The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1880-10-14
THE pAN.rREsBYrEnlAN corxcIL.


which held its last session at Phila-
delphia, Saturday. October I'd, was
the second council of its kind, the
previous one. having been held at
Edinburgh three years ago. The
object ofthis quadrenial council is, as
its name implies. To consolidate all
the Presbyterian churches of the
world into one homogen Gus body
of Christians working together to
combat the assaults of inlidelty and
scientific skepticism. and to extend
the Presbyterian faith. The result
only can tell how far this grand
scheme of an-Presbyterianism will
succeed. The organized spir tual
power of Catholicism, the somewhat
austerc tenets which make Presby-
terianism anything bu. holiday re-
ligion and. above all, the spiritual
apathy and skepticism of the day.
are not light obstacles in the way of
the aggressive movement which the
advocates of Pan-Presbyterianism
propose. The vigor, tact and skill
with which these obstacles are met
will furnish the measure of the sue
cess which the movement shall at
tain. One of the first questions that
occupied the attention of the cOun-
Gil was that concerning the re-
lations between revealed religion
and science and philosophy, which
called forth some elaborate papers
OH modern theological thought and
on the methods of dealing with
young men trained TO science in this
age of unsettled opinion, The yica-
rious sacrifice of Christ was also dis
cussed and the doctrine of final retri
button was earnestly upheld by DR..
( EWitherspoen. of Petersburg, Va,
who cited Professor Gildersleeye. OF
Johns-Hopkilse univereity, to prove
that Canon Farrar in his translation
of the Bible makes erroneous Use of
the words denoting eternity. Rev.
DIR. Pattison, of Philadelphia. took
occasion to condemn the growing
disposition of churches TO provide
entertainments for the people. a
practice which the learned doctor
said, makes concerts. fairs, come
lectures and oyster suppers turn a
dedicated house of God into a
place OF hilarious amusement. The
condition of the church in France
and other countries of the continent
was also discussed, and an. earnest
appeal made for aid to establish
Presbyterianisln more firmly there,
Rev. DR.. Robert Knox, of Dublin,
read a paper on the aEyangelization
of Ireland, calling attention to the
great activity of the Catholic clergy
there, and asking that much thought
and stu ly be given to this subject,
in order that when the council meets
in Belfast, in 1884. delegates may dis
cuss 1T broadly, intelligently and
beneticially. The advantages of
spiritual reviyals as means of
bringing sinners to repentance and
preventing lapses from grace were
also strongly presented by the
Rev. DIR. Hatfield. But perhaps the
most significant part of the proceed
ings was the spirited discussion
that arose over the applications
of the Cumberland Presbyterian
church and the United Presbytery
of Philadelphia for admission to
membership in The council. Hon.
Horace Day earnestly pointed out
that the Cumberland church was ue-
MED admission. though it represent
ed 10000 people strictly Presbyte-
rian in policy and doctrine except in
regard to the nine sections of the
creed relating to predestination.
Mr.. Dav maintained that ifthe West
minister catechism were to be rewrit-
ten now a majority of the churches
would favor the omission of much
that il contains. But the council
held predestinatiOn to be- fnnda-
mental doctrine of Presbyterianism
and refused to admit these dissent
ing organizations.