698 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



VIII. CnrRcn OF SCOTLAND. The General 

 Assembly of the Established Church of Scot- 

 land met at Edinburgh, May 23d. The Earl of 

 Koslyn represented the Queen as Lord High 

 Commissioner. The Very Rev. Principal Tul- 

 loch was chosen Moderator. The financial re- 

 ports showed that the sum realized during the 

 year for religious, benevolent, and other pur- 

 poses of the Church, had been 373,706, or 

 1 1,000 less than the sum reported one year pre- 

 viously. The Committee on Jewish Missions 

 reported concerning the work carried on at 

 Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, Beyrout, 

 and Salonica. Its income had fallen off so that 

 its expenditures exceeded its receipts. The re- 

 port of the Home Mission Committee showed 

 that it had devoted much attention to church- 

 building. Fifteen new parishes had been erect- 

 ed under the auspices of the Endowment Com- 

 mittee during the year. The Education Com- 

 mittee, upon making its report, was instructed 

 to consider the propriety of endeavoring, by 

 communication with other churches, " to bring 

 about united action in maintaining inspection in 

 religions knowledge, and affording grants for 

 excellence therein." The Committee on Sun- 

 day Schools reported that the number of such 

 schools was 1,847, with 16,269 teachers and 

 170,613 scholars. Overtures were presented 

 asking for a relaxation of the form of subscrip- 

 tion to the Confession of Faith taken by elders 

 upon their induction. The Assembly denied 

 the request by dismissing the overtures. A dis- 

 cussion arose on the presentation of the re- 

 port of the Committee on Foreign Missions, 

 upon a proposal for the establishment of some 

 kind of union among the Presbyterian churches 

 for the conduct of missions to the heathen. An 

 understanding was reached that the Committee 

 would report on the possibility of such coop- 

 eration in India. On this subject the Commit- 

 tee on Union with other Churches reported 

 that they had addressed certain ministers and 

 elders in other churches, inviting cooperation 

 in Christian work, and had found that, while 

 opinions were different regarding cooperation 

 at home, a general conviction existed that 

 some agreement might be arrived at among 

 the churches in the foreign field, which would 

 make them recognize each other's presence in 

 it, so as to give no appearance of competing 

 missions at any one place. The report was 

 adopted, and the Committee on Union was re- 

 appointed to carry on its labors, with instruc- 

 tions to watch over the motions before the 

 House of Commons for inquiring into the posi- 

 tion of the Presbyterian churches of Scotland 

 with a view to union. An overture was re- 

 ceived from the Presbytery of Glasgow asking 

 for the appointment of a committee which 

 lould frame or recommend a formula of Chris- 

 tian doctrine for the especial use of the native 

 churches in connection with the mission in In- 

 dia, which should " sufficiently secure the ac- 

 knowledgment of the essential truths held by 

 the Church catholic, and at the same time leave 



room for the free development of native thought 

 and affinity." The subject was referred to the 

 Foreign Mission Committee, with instructions 

 to confer with other Presbyterian churches and 

 missionary societies, and report to the next 

 Assembly. 



IX. FEEE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND. The Gen- 

 eral Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland 

 met at Glasgow, May 23d. The Rev. A. Bonar, 

 D. D., was elected Moderator. The financial 

 reports showed that the total income of the 

 Church for the year had been 575,718, or 

 10,523 more than the income of the previous 

 year. The amount raised for the Sustentation 

 Fund was 179,087, a sum sufficient to allow 

 an equal dividend of 157, and raise the sti- 

 pend of ministers whose congregations reach 

 the standard requisite to qualify them for par- 

 ticipation in the surplus to 200. The Church 

 Extension Building Fund Committee had re- 

 ceived 82,190 of the 100,000 they were en- 

 deavoring to raise for church extension. The 

 most important question before the Assembly 

 was the appeal in the case of Prof essor Robert- 

 son Smith, of the University of Aberdeen, in- 

 volving charges of heresy. Professor Smith 

 had contributed articles to the new edition of 

 the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," including one 

 on the Bible, in which he had embodied some 

 of the conclusions reached by modern criticism 

 concerning the authorship of some of the books 

 of the Scriptures, and concerning inspiration, 

 which were held to be contrary to those set 

 forth in the Confession of Faith. He had 

 been tried before the Presbytery of Aberdeen 

 on a libel in three counts : 1. The publishing 

 and promulgating of .opinions which contra- 

 dict or are opposed to doctrines set forth in 

 the Scriptures or the Confession of Faith ; 

 2. The publishing and promulgating of opin- 

 ions which are in themselves of a dangerous 

 and unsettling tendency in their bearings on 

 doctrines set forth in the Scriptures and the 

 Confession ; and 3. The publishing of writings 

 concerning the books of Scripture which, by 

 their neutrality of attitude in relation to doc- 

 trines set forth in the Scriptures and the Con- 

 fession, and by their rashness of statement in 

 regard to the critical construction of the Scrip- 

 tures, tend to disparage the divine charac- 

 ter and authority of these books. The Pres- 

 bytery found the eight particulars under the 

 first count irrelevant, found the second count 

 relevant, and did not reach the consideration 

 of the third count. An appeal was taken to 

 the Synod, which sustained the Presbytery oh 

 the first count, but reversed its decision on 

 the second count. An appeal was then taken 

 to the General Assembly. The Assembly re- 

 versed the findings of the Presbytery on the 

 second particular of the first count, which con- 

 demned the opinion that " the book of in- 

 spired Scripture called Deuteronomy, which is 

 professedly an historical record, does not possess 

 this character, but was made to assume it by 

 a writer of a much later age, who therein, in the 



