New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-18
GATHER
Commissioners to General AS
sembIy Throng Atlantic City.
TWO QUESTIONS UPPERM0ST
Selection of Moderator and Case
of Union Seminary Topics
of Discussion.

questions are at the front as the commls-
sioners meet in the hotels or stroll along
the boardwalk. These questions are: who
will he chosen moderator tomorrow!
What will they do with Union Seminary
Every man has an answer TO the first
| question which is not altogether unbiased
Or. Carson. of Brooklyn; Or. Dixon. OF
| Trenton. n. j.: Or Matthews. OF Seattle
and Or limit, of Danvlle. Ky. are the
| four announced candidates for the mod
! eratorship. with the possibility of one OF
more men being sprung on the floor oil the
assembly. Two of the candidates are
pastors. one Is missionary secretary ana
the other is a college professor. TWO are
from the East, one from the Far west anu
the other from the South. which leaves q
large part of the country unrepresented so
far.
While there are at least four views con-
corning the presiding officer there are Only
two in regard TO the seminary oi Ne"
York. which has been before the assembly
| through trials deiverances and inquiries
for twenty years
The fact that Dr. Francis Brown the
president of the faculty and DR.. Ni'iiaH"
| Adams Brown a professor Of seminary
have published articles during the year
which have called forth an inquiry III the
! form of an overture, calls attention ahe"
n the modern thought. which 1t is belieVed
| hv many OF the commissioners, especlany
the elders I'm the churches borders close
uron heresy and should be treated oihcially
by the assembly.
President Browns paper was the ADDRESS
at the opening Of the seminary last fal'
| and was intended TO be entirely practical,
having 10 do with present day Christianity
II was entitled The Church and lis
| Creeds" When the address appeared IN
| "'The New York Observer" II began 10 call
! forth criticisms I'm other papers, and finally
this criticism took the form Of an over
ture TO the General Assembly In speak
ing Of the relation of the Church TO its
creeds, which THE Bible student and
Teacher" criticised most severely. DR..
! Brown said
Most Of us have been indoctrinated IN
the terms of some formal statement Of re-
ligious belief. Most Of us have felt the beat
of the strong modern wave upon the coast
OF orr thought and in some cases II has
made deep inroads. Adjustments are need
cd Loud voices. from venerable seats %
authority. call upon us to build the bikes
higher and shut out the power of the sea,
shut out even the sight of IT, But the sea
is for exploration and commerce and travel,
for enlargement of resource and fruitful
interchange And. besides, the modern
| wave cannot he kept out Of sight and
touch No bikes are high enough to shut
In the mind i'm the long run, least of all
the mind that for centuries has made the
right of private Judgment one Of its watch
words But adjustments are needed And
! as a basis for harmonious adjustment there
is needed clear understanding OF the re-
lation of the Church to its creeds. Per
haps. speaking theologically. nothing else
is just now needed SO much
Criticism Of Or. Brown.
DR.. d. S. Gregory. editor of The Bible
Student and Teacher" holding DR.. Brown
as 'the representative and leader Of the
advocates Of the modern view who are
openlv seeking To discredt and displace
the evangelical and Presbyterian view of
the Christian faith" said DR.. Browns ar
guments for the modern view care in con-
tradistinction and in contradiction of the
view of the Presbyterian standards and of
the historic faith of the Church
DR.. Gregory holds that the creeds have n
divine basis. while Or. Brown holds. lie
saws that they have only human basis
and that no Scrptural basis is recognized
by the seminary president Of the standards
to rest upon. He charges Or Brown with
displacing the revelation Of God with re-
ligious consciousness.
In his address DR. Brown said the Church
> did well to prize the creeds and confess
sions worn by time and SCARED with bat
! tie. but the Church should not worship the
creed. and il was We'll to restate its faith
whenever the time came that the Church
felt called To undertake it, He complained
that old creeds which he did not mention
by name, have an artificial relation TO
present Christianity, because they are not
the expression of the present Christianity
in speaking of the relation of ecclesia stical
bodies to the creeds DR.. Brown said:
? 1T will he right for ccclesiastic bodies 10
he large-mnded interpreting their stand
? ards in the spirit Of generous sympathy
and avoiding the pressure Of partisan zeal.
1t is a duty upon MS to be considering in
all seriousness and with view to definite
action at the earliest practicable time. how
We may make our churches more Christian
In their administration and their whole at
I
and hope because the difficulties some
times appear very great Because harmony
will come al last
Urged ocaIed Modern Views.
II was this paragraph Of the address
" hich led Or. Gregory to charge DR.. Brown
with urging the propaganda Of the modern
view az against the old and historically in
terpreted Presbyterian OF as against the
general evangelical. The address Of Or.
W A. Brown appeared in The Harvard
Review with q definition of the "old
theology and the new and consideration
Of their relation. This is considered by the
critics Of the seminary even more heretical
. than that Of the president and both are
!, grouped in the overtures which are To come
before the assembly on Friday.
When not discussing moderatorships and
heresy the commissioners in their strolls
to-day have taken in the meetings Of the
/ ~. committee