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SHALL MAKE YOU FREE/’ —John viii,
•AY, NOVEMBER 17, 1929
2iahi:n3 - #1.
EAST TENNESSEE SYNOD IN ANNUAL
SESSION AT ASHEVILLE
By Rev. S. A. Downer. D. D.
According to adjournment
the Synod of East Tennessee
met in the New Calvary Presby
terian church, of Asheville, N.
C., on Wednesday, October 16.
1929, at 7:30 P. M. At the re
quest of the retiring Moderator,
iiaaer l,. l". .berry, who was un
•-ivoiaaoiy aoseut, the opening
sermon was preached by h-ev.
Jesse 15. .barber, pastor of
Leonard Street church, of
Chattanooga, Tenn. Selecting
the words, "Oast the net on the
right side of the ship, and ye
shall find,” as his text, KeV.
barber preached a short but
instructive and impressive ser
mon.
The sermon was followed by
the election of Moderator and
temporary clerk after Synod
had been duly constituted. Kev
W. G. Hamilton, pastor-host,
was elected Moderator, and El
der W. H. Fowler, temporary
clerk.
After the reading ol me re
port of the Committee on Ar
rangements and of the docket,
both of which were adopted,
Synod recessed to meet at the
prescribed hour, Thursday.
The sessions of Thursday and
Friday were devoted largely to
the hearing of reports by the
committees representing the
four Boards of the Church. The
reports showed unusually care
ful and painstaking preparation
by some of the enairmen. The
* 'Kddrwssw^thr brethreirwere
not of the lengthy, vain repeti
tion type, but they showed the
deep feeling of the speakers
for a forward movement in the
Synod. Taking the place of
“points of law” and “points of
order” was an earnestness that
is prophetic of a better day for
the churches whose ministers
and representatives were in at
tendance at this meeting of
Synod.
In many respects the popu
lar meeting on Thursday night
eclipsed all other meetings of
the Synod. And it is true, as far
as the memory of the writer can
witness to it, that never has
this Synod enjoyed such- a
feast of good and helpful
things as were served by the
speakers on Thursday night.
Every address was well pre
pared and delivered just' as
well. The subjects discussed
and speakers were as follows:
'“The Pastor’s > Resjponsfbilijty
for His Young People,” Elder
B. L. Grier; “The Rights and
Responsibilities of Youth,” Dr.
W. C. Hargrave; “The Chris
tian and His Money,” Dr. C. J.
Baker; “National Missions at
Work,” Dr. J. M. Gaston; and
“Pentecost.” This last subject
was discussed toy Dr. Gaston
who substituted for Dr. Geo.
P. Horst.
The business sessions of
Friday were punctuated with
two very surprising and un
welcome bits of news. At the
morning hour we received the
sad intelligence of the death
of Dr. J. Leslie Hollowell. We
had hardly recovered from the
shock of that unexpected hap
pening when we were notified
of the passing away of Mrs.
Johnson C.% Smith. The effect
of this unprecedented experi
ence was noticeable through
out the remaining sessions of
the Synod. In additiort'to mes
sages of sympathy to the rela
tives, Synod paid (becoming
and deserving tribute to the
departed.
Lest we forget, we would
niake mention now of the very
impressive communion service
at the noon hour on Friday.
Revs. Sample, Baker and Whit
ley were in charge.
Corresponding \Memtoerg,
Revs. J. M. Gaston, D. D.,
J. D. Cowan, J. C. Nelson, W.
P. Lockwood, U. A. Powell and
N. Bell were accorded seats as
(corresponding members^ jMr.
Covington, Sabbath School
Missionary of Rojgersville
Presbytery, was granted the
privileges of the floor.
The following ministers were
absent without excuses: T. B.
Bailey, George E. Cooper, M.
J. Jones, J. C. McLin, Vanhorn
Murray, H. L. Peterson, P. A.
White, R. Mayers, 0. C. Wal
lace, H. F. Anderson, Chas. A.
Edington, B. C Hood, J. J.
Shepperson.
As is customary, most of
churches failed to send a re
presentative to the Synod and
many of the brethren who
came were not there in time
for the opening sessions.
Printing of Minutes
The Stated Clerk was in
structed to put forth every ef
fort to have the minutes of the
Synod printed. Churches with
in the bounds of Synod were
asked to contribute two dollars
each toward defraying the ex
pense incident to the printing.
The contributions . are to be
sent to Rev. A. W. Rice, the.
Treasurer, at Anniston, Ala,
Two of the three Presbyte
ries failed to send their records
to Synod. One of the two—
-S%Tuingham Presbytery—was i
censured for its repeated fail
ure. The records of LeVere
Presbytery were approved
'without exceptions or correc
tions.
The Synod noted with int’er
fcerest and gratitude that for
the third successive year there
hasn’t been a death in the min
istry of this Synod, according
to the report of the Necrology
Committee.
Presentation of Purse
Following the Synodical
Program on Friday night ad
miring friends of Dr. C. J.
Baker presented him with a
purse as a tolken of their love,
friendship and esteem for him.
The presentation speech was
delivered by Dr. J. M. Ewing.
The gift was acknowledged by
the recipient in words and
manner characteristic of the
man whom his friends delight
ed to honor in the way they
did.
Our final word is concerning
the entertainment by the mem
bers and friends of New Cal
vary Presbyterian church. It
is impossible to say too much
in praise of those appetizing
meals and the care that was
taken to see to it thht the del
egation was comfortably
housed. Rev. Hamilton and hia
pcorde have placed the Synod
under a great obligation to
them for the many good things
they did for them during the
meeting. And those beautiful
flowers! At each session there
was a profusion of fresh,
beautiful and fragrant flow
ers. It isn’t' to be wondered
that such a fine spirit was in
evidence throughout the meet
ing. The setting and surround
ings were conducive to just
such a meeting.
Svnod adjourned to meet
at Calvary Presbyterian church
at Anniston, Alabama, on the
third Wednesday of October
next.
“The best, child-welfare work
used to be done in the wood
shed.’’ In other words, if fattier
would shed his coat in the wood
shed he would shed glory on his
I offspring, if the offspring would
not spring off.
11 W ■" '*77 I.I
EXECUTIVE
s tmrhsm
TIONAL Ci
The Executiv<
National Urban
first fall meeting on
afternoon, October
offices of the League
ison Avenue, New
The .Executive J§ec
gene Kindkle Jones,
port of the League's
pHshments since May,
the following: Surveys
gro papulations have
pleted in Pittsburgh,
ton, Texas, Warren,
Worcester, Mass., these
being used as bases
oping helpful social
grams in the several
ties.
A new League has
ganized in Albany; N<
with James H. Baker, a
Fellow of the Leagu
University of Pittsbu
Executive Secretary.
Leagues are in proems
mation in Seattle, Wash.,
T. Arnold Hill, the Di
Industrial Relations of
League, is now working;
in Warren, Ohio, where
Community Chest has _ _
a budget of $4,500 for tie
year’s work.
A study is now being
of Negroes in South
Corfu./ arid a final draft' of
study on the Negro in
Unions, which the League
been conducting for s<
years, is being completed.
The National Urban Leaf
has been invited to cc
with Presideift Hobverfai.
House Conference on
fare to be held _
latter TMtrroffgSG*
the League has been advising
on the personnel of committees
to be selected for various phas
es of the Conference’s activities.
Six social worik Fellows at
leading schools of social work
have been appointed either di
rectly by the League or by oth
er agencies on the recommen
dation of the League.
Several important positions
in social work have been filled
by persons recomended by the
organisation and several chang
es in League staff members have
been recorded. George W.
Goodman, former Urban League
Fellow at the New York School
of Social Work and recently
Membership Secretary of the
Y. M. C. A. in St. Louis, be
comes the Executive Secretary
of the Boston Urban League on
November 5th. Alonzo C.
Thayer, Executive Secretary of
the Pittsburgh Urban League,
will soon begin his duties as
the Secretary of the Industrial
Department of the Chicago Ur
ban League. J. Q. Jefferson,
graduate of the Atlanta School
of Social Work last Spring, has
accepted the Executive Secreta
ryship of the St. Petersburg
(Florida) Urban League.
The Board agreed to the
launching of a vocational op
portunity campaign to be held
late in the Spring under the di
rection of T. Arnold Hill, in
which sixty cities will make an
effort simultaneously to secure
larger industrial opportunities
for Negroes and conduct a cam
paign of education to show the
value of thorough training and
preparation on the part of the
colored people for the jobs that
are available.
It was reported that $60,000
in cash or pledges had been se
cured to conduct the wodk of
the League for the current year
and that a balance of $15,000
must be raised before the close
of the year to meet the organ
ization's budget.
Among those present at the
meeting were; L. Hollingsworth
Wood, President; R. R. Moton,
Vice-President;William H. Bald
win, Secretary; Lloyd Garrison,
Treasurer; Mrs. Mary McLeod
(Continued on page 4)
THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF CHRIS IIANITY
By Rev. W. E. Partee, D. D.
' :-"tVj :
(A Sermon delivered in the Johnson C Smith University
Chnrch, October 6th, 1929)
? »trf
“For I delivered unto you
first of all that which I also re
ceived, how that Christ -died for
our-sifts according- to the Scrip
tures/’ t Cor. 15 :3.
“That which I also received”;
the great truth here stated had
been received, not from men,
nor was he taught it, but it was
revealed to him by Jesus
Christ; so Paul states in Gat
1:12. Therefore he could speak
with infallible confidence. The
fact that the Messiah was to die
Hs a propitiation for sin had
been revealed in the Old Testa
ment, and-the New Testament
teaches tho the law and the
prophets predict it.
1* The Scriptures
The books of Scripture have
come down to us through a
long process of selection which
went on through century after
century. In primitive days when
writing was a rare and difficult
art, only such things as men
felt to have a rare and enduring
value could get recorded. So
pur word Scripture points back
to the time when every writing
was memorable and authorita
tive. Note the Hebrew prophet
crying out, “write it in a table
and note it in a book, that it
may be for the time to come,
forever and ever.” The mere
fact that an ancient law, or;
poem, or prophetic oracle Was
written down at all implied that
it was considered more precious’
ilar things which " were not
thought worthy of being in
scribed on parchment or en
graven on stone.
Further, the preservation of
a book through long centuries
meant that it was copied again
and again, or at any rate that
a single copy was treasured an
guarded arid handed down with
extreme care. In early ages
men would do this only for a
book or books which they priz
ed and revered very highly. It
must be that numbers of an
cient religious documents have
perished, for the Old Testa
ment ny .itions several Hebrew
writings which have not come
down to us, and the New Tes
tament refers to epistles of St.
Paul which have been lost. Then
we might well regard the col
lection that has come down to
us as “the survival of the fit
test”.
On the surface the Bible may i
appear as a bundle of early I
Eastern literature, but when we
read it connectedly we find it dif
ferent from other ancient books,
and that throughout it is occu
pied with one dominant subject;
that subject is God, and God’s
relation to mankind. Reading
the books of Scripture in their
proper sequence it is easy to
see how they fall into one
scheme of philosophic history.
Their philosophy centers in
the religious conception of Is
rael as the elect Nation, or
dained to receive and represent
the one true God to the other
nations of the world, that
through Israel all mankind may
be blessed.
The Old Testament shows us
stages in the fortunes of this
chosen nation until the advent
of Christ and then men learn
that the kingdom of God is at
hand. The whole Bible is built
on this principle of historic de
velopment. It is more than a
collection of religious books, it
is not mere fragments of Jew
ish and Christian literature, but
the true conception of Scrip
ture is that though originating,
to use its own words, “by divers
nortions and in divers manners,”
it yet in its completeness con
stitutes a unity, showing in the
spirit and. purpose which bind
it's parts together, the divine
source from which the revela
tion Comes. It is the record of
God’s revelation of himself to
men in successive) ages and dis
pensations, till the revelation
culminates, in the advent and
work of the Son and the mis
sion of the Spirit. It is this as
pect of the Bible which consti
tutes its grand distinction from
"ill collections of sacred writ
ings, from all the so-called
“Bibles” of heathen religions in
the world.
There is one quality in Scrip
ture which distinguishes it
from ordinary writings; that
quality is inspiration.! This doc
trine has been misunderstood
and misrepresented, perhaps,
more so than any other doc
'rine. Tt does not teach that God
dictated the Scriptures as a
’business man would dictate to
a stenographer. This distinctive
quality is not in its language
end literary form, but in the
matter and content of its mes
sage. Inspiration does not imply
that all parts of the Bible are
equally valuable as teaching re
ligious truth, nor does it guar
antee their authority in regard
to anything but spiritual truth
and this authority only belongs
to the Scripture as a whole,
corrected and completed and in
terpreted by itsejf. In this sense
we hold that Scripture furnish
es us with a supreme and suffi
cient guide inwall questions of
■fo&h-ajftd conduct,
the Holy Spirit supervised the
men who were writing in such
a way that while they were left
in full possession of their own
faculties, and while they used
other sources in the collection
of their own information, writ
ing that information in their
"wn style and with their own
choice of vocabulary and dic
tion, yet they were prevented
from writing what was not true,
and guided in the selection of
iust the facts that God wanted
written for his people. No one
claims that all parts of the
Bible are equal in their value as
teaching religious truth; some
parts have comparatively small
value, while other parts are ab
solutely priceless; but it is all
true, and just the truth that
God wants His people to have.
une 01 ine most remarkable
features of the Scriptures is
their consistency throughout.
There is increasing light and
treater clearness as we go on;
the foundational ideas which
first appear in the days of Adam
and Abel are further developed
and built upon, but continue
throughout the Bible to the
closing book of Revelation. That
the various writers lived in dif
ferent surroundings and in
different ages during about
fifteen hundred years makes' it
all the more remarkable.
Among the writers no later one
contradicts an earlier one or
outs forward some new philos
ophy of life to supersede what
his predecessors had written.
The explanation of this is that
they were men chosen of God,
and that what they wrote was
communicated to them bv him,
which of necessity made it con
sistent. Some of them were
chosen before they were born;
it was foretold of one before his
birth what his preaching would
accomplish; they were not men
seelking to set forth views of
their own. for some of them
were unwilling to deliver the
message which God sent them
forth to communicate. Any one
who makes an earnest effort tc
grasp the viewpoint that Scrip
ture represents in regard to the
relations between God and mar
can not fail to see its consist
ency. Man is set forth as being
11 .
originally created in the image
of God and having open inter
course with God his maker; but
when man sinned this relation
ship could no longer continue
aha from then on throughout
the Scripture the theme is how
this intercourse with God can
be restored. Han persists in hia
primary sin by which he con
tinues to choose his own way.
and refuses to conform to the
win of God and obey him. If
this attitude becomes perma
nent it must result in final sep
aration from God. The problem
then with which the Bible deals
is how man can be reconciled to
God, and tbe answer is by
atonement for his sin through
sacrifice. Then there is the great
difficulty that man has fallen
so low that he does not desire
reconciliation with God and he
must be persuaded to accept
the war God has provided. The
most prominent theme is par
don for sin through sacrifice.
The tendency of modem
scholarship is to discredit the
Bible and to deny; the superna
tural. Beneath all the attacks of
scientists, philosophers, scholars
and theologians upon Christian-1
ity lies the denial of the sUp^
ematural. They have denied
and db deny today the possibil
ity of God's intervening in the
universe. No doubt one reason
why educated men take a neg
ative attitude toward the BiMr
js oecause of ignorance of
actual contents of tile Bibk
self. In many of the great uni
versities the biologfete are
teaching that man is only an
improved animal; the psycho^
logists - are denying that wmm1* ' >
has a soul, while the sociologists
affirm that religion is only an
vine origin" or authority, Some
look upon Christianity as but
one of a great number o# reli
gions in the world. They speak
of it as but one of several great
religions, that has a clearer
conception of the Fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood df
man than the other religions.
It is even claimed that in the
past Christianity borrowed
many of it®, greatest ideas from
other religions. But we believe
Christianity to be the one true
religion, the final religion and
the only one which offers eter
nal salvation. The other reli
gions of the world may have
certain elements of {truth in
them but they must be sup
planted by Christianity, the re
ligion which alone offers a re
deeming Saviour.
Ihe experience of the church
has not taught us how to im
prove upon the religion of the
New Testament. All the wise
men of Christendom, have never
discovered a fresh spiritual
truth of which the Apostles
were ignorant, and they have
never written anything which
deserves to be bound up with
the epistles and the gospels. All
the saints together have not
been able to add a single ray to
the glory of Jesfus Christ. And
yet men will talk of there being
need of rew scriptures to su
percede what we have; their
minds are so preoccupied with
the steady succession of sci
entific discoveries and inven
tions as to suppose that these
could render obsolete the eter
nal truths of divine revelation.
Men have been busy during
many hundreds of years in ef
forts to destroy the Word of
Cod. Atheists, infidels, unbe
lievers, rationalists and higher
critics, all of them through fifty
generations of men have claimed
that they could and would de
stroy the Bible. They are dead
and the Bible is still here.
If it were not the Word
of God and indestructible
then some men or many
men together would have de
stroyed all or some of it. When
ever any great book has ap
peared in the past it has been
j (Cbntinued oh page 2)