The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-05-26
ASSEMBLY HEARS
PRAYERBOOK PLAN
Presby terian Body Discusses Com
mittee Proposal for Regular
Forms Of Worship.

er the Presbyterian general assembly
should depart from the laws and tradi-
tions of the church in America, and
adopt a form OF worship, even to the
extent OF saying the churches might use
the form OF not as they like, was the
principal question which came before
the general assembly here today. The
report says in part:
People Want Prayerbook.
The opinion is prevalent that there has
been movement among PreSbyterians in
the direction of more thoughtful and
beautiful worship; and that this move
nent, beginning in the Sabbath schools
with various exercises and proceeding
among the churches with orders of serv-
ice and more or less elaborate forms, has
become so widespread as to need recogni-
ton, wise guidance, and some measure
of prudent restraint tsI z- -s.,,
Suggestions which came to us from
many parts of the church were gratefully
received and thoughtfully considered. In
many cases they were most valuable. 10
give a small illustration, it was pointed
out to us that the proportion Of prayers
beginning with the address, Almighty
God" was too large; the words became
monotonous; they emphasize unduly a
single attribute Of the divine nature. The
have been made. We were asked also tc
add a number of prayers suitable for use
in family worship; and to prepare brief
form which could be used by a company
Of Christians desiring to worship together
where there was no church service or nc
minister present. Both of these additions
seemed to us likely to be useful, and
they have been made.
Outline Of Book.
The book as now submitted contains
forms and services for the following &C.
casiOns:
Morning and evening worship on the
Lords day.
Public worship on land and sea (where
there are no regular church ordinances).
The Lords Supper.
The baptism of infants. >--
The baptism Of adults.
The reception of those baptized IN in
fancy to the Lords Supper.
| The solemnization of marriage.
The burial Of the dead.
! The ordination of a minister. And a
Treasury of prayers for general ant
special uses. ...
The printed report Of the committee
has been placed in the hands OF the
commissioners and the demand for il
has been so great that large edition
is exhausted. Even the commissioners
who have been against adopting wha
they call the evan Dyke prayerb book
admitted that it is a fine piece of Pres
byterian literature and hundreds o:
copies will go into the hhrarle
States. H..
Objections to Forms.
The form Of worship which the com
n1ittee offered was regarded as mild il
tone and the opposition made its oh
Presbyterian church is not den:omina
] ton for rituals, printed prayers AM
fixed forms. Many Of the commission
ers objected to the Van Dyke effort fo
the reason that if it were approved b,
the general assembly it might prove il
later years to be a stepping stone t,
some form of worship more radical an(
obligatory. - '"'"sa's''''.'. -
Van Dyke Supports Plan.
DR.. Van Dyke, chairman Of the com
mittee, in supporting the report, said:
eff I wanted to commit suicide,
trying to impose liturgy on the Pres
byterian church. This committee ha
for two years been trying to do just tn
other thing. Sixteen hundred Presby
terrain ministers have written to til
committee for book Of Worship H
said the report Of the committee wa
saturated with the spirit Of Presbyte1
ianism. .,- -.
Approval, Not Adoption, Is Asked.
! DR.. Van Dyke said he would no
consent to the assembly's adopting tn
form Of worship proposed, but he want
ed the assembly to give its approval
He said someone had called these pre-
pared prayers Teamed prayers" bu
for two years he. has been toiling o.
these prayers. Tears came into hi
eyes when he said he had in these tw
years gone to the mercy seat of Goo
| A motion by commissioner to approx
the report started the opposition, an
stormy debate followed, which wa
ended by the postponement Of tn
question until the afternoon session.
| g." South Against Federation,