, 1874-05-19

| who does toach positive orrora along with liH
ovs to a"o tho true i,.to1 Gospel T.
minister OF ON Church residlng in q diatnnt
city, In which ho oxprosacs his admiration Of tho
hln volume. Truths Tor tro.lay,'' which tho
! prosecutor las found to be 80 full Of ieresy.
t. Nor Is II the question wlotller Prof. Swing
Inns not sometimes used family language. There
not often use oxprosafona TINT nro opon to critic
ien, md that aoom to borter Oh doubtful views.
Prof. Swing, It must DO repeated, docs not pro-
fcaa to Do trained theoiogan, and, in tho cir
Of genoraly relasod facts and idcast 1t would not
| Do strango II ho should sometimes put tbinga in
| such ralntions ~ to afford opportunity for IN
Ingenious critic to dotoot appearances OF implied
error wlero none WAS intended or thought Of by
tho apoakor porhaps wo cannot explain Or do
fend nl Of Prof. swlng's expressions, but this Ia
! not tho point
TIE REAL QUESTIONS
| arc these: II thoro clear proof thas Prof.
| Swing doos not s|ncore1y roeelve aud adopt tho
| Confession OF Faith as containing tho syetom Of
| doctrine taught In tLe Holy Scvlpturos2 And
| has he been unfalthful, III such aonso aA TO
| constitute at, ecclesiastical offonao n tho dis
Charge Of his ministerial duties In tho respects
nanod by tho prosecutor? I pitt tho point Of
tho SECOND charge first and tle fret last wliorc
they properly belong, Now, how ars we to
| answer thoso questions
|
tho Confession involves. Thore Is a wide die.
feronco hatwoon q cordial reception OF tho
Confession as containing tue svatorn Of doctrine
| taught IN tho Holy scrip:uros," and roooiYlag
Sost possibio ezprssai on oi dlyao truth, g or @ as
oven being corroct at oil poluts. A man mny
not accopt the ontiro Confession ipaissin,,s
ucrbis, and yet bo good Presbyterian. Ths oven
DR.. Hodge freely admits iu tho Princeton Re
uteto. But q minister Of our Churcl, must hold,
1t lB said, tho essentials Of tho CalYustio syn
tom, US embraced In tho Confession. Worry we'll.
But what arc tlcso essentials : Tho reunion Of
| our Church wae efcCtoa on
| THE pooTR1NAL DAs1a
| TINT " tho Confession Of Faith should continue
to ho received aud adopted w continuing tho
| System Of doctrine tauGht iu the Holy Scrip
| turos." But tho question roturus, How ahnll
we dotcrmtno how much was meant by this Ian
| guago nB nBod by tho two bodies whom they
canlo togethor2 The Church lad boou divided
mainly on account Of dtlorout constructions Of
thcHu terms Of subscription to tho Confossion,
md llad stoud M Two bodies from 1883 till 1860.
| III 1857, the dootrnal views Of tho Now-school
| party wore expressed In protest in tho Goneral
Assembly embracing aixtoon propositions, which
wore by no means coextonslyo with tho letter OF
tic Confession, aud which tho OId-School ma-
unsounlnesa Oh tho part of the protestora that
they adopted a. resolution, that certified copies
OF tho protest be sent to tho presbytofies to
which tho nIguors belonged, sscalllng their at
I
III Il, mud entonng on thom TO Inquire into the
aouudneas Of tho faith Of tl,oao who had von-
tured to make 30 strange Ryowala as some OF
those wore." But the world docs move, and
| there Is progress i'll Bonlo very conservative
bodies. Iii August, 1887, Q large convention OF
New-SclIool ministers aul elders was held in
Auburn, n. T., and tho same stasomenta OF true
dootrino that Ind been drawn up by tho pro-
tostors in tho Assembly III May previous, were
adopted BY that Convention as an expression Of
their fifth. Now mark the point. III tho Old
School Association at Albany. in 1868, protest
asainst tho action Of tho Assembly. iii favor OF
minority, one Of whom is now . momber Of this
| body. And IN tho anHwer to that protest, which
waB adopted by large maj jority Of the ASSEMBLY,
it was assertod by way Of lofeuling the New
chorisLing errors In their connection that the
Auburn declarations, tho saule statements mado
| by our protostors in tho Assembly Of 1887, aud
| thon pronounced unsound, "enbrace all the es-
Dr.. Richards, who is called = lint excellent aul
aonnd dirino," Is said by that Old-School Asso-
citation to hnve been tho 1eader in the Auburn
| Conveiition,- n,-tlio san1o man who wrote tho tract
on general atonemont, which ia now among tta
publications Of tho Genoral Asaembly's Board:
Wo have thus y tolerably good dennftton Ut wlinb
the Now School theology yia; and that wasintloraoa
by the Old School Association at Albany, in leGs
bert Darnes and N. 8. g. Bonan and Il. T. Spear
and DR.. Hickok were accopted as good Ptcsbyte-
rims, whose doctrinal yiows had been long be-
foro tho IiAblic, aud not ONO Of whom rocoiycd
the entire Confession OF Faith to tho letter. as
in its obvious Heuse expressing tho wlolo truth
and nothing but the truth. Now I venture to
say that tho prosecutor regards all these mon as
tar astray from our confession, although lie says
lie would not iiafollowsllir them. But it Is to
be shown that Prof. Swing docs not receive and
adopt the Confossion of Faith ns containing
the system Of doctrine MS 1t was held by tho
BC,,crs OF tho Auburn, declaration alll the great
body Of w-School mon at the time OF tie re-
11nion otherwise tho charges aro not proved.
For such latitudo of construction was Clearly un-
derstood to bo allowable whon the reunion was
effected. Accordingly DR.. Adams publicly de-
clarcd to Tho Old-School Association before tho
toru,s Of reunion were agreed upon that We Now
Hchool mon would Btarll as tho alyocatca md
reprosontatves u Mat % Of H1eriu % aud T lis spoech WAS WAS
greatly sOulaydod. Moro tban ali this: In tic
{ntroductjon to tho Dlan Of union odoptod by tho
two Asae.nblios at Now York Il ia declarod
tl,at ."nch rocoenjzas tho other m n
! eorrd nn:l orti,n5o~ hoT,m il 7 s,,rcas+oJ