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


 that action.
 l The doctrinal differences which nave been aired during the past few months have attracted attention all over the United States and the formal statement by the officers of the new church will no doubt be read with keen interest The statement reads
 | Tt seems wise to us as officers of the Independent Presbyterian church of B1r- mingham to make a brief statement of our attitude toward certain things re- gently brought into question.
 1 Our aim is to make the records meas urably complete. We wish no contro- versy. Our desire is to go on with con | structive work and waste no time or en- ergy in vain disputation. We would not for a moment bring others into disre- pute, or occupy position of intolerance with reference to their views. Our con victon is that the Spirit of Jesus is far removed from this.
 'We sympathize with those ministers and church officers who, finding them selves accused by public opinion, seek ot justify themselves by presenting their | side of the case as favorably as possible; 1 but at the same time we feel that 1t would not be right for us to refrain from correcting certain statements which in dicate at least misapprehension of the 1 situation.
 | Much has been made of the statement made by our pastor, the Rev. H. M. Ed monds, before the session of the South 1 Highlands Presbyterian church last July ! +n off +bot ba ha5 al, cred leaving the Presbyterian church. He himself covered that point fully and ! frankly in his own statement given from l his pulpit and published in the papers. He stated that he at first thought of leav- I ing the church, but after six weeks of 1 thought and conversation with many ministers of his own and other denoml- nations, and with many members of his own congregation, he came to another de- | cision-namely to remain in the church until and unless it's courts decided that l the divergence of view was sufficient to demand separation.
 | "The manner of leaving the South | Highlands church on his part and the part of those who went with him has every length of persuasion and patience, urging first in the session and then in the l Presbytery that only a little time was | needed to heal the trouble. It was in vain. They plead to no purpose. Now came the question of leaving. Some were
 in favor of having a congregational meet ing in regular order and asking the con gregation as a body to withdraw from 1 the Presbytery. It was argued that an overwhelming majority of the members would fall in with a plan of that kind, 1 and that perhaps the property might be held. Others argued that in such a meeting an open fight would result and l things he suggestion l was therefore abandoned. The meeting was held in the Chamber of Commerce | auditorium and every disadvantage ac- cepted of organizing a new church with out a cent of property and of persons only who were willing to take the active l step of coming into it.
 The original idea was to take the mat | ter through the several courts of the church by appeal from one to another. It l was realized, however that the feeling was growing so intense that this would be impossible. unless the pastor should retire from the active ministry until the case should be adjudicated. After the formation of the new church and his 1 deposition from the ministry of the southern church, Dr. Edmonds gave mo- tice of appeal but was notified that he no longer had any right of appeal as he
 had put himself out of the church. l "A recent pamphlet. endeavoring to
 
 leave the church, and really had decided to do so before the meeting of PreSby- tery, quotes from the Birmingham Ledger of Saturday, October 23, an alleged state ment made by him at the Chamber of Commerce the preceding night:
 | With reference to an independent church, my mind was made up before the 1 Presbytery made it's deliverance. I felt that I could not occupy my pulpit in the 1 Southern Presbyterian church again.. l Dr. Edmonds did not make the above l statement, though it was a perfectly natural error for a reporter to write it as he did. If when were substituted l for before it would be a reasonable statement As it is it is absurd, for if pr. Edmonds' mind had been made up | beforehand, he certainly would not have | afflicted himself with the long and try | ing sessions of Presbytery.
 i Now, it has been said further, and has been published by the Southern Presby- 1 terian Ministers of Birmingham that in Presbyterys delverance no restrictions whatever were placed upon Dr. Edmonds 1 in his conduct or teachings The face I is as follows:
 The original report of the committee carried a section prohibiting pr. Ed inonds from speaking or writing on the subject under discussion until the case | should finally be settled at the spring | meeting of Presbytery. The Rev. l. F. 1 Swallow of Bessemer arose and moved that that section be stricken out of the written report and the matter left to Dr. Edmonds' honor The visitors from Bir- | mingham had then been excluded from the meeting of Presbytery, but Dr. Ed l monds and Dr. Holmes were both there. and they came away feeling that the re- striction, affecting, his honor as it did, was much more binding than any writ ten prohibition could be- The latter might be defied, the former could not | We are at OsS to understand how 1 the above statement could have been made by the Southern Presbyterian min- isters of Birmingham.
 | Tn criticism of the creed of the In- l dependent church, it is said that it might be inferred by non-informed per l sons that the withdrawal of Dr. Ed monds was due to his inability to accept the creed of the Southern Presbyter an church in the light of his interpretation of it's teaching touching the decrees of God and infant salvation The word withdrawal is very interesting It is I like setting house on fire over man s 1 head and then speaking with a pained expression of his voluntary withdrawel. 1 pr. Edmonds did not withdraw from the l Southern Presbyterian church until it was made impossible for him to remain. And not then, even, really He withdrew from particular congregation, tender ing his resignation at the time, and 1 thereafter the Presbytery severed his re- lationship with the church. He was 1 thoroughly content to remain in the church and would have been there vet if it had not been that two members of his old session began to find doctrinal ob- | s4nf ftanls to