Annie W. Phouston 17.1911

May
Semington

Presbyterianism stands for civil and reli-
gious liberty. It is the embodiment of lib-
erty itself. But while this is true, and al-
ways must be true, it does not mean liberty
to attack fundamental truth. There is civil
freedom in our great republic, and the
United States stands for this; but our Gov-
ernment does not guarantee to men the priv-
ilege of committing crime and still going
free. Our Government is founded on the
good character of its citizens. Destroy
this and the republic will be wrecked.
nation is possible only on the basis of pre-
dominating good citizenship. So does the
Presbyterian Church presuppose evangeli-
cal faith.

Our

We have liberty because we are bound loyally by the faith of the gospel as contained in the inspired word of God. Break down evangelical faith and our Presbyterianism goes to pieces. It is what it is because it has always stood for, and still stands for, the truth of God.

Our Church has doctrinal tests for its ministers, elders and deacons, but the only conditions of church membership are a profession of faith in Christ and obedience to him, followed by baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

"HERETICS" AGAIN.

There can be no doubt that men have, from a worldly and civil point of view, a right to be "heretics." If a man does not believe in the divinity of Jesus, or in the atonement, or in the resurrection, there is no law of man to compel him to do so or to punish him for his refusal. Neither is there any law to forbid his But preaching against these doctrines. there is a certain law of consistency and common sense and fitness which does forbid a man who has repudiated those doctrines to remain in and preach in a church of which they are essential and fundaThe latest mental principles of faith.

"heretic" is quoted as saying that he does not claim to be orthodox and has no desire to be, for he regards orthodoxy as a system based upon ignorance and superstition. In that he is entirely within his right. But it is not within but outside of an orthodox church that he should say such things.

To us the strangest part of it all is, that the "heretics" should try to remain in the churches which they repudiate, and should fight through ecclesiastical trials to retain their places as representatives of creeds in which they no longer believe. What would be thought of a man who was an habitual liquor drinker and openly denounced abstinence, and yet insisted that he should be retained as a member and officer of a total abstinence society? A man who denies and denounces an important article of religious belief, and yet inststs upon remaining a priest of the Church which is founded upon that belief, is guilty of similar self-stultification. There is plenty of room in the world for so-called "heretics." But it is outside the pulpits of the churches whose creeds they have repudiated.-N. Y. Tribune.