PRESBYTERIANS 



755 



The organization of young people's societies for 

 Christian culture ami work was commended. 

 Tin- disposition prevalent in the denomination 

 t<> work for temperance within the lines of the 

 Church was approved; members were urged to 

 make their lives a quiet rebuke to any evil indul- 

 gences fostered by fashion; the efforts of the 

 Christian women of the country in behalf of 

 temperance wen: commended ; and a representa- 

 tion was ordered sent to the United States Sen- 

 ate in favor of the participation of the United 

 States in joint action by the powers against the 

 tratlic in slaves and liquor in Africa. A propo- 

 sition favoring an exhibit at the Columbian 

 World's Fair of the influence of religion on 

 civilization was approved of ; and a request was 

 ordered made of the directors of the fair that 

 they decide at once that its doors shall not be 

 opened to the public on Sunday. 



The Case of Prof. Brigg's. The address 

 of Prof. Charles A. liriggs, which formed the 

 subject of the most earnest debates in the 

 General Assembly, was delivered by him on the 

 occasion of his installation into the Edward 

 Robinson professorship of- Biblical Theology in 

 the Union Theological Seminary, New York. 

 This was a new professorship which had been 

 founded and endowed by the Hon. Charles 

 Butler. Prof. Briggs, who had for many years 

 occupied the chair of Hebrew in the same semi- 

 nary, was chosen to fill it, and was installed into 

 it on Jan. 20. After making the subscriptions 

 required of professors in Presbyterian semina- 

 ries, and receiving the charge, he delivered an 

 address on "The Authority of the Scriptures," 

 of which he furnished a syllabus to the public 

 journals. 



In this address he affirmed that historically there 

 arc three great fountains of divine authority the 

 Bible, tlie ( 'hurdi, and the reason. The majority of 

 Christians have from the apostolic age found God 

 through the Church. Other means used by God to 

 make himself known were defined as the forms of 

 reason, the metaphysical categories, and conscience 

 and the relLnous reeling. There arc those who 

 would refuse rationalists a place in the company of 

 the faithful, but they forget, the speaker held, that 

 the essential thing is to find God ; and if these men 

 have found God without the mediation of the Church 

 and the Bible, Church and Bible are means, not ends ; 

 they are avenues to God, not God. The speaker re- 

 gretted that these rationalists depreciate the means of 

 L'ni'T so essential to most of us, but we are warned 

 lest we commit the same error, and depreciate reason 

 and the Christian consciousness. 1'rotestant Chris- 

 tianity builds its life and faith on the divine author- 

 ity contained in the Scriptures, and is charged with 

 too often dcpreciatini: the ( 'liuivh and reason. Men 

 are influenced hv their temperaments and environ- 

 ments which of the three ways of access to (Jod they 

 pursue. As obstructions which have- been thrown up 

 by the follies of men to each of these a\vnucs. Prof. 

 BliggS Spoke of traditions, formalities in phrase and 

 expression, and views of doetrine which, mivinir hc- 

 come habitual and crystallized, have been invested 

 with erroneous meanings and need to be discarded r 

 modified. Of a true biblical theology, the OMI 

 prominent feature is theopliany. The institutions 

 of the Old Testament religion become tor all aL'es 

 and for all men the appropriate symbol* of the univer- 

 sal reli'/ion. The Cod of the Bible is one Cod a !'- 

 iiii; high above the best scheme of philosophical 

 theism and the most .skillful Construction* of the 

 systematic theologian. The favorite divine attribute 

 of the Old Testament and the Ne\v is the attribute of 



mi re\. with love trannoendinc human iiwen of oon- 

 ceptioii. The doctrine of OMB to the Bibb . a di- 



\ ine doetrinc. presenting Miiful man iii ti .. midxt of 

 an original iiui* -ney and an ultimate |~ rfecUon, 

 with sin us only u tcmi>oriiry condition. 



in (Mini of the love ol 'Cod. '.\ tllllirl.t ill tin Blhli- it 

 alms t<> remove ull the ill* that flch i heir to; it 



comprehends the W hole proe. ; it ill a fault 



of Protestant theology thut it limit-, redemption to 

 this world. " Pr<vreiwi\i- Minctitieution utter death 

 is the doetrine of the Hihle and the chun-h. The 

 bugbear of a judgment immediately uttir death and of 

 a magicul transformation in the dying hour should be 

 banished from the world, and we chould ln,k with 

 hope and joy for the continuance of the pioconof 

 grace and the wonders of redemption in the . ompany 

 of the blessed to which we are all hiu-tcning "; the 

 biblical redemption is the redemption of our race. 

 " The Bible does not teach universal salvation, but it 

 does teach the salvation of the world i nd of the race 

 of man ; and that can not be acoomplUhed t>v the 

 selection of a limited number from the macs." There 

 is ample room for criticism in the ethieal precepts 

 and in the conduct of the holy men of the Bible. But 

 the greatest sin against the Bible has been the neg- 

 lect of the ethics of Jesus. The Messiah is the cul- 

 mination of the Old Testament. The exposition of 

 the theology thus briefly outlined closed with a dem- 

 onstration of the harmony of all the sources ot 

 authority. 



The Presbytery of New York, with which 

 Prof. Briggs's direct ecclesiastical relations lie, in 

 April, 1891, appointed a committee to consider 

 his inaugural address in its relation to the Con- 

 fession of Faith and the action it would be 

 proper to take upon it. The committee reported 

 in May, comparing the expressions of the ad- 

 dress with the doctrinal statements of the Con- 

 fession, and recommending that the committee 

 enter at once upon the judicial investigation of 

 the case. This report was adopted, with the res- 

 olution recommending investigation as against 

 a minority report advising that no judicial pro- 

 ceedings be entered upon. The board of direct- 

 ors of the seminary addressed a list of Questions 

 to Prof. Briggs framed with a view of testing 

 his doctrinal soundness on the particular points 

 involved; upon receiving his replies to which, 

 the Directors declared 



That this board has listened with satisfaction to 

 the categorical replies rendered bv l>r. Bribes to tin- 

 questions submitted to him, and that it trusts that the 

 manner in which he has therein dealt with the points 

 that are in dispute will operate to correct the mis- 

 apprehensions that are current and to quiet the dis- 

 turbing condition of mind in which, as a communion, 

 .we are so unhappily involved. 



Prof. Briggs's associates in the faculty of the 

 seminary published a statement in which, while 

 they recognized and deprecated the dogmatic 

 and irritating character of his utterances in his 

 inaugural address and other writings, they 

 averred that they did not recognize, even in 

 these, any warrant for persistent misrepresent a- 

 t ions of liis views, and for the style and temper 

 in which, they iid, in manv cases, he hud I ecu 

 assailed; and they proceeded to show that the 

 expressions objected to could bo explained con- 

 sistently with orthodoxy and the Westminster 

 Confession. At a special meeting held after the 

 action of the General Assembly, on .lime *>, the 

 hoard of directors resolved that, after having 

 taken legal advice and after due consideration, 

 they saw no reason to change their views on the 

 subject of the transfer of Dr. Briggs, and felt 



