PRESBYTERIANS. 



049 



tery had n right t<> prosecute the cano to A conclusion ; 



unil that the ii|>|>ral \\ius in order; anil therefore rec- 

 ommended tluit tin- appeal !> entertained and tin; 

 >ue.d. 



In u rapptomentary statement accompanying 

 the tvport the Hook of Discipline (chap, r 

 4. par. 102, nnd chap, xii, .sec. 4) was cited to 

 show that an appeal directly from the nresby- 

 trt-\ to the General Assembly was provided for 

 and in order, and the observation was added, as 

 hearing upon the passing over the synod to take 

 the case to the Assembly, that " it is eminently 

 desirable that the Assembly making such de- 

 cision should, ns far as practicable, be represen- 

 tative of the entire Church. Should these views 

 be decided on appeal from the Synod of New 

 York, the commissioners from that synod, repre- 

 senting more than one fifth of the entire mem- 

 bership of the Church, would be debarred by 

 section 98 of the Book of Discipline from sitting, 

 deliberating, or voting in the case. Moreover, 

 such a case of exclusion of the Synod of New 

 York might work to the disadvantage of the de- 

 fendant himself. As far as the defendant him- 

 self in this case is concerned, it is manifestly 

 more just that the Assembly, which finally passes 

 upon his case, should not be compelled to exclude 

 his own synod, the Synod of New York." 



The Assembly decided by a vote of 410 to 145 

 to entertain the appeal. A formal judgment 

 was then entered declaring Prof. Briggs guilty 

 of teaching the errors mentioned in the charges 

 which had been sustained, and of violation of 

 his ordination vows, and suspending him from 

 the office of a minister of the Presbyterian 

 Church until he shall give satisfactory evidence 

 to the Genera) Assembly of repentance of his 

 offenses. The committee to whom had been in-, 

 trusted the duty of formulating a deliverance of 

 the Assembly on the doctrinal points involved 

 in the appeal reported that they found "that 

 the doctrine of the errancy of Scripture as it 

 came from them to whom and through whom 

 God originally communicated his revelation, is 

 in conflict with the statements of the Holy 

 Scripture itself . . . and also with the statements 

 of the standards of the Church " ; that involved 

 in the case was the question of the sufficiency of 

 the human reason and of the Church as author- 

 ized guides in the matter of salvation. A rec- 

 ommendation was further made that the Assem- 

 bly declare that the reason and the Church are 

 no't to be regarded as fountains of divine author- 

 ity; that they are unreliable and variable, and 

 while they may be, and no doubt are, channels 

 or media through which the Holy Spirit may 

 reach and influence for good the human soul, 

 they are not to be relied upon as sufficient in 

 themselves and aside from Holy Scripture to 

 lead the soul to a saving knowledge of God ; 

 and that involved in Prof. Briggs's views was a 

 speculation in regard to the process of the soul's 

 sanctification after death, which, in the judg- 

 ment of the Assembly, was a dangerous hy- 

 pothesis, in diivct conflict with the plain teach- 

 ing! of the Divine Word and the utterances of 

 the standards of the Church. 



A protest was entered against the judgment of 

 the Assembly, as involving, in the opinion of the 

 protestants, acts of doubtful constitutionality; 

 as seeming to abridge the liberty of opinion 



hitherto enjoyed under the standards by the 

 office bearers in the Church ; as tending {<, the 

 discouragement of the thorough study of the 

 Bible and reverent advance in apprehension of 

 divine truth ; and as inflicting an injustice on a 

 < 'liristian scholar of acknowledged high charac- 

 ter as well as on the 1'n --l.\ ti TV of New York, 



CHARLES A. DIUGG8. 



which had fully acquitted him of the charges 

 alleged against him. The committee appointed 

 by the preceding General Assembly to arbitrate 

 with the directors of Union Theological Semi- 

 nary reported concerning the proceedings it had 

 taken and the correspondence it had begun with 

 the directors, when all action was concluded by 

 the resolution of the Board of Directors rescind- 

 ing the resolutipn of 1870, by which the com- 

 pact with the General Assembly was adopted. 

 On the recommendation of the committee, the 

 Board of Education was enjoined to give aid to 

 such students only as may be in attendance upon 

 seminaries approved by the Assembly. 



A committee appointed by the previous Gen- 

 eral Assembly on a model constitution for young 

 people's societ ies reported adversely to the adop- 

 tion of a uniform constitution. 



The following paper was adopted declaring 

 the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures : 



The General Assembly reaffirms the doctrine of tlie 

 deliverance of the Assembly of 1892, touching the in- 

 spiration of Holy Scriptures viz., that the original 

 Scriptures of the'Old and New Testament**, being im- 

 mediately inspired of God, were without error, and 

 in so doiiit: declares that the said deliverance enun- 

 ciates no new doctrim- and imposes no new test of 

 orthodoxy, but interprets and gives expression to 

 what has always been the belief of the Church, 

 taught in the Westminster Confession of Faith. 



A protest was entered against this declara- 

 tion, because it insisted upon a certain theory of 



