The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-08-03
Moncure ID. Conway 0rs the Pnn-Pres
hytor{au Council and ON DR.. IIOSe.

Moncure ID. Conway on the Pnn.Pres-
bytorian Council and ON DIR. Hoge.
| NJ. D. Conway writes from Edinburgh
about this Pan-Presbyterian Council: Ar
riyine in Edinburgh the delegates speedily
discovered that this old Presbyterian me-
tropolis was not yet awake to the bigness
OF the undertaking. Fortunately the So
| cial arrangements had been perfected and
the foreigners had comfortable quarters !;
but what was their anlaZement to find that
the tickets with which all had 10 be provided
were being given out in a sort OF closet
about twenty feet square by one languid
youth. More than one hundred Ameri-
cans, representing the forty votes awarded
the United States, stormed the room
until suffocation became imminent, and
cries were raised that the window should
be lowered. The window had plainly
not been lowered these many years.
"Do you Americans seriously mean to bring
fresh air inte Scotlandt" asked an old
Scotchman paaintiycly. The question has
been answered by this time. The faces OF
the vast Scotch audiences have been fairly
aghast at learning that in the United States
and in Australia the sharp disputes between
various Presbyterian families are unknown.
They had apparently come to consider such
rigid divisions rs part of the system Of the
universe, like loch and highland. When a
Young orator from Australia related how
they had abolished Scotch partitions out
there so that they are no longer alluded to-;
and are attacking other partitions-he hay
/ ing preached in an Anglican and in Meth
odist church-thc audience didn't know
whether to hiss him for sinner or praise
him for saint; they were dead-still. "1f,"
said the Australian, "You think any the
worse of me for that don't think any the
worse Of myself" which swallowed up the
misgivings in laughter.
There is one illusion often found in other
churches which these three days are enough
to dispel. We often hear it said that old
fashioned Calvinism is dying out, and cleo
ton and reprobation no longer preached.
But, OH the contrary, nearly every speaker
maintained the EXTREMIST Calvinism. The
most rigid views of Calvin were iterated
with intensity; and the more resolute their
utterance by any speaker the more hearty
was the applause. Indeed, Twill say here
that nothing has more impressed me than
the radicdliSm of these ministers. Having
attended good many radical meetings in
various countries, ] think / know the
article when see it, and never saw it
more plainly than in the faces, or heard
its ring more plainly than in the voices, Of
these Presbyterians. Just let one little brick
| get lax in the compact creed-structure OF
that dogmatic brother, and not one stone OF
it would be left upon another. Huxley
would be conservative beside him, and Mar
tlneau nowhere. There, for instance, is DR..
Hoge, of Richmond, whose tall, thin person,
and dark, moody brow, as he entered, made
me start as il MaZzini had come to life. The
nervous twitching OF the face, with the pale
cast of thought, and study too, so full upon
it, the flame Of an eye ranging from the
doves to the eagles, the voice now aolian,
now thunder-why, one could as easily mis-
take the physiognomy OF falcon. l re-
member once hearing John Daniel, some
time editor OF the Richmond Examiner, who
had made a clean sweep OF all orthodoxy,
say that somehow he did not like to hear DR..
Hoge; and do not wonder, since / heard
the same man last night, making clean
sweep OF all the timidities and time-serv-
ings which would cover the root OF his faith
and Church. The same may be said OF DR..
Eels, OF California, man personally OF the
same make and complexion. Every word
he uttered was organic-came out OF his
bones; and there is no compromise about
him. awe WILL" said DR.. Hoge, have
no broad church in the sense Of Calvinistic
creed with an, Armenian clergy" and his
old Huguenot blood burned in his cheek.
" Craven temporizers, who dare not preach
what is plainly written in GODS wordF'
The next moment he told OF his old Bible
which his forefathers carried to their refuge
in Holland" the family names In it are
dlm-I hope they are bright in the book of
life "-and one felt what warmth it was
that called up bis storm. ''EXalt God!'
cried the Californian that is our answer to
those who would eXalt reason. Exalt now
Grace is not surrender Of law. Pardon is
not weakness prompted by love, but power,
and rebels must first lay down their
arms.n But he, too, revealed the tender
hand beneath the iron gauntlet, as he almost
pleadcd with the disbeliever, for the spent
swimmer, who has reached rock amid the
waves, not to shove him of, because his
rock is not q continent. The disbelicver
might ask what of those who find no rock,
for whom it Is question whether they can
reach any shore; but lie must be more a
bigot than skeptic who does not feel the
superior grandeur Of the exalted law than
of the apotheosized sentimentality with
which so many have tried to withstand Cal
vinism. But man may honestly mean to
acknowledge the crop as well as the corn
without being able to realize just what the
crop Is. III LII OUCc Sdlu llaG uo iudu Souio
be sure he held a truth till he had heard
everything that can be said against it. All
this Presbyterian radicalism exhibits the
characteristics OF solitary study, Judgment
on filed pleadings, and not such as is reach
ed by the genuine capture OF really defend
ed positions.
And here let me relate an incident which
will illustrate this, while in itself sufficiently
picturesque, or even wonderful. Yesterday
the Council was engaged in discussing one
OF the most sensitive points OF Presbyterian
policy" The Eldership: Its Theory and
Practice "-and there was good deal OF
excitement. 1t had been introduced with
a very learned and well-reasoned paper by
DR.. Moore, OF Columbus, who was lis
tened to intently. When he was through,
Hoge, Of Richmond, slipped around where
he had taken his seat, shook his hand, but
whispered in his ear Whereon Moore arose
and corrected a statement about some
American law by excepting the Southern
Church from it. Among other things DR..
Moore said that while the primitive official
Church was based on the synagogue, provi-
sion was made for exigencies, as in the Office
OF deacons. He was followed by speaker
professor Kerr who, with more vigor than
humility, said: /" / don't mean to criticise
other Church politics, but do maintain that
ours is thoroughly criptural-running all
through the Old Testament and the New"
Lo, voice! Can it be ?-yes, it iS-a ie-
male voice, and not from the gallery, to
which all ladies are relegated. There are
three entrances to the floor OF the hall, and
q Cerberian head at each. How, then, could
u L. L 4