The times., 1897-04-12
THE OLD AND NEW CHURCH
DIR. Radcliffe's Scholarly Exposi-
ton of Presbyterian Doctrine.
LIBERTY AND FRATERNITY
The Divine Origin of His Church
and Ministry Maintained--His At
titude Toward Other DenOmina-
tions-Tke Installation of Elders
and DeacoDs.

| The II O'Clock services at the New
| York Avenue Presbyterian Church yester-
day morning were specially interesting, by
! reason of q very scholarly sermon by the
| pastor, Rev. Wallace Radcliffe, D. D., On
| Presbyterianisn by the delivery OF the
| charge to the elders and deacons, newly
elected, and 10y the submission to the con
| gregation OF the printed annual report Of
the session. This report contained very
many things statistical and otherwise,
showing the great progress of this church
| and its local missions
Among the items are the following To-
| tai II, embership, 1 ,3o2; received during the
year, 100; baptized, 10 infants and 3
adults; amount received during the year
| from all sources, $25, ,4S1.13, being an
increase of more than $4,000 over last
year: distributed by the Women's Mission
airy Society, for home missions, SS1S.60;
foreign missions, S3SS 80; the Young
Women's Home Missionary Society dis
bursed S315.So; the Young Womens Guild,
of which Mrs. Wallace Radcliffe is presi-
dent, provided for the Dorland Institute
scholarship and gave $40 to hospital work
and foreign missions. The report OF
Superintendent n A = Robbins, Of the sun
day school, showed its membership TO he
403, and an average attendance OF 1913;
school expenses, S402 90; received from
the classes, S360.56 for the missionary
fund The c. f Society raised S655.t5,
and the Juniors. S1l. .46.
Bethany and Faith Mission. in charge
of the Rev. Edward Warren, report
membership OF the former, 50; the latter,
10. The membership of Faith Sunday
school is 800. and OF Bethany, 120.
The report OF the treasurer of the ses-
sion showed total receipts from all
sources to be S25, 4S113, an increase Of
S3,0s2.92 over 1896.
The newly-tlected elders are McssrS. A
J. Halford and Andrew c. Bradley; re-
elected. Sardis L. Crissey and William B.
Gurley; deacons-new, j. H. Wurdeman:
trustees new, 7. H Alexander and Robert
L. Fleming Hon John NJ Harlan was re-
elected president of the trustees; Noble
D. Larner was reelected treasurer, and
t H. Alexander, secretary. Charles :
Bradley was reelected president Of the
board Of deacons and John D. McChesney,
treasurer.
The ceremony of the installation of the
i've. the pastor rea ding the duties and re-
ceiving the pledges Of these officers to per
form the work i a the spirit and terms of
their election.
DIR. padchffe's sermon was based on the
extract from Hebrews: See that YOU
make all things according to the rattern
shown to thee on he mount" IL was, as
intimated, doctrinal exposition of the
u
or principles, as constituting the true
Christian Church. Jehovah, he began, was
the architect of the tabernacle, Moses its
builder. Moses had nothing TO do with its
logic beauty or Judgment. Dr. Radcliffe
contended that the Church as t now exists
is the result not only of the New, but OF
the Old Testament.
Now, as in the ancient church,
the elders were the governing body in n
distinctive ecclesias teal and spiritual ca
pacity. They were the basis of the sub
sequent Sanhedrim. SO the New Tcsua-
ment was only the accomplished incarna-
tion OF the older scriptures DR. Rad
cliffe argued that the apostolic mind was
familiar with the terms Presbytery. elder
and deacon. Prelacy had ITS day in the
early and middle age church, but there
was return to the primitive Christian
forms and terms, and the first result Of
the return was the establishment of the
principle Of liberty, one of the trinity,
liberty, equality, and fraternity, for which
the Presbyterian Church stands 1t op-
posed the dogma of Louis XIV, who as
serted that he was the state, and the
assumption of preIacy that it was the
church. PresbyterianiSm preached Christ
as the king and head of the church. Speak
ing OF the claims Of those who held TO
the apostolate he said that the Greeks
cursed the Latins; the Latlns cursed the
Greeks, and the Anglicans cursed both
Greeks and Latins. The office of the
pastor of the Presbyterian Church was Of
divine origin, owing no direct response
bility to the people for its authority.
Dr. Radcliffe next discussed fraternity
as the third republican principle of the
church as revealed in the Scriptures. He |
would welcome all denominations preach |
ing Christ to his pulpit and to a Presby- |
terian communion table My ROmanist |
f1Iend,'' he said, may look not only |
with suspicion but dsappproval upon my |
baptism, my name and office; vet l can |
gladly welcome his baptism in the name |
of the Father, the Son and the Holy |
Ghost, believing that, with all his SUI |
perstition, his faiths in Jesus Christ, and |
that he feeds spiritually, not carnaily, on |
the body of our common Lord"
The speaker, in conclusion, euiogiZcd |
the heroism Of the martyrs of the Presby- |
terian church, the Waldenses, the Scotch, |
the English. the German, the Dutch. not
ing particularly the Fathers of Leyden
and the French Huguenots. He traced the
beginnings of the spirit Of American in
dependence to the spirit OF the Presby-
terans of Mecklenburg, N. c., and Of
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. King
James declared that there could be no
peace between royalty and Presbyterian
ism; the aphorism of King Charles: No
bishop, no king was familiar. and Queen
Elizabeth said she detested the Presby-
terisn church. DIR. Radcliffe referred to
the historian, Bancroft, as the authority |
for the influence of the Mecklenburg dec
laration on the principles which now are
known as American liberty.
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