656 



PRESBYTERIANS. 



against Dr. John Campbell, Professor of Church 

 History and Apologetics in the Presbyterian Col- 

 lege, Montreal, of teaching heresy in a Sunday 

 afternoon lecture delivered at Queen's Univer- 

 sity, Toronto, Feb. 27, 1893. The lecture was on 

 " The Perfect Book or the Perfect Father," and, 

 it was alleged, contained expressions impugning 

 the infallibility of the Bible and the perfection 

 of the character of God. as described in it. At 

 a meeting of the presbytery held July 14, a com- 

 mittee which had been appointed to confer with 

 Prof. Campbell reported that in an interview 

 with them he acknowledged that he had spoken 

 somewhat strongly in his lecture, but declared 

 that he still adhered to the main position taken 

 in it, " namely, his disbelief in the entire iner- 

 rancy of the inspired revelation of the Old Testa- 

 ment." Prof. Campbell then presented a state- 

 ment to the presbytery embodying a more explicit 

 definition of his views. 



A "libel" against Prof. Campbell was draught- 

 ed, which, as amended at the meeting of the pres- 

 bytery on Aug. 1, charged him with holding and 

 teaching (1) a view of the inspiration of the 

 Holy Scriptures which impugns and discredits 

 them as the supreme and infallible source of re- 

 ligious truth ; and (2) a view of God which sets 

 him forth as one who does not smite either in 

 the way of punishment or discipline, and who 

 has nothing to do with the judging or punishing 

 of the wicked. The libel was declared relevant. 

 The trial took place at the meeting of the presby- 

 tery, Sept. 12, when, after hearing Prof. Campbell 

 again in his own defense and the argument of 

 the prosecution, the court found the libel sus- 

 tained in both counts. The defendant entered a 

 protest against the decision and an appeal to the 

 Synod of Ottawa, giving as the ground of his 

 action " that the presbytery, in the consideration 

 of the arguments on which the decision was 

 based, failed to weigh the Scriptural ones pre- 

 sented by the defense, which the appellant re- 

 gards as sufficient to exonerate him from the 

 charges contained in the libel." In reply to this 

 the presbytery set forth that it had " had before 

 it all the arguments and Scriptural references, 

 written and oral, used by Prof. Campbell in his 

 defense, before coming to a judgment in the 

 counts in the libel, but it was unable to discover 

 in them any material modification of the views 

 set forth in the printed address which occasioned 

 the process against him. Besides, when asked 

 whether he withdrew or modified the views com- 

 plained of, Prof. Campbell declined to comply, 

 and therefore all his pleadings before the court 

 were properly regarded as an attempt to justify 

 the statements of the printed lectures founded 

 in the libel rather than the manifestation of a 

 desire to withdraw or modify them." 



IX. Church of Scotland. The Committee 

 on the Statistics of the Church reported to the 

 General Assembly in May that the whole num- 

 ber of communicants was 604,984, showing an 

 increase of 5.453. The number of elders had 

 increased from 8,856 to 9,085. The total of con- 

 tributions for the year amounted to 360,587, a 

 decrease of 15,482 from the previous year, be- 

 ing mainly due to the falling off of legacies. 

 The total expenditure for foreign missions had 

 been 10.894, showing an increase of 2.516. 

 The missionary property was valued at 550,- 



150. The European mission staff numbered 40 

 men, with 24 wives of missionaries. Two hun- 

 dred and seventy-one Christian natives, 8 of 

 whom were ministers, were employed in the serv- 

 ice of the mission. Eight hundred and twenty- 

 five persons had been baptized during the year 

 in the various mission fields. 



The General Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 

 18. The Rev. Dr. John Marshall Lang, of 

 Glasgow, was chosen moderator. Prof. Charteris 

 gave notice of a motion, pertinent to the jubilee 

 of the Free Church, to the effect that the Assem- 

 bly, while it firmly adhered to the position main- 

 tained fifty years ago by their predecessors, who 

 nobly struggled to maintain their national 

 Church, record its admiration of the heroism 

 displayed and the sacrifices made for conscience' 

 sake by those who then seceded. 



An expression of sympathy with the Irish 

 Presbyterian Church in its apprehensions of 

 disaster to follow the establishment of home 

 rule in Ireland was adopted. 



The report of the Commission on the Religious 

 Condition of the People referred to the improved 

 condition of farm servants in respect to wages, 

 but regretted their practical exclusion from so- 

 ciety and the consequent temptations to immo- 

 rality. The report of the Committee on Church 

 Interests defined the position of the Church to 

 be one of opposition to any action of Parliament 

 reversing the ecclesiastical policy of centuries in 

 the relations of Church and state till Scotland 

 had unmistakably declared its mind on the 

 subject, and of reliance on the pledge of the Gov- 

 ernment for the observance of that condition. 

 The Committee on the Proper Conduct of Pub- 

 lic Worship and the Celebration of the Sacra- 

 ments recommended the preparation of a table 

 or tables of Scriptural readings, to embrace 

 every day in the year, for use in public worship ; 

 the printing of the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds 

 &t the end of the Hymnal ; the giving of author- 

 ity to ministers to administer the sacrament to 

 sick or aged persons at their homes : and the au- 

 thorization of a religious service at the burial 

 of the dead, a part of which may be conducted 

 at the grave. The report was adopted and the 

 committee was ordered to report to the next As- 

 sembly the replies from presbyteries. Nearly 

 32,000 persons, showing a considerable increase 

 from the previous year, were returned as belong- 

 ing to strictly Church temperance societies. 



X. Free Church of Scotland. The General 

 Assembly met in Edinburgh, May 18. The Rev. 

 Walter C. Smith, of Edinburgh, was chosen 

 moderator. The report on the state of religion 

 and morals cited several instances showing that 

 observance of the rules was relaxed in some parts 

 of the Church, with detrimental influences on 

 morality. The present meeting of the Assembly 

 marked the fiftieth year of the independence of 

 the Church, and was made the occasion of cele- 

 brating its jubilee. A congratulatory letter on 

 the subject from Mr. Gladstone was read. The 

 moderator delivered a jubilee address. Delegates 

 were present or congratulations received from 

 various churches throughout the world, among 

 which were the United Presbyterian Synod, the 

 Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Evangelical 

 Missionary Church of Belgium, the Evangelical 

 Society of Geneva, the Welsh Presbyterian 



