The American Congress of Churches.
By Editor
THE "American Congress of Churches" was held in Cleveland, Ohio, May 25-27. We have not yet seen the report of the proceedings, but there lies before us the official statement of its "objects, methods, regulations, list of officers, hymns and prayers, and the programme." Among the vice-presidents we read the name of Mr. J. D. Rockefeller; and among the speakers we read the name of Right Reverend Richard Gilmour, D. D. The subjects stated for discussion are, "A True Church, Its Essentials and Characteristics;" "Religion and Our Public Schools;" "The Present Necessity for a Re-statement of Christian Beliefs;" "The Workingmen's Distrust of the Church, Its Causes and Remedies;" and "Re-adjustment in the Church to Meet Modern Needs." The prayers are, one from the prayer of Balthazar Lydius at the opening of the Synod of Dort; one from the order to Synod in the "Prymer of Sarum Use;" one from the "Day-break Office of the Eastern Church;" one from Benson's "Manual of Intercessory Prayer;" one from the "Missale Mixtum;" one from John Calvin; one from the accession services of Queen Elizabeth; one from the revised American Episcopal Prayer Book; one from Rowland Williams's "Psalms and Litanies;" one from the Alexandrian Liturgy; one from the Liturgy of the "Catholic Apostolic Church;" one from Thomas Aquinas; one from the prayer book of Pope Gregory the Great; and four from the prayer book of Pope Gelasius I. Now when it is remembered that John D. Rockefeller is the president as well as the creator of the Standard Oil Company, one of the most unconscionable monopolies in existence, that Richard Gilmour is the Catholic bishop of Cleveland, that Thomas Aquinas is a saint of the Catholic Church, and, in philosophy, the special pattern recommended by the present pope to be followed, and that Pope Gelasius I. was "one of the popes who contributed most to the extension of the temporal power of the See of Rome," and actually the first to assert the absolute supremacy of the papacy,—then the propriety of the discussion of the questions of a "Re-statement of Christian Beliefs," and "Re-adjustments in the Church to Meet Modern Needs," can be the more readily appreciated. There is not the least doubt, however, that in this view of the Church Congress there is actually shown the tendency, not so much of the modern needs, as of the modern wants of the Church; and that about it which most clearly betrays this tendency is the fact that of the seventeen prayers on the programme, five of them should be from the popes—four of these from one pope—and not one from the Bible! It is evident that a re-adjustment is sadly needed in the Church, and we would suggest that it be a conformity to the word of God rather than to the forms of the papacy.