PRESBYTERIANS. 



651 



professor in the Union Theological Seminary, New 

 York, who was charged in an overture from the 

 Presbytery of Pittsburg with having taught in his 

 book, "" A History of Christianity in the Apostolic 

 Age," doctrines contrary to the standard of the 

 Church and subversive of the truth of the Scripture. 

 " In this volume," the complaint charged, " the 

 New Testament is very irreverently handled ; no 

 special supernatural guidance is ascribed to its 

 sacred writers ; the genuineness of more than one 

 hall' the books composing it is called in question; 

 discordant and imitually contradictory teachings 

 are declared to be contained in it; and its authority 

 as a divine rule of faith and practice is set aside. 

 Further, in said volume great distinguishing prin- 

 ciples of the Presbyterian Church and even funda- 

 mental doctrines of evangelical Christendom are 

 denied. Against such teachings of said volume the 

 presbytery deems it a duty to bear testimony to 

 disavow all complicity with them, and to condemn 

 them as false and subversive of the Christian faith." 

 Three reports were brought in by the committee to 

 whom the case was referred. All agreed in recog- 

 nizing the interest in the integrity of the doctrine 

 of the Church that was shown by the petitioners in 

 recognizing the widespread belief that the utter- 

 ances of Dr. McGiffert were inconsistent with the 

 teaching of the Scriptures as interpreted by the 

 Presbyterian Church and by evangelical Christen- 

 dom, and in deploring the renewal of controversy, 

 but differed concerning the disposition that should 

 be made of the case. The majority report recom- 

 mended that no action be taken at present, in the 

 earnest hope that Dr. McGiffert might be led to 

 make a satisfactory explanation of his position in 

 relation to the standards of the Church, or in de- 

 fault thereof peaceably to withdraw from the As- 

 sembly. The first minority report advised that the 

 Assembly, without passing judgment upon the 

 teaching of the book or upon the views of its author, 

 direct the Presbytery of New York, of which Dr. 

 McGiffert was a member, to confer with him " for 

 the relief of the Church," either by a satisfactory 

 explanation or otherwise, and to take such further 

 action as the peace and purity of the Church might 

 require. The second minority report recommended 

 'the Assembly, without pronouncing upon the 

 question as to how far the terms employed by the 

 Presbytery of Pittsburg are or are not justified by 

 the actual teachings of the book referred to, deem 

 it wise that no further action be taken." The rec- 

 ommendation in the majority report was amended 

 so as to read that " the Assembly therefore, in the 

 spirit of kindness no less than in devotion to truth, 

 counsels Prof. McGiffert to reconsider the ques- 

 tionable views set forth in his book, and if he can 

 not conform his views to the standards of the 

 Church, then peaceably to withdraw from the Pres- 

 byterian ministry," and was then adopted. Questions 

 concerning the use of wine at the banquets of Pres- 

 byterian colleges and universities had been agitated 

 in the Church for several years, and the attention 

 of the General Assembly had been invited to the 

 subject. More recently an inn had been established 

 at Princeton, N. J., the application of which for a 

 license had been indorsed by some of the professors 

 in the university there. Much feeling had been 

 raised throughout the Church by this apparent im- 

 plication of members of one of its institutions of 

 learning with the liquor traffic ; and the presbytery 

 to which one of them was attached had passed a 

 vote of censure upon him, in consequence of which 

 he had withdrawn from the Presbyterian Church. 

 The Standing Committee on Temperance in its reg- 

 ular report on the subject had represented that the 

 Church was not moribund or somnolent in the sup- 

 port of temperance, but was growing in responsive- 



ness to the calls of God. Respecting overtures 

 from the Synod of South Dakota and the Presby- 

 tery of Chilicothe on Princeton University, and those 

 from two other presbyteries in regard to the use of 

 liquor in connection with schools and colleges, the 

 chairman of the committee represented that the 

 overtures on Princeton rested on misrepresentation. 

 The stand taken by that institution was as high as 

 any in the Church or in the land. A great injus- 

 tice would be wrought touching it by any action 

 other than that proposed by the committee (declar- 

 ing that none was necessary), as it would be con- 

 sidered, whether general or not, as against the in- 

 stitution. The committee's report was not approved, 

 but the minority report, which differed from it only 

 in so far as touched the use of intoxicating liquors 

 in schools, was adopted, " with applause." In it 

 the Assembly reiterated the deliverances of former 

 Assemblies in declaring that the word of God en- 

 joins temperance, and that its principles of loveand 

 self-sacrifice commend total abstinence; urges the 

 ministers and elders to bear frequent and pro- 

 nounced and public testimony against intemper- 

 ance as a menace to all social institutions and op- 

 posed to the achievement of every Christian ideal ; 

 and "called upon all who are connected with our 

 beloved Church to exercise increased diligence and 

 watchfulness over themselves and those committed 

 to their care in respect to intemperance, whether 

 as parents or teachers in our schools and colleges, 

 in order that our homes and schools may be purged 

 of the evil of intemperance, and the drink traffic 

 may be driven from our land, and this without re- 

 flection upon the authorities of any collegiate insti- 

 tutions." It having been shown that the Presby- 

 tery of New York had erased the name of the Rev. 

 Charles A. Briggs, D. D. (see "Annual Cycloptpd ia " 

 for 1896 and 1897). from its roll, its action was ap- 

 proved. In relation to a bill before Congress to 

 authorize the erection of a denominational church 

 on the grounds of the Military Academy at West 

 Point, the Assembly, citing the provision of the 

 Constitution of the United States prohibiting legis- 

 lation respecting an establishment of religion, re- 

 solved that "the Assembly, entertaining the view-* 

 expressed by Judge Story that while Congress may 

 recognize religion in its legislation, as in appoint- 

 ing chaplains, it is prohibited by the Constitution 

 from an enactment recognizing churches or reli- 

 gious sects," therefore entered its protest against 

 the " prospective legislation as being opposed to 

 the Constitution of the United States and the spirit 

 of the institutions of this country." 



Upon invitation of the Board of Foreign Missions 

 of this Church, a conference of various mission 

 boards was held July 13, to consider the subject of 

 establishing missions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the 

 Philippine Islands. A report was adopted declar- 

 ing that the existing situation in these countries 

 involved certain moral and religious responsibilities 

 which, independent of the precise character of the 

 political reflations that might be hereafter formed 

 with them, 'the Christian people of America should 

 carefully consider. It was agreed that the Caro- 

 line Islands should be deemed the distinctive field 

 of the American Board of Commissioners for For- 

 eign Missions. Seven boards had either already 

 undertaken work in Cuba, or were expert ing to un- 

 dertake it, namely, the Home Mission Board of the 

 Southern Baptist Convention, the Missionary So- 

 ciety of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Board 

 of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 South, the General Conference of Free Bapti.-t>. 

 the Foreign Missionary Society of the United Breth- 

 ren in Christ, the American Church Missionary So- 

 ciety of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the 

 New York and Indiana Yearly Meetings of Friends. 



