Morning journal and courier., 1886-12-29
News by Telegraph
 FROM ALL QUARTERS. THE ANDOVER THEOLOGY. Trustees Sitting The Charges Of Heresy. THE PROFESSORS ON TRIAL. A Strong Plea For The Ac-
 Cused.
 NEWS FROM THE COAL FIELDS. Illinois Anxious To Have
 LOgan's Remains.
NEWS FROM THE COAL FIELDS.
THE ANDovER CREED.

THE ANDOvER CREED.
 The Trial of the Accused Profess ors Begun MasterIy Plea for the Respondents by Professor Dwight. BOSTON. Dec. 2S.-At 10 8. m. to-day the now famous Andover trial began at the United States Hotel in this city. There were
 present the full board of visitors, the com p1ainants, the respondents and the counsel on both sides. The large dining room of the hotel was filled, even the standing room along the walls being occupied A consider.
 able portion of the audience was made up of
 clergymen, but many laymen and number
 of ladies were present, and all the great au-
 diences paid the closest attention to the
 close of long session. After considerable time had been spent in preliminary debates, Judge French offered in evidence an editorial article in the Andover Review for April last entitled, ''The Bible, 8 Theme for the Pull pits, !" and Prof. Smyths speech at the Ameri- can board meeting at Des Moines, Iowa, last October, said speech being printed in pamphlet entitled "The Great Debate." The counsel for the respondents asked that what ever from any book or any document was to be urged against them should be definitely pointed out. On this point Gov. Gaston, one of the respondents counsel, said "Prof Smyth is willing not only that this tribunal shall know, but that the world shall know all that he has said and all that he has taught and all that he believes. But in a trial against him it is but fair and just, as it is legal, that what they charge against him sball be specified" At Il o'clock the con- offering any other evidence than that speci- fed above and the citations from the Andover Review and the book made up mainly of republications from editorials in that review and entitled Progressive Orthodoxy as specified in the charges, Prof. Theodore Dwight of the O. lumbia Law school opened for the respond ents in an address of great length learning and vigorous eloquence. Prof. Dwight's masterly presentation of his clients case won at an early stage such an outburst of ap- plause from apparently the entire audience that President Seelye of Amherst college, chairman of the board of visitors. the tribu- nal before which the case is being tried, an nounced that if in future there were any demonstrations of approval or disapproval the room would be cleared of spectators. Prof. Dwight was still speaking when the hearing was adjourned until 3 p m.
 After the recess Prof. Dwight continued his argument fer the defense. The attendance was not so large as in the forenoon and was composed chiefly of ministers, but that in terest in this discussion is not confined to the sterner sex was evinced by the presence of several ladies among the audience. Prof. Dwight summed up his previous arguments briefly. He said: 'tI have cited these facts to show that the Andover seminary was fonn aa hat he be liberal principles. The chief aim of the seminary was to teach the great end and business of living.' Great stress was laid on a discreet selection of the principal instruct or. The idea of tolerance according to the ideas held at that time pervades all the early documents of the seminary; the creeds, therefore, to be approached from a liberal point of view. The Calvinists wanted an academy and so did the Hopkinsians Two academies could not thrive, so these antagonistic bodies united to form one seminary. New Hopkinsian phrases are inserted among the old Calvinis- tic doctrines and the result is creed which contains in itself two different and conflict ing elements. This is the associate creed and say this creed is novel and unexampled in the religious ereeds of modern days. It might we'll have applied to it one of Edmund Burkes apt chaIacterizations that fits clauses are grossly indented and whimsically dove tailed This creed can only be taken as a substitute for the Westminster shorter cate chism. One man can accept either, but he cannot accept both as they at variance one with the other. I come now to the charges themselves. The citations do not bear out the specifications. I shall refer only refers to the fact that Professor Smyth has inculcated belief in probation after death for all men who do not defnitsly reject Christ in this life" Professor Dwight then considered the charge regarding probation after death, dividing his remarks under four heads: The theory of competent theologians believing the doctrine of limited atonement as to the necessity of knowledge of Christ to 8 saving faith on the part of the elect. 2-The neces- sary extension of this doctrine to all persons since the theory of universal atonement has been established. 3-Historical reasons why the fact that probation involved knowledge of Christ on the part of the heather was not present to the minds of Christians until recently. 4-The reason why it has been an object of con- tention within these late years. In the course of his statements on this branch of his argument Professor Dwight contended that opportunities for knowing the head of the church will be provided if not by probation after death in some appro- priate way. And some of the leading grounds why no general interest has been taken in the church until the present centu- ry in the fate of the heathen after death, or, indeed, of their fate generally, is that there was assumed to be perpetual enmity between Christians and heather.
 Prof Dwight in the course of his argu- ment was very severe upon the gentlemen who formulated the charges. His remarks on this head caused decided sensation. He said he wished to call attention to the man. ner in which the self constituted accusers of the professors had brought the case before the board of visitors, especially to the evil dence of duplieity, underhandedness and untruthfulness in the manner of subscribing the charges. The accusers described them selves as committee of the alumni, thereby implying that they had been appointed by the alumni, whereas it is the fact that these four men alone originated and are pushing the movement. They may indeed be called a committee of the whole as they comprise the whole of the accusing party. Gaugh ter.) v4.
 Prof. Dwight then made the point that the accusers had no standing in court as they dId not represent any tangible interest and yet were assailing property rights. But he even denied the right of the court itself to act in this case. It could proceed only in criminal cases This was a civil case A case based on an alleged violation of trust and party rot interested in the matter could not sue. Fof instance, if the charges were dismissed, what was to hinder four other alumni from bringing the same chargesi In a properly instituted suit judgment would be 8 bar to similar proceedings there after. After making these funda- mental objections to the trial Prof. Dwight considered the charges themselves. He complained of the uncertain nature of the charges. The original accusations had been amended, but had they been superseded by the amendmentfa If not there were two sets of charges. He held that the amended charges dividing the original single com plaint into five separate complaints was wrongly constituted. Such division of charges had been rnlad out in a former siu-