634 



PEESBYTERIANS. 



The General Assembly of the Free Church of 

 Scotland met at Edinburgh, May 20th. The 

 Kev. Dr. T. Main, of Edinburgh, was elected 

 moderator. The case of Professor Eobertson 

 Smith, who was charged with impugning the 

 inspiration and divine authority of the Scrip- 

 tures in his article on the Bible in the " Ency- 

 clopaedia Britannica," came up for final disposi- 

 tion. An account of this case, and of the pro- 

 ceedings of the General Assembly of 1879 upon 

 it, is given in the "Annual Cyclopedia" for 

 1879. The Assembly of 1879 had reduced the 

 libel against Professor Smith to one count, 

 which charged him with holding views as to the 

 historic character of the Book of Deuteronomy 

 contradicting the doctrine of the direct inspira- 

 tion, infallible truth, and divine authority of 

 the Scriptures. When the amended form of 

 libel was sent down to the Presbytery of Aber- 

 deen, Professor Smith claimed to be heard on 

 the relevancy of the charge ; and, on the Pres- 

 bytery deciding to serve the libel, he took a 

 protest to the superior courts. The Presbytery 

 thereupon agreed to resist procedure, and re- 

 port the whole case to the Synod. The Synod 

 of Aberdeen took a similar course when the 

 case came before it, and the matter was thus 

 brought again into the Assembly. Several 

 motions, were made for the disposition of the 

 case, the Assembly divided upon two of 

 them. One of these two was moved by Sir 

 Henry Moncrieff, and was to the effect that the 

 libel should be dropped, but that, in view of 

 the sense of the Church to the danger lying in 

 the line of view and discussion adopted by 

 Professor Smith, as embodied in the previous 

 proceedings on the subject, and inasmuch as 

 Professor Smith no longer retained that meas- 

 ure of confidence on the part of the Church 

 which was necessary to the edifying and useful 

 performance of his professorial work, he must 

 now cease to occupy any longer the chair of 

 Hebrew and Old Testament Literature in the 

 University of Aberdeen. The Rev. Dr. Beith 

 moved " that the General Assembly, con- 

 sidering that the course of the case has con- 

 firmed the report of the college committee, that 

 they had not found any ground sufficient to 

 justify a process for heresy against Professor 

 Robertson Smith, inasmuch as seven of the 

 eight counts in the original libel have been 

 found irrelevant, while, with regard to the re- 

 maining count, the explanations offered by 

 Professor Smith at various stag'es, and, in par- 

 ticular, his answer to the amended libel, afford 

 satisfactory evidence that in this aspect of the 

 case there is not sufficient ground to support 

 the process for heresy, do resolve to withdraw 

 the libel against him. Further, the Assembly, 

 finding that Professor Smith is blameworthy 

 for the unguarded and incomplete statements 

 of his articles, which have occasioned much 

 anxiety in the Church, and given offense to 

 many brethren zealous for the honor of the 

 Word of God, instruct the Moderator to ad- 

 monish Professor Smith with due solemnity as 



to the past, in the confident expectation that 

 the defects referred to will be guarded against 

 and avoided in time to come. And, finally, the 

 Assembly declares that, in declining to decide 

 on these critical views by way of discipline, 

 the Church expresses no opinion in favor of 

 their truth or probability, but leaves the ulti- 

 mate decision to future inquiry, in the spirit of 

 patience, humility, and brotherly charity, ad- 

 monishing professors to remember that they are 

 not set for the propagation of their own opin- 

 ions, but for the maintenance of the doctrine and 

 truth committed to the Church.'- This resolu- 

 tion was adopted by a vote of 299, to 290 votes 

 for the motion of Sir Henry Moncrieff. Profess- 

 or Smith accepted the settlement, and said, in 

 response to the admonition of the Moderator: 

 "I hope that I am not out of place when I say 

 that, while I thank God for the issue of this 

 evening an issue which, 1 trust, will be for his 

 glory and for the maintenance of his truth I 

 have never been more sensible than on the 

 present occasion of the blame that rests upon 

 me for statements which have proved so in- 

 complete that, even at the end of three years, 

 the opinion of this house has been so divided 

 upon them. I feel that, in the providence of 

 God, this is a very weighty lesson to one placed 

 as I am, in the position of a teacher ; and I 

 hope that by his grace I shall not fail to learn 

 by it." Sir Henry Moncrieff moved a resolu- 

 tion to invite each theological professor to send 

 in by February, 1881, a statement of the views 

 he was prepared to teach to his students re- 

 garding the genuinenesss, authenticity, and in- 

 spiration of the Scriptures. Dr. Adam moved 

 that, while there was no good cause for taking 

 such action as was proposed, professors and 

 ministers alike be exhorted to lay to heart the 

 lessons which the important case just decided 

 was fitted to convey. Dr. Adam's motion was 

 adopted. A resolution was adopted declaring 

 the possession by a single church of the excep- 

 tional position and privileges of an established 

 church to be "most unjust and thoroughly un- 

 reasonable " ; that the termination of the con- 

 nection between church and state " would re- 

 move a great obstacle to the religious well- 

 being of the country, and to the prospect of a 

 harmonious and flourishing Presbyterianism in 

 Scotland " ; that the funds set free by disestab- 

 lishment " ought to be employed in objects 

 connected with the welfare of the community, 

 and among these is an improved and completed 

 system of education in conformity with the 

 convictions of the people of Scotland " ; tin 

 the time has come to press this policy, ai 

 that Parliament be petitioned in favor of it. 



A new volume of the " Encyclopedia Bri- 

 tannica " was published a short time after th< 

 Assembly adjourned, containing an article by 

 Professor Smith on the "Hebrew Language 

 and Hebrew Literature," in which some of the 

 views stated in the former article on the " Bi- 

 ble " were substantially repeated. It embodied 

 criticisms of the Book of Jonah and an exam- 



