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A
THE
DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES
OF THE
Jrabgiman (j liurclt in the ijmfed jliatea,
COMMONLY CALLED
THE SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
AS SET FORTH IN THE FORMAL DECLARATIONS, AND IL¬
LUSTRATED BY EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS OF
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, FROM 1861-70.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
EXTRACTS FROM TIIE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 0. S.
ASSEMBLY, FROM 1861-67;
OF THE N. S. ASSEMBLY, FROM 1861-66.
%
SECOND EDITION.
RICHMOND:
PRESBYTERIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Prefatory Remarks i
Address of 1861, to add the Churches of Jesus Christ
THROUGHOUT THE EARTH 5
Pastorad Letter of 1862, to the Ministers and Mem¬
bers of our Churches, and the Young Men of our
Congregations in the Confederate Army 24
Minute of 1863, on the death of Gen. Thos. J. Jackson. 34
Terms of Union with the United Synod of the Presby¬
terian Church, 1864 37
Extracts from the Minutes, 1861-64, yiz.:
Prayers for the Confederacy 50
Sympathy for the Confederacy 52
Slaves and Slavery 53
Minute of 1865 on our Relation to the Old School
Church , 60
Pastoral Letter of 1865 62
Action of 1866, on the Spirituality of the Church and
Its Relation to the State 74
Action of 1867, on the Letter of the Synod of Ken¬
tucky 78
Extracts from the said Letter 79
Proceedings of 1870, on Correspondence with the
Northern Assembly > 91
Pastoral Letter of 1870 97
3
4 CONTENTS.
Extracts from Proceedings of the Old School Assem¬
bly, from 1861-67, viz.:
On the-War, etc 108
Slavery 109
Southern Ministers and the Southern Church.. 110
The Declaration and Testimony 115
Extracts from the Pastoral Letter of 1866 117
Extracts from the Memorial of the St. Louis
• Convention 121
Endorsement by the Assembly of 1867, of the
Declarations of the breceding Assemblies 124
Extracts from Proceedings of the New School Assem¬
bly, from 1861-66, viz.:
Bebellion, Loyalty and Slavery 125
Southern Ministers and Churches 129
Negro Suffrage and Beconstruction 130
Condign Punishment for Bebels 132
The Church must Conserve the State ,..132
Abraham Lincoln—Andrew Johnson 133
Action of 1870 by the Be-united General Assembly
withdrawing their committee of conference
with the Southern Assembly 134
PREFATORY REMARKS.
The Executive Committee of Publication submits this pam¬
phlet to the public, under the immediate order of the General
Assembly. In exercising the discretion conferred on it, the Com¬
mittee has made the compilation somewhat larger than was pro¬
bably intended at first; but nothing has been inserted which is
not included within the language of the resolution of the Assem¬
bly. It is not necessary to give the reasons in detail which have
prevailed with the Committee in making this compilation, some
of which originated and others have gained additional force since
the adoption of the resolution. It will be manifest, however,
on the least reflection, that it will be a convenience and advan¬
tage to our ministers and people, to have before them, in a
compact form, all the documents and facts which bear on these
subjects. Moreover, the Committee was persuaded that this full
digest of the proceedings was necessary in order to accomplish
the very objects aimed at by the Assembly, which are supposed to
have been such as the following: 1, To correct the misrepresen¬
tations of the position, principles and action of our Church,
which have been extensively published in America and Europe.
2. To bring afresh before the minds of our own people, the
principles which led to the organization of our Church, which we
have steadfastly maintained, and to the faithful adherence to which
we are distinctly committed. 3. To make the utterances of
the Assembly touching the spiritual and non-secular character of
the Church, a living and permanent testimony, especially at this
time when this principle is becoming a subject of increasing in¬
quiry among the Protestant Churches on both sides of the
Atlantic.
A careful examination and study of the declarations and pro-
12 * (i)
ii
PREFATORY REMARKS.
proceedings here presented is earnestly desired; and it will be
seen that they constitute a complete vindication of our Church
against the accusations by which its good name has been de¬
famed. As this pamphlet will fall into the hands of many who
have not previously examined the subject, the Committee desires
to call attention to some of the more important facts and princi¬
ples which are herein set forth.
I. The relation of the chtjbch to the state.
I. It will be seen that the doctrine announced and maintained
by the Assembly, on the relation of the Church to the State,
is not, as has often been charged, the unscriptural and impracti¬
cable idea that the Church and Christians as such have no duties
to perform toward the State. True, the Assembly denies the
right of Church courts to interfere with the domain of Caesar by
legislating on political questions; but, at the same time, it en¬
joins the duties which the citizen owes to the Commonwealth.
" The relation of the Church of Christ to the State," says the
Assembly of 1865, " is not one dejure, but de facto. As right
and good, or wrong and wicked, they rise and fall by the agency
or permission of God's providence. In either case, the attitude
of the Church towards them is essentially the same. As long as
they stand and are acknowledged, obedience is to be enjoined as
a duty ; factious resistance is to be condemned as a sin." " The
only serious danger of collision" between the Church and State,
says the Assembly of 1861, " is where moral duty is conditioned
on a political question. Under the pretext of inculcating duty,
the Church may usurp the power to determine the question which
conditions it; and that is precisely what she is debarred from
doing. The condition must be given. She must accept it from
the State, and then her own course is clear. If Caesar is your
master, then pay tribute to him; but whether the ' if' holds;
whether Caesar is your master or not; whether he ever had any
just authority ; whether he now retains it or has forfeited it,
these are points which the Church has no commission to adju¬
dicate. "
Now, in 1861, at the time of its organization, the Assembly
found the people represented in it placed under the civil author-
PEEFATOBY REMARKS.
iii
ity of the Confederate government, and that of the respective
States which constituted it. Its authority was disputed, not
among us, but outside of our bounds; and the United States
government was only known to us, as a nation with which we
were at war, menacing us by land and by sea.
Under these circumstances, in accordance with the above prin¬
ciples, the Assembly recognized "the powers that be," which
" are ordained of God," to be none other than the Confederate
States, and the respective States confederated in it. Hence, the
Assembly was simply carrying out its own principles, and the
doctrines of the Word of God, when it taught the citizen and
the soldier to discharge to the Confederate government the
duties which the Scriptures enjoin towards the civil power;
teaching them to render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's;
" tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to
whom fear, honour to whom honourand when it made inter¬
cession "for all that are in authority."
In all this action of the General Assembly, fairly considered,
there is nothing that offends against the principles set forth in its
formal declarations. Nor is there anything which contravenes the
doctrines of the Kentucky and Missouri Synods, which have con¬
tended for the same principles we have maintained, as they have
given their views to the world in the "Declaration and Testi¬
mony," or as they are presented in the letter of the Synod of
Kentucky to the Assembly of 1867. Of this letter the portions
that relate to this subject are given in this pamphlet.
There is a single clause in the narrative of 1862 which is fre¬
quently quoted as violating these principles. Looking at that
paragraph from our present condition, it has a seeming political
aspect. But let us candidly consider the situation of the country
when that Assembly was in session. Our government was con¬
fessedly none other than the Confederate government; and the
war, if successful on the part of the United States, threatened
the extermination of that government, the forfeiture of our po¬
litical rights, the destruction of our domestic institutions, the
loss of our property, and other evils to Church and State which
were universally dreaded, because announced in the proclama¬
tions of military commanders. Under such circumstances what
iv
PREFATORY REMARKS.
do we find that the Assembly did? Simply utter a strong decla¬
ration of sympathy for our people, the members of our own con¬
gregations, who were engaged in an effort to avert these calami¬
ties, and a decided expression of approval of those who were per¬
forming these acts of patriotic duty, with the offering of its heart¬
felt prayers on their behalf; and that very unanimity for which it
renders thanks to God, went far to justify the expression of them.
But whether this explanation is accepted or not, the Assembly has
made as full concession on this point as any one ought to re¬
quire, when it acknowledges that a close criticism may detect some
incidental clauses in our proceedings inconsistent with the formal
declarations of the Assembly on the subject.
2. It will be seen there is no discussion of any political ques¬
tion, nor the announcement of any political dogma whatsoever,
in the Pastoral Letter to our youth in the army. Its politics it
accepted from the State, which consisted in recognizing the actual
posture of the case. Taking this for granted, it based its counsels
to our youth on the situation in which they were placed in the
providence of God, and under the call of the government, which
they were bound by the law of God to obey.
3. The prayers offered, it will be seen, were for God's blessing
on this people, at a time of blockade, invasion, and all the calam¬
ities of war. It was always done simply as an act of holy wor¬
ship, and with the hope and expectation of the Divine blessing.
It was never done as a matter of political significancy, or because
it was required as a manifestation of allegiance to the Confede¬
rate government. On the other hand, our ministers suffered im¬
prisonment, persecution, the despoiling of their goods, and ban¬
ishment, because they would not make their prayers the vehicle
for proclaiming the restoration of the authority of the govern¬
ment of the United States in the places occupied by the army
during the progress of the war; not because any one of them
objected to praying for the government and officers under whose
power they were actually placed, but because they would not
prostitute the occasions of worship to political purposes, nor en¬
gage in the professed worship of God under military or govern¬
mental dictation.
Again : Let the pastoral letter of 1865 be carefully read, and
it will be seen that the Assembly, after the Confederate govern-
PREFATORY REMARKS.
V
merit was overturned, was far more positive and careful in ex¬
plaining the duties of our people towards the United States than
it ever had been in enjoining duty towards the Confederate gov¬
ernment. During the war, the people performed the duties of the
citizen towards the government with a spontaneous unanimity
which renderred any special injunctions from the Assembly un¬
necessary ; and hence, in all its proceedings, it will be seen those
duties are simply taken for granted. But, when the Confederate
government was defeated and the circumstances of the people
wholly changed, the authority of the Church in enjoining the
duties which the new relations required, was found necessary to
quiet agitation and to satisfy the consciences of our people.
Hence the Assembly enjoins the duties which the Scriptures pre¬
scribe to the civil magistrate, as due to the United States; and
bases its instructions on the ground that the practical question
which conditions these duties is not in dispute ; because the
authority of the United States as the actual or de facto govern"
ment is universally conceded.
It was just so among us during the war; and hence, by unani¬
mous vote, the Church took the name indicative of the 4c facto
state of things: it was the Church in the Confederate States.
When the war was over, the government de facto by which we
were held in subjection and to which we owed our political duties
was that of the United States, and the name of the Church was
changed accordingly. In neither case did the Assembly say a
word as to the rightfulness or wrongfulness of these govern¬
ments respectively, but only acknowledged the actual existing
facts, and recognised the corresponding obligations. In so doing
it did not transcend its sphere, according to its own doctrines.
But if it did in the first instance, much more in the second. This
will not be affirmed.
n. The subject of slavery.
The extracts given from the proceedings of the Assembly
about slaves and slavery, will be read with interest and pleasure.
It ought here to be stated, as an additional fact, that the paper of
Dr. J. A. Lyon was on the relation of master and servant, and on
the treatment of slaves; and that of Dr. J. L. "Wilson was on their
vi
PREFATORY REMARKS.
religious instruction. Both of these papers were before the
Assembly of 1864, and were received with great favour by that
body, but required some verbal alterations. A few phrases hav¬
ing been objected to, and Dr. Lyon having requested some one
else to be appointed to the service, these papers were referred
for such amendment to a committee of which Dr. Dabney was
chairman. Before it had time to meet, tidings from the war
were received which created apprehensions that members might
be prevented from returning home, and this caused a sudden ad¬
journment of the Assembly. Before another Assembly met the
institution of slavery was overturned, and the two papers became
obsolete.
In the Narrative of the state of religion for 1864, two expres¬
sions concerning slavery are found which have given rise to
much criticism. It is proper to state, as a preliminary remark,
that these Narratives in general are not closely scrutinized when
presented in the General Assembly, inasmuch as they are not
expected to introduce difficult or debatable points. And in re¬
gard to the Narrative for that year, it is a well known fact that it
was read on the very eve of the final adjournment of the body,
at a time when the most exciting reports of battles occurring or
impending had just reched the place, (Charlotte, North Carolina,)
and when the members, apprehensive of being cut off by military
operations from a return home, were impatient to get away. If,
therefore, some things may be found in this paper less carefully
expressed than could be desired, the statement just presented
may account for the fact that attention was not drawn to them.
But taking them as they are, there are certain remarks to be
offered which are due to a fair understanding. We notice,
I. The expression that 1' domestic servitude is of divine ap¬
pointment."
Slavery has existed under various forms, as in the villanage of
England, the serfdom of Russia and the peonage of Mexico.
Domestic servitude is an instance in which the order of things
constituting slavery is made a part of the family relation. The
head of the family is the master, and the slave is subject in the
use of his time and labour, to the control of the master, as are
other members of the family. Properly explained, it may be
PREFATORY REMARKS.
vii
rightly affirmed that domestic servitude is of divine appoint¬
ment.
(1-) Not precisely in the sense that civil government, as opposed
to anarchy, is of divine appointment.
(2.) Nor precisely in the sense that marriage is the divinely
appointed law of society, as opposed to concubinage, polygamy
and general licentiousness.
Civil government under some form, and marriage under the
prescribed form, are absolutely necessary to the social state,
and are therefore obligatory upon all conditions of society.
(3.) The essential principle of slavery is submission or subjec¬
tion to control by the will of another. This is an essential ele¬
ment in every form of civil government, also, and in the family
relation itself.
(4.) The application of this principle in the form of " domestic
servitude " is right or wrong according to circumstances. It is not
an institution essential to the social state, and therefore is not of
universal obligation. But in certain conditions of society it has
been expressly recognized by God, permitted and appointed.
See Ex. xx: 10, 17, Ex. xxi: 7; Lev. xxv: 44-46; Matt, v: 17;
1 Tim. vi: 1-4-
"When established in such conditions of society as render it
lawful and proper, it becomes a right arrangement of the civil
government.
(5.) If domestic servitude was ever justifiable, the circum
stances of the case in this country made it right and best that
such should be the relation, in general, of the negro to the white
population.
(6.) If it was a relation justifiable and lawful in the sight of
God, it was of divine appointment, since whatever is thus lawful
implies the sanction of the Lawgiver. And the existence of
wrong laws and usages connected with it, no more disproves the
lawfulness of the relation itself, than such things disprove the
lawfulness of marriage or of civil government.
(7.) The dogma which denies the lawfulness of this relation
tinder any circumstances; which condemns it as always contrary
to the Divine will; which asserts its inherent sinfulness, is com¬
pletely contradicted by the plainest facts and teachings of the
yiii
PREFATORY REMARKS.
Old Testament and the New; is a doctrine unknown to the
Church until recent times; is a pernicious heresy, embracing a
principle not only infidel and fanatical, but subversive of every
relation of life, and every civil government upon earth.
II. It is affirmed that it was "the peculiar mission of the
Southern Church to conserve the institution of slavery."
Concerning this we remark—
(1.) That the same form of expression is to be found in the
Minutes of the General Assembly (New School) of 1865. In a
carefully considered paper on " the state of the country," that
Assembly say:
God has taught us, in this war, that the Church must conserve
the State, by instructing the people in the great principles of
justice, and inspiring them to practice the same.
No exceptionhas been taken to this expression, which was uttered
the year after it was used by our Assembly. In the sense intended
the sentiment is entirely proper. But if any one will define the
sense in which it is proper for the Church to "conserve the
State," in the same sense it would be also proper for it to "con¬
serve the institution of slavery." It certainly is not the duty of
the Church to conserve the State in the sense of dictating what
form of civil government it shall establish, how long it shall
continue, or for what causes it should be changed. Its duty is
limited to condemning at all times factious resistance to estab¬
lished civil authority, to inculcating obedience while it remains,
and those virtues, by which it may be made, as far as possible, a
blessing to society. The very same applies to slavery ; and who¬
ever will read in its connection the expression used by our As¬
sembly, must see that such is the sense there intended by that word f
namely, to make the best of the institution as it existed, and by
the ministration of that Gospel entrusted to the Church, to
" make it a blessing both to master and slave." This, we know,
was the sense intended by the writer of the Narrative, and we
have no doubt was the sense in which the Assembly adopted it.
(2.) It has been widely proclaimed that our Assembly meant,
by the word "conserve," to assert that it was the duty of the
Church to perpetuate the institution of slavery.
On this point it may be remarked,
PREFATORY REMARKS.
ix
(a) That no such intention is to be gathered from the context,
(b.) That such an interpretation of the Assembly's meaning is
negatived by the explicit and carefully considered statement of
our Church on this very point, at its first organization in 1861,
where it declares concerning slavery: "The policy of its exis¬
tence or non-existence is a question which exclusively belongs to
the State. We have no right to enjoin it as a duty, or condemn
it as a sin." It is a maxim of law and common sense, that all doc¬
uments are to be construed by a comparison of one part with
another; what is obscure is to be explained by what is explicit.
(c.) Even those who have raised a clamor against us, do not
themselves seem to be satisfied that the word '' conserve" neces¬
sarily means to perpetuate. This is evident from the fact that
in the Minutes of their General Assembly, charging us with
"grievous heresy," and "blasphemy," they repeatedly misquote,
and therefore misrepresent us. The word perpetuate is never
used by our Assembly, but is to be found in the interpolation of
its accusers! See Minutes of the General Assembly (North)
for 1865, p. 560., etc.
(d.) Finally, conceding as we do that the word "conserve," in
this connection is ambiguous, our Assembly in 1865 has done
all that th© case demanded. In the sense already explained, and
the one intended, ft conveyed a sentiment proper to be held by
any Church of Christ. But it had been widely represented as con¬
veying a meaning not intended, and which neither that Assembly
nor our Church ever held: it was therefore proper it should be
relieved from the responsibility of such an interpretation. For¬
mally to expunge or repudiate the record would have been an act
uncalled for, if not unseemly. 1 All that was necessary or proper
was to declare that the Address of 1861 "contains the only full,
unambiguous, deliberate and authoritative exposition of our
views in regard to this matter." (See Pastoral Letter.) The
design of introducing that sentence was expressly stated in the
Assembly of 1865, and it was adopted for the special purpose of
disavowing an interpretation which was inconsistent with the
deliberately expressed views of our Church.
III. Union with the united synod.
III. It will be seen that the plan of union with the United Synod,
13
X
PREFATORY REMARKS.
as originally prepared by the joint Committees, was amended so
that the Presbyteries of the United Synod were received into the
Synods of the General Assembly ; thns preserving the undoubted
historical succession ,of the Assembly, and maintaining the au¬
thority of all its testimonies and precedents ; and it will also be
seen that the doctrinal testimony was only omitted because it had
subserved its purpose, and was no longer necessary. It had been
unanimously adopted by all the Presbyteries of the United Synod
which finally united with us, and by a large majority of the
Presbyteries under the care of the Assembly. No alteration
was made in the position, the regulations, or the principles of
our Church; and what is far more important, none was ashed.
The reason is obvious; we were like-mindod ; and well did the As.
sembly of 1864 assert that our conferences had shown such
unanimity as might " ground an honourable union:"
Again: Let it be observed that a large part of the United
Synod never united with the Assembly. There were elements in
it that could not, or at all events did not harmonize with us. The
Presbyteries of the District of Columbia and of Ozark (in Mis¬
souri,) did not unite with us, and a majority of the ministers and
churches of East Tennessee did not.
Again: Observe that the proceedings of the Assembly about
the doctrinal statement are such that no minister could consis¬
tently have united with the Assembly, who held any of the doc¬
trines condemned by that testimony.
IV. Action of the noetheen chtte«h.
IV. The extracts given from the records of the Northern Assem¬
blies are only sufficient to illustrate the allusions in the pastoral
letter.
With these brief explanations, this pamphlet is submitted to
the Christian public, with the hope that it will serve to set forth
the true principles of our Church, and thus promote the
unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace.
By order of the Committee:
E. THOMPSON BAIKD,
Secretary of Publication.
ADDRESS
BY THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
TO ALL THE CHURCHES OF JESUS CHRIST THROUGHOUT
THE EARTH, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT THEIR
SESSIONS IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA,
DECEMBER, 1861.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
in the Confederate States of America to all the Churches
of Jesus Christ throughout the earth, greeting: Grace,
mercy and peace be multiplied upon you!
Dearly Beloved Brethren:
It is probably known to you that the Presbyteries and
Synods in the Confederate States, which were formerly
in connection with the General Assembly of the Pres¬
byterian Church in the United States of America, have
renounced the jurisdiction of that body; and dissolved
the ties which bound them ecclesiastically with their
brethren of the North. This act of separation left
them without any formal union among themselves.
But as they were one in faith and order, and still ad¬
hered to their old standards, measures were promply
adopted for giving expression to their unity, by the or¬
ganization of a Supreme Court, upon the model of the
one whose authority they had just relinquished. Com¬
missioners, duly appointed, from all the Presbyteries
of these Confederate States, met accordingly, in the
city of Augusta, on the fourth day of December, in the
l* (5)
6
ADDRESS OF 1861.
year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and six¬
ty-one, and then and there proceeded to constitute the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
Confederate State of America. The Constitution of
the Presbyterian Church in the United States—that is
to say, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger
and Shorter Catechisms, the Form of Government, the
Book of Discipline, and the Directory for Worship—
were unanimously and solemnly declared to be the Con¬
stitution of the Church in the Confederate States, with
no other change than the substitution of Confederate
for United wherever the country is mentioned in the
standards. The Church, therefore, in these seceded
States, presents now the spectacle of a separate, and
independent and complete organization, under the style
and title of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate
States of America. In thus taking its place among
sister Churches of this and other countries, it seems
proper that it should set forth the causes which have
impelled it to separate from the Church of the North,
and to indicate a general view of the course which it
feels it incumbent upon it to pursue in the new circum¬
stances in which it is placed.
We should be sorry to be regarded by our brethren
in any part of the world as guilty of schism. We are
not conscious of any purpose to rend the body of Christ.
On the contrary, our aim has been to promote the unity
of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. If we know our own
hearts, and can form any just estimate of the motives
which have governed us, we have been prompted by a
sincere desire to promote the glory of God, and the
efficiency, energy, harmony and zeal of His visible
kingdom in the earth. We have separated from our
brethren of the North as Abraham separated from Lot—
because we are persuaded that the interests of true re¬
ligion will be more effectually subserved by two inde¬
pendent Churches, under the circumstances in which the
two countries are placed, than by one united body:
1. In the first place, the course of the last Assembly,
at Philadelphia, conclusively shows that if we should
ADDRESS OF 1861.
7
remain together, the political questions which divide us
as citizens, will he obtruded on our Church Courts, and
discussed by Christian Ministers and Elders with all the
acrimony, bitterness and rancour with which such ques¬
tions are usually discussed by men of the world. Our
Assembly would present a mournful spectacle of strife
and debate. Commissioners from the Northern would
meet with Commissioners from the Southern Confede¬
racy, to wrangle over the questions which have split
them into two Confederacies, and involved them in furi¬
ous and bloody war. They would denounce each other,
on the one hand, as tyrants and oppressors, and on the
other, as traitors and rebels. The Spirit of God would
take His departure from these scenes of confusion, and
leave the Church lifeless and powerless, an easy prey to
the sectional divisions and angry passions of its mem¬
bers. Two nations, under any circumstances, except
those of perfect homogeneousness, cannot be united in
one Church, without the rigid exclusion of all civil and
secular questions from its halls. Where the countries
differ in their customs and institutions, and view each
other with an eye of jealousy and rivalry, if national
feelings are permitted to enter the Church Courts, there
must be an end of harmony and peace. The prejudices
of the man and the citizen will prove stronger than the
charity of the Christian. When they have allowed
themselves to denounce each other for their national
pecularities, it will be hard to join in cordial fellowship
as members of the same spiritual family. Much more
must this be the case where the nations are not simply
rivals, but enemies—when they hate each other with a
cruel hatred—when they are engaged in a ferocious
and bloody war, and when the worst passions of human
nature are stirred to their very depths. An Assembly
composed of representatives from two such countries,
could have no security for peace except in a steady, un¬
compromising adherence to the Scriptural principle,
that it would know no man after the flesh ; that it would
abolish the distinctions of Barbarian, Scythian, bond
and free, and recognize nothing but the new creature in
8
ADDRESS OF 1861.
Chirst Jesus. The moment it permits itself to know the
Confederate or the United States, the moment its mem-,
bers meet as citizens of these countries, our political
differences will be transferred to the house of G-od, and
the passions of the forum will expel the Spirit of Holy-
Love and of Christian communion.
We cannot condemn a man, in one breath, as unfaith¬
ful to the most solemn earthly interests—his country
and his race—and commend him in the next as a loyal
and faithful servant of his God. If we distrust his patri¬
otism, our confidence is apt to be very measured in his
piety. The old adage will hold here as in other things,
falsus in uno,falsus in omnibus.
The only conceivable condition, therefore, upon which
the Church of the North and the South could remain
together as one body, with any prospect of success, is
the rigorous exclusion of the questions and passions of
the forum from its halls of debate. This is what always
ought to be done. The provinces of Church and State
are perfectly distinct, and the one has no right to usurp
the jurisdiction of the other. The State is a natural
institute, founded in the constitution of man as moral
and social, and designed to realize the idea of justice.
It is the society of rights. The Church is a supernatu¬
ral institute, founded in the facts of redemption, and is
designed to realize the idea of grace. It is the society
of the redeemed. The State aims at social order, the
Church at spiritual holiness. The State looks to the
visible and outward, the Church is concerned for the
invisible and inward. The badge of the State's au¬
thority is the sword, by which it becomes a terror to evil¬
doers, and a praise to them that do well. The badge of
the Church's authority is the keys, by which it opens and
shuts the Kingdom of Heaven, according as men are
believing or impenitent. The power of the Church is
exclusively spiritural, that of the State includes the
exercise of force. The Constitution of the Church is a
Divine revelation; the Constitution of the State must
be determined by human reason and the course of Provi¬
dential events. The Church has no right to construct
ADDRESS OF 1861.
9
or modify a government for the State, and the State has
no right to frame a creed or polity for thg Church. They
are as planets moving in different orbits, and unless each
is confined to its own track, the consequences may be as
disastrous in the moral world, as the collision of differ¬
ent spheres in the world of matter. It is true that
there is a point at which their respective jurisdictions
seem to meet—in the idea of duty. But even duty is
viewed by each in very different lights. The Church
enjoins it as obedience to God, and the State enforces it
as the safeguard of order. But there can be no colli¬
sion, unless one or the other blunders as to the things
that are materially right. When the State makes wicked
laws, contradicting the eternal principles of rectitude,
the Church is at liberty to testify against them; and
humbly to petition that they may be repealed. In like
manner, if the Church becomes seditious and a disturber
of the peace, the State has a right to abate the nuisance.
In ordinary cases, however, there is not likely to he a
collision. Among a Christian people, there is little dif¬
ference of opinion as to the radical distinctions of right
and wrong. The only serious danger is where moral
duty is conditioned upon a political question. Under
the pretext of inculcating duty, the Church may usurp
the power to determine the question which conditions it,
and that is precisely what she is debarred from doing.
The condition must be given. She must accept it from
the State, and then her own course is clear. If Csesar
is your master, then pay tribute to him; but whether
the if holds, whether Caesar is your master or not, whether
he ever had any just authority, whether he now retains
it, or has forfeited it, these are points which the Church
has no commission to adjudicate.
Had these principles been steadily maintained by the
Assembly at Philadelphia, it is possible that the eccle¬
siastical separation of the North and South might have
been deferred for years to come. Our Presbyteries,
many of them, clung with tenderness to the recollec¬
tions of the past. Sacred memories gathered around
that venerable Church which had breasted many a storm
io
ADDRESS OE 1861.
and trained our fathers for glory. It had always heen
distinguished fm- its conservative influence, and many
fondly hoped that, even in the present emergency, it
would raise its placid and serene head above the tumults
of popular passion, and bid defiance to the angry bil¬
lows which rolled at its feet. We expected it to bow in
reverence only at the name of Jesus. Many dreamed
that it would utterly refuse to know either Confederates
or Federalists, and utterly refuse to give any authori¬
tative decree without a " thus saith the Lord." It was
ardently desired that the sublime spectacle might be
presented of one Church upon earth combining in cor¬
dial fellowship and in holy love—the disciples of Jesus
in different and even in hostile lands. But, alas! for
the weakness of man, these golden visions were soon
dispelled. The first thing which roused our Presbyte¬
ries to look the question of separation seriously in the
face, was the course of the Assembly in venturing to
determine, as a Court of Jesus Christ, which it did by
necessary implication, the true interpretation of the
Constitution of the United States as to the kind of gov¬
ernment it intended to form. A political theory was,
to all intents and purposes, propounded, which made
secession a crime, the seceding States rebellious, and the
citizens who obeyed them traitors. We say nothing here as
to the righteousness or unrighteousness of these decrees.
What we maintain is, that whether right or wrong, the
Church had no right to make them—she transcended her
sphere, and ursurped the duties of the State, The discus¬
sion of these questions, we are sorry to add, was in the
spirit and temper of partizan declaimers. The Assem¬
bly, driven from its ancient moorings, was tossed to and
fro by the waves of popular passion. Like Pilate, it
obeyed the clamor of the multitude, and though acting
in the name of Jesus, it kissed the sceptre and bowed
the knee to the mandates of Northern phrenzy. The
Church was converted into the forum, and the Assembly
was henceforward to become the arena of sectional div*
isions and national animosities.
We frankly admit that the mere unconstitutionality
ADDRESS OF 1861.
11
of the proceedings of the last Assembly is not, in itself
considered, a sufficient ground of separation. It is the
consequences of these proceedings which make them so
offensive. It is the door which they open for the intro¬
duction of the worst passions of human nature into the
deliberations of Church Courts. The spirit of these
proceedings, if allowed to prevail, would forever banish
peace from the Church, and there is no reason to hope
that the tide which has begun to flow can soon be ar¬
rested. The two Confederacies hate each other more
intensely now than they did in May, and if their citizens
should come together upon the same floor, whatever
might be the errand that brought them there, they could
not be restrained from smiting each other with the fist
of wickedness. For the sake of peace, therefore, for
Christian charity, for the honour of the Church, and
for the glory of God, we have been constrained, as much
as in us lies, to remove all occasion of offence. We
have quietly separated, and we are grateful to God
that while leaving for the sake of peace, we leave it with
the humble consciousness that we ourselves have never
given occasion to break the peace. We have never
confounded Caesar and Christ, and we have never mixed
the issues of this world with the weighty matters that
properly belong to us as citizens of the Kingdom of
God.
2. Though the immediate occasion of separation was
the course of the General Assembly at Philadelphia in
relation to the Federal government and the war, yet
there is another ground on which the independent organ¬
ization of the Southern Church can be amply and scrip-
turally maintained. The unity of the Church does not
require a formal bond of union among all the congrega¬
tions of believers throughout the earth. It does not
demand a vast imperial monarchy like that of Rome,
nor a strictly universal council, like that to which the
complete development of Presbyterianism would natu¬
rally give rise. The Church Catholic is one in Christ,
but it is not necessarily one visible, all-absorbing organ¬
ization upon earth. There is no schism where there is n©
12
ADDflESS OE 1761.
breach of charity. Churches may be perfectly at one in
every principle of faith and order, and yet geographically
distinct and mutually independent. As the unity of
the human race is not disturbed by its division into
countries and nations, so the unity of the spiritual seed
of Christ is neither broken nor impaired by separation
and division into various Church constitutions. Accor¬
dingly in the Protestant countries, Church organizations
have followed national lines. The Calvinistic Churches
of Switzerland are distinct from the Reformed Church
of France. The Presbyterians of Ireland belong to a
different Church from the Presbyterians of Scotland,
and the Presbyterians of this country constitute a
Church, in like manner, distinct from all other Churches
on the globe. That the division into national Churches,
that is, Churches bounded by national lines, is, in the
present condition of human nature, a benefit, seems to
us too obvious for proof. It realizes to the Church
Catholic all the advantages of a division of labor. It
makes a Church organization homogeneous and com¬
pact—it stimulates holy rivalry and zeal—it removes all
grounds of suspicion and jealousy on the part of the State.
What is lost in expansion is gained in energy. The
Church Catholic, as thus divided, and yet spiritually
one, divided, but not rent, is a beautiful illustration of
the great philosophical principle which pervades all
nature—the co-existence of the one with the many.
If it is desirable that each nation should contain a
separate and an independent Church, the Presbyteries of
these Confederate States need no apology for bowing
to the decree of Providence, which, in withdrawing
their country from the government of the United
States, has at the same time determined that they should
withdraw from the Church of their fathers. It is not
that they have ceased to love it—not that they have
abjured its ancient principles, or forgotten its glorious
history. It is to give these same principles a richer,
freer, fuller development among ourselves than they
possibly could receive under foreign culture. It is pre¬
cisely because we love that Church as tt was, and that
address of 1861.
13
Church as it should be, that we have resolved, as far as
in us lies, to realise its grand idea in the country, and
under the government where God has cast our lot. With
the supreme control of ecclesiastical affairs in our own
hands, we may be able, in some competent measure, to
consummate this result. In subjection to a foreign
power, we could no more accomplish it than the Church
in the United States could have been developed in de¬
pendence upon the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
The difficulty there would have been, not the distance of
Edinburgh from New York, Philadelphia or Charleston,
but the difference in the manners, habits, customs and
ways of thinking, the social, civil, and political institu¬
tions of the people. These same difficulties exist in re¬
lation to the Confederate and United States, and render
it eminently proper that the Church in each should be
as separate and independent as the Governments.
In addition to this, there is one difference which so
radically and fundamentally distinguishes the North and
the South, that it is becoming every day more and more
apparent that the religious, as well as the secular inter¬
ests of both will be more effectually promoted by a
complete and lasting separation. The antagonism of
Northern and Southern sentiment on the* subject of
slavery lies at the root of all the difficulties which have
resulted in the dismemberment of the Federal Union,
and involved us in the horrors of an unnatural war.
The Presbyterian Church in the United States has been
enabled by the Divine grace to pursue, for the most
part, an eminently conservative, because a thoroughly
scriptural policy in relation to this delicate question.
It has planted itself upon the Word of God, and utterly
refused to make slaveholding a sin, or non-slaveholding
a term of communion. But though both sections are
agreed as to this general principle, it is not to be dis¬
guised that the North exercises a deep and settled an¬
tipathy to slavery itself, while the South is equally zeal¬
ous in its defence. Recent events can have no other
effect than to confirm the antipathy on the one hand, and
to strengthen the attachment on the other. The North-
2
14
ADDRESS OF "1861.
ern section of the Church stands in the awkvrard pre¬
dicament of maintaining in one breath that slavery is an
evil which ought to be abolished, and of asserting in
the next that it is not a sin to be visited by exclusion
from communion of the saints. The consequence is, that
it plays partly into the hands of abolitionists, and partly
into the hands of slaveholders, and weakens its influence
with both. It occupies the position of a prevaricating
witness whom neither party will trust. It would be
better, therefore, for the moral power of the Northern
section of the Church to get entirely quit of the sub¬
ject. At the same time it is intuitively obvious that the
Southern section of the Church, while even partially
under the control of those who are hostile to slavery,
can never have free and unimpeded acess to the slave
population. Its Ministers and Elders will always be
liable to some degree of suspicion. In the present cir¬
cumstances, Northern alliance would be absolutely fatal.
It would utterly preclude the Church from a wide and
commanding field of usefulness. This is too dear a price
to be paid for a nominal union. We cannot aflord to
give up these millions of souls and consign them, so
far as our efforts are concerned, to hopeless perdition,
for the sake of preserving an outward unity, which after
all, is an eiftpty shadow. If we would gird ourselves
heartily and in earnest for the work which God has set
before us, we must have the control of our ecclesiastical
affairs, and declare ourselves separate and independent.
And here we may venture to lay before the Christian
world our views as a Church, upon the subject of slavery.
We beg a candid hearing.
In the first place, we would have it distinctly under¬
stood, that, in our ecclesiastical capacity, we are neither
the friends nor the foes of slavery, that is to say, we have
no commission either to propogate or abolish it. The poli¬
cy of its existence or non-existence is a question which ex¬
clusively belongs to the State. We have no right, as a
Church, to enjoin it as a duty, or to condemn it as sin. Our
business is with the duties that spring from the rela¬
tion ; the duties of the masters on the one hand, and of
ADDRESS OF 1861.
15
their slaves on the other. These duties we are to pro¬
claim and to enforce with spiritual sanctions. The so¬
cial, civil, political problems connected with this great
subject transcend our sphere, as God has not entrusted
to His Church the organization of society, the construc¬
tion of governments, nor the allotment of individuals to
their various stations. The Church has as much right to
preach to the monarchies of Europe and the despotisms
of Asia, the doctrines of republican equality, as to
preach to the governments of the South, the extirpa¬
tion of slavery. This position is impregnable, unless it
can be shown that slavery is a sin. Upon every other
hypothesis, it is so clearly a question for the State, that
the proposition would never for a moment have been
doubted, had there not been a foregone conclusion in
relation to its moral character. Is slavery, then, a sin]
In answering this question, as a Church, let it be
distinctly borne in mind that the only rule of judg¬
ment is the written word of God. The Church
knows nothing of the intuitions of reason or the de¬
ductions of philosophy, except those reproduced in
in the Sacred Canon. She has a positive constitution
in the Holy Scriptures, and has no right to utter
a single syllable upon any subject, except as the Lord
puts words in her mouth. She is founded, in other words,
upon express revelation. Her creed is an authoritative
testimony of God and not a speculation, and what she
proclaims, she must proclaim with the infallible certi¬
tude of faith, and not with the hesitating assent of an
opinion. The question, then, is brought within a nar¬
row compass : Do the Scriptures directly or indirectly
condemn slavery as a sin ] If they do not, the dispute
is ended, for the Church, without forfeiting her charac¬
ter, dares not go beyond them.
Now, we venture to assert that if men had drawn their
conclusions upon this subject only from the Bible, it would
no more have entered into any human head to denounce
slavery as a sin, than to denounce monarchy, aristocracy
or poverty. The truth is, men have listened to what
they falsely considered as primitive intuitions, or as ne-
16
ADDRESS OF 1861.
cessary deductions from primitive cognitions, and then
have gone to the Bible to confirm the crotchets of their
vain philosophy. They have gone there determined to
find a particular result, and the consequence is, they
leave with having made, instead of having inter¬
preted Scripture. Slavery is no new thing. It has
not only existed for ages in the world, but it has existed
under every dispensation of the covenant of grace, in
the Church of God. Indeed, the first organization of
the Church as a visible society, separate and distinct
from the unbelieving world, was inaugurated in the
family of a slaveholder. Among the very first persons
to whom the seal of circumcision was affixed, were the
slaves of the father of the faithful, some born in his
house, and others bought with his money. Slavery again
reappears under the law. God sanctions it in the first ta¬
ble of the Decalogue, and Moses treats it as an institution
to be regulated, not abolished; legitimated, and not con¬
demned. We come down to the age of the New Testament,
and we find it again in the Churches founded by the apos¬
tles under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
These facts are utterly amazing, if slavery is the enor¬
mous sin which its enemies represent it to be. It will
not do to say that the Scriptures have treated it only in
a general, incidental way, without any clear implication
as to its moral character. Moses surely made it the
subject of express and positive legislation, and the apos¬
tles are equally explicit in inculcating the duties which
spring from both sides of the relation. They treat slaves
as bound to obey, and inculcate obedience as an office
of religion—a thing wholly self-contradictory, if the au¬
thority exercised over them were unlawful and iniqui¬
tous.
But what puts this subjeet in a still clearer light, is
the manner in which it is sought to extort from the
Scriptures a contrary testimony. The notion of direct
and explicit condemnation is given up. The attempt is
to show that the genius and spirit of Christianity are
opposed to it—that its great cardinal principles of vir¬
tue are utterly against it. Much stress is laid upon the
ADDRESS OF 1861.
17
Golden Rule and upon the general denunciations of tyr¬
anny and oppression. To all this we reply, that no
principle is clearer than that a case positively excepted
cannot be included under a general rule. Let us con¬
cede, for a moment, that the laws of love, and the con¬
demnation of tyranny and oppression, seem logically to
involve as a result, the condemnation of slavery; yet, if
slavery is afterwards expressly mentioned and treated as
a lawful relation, it obviously follows, unless Scripture
is to be interpreted as inconsistent with itself, that sla¬
very is, by necessary implication, excepted. The Jew¬
ish law forbade, as a general rule, the marriage of a man
with his brother's wife. The same law expressly en¬
joined the same marriage in a given case. The given case
was, therefore, an exception, and not to be treated as a
violation of the general rule. The law of love ha al¬
ways been the law of God. It was enunciated by Moses
almost as clearly as it was enunciated by Jesus Christ.
Yet, notwithstanding this law, Moses and the apostles
alike sanctioned the relation of slavery. The conclu¬
sion is inevitable, either that the law is not opposed to
it, or that slavery is an excepted case. To say that the
prohibition of tyranny and oppression include slavery, is
to beg the whole question. Tyranny and oppression in¬
volve either the unjust usurpation or the unlawful exer¬
cise of power. It is the unlawfulness, either in its prin¬
ciple or measure, which constitutes the core of the sin.
Slavery must, therefore, be proved to be unlawful, before
it can be referred to any such category. The master
may, indeed, abuse his power, but he oppressesnotsimply
as a master, but as a wicked master.
But, apart from all this, the law of love is simply the
inculcation of universal equity. It implies nothing as
to the existence of various ranks and gradations in soci¬
ety. The interpretation which makes it repudiate
slavery, would make it equally repudiate all social, civil
and political inequalities. Its meaning is, not that we
should conform ourselves to the arbitrary expectations
of others, but that we should render unto them precisely
the same measure which, if we were in their circum-
2*
18
ADDRESS OF 1861.
stance, it would be reasonable and just in us to demand
at tbeir hands. It condemns slavery, therefore, only
upon the supposition that slavery is a sinful relation—
that is, he who extracts the prohibition of slavery from
the Golden Rule, begs the very point in dispute.
We cannot prosecute the argument in detail, but we
have said enough, we think, to vindicate the position of
the Southern Church. Wehave assumed no new attitude.
We stand exactly where the Church of God has always
stood—from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Christ,
from Christ to the Reformers, and from the Reformers
to ourselves. We stand upon the foundation of the
prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief corner stone. Shall we be excluded from the
fellowship of our brethren in other lands, because we
dare not depart from the charter of our faith ? Shall
we be branded with the stigma of reproach, because we
cannot consent to corrupt the word of God to suit the
intuitions of an infidel philosophy 1 Shall our names
be cast out as evil, and the finger pf scorn pointed at us,
because we utterly refuse to break our communion with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with Moses, David and Isa¬
iah, with apostles, prophets and martyrs, with all the
noble army of confessors who have gone to glory from
slave-holding countries and from a slave-holding Church,
without ever having dreamed that they were living in
mortal sin, by conniving at slavery in the midst of them?
If so, we shall take consolation in the cheering conscious¬
ness that the Master has accepted us. We may'be de¬
nounced, despised and cast out of the synagogues of
our brethren. But while they are wrangling about the
distinctions of men according to the flesh, we shall go
forward in our divine work, and confidently anticipate
that in the great day, as the consequence of our humble
labors, we shall meet millions of glorified spirits, who
have come up from the bondage of earth to a nobler free¬
dom than human philosophy ever dreamed of. Others,
if they please, may spend their time in declaiming on the
tyranny of earthly masters : it will be our aim to resist
the real tyrants which oppress the soul—Sin and Satan.
ADDRESS OP 1861.
19
These are the foes against whom we shall find it employ¬
ment enough to wage a successful war. And to this
holy war it is the purpose of our Church to devote itself
with redoubled energy. We feel that the souls of our
slaves are a solemn trust, and we shall strive to present
them faultless and complete before the presence of
God.
Indeed, as we contemplate their condition in the
Southern States, and contrast it with that of their
fathers before them, and that of their brethren in the
present day in their native land, we cannot but accept it
as a gracious Providence that they have been brought in
such numbers to our shores, and redeemed from the
boudage of barbarism and sin. Slavery to them has
certainly been overruled for the greatest good. It has
Ibeen a link in the wondrous chain of Providence, through
which many sons and daughters have been made heirs
of the heavenly inheritence. The Providential result
is, of course, no justification, if the thing is intrinsically
wrong ; but it is certainly a matter of devout thanks¬
giving, and no obscure intimation of the will and pur¬
pose of God, and of the consequent duty of the Church.
We cannot forbear to say, however, that the general
operation of the system is kindly and benevolent; it is
a real and effective discipline ; and without it, we are
profoundly persuaded that the African race in the midst
of us can never be elevated in the scale of being. As
long as that race, in its comparative degradation, co¬
exists side by side with the white, bondage is its normal
condition.
As to the endless declamation about human rights,
we have only to say that human rights are not a fixed,
but a fluctuating quantity. Their sum is not the same
in any two nations on the globe. The rights of English¬
men are one thing, the rights of Frenchmen another.
There is a minimum without which a man cannot be
responsible ; there is a maximum which expresses the
highest degree of civilization and of Christian culture.
The education of the species consists in its ascent along
this line. As you go up, the number of rights increases,
20
ADDRESS OF 1861.
but the number of individuals who possess them dimin¬
ishes. As you come down the line, rights are dimin¬
ished, but the individuals are multiplied. It is just
the opposite of the predicamental scale of the logicians.
There, comprehension diminishes as you ascend and ex¬
tension increases, and comprehension increases as you
descend and extension diminishes. Now, when it is
said that slavery is inconsistent with human rights, we
crave to understand what point in this line is the slave
conceived to occupy. There are, no doubt, many rights
which belong to other men—to Englishmen, to French¬
men, to his master, for example—which are denied to
him. But is he fit to possess them 1 Has God qualified
him to meet the responsibilities which their possession
necessarily implies 1 His place in the scale is deter¬
mined by his competency to fulfil its duties. There are
other rights which he certainly possesses, without whicb
he could neither be human nor accountable. Before
slavery can be charged with doing him injustice, it must
be shown that the minimum which falls to his lot at the
bottom of the line is out of proportion to his capacity
and culture—a thing which can never be done by ab¬
stract speculation. The truth is, the education of the
human race for liberty and virtue, is a vast Providential
scheme, and God assigns to every man, by a wise and
holy decree, the precise place he is to occupy in the
great moral school of humanity. The scholars are dis¬
tributed into classes, according to their competency and
progress. . For God is in history.
To avoid the suspicion of a conscious weakness of our
cause, when contemplated from the side of pure specula¬
tion, we may advert for a moment to those pretended in¬
tuitions which stamp the reprobation of humanity upon
this ancient and hoary institution. We admit that there
are primitive principles of morals which lie at the root
of human consciousness. But the question is, how are we
to distinguish them 1 The subjective feeling of certainty
is no adequate criterion, as that is equally felt in ref¬
erence to crotchets and hereditary prejudices. The very
point is to know when this certainty indicates a primi-
ADDRESS OF 1861.
21
tive cognition, and when it does not. There must, there¬
fore, be some eternal test, and whatever can not abide
that test has no authority, as a primary truth. That
test is an inward necessity of thought, which, in all minds
at the proper stage of maturity is absolutely universal.
Whatever is universal is natural. We are willing that
slavery should be tried by this standard. We are wil¬
ling to abide by the testimony of the race, and if man,
as man, has everywhere condemned it—if all human
laws have prohibited it as crime—if it stands in the
same category with malice, murder, and theft, then we
are willing, in the name of humanity, to renounce it,
and to renounce it forever. But what if the overwhelm¬
ing majority of mankind have approved it ? what if
philosophers and statesmen have justified it, and the laws
of all nations acknowledged it; what then becomes of
these luminous intuitions? They are an ignisfatuus,
mistaken for a star.
We have now, brethren, in a brief compass, for the
nature of this address admits only of an outline, opened
to you our whole hearts upon this delicate and vexed
subject. We have concealed nothing. We have sought
to conciliate no sympathy by appeals to your charity.
We have tried our cause by the Word of God; and,
though protesting against its authority to judge in a
question concerning the duty of the Church, we have not
refused to appear at the tribunal of reason. Are we not
right, in view of all the preceding considerations, in
remitting the social, civil and political problems con¬
nected with slavery to the State ? Is it not a subject,
save in the moral duties which spring from it, which lies
beyond the province of the Church? Have we any
right to make it an element in judging of Christian
character ? Are we not treading in the footsteps of the
flock ? Are we not acting as Christ and His Apostles
have acted before us ? Is it not enough for us to pray
and labor, in our lot, that all men may be saved, without
meddling as a Church with the technical distinction of
their civil life. We leave the matter with you. We
offer you the right hand of fellowship. It is for you to
22
ADDRESS OF 1861.
accept it or reject it. We have done our duty. We
can do no more. Truth is more precious than union,
and if you cast us out as sinners, the breach of charity
is not with us, as long as we walk according to the light
of the written word.
The ends which we propose to accomplish as a Church
are the same as those which are proposed by every othei;
Church. To proclaim God's truth as a witness to the
nations; to gather His elect from the four corners of the
earth; and through the Word, Ministries and Ordinances
to train them for eternal life, is the great business of
His people. The only thing that will be at all peculiar
to us, is the manner in which we shall attempt to dis¬
charge our duty. In almost every department of labor,
except the pastoral care of congregations, it has been
usual for the Church to resort to societies more or less
closely connected with itself, and yet logically and
really distinct. It is our purpose to rely upon the reg¬
ular organs of our government, and executive agencies
directly and immediately responsible to them. We wish
to make the Church not merely a superintendent, but
an agent. We wish to develop the idea that the congre¬
gation of believers, as visibly organized, is the very
society or corporation which is divinely called to do the
work of the Lord. We shall, therefore, endeavor to do
what has never yet been adequately done—bring out the
energies of our Presbyterian system of government.
From the Session to the Assembly we shall strive to en¬
list all our courts, as courts, in every department of
Christian effort. We are not ashamed toS;onfess that
we are intensely Presbyterian. We embrace all other
denominations in the arms of Christian fellowship and
love, but our own scheme of government we humbly
believe to be according to the pattern shown in the
Mount, and, by God's grace, we propose to put its effi¬
ciency to the test.
Brethren, we have done. We have told you who we
are, and what we are. We greet you in the ties of
Christian brotherhood. We desire to cultivate peace
and charity with all our fellow Christians throughout
ADDRESS OF 1861.
28
the world. We invite to ecclesiastical communion all
who maintain our principles of faith and order. And
now we commend you to God and the Word of His
grace. We devoutly pray that the whole Catholic
Church may be afresh baptized with the Holy Ghost*
and that she may speedily be stirred up to give the Lord
no rest until He establish and make Jerusalem a praise
in the earth.
[Signed] B. M. Palmer, Moderator.
Jno. N. Waddell, Stated Clerk.
Joseph R. Wilson, Permanent Clerk.
D. McNeill Turner, Temporary Clerk.
[.Extracts from the Minutes of 1861.]
On motion of Dr. Thornwell, the Assembly—
Resolved, That a Committee, consisting of one Minister and
one Ruling Elder, from each of the Synods belonging to this
Assembly, be appointed to prepare an Address to all the
Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the earth, setting forth
the causes of our separation from the Churches in the United
States, our attitude in relation to slavery, and a general view
of the policy which, as a Church, we propose to pursue. (See
page 7.)
The Moderator then announced the following Committee on
the Address to the Churches: James H. Thornwell, D. D.,
Theodorick Pryor, D. D., F. K. Nash, R. Mclnnis, C. C. Jones,
D. D., R. B. "White, D. D., W. D. Moore, J. H. Gillespie, J. I.
Boozer, R. W. Bailey, D. D., J. D. Armstrong, C. Philips, Jos¬
eph A. Brooks, W. P. Finley, Samuel McCorkle, W. P. Webb,
Wm. L. Black, T. L. Dunlap, and E. W. Wright. (See page 9.)
W. P. Webb offered the following resolutions, which were
adopted :
Resolved, That the Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ
throughout the world, reported and read by the Rev. Dr. Thorn¬
well, Chairman of the Special Committee appointed for that
purpose, be received, and is hereby adopted by this Assembly.
Resolved, That three thousand copies of this Address be
printed, under the direction of the Stated Clerk, for the use of
this Assembly.
Resolved, That the original Adddess be filed in the archives
of the Assembly, and that a paper be attached thereto, to be
signed by the Moderator and members of this Assembly. (See
pape 19.)
PASTORAL LETTER
to the ministers and members of our churches
and the young men of our congregations
in the confederate army.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
Confederate States of America, sendeth greeting to the
Ministers and Members of our Churches and to the
Young Men of our Congregations in the Armies of the
Confederate States—wishing them grace, mercy and
peace, through our Lord Jesus Christ :
Dear Brethren : Assembled as the Supreme Judi¬
catory of your Churcb during these troublous times which
the Providence of God has sent upon us, our minds have
been turned with irresistible solicitude towards our
friends and brethren who have forsaken the endearments
and comforts of home, and the privileges and blessings
of the sanctuary, for the tented ground and the battle
field. We have been called onto witness the desolations
of the land, and to mourn over the wastes of Zion, cre¬
ated by the havoc of war; and from all our Churches we
hear the report that the ranks of the armies of our
national independence are crowded with the noblest of
our brethren, and with the choicest of our youth, who
have rushed to the rescue of the Republic, driven by
the impulses of patriotism, and in obedience to the
calls of God and our country. In the midst of all your
trials, privations and sufferings, you have our deepest
sympathy, and a constant place in our supplications.
From every family altar throughout our wide denomi¬
nation, in every social prayer-meeting, and at every
assembly for public worship, our ministers and Chris¬
tian people pour out their souls unto God, interceding
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1862.
25
with Him that His gracious blessing may rest on you,
and that all of you may become partakers of His grace.
During the sessions of this Assembly, we have set apart
the first half hour of each day as a season of special
prayer for you. Be assured you acre not forgotten.
Your fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters—your min¬
isters and brethren in Christ, cannot cease to remember
you. We have called you brethren, and brethren ye
are. Some of you are brethren in the ministry of God's
dear Son; many of you are brethren in the fellowship
of the gospel; multitudes of you are brethren in the
consecrated hopes of the baptismal seal; and all of you
are brethren in the common infirmities, the common
trials, the common sympathies, and the common hopes
of our race, sprung from the same original head, and
candidates for the same tomb. Would to God ye were
all brethren in Christ, possessing an interest in the
great salvation which that gracious Saviour hath so
freely provided. But, alas! we fear, we know this
is not the case. Wherefore, in the discharge of the
great trusts committed to us as overseers of the
flock of Christ, and as those who must watch for souls,
we feel it incumbent on us to address you this pastoral
epistle, whereby we may assure you of our sympathy,
and may speak a word of encouragement, exhortation,
and warning, thus stirring up your pure minds by way
of remembrance.
You are surrounded with many temptations. The very
fact that you are absent from home, bereft of the genial
influences of the family and the restraints of female so¬
ciety, is a source of manifold evils and temptations.
But besides, the nature of the duties devolving on you,
and the companionships you are compelled to keep, is
such as to cause a weakening of religious restraint and
an abrasion of the moral sensibilities, which may result
in leading you far astray from God and His Church, to
the destruction of your souls, unless by the help of the
Spirit you are able through watchfulness to overcome.
Those of you who are Ministers of the Gospel of
Christ, have great responsibilities resting on you. You
3
26
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1862
occupy positions which may make you eminently useful,
if you prove steadfast and faithful, but which will ren¬
der you the instruments of great evil if you eome short
of duty, or stumble into sin. Whether you are officers,
soldiers, or chaplains, remember in every case that you are
ambassadors for God, and that the eyes of the impeni¬
tent and the scoffer are on you. Your actions and
words are strictly scrutinized, and multitudes will form
their estimate of the truth of our holy religion by the
judgment they reach as to the sincerity of your profes¬
sions, and the consistency of your lives. And here
we rejoice to tell of the good report which comes
to us from eveTy part of the army, pertaining to
many of our brethren who have gone to share the priva¬
tions and dangers of the camp and battle field. Some,
indeed, have fallen in the midst of the conflict, showing
in death the power of the grace of Christ. Many other
honored brethren there are whose precious lives God
has yet spared, we doubt not to become blessings
to the army. But, alas, we have been overwhelmed
with sorrow to hear that all have not proved thus stead¬
fast. Brethren, let us, in all faithfulness, exhort you
to watch. Be much in prayer. Avoid every semblance
of evil. With Christian courage and zeal, admonish
the young, the wayward, and the tempted, and strive
to do good. We honour you for your self-denial and
patriotic zeal; we would love to see you become the
honoured instruments in God's hands in leading sinners
to the Saviour. Brethren, be ye faithful unto death,
and ye shall receive a crown of life.
Those among you who confess the name of Christ,
and profess to be His followers, sustain responsibilities
of proportionate magnitude. God has placed you in
unusual circumstances of trial, and surrounded you with
new opportunities of usefulness. The great duty which
Jesus Christ enjoins on all His disciples, is to "let your
light so shine before men that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is heaven." You
now probably occupy a position where you are more
closely observed than ever before. " A city which is set
TO OUR YOUNG MEN IN THE ARMY.
27
on a lull cannot be hid." Not only would we urge on
you that careful circumspection over your conduct,
which the Saviour enjoins, but would exhort you to seek
opportunities of usefulness. "A word fitly spoken is
like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Give no
countenance, by word, look, or gesture, to wickedness or
immorality. Show that reverence for God and holy
things which the Christian feels, by the uprightness of
your lives, and the purity of your conversation; and as
God shall give you opportunity, speak the word of re¬
proof, encourage the feeble and wavering, and aim to win
souls. Thus, you may at once establish yourselves in the
faith, becoming courageous soldiers for Christ, and add
stars to that crown of righteousnes, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, hath in reserve for all them who love
His appearing.
But our hearts turn with especial solicitude toward the
noble youth of our congregations who have gone from
our midst to this bloody contest far national life and
independence. For you we have laboured and toiled.
Our prayers have ascended to the mercy seat on your
behalf; and during the years that are past we have
anxiously waited to see you come out on the side of
Christ. In you are wrapped up all the hopes of our
Church and country. With the solution of the question,
what are you to become, will be determined the prob¬
lem of our national glory or shame, and that of the
success and usefulness of the Church in our beloved
land. We tremble for you as we see you drawn away
by the duties of patriotism from the constant use of the
means of grace and the divine influences of the sanc¬
tuary. We sympathize with you as you endure fatigue
and sickness in camp; as you engage in the life strug¬
gle on the sanguinary field, and as you consecrate every¬
thing dear on earth on the altar of patriotic duty. And,
oh, when we contemplate your many temptations, how
do our hearts yearn over you! As your pastors, we
can no longer be heard by you. But we fain would ad¬
dress you these words of affectionate admonition, in the
name of the great Master, whom we serve, and on behalf
28
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1862
of our brethren, whom we represent. Listen to us, we
beseech you, while we warn you against the prevailing
vices of the camp, and present before you the gospel of
eternal life.
The awful and prevailing sin of our people is profanity.
The name of God is taken in vain in the wicked curse,
and the lewd joke—yea, fearful as the statement is, our
own ears bear testimony to the fact that the great name
of the Majestic Jehovah has become a by-word, a jest
and a mockery, by the dissolute and profane, on our
public thoroughfares. This is our crying, national sin,
which, with many others, has brought down on our land
the wrath of offended heaven. This international strife
and all the dreadful havoc which this war is making,
are, doubtless, sent on us as judgments from God on
account of our sins. How can we expect the blessing of
God if we thus dishonour Him, treat His name with irrev¬
erence, and speak of His authority and judgments with
levity and derision 1 Soon all of you must stand up in
deadly conflict with our enemies, and many of you will
doubtless receive your final summons. The issues of
the battle, as well as of life and death, are with God.
If you are to be successful, and stand safe from the
fear of evil, it will only be because God becomes your
Shield and Buckler. How unseemly, then, that He
should be insulted, and His holy name taken in vain!
But we are pained to know that this is one of the most
common sins in the army. We fear that officers and
privates alike transgress in this particular; yea, that
those very officers who are required by the army regu¬
lations to suppress profanity, not only fail in this im¬
portant duty, but set the evil example before the men
of their commands, which is only too frequently imi¬
tated. We desire, beloved friends, to warn you to shun
evil example; to abstain from every minced oath, as
well as gross profanity, and in all things to reverence
God. While we would respect and love you for banish¬
ing the fear of man, we would beseech you ever to cherish
the fear of God, which the wise man, taught of inspi¬
ration, tells us is the beginning of wisdom.
TO OUR YOUNG MEN IN THE ARMY.
29
The desecration of the holy Sabbath is another crying sin
of our land, which we fear abounds in our army.
We are aware that this is a matter which is not wholly
under your control. But we would guard you against
the prevailing tendency to trample down the barriers of
religion which surround that sacred day and its conse¬
crated objects, and would entreat you to remember it
in its true spirit so far as you possibly can in your pre¬
sent circumstances. You are denied, for the most part,
the regular services of Sabbath worship, which you en¬
joyed at home; but still you have the Holy Bible, or
New Testament, you have a throne of grace, sometimes
you attend religious worship, and God is everywhere
present. As you stand in the constant presence of
death, make the Sabbath day, as far as possible, an oc¬
casion of preparation for it. And be encouraged by
the fact that God's people are everywhere engaged in
solemn and earest supplication for you. Thus the Sab¬
bath will prove a blessing, and you will avert from your
heads the wrath of God that comes on the land, because
of the dishonour we, as a people, have placed on the
day which He calls His own. Therefore, "Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
In like manner we would warn you against the pre¬
vailing vice of intemperance. Besides the moral defile¬
ment which it always causes, wherever it prevails, the
evil of this particular vice has manifested itself in a
most striking manner, during the progress of this war.
We are rejoiced at the vigorous measures which the Gov¬
ernment is using to eradicate this evil from the army.
We would fondly hope that all of you will yield a
cheerful acquiescence in these wholesome requirements,
not only from that sense of manly duty, which animates
the true soldier, but through a regard for your present
respectability and happiness, and your everlasting wel¬
fare. Intemperance is that fell destroyer which carries
to the grave more victims than war, pestilence and fa¬
mine, all combined; it makes the wife a widow, and
children fatherless—it spreads misery and woe in its
pathway, and death and hell follow in its train. Some
3 *
30
PASTORAL LETTER OP 1862
of you have families, others have left plighted vows of
love, all of you indulge in hopes of future happiness in
the family relation, should God spare your lives. But
this fiend of intemperance, which makes its insidious ad¬
vances, in the absence of the restraints of home, and
while you are surrounded by reckless companions, can
and assuredly will blast all these bright dreams of hap¬
piness—will dash the cup of bliss from the lips of beau¬
ty and the hands of tenderest love, and will leave you
and them in the midst of wreck and ruin to eke out the
hitter remnants of life. But this is not all. God, in
whom you believe, and by whom you must he judged,
has solemnly declared that no drunkard shall enter the
kingdom of heaven. Doubtless you think there is no
danger of your coming to the drunkard's grave and the
fearful doom with which God has cursed it. Nor is
there, if you only resist all temptation. No one of the
millions who have died from intemperance ever suspected
when he drank the first glass that such would he his
end ; nor would it have been, had he not tasted the first
glass. Therefore, resist this vice in all its insidious
forms, and tolerate not the thought of returning to those
you love with your youthful comeliness marred by the
bloating effects of alcohol; or if you are to perish in the
strife, brook not the thought of going to the drunkard's
grave and the drunkard's doom.
Another vice which has heretofore been confined in
our country to the saloons of dissipation, we are sad to
believe, has become very common among the young men
of the army. We refer to gambling. Besides the mo¬
ral turpitude and sin of gambling, the taking from your
fellows that which is theirs without a just return, this
vice creates a morbid thirst after speedy gains and a
spirit of reckless extravagance, which usually go to¬
gether, injuring the moral character, rendering a man
reckless, dissatisfied and unhappy, and generally ends in
his temporal ruin. A practice which produces such re¬
sults is necessarily evil. "By their fruits ye shall know
them," is the Saviour's rule—and here is a tree whose
fruit is bitter. Beware of this vice, however enticing
TO OUR YOUNG MEN IN THE ARMY. 81
may be its enchantments. Shun eyery approach to it.
Bather send your gains from your professional services
back to your homes for the aid of your parents in these
times of straitness, or otherwise for investment for your
own future emolument, than thus throw them away in a
manner injurious to your moral integrity, destructive of
your happiness, and ruinous to your souls.
All these points which we have considered are very im¬
portant, and unless God shall give you grace to overcome
these temptations, and many others which we might
mention, those bright hopes which we have pictured
for you must prove illusive. To resist temptation,
to overcome sin, and to escape from the allurements
of vice, requires more than human fortitude ; and the
external observance of the commands of religion and
morality is not enough to make us fit for the grave, and
to prepare us for everlasting happiness. But the blessed
Bible is full of precious promises to those who seek the
favour and salvation of God. Beloved friends and breth¬
ren, seek that salvation now; for "why will ye die?" "God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." Then there is salvation in store
for you, if you will only come to Jesus. You are invited to
come to Him without money and without price, on the
simple condition of repentance and faith. Bo you ask
what is repentance ? The evangelical prophet shall an¬
swer : "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unright¬
eous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the
Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God
that He may abundantly pardon." Then, repentance of
sin is a forsaking of it in thought and action, a turning
away from it with hatred, and a returning unto the Lord.
Bo you ask what is faith ? It is needless to enter into
theological discussions of this subject. The practical
exercise of faith is what concerns you—is what deeply
interests us all. When the publican stood in the temple
and smote upon his breast, saying : " God be merciful
to me a sinner," he gave utterance to the faith that was
in his soul. When Peter began to sink in the waters,
32
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1862
he cried.out, "Lord save me," and thus gave expression
to his faith. Then, dear friends, do you not feel yourselves
to be sinners 1 Do you not know yourselves to be lost,
ruined, undone, without an interest in Christ—neither
fit for life, nor ready for death 1 Then, go to Jesus, and
ask Him to save you. And whenever you are able by
God's grace to forsake sin with a godly sorrow, and can
pray from the heart to Jesus Christ, " Be merciful to me
a sinner," you have exercised that repentance and faith
which is unto salvation. Oh, how needful is this salva¬
tion in your present circumstances. None of you can
tell what a day may bring forth. You are standing on
the verge of eternity, with its surging waves ready to
surround and overwhelm you. Are you ready ? You
answer, no. Then we come to you as the ambassadors of
God, and assure you that yet there is room. Jesus is
ready and waiting to be gracious; and, saith the Scrip¬
ture, " Behold, now is the accepted time—behold, now
is the day of salvation."
How precious are these hopes to those of you who are
lying on beds of suffering, pining away from disease, or
lacerated with wounds. Doubtless you have the skilful
care of the physician, and the daily and nightly watch-
ings of tender hands to nurse and sooothe you. But
truly you need a more radical medicine and a more en¬
during balm than earthly skill can supply. For after all
the body must die, and the cold ground must become its
habitation. But the soul may be saved and live forever.
For there is balm in Gilead, and a Physician there.
Wherefore, let us tenderly plead with you to seek this
Great Physician who can heal both soul and body; yea,
and who is become both resurrection and life unto His
people.
But, brethren and friends beloved, we must bid you
farewell. Many of you shall no more see the faces of
your ministers and brethren in Christ in the flesh. The
clash of war and the shock of battle cannot happen
without results from which our hearts recoil with anguish.
But God is a great Saviour and a glorious deliverer—•
and He is our refuge and strength, and a very present
TO OUR YOUNG MEN IN THE ARMY. 33
help in trouble. "We would joyfully feel safe under the
shadow of His wing, and we would gladly see you all
nestling beneath that covert which He spreads out. Then,
come weal, come woe, as to earth's temporal kingdoms,
all shall be well with us. Wherefore live close to
Christ—stand steadfast in your place of appointed duty,
acquit yourselves like men, and God shall bless you.
But, brethren, by the great grace of Christ we shal'l
meet again. It may not be here, in the midst of the
afflictions and trials of life—it may not be until we are
summoned away from this world of strife and sin. But
Jesus has gone to prepare mansions for us, and no one
of His children shall be absent from Him in glory. If
we are His people, if we turn to Him with our whole
hearts, we shall meet in His presence, where there is ful¬
ness of joy, and at His right hand, where there are
pleasures forevermore. May God bless and keep you
until that day.
By order of the Assembly,
Attest:— J. L. Kirkpatrick, Moderator.
E. T. Baird, Acting Stated Clerk.
J. R. Wilson, Permanent Clerk.
[.Extracts from the Minutes of 1862.]
On motion of Dr. Baird, it was
Resolved, That a Committee of five be appointed by the Mod¬
erator to prepare a Pastoral Letter, to be addressed by this As¬
sembly to the Ministers and members of our Churches, and the
youth of our congregations, now in the armies of the Confede¬
racy, fighting the battles of bur national independence.
The Moderator appointed upon this Committee, E. T. Baird,
D. D., S. H. Higgins, D. D., Rev. James H. Fitzgerald, N. S.
Graham, and R. I. McDowell. (See page 9.)
Dr. Baird, from the Committee to prepare a Pastoral Letter
to the Ministers and members of our Churches, and the youth
of our congregations in the army of the Confederacy, reported
a letter, which was unanimously adopted by the Assembly: and
on motion of Dr. Leyburn, was ordered to be forwarded to the
Executive Committee of Publication, with directions that it be
published as a circular for distribution among the classes to
whom it is addressed, and that it be also published in the Ap¬
pendix to the Minutes. (See page 15.)
MINUTE
ON THE
DEATH OF GENERAL THOMAS J. JACKSON.
The Rev. Dr. Palmer, from a Committee appointed
to report a Minute upon the death of General T. J.
Jackson, presented the following, which was unani¬
mously adopted by the members rising in silence in
their places:
The Committee appointed to draft a Minute upon the
death of General Thomas J. Jackson, respectfully sub¬
mit the following:
The despatches announcing the severe illness of this
beloved servant of God, and invoking the prayers of
this Assembly on his behalf, had scarcely aroused our
alarm before the sad intelligence of his death fell,
with its crushing weight, upon our hearts, and turned
these prayers for him into weeping supplications for
ourselves and for our bereaved country. Seldom in his¬
tory has one been able, in so short a time, to write his
name so deeply upon the hearts of his countrymen, and
to raise the admiration of the world at large. Uniting
the most beautiful simplicity with the most intense
earnestness of character, with a religious consecration
to duty as the regulative principle of his life, he was a
true man in all the relations in which he moved. The
additional endowment of a military genius, quick to
perceive and to improve the advantage and -its oppor¬
tunity, made him what he was, the true soldier and the
consummate general. It were idle to compress within
this record his brilliant military career, which forms so
large a part of this young nation's history. The
rapidity of his movements, imparting to him a seeming
(34)
MINUTE ON THE DEATH OF GEN. T. J. JACKSON. 85
nbiquity, the promptness and daring and uniform suc¬
cess of his achievements, rendered his name a terror to
our foes, and a tower of strength to ourselves. It i^
not invidious to say that, whilst other generals of the
army, superior to him in rank, command equally with
himself the confidence of the people, he was the most
deeply of them all enshrined in their affections. It
will he the office of history to assign the position he
will occupy upon her impartial page; and we doubt
not that the verdict of posterity will confirm the judg¬
ment of his contemporaries, in pronouncing that the
life of a hero has been crowned with the death of a
martyr.
But General Jackson has stronger claims upon the
affectionate and tearful remembrance of this General
Assembly than those founded upon his merits as a pat¬
riot and a warrior. He was a warm and zealous Chris¬
tian, a man that feared God and walked carefully
before Him; who, being found blameless, used the office
of a deacon in the house of God, filling up the portrait
drawn by the apostle's hand: " Grave, not double
tongued, and holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience." His religion was woven into the whole tex¬
ture of his character and life, the constructive element
which made him the man he was. It has been tersely
and truthfully, and therefore beautifully said of him,
that in the army he was the expression of his country's
confidence in God and in itself. Even those who withheld
from God the homage of their own obedience and love,
took refuge in the thought that their great military
leader drew his strength from the God of heaven, and,
like the Hebrew Moses, daily communed with Him upon
the mount; and the Church of Christ turned their eyes
to him with a loving joy, as the embodied and concrete
representative, the living exposition of those precious
truths which it is her mission to testify to a dying
world. In the army his religious influence diffused
itself like the atmosphere around him; and by that
strange magnetic power over other minds which is given
to all who are born to command, none were drawn into
36 MINUTE ON THE DEATH OF GEN. T. J. JACKSON.
his presence who did not how before the supremacy of
that piety so silently yet conspicuously illustrated in
the carriage of this Christian general.
The evidence is cumulative before this Assembly of
his zeal to overtake the religious wants of his soldiery,
and of the yearnings of his soul that this venerable
court should, during its present sessions, concert large
plans for the evangelization of the army, and of the
country at large. Therefore it is, this Assembly, at
the moment of its dissolution, as its last solemn act,
would place upon its record this memorial to his praise,
and bedew it with their parting tears. We shall not
" attempt here the interpretation of the mysterious pro¬
vidence which has taken away from the country, at
such a juncture, so strong an arm. It is enough that
He has done it who does all things well; we will " be
still and know that He is God." But in the depth of
our own sadness, we would speak a word of cheer to
our bereaved countrymen; that in the disappointment of
many of our most reasonable calculations, no less than
unexpectedly blessing us when all seemed dark and
forbidding, God seems to us only the more to have
charged Himself with the care and protection of this
struggling Republic; and in this new chastening
we recognize the token of Him whose way it is to
humble those whom it is His purpose to exalt and to
bless.
With the immediate family and kindred of our de¬
parted brother, we desire to mingle our grief, as they
pay the tribute of their sorrow over his grave; and
the Assembly conveys through this Minute its tenderest
sympathy to those whose hearts are bleeding under
what is to them a more close and personal bereavement,
praying the God of all consolation to grant them joy
for mourning, beauty for ashes, and the garments of
praise for the spirit of heaviness.
Respectfully submitted,
B. M. Palmes, Chairman.
[Minutes of 1863, p. 152-3.]
TERMS OF UNION
"WITH THE
UNITED SYNOD OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The following report was presented from the Com¬
mittee of Conference with the United Synod, by Kev.
Dr. Dabney, the Chairman. [See Minutes 1864, p.
253-259.]
The Committee to confer with a Committee of the
United Synod report to the General Assembly:
That they met a Committee, appointed by the United
Synod, in July last, and, after prayer and conference,
unanimously agreed to recommend to the General As¬
sembly the adoption of the following, which the Com¬
mittee of the United Synod likewise recommended,
with similar unanimity, to that body :
The General Assembly and the United Synod of the
Presbyterian Churches in the Confederate States of
America, holding the same system of doctrines and
Church order, and believing that their union will glorify
God, by promoting peace, removing the dishonour done
to religion by former separations, and increasing their
ability for the edification of the Body of Christ, do
agree to unite under the name and existing charter of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in
the Confederate States of America, on the following
basis:
Article I.—The General Assembly and the United
Synod declare that they continue to sincerely receive and
adopt the Confession and Catechisms of the Presbyterian
Church, as containing the system of doctrines taught in
the Holy Scriptures, and approve of its government and
discipline.
4 37
38
TERMS OF UNION
Inasmuch as some have been supposed to hold the
system of doctrines and Church order in different senses,
the General Assembly and the United Synod do further
adopt the following Declaration, touching former grounds
of debate, in order to manifest our hearty agreement,
to remove suspicions and offences, to restore full confi¬
dence between brethren, and to honour God's saving
truth.
§ 1. Concerning the Fall of Man and Original Sin,
we faithfully hold, with the Confession of Faith, that
our first parents, by their first act of disobedience,
" fell from their original righteousness and communion
with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled
in all the faculties and parts of soul and body; that
they, being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this
sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and cor¬
rupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descended
from them by ordinary generation; and that from this
original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed,
disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly in¬
clined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions."
This imputation of the guilt of this sin of our first
parents we hold in this sense: that thereby their pos¬
terity are judicially condemned by God on account of
that sin, and so begin their existence in that corruption
of nature and subjection to wrath into which our first
parents fell by their first sin. And we mean that the
guilt of their sin, which is imputed, is, according to the
constant usage of theology, "obligation to punish¬
ment," and not the sinfulness of the act itself, which
latter can not, by imputation, be the quality of any
other than the personal agents.
Touching the moral corruption of Adam's posterity,
we believe that it is entire, and also native and original;
that all actual transgressions do proceed from it as their
source, and not merely from imitation of evil example,
as the Palagians vainly affirm, and that this native ten¬
dency to sin is itself morally evil, deserving of God's
righteous wrath, and requiring, both in infants and
adults, the righteousness of Christ to justify from its
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
89
guilt, as well as His regenerating grace to overcome it.
We do also believe that, because of this original cor¬
ruption, men have wholly lost all ability of will to
choose spiritual good for its own sake, or to regenerate,
convert, or sanctify their own hearts. But we equally
reject the error of those who assert that the sinner has
no power of any kind for the performance of duty.
This error strips the sinner of his moral agency and
accountableness, and introduces the heresy of either
Antinomianism or Fatalism. The true doctrine of
the Scriptures, as stated in our Confession, keeps con¬
stantly in view the moral agency of man, the contin¬
gency of second causes, the use of means, the volunta¬
riness of all the creature's sin, and his utter inexcusa-
bleness therein. It teaches that, while the Fall has
darkened and impaired all the faculties of man's soul,
and inclined his free-will to evil only, it has not de¬
stroyed in him any capacity of understanding or con¬
science, whereby the holy creature knows and serves
God, and on which free-agency and responsibility depend.
And touching God's permission of the entrance of sin
among His creatures, we reject the doctrine of those
who assert that He had no power efficiently to prevent
it in consistency with man's freedom and responsibility,
and we believe that God permitted the introduction of
sin for wise and good reasons, which He has not revealed.
§ 2. Concerning Regeneration, we hold that this act
doth essentially consist, not of a' change of the crea¬
ture's purpose by himself as to sin and holiness, but of
a change of the dispositions of soul from which such
purposes do proceed, and in which change all regene¬
rating power is of the Holy Spirit. But yet all the
acts of soul, wherein the sinner turneth from his sins
unto God and holiness, are by the instrumentality of
God's truth, and are as rational and free as those which
are performed wholly of his natural powers.
§ 3. Concerning the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we
hold that He, being very God and very man in one per¬
son, was our Substitute under the law; that the guilt of
men's sins was imputed to Him, that His sufferings were
40
TERMS OF UNION
borne as the penalty of that guilt, and were a vacarious
yet true satisfaction therefor to the justice of God, and
that without this, God's perfections would forbid the
pardon of any sin. This Atonement, we believe, though
by temporary sufferings, was, by reason of the infinite
glory of Christ's person, full and sufficient for the guilt
of the whole world, and is to be freely and sincerely
offered to every creature, inasmuch as it leaveth no other
obstacle to the pardon of all men under the gospel, save
the enmity and unbelief of those who voluntarily reject
it. Wherefore, on the one hand, we reject the opinion
of those who teach that the atonement was so limited
and equal to the guilt of the Elect only, that if God
had designed to redeem more, Christ must have suffered
more or differently. And, on the other hand, we hold
that God the Father doth efficaciously apply this re¬
demption, through .Christ's purchase, to all those to
whom it was His eternal purpose to apply it, and to no
others.
§ 4. Concerning the believer's Justification, we hold
that Christ not only bore the penalty of their guilt, but
fully obeyed the law as their Substitute ; and that the
righteousness of His sufferings and obedience, imputed
unto them that believe, is the sole ground for which
God pardoneth all their sins, and accepteth them as
righteous in His sight. And we account the agency of
the believer's faith in this justification to be only in¬
strumental, and not meritorious.
§ 5. Holding these views of the doctrines of Grace,
we believe that the Church is dependent, under God,
for the revival of her spiritual life, and the implanting
of it in sinners, on the work of the Holy Ghost through
the truth. Wherefore we hold that the proper means
for promoting revivals are the labours of holy living
and teaching through the Word and Sacraments; and,
on the one hand, we testify, from our observation and
the Word of God, that it is dangerous to ply the dis¬
ordered heart of the sinner with a disproportionate ad¬
dress to the imaginations and passions, to withhold from
his awakened mind Scriptural instruction, and to em-
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
41
ploy with him such novel and startling measures as
must tend to impart to his religious excitement a char¬
acter rather noisy, shallow, and transient, than deep,
solid, and Scriptural. But, on the other hand, we value,
cherish, and pray for true revivals of religion; and
wherever they bring forth the permanent fruits of holi¬
ness in men's hearts, rejoice in them as God's work,
notwithstanding the mixture of human imperfections.
And we consider it the solemn duty of ministers to ex¬
ercise a Scriptural warmth, affection, and directness in
appealing to the understandings, hearts, and consciences
of men.
§ 6. We hold that God hath organized His Ohursh
Visible to be "the pillar and ground of the truth,"
"for the gathering and perfecting of the saints in this
life to the end of the world that hence it is the duty
of every member and officer of the Church to further
this work by his personal labours in his appropriate
sphere, and by state<Uoblations from his worldly goods
unto God ; and that raeir common and concerted efforts
for this end, [which is the proper end of the Church in
this world,] are by God committed to the Presbyters
and Deacons thereof, whom He has appointed as her
officers. Whence it follows that the associated and or¬
ganized acts of the people of God for the conversion of
the world unto Christ, are the proper functions of these
officers, or of Church-courts constituted of them; Those
who seek the world's conversion by societies of voluntary
and human origin distinct from the branches of Christ's
visible Church, therefore ought not to ask the officers
and courts of the Church to relinquish these labours to
them. Yet we can bid them God-speed in ail their sin¬
cere efforts to diffuse the true Words of God,. and we
concede to the members of our Churches full liberty to
extend to them such personal aid as their Christian con*
sciences approve.
Article II.—The General Assembly and the United
Synod hereby agree that the Synod of Virginia, under
the care of the General Assembly, and the Synod of
4*
42
TERMS OF UNION
Virginia, under the care of the United Synod, with the
Presbytery of New River, shall constitute the Synod of
Virginia, and shall hold its next meeting on the
day of in Lexington, Virginia, and the opening
services shall be conducted by the two last Moderators
present from the respective bodies. The Presbytery of
Texas, under the care of the United Synod, shall be
united to the Synod of Texas, under the care of the
General Assembly. The Presbyteries of Lexington
South,Clinton, and Newton, under the care of the United
Synod, together with those now included in the Synod
of Mississippi, under the care of the General Assembly,
shall constitute the Synod of Mississippi, and shall hold
their next meeting at on the day of
and shall be opened as above. The Presbyteries of
Holston, Union, and Kingston, under the care of the
United Synod, together with those now included in the
Synod of Nashville, under the care of the General As¬
sembly, shall constitute the Synod of Nashville, and
shall hold their next meeting at-S on the day
of and shall be opened as above. And the Churches
of the Presbytery of North Alabama, under the care of
the United Synod, which are within the State of Ala¬
bama, shall be united to the Synod of Memphis, and
those Churches of said Presbyteries which are within
the State of Tennessee, to the Synod of Nashville. And
that the Presbytery of Osage, under the care of the
U nited Synod, be attached to the 'Synod of Arkansas,
under the care of the General Assembly.
Article III.—These Synods, at their first annual
meetings, or as soon thereafter as practicable, shall de¬
fine the boundaries of Presbyteries, where ministers
and Churches, under the care of the General Assembly
and of the United Synod, exist in the same territory,
and shall so distribute said ministers and Churches that
those within the same geographical limits shall not be¬
long to different Presbyteries. It is recommended that,
in such changes, that Presbytery shall hold its name
and succession which has the major number of minis¬
ters, and shall receive the records and presbyterial funds
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
43
of the other Presbytery, assuming also its existing pecu¬
niary obligations. And it is agreed that no other con¬
dition shall be required of the members constituting
said Presbyteries, except the approval of this plan of
union.
Article IV.—Wherever organized Churches, under
the care of the General Assembly and of the United
Synod, exist in the same neighbourhood, if their union
is necessary to the successful sustentation of the gospel,
they are affectionately exhorted to unite immediately,
postponing private convenience to the glory of God.
But no organized Churches, or existing compacts with
pastors or stated supplies, shall be extinguished by this
act of union, except they voluntarily agree to combine
with neighbouring Churches. And when such unions
of Churches take place, they, with their sessions, shall
be organized under the direction of their own Pres¬
byteries.
Article V.—Inasmuch as the General Assembly and
the United Synod have similar agencies for aiding pious
youth in their education for the ministry, for circulating
divine truth by printing, and for missions, home and
foreign, it is agreed that the Committees of the General
Assembly, from and after the union, shall receive and
sustain, according to existing compacts, all colporteurs,
beneficiaries studying for the ministry, and home and
foreign missionaries, then under the care of the United
Synod, as well as those of the General Assembly. And
that all funds and other property now held for the above
objects by the United Synod, or its Committees or other
agencies, shall be passed over to the appropriate Com¬
mittees of the General Assembly. And these Commit¬
tees shall thereafter solicit contributions for these evan¬
gelical labourers in all the Churches alike, as they are
enabled.
Article VI.—Whenever this above written plan of
union shall have been adopted by the General Assembly
and the United Synod, it shall be in full force. And
the Presbyteries, at their next spring meetings, shall
44
TERMS OF UNION
elect Commissioners to meet in General Assembly at
on the day of May, 186—, on the follow¬
ing ratio of representation, viz: [See Form of Govern¬
ment, ch. 12, § ii»]
(Signed)
R. L. Dxbney,
William Brown,
Jas. B. Ramsey,
J. N. Waddel,
F. N. Watkins,
J. T. L. Preston,
Committee of General Assembly*
Jos. C. Stiles,
Chas. H. Read,
J. D. Mitchell,
J. J. Robinson,
J. F. Johnston,
Committee of United Synod.
In connection with this report, the following commu¬
nication from the Rev. Dr. Baird was read:
The undersigned desires to state to the Reverend
General Assembly that he was not present at the meet¬
ing of the Joint Committee on Union, owing to the
presence of the enemy In the part of the country where
he resides, causing an interruption of the mails. A
very kind and fraternal note was written him by the
respected Chairman, informing him that a meeting of
the Committee would shortly be called, and begging
him to make his arrangements to be present; but,owing
to the cause already mentioned, this note did not reach
him until the very week of the meeting of the Com¬
mittee ; nor did the notice of the time and place of the
meeting reach him at all. Immediately, however, on the
receipt of the note from the Chairman, he left home with
the hope of being present, but on his way learned that the
Committee had met and adjourned. The undersigned1
would have rejoiced to see his way clear to sign his
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
45
name to the plan agreed oh; hut this he was not able
to do. While he cordially rejoices in the conviction
that his colleagues are sound and orthodox brethren,
worthy of the highest confidence of the Church, and of
whom she may justly be proud, and that the doctrinal
articles are Calvinistic and true, according to the sense
the Committees manifestly designed in preparing them,
at the same time, he believes that, in probably three
different places, the language is liable to misapprehen¬
sion, and might become the cause of trouble among
ourselves hereafter. Nor does he believe that any series
of doctrinal articles*could be framed which would not
be obnoxious to the same objection. Moreover, as pub¬
lished in the newspapers, the doctrinal statement was
called, "The Doctrinal Basis of Union." He felt that
the Assembly had no constitutional right to make any¬
thing the basis of union but the constitution itself. On
examining the proceedings of the Committees in manu¬
script, however, he was glad to find no such language
was employed by them.
The undersigned believes that the union of these two
denominations, if effected in such'a manner as to secure
the undoubted succession of the General Assembly and
of our various Synods on the basis of our symbols of
doctrine and order, interpreted and adhered to accord¬
ing to the plan and obvious sense of the ordination en¬
gagements, will be promotive of the best interests of
our Zion. It is necessary, in order to the preservation
of existing chartered rights, that this point be carefully
guarded, and that the principle of elective affinity
be carefully excluded. A union on such terms as these
the undersigned publicly advocated nearly three years
ago, and he still adheres to the same view.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
E. T. BAIRD.
After discussion the above papers were referred to a
Committee, from which Dr. Lyon, the Chairman, subse¬
quently? presented a report, which was adopted by a
46
TERMS OF UNION
vote of 53 to 7, and is as follows. [See Minutes, p.
271-273.]
The General Assembly having received the report of
the committee appointed last year to confer with a sim¬
ilar committee of the United Synod of the Presbyterian
Church, on the subject of the union of the two bodies,
and having heard the explanatory statements accompa¬
nying the said report, do hereby adopt the following
resolutions as expressive of their views on the whole
subject, viz:
Resolved, 1. That the Assembly express their ap¬
proval of the diligence and fidelity of the committee in
regard to the important trust with which they were
charged, and also the great satisfaction with which they
have heard of the brotherly love and spirit of harmony
in which the conference of the two committees was
held.
Resolved, 2. That the Assembly believe the most
satisfactory terms of union to be the cordial adherence
of the two bodies to their existing symbols of faith
and order.
Resolved, 3. That the report of the committe be
adopted after amendment in the following particulars, viz:
1. Prom the preamble omit the words "removing the
dishonour done to religion by former separations," and
modify the provisions as to the name and charter. 2.
Omit all of the first article after the first paragraph. 3.
Amend the second article, so as in every case to require
the reception of the Presbyteries under the care of the
United Synod into the Synods of this Assembly, so as to
preserve the undoubted succession of the latter; and
add to the article the following words, viz: " Should
providential hindrances prevent the consummation
of any of the measures above mentioned during the
year 1864, they shall take effect as soon thereafter as
practicable." 4. Omit all after the words " in full
force," in the last article.
The plan of union as thus amended is as follows,
viz:
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
47
The General Assembly and the United Synod of the
Presbyterian Churches in the Confederate States of
America,holding the same system of doctrine and church
order, and believing that their union will glorify God by
promoting peace and increasing their ability for the ed¬
ification of the body of Christ, do agree to unite under
the name of the Presbyterian Church in the Confede¬
rate States of America, and under the existing charter
of the trustees of the General Assembly of the Presby¬
terian Church in the Confederate States of America, on
the following basis, viz:
Article I. The General Assembly and the United
Synod declare that they continue sincerely to receive and
adopt the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the
Presbyterian Church, as containing the system of doc¬
trines taught in the Holy Scriptures, and approve of its
government and discipline.
Article II. The General Assembly and the United
Synod hereby agree that the Presbyteries composing the
Synod of Virginia, under the care of the United Synod,
together with the Presbytery of New River, shall be
received.into the Synod of Virginia, under the care of
the General Assembly, at their meeting in Lexington,
on the day of October, 1864. The Pres¬
bytery of Texas, under the care of the United Synod,
shall be received into the Synod of Texas, under the
care of the General Assembly, at its next meeting.
The Presbyteries of Lexington South, Clinton, and
Newton, under the care of the United Synod, shall be
received into the Synod of Mississippi, under the care
of the General Assembly at their meeting in Brandon,
on the day of October, 1864. The Pres¬
byteries of Holston, Union, and Kingston, under the
care of the United Synod, shall be received into the
Synod of Nashville, under the care of the General
Assembly at their next meeting. And the ministers
and churches of the Presbytery of North Alabama, under
the care of the United Synod, which are within the
State of Alabama, shall be united to the Synod of
48
TERMS OF UNION
Memphis, and those churches and ministers of such
Presbytery which are within the State of Tennessee, to
the Synod of Nashville. And the Presbytery of Osage,
under the care of the United Synod, shall be attached
to the Synod of Arkansas, under the care of the General
Assembly. Should providential hindrances prevent the
consummation of any of'the measures above mentioned
during the year 1864, they shall take effect as soon
thereafter as practicable.
Article III.—These Synods, at their annual meet¬
ings, or as soon thereafter as practicable, shall define
the boundaries of Presbyteries, where ministers and
churches under the care of the General Assembly and
of the United Synod, exist in the same territory, and
shall so distribute said ministers and churches that those
within the same geographical limits shall not belong to
different Presbyteries. It is recommended that in such
changes that Presbytery shall hold its name and succes¬
sion which has the major number of ministers, and
shall receive the records and presbyterial funds of the
other Presbytery, assuming also its existing pecuniary
obligations. And it is agreed that no other condition
shall be required of the members constituting said
Presbyteries, exceot the approval of this plan of
union.
Article IV.—Whenever organized, churches under
the care of the General Assembly and the United
Synod exist in the same neighborhood—if their union
is necessary to the successful sustentation of the Gos¬
pel—they are affectionately exhorted to unite immedi¬
ately, postponing private convenience to the glory of
God. But no organized churches, or existing compacts
with pastors or stated supplies, shall be extinguished by
this act of union, except they voluntarily agree to com¬
bine with neighbouring churches. And when such union
of churches takes place, they, with their sessions, shall
be organized under the directions of their own Pres¬
byteries.
WITH THE UNITED SYNOD.
49
Article V.—Inasmuch as the General Assembly and
the United Synod have similar agencies for aiding pious
youth in their education for the ministry, for circula¬
ting divine truth by printing, and for missions, home
and foreign, it is agreed that the committees of the
General Assembly, from and after the union, shall re¬
ceive and sustain, according to existing compacts, all
colporteurs, beneficiaries studying for the ministry, and
home and foreign missionaries then under the care of
the United Synod, as well as those of the General
Assembly; and that all funds and other property now
held for the above objects by the United Synod, or its
committees or other agencies, shall be passed over to
the appropriate committees of the General Assembly.
And these committees shall thereafter solicit contribu¬
tions for these evangelical labours in all the churches
alike, as they are enabled.
Article VI.—Whenever the above written plan of
union shall have been adopted by the General Assem¬
bly and the United Synod, it shall be in full force.
4. Resolved, That the Assembly proposes the omission
of the doctrinal propositions of article I on the follow¬
ing ground solely, viz : That, believing the approval of
those propositions by the Committees of Conference,
and extensively among both bodies, has served a valua¬
ble purpose, by presenting satisfactory evidence of such
harmony and soundness of doctrinal views as may
ground an honourable union, the Assembly does yet
judge that it is most prudent to unite on the basis of
our existing standards only, inasmuch as no actual ne¬
cessity for other declarations of belief in order to a
happy union now exist.
5
EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES, 1861-1864.
PRAYERS POR THE CONFEDERACY.
On motion of W. P. Webb, it was
Resolved, That this General Assembly will spend the
next half hour which is appointed for devotional exer¬
cises, in prayer to Almighty God, for His blessing upon
these Confederate States, and especially upon the Officers
and Soldiers of our armies who are exposed to the dan¬
gers and temptations of the battle field and the camp.
[Minutes 1861,"p. 11.]
The Assembly met and spent the first half hour in
special prayer for the blessing of God upon the cause of
the Confederate States, according to previous order.
[Minutes, p. 12.]
On motion of Dr. Baird, it was ordered that the first
half hour of the morning sessions be spent in devotional
exercises, with special reference to the distracted state
of the Church and country, under the direction of the
Moderator. [Minutes of 1862, p. 7.]
Resolved, 2. That it be recommended to the Churches
under the care of this Assembly to offer special prayer
on the last Sabbath of every month for all our baptized
young men now in the army—that God would preserve
them from all evil, and make them faithful to the Cap¬
tain of their salvation. [Minutes, p. 15.]
On motion of the Rev. D. A. Penick, the Assembly
resolved to spend the first half hour of every morning
session, and the hours between 4 and 6 of Saturday
afternoon next, in devotional exercises with special re¬
ference to the state of the Church and country. [Min¬
utes of 1864, p. 242.]
In pursuance of the arrangement ordered on yester¬
day, the Rev. B. M. Palmer, D. D., the Rev. John N.
50
MINUTES FROM 1861-1864.
51
Waddel, D. D., and the Rev. B. T. Lacy, Commissioners
to the Army, addressed the Assembly on the subject of
their mission; when, on motion of J. T. L. Preston, the
Standing Committee on Domestic Missions was instructed
to report a minute in specific response to the subject
matter of those addresses, and also having special refer¬
ence to the request made, in behalf of General R. E.
Lee, for the prayers of the Assembly and the Church,
in view of his great responsibilities as the commander
of one of our principle armies. [Minutes, p. 251.]
9. That the Assembly, having engaged in frequent
and solemn acts of devotion to intercede for our brave
soldiers and their officers and commanding generals, does
earnestly exhort all the ministers, Churches, and people,
in like manner, to constant supplications in the same
behalf. [Minutes, p. 279.]
SYMPATHY FOR THE CONFEDERACY.
In the absence of any official documents on which to
base a report, the Committee think that the Assembly
may, with propriety, express a unanimous opinion in
favour of liberally sustaining our Theological Semina¬
ries during these days of tribulation; also in favour of
our candidates for the ministry, under ordinary circum¬
stances, prosecuting their studies with unmolested dili¬
gence, through these troublous times; until by the
skillful use of spiritual weapons they are prepared for
wide fields of usefulness as pastors in our vacant
Churches, as missionaries in our destitute fields, or as
chaplains in our army. We distinctly recognize the
right of the State to claim the services of any, or all
her citizens, in this the time of her need. We also
acknowledge it as a high privilege, as well as a plain
duty, for our people to pledge to each other, and tho
government of their choice, their lives, their fortunes,
and their sacred honour, in united efforts to drive back the
invaders of our soil, and the enemies of our institutions.
Yet when and where this necessity does not exist, we
think that our candidates can better serve their genera-
52
EXTRACTS FROM THE
tion and do more for their country, by diligently pre¬
paring to preach the gospel. [Minutes of 1862, p. 19.]
The relation of our congregations to the great struggle
in which we are engaged. All of the Presbyterial Nar¬
ratives, "without exception, mention the fact that their
congregations have evinced the most cordial sympathy
with the people of the Confederate States in their ef¬
forts to maintain their cherished rights and institutions
against the despotic power which is attempting to crush
them. Deeply convinced that this struggle is not alone
for civil rights, and property, and home, but also for
religion, for the Church, for the gospel, and for exist¬
ence itself, the Churches in our connection have freely
contributed to its prosecution of their substance, their
prayers, and, above all, of their members and the be¬
loved youth of their congregations. They have parted,
without a murmur, with those who constitute the hope
of the Church, and have bidden them go forth to the
support of this great and sacred cause, with their bene¬
dictions, and with their supplications for their protec¬
tion and success. The Assembly desires to record, with
its solemn approval, this fact of the unanimity of our
people in supporting a contest to which religion, as well
as patriotism, now summons the citizens of this country,
and to implore for them the blessing of God in the
course they are now pursuing. [Narrative of 1862,
We cannot but teel that we are called, in the Provi¬
dence of God, to address the Churches in these Confed¬
erate States under circumstances of painful interest.
During the period which has elapsed since the last an¬
nual session of this body, our unhappy country has been
the theatre of a war unexampled, perhaps, in the scope
of its operation, of the vast numbers engaged, and in
the pitiless barbarity with which it has been conducted
on the part of our invaders. The blood of our breth¬
ren, our fathers, and our children, unjustly and untimely
slain, cries to heaven. A considerable portion of our
territory is in the possession of the enemy, and all com¬
munication with the Churches embraced in those districts
MINTJTES FROM 1861-1864.
53
must for the time be suspended. We look forward,
however, with cheerful confidence to a renewal of our
relations to those Churches, when, by the favour of our
God, the enemy shall have been expelled. We com¬
mend these afflicted brethren to your Sympathies and
prayers. It is to us matter of devout gratitude to Al¬
mighty God, that He has so often and so signally baffled
the efforts of our enemies to effect our subjugation,
and that He has vouchsafed to our arms victories so
repeated and so wonderful. [Narrative of 1863, p. 155.]
These reports bring to the attention of your Commit¬
tee the painful fact that the number of students in these
seminaries has been very small, owing to the continu¬
ance of the war; but we find encouragement in the
consideration that the students of these institutions who,
in obedience to the call of patriotism, have enlisted in the
service of the country, are not only in the field of duty,
but one in which they are receiving a training which
will prepare them for a larger measure of usefulness,
when, having completed their theological studies, they
go forth to the service of the Church in the gospel
ministry. [Report on Seminaries of 1864, p. 284.]
SLAVES AND SLAVERY.
On motion of W. P. Webb, Dr. C. C. Jones was re¬
quested to address the Assembly to-night upon the sub¬
ject of the religious instruction of the colored people,
and that the Resolution in the Report which refers to
this subject, be made the first order for this evening.
In pursuance of the previous order, the Assembly
proceeded to the consideration of the Resolution in the
Report on Domestic Missions, which refers to the reli¬
gious instruction of the colored people, when Dr. C. C.
Jones addressed the Assembly, according to arrangement.
After discussion by other Commissioners, the Reso¬
lution was, on motion of Dr. Joseph R. Wilson, unani¬
mously adopted.
On motion of Dr. Turner, the Assembly requested
Dr. Jones to prepare a Pastoral Letter, to be addressed
5 *
54
EXTRACTS FROM THE
to the Churches on the subject of the instruction of the
colored population of these States. [Minutes of 1861,
p. 14.]
On motion of R. M'Innis, the Assembly resolved to recon¬
sider its actionwith reference to the appointment of Dr.
C. C. Jones to prepare a Pastoral Letter to the Churches
on the subject of instructing the colored people; when,
on motion of Rev. W. T. Richardson, the Assembly
Resolved, That Dr. C. C. Jones be requested to pre¬
pare and publish the address which he delivered last
evening.
On motion of Dr. Lyon, the Assembly
Resolved, That a Committee, of which Dr. Jones shall
be Chairman, shall be appointed to prepare a Pastoral
Letter on the subject of the religious instruction of the
colored people, to be submitted to the next General
Asembly.
At his own request Dr. Jones was excused from serv¬
ing as Chairman of this Committee. The Committee
was afterwards constituted as follows : Dr. James A.
Lyon, Dr. C. 0. Jones, and Dr. Theodoric Pryor. [Min¬
utes, p. 15.]
IV. That the great field of Missionary operations
among our Colored population falls more immediately
under the care of the Committee on Domestic Missions;
and that said Committee be urged to give its serious and
constant attention, and the Presbyteries to co-operate
with the Committee in securing Pastors and Missionaries
for this field. [Minutes, p. 20.]
IY. In the fields of Domestic Missions we are cheered
with reports of encouraging success in this great work,
amid difficulties and discouragements. In several of
the Presbyteries a system of evangelical labours has
been adopted, which has resulted in the formation of
new Churches, and centres of Christian instruction, ren¬
dering former waste places fruitful in piety and holi¬
ness. Especially in those labours of Domestic Missions,
which are devoted to our colored population, a degree
of suocess has been graciously afforded, which calls for
devout gratitude. In the efforts of our Churches and
MINUTES FROM 1861-1864.
55
ministers to give gospel instruction to these multitudes
of immortal souls entrusted to our care, and for whom
we are specially accountable, a rich blessing has been
enjoyed. In several places in our bounds, there have
been blessed revivals of religion, adding to our Churches
hundreds of hopeful converts among the colored people.
It is, indeed, a most precious token of the smiles of the
Great Head of the Church, in giving such signal success
to our labours for the spiritual benefit of our servants,
in these days of trial and confusion. It is our privi¬
lege to know that many of our pastors, evangelists, and
licentiates, devote their ministry to children as well as
parents, to servants as well as masters. The blessed
effects of such labours are manifest in the gathering of
several large congregations, composed of colored mem¬
bers exclusively. In having received so many of the
sons and daughters of Africa into the communion of our
Churches, we have cause of devout thankfulness to our
gracious Lord. Bless the Lord, 0 our souls, and all that
is within us, bless His holy name. [Narrative of 1861,
p- 43-3
A communication was received from Rev. James A.
Lyon, D. D., Chairman of the Committee appointed
by the last General Assembly, to prepare a Pastoral
Letter on the "religious instruction of the colored peo¬
ple," asking to be excused for their failure to report to
this Assembly; whereupon, on motion of Rev. R. Q.
Mallard, the reasons given for not reporting according
to the order of the last Assembly were declared to be
satisfactory, and the Committee was continued with di¬
rections to report to the next Assembly. [Minutes of
1862, p. 11.]
Nearly all the Presbyteries make special mention
of the fact that religious instruction is faithfully im¬
parted to the colored people. We cannot but rejoice
at this intelligence. The great and startling fact that
about four millions of souls are immediately dependent
on the Church, in these Confederate States, for all that
they can know of Christ and Ilis salvation, and that if
that Church neglects them, none other can impart this
56
EXTRACTS FROM T3E
essential knowledge, and they must be doomed to go
down to the pit at our own doors:—this, surely, is
enough to incite us to a diligent and faithful cultivation
of this field. We have the motives to the discharge of
a great missionary work springing from the bosom of
every family, and the cabins of every plantation. The
Assembly would solemnly exhort all its ministers, office
bearers, and Church-members, to gird themselves afresh
for the accomplishment of a work which none but they
can do. [Narrative of 1862, p. 24.]
On motion, the orders of the day were reversed, and
the Assembly proceeded to consider the second order,
viz., hearing the report of the Committee appointed by
the first Assembly to prepare an Address to the Churches
on the subject of slavery. The Chairman, the Rev. Dr.
James A. Lyon, road said report, which was received,
and, on motion of Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, it was
Resolved, That this paper be referred to'a Committee
of at least one commissioner from each Synod, to con¬
sider its subject-matter, to suggest what disposal should
be made of it, and" to report, at the same time, some
plan by which the religious and moral improvement of
our slaves may be more effectually secured.
This Committee consists of Dr. J. L. Wilson, Rev.
W. Baird, Dr. Jno. N. Waddel,Dr. B. M. Palmer, Rev.
A. Baker, Rev. J. M. Atkinson, Rev. T. E. Peck, Judge
Whitner, D. A. Davis, Jas. P. King, Col. Preston, Gi.
S. Cecil, W. A. Bartlett, and Col. Walker. [Minutes
of 1863, p. 126.]
The Rev. Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, from the Commit¬
tee to whom was referred the paper presented by the
Rev. James A. Lyon, D. D., read the following report,
which was adopted:
The Committee to whom was referred the address of
Dr. Lyon, respectfully report, that in view of the great
length of the address, the variety and importance of
the topics involved in it, and the difficulty of examining
it thoroughly in manuscript form, they would embody
their recommendation in the following resolution, viz :
Resolved, That this address be recommitted to the
MINUTES FROM 1861-1864.
57
Rev. Dr. Lyon, Dr. J. Leighton Wilson, Dr. Palmer,
Mr. D. A. Davis, Mr. G. J. S. Walker, and Judge J.
N. Whitner, to consider the subject-matter of the same,
and report at the next General Assembly; and that in
the mean time they are authorized to publish the address
of Dr. Lyon, in any way they may think best; and
further, that the report they may propose to submit to
the next Assembly be printed in advance of the meet¬
ing, for the use of the members. [Minutes, p. 138.]
In conclusion, we are glad to note a growing interest
in the religious instruction of our colored population. We
believe that more is done for their spiritual interests
now than at any former period. Our ministers gene¬
rally regard them as a portion of their flocks. There
are few Churches in the South wholly destitute of this
interesting class of worshippers; and most of our larger
Churches embrace a considerable number of our slaves
among their members. We would commend to the
special attention of all our ministers the religious in¬
struction of the colored race ; and confidently trust that
Christian masters will not only facilitate the attendance
of their servants on the religious instructions to which
they have access, but incur expense in order to afford
their servants the means of grace. The best vindica¬
tion of our system of domestic servitude is the generous
provision of masters for the temporal and spiritual well-
being of their servants, and the faithful, affectionate,
and grateful service of those who enjoy their protection
and care. [Narrative of 1863, p. 158.]
In accordance with the views expressed by the Gene¬
ral Assembly, as to increased efforts in behalf of the
colored population, the Secretary, in his communications
with the missionaries, has called their attention to this
department of their work, and it is believed that most
of them are appropriating a part of their time in this
way. The Committee had also hoped to be able to se¬
cure an admirably qualified young minister as an evan¬
gelist to the negroes, but previous engagements precluded
for the time his compliance with our proposals. We
58
EXTRACTS FROM THE
still indulge the hope that this arrangement may be car¬
ried into effect.
The promise for the future of this interesting and
important field for Southern missionary labour is full
of encouragement. When our independence shall have
been established, we shall no longer be subject to sus¬
picion and hindrance, because of the fanaticism of the
North, and shall be left free to gather the fruits from
this vast and inviting field. There are undoubted indi¬
cations that the mind of the South, out of the Church
as well as in it, is impressed with the obligation to pro¬
vide more effectually for the spiritual wants of this
large population of the ignorant and the needy, who
have been providentially placed among us and under
our control. As we receive of their carnal things,
they would also seem to have a special claim to receive
freely, in return, of our spiritual things. God has per¬
mitted them to be brought from their own dark land,
to be placed upon our soil and under our roof-trees,
and to labour for our sustenance and our wealth, and
the obligation is obvious and imperative to do all that
in us lies to illumine their minds with the light of the
blessed gospel. The Foreign Mission problem is here
reversed. Instead of having to send missionaries to the
heathen, the heathen are brought to us; thus affording
the opportunity of doing a foreign missionary work on a
gigantic scale, and under the most favourable auspices—
a work altogether unique, and a work which the Church
in any other part of the world might well covet. The
Lord, in this particular, hath set before us an open door;
let us not fail to enter. [Annual Report on Domestic
Missions, p. 162.]
The second order of the day, viz., to hear the report
of the Committee on the Religious Instruction, etc., of
the Negroes—was called up, when the Rev. Dr. Lyon,
Chairman of said Committee, proceeded to read said
report, which was discussed.
Pending this discussion, on motion of W. L. Mitchell,
the Assembly heard, in connection with Dr. Lyon's re¬
port, a minority report, which was presented and read
MINUTES FKOM 1861-1864.
59
by the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, D. D., a member of
the above-named Committee.
On motion of W. L. Mitchell, these reports were both
referred to a Committee, of which Dr. Dabney shall be
Chairman, to report action with reference to them to
this Assembly, if practicable, and if not, to the next
Assembly. The other members of this Committee were
mnnounced by the Moderator as follows: the Rev. R.
Mclnnis, Rev. Dr. Kirkpatrick, W. L. Mitchell, and
Samuel Barnett. [Minutes of 1864, p. 283.J
The Rev. Dr. Lyon, from the Committee on Bills and
Overtures, reported Overture No. 2, with its answer,
which was adopted, as follows:
The Presbytery of Hopewell respectfully overtures
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in
the Confederate States of America to make a deliver¬
ance on the subject of licensing colored exhorters and
preachers to labour among our colored population; and,
if deemed advisable, to take some action, prescribing a
mode of licensure for such labourers, and defining their
status when thus licensed.
A true extract from the Minutes of the sessions of
Hopewell Presbytery, held at Sparta, Ga., March, 1864.
C. W. LANE,
Stated Clerk pro tem.
Overture No. 2.—The Assembly would refer the sub¬
ject of authorizing colored men to exhort, and teach, and
labour among the colored population, to the wisdom and
discretion of Church Sessions, until some suitable
plan for the religious instruction of colored people can
be devised by the Assembly. [Minutes, p. 286.]
5. The reports of all the Presbyteries indicate an.in¬
creasing interest in the spiritual welfare of our colored
population. The long-continued agitations of our adversa¬
ries have wrought within us a deeper conviction of the
divine appointment of domestic servitude, and have led to
a clearer comprehension of the duties we owe to the Afri¬
can race. We hesitate not to affirm that it is the pecu¬
liar mission of the Southern Church to conserve the
60
MINUTES OE 1865
institution of slavery, and to make it a blessing both,
to master and slave. We could not, if we would, yield
up these four millions of immortal beings to the dic¬
tates of fanaticism and to the menaces of military
power. We distinctly recognize the inscrutable Provi¬
dence which brought this benighted people into our
midst, and we shall feel that we have not discharged
our solemn trust until we have used every effort to bring
them under the saving influences of the gospel of Christ.
[Narrative of 1864, p. 293.]
MINUTE OF 1865
ON OUR
RELATION TO THE OLD SCHOOL CHURCH.
Overture No. 4.—An inquiry from an Elder of one of
our Churches as to what is the duty and Christian course
of a Church Session, when a minister or agent of the Old
School General Assembly (North) presents himself
amongst us, with a request to labour in our churches, or
occupy one of our vacant houses of worship.
The committee recommend that this overture be an¬
swered by the adoption of the following resolutions,
viz:
Resolved, 1st. That the Presbyterian Church of the
North, (Old School) is to to be looked upon simply
as a separate and distinct ecclesiastical body ; and that
the ministers and agents of that Church have no further
or higher claims on our courtesy than those of any other
Churches of the same section of the country which hold
to the same symbols of faith and order with ourselves.
Resolved, 2nd. That this Assembly has no reason for
ABOUT THE O. S. CHURCH.
61
recommending any other usages or rules in respect to
our fellowship with other ecclesiastical bodies, than
those that have long been familiar in all our Sessions
and Presbyteries; and will not attempt to define afresh
in what cases and in what degree errors in belief and
practice shall exclude from our pulpits, or suspend ec¬
clesiastical communion.
Resolved, 3d. That our ministers and churches be, and
hereby are warned against all ministers, or other agents
who may come among us to sow the seeds of division
and stife in our congregations or to create scbism in our
beloved Zion. And owing to the peculiar reasons for
prudence which now exist we enjoin it upon our minis¬
ters and Sessions to exercise special caution as to whom
they admit to their pulpits; and in cases of doubt, to
refer to the judgment of the Presbyteries the whole
question of the nature and extent of the courtesy or coun¬
tenance they may extend.
JResolved, 4th. That the Assembly would remind Ses¬
sions that in no case is it proper for them to invite min¬
isters of other denominations statedly to occupy any of
our pulpits without the consent of the Presbyteries, and
the known purpose of such ministers, at the earliest
suitable opportunity, to unite with us in ecclesiastical
relations. [P. 359.]
6
A PASTORAL LETTER
FROM THE
GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO THE CHURCHES UNDER
THEIR CARE.
Beloved Brethren in the Lord:—Such were the con¬
vulsions of the country and interruptions of travel last
spring, that a meeting of the General Assembly of our
Church at the time appointed was impracticable. It has
been now convened under circumstances of peculiar in¬
terest, involving the gravest responsibility. From this
fact arises the special duty of addressing a Pastoral
Letter to the Churches under our care, by which they may
be the more comfortably re-assured concerning various
points of great importance connected with our position,
and be counselled in faithful love concerning the so emn
obligations resting upon them. 1
That these weighty matters may be the more distinctly
set in order before you, let the following points, con¬
cisely presented, be brought under your prayerful
consideration :
I. Our Relation to the Civil Governments of the
Country.—The storm of war has, during the four years
past, swept over nearly every part of our bounds; a
war so vast in its proportions, so bitter in its animosities,
so desolating in its effects, as to make it an astonish¬
ment to the nations. Its sacrifices in treasure and in
blood, its public losses and private griefs, swell beyond
all calculation. As to its particular causes, or upon
which party rests the blame, chiefly or wholly—these
are questions which the Church of Christ has no com¬
mission to decide. Beyond a doubt, however, its great
root is to be found in those lusts which war in the mem-
(62)
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
63
bers. Of these it becomes us to own our full share,
and because of them to humble ourselves under the
mighty hand of God.
During the prevalence of this war, "the higher
powers " actually bearing rule over most of our bounds,
and to which under the word of God we were required
to be " subject," were the government of the Confede¬
rate States, and those of the several States constituting
it. By the event of the war, the first has been over¬
thrown, and the second, as constituents thereof, are
changed. The "higher powers," now bearing rule over
us, are confessedly the government of the United States,
and those existing in the States wherein we reside.
The rightfulness of these several authorities, or to which
of them the allegiance of our people, as citizens, was,
or is primarily due, are matters upon which a judicatory
of the Church has no right to pronounce judgment.
The relation of the Church of Christ to civil govern¬
ments is not one de jure, but de facto. As right and
good, or wrong and wicked, they rise and fall by the
agency or permission of God's Providence. In either
case, the attitude of the Church towards them is essen¬
tially the same. As long as they stand and are ac¬
knowledged, obedience is to be enjoined as a duty, fac¬
tious resistance condemned as a sin. But in regard to
conflicts between existing governments, or as to move¬
ments in society, peaceful or otherwise, to effect polit¬
ical changes, the Church as such has no more control
over them, than it has over the polls of the country.
If it has authority to uphold on the one side, it has
equal power to condemn on the other; if to suppress a
political movement, then also to instigate it. In truth
it has neither; and to assert the contrary is to corrupt
the Church in its principles, forever embroil it with the
strifes of the world and plunge it headlong into ruin.
Under these views, and considering the extraordinary
conflict through which the country has passed, as well
as the extraordinary circumstances in which it is now
placed, it is incumbent upon us to exhort you,
brethren, "to obey them that have the rule over you,
64
PASTORAL LETTER OP 1865.
and submit yourselves." Fulfil with scrupulous fidelity
all your obligations to the governments of the land;
remembering the duty of this compliance, " not only
for wrath, but also for conscience sake;" " For so is
the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men."
II. Our Relation to the Church.—It is not necessary we
should here minutely define the nature of the Church.
It is enough to say that it is a kingdom, which, though
in this world, is yet not of it; that it is a body of
which Christ is the sole Head ; purchased by His blood,
to the exclusion of all other merit, and renewed by His
Spirit to the exclusion of all other power; and that it
is united to Him by the bond of faith. From this liv¬
ing Head the members receive all their vitality, control
and protection. It is therefore a spiritual body. Its sole
commission is to preach the Gospel to every creature,
and it is called to that holy living which tha Gospel
enforces.
It follows from this, according to the admirable state¬
ment of our Confession of Faith, chap. 31, sec. 4, that—
" Synods and Councils are to handle or conclude noth¬
ing but that which is ecclesiastical; and are not to in¬
termeddle with civil affairs which concern the Common¬
wealth, unless by way of humble petition in cases ex¬
traordinary, or by way of advice, for satisfaction of
conscience, if they be thereunto required by the civil
magistrate."
It is equally clear from this and from what has been be¬
fore observed, that the civil magistrate or military ruler
has not the shadow of a right to restrain the freedom
of the Church, by excluding its own chosen pastors and
imposing others, or closing its houses of worship, or
visiting pains and penalties upon its ministers and mem¬
bers for using the privilege of worship.
How often both of these great principles have been
trampled into the dust within a few years past,
melancholy facts most fully attest. Of all such
Utter confusion of the things of Caesar with the things
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
65
of God, it becomes our people to beware, and against
it faithfully to bear witness. The events passing be¬
fore us bring up with fresh power the importance of
keeping in mind this very point, this vital truth, that
the Church of Christ is indeed a spiritual kingdom, and
is therefore like Mount Zion that abideth forever. The
Church is safe through the deluge, but only in her own
ark, not in the ark of the State. It is owing to this
fact and to this only, that she can ride out the storms that
leave the shores of this world strewn with the wreck of
everything which the hand of man has constructed.
But it is our desire, brethren, to counsel you at pres¬
ent concerning the special relation you sustain to this
part of the Church with which you are more immedi¬
ately connected. Four years ago we were constrained
to organize a separate General Assembly. This was
done because of an attempt by a part of the Church to
impose a yoke upon our consciences " which neither we
nor our fathers were able to bear." Our testimony
upon this and other points of great interest is before
the Christian Churches of the world, in the address
made to them by the General Assembly of 1861 ; and
if any schism exists, we are willing the impartial judg¬
ment of men should be passed upon the question as to
where the sin of it lies. This organization was formed
out of elements among the oldest in the history of the
Presbyterian Church in this country. It carries with
it nearly one-third of the whole original Church. It
includes a territory of twelve States. It embraces ten
Synods, forty-six Presbyteries, nearly one thousand
ministers, about fourteen hundred churches, and about
seventy thousand church members, and was affected,
and has been continued with a unanimity which has
hardly a parallel in the history of such movements. It
was not made to subserve any political or secular inter¬
est whatsoever. The reasons for its continuance not
only remain as conclusive as at first, but have been
exceedingly strengthened by events of public notoriety
occurring each succeeding year.
It may be proper at this point to declare concerning
6*
66
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
other churches in the most explicit manner, that, in the
true idea of "the communion of saints," we would
willingly hold fellowship with all who love our Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity ; and especially do we signify
to all bodies, ministers and people of the Presbyterian
Church, struggling to maintain the true principles of
the same time honoured Confession, our desire to estab¬
lish the most intimate relations with them which may
be found mutually edifying and for the glory of God.
But, while earnestly exhorting you to walk in love
towards all your fellow-Christians, peculiar circumstan¬
ces, well known, make it our plain duty to put you on
your guard against attempts to disturb and divide your
congregations. We are a branch of the Church as com¬
plete in our organization, as thoroughly distinct and
harmonius, and as secure in our prospects as any other
in the land. Appreciating this fact, we are sure com¬
mon self-respect, to say nothing of a jealous care for
the honour of your Church, will repel all unworthy
attempts of men who may lie in wait to deceive, and to
cause you to fall from your own steadfastness.
Ill Our relations to the negro 'population.—The extra¬
ordinary circumstances in which, by recent events, this
people are now placed, and our relations to them is a
subject too immense to be passed over in silence. The
former relation between our citizens and most of this
population, was that of master and servant. The address
of our General Assembly before referred to, contains
the only full, unambiguous, deliberate, and authorita¬
tive exposition of our views in regard to this matter.
We here reaffirm its whole doctrine to be that of Scrip¬
ture and reason. It is the old doctrine of the Church,
and the only one which keeps its foundations secure.
That address contains, among other statements, the
following :
"We would have it distinctly understood that in our
ecclesiastical capacity, we are neither the friends nor the
foes of slavery; that is to say, we have no commission
either to propagate or abolish it. The policy of its ex
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
67
istence, or non-existence, is a question which exclusively
belongs to the State. We have no right, as a Church,
to enjoin it as a duty or condemn it as a sin. Our busi¬
ness is with the duties which spring from the relation :
the duties of the masters on the one hand, and of their
slaves on the other. These duties we are to proclaim
and enforce with spiritual sanctions. The social, civil,
political problems connected with this great subject
transcend our sphere, as God has not entrusted to His
Church the organization of Society, the construction of
government, nor the allotment of individuals to their
various stations. The Church has as much right to
preach to the monarchies of Europe, and the despot¬
isms of Asia, the doctrines of Republican equality, as
to preach to the governments of the South the extirpa¬
tion of slavery."
This relation is now overthrown, suddenly and vio¬
lently; whether justly or unjustly, in wrath or in mercy,
for weal or for woe, let history and the Judge of all the
earth decide. But there are two considerations of vital
interest which still remain.
One is that while the existence of slavery may, in its
civil aspects, be regarded as a settled question, an issue
now gone, yet the lawfulness of the relation as a ques¬
tion of social morality, and of Scriptural truth, has lost
nothing of it importance. When we solemnly declare
to you, brethren, that the dogma which asserts the inhe¬
rent sinfulness of this relation is unscriptural and fanat¬
ical ; that it is condemned not only by the word of God,
but by the voice of the Church in all ages ; that it is
one of the most pernicious heresies of modern times;
that its countenance by any Church, is a just cause of
separation from it, (1 Tim. 6 : 1-5) we have surely said
enough to warn you away from this insidious error, as
from a fatal shore.
Whatever, therefore, we may have to lament before
God, either for neglect of duty or for actual wrong
towards our servants, while the relation lasted, we are
not called, now that it has been abolished, to bow the
head in humiliation before men, or admit that the mem-
68
PASTORAL LFTTER OF 1865.
ory of many of our dear kindred is to be covered with
shame because, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they
had bond-servants born in their house, or bought with
their money; and who now, redeemed by the same
precious blood, sit down together in the kingdom of
God.
The other consideration connected with this subject is
the present condition of this people. We may righteously
protest, that with their wretchedness already incalcula¬
bly great, that with their prospects, to human view, dis¬
mal as the grave, our Church is not chargeable; that it
may hold up its hands before heaven and earth, washed of
the tremendous responsibility involved in this change in
the condition of nearly four million bond-servants, and
for which it has hitherto been generally conceded they
were unprepared.
But in this dispensation of Providence which has be¬
fallen the negroes of the Southern States, and mainly
without their agency, your obligations to promote their
welfare, though diminished., have not ceased. Debtors
before to them when bound, you are still debtors to
them when free. You are bound to them not only by
the ties of a common nature, a common sin, but a com¬
mon redemption also. They have grown up around
and in your households, have toiled for your benefit,
ministered to your comforts and wants, and have often
tenderly, faithfully nursed you in sickness. They are
still around your doors, in the bosom of your communi¬
ty. Many of them are your fellow-heirs of salvation.
Together with you, they all need it; greatly need it for
time—for eternity. We are persuaded you will not
turn away from them in this day of their imagined mil-
lenium—we fear of terrible calamity. Do all you can
for their best welfare and do it quickly, for they already
begin to pass rapidly away. " By pureness, by know¬
ledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, by the word of God, by the armor of
righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour
and by dishonour by evil report and good report," let it
be shown to all men that nothing shall withdraw the sym-
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865
69
pathy of your heart or the labour of your hand from a work
which must of necessity and ever rest chiefly upon those
who dwell in the land, not upon the strangers who visit it.
If their condition is made better, if souls are plucked as
brands from the burning,you will have the comfort of know¬
ing that you were, under God, instrumental in such hap¬
py results. Should our worst fears be realized, and
their doom be sealed, you will have a pure conscience at
the bar of the final Judge.
We have thought it important to re-state the general
principles here presented, not because your faithful de¬
votion to them is doubted, but because as those who
watch for souls, we " would not be negligent, putting
you always in remembrance of these things, though ye
know them, and be established in the present truth,"
and because to the reproach of religion in many places
they have sunk out of view, and the Church of God has
been thereby brought into perilous times.
Bear with us now while we would, in faithful love,
counsel you concerning the solemn responsibilities rest¬
ing upon you.
Think of the magnitude of the work thrown upon our
hands.
We find ourselves with our two theological seminaries
much shattered in their resources. Most of our colleges
are financially disabled, many almost ruined. Many of
our houses of worship are despoiled or laid in ashes,
our people impoverished, our ministers scantily sup¬
ported. We are indeed deeply afflicted. But shall we
therefore draw back, sink down into despair, leave our
beloved Church to sit in sackcloth, and gross darkness
to cover the people? Every heart cries out 'this must
never be.' On the contrary, our Church must invigorate
and extend all its present schemes of action, as well as
embrace new ones as they offer themselves. If so, then
it must address itself to this work with an energy it
has never yet known. But how shall it be strengthened
for it ? Allow us in a few words, to remind you of old,
well-tried principles; for our rules and plans need keep¬
ing, rather than mending, and- there is ample room pre-
70
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
pared within the scope of our cherished schemes, for
bringing out of the grave an untold treasure of buried
talent, and making it useful in the Master's cause. To
effect this,
We must have a supreme consecration to God. "Ye
are not your own, ye are bought with a price," must be
engraven more deeply upon our hearts. The great
practical drawback in the Church is not that the conse¬
cration of its members is insincere, but that it is not
habitually supreme. It does not subordinate everything
else to the cause of Christ. Is it any wonder then, that
the aim of life is so earthly, and the work of life so feebly
grasped ? If ever our Zion shall arise and shine it will
be under the light of a people intensely, constantly de¬
voted to doing the will of God. " Wherefore we be¬
seech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye pre¬
sent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
Remember that there is Work for All.—One infallible
sign of a redeemed heart is a desire to know and obey
God. Its very birth-cry is : "Lord, what wilt Thou
have me to do 1" When you became members of the
Church, from the very nature of the transaction, some
of its interest was transferred to your keeping; you
assumed a part of its responsibility. In your profession
you identified yourself with the Lord Jesus, with His
cause and kingdom.
Is this, however, a deep, or a very general impres¬
sion ? Is it not manifest that multitudes come into the
Church with the feeblest conviction of duty in view?
They seem hardly to know or to care whether the Mas¬
ter has done such a thing as to give to "every man his
own work." We entreat you to remember that He has
omitted none of His servants in the great command,
"occupy till I come." And it is only when in Him the
whole body is fitly framed together, and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth, according to the ef-
PASEORAL LETTER OF 1865.
71
fectual working in the measure of every part, that it
maketh increase to the edifying of itself in love.
If, then, contemplating the magnitude of our work,
we shall consecrate ourselves supremely to Him who
gave Himself for us, and then remember that there is a
work for all to do, what will be the result ?
The treasury of the Lord will be full. There will
be such an outpouring by our people as has never been
known in our history. " All experience shows that the
Church has never been replenished in her operations by
the ample bounty of a few men, so much as by the col¬
lected mites of her innumerable poor disciples." In this,
as in other respects, the history of the Free Church of
Scotland is full of instruction for us. Are we poor ?
So were they. But nobly did they bear out with them,
not only their grand testimony to the supreme Head¬
ship of Christ as King in Zion, but the burden also of
sustaining every scheme of benevolence necessary to
the complete equipment of their organization. Are we
afflicted as well as poor? So were the Churches in
Macedonia; yet, " in a great trial of affliction, the
abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded
unto the riches of their liberality." Let but this spirit
thoroughly pervade our people, and what shall we
soon witness? You will educate your ministry, and
then amply support them. And to do this, you will
give a generous support to your colleges and theo¬
logical seminaries. You will supply your people
with the printed truth in every proper form of it;
and therefore you will give them the Bible, the
tract, and the religious volume. You will plant
Churches where they are needed; you will push Church
enterprise into every accessible part of the land.
The Holy Spirit will be poured out from on high. Our
desolations will be repaird, until " streams shall break
out in the desert, and the wilderness shall blossom as
the rose."
And now, brethren, "whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
72
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
■whatsoever things are of good report; if there he any
virtue, and if there he any praise, think on these things."
" Consider what we say, and the Lord give you under¬
standing in all things." Strive to " stand complete in
all the will of God." Strive to he " living epistles
known and read of all men." Serve the Lord in cheer¬
fulness. Refrain from murmuring; pray for a meek
and submissive spirit. Desire more that your trials
should he sanctified than removed. So forgive your
enemies that you may he ahle to " lift up holy hands
without wrath or doubting." Be humble, watchful,
prayerful and useful. Do all in your power to minister
to the comfort of those who minister to you in holy
things. Try to do good in a Saviour's Church and a
world of sin. Let piety he shown at home; let the
holy Sabbath he indeed a day for God; and let your
children he trained up in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Live daily near to the Cross of the Sa¬
viour, and then will all these fruits of righteousness
abound through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of
His grace.
You have been called to pass through deep waters;
you have had sorrow upon sorrow. It was the path
your Saviour trod, and He will grant you in it the
comfort of His love, and the fellowship of His Spirit.
Some of our dear brethren in Christ, and some of them
in the ministry, have had cruel mockings and scourgings,
have suffered stripes and imprisonments, and the loss of
all things. Our prayer has been with you in your ca¬
lamity. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will
sustain you. Remember that the Church of God has
often passed through the heated furnace, but the form
of the Son of God has been seen with her, and she is
still unconsumed. "The bush," said Rutherford, that
great light of the Church of Scotland, " the bush has
been burning these four thousand years, but no man
hath seen the ashes of that fire to this day." Be faith¬
ful unto death. Very soon will all these troubles end,
and your home be reached, into which no enemy shall
ever enter, and from which no friend shall ever depart.
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1865.
73
We desire to tell you, dear brethren, and with thank¬
ful, joyful hearts, how good we have felt it to be here.
We have taken sweet counsel together, and gone to the
house of God in company. We are in peace and love
one with another. No strife distracts our beloved Zion.
We depart to our homes thanking God and taking cour¬
age, resolved to stand in our lot and labour with a more
unreserved devotion for the upbuilding of that only
Kingdom which cannot be moved.
Receive these words of instruction and exhortation,
which, in the fulness of our hearts, we send to you,
greeting.
" And now, brethren, we commend you to God, and
to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up,
and to give you an inheritance among all them that are
sanctified."
" The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His
eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suf¬
fered "awhile, make you perfect, establish, strengthen,
settle you."
" The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with
you all. Amen.
GEORGE HOWE,
Moderator.
Macon, Ga., December 19th, 1865.
[Extracts from the Minutes of 1865.]
On motion of Dr. Brown the following resolutions were adopted:
Resolved, 1. That it is proper that a Pastoral Letter shall be addressed by
this General Assembly to the several churches under their care, that they
may be the more fully re-assured concerning various points of great impor¬
tance connected with our position, and be counselled in faithful love con¬
cerning the solemn obligations resting upon them.
2. That, for this purpose, a committee, consisting of one member from
each Synod, shall be appointed, whose duty it shall be to prepare the Let¬
ter, and make report as soon as practicable. (Page 349.)
The Moderator also announced the following committee to prepare a Pas¬
toral Letter to the Churches, in accordance with the resolutions of yester¬
day: Rev. Wm. Brown, D. D., C. A. Stillman, D. D..J. H. Gillespie, F. A.
Ross, D. D., J. L. Kirkpatrick, D. D., J. L. Wilson, D. D., W. L. Mitchell,
and Henry T. Bartlett. (Page 352.)
The Pastoral Letter * * * * * was then read and unanimously
adopted. (Page 371.)
7
ACTION OF 1866,
ON THE
SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH AND ITS
RELATION TO THE STATE.
The Rev. Dr. George Howe, from the Committee of
Bills and Overtures, reported.
Overture 8. An overture sent by Tuskegee chureh to
the Presbytery of East Alabama, and referred by said
Presbytery to this General Assembly.
This overture has reference to the relation between
the Church and the State, and especially in respect to
the observance of those days designated by the civil
magistrate as days of fasting, prayer or thanksgiving.
On these points, the Assembly would declare anew
the doctrine of our time-honoured Confession, that Christ
alone is King and Head of His Church, and that all or¬
dinances of worship binding on us are ordained by Him
alone ; that there are two commonwealths, equally ap¬
pointed by God, the civil, whose object is to protect the
persons and property, and promote the well-being of
men as they are members of civil society; and the relig¬
ious, the commonwealth of Israel, whose object it is to
train men, as they are sinners, for glory and immortal¬
ity. Although these exist together in this world, each
is independent of the other in its own sphere. The
Church of Christ, as it is visible in any country, is
divided among many denominations, who act in their
appointments for religious observance without reference
to each other, each being responsible to Christ their
Head. In the civil commonwealth, there is one and the
same civil authority, ruling in its own sphere over all.
On occasions of national calamities and sorrows, or of
prosperity and joy, it is the dictate of that religious
nature with which God has endowed us, and accordant
(74)
SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH. 75
with the teachings of His holy word, that we should
humble ourselves, as a people, with prayer and fasting,
or offer to Him, thanksgiving and praise. The people
that truly abases itself before God, or offers to Him
thanksgiving, performs an act well pleasing in His sight.
And when the civil power which alone cah reach us all,
invites to these acts, and so furnishes the occasion for
their performance, it is right for those who bear rule in the
visible Church to consider whether Christ th eir Head, who,
as Mediatorial King, rules over the nations of the earth
as well as over His Church, does not Himself invite
them to these acts of worship. He is their Lord. And
to their own Master they stand or fall. The act of the
civil power does but secure that concert of prayer,
praise and worship, that would be wanting without it.
And we cannot condemn the civil magistrate who thus
furnishes the opportunity of united religious acts,
so consonant to the dictates of the hearts of a Christian
people and to the religion they profess.
We do not enjoin the observance of such days in all
cases, nor would we dissuade from such observance, but
remit the determination of the question in each case to
our Church sessions. [Minutes, pp. 13, 14.]
The Rev. Dr. Palmer from the Committee on For¬
eign Correspondence, presented a report, which was
adopted, and is as follows :
The Committee on Foreign Correspondence would
respectfully submit to the Assembly the following min¬
ute for its adoption: ******
This argument, of visibly realizing the spiritual
unity of the Lord's people, is enforced by the peculiar
circumstances of the times in which we live, and by
the nature of the controversies which now agitate
the Church. The old conflict for the spirituality and
independence of the Church is, to the amazement of
many, renewed in our day and upon our own continent.
The battle fought generations ago by the Melvilles,
Gillespies, and Hendersons of Scotland, is rebpened
with singular violence; and the old banner is again
76
ACTION OF 1866 ON THE
floating over us with its historic inscription, "For
Christ's covenant and crown." Upon no one subject
is the mind of this Assembly more clearly ascertained,
upon no one doctrine is there a more solid or perfect
agreement amongst those whom this Assembly repre¬
sents, than the non-secular and non-political character
of the Church of Jesus Christ. Whatever ambiguous
or indiscreet expressions may have been extorted,
under the pressure of extraordinary excitement, from
individuals amongst us, the Assembly of this Church
deliberately reaffirms the testimony given in the solemn
Address to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout
the earth, issued in 1861, during its first sessions in the
city of Augusta, and which was pronounced in these
words: " The provinces of Church and State are per¬
fectly distinct, and the one has no right to usurp the
jurisdiction of the other. The state is a natural insti¬
tute, founded in the constitution of man as moral and
social, and designed to realise the idea of justice. The
Church is a supernatural institute, founded in the
facts of redemption, and is designed to realise the idea
of grace. It is the society of the redeemed. The
State aims at social order, the Church at spiritual holi¬
ness. The State looks to the visible and outward, the
Church is concerned for the invisible and inward.
The badge of the State's authority is the sword,
by which it becomes a terror to evil doers and a
praise to them that do well. The badge, of the
Church's authority is the keys by which it opens and
shuts the kingdom of Heaven, according as men are
believing or impenitent. The power of the Church is
exclusively spiritual, that of the State includes the
exercise of force. The constitution of the Church is a
divine revelation, the constitution of the State must be
determined by human reason and the course of provi¬
dential events. The Church has no right to construct
a government for the State, and the State has no right
to frame a creed or polity for the Church. They are
as planets moving in different orbits, and unless each is
confined to its own track, the consequences may be as
SPIRITUALITY OF THE CHURCH.
77
disastrous in the moral world as the collision of dif¬
ferent spheres in the world of matter." The early as¬
sertion of this radical distinction, at the very opening
of our history, commits us to the maintenance and
defence of the crown rights of the Redeemer, whether
on the one hand they be usurped by the State, or
whether, on the other, they he renounced by any por¬
tion of God's professing people. Summoned thus in
the providence of God to contend for the same princi¬
ples for which our martyr fathers of the Scottish Re¬
formation testified even to the death, and which the
fathers of the Southern Presbyterian Church labored
so earnestly to secure and rejoiced in having obtained
their full recognition by the civil government in
America, it would be most happy if all those in the dif¬
ferent branches of the Presbyterian family who are
called to renew the protest, could be united in one
homogeneous body for the reassertion of Christ's royal
supremacy in and over His spiritual kingdom, the
Church. The scattered testimony of separate and in¬
dividual witnesses would deepen in intensity if gathered
into one volume and rolled against those who would
place the crown of Jesus upon the head of Caesai\ In
view of all which, this Assembly would tender the
hand to all who are of like mind with us as to the doc¬
trines of grace and as to the order and discipline of
God's house: that as one compacted Church, we may
oppose a breakwater against the current which is
sweeping from its moorings our common Protestantism,
until the doctrine of the Church as a free spiritual
commonwealth shall regain its ascendancy not only
over the Presbyterian but over the whole Ameiican
Protestant mind. [Minutes, pp. 30, 31.]
7*
ACTION OF 1867,
ON
THE LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
This letter was referred to a committee, of which Dr.
J. A. Lyon Was chairman, whose report was adopted, the
main portion of which is as follows, viz :
The desire of the Synod, as we apprehend it. is the
very natural and proper desire—to be assured that we
are in such substantial agreement with them in the prin¬
ciples and doctrines for which they have been contend¬
ing , that they will not be likely to have a recurrence of
the difficulties from which they have already suffered so
much. This agreement the Assembly can declare with¬
out any difficulty, since the whole existence of our
Church as a separate organization has been an assertion
of these principles, and a protest against those acts and
doctrines that tend to subvert them. In the first official
announcement at Augusta, of our ecclesiastical exis¬
tence, in the pastoral letter issued by the Assembly at
Macon, and in the action of the last Assembly at Mem¬
phis, these great principles have been declared in the
most solemn and emphatic manner, as among the fun¬
damental principles of our ecclesiastical organization.
And we have looked on the struggles of our brethren
in Kentucky with a deeper sympathy and a livelier
interest because we felt that they were contending sub¬
stantially for the grand principles which have ever
been the rallying cry of our Presbyterian ancestry in
the best days of the Church's history—the supremacy of
Christ's Crown and Covenant. And we are sure that
should our brethren see fit to enter into organic relations
with us, they will find that substantial agreement in all
these great doctrines and principles which is necessary
LETTEB OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
79
to a cordial and happy union. We therefore recommend
the adoption of the following resolutions, viz :
Resolved, 1. That this Assembly expresses its deep
sympathy with our brethren in Kentucky in the
troubles through which they have been passing during
the last seven years, and its admiration of the firm stand
which they have taken for the spiritual independence of
the Church of Christ.
2. That this General Assembly declines now, as here¬
tofore, to make any utterance concerning the acts of the
body against which the Synod protests. Yet the Assem¬
bly feels free solemnly to assure the Synod o/ Kentucky
not only of our cordial approval of, and sincere concur¬
rence substantially in the Synod's statement of doc¬
trine and constitutional principles, as contained under
the four heads of the third division of their letter, but
of our sincere joy to find our brethren of Kentncky so
ready to unite with us in solemn covenant, with a view,
among other things, to the advancement and maintenance
of these doctrines and principles as against the apparent
Erastian tendencies of our American Protestantism.
3. That the Letter of the Synod of Kentucky be ad¬
mitted to record as they suggest, as a part of the histori¬
cal acts and monuments of the Church, by publishing it
in the Appendix to the Minutes of this Assembly. [Min¬
utes p. 144.]
EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTER OF THE
SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
[The following extracts are given from the third part
of the Letter, which contains a "Statement of doctrines
and principles, for which the Synod of Kentucky and
its Presbyteries have contended in the controversies with
the General Assembly, as adopted by the Synod, Oct.
11, 1870." The parts omitted, where asterisks occur,
are quotations from the standards of our church and
of ancient churches, fortifying the positions taken, or
80
ACTION OF 1867 ON THE
criticisms of the proceedings of the Northern As¬
sembly.]
II. Still farther to the end that the testimony of
this Synod and its Presbyteries may be more clearly
understood, and to guard it from the perversions and
misrepresentations of their adversaries, it is hereby
declared, once for all, that * * the Synods
and Presbyteries of Kentucky have not meant " as they
be slanderously reported," to deny any of the follow¬
ing propositions:
Either, First—To deny that civil government is the
ordinance of God, and the magistrate God's minister,
in the natural order, as are the church officers in the
spiritual order, for the protection of the good and the
repressing of the lawless and wicked.
Or, Second—To deny that the Church may not
properly enjoin obedience in the discharge of their
duties, as citizens and subjects, to the civil government
within its sphere.
Or, Third—To deny that the State, as a natural in¬
stitute, should acknowledge " God the King and
Ruler," as He makes Himself known to the State in the
natural order, and to man as His creature, " showing
the work of the law written in his heart, his conscience
also bearing witness, and who may clearly see His
eternal power and Godhead by the things that are
made."
Or Fourth—That the State may enforce the law of
God, as made known in the natural order through the
impressions of man's moral nature, and the ethical
truths clearly deducible from the acknowledged exis¬
tence of God the Creator, and the relations to Him of
man the creature; whom the "light of nature sheweth
that there is a God who hath lordship and sovereignty
over all."
Or, Fifth—That the Church should have cognizance
of crimes against the law of the State, as they may be
sins against God, which affect, spiritually, the subjects
of her spiritual discipline : the Church having in view
to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
81
Or, Sixth—To deny that the Church may properly
appeal to the civil courts—whose business it is to pro¬
tect life, liberty and property—for the protection,
against the lawless and unjust, of property given in
trust to her, as they protect any other property; or
that the Church should protest against any intrusion
of the civil government into the sphere of the spiritual,
which has been assigned by her Head to her juris¬
diction.
Neither, again, in respect to the interpretation of the
Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, have this
Synod and its Presbyteries intended to deny any of the
following propositions:
Either, First—To deny that the power of the supreme
court, representing the power of the whole Church, is,
within the limits of Christ's laws, over the power of
the lower courts representing a part.
Or, Second—To deny that individual members and
lower courts should " receive with reverence and sub¬
mission" the decrees and determinations of superior
councils, " if consonant to the word of Godf " not only
for their agreement with the word, but also for the
power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance
of God, appointed thereunto in His word."
Or, Third—To deny that the power of the General
Assembly, as the power of all other courts and office¬
bearers, is primarily from Jesus Christ, the head of the
Church, and only in a secondary sense derived from
the constitution; and that only as it is a delegated body '
are the Presbyteries the fountain of power to the Gen¬
eral Assembly. *******
As against what they deem to be latitudinarian, or,
at least, inadequate views of the nature of church
power, which rests directly upon the doctrine that
Jesus Christ is now actually ruling in His visible Church,
and acting through His appointed office-bearers, they
have maintained:
82
ACTION OF 1867 ON THE
I. Concerning the doctrine of the kingship of ohrist, and the
manner in which christ exeouteth the office a king in
his visible church.
That our standards declare in accordance with the
word of God:
" Christ executeth the office of a king in calling out
of the world a people to Himself, and giving them
officers, laws and censures, by which He visibly governs
them." [Larger Catechism, Q. 45.]
And, that this is very clear and explicit statement of
the jure divino character of all that essentially pertains
to the government and discipline of the Church is the
true key to all the more detailed statements of our
standards concerning church government, viz :
That " the Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His
Church, hath therein appointed a government in the
hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magis¬
trate." And " to these officers the keys of the king¬
dom of heaven are committed." [Conf. ch. 30: 1, 2.]
In the light of these doctrinal statements, and as
necessary inferences from them—this Synod and its
Presbyteries have maintained:
That the doctrine of the kingly office of Christ is no
abstract theory of theology, but of the very first prac¬
tical importance in the gospel system; since to His
office as a king, His prophetic and priestly offices stand
related as means to an end. He is a teaching prophet
and an atoning priest that He may be a reigning king.
And His kingly office stands related to the government
and discipline of the Church as His prophetic and
priestly offices to the ordinances of the word and sac¬
raments. While, indeed, the acceptance of the doc¬
trine of His kingly office is not essential to the faith
that is unto salvation in the sense in which the accep¬
tance of the doctrine of His priestly office as exhibiting
our justifying righteousness is essential, yet the obliga¬
tion to present truly the doctrine of Christ's kingly
LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
88
office in the government and discipline of the Church
to the faith of His people, is of like force with the ob¬
ligation to present truly the doctrine of His prophetic
and px-iestly offices in the word and sacraments.
That, therefore, the avoidance of all admixture of
human maxims, policies, and expediencies in the ad¬
ministration of the government and discipline of the
Church, is a duty of the same obligation as to avoid
the admixture of human philosophies and theories with
the dispensation of the word, or of human fancies with
the dispensation of the sacraments.
That it is therefore not only incompetent to the
Church courts, but positively a perversion of the truth,
that they shall assume to consider and determine any
other questions than those which relate to the govern¬
ment, order and discipline of Christ's visible king¬
dom, or to determine these on grounds aside from the
word of God; or to speak in Christ's name and by
His authority, otherwise than to the faith and con¬
science of His people, concerning things to be obeyed
as enjoined by the law of Christ. Since, according to
our standards, even though " there are some circum¬
stances concerning the worship of God and govern¬
ment of the Church common to human actions and
societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature
and Christian prudenceyet even these must " be
ordered according to the general rules of the word,
which are always to be observed.'''' [Conf. chap. 1:6.]
That, therefore, the attempt on the part of the tri¬
bunals of the Church to exercise the authority thus
delegated to them by Chi'ist in determining questions
merely secular, concerning which His word makes no
such determination, is, " to usurp the prerogatives of
the Church's Divine Masterand, practically, to ob¬
scure to the faith of His people, the doctrine of His
kingly office; just as the attempt to determine by the
spiritual authority questions of Christian faith and
practice on the ground of human opinions and theories
of human expediency, is practically to obscure to the
faith of His people Christ's propetic office. For, pre-
84
ACTION OF 1867 ON THE
cisely in harmony with their view of His kingly office
in the Church, our standards declare : " Christ exe-
cuteth the office of a prophet in revealing to the Church
in all ages, by His Spirit and word, in divers ways of
administration, the whole will of God in all things con¬
cerning their edification and salvation." [Larger
Cat. Q. 43.]
In full accordance with these views of the doctrine
of Christ's kingly office in His Church, this Synod and
its Presbyteries have maintained:
II. Concerning the origin, nature and functions of ohuroh
government, as contrasted with, and related to, the
civil government. * * * *
That the subject of church government is man con¬
templated as a sinner; whereas the subject of civil
government is man contemplated as a creature.
That the constituent elements of the spiritual com¬
monwealth are the elect of God, the families that call
upon the name of the Lord, whom Christ covenants to
redeem; whereas the constituent elements of the civil
commonwealth are the families of men ^ citizens indis¬
criminately, which it aims to protect in their rights by
repressing the lawless and wicked.
That the efficient power of the Church is the power
of the keys, the ministry of the word and ordinances
aiming to gain a voluntary obedience by moral sua¬
sion ; whereas the efficient power of the State is the
power of the sword to enforce a compulsory obedience,
having special reference to the repression of the law¬
less.
That the laws and ordinances of the Curch deal with
the wrong actions of men as sins against God; whereas
the laws and ordinances of the State deal with the
wrong actions of men as misdemeanors and crimes
against men.
That the laws and ordinances of the Church are in
their nature disciplinary—a means of grace, and designed
to realise the idea of grace; whereas the laws of the State
LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY. 85
are in their nature vindicatory for the suppression of wick¬
edness by an appeal to fear, and are designed to realise the
idea of justice.
That, therefore, the Church has manifestly no com¬
mission either to discharge any functions of the State,
or to direct, advise, or assist the State; nor has the
Church any light in regard to the affairs of the State
which the State has not already: nor, since her
authority is spiritual, and resting on moral suasion
only, has it any adaptation to the purposes of a govern¬
ment of force. Neither can the State have any com¬
mission from God to discharge the functions of the
Church, nor the ability to do so ; since—aside from the
fact that its compulsory power is inapplicable to things
of religion—even though the State may have the ad¬
vantage of the inspired word of God current among
its citizens, to give additional clearness and force to
the teachings of nature and reason; yet the State has
not the special illumination of the Holy Spirit, which
alone can interpret the word for the purposes of the
Church. Nor is anything plainer from experience than
that the unconverted statesman, accepting the word of
God intellectually merely, however he may thereby be
made wiser as to natural things, is not made more com¬
petent -to legislate for the Church, than though he
were merely a refined and enlighted Pagan. Nor has
anything more certainly tended to enfeeble the spiri¬
tual life of the Church, than the mistake of courting
the favor and seeking the alliance of rulers and
statesmen, who merely accept intellectually, and
therefore treat respectfully, the word of Christ and His
ordinances, as though thereby the kingdom of Christ
can be strengthened.
Hence this Synod and its Presbyteries have stead¬
fastly protested against and resisted the assumption of
authority by the church courts, to advise, direct, and
assist the civil government in its policy by the exercise
of their spiritual authority, or to interpose the power
of the spiritual sword for enforcing any theories of
social organization, or theories of labor, or political
8
86
ACTION OF 1867 ON THE
theories, or to direct men as citizens in the choice of
their civil policy.
And, on the other hand, they have protested against
and resisted every invitation by the church courts to
the State to assume and every assumption by the State
to direct the ordinances of worship in God's house, or
to interfere with the conscientious convictions of men,
so long as those convictions did not develop themselves
in overt acts. For our great civil " Act establishing
Religious Freedom," nobly declares, as defining the
limits of the civil power: " It is time enough for the
rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to
interfere, when principles break out into overt acts
against peace and good order."
In full accordance also with the foregoing views of
the doctrine concerning the kingly office of Christ in
His Church, this Synod and its Presbyteries have
maintained :
III. CONCERNING THE POWERS OP THE SEVERAL COURTS OP THE
CHURCH; THEIR RELATIONS TO EACH OTHER AND TO THE OF¬
FICE-BEARERS AND PEOPLE. * * * * *
First—That any acts and deliverances of the As¬
sembly which involve a ursurpation of powers by that
body not assigned to the General Assembly in the con¬
stitution—which constitution we hold to be consonant
to the word of God, and, therefore, that to transcend the
constitution is to do also what is contrary to the word
of God—or any acts and deliverances of the Assembly
concerning questions of national or other civil policy—
these being questions in the natural order which "God
the Supreme Ruler" hath appointed to be determined
by the civil magistrate, and questions which the Lord
Christ, as King and Prophet of the Church, hath not
determined in His word, except as questions of sin and
of duty that concern the conscience—all such acts and
deliverances are not only in themselves errors as tran¬
scending the powers of the Assembly and the sphere
of the Church, but also as tending to obscure the great
LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
87
doctrine of the kingly and prophetic offices of Christ,
. as still executed in His visible Church.
That, therefore, while it is a duty to receive with rev¬
erence and submissson all such decrees as are conso¬
nant to the word, yet such dangerous errors are not
only to be silently disregarded as "mere commandments
of men, to obey which would be to betray liberty of
conscience," but are to be testified against; and all
claim of authority resting upon them is to be resisted,
and this for the following Considerations, to wit:
That " the Supreme Judge by which all controversies
of religion are to be decided, and in whose decision we
are to rest;" is not the supreme court, but " the Holy
Spirit speaking in the Scripture."
That it is the duty, more especially of every office¬
bearer and court of the church alike, to bear witnesss
to the truth as against error, since to this obligation
every office-bearer is held by his ordination vow to
study the purity as Avell as the peace of the Church. '
That it is expressly enjoined upon the Presbyteries, in
the constitution itself, thus to bear witness for the
truth ; being required to "resolve questions of doctrine
and discipline, and to condemn erroneous opinions."
Nor is there any limitation to the requirement, exclud¬
ing from consideration any erroneous opinions because
uttered by the General Assembly. On the contrary,
they must for that very reason condemn the errors,
since errors of the General Assembly more directly
affect the purity and peace of their churches than the
errors of any other.
That not only does the constitution enjoin it, but the
Lord Christ, as we b ave seen, gives His special promise
to be present with the lower court in its act not less
than to be present "always" with those representing
the whole Church. And there is every reason to hoj>e
that the Holy Spirit will use the faithful testimony of
the lower court as the means whereby to extend in the
Church a revival of love for the truth, and thereby re¬
store it from error.
That, therefore, nothing is more absurd and danger-
88
ACTION OF 1867 ON THE
ous to Christian liberty than the conception, by an
utterly false analogy, that the office-bearers and lower
courts are bound to obey as a law, until repealed, an
act that is unconstitutional, and, therefore, not conso¬
nant to the word of God, as citizens obey civil acts
until repealed. Such a conception could occur only by
reason of utter forgetfulness of all that our standards
teach concerning liberty of conscience, and the non-
obligatory character of decrees of councils that are not
according to the word.
That it is an argument of no real force which urges,
to the contrary of these views, that they open the door
to constant acts of disobedience, resistance, and schism
in the Church, and make church government impossi¬
ble. Since, on the one hand, Christ the King reigns
still in His visible Church, though His representatives
may be unfaithful, and by His Spirit enlightening the
minds of His people, He will, in His own way and time,
heal the declensions and dissensions of His Church.
And, on the other hand, still more is it true in ecclesi¬
astical than in political governments, that " all expe¬
rience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to
suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves
by abolishing forms of government to which they have
long been accustomed." ******
IV. Concerning the interpretation of our form of govern¬
ment and discipline with reference to the functions,
powers, and mutual relations of the courts of the
church.
First—As to the functions and sphere of the General
Assembly and other courts, they have maintained, and
desire to have it recognized as the accepted interpreta¬
tion, that the constitution of the Church assigns to the
General Assembly no function to the end that it may
counsel, direct, or assist the civil government.
That neither does the constitution assign to the As¬
sembly any authority to consider and determine * *
either:
LETTER OF THE SYNOD OF KENTUCKY.
89
Questions of the policy of the State touching its cit¬
izens, or of the duties of citizens, as such, in respect of
the policy of the State;
Or, Questions between different interpretations of
the Federal Constitution;
Or, Questions, not of duties towards the recognized
Caesar, but of deciding between rival Caesars;
Or, Questions as between different theories of alle¬
giance to the civil government;
Or, Questions concerning the social structure of dif¬
ferent political communities, and their systems of labour;
Or, Questions touching the military duties and policy
of the national Government, and the duties of citizens
to uphold the Government in its policy.
Nor can they regard the pretence set up as a reason
for considering and determining such questions, viz.,
"That certain civil acts rise up into the region of
morals," otherwise than as an utter denial, in the face
of our standards, that the State is competent to deter¬
mine concerning the moral acts of its citizens, and a
denial that the State has, in the natural order, any code
of morals given of God, the Supreme Ruler, through
reason and the light of nature, for the judgment of the
moral acts of its citizens. * * * * *
In like manner, this Synod and its Presbyteries have
maintained that all theories of power by prerogative or
otherwise descending by grant from the General As¬
sembly to the lower courts, as well as all theories of
the spiritual, like the civil power, being granted by the
people, are utterly inconsistent with the great truth,
that the source of all spiritual power is in the Lord
Christ, who visibly rules in the Church, and therefore
in the tribunals, in which, both inferior and supreme,
He hath vested the power by that promise, made alike
to the church session and the Assembly—His promise,
" I am with you."
This Synod and its Presbyteries have maintained,
however, that while the source of power in all the
courts alike is Jesus, the King, who rules in them and
through them; yet, the constitution of the Presbyterian
8*
90
ACTION OF 1867, &c.
Church, in accordance with the word of God, assigns
to the courts respectively their several powers and du¬
ties, and prescribes the mode in which these powers are
to be exercised. In this respect it is a solemn covenant
before God between the people, the office-bearers, and
the courts. The claim, by any court, to exercise pow¬
ers not assigned to it, is a breach of the covenant.
In its human aspect, this constitution is a charter
covenant, under which franchises are enjoyed and pro¬
perty vested for the maintenance of a certain system of
doctrine and order. The claim to exercise powers not
assigned involves also a breach of contract and dishon¬
est dealing in temporal things with those who have joint
interest under the charter. *****
Such are substantially the general doctrines concern¬
ing the Church, and the principles of the constitution
for which this Synod and its Presbyteries have testified
during the recent struggle with the General Assrmbly.
They are manifestly doctrines and principles fundamen¬
tal in the system of Presbyterianism. And the fact
that they should have been so little regarded under the
first exposure of our system to the storms of national
revolution would seem to be a providential indication,
pointing to the necessity of a re-statement of them—
perhaps in a manner fuller, clearer, and more forcible
than here presented—to stand as a guide in the future
among the historical intepretations of bur constitution.
This Synod feels unwilling to enter into organic union
with any large and powerful organization again without
some such guarantee to its Churches and people against
troubles in future, similar to those just passed through,
from want of a clear understanding that the Church shall
have no political alliance; that the constitution is su¬
preme—not the accidental majority of an Assembly;
and that this constitution not only assigns their powers
to the courts, but prescribes the mode of their exeroise,
and thus fully protects the great Protestant doctrine of
private judgment and liberty of conscience.
J. T. HENDRICK,
Moderator.
PROCEEDINGS OF 1870,
ON
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE NORTHERN ASSEMBLY.
In the General Assembly at Louisville, May 21, 1870,
the Stated Clerk presented the following resolutions
from the General Assembly, Old School, of 1869 ; which
paper was referred to the Committee on Foreign Corres¬
pondence, viz :
Whebeas, The last General Assembly acknowledged the sep¬
arate and independent existence of the Presbyterian Church in
the Southern States, and enjoined upon all subordinate courts
so to treat it; thus according to its ministers and members the
privilege of admission to our body upon the same terms which
are extended to ministers and members of other branches of
the Presbyterian Church in this country; therefore,
Resolved, That this General Assembly hereby conveys its Chris-
stian salutations to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the Southern States, and gives expression to its senti.
ments of Christian fraternity and fellowship towards the ministers
and members of that body. And as we inherit and hold with
them the same ancient symbols of faith, the same forms of
government and of worship, thus presenting before the world
the same sacred principles to which our common ancestors
witnessed, and which we have maintained together in the past;
and especially since we occupy adjacent, and, in many places,
common territory, we deem it due to our one Lord, and to the
best interests of His kingdom on earth, to express the desire
that the day may not be distant when we may again be united
in one great organization that shall cover our whole land, and
embrace all branches of the Presbyterian Church.
Resolved, That the Stated Clerk be directed to forward a
copy of these resolutions to the Stated Clerk of the Presby¬
terian Church in the Southern States. [Minutes, p. 502.]
On Tuesday, May 24, the Rev. Drs. J. C. Backus and
H. J. Van Dyke and Hon. Win. E. Dodge appeared as
(91)
92 PROCEEDINGS ON CORRESPONDENCE
delegates from the retioited " General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America,"
and presented the following minute, unanimously adopted
by that body, then in session in Philadelphia, viz:
Whebeas, This General Assembly believes that the interest of
the kingdom of our Lord throughout our entire country would be
greatly promoted by healing all unnecessary divisions; and,
Whebeas, This General Assembly desires the speedy estab¬
lishment of cordial fraternal relations with the General Assem¬
bly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, commonly
known as the Southern Presbyterian Church, upon terms of
mutual confidence, respect, Christian honour and love; and,
Whebeas, We believe that the terms of re-union between
the two branches of the Presbyterian Church at the North, now
so happily consummated, present an auspicious opportunity for
the adjustment of such relations; therefore, be it
Resolved, That a committee of five Ministers and four
Elders be appointed by this Assembly to confer with a similar
committee, if it shall be appointed by the Assembly now in ses¬
sion in the city of Louisville, in respect to opening a friendly
correspondence between the Northern and Southern Presby¬
terian Churches, and that the result of such conference be re¬
ported to the General Assembly of 1871.
Resolved, That with a view to the furtherance of the object
contemplated in the appointment of said committee, this As¬
sembly hereby re-affirms the concurrent declaration of the two
Assemblies which met in the city of New York last year, viz:
"That no rule or precedent which does not stand approved by
both bodies shall be of any authority in the re-united body
except in so far as such rule or precedent may affect the rights of
property founded thereon."
Resloed, That two Ministers and one Elder of the committee
appointed by this Assembly be designated as delegates to con¬
vey to the Assembly, now in session at Louisville, Ky., a copy
of these resolutions, with our Christian salutations.
J. TRUMBULL BACKUS, Moderator.
Cybtjs Dickson, Permanent Clerk.
After the delegates had been heard, on motion of Dr.
Stuart Robinson,
Resolved, That this Assembly, duly appreciating the marked
courtesy and kindness of the General Assembly, now sitting in
Philadelphia, in commissioning brethren so peculiarly accep¬
table to us, to be the bearers of its resolutions to this
WITH THE NORTHERN ASSEMBLY. 93
body, will take into careful consideration the proposition
presented by them; and that, in order to proper deliberation
and care in so important a matter, these resolutions, to¬
gether with the message and exposition of the delegation, be
referred to the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, with in¬
structions to report at the earliest possible time, recommending
an answer to the proposition. [Minutes, pp. 516, 517.]
On Friday, May 27, the following report, presented
by Dr. B. M. Palmer, from the Committee on Foreign
Correspondence, was adopted, by 83 to 17 :
The Committee on Foreign Correspondence, to whom
were referred the overture for reunion from the Old
School General Assembly, North, of 1869, at its sessions
in the city of New York; and also the proposition from
the United Assembly of the Northern Presbyterian
Church, now sitting in Philadelphia, conveyed to us by
a special delegation, respectfully report:
That the former of these documents is virtually super¬
seded by the latter ; because the body by whom it was
adopted, has since been merged into the united Assem¬
bly, from which emanates a new and fresh proposal re¬
flecting the views of the larger constituency. To this
proposition, then, " that a committee of five Ministers
and four Elders be appointed by this Assembly to con¬
fer with a similar committee of their Assembly in res¬
pect to opening a friendly correspondence between the
Northern and Southern Presbyterian Church," your
committee recommend the following answer to be re¬
turned :
Whatever obstructions may exist in the way of cordial
intercourse between the two bodies above named, are
entirely of a public nature, and involve grave and fun¬
damental principles. The Southern Presbyterian
Church can confidently appeal to all the acts and decla¬
rations of all their Assemblies, that no attitude of ag¬
gression or hostility has been, or is now, assumed by it
towards the Northern Chureh. And this General As¬
sembly distinctly avows, (as it has always believed and
declared,) that no grievances experienced by us, how¬
ever real, would justify us in acts of aggression or a spirit
94 PROCEEDINGS ON CORRESPONDENCE
of malice or retaliation against any branch of Christ's
visible kingdom. We are prepared, therefore, in advance
of all discussion, to exercise towards the General As¬
sembly North, and the Churches represented therein,
such amity as fidelity to our principles could, under any
possible circumstances, permit. Under this view, the
appointment of a committee of conference might seem
wholly unnecessary; but, in order to exhibit before the
Christian world the spirit of conciliation and kindness to
the last degree, this Assembly agrees to appoint a com¬
mittee of Conference to meet a similar committee
already appointed by the Northern Assembly, with in¬
structions to the same, that the difficulties which lie in
the way of cordial correspondence between the two
bodies must be distinctly met and removed, and which
may be comprehensively stated in the following par¬
ticulars :
1. Both the wings of the now united Assembly, during
their separate existence before the fusion, did fatally
complicate themselves with the State, in political utter¬
ances deliberately pronounced year after year; and which,
in our judgment, were a sad betrayal of the cause and
kingdom of our common Lord and Head. We believe
it to be solemnly incumbent upon the Northen Presby¬
terian Church, not with reference to us, but before the
Christian world, and before our Divine Master and King,
to purge itself of this error, and by public proclamation
of the truth to place the crown once more upon the
head of Jesus Christ, as the alone King in Zion. In
default of which the Southern Presbyterian Church,
which has already suffered much in maintaining the in¬
dependence and spirituality of the Redeemer's kingdom
upon earth, feels constrained to bear public testimony
against this defection of our late associates from the
truth. Nor can we, by official correspondence even,
consent to blunt the edge of this, our testimony, con¬
cerning the very nature and mission of the Church as
a purely spiritual body among men.
2. The union now consummated between the Old and
New School Assemblies, North, was accomplished by
WITH THE NORTHERN ASSEMBLY. 95
methods which, in our judgment, involve a total sur¬
render of all the great testimonies of the Church for
the fundamental doctrines of grace, at a time when the
victory of truth over error hung long in the balance.
The united Assembly stands, of necessity, upon an
allowed latitute of interpretation of the standards, and
must come at length to embrace nearly all shades of
doctrinal belief. Of those falling testimonies we are
now the sole surviving heir, which we must lift from
the dust and bear to the generations after us. It would
be a serious compromise of this sacred trust to enter
into public and official fellowship with those repudiating
these testimonies : and to do this expressly upon the
ground, as stated in the preamble to the overture before
us, " that the terms of reunion between the two branches
of the Presbyterian Church at the North, now happily
consummated, present an auspicious opportunity for
the adjustment of such relations." To found a corres¬
pondence professedly upon this idea would be to endorse
that which we thoroughly disapprove.
3. Some of the members of our own body were, but
a short time since, violently and unconstitutionally ex¬
pelled from the communion of one branch of the now
united Northern Assembly, under ecclesiastical charges,
which, if true, render them utterly infamous before the
Church and the world. It is to the last degree unsatis¬
factory to construe this offensive legislation obsolete by
the mere fusion of that body with another, or through
the operation of a faint declaration which was not in¬
tended, originally, to cover this case. This is no mere
"rule " or "precedent," but a solemn sentence of out¬
lawry against what is now an important and constituent
part of our own body. Every principle of honour and
of good faith compels us to say that an unequivocal
repudiation of that interpretation of the law under which
these men were condemned must be a condition prece¬
dent to any official correspondence on our part.
4. It is well known that similar injurious accusations
were preferred against the whole Southern Presbyterian
Church, with which the ear of the whole world has been
96 PROCEEDINGS ON CORRESPONDENCE, &C.
filled. Extending, as these charges do, to heresy and
blasphemy, they cannot be quietly ignored by an indi¬
rection of any sort. If true, we are not worthy of the
" confidence, respect, Christian honour and love," which
are tended to us in this overture. If untrue, " Chris¬
tian honour and love," manliness and truth, require
them to be openly and squarely withdrawn. So long as
they remain upon record they are an impassible barrier
to official intercourse. [Minutes, 529-30.]
The Committee on Foreign Correspondence was instructed
to prepare a Pastoral Letter to our Churches, in explanation
of the above action.
On Monday, May 30, Dr. Palmer, on behalf of the Com¬
mittee, presented the draft of a Pastoral Letter, which after
a single verbal amendment was adopted, with but one dis¬
senting voice, viz.: the Rev. Dr. Ross, who dissents from
the doctrine of the paper on the subject of the relation of
the Church to the State.
The Pastoral Letter (Minutes, pp. 537-42) is as follows:
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States to all the
Churches under its care sendeth greeting:
Beloved Brethren,—It is alike the privilege and
duty of all the courts of the Church, and especially of
the General Assembly, as looking forth upon the whole
field from the point of highest elevation, occasionally
to address the Churches under its care upon topics
which vitally affect the interests of the entire body.
In the discharge of this episcopal function, this General
Assembly now addresses you upon a matter of funda¬
mental importance, which has supremely engaged its
own attention during its present sessions in the city of
Louisville.
You have been aware, for a twelvemonth past, of an
overture from the Old School Assembly ISTorth, adopt¬
ed at its sessions in 1869, tendering salutations to us,
and expressing the desire of our union with them at no
distant day. This overture was virtually superseded
by the fusion which subsequently took place between
the two great Presbyterian branches North, into one
organization. This united body, sitting contempora¬
neously with ourselves, in Philadelphia, has passed a
resolution appointing a committee of conference to act
with a similar committee which they invite us to ap¬
point, who shall jointly discuss the difficulties existing
between the two bodies, and prepare the way for a per¬
manent and fraternal correspondence. This proposi¬
tion was conveyed to us by a special delegation, con¬
sisting of Rev. Drs. J. C. Backus and H. J. Van Dyke
9 97
98
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
and the Hon. W. E. Dodge, gentlemen of the highest
character, and personally most acceptable to us, who
discharged their delicate mission in a spirit and man¬
ner which made the most pleasant impression of their
courtesy as well as ability.
In response to this proposition, this General Assem¬
bly has agreed, in the spirit of conciliation and Chris¬
tian kindness, to appoint the committee of conference
which was desired; and then, in the form of instructions
to the same, has laid down the principles which should
control the whole matter, and upon which alone any
correspondence on our part would be possible. It may
perhaps appear to you, and it will doubtless be so rep¬
resented by others, that a proposition so simple as that
of conference for the adjustment of difficulties might
have been left unembarrassed by any antecedent enun¬
ciation of what the Assembly regards as the obstruc¬
tions to fraternal and official correspondence. It is
precisely this which we desire you to understand, as
well as the reasons which impelled us to the course we
have pursued. The reflective and thoughtful amongst
you will at once recognize that, in diplomatic inter¬
course, the first step is always the most important. It
is this that determines all the future and dependent ne¬
gotiations; and, however unobtrusive the initiatory
measure may appear to be, it is often pregnant with
concealed results of vast magnitude. This is pre-emi¬
nently true in the case before us. It was incumbent
upon us to watch narrowly, lest, in the very opening
of negotiations, we might incautiously surrender the
principles we hold, which, slipping from our grasp, we
might never be able to recover.
The overture from the Northern Assembly was
based upon the fatal assumption that mutual grievances
existed, in reference to which it became necessary to
arbitrate. This assumption is precisely what we can¬
not truthfully concede. Our records may be searched
in vain for a single act of aggression, or a single un¬
friendly declaration against the Northern Church. We
have assumed no attitude of hostility toward it. In
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
99
not a single case has there "been an attempt to wrest
from them their church property. In not a single case
has there been hesitation in receiving their members
into our communion upon the face of their credentials,
amongst the hundreds who have come to make their
home with us since the war. In not one instance has
there been exhibited a spirit of retaliation in regard to
any of those very measures instituted against ourselves
by the Assembly of 1865, and by subsequent Assemblies.
Whatever obstructions may be in the way of eccle¬
siastical fellowship were not created by us, and we
could not allow ourselves to be placed in the false po¬
sition before the world of parties who had been guilty
of wrong to the Northern Church. Having placed
nothing in the way of Christian fraternity, there was
nothing- for us to remove. Whilst, therefore, in Chris¬
tian courtesy, we were willing to appoint a committee
of conference, it was necessary to guard against all
misconstruction and misrepresentation, by instructing
our commissioners to remember this fact, and restrict¬
ing them to the duty of simply reporting and expound¬
ing what we considered indispensable to an honest cor¬
respondence, which should not, by its insincerity and
hollowness, be an offense to our Divine Master.
Inasmuch as we had never been aggressors against
the peace, security and prosperity of the Northern
Church, and had not undertaken to approach them with
proposals of any sort, Christian candor required us, as
the party approached, to state exactly the difficulties
which did embarrass this question of correspondence.
Without going into much detail or multiplying the
specifications, these were summed up under four heads;
the significance and importance of which we would
have you to appreciate.
It must be remembered then, that in 1861 the organ¬
ization of the Southern Church was compelled by what
are known as the "Spring Resolutions," which com¬
mitted the Old School Assembly, with which we were
at that time connected, to a particular political theory,
and complicated the Church at once with the State.
100 PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
The necessary effect of this political legislation "by the
Assembly of 1861 was to force the entire Southern con¬
stituency out of that connection, who were compelled
in their disorganized condition at once to integrate in
the Southern Assembly, which was soon afterward
formed. The earliest deliverance of this, our own
body, was the assertion of the non-secular and non-
political character of the Church, as the Kingdom of
Jesus Christ, spiritual in its nature and mission, and
entirely separate from and independent of the State.
And in subsequent deliverances—as those of the As¬
sembly of 1865, at Macon, and the two utterances of
the Assembly of 1866, at Memphis, and the formal ac¬
ceptance of "The Statement of Doctrines and Principles
of the Synod of Kentucky" on this subject, by the As¬
sembly of 1867, at Nashville—the supreme court of the
Southern Church, has, with singular steadfastness, tes¬
tified for the same great truth. IJpon this very issue
we became an organized Church, as distinct from that
out of whose bosom we had been thrust by the asser¬
tion and operation of the contrary and Erastian doc¬
trine that the Church might rightfully intermingle her
jurisdiction with that of the commonwealth. Through
several consecutive years, both brancnes of the now
united Assemblies persisted in the utterance of polit¬
ical dogmas, which, whether true or false, they were
inhibited by the word of God, and by their own sta¬
tute law, from pronouncing in their ecclesiastical cham¬
bers. These unlawful utterances remain uncancelled
upon the records of both the courts now amalgamated
into one. No disavowal of them has been made, as of
words inconsiderately uttered in times of high excite¬
ment. No counter declaration has been filed, gather¬
ing up the sacred truth of God in a new proclamation
of the spirituality and independence of that Kingdom
which is not of this world. The attempt, we are aware,
has been made to relieve the pressure of these melan¬
choly facts by faintly retorting the accusation against
our own body. But we challenge the world to place
the two records side by side, in the severity of contrast.
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
101
No ingenuity of sophistry can transmute into political
dogmas the scant allusions to the historical reality of a
great straggle then pending; or the thankful recogni¬
tion, in the middle of a paragraph, of the unanimity
with which an invaded people rose to the defense of
their hearthstones and the graves of their dead; or the
pastoral counsels addressed to the members and youth
of our own churches, passing through the temptations
and perils of the camp and field; or the half hour spent
in prayer for a land bleeding under the iron heel of
war; or even the incidental declaration in a narrative,
to stand by an institution of the country, a traditional
inheritance from our fathers. Even though, from the
ambiguity of human language, these chance references
may not have been always discreetly expressed, the
most that a just criticism could pronounce is, that they
are inconsistent with the judicially pronounced princi¬
ple upon' which the Southern Assembly entered upon
its troubled career. And when exaggerated to their
largest proportions by all the prejudice of bitter parti-
zanship, they dwindle into motes and specks by the
side of those elaborate and colossal deliverances, re¬
peated each year through formal committees, and
exalted into solemn testimonies co-ordinate with the
doctrines of religion and of faith, which disfigure the
legislation of both the Northern Assemblies through
successive years.
It will thus be seen that, in the providence of God,
the Southern Church has been made the special witness
for the crown and kingdom of our Lord, when both
were practically disowned; and that upon this very
issue she was separated from her old associations.
Brought now, through their overture, for the first time,
face to face with this Northern Church, this mighty
principle emerges at once into view. We were cast
forth, nine years ago, for this testimony to one of the
grand ideas of the gospel. We must go back with it still
upon our lips, and ask those who desire official relations
with us, do we form these relations with a spiritual or
with a political church? We cannot do otherwise,
9*
102 PASTORAL LETTER OP 1870.
•without recanting our own words, and endorsing thq-
very error which drove us into ecclesiastical exile. We
declare, therefore, that we can hold no official corres¬
pondence with the Northern Church, unless the Saviour
is reinstated in the full acknowledgment of His king¬
ship in His own Church. Called to this testimony, for
which we have already suffered the spoiling of our
goods, we cannot lay it down at the very moment when
that testimony becomes the most significant.
Again: The overture before us professedly founds
upon the happy union just accomplished between the
Old and New Schools, North. This is singularly un¬
fortunate; for, in our judgment, the negotiations
through which this union was consummated, betrayed
those sacred testimonies of a former generation, for the
most precious and vital of the doctrines of grace. Our
difficulty is not the mere fusion of these two Assemblies
into one. A similar fusion took place, six years ago, be¬
tween ourselves and the United Synod of the South.
But the difference between the two cases is wide as the
poles. The Synod of the South united with us upon
the first interchange of doctrinal views, upon a square
acceptance of the standards, without any metaphysical
hair-splitting, to find a sense in which to receive them,
and without any expunging of whole chapters from the
history of the past, with the sacred testimonies with
which these are filled. It is not, therefore, the amalga-
tion of these bodies at the North, simply considered,
which embarrasses us; but it is the method by which
it was achieved—the acceptance of the standards in no
comprehensible sense, by which the united Assembly
becomes a sort of a broad church, giving shelter to ev¬
ery creed, lying between the extremes of Arminianism
and Pelagianism on the one hand, and of Antinomian-
ism and Fatalism upon the other. If correspondence
with such a body could be allowed at all, it can not be
based upon a preamble which constructively endorses a
recession from the safe la^nd-marks, which is, to all the
lovers of sound Christianity, the occasion of grief. We
have been constrained, therefore, to fence our commis-
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
103
iSioners with a caution not to commit us in any degree
to that diplomacy by which the union was accom¬
plished, and so to rob us of our birth-right in those
testimonies, which is all that we brought out with us
from that grand old historic Church of the past.
Again: We require, as an indespensable condition to
all correspondence, a renunciation of that theory of
Church government which practically obliterates the
lower courts, and destroys the appellate character of
the General Assembly, under which that unrighteous
decision was reached against the Synods of Kentucky
and Missouri. The former of these two bodies, being
now a constituent portion of this Assembly, has a just
claim upon us for the protection of their good name
from the defamation they have experienced as witnesses
to the principles which are common to us and them.
Not only does good faith require us to keep covenant
with those who have entered into union with us, but
they are we, and we are they, bound together as wit¬
nesses in a common testimony. Fidelity to this testi¬
mony demands that those who have been martyrs to
our common faith shall be reinstated in their good
name, before we can fraternally embrace those by whom
they are maligned. Upon the principle that the inter¬
pretation of the law is the law, it is a simple requisi¬
tion that this interpretation be disallowed, under which
true and faithful men were unconstitutionally con¬
demned.
The fourth and last condition of this correspondence
was the unequivocal retraction of the imputations
against ourselves, industriously circulated throughout
Christendom. This we would have clearly discriminated
from personal resentment, or an unforgiving spirit. It
is compelled by a proper sense of self-respect, and a
due regard to the honour of our own Church. It is the
homage which we are constrained to pay to truth and
history. We cannot accept, even by implication, the
charges with which the records of both wings of the
united Assembly ai*e filled. Extending, as they do, to
heresy and blasphemy, they are of the nature of judi-
104
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
cial accusations, which must either be sustained ^ or
withdrawn. The "respect and honour and Christian
love" with which we are approached in this overture,
are certainly inconsistent with the belief of these grave
imputations. If not believed to be true, they should
be cancelled, much more for the sake of those who have
pronounced them than of ourselves, who have so long
borne the reproach. However this may be, any form
of intercourse, while they remain upon record, would
be a tacit acquiesence in the same, and a submission to
the dishonour which has been cast upon the name of
our people and of our Church.
The differences betwixt us and the Northern Church
are too vast and solemn to allow this question to be
determined by any of the baser and meaner passions
of human nature. If we know our own hearts, this
course is not prompted by feelings of malice or revenge,
or that peevish resentment engendered by the irritation
of controversy. We trust that Christian magnanimity
would enable us to rise above all private wrongs and
petty issues, transient as the hour which gives them
birth. Our hearts are penetrated with the majesty of
the principles which we are called to maintain; and we
desire that you should feel yourselves consecrated by
the high purpose to assert them with us before the
world.
All the great truths of Christianity have had an his¬
torical outworking in the midst of human conflict and
debate, and by this means they become potential and
operative principles wrought into the very frame
and texture of the human soul. In the first centuries
of the Christian Church all the great controversies re¬
volved around the relations of the persons of the God¬
head, through which the Church wrought out what
may be technically called her theology. In the age of
Augustine and his opposers, the field of conflict was
transferred to the nature of man and the condition to
which sin had reduced it, through which the Church
wrought out what is scientifically termed her anthropol¬
ogy. In the great Reformation, when the Church broke
PASTORAL LETTER OE 1870. 105
away from the bondage of Romish superstition, discus¬
sion turned upon the method of grace, and the Gospel
as a plan of salvation was wrought into the life and
consciousness of the Church. But confusion and error
still reigned over the minds of men with regard to the
true mission and relations of the Church, in her corpo¬
rate character,as the spiritual kingdom of the Redeeemer
upon earth. The historical developmentxof this is pi-o-
bably the work and the conflict of the present age: and
the Protestants of our day are to hold up in the face of
derision and of scorn, the true idea of the Church as the
Kingdom of the Redeemed among men. In the adora¬
ble providence of God, our peeled and desolated Church
is pushed to the front in this conflict. In the face of
those ancient Churches which, in Europe, are still en¬
tangled with State alliances, the very foremost of
which seem to be slow in grasping the grand concep¬
tion which the Redeemer's discipline has been so clearly
teaching them, and in the face of the Christianity of
the Northern section of our own land, which, in a tem¬
porary frenzy, as we hope and pray, has resiled from
the truth we thought it understood, this suffering Church
of ours is called to testify. The pure white banner borne
by the Melvilles, the Gillespies, and the Hendersons,
those noble witnesses of another age, for a pure spirit¬
ual church, has fallen into our hands to uphold. Float¬
ing from our walls the superb inscription, " Christ's
Crown and Covenant," rings out the battle-cry of that
sacramental host which, by protest and reproach, by
testimony and suffering, will yet conquer the earth,
and bring it in submission to the Saviour's feet. It is
upon the assertion of this great and germinal principle,
out of which a true ecclesiology is yet to spring, this
Assembly desires to place herself and you. The roy¬
alty of the thought will render you too kingly in all
your purposes and desires ever to debase this testimony,
by yielding to the lower resentments of an unsanctified
heart in the proclamation of your testimony.
These are the convictions which rule our decision in
relation to correspondence with the Northern Church.
106
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
Their offense with us is that we would not yield to the
mistaken conscience which permitted them to bind the
Church of our divine Lord to the wheels of Cseser's
chariot. We cannot surrender this testimony for the
privilege of sitting within their halls. Regarding them
as still parts of the visible Catholic Churoii, notwith¬
standing their defection on this point, we place them
where we place all other denominations whom we rec¬
ognize, though differing from us. Wishing them pros¬
perity and peace, so far as they labour to win souls to
Christ, we feel it a higher duty and a grander privi¬
lege to testify for our Master's kingship in His Church,
than to enjoy all the ecclesiastical fellowship which is to
be purchased at the expense of conscience and of truth.
It may seem to some of you that any hesitancy on
our part to enter into correspondence with any Church,
is out of accord with the spirit of the times, which
finds expression in formal protestations of amity
and unity between all evangelical Christians. But a
little reflection will make it manifest that this want of
accord is only apparent, not real, so far as relates to
any unity which is founded on a common reverence for
the truth of Christ. For, in every case of separation
between brethren of the same Church, on account of er¬
rors held, or supposed to be held, on the one side; and
the purpose to testify against the same on the other, a
formal recognition of each other may be incompatible
with the very end held in view in the separation. It
may involve an utter obscuration of the testimony of
the witnesses. Thus it will be remembered, there was
no official correspondence between the two bodies into
which our Church divided in 1837-8 for the space of
twenty-five years; though each held official corres¬
pondence with other bodies even less near to them in
doctrine and order. Nor, indeed, was such correspond¬
ence even proposed, until it was suggested as a prelim¬
inary to organic re-union. The Christian instincts of
both bodies suggested that such correspondence must
involve the inconsistency, on the part of each, of stand¬
ing apart from the other, while under not only the same
PASTORAL LETTER OF 1870.
107
articles of faith, hut the same constitution—each bear¬
ing witness against the other, while affecting relations
of unity.
In the spirit, therefore, of these counsels, we com¬
mend you, Brethren in the Lord, to Him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to comfort you with all the
joys of His salvation.
Signed by order of the Assembly,
R. L. DABNEY, Moderator.
JOSEPH R. WILSON, Stated Clerk.
WILLIAM BROWN, Permanent Clerk.
Louisville, Ky., May 30, 1870.
After the adoption of the preceding letter, it was, on
motion of Rev. J. Henry Smith,
Resolved, That the Pastoral Letter prepared by the
Committee on Foreign Correspondence, for the informa¬
tion of our Churches touching the overture from the
Northern General Assembly and in explanation and vin¬
dication of this Assembly's reply to the same, be also
put into the hands of the Committee of Conference just
appointed, as a further and fuller statement of the feel¬
ings and views of this Church.
On motion of Rev. J. E. Spillman, it was ordered
that five thousand copies of this letter be printed by
the Committee of Publication for gratuitous distribu¬
tion ; and that a sufficient number of copies be sent to the
Stated Clerk of each Presbytery to furnish every minis¬
ter and every Ruling Elder with a copy:
On motion of Dr. Stuart Robinson, as amended on
the motion of Rev. J. Henry Smith, it was resolved that
the Committee of Publication be instructed to publish
in tract form, the public official utterances of our Assem¬
blies in relation to the spirituality and independence of
the Church, including ttfP letter of the Assembly of
1861 to the Churches of Jesus Christ throughout the
world, and the Pastoral Letter now to be issued from
this Assembly, and such other papers as the Committee
may deem needful to explain the references in said
letter.
EXTRACTS
FBOM
PROCEEDINGS OF THE OLD SCHOOL GENERAL AS¬
SEMBLY, FROM 1861-1867.
ON THE WAR, ETC.
Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished bounty
and care of Almighty God toward this favoured land,
and also recognizing our obligations to submit to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, this General As¬
sembly adopt the following resolutions :
Resolved, 1. That in view of the present agitated
and unhappy condition of this country, the first day of
July next be hereby set apart as a day of prayer through¬
out our bounds; and that on this day ministers and
people are called on humbly to confess and bewail our
national sins; to offer our thanks to the Father of light
for His abundant and undeserved goodness towards us
as a nation; to seek His guidance and blessing upon our
rulers, and their counsels, as well as on the Congress of
the United States, about to assemble; and to implore
Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, the great High Priest
of the Christian profession, to turn away His anger from
us, and speedily restore to us the blessings of an hon¬
ourable peace.
Resolved, 2. That this General Assembly, in the spi¬
rit of that Christian patriotism which the Scriptures
enjoin, and which has al way characterized this Church,
do hereby acknowledge anc^ieclare our obligations to
promote and perpetuate, so far as in us lies, the integ¬
rity of these United States, and to strengthen, uphold,
and encourage, the Federal Goverment in the exercise
of all its functions under our noble Constitution: and
108
ACTION OF THE 0. S. ASSEMBLY. 109
to this Constitution in all its provisions, requirements
and principles, we profess our unabated loyalty.
And to avoid all misconception, the Assembly declare
that by the terms " Federal Government," here used,
is not meant any particular administration, or the pecu¬
liar opinions of any particular party, but that central
administration, which being at any time appointed and
inaugurated according to the forms prescribed in the
Constitution of the United States, is the visible repre¬
sentative of our national existence. [Minutes of 1861,
p. 329.]
It is the clear and solemn duty of the National Gov¬
ernment to preserve, at whatever cost, the national
Union and Constitution, to maintain the laws in their
supremacy, to crush force by force, and to restore the
reign of public order and peace to the entire nation, by
whatever lawful means that are necessary thereunto.
And it is the bounden duty of the people who compose
this great nation, each one in his several place and de¬
gree, to uphold the Federal Government, and every
State Government, and all persons in authority, whether
civil or military, in all their lawful and proper acts,
unto the end herein before set forth. [Minutes of
1862, p. 625.]
No causes now exist to vindicate the disloyalty of
American citizens towards the United States Govern¬
ment. [Minutes of 1863, p. 58.]
SLAVERY.
Whilst we do not believe that the present judgments
of our Heavenly Father, and Almighty and Kighteous
Governor, have been inflicted solely in punishment for
our continuance in this sin; yet it is our judgment that
the recent events of our history, and the present condi¬
tion of our Church and country, furnish manifest tokens
that the time has at length come, in the providence of God,
when it is Mis will that every vestige of human slavery
among us should be effaced, and that every Christian man
10
110 EXTRACTS EROM PROCEEDINGS
should address himself with industry and earnestness to
his appropriate part in the performance of this great duty.
* * * Under the influence of the most incomprehensible
infatuation of wickedness, those who were most inter¬
ested in the perpetuation of slavery have taken away
every motive for its further toleration. * *
It is the President's declared policy not to consent to
the reorganization of civil government within the se¬
ceded States upon any other basis than that of emanci¬
pation. In the loyal States where slavery has not been
abolished, measures of emancipation, in different stages
of progress, have been set on foot, and are near their
consummation; and propositions for an amendment to
the Federal Constitution, prohibiting slavery in all the
States and Territories, are now pending in the national
Congress. So that, in our present situation, the inter¬
ests of peace and of social order are identified with the
success of the cause of emancipation. [Minutes of
1864, pp. 298, 299.]
SOUTHERN MINISTERS AND THE SOUTHERN
CHURCH.
Do these Protestants, who so anxiously avoid political
entanglements, desire the General Assembly to antici¬
pate the dread decision of impending battle, the action
of our own government, the determination of foreign
powers, and even the ultimate arbitration of Heaven?
"Would they have us recognize, as good Presbyterians,
men whom our own government, with the approval of
Christendom, may soon execute as traitors? [Minutes
of 1861, p. 342.]
Whereas, During the existence of the great rebellion
which has disturbed the peac^and threatened the life of
the nation, a large number of Presbyteries and Synods
in the Southern States, whose names are on the roll of
the General Assembly as constituent parts of this body,
have organized an Assembly denominated, " The Gene-
OF THE 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLE 111
ral Assembly of the Confederate States of America,"
in order to render their aid in the attempt to establish,
by means of the rebellion, a separate national existence,
and " to conserve and perpetuate the system of slavery,"*
therefore,
Resolved, 1. That this Assembly regards the civil re¬
bellion for the perpetuation of negro slavery as a great
crime, both against our National Government and against
God, and the secession of those Presbyteries and Synods
from the Presbyterian Church, under such circumstances
and for such reasons, as unwarranted, schismatical, and
unconstitutional.
Resolved, 2. That the General Assembly does not in¬
tend to abandon the territory in which these churches
are found, or to compromise the rights of any of the
church courts, or ministers, ruling elders, and private
members belonging to them, who are loyal to the gov¬
ernment of the United States, and to the Presbyterian
Church. On the contrary, this Assembly will recognize
such loyal persons as constituting the churches, Presby¬
teries and Synods, in all the bounds of the schism, and
will use earnest endeavours to restore and revive all
such churches and church courts.
Resolved, 3. The Assembly hereby declares that it
will recognize as the Church, the members of any church
within the bounds of the schism, who are loyal to the
government of the United States of America, and whose
views, are in harmony with the doctrines of the Confes¬
sion of Faith, and with the several testimonies of the
•Presbyterian Church on the subject of domestic slavery.
And where any three ministers, who entertain the views
above mentioned, belong to the same Presbytery, such
ministers are hereby authorized and directed to con¬
tinue their organization as a Presbytery; or an^ two such
ministers are authorized to receive any minister of the
same views, regularly dismissed to them, and thus con¬
tinue their organizations with the churches above de¬
scribed in the same bounds, in connection with this
* A mis-quotation. E. T. B. Sect'y, ete.
112
EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
Assembly. But if a sufficient number are not found
in one Presbytery, tbey are authorized to unite with
the loyal ministers and churches of one or more adja¬
cent Presbyteries, retaining the name of one or both
such united Presbyteries as shall be deemed expedient.
A similar course is also authorized with regard to
Synods. [Minutes of 1865, p. 560.]
[Against this action a protest was entered by Br. S.
R. Wilson and others, from which the following ex¬
tract is taken:]
III. In the third place, we protest against this action
of the Assembly, because it seems to us to tend to de¬
struction, rather than to edification. It puts it into the
power of any two ministers, in any particular district,
with the aid of any other whom they may choose to
select, to claim to themselves all the power, rights and
immunities, ecclesiastical and civil, belonging to the
Presbytery or Presbyteries, of which they may be mem¬
bers ; and in like manner it recognizes any two or three
members of a particular Church as constituting the
Church, and, as far as lies in the power of this Assem¬
bly, invests such members with all the rights, religious
and secular, belonging to the whole Church. This
measure, therefore, whatever its intent, in its practical
workings, is calculated, as we are constrained to think,
to promote strife and discord amongst the brethren in
the South themselves, and to widen and perpetuate the
breach already existing to so sad an extent between the
Northern and Southern portions of the Presbyterian
Church, [p. 583.]
[From the answer to the above protest, as adopted by
the Assembly, the following extract is taken ;]
The last two points of the protest logically proceed
upon the assumption that treason, such as has existed
in the Southern States, is not a sin, and that the doc¬
trine that Southern slavery is a divine institution, to he
conserved and perpetuated, is not a heresy. These topics,
OF THE 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 113
in view of their past deliverances, and in the light of
history, the Assembly deems it needless to discuss. In
reference to the last point of the protestants, the As¬
sembly fully recognize the facts that the directions given
by them will involve much personal affliction—and per¬
haps, in some instances, temporary hardships—for this
they are not responsible. Those who have sown the
wind, must expect to reap the whirlwind. Duty to the
great Head of the Church forbids that the Assembly
should compromise with heresy and sin; nor can they
walk in any way as "more excellent," because appa¬
rently more peaceful, which involves such compromise.
They know no Scriptural way by which those who have
gone out from us, proclaiming heresy, can be restored
to the bosom of the Church, until after recantation, or
those who have fallen into the grievous sin of treason,
but upon confession and repentance. [Minutes of 1865,
p. 586.]
[After asserting the right of examination, the Assem¬
bly proceed :]
II. The exercise of this right becomes an imperative
duty, in the present circumstances of our country, when,
after the crushing by military force of an atrocious re¬
bellion against the government of the United States,
for the perpetuation of slavery, many ministers who
have aided and abetted this revolt, may seek admission
into Presbyteries located in the loyal States. Therefore,
III. It is hereby ordered that all our Presbyteries ex¬
amine every minister applying for admission from any
Presbytery or other ecclesiastical body in the Southern
States, on the following points:
1. Whether he has in any way, directly or indirectly,
of his own free will and consent, or without external
constraint, been concerned at any time in aiding or
countenancing the rebellion and the war which has been
waged against the United States; and if it be found
by his own confession, or from sufficient testimony, that
he has been so concerned, that he be required to con-
10*
114
EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
fess and forsake his sin in this regard before he shall be
received.
2. Whether he holds that the system of negro sla¬
very in the South is a Divine institution, and that it is
" the peculiar mission of the Southern Church to con¬
serve the institution of slavery as there maintained,"*
and if it be found that he holds either of these doc¬
trines, that he be not received without renouncing and
forsaking these errors.
IV. This injunction to Presbyteries is in like manner
applicable to Synods; and it is hereby ordered that
upon the application of any Presbytery to be received into
any Synod where such Presbytery is, or has been con¬
nected, with the Southern General Assembly, such Synod
shall examine all the members of said Presbytery on
the points above named, and the reception of such Pres¬
bytery, or any of the ministers thereof, by such Synod,
shall depend upon their compliance with the conditions
before mentioned.
V. Church sessions are also ordered to examine all
applicants for church membership by persons from the
Southern States, or who have been living in the South
since the rebellion, concerning their conduct and prin¬
ciples on the points above specified; and if it be found,
that of their own free will, they have taken up arms
against the United States, or that they hold slavery to
be an ordinance of God, as above stated, such person
shall not be admitted to the communion of the Church
till they give evidence of repentance for their sin, and
renounce their error.
VI. The General Assembly gives counsel to the seve¬
ral Church courts, specified in these orders, that in dis¬
charging the' duties enjoined therein, due regard be
paid to the circumstances of the case, and that jus¬
tice be tempered with mercy. Especially is this counsel
given to churches in the border States, where many
impulsive and ardent young men, without due consider¬
ation, have been led away by their superiors, or seduced
* A mis-quotation. E. T. B. Sect'y, eta
OF THE 0. S. QENERAL ASSEMBLY. 115
form their loyalty by their erroneous interpretation of
the doctrine of State rights, [p. 562-3.}
And in regard to those who have voluntarily aided
and countenanced the said rebellion and separation, this
Assembly disclaims all vindictive feelings, and all dis¬
position to exercise an undue severity, and reiterates
its readiness to receive them back whenever they shall
have complied with the conditions laid down by the last
General Assembly on page 563 of its printed Minutes.
[Minutes of 1866, p. 79.]
THE DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY.
Dr. D. Y. McLean offered the following resolution:
Whereas, It is understood that the Presbytery of
Louisville, has openly defied the General Assembly, and
refused to submit to its orders, in a pamphlet adopted
by it, of which the following is a specimen, viz: "We
will not sustain or execute, or in any manner assist in
the execution of the orders passed at the last two As¬
semblies, on the subject of slavery and loyalty, and
with reference to the conducting of missions in the
Southern States, and with regard to the ministers, mem¬
bers, and churches in the seceded and border States
and
Whereas, Said Presbytery has commissioned, and
sent to this Assembly, at least one Commissioner, who,
if the order of the last Assembly had been faithfully
executed by said Presbytery, there is -the strongest
ground for believing would have been suspended from
the functions of the gospel ministry: Therefore,
jResolved, That until the Assembly shall have exam¬
ined and decided upon the conduct of said Presby¬
tery, the Commissioners therefrom shall not be entitled
to seats in this body. [Minutes of 1866, p. 12.]
Dr. D. Y. McLean moved the following:
Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed,
to be composed of four ministers and three ruling el-
116
EXTRACTS FROM. PROCEEDINGS
ders, to examine into the facts connected with the alleged
acts and proceedings of the Louisville Presbytery ; and
whether it is entitled to representation in this General
Assembly: and to recommend what action, if any, this
Assembly should take in regard to said Presbytery,
[p. 16.]
1. Resolved, That this General Assembly does hereby
condemn the Declaration and Testimony as a slander
against the Church, schismatical in its character and
aims, and its adoption by any of our Church courts as
an act of rebellion against the authority of the General
Assembly.
2. Resolved, That the whole subject contemplated in
this report, including the report itself, be referred to
the next General Assembly.
3. Resolved, That the signers of the " Declaration
and Testimony," and the members of the Presbytery
of Louisville who voted to adopt that paper, be sum¬
moned, and they are hereby summoned, to appear be¬
fore the next General Assembly, to answer for whgt
they have done in this matter, and that until their case is
decided, they shall not" be permitted to sit as members
of any Church court, higher than the Session.
4. Resolved, That if any Presbytery shall disregard
this action of the General Assembly, and at any meet¬
ing shall enroll, as entitled to a seat or seats in the body,
one or more of the persons designated in the preceding
resolution and summoned to appear before the next
General Assembly, then that Presbytery shall ipso facto
be dissolved, and its ministers and elders who adhere
to this action of the Assembly, are hereby authorized
and directed, in such cases, to take charge of the Pres-
byterial Records, to retain the name, and exercise all
the authority and functions of the original Presbytery,
until the next meeting of the General Assembly.
5. Resolved, That Synods, at their next stated meet¬
ings, in making up their rolls, shall be guided and gov¬
erned by this action of the General Assembly, [p. 60.]
OS1 ME 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLE. 117
2. Upon the application of any minister or ministers
who signed the aforesaid " Declaration and Testimony,"
before, during, or since, the meeting of the last Gene¬
ral Assembly, the Presbyteries shall require, as a con¬
dition of their enrollment, that they subscribe, upon
the records of the respective Presbyteries to which
they make application, a declaration to the following
effect, viz:
<£ I, A. B., hereby declare my desire to adhere to the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America,
and do now promise to render due obedience in the
Lord to the authority of all its courts, embracing the
Presbytery, the Synod, and the General Assembly; and,
to this end, inasmuch as the last General Assembly
pronounced the aforesaid ' Declaration and Testimony'
to be ' a slander against the Church, schismatical in its
character and aims, and its adoption by any of our
Church courts an act of rebellion against the authority
of the General Assembly'—I do hereby disclaim that
I had any intention to rebel against or renounce the
authority of the General Assembly in signing the i De¬
claration and Testimony,' and X hereby withdraw all
language deemed by the General Assembly offensive or
disrespectful, in which its sentiments are expressed."
[Minutes of 1867, p. 337.]
EXTRACTS FROM THE PASTORAL LETTER OF 1866.
It thus appears that six General Assemblies in suc¬
cession, including the present, have, with remarkable
unanimity, maintained the same position concerning
the rebellion, aud concerning those engaged in it. After
carefully reviewing the whole course of these years of
strife and alienation, we find nothing to recall or modify
in the deliverances which have been made. We have
taken our position upon the clearest principles of the
word of God, as set forth in our standards. We have
aimed to reclaim offenders by demanding only what
Christ requires of us as rulers in His house. We have
118
EXTRACTS EROM PROCEEDINGS
repeatedly expressed our solemn judgment regarding
their offenses, but we have uniformly done it in faithful¬
ness and kindness only, as our duty required. While
to these our brethren, who have, thus offended against
the law of Christ, we would reiterate the language of
the Assembly of 1862, and "earnestly address words
of exhortation and rebuke," we still extend to them
the hand of kindness, and desire that our former eccle¬
siastical fellowship may be restored, whenever it can be
done upon those principles which six General Assem¬
blies have announced. To form a union upon any other
basis, would only serve to bring together those who
could not act in harmony, and to perpetuate strife and
alienation, [p. 85.]
When the Assembly of 1865 convened, actual war
indeed was over, but slavery still existed in some parts
of the country; and as nothing but the military power
had effected the system in the rebellious States, many
persons, both North and South, believed that its legal
existence throughout the South was as secure as ever,
and some believed that it would be re-instated in all its
power and extent.
This was the hope and prayer, and with many the
expectation, among Presbyterians in some of the Bor¬
der and in the Southern States, while it was well known
that the leading men of the Presbyterian Church in
the South still cherish the same views under which the
people had been led into rebellion, that the system of
Southern negro slavery was a " divine institution," as
truly as was the Mosaic system of servitude, and was
"an ordinance of God" in the "same category with
marriage and civil government." Even as late as the
year 1865, a person commissioned to this Assembly from
the Presbytery of Louisville, published a work which
has been extensively circulated and commended, both
North and South, designed to justify and shelter the
system of Southern slavery, "slave codes," and all,
under the Scriptural sanction of the Mosaic system of
servitude. * * *
OF THE 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
119
The main points of its action upon slavery—indeed
the only points referring to those who may apply for
reception into our Church from the churches of the
South—are, that such applicants shall renounce the
errors, which assert, " that the system of negro slavery
in the South is a divine institution," that it is "an or¬
dinance of God" in the sense above stated, and that
"it is the peculiar mission of the Southern churches to
conserve the institution of slavery " as it was maintained
in the South. That these doctrines are not only heresy,
but blasphemy, is plainly seen from the word of God.
[p. 87.]
The tenets which that action condemned, and a re¬
nunciation of which it demanded, are both heretical and
blasphemous. It is essential to the honour of our com¬
mon Christianity that they should be renounced, in
those coming to us from the South who hold them, both
for the truth's sake, and for the sake of the evil they
have wrought in the land. Their renunciation should
also be required by reason of their possible influence
hereafter. What that influence may be no mortal can
tell. When men embrace and hold such doctrines with
the tenacity of religious convictions, and when they il¬
lustrate their sincerity in holding them during four
years upon a hundred hard-fought battle-fields, it need
surprise no one who is aquainted with human nature
and human history, if similar illustrations of sincerity
and valour shall be again exhibited upon a fitting op¬
portunity. These opinions have once enkindled the
fires of revolution, to the surprise of all mankind, un¬
der the best popular government of the world. Whether
they will ever do it again, none but God can tell. All
this is worthy of the more grave consideration, in the
light of the Pastoral Letter put forth by the General
Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church, sitting
in Macon, Georgia, in December last. That Letter
says of the Southern system of slavery, that "the law¬
fulness of the relation, as a question of social morality,
and of Scriptural truth, has lost nothing of its impor-
120 EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
tance;" and that Assembly fervently thanks God, as
set forth in that Pastoral Letter, that it had nothing
to do with the emancipation of the slaves, saying, "that
it may hold up its hands before heaven and earth,
washed of the tremendous responsibility involved in
this change in the condition of four millions of bond¬
servants, and for which it has hitherto been generally
conceded they were unprepared." When such senti¬
ments are put forth by the General Assembly of the
Southern Presbyterian Church, at this time of day,
after the tremendous judgments of God have overthrown
the system, it is too clear to admit of argument, that
We have no occasion at present to abate one jot or tittle
of the action of the last General Assembly touching its
demands upon slavery.
Upon both branches of the deliverances of the last
Assembly—loyalty and freedom—we therefore arrive
at the same conclusion, that they should be maintained
in their integrity, [pp. 87-8.]
Dr Krebs offered the following as an addition to the
Pastoral Letter, which was adopted;
In regard to the deliverances of the last and five preced¬
ing Assemblies, as well as this, and especially the re¬
quisitions to examine applicants from the South touching
their views of slavery and rebellion, the Assembly
would observe, that although the war is over, secession
effectively quashed, and slavery abolished,—yet, in view
of the spirit of these dead issues, which, it must be ad¬
mitted, still survives, rampant and rebellious, perhaps
more virulently in the religious form than elsewhere, it
was necessary to guard the Church from being disturbed
by this element, which has asserted itself so rebelliously,
and continues to be so vehemently proclaimed, and
therefore to require satisfactory evidence of the practi¬
cal repudiation of these heresies, [p. 89.]
Dr. Gurley offered the following addition, which was
also adopted:
It having come to the knowledge of this body that
some of the ministers under our care are not able to
OP THE 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
121
subscribe to the recent testimonies of the General As¬
sembly on the subjects of loyalty and freedom, and that
some who have not signed or formally approved the
Declaration and Testimony, do nevertheless hesitate to
comply with the requirements of the last Assembly
touching the reception of members from the South,
known or supposed to have been in sympathy with the
rebellion ; therefore,
Resolved, That while we would treat such ministers
with kindness and forbearance, and would by no means
interfere with the full and free discussion on their part
of the testimonies and requirements referred to, we
deem it a solemn duty, which we owe to them and to
the Church, to guard them against giving countenance
in any way to declarations and movements which are
defiant of the Assembly's authority, and schismatical
in their tendency and aim, and we do earnestly exhort
them in the name and for the sake of our common Lord
and Master, to study and pursue the things which make
for peace, [p. 90.]
MEMORIAL OP THE ST. LOUIS CONVENTION.
The Committee recommended the adoption of the fol¬
lowing minute, viz:
That the Memorial of the Convention be approved,
and printed in the Appendix to the Minutes of the
General Assembly, [p. 80.]
The report was adopted, [p. 81.]
[The following is an extract from this memorial.]
The General Assembly must be fully aware that,
even amongst those who cordially approve of its past
deliverances, and those who will stand by the Church
of their fathers, although they may not approve all
those deliverances, there is some diversity of judgment
as to the course which ought to be pursued by the
Church henceforth toward the schismatical sect of
united Old School and New School Presbyterians which
has been organized in the wide region covered by the
lately rebellious States; fully aware also, that to a
large extent the Church, in a state of opinion which
11
122
EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
may be called immature, awaits some clear deliverance
of the General Assembly touching the relations which
are to exist on our part to that sect. Besides this, it is
notorious that all the past deliverances of the Church
condemning the schism in the Church South, and the
conduct of those ministers who produced and organized
that schism, and used it to sustain the rebellion and the
civil war, and now use it, not only to prevent the resto¬
ration and spread of our Church in the Southern half
of the nation, but to extend the schism into all parts of
the Church, have been, and continue to be, openly de¬
nounced and intentionally disobeyed by all such mem¬
bers and office-bearers of our Church as approve the
wicked conduct of the authors of that schism, and re¬
peat its sinful revilings of the Presbyterian Church and
its acts. While this Convention has earnestly besought
the General Assembly not to take back, nor modify,
nor explain away, under rebellious menaces and hereti¬
cal expositions and intrigues and conspiracies, in the in¬
terest of slavery and disloyalty and schism, any portion
of its past deliverances touching the state of the Church
and country, we suppose that a fresh deliverance, founded
on the actual condition of affairs, more especially as
they affect the Church, and embracing amongst other
things the vital subjects contained in this petition and
memorial, would be of very high importance at the pre¬
sent time. It needs to be kept in perpetual remem¬
brance that the frightful civil war was encouraged and
eagerly supported, from the beginning, by those who
organized this sinful schism, as soon as possible after
bloodshed began, mainly-(as openly avowed by them¬
selves) upon the two atrocious ideas of the perpetuity
of negro slavery, and, to that end, the creation of a
new nation, out of a part of this nation, through its de¬
struction by treason and carnage. It must be farther
kept in mind that after the lapse of four years of cease¬
less activity in this sinful course, during which all the
horrors and miseries of civil war fell upon the land,
with a violence seldom exceeded in extent or bitterness
OF THE 0. S. GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
123
and after the new nation had expired, and the perpetual
slavery had perished under an act of sublime na¬
tional retribution, those same schismatics deliberately
resolve to perpetuate the sectarian organization they
had created, in such circumstances for such objects, ac¬
companying this last act with formal statements, iden¬
tifying their past conduct and principles with the future
career marked out for themselves, and striving in par¬
ticular to make mutual confidence and fraternity, much
less mutual fellowship, and least of all, organic unity
with the Church, which the great mass of' them had be¬
trayed, forsaken, and traduced, forever impossible.
The Presbyterian Church has no alternative consistent
with safety, with self-respect, with the righteousness or
its own past conduct, with fidelity to divine truth of
Christian duty, or with obedience to God, but to accept
the renunciation of these deluded men, to testify against
their sinful acts, and to keep her skirts elear of their
miserable doings. Three great duties remain to her,
connected with this subject; upon the right perform¬
ance of which, a great reward awaits her ; and upon the
neglect of which, trouble and confusion. The first is,
to purify herself from the widely-diffused poison of the
times, which, in a form more or less virulent, is diffused
through all the churches; and to do this, as remember¬
ing that the discipline of the Church is of God, is an
ordinance of mercy to backsliders, and stands related
to the-threatenings of God's word in some manner, as
the sacraments thereof do to the promises of God. The
second is, to hold out and wide open the arms of her
love to every child of God in the Southern country,
who has been a victim, not the willing partaker of the
sins against God, against His Church, and against their
country; against which Divine. Providence has testified
by such severe and most righteous judgments. The
third is, to proceed at once, and With a zeal proportioned
to the urgency of the necessity, to redeem the solemn
promise made by the first Assembly, after the schism
organized in 1861, that she would wholly disregard its
124 EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS.
existence, and, as God might enable her, would strive
to recover all she might lose by it, and to extend and
establish, more and more, throughout the whole South,
the precious system of Divine truth, unto the liberty
and power of which God has called her by His grace
[Minutes of 1866, p. 116.J
ENDORSEMENT BY THE ASSEMBLY OF 1867 OF THE
DECLARATIONS OF PRECEDING ASSEMBLIES.
Overture No. 14, being a resolution of the Presbytery
of West Jersey, expressing an understanding "that an
effort is now making to bring about the repeal of the
utterances of the General Assembly in relation to na¬
tional affairs," and declaring that the Paesbytery
"heartily approves the acts and deliverances of that
body touching the relations of the Church to the State,
and the ecclesiastical questions arising therefrom, from
1861 to 1866, inclusive."
The Committee recommend that the Presbytery be
answered, that the General Assembly is not aware of
any such effort being made, and therefore that no ac¬
tion is called for. [Minutes of 1867, p. 333']
EXTRACTS
from
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEW SCHOOL ASSEMBLY,
FROM 1861-66.
REBELLION, LOYALTY AND SLAVERY.
Whereas, A portion of the people of the United States
of America have risen up against the rightful authority of
the Government; have instituted what they call the " Con¬
federate States of America," in the name and defence of
which they have made war against the United States; have
seized the property of the Federal Government; have as¬
sailed and overpowered its troops engaged in the discharge
of their duty; are now in armed rebellion against it,—the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United
States of America cannot forbear to express their amazement
at the wickedness of such proceedings and at the bold advo¬
cacy and defence thereof, not only in those States in which
ordinances of "secession" have been passed, but in several
others
6. That in the countenance which many ministers of the
gospel and other professing Christians are now giving to
treason and rebellion against the Government, we have great
occasion to mourn for the injury thus done to the kingdom
pf the Redeemer; and that, though we have nothing to add
to our former significant and explicit testimonials on the
subject of slavery, we yet recommend our people to pray
more fervently than ever for the removal of this evil and all
others, both social and political, which lie at the foundation
of our present national difficulties.
7. That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the officers
of the General Assembly, be forwarded to his Excellency,
11* 125
126 EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. [Min¬
utes, 1861.*]
Resolved, 4. That while we have been utterly shocked at
the deep depravity of the men who have planned and ma¬
tured this rebellion, and who are now clad in arms, mani¬
fested in words and deeds, there is another class found in
the loyal States who have excited a still deeper loathing—
some in Congress, some high in civil life, and some in the
ordinary walks of business—who never utter a manly thought
or opinion in favor of the Government but they follow it,
by way of comment, with two or three smooth apologies for
Southern insurrectionists, presenting the difference between*
an open and avowed enemy in the field and a secret and
insidious foe in the bosom of his own family.
Resolved, 5. That, in our opinion, this whole insurrec¬
tionary movement can be traced to one primordial root, and
to one only—African Slavery, and the love of it, and a
determination to make it perpetual; and, while we look
upon this war as having one grand end in view—the restora¬
tion of the Union—by crushing out the last living and mani¬
fested fibre of rebellion, we hold that everything, the
institution of Slavery, if need be, must be made to bend to
this one great purpose; and while under the influence of
humanity and Christian benevolence we may commiserate
the condition of the ruined rebels once in fraternity with
ourselves, but now—should the case occur—despoiled of all
that makes the world dear to them, we must be at the same
time constrained to feel that the retribution has been self-
inflicted, and must add, " Fiat justitia, ruat coelum." [Min¬
utes, 1862.]
IV. That the Government of these United States, as
provided for by the Constitution, is not only founded upon
the great doctrine of human rights as vested by God in the
individual man, but is also expressly declared to be the
supreme civil authority in the land, for ever excluding the
modern doctrine of secession as a civil or political right;
* Our quotations are from the Presbyterian Historical Almanac,
as we found it impossible to get copies of the printed Minutes of
this Assembly. In sending out our first edition, we were unable
o get either the Minutes or the Almanac.
OF THE NEW SCHOOL ASSEMBLY. fSfT
that, since the existing rebellion finds no justification in the
facts of the case or the Constitution of the United States, in
any law human or divine, the Assembly can regard it only
as treason against the nation, and a most offensive sin in the
sight of God, justly exposing its authors to the retributive
vengeance of earth and heaven; that this rebellion, in its
origin, history and measures, has been distinguished by
those qualities which most sadly evince the depravity of our
nature, especially in seeking to establish a new nationality
on this continent based on the perpetual enslavement and
oppression of a weak and long-injured race; that the national
forces are, in the view of this Assembly, called out, not to
wage war against another government, but to suppress insur¬
rection, preserve the supremacy of law and order and save
the country from anarchy and ruin.
Y. That, in such a contest, with such principles and
interests at stake, not only affecting the peace, pros¬
perity and happiness of this our beloved country for all
future time, but involving the cause of human liberty
throughout the world, loyalty, unreserved and uncondi¬
tional, to the constitutionally-elected Government of the
United States, not as the transient passion of the hour, but
as the intelligent and permanent state of the public con¬
science, rising above all questions of party politics, rebuking
and opposing the foul spirit of treason, whenever and in
whatever form exhibited, speaking earnest words of truth
and soberness alike through the pulpit, the press and in all
the walks of domestic and social life, making devout suppli¬
cations to God, and giving the most cordial support to those
who are providentially entrusted with the enactment and
execution of the laws, is not only a sacred Christian obliga¬
tion, but is indispensable, if we would save the nation and
perpetuate the glorious inheritance that we possess to future
generations
IX. That this General Assembly exhorts all the churches
and ministers connected with this branch of the Pres¬
byterian Church, and all our countrymen, to stand by
their country; to pray for it; to discountenance all forms
of complicity with treason; to sustain those who are placed
in eivil or military authority over them; and to adopt every
jbACTS from proceedings
' f
Jfy cost, which an enlightened, self-sacrificing
^r>"\ Jncn&y suggest, as appropriate to the wants of the
'^haying on this subject one heart and one mind;
V^fung hopefully on Providence; patient amid delays; un¬
daunted by reverses; persistent and untiring in effort, until,
by the blessing of God, the glorious motto, " One Country,
One Constitution and One Destiny/' shall be en¬
throned as the sublime fact of the present and the more
sublime harbinger of the future. [Minutes, 1863.]
Whereas, The iniquitous rebellion, prompted by reckless
ambition in the defence and furtherance of human slavery,
continues to lift itself against the liberal and legitimate
Government of the United States,
Resolved, 6. That we cordially uphold the Government
with our sympathies and prayers in its energetic efforts for
the suppression of this most causeless and cruel rebellion,
and urge all Christians to refrain from weakening the
authority of the Administration by ill-timed complaints and
unnecessary criticisms, fully believing that, in such a crisis,
all speech and action which tends to difference should be
studiously avoided for the sake of the common weal.
Resolved, 7. That a copy of these resolutions, duly authen¬
ticated, be transmitted to the President of the United States.
[Minutes, 1864.]
At the commencement of this Rebellion the General As¬
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States took
its position decidedly and strongly in support of the Gov¬
ernment. Regarding the forcible secession of the Southern
aristocracy as treason against a most beneficent Government;
as treason aggravated by the fact that not a single right of
the South had been invaded; and as treason rendered pecu¬
liarly malignant and wicked by the fact that it was com¬
mitted with the avowed purpose of sustaining and perpet¬
uating the system of Slavery—a system in direct opposition
to the Gospel and the principles of religious liberty—the
Assembly condemned it in the name of God, and pledged to
the Government a hearty support in the effort to crush it.
Each succeeding Assembly reiterated this action. Our
churches with entire unanimity responded, by word and
OP THE NEW SCHOOL ASSEMBLY!
deed, to these sentiments. Our record as a Church we "
commit to the calm judgment of posterity, in the full assu¬
rance that there is neither a line nor a word the Christian
patriotism of the future will desire to erase; not a single
sentiment befitting our relation to this great conflict it will
find unexpressed. [Minutes, 1865.]
SOUTHERN MINISTERS AND CHURCHES.
That the ministers of the Gospel resident in what have
been designated as the Rebel States—men professing to be¬
lieve in the Bible and to honor its principles—should have
shared in the guilt of this treason, making themselves
parties thereto, giving to it their public influence, aiding
and abetting the same, seems to the Assembly one of the
most astonishing moral perversions to be found in the history
of this fallen world. And yet that such has been the fact
in the States hitherto in rebellion is too obvious to admit of
reasonable doubt or denial. These ministers the Assembly
can view only as, in this thing, most grievous sinners against
the God of heaven.
In view of the principles and opinions thus expressed, the
Assembly most earnestly exhorts all the Presbyteries under
its care to consider this subject and take such action there¬
upon as shall accord with the word of God. In the event
that any of the ministers referred to in the above Overture
shall apply for admission into these Presbyteries, the As¬
sembly advises the Presbyteries not to admit them, or in any
way recognize them as ambassadors of the Cross of Christ,
until they have given satisfactory evidence that they have
sincerely repented of this sin. The details of this advice, the
manner and ways of giving it practical effect, the Assembly
must, for the present, leave with the discretion and wisdom
of the Presbyteries; yet the Assembly cannot forbear to ex¬
press the hope that the Presbyteries, in the spirit of true
loyalty to their country and their God, will so act in the
premises as to convey the clearest and most undoubted con¬
demnation of the treason which has clothed this land with
the habiliments of sorrow. Let the religious sense of the
Church, in her pulpit ministrations and through the action
/acts from proceedings
cost, which an enlightened, self-sacrificing
^xnay suggest, as appropriate to the wants of the
^A^Tiaving on this subject one heart and one mind;
>*riting hopefully on Providence; patient amid delays; un¬
daunted by reverses; persistent and untiring in effort, until,
by the blessing of God, the glorious motto, " One Country,
One Constitution and One Destiny," shall be en¬
throned as the sublime fact of the present and the more
sublime harbinger of the future. [Minutes, 1863.]
Whereas, The iniquitous rebellion, prompted by reckless
ambition in the defence and furtherance of human slavery,
continues to lift itself against the liberal and legitimate
Government of the United States,
Resolved, 6. That we cordially uphold the Government
with our sympathies and prayers in its energetic efforts for
the suppression of this most causeless and cruel rebellion,
and urge all Christians to refrain from weakening the
authority of the Administration by ill-timed complaints and
unnecessary criticisms, fully believing that, in such a crisis,
all speech and action which tends to difference should be
studiously avoided for the sake of the common weal.
Resolved, 7. That a copy of these resolutions, duly authen¬
ticated, be transmitted to the President of the United States;
[Minutes, 1864.]
At the commencement of this Rebellion the General As¬
sembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States took
its position decidedly and strongly in support of the Gov¬
ernment. Regarding the forcible secession of the Southern
aristocracy as treason against a most beneficent Government;
as treason aggravated by the fact that not a single right of
the South had been invaded; and as treason rendered pecu¬
liarly malignant and wicked by the fact that it was com¬
mitted with the avowed purpose of sustaining and perpet¬
uating the system of Slavery—a system in direct opposition
to the Gospel and the principles of religious liberty—the
Assembly condemned it in the name of God, and pledged to
the Government a hearty support in the effort to crush it.
Each succeeding Assembly reiterated this action. Our
churches with entire unanimity responded, by word and
OF THE NEW SCHOOL ASSEMBLYT
deed, to these sentiments. Our record as a Church we
commit to the calm judgment of posterity, in the full assu¬
rance that there is neither a line nor a word the Christian
patriotism of the future will desire to erase; not a single
sentiment befitting our relation to this great conflict it will
find unexpressed. [Minutes, 1865.]
SOUTHERN MINISTERS AND CHURCHES.
That the ministers of the Gospel resident in what have
been designated as the Rebel States—men professing to be¬
lieve in the Bible and to honor its principles—should have
shared in the guilt of this treason, making themselves
parties thereto, giving to it their public influence, aiding
and abetting the same, seems to the Assembly one of the
most astonishing moral perversions to be found in the history
of this fallen world. And yet that such has been the fact
in the States hitherto in rebellion is too obvious to admit of
reasonable doubt or denial. These ministers the Assembly
can view only as, in this thing, most grievous sinners against
the God of heaven.
In view of the principles and opinions thus expressed, the
Assembly most earnestly exhorts all the Presbyteries under
its care to consider this subject and take such action there¬
upon as shall accord with the word of God. In the event
that any of the ministers referred to in the above Overture
shall apply for admission into these Presbyteries, the As¬
sembly advises the Presbyteries not to admit them, or in any
way recognize them as ambassadors of the Cross of Christ,
until they have given satisfactory evidence that they have
sincerely repented of this sin. The details of this advice, the
manner and ways of giving it practical effect, the Assembly
must, for the present, leave with the discretion and wisdom
of the Presbyteries; yet the Assembly cannot forbear to ex¬
press the hope that the Presbyteries, in the spirit of true
loyalty to their country and their God, will so act in the
premises as to convey the clearest and most undoubted con¬
demnation of the treason which has clothed this land with
the habiliments of sorrow. Let the religious sense of the
Church, in her pulpit ministrations and through the action
^EXTRACTS FROM PROCEEDINGS
-of her judicatories, mark this sin as of the deepest dye.
[Minutes, 1865.]
NEGRO SUFFRAGE AND RECONSTRUCTION.
That the colored man should in this country enjoy the
right of suffrage in common with all other men, is but a
simple dictate of justice. The Assembly cannot perceive
any good reason why he should be deprived of this right on
the ground of his color or his race. Why, then, should not
the black man " in the revolted States," who is and " has
been true to the country and the flag," thousands and tens
of thousands of whom have fought for that country and flag,
be at once included among the loyal persons upon whom
shall devolve the task of reconstructing Southern society ?
This the Assembly thinks to be the shortest and safest
method of solving the problem, most certain to gain the
result and prevent future evil. So large a population cannot,
in the state of freedom, be long kept contented without the
enjoyment of common and civil political rights. Possessing
these rights they will be in a position to be their own pro¬
tectors. The enjoyment thereof will give them respectability,
dignify their labor, elevate their desires, quicken their moral
consciousness, and waken in their minds those hopes and
high aspirations upon which the proper development of hu¬
manity depends. Possession of these rights is the quickest
method of preparing them for their proper use. There can
be no doubt of their loyalty. They are, and they have been,
the friends of the Government, and in this they have shown
more wisdom than most of their former masters. If these men
are fit for the duties of the camp and the garrison as soldiers,
the presumption is that they are not less competent for the
duties of citizenship. To this result the country must come
at last; and in the judgment of this Assembly more will be
lost than gained by any effort to postpone it. It is better to
meet the question at once, and settle it in accordance with
the rights of man, the principles of our political system and
the clear indications of Divine Providence. Any proper
efforts of those in authority looking toward this result will
receive the warm sympathies of this Assembly; nor can the
OF THE NEW SCHOOL ASSEMBL.
Assembly doubt that they will be ultimately sustained t>j
the great majority of the American people. It is not the
purpose of the Assembly in this deliverance to argue this
question at length, but simply to indicate its conviction in
respect to the point intended in the memorial, and if possible
to say a word that may encourage the Government in the
discbarge of its difficult duties. The prayer of the Assembly
is that the Government may be guided by wisdom and jus¬
tice, applying these cardinal qualities to all classes and men;
and that all the people, disciplined by Providence and in¬
structed by the trials of the past, may learn to practice that
" righteousness" which " exalteth a nation." [Minutes,
1865.]
1. Our most solemn national trust concerns that patient
race so long held in unrighteous bondage. Only as we are
just to them can we live in peace and safety. Freed by the
national arms, they must be protected in all their civil rights
by the national power. And, as promoting this end, which
far transcends any mere political or party object, we rejoice
that the active functions of the Freedman's Bureau are still
continued, and especially that the Civil Rights Bill has be¬
come the law of the land. In respect to the concession of
the right of suffrage to the colored race, this Assembly ad¬
heres to the resolution passed by our Assembly of 1865
(Minutes, p. 42): " That the colored man should in this
country enjoy the right of suffrage in common with all other
men is but a simple dictate of justice. The Assembly
cannot perceive any good reason why he should be deprived
of this right on the ground of his color or his race." Even
if suffrage may not be universal, let it at least be impartial.
2. In case such impartial suffrage is not conceded, that
we may still reap the legitimate fruits of our national victory
over secession and slavery, and that treason and rebellion
may not enure to the direct political advantage of the guilty,
we judge it to be a simple act of justice that the constitu¬
tional basis of representation in Congress should be so far
altered as to meet the exigencies growing out of the abolition
of slavery; and we likewise hold it to be the solemn duty of
our National Executive and Congress to adopt only such
ACTION OF 1870
BY THE
RE-UNITED GENERAL ASSEMBLY WITHDRAWING
THEIR COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE WITH THE
SOUTHERN ASSEMBLY.
Whereas, this General Assembly, at an early period of
its sessions, declared its desire to establish cordial fraternal
relations with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, commonly known as the
Southern Assembly, upon the basis of Christian honour,
confidence and love; and with a view to the attainment of
this end appointed a committee of five ministers and four
elders to confer with a similar committee, if it should be
appointed by the Assembly then at session at Louisville,
" in regard to the amicable settlement of all existing
difficulties,* and the opening of a friendly correspondence
between the Northern and Southern Churches," and for
the furtherance of the objects contemplated in the appoint¬
ment of said committee, and with a view to remove the
obstacles which might prevent the acceptance of our pro¬
posals by our Southern brethren, re-affirmed the concurrent
declaration of the two Assemblies which met in New York
last year, to the effect that " no rule or precedent which
does not stand approved by both the bodies shall be of any
authority in the re-united body, except so far as such rule
or precedent may affect the rights of property founded
thereonand, as a further pledge of our sincerity in this
movement, sent a copy of our resolutions, together with our
* This is a misquotation. See page 92 of this pamphlet. No
uch language is there found. E. T. B.
134
ACTION OF l*rS
Christian salutation, to the Assembly at Louisviu^,
hands of delegates chosen for that purpose.
And Whereas, the Southern Assembly, while receiving
our delegates with marked courtesy and formally complying
with our proposition for the appointment of a committee of
conference, has nevertheless accompanied that appointment
with declarations and conditions which we cannot consist¬
ently accept, because they involve a virtual prejudgment of
the very difficulties concerning which we invited the confer¬
ence; therefore
Resolved, That the further consideration of the subject
be postponed, and the committee be discharged. At the
same time we cannot forbear to express our profound regret
that a measure designed, and, as we believe, eminently fitted,
to promote the establishment of peace and the advancement
of our Redeemer's kingdom in every part of our country,
has apparently failed to accomplish its object. We earnestly
hope that the negotiations thus suspended may soon be re¬
sumed under happier auspices, and hereby declare our
readiness to renew our proposals for a friendly correspond¬
ence whenever our Southern brethren shall signify their
readiness to accept It in the form and spirit in which it has
been offered. [Minutes, June 1, 1870.]