The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-24
QUESTION OF DIVORCE
CONSIDERED BY THE GENERAL AS-
 SEMBLY AT BUFFALO.
Presbyterians yvtll Aid Heartily the Work of Suppressing the Tenden- cy Toward Obtaining Seperat-
 ion on Inconsequent-
 ial GroundA

Buffalo, N. r., May 8.-.At the Gen erai Assembly of the Presbyterian Church os the United States today the special committee on marriage and divorce made it's report and submitted the following recommendations for the consideration and action for the General Assembly.
 The General Assembly again enjoins all ministers under its care and authority to refuse to perform the marriage ceremony in the cases of divorced persons, except as such persons have been divorced upon grounds and for causes recognized as scriptural in the standards of our church.
 Recognizing the comity which should exist between Christian churches and be- lieving that 1t would be desirable and tend to the increase of a spirit of Chris- tian unity, we earnestly advise all min isters under the care and authority Of this General Assembly to refuse to unite in marriage any person or persons whose marriages such ministers have good req son to believe is forbidden by the law Of the church in which such person or pe rsons seeking to be married may hold membership.
 "The appeal and address of the inter church conference is hereby indorsed by this General Assembly and commended to the consideration of all our ministers and congregations. The stated clerk IS instructed to issue 1t in such form and to such extent may seem desirable and expedient and 1t is requested that 1t be read by pastors from their pulpits on some appropriate Sabbath
 The stated clerk Is directed to call the special attention of presbyterles to the action of the General Assembly with the view to securing the enforcement of ex- isting laws and obedience to the injunc- ton of the General Assembly. The Com mittee on marriage and divorce is con tinued and instructions to "co-operate with the representatives of other churches fin endeavoring to obtain such ecclesias- tical unity, and such Stato or National legislation as may shield both church | and State from existing and impending perils."
 The committee is working with com mittees of thirteen other denominations | all of which form the inter-church con ference on marriage and divorce. which recently issued an appeal to the Chris tian public
 | Dr. Coy1e submitted the report on | bills and overtures at the opening of | the afternoon session. The report was adopted. The report of the special com
 mittee on forms and services was talk
 en up. Dr. Van Dyke of Princeton, Is | chairman of the committee, which re- ported a form for morning service and | form for the baptism of infants. The proposed new forms have not been viewed with favor by the conserva- tives, who think they savor of ritual ism.
 | Speaking on the subject, Dr. Van | Dyke said that this report did not rep | resent a new movement in the Presby- terIan Church. It was merely an at tempt to Co something which Is requir-
 ed by actual conditions.
 | The church, he said. had from the | beginning. forms of service and these
 in their original shape, or modified | had been continued in the large ma jority of the Presbyterian churches. | Seventy-flve per cent. of two thous- and churches selected at random by | the committee were already using
 some form of service with a respon
 sive feature. Nine-tenths of the minis try desire a book of forms-not 8
 prayer book, not a litany. not a ritual
 but collection of forms proper and
 helpful for voluntary use in Presby. terian churches"
 Debate on the report of the commit | tee on marriage and divorce was then
 begun. A number of the commission. | CTS took exception to the second para. | graph of the committees report ad | visng ministers to refuse to unite in
 marriage any person whose marriage
 is forbidden by the laws of other | churches.
 | The paragraph was finally stricken | out by vote of 262 to PA. The report
 as amended was then adopted. Ad-
 journed.