The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-09-28
FEATURES OF ADDRESSES
REV. DRs. LANG AND DE WITT DIS
Cuss HIGHER CRITICISM.
Annual convention of Protestant
Episcopal Church of New York Do
cesc-Rev. DIR. Briggs Present.

Pan-Presbyterian Alliance. The church au-
ditorium is one of the most commodious in
the city and had been beautifully decorated
for the occasion. The New York-avenue
Church, In which the sessions of the ALI
ance will be held. is one of the most notable
in the capital. 1t is the church which Lin
coin attended when h, was President, and
the pew which he and his family occupied
was an object of particular interest to the
delegates when they assembled.
When the first session of the alliance con-
vened to-day about 125 delegates had re-
ported their ARRIVAL TO Rev. DR.. G. d. Mat
thews; general secretary. 1t is expected that
by. tomorrow $50 delegates will have re-
ported. The sessions of the alliance will last
ten days. The body Is purely deliberative
and not in any sense legislative. It's capa-
city is entirely advisory.
The first session to-day was devotional in
character, the services being in charge of
the Rev. DIR. Wallace Radcliffe, pastor of
the church in which the sessions are held.
The opening sermon was preached by the
Rev. John Dewitt, D. D., professor Of
church history at Princeton Theological
Seminary. his subject being THE Attitude
of the Reformed Churches Towards the
Bible"
Inc SuDJcCl VI HlSucI CIlliCisIlf SO-CdliSu'
promises to be one of the seriously mooted
subjects of the present council. 1t was d.
rectly adverted to both in the sermon of
DR.. Dewitt. and. subsequently,, in the for
nal address of the president of the council,
the Rev. DR.. J. Marshall Lang. of Glasgow.
Scotland. Referring to the attitude of the
churches represented by the council to-
wards the Bible, DIR. Dewitt said: This
attitude is embodied in the well-known
phrase of William C~hillingworth The Bible
and the Bible alone is the religion of the
Protestants. 1t involves two great PROPOSE
lions, that the Holy Scriptures are the SUI
preme rule Of religious faith and conduct,
and that, being sufficient and perspicuous
they do not need. for religious purposes,
the mediation of the church as either wit
ness or interpreter. OF course; this is the
while other churches have emphasized
their catholicity or their apostolicity. the
reformed churches have emphasized their
loyalty to Holy Scripture. They have be-
lieved that they themselves would stand or
fall with the Bible.
THE REFORMED CHURCHES.
1T would be far from the truth to say
that the reformed churches stand alone in
their attachment to and dependence on the
Holy Scriptures. The great Roman Church,
in which medieval Christianity still sur
wives. asserts not less clearly and strenu-
ously than ourselves their divine inspiration
and authority. But it places tradition side by
side with Scripture. and of both Scripture
and tradition 1t makes the teaching church
both the authoritative witness and the in
terpreter. The reformed churches contend
that the Bible alone is the rule of religious
faith. Claiming neither a priestiy charac-
ter poi for their clergy fnr tbe nor sac any m ! g 1iHS
setting no high value, indeed no religious
value at all. on the actual SUGGESTIONS iu
ordination, the popularity of their min
l ictrV has hppn that rplyiQR on nothing else,
they have held up the Bible as the WORT
of God. the revelation or His Will, to be
believed and studied and obeyed."
These excerpts serve TO indicate the Do>
sition taken by the members of the council,
as the address received the cordial approvai
AT 2:45 o'clock this afternoon the frs,
business meeting was held. The call OF the
roll disclosed snerdpp rese from OF al iS nar reie ef tne
world. Two members in whom their asso-
ciates have a particular interest are DR..
and H. S. Bosnian, of Pretoria. The former
is strongly pro-British in his sympathies
in the present crisis in the Transvaai, while
the latter just as strongly upnoios tne
Beers. DIR. Stewart was a personal friend
of DR.. Livingstone, the famous African ex'
plorer.
the address of the president of the council,
the Rev. Or. j. Marshall Lang. pastor OF
the sco,, famous His sa ADDRESS Commanded the in,
t~erested attention of his auditors, altnougn
il was quite evident that his comments
the church thereon will be made the topic
NJ discussion later In the sittings OF the
o DIR. LANG's VIEWS.
Referring to the position of the church
upon this question. DIR. Lang SAID: inc
churches which this council represents will
command the attention of the age only in
the measure in which, without lowering
either their testimony or their ideas. they
recognize and make room for it's trends and
habits of thought and its expansions and
COMPLEXITIES of life. We are not worshipers
of the past. But If it is a false liberalism
which ruthlessly tears the present from the
past. IL is an equally false conservatism
which insists that the mods into whlch the
conclusions of a bygone period were cast
shall remain fixed and rigid for all further
periods. In Christian theology there is the
word which endureth forever ChTistendom'
Eastern and Western. Greek. Latin. re-
formed. stands on the great %verities de
clared in the New Testament and empodied
in the apostles and Nicene creeds; These
for all delivered 10 the saints; and IN the
end of the nineteenth century, as In the END
the protest: If any man preach any other
gospel unto you than that We nave received
let him be anathema.'. But whilst the center
is the same yesterday. to-day and forever,
the circumference is ever extending. Let
those be growth to the greatest extent, but
not change of the faith.
1--WE all wish to progress, but we do not
wish TO rush down steep places into con-
fusions in which the integrity of the faith
might be lost. We all wish the amplest de-
velopment within the truth as Ii Is in Christ;
but we do not wish 10 part with historical
continuities. And our confessions remind us
that the truth OF God is lot a mere cham
eleon: that though Christian doctrine Is
many-sided and many-voiced. IL is built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner
stone.
IAN absolute and blind obedience to any
statement of councils. or any dogmatic
formula whatsoever is impossible. Even in
regard TO the pronouncement of the general
councils of the church IL was always held
that these must be afterwards approved OF
by the church. In words Of the same stand
ard. We use the statement or formula not
as a rule of faith. or practice. but only as
a help 10 BOTH Faith after all is better,
larger. loftier than even the best confessions
OF it."
The Rev. DR. Wallace Radcliffe. of the
New Y~oFk-avenue Presbyterian Church. i'm
which the sessions are held. welcomed the
delegates in a clever speech. and then the
council directed the president to send a tele-
gram Of fellowship and greeting TO the Con-
gregational Union Council now in session at
Boston. An effort was made so 10 amend
the motion as to include the appointment
Of Joint committees of the two councils look
ing TO a coalition OF the bodies, but this en-
gendered opposition, as II was deemed too
great a matter for hasty consideration.