The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-05-18
Sermon by the Retiring Moderator, Rev. DIR.
Herrick Johnson-Rev. DIR. Hatfield
the New Presiding Officer
Two Lutheran Synods in Session at
Different Points.
Virginia Episcopal ConventiOn-An Assist
ant Bishop Recommendation
Meetings in Progress,
THE PRESBYTERIANS.
Opening of the General Assembly-Sermou
by Rev. DIR. Herrick johnson.

by Rev. DIR. Herrick johnson.
SARATOGA, May 1.-THE Ninety fifth Gen
eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of
the United States convened this morning
The session opened with the TIE Deum chant
ed by the church choir. The divine blessing
was invoked by Rev. DR.. Brown, of Fred
ericksburg, Va. Rev. ]. Addison Henry, OF
Philadelphia, read the lesson, and Rev. DR..
Everard Kempshall, of Elizabeth, N j., then
led in prayer. The retiring moderator, Rev.
DR.. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago then ap-
peared at the desk and delivered the annual
sermon.
IF, therefore, the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darknessP The
sermon on the mount, said DR.. Johnson. is
but reflection of the law given on Sinai.
The Pharisees were more than mere formal
lists, They were the most ardent foes the
Roman empire encountered. They tho ught
they had the oracles of the living God con-
fded to their care. So they had, but only
the shell. They had Rugged the truth till
its life had expired, and the flowers and
cerements OF a dead faith only remained
They had lost the heart of the truth in cher
ishing its forms, in multiplying rituals, and
carrying conscience with them in mistaken
zeal, and this made the Pharisees the
most Jealous children of hell, and
/ WllIl tlelF UNCONSCIOUS zeal tney SUNK lower
than the outward heather. The spirit of
| Phariseeism soon entered the Christian
church. The church OF Ephesus, lauded by
st. Paul, is said to have lost its heart by the
apocalytic Seer So the Church of Rome,
with its great Jesuit arm, perverted truth till
| 1t became so full of corruption that it is lik-
ened to the Jewish church when Christ "came
to his own and his own received him not"
THE same great danger lies at the door of
our beloved Zion to-day" said the preacher,
and he proceeded in earnest words to depict
the dangers that threaten the spirituality of
the church. The perils within the church
are that it is more Jealous for forms
| than in combating errors; they lie in
three points worship, doctrine and minis
try. Presbyteranism exalts the truth and
neglects forms, but cultivated tastes find fire.
| quent occasions for change and lament the
hardness OF the service and the absence of
liturgical form. Let us not mistake the lat
! ter for episcopacy, even though they may
have the smell of Rome on them. The re-
| formation divorced fine art from religious
worship, and the church may well work slow
| In returning to the aesthetic surroundings de-
manded by modern culture, lest spirituality
be sacrificed to Journalism and ceremonies.
Perils deepen as we fix forms, and light be-
comes darkness. Perils of doctrine are beset
with pharisaic quicksands. We are in no
| peril OF a return to that narrow
exclusion which determined its own
| truthfulness and burned those who disa-
greed Love, if it be fulfilling of the law,
is exhibited by'steady, not by gushing emo
ton. Doctrine is a necessary formula
Presbyterian doctrine is good, and the church
| cherishes it, The times are loose. Scholars
| are picking the Pentateuch to pieces.
Rationalism is abroad. The peril is that we
may lose the spirit of truth in guarding
| what we have held for truths. This is a con-
slant peril attending dogmatic faith Pres
| byterians are dogmatists by choice. In our
| cherishing of truth we may reach pharasaic
rigor and the fate Of the church of Ephesus.
We must have no flabby arms held out to
| combat error; but the danger is that we may
hasten to battle without swords tempered in
the fire of God. He best serves truth who
best learns Christs way.
The third peril is the ministry, and here
comes in the commercial law of supply and
demand. The church is rapidly approach
| ing calamity. 1t is threatened with a
famine of preachers. Our church numbers
| 5,741 congregations and by no possible
figuring can the ministers be made to match
the churches. Take in every stated supply
and the retired ministry, and still 500
churches are pastorless. When the taper
! burns at both ends look out for darkness
! The preacher could find no grounds for the
| hoped-for relief in the colleges and theolog-
ical seminaries to supply the demand. The
trend is continually the wrong way OF the
students in twelve colleges during the last
decade only 10 per cent entered or proposed
the ministry The loss has gone TOO far not
| to injure the church. Unless it
be retrieved, disaster follows Secular
| ism, irregularism and skeptiCism in
the American colleges don't tend to increase
! the ministerial aspirants. The statistics of
the colleges tend to support the fact that a
ministerial famine is imminent. The preach
er said the causes of the decline were not the
absence of a support from the churches, nor
the lack of men with the proper mental pow
ers, neither is it the lack of Christian consecra-
ton. The cause is more definite. 1t is the
| period of the perverson of truth; it is the
| peril of the early church, when hierarchal
power was substituted for Gods will. God
has given our church a glorious privilege
We have tried to make min
listers; have we asked God to
make them? We have applied the
rule of supply and demand of strict traffic to
sacred ministerial functions. We have for
gotten the devotion of Hannah of old, in
| giving Samuel to Gods service, also the eX-
ample of Henry Martyrs mother We have
| looked too much to the metropolitan pull
| pits and neglected such ministry as that to
which ST. Paul and st. BarnabaS were sent.
| DIR. johnson closed with a teryent appeal to
the commissioners and the congregation to
| heed the perils of the church, and pray God
for pentecostal baptism till worship, doc
| trine and ministry are thrilling with the love
and service of the living God.
The benediction was given by Rev. Dr.
| Hatfield, stated clerk.
Morning and afternoon sessions will be
! held daily, with an occasional evening ses-
! sion At the opening of the afternoon ses-
! sion Rev. DIR. William c. Roberts, pcrma-
! nent clerk, read the roll Of commissioners,
! II appeared that all OF the 1872 presbYtcrics
were represented excepting Rio Janeiro,
Canton Ningpo, Peking Allahabad Grand
| Forks Mankato COrisCO, Santa Fe aud