Amidst a scene of tumultuous excitement, Professor Robert.
son Smith has been condemned by the Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland as an unfit theological instructor for their Clergy, by a majority of 178 (423 against 245 votes). The first division took place on Monday, on a motion of Sir Henry Mon- Greiff's, committing the Assembly to a virtual approval of the action of the Commission. which suspended Professor Robertson Smith ; and this preliminary vote was carried by an even larger majority,-4:39 against 218, or three votes more than two to one. On Tuesday, Principal Rainy brought forward a more positive motion, declaring that, considering the article on the " Hebrew Language and Literature " contributed by Professor Robertson Smith to the " Encyclopaedia Britanuica," and pub- lished after the admonition addressed to him by the Free Church, the Assembly considered him no longer an advantageous teacher for the theological students of that Church. Principal Rainy was very careful not to declare Professor Robertson Smith's views heretical, and to profess his conviction that his supporters
were as much entitled to oppose his on motion, as they were to pronounce on any other question on which different members of the same Church might agree to differ ; but for his own part, he considered that forbearance had reached its limits with Pro- fessor Robertson Smith, and that he was clearly an unsafe teacher for the young. Dr. Whyte, who defended Professor Robertson Smith, took the line that if condemned at all, he should. be libelled for heresy, and condemned for heretical views ; and that if not so condemned, there was no one in the Church who ought to be held more free to canvas permissible views than a Professor in a theological college ; and Dr. Whyte was enthusiastically supported by the great majority of the younger men. But the older men were fairly frightened, and the result was the vote which we have given above. The result was announced amidst the wildest hootings and disapprobation from the gallery and the younger part of the Assembly. This is a heavy blow struck at the theology of the Free Church of Scotland.
