Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1893 — ACQUITTAL OF DR. BRIGGS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ACQUITTAL OF DR. BRIGGS.

New York Pre»bytery Refute* to Buitali* Any of the Charge*. After one of the most tedious trials In the history of the Presbyterian

Church, Dr. Briggs, accused of heresy, has been acquitted by the New York Presbytery. Proses s or Briggs was £ arraigned on Is 1 x specific charges. < The voting on the flyst charge was begun at 4 o’clock, and

the vote on the sixth charge was completed and the Presbytery adjourned shortly before six o’clock. The result of the several ballots was then announced. The result was a great surprise, for on all the six counts the vote was adverse to sustaining the charges. On the first charge, accusing Prof. Briggs with toaohing that the reason is a source of divine authority, the vote was as follows: To sustain the charge, 60; against sustaining the charge, 68. On the second charge which accuses Prof. Briggs with teaching that the church is a source of divine authority, there were 55 votes oast in favor of sustaining the charge and 71 against. The closest vote was on the third charge, that Prof. Briggs taught that the Scriptures contained errors of*history and fact. On this charge the vote was as follows: To sustain the charge, 61; against, 68. After this vote had been taken two or three of the anti-Briggs men left the court, and others refrained from voting on the last three charges. On the fourth charge, accusing Prof. Briggs with teaching that Moses Wi* not the author of the Pentateuch, the result was: To sustain the charge, 53; -gainst, 72. . - The vote on the fifth charge, accusing Prof. Briggs wOth teaching that Isaiah did not write many pf the chapters In the book bearing his name, was: In favor pf sustaining the charge, 49; against, 70. The vote on the sixth charge, accusing Prof. Briggs of teaching that sanotifteation is progressive after death, was: To sustain the oharge, 57; against, 69. The friends of Dr. Briggs were greatly pleased with the result. They had calculated on a majority ranging frbm four to six.

DR. BRIGGS.