Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-06-17
THE SOUTHERN eENeaAL ASSEMBLY,.
An Interesting Meeting -"Eieet Iniants" Dis,
cussed by the Body Historic City.

The General Assembly OF the Presby-
terian church met in the historic town
Of Lexington, Va, on Thursday, May 81,
last. The first duty was the election of
, moderator. Timber of this kind was
abundant and fine, both among pastors
and elders. On the third ballot Rev. A..
G. Hopkins, d. d., of Charlestown, w.
Va, was elected. He had been pastor
of the Presbyterian church at that place
for thirty-four years, and during the war
was chaplain of one of the regiments of
the Stonewall brigade.
The General Assembly Is the highest
court in the Presbyterian church, and is
composed of more than two hundred
members, officially known as Commits
sioners., There is an equal number of
pastors and ruling elders in the body.
A session of ten days marked it's history.
This period was devoted TO the busi-
ness of the church and to addresses made
by our missionaries, a considerable num-
| Der of whom were present, and by per-
SONS more or less distinguished, who
were invited to be present, as we'll as
distinguished divines who were members
of the body. Altogether we had sur
felt of these good things, and too little
time to devote to the best interests of
the church.. The retiring moderator, DIR.
w. T. Hall, of the Columbia Seminary,
in his opening sermon, delivered a very
strong discourse on the inspiration Of
tho Bible, The audience was very large,
most attentive, and thoroughly stirred
by the strength and eloquenoe of the
only official sermon of the entire session.
The report on Theological Seminaries
was interesting and important. There
are five of these institutions, located as
follows: Union, at Richmond, Va; Co
lumbia, at Columbia, S. O.; Southwest
ern, at Clarkesville, Tenn; Kentucky, at
Louisville, KY, and Texas, at Austin,
Texas. The number of graduates this
year Is thirty-nine. The enrolment by
each institution is as follows: Union 81,
Columbia 27, Clarkesville 12, Kentucky
SO, Austin q. Austin is q new institu-
tion. Theiaggregate enrolment is 157.
The Assembly urged the importance of
increasing the number of students. 1t is
found, however, that many young men,
instead of preparing themselves for the
ministry, enter literary and practical in
stitutions, thus fitting themselves for the
ordinary avocations of life. This ten
denoy of the youth of the country is
greatly to be deplored, when the fields of
the Lord, both at home and in foreign
lands, are SO inviting. There is another
fact, in connection with these institu-
| tions, that made a deep impression on
my mind: Here are five institutions en-
gagged in identically the same work. The
cost Of each seminary the year round is
practically the same. Therefore, one of
these institutions could accommodate
more as would reasonably attend, at
about the same cost. Thus by concen-
tration very large sum could be saved.
And besides, one large institution, pre-
sided over by the best talent Of the
church, would do the work of all much
better than it is now done.
The report Oh systematic benef1cence
shows that three new Presbyteries have
been added to the list. Eighty two
Presbyteries made reports to the Assem-
bly,. The contribution for foreign mis-
sions was $l51, ,194; for Assembly's homo
missions, $27 1894; local home missions,
$150,222 colored evangelization, $16, 1S1;
ministerial relief, $I7,530; education,
sdsS sl0s,o'4 sIPs publication, cat se'ss7; Bible
nearly $487, 900. This amount shows q
gain of nearly $4,000 over the receipts
| of last year. The report also contains
other matters of an interesting character,
but for them we have no room.
The meeting at Washington and Lee
University, on Friday morning, as de-
tailed by one of the papers, was inspir~
ing. "In front of the audience was the
recumbent statue of Lee, and on the
walls were portraits of Washington and
Lafayette, of Robt. e. Lee, Thos. Jeffer-
son, President VIM. l.. Wilson, Thos. A.
Scott, w. w. Corcoran, DR.. w. N. Mer-
Ger, of New Orleans, and Zachary Taylor
great men whose very pictures are an
inspiration. DR.. Denny, president of the
institution, in welcoming the Assembly,
spoke of the true aim of the college.
The response of DR.. Thereon III. Rice,
of Atlanta, was thrilling appeal to the
young men gathered there, to the recog-
milton of the fact that while in the coun-
Gil of the North there were many able
and powerful men, yet the one thing
which characterized the generals and
many of the statesmen of the South, was
that they were pre-eminently Christians.
The esteem in which Generals Lee and
jackson were held was not due mainly
to the fact of their generalship, but to
the fact that they were Christian gene
rails. The address will not soon be for
gotten by the students or by any of the
The subject of "eleot infants" elicited
great interest in the Assembly. We use
very fully the account of the Christian
Observer on the disposition of this
troublesome question. The Presbytery
OF Tuscaloosa requested the striking out
of the word "elect" from the third sec
ton of Chapter x, Section 8, 80 that it
shall read: SAN infants dying in in
fancy" &c. On this the committee on
bills and overtures recommended a mega
tive answer. The discussion on this
subject continued for some time, and
was participated In by DR.. Hall and
others opposed to any change, and by
DR.. Marquess, of Missouri, and others in
| favor of the change. DIR. Marques then
proposed substitute for the report en-
bracing three points: lD That the Ian
guage of the Confession ought not to be
changed, for the reason that the sec
tion as thus amended would not fully
state and properly correlate the doctrines
of grace as held by our church In rela-
| tion to the salvation of infants; (2) that
foot-note be added to this chapter of
the Confession, explaining that nothing
In the Confession teaches that any who
die in infancy arc not saved; and (3) that
@ foot-note be added to the Confession
declaring that our people believe that
those who die in infancy are among the
number of the elect. THE first clause
of the substitute of DIR. Marques was
adopted by large majority. The second
clause, providing, for the first foot note,
was lost by vote of 05 to 10. The third
clause, which was proposed as foot
note to the Confession declaring the