Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-22
ASSEMBLY HARD AT WORK.
Important Subjects Taken Up Today-Mc-
Giffert Report Probably Wednes-
dayLHjs Letter.

MINNEAPOLIS, May 22.-After a Sab
bath devoted to churchgoing and preach,
ing and three popular meetings in the
interests of home missions and Sabbath
observance, the Presbyterian general
assembly today began a week of hard
work. The routine subjects to be con.
sidered today are the reports of the
boards of freedmen and education.
A report ON the McGiffert case is ex
pected Wednesday. His letter to the
general assembly read as follows:
NEW YORK, May 10.
To the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church:
DEAR BRETHREN-At the meeting of
the general assembly held in May, 1898,
action was taken in reference to book
entitled "A History of Christianity in
the Apostolic Age" of which l am the
! author, and was communicated to me
by the stated clerk under date of Sept.
%, 1898.
Waving at this time all questions of
constitutional right and order, l have
thought it proper to look upon the action
in the light of friendly advice from
Christian brethren, i'll which light in
deed it would seem that it must have
been looked upon by those who Joined
in it.
Regarded thus, the action evidently
requires no response from me, nor did
the assembly intimate in any way that
the response was either expected or de-
sired. But it Is my wish to be gov
erned entirely by the spirit of Christian
fraternity, and therefore | take this op-
portunity of informing the brethren
together in the first general assembly
since the action was taken what l have
felt my duty to be in view of the fra
tern;il counsel offered Inc.
The action of the assembly, as we'll
as the oyertures from the presbytery of
Pittsburg, upon which that action was
based, makes it evident that many of
my positions, together with the spirit
and purpose of my book as whole,
have been seriously Inexperienced.
Such misapprehension 1 sincerely re-
gret, and | wish here emphatically to
repudiate the false constructions that
have been placed upon my book in
many quarters.
So far as my views are concerned,
they have been and remain, as I be-
ieve, in accord with the faith of the
Presbyterian church and of evangelical
Christendom in all vital and essential
matters, and l therefore cannot feel that
it is my duty or even my rights, i'll JUS
tice to myself and to my brethren and
to the church of our divine Lord and
Master, in which am an office bearer,
to Withdraw from the ministry of the
Presbyterian church.
In taking this position, to which am
constrained by a profound sense of
duty, desire to say that 1 recognize
gratefully the spirit of Christian kind
ness which animated those who joined
i'll the action of the last assembly and
appreciate the devotion to the truth and
the concern for the welfare of the church
which prompted their action. 1 desire
to say also that 1 yield to no one in my
devotion to the truth and in my concern
for the welfare of the church.
Praying for the blessing of God upon
the church universal, and especially
upon that branch of it within which I
was born and bred and whose interests
have most deeply at heart, am
Respectfully and fraternally yours,
A. G.. MCGIFFERT.