The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-05-28
RELIGIOUS Deliberations.
OF THE SEVERAL
CONFERENCES NOW BEING
HELD.
NJ. {. CONFERENCE At CLEVELAND.
Southern Presbyterians in Session at
Memphis Opening Session Cumber-
land Presbyterians at Birming-
ham and Northern Presby-
terians as Saratoga.

terans as Saratoga.
Memphis. Tenn. May 21.-As early as
9 o'clock this morning the lower h0Or OF
the First Presbyterian church began I!
be thronged with the distinguished di
vines of the Southern Presbyterian
church. gathered here for the thirty-slXti
general assembly. The hours from y tc
IL were devoted to enrolment OF dele
gates, both clerical and lay, and in meet
ings and greetings among the delegates
and informal discussions concerning the
busiess TO be transacted by the assem-
bly,. The main audience hall of the
church, where the sessions of the as
semhly are being held, has been taste
fully decorated for the occasion by the
ladies of the church with palms, flower
ing plants and cut flowers.
At II o'clock the delegates were in their
places for the devotional exercises, with
which the gtLCIal assembly was to be
Openet. Seated upon the platform with
DR.. Ramsey. the pastor of the First
Presbyterian church, were the Rev. DR..
:. ii. Chester, secretary for foreign
missions. and the Rev. DR.. Hemphill of
Louisville, the retiring moderator of the
assembly.
After the opening anthem, "rhe Lord
is Exalted" sung by the choir, the en-
tire congregation united in singing the
DoXoIogy.
The retiring moderator, Rev. DR..
Hemphill. then announced his text from
Romans, Nv 1880, Beloved of the
Spirit"
The reverend preacher prefaced his
sermon by ealing attention to the fact
thlt although the scriptures abound with
expressions of the love of God the
Father and of His Son, our Savior,
toward humanity, yet this is the only
passage in holy writ which speaks of the
love of the Holy Spirit towards us.
The retiring moderator's great sermon
was brought to a close with a powerful
plea for spreading the gospel in the mis-
sion work of the church.
1t was l O'Clock when Rev. DR.. Hemp
hill closed.
Immediately afterwards he announced
that the thirty-sixth general assembly
of the Presbyterian church in the United
States was opened and he desired the
assembly to come to order. An opening
prayer was offered by him. imploring the
divine blessing upon the deliberations of
the assembly. After the roll call by DR..
Wilson, the clerk of the assembly, all
committees in the house who had not
been called were asked to come to the
clerks desk. present their credentials
and be properly enrolled.
The moderator then announced that
the first business was the election of a
moderator, and lie called for nomina-
tions.
On the first ballot for moderator DR..
R. Q. Mallard of New Orleans was
chosen, receiving 115 votes.
The afternoon session was called to
order at 4:1O by DIR. Rumple, the mod
orator being busy in committee work.
The order of business was announced
to be the reading of abstracts of the ex-
ecutive committees.
Rev. 5. III. Chester, secretary for for
eign missions. first took the floor. The
report was referred to, the committee
to be appointed
Kew. J. \. Craig, secretary of the COM
mittee for home missions, then read his
report. 1t was also referred to COM
mittee to be appointed.
DR.. Hagen, secretary of the commit
tee on publication, next presented an alb
stract of the report of the committee
which was also referred
Dr. Richardson, secretary of the COM
mittee of education, gave synopsis of
his report
During the reading of the names of
schools at which candidates for the min
istry are being educated, DR.. Woodrow
arose to make. a correction. He said the
South Carolina college at Columbia was
accredited with students attending the
Presbyterian college at Clinton. S. c..
The report was referred for amend
ment.
Covarpor \J,rro ,I.o. e n
Hoge, presented the report for the board
of trutees for the assembly school at
Fredericksburg, Va. 1t was referred.
On motion of Judge Cassell. at $50
p. m. the assembly adjourned until to-
morrow.
session of welcome, praise and
thanksgiving was held in the evening.
Five minute addresses of welcome
were delivered by DR.. Ramsey on behalf
of the First Presbyterian church and re-
sponded to by Moderator Mallard: bv
Rev. Robert p. Farris. permanent clerk
of the assembly; by Rev. w. NJ. Alex
ander on behalf of the Presbytery of
Memphis. responded to by Rev. Joseph
X. Wilson, state clerk of the assembly.
and by Rev. X. D. Smart of the First
Methodist church on behalf of other de-
nominations of Memphis, and responded
to by retiring Moderator Hemphill.
Moderator Mallard is hard at work on
the committees. some of the more i'm
portant of which will be announced to-
The report of the executive committee
on foreign missions shows that receipts
for the year from all sources were S142.-
OBJ. and disbursements, $127.6S9. Nine
teen new missionaries were sent out dur
ing the year. OF these six were sent 70
China. three to Japan and two to north
ern Brazil.
Summing up the needs for foreign mis-
sions the commission says the minimum
for China is six men and
five women; for Japan, three men and
three single women; Corea should have
two men and two women. while Africa
must have three more white men.
The home missions report shows a TO-
tai in the treasurer's hands during the
year of sol, 495; total disbursements. $40
800. f'''
The report of the publication commit
tee shows the sales for the year TO he
S2S, 100.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIANS.
Memphis, May 21.-A special TO the
Commercial-Appeal from Birmingham,
Ala, says:
The sixty-siXth annual assembly of the
Cumberland Presbyterian church of the
United States began here today at the
new First Cumberland church. Rev. NJ
b. Dewitt of Springfield. Mo-. the retir.
ing moderator, being in the chair
The opening sermon was preached nv