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��CONGRESSIONAL PAPERS. NO. I— THE HOUSE.
��York Independent of March 28, 1878 :
Some of our readers do not like it because we say that genuine Calvinism is nearly extinct. Let us see what till hon- ored Presbyterian theological professor has to say about it: " Modern theology is not solifidian, nur predestinarian, nor sacramentarian, but Christological." "All Evangelical denominations in their ablest divines are verging towards a Christological theology, in which alone they can ultimately adjust their differen- ces." " The scholastic Calvinists of the seventeenth century mounted the Alpine heights of eternal decrees with intrepid courage, and reveled in the reverential contemplation of the sovereign majesty of God, which seemed to require the
��damnation of the great mass of sinners, including untold millions of heathen and infants, for the manifestation of his terri- ble justice. . . . This system of doc- trine ... is austere and repulsive. It glorifies the justice of God above his mercy." k ' The decree of reprobation is now rarely taught and never preached." " No Reformed Synod (at least on the Continent) could now pass the vigorous canons ot Dort against Armiuianism." " The five knotty points of Calvinism have lost their point, and have been smoothed off by God's own working in the history of the Church." We have merely quoted a few passages from Dr. Schaff's paper before the Edinburgh Presbyterian Council.
��CONGEE SSIONAL PAPEBS. NO. I— THE HOUSE.
��BY G. H. JENNESS.
��At precicely 12 o'clock, noon, the spec- tator will observe a tall, genteel-looking gentleman, with a fine, open counte- nence, smoothly shaven smiling face, high forehead, firmly set chin, regular features, black curly hair and black eyes, enter the Speaker's desk. It is the Hon. Samuel J. Randall, and a sharp tap of his gavel upon the marble slab announces that the United States House of Representatives is "in session." The Chaplain offers a brief prayer and the House proceeds at once to business. Di- rectly in front of the Speaker's desk, and a little below, is the Clerk's desk, con- taining seats for the Clerk of the House, the journal clerk, the two reading clerks and the tally clerk ; and in front of this is a desk at which sit the official phono- graphic reporters of the House, and an agent of the " Associated Press." The Speaker presides, the Clerk signs all the documents that pass the House, the jour- nal Clerk keeps a " minute " of all the bills and resolutions introduced, referred, amended, or passed, and a record of all motions made and votes taken upon each and every subject, His journal briefly epitomizes the proceedings from day to day, and is read from the desk every morning immediately after prayers. The
��reading clerks alternate with each other in reading in a loud voice the various bills, resolutions and amendments offered for consideration, and also the reports of committees, when called for, and such miscellaneous documents as the Hon. gentlemen desire to submit as a part of their remarks." The "tally" clerk keeps a record of all the votes and checks off the name of each member as it is called by the reading clerk, during roll- call, or the taking of the yeas and nays. The official reporters take down in short- hand every word uttered, every paper read, every motion made, and their notes are all written out in full long-hand and the manuscript sent to the government printing office during the night, in order that the .official paper of Congress, the " Congressional Record, " of the next morning may contain a full and accurate report of the proceedings. The agent of the associated press condenses the same and sends it by telegraph all over the country to be read in the newspapers by millions of citizens, who little dream of the amount of work required to prepare this intellectual meal for the political breakfast table. Above and behind the Speaker's chair is the reporter's gallery, where the regular Washington corres-
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