The Portland daily press., 1894-05-19
PRESBYTERIAN sEMiNARlEs.
An Attempt to Bring Them More Com
plete1y Under Church Control

Saratoga, N. Y, May 1S.-The second
session of the Presbyterian General As
sembly opened at o'clock. The Smith
heresy appeal, with all the papers relating
thereto, went into the judicial committee
room and the committee Immediately en-
gagged in digesting the matter. Henry
Preserved Smith, the accused professor, is
here. 1t is definitely known now that the
appeal will not be withdrawn, but.that Prof.
Smith will make fight to have the verdict
of the Cincinnati Presbytery set aside. By
this verdict he was suspended from the
ministry, but he appealed from the findings
of the Presbytery and the case went to the
Ohio Synod, which decided against him.
DR.. Smiths offence was the reading of a
paper before body of Cincinnati ministers
in which he made an elaborate defence of
DR.. Briggs when the Union professor was
first charged with heresy. He upheld DR..
Briggs's theory that the Old Testament was
written by ordinary men. and that these
writings were collected by other men long
afterwards and made up into book now
known as the Bible The names of none OF
these men is known, and it is an entire
mistake to suppose that Moses wrote the
first five books, or that Isaiah wrote his
pfOpn6Cys Ills UOOks 4Ss 1uOI0Of0Is 1u4L VI
errors, and the general opinion that God
inspired the book is all wrong, as the con-
cept only is inspired.
The special committee on theological
seminaries made its report today. This is
the committee appointed at Portland, Ore
gon, two years ago to save the church from
such another experience as the loss of
Union Seminary, with its 100000 endow-
ments which withdrew from the control of
the General Assembly because of its dis
satisfaction with the treatment of DR..
Briggs. The committee has been at work
two years trying to devise some means of
effecting such a change in the differing
charters of the thirteen Theological Semi
naries under its control as shall prevent
the alienation of their endowments. They
have held many meetings, and have Istend
to much advice from lawyers familiar with
the laws of trusts and charters. At the
Washington Assembly last year they pre-
sented long report which contained no
rec commentators. bAtwhich gave presen-
tation of the chartered rights of each of the
seminaries, and of the rights sof sthe
General Assembly in the premises. 1t was
found that all of the theological semi
naries known as Presbyterian were actually
independent of the church to which they
owed their support. The control over them
then being exercised by the Presbyterian
church. through the General Assembly, was
nominal only, and did not in any degree
affect the funds or property. 1t was found
that the diversion or misuse of the wealth
in the possession of the trustees of the.semi-
naries was possible and that the church
might find itself some day without a semi
nary in the land in which students could
obtain orthodox instruction.
AS remedy. majority of the committee
proposes that the charters of the seminaries
should be amended to provide that the
funds shall be held in strust for the Presby-
terrain church and that the appointments OF
professors shall be made subject to the ap-
proval of the church authorities. A minority
of the committee dissents in the matter OF
the appointments of professors.