Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-06-01

assemblies, from 179S to 1906, refused to
do, viz, to ignore the Adopting Act; and
refuses to do what the presbyteries for
seven years refused to do, namely, to annul
the Adopting Act. Q0.) 1t overrides the
public recognition of the Adopting Act
and its rule by the Assembly of 1882. the
reatirmation of it by the Assembly of
| 1874, and the manifest reference to it by
the Assembly of 1887. (11.l 1t gives the
Assembly power, every month of May, on
Its own motion, to keep open the revision
question, appoint new committees TO form
| ulate and to overture the presbyteries at
will, so plunging the whole church into
doctrinal strife. (I3.) 1t violates ordina-
tion vows and the terms of compact in
the reunited chErch."
The Iadependess says: ave have heard
great deal of the fnesse and management
and long foresight of the Roman Catholic
hierarchy. Well, here is a bit of it which
which We commend to the prayerful con-
sideration of the Protestant Episcopal
Convention of South Carolina in particu-
lar, to the Congregatiopalists of Georgia,
and to all other Protestant Christians,
South and North, as we'll. Archbishop
Ireland of st. Paul, than whom it would
be hard to find a stronger man in the
Christian Church of our country anywhere,
man who is leader in temperance, in
social reform, and in every good work, has
this to say about the negro problem MY
solution of the negro problem is to declare
that there is no problem to be solved, since
we are all equal, as brothers should be,
and we will in consistency with our Amer
lean and Christian principles treat alike
black and white. / know no color line, l
will acknowledge none. / amnot unaware
that this solemn declaration of mine shall
be deemed BY many, upon whose opinions
| set high value, as rash and untimely.
Yet fear not to make it, for believe am
right. Ay, untimely to-day, my words
will be tomorrow timely. Ny fault, if they
We're fault, would be that | am ahead Of
my day. The time is not distant when
Americans and Christians will wonder that
there ever was race prejudice That is
precisely the same doctrine we have been
preaching and some of our readers have
been getting tired Of But a necessity is
laid on us and we must continue preaching
it. Just think of it The question before
the South Carolina Episcopal Convention
is whether it shall exclude all negroes or
all but one! And the Georgia Congrega-
tionalists got up two general bodies last
year for the sake of keeping white people
apart from those who were only partly
white. Archbishop Ireland-we wish he
were Pope-says: Il know no color line. /
will acknowledge none;' and he shames our
caste Christianity. With his solution
there is no problem. The irsoluble prob
lem is how to maintain caste and vet be
Nkr,et
answer to it. Who can imagine Jesus
Christ refusing to eat and sleep in a
negros house?"
The Rev. DR.. James McCosh SAYS in the
Independent: at being virtually settled
by the Presbyteries that there is to be a
change, the all-important question now is,
What is that change to be? Simply an
amendment of the old confession, or a new
and simpler creed, which, it is to be un-
derstood, is to embrace all the truths
which have been held firmly by the con-
census of the churches, and especially by
the Presbyterian churches? | am most
willing that the confession should be
amended in the manner suggested by the
majority of the Presbyteries, by bringing
in a fuller statement as to the love of God
in redemption, as to the sutficiency of the
atonement and the gracious work of the
Spirit, and the omission of some iex-
pressions which l might have received
had they been used by Paul, but, being
devised by fallible man, had better be left
out. But, in fact, it will be found very
difficult work to improve the confession.
which is logical and consistent work
| throughout. No changes made upon it
will make it fit to meet one of the grand
ends of confession-that is, to exclude
the heresies of the day. 1t was admirably
fitted to arrest the rising Arminianism of
the seventeenth century, but has no pro-
vision whatever to counteract the more
subtle heresies which, to my knowledge. are
coming in from Deutschland. But if we
are to have an abbreviated Westminster
Confession, why not adopt, with possibly
few suppressed expressions, the Shorter
Catechism, which is a far better compend
of doctrine than any likely to be produced
by the revisionists of our day, and has this
great advantage-that our children NAV
prohtably learn it? For myself, think
that the time has now come when we
should contemplate the formation of
simpler and shorter creed, which shonld
be known to all, to young as well as old,
should be taught to our higher Sabbath
school classes, and be shown to other de-
nominations, such as Episcopalians and
Methodists, as fitted to remove the preju-
dlces which they entertain against us. 1t
| might consist of twenty or thirty articles,
drawn out clearly and easily understood;
| and all members of the church should be
familiar with it, which they have never
been with the Westminster Confession. 1t
should not attempt to embrace all the
truth revealed in Scripture, but all that is
necessary to the great end of Scripture,
the revelation of Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, and all that is essential to the sal
vation of sinners"