The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-06-03
GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
PRES8YTERlaNS DISCUSSING TOPICS
OF CHURCH POLfTY.
Systematic Benevolenee Ursed-State of
the Finanees-The Temperance Dues
ton ELECTS Lengthy and Interest
ing Report and DiseussIoa.

CINCINSATI. june Increased interest
attended the eighth days session of the gen
eral assembly. The Judicial committee.
through it chairman, DR.. Dickey. made q
report, which was adopted
The committee on systematic beneseence
next presented a report, in which il was rec
Commended that all members give regularly
snd often. The total receipts of the respsc-
tive boards Of the church-home and foreign
missions. education, publication. church.
erection, relief fund, freedmen, sustentation.
aid for colleges and temperance-were for
the year, sl,st0. los, a falling off from the
previous year of So. 251. II was recon-
mended that the committee for the ensuing
year consist of ReyS Pomeroy. chairman
}. W Cochran, Rufus Green. Of Buffalo: Ed
c. Ray. David r Briggs. Ell P. WhalIen,
Roilo Ogden and Arson Smith. aud an equal
number Of elders
Rev Charles s Pomeroy made an enter
tanning speech on the report, ana was fol-
lowad by Elder Smith. Of the Cleveland
Presbytery.
Another question discussed was the work
OF the Freedmen's board. relative 10 what
had been done in the South. and It's consoli-
daticn with the home board The report OF
tie board was accepted and en- amendment
was offered to refer the whole matter to
committee
Rev. a. {. Curtis, Of Columbia. 5. c. a
colored brother who has been doing much
good in this vicinity. made straightforward
appeal 10 the assembly 20 continue the work
Of education and civilization in the south
The amendment referring the whole mat
ter to committee of Ave was lost, and the
report, as whole. was adopted.
The next order Of business was the consid-
Grafton OF the subject OF temperance, and the
report Of the central permanent COMMITTEES
was read by Rev. DR.. Norcross.
The Rev. W y. Brown. D. D.. chairman
Of the permanen. COMMITTEES, addressed the
assembly. He commenced By referring TO
the alleged 'man-trap' in this city b. which
sixteen persons lost their lives ON the day of
the meeting of the assembly. AMI then re-
minded the body that the saloons were in
dnitelv more dangerous "man-traps'' than
any constructed of brick and mortar alone.
and that through the saloons of Cincinnati
about two hundred and ssventy-five
persons were destroyed during last year
And DO you know, Mr. Moderator, that
there are nearly two hundred thousand of
these ''man-trapsn in this country. Do you
realize that there were more than eighty-one
millions Of gallons Of distilled liquors. and
more than five hundred and ninety million
gallons of fermented liquors consumed in
this country during the last year, And that
the amount consumed as a beverage cost the
Consumers more than $50 900, O09f And
that about three-fourths of the crime and
pauperisIn of the country Is traceable di-
rectly to rum} And that she national liquor
league and brewers association have their
auxiliaries in every state and nearly every
county and town in the land TO control leg
station, to resist their enforcement of law;
10 encourage the dissertation of the Sabbath
and TO defend 70 the last limit of appeal the
men who entrap your sons and daughters
and lead them to inevitable ruini
W hat is the remedyl The power of God
through the Gospel, Christianity is the only
reformatory principle in society, and if ever
the saloon is suppressed it will be by the
power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His
people, quickening the Christian conscience,
and creating public opinion which shall
crystalize into 'the strong arm of the civil
law and compel its enforcement. The
question for US 10 decide is: How can the
! Presbyterian church best meet her
obligation in this matter. 1t seems TO
ne that the answer Is by moving
along the line in which she is now working.
By the appointment of its permanent com
mittees the assembly declared its unfaltering
/ purpose to organize the spiritual power of
the church into an efficient agency to with
stand the influence of rum, and to use every
available force to suppress the saloon and to
/ protect the home from it's blighting power.
A careful examination of our report viii con-
vince everyone, l think, that we are doing
4 precisely that thing, and that it proves the
necessity for the appointment of the com
mittee, and vindicates its appeal for your
1 cordial support
| Again the permanent committee has
/ greatly helped By its various committees in
| synods and presDy teries to secure the scien
! tif1c educational scheme in fourteen states
/ the utilization of the local newspaper press
/ in promoting the temperance reform to q de
/ gree-never before attempted, and has been
greatly instrumental in awakening united
effort among all Christian denomination
against the evils of the liquor traffic. 1t ha:
also been the means of putting thousands of
volumes of temperance books into Sabbath
school libraries. and OF awakening a new
[ interest in temperance literature throughout
/ the church. 1t could have done much more
in the same general direction had the
churches contributed the necessary funds.
! As it is the committee is more
than thousand dollars in debt
and it does most earnestly APP
peal to the members of the assembly TO give
it the means to meet these obligations, and u
go forward in its rapidly charging work
/ Either give Us the funds to do the work Of
| abolish your committee. I cordially indorss
this admirable report of the standing com
mittee and the recommendations in the resO
buttons. Pass them, and let pastors ant
churches stand by the cause and the com
mittee by their influence and contributions
and we shall help to reach the goal 10 whic
| YOU look forward-the entire suppression o
the saloon throughout the land. Il is al
ready excluded from Alaska nearly one
sixth Of this country by United States pro
| hibitory law.
Mr.. Van Rensaeler, OF New York, ther
proposel = resolution favoring high licens
on the ground that the people were not We
educated up to the issue. prohibition. II
was supported by DR.. Tully, of Oswego,
Y, in u very stirring speech. High license
he said, was the only thing practical in larg
cities At this juncture Rev. DR.. Barr, c
Layfayette, Ind, introduced an amendmer
to the amendment favoring the disbandin
of the permanent committees on temperate
and the appointment of = standing commit
tee Tbs complicated matters, and afte
some lively discussion the whole matter wa
postponed.
kIr. Loyal Young. one Of the Oldest men
bers Of the convention, comparing this wit
former conventions, said;
The general assembly OF 1855 differs froi
the general assembly which it was my priv
lege to attend fifty-on years ago, viz,
1854 That assembly met in the Sevent
church of Philadelphia, and spent tar,
solid weeks in business, having Sc
eral night sessions. No board r
ported except the &c I'd Of education. f
| the reason that none existed The hon
missionary work was done u the home M
sionary society The foreign mi ssioaar
work BY the A B. c. F. n, except taat Il
synod of Pittsburg had established the We
; tern foreign missionary society, under Il
leadership Of the Rev. DR.. Elisha P. Swii
OF blessed memory. 1t had sent u Ind
Rev John P. Lourv, the present senior Sc
/ rstarv OF the board Of foreign missions, al
] Rev William Reed The boards of pub ic
: ton and church erection dill not exist.
: CLOTHING DAY