The Catholic World, Vol. 25, April 1877 to September 1877Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 25, April 1877 to September 1877
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
From this free and easy deliverance four members of the committee
dissented, but on different grounds. One of them thought that Professor
Smith’s views respecting angels were as “destructive” and as full of
“negations” as were his statements concerning the Bible, and that he
should have been arraigned for heresy on this ground. Another—Professor
Candlish—was of the opinion that there was no “ground in the articles
for concern about Professor Smith’s views”; and a third—Mr.
Whyte—insisted that, instead of indulging in “timid and cautious” blame,
the committee should have expressed their real feelings of approbation,
and given utterance to “a hearty and grateful acknowledgment of the
goodness of God to their church in the succession of eminent theologians
and teachers he was raising up among them,” and of whom Professor Smith
was the chief! The fourth dissentient was Dr. Smeaton, of whom we have
already spoken, and who, save the member who was distressed about
Professor Smith’s opinions respecting angels, seems to have been the
only orthodox person upon the committee. An appendix to the report sets
forth the reasons for his dissent at great length, but their purport may
be given in a few words. The finding of the committee was “wholly
inadequate to the gravity of the offence”; Professor Smith had offered
no retractation of his heresies, and he should have been arraigned at
the bar of the church. It is absurd for the committee to avow “regret
and grave concern” at the expression of heresy by a luminary of the
church, and then to “accept a mere profession of loyalty as a sufficient
reason for abstaining from further action.” He exposes the inconsistency
of the committee’s statement that the professor’s views, while
“injurious,” “destructive,” and “naturalistic,” are still compatible
with the belief that the book which he declares to be a forgery was
inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Catholic World, Vol. 25, April 1877 to September 1877 — John Shaqi
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