Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-10
HONOR ANNIVERSARY
OF BIRTH OF CALVIN
PRESBYTERIANS CELEBRATE
IN CHURCH
Rev. E. S. Chapman Declares Public
Officials Are as Much Minis
ters as Are Ordained
Preachers

4ueIe Is d CO-OrulndllOn aumln1Stra-
ton and public officials are as much
ministers of God as the ministers. 1
am glad to live in a city that has a
Christian for mayor. l am proud of
George Alexander-he is not only
Christian, but as mayor of the city he
is minister of God and not more
truly so than other officials"
The foregoing were sentiments ex-
pressed by DR.. r.. S. Chapman last
evening at the celebration in the First
United Presbyterian church in honor
of the four hundredth anniversary of
the birth OF John Calvin, in which all
the Presbyterian churches of the city
united.
Rev. Malcolm Mcleod of Pasadena
presided at the meeting, which was
held in the church auditorium. Rev.
T. T. Cresswell of Pomona was the
first speaker. He had for his subject,
THE Man-John Calvin"
John Calvin was the man of the hour
in his times" said this speaker. THE
first battle of the Reformation had been
fought and won. The Protestants had
succeeded in separating themselves
from the Roman church. but they
needed an articulate theology. 1t was
Luther that brought flesh and blood
to the Reformation, but it was Calvin
that brought the bony skeleton that
was to make it live and grow.
LAS Paul was in the first, so was
Calvin in the sixteenth century the
thinker of his time. He was not %
years old when he published his first
book which won him renown for it's
profound thinking. He believed that
the Bible should have the same author
ity as If it were a voice from heaven
and he believed in a conquering God"
Age Impatient of Dogma
Rev. w. w. Logan, pastor of the
church. was the second speaker, He
took for his subject John Calvin and
Theology" He said:
1--WE live in an age impatient of dog
ma. Our forefathers took their the
ology straight, but we take ours di-
luted. As long as man is man, the
ology relating to God will be interest
ing. c,. , ,ao
influence. 1t spread over France, the
Low countries, influenced Germany and
England, where the thirty-nine arti-
cles are purely Calvinistic; and in the
new world it came with the Pilgrims
and his theology continues dominant
theology today. Calvin sleeps In his
grave. but his theology goes marching
on. He believed in the supremacy and
headship of Jesus Christ and in all the
reform movements Calvin was the only
one to establish a foreign mission"
DR.. e. S. Chapman. who spoke on
"John Calvin and Civil Liberty" was
greeted with applause. He spoke eX-
tensively of the work of Calvin along
liberal lines, and began by quoting
Bancroft on Calvin and said
Foremost among the most efficient
of modern republican legislators Is CAL
vim. whose genius infused enduring
elements in the institutions of the city
of Geneva and made for the modern
world the impregnable fortress of ltber-
ty. The Pilgrims of Plymouth were
Calvinists. The first ship that left
Holland with Pilgrims for the new
world carried Calvinists.
"He that will not honor Calvin knows
little of the history of American lib
erty. The early Pilgrim colonies copied
the laws of Geneva. The most in
fluentIal person in forming the laws and
shaping the constitution was the first
president of Princeton-Dr. Wither-
spoon-and it is said that he should be
portraited with books of Calvin In one
hand and the Declaration of Independ-
ence in the other.
Churchn1en Fear to Vote
"The civil government and the church
of God are two divinely appointed in
stitutions, the one the same as tho
other in the eye of God. In this
day, as in other days, we extol
the church until some of our church
men are afraid to go to the polls and
to not attend to their civil duties. But
am happy to find the writer of the
greatest theology teaching the co-ordk
nation of the church of Jesus Christ
and civil government.
1--WE have just been living through
a year when Lincoln was extolled, and
rightly. But have lived in years when
he was ridiculed. 1t is time that the
people Of this country learn to rever-
ence officials in high office. 1t is high
time that the officials realize this and