Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-06-01
From yesterdays Assembly edition.

from yesterdays Assembly edition.l
The afternoon session was opened promptly
with prayer by Rev. DIR. Joseph T. Smith. The
calling of the roll was continued and first to
respond with speech Rev. John Berle OF
Nebraska City spoke, urging that they must
stand there for the Bible, the whole Bible and
not less than the Bible.
Elder A. c. Montgomery Of the same pres
bytery spoke Of the gravity of the charge, and
urged that they consider what they were doing.
He believed that they should not give DR.. Briggs
the benefit Of every doubt. He believed the Bible
was more intelhgently STUDIED and better I'M
derstood today than ever before. He believed
the churches were the better for the study that
was given to it.
Rev. DIR. j. G. Hammer of Elizabeth presby-
terry, New Jersey, said he thought DR.. Briggs
had been skating on very thin ice. Personally
he accepted DR.. Briggs disclaimers He was
in favor of liberty under the constitution Of
the church, and SO he would vote. Rev. Vernon
B. Carroll Of Jersey City said DR.. Briggs
condemnation would certainly vindicate the
orthodoxy of the church, but he feared the ef-
feet of reversal Of the judgment Of the pres
bytery He would vote to sustain the presby-
terry, not on theological grounds, but on purely
legal grounds. He believed the trial in New
York was conducted before a court as fair and
impartial as this assembly could be.
Rev. George R. Garretson Of Jersey City
said that he believed he had as good certif-
cate Of orthodoxy as any one could have. He
had been brought up in the Dutch Reformed
Church. He was q conservative Of the con-
servatives, yet after listening attertively to the
voting not to sustain the appeal. DR..
Briggs, he said, did not say there
were errors in the original Scriptures, but
there may be. He did not believe that there
was any heresy in affirming anything about
something they had never seen. He could not
-, H. I'D
ing Martineau.
Elder Geo. NJ Baker Of Jersey City said the
judgment of the lower iudicatory was presum-
ably correct. The appellant must
show that beyond "a reasonable
sustaining the presDytery. He was not willing
to believe that the Presbyterian Church was so
small that it could not contain a man SO big as
DR.. Briggs.
DIR. Henry NJ Storrs of Orange, N. j., said
that all his life he had been a close student of
the Bible, and should be false to his teachings
if he did not believe it absolutely. But ii
became the more dear to him the more it was
studied. He would throw open the doors to
study and would have every student find out il
possible all about the books of the Bible, find
their authors. The more it was studied the
more one would become imbued with its truth.
and he, for one, did not fear higher criticism.
Rev. Dr. VIM. W. Holloway of Morris and
Orange presbytery said If he could take the
word of Christian DR.. Briggs held the Bible
as dear IS any man in the church. He had not
only his evidence. but the evidence of students
Dr. Briggs had taught, who had told him that
they had never loved the Bible so much as they
had since they had come under DIR. Briggs
teachings. He was not afraid of scholarship
He said let them go on. Higher criticism could
not hurt the Bible, but would make them love
| it all the more.
Rev. Dr. Hollifeld of New Jersey said that il
a tree is to be judged by the fruit it bears, he
must convict the inaugural Of DR.. Briggs
Higher criticism is making agnostics and
atheists today. The higher critics are neither
evangelists nor evangelical For practical rea.
sons, he said, he would vote to sustain the ap.
peal "We must stamp out this higher criticism
or it will stamp out, and We will have re-
peated in our country what has happened in
Europe This was DR.. Hollifeld's idea Of
biblical study.
Elder John Y. Foster of Newark, spoke OF
the declaration that if the judgment of the New
| York presbytery was permitted to stand il
would menace the existence OF the Presbyterian
Church. He said that never had the church
borne such fruits during the past two years