The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-05-25
A Great Church in Council
BY JOHN p. FOLEY.

! In a religious point of view the one
hundred and fourteenth meeting of the
! General Assembly of the Presbyterian
| Church in the United States is thus far
the most important event of the new cen
| tury and the result of its deliberations
will be awaited with the most profound
| interest not alone by the members of that
faith but by all christendom Both In the
| old world and the new one the Presby-
terrain body has ever been remarkable for
the ability of its divines and the high in
telligence of the millions composing its
membership, while in the propagation of
the divine word, and in all the fields of
Christian work, it can proudly challenge
comparison with any other church organ
izaton. Made up of such material 1t is
only natural that from it, among all
Christian denominations, should come the
first effort to effect what may be called
a modus vivendi between the rigid theolo-
gy of the dead centuries and the incon-
testable facts which the progress Of mod
ern scientific investigation have made
manifest This conflict may be said to
have only begun and because of the in
tellectual freedom that animates this
powerful organization, together with it's
interchangeable zeal in the pursuit of truth
and fidelity to 1t when found the move
ment now going on within its fold is of
transcendent import to all humanity.
| Presbyterianism everywhere is the most
stalwart Professionalism. 1t repudiates
prelacy in all its forms. holding, in the
words of the Westminster Confession, 1T
to be expedient and agreeable to Scrip
ture and the practice of the primitive
Christians that the Church be governed
by congregational presbyterial and syn
odical assemblies. This spirit has Great
ed in that church an intellectual indie
pendence which takes nothing for grant
ed and boldly meets what it thinks or be-
lieves to be an error, whether spiritual or
political, where 1t arises.
1t was this stern spirit of opposition to
wrong-doing that made the Presbyterans
of the Colonial period so fiercely antago-
nistic to Great Britain, even long before
the Revolutionary struggle began. As
early 176S, Sir Philip Francis at Lon
don, was advised by a New England 10y
alist that tine Presbyterians should not
be allowed to grow too great; they are all
of a Republican principle; the Bostonians
are Presbyterians." The writer fell into
the inaccuracy of confounding the Pres
byterians with the Congregationalists of
New England, but otherwise he was en-
tirely right, for the Presbyterians in
every part of the colonies were Republ-
cans to the man. While nearly all the
other churches We're more or less di-
vided on the question of separation, the
followers of Knox were earnest in their
advocacy of severing the ties that bound
them to England. A potent reason for
their hostility was. of course. the diff
culties they experienced in the exercise
of their religion and their constant fear
of persecution by the government. Free
dom to worship God in their own way
had ever been their watchword. In fact
their ancestors had brought it with them
from England Ireland and Scotland
where they had labored under the Sc
verest disabilities because of their faith.