Merger

The 16th Century was a period of burning religious modifications. Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Germany led the revolt for Reformation against the current Catholicism. There Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) followed and modified somewhat Luther's tenets. To Switzerland John Calvin (1509-64), a Frenchman, migrated, learned the doctrine of Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531). The Lutheran Church follows Luther's teachings. The Presbyterian and the Reformed Churches follow those of Calvin and Zwingli.

The two latter Churches are quite similar in their creeds and their organizations. The Reformed developed on the Continent, the Presbyterian in Scotland. Both aver as fundamental principles the undivided sovereignty of God in His universe, the sovereignty of Christ in salvation, the sovereignty of the Scriptures in faith and conduct, and the sovereignty of the in dividual conscience in the interpretation of the word of God. As a polity they recognize Christ as the only head of the church and source of all power, and the people of Christ as entitled unde their Lord to participation in the government and administration of the church. Their disciples consider one another equals. Their pastors are peers. Church government lies not in the hands of individuals but in representative courts -- the session, the presbytery and the general assembly for Presbyterians; the consistory, the classis and the general synod for the Reformed -- only a difference of terminology. The Reformed is a mite more conservative than the Presbyterian.*

In the U. S. the Presbyterian and Reformed denominations have coalesced into the General Council of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in America. At the same time there has existed the American section of the Alliance of Reformed Churches throughout the world.

Representatives of these two bodies in the U. S. met last week in Atlantic City to ratify a proposed merger into the American Section of the Alliance of Reformed Churches Throughout the World Holding the Presbyterian System. They stood for almost 18,000 churches, 17,000 ministers, 3,000,000 members.

The opening conference was presided over by Henry Chapman Swearingen, D.D., LL.D., pastor of the House of Hope Presbyterian Church of St. Paul since 1907. He has been a member of the General Council of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. since 1923, member of the Department of Church Co-operation since 1922, on the Executive Committee of Presbyterian Alliance since 1921, of the Federal Council of Churches since 1922, member of the Minnesota State Board of Parole since 1915. Honors sit comfortably on his broad brow topped by his wavy grey hair. Fellows at the conference looked at him, saw a well-groomed personage, a man of round and cheery face. Those little wrinkles peeping behind his rimless eyeglasses were of good humor and of study, not of irascibility.

Dr. Swearingen brought the conference to order, spoke a bit on the "greatest opportunity for the Church in general since the Reformation," the opportunity to soothe racial and national unrest. Dr. R. P. Mackay of Toronto urged the teaching of Christianity in the schools as a preventive of lawlessness, domestic infelicity and other social unrest. Dr. George Warren Richards of Lancaster, Pa., read the rules for the merger. All except Dr. George Summey of New Orleans agreed. He dissented because he felt that the benefits of the union were not clear, as the General Council was only an executive body while the Alliance was the Church itself. Proponents pointed out that the union will bring economies and efficiency.

The terms of the merger will be presented to the judicatories next June for final ratification.

*Presbyterians point with pride to the fact that U. S. political organization closely resembles their Church polity.