Professor Robertson Smith has achieved a very conspicuous triumph in
the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. On Friday morning, Sir Henry Moncrieff's motion, which would have deprived Professor Robertson Smith of his professorial 'Chair, was defeated by a majority of seven, in favour of Dr. Beith's motion, which left his position as a Professor untouched, but " admonished " him for his imprudence in the hasty statement of his theological views on Deuteronomy. The numbers were, —299 for Dr. Beith's motion, against 292 for Sir Henry Mon- crieff's. It is remarkable that not even Sir Henry Moncrieff's motion would have deprived the Professor of his position as a minister of the Free Church, though it would have expelled him from his office of a theological teacher. Dr. Beith's motion leaves him both an accredited Free-Church minister and an accredited teacher of theological students, though warning him against rash statements in the latter capacity. From the most orthodox point of view, the Free Church are quite right. Had Professor Robertson Smith been extruded. from his Chair, his place must have been supplied by either a much less competent or a still less orthodox scholar. Professor Robertson Smith's criticism of the Bible is at least as orthodox as is consistent with anything like profound learning. A very ignorant man might easily be more orthodox. But a very learned man could not easily surpass Professor Smith in the orthodoxy of his criticism.
