[Ganse Little speaking] We now come to the election of a stated clerk. Fathers and.

Do you wish to make a statement, sir? No. All right. Fathers and brethren and

sisters. I ask you to listen

as carefully and as quietly as you have ever

listened before in this General Assembly to

what I hope will prove to be a pastoral word from your moderator.

I never prayed more earnestly in my life than during the concluding prayer of the

devotional service, which we have just concluded, that I

might use the right words at this moment. And I honestly don't know what

words are going to come out. I know what I want to say.

I know what I feel I must say I do not know how I'm going to say

it. I proceed on the promise of

the New Testament that it will be given you in that hour what you shall speak.

We are about to engage in the most important responsibility that

has come before this General Assembly, with the possible exception

of the adoption and the sending down of the Confession of Nineteen

Sixty-Seven. We are about to

elect a new stated clerk, who

will be, and this is why this is so important, Who will be

and I quote from page fourteen of the Manual of the General Assembly, Section sixteen.

"The executive officer of the General Assembly,

in all matters relating to the meetings of the General Assembly,

and in all other matters for which other provision

is not expressly made." This

election is far more important, far more important, than

the first election with which this Assembly began, the election

of your moderator. Because

you will be electing the Chief Executive Officer.

The Stated Clerk is the chief executive officer of

this assembly, of all other assemblies. It

is so nominated in the bond and

an amazing thing will happen as soon as you have elected him. To

the extent that he proves the

fidelity that you place in him, the faith that you place in him.

To that very extent he will come to the time

where he faces the imputation of

power abuse. There is no way of avoiding

this. This is the penalty that human beings,

being human, exact of that one of their

number whom they ask to lead them. The

office of the moderator, however, is not of insignificant importance

because the moderator in any given General Assembly appoints the

chairman of all committees in order to carry out the

constitutional provisions by which an Assembly must function. This

Assembly was an unusually important assembly because one of its most important,

if not its most important committees, was a standing committee

to report to this assembly its honest judgment concerning a

nomination or nominations for the stated clerk.

I appointed the chairman of that committee. Nobody else.

I did not ask him whether he wanted to serve. I

had no idea of where his own personal concerns or

desires might be. I did not communicate

with him or with any member of the committee which you yourselves elected

in conformance with our constitutional processes.

I did not communicate directly or indirectly. The

night before that committee reported, the chairman of that committee,

upon his own initiative, as in my humble judgment he should have done,

came to me as the moderator, explained the situation in the

committee, which was the first word I had had as to what was going on at all in that

committee, that there was an overwhelming majority

opinion. As I stated to you yesterday,

my reaction to his honest question as to procedure was

that the committee should bring in one name. And,

as I pointed out yesterday, I cannot conceive that a pastoral

nominating committee, operating in a similar context before a congregation,

would have done anything else. We

then asked for nominations from the floor, which is part of our constitutional

procedures. And, the names of two other

excellent men were presented from the floor, as they should

have been. In the view of our constitutional procedures, they should have

been, in terms of our constitutional prerogatives. Then

came the question, which is already been referred to on the

floor this morning. And this is why I suggested at that time that we wait until this time.

The circulation of the addendum to Paper number twenty-seven, twenty-five. A paper

twenty seven. The

Stated Clerk [Blake, Eugene Carson] was very generous this morning in replying to

the question from the floor. But your moderator

bears the responsibility for the final decision to permit the

circulation of this paper. And, I gave my

assent for one reason only. And

that was that this Assembly should clearly understand that

every step that has been taken, from the time that

the Church knew that our present stated clerk was going to

offer his resignation to this very moment,

has been in strict conformity with the constitutional provisions of

the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

Whether a nomination has come out of your own standing committee, whom you yourselves

on elected, or whether a nomination comes from the

floor of this body, we now have three

men, each highly qualified,

for the highest office in our United Presbyterian Church.

You now have under God only one responsability.

And, that is to cast your vote, as the spirit

and the grace of God gives you guidance, for the man whom

you believe possesses the better

set of qualifications. But I beseech you

that your vote be cast on no other basis.

When I was nominated, you heard it stated that my father

in four charges, which are so identical that I could have charged myself the fourth time around,

insisted that I be a good

Presbyter. Because the Presbyterian system is a wonderful system. It

is. The system

has worked to this very hour, objectively,

constitutionally. Let us stop worrying about

the motivations. Let us begin to be concerned that,

in the providence of God, we may have the right next Stated Clerk.

And. Let us proceed to vote. The number of votes cast were

eight hundred and nineteen. The number of votes required to elect

will therefore be, were therefore four hundred and ten. Meister [Rev. John W. Meister]

received three hundred and two. Miller fifteen.

Thompson [Ruling elder William P. Thompson] five hundred and two. He is therefore the new stated clerk of the General Assembly. [Applause]

The

chair recognizes Commissioner Miller at microphone number four. Mr. Moderator

for Dr Meister [Meister, John W.], who cannot make this motion, not being a commissioner,

for myself, we want to appreciate express our appreciation for your kindness and courtesy, your

fairness and enthusiastically move that this election be by

acclamation. It is so moved. Is there a second? As many as favor it, will

please acclaim, "Aye!." Opposed, "No!" It is by

acclamation.

[applause]