754 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



offer of salvation to all upon condition of faith in 

 Christ, nor is restraint laid upon the freedom of any 

 one to accept this offer " ; the new reading in the 

 chapter " Of Creation," " the heavens and the earth, 

 with all that they contain, were made by him in six 

 creative days " ; in the chapter " Of the Fall of Man, 

 of Sin, and the Punishment thereof," the reading 

 " Opposite to all that is spiritually good," and the ad- 

 ditum of the words, " Nevertheless, the Providence 

 of God and the operations of His spirit restrain unre- 

 generate men from much that is evil, and lead them 

 to exercise many social and civil virtues " ; the read- 

 ing in the chapter " Of God's Covenant with Man," 

 " ofTereth by his Word and Spirit " ; the insertion of 

 new chapters entitled " Of the Work of the Holy 

 Spirit" and " Of the Universal Offer of the Gospel"; 

 in the chapter " Of Free Will," instead of " altogether 

 averse from that good," the new reading " altogether 

 indisposed to that good," and the addition of the 

 words, " Yet is his responsibility as a free agent not 

 thereby impaired " ; in the chapter " Of Effectual 

 Calling" the modified readings u who is altogether 

 passive in the act of regeneration, wherein," and " All 

 infants (for ' elect infants') dying in infancy, and all 

 other persons who, from birth to death, are incapable 

 of being outwardly called to the ministry of the 

 Word, are redeemed by Christ and regenerated by the 

 Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he 

 pfeaseth"; also, "Yet inasmuch as they never truly 

 come to Christ they can not be saved ; neither is there 

 salvation in any other way than by Christ through 

 the Spirit, however diligent men may bo in framing 

 their lives according to the light of nature and the 

 law of that religion they do profess " ; the omission in 

 the chapter " On Justification " of the words " they 

 have, not of themselves, it ? " so that the clause shall 

 read " which faith is the gift of God " ; the insertion 

 in the chapter " Of Good Works" of the words " and 

 while their neglect of such things is sinful and dis- 

 pleasing unto God," before the words " Yet because 

 they proceed not from a heart purified by faith " ; the 

 reading in the chapter " Of Religious Worship and 

 the Sabbath Day," "Prayer is to be made for all 

 things lawful ; for the forgiveness of all sins except 

 the sin unto death ; and for all sorts of men living or 

 that shall live hereafter ; but not for the dead " ; the 

 reading in the chapter " Of the Church," " There is 

 no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus 

 Christ, and the claim of the Pope of Rome to be the 

 vicar of Christ and the head of the Church Universal 

 is without warrant in Scripture or in fact, and is a 

 usurpation dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ"; in 

 the chapter " Of Church Censures " the insertion of 

 the words in italics, so as to make the reading, 

 "whereof they have ministerial and declarative 

 power respectively to retain and remit sins." Modi- 

 fications were also proposed in the language of cer- 

 tain clauses referring to the Roman Catholic Church, 

 its doctrines and practices. 



The report was accepted, to be sent down to 

 the presbyteries for their action and the con- 

 sideration of the next General Assembly in the 

 light thereof. The Committee on the Subject of 

 a Consensus Creed reported that it had addressed 

 a letter to the several Reformed Churches 

 throughout the world holding the Presbyterian 

 system, inviting them each to appoint a com- 

 mittee of correspondence, with a view to the 

 consideration and preparation " of a short creed 

 containing the essential articles of the Westmin- 

 ster Confession, to be used as a common creed of 

 those churches not as a substitute for the creed 

 of any particular denomination, but to supple- 

 ment it for the common work of the Church." 

 The Committee on the Proof Texts of the Con- 

 fession of Faith and the Larger Catechism re- 

 ported, submitting the collation of texts which it 

 had made, and recommended, in view of the 



pending consideration by the Assembly of the 

 subject of revision of the Confession, that it be 

 continued. 



The standing Committee on Theological Semi- 

 naries reported upon overtures from 63 presby- 

 teries which had been referred to them concern- 

 ing the utterances of the Rev. Charles A. Briggs, 

 D. D., contained in the address which he deliv- 

 ered on the occasion of his induction into the 

 chair of Biblical Theology in the Union Theo- 

 logical Seminary, New York (see below). Some 

 of the presbyteries recommended specific action 

 on the part of the Assembly, but the majority of 

 them invited, in general terms, such action as 

 the Assembly might deem it best to take. The 

 committee found that the General Assembly had 

 authority to veto the appointment of professors 

 in the Seminary, but must exercise its right at 

 the next session after the appointment is made. 

 It was resolved, by a vote of 440 to 60, 



That in the exercise of its right to veto the appoint- 

 ment of professors in the Union Theological Semi- 

 nary, the General Assembly hereby disapproves of 

 the appointment of the Rev. Charles A. Brigers, D. D., 

 to the Edward Robinson professorship of Biblical 

 Theology in that seminary by transfer from another 

 chair in said seminary. 



A committee was appointed to confer with the 

 directors of the Union Theological Seminary in 

 regard to the relations of the seminary to the 

 General Assembly. 



The Committee on Church Unity reported, 

 and upon its recommendation was discharged 

 from the further consideration of the subjects of 

 interdenominational comity and Church unity ; 

 and its name was changed to the Committee 

 on the Federation of the Protestant Denomina- 

 tions of the United States. It was decided that 

 the seal of the General Assembly should bear an 

 open Bible as its central symbol. Upon hearing 

 the report of the committee appointed to canvass 

 the votes on the overture respecting deacon- 

 esses, which had been submitted to the presby- 

 teries by the General Assembly of 1890. stating 

 the facts recited in the resolution, the Assembly 

 resolved that, whereas some presbyteries had an- 

 swered the overture as a whole, and some had 

 answered its proposed amendments as if they 

 were two independent overtures, in its judg- 

 ment the overture was defeated in both its 

 amendments ; but whereas the answers seemed 

 to indicate a desire to secure godly and compe- 

 tent women to assist in deaconnesses' work, and 

 readiness to invest persons of this class with 

 official character, and in view of the difficulties 

 with which the subject was environed and of pre- 

 vailing differences of opinion, a committee was 

 appointed to consider the subject and ascertain 

 from the answers already given, as far as possi- 

 ble, the desire of the Church, and to prepare an 

 overture to be presented to the next General As- 

 sembly. Attention was called to the declarations 

 of past General Assemblies on the subject of 

 worldly amusements ; a warning was uttered 

 against progressive euchre, social dances, and 

 private theatricals as new forms of the amuse- 

 ments therein condemned : and in general terms 

 " the Assembly called upon all members of the 

 Church " so to regard their obligations to Christ 

 as to see to it that they take no part in amuse- 

 ments which they can not take in his name." 



