Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-10-09
Nature Of the Charges Made Against
the Great Presbyterian
Divine.
Resume Of the Proceedings of the
Presbytery Now in
Session.
Much Greater Interests than the
Doctors Involved in the
Case.

NEW York, oct. B.--GreAt interest
was manifested in the meeting of the
New York IreSbytery in the Scot h
Presbyterian church because the
charge of hercSy against the ev. Ir
Briggs was expected to come up. The
interest in this is not confined to the
Presbyterian Oh rch, but has spread
until the eyes of churchmcn and Law
men throughout the land were cen.
tered on the proceedings at the church
in West Fourteenth street.
J he Oilcnse which lr, RTggs is
charged with has made him more
prominent of late than any other res
byterian in the land For seventeen
years he has been the pro ,essor of He-
brew in the seminary and has been a
recognized au hority On Biblical crIti
cism in this country. 1T has long been
known that his views were contrasted
with those OF DR.. Greer of the Princeton
seminary and DR.. Patton of the College
of New Jersey, who represent the con-
sentative element IN the church, but
he was never regarded a hereto.
Last winter he delivered an inaug-
nral address on 81 he Authority of
Scripture in which the bible, the
church and the reason were named us
the source of divine authority; and the
barriers Of the bible supcrstit ion,
verbal inspiration, authenticity, iner-
rancy, violation of laws of ma ure and
minute prediction --wcre demolished,
This address prcripitated matters in
the same way that the publication of
the Rev. Howard Mac, ucary S book
brought about the trial and subse-
qucnt change Of denomination of that
divine,
The proceedings begun at / | o'clock
n. m, I he Row. DR.. John c. Bliss was
chosen moderator, This was declared
to be victory for the anti-l}riggs
men, although there was no division.
Alter some preliminary business of
minor mIortance had been disposed of
the question of hearing the report of
tn committee on prosecution, which
was to present the indictment against
DIR. Briggs, came up.
DR.. Birch said that the report did
not condemn hr. Briggs; it simply re-
ported charges against him, and it
would be for the presbytery to pass
Judgment on him. DR. Briggs, he
said was one OF these members of tho
church who rrOfcsscd a learning which
could BE- dispensed from theological
chairs in seminaricS, but were too
erudite to be preached by the minis
tiers of the gospel, The Lev. I'r. c. l..
Thompson vas on his feet when DR.
Birch sat down, and he urged that far
greater interests were at stake at this
time than the outcome q the proposed
trial to the New York < sDyterv The
revision, for instance, OF The confcssion
of faith which was now approaching
n hal py con ummation, would be seri-
ouSly endangered by prosecuting this
matter at this time An ecclesiastical
trial now meant ecclesiastical trouble
ms wide AS the latitude of the church
The peace of the church, he said, had
not been so meuaCcd since 1873, as it
was this moraiug.
DR. Thompson made a strong az peal
for liberty in the church lie con-
cndcd by quoting the remark Of the
late Rev Henry j. Van Dyke. "If we
cannot have liberty and Orthodoxy
both, let u have liberty"
DR.. Birch prcfnccd the reading of
the report by saying that the commit
tee had carefully weighed the several
charges made against nr Briggs and
that it had decided that it would be
moro expeditions and at the same t me
bear ont the sense of the PreSbytery
to coutinc the report 10 what was con
tanned in the inaugural address alone,
rs that was the most deliberate and
emphatic expression OF Dr. Briggs
views.
DIR, Hastings caused an uproar when
he said; "lor the last two years this
man U'riggs) has been bounded all
through the land with misrcpre-
sentntton and lies Cries of no"
shame
The moderator mtcrpp ed h re and
called Or, Hastings to order
DR.. Hastings Wen, III keep in
bounds, IN qualify by saying that
for the last two years, this man. my
colleague, has been under fire, Great
| laughter, believe nr Briggs would
greatly prefer vindication after n
trial, but also believe that Ur Briggs
will suffer n great deal and bear much;
that he viii sacrifice personal right
! for the sake of the church and it's
great interests That man is not a
hereto, lie believes in God and tho
church. | have a great deal OF feeling
for brother who has suffered what
DR., Briggs has"
No action on the report was reached.