The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-10-26
Although DR.. Jordan is and has al

Although DR.. Jordan is and has al
ways been q pronounced opponent Of DIR.
Woodrow on evolutionary matters, and
the Rev. Mr.. Law has been one of his
~staunchest supporters, it cannot be in
ferred that there is any significance in
the defeat Of Mr.. Law. At least no great
deduction can be drawn from the history
of the two preceding Synods, for at each
of them the majority vote electing the
Moderator took final action which was
Numerically opposed to the views Of
the presiding officer or matters touching
DR.. WoodrOw's views, and his relations
to the church. There are, however, some
delegates who are Of the opinion that
the vote deciding the moderatorship
is a fair test Of the drift Of the opinion
Of the Synod on the action Of the Gener-
al Assembly, which met last May in
Augusta. That Assembly gave utter
ance to " propositions, one declaring
the views Of the church as to the manner
of the formation Of Adams body, and
the other to the effect that DR.. Wood
rows views of the evolution Of our great
progenltor are repugnant to the Scrip.
lures. The Assembly, however, went
further and recommended to the four
Synods controlling the board of dircc-
tors If the Theological Seminary, to
have DR.. Woodrow removed from his
professorship. Some of the Prcsby-
teries have already expressed them
selves on the right Of the General AS
sembly to make such u]tteranccs, and
most especially in view Of the possibili-
ty that they might have prcjudiced Dr..
Woodrow before the Augusta Presby-
terry, before which he was subsequently,
tried, but acquitted, on the charge Of
hercsy. Other Presbyteries, on the
contrary, have une%quivocally endorsed
the action Of the General Assembly. 1t
is not improbable that the question in
volved in the deliverance Of the General
Assembly will come up before the Syn
cd through a committee report on which
the discussion will be renewed. It is
anticipated that the arguments pro and
con will be acrimonious, or, at least,
disputatious. The discussion will neces-
sarlly involve the reopening Of the old
issues, although in a merely incidental
relation. What the particular line of
discussion will be or how long the argu-
ments will continue it is Just now i'm
possible to forecast. 1t is equally i'm
possible to state definitely what effect
a decision reached by this Synod. as to
the resolutions passed by tho General
ASsebly, will have ON the merits of the
case.
M. F. T.
The delegates from the Presbyterian
church Of this city to the synod at Che
remarkably brief one and was almost
apfipoIx u lnuot>1 70 kha yNo~l->,- ~,-.
ter. Routine business went by the
board and when DIR. Woodrow's case
hsd been disposed Of the body hastily
adjourned on Friday afternoon.
Mr.. Rose said last night that the syn
the anti Woodrow element and would
probably settle the matter finally. Three
members Of the board Of trustees Of the
theological seminary were elected. two
Of the vacancies being caused by cxpi-
ration Of terms, and the third resulting
from a resignation. Strong anti Woodrow
men were elected. The board hereto
fore has been in Dr.. Woodrow's favor
by a majority Of one, but is now over
whelmingly against him. The board
was instructed to ask for DR.. Woodrow's
resignation and to remove him if he re-
fused to give it, this action being taken
after Il telegraphic enquiry to the doctor
if he would resign had elected an en-
phatic Geographic negative.
The synod endorsed the action Of the
general assembly on the question Of ev-
o~lution, and disapproved the action Of
the last board Of trustees Of the semina-
ry, Each test vote resulted 80 against
Dr.. Woodrow to 46 for him-GreenuiXe
NeWs.