Excerpt from Report of the Speeches: Delivered at a Meeting of Free Church Office-Bearers Who Disapproved of the Action of the Commission in the Case of Prof. W. Robertson Smith, Held in the Christian Institute, Glasgow, Friday, December 30, 1880

Again, in the Marnoch case, the Strathbogie ministers who were suspended had not only declined to obey the lawful instructions of the Church, but in defiance of these orders had proceeded with the intrusion of Mr. Edwards; and the point attempted to be made here is that as the Commission at a special meeting sus pended these ministers, so it was competent for them in October last to instruct Prof. Smith to abstain from teaching; but the cases are not parallel, for the Marnoch case had been the subject of consideration in the previous Assembly, and they had specially remitted the whole case to the Commission, with full powers to do everything they did. Indeed that this was the case is evident from what took place in the subsequent Assembly, when the authority of the Commission was challenged. For the issue then raised was whether the remit covered what had been done, and the Assembly decided in the affirmative. Instead, therefore, of the Marnoch case being a precedent in favour of the present procedure, it is a direct authority against it, and substantiates this, that the Commis sion require a special remit from the Assembly before dealing with any new cause.

You will notice that my resolution does not express any Opinion regarding the soundness or unsoundness of Professor Smith's views, and is entirely confined to the action of the Commission. What we ask, and what we as office-bearers are entitled to require, is that in this age of searching inquiry and perplexing doubt the light should be let in and not excluded, and that when the enemies of our Christian faith are assaulting us with arguments on many points of doctrine and scripture, we should have the chance, at least, of hearing the answers which the competent ministers and professors of our Church have to Offer us for our comfort. I for one feel my strong need of such assistance; and when, in a reverent and conscientious spirit, one of our teachers is, amid the darkness incident to our lot, reaching towards the light, and trying to point the way, I must decline, and I ask you to decline, under whatever pretext the plea may be presented, to be a party to his summary condemnation, in the vain hope of conserving the truth by foolishly stifling inquiry.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.