The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-11
RICHTER R | G 3! IS HEARD.
The xpelled Minister Appeals to the
\. .;ss Presbyterian Eynod But Sc
cures No Relief.
He'll Now Appeal to the Genera
Assembly Case Provokes !.
o. r~,s Interesting Discussion. y.

!, The: Presbyterian synod of Minnesota.
sitting as court Of appeals refused to-
entertain the appeal of Rev. Louis Rich
ter from the decision Of the presbytery
of Minneapolis expelling him from the
and communicating him from
the Presbyterian church. After the de-
cision was announced by the moderator,
at noon, Mr.. Richter gave notice Of an
appeal to the, general assembly, and Rev.
r. H. Cleland was appointed? the repre-
sentative of the synod to present it's view
of the case, with the committee of the
Minneapolis presbytery, which will still
be In charge Of the ca before the as
sembly... ,-.,:,>.; g.:
The Richter case was, special order,
and after the devotional exercises, Rev.
A. H, Carver, formerly moderator, was
called to the chair, as the present moder-
ator, Rev. H. M Presley, is member
OF the Minneapolis presbytery4 and could
not preside in the judicial session in
which his ,presbytery Was a party to the
action. "A special prayer for guidance
in the deliberations was made by DR.. J.
The report of the judicial committee.
submitted by Rev. T. H. Cleland, stated
that no legal ground was found warrant
ing an appeal and recommended that the
appeal be not entertained Mr.. Richter
and the presbytery leach had half an hour
to state their arguments: c. T. Thomp-
son represented the presbytery, and set
forth as the ground Of the charges, that
Mr.. Richter's attitude on the liquor ques-
| ton was an offense to the purity and
peace Of the church, and that the effects
of the literature he circulated married the
spiritual edifcation of others. Attention
was called to the fact that the presby-
terry had Intentionally avoided entering
into the question. Of the inherent sinful
ness Of the use of liquor
| Mr. Richter opened with an apt quota
-tion from Christ, Il came not to bring
peace to the world, but the sword" anc
claimed that he had disturbed not the pur.
ity of the church, only its peace. He also
made the point that nothing Is so deadly
to the edification Of the church as errol
| and that on the temperance question III
| firmly believed the church had falle1
| into error from which he was trying tt
remove it. His argument was solely from
the moral side of the question, which hat
| not entered into the charges OF the pres
bytery.
Mr.. Richter Finds Supporters.
After the withdrawal Of the member
of the Minneapolis presbytery and Mr.
Richter, the argument by the synod be
gan with a speech by DR. M. D., Edward
of ST. Paul in which he stated his belle
that the sentence had been excessive AM
1 should have stopped with expulsion iron
the ministry. In reply to statemen
by Mr.. Thompson that no church IN IN
Minneapolis presbytery would be w1llln
! to receive Mr.. Richter into It's fold Dl
Edwards declared that Dayton Avenu
church of st. Paul would be open to hlr
and he thought there were NUMBER Q
others that would open their doors to hlr
asa misguided but sincere brother. IN
case involved an important principle, II
Thought as it Is the duty of the churc
to, receive into it's fellowship anyon
whom Christ would receive.
Others Endorsed the attitude OF Dr. 10
wards and there was an apparently stron
element of dissent from the excommun1
cation phase Of the sentence. Attenuo
was called, by DR.. Cleland to the fact tina
before any alteration of the decision coul
be made, it would be: necessary 90 rehea
lEthe whole case and that would take
least a day. Several spoke in favor &
: going into the merits OF the case anu Ils
ing it over regardless of time and an e'
fort was made to do this. Rev. Albel
, Kuehn of ST., Paul, a young German mir
!. lister. pressed this point and made a ger
= eral defense of Mr.. Richter on the groun
= Of his sincerity and Of the conscientloc
: differences of opinion between Chrlstia d
people of environment as .dlfferent as a. Il
Germans and the Amerlcahs Mi. 49, 80
| | said he would rather be exconlmun1ca.e
, | himself than vote to confirm the declslo
: If the Minneapolis presbytery. Or tf
| vote he asked to have his vote recorde
against refusing to permit the appeal
The persistent effort to leave the ca
, until Monday and reopen the whole que
ton on the evidence was defeated on u
3 vote taken at noon. The synod refused
2 entertain the appeal by an almost uoa1
imous vote. =
7 The presentation of the cause OF ten
/ nerance was on the docket for III O. cIpc
I but having been passed during the jud!cl
2 session. the chairman asked for proV1s1t
: for hearing the report during the ate
noon.
). The lengthy discussion of the Richter "a:
4 crowded out all the regular business OF tt
e meeting and involved numerous chang
I in the program. The session was resume
at 1880 and DR.. E. c. Ray Of Chicago,
u the board of aid for colleges, was hea
: first The report and discussion on ten
perance replaced the half hour. of L
Bushnells discussion, the pastors part
training workers. 1t will probably
necessary to hold an adjourned busine
| reetiner on Monday morning.