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Present( 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. ^ 
 
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 Division ........Trrrr.Vr'Vi-— «» 
 
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 OF 1893 
 
 AND 
 
 THE CASE OF DR. BRIGGS. 
 
 V 
 REPORT OF THOS. McDOUGALL. 
 
 Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, Thursday, June 
 8, 1893. 
 
 CINCINNATI, O.: 
 Elm Street Printing Co., Nos, 176 and 178 Elm St. 
 1893. 
 
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, Thursday, June 
 8,1893. 
 
 THOS. McDOUGALVS REPORT. 
 
 The Bri^rgrs Case— WTiy tlie tJeneral As- 
 sembly Fouiid I>r. Brigrss Ouilty— Vital 
 Points Explained and the Issnes Defined 
 —The Judicial Decision Settles the Faith 
 of the Chnrch- Dr. Brigrgs' Character 
 Not Assailed, Neither the Sincerity of 
 His Belief. 
 
 At the regular weekly prayer-meeting 
 of the First Presbyterian Church of Wal- 
 nut Hills, on June 7, Thos. McDougall 
 made his report of the late General As- 
 sembly held in "Washington, D. C, JVEr. 
 McDougall said: 
 
 Brethren — It was my privilege to attend 
 the late General Assembly of our Church 
 as a commissioner from this Presbytery. 
 According to the custom of our Church, 
 permit me to make report to you as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 The 105th General Assembly of the 
 Presbyterian Church held its sessions at 
 Washington City, beginning Thursday, 
 
May 18, at 11 A.M., and continuing daily, 
 Sabbaths excepted, till Thursday, June 1, 
 at 10 P.M., when it was duly dissolved. 
 Never having attended any other General 
 Assembly^ I am unable, even if it were 
 proper, to make comparisons with the per- 
 sonnel and dispatch of business of former 
 Assemblies. 
 
 In the Assembly, as commissioners, 
 were no less than five ex Moderators — 
 Drs. Smith, Nichols, Johnson, Thompson 
 and Young. Among the ministerial com- 
 missioners were many of the most emi- 
 nent pastors, scholars and teachers of our 
 Church. In the eldership were to be found 
 judges of Federal and State Courts, men 
 of great experience in business, and mem- 
 bers of the legal and other professions 
 who had obtained more or less eminence 
 therein. It would be difficult to find a 
 body of men numbering 580 more decid- 
 edly representative of our great Church, 
 and better fitted to discharge the diflicult 
 duties and onerous trusts imposed upon 
 them. In all its deliberations it was a 
 calm, earnest, impartial and dignified 
 body. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The reports of the various Boards and 
 agencies charged with the great work of 
 the Church evidenced that the past year 
 
has been one of great spiritual and ma- 
 terial prosperity in our Church. For the 
 first time in its history the contributions to 
 Foreign Missions exceeded one million dol- 
 lars, and this while the sum given to Home 
 Missions was very nearly as much. The 
 actual addition to the membership of the 
 Church was greater than in any preceding 
 year, and all departments of the Church's 
 work evidenced substantial growth, and 
 the presence and operation of the Holy 
 Spirit in the upbuilding of the kingdom of 
 Christ. 
 
 The theological seminaries of our 
 Church occupied an important part of the 
 consideration of the Assembly, and such 
 action was taken and information given 
 as may bring the training-schools of our 
 ministry into closer relations with the 
 General Assembly, and place them un- 
 der more effective control. To all of us 
 present there was great cause Tor rejoic- 
 ing m the manifest tokens of divine favor 
 in the record of the past year. 
 
 The Moderator, Dr. Craig, commanded 
 the affection and confidence of every mem- 
 ber of the Assembly. Fair, clear-headed, 
 firm and impartial, with a large measure 
 of God's spirit, he conducted the great 
 Assembly in all its departments of busi- 
 ness so as to unite all differences of opin- 
 
ion at its close in a hearty, unanimous 
 vote of thanks for his conduct. 
 
 Our beloved Church has stood pre-emi- 
 nent in the past for obedience to properly 
 constituted authority, for loyalty to its his- 
 tori 5 faith, for fidelity to every obligation, 
 including the ordination vovr; for implicit 
 submission to the will, purposes and de- 
 crees of almighty God, and for an un- 
 swerving and unflinching loyalty to the 
 Word of God. In so doing, she has 
 wrought for the race in the past more of 
 civil and religious liberty, and done more 
 for the up-building of Christ-like charac- 
 ter which rests on conviction and implicit 
 faith in God's revealed will, than any 
 other denomination in Christendom. 
 
 THE CASE OF DR. BRIGGS. 
 
 A part of the business of the Assembly 
 w^as the trial of judicial cases, one of 
 which has attained marked notoriety in 
 the past few years — the case of Dr. 
 Briggs. It came to the General Assem- 
 bly on appeal from the judgment of ac- 
 quittal by the New York Presbytery, 
 Dr. Briggs was tried in his Presbytery on 
 certain charges involving a violation of 
 his ordination vow, by teaching doctrines 
 contrary to Holy Scripture, and the es- 
 sential doctrines cootained in the Stand- 
 
ards of our Church. There were eight 
 charges in all; two of these, numbers 
 four and seven, were not tried on their 
 merits by the Presbytery. The trial was 
 had on charg;e8 one, two, three, five.^six 
 and eight. One and two charged Dr. 
 Briggs with teaching that the reason and 
 the Church are fountains of divine au- 
 thority with the Holy Scriptures. Three, 
 five and six involved the inerrancy of the 
 Holy Scripture, and the questions wheth- 
 er Moses wrote the Pentateuch, and Isaiah 
 the whole of the book which bears his 
 name. 
 
 Number eight involved the doctrine of 
 the middle state, or progressive sanctifi- 
 cation after death. On these six charges 
 the Presbytery of New York acquitted 
 Dr. Briggs by a majority, at the same 
 time declining to approve his views, but 
 holding that they did not violate the lib- 
 erty of scholarship allowed within our 
 Church. It would not be wise for me at 
 this time to enter into any discussion of 
 what have been called the technical er- 
 rors in procedure wiih which the New 
 York Presbytery was charged in the 
 case. 
 
 THE TEACHINGS OF DR. BRIGGS. 
 
 It was claimed by the Church, through 
 its Prosecuting Committee, that Dr. Briggs 
 
8 
 
 had taught that Martineau, the rational- 
 ist, who denied the divinity of Christ, his 
 atonement, his miracles and the super 
 natural in religion, had found God the 
 Father through the reason, independent 
 of the Scriptures; and that Newman, a 
 Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, 
 failing to find God in the Bible, found 
 him in the Church, and that these two 
 men were representative Christians, and 
 had found salvation through the reason 
 and the Church, irrespective of the Word 
 of God; and this, contrary to the express 
 statement of Christ "that no man can 
 come to the Father but by me," and to 
 the essential doctrine of Holy Scripture 
 and the Standards of our Church. 
 
 It was claimed by Dr. Briggs that his 
 language was not susceptible of the inter- 
 pretation thus placed upon it by the Pros- 
 ecuting Committee. On the issue thus 
 joined, the General Assembly sustained 
 the Prosecuting Committee, and found 
 Dr. Briggs guilty as charged. 
 
 THE INERRANCY CHARGES. 
 
 As to the inerrancy of the Holy Script- 
 ures, it was claimed by the prosecution 
 that Dr. Briggs had stated that there may 
 have been, and probably were, errors in 
 the original Scriptures as they came from 
 
9 
 
 God, and that he in fact clain2ed there 
 were errors of history and of fact iz? the 
 Holy Scriptures as we now have them, 
 which, however, Dr. Briggs claimed did 
 not aflfect the value of the Bible, nor his 
 belief in it as an infallible rule of faith 
 and practice. It was claimed by the 
 prosecution that the teaching of Dr. 
 Briggs that Moses did not write the 
 Pentateuch was contrary to the express 
 statements of Jesus Christ, and that his 
 claim that Isaiah did not write the latter 
 half of the Book of Isaiah was contrary 
 to the express statements of God, in Holy 
 Scripture, as found in Matthew, Luke 
 John and Romans. 
 
 THE ISSUES VITAL. 
 
 The issues thus joined were, in the 
 judgment of the General Assembly, fun- 
 damental and vital. They involved the 
 veracity, omniscience and absolute truth- 
 fulness of Almighty God, and of our Lord 
 and Savior, Jesus Christ. On all of the 
 issues joined by charges three, five and 
 six, involving the inerrancy of the Holy 
 Scriptures, the General Assembly found 
 Dr. Briggs guilty, and decided that it was 
 the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church 
 that the Scriptures, as they came from 
 God, were without error, and that no 
 
10 
 
 errors now exist in the Bible, save such 
 mipAft-kes as are the work of copyists, 
 printers and translators. That the doc- 
 trine that the Scriptures as they came 
 from God were inerrant is essential to be- 
 lief in any revelation, and that God, who 
 never makes mistakes, and is truth itself, 
 can not commit or countenance error or 
 falsehood in his Word. 
 
 The General Assembly announced its 
 doctrines on these subjects as follows: 
 
 First — We find that the doctrine of the 
 errancy of Scripture, as it came to them 
 to whom and through whom God origi- 
 nally communicated his revelation, is in 
 conflict with the statements of Holy 
 Scripture icself, which asserts that all 
 Scripture, or every Scripture, is given by 
 the inspiration of God (2 Tim. iii. 16); that 
 the prophecy came not of old by the will 
 of man, but that holy men of God spake 
 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 
 Peter i. 21), and also with the statements 
 of the Standards of the Church, which as- 
 sert that the Holy Scriptures of the Old 
 and New Testaments are the word of God 
 (Larger Catechism, Question 3), of infal- 
 lible proof and divine authority (Confes- 
 sion, Chap. I., Sec. 5). 
 
 Second — We find in this case involved 
 the question of the sufficiency of the hu- 
 
11 
 
 man reason and the Church, as author- 
 ized guides in the matter of salvation. 
 Your committee recommends that this 
 General Assembly declare that the reason 
 and the Church are not to be regarded as 
 fountains oi divine authority; that they 
 are unreliable and variable, and whilst 
 they may be, and no doubt are, channels 
 or media through which the Holy Spirit 
 may reach and influence for good the 
 human soul, they are not to be relied on 
 as sufficient in themselves, and aside from 
 Holy Scripture, to lead the soul to a sav- 
 ing knowledge of God. To teach other- 
 wise is most dangerous, and contrary to 
 the Word of God and our Standards, and 
 our ministers and churches are solemnly 
 warned against them. 
 
 Third — We find involved in this case a 
 speculation in regard to the process of the 
 soul's sanc'ification after death, which, in 
 the judgment of this A.ssembly, is a dan- 
 gerous hypothesis, in direct conflict with 
 the plain teachings of the divine Word 
 and the utterances of the Standards of 
 our Church. Those Standards distinctly 
 declare that the souls of believers are, at 
 their death, made perfect in holiness, and 
 do immediately pass into glory, whilst 
 their bodies, being still united to Christ, 
 do rest in their graves till the resurrection. 
 
12 
 
 (Shorter Catechism, (^ues. 37; 1 Cor. v. 3; 
 Phil. i. 23; John xvii. 24.) 
 
 THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH SETTLED. 
 
 8o far, then, as judicial decision and 
 the General Assembly can settle the faith 
 of our Church as to these doctrines, it has 
 been settled. More or less of misappre- 
 hension and misunderstanding has existed 
 touching the issues involved in this case. 
 They were not questions of policy, nor of 
 ecclesiastical government, nor liberty of 
 scholarship; they were, in the judgment 
 of an overwhelming majority of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, teachings which struck at 
 the vitals of religion, and vshich, having 
 been industriously spread, came within 
 the definition of what our Church calls 
 heresy, and the violation of the ordination 
 vow of Dr. Briggs. It is the faith of our 
 Church that the Bible, in all its details, 
 its doctrine and its history, from Genesis 
 to Revelation, is the W ord of God, without 
 error, on which the soul of man may rest 
 with perfect safety, as the only and final 
 authority in all matters of faith and 
 practice. 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF DR. BRIGGS. 
 
 Let us bear in mind that the character 
 of Dr. Briggs was not on trial in this 
 case; neither was the sincerity of his be- 
 
13 
 
 lief in his views; nor was the question 
 betore the court as to whether or not Dr. 
 Brig^s was a Christian, in the sense of 
 being saved by Jesus Christ, God alone 
 has jurisdiction to determine the final 
 destiny of every human soul. Dr. Briggs 
 obtained the position 0/ minister in our 
 Church by subscribing to its ordination 
 vow, by which he obligated himself to 
 maintain the faith, the peace and the 
 purity of the Church. The General As- 
 sembly found him guilty of a violation of 
 his ordination vow; found that he had 
 used the position he obtained to maintain 
 the faith of the Church to assail it; found 
 he was not a Presbyterian, and, in the 
 exercise of the powers given to it by the 
 constitution, to the exercise of which Dr. 
 Briggs, by his ordination vow, assented, 
 proceeded to try him, not for the viola- 
 tion of the moral law; not in a case in- 
 volving hi;^ character; not whether he 
 was a gentleman — but solely to determine 
 whether his teaching was in harmony 
 with the faith of the Presbyterian Church, 
 which he obligated himself to maintain 
 and teach when he voluntarily sought its 
 ministry. 
 
 LIBERTY AND ORGANIZATION. 
 
 Much has been said about liberty, tol- 
 
14 
 
 eratlon and forbearance. The question 
 presented to the General Assembly in- 
 volved the existence of the Presbyterian 
 Church as a denomination, and its funda- 
 mental faith, and could only be tried and 
 settled by the supreme court of that 
 Church, which Dr. Briggs had obligated 
 himself, by the terms of its ordination 
 vow, to submit to. This is the law of 
 every civil and social organization. When 
 a Free Mason or an Odd Fellow is charged 
 with a violation of the terms on which he 
 has obtained admission to the organiza- 
 tion, the question is determined, not by 
 the person who is charged with the vio- 
 lation, nor by his interpretation of his 
 conduct, but by the supreme authority or 
 court constituted by the organization to 
 try the case. It is not settled by outside 
 public opinion, nor by the views of the 
 public press. The Presbyterian Church 
 has never taken its faith from the secular 
 press, nor from its self-constituted advis- 
 ers not within its pale. Vital to the ex- 
 istence of all voluntary organizations is a 
 full and loyal compliance, by its member- 
 ship, with the terms upon which they 
 obtain entrance to it. One of my warmest 
 personal friends is a gentleman living in 
 another city, a Roman Catholic, a gentle- 
 man of the highest character, and for 
 
15 
 
 whom I have a strong affection. But I 
 do not regard him as a pfood Presbyterian, 
 nor does he regard me as a good Roman 
 Catholic, and this without in any way 
 affecting the estimate each has of the 
 other's character. 
 
 WHAT OUR CHURCH HAS DONE. 
 
 The Presbyterian Church has settled, 
 so far as she can settle for evangelical 
 Protestantism, the historic faith of the 
 Protestant Church in the inerrant Word 
 of God. Those who do no* believe in an 
 inerrant Bible are free as the air to as- 
 sail it on the outside, by "higher" or 
 lower or any other criticism; but no man 
 has a right to assail the faith of the Pres- 
 byterian Church who has obtained admis- 
 sion to its membership, and vowed to 
 maintain its faith. He can not rightfully 
 use the position he has acquired by a 
 vow to upholds the faith, to assail it in 
 the house of its friends. This, as we 
 have said, is not a question of policy; it 
 is not a question of toleration; it is a 
 question of fidelity to the ordination vow, 
 obedience to properly constituted author- 
 ity, and loyalty to the historic faith of the 
 Church. 
 
 NO BITTERNESS NOR PRE-JUDGMENT. 
 
 There was no bitterness nor partiality 
 
16 
 
 nor pre-judging in the trial of Dr. Briggs. 
 Each member of the General Assembly 
 had settled convictions as to the terms of 
 the ordination vow he himself had taken, 
 and as to what was the historic faith of 
 the Church. Because he had these con- 
 victions ani this knowledge, he was com- 
 petent to sit in judgment on Dr. Briggs, 
 and not otherwise. When was the judge 
 of a court ever charged with pre-judging 
 a case because he had fixed convictions as 
 to what the law was governing the case, 
 and had applied its rules in other cases 
 than the one on trial? It is childish to 
 talk of pre-judging this case. Only those 
 men are fitted to be judges who have 
 knowledge of the law, and convictions as 
 to what it is, and those who voted against 
 Dr. Briggs no more pre-judged the case 
 than those who voted for him Oar be- 
 loved Church, pre eminent in the scholar- 
 ship of her ministry, has afibrded the 
 largest liberty in scholarship consistent 
 with her ordination vows and loyalty to 
 her historic faith. She asks, and she has 
 a right to demand, of her sons that their 
 scholarship and their service shall be de- 
 voted to the maintenance of her faith and 
 the upbuilding of the kingdom of Christ. 
 
17 
 
 THE SENTENCE. 
 
 The sentence of the court was suspen- 
 sion of Dr. Briggs from the office ot the 
 ministry of the Church till such time as 
 he should give to the court satisfactory 
 evidence of repentance. This sentence 
 has been criticised by some as being too 
 severe. In view of the declarations of 
 Dr. Briggs in his defense before the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, that he sincerely believed 
 m the views and teachings condemned, 
 and would continue to teach them as long 
 as he lived; and in view of the letter he 
 wrote to the sub-committee of the Com- 
 mittee on Judgment, refusing to retract 
 anything he had said, and adfiering to all 
 of the views he had uttered on the floor 
 of the Assembly, no other sentence was 
 possible if the court was to respect itself 
 and the Church was to preserve its or- 
 ganization. 
 
 HOW THE SENTENCE WAS REACHED. 
 
 The sentence was adopted unanimously 
 by the committee of fifteen, and on its 
 presentation to the Assembly, that body 
 adopted it, without any substantial oppo- 
 sition, or request for its modification. 
 The action of Dr. Briggs, his declared pur- 
 poses and the sincerity ot his belief pre- 
 cluded any lighter sentence. It may in- 
 
18 
 
 terest you, however, to know what has 
 not yet been f:;iven to the public, that 
 when the committee of fifteen, appointed 
 by the Assembly to draft the judgment, 
 met on Thursday morning at the Ebbitt 
 House, it appointed a sub-committee of 
 three, consisting of Drs. Baker and 
 Brooks and myself, to wait on Dr. Briggs, 
 and ascertain from him his views as to 
 the disposition of the case. That com- 
 mittee of fifteen unanimously agreed that 
 the sub committee should present to Dr. 
 Briggs, if he gave to us any indication of 
 a willingness to accept the decision of the 
 court, and abide by it, the following: 
 
 "The supreme court of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church having found you guilty of 
 a violation of your ordination vow as a 
 minister of our Church, as charged in 
 this case, in holding, teaching and propa- 
 gating views, teachings and doctrines con- 
 trary to and destructive of fundamental 
 doctrines of the faith and Standards of 
 our denomination as interpreted by said 
 supreme court, will you now hereby 
 agree and solemnly promise, in the pres- 
 ence of God and before this supreme 
 judiciary of our Church — on being ad- 
 monished and enjoined to withdraw, in 
 so far as you can. and to cease from 
 uttering, teaching or in any manner 
 
19 
 
 propagating the views, teachings and doc- 
 trines set forth in said charges, and as 
 contained in said inaugural address — to 
 express your sincere regret and sorrow 
 for your violation of your ordination vow, 
 and to cease from uttering, teaching or 
 in any manner propagating said views, 
 teachings and doctrines so condemned in 
 this case, and as interpreted by this 
 supreme court in this case, so long as 
 you remain a minister of the Presbyte- 
 rian Church in the United States of 
 America?" 
 
 When I stated to Dr. Briggs that the 
 committee had authorized us to submit a 
 paper, he respectfully declined to receive 
 it, or to have it read, although ignorant 
 of its contents. It is only fair to say 
 that had Dr. Briggs, on the decision of 
 the case by the supreme court of our 
 Church, agreed to accept and abide by 
 it, and cease teaching the views which 
 had been condemned, the sentence would 
 probably have been only admonition, and 
 he would have been allowed to exercise 
 all the functions of his office 
 
 THE ATTACKS ON THE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 The attacks on this sentence, and the 
 action of the General Assembly, by cer- 
 tain ministers and theological professors, 
 
20 
 
 are deeply to be regretted. No member 
 of the legal profession would dare attack 
 the conduct and decisions of his supreme 
 court, as certain ministers and teachers 
 of the ministry in our Church have as- 
 sailed the decisions and action of their 
 supreme court. If he did, he would be 
 disbarred, and prohibited from exercising 
 the functions of his office. Respect for 
 and obedience to authority are essential 
 to the maintenance of government. It is 
 worse than childish to abuse the court that 
 has decided a case against us, especially 
 when that court is the one we have 
 voluntarily agreed should decide our case. 
 No man is forced to enter the Presby- 
 terian Church. She is a voluntary relig- 
 ious organization. Every minister that 
 enters that Church does so of his own 
 motion, and subject to its obligations 
 which he voluntarily assumes, one of 
 which is that in all questions touching 
 the violation of his ordination vow and 
 the duration of his ecclesiastical life, and 
 involving the doctrines and faith of the 
 Church, the General Assembly, as the 
 supreme court of the Church, shall 
 finally decide. He has not had a com- 
 plete trial of his case until that supreme 
 court has sat in judgment thereon, and 
 it is only from its judgment of acquittal 
 
'21 
 
 or conviction that no right of appeal oj* 
 second trial lies. 
 
 It is, as we have said, deeply to be 
 regretted that ministers of our Church, 
 and especially teachers who have the 
 molding of the future ministry of the 
 Church, are to be found attempting to 
 discredit our supreme court, and inciting 
 disrespect and disobedience to its man- 
 dates. This is not liberty, but license. 
 It is not toleration, but intolerance in its 
 worst form. No- society or government 
 or church can exist that does not secure 
 from its membership obedience to and 
 respect for its authority, within constitu- 
 tional lines. 
 
 IDLE TALK OF SCHISM. 
 
 It is idle to talk, as some have done, of 
 schism in our midst. No man or body of 
 men in our Church have ever been essen- 
 tial to her welfare. When God has served 
 his purposes with each of us here, and 
 called us home to himself, his Church and 
 his kingdom will triumph, arid work out 
 their God-given destiny. My sole interest 
 in the questions in issue was the main- 
 tenance of the historic faith of our 
 Church. Standing face to face with the 
 problems of sin, loss, sorrow and death, 
 we, the creatures of a day who know not 
 
22 
 
 anything apart from what God has re- 
 vealed, hungering ior certainty here and 
 hereafter, and for the fellowship of the 
 sainted who have passed on before, when 
 the question of the inerrancy of the Word 
 of Almighty God was raised, when confi- 
 dence in that which of necessity must be 
 certain to warrant the faith of any hu- 
 man soul was assailed — can you blame 
 us who believe in God and his inerrant 
 Word, for seeking to settle, so far as the 
 Church can settle it, what its faith in Al- 
 mighty God and his Word was and is? 
 No God who makes mistakes, or coun- 
 tenances error or falsehood as his Word, 
 or permits it to pass current as his truth, 
 is worthy of the faith of any humaa soul. 
 No heart can rest with safety its eternal 
 destiny on a God who is fallible. 
 
 WHICH TO BELIEVE — GOD OR DR BRIGGS? 
 
 When Dr. Briggs said that Isaiah did 
 not write the latter part of the book that 
 bears his name, that he was dead when 
 that was written, and that the words in the 
 latter part of Tsaiah were neither written 
 nor spoken by him; and when God, in the 
 New Testament, expressly declares that 
 Isaiah did write, did speak the words 
 contained therein, the question presented 
 was not one of science, of theology, of his- 
 
tory or of difference of opinion, but was a 
 clear, sharp, well-defined issue of omni- 
 science and veracity between Almighty 
 God and Dr. Briggs, and one which strikes 
 at the fundamental doctrines of our faith 
 and the value of the Word of God 
 
 Beloved brethren, without any bitter- 
 ness, but with intense earnestness fcr the 
 faith on which hangs the eternal destiny 
 of my immortal soul, and jealous of the 
 honor and character of my God and 
 Saviour, I hav-e spoken and acted as I have. 
 I close this statement with the beautiful 
 words of Cowper. when he compares the 
 poor cottager with Voltaire : 
 
 ''Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door, 
 Pillow and bobbins all her little store ; 
 Content, though mean, and cheerful, if not gay, 
 Shuffling her threads about the livelong day. 
 Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night 
 Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light ; 
 She, for her humble sphere by nature fit. 
 Has little understanding, and no wit. 
 Receives no praise ; but, though her lot be such 
 (Toilsome and indigent), she renders much ; 
 Just knows, and knows no more, h^r Bible true — 
 A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew ; 
 And in that charter reads with sparkling Cj^es 
 Her tit'e to a treasure in the skies. 
 
 "0 happy peasant ! unhappy bard ! 
 Hi8 the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward ; 
 He praised perhaps for ages yet to come, 
 She never heard of half a mile from home ; 
 
 He, lost in errors his vain heart prefers. 
 She safe in the simplicity of hem.'''' 
 
 God give us the cottager's simple faith 
 for time and eternity, as the treasure be- 
 
yond price. May the Holy 8pirit so clar- 
 ify our minds, so purify our hearts, so 
 consecrate us to the service of the blessed 
 Christ, that our beloved Presbyterian 
 Church— Church of our fathers— loyal to 
 her historic faith, to the Word of the 
 eternal God, and believing in the abso- 
 lute truthfulness of Him who spake as 
 never man spake, be led on to greater 
 conquests of human hearts, greater vic- 
 tories for that kingdom of Christ which is 
 within us, and which is righteousness 
 and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
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