Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-07-27


or Calvauistic system of doctrine as taught
IN the Scriptures of the Word of God'
Had this been its charter, would not the
desire Of the Church at large been more
truly met? Construed vigorously, how
ever, does not the closing paragraph of the
resolutions creating the Revision Com
mIttee in effect exalt the Confession of
Faith above the Scriptures? ? And if this
be even remotely true will the Presbyte-
rian Church OF America be satisfied to
pursue revision its Confession OF Faith
on such contracted lines? We think not.
After years careful study of the subject,
the Revision Committee NAV after all be
compelled TO make report to the Assem-
bly, Of 1891, at Detroit, somewhat after
this fashion: Fathers and brethren. we
find that majority of the Presbyteries
desire changes in the Confession which
by strict construction of our orders we
cannot recommend, the last General AS
sembly having limited US to changes that
will in no way clash with the present
teachings of the Confession, thus unwit-
tingly, as it seems to your committee, ex-
alting the authority of our creed above
that o. the Bible.'"
The Eoangelia Pres.) says: at strikes
us shae DI. W arueiu Is particularly un-
fortunate in the reference in his review
note on the recent Assembly, to what he
calls the great unwisdom of the Assembly
of 1889, in sending down its sweeping
overture touching revision. The action
thus characterized was not taken in haste,
or without the fullest debate and deliber-
alton. 1t was, moreover, the action of a
very large majority, and might be said to
have been practically unanimous. Il was
action taken on petition from fifteen
presbyteries, including some of the most
lntellgen. and influential presbyteries of
our church. 1t is not little presumptu-
| Gus to characterize such action in our de-
nominational review as a piece of great
| unwisdom| Do not the conclusions of
our assemblies, on Whatever subject, made
| after full consideration, deserve to be de-
scribed by those who differ from such con-
| clusions, in language more deferential,
especially on the printed page? Is it not
| also likely that such sweeping condemna-
| tion as this will react unfavoraby upon
the Reclelc, and those concerned in its
management? Certainly it could hardly
| be expected that the associate editors in
our several seminaries would indorse such
a Judgment. We feel bound to add, in all
good faith and in perfect candor, that we
greatly doubt the propriety of referring to
any among the advocates of revision as
persons who, while in the Presbyterian
Church, are not of it, and to speak of
them as taking the opportunity which
the overture of the Assembly afforded, TO
attack the very citadel of our creed.'
These are unwanantable illusions, and
they are much more likely to do harm
than good If there is no other evidence
than this of the great unwisdom' of the
actiouaaken by the Assembly of 1889, we
opine that such action will stand approved
at the bar of history"
The Executive Committee ofthe Church
Congress publish the following announce
ment: "The General Secretary of the
| Church Congress having learned from the
Right Rev. the Bishop of Ohio that
clergyman appointed to speak at the APP
preaching Congress in Philadelphia has
become subject to ecclesiastical inquiry,
| and, within certain limits, been inhibited
from the exercise CT his functions as re-
ligfsss teassser, the Executive Committee
| account the appointment as ipSo fdcto can
celled, and have so notified the appointee.
The committee regard the opportunity as
good one for stating the principle by
which from the beginning they have been
guided, and by which they propose here
| after to be guided in the making of their
appointments. The ground taken has been
that all clergymen whose names were to
| be found on the lists annually furnished by
the bishops of the several dioceses TO
| their Conventions should be reekoned
eligible as speakers or writer's on the plat
form of the Congress, and that they had
no right whatever to go behind such au-
thorized statement in determining the
question of good and regular standing
Their action, therefore, in cancelling the
particular appointment in question is en-
tirely in line with their established usage
and in no sense a departure from it. To
! insure broad and full discussion of the
various topics the committee have been
compelled frequently TO select writers and
speakers whose views individual members
of the committee did not and could not
approve. As to the charge sometimes
| lightly made that the Executive Com
mittee have exercised their task of selec-
ton, during all these years, in partisan
spirit and with view to favoriug one
| phase of theological opinion or ecciesias-
tical policy rather than another, the COM
mittee hold that no answer is necessary
other than such as is afforded by the Con-
| gress programmes themselves Were the
correspondence Of the committee to be
opened to the public, even weightier evil
dence would be forthcoming of their solici-
tude to give prominence to conservative
! speakers and writer's rather than to those
of other types"
! A Whopper.
Talking about stories, here is an absolute
whopper that Jud Drake, the Cincinnati
grain man, is telling to his friends and en-
emies alike, and with the expectation that
they will believe it, too. Said he to a
| Commercial Gazette reporter ''You know
| that | am something of birdoiogist.
J Well, we have Maltese cat at our house
that is on the same lay, but for more emf
nently practical reasons. This feline is
very fond of sparrow meat, and hitherto
has shown considerable ingenuity in get
! ting possession of the coveted morsel.
None of the family, however, were pre-
| pared for the display Of reason manifested
few days ago. My wife has been in the
habit of throwing out bits of bread for the
| birds every morning, and as she went away
short time ago the supply has fallen
short. The cat used to lie around after
the crumbs we're scattered about, and
watching her chance when the birds came
down from the trees to feed, would catch
one and scamper off into the bushes Since
no crumbs have been scattered the birds
have been wanting, and the cat waited in
vain for her daily dainty. She has been
| thinking the matter over apparently. for
yesterday she was observed to lug piece Of
! bread out of the kitchen into the-yard
| and there scratch it into small crumbs.
Then she went off and lay down in con-
venient hiding place, and in less time than
1t takes to tell the story had nice. fat
sparrow for her pains and labor" The
tale ends right here, and if it does not en-
title the narrator to the Munchauss,,
medal then the reporter is off in his guess
in the matter of rewards. As to cuuish-
ment, that will come later in the game.
In an article on the aborigines of Aus
tralia, W. T. Wyndham speaks of the
skill with which the natives use stone i'm
plements. "They turn out work. he
says, "that you would hardly believe possi-
BILE with such rough implements. They
show great ingenuity, particularly in