The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-09

not sound very much as if the whole of ChristendOm regarded him as cherishing
 fatal error. Second, Dr. EdmOnds wrote
 to the ministers whom he regarded as
 leaders in their denominations in Ala
 bama, asking if the published views to
 which the presbytery was objecting were
 out of keeping with the views of the for ward thinking men of their churches. In every case the reply was that those views
 were in either direct keeping with. or at least, not at all in contravention of,
 the views cherished by their leaders and
 themselves. Again, let us quote from some religious papers. We have nothing
 to say of the dozens of secular papers which spoke vigorously on this matter The Congregationalist of December ?, 1915 carried this at the close of simple state ment of the affair:
 'M M. Edmonds is a true and noble
 preacher of the gospel and an invaluable
 citizen. All hail to the Independent Pres byterian church of Birmingham. May she
 join much social service to a great evan
 gelical enthusiasm
 "The Cumberland CPres) Banner in it's editorial columns and elsewhere has pub lished number of references to this
 case, one of which in part reads as fol- lows:
 His declaration of belief in reference to the meaning, nature and object of the
 atonement is of more than passing signifi- canoe. In reference to this particular subject it is clearly evident that Dr. Ed monds holds with the late Dr. Burney, one of the ablest men of our church of his day and foremost theological writers and
 thinkers of the age. The incident of Dr.
 Edmonds will serve to remind Cumberland
 Presbyterians that they have the doctri- nal system to which all must come "The Continent has also spoken on this
 subject repeatedly. The Continent we suppose, would easily hold leading place
 among the papers of the Northern Pres
 byterian church. We quote a part of
 recent front page editorial:
 The presbytery says nothing at all on
 this other query: Does this minister show a capacity to bring the saving power of
 the omnipotent Christ to bear on men
 under the destroying power of sin?
 The formalistic attitude of presby-
 tery is made evident by the very phrases
 of its finding It holds that "any at-
 tempt to modify" the traditional theory
 of ''the satisfaction of the justice of God'
 through the atonement 'is in effect an at-
 tempt to discard the whole system of re- ligion we have inherited from the fathers. Such fashion of speaking glaringly
 betrays that it is indeed system" of logic which presbytery was thinking of a system confessedly derived from the fathers an entirely human thing-and not
 the simple efficiency of Gods good news. The Christian way to find out whether a man is sound on the atonement' is to go and investigate whether he breaches | that doctrine in such wise that men re- pent of their sins in sorrow for the suf- ferings of Christ
 Tt is mighty audacious business for a church to find fault with man who 1 pleases God.
 " On the other hand, if minister can-
 not make the Lords atonement real to I men who need the benefit and comfort of ! it, the accuracy of his thought about it l is a pathetically cheap and unimportant 1 thing.
 l !" TO make the well kept integrity of
 old-time theological syllogisms decisive 1 and final test to show whether a man is a true minister of God is in truth the
 most atheistic of all heresies, for it de- nes the validity of the Lords promises of | the Comforter; "He shall guide you l into all truth
 Many other things we might adduce, such as private letters and editorial com ment, showing that preSbytery and these recent defenders of presbytery cannot be 1 so complacent in their deliverances with
 reference to what constitutes evangelical l Christianity. The most charitable con struction we can put upon many things which have been said with an air of per
 feet wisdom is that some men are very ignorant of the thought of this great world.
 l We consider that the Presbytery of
 North Alabama is on the sore defensive in
 this matter. It seems unwilling to accept 1 the continued guidance of God, it closes ] it's eyes to new facts and new thought, it
 appears to think more of old statements
 of faith than it does of men; it is leading
 pathetic but complacent hope against
 the outnumbering mutitudes of other de- nominations who are meeting todays is-
 sue with today's light. There are single | states in which there are as many Bap- {, lists or Methodists as there are members 1 m the whole Southern Presbyterian church. Yet the Presbyterians were first 1 in the field. The old intellectual leader l ship which the Southern Presbyterian l church once proudly claimed is gone, as
 we'll She has been sadly outstripped in 1 the field of education. Not one authorita- i tive word has come from her ranks con- cerning the two great questions now be- ! fore the church: Religion and social serv- | ice and the re-statement of old truth in | such way as that new world may appre-
 bend and appropriate. Her books are no | longer on library shelves. In 9 years, So | far as we know, she has written no book which has gained any acceptance out | side the denomination and very few even I for so narrow a reading.
 w nat IS the matter? Many things per 1 haps, but one thing certainly-a clinging tc | the mummifed forms of dead leaders in- l stead of advancing in the living spirit of | those leaders. Calvin and Knox would 1 be the first to scorn their followers for l carrying the battle no further than they
 left it. And the tragic thing is that the 1 many who desire to speak are not al- lowed.
 Our people asked presbytery for the | tNJy Of rtcfN I,N,. privilege of following further the ongoine | light of the spirit of God Presbyterv re- ! fused, saying:
 Come to us and to the fathers for
 your light.
 l Our answer is and shall be: | "'We ought to obey God rather than men,
 | The work of Dr. Edmonds in this com. l mun1ty has spoken for itself. It needs no ! eulogy, nor defense at our hands. He probably breaches to more people than any other voice in our midst He leads a life ideal in it's faithfulness to the | highest truths of Christianity and he is l bringing as many men and women to God as any single individual in our commun- ity. This church started with l89 mem | bers. In little more than two months ii
 has grown to over 45O. His deaily congre. l cations equal al least 200O, many of them men and women who had forgotten the way to church. To hold that in these cir. cumstances he is unfitted to preach be.
 cause he does not accept doctrine frs, promulgated in the twelfth century, in the l exact terms it was then written, is to put the church on record as holding that a mere controversy as to how the miracle Of ,ct',