CHURCH DOCTRINE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 12, 5 September 1919, Page 8

CHURCH DOCTRINE

-C> PRESBIiTEIiIANISH AND BAPTISM MINISTER WHO WAS IMMERSED ASKED TO RESIGNit TcisgrEpri— Press AuooUtloft Auckland, September 1. Considerable stir has been caused ill Prebyteriau circles in Auckland on account of an effort which has been made to induce the' Hew A. A. Murray, ot St. Andrew's Church, to resign becauso of a proceeding alleged to bo contrary to the doctrine ol : tne Church, it. appears that some months ago Mr. Murray n'iis oaptised, Jj.f iimiitrsiwi, at tne Uospei nan, i'urnell, ijv tne Itcv, \\\ Jj. oalter, a baptist minister. _ A recital of the lacts Was obtained from jur. Murray, lie stated that turee members oi tne Presuytery, the liev. J. W. fcliuw, ot Mount iiiten, tne hew U. jbudd, ot Jjevunport, and tlie itev. U. li, inglis, or Mount Albert, waited on' lum last Tuesday and askeu if lie had been baptised by immersion. Mr. Hurray acknowledged tliat tins was so. The deputation then endeavoured to show that s.ucli an action was not a proper ono according to tho doctrines oi: the Cnurch, and they stated that Presbyterianism stood tor infant baptism, Mr. Murray replied that tho Church gave ministers somo latitude in tho matter. The deputation stated that the only honourable course for Mr. Murray to pursue was to tender his resignation as a Presbyterian minister. He replied that he luul no intention of doing so. He asked what was the real object of the visit, and the roply was that it was to ask him to resign his connection with tho Presbyterian. Church. Tho ministers added that the ease Would be brought before the next meeting of the Presbytery.' Mr. Murray' assured the deputation that ho would refuse to resign. The mntter was brought before the last meeting of St. Andrew's Kirk \ session, and it is stated that all the members expressed astonishment at what was considered an unwarrantable action on tho part of the three members of the Presbytery; No resolution was passed by the ltirk session.

Commenting on the matter, Mr. Murray 6aid that in. the circumstances tlio proposal made to him .by the deputation was simply outrageous. The doctrine of the Presbyterian Church, provided for several forms of baptism, in-, eluding immersion, but expressed a preference for sprinkling. Ho was therefore quite within his rights, and had not violated the doctrine of tho Church, nor had he acted dishonourably. Mr, Murray said it seemed that an attempt was being made to put him out of the Preebyterian Church on account of bin having commenced services on Sunday evenings in the Tivoli 'fheatTo. ■ Effortu were apparently being made to make hiis ministry in Auckland' intolerable. Tho> Presbytory had passed a resolution condemn; iiiff his action in regard to tlio Tivoli Theatro services, but the theatre was in St. Andrew's parish, and St. Andrew's Kirk session had asked Mr. Murray to. hold the services, there and had always upheld his action; AVhon the matter was referred to MSha.w he stated that Messrs. Inglis, Budd and himself had simply formed a friendly deputation, without nny authority whatever, with tho object of trying to pet Mr. Murray to see their viewpoint. They considered there were certain consequences of Mr. action, from (ho Presbyterian standpoint. Beyond this Mr. Shaw declined to make any. statement, on the ground that rn<hi T "- forinal had been done, nor would be until the matter had been brought before tho Presbytery.