PRESBYTERIANS. 



G63 



majority vote of the Assembly," be, and the some 



hcrcliV IS, rescinded. 



Ana that tin said arrangement between the Union 

 Theological Seminary in uie city of New York and 

 . ral Assembly of tin- Presbyterian Church in 

 the United States >'( Am.rica hc,*und tin- same is 

 hereby, terminated ; thus reinstating the relations be- 

 twi-cn tin- seminary and the General Assembly us 

 they existed |.r'n)i- to May, 1870. 



Tin' Cane of Prof . Briggs. At the meeting of 

 tin- Synod of New York, held in Albany, Oct. 

 18, complaints were presented concerning the 

 act i< ni of the Presbytery of New York in dis- 

 missing the case of ?rof. Briggs. Of these, de- 

 cisive action was taken upon the complaint of 

 Kev. Dr. Francis Brown against the rulings of 

 the moderator of the presbytery, that the com- 

 mittee which had preferred the charges against 

 Prof. Briggs was a committee of prosecution as 

 provided for in the Book of Discipline, and as 

 such was an original party, and virtually and 

 practically independent of the presbytery. The 

 complaint argued that the committee was not 

 thus constituted, but was the creature of the 

 presbytery, and that its appeal against the de- 

 cision of the presbytery in dismissing the case 

 was virtually an appeal of the presbytery against 

 itself. The synod refused, by a vote of 122 to 

 40, to sustain* the complaint, and adopted the 

 following minute : 



In the matter of the Briggs case the committee find 

 the complaint to be in order, but recommend that it 

 is inexpedient to take action at the present time, be- 

 cause the case, through the action ot the General As- 

 sembly and of the Presbytery of New York, is again 

 before the presbytery, and the complainants will 

 there huvc their remedy in their own hands. And in 

 case the remedy there DC found insufficient, they will 

 afterward have opportunity by appeal or complaint to 

 bring the case again before the synod. 



The new trial of Prof. Charles A. Briggs was 

 begun in the Presbytery of New York, obedient- 

 ly to the directions of the General Assembly, 

 Sov. 9. A new indictment had been prepared, 

 including some new charges and variant readings 

 of the old charges, making the whole number of 

 charges 8. The amended charges, without the 

 specifications by which they were supported, are 

 as follow: 



1. The Presbyterian Church in the United States 

 of America charges the Kev. Charles A. Briggs, D. D., 

 being a minister of the said Church and a member of 

 the Presbytery of New York, with teaching that the 

 reason is a fountain of divine authority which may 

 and does savingly enlighten men, even such men as 

 reject the Scriptures as the authoritative proclama- 

 tion of the will of God and reject also the way of sal- 

 vation through the mediation and sacrifice of'the Son 

 of God as revealed therein; which is contrary to 

 the essential doctrine of the Holy Scripture and of 

 the standards of the said Church, that the Holy Scrip- 

 ture is most necessary and the rule of faith and prac- 



ticc. 



J. With teaehiinr that the Church is a fountain of 

 divine authority which, apart from the Holy Scrip- 

 ture, may and does savingly enlighten men ; which is 

 contrary to the essential doctrine of the Holy Scrip- 

 tun- and .if the standards of the said Church, 'that the 

 Holy Scripture is most neeessury and the rule of faith 

 and practice. 



8. With teaching that errors may have existed in 

 the original text of the Holy Scripture as it came 

 from its authors; which is contrary to the essential 

 doctrine taught in the Holy Scripture and in the 

 standards of the said Church, that the Holy Scripture 



is the Word of God written, immediately inspired, and 

 the rule of faith and practice. 



4. With teaching that many of the Old Testament 

 predictions haver been reversed by history, and that 

 the great body of Messianic prediction has not been 

 and can not pe fulfilled ; wjiich is contrary to the 

 ess. ntial doctrine of Holy Scripture and of the stand- 

 ards of the said church, that God i.- true, omniscient, 

 and unchangeable. 



5. With teaching that Moses is not the author of 

 the Pentateuch ; which is contrary to direct state- 

 ments of Holy Scripture and to the essential doctrines 

 of the standards of the said Church, that the Holy 

 Scripture evidences itself to be the Word of God by 

 the consent of all the parts, and that the infallible 

 rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture 

 itself. 



6. With teaching that Isaiah is not the author of half 

 of the book that bears his name ; which is contrary to 

 direet statements of Holy Scripture and to the essen- 

 tial doctrines of the standards of the said Church, that 

 the Holy Scripture evidences itself to be the Word of 

 God by the consent of all the parts, and that the in- 

 fallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scrip- 

 ture itself. 



V. With teaching that the processes of redemption 

 extend to the world to come in the case of many who 

 die in sin ; which is contrary to the essential doctrine 

 of Holy Scripture and the standards of the said Church, 

 that the processes of redemption are limited to this 

 world. 



8. With teaching that sanctification is not complete 

 at death ; which is contrary to the essential doctrine of 

 Holy Scripture and of the standards of the said Church, 

 that the souls of believers are at their death at once 

 made perfect in holiness. 



Besides presenting a demurrer to the validity 

 of the indictment, Prof. Briggs offered objec- 

 tions to the fourth and seventh charges as con- 

 sisting of new matter. The trial then proceeded 

 on the other six charges. The vote of the pres- 

 bytery was taken Dec. 30, and resulted in a ver- 

 dict of " Not sustained " on all the charges, as fol- 

 lows : First charge, 59 to sustain and 69 not to 

 sustain ; second charge, 55 to 72 ; third charge, 

 61 to 72 ; fourth charge (numbered 5 in the in- 

 dictment given above), 54 to 72; fifth charge 

 (numbered 6), 48 to 76 ; sixth charge (numbered 

 8), 57 to 69. In the minute recording its ver- 

 dict, adopted Jan. 9, 1893. the presbytery ex- 

 plained : 



pnncipl 

 convicte 



in the interpretation of ambiguous expressions "can- 

 dor requires that a court should favor the accused by 

 putting upon his words the more favorable rather 

 than the less favorable construction " ; and that " there 

 are truths and forms with respect to which men ot 

 good character may differ." 



Giving due consideration to the defendant's expla- 

 nations of the language used in his inaugural address, 

 accepting his frank and full disclaimer of the inter- 

 pretation which has been put upon some of its phrases 

 and illustrations, crediting his affirmations of loyalty 

 to the standards of the Church and to the Holy bcrip- 

 tures as the only infallible rule of faith and practice, 

 the presbytery do not find that he has transgressed 

 the limits of 'liberty allowed under our Constitution 

 to scholarship and opinion. 



Therefore, without expressing approval of the crit- 

 ical or theological views embodied in the inaugural 

 address, or the manner in which they have been ex- 

 pressed and illustrated, the presbytery pronounces 

 the Rev. Charles A. Briggs, D. D., fully acouitted of 

 the offenses alleged against him the several charges 

 and specifications accepted for probation having been 

 " not sustained." . . . 



