AT THE ASSEMBLY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2940, 28 November 1916, Page 6

AT THE ASSEMBLY

AN IMPRESSION AND AN APPRECIATION. (By "Sylvius.") Why isn't the gallery crowded? That is a question one is compelled to ask after; an- acquaintance with the personality of the'members of the Presbyterian General Assembly, and the fine gift of speech ..that .nearly every ono. possesses, .The subjects discussed! are..vitally' topical; there -is-110 droning waste of timo; and more often than not- thero is such fire and purpose in the .tone, style, and character of the speaker • that cannot, fail to grip the attention and hold it. Tlie General Assembly is the High Court of the Presbyterian Church. Its members lay and cleric, are there to dißcusß their work to tho one end —that it may be made more effective; to ascertain where weaknesses in systems may lie, and to suggest remedies; to promulgate schemes for tho furtherance at home and abroad of the Christian doctrine; and to do what ihey can as a powerful Church to carry their load of the social work, that neither national legislation nor national prosperity appears to lighten one jot. Prosbyterianism had its origin in Scotland, andl the tenacity to which the Scot adheres to his simple, severe, and earnest form -of worship is a matter of history. Naturally the greater number of its pastors are Scotsmen. Hear the thick burr on tho tongue of most of them with its grating, r's,_ broad I's, and peculiar curly inflections of the voice. Laden with an emotionalism that is rarely "met with in the Englishman, tlio language as spoken by 75 per cent, of the members of the General Assembly, is just sticky with interest. AVith gripful magnetic personalities, as a rule, the harsh barb-wire accent seems to take hold of one's attention and hold' it suspended, whilst its possessor beats his arguments into the inner consciousness with great hammer blows. The Scotsman ,has little subtlety in speech, but there is no denying the force and beauty of language which he can readily summon to his aid to express his exact sentiments. AVlien a minister has something to say in Assembly he says it no matter what tho array of opposite opinion may be, and an apparently hopelessly lost cause is often saved by tho elements of tenacity, and earnest conviction that characterise the average member. It is a mistake to believo that the Presbyterians are narrow. Indeed ( it is doubtful if there is a broader-mind-ed Christian community under the sun than they are. True, they are clannish, which is a national trait—something of the blood—but in Christian they are tolerant to a degree. .During the present Assembly they have admitted ,to license a Congregational minister and a Baptist minister, simply ou what is commonly known 'as to his character and standing as a minister of God, and that without any probation. That does not savour of narrowness, surely. To hear a debate in tho Assembly 011 such subjects as temperance or social work is a deeply intellectual treat, for in the Presbyterian minister one usually has in happy combination the shrewd, hardheaded Caledonian, broadened and uplifted by a. sound education and constant contact with every grado of society in tho community. That is why I wonder why the galleries of St. John's are not crowded every evening.