavian nations, then southward to Africa, and then westward to America and the islands of the Pacific. This gathering is in the same order — from the East, the North, the South, the West. They started at the rising sun, they gather toward the setting sun. They started at Jerusalem. We gather now in this Jerusalem, this great centre of Christian civilization in the ends of the earth — in this asylum which the hand of Providence has opened for the oppressed and persecuted from every land, in the midst of a nation composed of the broken fragments of Zion from many a clime. But 7vhat means this world-wide asse?nblage ? The command of the Master dispersed his disciples. What means this gathering again ? They come as the representatives of the churches formed and of the souls saved by those who went to the four corners of the earth.. They come together to look into each other's faces, to clasp hands in a goodly fellowship, and to tell of the work that has been done, of the success that has been achieved. They come to report that "the gospel is being preached to all nations;" that it is indeed "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." They tell, indeed, of labor, of hardship, of enmity, of opposition, of strug- gle, of enemies who cry "failure," but despite all this they tell of success — success along the whole line where the battle has been fairly joined. They come to tell us that the work of Christian missions is a success, and that this day the decree stands firmer than it ever stood : "I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 27 uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." They tell that Christ in the presence and influence of his truth is a power which, like gravitation, belts the world ; that at this very hour his gospel is the grandest, mightiest power that this world has ever seen. In a word, they come to tell that all over the earth the name of Jesus is above every name. But this gathering has a meaning far deeper than this. We assem- ble not only to open our hearts to each other in the most affectionate sympathies, but we have come together to deliberate. The work is a success, but the field is the world. Vast tracts are still lying in wickedness. The empire of sin is deep-rooted and inveterate. The enemy is organizing powerful forces. We are, perhaps, upon the eve of a great and momentous contest in every land. And in this crisis we assemble to consider how this whole world is to be conquered for Christ. We do not assemble in any spirit of narrow denominationalism, nor do we claim this great work as ours alone. We recognize all the evangelical branches of the great Protestant Church as fellow-laborers in the same mission ; we open to them our hearts and pledge them our fellowship and fidelity as we stand shoulder to shoulder in the great conflict. Still, it must be remembered that we are Presbyterians, and that this is a Presbyterian Council inviting a representation of delegates from all the branches of the great family of the Reformed Churches holding to the Presbyterian polity and doctrine. These Churches have been raised up by Divine Providence to do a peculiar work. They have a record of labor, struggle, victory and blessing, which is written in the history of almost every land. With this record, peculiar and distinctive in the past, and with the trophies of success before our eyes and the tokens of blessing in the memory of the world, we assemble in this crisis to ask. What is our mission now? How shall we do our part in conquering the world for Christ ? Our future must link itself with the past. If Divine Providence has shaped our work and given us characteristics of usefulness and efficiency in the past, then our advance must be in the same line and our progress an increase in consecration and action. The first thing, therefore, is to understand ourselves. What has been our work ? What are our characteristics ? What is the image and superscription which Divine Providence has stamped upon us? In one word, What has been our mission in the past? What should be our mission in the future ? In looking back it strikes us : Eirst. That one promittent characteristic of the great family of Presby- terian Churches is loyalty to the person of Jesus Christ. This is the centre from which all our theology starts, the foundation from which we draw all our inspiration. We do not claim this as a distinction peculiar to ourselves, but we point to it as a characteristic that needs 28 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. to be emphasized. Jesus Christ stands out before us as a great historical character. It is a simple fact that he is the greatest person- age in the world's history, the mightiest force in the world's action, the grandest influence in its civilization. Hence the inquiry, Who is he? is the. question that is back of all other questions. The answer to this, by each individual, determines his own personal experience and character. The answer to this by a Church or denomination of Christians determines the value of the religion which it teaches and the measure and character of its efficiency in the world. If you give the Arian or Socinian answer, which denies his divinity,, even though it accredits him as the highest of created beings, or as a divinely endowed man, you have a religion which leaves man in a state of sin without a Redeemer, under a consciousness of guilt with- out an atonement, and with no incentive but that of a pure humanita- rianism to raise him to something higher and better. If you take the Gnostic answer, which denies his humanity, or the Apollinarian answer, which denies him a rational spirit — the place of human intelligence being supplied in him by the eternal Logos, then- you have a religion which brings us in contact with the divine without a singie element of human comfort or consolation. We have no ''days- man " to represent our nature in any form of mediation between God and man, no form of humanity to bear the burden of our guilt, no brother or friend to open to us a heart of sympathy or to soothe the bitterness of human woe. Or if, advancing to later times, you take the answer of Schleier- macher or any of the more advanced theories of philosophic specula- tion which regard Christ as the ideal man, the one man in whom the ideal of humanity comes to its fullest realization, and he the source of new life to others by awakening in them the same God-conscious- ness, then you have a religion in which Christ is lost in humanity, and the glorious person of the God-man Mediator is shrouded in mystery and lost to the view of faith. But if, turning from all these hidings of his power and glory, we take the answer of Nathanaei : " Thou art the Son of God ; Thou art the King of Israel ; " or of Peter : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ; " or of Martha : "I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, that should come into the world ; " or of Thomas: " My Lord and my God ; " or of Paul : "In him dwells all the full- ness of the Godhead bodily;" or of John: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth " — then you have standing out before your apprehension a glorious person — God, yet man ; very God, yet very man — God and man in one per- son, that, by the mysterious union of their two natures in one person, he might reconcile God to man by making expiation, and man to God by making intercession for him. This is the glorious person to whom the Presbyterian heart and the Presbyterian faith have ever been loyal. It was in the light of this, SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 29 wonderful person that Augustine interpreted the Scriptures and drew out that marvellous Christo-centric system of theology that has guided the Presbyterian faith, and has shed its light of hope and peace all -down the ages- It was this gracious person who, enshrined in the hearts of the Vau- dois and Waldenses, enabled them to preserve the light of truth through the dark night of the Middle Ages, to enkindle again the .torch of the reformation. It was this truth, the person of Jesus Christ and the love of God in him, that inspired and guided the reformation. It was heart loy- alty to the person of Christ that enabled John Knox, as the Eng- lish ambassador testified, " to put more life into his hearers from the pulpit in one hour than 600 trumpets." It is this truth that leads the van of our doctrinal beliefs, and all else follows in its train. It has stood foremost in the confessions and symbols of our churches age after age, until at length it found its simplest and most perfect ex- pression in the Westminster Catechism — "The only Redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of vGod, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, and so was and continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever." Here is the person of a living Redeemer, around whom our affec- tions may cluster, who has the worth of divinity to give value to his ■sacrifice, the form of humanity to suffer the law penalty which human- ity has incurred — a wealth of love to challenge our affection and a motive to service which binds us to him with the bands of a man and cords of love. Such is the religion that a proper apprehension of the ^person of Christ must ever produce. A stalwart religion, that grasps by faith the arm of a mighty Redeemer ; a strong love, that holds him ,in a steadfast embrace; a warmth of devotion, that counts all things as loss for Christ ; and a courage that smiles at the stake and triumphs in a martyr's victory. Obscure the glory of that person and the ■Church sinks into imbecility. Be assured that no Church can ever bear an effectual part in the ■conquest of the world but a Church that is loyal to the person of Jesus Christ. Second. A second distinction of our Presbyterian Churches in the past is their character as witness-bearers. We should certamly fail to understand ourselves, or to appreciate our mission in the future, if ■we should let this fact drop from our memories, or fail of its realiza- .tion in our consciousness as we prosecute our work. ^ "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord" (Isaiah xliii. 10). "Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1. 8). These, and similar scriptures, seem from the beginning to have taken a deep hold upon the Presbyterian heart, and to have come to a vivid realization in the experience of the whole Church. Accordingly the ■long line of our past history is strewn with testimonies, confessions 30 THE PRESBYTERFAN ALLIANCE. and witnesses to the truths of God, written in symbols, delivered irt' pulpits, illustrated in glorious and illustrious lives, uttered amidst the flames and sealed with blood. Hence, as we look back, we are com- passed about with a great cloud of witnesses — Paul witnessing against the Judaizing tendencies of the carnal heart which afterwards efflor- esced in Romanism, and against a philosophy, falsely so called, which has only now reached its ultimate evolution ; Augustine witnessing for the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace, when the Pelagian heresy threatened to pale their glory ; the Waldenses wit- nessing, midst sword and flame, for freedom of thought and the right of private judgment, and for the precious doctrines of the Cross, when the light of these truths was almost extinguished by the overlaying of vain traditions, and the smothering accretions of Romish superstition. Then again we have the witnesses of the great family of the Presbyte- rian Churches of the reformation to the absolute sovereignty of the Bible, to its immediate and plenary inspiration, to its all-sufficiency and infallibility as the only and authoritative rule of faith and duty against the Romish doctrine of tradition as a co-ordinate rule of faith, and against the presumptuous claim of the Papacy to be the infallible teacher of the true faith and the final judge of all controversies. It was this witness that broke the chain that bound the Scriptures in the cloisters of the Romish monasteries and opened the truth of God to the people. Then came the voices of witness-bearers like the sound of many waters testifying to the contents of heaven's precious message to man. They witnessed to a salvation only effected through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ — not by human merit, not by works of righteousness which we have done, not by penance or self- sacrifice, as the priesthood taught, nor yet by the life of Christ as a model for imitation, charming us to a better life and lifting us to the realization of an ideal humanity, as rationalism suggested then and is urging now, but by the efficacy of an atonement which expiates sin by satisfying the penalty of the broken law, and secures a free pardon and a gracious acceptance for fallen man. It was this effective wit- nessing to the love of God in the atonement of Jesus Christ that broke the fetters of spiritual despotism and produced the reformation. As benighted men who had trembled under the idea of God as an inex- orable Judge, lifted their eyes to the face of a Father in heaven whom they felt sure loved them, they adored, worshipped and believed. No less powerful was their witness to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and to the efficacy of divine grace in the regeneration and sanctification of the soul. We cannot follow in detail the long line of witnesses. But among all these witnesses one voice, clear and strong, falls upon our ears. It comes to us like the shout of a king. It is a sound that made thrones rock and monarchs tremble. It comes from the misty hills of Scotland. It is the voice of John Knox, witnessing to the kingship of Jesus Christ, that he alone is the King and Head of the Church. The Church is Christ's house, Christ's kingdom. He alone has the right to fix her institutions and appoint SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. ^x her ordinances. He alone is her Supreme Head and Governor. Hence we can acknowledge no pope ; can bow to no potentate ; and when a civil ruler dares to plant his foot within the Church to claim dominion over the consciences of Christ's people and assert the pos- session of a power which the King of kings has not given him, it must be a violation of Christ's crown rights and a usurpation 'of Christ's prerogative. Nor was this a solitary voice. A long line of witnesses repeated the testimony. It was uttered by petitions, by remonstrances, by solemn leagues and covenants — in councils, in con- vocations, in parliaments — and proclaimed by the cannon's roar upon the battle-field. It was a witness that disenthralled Scotland and secured its chartered freedom. As we assemble to-day the voices of all these witnesses are sounding in our ears. They recall our history. They remind us of our ancestors. They shame our imbecility. They confront us with these blood-sealed testimonies of heroic devotion to Jesus Christ. They call us to repeat the same witness, to give up no principle, to surrender no truth. They point to the coming contest and call us " to fight a good fight," " to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand." Again we notice that a third characteristic of Prcsbyterianism is its catholicity. We do not claim to be the Catholic Church, nor a Catholic Church ;, for this at present is an impossibility. No Church can be Catholic until its doctrine and polity have been preached and accepted through- out the whole world. Yet, strange to say, this appellation. Catholic, has been appropriated by many claimants — by the ancient Arians, by the Greek Church, by the Roman Catholics, and even by the Dona- tists, the most narrow and exclusive of the Separatists. We make no such absurd pretension. We are not Catholics, but Catholic. We are not the Catholic Church, but a part of the great Universal Church of Jesus Christ, which has many members, who bear many names. Our name is Presbyterian. As another has expressed it, "Christian is our name, Presbyterian our surname." We are Presbyterian Christians — Christians, because we belong to Christ ; Presbyterians, because we believe that the true original Apostolic Episcopacy was Presbytery. Our principles and polity and methods of operation are all catholic, and may be reduced to practice with a wonderful facility under any circumstances and in any nationality. Our Prcsbyterianism, for example, is catholic in its idea of the Church. As defined in the Westminster confession, the Church "consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true religion, with their children." Here is a definition as wide as universality it.self. It un- churches no one, but comprehends the whole world of believers in the amplitude of its charitable embrace. Again, our system is also catholic in its polity. It is not founded, like the papacy and prelacy, upon the narrow and exclusive model of the Jewish temple, but upon the free, popular and catholic system of the synagogue worshij). Its 32 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. first principle is the rights of the people. Church power does not rest in the clergy. The people are not subject to popes and prelates, but have a right to a substantive part in the government of the Church. It affirms the universal priesthood of believers, which makes them all equal ; also the parity of the ministry — they all stand upon equal foot- ing. Upon this basis of free and equal rights the Ruling Elder, the representative of the people, joins with the minister in all acts of judicial authority. These, then, are principles of a far-reaching and -catholic sweep. They are capable of an application to people of all classes, to every form of national government, and under all the cir- cumstances in which human life is cast. Again, our Presbyterianism is catholic in the spirit of love with which we can co-operate with evangelical Christians of every name in works of faith and labors of love. We have no peculiarity, no preju- dice, no hobby, to dig a chasm of separation between us and other servants of our common Master. To all who love the Lord Jesus Christ we can open our hearts in the warmest affection ; to all who are building the walls of Zion we can offer a helping hand, and our only contest is who shall build the walls strongest and highest. We can recognize the ordination of the Episcopalian and the baptism of the Baptist. We can respond with all our hearts to the "Amen " of the Methodist and join with our brethren in any psalmody that puts the crown upon the brow of Jesus. Thus it is that our system, whether viewed in detail or regarded as a whole, is catholic in all its features and is capable of an expansion to the uttermost circumference of our humanity. There is a Persian fable which tells of a young prince who brought to his father a nutshell, which, opening with a spring, contained a little tent of such ingenious construction that when spread in the nursery the children could play under its folds ; when opened in the council chamber the king and his counsellors could sit beneath its canopy ; when placed in the court-yard the family and all the servants could gather under its shade ; when pitched upon the plain where the soldiers were encamped the whole army could gather within its enclosure. It possessed a quality of boundless adaptability and expansiveness. This little tent is the symbol of our system. It is all contained within the nutshell of the gospel. Open it in the nursery, and the parents and children will sit with delight beneath its folds. Spread it in the court-yard, and the whole household will assemble for morning and evening worship beneath its shadow. Open it in the village, and it becomes a church and the whole town worships under its canopy. Pitch it upon the plain, and a great sacramental army will gather under it. Send it out to the heathen world, and it becomes a great pavilion that fills and covers the earth. But in this endeavor to understand our mission in the past, we can- not omit to notice that :i fourth characteristic of our Presbyterianism is its intimate connection with civil liberty. This is certainly one of our historic distinctions, but we have time only for a passing glance at it. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 33 It is a simple fact that Calvinism has always been hated by infidels and Prc.sbyterianism by tyrants. King James I. said at the Hampton Court conference, "Ye are aiming at a Scots' Presbytery, which agrees with monarchy as well as God and the devil." By monarchy James doubtless meant his own will, which was tyranny. To that, great- hearted Presbyterian, Melville, he said, "There never will be quiet in this country till half a dozen of ye be hanged or banished." "Tush, sir," replied Melville, "threaten your courtiers in that man- ner; but, God be glorified, it will not be in your power to hang or exile his truth." " The doctrine " (that is, the doctrine of the Pres- byterians), said Charles I., " is anti-monarchical." " I will say," he continued, "that there was not a wiser man since Solomon than he who said, ' No bishop, no king.' " It was doubtless a wise saying. Civil and religious liberty are linked together. If there is liberty in the Church, there will be liberty in the State — if there is no bishop in the Church there will be no tyrant on the throne. This brings us to the very centre of truth upon this subject — civil liberty springs out of the very core of Presbyterian doctrine and polity. One of the great truths asserted and established by the Reformation was "the kingship of all believers;" they are all equal and all kings. This is just the first principle of our Presbyterianism — " the rights of the people." In whom does Church power rest, in the people or in the clergy? When you settle this question you decide the question of the civil liberty of the nation. If you decide that the power rests in the clergy, then you establish a principle which by an inevitable analogy associates itself with the principle that the civil power rests in kings and nobles. But if you settle, as Presbyterians do, that Church power rests in the people, in the Church itself, then from this principle springs the other, that civil power rests in the people themselves, and that all civil rulers are the servants of the people. Accordingly, Dr. Schaff in his history of creeds says that " the in- alienable rights of an American citizen are nothing but the Protestant idea of the general priesthood of believers applied to the civil sphere or developed into the corresponding idea of the general kingship of free men." Hence it is that history shows that from the underlying principle of our Presbyterianism has sprung the civil and j)olitical freedom of many nations. The Westminster Review, which certainly has no leaning toward Presbyterianism, says: "Calvin sowed the seeds of liberty in Europe and evoked a moral energy which Christi- anity has not felt since the era of persecution." " The peculiar ethical temperament of Calvinism," it continues, •' is precisely that of the primitive Christianity of the catacombs and the desert, and was created under the same stimulus." Agam it says, " Calvinism saved Europe." The eloquent Roman Catholic historian, Bossuet, speaking of the General Synod of France in 1559, says : " A great social revolution has been effected. Within the centre of the French monarchy, Calvin and his disciples have established a spirit- 3 34 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Tial republic." Macaulay has shown that the great revolution of 1688, which gave liberty to England, was in a. great measure purchased by the labors, sacrifices, treasure, and blood of the Presbyterians of Scot- land. But the most conspicuous illustration of this principle was the birth of the American Republic. Our national historian, Bancroft, says, " He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty." Dr. Schaff, the honored historian of our creeds, says: "The prin- ciples of the republic of the United States can be traced through the intervening link of Puritanism to Calvinism, which, with all its theo- logical rigor, has been the chief educator of manly character and promoter of constitutional freedom in modern times." Chief-Justice Tilghman says, that " The framers of the Constitution of the United States borrowed very much of the form of our republic from that, form of Presbyterian Church government developed in the Constitu- tion of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland." But time will not I>ermit us to pursue the thought. Enough has been said to remind us of our history and to assure us that the Church of the future, the Church that is to be most effective in conquering the world for Christ, will be a Church that is loyal to the great principle of civil and relig- ious freedom. V. Again, if time had permitted, I had thought to mention as an- other characteristic of our Presbyterianism, its educational character. Our historian, Bancroft, says, that " Calvin was the father of popular education, the inventor of the system of free schools." However this may be, it is certain that home education, instruction in the Bible and Catechism, has been a characteristic of our Presbyterian fam- ilies, and that wherever our Churches have gone they have carried with them the school, the academy, and the college. From no quar- ter, therefore, could a protest come with more propriety than from this Council against the godless secularity which characterizes so much of the boasted education of the present time. VI. Again, I had thought also to point your attention to the mis- sionary character of our whole family of Churches. But the simple mention of this fact sufifices, as we now pass in conclusion to our second question : What should be our ffiission in the future ? The answer is simple and brief. " To stand in our lot ; " to repeat the same record ; to follow on in the same line ; to cultivate the same characteristics ; to aim at the same distinctions. Let our hearts cleave to the person of Jesus Christ, with a loyal affection and devoted ser- vice. Let us, like our fathers, be intrepid witnesses for the truth of God amid a crooked and perverse generation. Let us stand fast by the principles of religious liberty, which have given the boon of civil and political freedom to the world. Let us maintain our principle of liberality, which brings us into co-operative unity with other Chris- tians in the whole work of the Master's kingdom. Let us assert our catholicity before the world, that ours is a system adapted to a world- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 35 wide efficiency and capable of a universal prevalence. Let us culti- vate the spirit of missions, and catching our inspiration from the cross of Christ, let us work on in the confidence that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. There is nothing in our past record that we could wish changed — no characteristics that we could improve by alteration. We need no changed plans, no novel principles, no new creeds. Our system con- tains all the elements of efficiency which in times past have proved to be the power of God, and all the elements of blessing which have gladdened the world. Our polity, as administered by our fathers, has been a benediction to the world, and we need not fear that it will fail of the same result in time to come. This is an age of progress. Let us progress — not by changing God's truth, not by altering a system which has been baptized by the unction of the Holy Ghost, but let us progress in all holy activities, in all Christian work, in our love for the souls of men, and in the intelligence and ardor of our zeal for the glory of God and for the cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ. Let us progress in an intelligent appreciation of the significance of our past history and of the promise of the future which it embodies. What God did in time past for our fathers is but the type and promise of what he will do for us now. The Lord God of Elijah will be the God of Elisha. Let us seize the falling mantle, and as by faith we smite the waters let us cry: "Where is the Lord God of our fathers?" We should train our children in the memory of their mighty acts. The historian Sallust tells us that the Roman mothers trained their children in the presence of the busts and statues of their ancestors. In like manner we should train our children and our rising ministry, as it were, in the presence of their forefathers, in all the memories of our past history, and urge them, as the Roman mothers did, never to be satisfied whilst the virtues and victories of the past were more numerous or more glorious than those of the present. But how are these results to be attained? ]3y unity of action. By bringing together these Presbyterian bodies from every part of the world, not in an organic union, but into such oneness of thought and sympathy that they shall act in a co-operative unity, like several armies moving against a common enemy, animated by the same spirit and aiming at.the same result. But again the question returns: How shall this be done? How shall this unity be secured ? Not by reso- lutions ; not by the decrees of Councils; not by ecclesiastical pressure; but by the power of warm Christian affection. The unity must not be from without, but from within ; it must be from that love which unites heart to heart, until the bond encircles the whole family. The smallest Presbyterian body struggling under discouragement in the most distant country must be made to feel that it does not stand alone, but is linked in effective sympathy with a great family of vigorous Churches who feci for them and will act with them in their time of need. No Church must be permitted to have a feeling of 36 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. solitary orphanage. Tlie brethren must take home from this family Council the salutations of the Churches to each other, and such mes- sages of love and sympathy as will make the discouraged lift their faces from the dust, and thank God and take courage. So, too, the Churches and brethren laboring in the great centres and bearing the burdens of heavy responsibilities must be made to feel that in this strain and struggle they have the support of brethren and Churches wlio feel and work with them and for them, and that from the vast family all over the earth prayers are going up for their success. But here, still, the question returns: " How is this to be effected?" Only by the presence and power of the Holy Ghost in all our Churches and in the hearts of all our ministers and people. " It is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." He is the spirit of love, who must bind all our hearts in unity; the spirit of truth, who must take the things of Christ and show them unto us ; the spirit of courage, who must make us witnesses for Christ, and the spirit of power, who alone can give us the victory. As the disci])les waited at Jerusalem, so we should wait here with one accord for the coming of the Holy Ghost, and as we separate carry the benediction with us to the ends of the earth. And now, brethren, I have done. But I am reminded that a cloud of sorrow rests upon this assembly to-day. There are those absent whom we all miss — two eminent and beloved brethren of this city, of whom mention will be made this afternoon, and one other of whom it behooves me to speak, because it has fallen to my lot to stand in his place to-day. That venerated and beloved father in Israel, Dr. William Adams — who presided at the last .session of this Council at Edinburgh, who uttered the last prayer, who pronounced the last benediction, under whose uplifted hands we had expected this morn- ing to receive a fresh blessing, and whose skilful hand was to have struck the key-note of this Council — has passed from our loving fel- lowship to the joys of his Lord. He is there receiving the benedic- tion that he would have asked for us ; he is there striking the key-note of his everlastmg song. He had a place in all hearts; perhaps no one man in the history of our American Churches was ever so universally loved. His life and influence was a golden clasp that bound together our Presbyterian Churches. Had he been present to-day it was his purpose to have spoken to you upon what he regarded as the highest evidence of our religion, " the Spirit of God working by His truth upon our inner conscious- ness." His text would have been: "Until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts." On him the day has dawned ; and BOW may God grant that the day-star may arise in our hearts ! Dr. Paxton was assisted in the devotional services by the Rev. Principal Robert Rainy, D. D., of Edinburgh, Scotland, and by the Rev. John Jenkins, D. D., LL.D., of Montreal, Can- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 37 ada. At the close of the sermon, Dr. Paxton constituted the Council with prayer ; after which, on motion by the Rev. William P. Breed, D.D., of Philadelphia, an adjournment took place, until until 3 P.M., to Horticultural Hall. 3 P- M. The Council reassembled at 3 o'clock, in Horticultural Hall, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Paxton. ADDRESS OF WELCOME. The following Address of Welcome was delivered by the Rev. W. P. Breed, D. D., of Philadelphia: Mr. President, and Fathers and Brethren of the Second General Council of those who throughout the world hold the Presb}'- terian system : The Church in Philadelphia sets before you an open door, and in the providence of God it has become my privilege to ])oint you to that door, and to the word "Welcome" carved deep and large on posts and lintel. We are bidden to entertain strangers, for so we may entertain angels unawares, but we are already aware whom we enter- tain. Ye are " the angels of the churches " which dot the globe over from China around again to China. Man proposes. God disposes. We had proposed that you should now be listening to the voice of the beloved Dr. Beadle. ,^ God has ordered that voice away, to hymn his"f)raises in the choir above. The place thus left vacant was to have been filled by the stately and ven- erable form of one to whose voice, for nearly a half century, Philadel- phia listened as to a chime of silver bells — the form of Dr. Henry A. Boardman. His heart was in this Council. A few days before his death it became my duty to reply to a letter from him touching its interest and success. And lo ! he, too, is not, for God has taken him ' But if these departed worthies are no longer seen by us, are we not seen by them ? As we breathe benedictions on their memories, are they not dropping benedictions on our heads? Fathers and brethren, we greet you severally with the welcome due to your professional eminence, efficient service, distinguished ability, and high personal worth. And we greet you collectively as a Council representing "a great crowd of witnesses," 30,000,000 — yes, 40,000,- 000 — of them in every land, in every clime — those millions the children and successors of many legions more, seated now in the galleries of History's vast Coliseum, tier above tier, generation upon genera- ation, of those who, through ages of toil, trial, and triumph, "sub- dued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the army of the aliens." 38 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. In the name of this city of Brotherly Love we greet you. Unless through a period of nearly a quarter of a century I have been mis- reading the Philadelphia heart, your coming has caused that heart to beat with unfeigned pleasure, and 1 hazard nothing in assuring you that Philadelphia will do its utmost to make you happy while you are here, reluctant to depart, unwilling to forget, and glad to return. To you, as Christians, we, Christians of Philddelphia, extend the welcoming hand. For, however we may differ, we are at one in the song we sing together here, and shall sing together hereafter: " Unto him ,that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests to God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." "Ye," said the blessed Jesus, " are the light of the world." And we recognize you as Christ's torch-bearers in every land where you dwell. "Ye," said Jesus, " are the salt of the earth ; " and we recognize you as conservators of pure morals, as promoters of " whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- port." And we underscore the welcome we extend to you to-day as Evan- gelical Chrislians. Unhappily, it is not impossible for even those who " hold the Pres- byterian system" to become tainted with rationalism, with Socinian- ' ism, with the spirit of a devastating criticism that criticises the Bible out of its covers and the title-page off the volume — a spirit that, like a tunic of Nessus, eats into the bones and marrow with its paralyzing poison. But ye are not of these. In you we see the champions and propagandists of the system of truth which embraces a triune God, the Creator, Preserver, and t^ov- 'ernor of all; a divine, human Christ, who redeems us unto God by his blood ; a divine, Person-al Spirit who applies to the heart the re- demption purchased by Christ ; a divinely inspired, immaculate, and supremely authoritative Bible telling what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man — in a word a gospel un- marred by an enervating ritualism, unmutilated by an impertinent rationalism, unchilled by icy unbelief. But it were to leave a chasm in the proprieties of the occasion, not to say that as holders of our ancient and venerated Presbyterian sys- tem you are greeted with a welcome of special and affectionate cordi- ality. Your presence here in council is a conspicuous and emphatic reminder of the sometimes half-forgotten fact that at the Reformation, 360 years ago, the Church, in every portion of the world, with one in- sular exception, betook itself instinctively to that form of policy dis- tinctly outlined in the Acts of the Apostles, pointed to repeatedly in the Epistles, whose essential features are the official equality of ministers, participation by the people, in the persons of Ruling Elders, in the government and discipline of the Church, and the unification of the whole in a series of courts of review and control, the series terminating in a Supreme Judicatory, the Synod or General Assembly. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 39 To angels and to men you are the visible sign of an invisible and invincible force. Surely none other than a force like that " which heaves the hill and breaks the shore and evermore makes and breaks and works" has availed to draw all tiiese hundreds over mountains, across oceans, along water-courses, up the sides of the earth, away from country, from home, and from scenes of labor, lo sit in council together here on these far-off shores where so lately "the buffalo roamed and the wild Indian pursued the panting deer." To resist this unifying force were, we are persuaded, to resist the Spirit of Christ. To yield to, cherish and cultivate it, is to point the prow towards a unity foreordained from before the foundation of the world in which " the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual work- ing, in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." First of all in our more special welcome we greet the reipecttd and beloved Missionaries of the Cross from heathen lands. The one object for which the Church exists, the one aim that justi- fies her existence and vitalizes her frame is the glory of God in the conversion of the world. The sole commission she bears is, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," and in the persons of those who have taken their lives in their hands and gone to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel we recognize those who have most literally and unreservedly laid themselves on the altar of obedience to this great command. And without all question we are ready with one voice to say "Amen " to the words of the poet : " Methinks that earth in all she vaunts of majesty, • Or tricks with silk and purple, or the baubled Pride of princes, or the blood-red pomp of" The stern hero, hath not aught to boast, So truly great, so noble, so sublime, As the Lone Missionary, casting off The links, and films, and trappings of the world, And in his chastened nakedness of soul, Rising to bear the embassy of heaven." And right glad do we greet to-day our brethren from the great land that balances our own at the antipodes — far-off Australia, with the contiguous lands and islands. Physically, brethren, we stand foot to foot; spi'ritually, shoulder to shoulder. Your presence here certifies to the world that Presbyterianism, like the leaven of God, has struck through the planet. We in this New World welcome you from that New World, and pledge you our sympathy, prayers and aid in your efforts to win your lands for our blessed Emanuel. Among us also we see the turbaned head of a Christian convert from the land of the Vedas, the Ganges, the Himmalehs. Welcome now the familiar face of Narayan Sheshadri, and a blessing upon all the toilers in the wide harvest-fields of India. To these shores from Germany we have already welcomed many 4o THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. scores of thousands who bless our land with their diligence, and adorn it with their intelligence. A distinguished member of our National Cabinet was born in the Fatherland. And till time shall end the Christian world will hold in admiring and grateful remem- brance that land whence, in the dark days of Tetzel and Leo X., issued the heroic defiance, "We go no more to Canossa." Welcome, then, ye brethren, from the land whose brain has so often and so powerfully quickened the pulsations of the world's brain ; whose thought has been on the thought-hearth of mankind — the land of him who sprang from his knees on the Scala Santa with the shout which is still ringing in the world's ears, " The just shall live by faith!" — the land in almost every portion of which Presbyterian principles are every day asserting themselves with greater distinctness and force. To Switzerland also we extend our greetings — Switzerland, whose hospitable doors were ever open to the j)anting fugitive from Rome's reeking sword — Switzerland, where Calvin and Beza ])reached and toiled, and where the newly recovered principles of Presbyterianism earliest crystallized again into apostolic forms. In Calvin's heart and brain throbbed the aspiration for a General Council of the Re- formed, and Calvin is here to-day in the persons of our beloved brethren from the land of the Alp and the glacier. And it is with no common heart-glow that we take the hand of the respected representative of the time-tried, foe-tried, fire-tried Church of the Vaudois; the dust and blood of so many centuries of con- fession and martyrdom on her skirts and sandals ! Many a time, for many weary years, the bones of the slaughtered saints " Lay scattered on the Alpine mountains cold , Slain by the bloody Piedniontese, thai rolled Mother with infant down the rocks, their moans The vales redoubling to the hills and they To heaven." Welcome to the church whose walls and towers are mantled with the mosses and ivies of so many centuries ; whose historic page weeps and bleeds with so many woes, and smiles with so many virtues and victories ! Nor do we overlook the younger but vigorous and faithful Free Church of Italy, Cavour's dream realized. " Libera Chiesa in Libero Statu." A future bright with promise awaits the young Free Church of Italy. And with all love and holy reverence do we welcome here the rep resentative of the Church of Bohemia. When Luther was thirteen years old, thirteen years before Calvin was born, Bohemia had its organized Presbyterian Church. Mountain-rimmed land, land of Waldhausen, of John Milicz, under whose preaching Prague from being a Babylon became a Jerusalem, land of Huss and Jerome ! We see the smoke ascending over your plains from countless martyr fires; we hear the groans of the four thousand flung into the ;".G m ^^M •:r.:i:iiiii :•, heart %^^^ ;;CflOi m ;-„i the SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 41 mines of Kettenberg ; we see the legions of the Pope harrying you, Tintil of your three millions of people, more than two millions are under the sod. But fire and sword and the cruelties of centuries have not availed to purge from Bohemian blood the ])recious leaven of the gospel. We welcome you, brethren, and pray God to give us all the martyr spirit of the Bohemian worthies of old- And how the Presbyterian heart throbs when the eye is turned towards sunny France, once the banner-bearer of the Reformation. The thought of her starts across the field of memory a grand proces- sion of Presbyterian worthies, the brothers Coligny, Conde, Sully, Philip du Plessis Mornay, the humble l.nit faithful Palissey, Louise de Montmorency, the Duchess Renee, Charlotte de Laval, and last but not least the noble Jeanne D' Albert. Glancing back through three hundred years we see around that cradled babe in the house of La Ferriere, in Paris the first Huguenot Church organized. We look again sixteen years after, and lo ! at La Rochelle a General Assembly, in which 2,500 churches are represented, and some of those 10,000 members strong. Yes, the French brain and heart are excellent soil for Presbyterianism, and the day is dawning when every drop of Hu- guenot blood shed on St. Bartholomew's dreadful clay, and on through all the wrath of the subsequent dragonnades shall spring up a cham- pion for the faith of the martyred Huguenots ! This hour we hear the footfall of the coming legions ! At last, at last, as Beza said to the Apostate Antony Navarre, " The anvil has worn out the hammer." And can we believe our eyes? Do we indeed see in this council representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Spain ? Spain, the land stamped so deep with the fiery seal of the Inquisition ; Spain, that discharged the Armada from her ports to crush Reform in Britain ; Spain, the birlh-place of the Society of the Jesuits; Spain, that gave to the world an Alva as well as a Torquemada ; Spain, whose name was on almost every sword that flashed in the fields of European persecution ; Spain, whence came the suggestion and the inspiration of the St. Bartholomew massacre ! And yet here to-day are representatives of the Presbyterian Ciuirch in Spain. Verily the world moves, and Presbyterianism is one of its moving forces ! Welcome, thrice welcome, brethren from the Presbyterian Church of Spain ! The crown jewels of Queen Isabella fiirnished forth Columbus for the discovery of America, and now this Council sitting on the shores of America, pledges itself to do its utmost to put recovered Spain as a crown jewel in the diadem of King Jesus ! And Belgium, too, we welcome. You, brother, represent a green islet of Presbyterianism in a black sea of Romanism ; the fiftietli part of a million surrounded by 5,000,000 Romanists. Verily tht- Great Captain lias stationed your church as a Leonidas band in a Ther- mopyh-e Pass. The arrows of your enemies darken the air, but the .shade is not so dense but that the keen gaze of 30.000,000 of jwirs of Presbyterian eyes penetrate it, the sympathies of 30,000,000 of 1 rcs- byterian hearts find way through it, and the sanctified energies of 42 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. 30,000,000 of pairs of Presbyterian hands reach through it for your aid! Holland also is welcome — present with us ; if not in the person, yet in the message of Van Osterzee, and also in the persons of her faithful sons from the southern confines of Africa. The story of Presbyterian Holland is one of the great glories of history. Early and long was she, with Belgium, a city of refuge for persecution-hunted Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards, and fugitives from smitten Bohemia, land of the Silent William and his princely "beggars," who, after an en- durance rarely equalled for length and severity, and feats of heroism never surpassed, drove the minions of Alva, Philip and the Pope like chaff before the wind from the territories they had filled with moans and groans and drenched with tears and blood ! Her Leyden shel- tered our pilgrim fathers. From her Delfts-Haven sailed the May- flower. We are proud of the Dutch blood in our veins, and we glory in the Dutch element in our theology. Crossing the channel we reach the Mother Land of this Republic. Presbyterians of England, a hundred welcomes ! Within your circling shore the morning star of the Reformation rose, and that, too, a gen- uine Presbyterian star. A century before the hammer of Luther had nailed the theses to the door of All Saints' at Wittemburg, the ham- mer of Wycliffe had nailed the Twelve Conclusions to the doors of St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey. It was in England that the master stroke of Protestantism was first struck — the putting of the Word of God into the hands of the people in their own tongue, and time has been when half of England was Presbyterian. That great journal, the Lon- don Times, has suggested that the Church of England add to her book a leaf of Presbyterianism. Beloved brethren, may God so bless your labors that your government shall be constrained to take not a leaf only, but the whole blessed volume ! And how superfluous to say that Scotland is welcome ! Ye, breth- ren, are the children of that early Protestantism that created a people in Scotland ; of those who fought and won the great battle for Christ's crown and covenant ; the children of those who once and again saved the Reformation in Great Britain, and once at least by stern resistance to that bad triumvirate, Charles, Laud and Wentworth, saved constitutional liberty for the English-speaking world. The voice of Jenny Geddes is to-day echoing among the hills of America. The scratching of the pens that signed the solemn League and Cov- enant that day in old Gray Friars, and upon the tombstones in the church-yard, and in some cases, with ink drawn from the self-gashed arms of the signers, and with the appended emphasis, " Until death," makes the blood tingle in our veins ! The heartiest of welcomes to old Scotland to-day ! May God keep her ever in the van of sound doctrine, with her tabernacle of blue, the hangings of her doors in blue, and her ephod all of blue ! To Wales also we extend a welcoming hand. True, indeed, Wales gave to the world a Pelagius, but in that gift she seems to have ex- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 43 liausted her stores of heresy, and for the gift she has abundantly atoned by a wealth of evangelical treasures. To the Church of Howell Harris, of Griffith Jones, of Charles of Bala, and of a goodly host of other worthies ; church baptized in the blood and fire of persecution ; Methodist in name, Calvinistic in doctrine, Presbyterian in polity, of- unblemished orthotloxy and apostolic zeal, right welcome art thou to a place in this Presbyterian Council. Right cordial, too, is our welcome to warm-hearted, fervid-spirited Ireland, the labor-field in ancient days of that grand Presbyterian St. Patrick, whom even our Roman brethren delight to honor. You ■Presbyterian Irishmen, under the sunshine of whose industry, sobriety and gospel morality the rugged North blossoms as the. rose, while under the fatal smile of Rome the greener South lies so desolate, with your memories of the days of the "Black Oath," when your fathers wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins ; in deserts and in moun- tains, in dens and caves of the earth, being destitute, afflicted and tormented ; memories of the days when almost to a man your fathers went forth with wife and babe from manse, bed and bread for con- science sake ; memories of Derry and the Boyne water and of many a subsequent and victorious struggle in the field of high and mighty debate ; sons of those Ulster Irishmen, who, in the struggle which resulted in the creation of this republic, were ever first in high, heroic resolve, and ever foremost in the clash of battle, welcome to our homes as you always have been to our hearts ! Nor are any more welcome than our friends and brethren from across our northern border. Rome laid her hand on the land from which you come. God released it from her grasp and gave it to Protest- antism, and you are making good the transfer. Right eagerly we watched your struggle for union, and north of the border no hearts beat with greater delight than ours at your success. We recognize you as Christ's fishers of men, and you recognize us as Christ's fishers of men, and we will fish in each others' waters, and neither Earl Granville nor Secretary Evarts will say us nay. When first the white man's bark dropped anchor en these western shores the red man w\as monarch of all this broad domain, from lakes to gulf and from ocean to ocean. But now the inexorable steamer, on river and lake, has run down the red man's frail canoe. The city stands on the site of the wigwam village ; factory and foundry smoke where the Indian council fire blazed, and railway trains howl over the red man's burial-places. A few have survived, and in this Council to-day sits one with the undiluted blood of the red man in his veins, and the blood of the red man's best friend sprinkled on his heart. Welcome, thou representative of a lone remnant of abused, down- trodden and buried millions ! And now to you, brethren in the Lord, gathered from all parts of our broad land ; from wliere the Oregon rolls and so lately heard no sound save his own dashings, from where Niagara raves down the rapids and leaps into the abyss ; from the banks of the Hudson, and the Mis- 44 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. sissippi, holders of the Presbyterian system of all schools and names, we extend a liearty welcome. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, the first American Presby- tery was organized in this city. To-day, of its 850,000 people, nearly 150 Presbyterian ministers, 120 Presbyterian congregations, with a communion roll reaching to 42,000, and an adherence of more than 100,000 join in giving you a genuine Presbyterian welcome. Welcome one and all to the city where the first American Presby- tery was born and cradled ; welcome to the city where in the days of yore a Presbyterian General Assembly sat side by side with that Con- gress whose acts created the re])ublic. Nor will Presbyterians allow, the world to forget that conspicuous among the members of that Con- gress sat one minister of the gospel, and he a true-hearted son of Presbytery; whose genius, eloquence and weight of character empha- sized by the compact Presbyterian ism of the land, in the momentous crisis which involved the whole future, went very far to turn the wavering scales and make the cause of civil and religious liberty out- weigh fear, hesitation, and untimely prudence, and whose bronze statue of gigantic size stands an ornament in yonder beautiful park. Fathers and brethren of this Council, in the unity of the cause and of the millions you represent, the glory of so many generations shin- ing behind you, their momentum upon you, and the fiiture beckoning you, you seem to my eye to be kneeling here for a fresh ordination at the hands of an august Presbytery. Laying their ordaining hands on your heads, I see the stately forms of Memories that touch the very virtue of every high and holy senti- ment of man's nature; the hands of Heroism in endurance and achievement that make man proud that he is a man ; the hands of Gospel Doetrine unmarred and unmutilated, and the Godliness that issues alone from its bosom ; the hands of Education, Soieitd Learning, and Sacred Literature, and last, but not least, the hands of Civil and Religious Liberty and Constitutional Government — a Pres- bytery of imposing presence and of commanding authority, bidding you, with this onlaying of hands, to be mindful of your ancestry, not forgetful of your obligations, and to see to it that the priceless heri- tage committed to you by your sires be transmitted unimpaired to your sons ! The Lord bless you and keep you ; the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you ; the Lord lift u]) his coun- tenance upon you and give you peace in the name of the Father, of the. Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. The Rev. George D. Mathews, D. D., presented the follow- ing report : SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 45 At the Council in Edinburgh in 1877 ^he clerks were appcMnted a Committee on Credentials, and instructed to prepare the roll for the next meeting. Your committee beg now to report that they have received from Churches, already members of the Alliance, credentials appointing certain persons as their delegates to this Council. They therefore recommend that the persons thus named be received as members of the Council, and their names be entered on its rolls. • Some of the Churches have, in addition, appointed certain other persons as associates, but as no such class of members is known under the Constitution, and the power of permitting persons not delegates to take part in the proceedings is distinctly reserved to the Cop.ncil itself, your committee recommend that the attention of the Churche.s be respectfully called to Article III., Section 2, of the Constitution, Your committee have also to report that the Presbytery of Ceylon, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Churches of the Canton de Vaud and of Neuchatel, the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Wales, the Synod of Eastern Australia and the Presbyterian Churcii of Queensland have appointed, as their delegates, persons not con- nected with these Churches, while in the case of the Free Chmxh of Italy the credential does not bear that it was issued by any Church Court, and is signed only by the treasurer of the denomination. Your committee desire the judgment of the Council respecting such docu- ments. They also further report that they have received letters from the Presbyterian Church in Tasmania, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbytery of Philadelphia, appointing dele- gates. As these Churches have never been received into the mem- bership of the Alliance, your committee recommend that a special committee be now appointed to consider what action should be taken in the above cases and to report at an early date. All which is respectfully submitted. THE ROLL. The roll of delegates was called, as follows, those whose names are in Italics not having responded as present. DIVISION I.— CONTINENT OF EUROPE. AUSTRIA. Bohemia. — Evangelical Refonned Church in Rev. Justus Emmanuel Szalatnay Vclim. Hungary. — Reformed Church Moravia. — Reformed Church of Rev. Ferdinand Cizar Klobouk. DELGIUM.— f/«w« of Evangelical Congregations. Missionary Christian Church. Rev. Leonard Anet Brussels. Baron Prisse ^'- I>'Colay. 46 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Division I. — Continent of Europe. — Conthwed. FRANCE.— A^rt/w«rt/ Reformed Church. Rev. Adolphe Mt)nod Carcassonne, Aude. Union of the Evangelical Congregations of GERMANY.— /V^,? Evangelical Church of Rev. H. Rother Goilit/. Old Reformed Church of East Eriesland. ITALY. — Waldensian Church. Rev. Professor Emilio Comba Florence. Free Chttrch of Rev. Antonio Arrighi Florence. " Prof. Henderson Rome. NETHERLANDS.— V?^/7rwfa' Chmrh of the Christian Reformed [Eree) Church of the %Vh.\^.— Spanish Christian Church. (Stated Clerk — Don Manrique Alonso, Correduria 48, Seville.) Rev. John Jameson Madrid. SWITZERLAND. Berne. — French Church. Neuchatel. — Evangelical Church of Neuchatel, independent of the State. Vaud. — Reformed Church of the Canton de Free Church of the Canton de DIVISION II.— UNITED KINGDOM. 'E^Gl..Mq Bonninglon. W. l.yon. Esq EdinburL;h. Reformed Preshyteiian C/ittrc/t of (Stated Clerk— Original Secession Church of (Stated Clerk— W.\LES. — Calvin istic Methodist Church in (Staled Clerk — Rev. Thomas Jones Wiieldon, Conway, North Wales.) Rev. Wm. Roberts, D. D Utica. N. Y. " Rees Evans Cambria, Wis. " David Harries Chicago, III. Uriah Davies, Esq Columbus, Wis DIVISION III.— UNITED STATES. UNITED STATES. — Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. (Stated Clerk— Rev. E. F. Haiiteld, D. D., New York City.) Rev. Wm. P. Breed, D. I) Philadelphia, Pa. " Charles A. Dickey, D. D " S. I. Prime, D. D New York City. " Samuel S. Nicci>lls, D. D St. Louis, Mo. " John Hall, D. D New York City. " Thomas -S. Hastings, D. D " " Henry A. Nelson, D. D Geneva, N. Y. " Wm. Henry Green, D. D., LL. D Princeton, N. J. " Villeroy Reed, D. D Camden, N. J. " Tames B. Shaw, D. D Rochester, N. Y. " Wm. M. Paxton, D. D New York City. " George W. Musgrave, D. D., LL. D Philadelphia, Pa. " Thomas J. Shepherd, D. D " " lo^eph T. Smith, D. D Baltimore,' AUl. " James I. Brownson, D. D Washington, Pa. " John C. Lowrie, D. D New York City. " Arthur Mitchell, D. D Chicago, 111. " Thomas II. Skinner, D. D ^Cincinnati, O. " Arthur T. Pierson, T). D Detroit, Mich. " Aaron L. Lindsley, D. D Portland, Oregon. Geo. Junkin, Esq Philadelphia, Pa. Robt. N. Willson, Esq " Hon. Wm. E. Dodge New York City. " Horace M.aynard, P. M. General, U. S. A Washington, D. C. " Chauiicey N. Olds, LL. D Columbus, O. " Wm. Strong, LL. D., Justice, Supreme dairi, U. S. A. Washington, D. C. «' Thomas IV. Ferry, Ex-President Senate, U. S. A. His Excellency, Gen. Geo. B. McClellan, LL. D., Governor of the State of New jersey Orange, N J. Professor Ste]ihen Alexander, LL. D Princeton, N. J. Henry Day, Esq New York City. Hon. Stanley Mathetvs, LL. D Cincinnati, O. «' Benjamin Harrison Indianapolis, Ind. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 49 Division III.— United ^VKXYS.—Cofitinued. United States.— Presbyterian Churcli in the United States of America.— Gj«//««'A/. Hon. James Richardson St. Louis, Mo. Hovey K. CI.nriq Navarre, Ohio. Henry Tons, Esq Fort Wayne, Ind. Christian M. Boiisch, Esq Meadville, Pa. John P. Reeds, Esq Bedford, Pa. United Presbyterian Church of A'orth America. (Stated Clerk— Rev. \Vm. J. Reid, D. D., Pittsburg, Pa.) Rev. President E. T. Jeffers, D. D New Wilmington, Pa. " W. H. McMillan. D. D Allegheny, Pa. " President David Paul, D. D New Concord, O. " Professor Willia?n Bruce, D. D Xenia, O. " Professor D. R. Kerr, D. D Pittsburgh, Pa. " J. B. Dales, D. D Philadelphia, Pa. «' D. A. Wallace, D. D., LL. D Wooster, O. " James Brown, D. D Keokuk, Iowa. " John Comin, D. D Rix Mills, O. General D. W. Houston Leavenworth, Kan. Hon. James Dawson Washington, Iowa. Professor E. F. Reid Monmouth, 111. S. B, Clark, Esq., M. D Cambria, O. Thomas Mc("ance, I£sq Pittsburgh, Pa. James McCandless, Esq Philadelphia, Pa. W. K. Carson, Esq Baltimore, Md. Associate Pe formed Synod of the South. (Stated Clerk— Rev. James Bovce, D. D., Due West, S. C.) Rev. James Boyce, D. D Due West, S. C. " j. I. Bonner, D. D " Hon. C. />. Simonton Covington, Tenn. General Synod of the Refurnted Presbyterian Church. (Stated Clerk— Rev. David Steele, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa ) Rev. David Steele, D. D Philadelphia, Pa. Alexander Kerr, Esq " SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 51 Division III. — United States. — Continued. Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America. (Stated Clerk— Rev. T. P. Stevenson, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa.) Rev. A. M. Milligan, D. D Pittsburgh, Pa. " T. P. Stevenson, D. D Philadelphia, 1^ William Neely, Esq New York City. Samuel A. Sterrett, Esq., M. D Pittsburgh, Pa. DIVISION IV.— BRITISH COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES. CANADA. — Presbyterian Church in (St.ited Clerk— Rev. William Reid, D. D., Toronto.) Rev. Donald Macrae, M. A. B. D St. John, N. B. " Principal A. McKnii^ht, D. D Halifax, N. S. " Principal D. H. McVicar, LL. D Montreal. " Principal G. M. Grant, D. D Kingston. " Principal Win. Caven, D. D Toronto. " Wm. Keid, D. D " John Jenkins, D. D., LL. D Montreal. " Robert F. Burns, D. D Halifax, N. S. " D. J. Macdonnell, B. D Toronto. " George D. Mathews, D. D Quebec. T. W. Taylor, Esq., M. A., Master in Chancery Toronto. Hon. Alex. Morris, D.C.L " James Croil, Esq Montreal. Hon. John McMurrich Toronto. J. D. McDonald, Esq., M. D Hamilton. Thomas McCrae, Esq Guelph. J. B. Fairbairn, Esq Ottawa. James K. Blair, Esq Truro, N. S. CAPE OF GOOD YiOVlL.— Dutch Reformed Church in .South Africa. Rev. Professor Nicholas Hofmeyr Stellembosch. " John Alberlyn Middleburg. CEWJd^.— Presbytery of Ceylon. (Stated Clerk— Rev. Henry MITCHELL, Galle, Ceylon.) William Smi(h, Esq Kandy, Ceylon. EASTERN AUSTRALIA.— 5/«(7o called to his heavenly rest. At the next meeting of the committee the vice-chairman was elected chairman. Besides Dr. Beadle and Dr. Boardman, eight other members of the General Committee have sin< e the adjournment of the Council at Edinburgh been removed from the - • r.enas leie . ••.obe .udin *?aito|)i)or- ' -■ rich ihef HU¥UENOTS/! i o( ■:^ol ■::d ; ,n the ■, when ■■ lEeir '. Ui : ].,as M- Per- .::dle. . :;waril ..s:^;ceon '..;fis«illi ;.chair- .•;3l'0 V •31 lilt SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 57 scenes of time to those of eternity. Their names have been recited, and we need not repeat them. They call us loudly to " work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work." The Pro- gramme Committee have held many meetings, and have labored hard to discharge the duty assigned them. Through what toil, anxiety and perplexity the duties of the chairman and secretary of this com- mittee have led them, no one can appreciate except those who have gone through a similar experience. The Business Committee met on the 20th of December, 1878, and appointed the following sub-com- mittees, viz. : A Committee of Finance and Audit, a Committee of Publication of Proceedings, a Committee of Reception and Entertain- ment, a Committee on Place of Meeting and Decoration, and also a Committee on Railways and Transportation. These various commit- tees at once addressed themselves to the tasks severally assigned them, and have spared neither time nor labor in their efforts to reach the desired results. The Committee of Arrangements herewith submit the programme, prepared with great outlay of thought, care, and cor- respondence on the part of the Committee on the Programme, to be adopted and followed by the Council, subject to such modifications as expediency or necessity may demand. In accordance with an express provision of the Constitution of the Alliance, the Committeeof Arrange- ments, through their Sub-Committee on the Programme, invited a num- ber of men, distinguished in the various departments of church thought and work, to prepare papers for or make addresses before the Council. The committee therefore respectfully suggest that these gentlemen be invited to sit as associate members of the body. The committee would also recommend that all missionaries from heathen lands at home on leave of absence from their fields of labor be admitted to seats as associate members of this body. Following the precedent set by the Edinburgh Council, it is further recommended that a .sei)arate Presi- dent be chosen for each session of the Council. The Committee on the Publjcation of the Proceedings have made arrangements to secure a full and accurate stenographic report of the debates and doings of the Council. They have also, subject to the approval of Council, accepted an offer on the part of a responsible publishing firm, to pub- lish in an attractive volume such of the proceedings as n^ay be sanc- tioned by an editing committee to be appointed by this body, and to place this volume at an early day before the public at a very reasona- ble price, and all without any expense to the Council. This commit- tee therefore respectfully suggest the appointment of the Rev. J. B. Dales, D. D., of the United Presbyterian Church, of this city, and the Rev. R. M. Patterson, D. D., of the Presbyterian Church, also of this city, as a committee to revise and edit the Proceedings of the Council, The following is the Programme referred to in the report and accom- panying it: The Committee of Arrangements will entertain the Delegates to the Council at a Social Reception, to be held on Wednesday evenmg, September 22, in the Academy of Fine Arts. The regular sessions 58 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. of the Council will be held in the Horticultural Hall, and in the Hall of the Y. M. C. A. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. (11 A. M. — Academy of Music.) Opening Sermon. William M. Paxton, D. D., New York City. (3 — 5 p. M.— Horticultural Hall.) Business Meeting. — Organizaiion. Address of Welcome. William P. Breed, D. D., Philadelpnia, Pa. Report of Committee on Statistics. Prof. William G. Blaikie, D. D., LL. D., Edinburgh, Chairman. ilYz—gyi P- M.) The Ceremonial, the Moral, and the Eftiotionai in Christian Life and Worship. Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., New York City. Modern Theological Thought. Principal Robert Rainy, D. D., Edinburgh. Religion in Secular Affairs. Principal G. M. Grant, D. D., Kingston, Canada. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. (914 A. M. — I P. M. — Horticultural Hall.) Inspiration, Authenticity and Interpretation of the Scriptures. Prof. E. P. Humphrey, D. D., LL. D., Louisville, Ky. Prof. Robert Watts, D. D., Belfast. I— 2>^ p. M.— INTERMISSION. (2^ 4/^ P- M.) Distinctive JPrinciples of Presbyterianism. Prof. Samuel J. Wilson, D. D., LL. D., Allegheny City, Pa. "Worship of the Reformed Churches." John DeWitt, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Ruling Elders. Hon. S. M. Breckinridge, St. Louis, Mo. C. H. Read, D. D., Richmond, Va. (7:^—9:^ P- M.) The Pulpit in Relation to Family Worship ajid Children. Alexander McLeod, D. D., Birkenhead. The Application of the Gospel to Einploycrs and Employed. William G. Blaikie, D. D., LL. D., Edinburgh. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 59 Christianity the Friend of the Working Classes. Hon. Chief-Justice C. D. Drake, Washington, D. C. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. (9^ A. M. — I P. M.) ^ Revealed Religion, in its Relation to Science and Philosophy. Forms of Modern Infidelity. "The Relations of Science and Theology." Prof. Henry Calder\Vood, LL. D., Edinburgh. " How to deal with young men trained in science, in this age of unsettled opinion." President James McCosh, D. D., LL. D., Princeton, N. J. I— 2>^ p. M.— INTERMISSION. lyi — 41^ p. M. Forenoon subject contimied. "Apologetics." Ed. de Pressense, D. D., Paris. Paper. "Agnosticism." Prof. Robert Flint, D. D., LL. D., Edinburgh. (7j4 P. M.) Reception given to the Delegates by the Board of Publication, in their building on Chestnut Street, which has been placed at the disposal of the Council during its Sessions. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27. (9I/2 A. M. — I p. M. — Horticultural Hall.) Report of Committee on Creeds and Co?fessions. Prof. Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D., New York, Chairman. A. B. Van Zandt, D. D., New Brunswick, N. J. Bible Revision. T. W. Chambers, D. D., New York City. i_2^ p. M.— INTERMISSION. (2^—41^ p. M.) Presbyhrianistn and Education. Prof. Edward D. Morris, D. D., Cincinnati, Ohio. " Religion and Education in New South Wales." Rev. Principal Kinross, Sydney. Presbyterianism in Relation to Civil and Religious Liberty. Sylvester F. Scovel, Pittsburgh, Pa. "Religion and Politics." Prof. Lyman H. Atwater, D. D., LL. D., Princeton, N. J. 6o THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Presbyterian Catholicity . George C. Hutton, D. D., Paisley. Principal D. H. MacVicar, LL. D., Montreal. William H. Campbell, D. D., New Brunswick, N. J. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28. (9^ A. M. — I P. M. — Horticultural Hall.) The Vicarious Sacrifice of C/irist. Principal John Cairns, D. D., Edinburgh. Prof. A. A. Hodge, D. D., Princeton, N. J. Future Retribution. T. D. Witherspoon, D. D., Petersburg, Va. i_2^ P. M.— INTERMISSION. (2>^— 43^ P. M.) Church Extension in Large Cities. R. M. Patterson, D. D., Philadebhia, Pa. William J. R. Taylor, D. D., Nevvark, N. J. Church Extension in sparsely settled Districts. W. J. Reid, D. D., Pittsburgh, Pa. " The Evangelization of Ireland." Robert Knox, D. D., Belfast. (7/^ — 9/^ P- ^^0 Sabbath-Schools — Their Use and Abuse. Arthur Mitchell, D. D., Chicago, 111. Evangelists and Evangelistic Work. "Recent Evangelistic Work in Paris." George Fisch, D. D., Paris. Paper. Joseph R. Wilson, D. D., Wilmington, N. C. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29. (9^ A M. — I P. M. — Horticultural Hall.) The Theology of the Reformed Church. "The Conflict between Faith and Rationalism in Holland." Prof. J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D., Utrecht. Paper. "The Theology of the Reformed Church with special reference to the Westminster Standards." Prof. Alex. Mitchell, D. D., St. Andrews. "The Theology of the German Reformed Church." Prof. Thomas G. Apple, D. D., Lancaster, Pa. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 6i x—zY-z p. M.— INTERMISSION. (2>^— 41^ p. M.) Grounds and Methods of Admission to Sealing Ordifiances. Rev. D. D. Bannerman, M. A., Perth. "Baptism." T. P. Stevenson, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Church Discipline — Its Province and Use. Prof. Jonathan Edwards, D. D., LL. D., Danville, Ky. Prof. Leroy J. Halsey, D. D., Chicago, 111. (71^ — 9^ p. M. — Academy of Music.) Sabbath Observance. Prof. William Gregg, D. D., Toronto. Rev. Hervey D. Ganse, St. Louis, Mo. Temperance. Hon. William E. Dodge, New York City. Popular AtnnsemcJits. Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. (9^ A. M. — I P. M. — Horticultural Hall.) Report of Committee on Eoreign Mission Work. Wm. M. Paxton, D. D., New York City, ) . Chairmen J. Murray Mitchell, LL. D., Edinburgh, ) -^'^^"^ t-nairmen. J. Leighton Wilson, D. D., Baltimore, Md. "Co-operation among Missionaries." A Communication from the U. P. Church of Scotland. John C. Lowrie, D. D., New York City. I— 2>< p. M.— INTERMISSION. {2%—^y2 p. M.) The Proper Care, Support and Training of Candidates for the Ministry. Herrick Johnson, D. D., Chicago, 111. "Church Order and Church Life." J. Marshall Lang, D. D., Glasgow. "The World's Demand for Ministers." A Communication from the U. P. Church of Scotland. Systematic Beneficence. Hiram C. Hayden, D. D., Cleveland, Ohio. "Christian Beneficence." W. W. Barr, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Ministerial Support. Benjamin L. Agnew, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. Reports on the State of Religion in Heathen Countries. "Liberia." Rev. Edward Blyden, D. D. Paper. "South Africa." Rev. A. Mabille, Basuto Land. 6? THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. FRIDAY, OCTOBER i. . (9^ A. M. — I P. M. — Horticultural Hall.) Report of Committee on Modes of Helping the Churches of the European Continent. J. A. Campbell, Esq., LL. D., Glasgow, ) . .^^^ Chairmen David Maclagan, Esq., Edinburgh, j -^ " Our Relations to the Churches of the European Continent." Rev. J. S. Macintosh, Belfast. Reports on the State of Religion in "France." Rev. Adolphe Monod, Carcassonne, Aude. "Switzerland." Rev. A. F. Buscarlet, Lausanne. "Moravia." Rev. Ferdinand Cizar, Klobouk. Paper. Letter fri)n the National Evangelical Union of Geneva. i—^y^ P. M.— INTERMISSION. i^Y-z — aYi p- i^i-) Report of Committee on Desiderata of Presbyterian History. Alexander Mitchell, D. D., St. Andrews, Chairviati. "Diffusion of Presbyterian Literature." Wm. P. Breed, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. " Church Work in Australia." Revivals of Religion. Edwin F. Hatfield, D. D., New York City, Personal Religion. Prof. David Steele, D. D., Philadelphia, Pa. "Regeneration." Prof. J. H. A. Bomberger, D. D., Ursinus College, Pa. (71^ — 9^ p. M. — Academy of Music.) Reports on State of Religion in 1. "Bohemia." Rev. Justus Em. Szalatnay, Velim. 2. " Spain." Rev. Fritz Fliedner, Madrid. 3. "Italy." Prof. Emilio Comba, Florence. 4. "Belgium. Romanism and the School Question." Rev. Leonard Anet, Brussels. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2. (Horticultural Hall.) Miscellaneous Business. SABBATH EVENING, OCTOBER 3. Farewell Meeting. During the sessions of the Council, a meeting will be held in the Hall of the Y. M. C. A., on the evening of Tuesday, September 28th, at which addresses will be given in the German language, by Rev. Wm. Krafft, D. D., of Bonn ; Prof. Pfleiderer, Ph. D., of Kornthal ; Rev. O. Erdman, of Elberfeld ; and the Rev. Fritz Fliedner. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 63 The Rev. Principal Robert Rainv, D. D. — It is hardly neces- sary that anything should be said on this report. At the same time it is not right that this piece of business should pass with- out a very express recognition of the invaluable services which have been rendered to this body by the committee and sub- committees, whose labors have been referred to by Dr. Breed. Any one who thinks a moment of what is implied in our meet- ing will understand that the members of this committee, espe- cially those that have special charge, must have passed and must be still passing through a period of great anxiety, and, in addi- tion, that they have been expending an immense amount of labor in a series of very severe and distracting services with a view to our comfort and the success of our meeting. I am sure that we feel deeply grateful to them, and our hope is they may have the reward of seeing their labors crowned by a very suc- cessful, happy, and useful meeting. If that should be the case, to them certainly will belong a very great share of the credit. I shall venture to say that they have furnished us with an ad- mirable programme ; indeed, the only feeling I have about it is a sort of fear that it is almost too good a programme. I wish we may prove worthy in our part of the programme set down for us to fill. I hope we shall, and that the committee will have the comfort and satisfaction of seeing that they have not overrated our ability to go through this very remarkable roll of work which they have put before us. I beg leave to move that the report now read be accepted and that its recommendations be adopted. Rev. John Jenkins, D. D., of Montreal, Canada. — Mr. Chair- man, before you put the motion in regard to the programme, I would like to suggest to the committee whether it might not be desirable to review the programme with a view to its being shortened, so that there might be more time left for our taking counsel together. It does seem to me that, if all that we reach during this Council shall be the reading of papers and a few re- marks on each paper at the close, even if there be time for such remarks, which is not at all likely, we shall go away with- out having accomplished what every one of us desires to ac- complish, namely, taking counsel together in regard to the 64 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. great work which we, as Presbyterian Churches, have at heart and are seeking to accompHsh. I do not desire to move an amendment to this report. I would rather throw it out as a suggestion. If the suggestion is adopted, and if it is understood, then I shall move no amendment. With my conviction I could not allow the motion to pass without making these remarks. I have" every appreciation of the difficulty which the committee lias had in preparing this programme. It is a wonderful pro- gramme, and the production is worthy of the committee, but in my judgment it is too large a programme for ten days. Dr. Breed. — May I call attention to the statement in the report that this is adopted subject to such modifications as may be expedient and necessary ; and therefore in the report itself there is an opening made for the very modification that Dr. Jen- kins suggests? Dr. Jenkins. — That is all I desire, if that is understood. As I heard the report read, it struck me that it was capable of two interpretations. The interpretation of which it is capable and to which I take exception is this: that if a paper were too long you could cut it short, or if we overstep by five minutes the length of a session you could suspend it. If it is understood that we can modify this programme according to the necessities of the Council, I am satisfied. Rev. Dr. Knox, of Belfast. — I am in entire sympathy with the proposition made by Dr. Jenkins. It was the only thing that I regretted in the proceedings of the Council at Edinburgh, that we had not the opportunity, owing to the number and length of the papers, of opening our hearts to each other as members of a council might be expected to do. I am not prepared with any proposition that might carry out the idea of Dr. Jenkins, but I do hope that in some way or other this programme may be modified. Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D., of New York. — Allow me to .say as a member of the Programme Committee, that I feel it is due in justice to all these distinguished gentlemen from Europe and America, to give them a full chance to read their papers within thirty minutes — papers which have been prepared with great SECOND GENERAL , COUNCIL. 65 care, and which I have no doubt will be very instructive and very interesting to us all. If we oegin to cut down, to rule out some, where shall we begin ? where shall we end ? Can we do that at all without a palpable act of injustice to those that are thus ruled out? I feel the difficulty which has been suggested. We had precisely the same difficulty at the General Council of the Evangelical Alliance in New York in 1873, and we got over the difficulty by dividing the conference into sections, two or three meetings being held simultaneously in the Young Men's Christian Association, and in two or three surrounding churches,' and in that way we got through the whole programme ; and I think it would be wise to maUe a similar division here, as from appearances we may not only expect this building, but two churches in the neighborhood, to be very comfortably filled, so as to give to all the speakers on the programme and to other delegates a chance to make themselves heard. Dr. Jenkins. — I shall venture to propose a resolution, and I will do it, not for the purpose of opposing or undervaluing the work which has been undertaken by our friends of the Pro- gramme Committee, but for the very reason which has been urged by my friend Dr. Schaff I do it for this reason : I want the Council to keep together; I do not want the Council to divide itself into half a dozen sections to go — what for? to read their papers not to the Council, but in each case to a tenth part of the Council, leaving nine-tenths not to listen to perhaps the very best paper that may be brought before it. I think that this Council has come to keep together, and we have come to hear each other, to exchange views, to take counsel ; and I feel that we are competent to express an opinion as a Council as to the propriety of going through this programme suggested by the Programme Committee. I understand that this is now to be voted upon by the Council ; and I venture, therefore, to move that the programme be referred to a committee for revision, with a view to limit, if possible, the number of papers, and thus give more ample scope for taking counsel together in the Lord. Rev. Alexander Mackenzie, of Edinburgh, seconded Dr Jenkins' motion. 5 66 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL. D., of Edinburgh. — Allow me a few words as one who has prepared a paper with some pains. I should be perfectly willing that only a part of that paper should be read, and that I be assigned as little time as the Council pleases. Surely the fact that the paper is, as I un- derstand, to be published ought to be perfectly satisfactory to every one that has prepared a paper. I should exceedingly regret if any papers were thrown out ; should very much prefer that a shorter time than was intended should be given to each paper; and then I entirely agree with Dr. Jenkins that discussion and friendly intercourse is unspeakably to be desired. Dr. Schaff. — Those gentlemen who have been invited to prepare papers for the programme were, in the very letter of the invitation, restricted to t4iirty minutes for delivery, while at the .same time they were assured that their papers would be printed in full in the volume to be published. We have made an exact calculation of the time, and if every speaker strictly confines himself to thirty minutes, we can go through the whole pro- gramme as it is, and have ample room for discussion. Rev. Dr. S. I. Prime, of New York. — I most heartily desire that this resolution may be either withdrawn or laid upon the table. The committee has been nearly three years in correspondence with our brethren in different parts of the world, asking them to prepare themselves to present their best thoughts upon the great questions that come before this Council ; and I do not think it would be right, after the labors of that committee with their cor- respondents, at the very opening of the Council to appoint an .extempore committee with the power to run a ploughshare through its work, and shut the mouths of any of these brethren that have come from all parts of the world. That appears to me to be too sudden an operation for even us Americans to submit to. There is not the slightest necessity for any apprehension of the Council being bored to death with these papers. 1 pledge my word to you that there is not a man here who will transgress upon the time after the very eloquent intimations that have been made by these beloved brethren that they do not want to hear him. I therefore beg that this resolution may be withdrawn, SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 67 and that you will allow the Council to go on with its own work; when' you see that there is any want of time for counsel, it will be perfectly easy for you to ask the brethren to shorten their papers ; but do not appoint a committee now with the power to revise this programme, and cut out any of the speakers. You are needlessly alarmed, brethren ; there is plenty of time. Dr. Jenkins. — I ask leave of the Council, with the consent of my seconder, to withdraw the amendment. The President. — The amendment is now withdrawn. I un- derstand, under the statement made by the chairman of the Com- mittee of Arrangements, that, if at any time the Council wishes, a motion may be submitted for an alteration of the plan. The report, with its recommendations, was then adopted. REPORTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS. Dr. Schaff. — I wish to offer a resolution supplementary to the item which refers to publication. I do not want to interfere with the arrangements already made for the publication of the volume of proceedings ; I only want this Council to give more definite instruction concerning the amount of matter to be pub- lished, with an additional suggestion which, I think, is of con- siderable importance, and ought to be acted upon now. The resolution is as follows : Resolved, I. That under the provisional arrangement made by the Business Committee, the opening sermon, the essays and documents prepared by invitation of the Programme Committee, and a resume of the discussion on the topics of the programme, together with an introductory sketch of the Council and a full list of members, be published under the direction of the Editorial Committee. 2. That a complimentary copy of the proceedings be sent to every programme speaker who has prepared a paper, and to every theological seminary in Europe and America in con- nection with the Presbyterian Church, at the expense of the Council. The Rev. Pr6f. Nicholas Hofmeyr moved to amend that Africa be included in the resolution. 68 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. The amendment was accepted, and the resolution, as amended, agreed to. PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL. The Rev. Robert Knox, D. D. — I would like to submit the names of certain members of this Council who may be invited to preside at some of our meetings. There has not been time to make out a complete list, but the following are submitted as brethren who may preside at the forenoon meetings of the follow- ing days, namely : The Rev. Dr. Wallace, Chairman for the fore- noon to-morrow ; the Rev. Dr. Niccolls, on Sa-turday in the fore- noon ; the Rev. Dr. William Brown, on the forenoon of Monday ; the Rev. Dr. Main, on Tuesday ; the Rev. Dr. Lang, on Wednes- day; the Rev. Dr. Watts, on Thursday ; Rev. Dr. Van Geison, on Friday, and the Rev. Prof Caven, on Saturday. In addition to this there is one other nomination, namely : that the Rev. Dr. Stratton preside this evening. I move the appointment of the brethren whose names you have heard to preside on the occasions I have spoken of. Rev. Principal Caven, of Toronto. — I had the honor of being appointed to this position by the last Council, and I think it is well that these honors should be distributed as widely as pos- sible. I would therefore ask that the Council would allow my name to be withdrawn from that list. I very highly appreciate the honor, but I think some other members should be given an opportunity in my place. The name was withdrawn. Rev. Villeroy D. Reed, of Camden, N. J. — Certain gentle- men are there named to preside at the morning meetings : is it understood that they preside at all the sessions ? The Chairman. — No, sir. Dr. Reed. — I would suggest that the committee whp have so kindly prepared the list, appoint chairmen for all the ses- sions. Dr. Knox, of Belfast. — I mentioned at the outset that there had not been time to complete the list, but I understand that the committee who have presented the short list which I read SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 69 will be prepared very soon to complete the list of chairmen for all the meetings. The motion of Dr. Knox was then agreed to by the Council. The following is the list of Presidents as finally perfected : Rev. Professor Henry Calderwood, Rev. John Marshall Lang, D. D. LL. D. " Professor Nicholas Hofmeyr. " Joseph B. Stratton, D. D. Wm. P. Webb, Esq. " D. A. Wallace, D. D. Rev. Thomas Main, D. D. " Thomas C. Porter, D. D., " James M. Rodgers. LL. D. T. W. Taylor, Esq. Hon. Wra. Strong, Justice Supreme Rev. Robert Watts, D. D. Court, U. S. A. " James Dodds, D. D. Rev. Professor Wm. Henry Green, " Wm. Wood. D. D.,LL. D. " Abraham R. Van Gieson, Hon. Horace Maynard, Postmaster- D. D. General, U. S. A. Hon. Samuel Sloan. Rev. Wm. Roberts, D. D. Jacob Rader, Esq. Francis Brown Douglass, Esq. Rev. James Nish. Rev. Professor D. R. Kerr, D. D. BUSINESS COMMITTEE. The Chairman. — The next point is the appointment of the Business Committee. Professor Flint, of Edinburgh. — The motion which I have to lay before the Council is one in connection with which it would be unseasonable that I should take up the time of the Council any longer than it requires simply to read it. Its neces- sity is self-evident, and the names included in it will be an addi- tional recommendation of it. I therefore move that the follow- ing members constitute the Business Committee of the Council Ministers. Rev. S. Irengeus Prime, D. D. Rev. Joachim Elmendorf, D. D. Philip Schaff, D. D., LL. D. " Charles A. Dickey, D. D. JamesMcCosh,D.D.,LL. D. " Robert Rainy, D. D. Robert Knox, D. D. " John Marshall Lang, D. D. D. R. Kerr, D. D. " Wm. J. Reid, D. D. Wm. Paxton, D. D. " Wm. Roberts, D. D. E. T. Jeffers, D. D. " John H. A. Bomberger,D.D. Wm. H.Green, D.D.,LL.D. " R. McCheyne Edgar. William Brown, D. D. " Wm. P. Breed, D. D. 70 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Elders. Rev. Prof. H. Calderwood, LL. D. Jacob Rader, Esq. David Corsar, Esq. Thos. McCance, Esq. Edmund A. Stuart Gray, Esq. Hon. Thos. A. Hamilton. Jas. Thin, Esq. " John L. Marye. A. T. Niven, Esq. " Wm. Strong, LL. D. Jas. Croil, Esq. With the Clerks. The motion was agreed to. STANDING ORDERS. Dr. Dales, of Philadelphia. — I hold in my hand the Standing Orders of the last Council, and I move you that they be adopted as the orders and rules for this Council, with such modifications as the Business Committee may think proper to present to the Council. The motion was agreed to. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STATISTICS. Professor Blaikie. — The report on statistics which I have to submit is in the form of a large tabular sheet, which it is utterly impossible to read to the Council, but which may be printed in the proceedings of the Council. I have to state that this sheet contains a summary of statistics, received in reply to a query issued by the committee, to which replies have been obtained from thirty-four of the Churches connected with the Alliance. Of these thirty-four, thirteen Churches are on the continent of Europe, nine in the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, six in the United States, and six in the British colonies. I have to state that the return might be made a little more complete if a day or two were allowed for the purpose, and if this sheet is remitted to the convener he will endeavor to make it as complete as possible. At the same time it is to be observed that it is difficult to get a uniform system of statis- tics, because different Churches have different ways of acknowl- edging various things, and therefore you cannot always be sure that the return from one Church corresponds with the return from another. We may do our best by a few notes to indicate SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 71 these exceptional cases. I have likewise to state that I think it would be of great benefit for this Council to authorize a com- mittee to request Churches that have no statistical committee to consider the propriety of appointing such committee in order that we may get authorized returns from all. In that way I think before another meeting of the Council, we shall be in a favorable position to obtain a uniform and satisfactory set of statistics applicable to all the Churches that are associated with us. The Council then adjourned to 7^ o'clock in the evening. EVENING SESSION. The Council was called to order at 7^ o'clock, by the Rev. Joseph B. Stratton, D. D., of Natchez, Miss., as President for the session, and was opened with prayer. The Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., read the fol- lowing paper : THE CEREMONI.\L, THE MORAL AND THE EMOTIONAL IN CHRISTIAN LIFE AND WORSHIP. Alliance always implies, always confesses separateness and differ- ence, both before and after: as of families allied by intermarriage, nations allied by treaty, Christian communions allied by covenant. With families and nations, alliance is the highest and final good in that direction. Mankind will never be literally one family, but only a great conglomerate of families; nor one nation, but, at best, only a grand confederacy of nations, of republics it may be, as Gervinus dreamed. But the Church of Christ is properly and strictly one, or ought to be, and will be: not "one fold," as most of our Englisii versions have had it, but, as Tyndale had it, and the Greek has it, "one flock," under the One Shepherd. Such oneness must certainly be more than mere union : it is unity. This our Presbyterian Alliance of course emphasizes Presbyterian- ism ; but in no hard, narrow, narrowing way. It looks out in all directions, and is actually leading out, into wider fellowships. Its next logical consequent had already in fact preceded it : I mean th^ ecumenic Protestant Alliance, Evangelical we call it, which, in 1552, John Calvin, as he wrote to Cranmer, would have crossed ten seas to assist in consummating. In time we shall see that still better ecumenic Christian Alliance, of which there is scarcely a sign as yet. And then at last, in God's own time, far down the horizon now, we shall have 72 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. not union only, but unity, the real unity, for which our Lord prayed, and the ages wait. Christendom is not Occident alone, nor Orient alone, but the two together. Nor is the Occident either Protestant alone, or Roman Catholic alone, but the two together. And these nineteen Christian centuries are more and better, taken all together, than any three of them, whether the first three or the last three, or any six of them, or any eighteen of them. The one Christ is in them all, in all and in each. Christianity, even its bitterest enemies will admit, has been one of the great religions of the world. Is it likewise one of the decadent, sj^ent religions? Is it now losing, whether fast or slowly, its old conquering power, and relaxing its old grasp everywhere? Many men are saying this. And some signs might be so interpreted. Leaving the Latin Church, and leaving the Oriental Churclies, all of them, out of the account, is there or not, in our own Protestant Christendom, a real decay of faith ? How is it on the Continent of Europe, in Holland, Switzerland, and Germany? How is it in Great Britain? In the United States? Everywhere, I think, most of the great denomina- tions are lamenting, for one thing, a diminished and diminishing attendance upon Sabbath services. And they are complaining, for another thing, that the old doctrines of the Reformation, as we have called them, the doctrines of our earlier Protestant Confessions, are neither so stoutly preached, nor so cordially received, as they used to be. Mistake is easy in regard to such matters, and exaggeration is easy, in our present mood of mind. For one I think I see both mis- take and exaggeration here. And yet I cannot wholly deny the alleged decay. In philosophy, which always rules at last, materialism was never, probably, quite so thoroughly worked out, nor quite so overbearing, as it is to-day. Everything spiritual is very sharply challenged. The air is full of frost. The crops are all gathered in. Nothing saintly or heroic grows any more. Winter appears to be coming on. Is it the final winter of the solar system, the great central sun itself steadily burning out? Or is it only the winter of a revolving planet ? We must not take things too easily, to be sure. Puritanism has been a great factor in history over and over again ; and, in some matters of vital moment, has undoubtedly had the right of it. But Puritanisni is discontent, protest, resistance, revolution perhaps; and is liable to be harsh, angular, one-sided. Its fellowship is strict, jealous, intolerant. It is hard on the weak and foolish. It cuts down the number of the saved. The Novatians of the fourth century deserved the rebuke they got from Constantine in the person of their champion at the Council of Nice: "Take a ladder, O Akesios, and climb alone into heaven." The mediaeval Puritans were, many of them, dualists. In England, two hundred and fifty years ago, Puritanism and Presbylerianism were not synonymes, neither yet now are they synonymes, there or here. The Westminster divines, : two ."ce of .■:i, or - -."d m '.;|.erit . uan .'! liie i-eal .. .iiiid, [:. ihe " T.n- ;, :or .;l;2ve >, are .A to . ■ :ion is ; raii- ::.\ the .-.r.alffli ■ lite so ■ .sarply -edin. /, to be i.:,ter of a -:x^ lias -■ in some '.fit. But ■■jps; and s strict, It cuts -: century ;. of their ,,sos,aii ai -■.!hn : Which .^e any :': ques- ■•::?3iis . :'m • :avor. ", con- 'Chris- •.isffbicbthe !■■:• which .vniav . irord. ■ ■aent , ;:' men I et this ■ ;,ib!e uxinis _ , daiins . ;, in its ' :.niay xrip- 90 7 HE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. setting it as an argument against unbelievers, we applied our own principles on this subject to the general body of our opinions, and the structure of our arguments. Suppose it became usual for us to recognize degrees of certainty in our conclusions on different points, and to seek to appreciate those degrees — distinguishing what is funda- mental in the faith, and ranks as clear Christian certainty, from what is more or less matter of reasonable likelihood, of inference, or of speculation. We all own, in a general way, that our positions vary in strength of evidence and in cogency of obligation in the under- standing. But could not effect be given to this in a habit of candid self-criticism? It might be a bold undertaking to try this, in detail. But may we not doubt whether much impression will be produced on the age, till in some way or other it appears to men that we take a cordial and candid interest in the gradation and proportion of strength pertaining to our own arguments? In this way perhaps something would be done towards meeting a desideratum which some have signal- ized. There are believing theologians who desire that a discrimina- tion may be made in the practice of our Churches, between two the- ologies, a biblical one, and one that is speculative or philosophical. The first would represent the matter of Christian creed, and wculd contain the main tilings which the Bible propounds to faith. The other should be the platform on which men might propound without offense any revered thoughts they had as to the manner in which Bible teaching should be conceived to relate itself to philosophical questions or efforts, to the human soul, or to the whole world of truth which the mind of man from various sources has received. I need not argue the point. But I do not myself see how this distinction is to be made. At least I do not see it, if the distinction is to be more than ideal, if it is to aff ct the practice of the Churches and the theo- logical responsibilities of ofifice-bearers. But the practical ends desid- erated might perhaps be gained along the line I have suggested, if our theology accustomed itself to mark differences of the kind I have indicated ; if, with its believing fervor it combined more of a critical reflection on itself; if it exhibited an effort, cordial and habitual, to estimate, how far it is dealing with immutable certainties, and how far moving into regions and along lines where the consciousness of human liability to err should be not only cherished but acknowl- edged, and even emphasized. The Rev. Principal G. M. Grant, D. D., of Kingston, Can- ada, read the following paper : THE RELATION OF RELIGION TO SECULAR LIFE. Secular life : what does it include? The life of the senses; family and social life ; industrialism ; trade and commerce ; politics ; science, opening new pages to its students every day; art, revealing fresh beauty to each young age that steps on the old scene ; literature, reaching all classes with its multiplymg hands. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 91 Religion, what does it include? God, the soul, Immortality. More particularly, Jesus Christ and his salvation. What relation can there be between those two spheres ? the secularist asks. Secular life deals with facts ; religion deals with words. We cannot demonstrate even the existence of God, much less the pecu- liarities of any religion. We cannot know that Jesus rose from the dead, as we know, for instance, that good food is desirable. Let us then be satisfied with the sphere of the knowable. What shall we say to this? I believe that we can know the truths of religion. Let us clearly understand how, and under what condi- tions. Intellectually, we must be satisfied with probable evidence. This evidence is certainly not lessening. The most destructive modern criticism, in admitting into court the great epistles of St. Paul, really admits all the historical and philosophical basis that is required ; and each new generation of believers contributes to the cumulative force that the evidences have as a whole. The sceptic has no right to demand more. The lines traced by Bishop Butler are impregnable here. But, at the same time, I admit at once that prob- ability is not enough. Religion, like morality, must speak in the "categorical imperative." No people ever embraced religion be- cause there was probable evidence of its truth. No one ever " greatly dared or nobly died " in the faith of a Pei-haps. The certainties of the secular will as a matter of fact be supreme, unless there are more supreme certainties. And there are. How do we know? By spiritual perception. So have men obtained spiritual certainty in all ages ; so must they obtain it still. The senses reveal material things. Experience and judg- ment correct the evidence of the senses. Direct intuition reveals spiritual things. Reason and conscience purify our intuitions. Spiritual revelations must be seen in their own light. God, says Holy Scripture, "reveals them to us by his Spirit." The Spirit witnesses to our spirits of spiritual truth. No higher certainty than the cer- tainty of vision is possible. When a man is in the light, can any number of men persuade him that he is not? To what does the witness of the Spirit extend ? To no question the decision of which rests with science : science must continue to toil at every problem that its instruments can reach. To none of the questions raised by criticism and scholarship ; these must be deter- mined by criticism and scholarship. Their solution may be hindered, but certainly cannot be helped by papal bulls or the votes, of Pres- byterian General Assemblies. The Spirit witnesses to our spirits of God. The Spirit revealed Jehovah to the Jews, and reveals Jesus to us. The Old Testament promise was, " To him that ordcreth his conversation aright shall be shown the salvation of God." The New Testament promise is, " If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my- self." The promise is the same and indicates the condition of the Spirit's acting ui)on our spirits. The more unreservedly we trust the promise, the more completely is our faith vindicated. 92 THE PRESBYTERIAN' ALLIANCE. As regards influence on life, the difference between probability and certainty amounts to a difference of kind rather than degree. To believe that Jesus is risen, merely on the testimony of witnesses who might have been mistaken, is not a working faith. To believe, be- cause the Spirit of Jesus also witnes.ses to our spirits that he is living and dwells in us, is the faith that conquers the world. Whoso hath this faith, though an angel from heaven preached another gospel, would not be unsettled. To whom else should he go ? Jesus has the words of eternal life. No one else can solve for him all spiritual problems. Jesus Christ and him crucified is for him the supreme verity. This great historical fact has become an all-satisfying spiritual fact. It brings the two opposite sides of God's character revealed in the Old Testament into the unity of a living person. It lays hold upon us by the two opposite sides of our character — the self and the not-self, one or other of which all other philosophies of life ignore. We die to the lower, and we find the higher self. Dying, we live. We are born again, and nothing can be more certain than our con- sciousness of life. Standing on this foundation, other than which no man can lay, we are on the rock. Unless we can get on this foundation ot spiritual certainty, it is useless to expect that religion will influence secular affairs. The current of human life, with its manifold interests, will sweep on its course, indifferent to all the appeals and argumentations of priests or presbyters. But, standing on this foundation, all life becomes religious. Life here will consist in following Jesus. Life hereafter will be to see him as he is ; to be with him ; to be like him. Religion, then, is not a matter of words that clever men can dispute about. It is the supreme reality. Its relation to the subordinate realities of secular life is the next point to be clearly understood. The relation is not of one form to another, but of spirit to all forms. As far as the religious and the secular are separate spheres, they are not independent, much less hostile, but concentric. They revolve round one axis, have one centre and one law of life. Historically, this has not been their relative positions. Christianity has often been regarded as formal, rather than spiritual ; as having a department of its own distinct from and over against the department of ordinary life, which has been called, with more or less accentua- tion, " the world." Even when regarded as spiritual, its object has been h'jld to be not so much the development of humanity, in the school of this world, to all its rightful issues, as the deliverance of man from future penalties and his preparation for future bliss. And as the future is eternal and the present temporal, the interests of the present were felt to be insignificant, and the religious man was de- scribed as trampling upon and despising the present, and longing for the future world. It is not to be wondered at that Christianity developed in this direction when the powers of this world were leagued against it, and sought to destroy it by persecutions that followed each other in quick succession. And subsequently, when floods of barbarians SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 93 overwhelmed the monuments of ancient civilization, and the church, immediately after winning the Roman empire, had to control hordes who could be appealed to only through the senses and the imagina- tion, it is not to be wondered at that religion felt it necessary to retreat behind mysteries into which superstition dared not penetrate, and to present itself to the senses as a vast organization more august than the kingdoms of earth. Secular life was allowed its sphere, sordid, earthy, brutal, violent. Religion had its own sphere, unrelated to the other, and where it was supposed no one breathed aught save the atmosphere of heaven. But this disruption of the secular and the reli- gious proved fatal to both. Horrible are the true pictures of mediaeval secular life ; the all but universal ignorance, filth, violence, lust, lit up by the lurid light of superstition. Equally horrible the pictures of mediaeval religious life, even to him who discerns the soul of beauty and good in those " ages of faith ; " developments of unnatural asceti- cism, side by side with spiritual pride, and priestly craft, and a love of power that towered to heaven, and beside which the ambitions of barons and kaisers seemed contemptible; enforced poverty, enforced celibacy, the hair shirt, the iron girdle, side by side with the forged decretals, interdicts, Canossa, the triple crown. Mediaeval art reveals to us the saintship of the middle ages, and even when we admire the faith, we shrink back from the unnatural manifestations. At length, religion, divorced from ordinary life, became divorced from morality. When Borgias issued interdicts ; when monasteries became the homes of ignorance and sensuality ; revolt had to take place. Humanity had been outraged intellectually and spiritually. Accordingly the revolt assumed two phases, the Renaissance and the Reformation. The two movements, sympathetic at first, did not understand each other, because they did not understand the whole content of humanity. The one ignored the spiritual, the other did not do full justice to the secular. And so the two sides of our nature, the two spheres in which we all live, were not and have not yet been harmonized. Religion rejected asceticism, but was still unwilling to admit secular life as divine, or a sphere as capable of being divinized as its own chosen sphere. Was not the world the home of sin? Alas! sin comes a good deal nearer us than that. Sin is within, not without. While in the heart, it enters with us into the sanctuary or closet as readily as into the counting-house or the opera-house. When cast out of the heart, then the world is seen filled with divine order and purpose, its laws the thoughts of God, the work of life and the relations of society the appointed means of education. But it is not to be wondered at that this was not seen all at once. Slowly the education of the race proceeds; and well that it is so. Religion had so long assumed that the world was a desert, the enemy's < ountry, and the body the soul's prison and enemy, that radically different concep- tions could not be reached at once. Besides, when the pendulum, having swung so far in one direction, began in the case of general society to swing to the other extreme, religious men dreaded lest their 94 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLLINCE. newly-won freedom should degenerate into licentiousness. In the chosen parable of Puritanism, the world is therefore pictured as the City of Destruction, from which it is man's first duty to escape for his life. The relation of religion to secular life was still one of hos- tility, or, at the best, of watchfulness. Human ties, the work and play^ of life, the attractions of art, were believed to be on the whole inimical to religion. Did they not chain the heir of heaven to this dunghill earth ? Did they not by their fascinations continually lure him from the gates of paradise? And so it came to pass that, at one time or an- other to the hurt of religion and to the hurt of the various departments of secular life, religion and industrialism, religion and pohtics, reli- gion and literature, religion and art, religion and science, religion and culture have stood not shoulder to shoulder but on opposite sides, or at the best in the attitude of compromise and bare toleration of each other. It has been popularly felt in a confused kind of way that the Christian must be distinguished outwardly from " the world," by some badge of look, tone, dress, or manner; by something different from that which characterizes ordinary men ; that his life should be hedged in by rules and restrictions positive and negative ; that the soul should be on its guard lest the fence round the sacred precincts of religion might be broken down; and that the very joys of family life were secular and to be suspected. Have not laws been enacted prohibiting a man from kissing his wife on Sunday? When such a hard and fast line was drawn, naturally enough men came to feel it as great an impropriety to read a religious book on Mondays, as to kiss their wives on Sundays. It is difficult to say where this identification of religion with the formal has done most harm. We see its evil influences not in Roman- ism only, but less or more in every Protestant Church ; in the popular conception of the sacraments as talismans and of the Bible as a book let down from heaven in the original Hebrew and Greek, if not exactly in King James' version, instead of a literature that took shape under unique literary and historical conditions which are only now being fully considered ; in the conception of Christianity as an arbitrary scheme rather than light from heaven delightful to the spiritual eye, food from heaven that alone can satisfy and that satisfies abundantly the spiritual necessities of humanity ; in the Church's lack of sponta- neity and of heroism ; in its timidity in the presence of great social questions, or even of very small questions; in its frequent preference of repression over educational development, and of '* thou shalt not," over the much more important "thou shalt ; " in the divorce between the religion, and the commercial, political, and international life of Christian nations; in a secularized literature and in the namby- pamby attempts to Christianize literature; in the ignoring of art, and in the too frequent attitude of hostility to science betrayed by a tone of irritation, suspicion, or depreciation regarding eminent scientific men indulged in by people from whom better things might be ex- pected. For dislike to science on the part of truly religious men is SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 95 especially irrational ; uneasiness displayed when new facts are discov- ered, or new theories broached — it may be only as working theories — especially humiliating, and calculated to remind sceptics of the atti- tude assumed by the monks three or four centuries ago towards those dangerous languages — Greek and Hebrew. It is not merely neutrality that science has a right to expect at the hands of religion, but boundless encouragement and favor. The alarm into which sections of the Church have again and again been thrown by astronomy, geology, biology, and indeed by everv new science, and the passive resistance offered to increase of knowledge is simply bewildering to one who has correct conceptions of the proper sphere of religion, and has done much to discredit all religion with the partly educated working classes, who, though unable to dis- tinguish the real state of the case, are shrewd enough to infer that only they are opposed to science who believe that science is opposed to them. Naturally enough, many scientific men have become coarse, arrogant and one-sided in their turn ; and so instead of theologians determining the boundaries of science by the Bible, we now more frequently have scientific men excluding religion from the sphere of the knowable, unless it meekly submits to its tests of prayer-gauges in hospitals, and the crucibles and retorts of the laboratory. In giving this historical sketcli of the actual relations that have ex- isted between religion and the various departments of secular life, there is, of course, no intention of depreciating the great ones of other days on whose shoulders we stand. Those who subdued the Roman Empire and won it for Jesus Christ; those who, out of the raw material . of savage Lombards, Huns, Goths, Wends, Slavs, Saxons, Northmen, laid the foundations of European Christianity ; those Reformers and Puritans to whom we owe the freedom, the purity, and the power of modern life, we could not depreciate even if we would. Criticism itself is out of place until our deeds equal theirs. Let us clearly understand that Christianity came as a new life to a world corrupt and dying. The life had to contend with all op- posing forces. In every age it won more or less of triumph. It alone lifted the world ; it alone bore fruit. In our own modern times, too, we might almost say that it alone has been fruitful — fruitful in elevating man, in ensuring the purity of family life, political order, industrial development, philanthropic endeavor, missionary activity, educational development, and even scientific progress. There is scarcely a college in the new even as in the old world that does not owe its existence directly or indirectly to the Church. That one fact ought to outweigh the fanaticisms of the more ignorant of the clergy, were these multiplied an hundredfold. It shows that the Church has .been guided by a wise instinct; that it knows that religion must be founded on the eternal principles of knowledge connected with the highest purified convictionsof humanity, and co-extensive with the race. As Matthew Arnold, whom no one will suspect of depreciating culture, puts it, " Even now in this age, when more of beauty and more of 96 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. knowledge are so much needed, and knowledge at any rate is so highly esteemed, the revelation which rules the world, even now, is not Greece's revelation, but Judsa's; not the pre-eminence of art and science, but the pre-eminence of righteousness."* But we are not called upon to praise or blame men. Apart from their deeds and what they left undone, their wisdom and their mis- conceptions, we must determine from the central thought and life of Christianity the ideal relation between it and our secular life. Here there can be no mistake. To Jesus nothing that came from the Father was common or unclean ; that is, nothing was merely sec- ular. To him nature and humanity were reflections and embodi- ments of the Father's will ; to be studied by the man of science, in- terpreted by the spiritually minded, loved by the artist and by all. Behold the lilies, the grass, the fowls, he says to us. The labors of husbandmen, vine-dressers, fishermen, householders, stewards, traders are made to yield spiritual teaching. He does not preach, like the ascetic or pietist, " Do not seek for money, food, clothes, for you can do without such trifles ; attend to the soul ; that is the great thing." No, but he does say, "Have no heart-dividing cares about those things. Such cares only hinder work. Your Father knows that you need these things, and will he then withhold them from his children?" He consecrated nature and human life, work, ties and relationships. The Manichean view of life, even in the mild form of petty asceticisms in which we know it, divorces the kingdom of nature from the kingdom of grace, and by degrading the former deforms the latter. The secularist view of life denies that there is any kingdom of grace, and so robs nature of its meaning and beauty. For " when heaven was above us, earth looked very lovely ; when we came down on the earth, and believed that we had to do with nothing but it, earth became flat and dull ; its trees, its flowers, its sunlight lost their charms ; they became monotonous, more wearisome each day, be- cause we could not see beyond them." To Jesus the kingdoms of nature and grace always appeared in their ideal unity. The Author of the one was the Author of the other. He had made the one to correspond with and lead up to the other. Man had broken the di- vine unity and harmony. The Son of Man came to restore that which had been broken. The relation of religion to the secular, then, is the relation of a law of life to all the work of life. This law of life is not a catechism, not a dogma, but a spiritual power or influence. Its relation to the sec- ular is not arbitrary, but natural ; not statical, but dynamical ; not mechanical, but spiritual. Freedom is the condition of its healthful action. Let us define this law of life. It is the old law, old as humanity, which yet is new ; the old law of love, the full meaning and extent of which, Godward and manward, is shown in and by the cross. * " Literature and Dogma," p. 356. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 97 It is the child's love to the Father, and to the Father's children, and to the Father's works and purposes. Love means self-renunciation, and self-renunciation implies the new birth. He in whom this law of life is supreme, and who carries it victori- ously into every department of life with which he has to do, is truly a religious man. Religionists seem to fancy that it can survive only in the atmosphere of the sanctuary, the prayer-meeting, the confer- ence, the church court, or directly religious work. Not to speak of the fact that it is sometimes conspicuously absent from those spheres, perhaps because it went into them unproved, deprived of the dis- cipline of common life, there can be no doubt that such a theory dis- honors that which it pretends to honor. Both religious and secular life suffer accordingly. Secular life becomes mean, spiritual life hampered and twisted by arbitrary restrictions and minute observ- ances. The resultant type of manhood and womanhood — the true test of the theory — is far from being the highest. It is apt to give us the Pharisee, the fanatic, or at best the inoffensive and goody man, instead of heroes ; the gossip, back-biting, holy horror, and sleek self-satisfaction of the religious tea-table, instead of the acts of the apostles; the suppression of truth, the self-glorification, the spiritual pride, the teaching of whom to suspect, the malice of the denominational coterie, instead of the inspiration that should ever be breathing from the church of Christ upon a world lying in wickedness. Religion and conduct must be harmonized in every in- dividual, or one being is divided into two beings, with different faces and pulling different ways. Such a division is fatal. You cannot split a man into two without killing him. The different sides of our nature, like the different periods of our life, should be bound each to each by natural piety. Work should be prayerful, and prayer true work ; all life a psalm, and praise the breath of life, for the Chris- tian's life is love, and love is the only sufficient source of happiness. This law of life is not a formula, however sacred ; not a dogma constructed laboriously by the intellect in councils ecumenical or national, but " a force, a sap pervading the whole of life. It is at bottom not a book, though it has a book for basis and support. It is an unique but new fact that occupies the heart and moulds the con- duct, ... a fact which, when accepted, changes the whole position of man, operates a revolution in his entire being, moves, draws, re- news him."* This law of life acts not by mechanical rules, which are the same in all circumstances, but under the inspiration of the living spirit of wisdom which discerns the signs of the times — a spirit which Pharisees never possess, and for not possessing which Jesus declares them blameworthy. It can be gloriously inconsistent. At one time it refuses to circumcise Titus, though such a refusal threatens the unity of the whole apostolic church. At another time, the principle of * Vinel's " Outlines of Theology," p. 131. 98 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. toleration having been established, it spontaneously circumcises Tim- othy simply to conciliate prejudiced people. In one chapter it says, "Eat whatsoever is sold in the shambles;" in another, '' I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to stum- ble." To the Jews it becomes a Jew, to the Greeks it becomes a Greek. In the nineteenth century it would become a Hindoo or Chinaman to gain the Hindoos or Chinese, grandly indifferent to the reproach of inconsistency. For centuries it may cherish a sacred symbol. When the symbol is turned into an idol, it sees that it is only a bit of brass, and grinds it to powder. In one age it consecrates the wealth of provinces to build a cathedral. It paints " storied windows, richly dight," and sings grand chorales like the sound ot many waters. In another, it hardly regrets to see the cathedral dese- crated and the windows broken. It calls the organ " a kist fu' o' whistles," and delights only in Rouse's version of the Psalms. When kindlier days come again, it restores cathedrals, listens to voluntaries, joins in chants, and sets committees of General Assembly to work laboriously to compile hymn-books. When ordered to use only strange forms of prayer, that teach what is thought to be contrary to sound v-Ioctrine, it will have nothing to do with liturgical forms at all ; when Christian liberty is fully conceded, it will gladly avail itself in public worship of everything that the congregation finds to be help- ful. So too in all other departments of life it discerns the signs of the times. At one time it imposes oaths and obligations to con- formity and sacramental observances on all officials; at another, it abolishes the oaths and the obligations. Eternal principles guide it in legislation, but the application of these principles is determined by the changing circumstances of the people and the times. When cap- ital forgets Its responsibilities, religion takes its stand on the side of labor, and speaks with no uncertain voice. When labor forgets, it asserts the rights of capital and the inviolability of economic laws. One day it fights for liberty, the next it reminds us of the sacredness of authority. To-day it pleads for man in the name of God, to- morrow for God in the name of man. At one time it preaches the gospel of peace, at another it invokes the Lord of Hosts and goes forth to war. All the time it is gloriously consistent, just as nature is consistent that gives the light and the darkness, the summer and the winter, the many-voiced laughter of the sunlit sea and the storm- wrack mingling sea and sky ; just as God is consistent who gives to the world one day John the Baptist and the next day Jesus of Naz- areth. But blockheads' eyes are sharp enough to see that there is a difference, and so they cry out, "Inconsistency," "Treachery to ordination vows," and such like. Unfortunately too the blockheads as a rule have loud voices — to make up for their lack in other respects — and they delight to make themselves heard in the market-place. All this is very vague, it may be said. A precisian desires specific rules, I know no way of satisfying the precisian save by assigning to him a spiritual director, into whose hands let him surrender his own SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 99 personality as the price of rest for his soul. The director will tell him exactly what to do, and exactly how far to go on each occasion that arises. Of course this means spiritual slavery — that is, the de- struction of religion — for Christianity appeals to the individual, and individuality means liberty. Religion must be rooted in the essence of the individual, in his spirit by which he is linked to the divine spirit. It can live only in the atmosphere of liberty. Liberty is its basis and its breath. Only in an atmosphere of liberty can religion live. Then it works wonders, even though dogmatically incomplete. It controls conduct by divine right, speaks with " the dogmatism of a God," calls upon men to follow it, and men obey. With regard to conduct, then, which we are rightly told is three-fourths of life, no more precise rule can be given than that the individual must obey his own conscience, not another's. His conscience is another name for his spiritual life or the life of Christ in his soul. Is he living, or has he only a name to live ? That must be for him the first great ques- tion. How can he know ? The test Christ gives is, Does he obey, and obeying find his commandments not grievous ? Such obedience, I believe, was never as widespread as it is to-day. Christianity is permeating secular life as it never did before. There are appearances to the contrary, of which the newspapers naturally enough make the most ; but the very outcry proves that these are exceptions. The ex- cesses of the Turks in Bulgaria three years ago sealed the doom of their empire in Europe. Better for the sultan had his armies lost half a dozen battles. But three or four centuries ago the armies of the most Catholic and Christian kings considered such atrocities the ordinary usages and rights of war. Even in war men have now to remember that they are not wholly brutes. As the bounds of freedom have widened, religion has woven itself in with the warp and woof of the people's life. Religion has become less a dogma or ritual, and more of a life. "The lower classes in this country care as little for the dogmas of Christianity as the higher classes care for its practice," said Mr. John Bright, lately, with righteous scorn of what he believed to be sham zeal for religion. The same lower classes preferred to starve, and even to see their wives and children "clemmed" rather than get work and bread at the price of the recognition of American slavery by their country. There is more true religion and even decorum in the average mechanics' institute, or co-operative society, or working men's reading-room or club, or farmers' grange of to-day, as I have seen them, than there was in the average religious organization of some centuries ago. Skepticism itself has become not only moral, but almost religious in its language. But our advance only shows us how far we are from the ideal Jesus sets before us. The nineteenth cen- tury has still to learn from him. Do we as a people take his law into society, trade, industry, politics? We do not. Some one will say, we would be counted fools if we did. I doubt it. But even if we were, ought that to settle the matter? Certainly not, if Jesus be to loo THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. us the supreme reality, not a word only. Again with regard to science, scholarship, art, which make up the remaining fourth of life, liberty is also essential. Their claims on their students are as absolute as the claims of conscience over conduct. A man's science may be wrong, his scholarship inaccurate, his art false. He and we can find out that it is so, only when we have faith in the truth so absolute that we believe that the only cure for the evils caused by liberty is a little more liberty. In a word, without liberty there cannot be religion, and without religion life loses inspiration, and society loses cohesion. Without liberty there cannot be science, scholarship, or art, and without these life loses beauty, and humanity the hope of progress. The more fully we trust religion, the more it vindicates our trust. It will govern all life ; it will go down to the pettiest details and the most vulgar secularities, and consecrate them. But to do so it must be free. It may be asked here, is not the relation of religion to various departments of secular life complicated when we consider man not as an individual but as a member of society? When a man joins even a guild or trades-union, does he not part with a portion of his liberty the better to s cure the rest? " It is not telling a lie, it is only voting with your party:" is not tliis a legitimate p'ea in politics? Must not the statesman have a code of morals for the sphere of diplomacy • — home and international — different from that which, binds him in private life? Can a church exist, if its members criticise dogmas that no longer express their living faith? Does not the Head of the Church sometimes need our silence or our lie ? The precise question is, whether or not the liberty that religion demands as the condition of its life is consistent with political and ecclesiastical organization". As regards politics, the citizen's difficulty is not with the nation, but with his party. What is the constitution of any free nation but the expression of the nation's life? The proudest boast of any con- stitution is that it has not been made, but has grown. Its next boast should be that it has the promise and potency of indefinite growth, that it can expand with the expanding life of the nation, without the necessity of revolutions. Revolution means that the nation has grown and that the constitution cannot expand. Nations will grow, and constitutions can expand accordingly, only in a free atmosphere. The nation therefore should encourage the utmost liberty of thought in political matters as the necessary condition of its peaceful devel- opment. Party organization may be thought incapable of allowing such liberty, because party aims at immediate and definite results. He that will not submit to its platform must be read out ot the party. But political wisdom dictates the most sparing exercise of this power. The critics may see rocks ahead, of which they are warning the party they have long been connected with ; and to cast them out is not the way to encourage others to watch. The Trojans did not heed Cas- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. loi Sandra, but they did not expel her from the city. That party remains powerful which best understands the signs of the times. The reason why they often do not understand is because they treat criticism as re- bellion, and instead of welcoming light see only what they wish to see. No party then should demand the sacrifice of liberty from its adherents, and no citizen should make the sacrifice. The interests of his party require him to be free ; much more the interests of the commonwealth ; much more his own interests. As regards ecclesiastical organization also, the Christian's difficulty is not with the ideal Catholic Church — about which there ought to be no question, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," — but with the particular section of the Church with which he is con- ncc ed. What then is the object for which any church as an organi- zation exists? For the development in its members of religious life, and the dissemination of that life by preaching the gospel to those who are without. But we have seen that religious life is impossible without liberty. There may be marvellous organization ; there may be a dogmatic system that the intellect has accepted as the best pos- sible compromise ; there may be superstition that calls itself devotion, and fanaticism that calls itself zeal for the truth, and all these for a time may do wonderful works; but religion, the life of the free spirit, going forth into secular life, as assured of the reality on which it is based as it is of the realities of sense, and equally assured that the relation of the two realities is that of supreme to subordinate, such religion is impossible without liberty. The very suspicion that it dare not think out every subject, that it dare not investigate every province, deprives it of its divine power. The Church therefore that opposes itself to the demand for the fullest liberty of thought, and the results of the most exact scholarship, opposes itself to religion. It gives aid and comfort to those who denounce religion as a clerical imposture. There are tens if not hundreds of thousands of hard- headed working men who think thus of religion ; and — with sorrow let us confess — religious men have at one time or another given them some cause for so thinking. To connect questions of criticism with the cause of religion ; to prohibit inquiry, and inquiry is pro- hibited when the critic is forbidden to publish the results of inquiry, lest those whose faith stands not in the power of God but in the wisdom of men should be "unsettled," or wlien he must submit to the severest pains and penalties that the civilization of the age will tolerate, unless he come to certain previously understood conclusions, is inconsistent with the idea of religion at any time. But in our time such a position is directly fatal to the cause it pro- f'_^sses to befriend. It puts religion at once out of court with free men ; for in every other region where inquiry is possible, thought is abso- lutely unfettered and reason is trusted. Men have come to the con- clusion that the human mind is the only organ for discovering truth, and that truth can take care of itself; that baseless theories perish soonest when least noticed ; and that the only way to correct the mis- I02 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. takes of scholarship and speculation is by a riper scholarship and more fearless and comprehensive thought. This is a large liberty that religion claims. Less will not suffice, if religion is to be the supreme force in human character and life. As a matter of course, men who exalt the traditional above the spiritual will refuse the claim. They point to the excesses, seen of all, that accompany the reign of liberty in Church and State, and declare that salvation requires repression, by " sect -craft " or "State force." There are thousands of men, for instance, who, as they read choice extracts of the various effusions of unreason spoken and published every day from the Pine State to the Golden Gate, are honestly con- vinced that this republic is going headlong to ruin, and that its gov- ernment is on the eve of overthrow. Let them know that on the contrary to this very fact of boundless liberty alone is the country indebted for its stability; that the government acknowledges the king ship of all freemen, and declares all men free, just because it is based not on arbitrary authority, but on the authority of reason and morality. In the same way men of weak faith dread discussions and differences of opinion in the Church. Let them learn to have more faith. Let them know that the Church is based on the rock which is Christ. The only possible religion for man is Christianity, because it alone can stand all the tests of philosophy, science, history, and life. No other religion can stand those impartial tests. Is any Church more fitted than ours, by its essential principles, to accept them fully and frankly, to occupy the lofty ground of liberty resting securely on the possession of absolute spiritual truth, and so, winning the confidence of all Christians, become the wide and beautiful Church of the future? Let us be true to our history. Our fathers had a higher ambition than to form one of a number of sects. Let the Church truly believe that the truth it preaches can alone save the world ; let it fearlessly allow the widest liberty consistent with the acknowledgment of the central fact that constitutes Christianity, and it will best solve the problem of the right relations in which religion should stand to secular life. Knowing only Jesus Christ and Him crucified, it has the key to all life. Truly inspired by, and altogether satisfied with, this faith, what new victories would the Church gain ? It would precipitate itself upon the world instead of keeping snugly and respectably within its own lines. It would aim at what the timid would pronounce impos- sibilities. It would dare all things. It would give not a tenth, not a half, but all to Christ. By sublime deeds it would vindicate itself as the Church of the living God. "The religion of God, if there be one, cannot tolerate mediocrity; the mediocre is the false." * Rev. Dr. Prime. — I beg leave to nominate Judge Strong as an additional member of the Business Committee. The nomination was confirmed by the Council. * Vinet's "Outlines of Theology," p. 117. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 103 The Council then adjourned until the following morning at 9j^ o'clock. Friday, September 24th, 1880. MORNING SESSION. The Council was called to order at 95^ o'clock, by the Rev. Dr. D. A. Wallace, of Wooster, O., President for the session. After devotional exercises, the minutes of the last session were read and approved. Dr. Prime. — I wish to report from the Business Committee the following resolution : Resolved, That papers of which the writers are not present be re- ferred to a member of the committee, and that not more than five minutes be occupied in stating the substance to the Council, or read- ing a part of it. This will make a material reduction in the programme, as quite a number of the names upon it will not be presented in person. It has been ordered that the rule already adopted, lim- iting the reading of the papers to thirty minutes, should be strictly enforced, and the very odious and onerous service of see- ing that the rule is enforced has been imposed upon the chair- man of the committee. The committee also recommend to the Council the adoption of the following resolution : Resolved, That liberty of discussion be allowed at this morning's session, on the papers both of this morning and of last evening ; the discussion to be in the order in which the papers were read, and each speaker to be limited to five minutes. There are but two papers to be read this morning of half, an hour each, and therefore an hour and a-half will be free for dis- cussion, each speaker to be limited to five minutes, if the Council .so elect. Rev. Dr. Jenkins. — I move the adoption of the resolutions ; we are going on in the right direction. The resolutions were agreed to. An invitation was read to the members of the Council to visit the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. Rev. Joseph T. Smith, D. D., of Baltimore. — In connection with this matter allow me to say that I was authorized and in- structed by the Presbyterian brethren connected with the 104 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE, Church North, in Baltimore, to. invite the brethren there. We are informed by the Chairman of the Business Committee that it vviU:be altogether impracticable for the Alliance to adjourn for that purpose. I desire, however, to discharge the duty that was imposed upon me, and further to say that if after adjourn- ment we can in any way facilitate the desire of the brethren to visit Baltimore and Washington City, we would be most happy to do so. Rev. Dr. Knox. — I regard with great pleasure the invitation from Princeton, and I move that it be accepted by the Council. The motion was agreed to. The Rev. Prof. E. P. Humphrey, D. D., of Louisville, Ky., read the following paper : INSPIRATION, AUTHENTICITY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. It' is the purpose of this paper to suggest to our younger brethren in the ministry a convenient method of expounding the Church doc- trine of Inspiration. That purpose will control the choice and treat- ment of the topics now to be introduced. I. The subject may be opened by pointing out the two elements which coexist in the sacred records — the human and the divine. "Holy men of old spake" — there is the human; "as they were moved by til e Holy Ghost " — there is the divine. Very instructive here is the resemblance between the combination of the divine and human in the person of Christ and in the Holy Scriptures. Both are expressly called by the sacred writers the Word of God.; the first is the Word incarnate, the last is the Word written. Again, the mani- festation of both proceeded from the Holy Ghost : the first by the way of a miraculous conception, the other by the way of a super- natural inspiration. Next, the Son of God came down from above and took upon him human nature ; even so saving truth was revealed from heaven, and was embodied in human language. Further, in the one person of our Lord two whole, perfect, and entire natures were inseparably joined together in one person without conversion, com- position or confusion ; in like manner the Bible is one book, only one, wherein the two elements are inseparably combined in such man- ner that the divine does not absorb the human, nor does the human adulterate the divine. In Christ the two natures are so" related that he is at once the Son of God and the Son of Man : in the Scriptures the two eleinents coexist in such fulness that the whole book is God's Word and the whole is man's word. In neither case are we able to explain the mode of union, but we are not at liberty to solve the problem by rejecting either of its conditions. -•".aren •will be most j.\ [}'i -, com- ionly ,l; God's •J* > » A «» "i' ©iKI^^'^^ ^@li.^..j^, JEROME PRAGUB GENERAL JOHNZISCA THCINVINCIBLE A.O 1360-H24 WACCNBURC ♦ JOANNES HUS BORN A U ITta EXUSTUS NON CONVICTUS' JU LY 6'"A D U15 SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 107 breaks down just at the point where the case of the apostles is established. They were, by divine appointment, the organs of the Holy Spirit ; the Pope is not. They were supernaturally inspired ; the Pope is not. What the sacred writers spoke, as the organs of the Holy Ghost ; what, as such, they committed to writing, in regard to all subjects whatsoever, is infallibly true. What they knew or did not know of their own private knowledge, about geology or history or the Coper- nican system, is nothing to us. They made no mistakes in regard to any of these subjects in their inspired writings, and that is enough for us. Indeed, the more conspicuous their ignorance in human learning, the more remarkable is the inspiration, which protected them from declaring as historically or scientifically true what is his- torically or scientifically false. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; what withheld him from adopting, into the Penta- teuch, Manetho's scheme of chronology, reaching back thirty thousand years anterior to the Christian era? Daniel was wise in Chaldean lore ; how did he escape, as a sacred writer, from lending the authority of inspiration to the monstrous cosmogonies of the Babylo- nians? Paul was educated in the best learning of his time; why do we find nothing in his speeches or epistles " like Augustine's scornful denial of the existence of the antipodes? nothing like the opinion of Ambrose, that the sun draws up water to cool and refresh himself in his extreme heat?" [Dr. T. V. Moore.] With this doctrine of inspiration kept steadily before him, the youngest of our ministers will find a ready answer to such worn-out puzzles as these : Was Satan inspired when he said to Eve, "Ye shall not surely die; " or Abraham when he declared that Sarah was his sister; or Peter when he denied his Master with "cursing and swearing; " or the Pharisees when they said of Christ, " He hath a devil ; " or the mob when they cried " Crucify him ! crucify him? " The distinction between matter dictated by the Spirit and historical recitals committed to writing under the guidance of the Spirit is so plain that it would seem to be a waste of time to point it out. Yet a writer of Mr. Coleridge's ability, through a singular confusion of thought, holds our doctrine of inspiration accountable for the " shallow and malignant insinuations" made by the " three bigots in Job." We are helped to answers to other objections by Paul's dis- tinction between inspiration and spiritual illumination. These gifts differ, first, in the persons to whom they are granted ; inspiration being given to a few chosen men like Isaiah and John; illumination to all true believers. Next, the gifts differ in their nature: the first is infallibility in teaching ; the last is spiritual knowledge. One may be infallible who is not illuminated ; another may be illuminated who is not infallible. Again, inspiration was given from time to time, and withheld in the intervals, as it seemed good to the Spirit ; illu- mination is light which shines upon the believer every day unto the end of life. Further, inspiration is perfect unto its end always ; illu- mination admits of degrees. Further still, inspiration has ceased out lo:; THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. of the world; illumination abides in the Church evermore. Finally, inspiration, though rarely, was really bestowed on wicked men. King Saul was among the prophets ; Balaam was inspired ; so was Caiaphas ; so were those who prophesied in the name of Christ, to whom Christ will say : "I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity." Here we find the distinction between the gifts and the graces of the Spirit. Inspiration, like the foresight of prophecy, like the power to work miracles, was a gift that might or might not be associated with saving grace. Accordingly, the Saviour points out the distinction between a prophet and a righteous man. Our cautious Dr. Charles Hodge did not go too far in this direction when he said: "Judas wrought miracles, and might have been, in full consistency with the doctrine of inspiration, as infallible a teacher (had Christ seen fit to employ him) as Paul, although he had a devil." With this rule before us, we are ready with answers for such questions as these : Was Moses, who spake unadvisedly with his lips, inspired to compose the Pentateuch? Was David, who sinned in the matter of Uriah, taught of the Spirit to write the Psalms? Was Sol- omon one of the chosen organs of the Holy Ghost ? Was Jonah another? Was Paul, who quarrelled with Barnabas, another? Was Peter, who denied his Master and afterwards abandoned his principles at Antioch, still another? Tne young preacher who remembers that Balaam and Caiaphas, incorrigible sinners, were inspired, at least once in their lives, will not stumble over the infirmities of holy men into the conclusion that they were not also inspired. Augustine's remark was good, *' I do not inquire how Paul acted ; I seek what he has written." V. Close attention should be given to the extent of inspiration, mean- ing always by that term the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the com- position of the Scriptures. It will be convenient for the religious teacher to enter upon this part of the subject by examining the pre- tence that God revealed the spiritual truths of religion 'to the sacred writers, and then left them to the use of their unaided faculties in reducing these truths to writing, and left them to themselves in the selection and treatment of historical and geographical details. Ac- cording to this theory the Bible is not a divinely- inspired transcript, but a human account of the divine communications. Then, also, these saving truths are distributed through a mass of historical and other secular matter which may or may not be true in the sub- stance, and if true substantially, may or may not be misrepresented in the telling of it, after the manner of fallible human authorship. What follows from this theory? First: It assumes that the veracity of the Scriptures is an open question, inasmuch as it is propounded for the avowed purpose of accounting for errors and mistakes which, it is alleged, occur in those contents of the Bible that relate to sub- jects lying within the range of human discovery. The theory does not explain, but impeaches inspiration. Secondly: For aught we can tell, misrepresentations have crept unawares into essential truths, like John's testimony to God manifest in the flesh, or Christ's exposition SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 109 of the way to be saved, or Paul's description of the resurrection of the body. Thirdly : God gave His Word, not for the private use of the fifty or sixty chosen men to whom it was first revealed, but for the salvation of the innumerable company of the redeemed. It is in- credible that these few men should be supernaturally led into the exact knowledge of the truth, while God's people everywhere and always were foreordained to all the chances of error or prejudice or passion, to all the slips of the understanding and the pen which beset uninspired human authorship. It is no good news to you or to me that the rejection of God's Word is a sin to be answered for at the judgment day, while the exact expression of that Word as it came from the Holy Spirit is hidden from us under the mistakes of fallible men whom we never saw and who have been dead for centuries. VI. Now, the Word of God stands face to face with this theory, and alleges that a plenary inspiration extends to the entire volume in all its parts, from cover to cover. When once the canon is settled, and with it the genuineness and authenticity of the several books, we must believe that they are all equally inspired and infallible. The Bible is throughout and throughout " God's Word," " God's Word written," as really as if a pattern thereof had been shown in heaven. This supernatural inspiration extends to the subject-matter of the written Word, to the arrangement of its contents, to the language in which these are clothed. (i.) To the subject-matter inspiration contributed these among other elements : First, it has furnished us with the only knowledge in existence of the world before the flood. Next, it enabled the sacred writers to make, out of the enormous mass of human history and thought, a selection of the *' infinitesimal percentage" thereof suitable to the plan of the record. Further, inspiration taught them what to omit. Among these omissions is an immense number of the signs which Jesus himself did and the words which he uttered. This thought is full of significance, for what man would presume to omit from the Gospels the very words of the Son of God, except he were moved thereto by the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take the things of Christ and show them unto us ? Further yet, the Spirit enabled the writers to prepare unerring statements of the facts selected, to point out the relation of commonplace events to the truths super- naturally revealed, and to show how the whole sum of human affairs, men's crimes and virtues, knowledge and ignorance, apostasies and reformations, were associated with the mighty works of creation, prov- idence and grace. And again, the guidance of the Spirit preserved them from error in the truth supernaturally revealed, and in all that they say in regard to history, geography, astronomy and natural sci- ence. It enabled them also to fuse down the whole mass of matter mto one assimilated, homogeneous and self-consistent narrative. (2.) Inspiration extends to the orderly plan of Scripture history. The volume is not an encyclopaedia or miscellany of religious reading. It is a unity — an organic unity — of veritable history, tracing consec- no THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. utively the progress of redemption from its foreordination before the world was to its accomplishment after time shall have run its course. An unbroken continuity, a close sequence of events, a steady advance in the development of the divine purposes link together all the sacred writings. This coherence, a consummate product of inspiiation, shows itself conspicuously in the books which have been recently chosen as a point of attack — the Pentateuch. The attempt to lift any of them out of the close array in which they are marshaled is in derogation of their inspiration. What less should be said of a process which dislocates the plan of sacred history, which introduces confusion into chronologies and genealogies and majestic providences, and appalls the reader with the spectacle of Scripture broken in its backbone ? The criticism which assigns Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy to the reign of Hezekiah or to the post-exilian period might, with equal show of historical sequences, transfer Magna Charta to the restoration of the Stuarts, or the Solemn League and Covenant to the era of moderatism. Inspiration extends, then, to the plan as well as to the contents of Holy Scripture. (3.) Plenary inspiration extends to the words used in Scripture: "Which things," says Paul, "we teach not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual," or expressing spiritual truths in spirit- ual words. If it be proper to add anything to this decisive testimony, we may say, that just as a human soul could not be born into the vis- ible world without a body, even so spiritual truth, supernaturally re- vealed, could come into the sight and hearing of man in no other way than through spoken or written words or other signs of thought. The only question is whether the words in which divine truth is clothed are the words of unaided and erring man or the words taught by the unerring Spirit. Now, the religious teacher ought not to be perplexed by the popular suggestion that the doctrine of plenary inspiration strips the sacred writers of the liberty of spontaneous and characteristic speech, and turns them into pens or writing-machines or automatons. It is one of the first principles of saving truth that a man may be infallibly guided in his free acts ; why not also in his free speech? Never were men more free, never did they more surely execute the divine purpose, than Judas when he sold his Master, and the Jews when they crucified him. Never is the sinner more free than when he repents or believes, and yet it is God who enables and persuades him to repent and be- lieve. The saints and angels are secured in holiness by the gracious agency of God, while their acts of obedience are as free and joyful as if they were wholly self-moved. When these facts are well established in the minds of his hearers, the preacher will very naturally lead them to the adjacent conclusion, that in the choice of words for the sacred page there was a concurrent action of the divine and human agency. Although inscrutable as to the mode, this joint action in point of fact secured an expression of thought infallible because guided by the spirit, human because spontaneous and natural in the writer. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. iii Nor should the young preacher be disturbed by the current objection to the infallibility of Scripture drawn from the acknowledged imper- fection of human language as an instrument of thought. The objection is met by the repetitions in the sacred records. They resemble the laws of the land, and indentures and indictments, where the intention is set forth in a multiplicity of terms and recitals. To the unprofes- sional mind these seem to be mere technical verbiage, but taken together, they convey the exact sense of the draughtsman. As instances of a similar abundant expression of the mind of the Spirit, we may cite under the head of doctrine the nature and necessity of regeneration, and under the head of practical piety the act of coming to Christ by faith in his blood. What is obscure or insufficient in one place is made as clear as the light of day in other places. By this explanation we not only solve this objection, but we show that one of the elements of surpassing value in the written word is this very quality which men call the redundancy wherewith Scripture repeats itself. Of what has been said this is the sQm : Every word of Scripture is alike God's word and man's word. What God said, David said, the apostles prayed, saying : " Lord, thou art God . . . who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said," etc. What Isaiah spake, the Holy Ghost spake ; for Paul said: "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias," etc. Looking at the Bible from one point of view, we must say that God is its author, as really as if he had written it with his finger, just as he wrote the two tables of stone ; examining it from another point, we must say that man was its author as really as Augustine was the author of the " City of God." The divine and human authorship was joint and co-operative. Vn. Let us hope that our brethren now coming into the ministry will maintain, with undaunted resolution, the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures laid down in our Standards. It is essential to the existence, not of Presbyterianism only, but of Christianity itself. Imagine a company like the Westminster divines beginning its labors with the proposition that the Bible contains no revelation of religious truth other than that which proceeds from the unassisted intuitional con- sciousness or from the light of nature, or with the proposition that the revelation is from God, but the record thereof is the product of unaided human authorship. Will anybody maintain that these divines could construct out of such unsound materials a system of doctrine which would be true as God is true? Or, imagine a controversy over the question, ** What is truth?" between a strict Presbyterian, taking his stand on the Bible as the very word of God, in substance and in language, and a liberal thinker, taking his stand on the same book as the very word of man, in its subject-matter, or in its verbal expression, or in both these elements. Now, a book which is to be treated in debate as the very word of God, and a book which is to be treated as the very word of man, belong, so we may confidently say, to separate spheres of religious thought. According to the Church doctrine, the .112 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Christian Scriptures are, in all their parts, immediately inspired by God, and are everywhere infallible; according to the "advanced thought " of the day, they are filled with the half-truths and untruths, with the dissolving views, with the myths and fables and childish traditions, with the things incredible and impossible, which appear in all the sacred books of the heathen. And a debate as to what is Christianity, between disputants relying on these incongruous ma- terials, would remind one of Bismarck's imaginary fight between a whale wallowing in an uncertain sea and an elephant standing on the solid ground. We must insist on the preliminary question : "Is tlie Bible supernatural and infallible in its revelations, and immediately inspired of God in the Hebrew and Greek texts?" What say you, yea or nay ? If you say nay, an agreement in regard to Christian doctrine is impossible, and a dispute on that point is mere child's play. It may be proper, in the close of this paper, to point out to our young brethren a convenient mode of dealing with the discussions between !)elief and current speculation in natural science. We begin with the proposition that these disputes proceed from one or more of these sources ; mistakes in biblical interpretation, blunders in science, or spiritual blindness. Next, all these disputes may be distributed into three classes, and these three exhaust the subject. The first embraces all those points wherein the meaning of God's Word is clearly understood, and the opposing scientific theories are unsettled. As an example, we may take the unity in origin of the human race from one man and one woman. This oneness is unques- tionably affirmed by the word of God, while the opposing theories of ethnology and its kindred sciences are confessedly immature. The rule here is to hold fast to the sure word of God, not doubting that when ethnology shall understand itself it will confirm the testimony of the word. The second class embraces those disputes wherein the facts in nature are established, but the word of God is not rightly understood. The doctrine of the Copernican system, for example, is well settled. But whether the places in Scripture which speak of the sun rising or setting, and the like, are to be understood according to what is astronomically true, or what is apparently true, is a question of interpretation. When we adopt the phenomenal meaning and take the language of the Bible in the sense of common life, and in the sense in which the skeptical philosophers themselves habitually use these very terms, the dispute is at an end. Under the third class should be arranged these particulars wherein neither the word nor the works of God are fully known. The creation of the world in six days falls into this category. The enlightened Christian will never doubt the narrative of Moses, nor will he doubt that it will be estab- lished as true by a perfected geology and astronomy. Meanwhile, he is at liberty to rest his mind, provisionally or ad interim, on any working hypothesis which may seem to fulfil best the conditions of the problem so far as they are now known. He may accept the ex- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 113 planation of Chalmers and Hengstenberg, or that of Hugh Miller and Shultz, or tliat of the Westminster divines. He may rest there until Moses shall be interpreted aright, and the facts in nature shall be dis- covered. Then a generalization will be reached which will include and harmonize all the testimony of God's word and all the phenomena of God's works relating to the matter. That being formulated, the subject will pass from what is provisional and doubtful to what is final, and beyond all doubt absolutely true, even the testimony of the written word. IX. Our younger brethren may be assured that in its conflicts with hostile criticism the Church is on the high road to victory. The number, for example, of historical issues tendered by the Scriptures to their adversaries is simply enormous. It is estimated that the Bible contains the names of four thousand persons and places distributed through all the early ages, and over the surface of the whole earth as' known to the ancients. Many of these persons and places have not l>een identified. But whenever a cylinder or tablet has been dug up, bearing one of these perished names, or the site of a buried city has been discovered, in no one instance, not one, has the testimony of Scripture been invalidated. We openly challenge and defy the un- believer to produce, out of all the lands of the Bible, one dead man's name who is a myth, or one old ruin misplaced, aye, one out of the four thousand. In the controversy now waged over what the Bible says of the history, manners, customs and traaitions of Egypt, Syria, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Palestine, Phcenicia, Greece and Rome, the enemy will bo defeated at every turn. He is already fairly driven off the field in Egypt, and wherever he attempts to make a stand over the whole vast region from Thebes to Mosul, tlie witnesses for the truth will spring up out of the earth and lay siege to his encampment. That entire domain, " from the river of Egypt to that great river, the river Euphrates," was given by covenant to Abraham and his seed for an everlasting possession. We. his spiritual seed, Avill in due time make good our title to it all: " for the inheritance is ours and the redemption is ours." The Rev. Prof. Robert Watts, D. D., of Belfast, Ireland, addressed the Council as follows, on THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF INSPIRATION. ' I think you will all agree with me, after listening to the paper read by our venerable father. Dr. Humphrey, that America is sound on inspiration. I hope it is not true in this, as in some other matters, that westward the Star of Empire takes its way. It is pleasant to find that there is not a single sentence expressed by Dr. Humphrey in that paper that I cannot indorse ; it is the historic doctrine of the Church ; it is the doctrine enshrined in the entire volume of inspiration. In his Second Epistle to Timothy, when about to affirm the Plenary 8 114 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Inspiration of Scripture, the Apostle Paul singles out Jannes and Jam- bre.s, who withstood Moses, as standing prototypes of all opponents of the truth. The apostolic selection has proved peculiarly felicitous, for in almost all the intervening centuries, from the apostolic age to the present, the successors of these Egyptian magicians, in their assaults upon the faith, have, almost invariably, begun with the writings of Moses. This is not unnatural. It is natural that the adversary should begin where Christ began ; and Christ, in expounding in all the Scrip- tures the things concerning bimself, was wont to begin with the great law-giver of Israel. The considerations determining this method of proof and disproof, of defence and attack, are, obviously, the peculiar characteristics of the contents of the Mosaic writings and the relation of the Mosaic Economy to the New Testament dispensation. As the Prophets and the Psalms are but authoritative expositions of that ancient economy — unfoldings of its types and symbols, enhanced by fresh disclosures of the mystery which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God — it is manifest that the most effective method of assailing the truth, as it is in Jesus, is to shake confidence in the Mosaic record. An assault on the Pentateuch is an assault upon the foundation of the Temple of Revealed Truth. Nor should we overlook another point of resemblance between these ancient withstanders of Moses and his modern opponents. They agree in this that they do not challenge absolutely the divinity of his mission. The wise men and sorcerers of Egypt called in question only some of the miracles wrought by Moses, while they recognized the others as v/rought l)y the finger of God. In this they are followed by their successors, who recognize parts of the Pentateuch as his, and acknowledge portions of it as given by the finger of a divine inspira- tion. Another point of resemblance there is which forces itself very pain- fully upon our attention, viz., that both have served as instruments of moral and spiritual induration. The magicians, by withstanding Moses, encouraged Pharaoh in his obstinacy, and the revolutionary critics of the Pentateuch have helped to confirm sceptics in their scepticism. Tlie enemies of the Bible claim the representatives of the Higher Criticism as on their side, and quote their criticisms as arguments against Christianity itself. Much further they cannot pro- ceed, for their folly, like th; t of their prototypes, will soon be mani- fest unto all men. In the meantime it is proposed, in the present paper, in opposition to such irreverent handling of the word of God. to exhibit what the Scriptures themselves teach respecting their rela- tion to the agency of the Holy Ghost, by whose inspiration they claim to have been originally produced. When Ave speak of the doctrine of inspiration, we do not mean a d.octrine in regard to the mode of the Spirit's action upon the minds of those whom God had raised up and trained and qualified as in- struments for the communication of his will to men. On this point we do not know, and cannot know anything. In its 7node the divine SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. "5 agency is inscrutable, but in its effects it is cognizable. Regarding the former, God has given us no information ; regarding the latter, he has given us line upon line, line upon line, until the student of Scripture who does not apprehend the doctrine is left utterly inexcus- able. The concurrent testimony of the sacred writings is, that the effect of the divine agency was such as to constitute the utterance of the human agent God's utterance, and his record God's record — the former as truly his as if he himself had uttered it, and the latter as truly his as if he himself, with his own hand, had written' it. How he effected this we do not know, but that he did effect it we must be- lieve or reject the Scriptures altogether ; for that they teach this doc- trine is as manifest as that they teach the doctrine of justification by faith. It is, in fact, one of those all-pervading doctrines which cannot be erased without the destruction of the Bible. Even though we were to adopt, in this case, the method observed by the author of "Mr Ecce ILomo'''' in judging of the personal rank of Jesus of Nazareth, and restrict the inquiry to portions of Scripture which the most rational- istic of critics would hesitate to challenge, there would still be found sufficient evidence that the claim advanced is that of an inspiration determining the " form " of the record to its minutest literary detail. The claim to have been produced under an inspiration which deter- mined the times, and modes, and measures, and literary forms, of the revelation, as communicated by the sacred writers, is so interwoven with the record that the denial of it must involve not only the rejec- tion of the claim, but the rejection of the entire book, on whose be- half, as a whole, it is so persistently put forth. The position taken in this paper is, that there is no alternative but to accept the doctrine of an inspiration determining the ^'form^^ as well as the "substance" of Scripture, or to disallow altogether the claim it advances to be re- garded as the Word of God. These claims — to be verbally inspired,- and to be the Word of God — are cognate and inseparable, and the rejection of the one must necessarily involve the rejection of the other. A book claiming to be the Word of God, even to its minutest clauses and terms, and whose infallibility depends upon the accuracy of its language, must, if received at all, be accepted as being what it professes to bp ; and he who does not thus receive it, must, if he will act consistently, come at last to the conclusion that its words are not to be treated as the words of God. As the claim in question is the claim of claims, the claim on which all other claims depend, it is manifest that if this claim be disallowed no other claim can be estab- lished. In establishing the position that the Scriptures advance this claim, it will be most convenient, as it will be most satisfactory, to begin with New Testament references to the Old Testament ; and it is but due to him who is the Author of both, to place in the foreground specimens of his own direct personal testimonies. In his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 17, 18), he affirms, with all the solemnity of an oath, that not one "jot" or " tittle," that is, not n6 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. even the smallest letter, or distinctive characteristic of a letter, should pass from the Law or the Prophets, till all be fulfilled. In his view, therefore, the integrity of the "form," and the security of the "sub- stance" were indissolubly bound together. As the guarantee of the indestructibleness of the "form," we have the word of Christ him- self, while in proof of its perishableness, we have simply an array of various readings, and alleged or actual discrepancies, among which, and in despite of which, no critic can prove that all the words of the original record may not exist. That is, vi^e have on the one side the word of the unchangeable Jehovah, while on the other there is noth- ing but an illogical inference of an ever-shifting criticism. Equally explicit is our Saviour's testimony to the inspiration of the Old Testament, Jol>n x. 34-36. Vindicating himself against the charge of blasphemy preferred by the Jews, because he had claimed to be the Son of God, he makes his argument turn upon the infalli- bility of one brief clause, "I said ye are gods," Psalm Ixxxii. 6. The infallibility of this clause he infers from the character of the record in which it is found. Stated formally, his argument is, Major. — Tiie Scripture cannot be broken ; Minor. — I said ye are gods is Scripture ; Concl. — I said ye are gods cannot be broken. In adopting this form of argument, our Lord has placed his faith in the infallibility of the sacred record, as a record, beyond question. In his estimation, all the writings designated Scripture by the Jews, and regarded by them as sacred, were infallible even to their smallest clauses and words. With him the claim of any sentence, or clause, or word, to absolute infallibility, was established as soon as it was shown to be a part of the sacred text. The assumption underlying this style of reference is, of course, that the infallibility ascribed to the Scripture as a whole extends to the sentences, clauses, and words of which it is composed. Before passing from this testimony, attention is asked to the "sub- stance" of this clause. As the subject-matter of it, "I said ye are gods," is not Messianic, and as it contains no trace of "God's re- deeming love toward men," it cannot be regarded as one of tliose spiritual truths to whose inspiration alone, we arc told by some critics, the Spirit sets his seal. It cannot, therefore, establish it^ claim to in- fallibility at the bar of the so-called Higher Criticism. The tests of that criticism, therefore, are not Christ's tests, and, if applied, they must lead to the rejection of what he has received and indorsed as invested with an absolute infallibility. The one makes the claim of a passage depend upon its subject-matter, whilst the other determines the claim, irrespective of the subject-matter altogether, by the simple fact that it constitutes a part of Holy Scripture. In harmony with these testimonies of the Master to the verbal pre- cision and infallibility of the Old Testament, are the testimonies borne by his apostles. In proving that the covenant of redemption was made with Christ, Gal. iii. 16, the apostle makes his argument turn upon the distinction between the singular and the plural of a SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 117 noun. " Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." This argument is manifestly warrantable only on the assumption of an inspiration of the passage relied on, which deter- mined the sacred writer in using the singular, and not using the pltiral. The force of the argument from this passage has been questioned by some biblical scholars, and has been recently challenged by Canon Farrar in his "Life and Work of St. Paul." While admitting thjtt" this is the pruna facie view of the apostle's language. Dr. Farrar says that "it is inconceivable that St. Paul— a good Hebraist and master of Hellenistic Greek — was unaware that the plural zeraim . . . could not by any possibility have been used in the original promise, because it could only mean ' various kinds of grain ' — exactly the sense in which he himself uses spennata in i Cor. xv. 38 — and that the Greek spcrmata in the sense of offspring would be nothing less than an im- possible barbarism." On this critique it may be remarked : i. That if valid at all, it is valid as a review of the apostle's method of reasoning from the terms of the original promise made to Abraham, for that the apostle rests his argument on the fact that in the original promise the singular "seed," and not the plural "seeds," is used, admits of no dispute. 2. Adopting the language of the author, it may be remarked, that "it is inconceivable that St. Paul — a good Hebraist and master of Hellen- istic Greek" — would argue as he does if his argument had not been warranted by Hebrew and Greek usage. If the apostle was what his biographer says he was, surely we are warranted in adducing this pas- sage as one of the strongest proofs that both these languages recog- nized the usage which Canon Farrar pronounces "an impossible bar- barism." Were a lexicographer to cite a similar instance from a heathen author in proof of a particular usage, no scholar would ever think of challenging the procedure. Why it should be so it is diffi- cult to imagine, but it is, nevertheless, a fact that a certain school of critics will not accept, in the case of a sacred writer, evidence which, in the case of a profane author, they would regard as perfectly satis- factory. 3. It may be remarked that so far as the Hebrew is con- cerned the usage objected to was not unknown to others whose knowl- edge of Hebrew was at least equal to that possessed by most modern critics. As Professor Delitzsch notes, the plural of J''"^!'., in the sense of offspring, is found in the Mishna, Sanhedrim iv. 5. A witness when about to bear witness in a case of capital offence, is warned of the consequence of bearing false witness against the accused, in these terms : " The blood of the accused and of his seeds ("''•O^'i'lJ) to the end of time, will be imputed to thee." In support of this admoni- tion, reference is made to the case of Cain, and the arginnent em- ployed is exactly the same in form as that of the apostle in the case before us. " The voice of thy brother's bloods crying. He does not say the voice of thy brother's blood (DT), but of the bloods C'?7) of thy brother, of his blood and the blood of his seeds (i'i?TTT-)-" 1 1 8 THE PRESB YTERIAN ALLIANCE. 4. \{ spermata, in the sense of offspring, be a barbarism in Greek, the apostle is guilty of it, for it can have no other meaning in the pas- sage in question. "Various kinds of grain" it cannot mean in this verse, as any one may see who will but substitute that meaning for it in reading. He saith not, and to "various kinds of grain," as of many, but as of one, and to thy "grain," which is Christ. Comment is needless. 5. The interpretation given by Dr. Farrar himself is irreconcilable with any other than the theory vvhich he opposes. "The argument," he says, "does not, and cannot turn, as has been unhesitatingly assumed, on the fact that sperma is a singular noun, but on the fact that it is a collcciivc noun, and was deliberately used instead of 'sons' or 'children;' and St. Paul declares that this collective term was meant from the first to apply to Christ, as else- where he applies it spiritually to the servants of Christ." Such is the interpretation through which Dr. Farrar imagines he has removed from this passage all trace of an argument for verbal inspiration ! Surely it must be manifest that even according to this interpretation, the passage teaches the very doctrine our author has assailed. If the " deliberate use " of a particular word instead of other words closely allied in meaning, and that with a specific and far-reaching intent, do not carry with it all that verbal inspirationists contend for, it would seem to be difficult to give an intelligible definition of verbal inspira- tion. The opponents of this doctrine gain nothing in dealing with the argument from this passage by substituting \\\q '■'■ collective'^ for the '■^singular,'" so long as they admit that the ^^ collective'" was de- liberately used, and with a specific purpose; for this is all one with admitting that the Holy Ghost determined the sacred writers in using the terms they employed in the sacred record. Equally conclusive is the testimony of this same apostle, 2 Tim. iii. 16, to the verbal inspiration of the entire Old Testament: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, (©forti/fvaTo?) ^'^ God-breathedV Now the '■'■ scripture^' of which this affirmation is made is unques- tionably the Old Testament; for it is described in the context as the Holy Scriptures (to, ijpa ypa/x^ara), which Timothy had known from his childhood. Assuming, then, that ©forti/tvaroj is a predicate, and not a part of the subject, the force of the argument from this passage depends upon two things — the comprehension of the expression "all Scripture " (rtatra ypa^)}), and the import of the term ©fortvtvdroj, ren- dered in our version, "given by inspiration of God." If (rta5o ypa^-zj) all Scripture, means the entire Old Testament, and Qionvivntoii means "God-breathed," then it must follow that, in the apostle's view, the entire Old Testament, without distinction of parts, was "God-breathed." The only question for settlement is, whether the breath that breathed it reached to the ^^form'" of the record. In- deed, this can hardly be a question, for it is of the record itself the affirmation is made. It is the Scripture, the writing itself, that is declared by the apostle to be ©fort^frflfoj, or "God-breathed." This, of course, is simply to affirm that the writing itself, as a writ- SECOND GENERAL CO UN GIL. 119 ing, that is, the language of the sacred record, is the product of the Spirit's agency actuating the sacred writers. In 2 Peter i. 20, 21, there is a remarkable testimony to ihe doc- trine of verbal inspiration, in which the apostle institutes a compaii- son between recorded prophecy and the audible utterance of God speaking from the excellent glory, and pronounces ihe record " more sure" than the voice from heaven. This high claim the nposlle bases upon two things: i. That though the prophecy came /^r niaii, it was not of man, but of the Holy Ghost. 2. That in employing human agency, the Holy Ghost took cnargc both of the will and the words of the agent. According to any fair interpretation, therefore, this passage teaches that the agency of the Spirit of God, upon which the certainty of the sacred record depends, was such as to determine the volitions and expressions of the men employed to communicate the "more sure word of prophecy," which the apostle testifies was possessed by tlie Church when he wrote diis Epistle. This is conclu- sive, for an agency determining the volitions and words of those through whom the "more sure word of prophecy came," is, neces-, sarily, the agency for which verbal inspirationists contend. Such is the doctrine of inspiration taught in this passage, and the language of the apostle proves that it was the view of Old Testament prophecy held by all those to whom he wrote, for he does not pro- claim it as a new doctrine or claim for it acceptance on his own authority; but assumes that they '■'■knew'" it, and appeals to it as a doctrine universally held. Evidently the apostle Peter, and those who had obtained like precious faith with him, held very different views of the way in which the " more sure word of prophecy" came to be so sure, from those wnich are at present current among the advo- cates of the so-called higher criticism. Equally decisive on the point at issue is the testimony of this same apostle in his first epistle, chapter i. 10-12, in which he avers tliat the prophets were anxious to know "what, or what manner of time, the spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow," and were refused the information they sought. They were informed that their message was for others and for other times, and not for themselves. If this be true, is it not manifest that the men who were employed as the organs of this testimony of the Spirit could not hnve ministered it*to us, without having been supplied with the " form " in which they were to transmit it ? For example, how could Isaiah lia\e written the fifty-third chapter of his prophecies if the Spirit had fur- nished him with nothing but the "substance" of it? If we are to give credit to the apostle, Isaiali did not know the import of what he was commissioned to communicate to us. How, then, could he, in communicating such a message to posterity — a message, let it be ob^ served, which the Spirit refused to explain to him — throw it into the actually historic, evangelical "form" in which it stands in the im- mortal verses of that wondrous chapter? Let us try to form a con- I20 THE. PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. ception of the task which, according to the anti-verbalists, Isaiah was called to execute. He was asked to sketch the personal appearance of the Messiah, to predict the treatment he should receive at the hands of the Jews, to testify beforehand the substitutionary and sacrificial character of his sufferings, to tell of his death and burial, and of the fruit which, without fail, should spring from the travail of his soul, and of the glory which should follow. How, it may be asked, could the prophet execuie this task with nothing save the "substance" fur- nished to his hand? As well might an artist attem^Jt to execute a " bust " of one he had never seen, and of whose appearance the per- son giving the order will, of set purpose, give him no information or material, save the marble or the alabaster from which the "bust" is to be fashioned. It may be said that the cases are not parallel, as there was a revelation made to the prophet on the points in question, and that this revelation was made through the medium of a " form." To this the reply is obvious, i. The form employed as the medium of the revelation must have been in ivords determined by the Holy Ghost. 2. This "form" must have been regarded by the prophet as not only the most suitable, but as possessing the highest of all sanctions. 3. The prophet's ignorance of the mysteries couched under this sacred " form" — an ignorance which the Spirit refused to enlighten — must have utterly disqualified him for framing a substitute. 4. As the prophet was under the power of the Holy Ghost when he was receiving the revelation, so was he under the power of the Holy Ghost in communicating what he had received to others, whether orally or by writing ; for it is not simply of prophecies Jittered, but of the prophecies of Scripture that it is said, they came not by the will of men, but through the agency of men who spake under the moving power of the Holy Ghost. Now, as the testimony of Peter covers all the prophets of the Old Testament, and every prophecy of Scripture delivered under the old dispensation, it follows, inevitably, that the " form " of the record bequeathed to us is not of man but of God. Such is the doctrine of our Lord and his apostles respecting the in- spiration of the Old Testament Scriptures. They teach that, both as to "substance" and "form," it is of God. The passages quoted have been few, but they are truly representative of the whole, and, taken together, cover the entire record whose claims are in question. They are, moreover, unchallengeable by any critic deserving of notice ; and he who will not abide their arbitrament stands outside the pale of Christian controversy. In judging of the inspiration of the New Testament the foremost place must be given to the testimony of both Testaments to the rela- tion of the Incarnate Word himself to the "substance" and the " form " of the revelation he was commissioned to conmiunicate. I. The Scriptures teach that the revelation which Christ, as the Prophet of the Church, delivered in the days of his flesh was a revela- tion given him of the Father. 2. They teach that this revelation was given to him not only as to "substance," but as to "form." The ■ ^h was - '"inds -"lieu! • oi the .• rar- ■'.rc'jtea :i:eper- -■.ion or -:!jt"is -M, as 'i'letion, ::e Holy irophet ■: of all juched ; Mid to . !,;tihltl> b^tof -will :.mi Vers all '. :.prare ::i: the (d . the in- Mthas . i]uote(l 'e, and, cition. :^2 of ■_;;:::,;t indthe lie. . , revel'i- ;jtion«'3S •/ -i' v TALY. ROCHEMANANT.-A.D.U87.TOUMPJ.DE.SAGUCT; ROMANCE MS BIBLE. VAUDOIS BIBLE 1535 JANAVEL.JAHIER 165S;PIEDM0HTESE EASTER" EXPULSION EXILE. 1686-7, THE GLORIOUS RETURN. CONSlSTORIAL:ORGANISATIONNAPOLEON:A01g05 FELIX NEFr-AD.I824-GENBECKWITH. EDICT OF EMANCIPATION -^HARLi:S^„>JV.L8ERT^>^ 0:184-8.^ THEISRAELOF THEALPS. THY SLAUGHTErteO SAINTS WfiOSE BONES LIE SCATTERED ON THE A.LPI.NE MOUNTAINS COLO, EVEN THEM WHO KEPT THr TRUTH SO PU^E OF OLD WHEN ALL OUR FATHERS WO RSH!PP£0 STOCKS AHO 3T0'K£S. yAyB©i§-wALeiNsis SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 123 he had said unto them, and therefore promised and gave unto them the Holy Ghost, not only to reveal to them what they were at that tims unable to bear, but also to bring all things to their remembrance, whatsoever he had said unto them. Th„> limits necessarily ini])osed by our esteemed committee forbid the presentation of the evidence furnished by the New Testament writers of their claiming for themselves an inspiration equal to that already established in behalf of the writers of the Old. Enough, however, has been advanced to indicate to any attentive reader of the Bible the line of proof, and to satisfy anyone who will accept as ulti- mate the testimony of the Scriptures themselves upon the subject, that the Church of God has not been cherishing a delusion in hold- ing that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and that its words and clauses are absolutely infallible." Let the opponents of a verbal inspiration, acting in accordance with the laws of scientific in- vestigation and fair discussion, dispose of the evidence now presented, and, having done this, let them point out the texts of Scripture in which the doctrine they would substitute for it is taught. This they have never done, and this they cannot do. They have framed theories on the assumption that the Bible may be a divine revelation and yet contain errors. They have been dealing with it as our missionaries have dealt with the sacred books of the Hindus. They have tried to prove that tlie men who profess to have v/ritten under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost were, nevertheless, liable to err, and have actually erred in matters of history and science, and things " which do not touch faith or life," or "pertain to salvation." There is no need to dwell upon the unscientific character of this procedure, or to point out the tendency of such teaching. Let the theory be adopted, and ('hristianity must share the fate of Hinduism. If it can be shown that its inspired writers, who claim to speak, not in the words which man's Avisdom teacheth, but in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, err when they tell us of earthly things — things subject to our observation, and of which we are able to judge — it is manifest that none, save the grossly ignorant and superstitious, will believe them when they tell us of heavenly things. OBJECTIONS. The chief objections against the doctrine of verbal inspiration arise, either from a misapprehension of the doctrine itself, or of the sources of proof. I. It is objected that according to this doctrine the sacred writers are reduced to the rank of mere unconscious, unintelligent machines. The answer is, that the objection assumes that the writers were moved ab extra, by a power acting so as to coerce them to act, or, rather, so as to educe from their agency or instrumentality, results in the production of which the appropriate faculties were not con- sciously engaged. This assumption is utterly destitute of foundation. hy harmony with the analogy of the faith, especially in the doctrine of efficacious grace put forth in conversion, it is held tliat the Holy 124 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. Spirit acts upon tlie powers of the soul ab intra, and in accordance with the constitution of its powers. If the Holy Spirit, without do- ing violence to the freedom of a sinner, can act within liiai so as to determine his views, volitions, and acts, in regard to sin and holiness, it is not unreasonable to assume that he is able to determine the voli- tions and acts and utterances of men in communicating his will to others, without- infringing upon the prerogative of free agency. 2. it is objected that verbal inspiration is inconsistent with the changes through which the original manuscripts have passed during the transmission of their contents from age to age of the Chuich's history. The doctrine, it is alleged, will not bear the test of facts, and the facts relied on by its opponents are the various readings and certain alleged errors and discrepancies in the existing manuscripts and versions. Such is the objection and such are the grounds on which it is urged, and those who urge it claim to be distinguished for their candor and scientific accuracy. To this objection sulifice it to say that the question is not about the inspiration of transcribers, but about the inspiration of the original writers. It is one thing lor a copyist to make mistakes in transcription, and a very different thing for a prophet or an apostle or an evangelist to make mistakes in committing to writing what the Holy Ghost inspired him to write. The facts relied on, therefore, as the testing facts are not the testing facts of the doctrine. The doctrine does not assume the absolutely accurate transmission in every instance, from generation to generation, of the contents of the original manuscri])ts ; and hence the various readings or the discrepancies alleged to be found in existing manu- scripts cannot be adduced as tests of its truth. The testing facts are the testimonies of the book itself, and these, as we have already seen, are such as to leave us no alternative but to accept the doctrine of a verbally inspired revelation, or reject in ioto the writings in which the claim is put forth. However the manuscripts and versions may differ in other respects, they are absolutely at one on this subject. They unite in claiming for the sacred writers an inspiration which extended to the words. When the higher criticism has done its worst the remnant records still advance this claim ; and this unchallengeable consensus of the extant records is explicable only on the assumption that such was the nature and extent of the inspiration claimed by the sacred writers themselves. 3. But it is objected : " If a Bible containing some errors and im- perfections would not have been God's infallible word when it came from the pen of inspiration, then the Bible which, as we read it, does contain errors, cannot be God's word to us now." Or, as another writer puts it: "It matters little to me whether a gem in my pos- session, having some little flaw, originally exhibited that imperfec- tion or owes it to an accident that occurred yesterday." In other words, it is asked : " What is gained by contending that at one time the Scriptures were absolutely free from imperfections, seeing that imperfections and errors exist in the Bible as we now find it ? " This SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 125 is very much like asking: "What is gained by contending that at one time man was absohitely perfect, seeing that man as we now find him exhibits many imperfections? " The questions are so far akin that they reveal an unwillingness to be guided in our views of what the Scrip- tures teach by the testimony of the Scriptures themselves. It may seem a matter of little moment what views one may entertain on these points, but it nevertheless does matter a great deal whether we accept or reject the testimony of God himself about the character of his own work as it came from his own hands. It is a matter of some theo- logical importance whether we hold that God created man upright, or hold that he created him in a state of moral equilibrium or with positive immoral propensities ; and it is a matter of no less impor- tance whether we regard God as giving men, through apostles and prophets, by the agency of his Spirit, a revelation of his will which cannot be broken, even in its briefest clause, or hold that in its origi- nal production he permitted his servants to mar the record with errors fitted to discredit its claims. Whatever may be the present state of the record, owing to the fault of uninspired copyists, we are not to be led thereby to reject the concurrent testimony of Christ himself and his holy apostles and prophets respecting the absolute perfection and infallibility of the revelation as given by the Holy Ghost. The sole question is. What do the Scriptures say on the point in debate ? Do they say that inspiration had to do simply with the " substance " of revelation and did not extend to the " form," or do they teach that it determined the very words employed by the sacred writers ? That the latter is their teaching the passages already adduced place beyond dispute. The testimony of the Bible about itself is that it is given in all its parts by an inspiration which extended to the words, and determined the "form" as well as the "substance" of the revela- tion it " conveys." 4. An objection is founded on the diversity of style by which the different books or sections of the record are characterized. This, it is alleged, is inconsistent with the unity of authorship implied in the verbal theory of inspiration, which ascribes the language of the record to the Holy Ghost. This objection proceeds upon an obviously false assumption, as unity of authorship is not inconsistent with diversity of style. Even when the authorship is simply and absolutely human, the principle does not hold. The dramatis personcc of Shakespeare speak and feel and act with all the diversity characteristic of distinct personal- ities, although the language and feeling and action proceed from the one personal inspiring agent. The objection, moreover, overlooks the fact that the different agents employed by the Spirit of God were not ex post facto selections, but were before individually ordained to their respective departments of this service, and were personally framed and fashioned and cultured for the very purpose of giving the recorded revelation tliat characteristic diversity in unity which im- parts to the word of God a charm altogether inimitable and unique, and proves it to have come from the one Spirit through the previously 126 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. appointed and ordered agencies. Having tlius ordained and equipped his servants as fit instruments for the attainment of the end aimed at, it is surely not too much to assume that, when he inspired the agents thus prepared, he recognized liis own workmanship and pur- pose, and made use of all the qualities and personal peculiarities pre- viously imparted. If all this be true — and it is true beyond all gain- saying— then It must follow tliat the more thorough the inspiration, the more thoroughly will the resultant record be characterized by the personal peculiarities of the agents employed. Only by suppressing and holding in check and abeyance characteristics imparted by him- self with a specific design could the inspiring Spirit have produced that monotony of style which anti-verbalists contend must result from a thorough all-determining inspiration. In other words, if the Holy Spirit would prosecute, in the case of each selected agent, his own ante-natal purpose, he would do what verbal inspirationists contend he has done — viz., take absolute possession of his own prepared in- struments, actuating them ab intra so as to determine them, in har- mony with the laws of their preordained constitutions, even to the selection of the language they should employ. 5. With regard to objections founded upon hitherto unresolved errors or inaccuracies or discrepancies, we must simply confess our ignorance and await more light. Difficulties once regarded as un- solvable have given way before increasing knowledge, and it is not unreasonable to assume that others which we cannot at present solve may yet yield up the key to a better informed biblical scholarship. In view of the array of evidence by which the doctrine of a verbal inspiration is sustained, it is certainly more becoming, more rational and more reverent to assume such an attitude than to reject a doctrine sustained by testimony which we must accept, or abandon our faith in the Scriptures as the Word of God. It is possible that there may still remain difficulties sufficient to tax and tire and, perhaps, defeat all the efforts of the profoundest biblical scholarship, but there is no difificulty conceivable which can be compared with that arising from the denial of a verbal inspiration. Those who deny this doctrine must face the unsolvable problem of reconciling their theory with the positive counter-claim of the Scriptures themselves. Other difficulties may perplex and puzzle, but this, as it is absolutely insurmountable, must, if not abandoned, involve the unhappy theorist in absolute de- spair of all solution, and imperil, if it do not subvert, his faith in the testimony of the divine record. DISCUSSION ON DR. HITCHCOCK'S PAPER. The President. — Next in order comes the discussion on the papers that have been read ; beginning with the first paper of last evening — Professor Hitchcock's paper entitled, " The Cere- monial, the Moral, and the Emotional, in Christian Life and Worship." SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 127 Rev. Prof. Henry Calderwood, LL. D. (of Edinburgh), — I come to the platform at this time, not because I specially desire for myself to have the opportunity of making remarks, but because, being a member of the Business Committee, I thought it necessary to move the resolution which has been car- ried this morning, and which has now been read to you, as a necessary preliminary for our having such a consultation together in this Council^ as seems to be exceedingly desirable, if there are to be practical beneficial results from our deliberations ; and, in accordance with this proposal, you will notice that the order of remark is to be the order in which the speeches were read. As I held myself responsible to introduce the matter, if the motion were carried, I desire to make a remark or two about that exceedingly valuable and important paper which was read last night by Prof Hitchcock, and in listening to which I think we all felt it a matter for gratification and thankfulness that the arrangements of the several seminaries of this land made it pos- sible for some of the professors of those seminaries to be with us and thus read their own papers. Whether Dr. Hitchcock be in the house or not, I am not sure, but I think we are under great obligations to him for placing before us as the first subject of consideration, the Ceremonial,. the Moral and the Emotional, in Christian Life and Worship. His paper was, I think, an exceeding valuable contribution to the question — which is for us as Presbyterians a very important one — of liberty and latitude in religious life and worship; because it seems to me, in the history of the Presbyterian Church, and more especially its history in Scotland, where we naturally are , strongly conservative and very slow to move, it becomes impor- tant for us to discuss what liberty there may be, or, perhaps more appropriately, what variety we may expect to find, in the Chris- tian life, while that life conscientiously and individually is seeking to conform to a fixed standard in God's word; and passing from the question of individual life, what latitude there may really and reasonably be, within a Presbyterian Church, as to the forms of its worship. Now in touching upon points such as those to which Dr. Hitchcock referred last night, concerning 128 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE liturgy, and concerning various forms of worship, and various observances of anniversary occasions, he was touching upon points which are regarded by us in Scotland as exceeding Hable to debate. Let me speak upon the question concerning 3 liturgy. You are well aware that in Scotland the antagonism t-o liturgy has been very great, and that the reference to Jennie Geddes' stool still has very great power. But I hope in the Presbyterian Church we are prepared to recognize that it is no element distinguishing Presbyterians as such to declare a liturgy unwarrantable ; that our Episcopalian friends will misunderstand us if they regard it as a distinguishing character of Presbyterianism to forbid a liturgy. But they will also misunderstand us if they think it is charac- teristic of Presbyterianism to be deprived of liberty. There may be certain deviations and variety within the several branches of the Presbyterian Churches in their practice in this matter; but it is characteristic of our Church that no minister in it shall be bound by any liturgy. If wc find a liturgy to be healthful, under any circumstances, there is not that under our system which will withdraw from us the liberty of its use; but we will not be bound down by any liturgy which will require us to go a certain round in the service of God's house ; and above all it shall never happen in the experience of any Christian minister in our Church that he will find himself debarred from distinct and immediate reference to the great wants of a people, simply because there is no form laid down. Rev. George C. Hutton, D. D., of Paisley, Scotland. — I wish to make one or two remarks by way of very slight qualification to some expressions that fell from Dr. Hitchcock in that most intellectual and able paper which he read to us. I -do not know indeed that I differ from what he intended. I rather think I may not. But it seems to me that he had better have qualified one expression which he used with reference to the formula, "justification by faith alone." He seemed to think that there was something dangerous in that. He advocated the preaching of morality. To that I say. Amen, and I do not know that we SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 129 fail in that even in Scotland, But I advocate the preaching of doctrine, and I do not think that formula at all worn out or even dangerous. Justification by faith alone ! By what else I ask any sinful brother does he hope to be justified? Is it by the greater moralities, or by the lesser moralities ? Is it by his good, clean, square life that he hopes to be justified? I may bring all that to my Maker and Law-giver and Judge, and would he be justified as a holy being, and as a law-giver, in taking that off my hand ? There is not the holiest man on earth who would venture to believe it. He must fall back on the righteous- ness of Christ. He must rest on that great, clean, square life of our adorable Redeemer. I wish simply to clear myself of being supposed, by absolute silence, entirely to approve of the some- what unqualified manner in which our venerable and admirable friend gave utterance to his views on the subject of justification by faith alone. I hold by that formula. I hold that it embodies scriptural truth. It is that which expresses the great truth that God himself could not be justified in accepting the best righteousness of the best saint as a sufficient satisfaction to his justice and honor to his law. That is what I understand as the foundation of the formula, justification by faith alone, and I hope that old formula, which has run down the ages, v/ill continue through the ages and generations until it has accomplished its great work both in this and in other lands. Rev. Prof. J. R. W. Sloan, D. D., Allegheny, Pa. — We are not only the Presbyterian Church, but we are a great Protestant Church; and we have our origin and our distinctive character by reason of a protest against the corruptions of popery, past and present. When the reformation took place, it was not more a reformation of doctrine than it was a reformation of worship. Indeed, I think if either element is to be specially emphasized it is the reformation of worship. In undertaking that work the reformers had some difficulty in arriving at a principle that would be fundamental and clear ; and they arrived at last at this principle, that what is not commanded in the Scriptures of truth, as to the worship of God, is forbidden. The great question is really, if at all. how shall I come before 9 130 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. the Lord and bow myself in the presence of the most high God? I have no power to answer that question, but I must learn it from him. How shall I, as an humble and sinful worm of the dust, come before him? Where shall I learn that? In the inspired Scriptures of truth. They are no more certainly to us the rule as to what we shall believe and what we shall practise, than they are to us the rule of the manner in which we shall worship the most high God ; and whenever we introduce any of our own conceptions or our own ideas into it, we have, to all intents and purposes, the beginning of the corruptions that overlaid the Romish Church at the period of the reformation. And do gentlemen believe that they can open these flood-gates once more, and when they have let out the tide that any one shall say. Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther ? The only position we can take as Presbyterians is to withstand every form of innovation, whatever it may be, that does not rest on a " Thus saith the Lord." The Rev. Prof. Alex. B. Bruce, D. D., of Glasgow, Scotland. — I desire to say a word on the question of liturgy, to which Professor Calderwood spoke. I wish to say how thankful I am that this whole subject was taken up and so well handled last night by Dr. Hitchcock. It could not have been in better hands, and I think it would have been well if we had had the whole evening for the discussion of the points which were brought under our notice by that gentleman. There are two questions with reference to the inclusion of the liturgical elements in public worship in the Presbyterian Church. First, Is it legitimate? and second. Is it desirable? With regard to the first question, Dr. Hitchcock stated that the exclusion of liturgical elements was entirely unnecessary and uncalled for by our system ; and referred to the example of the reformers. In that I think he is right. The use is legitimate. I suppose we should all agree to the sentiment of Richard Baxter, who says, substantially : " I cannot be of their mind who think God will not accept a prayer which is read from a book, neither can I be of their mind who say the same thing with regard to extempore prayers." But is it desirable ? I have SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 131 thought of this question a great many years, and I have tried to get at the reason of the two systems — the non-Hturgical system and the liturgical system. Both, no doubt, if practised by godly men, aim at edification. And how do the partisans of both systems justify their practice? It appears to me that the princi- ple on which the liturgical system is based is this; a desire to make the congregation as independent as possible of the defects of the individual minister, and to give them the benefits of the best thoughts of the wisest and holiest men of the Church in all ages. That is a perfectly legitimate object. The principle on which our usual practice in the Presbyterian Church is placed seems to be this : that every minister shall be called on by the system of worship observed to take full opportunity of his ministry to stir up the gift of God that is in him, and to cultivate the power of conducting the public worship of God in prayer and preaching so as to edify the people. That is an admirable principle, and the working out of it has led on the whole to very satisfactory results ; that is to say, our ministers hav^e reached a high average of attainment in the conduct of worship. But is it not possible to combine the advantages of both systems ? That is a question on which my Scotch prejudices had long leaned to the side of a negative. I had been disposed to main- tain that, in order to get the full benefit of our system, we would be required to insist upon it exclusively. But latterly I have come to be somewhat inclined to another mind, and my present impression is (but I should like to have this regarded as a pro tempore impression, and to speak subject to correction), that Dr. Hitchcock spoke the truth when he said there is a bald- ness and unimpressiveness in our worship ; that that is a weak point in our system; and that possibly our worship could be made more impressive and more interesting if, besides the efforts of the individual ministry, there were room in our ministry for the use of such beautiful forms of prayer as that which was quoted last night of St. Chrysostom. The Rev. A. M. Milligan, D. D., of Pittsburgh, Pa.— On this matter of the worship of God we have two classes or modes. We have the old dispensation and the new dispensation. Under 132 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. the old dispensation the altars reeked with blood, the censers smoked with incense, the priestly robes, the forms were all af- fecting the senses, striking the imagination, filling the mind with the grandeur of the scene in the temple of Solomon, The grandeur of the whole struck the imagination and filled the aesthetic nature ; but there was one peculiarity about it — a peculiarity that ran from first to last, and that was that not one particle of that ritual, not one act of that service, but must have the divine inspiration and authority. Cain offered a sacrifice of peace, intending to honor God, but it was not of divine institution, and it was not accepted. And he went away not an accepted worshipper, but red with the blood of his brother. Saul desired to offer a sacrifice under peculiar circumstances. The Philistines were upon him. Samuel did not come to time, and he offered a burnt-offering, but he did not gain acceptance. When David himself would bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, they followed not the divine institution to carry it upon the priests' shoulders, but it was borne on a new cart drawn by oxen, and Uzzah put forth his hand to save the ark, and fell dead beside it. If there is anything in the Old Testa- ment ritual and system that is more manifest than everything else, it is that with all its grand ceremonial, everything must be in accordance with divine manifestation. Now, what about the New Testament dispensation ? It has laid aside all these sensual, symbolical, typical and manifest parts of that system, and we have not come to the mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to the black- ness and the darkness and the tempest, but we have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God and the heavenly Jeru- salem, to an innumerable company of angels, to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. The Rev. W. P. Breed, D. D. — I wish, in the first place, simply to say a double amen to every word that fell from the lips of Dr. Hutton. I wish, in the second place, to express a thought that passed through my' mind while listening to those very able papers last evening : that if this Council had authority, it would employ that authority in enjoining all SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 133 our ministers and elders and people to commit Dr. Paxton's sermon to memory. In the third place, I wish to accept the principle of Dr. Hitchcock, as to the form of worship with re- gard to allowing churches to do as they please with or without liturgy, but not to carry that liberty so far as to be everlastingly stigmatizing the worship of the Methodists, Baptists and Pres- byterians as a bald worship. Some old heathen said of Paul the Apostle that he was a bald-headed Galilean ; and some Presbyterians of our day are all the time saying that his worship was as bald as his head, and therefore we must have necessarily, in order to make it at all respectable in our drawing-rooms, some wig with liturgical curls. Now what is bald about Presbyterian worship ? We read the word of God, and I say that when a man comes out of his study, after having been before God with one of those chapters, and reads it to the people, it is not bald ; and it is none the less bald when it is read in connection with a liturgy. Then, as to the prayer of an honored man of God with a whole congregation on his heart, and the Spirit of God in his soul, when he comes before his people and brings their wants and their woes before their Maker in the name of Jesus Christ, is that bald ? And then when a man has spent the whole week, studying and turn- ing over the great verities of God's holy word, and comes with a great burden on his heart, and tells it in the ears of the people, is that bald ? Where is the baldness, then ? There is no such thing. It is a word without meaning, and that, I believe, is the reason why it is so often used, because it does not mean any- thing. I have been again and again in an English cathedral, listening to sixty-five minutes of prayer, and the reading for fifteen minutes of what no Presbyterian would thijik of calling a ser- mon ; was not that bald ? The Presbyterian service is not a bald service, and we do not want any liturgy to adorn it, if only God's Holy Spirit comes down upon the hearts of the people and enables them to do what they are bound t ^ do ; go from their closets to the house of God ; and the ministers to do as they are bound to do : go with their hearts full of their mes- 134 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. sages and God's Holy Spirit on them. I protest against this constant allusion to the service of all these churches as a bald service. No, no ; it is a blessed service, and if we only get near to God we shall have an abundance of the glory of God with- out any liturgy. The Rev. Principal G. M. Grant, D. D., of Kingston, Canada. — If Dr. Hitchcock were here I would not speak; but I am told he is not here, and therefore I think it is only justice to him that there should be a correction, and, though I do not know Dr. Hitchcock, I shall attempt to make it. I think it is a great misfortune, when we quote a man, not to quote the whole sen- tence. Dr. Hitchcock's sentence was not that the formula of Justification by Faith alone was "dangerous," but that it was "dangerous in rash and unskilful hands." Dr. Hitchcock is just as ready to fall back on the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone, and not on his own morality, as any man in this house. His paper showed that to me for one. I am delighted at the tone of the discussion about a liturgy. First, Dr. Calderwood most emphatically gives congregational liberty — that is what we want, to begin with. Secondly, Dr. Breed emphasizes that. Thirdly, Dr. Bruce emphasizes it. But Dr. Calderwood says it would be wrong for the Presby- terian Church to bind its members down to a liturgy. I in- dorse that thoroughly; but at the same time I do not believe that common sense is dead, and if in the future any Pres- byterian Church should think it proper to adopt even a modi- fied liturgy, as some Presbyterian churches have done, I say it is within their competence to do so. But all that is wanted is true congregational liberty ; and that has been frankly con- ceded by every speaker. Thirdly, Dr. Sloan laid down the principle that whatsoever is not commanded in the word of God is forbidden. Where did the Reformers lay down that principle ? Dr. Sloan lays it down. In what symbolical books is it? Quote them. It is not in any symbolical book of the Reformed Churches that I know of: certainly it is not in the practice of the Reformed Churches. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 135 The Reformed Church of Holland has always used organs, and there is a partial liturgy in the Lutheran Churches, and so, cer- tainly, that principle has not been accepted by the Reformed Churches. Dr. Sloan speaks about the inspiration of the Bible. Who has thrown a doubt on the inspiration of the Bible ? I did not gather that from Dr. Hitchcock's paper, and no man by implication should assert that or imply that he did. The Rev. Prof. Alexander F. Mitchell, D. D., of St. Andrews, Scotland. — To a certain extent I hold that Dr. Sloan is right in what he said. Whatever changes, in the course of time, are made in the worship of the Presbyterian Church, I hope the liberty which has prevented our churches from adopting anything of which they cannot say that it is com- manded in the word of God, will be distinctly preserved. I think there is a more important duty before us than even that of considering whether we shall change our present sys- tem. It is that we shall endeavor to make the best of that system. I hold that we have not done justice to our system. The elder Dr. McCrie told us long ago that the system enjoined by the Westminster Confession of Faith does not intend that any man should lead the devotions of his people without medi- tation and prayer in private; and if there were more of this, there would be fewer complaints that the great majority of our ministers cannot at all times pray as some men can at some times. Rev. a. T. Pierson, D. D., of Detroit. — I beg the indulgence of this assembly for intruding any suggestions, but my object is to propound a question. I listened with the profoundest inter- est to that most able and masterly paper by Dr. Hitchcock last evening, but it impressed my mind that one of the fundamental things was left out of it. According to the etymology of the word worship, it means ivorth ship, describing the worth of Almighty God. Anything which, in the house of God, as a part of God's worship, has no tendency to exalt and magnify him, is foreign to the fundamental notion of worship; for in God's house God alone should be exalted. Now it appears to me, that one of the great difficulties in the introduction of 136 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. a new ceremonial lies in this : that the tendency is, in the first place, to divert attention from Almighty God; and, in the second place, to exalt the human medium, instrumentality, or agent. If, for example, it be pleaded, in behalf of quartette choirs with solo performances that soar into the stars and descend among the rocks, that they minister to the aesthetic taste, let it also be remembered that they tend to individual exaltation, to call atten- tion to one's self, to a musical, to an aesthetic, to an intellectual, to an artistic performance, and, in so far as the attention is di- rected to the man himself, it is diverted from God. Let it be also remembered that in the introduction of liturgical forms, which are of purely human and uninspired origin, precisely the same danger is incurred, the tendency to direct the attention to human forms that have no authority of inspiration, and away from the great and glorious forms which, even in the matter of the speech or dialect of prayer, the word of God so amply fur- nishes. If a man will go into his closet and study the service of prayer in the house of God as he studies the service of preaching in the house of God, we shall not hear the cry of baldness in our worship. The simple fact is, while many of us study our sermons from the beginning to the end of the week, our prayers are in the worst sense extempore prayers — not born of the inspiring dialect of Holy Scripture; and when I speak of the dialect of Holy Scripture in prayer, I do not refer to the simple stringing along through the prayer of a number of texts disjointed, disconnected, and having no internal and in- herent relationship; but rather to such lingering before the mercy seat, that when he comes to conduct the service of prayer, he involuntarily breathes the words which the Holy Ghost has taught as vehicles of divine supplication. And let me add, that I am satisfied that the same principle obtains in preaching. Allow me modestly to utter my frank and honest testimony, that the Holy Ghost is frequently turned, as it were, from his course by the effort on the part of a carnal ambition to present before the people intellectual thoughts, and pathetic im- ageries, and philosophic discussions, which call attention to one's self, and not to the word of God and to the glorified Christ '■yiiec'^': "r-^- ; refer .-iiniber 0 Btjml and in- rr::^ before the af service of M tne Holy '.nd let uins in : honest • iiweie, ■:*jonto •;c im- ■- T.e'i 'i verted lency to diri ority of let it A\ IS the r! St sense exf nspi ring dialect of Holy Scri. ' "' - ■ 'pture in, prayer, i -lor/. iough the prayer of a ni. led, -and having no internal andir lK]@LL/^iM© '.smeamnmtit^. JULIANA Of STOLBERG "^^l^'s/^ NLW NETHERLANDS MICHAELIUS A.D.I688 CLASSIS OF AMSTFRDAM PURITAN Ft' I 4 i SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 139 Scripture, in respect to history, and in respect of the pecuHari- ties of Scripture, taken as a system Hke that which is found in Aristotle and Plato. I think it is our wisest course to defend Holy Scriptures on this ground. So far as the apologetic contro- versy is concerned, I humbly submit, while we can and ought to use this great doctrine, and not throw it into the background, we ought never to forget that we are not dependent on this doctrine of plenary and verbal inspiration, for our defence of Holy Scripture against unbelievers. I would also say we ought to distinguish between the doctrine of the inspiration of Holy Scripture, and the doctrine of the canon. There is a clear dis- tinction between the admission of all books of Holy Scripture to the place to which the Protestant Church exalts them, and the rank and dignity of those books themselves. We believe that the books of Holy Scripture are truly the Scripture, and are inspired from first to last; but it is a distinct question, one which we as Protestant Churches have settled, I think rightly, and which 1 do not wish to see disturbed, and against the disturbance of which I would protest, but still it is a distinct question whether the rank and place of the separate books of Holy Scripture is made good by the legitimate evidence which appears on that subject. That is my second remark. The third is the vast im- portance of our striving to accord a legitimate field for criti- cism, and striving rather to eliminate and remove the difficulties, and by proper handling of Holy Scripture to harmonize them with the full doctrine of inspiration. That is my effort as a theologian, and I hope it will be our effort not to bring down Holy Scripture into the midst of these difficulties, without an effort to harmonize them at all times with the full doctrine of the infallibility of the Scriptures. Dr. Sloan. — I have been challenged to produce an authority. I have been to the Presbyterian Board of Publication. I hold in my hand an old-fashioned book called the Confession of Faith, adopted by the Presbyterian Churches of North America, stan- dard in all Presbyterian Churches, at least of the United States ; and I quote from the Larger Catechism with all deference to my good brother from Canada (Prof. Grant). "What are the sins MO THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. forbidden in the Second Commandment ? The sins forbidden in the Second Commandment are all devising, counseling, com- manding, using, and in any wise approving any religious wor- ship not instituted by God himself" The Rev. T. H. Skinner, D. D., of Cincinnati. — What was not read of the Rev. Dr. Humphrey's paper is in perfect keeping with what was read. It was my honored privilege to hear Dr. Humphrey read every word of the paper the other night in my room in the hotel, and I can assure the brethren that that paper in toto presents the old-fashioned Westminster Confession doctrine of the inspiration of the word of God; inspiration for apologetics, inspiration for dogmatics. In the American Pres- byterian Church the one question that concerns us is that of the supernatural centring in the question of inspiration. The old controversies in the different parts of our re-united Church have ceased. You hear nothing through the papers, through the periodicals of our Church, on the old controversies of the Adamic connection, of original sin, of imputation, of ability, of the nature and extent of the atonement ; the Presbyterian Church of our country we say is a unit on all these long contro- verted doctrines, to all intents and purposes ; and the Presby- terian Church of our country will strive and struggle to present a united and unbroken front on the whole line of the super- natural as set forth by our standard-bearer, the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, in the minute exposition of this doctrine as you will find it in his paper as a whole. And I trust that as this question comes from Germany, and comes from Scotland over to us, that Germany in its Presbyterianism, and Scotland in its Presbyterianism will join hands and hearts with the Amer- ican Church in upholding the actual intervention of the infinite with the finite, of the Creator with the creature, of God with man, and of the Holy Ghost, the third Person of the God-head, through the written word of God to man, the will and nothing but the will of the great God concerning man, his fall and his redemption. The doctrine of the inspiration of the sixty-six books of the Holy Bible, which every Christian brother in this house, minister or elder, has sworn to, is the doctrine that we SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 141 live by, and that we are ready, I trust, to die by, and the assur- ance that that is the word of God to you and to me, is not an apologetic study, an inference ; but it is itself, as we were taught, the direct illumination of the Holy Ghost, the author alike of the world and of regeneration, v/itnessing to us, and assuring us that those sixty-six books are the word of the living God. We have sworn to that, and if we cannot abide by it, I think those that cannot should leave us to fight our battles for our- selves on our own line, and not give us trouble within our own ranks. The Rev. Robert F. Burns, D. D., of Halifax. — I would like to express the intense gratification I have felt in listening to Dr. Humphrey's paper. I think it very providential that such a paper, followed by the very logical and luminous address of Professor Watts, should have come before us at this particular time ; and I am especially glad that so many fathers and brethren from the old world have heard this testimony from our Western fathers. If there are any in the old land, to which we have always looked as the seed and spring of orthodoxy, who are beginning to tremble for the ark of God — if there should be anybody who is asking where is the good way, we may tell them if they are at any loss, to come over here. I feel the paper had the right ring about it. We stand on the old ground that all the writing is God-breathed. The holy men speak not in the words that men's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches ; if we are to let go this verbal inspiration we are entirely at sea. Never have I been more impressed than by the thought presented by Dr. Watts, of the frequency with which Christ referred to Moses and quoted Moses. If it were not so, would he not have told us? If it were not Moses, surely there would have been some hint given. So with the holy men following in the Master's wake who quoted from those books; surely in some way they would have given us a hint that the writer was some other party. After all there is nothing new under the sun ; and the modern assaults upon the holy books, in the matters of inspiration, are made with just the old weapons, reformed and refurbished, that have been shivered in a hundred battles : the 142 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. ancient cannons, remoulded and remounted, that have been taken times without number and have been turned upon the retreating forces. No weapon that is formed against this blessed word will ever prosper; and it rejoices the hearts of many of us to hear such testimony from fathers in Israel who have walked about the citadel of our faith and marked well its bulwarks, and considered its palaces; and when we hear them come out and say distinctly what our own hearts feel, we realize more than ever that we have a strong citadel, and that salvation has God appointed to us for walls and for bulwarks. Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL. D., Edinburgh. — I had no intention to say a word on this subject, which I have no doubt many fathers and brethren have had occasion to study more deeply than I have done, were it not for this, that I have had occasion to look at the question from a somewhat different point of view ; and I shall briefly express the conviction to which I have come, looking at it from that point of view. My life has been spent mainly in the East, and it has been my duty to study, with the best care I could, the religious books of the greatest of heathen nations^that is to say, the books of ancient Zoroastrianism, and the books of the Mohammedans in particu- lar— and I find that there is no argument more convincing, even to a native of India, in regard to the truth of Christianity, than just to ask him to take the Bible and his own book, and then look on this picture and on that; and in every man of the slightest impartiality who thus compares the two, I think the result has been, that the one must be a book of man, and the other the Book of God. I should delight in telling several points in which these books are entirely different. I would mention this as one of the many points of difference: the glori- ous hopefulness that characterizes the book of God from be- ginning to end; the seven-fold light and glory of the future which all these holy seers of Israel ever thought of; the latter day, when every crooked thing shall be made straight, when there shall be glory to God in the highest, when strife shall cease, when the meek shall inherit the earth and delight them- selves in the abundance of peace. There is nothing of that in SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 143 any heathen book with which I am acquainted. Even in the matter of scientific error, I confess it looks to me the most remarkable thing that every book of the heathen overflows with scientific blunders. The Koran of Mohammed has them in every page. Take the New Testament, from beginning to end, there is not one solitary scientific blunder, so far as I have ever been able to see. What makes it more remarkable still is, that the early Christian writers fell into scientific blunders. Clement, whom we believe to have been the associate of St. Paul, tells the fable of the Phoenix, tells it as the truth, and tells it to illus- trate the immortality of the soul. Paul walks erect; so did the other holy apostles. Clement, that holy man, stumbled. There are many points of difference most striking between the Bible and the books of the heathen ; but in regard even to the matter of science, on which some men have said you have no right to demand accuracy; I ask them to explain why there is not one solitary error from beginning to end in the New Testament even on scientific questions. The Rev. Narayan Sheshadri, of Bombay. — The paper that was read on the inspiration of the Bible contained the very argu- ments that took hold of me thirty-seven years ago and brought me over to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't think I went to "The Evidences of Christianity" or to "Butler's An- alogy," although I studied those books subsequently; but I went to the grand old book, the Bible, and I found, from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Malachi, prophecies scattered over those thirty-nine books, and if I had time I would go over all those prophecies; and those prophecies are so dif- ferent from the prophecies that I had known in my own books that I could not but come to the conclusion that the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I had come to know that Moses was in Egypt; that forty years he was learning the sciences and arts of Egypt ; I had known that Egyptians were as grovelling idolaters as we ourselves were in India; and I read the books of the Pentateuch, and there you find no trace whatsoever of idolatry advocated, but, on the contrary, idolatry condemned. The prophecies that 144 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. refer to the Lord Jesus Christ are very minute. I will not oc- cupy your time referring to them, but onwards to the Book of Malachi we have these prophecies spread abroad, so that the conviction was wrought in my mind that the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. I have had the honor to sit at the feet of those prophets in Israel which Scot- land sent forth. Two of them are now enjoying the rich reward before the immediate presence of God; I refer to the late Rev. Robert Nesbit, and the Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Bombay. But my third teacher is still spared to me, and I hope he will be spared to the Church for many long years — the father who just pre- ceded me. I was brimful of Hindooism at one time, and I had miracles in abundance. I will tell you one. I read of a fearful giant that sleeps six long months, and he is wide awake for six long months, and when he sleeps he snores like most of us, and when he snores that is the reason you have high tide and low tide — (The speaker's five minutes being up, he did not conclude his sentence.) The Rev. H. L. McKenzie, of China. — I wish in a sentence or two to add my tribute from the far East to what Dr. Murray Mitchell has just brought before you, and in which he has been followed by our friend who has just sat down. I refer to the testimony which we can find in the heathen lands to the inspira- tion of Scriptures, when we compare the Scriptures with the best books that the heathen nations have produced. Dr. Mitchell has referred to the books of India. Let me allude in a sentence or two to the books of China, the classical works of that ancient land, and more especially the writings of Confucius. I may mention that at this day about one-third of the whole human race worship Confucius and abide by his teachings, and speak of him as the equal of heaven and earth, the teacher of ten thousand ages. It is no small matter to know that we have about one-third of the human race worshipping this great teacher, receiving his teachings as divine. How is it when you come to compare the teachings of Confucius with the word of God, the inspired Bible ? I have often thought, when thinking of these works and comparing them with the blessed book of SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL 145 God, that they are to be spoken of as the stars of midnight, which cast a feeble light, but a light by which we cannot carry on the work of this great world, while the word of God may be spoken of as the sun in the heavens, shedding light all over the earth, and enabling man to carry on the works of God as com- mitted to them. There is much in the writings of Confucius which gains not only our respect, but even our admiration. Five hundred years before Christ was born, before Christ the light of the world came to speak the word of God in person, Confucius spoke thus : he said, " Do not unto others what you would not that others should do to you." You will all at once recognize the likeness, and yet the want of complete likeness, of that saying of Confucius to what our Lord said in his sermon on the mount, " Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." Five hundred years before the Christian era Confucius thus taught what we may call the negative side of the golden rule ; but take the writings of Confucius as a whole ; take the writings of Chinese sages as a whole, whose writings one-third of the human race so admire, and you will at once see the vast, the infinite su- periority of the word of God to the very best thing that they have in their books. There is a good morality in many respects taught in the books of China, but no morality that goes so high as the morality of the New Testament, and there is utterly a want in those books of anything to lead the heart and mind of man to find rest and satisfaction in the hope of a glorious hereafter. Their books teach much about the duty of rulers to those over whom they rule, the duty of subjects to their king, but nothing of the way of forgiveness, nothing of the way whereby sinful man can be at peace with God ; they bring no hope to the human heart, no comfort in times of sorrow and distress ; they speak nothing of the great hereafter. In this and in many other respects it is manifest to those who have studied both books,, who have studied on the one hand the classical books of Chinia, the writings of the great Confucius, and who have studied oa the other the blessed word of God, that there is an infinite su- periority in the word of God. I thought I could not let this discussion come to an end without vcr}' briefly thus indicating 10 146 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. to you that what Dr. Mitchell has brought from India may be brought from China ; that all heathen books and teachings show an inferiority to the word of God ; and thus bringing it forward not as a scientific argument for inspiration, but yet as a blessed confirmation to those who accept the word of God as inspired. The Rev. Robert Howie, A. M., of Glasgow. — I should not have taken part in this discussion, but for the very explicit reference made in the course of it to Scotland. I come as one of the delegates from the Free Church of Scotland, and since arriving in your country I have been somewhat a suspected man. I have had to clear myself from the suspicion of heresy in con- nection with this question of the word of God. I thoroughlyen- dorse the views set forth by the brethren who read these papers, and I believe the brethren on this side of the Atlantic would find that those are the views that fill the whole heart of Scotland, There are certain erratic tendencies manifesting themselves not in one church, but several ; but I believe in the end that all mis- conception will be removed, and that we will substantially en- dorse the views that have been set before us so ably in these papers, I may say that there are special reasons why I most tenaciously hold to such views. I have been engaged in the home mission work in the city of Glasgow, and I have felt that if you remove this weapon from my hands, if you make it doubtful whether any part of it is the very word of God, I have lost the instrument that has been useful in the past. My effort in dealing with people in my mission has been to get them away from themselves — away from their own feeling and their own intuition, their prejudices and preconceptions, and to get them to rest on " thus saith the Lord." And when I come to your great country and see the vast work you have to do in the home mission department, I can easily understand why it is that brethren here so tenaciously hold fast by the orthodox view in connection with the Scripture, I thoroughly subscribe to what was said by Dr. Cairns, who distinguished between apologetics and what we have to do with our dealings with Christian men. In addressing large numbers of individuals even in Glasgow, I found it would not have done to assume the inspira- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 147 tion of Scripture. I needed to deal with these people on the historical ground that there was the person of Christ, and to get them to admit the fact of the person of Christ on the ground that these books are historically true, without assuming for the time being their inspiration, and then by logical conclusion get them to admit the rest. The Rev. Principal Wm, Caven, D. D., of Toronto, Canada. — There are certain great matters that are not under discussion in the Church of Christ, and certainly not in the Presbyterian Church. There are certain great matters that have been decided by the mind of the Church of Christ, bearing upon them in all ages ; and I hold that the inspiration and infallibility of God's word is one of those matters. If there is anything in my nature that in- duces me even to reopen that question, with a view of essen- tially modifying the catholic doctrine, I have very great reason to stand in doubt of my nature ; and I cannot conceive anything that would be a greater calamity, not simply to the Presbyterian Church, but to all the Church of Christ, than that this great Council should waver in its enunciation of this doctrine ; and whilst I do not need to be assured as to the mind of this Council (I knew it from the beginning), at the same time I state to-day, with thankfulness, that I am refreshed and strengthened by the strong and hearty, and yet most deliberate, utterance of this doctrine from North and South and East and West. I be- lieve that the Church of Christ in all sections will be profoundly thankful to this Council for the tone of this discussion. There are just two points I ask permission to notice, that I think have not been brought into the discussion. One is this : It is frequently .said that our doctrine of inspiration can be of no practical value, even supposing we established it, on this ac- count : there is a good deal of uncertainty about various read- ings. They say. Of what practical value is an extremely orthodox doctrine upon this point, when there are various readings that have been made ? I am not inclined to argue that point. I will simply say that my conviction is again the excuse for my motive in stating that these manuscripts are God's. Plenary in- 148 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. spiration is what gives legitimacy, and I venture to say gives high dignity, to these most earnest studies that have been di- rected to the ascertainment of the facts. An English critic, re- cently deceased, who has edited an edition of the New Tes- tament, said that had he not believed the doctrine of plenary inspiration, or even verbal inspiration, his soul would not have sustained his weak body in his protracted labors. We are fre- quently reminded, as against this doctrine, of the idiosyncrasy of the several inspired writers. We are told, but, of course, everybody knows that, that the soul of Paul is not the soul of John, and the soul of Peter is not the soul of either. They say " if you have the human element so distinctly upon the surface of Scripture, where is your ground for asserting plenary inspira- tion ? You must modify that doctrine." To my mind Dr. Humphrey has put the matter most admirably. He has said that it is all human and it is all divine; and I will not allow any man with his critical instincts to run. through the Bible and analyze it mechanically, and determine that so much is human and so much divine. I hold that, just as order interpenetrates life, you have a divine Logos penetrating every part of Scripture, so that from the beginning to the end of it, it is an intensely human book, and it is absolutely a divine book. These are the two points I beg permission to state in the Council ; and I can- not but express not simply my intellectual satisfaction, but my deep gratitude before God, at the profound and earnest views which have here been offered from all quarters upon this great subject. The Council then adjourned until 2)^ o'clock in the afternoon. September 2/[iJi, 1880, 2.30 p. m. The Council was called to order and prayer offered by the Rev. Thomas S. Porter, D.D., LL.D., of Easton, Pa., President. The Committee on " Credentials " reported. (See p. 24.) The Rev. Prof. Samuel J, Wilson, D. D., LL. D., of Alle- gheny City, read the following on THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES OF PRESBYTERIANISM. From eternity God chose a people for himself. The idea of the Church rests upon and springs out of the eternal purpose of Jehovah SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 149 In the working out of this eternal purpose the divine thought assumes form and visibility in time. The true people of God as they are known to him throughout all the ages, those who have been, and those who will be redeemed, constitute the Invisible Church. But since man can only judge as to who are the people of God by a credi- ble profession, "all those who profess the true religion, together with their children," constitute the visible Church. The Church, there- fore, in its idea and necessity, rests upon no tradition or expediency, not upon apostolical authority alone, not upon an happy after-thought of God, but upon his blessed, eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own will. As to churchism — if we must have it of all dimen- sions, high, low and broad — here is churchism which in its "breadth and length and depth and height " is commensurate with the "love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." In the government of a God " whose bosom is the home of law," which law is voiced in the harmony of the world ; this visible Church must have a form, an organization. It is a body. The earth which is preserved from fire for the sake of the Church, swings through the ranks of marching suns to the music of the spheres. This God of order would not leave his highest creation — the Church — to go on at random, or in anarchy. Here naturally 'and presumably we should expect the highest type of law and order and government ; of power regulated ; rights guarded ; order maintained with all due liberty of thought and action. I. Presbyterianism maintains therefore, that there is a Church, that there has been a Church from the beginning of human history ; that the plan of the Church lay in the mind of God before the foundations of the world were laid. This is high churchism of the right kind. II. This Church, then, has a founder, a lawgiver, a governor, a king, a head ; and this king, lawgiver and head is Christ. Presby- terianism maintains, always has maintained, and always will maintain so long as true to herself, the supreme headship of Christ. To his Church Jesus Christ has given laws and a form of government. To him alone is the Church responsible for what she does in her legiti- mate and appropriate sphere. These laws given by Christ to his Church are contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments, which Scriptures III. Presbyterianism holds to be the only and sufficient rule of faith and practice ; the Bible, the Bible alone, and the whole Bible. To this principle Presbyterianism has always been loyal ; always " following God's word," as the immortal Rutherford has it. Richard Hooker — noinen clarum et venerabile — in his ecclesiastical polity begins the discussion at very long range, concerning law in general, law of nature, of angels, of reason, etc., then Scripture. On the other hand, Presbyterianism begins, continues and ends with Scripture — with all Scripture. After we have learned what the Scrip- ture saith it is. time enough to consult antiquity, history, canons, nature or logic. The Old Testament and the New Testament are not r5o THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. antagonistic nor contradictory, nor inconsistent the one with the other ; the one is not a supplement to the other, nor is the New Tes- ament a feeble apology for the Old, but both alike are the word of God. The Church is one throughout the ages. Thus going to the word of God, to the whole word of God, reverently to learn what form of government Christ has given to the Church, and pressing out the very essence of all dispensations, and lifting the name right from the sacred page, with the breath of Jehovah upon it, we exclaim, Presbyterian ! What then is Presbyterianism? 1. First and most obviously it is a Church government in the hands of Presbyters (elders) ; and of these there are two classes, viz., teach- ing elders and ruling elders. Every ordained teaching Presbyter has authority to discharge all ministerial functions, viz., to preach the VVord, to administer the sacraments, to dispense discipline. There are no orders in the ministry such as characterize Prelacy — Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons. Each Presbyter in the New Testament was, and by right is, a Bishop — a Bishop in the sense of an overseer of the fiock, not an overseer of his brethren. Associated with the Presby- ters, who, besides ruling, "labor in word and doctrine," are others whose peculiar function it is to rule ; hence called Ruling Elders. These ruling elders are not laymen, but are chosen from among laymen, and are ordained to a spiritual office, and in ecclesiastical courts represent the people ; and in these ecclesiastical courts have equal powers with the teaching elders. It is conceded on all hands that the office of ruling elder is perpetual, and in logical Presbyterian- ism the exercise of this spiritual office should no more expire by limita- tion of time, than the exercise of the spiritual office of a preaching elder should expire by limitation of time ; or than the exercise of a man's spiritual gifts and graces should expire by limitation of time. Each congregation is governed by a bench of elders. From the lowest court to the highest the pozver of the keys is in the hand of Presbyters, and this Presbyterian authority is Episcopal. We have no controversy with Episcopacy. We hold it, believe it, teach it, prac- tice it, defend it. Each Presbyterian minister is a bishop — is indeed the only scriptural kind of bishop ; an episcopos, overseer of the flock, but not a lord over his brethren. We are Episcopalians, truer ones than those who arrogate the name to themselves, for they have but few bishops, whereas we have many. Prelaiists are they, but scriptural Episcopalians they are not. We are Episcopalians but not Prelatists. Prelacy has no foundation in the word of God. It is a human device; a human invention, a human after-thought. The government of the church is by elders ; and, 2. This government by elders binds the church together organically. Each court is subordinate to a higher court — the Church Session to the Presbytery, the Presbytery to the Synod, the Synod to the General Assembly. The power of the church is not in the whole, body of believers but representatively in these church courts, but it is in these courts. SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 151 There is no scriptural example of ordination by one presbyter, but by Presbytery ; so there is no scriptural example of authority exercised by one bishop but by an assembly of bishops, Presbyters. Thus order, decency, discipline in the house of God are secured and at the same time the rights of every member are carefully guarded. The proceed- ings, conclusions, findings and judgments of all lower courts are sub- ject to review by the higher courts, and this review carries with it control. No congregation is or can be ijidependent, but is an integral part of the Presbytery, and the Presbytery is an integral part of the Synod, and the Synod of the General Assembly. An independent Presbyterian Church is an anomaly — a monstrosity. Thus we have : 3. Unity : Many members forming one body, and the body in sub- jection to the head ; a living organism, not a unity secured by arbitrary power, not the unity of iron bands which make the chariot wheel one. but the plastic power of an informing inner life which makes the cedar of Lebanon one, or the oak of Bashan one, with many members. There is a strong government, but this government is only ministerial. The church can make no laws to bind the conscience. She can only administer the law as laid down in the word of God. It is consti- tutional government, government according to the divine constitution. And, 4, this unity is Catholic. If Presbyterianism he Jure divino, it is and must be Catholic. "We believe in the Holy Catholic Church ; " and besides this, Presbyterian- ism is the only form of government which can really give scriptural expression to this catholicity. Papacy or Prelacy can no more do this than Napoleonic imperialism could give expression to the catho- licity of human freedom. Catholicity, moreover, is an instinct of Presbyterianism. In the Book of Discipline of the Kirk of Scotland, as early as 1581, it is declared : " Beside these assemblies, there is an- other more general kind of assembly, an universal assembly of the Church of Christ ir the world, which was commonly called an oecu- menic council, representing the universal Church, which is the body of Christ." Rutlierford in " Divine Right" declares that "cecumenicand general councils should he, Jure divino, to the second coming of Christ." (58.) Gillespie says : " Besides provincial and national synods, an oecu- menical or more truly a general, or, if you please, an universal synod." Prop. 36. {a) This scheme of government therefore is logical and symmetrical. I'ach part fits to its fellow without jar or friction ; the body develops ::aturally and harmoniously into fiill, rounded proportions, without excrescences or monstrosities; " the building fitly framed together, aroweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." {b) It is logical and symmetrical because it is scriptural. It claims to he Jure divino. Normal, healthy Presbyterianism — Presbyterianism which has the breath of life in its nostril, the pulse-beat of life in its wrist — has never abated a jot or a tittle of that claim. If the system be not Jure divino, if it be not scriptural, let us know it and let us 15.2 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. have done with it. Let us understand ourselves, brethren, and then the world will understand us. Our right to be here as a General Presbyterian Council rests on the fact that our system in government as well as in doctrine is jure divino. Our catholicity is not to be maintained by a dilution of our Presbyterianism ; we are not to reach comprehension by beating out the gold of the sanctuary until it becomes so thin that it can be put to the base purposes of tinfoil. If our system be not jure divifw, we as Presbyterians, especially as a Presbyterian General Council, have no right to exist. Let us not be ashamed of our birthright : above all let us not sell at Esau's price. Boast they of apostolical succession ! We claim patriarchal suc- cession. Presbyterianism is older by millennia than the apostles. The apostles only take their place in the unbroken line of Presbyte- rianism, which had been in successful operation for thousands of years before Peter cast his first net or caught his first fish. At Horeb, in the light of the burning bush, nee tamen consumebatur, Moses received his great commission, which ran thus: "Go gather the elders of Israel together." Jehovah sent Moses down to Egypt to convene the Presbytery. Through the elders, the representatives of the people, he was to act, and through them he did act. From the burning bush at Horeb Moses went to Presbytery. There were Presbyterians ages before Peter was born, or Rome was builded, or Prelacy or Papacy was ever heard or dreamed of. We date far beyond apostolic times. One purpose runs through the ages. The Church is one in all dispen- sations. There is but one plan of salvation. Abel was saved through the blood of the Lamb. At Sinai, and during the sojourn in the desert, the elders represented the people. The establishment of the monarchy left the Presbyterial government of the Israelitish Church intact. Let it be borne in mind that the Israelitish Church and State were not identical. Gillespie and Rutherford set that at rest forever. The government of the synagogues was Presbyterian. The death of Christ abolished the Temple service, which was sacrificial and ritual. There was no more need for altar, or priest, or sacrifice. Christ fulfilled the law by taking the place of the types. When the Temple service was thus abolished, there remained the form and ser- vice of the synagogue ; and the first converts being Jews the syna- gogue model was ready to hand. There was no revolution ; when ritualism was abolished by the sacrifice of Christ the Presbyterianism of Moses remained. There is not a scintilla of evidence for any other form of government in the New Testament. Diocesan Bishops are unknown to the New Testament. Neither is there any trace of independency or Congregationalism in Judaism. The lines of the covenant run from one dispensation to another unbroken, only expanding so as to embrace all who shall believe, of all nations, together with their children. The system is scriptural, and because scriptural it is logical and symmetrical. It is not first made logical, and Scripture made to square with it, but it is drawn directly from the word of God, not -to be '■-reach '.Jtil it ■ ;infoil, -■■yasa ■■ not be ; rice, ■ :ji sue- ■ -jiiJitles, -^ <^ Ptesbyte- "■'wds of years :-'«b,ill criers of :..eDetlie •:-'ple,lie . j'jsli at ■-^iages ■ Papacy times. •:, in the .rJbtate ■ lorever. ':: death .:;;il and Nicnfice. V:,en the d set- ; :e syna- :: when -'iinisni ;: mother eve, of all ;G0(1,M' iH)(l!)Kl@/5ilY, GRYNAEUSDE KALMANCE CflUHTHADASDAYCOUNTPEREHYl COUHTPETER PETROVICH SYLVtSieEMIICtlUH KM TESTAMEDT ADIS?! C0VENANT'JERLAUADI5€2 HELVETIC CONFESSION E2EN6ER AD1558 PEACE«?VIENNAADI606 PEACE"? L1NZEAD1645 ED!CT-TOLERATI0N-OCT-?7-l78l IffriHHiiitiiril-r'iri-ii ;'i. ^n\\\c\\ terminate in God fall under the head oi zoorship. While this classification exhausts the whole of religious feeling and action, its divisions are by no means mutually exclusive. The same religious act may properly be placed in all the classes. Prayer, be- cause it terminates in God, is distinctly an act of worship. But prayer is also one of the means of grace, as such terminating .in the petitioner himself: and including, as it does, intercession, and in thi;^ view of it, intended to affect other men, it is benevolent. But all religious acts terminate ultimately in God. Means of grace and benevolence, as well as worship, have as their final reason and object the living God, " the chief end of man," the accepted chief end of the Christian. Hence worship, in a large sense, properly in- cludes all religious feeling and action. And it is in this larger sense that it is used, when made to designate the whole round of the public services of the house of God ; as in the phrase, " the worship of the Reformed Churches." Strictly speaking, worship is the act of the single spirit. Indeed, ail human action is at last referrible to the forth-putting of the single responsible will. But free spirits may act in unison. And since the religious wants of the spirit are the wants of our common human na- ture, and since other wants are personal and the result of circum- stance, free spirits can in nothing unite either so profoundly or so often as in the worship of God. For this reason it is peculiarly proper to affirm worship of an assembly or a communion. Hence our title declares not only a great historical fact, but also a profound psychological truth. There is "a worship of the Reformed Churches.'' '' But our title suggests division as well as union. The word " Re- formed " brings into view the fact that the worship, as well as the theology and the polity of Mediaeval Christianity, was revolutionized in the reformation of the sixteenth century. Of the changes effected in worship by this revolution, the Reformed Churches, here repre- sented, are the heirs. The acts of public worship, common to every branch of the Christian ( -hurch, are praise, prayer, the administration of the sacraments, and the declaration and exposition of the word. An exhaustive treatment 158 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. of the subject would oblige us to notice the influence exerted by tlic Reformation on each of these acts, and the relative place assigned to each of them : and also to notice the change effected in the form of the place of worship, the material hcuse of God ; and the new kind and degree of sanctity with which by the Reformation it was invested. But without specifying these changes in detail, it is to be said that they were effected under the domination of great formative ideas, for which the word Reformation stands. I suppose that the Reformation is accurately described in a single sentence as an endeavor, at least, to revive a spiritual and scriptural Christianity. Spiritual truth appealing to the spirit of man ; the spiritual God in immediate communion with the human spirit, and the written word of God, the infallible rule of the latter in his rela- tions with the former, — as opposed to a dominant organization, through which alone man could approach God, and by which alone spiritual truth could be interpreted, and whose official declarations were above, if they did not supersede the written word as the rule of faith — these . ideas of spirituality and scripturalness formed the theology and polity, and determined the worship of the Reformed Churches. Out of the reign of these ideas, sprang the traits by which our wor- ship is distinguished. These I shall endeavor briefly to describe and defend. I. Of these, \\\& first is what we call simplicity, and what others call bareness or nakedness. We and these others may agree perhaps in describing it by the statement, that the Reformation, broadly speaking, divorced worship and fine art, which had been married in the Mediae- val Church. Whether we like it or not, this is the statement of an historical fact. The majestic cathedral, the gorgeous vestments of the ecclesiastics, the complicated and imposing ceremonies, the balanced and decorous liturgies, and the enchanting altar-pieces which even now so power- fully impress us, and which sometimes we are tempted to describe as aids to devotion, are not products of the Reformation. In respect to these, the Reformation was destructive. It stripped off" decorative ornaments. It regarded them, at least, as useless impedimenta ; as weights, which could serve only to make difficult and tardy the flight of the spirit of man to its communion with the spiritual God. Contemplating the simplicity or baldness of the worship we have thus inherited, all of us, it may be, are at times disposed to believe that any changes in the Reformed practice hereafter to be made, may well be made on the line of a return to mediaeval worship : and the question is often asked, whether the interests of spiritual and scrip- tural religion may not be promoted by church services among us, in which fine art will lend its treasures to excite devotion. I do not hesitate to say, that the divorce of fine art and worship by the Reformation was an inestimable blessing to man. Nor until sin shall have been destroyed may we safely reunite them.* Then only * A half-hour is too brief adequately to unfold a subject as large as the worship of the Reformed Churches. I take advantage of the permission to add notes, in SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 159 will the union be without peril to the human spirit. The new Jeru- salem, whose form is perfect, whose streets are gold, whose gates are pearls, and whose adornment is the glory of all earthly kings, may not descend from heaven until man himself is perfected. This, to call it a theory, is the theory on which the worship of the Reformed Churches is based. I hold it to be justified, alike by the nature of fine art and that of religious worship, and by the teachings of the word of God. For what is fine art, considered as a pursuit ? It is the endeavor of man, laboring in the realm of matter, to produce or exhibit material beauty. The two terms to be emphasized are the substantive, beauty, and the qualifying adjective, material. However art may idealize, it idealizes within the realm of the material. It cannot be conceived of as existing, apart from matter. The products of art are material products. The enchanting melody of music, the moving cadence and rhythm of poetry, the splendid periods of oratory, the glowing can- vas and the speaking marble are indebted for being to the material body and the material world : and however we may talk of the spiritual influence of art, it is severely true, that whoever gives himself to the pursuit or the enjoyment of fine art, so far gives himself to the seen, the material, the temporal. Matter, therefore, and the sensibilities that are most closely related to the physical life of man describe the domain of art. If it appeals to something more than the body (aZ/xa), it does not appeal to the free, willing, rational, and worshipping s/>i'nt (nvtvfia). The feelings it awakens are those distinctly of the soul (e it outzaard form and expression, and picture him with this sword proceeding out of his mouth, these feet as burning brass, and this hair white like wool." So it is witli all of the visions of Scripture, that bring man into the presence of God. The impression they leave upon us is ethical and spiritual just because it is not artistic. It is largely to this lack of artistic life and culture among the Hebrews and in the Apostolic Church, that we owe our spiritual religion, our Christianity, with its amazing power to lift man above his material surroundings, and to reveal to him the unseen, the unimaged, but ever-present God. With reverence be it said, we cannot easily tell with what wise pains, the God oi Abraham secluded his chosen people, and held thern back from communion with those who worshipped nature, and whose religion was blent with and expressed by art, and, if he. did not forbid by precept, at least prevented by providence, a life of artistic culture or artistic enjoyment. I cannot doubt that the same all-wise and all-merciful God also guided that movement of the Reformation, by which the services of the house of God again became unartistic; and the simple, the severe, the naked, if you please, but spiritual worship of ithe Reformed Churches was established.* * I said, supra, that " the Cheruljim in the most holy place were not artistic representations. " The Cherubim were " composite creature forms." So indeed according to Winckelniann were the statues of Greek gods and heroes. " The study of artist.s in producing ideal beauties was directed to the nature of noble beasts, so that they even uttJertook to adopt from animals the means of imparting greater tnajesty and elenation to their statues. This remark, 7uhich might at first sight seem ahsiird, luill strike profound observers as indisputably correct, especially in the heads of Jupiter ami Hercules.'" (Greek Art, Part I., chap, ii., sec. 40.) But the difference between them is that the Hebrew did not attempt, and the Greeic always attempted, to reduce the composition to unity, the essential trait of beauty. Hence, to employ Archbishop Trench's expression, the Cherubim were ♦♦unsightly lo the eye;" while the Greek statues of Jupiter and Hercules have SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 163 II. Without dwelling longer on this trait of our worship as Reformed Churches, it is but just to say that it is simply negative. The change, thus far noticed, was destructive. And therefore, if the Reformation was more than adestructive revolution, if it wasaRe-forma- ticn, we may expect to find a positive trait, which, associated with this negative feature, distinguishes our forms of public worship. I mention this positive trait in saying, that when, by the Reibrma- tion, art was displaced, truth was exalted to the ])lace which art had filled in worship. The exaltation of revealed truth, of the written and inspired word of God, is positively, as thedisplacement of fine art !s negatively, the idea, by which the worship of the Reformed Churches has been shaped. I assume that this statement needs no elaborate proof here. It at once explains, and is confirmed by great and well-known facts of history. All of us know that the Reformation, springing into public view by the theses of Luther, upheld by him as truth, never failed to emphasize this note of the Church ; that above all, it is the pillar and ground of the truth. It was the truth, as truth to be believed, an- nounced, explained and defended, that most of all inspired the labors of the Reformers. Thus the Reformed Churches became the heirs, not of elaborate services, but of detailed confessions; in which the word of God was announced as the supreme rule of faith, and the truth 'w^'s declared and interpreted. These are the cathedrals which our fathers built: the Galilean, the Belgic, the Scotch, the West- minster Confessions ; the Heidelburg Catechism and the Canons of Dort. To the great spiritual and scriptural revival that produced these confessions we owe it, that our worship is broadly distinguished from that of the Mediaeval Church by the fact, that we have adopted truth instead of fine art, as the means by which, chiefly, worship is awakened and expressed. The question whether this has been a gain or loss to spiritual religion, I do not stop to discuss. I do not regard it as a question. That truth expressed in language and addressed directly to the conscience, the reason and the will, is by its character infinitely better fitted to impress spiritual realities on man, to bring him face to face with the spiritual God, and so to promote acceptable worship; than is fine art, whose mission is to represent material beauty, seems too clear for argument. And even were it not so clear, the question is answered by the ultimate fact, that the spiritual God has chosen finally and fully to reveal the spiritual universe to his Church in the world, not by artistic representation, but by his written word. Thus, then, would I distinguish the Reformed worship from the been the admiration and despair of twenty centuries. The explanation of this difference is that the Greek nature, "saturated with beauty," tried to represent it, in forms of fine art ; while the Hebrew, dominated by spiritual ideas, tried to symbolize them. Wide apart as are the Hebrew Cherub, ami the Greek Jupiter and Ilercules, are the forms of a spiritual, and the forms of an artistic worship. 1 64 THE PRESBYTERTAN ALLIANCE. Mediaeval worship which preceded it, and which in the Churches here represented it displaced. Truth, ivhich had been subordinated to fine art, was employed ane7v, as the means to excite and the food to nourish devotion ; and art was so far displaced, as thereafter to be used in sacred song and sacred eloquoice aloTie. Let no one suppose that, because I do not touch on prayer and praise as acts of worship, I imply that the Reformed Churches do not assign to them the very highest place in the public worship of God.* This question was never in debate between them and the Medieval Church. The former, like the latter, of course, regard them as the loftiest acts in which the human spirit can engage. For, in them, man directly addresses and communes with God. But what shall excite the spirit of man to praise? and what shall move the spirit of man to prayer? These are the questions. And the Mediaeval Church answers: "A service that will satisfy the taste and excite the sensibilities of man." The Reformed Churches answer: " The revealed truth of God addressed to the conscience, the reason and the will." Of the great formative ideas which I have tluis tried to announce and uphold, we, as the Reformed Churches, are the representatives. By these ideas, whatever is distinctive in our worship was shaped. But in a paper on the "Worship of the Reformed Churches," I can go no further than to give these ideas expression. For the Reforma- tion went no further. It was not a movement that either imposed or suggested details. These it left to the peoples whom it led out of darkness. And thus, when fully formed, some of the National Churches framed brief and simple liturgies, and others discarded liturgies. But whether they framed liturgies, as well calculated to promote and express union in worship, or whether they rejected pre-written prayer, as " having," to employ Milton's phrase, "less intercourse and sympathy with the heart wherein it was not con- ceived," all of them were united in loyalty to the ideas which 1 have now set forth. And it was by the greater vigor with which they applied, and by the greater length to which they carried them, that the Reformed Churches were distinguished, in the forms of their worship, from the Lutheran and Anglican communions. We may expect that changes will be proposed and adopted in the .several Churches represented in this Council. Well will it be for them if these changes shall be made under the influence of the ideas that determined our worship at the Reformation. \\\ the Church, of which I have the honor to be a pastor, we are without a liturgy, and are under a directory that is content to declare principles and to make general suggestions. Signs are not wanting, however — one of which shone brilliant in our firmament last nightf — that a call for pre- * I cannot refer lo the sacranieuts as acts of worship, further than to say that a moment's reflection will serve to convince the reader that neither of them inartistic. Both are syvtbolical. To administer them in an artistic manner, with a view to making an reslhelic impression, is to obscure their symliolical meaning. f The paper of Prof. R. D. Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., of New York, on "The Ceremonial, the Moral and the Emotional in Christian Life and Worship." SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 165 scribed forms may become quite general. Such a call, should it seek by simple means to express and promote union in worship, might well be heard with attention, and answered by compliance. But should the proposed liturgy be so elaborate, as at all to diminish the relative importance now given to the announcement and exposition of the truth, from the central pulpit, in the studied discourse, by the ordained preacher, I trust that it will never become either the law or the cus- tom of the Church. Above all, should the call spring out of, or seek to satisfy, a p7-evalent cesthetic impulse, I pray that it may be success- fully resisted. For artistic worship is "poisonous honey" to Chris- tians still weak and sick with sin. Only when, at the consummation of all things, the living Church shall itself be without "spot or wrinkle," may the outward temple safely be adorned with consum- mate beauty ; as only then the voices of the people of God can unite in the consummate and immortal liturgy. It was announced that the Hon. S. M. Breckinridge, of St. Louis, who was on the programme to read a paper on " Ruling Elders," was unable to be present. The Rev. C. H. Read, D. D., of Richmond, Va., then read the following paper : RULING ELDERS. The office of Ruling Elders in the churches of Jesus Christ is the topic announced for consideration at this stage in the proceedings of this Council. Condensation and brevity — as much as is consistent with the topic in hand — will need no apology. A class of persons, known as " Ruling Elders," invested with some kind of authority, and exercising sotne kind of pozver, is constantly recognized in the Holy Scriptures, through all the ages, since the organization of the Church of God in the family of Abraham. The precise mode of their appointment, and the precise nature and exercise of their official power, /r often and very clearly recognized. An Eldership comes, at first, faintly into view in the divine records; then more and more distinctly it takes on dignity and power as these records advance, until we find Elders associated with almost every important act of government, a council, a sanhedrim, composed of Elders chosen from the different tribes of Israel ; and then, a body of men ordained to office in all the regularly organized churches of Jesus Christ. Scriptural and patristic proofs to these points can hardly be necessary in this immediate presence; but such proof may be of use when the utterances of this Council may come to be re- ported throughout the land and world. 1 66 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. First, then, and always first in all matters of Christian faith and order, we have to do with the testimony of the word of God. Passing by earlier references in the Scriptures to Elders (the pur- pose being to give speciinen texts, rather than to exhaust the testi- mony), we find in Leviticus iv. 13, and onward, as follows: " If the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorai ce, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord, concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty ; when the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and shall bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. "And the Elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord ; and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord, and the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation," etc., etc. The office of the Elders of the congregation, as here brought into view, while it was in some respects subordinate to that of " the priest,''' ordained as such^ was a prominent and important one : they repre- sented the people, officially: they placed their hands n'pon the head of the bullock about to be slain, as if by way of representation and confession of the public sin ; and then the priest proper offered the blood of the slain animal before the Lord. Of course none but duly selected mid authorized persons could or would have performed this most solemn office ; and it is reasonable to assume that these Elders ^of the congregation of Israel had been duly chosen and invested with this solemn, public, and 7-epresentative office. The function of this office before God, and in behalf of the people, implies a dignity and solemnity of investiture. In Numbers xi. 16, and onward, we meet with the specified num- ber of seventy Elders, recognized by God himself as men in official station in Israel, thus: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the Elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the Elders of the people and office7's over thein, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee and will put it upon them ; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. ' ' In the 24th and 25th verses the record proceeds thus: "And Moses went out" (that is, from the immediate presence of the Lord), "and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered the seventy men of the Elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle." "And the Lord came down in a cloud and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him and gave it to the seventy Elders ; and it came to pass that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and did not cease." It is observable that here the Lord himself speaks of the official character of the Elders of the people of SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 167 Israel as men whom Moses knew to be " the Elders of the people and officers over them.^' Thus, while we may not discover any original positive command or formula of ordination for Elders in the Old Testament, yet, here, we have the office and the men particularly men- tioned. In Deut. XXV. 7-9, we find the accredited Elders of Israel sitting in the gate of the city and adjudicating an important case of morals which was referred to them, and uniting in a decision in the premises. In Ueut. xxix. 10, we find the people of Israel gathered before the Lord, to enter into a solemn covenant, and the Elders are there in prominent place ; thus, in the words of Moses, " Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord, your God ; your captains of your tribes, your Elders and your officers, . . . that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day. ' ' Again, in Deut.- xxxi. 28, Moses, conscious that his end on earth was near at hand, and inspired of God to utter sol- emn counsels to the people of Israel, issued the call, " Gather unto me all the Elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them." When Samuel, the prophet, was sent of God to Bethlehem to anoint a king in place of Saul, the Elders of the town trembled at his approach, and went forth to meet him, and to inquire his errand (i Sam. xvi. 4). King David, after a successful battle with the Amalekites, sent the spoils of victory to the Elders of Judah. (i Sam. XXX. 6.) In I Kings xxv. 7, 8, we find the king of Israel consulting with the Elders upon a question of State policy, and following their advice in the premises. In 2 Kings vi. 32, we find the prophet Elisha seated with the Elders in consultation with them. In Ezra x. 8, we find the Elders consulting with the princes of Judah, in matters of highest importance. In the book of Ezekiel viii. i, we find the prophet Ezekiel seated in his own house, and the Elders of Judah gathered to him. In Joel i. 14, in the arrangements for a solemn public fast, the Elders are mentioned as gathered, and taking charge of the pro- ceedings. Not to extend citations of this sort from the Old Testament Scrip- tures, it is manifest that an order of men known as Elders of the con- gregation of Israel, had existed from the organization of the Church of God in its Mosaic economy and administration. The form of their appointment is not distinctly set forth; but that they did not assume to themselves this distinction, and arrogate this office, its honors and responsibilities, is obvious. The number of " seventy elders," as expressly mentioned, shows that it must have been by some rule inclusive and exclusive that they were separated and appointed to the office, and that they were so in- vested with public authority as to command respect. Their advi- sory counsel was sought and respected by prophets, princes and kings, 1 68 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. and had weight in matters of highest importance to the Church and State in the (hen mixed form of Church and State government. Dr. Witherspoon, in a valuable tract entitled " An Appeal to the Baptized Children of the Church (issued by the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond), has the following paragraphs in the line of this argument, which are worthy of insertion: "We hear but little of these Elders during the lifetime of Abraham, as we hear but little of the constitution of the Church ; but afterward they appear as distinctly recognized officers of the house of God. Thus when Moses was sent as the deliverer of God's people from the bondage of Egypt, he was directed (Ex. iii. 16) to go and gather the Elders of Israel together, and deliver his message to them as the divinely appointed rulers of the congregation. When he was sent to demand of Pharaoh the release of the children of Israel, he was instructed to take with him (Ex. iii. 18) the Elders of Israel, as the representatives of the chosen people. When in the wilderness, Moses received the law from the hands of Jehovah on Mount Sinai, he delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, and to the Elders (Deut. iii. 9), as the spiritual rulers of God's people. And so in every instance in which any authority is exercised, or any discipline administered, we find these Elders referred to as the rulers in the Church. They are some- times called ' the Elders,' sometimes ' the Elders of Israel,' sometimes * the Elders of the people ; ' but they appear on every page of the his- tory of the Jewish Church, as its divinely appointed and recognized rulers. ... It is sometimes asserted that these Elders were only civil rulers, and not ecclesiastical ; that they were officers of the State, and not of the Church ; that in the Jewish commonwealth the priests had the exclusive authority in spiritual matters, and the Elders in secular matters. But so far is this from being the case, that, as we shall soon see, the priests themselves ruled not as priests, but as Elders ; and in every act of government were associated with ' the Elders of the people,' while the Council of the Seventy, or the Sanhedrim, as it was afterwards called, was composed entirely of Elders chosen from the different tribes of Israel. "It is true," continues Dr. Witherspoon, "that these Elders had many civil duties to perform, because at that time the Church and State were temporarily united. But their functions as civil officers, resulting from this temporary connection, were only inci- dental and temporary. Their highest functions were spiritual. They were eminently ecclesiastical rulers." The Synagogue System. — From the differences of opinion among the early writers and learned men, there may be reasonable doubts as to the exact time when the synagogue system of order and worship was established among the Jews ; but that it existed at the time of our Lord's advent, and had then been in existence for a considerable time, admits of no reasonable doubt. Dr. Miller — of venerable memory, aforetime Professor of Church History at Princeton — in his comprehensive " Essay on the Warrant, SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 169 Nature, and Duties of the Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church," has the following paragraph: "Whatever might have been its origin" (that is, of the synagogue), " nothing can be more certain than that, from the earliest notices we have of the institution, and through its whole history, its leading officers consisted of a bench of Elders, who were appointed to bear rule in the congregation ; who formed a kind of consistory or ecclesiastical judicatory, to receive applicants for ad- mission into the Church ; to watch over the people, as well in refer- ence to their morals, as their obedience to ceremonial and ecclesias- tical order; to administer discipline when necessary; and, in short, as the representatives of the Church or congregation, to act in their name and behalf; to ' bind ' and ' loose; ' and to see that everything was ' done decently and in order.' " Dr. Miller adds: " The number of the Elders in each synagogue was not governed by any absolute rule. In large cities, according to certain Jewish authorities, the number was frequently very large. But even in the smallest synagogues, we are assured that there were never less than three, that the judicatory might never be equally divided." Such were the arrangements for maintaining purity and order in the synagogues, or parish churches, of the old economy, anterior to the advent of the Messiah. "It would seem to be impossible for any one to contemplate this statement, so amply supported by all sound authority, without recog- nizing a striking likeness to the arrangements afterwards adopted in the New Testament Church." To the proof and elucidation of this likeness, the testimony of Bishop Burnet has been cited (see " Observations on the First and Second Canons," Glasgow edition, 1673, pp. 82-85), as follows: "Among the Jews," says Bishop Burnet, "he who was the chief of the synagogue was called Chazan Hakeneseth, that is, the Bishop of the congregation, and Slicliach Tsibbor, the angel of the Church. And the Christian Church being modelled as near the form of the synagogue as could be, as they retained many of the rites, so the form of their government was continued, and the names remained the same." And, again, "In the synagogues there was, first, one that was called the Bishop of the congregation ; next, the three orderers and judges of everything about the synagogue, who were called Tsekcnim, and by the Greeks, Frcsbuteroi, or Gerontes. These ordered and determined everything that concerned the synagogue or the persons in it. Next to them were the three Parnassim, or deacons, whose charge was to gather the collections of the rich and distribute them to the poor. "The term Elder was generally given to all their judges, but chiefly to those of the great Sanhedrim : so we have it in Matt. xvi. 21 ; Mark viii. 31 ; xiv. 43; and xv. i ; and in Acts xxviii. 14-16." Bishop Burnet sums up the matter thus: " From all v/hich it seems well grounded and rational to assume that the first constitution of the Christian Church was taken from the model of the synagogue, in I70 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. which these Elders were separated, for the discharge of their employ- ments, by the imposition of hands, as all Jewish writers do clearly testify." To the same point, substantially, Dr. Lightfoot — an Episcopal divine, eminent for his oriental and rabbinical learning — bears testi- mony as follows (see Lightfoot's works, vol. i, p. 308; vol. 2, pp. 138 and 755) : "The service and worship of the temple being abol- ished, as being ceremonial, God transplanted the worship and public adoration of God used in the synagogues, which were moral, into the Christian Church; namely, the public ministry, public prayers, read- ing God's word, and preaching, etc. Hence, the names of the min- isters of the gospel were the very same — the angel of the Church, and the Bishop, which belonged to the ministers in the synagogues. There was in every Synagogue a bench of three. This bench consisted of three Elders, rightly and by imposition of hands preferred to the eldership. There were also three deacons, or almoners, on which was the care of the poor." The New Testament Church, as to its principal features, was not after the pattern of the Temple, but after the model of the Jewish Synagogue. This type and formation of the New Testament or apos- tolic Church, would seem to be patent to every attentive reader of the gospel writings and the Epistles. It would seem to be a fact hardly open to doubt, that the office of Ruling Elder is a ])rominent feature in the New Testament Christian Church; and (as Dr. Miller has it) "that it occupied, in substance, the same place in the days of the apostles, it now occupies in our truly primitive and scriptural Church." Augustus Neander, for thirty- eight years Professor in the University of Berlin, a profound scholar, whose works are widely and highly esteemed by students of ecclesi- astical history ; of Jewish lineage — a Lutheran minister, thoroughly acquainted with Christian history, and with no sectarian bias in favor of distinctive Presbyterianism — having shown that "the government of the primitive Church was not monarchical or prelatical, but dictated throughout by a spirit of mutual love, counsel, and prayer," expresses himself thus: " We may suppose that when anything could be found in the way of Church forms, which was consistent with this spirit, it would be willingly appropriated by the Christian community. Now there happened to be in the Jewish synagogue a system of govern- ment of this nature ; not monarchical but rather aristocratical, — or a governmciif of the most venerable and excellent. "A council o^. Elders, Presbuteroi, conducted all the affairs of that body. It seemed most natural that Christianity, developing itself from the Jewish religion, should take this form of government. This form must also have appeared natural and appropriate to the Roman citizens, since their nation had, from the earliest times, been to some extent under the control of a Senate, composed of Senators or Elders. Where the Church was placed under a council of Elders, they did not always happen to be the oldest in reference to years ; but the term expres- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 171 sive of age here was, as in the Latin, Sefiatus, and in the Greek Gcrousia, expressive of worth or merit. Besides the common name of these overseers of the Church, to wit, Prcshtteroi, there were many other names given, according to the peculiar situation occupied by the indi- vidual, or rather his particular field of labor, z.% poimenes, shepherds; egoumenoi, leaders ; proestotes ton adelphon, rulers of the brethren ; and Episcopoi, overseers." (See Kirchengeschite, vol. i. p. 283-285.) Continuing to use freely the published thoughts and language of others, when they are deemed pertinent and better than my own, — the following extracts from the writings of Archbishop Whately, of Dublin, eminent for learning, integrity, and piety, are in point, and worthy of reproduction. (See his work, "The Kingdom of Christ Delineated ; " edition of Carter & Brothers, New York, 1864, p. 29.) " It appears highly probable — I might say morally certain — that wherever a Jewish synagogue existed, that was brought, tlie whole or the chief part of it, to embrace the gospel, the apostles did not there so much form a Christian Church (or congregation, ecclesia), as make an ex- isting congregation Christian, by introducing the Christian sacraments and worship, and establishing whatever regulations were necessary for the newly adopted faith, leaving the machinery, if I may so speak, of government unchanged ; the rulers of synagogues, elders, and other officers, whether spiritual, or ecclesiastical, or both, being already provided in the existing constitutions. ... It is likely that sev- eral of the earliest Christian Churches did originate in this way; that is, that they were conve?-ted synagogues, which became Christian Churches as soon as the members, or the main part of the members, acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. . . . And when they founded a Church in any of those cities in which (and such were probably a very large majority) there was no Jewish synagogue that received the gospel, it is likely that they would conform, in a great measure, to the same model." The development of the Jewish synagogue principles, and the for- mation of the primitive Christian Churches having been thus sum- marily sketched, it is now in point to consider — The Direct Testimony of the New Testament Writings RespectiJig the Office and Ditties of Ruling Elders in the Christian Cliurch. — Consulting the New Testament, we first find ample corroboration of the points submitted, to wit: the existence of an order of men, acknowledged repeatedly as Elders among the Jews in their various cities and synagogues, ordering and judging in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. The testimony bearing upon these, points is so abundant and clear, that it is quite unnecessary to cite proof-texts. Dr. Witherspoon has fairly and clearly stated the case thus : "When our Saviour appeared, he found in every city of the Jews a synagogue with its bench of Elders, its ordinances of worship, and its provisions for the poor, as we have them in our congregations at the present day. When he went from city to city, he entered into their synagogues on the Sabbath day, and taught the people. He instructed 172 THE PRESBYIERIAN ALLIANCE. his disciples to submit questions of discipline to the Church — that is, to those officers who were its representatives. It is true that these Church sessions, if 1 may so call them, did not recognize, in most instances, the authority of our Saviour—' Pie came to his own, and his own received him not.' The Elders joined with the Scribes and the Priests in putting him to death. But, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, there were many of these Jewish congregations in which great numbers were converted to Christianity, so that the congregation was, in faith, no longer Jewish but Christian. The Elders of the Synagogue became the Elders of the Christian Church." In the missionary journeyings and labors of the Apostles for the extension of the Church of Christ in its New Testament form — as they went everywhere preaching the gospel of the kingdom and founding churches — they " ordained them Elders in every church" (Acts xiv. 23). When a contribution was made by the disciples for the relief of their brethren in Judea, in view of a severe drought (as in Acts xi. 30), this charity was "sent to the Elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul." When Paul and Barnabas found hindrance in their missionary work from Judlizing teachers troubling the minds of Gentile converts about external rite::;, such as circumcision and the like, it was "deter- mined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and Elders about this question." " When they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the Church, and of the Apostles, and Elders," etc. And when these questions came to be entertained in solemn coun- cil, the record is, that " the Apostles and Elders came together for to consider of this matter." And in answer to this formal reference and appeal for a decision in so important a case, the record runs thus: "Then pleased it the Apostles and Elders with the whole Church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas. . . . And they wrote letters by them after this manner : The Apostles, and Elders, and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles, in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia," etc. (Acts xv. 4-26). When Paul and Timotheus "went through the Churches" in mis- sionary visitation, " they delivered them the decrees that were ordained of the Apostles and Elders which were at Jerusalem ; and so were the Churches established in the faith" (Acts xvi. 4, 5). Again, we find Paul (accompanied on a missionary visitation by Sopater, Aristarchus, Gains, Timotheus, Tychicus, and Trophimus) sending from Miletus to Ephesus, and calling "the Elders of the Church " to meet him and his companions, when he committed to these Elders, with solemnity, the care of the flock, thus: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 173 which he hath purchased with his own blood." This charge, be it observed, is committed to "the Elders of the Church," solemnly convened for the purpose (Acts xx. 17 and onward). In I Timothy v. 7 — in giving rules to promote the order, purity, and peace of the Churches— the apostle wrote thus: " Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine." The term " Elders" is here used first, in a general sense and application, denoting those " that rule well J " and, second, in a special sense, as applied to those Mho not only "rule well," but who also "labor in word and doctrine." Dr. Miller (before referred to) furnishes the following lucid state- ment and exposition : " The advocates of the office of Ruling Elder do not contend or believe that the function of ruling is coniined to this class of officers. On the contrary, they suppose and teach that one class of Elders both rule and teach ; while the other class rule only. Both, according to the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, are proestotcs ; but one only 'labor in word and doctrine.' When, therefore, cases are found in the early records of the Church in which the presiding elder, or pastor, is styled /w^i-/(?rt, the fact is in perfect harmony with the usual argument from i Tim. v. 17; the import of which we maintain to be this: Let all the Elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially those of their number who, besides ruling — besides acting as /r<7d'j/en if it were reasonable or possible that a pastor should, alone, perform all these SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 175 duties, ought he to be willing to undertake them; or ought the Church to be willing to commit them to him, alone? We know that ministers are subject to the same frailties and imperfections with other men. We know, too, that a love of pre-eminence and of power is not only natural to them in common with others, but that this princi- ple, very early in the days of the apostles, began to manifest itself as the reigning sin of ecclesiastics, and produced, first, prelacy, and afterwards popery, which has so long and so ignobly enslaved the Church of Christ. . . . Such a mode of conducting the government of the Church, to say nothing of its unscriptural character, is, in the highest degree, unreasonable and dangerous. " It can hardly fail to exert an influence of the most injurious character, both on the clergy and laity. It tends to nurture, in the former, a spirit of selfishness, pride and ambition ; and, instead of ministers of holiness, love and mercy, to transform them into ecclesiastical tyrants. While its tendency with regard to the latter (the laity) is, gradually, to beget in them a blind, implicit submission to ecclesiastical dominion." Thus much for the scriptural and historical warrant for the office of Ruling Elders in the Churches of Christ. And now, in conclusion, a few words upon the specific duties of this office. The teaching of "the supremely authoritative word of God is not vague and uncertain upon this important point. The Preacliing Elder is a Ruler in the Church of Christ ; and, in addition thereto, he preaches the gospel and administers the sacra- ments; whilst the more special duty of the Ruling Elder, as such, is to share with the pastor (who labors in word and doctrine) in spiritual inspection and government. He is one who is called to " rule well," while he is not called, especially, to " labor in word and doctrine." The pastors of churches, with the other elders, form a Church Session, a judicial body, " by which all the spiritual interests of the congregation are to be watched over, regulated and authoritatively determined." Thus, as in the "Form of Government" recognized and adopted by many of us, the church session is charged with maintaining the spiritual government of the congregation ; for Avhich purpose they have power to inquire into the knowledge and Christian conduct of the members of the church ; to call before them offenders and wit- nesses, being members of their own congregation ; and to introduce other witnesses when it may be necessary to bring the process to issue, and when they can be procured to attend ; to receive members into the church, to admonish, to rebuke, to suspend, or exclude from the sacraments those who are found to deserve censure ; to concert the best measures for promoting the spiritual interests of the congregation ; and to appoint delegates to the higher judicatories of the Church. If the Scriptures were silent upon this point, it would be obvious that persons called to this office of the Eldership should be spiritually minded, devout, exemplary men ; governing their households faithfully 176 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. in the fear of God ; living without reproach ; and commending the gospel to a witnessing world, in their conduct and conversation. The teaching of the Scriptures is very explicit on this point : it was to '■'■ the Elders of the churches,'" whom Paul called to meet him at Miletus, that he said, " Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." And in his first letter to Timothy, giving counsel to bishops and deacons in the churches, the apostle wrote thus : "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant; . . . one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God ? . . . . Moreover he must have a good report of them that are without, lest he fall into reproach and the condemnation of the devil." A Ruling Elder and a body of Ruling Elders, chosen and ordained solemnly to this ofifice-work, sympathizing with the pastor in his work and with the people in their spiritual interests, cares and besetments, and, above all, with the honor of Christ's name and cause in the world, "such a body of men may, and ought to be, a power in the world." Indeed they may, and ought ! And when the Ruling Elders, in the great Presbyterian family, shall everywhere awake to their high trust, and shall be suitably recognized and supported by the members of the churches in their duties, then may we expect to see our beloved Church arise and shine in the light and pov/cr of God. After devotional services the Council adjourned until the evening at 7.30 o'clock. Friday, September 2\t]i, 1880. The Council was called to order at 73^ o'clock p. m., by the Hon. William Strong, LL. D., an Associate Justice of the' Supreme Court of the United States, President for the session. Prayer was offered by the Rev, Dr. Prime. The President. — There has been a change in the programme, and the Rev. Dr. McLeod's place at this stage will be taken by the Rev. Dr. Graham, of London. The Rev. Prof. William Graham, D. D., therefore, delivered the following address on THE DIVINE IN MEN'S LIVES. No one regrets more than I do that Dr. Ormiston or Dr. McLeod, according to your arrangements, does not now fill this place. I SECOAU) GENERAL COUNCIL. 177 rashly consented to hold it, and fell back on some old thoughts on religion in common life, as in some measure fitting into the subject of the papers that are to follow this evening. But an advanced picket frequently fares ill in the battle, and so it has befallen me ; for Princi- pal Grant, in his stirring cavalry charge of last night, has carried off nearly all the thoughts I had to give. Washington Irving, some of you may remember, has a paper about an author falling asleep in his library when, lo ! every book quickened into its writer. The living host fell on the poor author and stripped him of all his goods and garments. What happened to him in a dream befell me in the sober certainty of waking misery. I shall, nevertheless, throw out a few thoughts on a topic that concerns all workers — alike heart- and brain- as well as hand-workers. The Divine in the Bible — its inspiration and authority — was the important theme of our deliberations this morning. The Divine in our lives — in our common lives — not so much in the higher spheres of thought, science and art, may well deserve some little reflection here. It will widen the aims of this great Council and put it in living relation to the views of all. It has been truly observed that the Bible of the world, the Bible which it reads and studies, is the Christian Church ; and the more the living breath of inspired truth fills each, soul in its daily life, the more powerful. and persuasive does that Divine Bible become. There are, then, the two elements constantly present, waiting for adjustment — the Divine element working through the Spirit in our hearts and lifting us up by that work into Christ, and the human ele- ment which it touches and consecrates. And looking all along the centuries of Church history and into the sources of strength in renewed souls, nothing so recommends and confirms our great doctrine of Divine grace being first and dominant as to find that wherever that has held the supreme place in a system of truth there has been the loftiest, purest, most vigorous life in all departments, alike in thought, and science, and art, as in holy hearts and happy homes. The theol- ogy that, with whatever exaggerations, puts the Divine first, makes the Church a renovating power all within and around ; and this theol- ogy, no matter what name it bears, be it that of Calvin, of Aquinas,, or Anselm, or Bernard, or Augustine, or Paul, or, above a»ll, of the Divine Teacher and Saviour himself — this theology has ever been the centre and soul of our common Presbyterianism. This has been the breath of life touching each of the threefold departments of the religious life, so nobly sketched and illustrated by Dr. Hitchcock. But the three phases of the religious life of which he spoke — the Mystical or Emotional, the Ethical, the Ceremonial — do not only rise above each other in the order of spiritual growth, beauty, and dignity, but they are never really separate in the one life of the soul, kin- dled by the Divine Spirit. The impassioned soul touched with the fer- vor and yearnings of the Divine communion, felt in its absolute free- ness through a complete justification by faith, and in the new throb 12 178 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. of a new and overpowering emotion through the inflowing of the new life — that impassioned soul quickens, elevates, transfigures the moral law which holds august authority within ; kindles it with its own glow, into a serene, majestic impulse; and passing on to the life of action turns all into divine worship and service. The philosophy which the intellect shapes; the art moulded by the imagination; the hands busy with merchandise and manufacture; all fill up the great ritual that embodies before men, and offers to God, the devotion of the whole man. De Quincey has pointed out in one of his essays one marked distinction between Christianity and all Paganism — the latter separates its ceremonial, its cultus, altogether from the heart and the conscience, while the former, divinely original, makes the ceremonial, the culius, a living part of the religion itself. This is only the definition which the apostle James makes when he ■says, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep our- : selves unspotted from the world. Here our word " Religion " is in the Greek ©^ij^trxfia, and that means the outward ceremonial of the living spirit. The ritual of the gospel then lies in the two supreme .and combined moral qualities, the overflowing pity that goes out to the weakest, the rock-like resistance that is conqueror over the world. The tenderness is Christlike, that it yields to all misery; the courage is Christlike, also, that it yields to no sin. These are the glorious garments of the new priesthood, these the new symbols of the wor- ship of the Lord. That John, of whom Dr. Hitchcock spoke so vividly, as still beck- , oned to by all the Church, as he was of old by Peter, to ask the Mas- iter for the message needed in ever-recurring crises of the soul's or the .Church's need, seeing he lay on the bosom of the Master, and was . closest to the beatings and breathings of the Divine heart — that John , did not always lie there in the Divine absorption, in the passive surren- . der of his whole being. The noble prince of Christian mystics stands not long afterwards in stern, heroic will at the cross of the Master, and leaves the cross only to give a Christ-like love to the mother, put, by ,last command, into his care. That was the grand ceremonial of John's pure and undefiled soul ; and that is the ceremonial of all who are ,in any measure like him. The Church that walks forth in such visible service of a holy char- . acter, alike brave and gentle, may put on whatever other garb it , chooses, and turn into a help of such worship whatever lies nearest to , its hands. We have often thought how marvellously the centripetal .and the centrifugal forces in ihe spiritual life balance, strengthen, .lift up each other; how the farther in we reach to the centre, the Jove of God in the cross of Christ, the farther out we can pass to the .most lonely soul, and the most remote place. Such then are the relations of the Divine and the human in common . daily life. They are not antagonistic. That would be death. They ,do not lie beside each, uninfluencing and indifferent. They are not SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 179 like fire and water, or like oil and water, but rather they are like wine and water; and the richer and nobler element takes, colors and lifts up, the weaker and the meaner into its own nobler quality and virtue. They are, to take another illustration, like body and soul — the outward and the inward parts of our one being — and, mated like cymbals fine, ring out a full, rich music which separately they cannot awaken. Or, again, there are three things which make our lives: the body with its outer world ; the soul with its inner thoughts, de- sires, and choices ; and God. When the body is set over, above, and against the soul, then the soul is set over, above, and against God. This false order the Spirit of God turns upside down, and God, in his mighty love in Christ, enters into the soul, and subdues it with its full consent ; and the soul thus indwelt by God is endowed with power to turn the whole body and the whole world into an instrument of righteousness — an expression of highest service and worship. The benefits that come from this new and blessed state we shall only mark. First. It makes all life one. The problem of philosophy is the harmony of the finite and the infinite. The task of art is to make the eternal and perfect beauty shine through, sound out, in some poor dust, in some feeble tone. Religion comes to a soul when it is made one with God through Jesus Christ ; and life puts on a rich, noble peace and harmony when the heart, one with God, is one with every daily duty and difficulty. Second. By such a union of the divine and the human, alike the noblest and most gentle, the sublimest and most touching motives are let into and mould the character. This is the secret of the Christian as a priest unto God. There has come upon him the consecration of the sublimity and tenderness of the cross, and now redeemed through the sacrifice of the Divine Priest, he becomes himself a priest with his unceasing sacrifice of thanks, his burnt-offering of grateful service. Third. Such a life copies most closely the greatest life ever led be- fore men — the life of Jesus Christ himself; the Christ crucified on the cross ; one with the carpenter toiling in Nazareth ; the degradation of the one, the meanness of the other, are changed and transfigured by the transcendent pity and holiness of both. And the Christian life receives the divine peace of the one, the divine likeness of the other. And lastly, such a life is the mightiest and surest of all influences on the Church and the world. In the railway station ni the city of Carlisle, in England, there is a large fire-place, and over it is this in- scription in German text and in Latin phrase, " Let your light so shine before men." Men, shivering after a long drive in the depths of winter, rush in to catch the glow of the generous, ruddy fire blazing from it. But suppose some day nothing met the chilled travellers but large lumps of coal of the very best quality, and arranged in ex- quisite symmetry, but with not one red inch of glow pouring out from their dull blackness; or suppose there lay the sodden ashes that re- mained after the blessed warmth of yesterday. I think the poor trav- i8o THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. eller, chagrined and disappointed, and chiller than before,, would be dis- posed to write to the directors, asking them either to take down their Scripture text or kindle up the fire. So it is a good thing for a sojI and a Church to have plenty of orthodox truth — coals dug out of the depth of God's heart and word, and those arranged in perfect order; but I would, in my darkness and depression, rather have one bit of living truth, a live coal set on fire by God's Spirit, than a whole mine of unkindled coal. We have noble divine truths ; let them be divinely kindled, that the Church may grow warmer, and the world's deadly chill depart. It will not do to have our memories filled with tlie sod- den ashes of spent fires and far past visions of God. We talk of the apostolic times, with their Pentecostal fires ; let us have the Pente- costal fires, and we shall ourselves be apostles. We look back to the mighty inner heat of Reformation time, upheaving the Church and the nations into new elevations of truth and power, that still afar off, like a mountain range, mark the noble horizon. Such spent fires will not warm us ; we must have our hearts burning with new kindled glow. Even America, young though she be in her history, is already apt to live on its old heroisms, New England on its Plymouth Pilgrims, and Philadel|)hia on its William Penn. Ashes of historic memories, however glorious, do not brighten and warm, unless we ourselves follow the noble light and feel the divine ardor of men whom they made prophets and heroes. Our Presbyterianism, our outward forms, whether of doctrine or worship, are all good ; our old memories may well wake up new passion and daring ; but only when the Divine fire burns, and burns brightly, will the Church waken, shine and glow; and the world without come and look beyond her threshold, and pass to our door, and over it also, that it may sit down with us in the Divine Home. We close with a beautiful story out of the life of the great theolo- gian and saint of the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas. Our Lord it is said once appeared and said to him : " Thomas, thou hast written much and well about me: what reward shall I give thee? " '^ Nihil nisi Te Doininc'' (Nothing but thyself, O Lord), was the reply. He could have asked no sweeter, richer, diviner reward, and the very asking was the receiving. When such is our prayer the reward will be more love, courage, fidelity, joy; and these are Christ himself, still going about doing gpod, and rewarding good with more good. The Rev. William G. Blaikie, D. D., LL. D., of Edinburgh, read the following paper upon THE INFLUENCE OF THE GOSPEL ON EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED. I lay the foundation of this paper on the principle that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not only salvation for the individual, but regenera- tion for society. It was not souls only but society likewise that was SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. i8i shattered by the fall ; and any remedy, equal to the disorder, needed t3 make provision for the restoration of both. In the prophetic an- nouncements of the Redeemer and his work, the restoration of society is perhaps even more prominent than the salvation of the individual. This agrees with the spirit of the Old Testament; for men there are regarded less in their individual than in their corporate capacity. Thi- kingly office of the Messiah is very conspicuous in Old Testament prophecy; and a favorite vision of him in that office presents him remedying all manner of political and social disorders. " He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight." But when our Lord actually appeared, he did not meddle on a great scale with political or social evils. The world was in great disorder ; but he did not make any direct attempt to right all its wrongs. In this as in some other respects, the actual life of Christ appeared different from what had been fore- told. But the difference was in appearance only. The seeds of social renovation were silently sown. When Cadmus introduced letters into Greece; when Faust and his brethren practised the art of printing ; when through the string of a boy's kite Franklin drew electricity from the clouds ; when the boy James Watt was deep in study over his aunt's tea-kettle, nothing very remarkable appeared to be done ; but in reality the foundations were laid of great revolutions, silent in their operation but world-wide in their effects. So when our blessed Lord taught men the law of Christian love ; when he gave his memorable answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" when he taught his disciples that in his kingdom the greatest of all is the servant of all ; when he gave them as their model the life of one who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many, he began a blessed social revolution — a revolution often in- terrupted, and apparently arrested and even reversed, but possessing divine and everlasting vitality, that bursts out anew from time to time, and that is destined ultimately, when it reaches its maturity, to *' make all things new." The family furnishes the most simple and direct sphere for the social influence of the gospel of Christ. The true principles of family life are laid down in the New Testament with great simplicity and force. The parental authority is fully recognized; the obedience of the children is peremptorily required ; but the whole relations of husband and wife, parent and child, master and servant are steeped in love. Authority wedded to love is the basis of the Christian family. In proportion as this basis has been realized, the Christian family has proved a blessing ; not only as a nursery of all that is best and brightest in human life, but also as a basis and a model for other social organizations, such as. the school, the factory, the farm, and, highest of all, the State. Not that in all of these the elements of love and authority are to be in the same proportion. In chemistry we often find 1 82 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. that the same elements are combined in various proportions and give rise to corresponding products. One atom of nitrogen will combine with one, two, three, four or five atoms of oxygen, and give birth to different compounds. So, in Christian social life, the element of love will combine with the element of authority in various degrees, accord- ing to the nature of the organization ; there will be more of it, e. g., in the family than in the factory ; but you cannot altogether dispense with the element of love in any; if you do, you will not have a Christian product, you will not have a Christian civilization. We are to discuss the question : How does the gospel affect the relation of employers and employed ? In our time this relation has become marked by two special leatures — the largeness of its sphere, and the harshness of its tone. The sphere has suddenly become extensive beyond all example ; under the operation of the steam- engine, small industries have been swallowed up, and gigantic estab- lishments have come in their room. The tendency of our time is for small establishments to become smaller, and big ones bigger. With this change, extending so greatly the number of employers and employed, the relation itself has become very uncomfortable. Ranged like oi)posing armies on opposite sides, they have for years past been struggling with each other in mortal conflict. Each has fought for its interest with marvellous energy and perseverance. Nor, though a lull has come for the present, do we appear to be much nearer a satisfactory solution of the matters at issue. Let it be observed that in this strife each party contends for what it believes to be its interests and its rights. Now, on this footing, there are but two possible ways of bringing the strife to a satisfactory issue. One would be to demonstrate clearly what are the rights of the respective sides — to draw a hard and fast line between them. Political economy has long been struggling to find this line, and not altogether in vain ; but it has not been very successful, and it is not likely that a satisfactory solution will be found by this method. The other method is to destroy antagonism by destroying the relation itself. It is to obliterate the distinction of employer and employed — to make the same persons sustain both characters. This is the principle of co-operation, and co-operation has undoubtedly had a measure of success; but there is no prospect of its becoming universal or even very extensively preva- lent. So far, then, as arrangements on the footing of bare interest go, there is little prospect of permanent peace. There may be occasional lulls when the combatants become weary of the strife ; but, whenever their energies are recruited, and either party believes that its interests are suffering unduly, there is a prospect of the renewal of hostilities, and of an indefinite period of contention, turning into enemies the very parties who have most need to live as friends, and embittering the daily life of both as much as if a swarm of mosquitoes were for- ever buzzing around them. This is a very melancholy prospect ; but let it be observed that it is only the prospect that arises when the relation of employer to SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 183 employed is governed by no higher influence than a regard to their respective interests. What I desire to establish in this paper is, that, if a new element be introduced into the relation, namely, the element of Christian love, the problem assumes quite a different aspect. If this position be a sound one, it must be apparent how deeply the duty of the Christian Church is affected by it. If Christianity alone can supply the ele- ment necessary to bring peace and good-will to classes of such extent and importance, it is of no little consequence for ministers and elders of the Presbyterian Church to realize their responsibility, and address themselves very earnestly to their duty. What an immense blessing the Church would bring, or, rather, he whom the Church exalts as the fountain of all blessing, if in addition to her service in the salva- tion of individual souls, she should succeed in removing one of the most ominous and deplorable evils of society in our day — sweetening the bitter waters of tliis vast modern Marah, and for the ''sooty hell," as Carlyle calls it, "of hatred and savagery," substituting a paradise of love, peace and joy ! That the gospel of Jesus Christ should contain a provision for remedying this, as well as the other social evils of the day, is only what we might well look (or a priori. If the gospel really be a remedy for all the evils of the fall, it must somehow provide for the removal of this as of all other social disorders which had their origin in that sad event. Let us consider, then, in the first place, the light in which the gospel teaches the employer to regard those whose services he makes use of; and, in the second place, the light in which it teaches the employed to regard their employers. I. In a heart truly penetrated by the grace and love of the gospel, there springs up a tender, brotherly feeling towards men generally, and especially towards those who stand to it in any close relation, whether of kindred, neighborhood, or community of pursuit. Along with this there springs up likewise a new sense of responsibility — a new view of the purpose of God in giving to some men more talents than to others, whether the talents be in the form of education, men- tal culture, leisure, money, influence, or social position. God has not constituted society a commune, has not given to every human being an equal share of everything; but he has distributed his gifts unequally, in order that those to whom niuch is given may be wisely helpful to those who have got little, and, without subverting their independence, may enable them to bear their burdens more easily and perform their part in life more satisfactorily. An employer of labor coming under the vital influence of the gospel, especially in these days of ours, cannot but share these views. He becomes con- cerned about the people who work for him. He is convinced that in some way or other he ought to help them. The fact that they are in a lower sphere of life, very coarse and vulgar perhaps, which makes many employers keep so entirely aloof from their men, is the very fact that interests him •in them. The odi profanutn vulgiis ei arceo 1 84 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. feeling — the dread of anything vulgar and ill-smelling coming between the wind and his nobility — is felt to be an un-Christ-like feeling, unworthy the followers of Him who came to seek and to save the lost. In what precise form it is most his duty to help his work-people, it may not be easy for him to determine. In what form his people will accept of his help, may be also a question that admits of doubt. But that in some form and in some way he ought to help them, is his clear conviction; and the more intense his Christian spirit is, the stronger, is this conviction. It makes him restless and uncomfortable till something is done. Till something is done ! We know very well what the something Avill probably be. Reading-rooms, libraries, evening classes, excur- sions, popular lectures, benefit societies, sick societies, savings banks ; perhaps a Bible class, a mission, a daily Christian service, and other operations of an evangelistic kind ; a mother's meeting conducted by his wife, a young women's class taught by his daughters, a cricket club under the auspices of his sons — this, or such as this, more or less. But will all this really help to solve the problem of employers and em- ployed? Will it adjust questions of strikes and lock-outs? Will it settle the rate of wages? In many cases, these questions would be answered by a contemptuous sneer. We are far from thinking that any or all of these things will be in themselves effectual. It is important to observe under what conditions they are likely to prove beneficial — in what manner and to what effect. In the first place, such things will prove of little avail if the no- tion prevails that they are a substitute, in the form of charity, for what the people may claim as matter of right. This impression will probably be formed if they are accompanied with an inferior rate of wages or with any kind of shabbiness in small matters. Sometimes an em- ployer with certain strong Christian convictions is afflicted with love of money, and his infirmity cannot be concealed. All his Christian and philanthropic work in such a case will be regarded as but a disguise of the greed that lies at the bottom of his heart — a poor attempt to make up for essential paltriness by religious services, to sustain the religious character which he desires to preserve before the world. It is no great wonder if, in such a case, no progress is made in adjusting the relations of employer and employed. In the second place, no plans for the benefit of work-people will come to much if they do not spring from a spirit of love, from a lively sense of Christian brotherhood. Mere philanthropic work, apart from the true spirit of philanthropy, comes to nothing. One might be philanthropic through fear, for example, or tlirough mere self-interest. One might enter into some great ]:)hilanthropic con- tract, and employ agents to execute benevolent works on an unex- ampled scale, but if he had not charity it would profit him nothing. Even when done from a mere sense of duty, philanthropic work may be a failure. It is not the opus operation, but the spirit in which it is done that tells. Hence the failure of manf grand works of philan- SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 185 thropy to move the hearts of the people. The charm lies in sym- pathy ; and even an employer or an overseer who does little of a formal kind, but has a kind and considerate word for any one who stands in need of it, is often more popular than many busy philan- thropists. Sympathy is the secret of much success ; its absence, of failure. Where great masses of people are employed it is almost in- evitable that much of the philanthropy shall be done by delegate. The employer can hardly know his people one by one or act to them ac- cordingly ; but if he be content with being philanthropic by delegate, he will place himself at a great disadvantage. Let him come into personal contact with some at least of his people ; let him act as a brother at least to some of the oldest or most noteworthy. Quiet acts of brotherly kindness of this sort will not be done in vain. They will not only serve as proofs of personal sympathy, but they will give value to what must be done by deputy. They will show that it is no want of will that obliges the employer in his wider philanthropic efforts to make use of the services of others. Thirdly, it is to be observed that the spirit of sympathy can operate only in an indirect way in adjusting the relations of employer and employed after they have become disturbed. It will not of itself heal the breach ; it will not supersede consideration and adjustment of the merits of the case. If the question be one of wages, for ex- ample, it will not supersede a fair inquiry as to whether the state and conditions of business warrant an addition or demand a decrease. The men will not say, " Our employer is a good man ; let us take whatever he may be pleased to offer us." But if the work-people are convinced that their employer has a sincere regard for their welfare and a conscientious desire to give them a fair share of remuneration, this will dispose them to a more reasonable atid considerate view of the case from his point of view as well as their own. This is the real benefit which the influence of the gospel will bring, if both sides are under its influence. It will dispose both to a fair and reasonable spirit in looking at the merits of the case. The great difficulty in or- dinary quarrels, and especially in controversies between employer and employed, arises from the excited and unreasonable spirit of parties. They are prone to approach the question with the feeling that the other side has no consideration for them — is only eager to snatch at any and every advantage, to secure it by hook or by crook, be it right or be it wrong. It is commonly found that differences in regard to matters of detail are not difificult to settle if the parties come together in a fair, reasonable, considerate spirit. Differences between work- men and their employers would not be more difficult to settle than other difficulties, if the parties were animated by the spirit which springs from mutual confidence and mutual consideration ; but in the absence of such a spirit a settlement is well-nigh impossible. If the influence of the gospel shall promote the spirit of confidence and con- sideration, it will contribute that element without which the relation of employers and employed can only be one protracted, interminable strife. 1 86 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. II. But all this implies that the employed as well as the employer shall be under the influence of the gospel. It is sometimes represented that employers alone are to blame for the uncomfortable relations be- tween them and their i)eople ; but undoubtedly Christianity has a lesson for the one as well as the other, and the neglect of that lesson by the employed, if it has not as often gendered strife, has certainly embittered it to a very painful degree. No lessons of the gospel are more clear or explicit than those which bind servants to consult the interests of their employers, to be faithful and conscientious in their service — not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as unto the Lord, doing their work in the sight of the great Task-master. And the spirit of the gospel as obviously requires that those who work under the superintendence of others should be considerate and neigh- borly in their conduct toward them. The fact that the head of the con- cern wields the power, and, if the concern prospers, enjoys the chief share of the profit, is no justification of recklessness or indifference on the part of his workers. An intelligent Christian workman will rec- ognize here the temptation under which he lies to the bad spirit of envy and jealousy. Old Adam says, " Master is far better off than I; the wind fills his sails as it never fills mine ; let him look after him- self; why should I be concerned about his interests? Nay, I will rather put on the drag a little. In a quiet way I will relieve him of some of his advantages, and thus bring him down nearer the level of myself." This is the low policy of the tempter. The Christian is ready with his answer — " Get thee behind me, Satan." The line of duty for him is plain — to study the interests of the master as well as his own. Nay, more — to be considerate and thoughtful for the mas- ter; for to involve the head of the concern in needless embarrassment and pain, especially if he be honestly trying to act fairly by all parties, is most unworthy of the Christian laborer. The law of Christ binds us to do good to all men as we have op- portunity. It requires us to look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. It is only a superficial view that would regard this obligation as less binding on the poor, with reference to the rich, than the rich, with reference to the poor. It is impossible for us to determine accurately how far this rule would require a Christian workman to carry forbearance before he would be justified in joining a strike. It cannot be said that a Chris- tian workman, acting conscientiously and as a Christian, would never take part in a strike ; but it is certain that his Christianity would lead him to carry his forbearance to the utmost limit, before he would favor so desperate a remedy. The case of a revolution in the State is similar to the case of a strike in industry. Some of the best Christians have promoted revolution. And that which was best and noblest in them was what led them to do so. But they have never felt justified in adopting so desperate a remedy till forbearance had been carried to its utmost limits, and until they felt that the alterna- tive was revolution or the loss of liberty, and of all else that was dearest SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 187 to them. It is certain, likewise, that the Christian workman, if he should see it his duty to take part in a. strike, would protest against many things that have been done at such times. He would not select the very time which would be most inconvenient and embarrassing for his employer, in view of engagements under which he had come. He would be most careful to discourage violence in every shape, and especially unjust and oppressive treatment toward other workmen who should not be disposed to join in the movement. In short, the in- fluence of the gospel on workmen might be summed up thus : it makes them conscientious and considerate in the doing of their work ; for- bearing and patient when they believe they are not receiving justice; and, when forbearance and patience are exhausted, careful to avoid and discourage all rough and unrighteous acts, such as other men are tempted to resort to, while struggling and starving as they believe for their rights. III. It may now be useful in bringing this brief paper to a close, to notice some of the objections that are most commonly offered to the views that have been presented. I. First, it is often said, business must be conducted on business principles. You must not mix sentiment with business, or you will spoil business. One great rule for business is to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest. By this rule the only principle on which the employer should act in reference to his men is to secure the best labor he can on the cheapest terms. Anything that interferes with this simple rule may be very beautiful in theory, but in practice it is only pernicious. In reply to this view, it is obvious to remark that it is just what has brought the relation of capital and labor to the dead-lock in which it is now. To argue in this way is simply to give up the battle. It is to say things are as they must be, and indeed as they ought to be. There is nothing for it but endless warfare — fighting on, but never fighting out — " Bubble, dubble, toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble ;" In short you would have Carlyle's " sooty hell of hate and savagery " perpetuated in sceciila sceculorum. But apart from this, let us ask is this supposed antithesis or antag- onism between business principles and sentiment (as it is called) a real fact? What if true business principles demand a union with Christian sentiment? What if for want of the Christian element the article which you buy in the cheapest market turns out the dearest in the end ? What if cheap labor is found, like other cheap things, of inferior quality, and not worth the price? Labor is not an article of uniform quality; its value depends on many varying conditions. It varies with the health or sickness of the laborer, with his honesty or dishonesty, with his good-will or ill-will. On business principles would it not be well to secure the conditions that will make the labor of the highest quality? to secure in the laborer, health, honesty and good-will, as well as strong sinews and skilful hands ? Is the policy 1 88 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. to be ridiculed as sentiment, and inconsistent with "business prin- ciples " that thus aims at obtaining the best kind of labor — at allying it with qualities which no money can buy ? 2. Again, it is often said that any attempt by the employer to graft philanthropy on his business is an insult to the independence of the workman. It is a relic of "paternal government" — a legacy from the feudal system — an endeavor to keep up a relation of servility tiiat is now discarded, root and branch, by all workmen who understand their position. The workman, we are told, is just as independent as his employer. They come together on equal terms. The employer wishes to buy an article — labor — an article which the laborer wishes to sell. When they come to an arrangement it is simply this, that the one buys and the other sells. Now, buyers and sellers are on free and equal terms. But if the buyer takes to patronizing the seller, and the seller accepts of his patronage, the equality is destroyed. The seller owns himself the inferior of the buyer. It is this feeling, I apprehend, lurking in the mind of many a work- man, that leads him to look unfavorably on any philanthropic schemes of his employer. I feel constrained to maintain that the view is essen- tially unsound. I deny the analogy to be correct that the act of a man agreeing to work (say) in a large factory, is similar in principle to that of a man merely selling an article to another. Observe, the factory is a great social organization. A man agreeing to work there becomes a member of a social body. Of that social body the head is the employer. The work, the machinery, the business and the respon- sibility are his. However some may dislike the term, he is the mas- ter. In that capacity he has duties and responsibilities to the whole body of his people. When he tries to discharge these responsibilities it is wrong for his work-people to discourage and thwart him. God gives him an influence and a power for good which he gives to no one else. If this be true even in reference to his adult laborers, it is more manifestly true of the young persons he employs. It is obvi- ously absurd to say that when he employs children he treats with them for their labor on equal terms. 3. A third objection often heard is that such philanthropic efforts by employers are of no use. How often have the reading-room and library, the public lecture and the public service, proved a failure? How often have they attracted only a few of the weaker or more well- meaning of the people, and been utterly rejected by those who had most need of their help? Still more, how often have employers, of the best intentions and truest sympathy, who have devoted themselves with great Christian earnestness to the welfare of their work-people, found, that, when the critical moment came, when the strike was pro- claimed, they were left as helpless and embarrassed as the most hard- hearted of their neighbors? It is impossible not to own that there is some ground for these complaints. Not so much, perhaps, as is often thought ; and I may be permitted to refer to a little book of mine, published fifteen years ago, entitled, " Heads and Hands in the SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 189 World of Labor," consisting chiefly of narratives of the efforts of employers in various branches of industry, to promote the welfare of their work-people. Though now somewhat out of date, it shows, if I mistake not, that in not a few instances the best results have flowed from the Christian influence and sympathy of employers. Besides, is a good cause to be abandoned because it has not been altogether successful at first? Is it to be thrown to the winds because the first experiment has not been a triumi)h ? What good cause, at this rate, w^ould ever have been carried to a successful issue? Is no camjxiign to be conducted except under C?esar's motto — veni, vidi, vici ? Let Christian employers first be convinced that they are in the way of duty, and then let them wait on the Lord for that help and guidance which is never sought in vain, and i?i due time they shall reap, if they faint not. Meanwhile let the Christian Church think more of such applications of the gospel. Let her try to bring out its blessings not only in saving the individual, but in regenerating society. The one aim of the gospel is never to be pitted against the other. Preachers are not to be taunted with preaching the doctrines of salva- tion and urged to tuj-n from these and direct their energies to the re- generation of society. To attempt to regenerate society except through that gospel, whose first and immediate object is to save souls, would be, to my idea, a most Utopian enterprise. Jesus Christ and him crucified is as much the heart and centre of the regeneration of society as of the salvation of the individual. From that wonderful source, and that only, the great dynamic force comes that effectually moves employers to think sympathetically of their men, and, what is perhaps even a harder task, moves men to think sympathetically of their employers. What seems to be needed from ministers of the Christian Church is that in preaching this great doctrine, its applica- tions to such matters as the present should be more clearly, fully and frequently enforced. And here let us remember that "prevention is better than cure." It is a mistake to leave such matters alone until some great outbreak of disorder makes them flagrant and scandalous. It is a perilotis thing to preach on the Christian relation of emjiloyers to employed during the height of a strike. Far better, surely, silently to imbue the minds of the people from time to time with sound views of the true spirit of the gospel — to familiarize them with the truth that the gospel was designed to regenerate society as well as save the indi- vidual, and to take advantage of the countless opportunities which are supplied, in opening up the Scriptures, of showing the social bearings of the truth of God. If the Presbyterian Church should succeed, with God's blessing, in thoroughly rousing and guiding the Christian con- science, alike of the employers and employed in her communion, on this great question — no man could estimate the value of her service, nor could the fulfilment of any other secondary purpose of the gospel do more to realize the angel's song — " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." I90 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. The Hon. Chief-Justice C. D. Drake, of Washington, D. C, read the following paper on CHRISTIANITY THE FRIEND OF THE WORKING CLASSES. It was a wise thought that placed in the programme of discussions here the broad topic : Christianity the Friend of the Working Classes. It was a brave thought as well, to formulate it as an affir- mation, rather than as a subject of inquiry; and so hold up before the world a great Bible truth. The choice of the speaker to discuss it may prove to have been less wise. If so he can only say, " He hath done what he could." In the working classes the numerical majority, the productive force, and therefore the physical life, of any nation, abide. Whatever ele- vates the spirit, purpose, and morals of those classes, elevates the nation at home and abroad; and, on the other hand, whatever depresses them in spirit, or weakens them in rightful purpose, or degrades them in morals, hurts the nation in a vital part. Hence there is no more pregnant inquiry than for those things which may justly be called the Friends of the Working Classes. And, when found, they should be embraced and enshrined ; for, as working classes must always be, whatever benefits them in any period sends a venture down the stream of time, which may yield good profit in all the future. Christianity is the system of doctrines and precepts taught by Jesus Christ. It is to be estimated and judged, not by the glosses, the in- terpretations, the simulations, or the imputations of men, nor by the halting, inconsistent, and often sinful lives of many of its professed followers; nor even by the lives of the best of its disciples; but by the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which are the word of God. • From them let ns reverently learn how it is that Christianity is the Friend of the Working Classes. In Nazareth, where he had been brought up, Jesus stood in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, where it was written : "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight'to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord," And he closed the book, and sat down. And as the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him, he said unto them: "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." And then broke forth from his astonished and wrathful hearers : " From whence hath this man these things? Is not this the carpenter ?'' And those last words of derision have come down, as it were, along the telephone of the ages, to the ear of every working man and working woman to whom the gospel has come, or ever shall come, announcing Jesus to them as SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 191 one whose heart would ever sympathize with them in their trials and in their rightful triumphs. Thanks to the enraged and contemptuous Naz- arenes for this evidence that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, was one of the working classes, a mechanic, a carpenter. They could have uttered no words which would have better told the working classes of every age and clime, that the Christianity which this despised and rejected Nazarene came to found, would be a true friend to them. This bright promise is sustained by the whole body of the Scrip- tures, far more fully than there is time now to show, or than need be shown in such an assembly as this. Let it suffice for this occasion, first, to point to some of the special needs of the working classes in all places and times ; and then prove, in God's own words, that the demands and precepts of Christianity, if met and obeyed by em- ployers and employed, would satisfy those needs to the uttermost. I. A chief need of all working men and women everywhere is, that their wages be paid. They work for reward ; it is their bread. The expectation of reward is to them the vital force of muscle, and sinew, and nerve, and purpose. Take that away, and the brawny arm falls limp, and the deft fingers lose their cunning. For them, and against all employers who wrongfully withhold their wages, hear the voice of God, crying, " Woe unto him that useth his neighbor's services with- out wages, and giveth him not for his work!" And, as quick pay- ment is the worker's daily need, God says, "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning." And, as if " all night " were too long, God speaks again, and says, "At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it ; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it." And yet further, listen to the Lord's warning of vengeance : "Go to, now, )e rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back*by fraud, crieth : and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." And when those cries are heard on high, the rust of the cankered gold and silver will not be the only witness against the rich wrong-doer ; but, saith the Lord of hosts, " I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the hireling in his wages: I will come near you to judgment." IL A second special need of the working classes is security in their industry and their gains: not merely the tardy, uncertain, and often feeble protection afforded by the municipal law, which too often the poor are pecuniarily unable to invoke, but the higher and costless safety resting upon men's obedience in heart and life to the law of God. True, this is the need of all ; but it is pre-eminently so of the workers, to whom every hour of peaceful labor, undisturbed by appre- hension or remembrance of wrong, is of double value, and every farthing gained is more than a pound to the rich. Men's laws never 192 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. have kept pace with men's desires and devices to wrong their fellow- men ; nor do they reach the thoughts and intents of the heart ; and therefore imperfection is in them all: but "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul," taking hold of the consciences of men, and implanting within them that fear of God, which is not only the beginning and the instruction of wisdom, but teaches men everywhere to hate and depart from all evil. In this law is the solid hope and defense of the world's workers. Though its converting power has conquered comparatively few of the myriads of earth's people that have been, and though the outlook is not promising for the speedy conversion of the human race; yet none the less should the law of the Lord be lield up everywhere and always, till the day, surely to come, of its final and glorious triumph in the regeneration of a fallen world. Standing upon that law, Christianity has ever arrayed itself against every form of spoliation of the worker by the rich and powerful, from the lowest grade of mere injustice up to the highest of lawless rapacity. Let the voice of Christianity's God be again heard : " The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof; for the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? Forasmuch as your treading is upon the poor, ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them ; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins. Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbor by extortion, and hast forgotten me. Behold, I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made. Can thine heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee ? I tlie Lord have spoken it, and will do it." III. A third special need of the working classes is some solid foundation for hope of bettering their worldly condition. With the great majority of them the struggle is usually for mere life. The days and months and years of toil bring them no more than food and raiment; to vast numbers not even that; and life wears away with nothing gained. And vice comes and weaves its subtle and fatal net about them, evil associations grapple them, and Satan rides trium- jihant upon the wild and turbid currents that sweep them into the abyss of despair and death. The question, of great and lasting moment to them and to every portion of society, is, not whether the working classes can be lifted bodily into affluence and high social position, for which they would be unfit, and where they would cease to be workers ; but how, by what course of their own, by what action of others, they can, as working classes, be raised to a higher plane and a better condition of physical life. Left to fight the sullen and unequal battle of life alone, the most of them have only defeat and disaster in view ahead, from whose blasting sight there is no refuge but the grave. Shall they be so left? Every principle of Christianity, every dictate of mere humanity says, No. What shall come to their help? Shall it be SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 193 Civilization? Shall it be Philosophy? Shall it be human Morals? Shall it be Philanthropy? Each and all of them, at one time or another, in one country or another, have taken the mighty problem in hand, and, so far, each and all have failed to solve it successfully and finally. The plain and startling truth is, that the spirit of man, in and of itself, is, and must forever he, unequal to its solution. His schemes are as sand, when the vital need is a rock. But what the spirit of man cannot do, the Spirit of God has done. Behold in the Rock of Ages the only stable foundation upon which the world's workers can build a hope of steadily and permanently rising to a higher plane and a better condition of earthly life. Men might as well, first as last, open their eyes and their hearts to these great truths of God — that " Righteousness is the habitation of his throne;" that "He that foUoweth after righteousness findeth life;" that ''The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." These truths are precious stones in the foundations of Christianity ; and upon them rests the great proposition, that, except in that righteous- ness, there is no real and solid basis for hope of the working classes ever being able to gain a condition of higher worldly prosperity, and abide there. Some, under favoring circumstances, may achieve suc- cess, and obtain riches and honor and power, and so rise above their class ; but the rest will be left behind. What is needed is hope for the class ; and let them awake to the divine truth, that that hope lies nowhere but in that righteousness ; for only in that are found all the principles, motives, purposes, and means which God may be expected to bless with substantial and lasting advancement and prosperity. But it is not enough that this righteousness be found in the work- ing classes alone. Were every working man and working woman in the whole world a sincere and blameless follower of God, that fact would avail only partially to better their worldly state, unless it were met by a like condition in the rest of the race. Divide mankind to- day equally between the righteous and the unrighteous, and not an hour would pass before it would have to be written on high — "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor : he plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth : they have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation." And so, at last, the hope of the working classes for a real and permanent betterment of their worldly condition must rest on the double foundation of right- eousness in themselves, and righteousness in the rest of mankind. This foundation Christianity alone cafi lay ; for it is laid upon Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages ; and in all the systems known of men there is no builder upon that Rock, but Christianity. But through all the long ages, perhaps, that must roll away before the millennial dawn shall herald the day of Christ's universal reign, it is the high and holy mission of Christianity, at all times, in all places whither it may go, against all odds, with one hand to batter down the 13 194 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. unjust barriers which the selfish, the grasping, and the rapacious ever seek to rear against the upward progress of the working classes ; and with the other to hail those classes to trust in the Lord, and do good, and wait patiently for him. Let them hear what Jehovah saith to their oppressors. From out the thunders of Sinai, ''■Thou shalt not steaV forbids oppression, ex- tortion, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from another what belongs to him. And listen to the repetitions in other words, and the enforcements, of that commandment : " He that oi)presseth the poor reproacheth his Maker : he shall surely come to want. He that by unjust gain increaseth his substance shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression, and stay thereon, therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose break- ing cometh suddenly at an instant. Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail : the Lord hath sworn, Surely, I will never forget any of their works. Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein ? And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation ; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins and baldness upon every head ; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day." And hear what the Lord saith to them that are oppressed: "The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He delivereth the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea the poor and needy from him that spoileth them. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. The Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence : and precious shall their blood be in his sight." IV. A fourth special need of the working classes is a fit provision for the poor. It is no more true that " the poor shall never cease out of the land," than that in every land they are to be mainly found in the working classes. Too true is it also, in all lands, that " the rich man's wealth is his strong city, and the poor man's destruction is his poverty;" but, nevertheless, the world over, it is of the ordering of Providence, that, while the working classes are dependent, directly or indirectly, upon the rich for employment, and so for livelihood, the rich are just as dependent on them, not only for the revenues that enrich them, but for soldiers and sailors to defend them and their country in time of war. Their v/ealth is absolutely at the mercy of foreign invaders, or of lawless and ungovernable mobs, springing, as it were, out of the ground, at their very doors, unless the working classes rally to their defense. It is, therefore, mere common justice for private and public means to co-operate in providing for the poor. This duty Christianity inculcates by manifold precepts and injunctions. Thus speaks the Lord : " Blessed is he that considereth the poor : the SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 195 Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord : and that which he hath given will he pay him again. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack : but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother ; but thou shalt open thy hand wide to him." And as the sum of all, the Lord said unto Moses, " Speak unto all the con- gregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Thou shalt LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF: " and the Son of man, so poor in his human life that he " had not where to lay his head," repeated the blessed words to his disciples, to be, next to love to God, the very foundation precept of Christianity forever. V. A fifth special need of the working classes, without which they must suffer both bodily and mental deterioration, is a stated and regularly recurring day of rest from labor. This is not the time for discussing the great subject of the Sabbath and its observance. That will be treated here by far abler minds, a few days hence. At present it suffices to consider Sunday simply as a day of rest,* with reference to the working classes. On that subject time forbids ex- tended remark ; and in fact it is not necessary. It is a law of nature that all men, whether they work or not, must have rest ; and at night they seek and obtain it. But all experience proves that working men and women need more rest than night alone affords; and that there- fore it is a necessity to set aside periodically a whole day for cessation from labor. Men and communities that do not acknowledge the obligation of the Christian Sabbath, have awaked to the vital impor- tance of Sunday as a day of rest. Said Lord Macaulay in the English House of Commons: "We in England are not poorer, but richer, because we have these many ages rested from our labor one day in seven. The day is not lost. While industry is suspended, while the plough lies in the furrow, while the exchange is silent, while no smoke ascends from the factory, a process is going on quite as important to the wealth of nations as any process which is performed on more busy days. Man, the machine of machines, the machine compared with which all contrivances of the Watts and Arkwrights are worthless, is repairing and winding up, so that he returns to his labors on the Mon- day with clearer intellect, with livelier spirits, with renewed corporeal vigor." This is the judgment and the testimony of a leading F^nglish mind from the standpoint of mere political economy ; and toward those conclusions all nations having knowledge of Christian civilization are rapidly tending. But they are mere followers. It was the God of Christianity that ordained one day in every seven as a day of rest. It was no device or thought of man ; but the offspring of infinite fore- knowledge and wisdom, for the physical as well as the spiritual good of the human race, but pre-eminently of the working classes, through all time. And let it be remembered by those classes in every land, that in Christianity is the best safeguard of this ineffable gift of the 196 THE PRESBYTERIAN ALLIANCE. all-wise Faflier. If Christianity had no other claim to the title of Friend of the Working Classes, it could triumphantly rest it upon its spirit and works as the defender and conservator of the Sabbath. VI. Finally : The greatest and most urgent need of the working classes, as it is of all men, is religion. Few will dispute this proposi- tion ; but, when a choice is to be made between different forms of religious faith and observance, world-wide differences arise. In the very nature of the case, there can be but one true religion ; but many different bodies may each claim, as they do, to be its true representa- tive. The most of Christendom is divided between the Roman Church, claiming to be the only true one, and asserting that outside of itself there is no salvation ; and the Reformed Churches of all names, claiming to be of the Church universal ; which they hold to consist of all who make profession of the holy religion of Christ, and of sub- mission to his laws. In one or the other of these two great bodies all who call themselves Christians must be ranged ; and between them the working classes must choose. To which should they look for spiritual help in their rugged journey of life, and for guidance to the mansions of the blest on high? This is no time or place to hesitate in answering that question according to the faith of the "Reformed Churches throughout the world holding the Presbyterian, system," and composing this Alliance. Those Churches hold, that the religion best suited to the working classes, and all other classes of men, is not that which bows down to a man, deified by men as infallible, and holding himself aloft as God's vicegerent on earth ; but one which worships God alone. Nor is it a religion of a dominating hierarchy, pronouncing its decrees and conducting its worship in a tongue un- known to the common people ; but one whose humble ministers carry the word of God to the poor, as did their divine Master, in the lan- guage of their every-day life. Nor is it a religion promising salvation through the intercession of a woman, or of a priest, or of saints, or of angels; but one resting on the intercession of the great "High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus," alone. Nor is it a religion which shuts the Bible to the people, and commands them to look to pontiffs, prelates, and priests to learn what God says to man ; but one that opens God'.-, holy word to all human creatures, and would lovingly put it into the hand of every man, woman, and child, to read, learn, and understand for themselves. Nor is it a religion of pictures and images and relics, that hides away from its votaries the second com- mandment of the Decalogue ; but one that says to its followers, as God said to his people Israel, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." Nor is it a religion claiming that poor sinful man's works of merit may bring God in debt to him for eternal life ; but one that humbles the lost sinner at the foot of the cross, there to find rest and peace to his soul through the blood of the once crucified, but now risen and exalted, SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL. 197 Redeemer of men. This is the religion which meets the soul-needs of the poor and lowly. It sees their low estate, and says to them, " He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly shall dwell on high, and his eyes shall behold the King in his beauty." It knows their troubles and their conflicts, and shows them the Prince of Peace. It knows their sorrows, and brings to them the man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief heavier than theirs. It knows their darkness, and tells them, " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of right- eousness arise with healing in its wings." It knows their sins, and points them to the Friend of sinners. It knows their tears, and says, "God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes." It knows their days and nights of weariness, and bids them hear the Saviour's loving call, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." It knows the thirst of their souls, and says to them, "Thirst no more, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead you unto living foimtains of waters." To those heavenly fountains, hear the hail of the Son of man to the sons of toil in all time in all the earth: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; conve ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." This is the voice of that Christianity which is the Friend of the Working Classes in all earth's nations. For it, " let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." And now, Jet the whole world stand forth before God, and say whether, if the commands, and precepts, and promises of 'God, as they have thus been passed in review, were henceforth obeyed, lived out, and rested upon by all, the certain result woiild not be the speedy and lasting rise of the working classes in physical power, in intel- lectual strength, in material prosperity, in moral force, and, conse- quently, in influence in all the world's affairs. And again let the whole world stand forth before