Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-24
PROF. SMITHS CASE
His Appeal Entertained by the
General Assembly.
HE OPENS HIS ARGUMENT FOR HIMSELF
A Description of the Affair in
Controversy.
INTE REST AT SARATOGA

L ~ L
SARATOGA. N. Y, May A.-The inter-
est in the case of the appeal of Prof.
Smith was early manifested this morning,
and during the devotional service which &C.
cupied the first half hour, the gallery was
unusually full. Mrs. Smith was present, ac-
companied by Mrs. DIR. Briggs of New
York. DR.. Henry NJ. Field. DR.. Rollin A.
Sawyer and Prof. Smiths mother and
brother.
Elder Yereance of New York rose to a
question Of privilege and called attention
to an article published in the Evangelist, Of
which DR.. Field is editor. The matter COM
planned of referred to the election of mod
orator last week. commissioner protest
ed against the advertising that was being
given to what Mr.. Yereance declared was
''reputed to be religious newspaper"
The judicial committee asked to have
their report on the Smith case returned to
them for slight changes. This was granted
and the proposed change was made, afrect-
ing the rule for the hearing of members of
the assembly. 1t was provided that the as
sembly shall be heard upon roll call, three
minutes being granted to each member.
DR.. Young. eX-moderator, protested
against such waste of time. He stated that
the rule of last year caused the assembly
to lose a whole day and half.
Despite this objection the rule was adept
ed. Notice was read that the hours given
to the synod of Ohio had been apportioned
as follows: To Rev. Charles Townsend or
| Cleveland, minutes; Rev. George l.. kalb.
DID, of Bellefontaine. 10 minutes; Thomas
McDougall. Cincinnati, 20 minutes; Rev.
| Arthur Ludlow of Cleveland. minutes, and
| Thomas McDousall, 10 minutes. 81
Constituted rs a Court.
| ha taJ
court and the reading of the records in
| tain the record of the synod, the notice of
appeal and the appeal of Prof. Smith.
After the reading of these papers the as
sembly without opposition voted to enter
| tain the appeal of Prof. Smith. and at l0:30
| the argument on the appeal was begun by
| DIR. Smith.
The reading of the full records was wary
| CT except so far as they were to be used in
! the argument. Prof. Smith stated that he
proposed to argue only six of the grounds
| of appeal instead of twelve. The argument
| at the start. concerned the existence CT
| prejudice In the members of the presbytery
which originally tried him.
Prof. Smiths Argument.
Prof. Smith sought to show that the
| records of the original trial proved that
| the judiciary was prejudiced in that 1t al
lowed members of the body to sit in the
case who had published opinions touching
the guilt of the accused.
1t was further held by Prof. Smith that
! the regular order prescribed for judicial
process by the constitution Of the church
| had not been complied with in the prelim-
| mary stages before the beginning of actual
| trial. The third point had reference to the
| form in which the charges were cast, and
| here II was argued that the charges were
| fatally defective. In that they did not
latn h. ~, til.
| Tense was alleged
1t was expressly said that the doctrine of
| inspiration mentioned in the charges was
| one implied" in the confession of faith
| whereas the constitutional law demanded of
the church that the doctrine offended
against shall be Fundamental" That
which is fundamental will never be left to
| inference.
The doctrine Of the inspiration alleged in
the charges was contended to be one not
| taught In scripture or in the confession, and
| in fact, 10 be contrary to the doctrine of the
confession of the faith of the church.
The inerrancy of the original autographs
| of the Scripture was claimed to be entirely
| outside of the doctrine of inspiration and
| independent of 1t. 1t was further contend
ed that the doctrine of inerrancy has
theological origin. not biblical origin, and
| that the confession, as 1t stands, gives no
| support to the position of the prosecution
Professor Smith then went on to argue
| that the implication of the charge contained
| a contradiction of true Presbyterian doc
| trire.
AT this point the speaker said: "And now
we have reached the point where We may
| examine the utterances of the last general
| assembly. ] do not mean, of course that 1t
! is the duty of this assembly to review or
! revise any particular decision of the assem-
| bly, of 1888. with the idea of setting II aside
The confession of faith says that all synods
| may err. or have erred. and that their de-
| cisions must be examined"
Prof. Smiths Case.
DR.. Henry Preserved Smith was sus-
pended from the ministry by the presbytery
| of Cincinnati, until such time as he shall
make manifest to the satisfaction of the
presbytery his remuneration of the errors
he has been found to hold. and a solemn
purpose no longer to teach or propagate
them
The synod of Ohio. to which he appealed
after the vote of the presbytery, sustained
the action of the lower court, so now d..
Smith comes with an appeal from both the
synod and presbytery.
The feeling of Cincinnati presbytery to-
ward DR.. Smith as a man may be seen
from the following paragraph which fol-
lows the expression of the formal judg-
ment: AT the same time the presbytery
expresses the kindest feelings toward Prof
Smith, and makes this disposition of the
case only because the interests of truth i'm
peratively demand it."
The heresy case grew out Of the Briggs
Seminary inaugural address, and before its
full text had appeared, resolutions based
upon the fist report of that address were
offered in the Cincinnati presbytery, i'm
portuning the general assembly to veto his
election as professor of Biblical theology.
Prof Smith opposed the resolutions on the
ground that the full text of the inaugural
had not yet appeared and that the resolu-
ions virtually pronounced on the soundness
of minister not under the jurisdiction of
the Cincinnati presbytery.
Prof. l.. j. Evans, who had been a men,
Der of the presbytery for thirty years. and
most of that time a professor in Lane
Seminary. opposed the resolutions on SINH
la grounds.
fierce attack was made on the two
professors In one of the Cincinnati pa
pers the next morning. At the same
time Prof. Smith was invited to read
paper before the Presbyterian Minister'S
Association on the subject of Inspiration"
In view of the attack publicly made on
the two professors, they agreed that both
should be heard before the association
Prof. Evans accepted a call to Bala,
Wales, and then a committee was appoint