, 1877-09-09


land: you know, there are three Churchesth
Established Church, the Free Church, aud th
United PRESBYTERIAN church. Then there is til
Presbyterian Church Of England, the 1risl
prcsbyterian Church: aud the Presbyteria
Church in this country OF the North, tue Pres
| byterian Church South, aud the United Prcsby
tcrian Church the Canada Presbyterian Church
and the Reformed Dutch Church Of this country
Then there is the Australian Presbyteria
Church; the Reformed Churches Of Hol
land, France. and Switzerland. All 0
these Churches were represented b
delegates who were appointed -. b.
the several authorities, and tie Council as
scmbled at Edinburg on the 81 Of June. |!
met ia St. Giles Churctl-John knox's oil
church-and the sermon was delivered by thu
Kew. DR.. Flint, who is the Professorof Theology
! IN the University OF Edinburg, aud who occu'
| pies the chair once held by Cha1mers,-the
greatest man, III some respects, that Scotland
has produced. Dr.; Flint is q rising man, an
! acute thinker, and he preached an able, elo
qucnt sermon. After the inaugural sermon,
! the Council
! HELD ITS SESSIONS
[ in the Assembly Hall of the Free Church ot
to day ior some eight days. They embraced a
great variety OF topics. and among other things
| the question of tue reform Of the confession.
| The Presbyterian confession of faith rests upon
] a calvinistic basis. Dr.. Scllatf, OF New York,
| there was q paper read BY Dr.. Stuart Robinson,
Of Louisville, on "Presbyterian Polity." DR..
Howard Crosby, Of New York, read paper on
Preaching" and Or. McCosh read ono on
stc rSs s g. t9f soa rhasss e t Il sasFp u!ea e ns
per on the subject of "Tempcrancc" !"
Dr.: Hodge, Of Princeton. read paper. On
"Presbyteriauism." DR.. Watts, OF Belfast,
had one on I" Presbyterian History" DR..
Moore. OF Columbus, O., read paper on the
n Ruling Elder" and DR.. Plummer, Of Rich
! mond, Va, paper which took up aud discussed
some Of the problems in connection with the
work in the South. a whole evening was de-
voted to the Home Mission Work Of the Prcsby-
terian Church North, and speeches were deliv-
cred By DR.. Van Dyke, DR.. Paxton, DR.. Dick
son, and others. The Sunday-school question
was also taken up and discussed by Dr.. Nicolls
others.
Prof. Patton had modest1y united to men,
tion his own paper on "Unbclicf," but the
reader will remember its substance, and the no
small amount of discussion and criticism which
its publication called forth.
''Generally speaking, Professor, what may be
said OF the results ol the Council!''
''Thc general feeling was that the discussions
were certainly interesting and, think, profta-
bic. Both the papers read and the discussions
There was question at first Us to whether we
should discuss th: more scientific and 1octrinal
questions in sections, where they would be more
scholastically treated before small and select
audiences, or whether they should be presented
in more popular form, and before larger
audiences. It was finull : decided that, on The
whole, it was best to adopt the pop
ular form, aud the result was
were referred to by their title aud an abstract
given Of their contents. This was the means of
giving the discussions more interesting, but
perhaps less elaborate and profound, phase than
they otherwise would have had. Now, as to
WHAT WAS AcC0MPL1snED:
The good which was done was this: in the first
place it was shown that the Presbyterian faith
the Presbyterian polity--is very large element
in the constituency Of the Protestant world.
You see,the little presbsterlan Church in France
tcrian Church in Holland is relatively small
compared with the population. But when you
put together the Presbyterian Churches all over
the world, you find that they form very intiu-
is no small thing to have manifested the Tisiou-
ity Of the Presbyterian Church in that wav."
ss1n the second place, the results of the
Council show that the Calviuistic faith, and the
peculiar doctrines Of the Presbyterian Church
as held by Presbytcrians all over the world, re-
tain as strong hold as ever in the Prcsbyte-
rian Church. The influence OF the Council WAS
altogether in the direction Of conservatism in
doctrine. It is true that there Is broad church
element IN all ths preSeyteEian Churches: It
that found most favor in the Council |
was sentiment which Was liberal within |
wise limits, but, at the same time, !
conservative with respect to the great and dis |
In other words, il the spirit Of the Council is to
be taken as m exponent Of what Presbyterians
the world over think, the sentiment is just this:
that Prcsbyterlans arc not fOssiized; that they |
do not believe III mere fossilized creed, as CON
seryatiye men arc sometimes represented is |
doing; but that, with wise outlook for the fu- |
lure, with d generous recognition Of what is |
good in all other churches, and with very cath !
oic and evangelical spirit, they are rs tenacious
as they ever were of their peculiar doctrines. |
think I atm correct in stating that to
be the spirit of the Council. It did not run into
the mere rut Of conservatism and prescription, |
and that is not what the Presbyterian Church /
wants. Thcy only want to recognize what is
that there is c scnse in which there is proper |
aud generous libcrality to be exercised.
II think the influence OF the Council was
good in the way of the Interchange OF thought |
churches. For instance: We Americans found |
that the same troubles Wc have here, the same
problems
THAT WE ARE SOLVING
p matters Of Theology, are r, being brought up
same types OF thinking over there; Just the
;ame questions mooted that We have. exactly;
10 more nor no less there than they are with us.
It was mutually stimulating and beneficial for !
he representatives Of the different natioua]ities
% como together and compare views. Apart
rom that, the social idea Of bringing men from
10 many different churches together is u good
me.
t'This being the first meeting OF the Council,
here was less discussion in it than there will |
likely be i'll the future. They avoided. rs much
IS possible, subjects that would awaken nm
,lcasant discussion. It was important that !
he Council should ayoid anything that might
end to embttcr discussion. There are qnes-
ions, both in this country and in Scotland, and
there, which could not very we'll !
e touched without destroying the harmony, |
nd lcucc it was that some things were wisely
united from the programme. But it was /.
net that there were men Ia that Council, sitting |
ide by side Us members OF the Established |
,hurch, the Free Church, and the United
Presbyterian Church, taking part in the most
leasant way III the proceedings, who had never
act each other before, and who perhaps never |
'oull have met had it not been for that Coun-
il. think it was the expression of quite a !
lumber OF their best men that the Council hnd
onc Scotland world OF good by bringing
hose very men together. Because, while Scot
Ind is 4 very small country, the churches
ave a good deal Of controversy which rests on !
hat they think is very good ground, and sup
Csc it Is good ground; at least, on ground
hch they hold very tcnacious1y.n t.,
The reporter renturcd an inquiry as to how
rof. Patton liked the criticism Of II. D. Con-
az and others on his paper and the other pa ,
are rnaf1 ut tim Cn1,nf.iT