Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-05-13
300 To ATTEND
PRESBYTER|ANS'
123D ASSEMBLY
Heresy Question Expected to Be
Decided at General Meet in
Atlantic City.
WILL PROBE WRITINGS OF
HEAD OF UNION SEMINARY
Seattle Begins Campaign for
MOderatOrship for "Tall
Pine of Sierras."

The one hundred and twenty-third
general assembly Of the Presbyterian
church will convene at Atlantic city
next Thursday, May IS. Last year the
commissioners were so we'll pleased
with the hotel accommodations and the
meeting place of the assembly on the
Steel Pier that they voted to bring the
assembly there in 1911. This makes the
second time In the history of the Pres
byterian church that the assembly
meets in New Jersey.
AS last year, the Steel Pier has been
secured for all the meetings of the as
sembly. The assembly will consist of
nearly nine hundred regularly elected
commissioners. equally divided between
clerical and lay delegates. These, with
wives and friends, make a visiting body
of nearly two thousand.
There will be pre-missionary rallies
on Wednesday preceding the opening
of the assembly. Speakers for the home
N foreign mission rally will be the
Rev. DR.. Charles L. Thompson, New
York; Robert e. Speer, New York; the
e DR.. James D. Moffat, Pittsburg;
the Rev. A. F. McKarrah, the Rev. DR..
Mark Allison Matthews, Seattle; the
Rev. DR.. J. H. Jowett, New York.
Two Topics Give Thought.
Two topics are already causing the
commissioners considerable thought.
The first is the election of the modera-
tor. Last year all the calculations of
many were upset by the election of a
dark horse" In DR.. Little, the pres
ent moderator.
It was thought by some that the
BLACK heresy case" affected the
chances of several, and this year the
project of a heresy trial may affect
the candidates whose names have been
prominent as prospective candidates.
An active campaign is being waged
by the Presbytery of Seattle in the in
terests of the Rev. DR., Mark Allison
Matthews, who is called the Tall Pine
of the Sierras.' DR.. Matthews is pastor
of the supposedly largest Presbyterian
church in America, reporting over 1000
members.
The publicity committee of the Pres
bytery of Seattle, of which DR.. Mat
thews is a member, has sent broadcast
the following, signed by r. L. Hayden.
d. D.. assistant secretary:
"For moderator of the n hundred
M twenty-third general assembly of
the Presbyterian church in the United
States of America, the Rev. Mark ALI
son Matthews, d. D., pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church, Of Seattle,
Wash"
Four Claims Put Forward.
Four claims are put forward by this
publicity committee:
Flrst-The committee advocates min
isterial equity, by which is meant that
all parts of the country should have
equal recognition in the choice of mod
orator. The Northwest. of which Seat
tie is the key. has never been represent
ed in the "moderatorial chair
The heart of the most intense mis-
sionary enterprises, both home and for
eign In population, forms a second
plea.
Third, the reform position DIR. Mat
thews has taken, who is claimed as
the leader of civic responsibility in the
Northwest.
I'VE believe says the committee,
that the election of DR.. Matthews will
throw these things into such relief
that the world will stop and listen TO
the message his election speaks to it."
What influence this effort Of the pub
licity committee of Seattle presbytery
will have OH the election of a mod
orator is problematical.
Rev. j. #. Carson Mentioned.
The Rev. John F. Carson is the only
other person prominently mentioned for
the m~oderatorship. DIR. Carson is pas
tor of one of the largest churches In
It. NIT 49, 6.-A-AF Du-AAAs.w =.
Church Of Brooklyn. DR.. Carson Is one
of the best-lnown olergymen of the
Eastern part of the church, and he has
received the cordial support of his pres
bytery and the brethren of the East.
1t wal thought at first hat the Rev.
Or. George e. Alexander would be sent
to the assembly this year, and then
an effort be made to elect him as mod
orator. But DR.. Alexander is out of
the running.
The most important question to be
submitted to the assembly is the n
arising out of several artirles written
by the Rev. DR.. Francis Brown, presi-
lent of Union Theological Seminary.
New York, and the Rev. DIR. William
Adam Brown. This so-called hersev
will find it's way to general assembly
through overtures made by West Jer-
sey presbytery of the synod of New
Jersey.
There has been strong feeling aroused
by the liberal teaching of Union Theo-
logical Seminary, and 1t is felt iu some
quarters that some action should be
taken by the assembly to check this
ultra-liberal teaching of The Union
seminary. 1t is likely that the over
lures will be referred to the judicial
commission as was the BLACK heresy
case" The commission will report its