Gift Tappan Presb. Assor 1-9-1933 BEECHER'S TRIAL. The Presbytery of Cincinnati, to which Dr. Beech ||standards of our church. This call was disregarded also. er belongs, held an adjourned meeting in that city, on Complaint was made to the synod of Cincinnati, and they Tuesday, the 9th of June, 1835. The court consisted said the presbytery could not be compelled to take up chargof the following members, viz.: es, only by a responsible prosecutor. Being more and more Ministers-J. L. Wilson, D. D., Lyman Beecher, D. D., grieved and alarmed, I carried the matter up by appeal to the Andrew S. Morison, Daniel Hayden, Francis Monfort, Thos. last General Assembly. This appeal was cast out by the juJ. Biggst, J. L. Gains, Sayres Gasley, Benjamin Graves dicial committee, because, it was said, that I was not one of (Clerk), Artemas Bullard, John Spaulding F. Y. Vail, Thos. the original parties. Had I called my appeal a complaint, it Brainerd, A. T. Rankin, Calvin E. Stowet (Moderator), Au- would have been tried. gustus Pomroy, George Beecher, Adrien L. Aton, E. Slack. Two facts have made this subject recently flagrant: Ruling Elders-William Skillinger, J. G. Burnet, Adam S. 1. The public commendation of Dr. Beecher's theology by Walker, Simon Hageman, Peter H. Kemper, Andrew Har-perfectionists. vey, William Cumback, Robert Porter, John Archard, Henry Hageman, A. B. Andrews, Israel Brown, Bryce R. Blair, Wm. Carey. The Presbytery was constituted with prayer: when a sermon was delivered by the Rev. Calvin Stowe, from Phil. iii. 16: Whereunto we have attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." The Rev. Dr. Wilson had, at a previous meeting of Presbytery, brought forward certain charges against the Rev. Dr. Beecher, and the present meeting had been appointed to consider and issue the accusations; citations had been issued, and the requisite steps taken to prepare the case for trial. The charges were then read as follows: CHARGES OF WILSON US. BEECHER. To the Moderator and Members of the board of the Presbytery of Cincinnati : Dear Brethren,-It is known to the trustees of Lane Seminary, and to some of the members of Presbytery, that after the appointment of the Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D. to the professorship which he now holds, in that institution, I more than once expressed an opinion that he would not accept of the appointment, because, as I thought, he could not, consistently with his views in theology, adopt the standards of the Presbyterian church. My opinion of Dr. Beecher's theology was then founded on my recollection of a conversation held with him in 1817, and his sermon published in 1827, entitled "The Native Character of Man." When I heard that Dr. Beecher had entered the Presbyterian church, without adopting her standards, I was surprised, grieved and alarmed. When he was received by the Presbytery of Cincinnati from the 3d Presbytery of New York, I was in the Moderator's chair, and was denied the privilege of protesting against his admission, because, it was said, I had no right to protest in a case, in which I had no right to I 2. Some of the perfectionists have been inmates of Lane Seminary. In view of these things, and believing that Dr. Beecher has contributed greatly to the propagation of dangerous doctrines, feel it my duty to bring charges against him before this presbytery. I. I charge Dr. Beecher with propagating doctrines contrary to the word of God and the standards of the Presbyterian church on the subject of the depraved nature of man. subject of a depraved nature, Specifications.-The scripture of our standards teach on the 1. That a corrupted nature is conveyed to all the posterity of Adam, descending from him by ordinary generation. 2. That from original corruption all actual transgressions proceed. 3. That all the natural descendants of Adam are conceived and born in sin. 4. That original sin binds the descendants of Adam over to the wrath of God. 5. That the fall of Adam brought upon mankind the loss of commurion with God, so as we are by nature children of wrath and bound slaves to satan. Conf.F., ch. vi., sec. 3, 4, 6. Larg. Cat. Ans. to Q. 26, 27. Vide scrip. proofs, and short. cat. A. to Q. 18. In opposition to this, Dr. Beecher teaches, 1. That the depravity of man is voluntary. 2. That neither a depraved or holy nature are possible without understanding, conscience and choice. 3. That a depraved nature cannot exist without a voluntary agency. 4. That whatever may be the early constitution of man, there is nothing in it, and nothing withheld from it, which renders disobedience unavoidable. 5. That the first sin in every man is free and might have been and ought to have been avoided. 6. That if man is depraved by nature, it is a voluntary nature that is depraved. 7. That this is according to the Bible. "They go astray vote. Afterwards it was seen by pul lictions, in different pe- as soon as they be born," that is in early life,-how early, so riodicals, that the soundness of Dr. Beecher's theology was as to deserve punishment for actual sin, God only knows.called in question, an this Presbytery was called upon to Vide Dr. Beecher's sermon on Native Character, National take up charges against him on the ground of general rumor. Preacher, Vol. ii. No. 1, p. 11, 12. But the common fame was denied to exist and the call was II. I charge Dr. Beecher with propagating doctrines conunheard. Subsequently the sermon of Dr. Beecher on "De- trary to the word of God, and the standards of the Presbytependence and Free Agency" was circulated and highly com- nan church, on the subjects of Total Depravity and the mended. This Presbytery was then called upon to appoint a work of the Holy Spirit in effectual calling. committee to examine some of the Doctor's sermons and report whether they contained doctrines at variance with the Professor of Theology } † Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Lane Seminary. 1 Professor of Languages Specifications.-The scripture and our standards teach on the subject of total depravity, 1. That by the sin of our first parents, all their natural descendants are dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faeulties of soul and body. |