The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1877-06-20
The Seventy First Annual Meeting of the
General Synod of the Reformed Church

The Seventy First Annual Meeting OF the
General Synod of the Reformed Church
Met in the Collegiate Dutch Church, New Y Ork
on the 9th. There were about one hundred anG
twenty delegates present. Rev. Dr.. r. w. CLARK
was elected President, and Rev. DR.. l. s. Hartley
Assessor.
The following action was taken in the case of DE-.
Blauvelt:
Resolred. That the action Of the Particular Synod
Of New York in the case Of Rev. Augustus Bau-
welt, d D., be confirmed IN whole.
This was passed mem CON, and the President then
offered prayer that DR.. BIsuyelt might be led from
error and established in the truth, aud subsequent
". upon his temperance in the church, he an
nOunced the decision to him, and expressed the de-
sire that the Holy Spirit would lead him into all
truth.
Ga Friday, Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, who had
been delegate to our Assembly, read his report
expressing the peculiarly pleasant reception he had
met with in New Orleans. Rev. DR.. j. B. Adger,
our delegate to the Synod, was then introduced and
spoke as follows:
Mr.. President Fathers and Brethren of the Re
formed Synod: L DO not feel myself stranger IN
was born and brought up amongst you. went to
school at Kiu6erhook and to college at Sehenecta-
DIV, end in those days well knew the Van Weeks,
the Van DyckS, the Van Valkenbergs and many
others. | was also the intimate friend OF your own
Dr. Van Dyck Of Syria, and have met him IN his
missionary home. have not forgotten Paas and
Pinkster IN fact | can speak little Dutch, but 1t
is not much, and hope you will not put my knOwl-
edge to the test But | do venerste the noble Ian
guage in which your heroic ancestors spoke and
wrote. | profoundly venerste the men who drove
out the ocean from their fertile meadows. and viii
tened chat ocean with their SAILS and sent olVza-
ton and Christianity to the tsr-oH parts OF the
East From the bottom OF my heart venerate
the men who endured the eighty years terrific, yet
successful war for liberty and a representative gov
ernment, and who bore so patiently the persecu-
tons Of Rome by Alvs and Philip IL Venerste
your thorOugh-gOing Calvinistic foretatherS, and
the church which | represent Is not ignorant OF
your Marek and the exhaustive work Of Foetius
AS to your Synod OF bort, we can well under
stand what Bishop Hall said it was, place near
20 heaven. And your Bslgie Confession and Hei
delberg Cstechlsm We put on the same shelf with
our Westminster. We are the same church as
You which was formed and founded, under God by
Paul of Tarsus and which under God was after
ward re formed bY John of Geneva. If your
church giOries IN that fundamental doctrine which
Calvin maintained, that the Word Of God Is the
sole rule Of practice, We do also.
Aud | come to express 70 you the joyful recognl-
ton that the l0hOle Bible is Gods perfect, and In
falhble and uncomfortable word, and that 1t can
not pass away. We can invent nothing and dis
cover nothing IN religion. All that we can learn
about God and human duty Is either expressly
written OF can be deduced theretr0m. And as we
neither invented or discovered our God, but de
revealed Himself to us by positive institutions
which He established, therefore whatsoever Is not
commanded is forbidden.
Now 1t Is my duty and pleasure to say to you
that the Presbyterian Church OF the United States
recognizes herself as standing in peculiar relations
10 your body. AT New Orleans we received your
delegate with a glad welcome. lt was then and |
there resolved By our Assembly that we will change
the mode and form OF our correspondence with all
the churches which are in such relation to US,
yours always excepted. Our Assembly proposes
10 discontinue the sending Co or receiving any del
egates from these churches. But with you, sir, we
stand in peculiar and exceptional relations. You
and We, SIR, have with formal sOlemnity entered
into close cooperative alliance and we consider 1t
due to these close relations that We continue, and
We desire you to continue to send living delegates
from one TO the other
Now, Mr.. President, we know there is advsn-
tage in written communication. In letter pre-
pared By appointment ana read and amended In
the Synod and accepted and adopted as an official
letter, We have the voice OF the Synod, and not
merely the language Of an individual speaking In
behalf Of a church. We will be glad to receive a
letter together with living representative, and our
Assembly will send you such letter We will
thus have the double advantage Of such an official
expression, and also the warm expression of trater-
nal feelings IRON the hps OF those sent. We have |
not the pecunlary means to send delegates to all
churches. We think that the mere expression Of
formal recognition does not require the sending OF
a representative But l venture to say that the |
relations which subsIst between Us and you involve
great deal that Is Of actual and permanent value,
and OF real and living interest. We shall always |
have something to say TO you which Is real prso
tcal and important, and you will have something
similar 20 say to us. Now, sir, trust that the |
opinion which | express will be confirmed by the /
action OF the Church which represent aud Of this
Synod, and that between US the living representa-
uves may 20 with the official letter to explain its
breVity.