VOL. L.
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
IN ITS HOTH ANNUAL MEETING AJT TULSA, OKLAHOMA
{Report condensed from The Tulsa Tribune.)
They are all down here in Tul
Sal > :
From the far-flung reaches of
the earth, literally, from the by
ways and the highways of the
world they have come to Tulsa
to attend the 140th General
Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S- A.
They are here from the iso
lated provinces of distant China;
from the historical land of the
Persians; from Mosul, the Turk
ish oil lands; from the frozen
waste, of our own Alaska; from
far South Brazil; aye, there are
those attending the General As
sembly who come from the four
corners of the earth.
They are all down here in Tul
sa, and it is a carious, interest
ing diversity of humanity seen
there at the hirst Presbyterian
church, with the missionaries
from life's crossroads, the fa
mous pastors of the big city
churches, the compartively un
known preachers from the small
towns, the laymen who are active
in' their denomination's affairs,
the Ihdians from the Western
plains, Negroes from the jOld
South, rubbing elbows the one
with the other.
The General Assembly^ opened
Thursday morning, May 24, in
the First Presbyterian church,
of Tulsa, Okla. So great was
to witness the
ah overflow meet
in a nearby chapel,
Dr. John Timothy
an church, of Chicago.
Dr. C. W. Kerr, pastor of the
host church, gave the prayer
which officially opened the As
sembly. Dr. Warren H. Lan
don, of San Francisco, Vice
Moderator, read the Scripture
The Sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper was administered to the
congregation hy Dr. Lewis S.
Mudge, of Philadelphia, Stated
Clerk, and D—tnr Landon
The Moderator’s Sermon.
A synopsis of the sermon of
Dr. Robert E. Speer, the retiring
Moderator, follows:
Luke 11:46, "They turned back
again to Jerusalem seeking
Jesus,” was the text Doctor
Speer used, and the visit he re
cently made to Palestine, ithe
gratification of 40 years’ desire,
during which time he has been
associated with the Church’s
missionary work, furnished the
theme of hie sermon and illus
trations for it.
He told of the caravan return
ing frem Jerusalem after the
Passover celebration, with Jos
eph and Mary on their way home
in the twelfth year since "the
miracle of Jesus had come to
them at Bethlehem,” and how
they missed Jesus, but "sup
posed him to have been in the
company.”
"I suppose this can happen
still,” he said, “That Jesus may
be missed and through our sup
positions or preoccupations we
may not be aware of His ab
sence.'
“A company of men and wom
en from all lands and all races
have just repeated it in their
own experience in the meeting
in Jerusalem/* he said, referring
to the missionary trip- “So the
missionary enterprise returned
again to Jerusalem, where it be
gan, seeking Jesus, and It found
him there/*
However, **the conception is in
adequate and even untrue if we
think that we have to go back
to Jerusalem to find Jesus/* he
said. “Christianity, unlike oth
er faiths, has omitted the idea
of an earthly pilgrimage- We
do not need to go anywhere to
find Jesus.”
“And he said, How is it that
ye sought me? Knew ye not that
I must be about my Father’s
business?* We can seek and find
Him there today.
'There is a second sense in which
the conception of returning
to Jerusalem to find Jesus is in
adequate and untrue. It is in
adequate and true if it is a pro
posal to go back of John's gospel
and Paul's epistles and to elim
inate the miracle and mystery
from the synoptic gospels and
to reduce Jesus to the natural
istic figure of a good man who
taught nobly but was self-de
ceived about some things, and
around whom delusions soon
grew up which transformed the
simple human teacher of Gali
lee into a supernatural Saviour
and -a dying God. This is not
returning to Jerusalem to find
Jeaus. it is returning to lose
Him. Ji we do not need to go
anywhere to find the true Jesus,
still do we need to go anywhere
afar to find the false one.
There are countless places
where such an unreal Jesus can
be found in our modern thought
today—-where men measure life
and duty by vftiaf they them
selves are rather than by what
they are not but what God is,
where human failure hides itself
by unconsciousness of the puri
ty that is pure light, where the
human spirit, unlike Christ, seta
something else than the child in
the midst of life and judgment,
where the mass of things made
hides for men th4 mind and
hand of the Maker, "Where move
ment can be conceived as self
moved t 4 not as the motion of
a Mover, v'fre mystery faces
from men’s thoughts and the
wonder of life as given is lost
in the familiarity of the guilt—
in these common places of our
modern world, the real Jesus of
history, the only Jesus there is,
is lost and these are substituted
for Him a fiction for which there
is no warrant in the actual rec
ords and which leaves the histo
ry of the origin and nature of
Christianity an unexplained and
inexplicable enigma.
. ‘And yet this is what a great
deal of our modern education is
offering us in its return to Jeru
salem seeking Jesus. But this
type of education represents a
view of life and of the world
fundamentally defective and un
true. It loses the ultimate fact
of reality, the fact namely that
the reality of life includes the
mystery of life transcending our
understanding of life.
Return to Jerusalem Needed.
“I wish to propose that we
think simply of four aspects in
which we need to return to Je
rusalem to Jesus
“First we need to return to
the simplicity of Christ.
“One of our great difficulties
always is awe of greatness, of
bulk, of power. We exalt what
is complex and massive and or
ganized- And we set out in
every enterprise to enlist influ
ence and wealth.
“We need to rise to^freedom
by returning to the simplicity
of Jesus and unlearning this re
liance upon the great.
“And Jesus is the one bond
of union. No agreements will
hold us together without Him—
no common , fears, no combina
tion, no organizations. And he
alone will hold all men across
the lines of race mid nation and
sex and condition, Jew and Gen
tile, Greek and barbarian, Ro
man and Scythian, black and
white^rich and poor, bond and
free, maTe and female.
In the second l>lace let us re
turn to the gentleness and love
of Christ. Therejs no weakness
in love. AU tlrestrength of the
strong, all the violence of the
warrior on whatever battlefield
of action or of opinion* are frail
ty and ieebteneiw compared with
love, the weak mother's love* the
love of the strong Son oiMSod.
“We need in the third place to
return to Jerusalem to the abso
lute and complete authority of
Jesus.
“There are no double layaltiea
for Christians
“We are to bring every
thought and action, all our atti
tudes, and relationships in indi
vidual life in ohr homes and in
the church Into the obedience of
Christ. All industry and legis
lation, economics, and politics,
the nation in itself and in all its
relationships, art and literature
and education, work and play,
and air that there is or can be
of life are to be brought under
Christ's lordship.
“And lastly we go bade today
to Jerusalem to the finality arid
universality of Jesus.
“We 'will say about Jesus all
that all the creeds have said and
then we will say that He is
more than this.
“If He were nothing but a
good deacT man who spoke and
wrought as wisely as He knew
long ago in Palestine, who died
bravely on a cross with no hate
of those ^Who did such hateful
wrong, and over whose undis
turbed grave the Syrian stars
look down, then _ we should
wrong his memory "with excess
speech. Indeed long ago we
should have found the ardequate
words to describe His humani
ity. But to. us Jesus Christ is
not a good dead man, but God,
the living God, our risen and
living Saviour, and we wfll use
all language we have and deem
it simple ^and.^ddl. fo u|
wdhffi
ance.
Election of Moderator.
The election of a Moderator
was the first business of the af
ternoon session, Thursday. Five
commissioners had been men
tioned for the honor—Dr. Wil
liam Hiram Foulkes, of New
ark, N. J.; Dr. Hugh K. Walker,
of Los Angeles; Mr. J. Willison
Smith, of Philadelphia; Dr. J.
Ambrose Dunkel, of Indianapo
lis; and Dr. Cleland B. McAfee,
of Chicago. As the time for the
election drew near three of the
candidates withdrew, leaving the
contest to Dr. Walker and Dr.
Dunkel. Dr. Walker was de
clared the choice of the Assem
bly- The new Moderator is pas
tor of the First church of Los
Angeles, and a leader of Presby
terianism of the Pacific Coast.
Friday’s Session—The Prince
ton Controversy.
The long-pending dispute over
the manner in 'which Princeton
Theological Seminary at Prince
ton, N. J., shall be controlled—
whether one board of trustees
shall take the place of the A *ard
of trustees and board of cLr^°
tors that now govern it, with re
sulting quarrels between them—
reached the floor of the one hun
dred fortieth general assembly
of the Presbyterian Church, U,
S. A-, at the First Presbyterian
church at Tulsa today.
The Princeton dispute is be
tween those who fear that one
change in the control of the
seminary will lead to others and
that finally the seminary will
depart from its traditional .con
servative position, and those
who believe only a change in the
schools government can remedy
conditions.
Frequent disputes have come
to the General Assembly be
tween the board of trustees of
the school, in control of its phy
sical properties and finances, and
the board of directors, in control
i of its administration.
1 This finally caused the ap
pointment of a special committee
to arrange a new plan. In San
Francisco last year this commit
(Continued on page 2)
Presbyterial was held
Seventh Street Presby
w«fc, Charlotte, May
. This was the 35th
*y meeting and each
ed to have caught the
a grand opening song
fl by the church choir.
Keiton gave the invo
irs. P. W. Russell read
ure lesson.
3£ul anthem, “I Heard
of Jesus Say,” was
te choir. Following, the
gave her annual at^
i always it was full of
ggestions and infor
drs. Davis . spoke of
struggles of the Prep-L
ts early history, its
nf, and present day
Mrs. Jfe C. J. McCrorey, oUr
SynodkajK President, told in her
address JSow the Presbyterials
of Cape pear, Yadkin, Southern
fend Catawba, stood to
making the Synodical
i' but said she felt es
bud of Catawba Pre^
byterial fcr the rapid strides it
had maw in the last ten years.
gather
a succt
Mrs.
ought to he a £o<*r Ft§Shy
terial, ought to 'be the best
Presbyterial, because it has in
its midst Johnson C. Smith Uni
versity, and Scotia Woman’s
College, two schools that are
known from coast to coast—for
the wonderful work they have
done for our boys and girls.
The deficit of the boards was
plainly laid before us by Miss
Barr, and each one was asked to
go back home and begin the first
Sunday to reduce the budget.
So many good things were
said by Miss Barr that neither
time nor space will permit me
to record them. It was a won
derful address
An offering was taken and
the benediciton was pronounced
by Rev. R. Z. Beatty- Just be
fore the benediction the assign
ment of homes was made by
Mrs. Russell.
Friday Morning, May 11th.
Mrs. C. M. Stafford led a
spiritual praise service.
The regular order of business
was the reports of the delegates
Twenty-five societies, two Little
Light Bearers, one Guild and
one Ladies’ Aid reported- When
the amount of $307.10 was
brought in Dr. Wyche came for
ward and offered the thanksgiv
ing prayer.
committees were next ap
pointed. !'
Miss Barr then asked the au
dience to rise and face Porto
Rico (South) and pledge our
support to help our Porto Rican
sisters and also our Alaskan
sisters in their struggles.
Mrs. Katie 0. Alexander gave
a brief report of hfer work and
asked for more subscriptions to
“Women and Missions.” She re
ceived a number of subscriptions
for same.
Drs. Wyche, Long, West, Jen
kins and Revs- Sanders, Wilson,
Hairston, Mayberry, Ward and
Bell were accorded seats as cor
responding members and each
made brief statements
The Presbyterial adjourned
for dinner which was served ir
the basement of the church. ,
At 2:30 P. M. after a few
songs and prayers, the regulai
in each Young People's Sod
some consecrated woman act
counsellor.
This address was reifliCti
by Miss Barr. Miss Ba?#ij
our young people musthave i
terial with whieh to work. Qs
a bit of young people's literati
was distributed among them
Mrs- S- L. Rollins, Synod!
delegate, reported a plcij
trip and gave'much informal
in her report.’ * 'M
'•.•;MrS.' ‘ M. J. Alexander
ported that she had been v<
successful during the past f
and asked that the local
taries of missionary e
co-operate with her in
her report to the Board
The St
those of the secretaries were
approved.
Miss Barr’s visit to us meant
more than words, can .express.
We thank God for Sending her
to us at this time and trust she
will come again.
All the officers were, elected
for another year. Miss Barr
inducted them into office and
offered the consecration prayer.
President, Mrs. Geo. E. Davis.
1st Vice-President, Mrs. Ghas.
H. Shute.
2nd Vice-President, Mrs. M.
L. Harrison.
3rd Vice-President, Mrs. Alice
Jewell.
4th Vice-President, Mrs. M.
J. Phifer.
5th Vice-President, Mrs. Irma
Grier.
Treasurer, Mrs. S. X. Rollins.
Recording Secretary, Mrs- R.
Z. Beatty.
Corresponding Secretary, Mrs.
P. W. Russell.
Secretary Literature, Mrs. K.
0. Alexander.
Associate Members, Mrs. N.
Bell.
Assistant Secretary Literature,
Mrs. E- B. White.
■■ Secretary Missionary Educa
tion, Mrs. M. J. Alexander.
Secretary Young People, Miss
Anpie Chresfield.
Secretary Stewardship, Mrs,
H. L£ McCrorey.
Secretary Overseas, Mrs. A,
L. Spencer-v
Secretary Division of Mis
sions, Mrs. H. Wilson.
Secretary Social Service, Mrs
J. H. Gamble..
We adjourned to meet ir
May, 1929, , with the Brooklyr
church, _ Charlotte.
The most beautiful resolu
turns-of thanks were read bj
Mrs. Hallie Q. Mayberry.
MRS. R. Z. BEATTY,
Recording Secretary.
DAILY VACATION BIBLE
CLASS AT BELLINGER,
S.C.
During the week from Maj
18th to 18th Mrs. V. J. McFad
den and Miss N. R. Pattersoi
conducted a Very successful Dai
ly Vacation Bible School at Mt
n pleased and asked
H women to come Hick
s possible and do some
this good wortt- The
it was 44.
GENERAL
nta, May 28.—(AP)—
pe of measures bearing on
or closer relations with
Presbyterian Churches
cation of an ad interim
ttee to study the whole
m of divoree stood'out
the actions; of the sixty
General Assembly erf the
terian Church in the
States which adjourned
day
»ely less important was
||ion to make no cut in
action on
a proposed
* of union with the United
jylerian C%ureh (North
was deferred and the mat
ernally sent down to the
rteries for reaction. The
ttee^hioh helped draft
the next General Assembly
which convenes May 16, 1929,
at Montreat, N. C.
The committee on divorce,
headed by Dr- William Crowe,
St. Louis, Mo., will search out
scriptures bearing on biblical
grounds for divorce with especial
attention to the question wheth
er the Church will continue to
recognize desertion as proper
grounds.
The action was taken by over
tures from the Presbyteries of
West Texas, Central Texas,
Mangum, Okla., and New Or
leans, which deplored a three*;
fold increase in divorces in the
past 40 years and asserted that
the Church was being criticised
for solemnizing marriages where
principals had been divorced for
desertion.
Measures were adopted look
ing toward closer relations with
the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church and the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of
America.
Evolution was'treated techni
cally in pronouncement of the
assembly that man's belief was
to be taken from the Scriptures
and Presbyterian ministers were
to be guided by the book of
faith and the articles of creedal
pronouncement made by the
Church and its General Assem
bly.
So swiftly did Dr. Harris E.
Kirk, Baltimore, the new Mod
erator, guide the assembly
through its transactions that
all business was completed a
whole day in advance of the
schedule.
The committfO on thanks re
solved that The Associated
Press be commended for the
“courteous and respectful man
ner” in which the proceedings
had been reported.
A review of the past year
showed that the church experi
enced a net, increase of 5,000 in
membership; increase in gifts to
all causes of more than half a
million dollars, a gain of 90 cents
r per capita
t If you do not enjoy your
- work, then happiness is not for
. you.