HERESY CHARGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22434, 2 June 1936, Page 6

HERESY CHARGE

DECISION TO REOPEN PRESBYTEHI AN DISPUTE NEW SOUTH WALKS CASE [from our own corrkspoxdem] SYDNEY, May 27 The Dr. Angus case, or "heresy fount," as it has been called, which nearly divided the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales two or three yean ago, is to be reopened, and all the old bitterness, it is expected, will be awakened. When the controversy was last before the Church it dragged through kll the processes of investigation from the Sydney Presbytery to the General Presbytery of Australia, including inyestigation by the Judicial Commission, which found in favour of Dr. Angus, who is professor of New Testament Theology at St. Andrew's College, Sydney University. Apart fronrthose Presbyterian theolopists who came to be called the "diehards," there was widespread support for Dr. Angus, and much public sympathy for "him, especially when his health gave way under the strain of the protracted struggle and he was forced to .go abroad to regain it. He returned about two months ago and has not long taken up tho threads of hi# yrork when once again he has been called upon to defend his teachings. Accusers of Dr. Angus Tho two foremost accusers of Dr. 'Angus in the previous hearings are again his accusers. Iliev are the Rev. A. J. Carton and the Rev. P. J. H. McGowan. At their behest the New South "Wales General Assembly directed this week that the charges made against Dr. Angus by Mr. Carter should be heard by the Sydney Presbytery. Mr. Carter had been previously refused a ■hearing by'the General Assembly, which reversed its decision because its legal adviser pointed out that in the previous hearing, no chargo had been legally made. Contention revolved around whether B, definite charge had been previously made against Dr. Angus. His opponents 6aid it had not, and therefore that the matter could not have been finally disposed of. "I shall fight against false doctrine all my life," Mr. Carter said. Procurator's Comment In moving that the matter be referred back to the Presbytery, the procurator, Mr. J. A. Ferguson, said that, although he, personally, deplored the fact that the issuo had again been raised, it/was open for any person to make a charge against a minister, or any other memioer of the Church. As a matter of law, a direct charge hud not been brought against Dr. Angus before. It was the duty of the Presbytery to hear any charge brought forward. Mr. Carter, in presenting the case, 6aid: —"I am making a direct chargo and am prepared to stand up to it. That seems to me the only way in .which the matter can reach finality. It is not a just thing for the Presbytery of Sydney to refusß me a hearing." Mr. McGowan said the issues in the case might be a matter of life or death for the Presbyterian Church. It was a denial of natural justice for the Presbytery not to hear Mr. Carter. The full merits of the case had never been tried by any Church court. "Extremely Vexatious" The Rev. John Edwards said that the charge brought by Mr. Carter was, in effect, the same one that had been before the Church courts for over two years, until the Judicial Commission had rejected the appeal for a judicial process. It was. a disturbance of the peaoe of the Church, extremely vexatious. and entirely unwarranted. If the Sydney Presbytery comes to the same decision as before, that the matter has already been settled by the final court of appeal, Mr. Carter, with the Presbytery's consent, can appeal direct to the General Assembly of Australia, in September. If the Presbytery does not consent, Mr. Carter can appeal to the State Assembly again next year.