| Show THE BRIGGS TRIAL THE highly seasoned sensation which the non interested public has beell promising itself upon the return of dr briggs from europe is liable to prove a crushing disappointment during the general of his case in the presbyterian assembly and the setto set to that followed among the trustees of the university in which he was a professor briggs made a bold show of independence and professed much eagerness for his trial before the court of ecclesiastics he circulated his views through the papers pretty extensively and seemed altogether satisfied with the opportunity his notoriety afforded him to get gei his ideas before the public A few months in europe seems to have greatly modified his bib ardor his position even among those who than lean to his bis side of the controversy to is not so hopeful since the cool weather has set in and he now talks of taking advantage of that alternative in his church which grants forgiveness gi veness to his class of offenders upon confession of inability to express themselves at all times precisely as they mean dr briggs has been prominent among sectarian educators for over twenty years and was only a short time before his trouble with the church advanced to tile chair of professor of biblical theology in the leading presbyterian by terian college of the united states it will be a singular spectacle he will wil I 1 now make in claiming amnesty upon the grounds of being incapable of expressing himself clearly such a plea if admitted by the court of ecclesiastics will not only manifest a general cowardice with all concerned but will show conclusively that there was much more ot or salary than of conscience in the doo doctors tors church and scripture operations the fact is the attitude which brings briggs has assumed is a very strange and inconsistent one for a man of his intelligence to take pike it Is not a rare or unreasonable thing for the members of the presbyterian church to rebel against the so called revision process which its creeds are now undergoing but for a leading member of any church to deny in public alicas as briggs has hag done his belief in the fundamental doctrines of his bis and while setting up a new religious code upon his hie own plan still to claim the right of recognition as a biblical authority and to teach in the church schools and preach his new doctrines from the church pulpits is one of the rarest pieces of impudence that any church has yet confronted As for the briggs interpretation of the bible it is distinctly modern and altogether taking among progressive 1 religionists it in a theory of scripture ture that its in strictly up with the times and its promulgation in spite of the thunderbolts thunderbolt of wrath from high church quarters has drawn to its author a following so strong as to threaten the dissolution of the church thesis this ia the reason that the more politic ministers in the beginning worked very hard to put a temporary injunction upon both the doo doc tor and his bis accusers hoping that a few months of quiet would bring both to their senses and save the church but while such a compromise was satisfactory to the accusers the ambitious professor with the university trustees at his bis back refused to subside and really forced an investigation which from the beginning has been pursued with fear and trembling the ease case may come to a sudden termination through briggs brigga being induced to yield in the manner we have explained otherwise the affair is liable to drag on for a year or more the conditions are such that the presbyterian church people cannot now relent very much without dangerously compromising their creed |
