Report

Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Manhattan divine, returned from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. at Columbus, Ohio. From his pulpit, he declared he would rather submit his conscience to the tyranny of the Pope than to the tyranny of a General Assembly. His devoted congregation prepared to gasp, but quickly found itself smiling when the pastor added: "I never thought I would turn to the Roman Pontiff for liberty."

Dr. Coffin went to the General Assembly, as he had often gone before, one of the many commissioners from the Presbytery of New York. He returned the acknowledged leader of the Liberal elements in his Church, and the potential leader of Liberals in all Evangelical Churches.

There had been one crises at the Assembly. It came when the Judicial Committee handed down judgment that the Presbytery of New York had erred in licensing two young men who had expressed doubt as to whether Jesus had been physiologically born of a virgin. Dr. Coffin, "pale and trembling with excitement," had promptly risen in the name of the New York Presbytery, to protest against the decision. This action resulted in postponement of the issue until a special committee of 15 should have made its investigation of the spiritual condition of the Church.

From his own pulpit, the new leader looked upon the faces of ardent friends. Some had known him from childhood. For Dr. Coffin--a descendant of Commodore Vanderbilt--is that rara avis, a genealogical Manhattanite. Graduated from Yale at the age of 20 with highest honors, he struck out from the ancestral paths, plunged into the ministry, and was soon conducting services in a shoddy room above a fishmarket. His first pulpit was an unadorned wooden plank. His call to the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church followed years of slumming. This Church soon came to have the largest Presbyterian congregation in Manhattan. Meanwhile, it had been a pioneer in the erection of a model Church House for boys' clubs and the like.

Theologically learned, Dr. Coffin is not theologically minded. His audiences in Manhattan and in the leading Universities have known him as a passionate evangelical preacher. The power of Jesus to save souls, the personal significance of the Cross, the hope of life eternal, the simple duties of individual and social righteousness -- these have been his theories.

What, then, is the issue which has called him forth? To his congregation last Sunday, he reported, in effect, as follows:

"This year's General Assembly was dominated by a spirit of Christian charity. The new moderator, Dr. Charles R. Erdman, is a man of peace. Thank God for Dr. Erdman.

"But the Assembly was significant because the theological issue had been fairly, clearly, unmistakably drawn.

"The issue is whether the Presbyterian shall be, like the Roman Catholic, a church of hard and fast dogma, unalterably decreed by the head of the Church, or whether it shall be a Church including in its membership all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as their divine Lord and Master and who desire to do His will.

"If it is to be the former, its rule and doctrine, to the last detail, will be decreed by its General Assembly. This body is elective, contains some learned and some ignorant men, debates many things hastily and may decide a most intricate question by a vote of 399-398.

"The Roman Pontiff, on the other hand, rarely exercises his infallibility; and when he does so it is after mature consideration and with most expert advice.

"If the General Assembly should decide that a literal belief in the Virgin Birth is essential because mentioned in the scriptures (even though Jesus never mentioned it), it must logically decree that a belief in the six-day creation is essential. In such an event, Dr. Coffin must leave the Church. And, more vital, thousands of young people must remain outside.

"To prevent such a ridiculous and such a tragic dilemma is the task of the Liberals.

"It will take a year for the Commission of Fifteen to investigate and another year for their findings to be translated into action. Two years remain for the Liberals to achieve the 'inclusive' church."

Such, in effect, was Dr. Coffin's report. And, since the chief importance of the General Assembly's action in the theological matter is its effect on the Liberals, Dr. Coffin's report may be taken as the net result of the controversy to date.