PRESBYTERIAN NEEDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 May 1922, Page 5

PRESBYTERIAN NEEDS.

PROCEEDINGS AT ASSEMBLY. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Sydney, May 24. The Presbyterian Assembly, after a lengthy debate, adopted in a slightly amended form the Rev. Mr. Harper’s resolutions dealing with the declaration of faith, and sent them for consideration by the General Assembly of Australia. Mr. Harper explained that the aim of the resolutions was that modern philosophy should not be allowed to creep into Christianity. A revision of the confession was necessary. In its new form it should occupy 40 lines instead of 40 pages, and contain only the acceptance of the belief in the diety and the omnipotence of Christ.

The Rev. John Edwards, whose address from the Moderator’s chair last year was the cause of Mr. Harper’s action, said that certain statements of his which had given rise to the present proposal, were made in order to provoke thought. He believed more firmly in the essentials of their doctrine than he had ever done before. He appealed for freedom of thought and speech. The Assembly subsequently adopted the Rev. Mr. Button’s resolution that: “Whereas our standard creeps arose out of the problems and controversies of an age long past and therefore elothed in thought forms, philosophical and theological, of a time very different from the present, that the General Assembly of Australia be requested to appoint a committee to make a full inquiry with a view to determining what attitude the Presbyterian Church of to-day should adopt towards those creeds and confessions, more particularly the Westminster Confession and Catechism, the committee to report to the next Assembly.”