Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-27
PRESBYTERIANS
GET BOTH PRAISE
AND CRITICISM
o,r,e Assert General Assem-
bly Has Dodged I'm
portant Questions
coMpRoM1sE KEYNOTE
v.tbnsiasm and Desire of
Achievement Pronounced
Factors
By FRED E. BAER
-.,,n,,o ledger star Correspondent

rraruf
ATLANTIC CITY, Nav 27.-only those
.sv,erlans who live more than days
,ror, this resort and who will not per-
~ ,s.roselves to travel on the Sabbath re.
~ the 900 commissioners who
r.d the 12sth general assembly of
nam 4. ssurcb for the last 10 days here.
-.,.v are spending this day in lesurely
..,sort. satisfied with the accomplishments
t9h',s tna assembly, although many among
q Wy Tho have gone home do not feel SO
fnp,e taut what has been done. But those
WI s,a,n are those who are far above
Wy r,a, of security in the most rigid be-
ue po, ,bs PRESBYTERIAN doctrine and what
isair ns,S assembly did is sure to suit them,
-, vou come right down to brass
,hs big convention did not really
w's w.,,,ch Moderator Marquis. in his sum-
e,ss',,n q and farewell yesterday, praised the
ms,hI, mhs as having accomplished a great
~ nartloularly because 1t was one Of
oea rrsreclally devotional attributes. one
~ ~, solved It's problems as much by prayer
a BY thinking.
nsalIv. though, the best thing the assem-
~, d,d ras to make DR.. John X. Marquis,
ss,s,dent of Coe College. Cedar Rapids,
~ the moderator outside of that, the
.,n nurs,Its of the delegates, acting in
! ,rlson was 20 avoid doing anything in
particular d.
The heresy problem, as 1t came up in the
,yertires against the New York Presbytery.
v,s lodged by compromise; the complaints
sganst the Union Theological Seminary
are dodged by compromise, and years
s,Iay on the suffrage question was lodged
NJ tabllng the resolution, which called for
!, declaration. The only question that was
f,ced directly was the proposition to merge
tss general educational and college boards,
and II carried
Some critics go so far as to say the dele
rates were putty in the hands of clique.
The warwick of the assembly was DIR. j.
Ross Stevenson. the retiring moderator. He
was the big man of the convention. He
, framed practically all the procedures of
lmoortance and by his inslstence his elo-
oueree and his persuasiveness he put
through every proposition championed
The only time the convention baked was
yesterday, when it insisted on going to
Dallas In 1917, instead of st. Louis, where
the committee wanted 1t to go, and IL Doc
Tor Stevenson had remained to help 1t is
entirely likely that the assembly would
have obeyed the recommendation and gone
to the Missouri metropolis next May.
To say that Doctor Stevenson was alone
responsible for all that was done would be
undertaking the fact Nobody believes. but
what Moderator Marquis was entirely in
uccord with all that was done. He is the
sort Of man who believes essentially in
eompromise. He is a fighter who likes
peace He likes to take the easiest way, the
way that avoids trouble. His remarkably
nre faith that all men can get on well by
tnoothlng over differences rather than
hlasting a way out is probably the trait that
wins all men to like him. He has lines of
pugnaclty written all over his face; he is
the kind of fighting man that fights to have
peace
It is sure that he Is a happy choice for
moderator. He told the handful of COM
missloners who remained foP the adjourn
ment Of the General Assembly that he was
going to put his affairs in such shape that
he can give his whole time to the Presby-
terian Church, and he wastes none of
the time he gives. The way he painted
the glorious opportunity which, he said,
exists today for Christian ministers to work
well and good for all men as it never did
before showed the sublims certainty he has
in the power he holds to make his work
count for the church particularly and all
men generally, and he means to use that
power. 4