Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-17
during the stirring debates on the revision

during the stirring debates on the revision
of the standards.
The reports which will receive the most
| public attention, especially outside of the
Presbyterian denomination, will be those
submitted by the special committees ap
pointed to report this year. These include
one on the Worlds fair, one on church
| unity, another on the revision of the proof
texts Of the Westminster confession OF
faith, and one on the increase of ministers
but perhaps the most vital of all the sixteen
reports expected will be that on the revis-
ion of the confession of faith. Transcending
all of these, however, will be the discus
sion of the question whether or not
DIR. BRIGGS Is ORTHODOX.
Professor Briggs has long been recognized
as the leading American exponent of higher
criticism. His biblical Theology" his
''Messianic Prophecy: the Prediction of
the F'ulfllment of the Redemption through
the Messiah, " and "Whither!" had made
his name popular, even before his recent
inaugural address, especially among the
younger men in the denomination, with
many of whom he is more than favorite.
'Whither?" was thought by many TO be
revolutionary, but the address delivered at
his inauguration as professor of the Edward
Robinson chair of biblical theology III the
Union seminary last January, has stirred up
feeling, more particularly in the West,
which must be met by the coming assem-
bly,.
About one-third of the presbyteries have
taken action, many condennlng unSparlngly
DR.. Briggs position, and others simply
calling the attention of the assembly to his
teaching and requesting that an opinion re-
garding it be given by the highest legis-
lative body of the church. Some presby-
teries have gone so far as to define their
position on the question, and have overturned
the assembly accordingly. One has pre-
pared slips containing statements from the
writings of DR.. Briggs, showing what posi-
tons he has assumed on the various doc
trines contained in the confession of faith
and have quoted from the confession pas
sages bearing on his statements, leaving
the reader to draw his own inference.
1t is interesting, in view of the posi-
bility of veto of his appointment being
demanded by some of the commissioners,
TO know the relation that the Union semin-
airy maintains toward the general assembly.
At the reunion of the two branches of the
Presbyterian church in 1870, the seminary
directors memorialized the assembly: ITO
the following effect, namely: That the
general assembly may be pleased to adopt
il as a rule and plan of the exercises of the
proprietorship and control of the several
theological seminaries, that so far as the
election of professors is concerned, the as
Sembly will commit the same to their re-
ing terms and conditions:
l. That the board of directors of each
seminary shall be authorized to appoint all
professors for the same.
2. That all such appointments shall be
reported to the general assembly, and no
such appointment of professor shall be con-
sidered as q complete election if disap-
proved by the majority vote of the assem-
bly,. The directors also declared that if this
plan were adopted they would conform to
the same. The plan was adopted by the
assembly on June /, 1870, and Union semi
nary was thus brought into ecclesiastical
connection with the Presbyterian church on
the same footing as that of the other semi
naries of the church.
Just here may come the fghti The
seminary authorities are determined, they
say, to insist on this point that DR.. Briggs
has not been elected to professorship;
he has simply been transferred from one
professorship to another. The following is
the action of the seminary directors when
the present chair was created:
Resolved, that Professor Charles A
Briggs, D. D., be transferred from the
Davenport professorship of Hebrew and
Cognate languages to the Edward Robin
son chair of biblical theology"
This, President Hastings of the seminary
says, differs entirely from an election, and
insists that the general assembly has moth
ing whatever TO do with the matter.