Evening star., 1900-12-08
IN THE CH U RC H ES

Referring to the subject of a new
vised creed for the Presby terian Church of
the United States. the following will be
presented to the next general assembly as
coming from leading presbytery, which
will overture The general assembly to for
mulate a new creed to be las short as Is
compatible with the statement Of the doc
trine most surely believed among us; more
silent than the Westminster confession on
the deeper and darker mysteries Of revela-
ton; better suited to the understanding of
the average inquirer; emnently simple and
scriptural: expressed in the thought, forms
and terminolosy of our time as distinct
from those of two and a half centuries
ago. and. most Of all. that 1t make suitable
change of accent and give the right pro-
portion between the sovereignty and father
hood of God, thus more fully setting forth
Gods love for sinners as expressed In the
gospel. We believe that the fatherhood, and
not sovereignty as now, should be made
the determining or regulating principle Of
the new creed.
Miss C. A. Aikens. superintendent. In
speaking of deaconess work in Washington,
said recently: Through the courtesy of
Col r. A. Bingham a box of choice cut
flowers from the White House conservato-
ries Is sent each week. or oftener to Sibey
Hospital-a distinctive institution of the M
E Church. AS the district nurse deaconess
goes her daily rounds from one home of
wretchedness to another still more wretch
ed, few choice roses or fragrant carna-
tions frequently accompany her. In their
snowy purity they form striking contrast
to the surroundings. and are in themselves
a silent rebuke to squalor and dirt"
The Woman's Home Missionary Society
Auxiliary of Frederick City, Md, has con-
tributed 5000 to be applied to the children's
ward in Sibley Hospital. This ward is de-
voted almost exclusively to the cure Of de-
formed and crippled children whose par
ents are unable to pay for their treatment.
All the beds are free.
At the annual convention of the Wo-
mans Home Missionary Society. which met
recently In Chicago, the sum of $1,000 was
pledged for Rust Hall, the new training
school for deaconesses soon to be erected
at the corner OF North Capitol and NJ
streets. this city. and 1t is expected that
building operations will commence in the
near future.
Church In Washington and vicinity have
been notified that general missionary
conference Of the denomination will be held
in New Orleans, La. beginning Wednes-
day, April "a, 1901. and continuing until the
evening of Tuesday. April 80. inclusive.
The number OF delegates will be 1.091. each
annual conference being entitled to one
clerical delegate for every ten preachers
and lay delegate for every fifteen
preachers The Womans Foreign Mission
ary Society will be entitled to 100, and the
Woman's Home Mission Society to seventy
five delegates. The method of appoint
ment is left to each annual conference and
to these societies.
1t Is believed that this conference will
create an epoch in the missionary work of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South
1t will be the first conference in its history
of the character and scope contemplated
in the paper adopted at the recent confer
ence In New York. While the meeting will
be held under the auspices of the board of
missions and while the problems to be con-
sidered will bear more especially upon the
missionary enterprises inaugurated by the
leaders of the Southern NJ E. Church, vet
there is a broader sense in which the body
of workers will be called upon to put them
selves in vital touch with questions of
worldwide significance.
The proposed federation of Catholic So
cieties. of which mention has already been
made in The Star, is intended, 1t Is now
stated by one of the leaders, to be union
OF Catholic societies In the United States
of America for the purpose of an organized
and common action in promoting and de-
Tending Catholic interests on religious so.
C1al and civil lines. Under the religious
Catholic societies, Catholic immigration
homes, colonization homes for Catholic
sailors. Catholic conventions and demon
strations Included in the social plan will
be work among the poor and orphans.
laborers and public morality. the latter en-
bracing marriage and divorce; Sunday OBJ
servance the drink problem, the theater.
gambling prostitution and obscene litera-
ture. The department of civil rights is
to embrace the religious rights Of Catholics
In state Institutions and in the public
schools. chaplains In the army and navy,
the Catholic Indians. taxation of church
property. state support Of sectarian insti-
tutions and corruption In politics.
The federation is to be directed. accord
ing to the present plan. by supreme
council of from fifteen to thirty members
and house Of delegates. which is to elect
the supreme council periodically and make
all necessary laws.
The movement has attracted wide at
tention, and one who has authority to speak
on the subject says the leaders do not
mean aggression, and federation Is not In
tended as menace or threat to non-Cath-
olics- No more rights will be claimed than
n daA IN ofa