New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-18
INDIGNANT AT BRIGGS.
4NOTHER CONTROVERSY.
The Bishop Examining HIS Paper
Questioning apostolic Succession.


The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Briggs. OF the staff
@. the Cathedral ot St John the Divine and
professor .n the Union Theological Seminary,
has started another controversy. The president
Of the Church Club of New-York George Mac
cu.och Miller. has called the attention OF
B!zhop Potter 10 paper which Dr. Briggs read
recently before the club. and Bishop Potter has
asked DR. Briggs for copy of the paper for
exsrniralion The latest issues OF EpiscopaI
papers are filed with denunciations of the views
put forth by Dr. Briggs.
TIE present outcry Is not coanaed to High
Church leaders as VAS the case when protest
was entered against the action CT Bishop Pot
Ter ia ordaining the Union professor The Rev
Dr John Fulton. in his Phiadelphia periodical
ssks D.. Briggs what he became an Episco-
psi.sa for. Il not Ger his own advantage, and
i=vites him. e he finds himself Inundated TO
get ont.
Bishop Potter IS considering Dr. Briggs's
Yape: lie declines TO talk about It. So does
DR.. Briggs, further than to say that he was
rnisquoted II reports of his address before the
Church Club. Asked wherein ne was -nisquoted
Dr. Briggs replied yesterday that he never
granted interviews. He was evidently disturbed
by criticisms which Were shown to him, but he
persisted fn his refusal 20 talk. He admitted
that Bishop Potter had asked for his paper.
but dc not know. he said that the president Of
the Church Club whose guest he had been. had
entered protest.
N his paper before the club. and in the COM
laents with which he followed it, DR.. Briggs
r-as understood by members Of the club to say.
among other things. that apostolic succession
hung by a slender historical thread: that in
point Of universally the Church OF Rome had
almost the only claim worth considering; that
the Pope OF Rome right. in the main. when
he rrAd that inv
from the Roman point OF view. He affirmed
the validity of Presbyterian and Lutheran or
ders. He was understood to say that he felt
humiliation at being compelled bv Bishop Potter
TO be ordained again when he entered the Epis-
copal Church. and that the requirement by
Bishop Potter and others Of reordination
atront to other religious bodies. DR.. Briggs be-
enn his paper with the assertion that he would
say some startling things
Replying. DR.. Fulton Gays:
wise leaders OF Church opinion resolved that he
as he had been m the St cSrc P
J bans that is the trouble with him now. If Dr.
lies thgoush ne di:ioyaiy q indiEiduais to t9e
DT: Briggs is quito free to hold the. validity Of
at liberty, ridiculous the thing seems. 20 strike
o kneean orders ei n non m thy i.ge Inc for
men Of sense in All churches to frown down all
THE Living Church" which stoutly opposed
the ordination of Professor Briggs by. Bishop
Potter. called the paper read before the Church
Club deplora ble and is taken TO task by cor
respondent, who declares the incident TO be
nothing short of a scandal 1T would
:hat the time has now come" says ]. Hail.
t'when the Bishop of New-York should be given
plainly 10 understand that loyal churchmen will
refuse 10 contribute the building fund of the
Professor Briggs is. even nominaIf. upon its
clergy staff"
George Ia briskie made short address before
the Church Club following Dr. Briggs in which
he reDudiated DR.. Briggs's conclusion. and
npp.auded warmly. An Episcopal clergyman of
thls diocese, who is close 10 Bishop Potter. said
yesterday:
hear that a Baptist minister of reputation in
a g. the hnrsh S Of Rome ONE in his psor
tniy af room OUTSIDE o, S Epseopa chuPeh foe
aSaon Va Would % even include s the Union 4 Theo ss
ced by my 8aps fend that fy
Srisgs EiB go 10 Rome. and when ne does so
not say he went fron the Episcopal Church thitser
u. trss9yeran who is Just & TOW sailing a N with tn
Enonaent in Episcopal waters does not make the
IPiscopal Church responsible for him
George Macculloch Miller said last evening he
ga not imagine that any trouble would come
from Dr. Briggs's address before the Church
Club. but he had taken the responsibility for
calling the attention Of Bishop Potter TO 1t be-
cause he felt responsible for the appearance Of
Dr. Briggs before the club. He did not think. he
said. that DR.. Briggs would have any objection
TO submitting his manuscript for Bishop Pot
te.'s inspection.
The trial OF DR.. Briggs charges of heresy
before the New-York Presbytery in 1892 created
sensation DIR. Briggs was acquitted by the
Presbytery. but he suspended by the
Presbyterian General Assembly in 1893. lie
kept his professorship in Union Theological
Seminary, however. ard in 1895 he was or
oained priest in the Protestant Episcopal
Church b. Bishop Potter