On Friday, the second day of the sessions, GARDINER
SPRING, D.D., of New York Presbytery, offered a Resolution,
that a Committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of
this General Assembly making some expression of their devotion to
the Union of these States, and their loyalty to the Government;
and if in their judgment it is expedient so to do, they report what
that expression shall be.
On motion of Rev. JAS. B. HOYTE, of Nashville Presbytery, the resolution was laid on the table by a vote of 123
to 102.
Rev. HENRY M. ROBERTSON, of Winnebago Presbytery, called
for the ayes and nays, but as the vote was being taken
on a division of the house, the Moderator decided the call to be
out of order. After the vote was announced, HOVEY K. CLARKE, Elder
of Michigan Presbytery, moved to take the resolution from
the table, and that on this motion the ayes and nays be recorded. Points of order were discussed, which ended in WM.
F. ALLEN, Elder of Mohawk Presbytery, offering a substitute
that Dr. Spring's motion be made the order of the day for the Tuesday
following.
When Tuesday arrived, the different orders of the day consumed all
the time, and on the next morning Dr. Spring offered the following
resolutions:
"Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished
bounty and care of Almighty God toward this favored land, and also
recognizing our obligations to submit to every ordinance of man,
for the Lord's sake, this General Assembly adopts the following
resolutions:
"Resolved, That in view of the present agitated and
unhappy condition of the country, the 4th of July next be hereby
set apart as a day of prayer throughout our bounds; and that on
this day ministers and people are called on humbly to bewail our
national sins, to offer our thanks to the Father of lights for his
abundant and undeserved goodness toward us as a Nation; to seek
his guidance and blessing upon our rulers and their counsels, as
well as the assembled Congress of the United States, and to implore
him, in the name of Jesus Christ, the great High Priest of our Profession,
to turn away his anger from us, and speedily restore to us the blessings
of a safe and honorable peace.
"Resolved, That, in the judgment of this Assembly, it
is the duty of the ministry and churches under its care to do all
in their power to promote and perpetuate the integrity of these
United States, and to strengthen, uphold,
and encourage the Federal Government."
On motion of CHARLES HODGE, D.D., of New Brunswick Presbytery,
they were made the order of the day for the ensuing Friday morning.
The order of the day being the resolution of Dr. Spring, THOMAS
E. THOMAS, D.D., of Miami Presbytery, moved that they be
adopted. After considerable discussion Dr. Hodge offered the following
as a substitute:
The unhappy contest in which the Country is now
involved has brought both the Church and the State face to face
with questions of patriotism and of morals, which are without parallel
in this or any other land. True to their hereditary principles,
the ministers and elders present in the Assembly have met the emergency
by the most decisive proof, in their respective social and civic
relations, of their firm devotion to the Constitution and laws under
which we live; and they are ready at all suitable times, and at
whatever personal sacrifice, to testify their loyalty to that Constitution
under which "this goodly vine has sent out her boughs into
the sea, and her branches into the river."
For the following reasons the Assembly deem it impossible
to put forth, at the present time, a more extended and emphatic
deliverance upon the subject, to wit:
1. The General Assembly is neither a Northern nor a Southern body;
it comprehends the entire Presbyterian Church, irrespective of geographical
lines or political opinion; and had it met this year, as it does
with marked uniformity one-half of the time in some Southern city,
no one, he believed, would have presumed to ask of it a fuller declaration
of its views upon this subject, than it has embodied in this minute.
2. Owing to providential hindrances nearly one third of our Presbyteries
are not represented at our present meeting; they feel that not only
Christian courtesy, but common justice requires that we should refrain,
except in the presence of some stringent necessity, from adopting
measures to bind the consciences of our brethren who are absent,
most of them, as we believe, by no fault of their own.
3. Such has been the course of events that all the other evangelical
denominations have been rent asunder. We alone retain, this day,
the proportions of a national Church. We are happily united among
ourselves in all questions of doctrine and discipline. The dismemberment
of our Church, while fraught with disaster to all our spiritual
interests, could not fail to envenom the political animosities of
the country, and to augment the sorrows which already oppress us.
We are not willing to sever this last bond which holds the North
and the South together in the fellowship of the Gospel. Should an
Allwise Providence hereafter exact this sacrifice, we shall be resigned
to it. But for the present, both religion and patriotism require
us to cherish a Union which, by God's blessing, may be the means
of re-uniting our land.
This debate was continued during all of the morning
and afternoon sessions, and renewed on Saturday Morning, when it
was made the order of the day for Monday morning, at which time
the subject was resumed; various substitutes were offered, and speeches
made during the course of the day and evening, until about 9-1/2
o'clock, when Dr. HODGE moved to lay the whole business on the table,
on which motion the ayes and nays were ordered.
The ayes are as follows: Ministers, 63; Elders,
23. Total ayes, 86.
The nays are as follows: Ministers,
85; Elders, 67. Total nays, 152.
The motion was lost. On the following morning
the whole subject was referred to a special Committee, consisting
of Rev. Drs. Geo. W. Musgrave, Charles Hodge, John W. Yeomans, Wm.
C. Anderson, and E.C. Wines; and elders Martin Ryerson, Wm. F. Giles,
J.B. White, and Hovey K. Clarke. This Committee during the afternoon
made the following report.
The Committee on the state of the country, and the duty of the Church
touching the present alarming crisis in our public affairs, respectfully
offer the following report, which was adopted with but one dissenting
vote (Rev. Dr. Anderson), and ordered to be submitted to the General
Assembly.
Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished bounty and care of Almighty
God towards this favored land, and also recognizing our obligations
to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, this General
Assembly adopts the following resolutions:
1. Resolved, That in view of the present
agitated and unhappy condition of this Country, Monday, the 1st
day of July next, be hereby set apart as a day of prayer throughout
our bounds, and that on that day ministers and people are called
on humbly to confess and bewail our national sins, to offer our
thanks to the Father of lights for his abundant and undeserved goodness
to us as a nation, to seek his guidance and blessing upon our rulers
and their counsels, as well as upon the Congress 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 a safe and honorable peace.
2. Resolved, That the members of this General
Assembly, in the spirit of that Christian patriotism which the Scriptures
enjoin, and which has always characterized this Church, do hereby
acknowledge and declare their obligation, so far as in them lies,
to maintain the Constitution of these United States in the full
exercise of all its legitimate powers, to preserve our beloved Union
unimpaired, and to restore its inestimable blessings to every portion
of the land.
3. Resolved, That in the present distracted
state of the country, the Committee, representing the whole Church,
feel bound to abstain from any further declaration, in which all
our ministers and members, faithful to the Constitution and standards
of the Church, might not be able conscientiously and safely to join,
and therefore, out of regard as well as interests of our beloved
country as to those of the Church, the Assembly adopts this report
as its deliverance upon this subject.
Rev. Dr. Anderson offered a minority report being
the Resolutions of Dr. Spring with a verbal alteration. The discussion
was again opened, and lasted till the hour of adjournment. It was
renewed on Wednesday and continued during the whole day, when at
six o'clock in the evening, on the motion to adopt the report of
the Committee, the ayes and nays were ordered.
The ayes are as follows: Ministers, 52; Elders,
30. Total ayes, 82.
The nays are as follows: Ministers,
74; Elders, 56. Total nays, 130.
Revs. J.T. Balch, T.C. Stuart, and M. Peden voted non liquet. Rev. J. W. Hoyte was excused from voting. The
motion was lost.
The minority report of Dr. Anderson was then taken
up; an amendment offered by Jonathan Edwards, D.D., was adopted,
making the report as follows:
Gratefully acknowledging the distinguished
bounty and care of Almighty God towards this favored land, and also
recognizing our obligations to submit to every ordinance of man
for the Lord's sake, this General Assembly adopts the following
resolutions:
1. Resolved, 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 throughout our
bounds; and that on that 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
to 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
honorable peace.
2. Resolved, That this General Assembly,
in the spirit of that Christian patriotism which the Scriptures
enjoin, and which has always characterized this Church, do hereby
acknowledge and declare our obligations to promote and perpetuate,
so far as in us lies, the integrity of these United States, and
to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the Federal Government in the
exercise of all its functions under our noble Constitution; and
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," as here used, is not meant
any particular administration, or the peculiar 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 representative
of our national existence.
On a motion to adopt this report the ayes and nays were ordered.
The ayes are as follows: Ministers,
87; Elders, 69. Total ayes, 156.
The nays are as follows: Ministers,
49; Elders, 17. Total nays, 66.
The resolutions were adopted. On the announcement
of the vote, Chas. Hodge, D.D., Rev. J.P. Lloyd, A.G. Hall, D.D.,
Rev. Thos. S. Childs, Rev. John D. Wells, J. Stockton, D.D., and
W.P. Alrich, D.D. gave notice of dissents and protests. These protests
and dissents were offered, and on motion of Rev. D.J. WALLER, were
admitted to record.
Dissent of Rev. JOHN STOCKTON,
and Rev. WM. P. ALRICH, for the following reasons:
1. The undersigned voted to adopt the report of the majority of
the Committee on the state of the country, and for the amendment
offered to said report by Dr. Musgrave. This vote declared their
loyalty to the Federal Government in the fullest and most unequivocal
manner.
2. This report which they voted to adopt was, moreover, intended
and adapted in their opinion, in the best manner then before the
house, to disembarrass loyal Presbyterians in the Southern States,
to preserve the integrity of the Presbyterian Church, and, as a
consequence, to secure the best interests of our whole country.
Dissent of Rev. JOHN P. LLOYD:
1. Because, in his opinion, the action of the Assembly was not necessary
to vindicate its own loyalty, or that of the Church it represents,
Presbyterianism and patriotism in fullest devotion to the Constitution
and the Union being almost synonymous terms on the page of our history.
2. Because no error in doctrine or immorality in practice on the
part of any church, Presbytery, or Synod, demands such action; nor
was such error or immorality presented for, or defined by, the decision
of the Assembly in the action dissented from.
3. Because the action of the Assembly renders the condition of brethren
and churches in the unhappily disaffected States of this Union one
of painfully increased difficulty, seeming at least to make their
loyalty and obedience to the Church of their choice, at least in
this behest of the Assembly, utterly inconsistent with their submission
to the laws of the States of which they are citizens. Their usefulness,
their comfort, and their personal safety are thereby unnecessarily
endangered.
4. Because for the above reasons, and others that might but need
not be specified, the action of the Assembly is calculated to increase
our political difficulties, add unnecessarily to the cause of Southern
alienation and dissatisfaction, and thereby render more nearly hopeless
the patriotic wishes and the efforts of the Administration to restore
the now endangered Union in the bonds of peace.
Finally, because it renders, if not very probably, at least painfully
possible, the disruption and division of the Church we love, and
which we represent; an event that must affect most disastrously
every interest of the kingdom of Christ in this land, and every
interest of that country which we love even more than we love our
lives, and making more uncertain the continuance of that Government
and Union which are the hope of the world.
Dissent of Rev. S.M. HAMILL:
1. The introduction of this subject into our assembly at all, was
undesirable, unnecessary, and calculated to create division.
2. The history of the Presbyterian Church bears ample testimony
to her attachment to the Constitution, laws, and government of the
United States, so that no new utterance on this subject was needed.
3. In his civil relations, where this subject properly belongs,
he has borne full testimony to his high appreciation of the Constitution,
laws, and government under which we live, and has made and continues
to make daily prayer for the preservation, integrity, and perpetuity
of our beloved Union.
4. The Presbyterian Church extends over the nation; and in this
Assembly there are many excellent brethren, some of whom are present
with us at great sacrifice and peril, whose positions at home, owing
to the distracted state of the country, are greatly embarrassed
by this action of the General Assembly.
Protest of Revs. JOHN D. WELLS, and THOS.
S. CHILDS.
1. Because while the subject was under discussion we were led to
expect, in accordance with the rules which up to that time had been
tacitly recognized as governing this Assembly, and also in reply
to a direct inquiry on the subject that a division of the question
would be allowed.
2. We have not asked to be excused from voting: but as the vote
is now recorded, our names do not appear upon the record as they
should.
3. We believe it to be our duty to record our names in favour of
the deliverance of the Assembly appointing a day of prayer, by the
first resolution of the majority report, and also of the minority
report, and against all other action on the subject.
Protest of A.G. HALL, D.D.
I would most solemnly, yet respectfully, protest against the adoption
by this Assembly, of the second resolution of the minority report
of the Committee on the present state of the country, not because
I am opposed to the patriotic sentiments therein expressed, for
I recognize it to be my duty, as a citizen of the United States,
especially urgent in this time of our country's peril, to do all
in my power to sustain the Government in all its constitutional
efforts to suppress rebellion against all authority, and to preserve
the integrity of the Union. But I hold it to be made the duty of
the Assembly by the Constitution of the Church, to abstain from
all political deliverances, and to confine itself exclusively to
ecclesiastical action. The resolution referred to might be adopted,
with a slight verbal alteration, by an assembly of patriotic citizens,
or by a political convention, but it is in form unbecoming the spiritual
character and functions of a court of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
in the judgment of this court the present state of the country demands
its action, that action should have direct reference to the church
which it represents, in order to guard its members against the sin
of rebellion.
The following, in my view, embodies the spirit of the resolution,
against the passage of which I protest, in an ecclesiastical form,
and should have been adopted by the Assembly, if in its judgment
it is wise, and for the edification of the Church at this time,
to give a deliverance on the subject.
Whereas, Many ministers, elders, and members of the Presbyterian
Church, which this Assembly represents, are, in the providence of
God, placed in circumstances of peculiar temptation, by reason of
the present state of the country, to commit the sin of rebellion
against the constitutional authority of the United States, therefore
we affectionately and earnestly warn them to resist this temptation,
and to prove themselves loyal to the Union.
And if any in our communion are in rebellion against the Government
in the exercise of its legitimate constitutional functions, we remind
them of the great sin of which they are guilty, and warn them of
the necessity which their rebellion, if persisted in, imposes upon
the judicatories of the Church, to deal with them according to the
word of God, and the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church.
Protest of CHARLES HODGE,
D.D. for himself and others:
We, the undersigned, respectfully protest against the action of
the General Assembly, in adopting the minority report of the Committee
on the state of the country.
We make this protest, not because we do not acknowledge loyalty
to our country to be a moral and religious duty, according to the
word of God, which requires us to be subject to the powers that
be; nor because we deny the right of the Assembly to enjoin that,
and all other like duties, on the ministers and churches under its
care; but because we deny the right of the General Assembly to decide
the political question, to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians
as citizens is due, and its rights to make that decision a condition
of membership in our Church.
That the paper adopted by the Assembly does decide the political
question just stated, is in our judgment undeniable. It asserts
not only the loyalty of this body to the Constitution and the Union,
but it promises in the name of all the churches and ministers whom
it represents, to do all that in them lies to "strengthen,
uphold, and encourage the Federal Government." It is, however,
a notorious fact, that many of our ministers and members conscientiously
believe that the allegiance of the citizens of this country is primarily
due to the States to which they respectively belong; and, therefore,
that when any State renounces its connection with the United States,
and its allegiance to the Constitution, the citizens of that State
are bound by the laws of God to continue loyal to their State, and
obedient to its laws. The paper adopted by the Assembly virtually
declares, on the other hand, that the allegiance of the citizens
is due to the United States; anything in the Constitution, or ordinances,
or laws of the several States to the contrary notwithstanding.
It is not the loyalty of the members constituting
this Assembly, nor of our churches and ministers in any one portion
of the country that is thus asserted, but the loyalty of the whole
Presbyterian Church, North and South, East and West.
Allegiance to the Federal Government is recognized
or declared to be the duty of all the churches and ministers represented
in this body. In adopting this paper, therefore, the Assembly does
decide the great political question which agitates and divides the
country. The question is, whether the allegiance of our citizens
is to the State or the Union. However clear our own convictions
of the correctness of this decision may be, or however deeply we
may be impressed with its importance, yet it is not a question which
this Assembly has a right to decide.
A man may conscientiously believe that he owes allegiance
to one government or another, and yet possess all the qualifications
which the word of God or the standards of the Church authorize us
to demand in our members or ministers. As this General Assembly
represents the whole Church, the acts and deliverances of this Assembly
become the acts and deliverances of the Church. It is this consideration
that gives to the action of this Assembly in this case all its importance,
either in our own view or in the view of others.
It is the allegiance of the (Old-school) Presbyterian
Church to the Constitution, the Union, and the Federal Government,
which this paper is intended to profess and proclaim. It does, therefore,
of necessity, decide the political question which agitates the country.
It pronounces or assumes a particular interpretation of the Constitution.
This is a matter clearly beyond the jurisdiction of the Assembly.
That the action of the Assembly in the premises
does not only decide the political question referred to, but makes
that decision a term of membership in our Church, is no less clear.
It is not analogous to the recommendation of a religious or benevolent
institution, which our members may regard or not at pleasure; but
it puts into the mouths of all represented in this body, a declaration
of loyalty and allegiance to the Union and to the Federal Government.
But such a declaration, made by our members residing in what are
called the seceding States, is treasonable. Presbyterians under
the jurisdiction of those States, cannot, therefore, make that declaration.
They are consequently forced to choose between allegiance to their
States and allegiance to the Church.
The General Assembly in thus deciding a political
question, and in making that decision practically a condition of
membership to the Church, has, in our judgment, violated the Constitution
of the Church, and usurped the prerogative of its Divine Master.
We protest loudly against the action of the Assembly,
because it is a departure from all its previous actions.
The General Assembly has always acted on the principle
that the Church has no right to make anything a condition of Christian
or ministerial fellowship, which is not enjoined or required in
the Scriptures and the Standards of the Church.
We have, at one time, resisted the popular demand
to make total abstinence from intoxicating liquors a term of membership.
At another time, the holding of slaves. In firmly resisting these
unscriptural demands, we have preserved the integrity and unity
of the Church, made it the great conservative body of truth, moderation,
and liberty of conscience in our country. The Assembly have now
descended from this high position, in making a political opinion
a particular theory of the Constitution, however correct and important
that theory may be, the condition of membership in our body, and
thus, we fear, endangered the unity of the Church.
In the third place, we protest, because we regard
the action of the Assembly as altogether unnecessary and uncalled
for. It was required neither to instruct nor excite our brethren
in the Northern States. It was not needed as a vindication of the
loyalty of the North.
Old-school Presbyterians everywhere out of the so-called
seceding States, have openly avowed and conspicuously displayed
their allegiance to the Constitution and the Government, and that
in many cases at great cost and peril. Nor was such action required
by our duty to the country. We are fully persuaded that we best
promote the interests of the country by preserving the integrity
and unity of the Church.
We regard this action of the Assembly, therefore,
as a great national calamity, as well as the most disastrous to
the interests of our Church which has marked its history.
We protest, fourthly, because we regard the action
of the Assembly as unjust and cruel in its bearing on our Southern
brethren. It was, in our judgment, unfair to entertain and decide
such a momentous question when the great majority of our Southern
Presbyteries were, from necessity, unrepresented in this body. And
it is, in our judgment a violation of the law of love to adopt an
act which must expose the Southern churches that remain in connection
with our Church, to suspicion, the loss of property, to personal
danger, and which tends to destroy their usefulness in their appointed
fields of labor.
And, finally, we protest, because we believe the
act of the Assembly will not only diminish the resources of the
Church, but greatly weaken its power for good, and expose it to
the danger of being carried away more and more from its true principles
by a worldly or fanatical spirit.
Answer: The Moderator appointed Rev.
Drs. Thomas E. Thomas, Willis Lord, and Wm C. Anderson, Ministers;
Jesse L. Williams and Nathaniel Ewing, elders, a Committee to answer
the dissents and protests, which they did as follows:
The actions of the General Assembly, in reference
to which these protests are offered, embraces two resolutions, against
the former of which no objection is alleged. The whole stress of
the protestation is directed upon the following sentence in the
second resolution: "Resolved, That this General Assembly,
in the spirit of that Christian patriotism which the Scriptures
enjoin, and which has always characterized this Church, do hereby
acknowledge and declare our obligations to promote and perpetuate,
so far as in us lies, the integrity of these United States, and
to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the Federal Government in the
exercise of all its functions under our noble Constitution; and
to this Constitution in all its provisions, requirements, and principles,
we profess our unabated loyalty."
The first and main ground of protest against the
adoption of this resolution is, that the General Assembly has no
right to decide purely political questions; that the question whether
the allegiance of American citizens is due primarily and eminently
to the State, or to the Union, is purely political, of the gravest
character, dependent upon constitutional theories and interpretations,
respecting which various opinions prevail in different sections
of our country; that the action of the Assembly virtually determines
this vexed question, decides to what government the allegiance of
Presbyterians, as citizens, is due, and makes that decision a term
of communion.
That the action of the Assembly has political as
well as moral bearings, is readily admitted. So had the decision
of our Divine Master, when he said to the Pharisees and Herodians,
"Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's"
Mark xii.17; a decision still binding upon all men, and underlying
this very act of the Assembly. The payment of the required tax was
both a moral and a political duty.
"There are occasions," says the author
of an able article on "The state of the Country," in the
January number of the Princeton Review, "there are occasions
when political questions rise into the sphere of morals
and religion; when the rule of political action is to be sought,
not in consideration of State policy, but in the law of God. . .
. . . When the question to be decided turns on moral principles;
when reason, conscience, and the religious sentiments are to be
addressed, it is the privilege and duty of all who have access
in any way to the public ear, to endeavor to allay unholy feeling,
and to bring truth to bear on the minds of their fellow-citizens."
The General Assembly heartily approve these principles, and doubt
not that if ever there was an occasion when political questions
rose into the sphere of morals and religion, the present circumstances
of our beloved country are of that character.
The protestants "deny the right of the general
Assembly to decide to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians,
as citizens, is due." Strictly speaking, the Assembly has made
no such decision. They have said nothing respecting the allegiance
of the subjects of any foreign power, or that of the members of
our mission churches in India, China, or elsewhere, who may hold
connection with our denomination. The action complained of relates
solely to American Presbyterians, citizens of these United States.
Even with regard to them, the Assembly has not determined,
as between conflicting governments, to which our allegiance is due.
We are the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America. Such is the distinctive name, ecclesiastical
and legal, under which we have chosen to be known by our sister
churches and by the world. Our organization as a General Assembly
was cotemporaneous with that of our Federal Government. In the seventy-four
years of our existence, Presbyterians have known but one supreme
government, one nationality, within our wide-spread territory. We
know no other now. History tells of none. The Federal Government
acknowledges none. No nation on earth recognizes the existence of
two independent sovereignties within these United States. What Divine
Providence may intend for us hereafter -- what curse of rival and
hostile sovereignties within this broad heritage of our fathers,
we presume not to determine. Do these protestants, who so anxiously
avoid political entanglements, desire the General Assembly to anticipate
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? May not the highest court of our Church,
speaking as the interpreter of that holy law which says, "Ye
must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience'
sake," Rom. xiii.2. In the language of the learned Reviewer
above cited. "Is disunion morally right? Does it not involve
a breach of faith, and a violation of the oaths by which that faith
was confirmed? We believe, under existing circumstances, that it
does, and therefore it is as dreadful a blow to the Church as it
is to the State. If a crime at all, it is one, the heinousness of
which can only be imperfectly estimated."
In the judgment of this Assembly, "this saying
is true;" and therefore the admission, on the part of the Assembly,
that Presbyterians may take up arms against the Federal Government,
or aid and comfort its enemies, and yet be guiltless, would exhibit
that "practical recognition of the right of secession,"
which, says the Reviewer, would "destroy our national life."
But we deny that this deliverance of the Assembly
establishes any new term of communion. The terms of Christian fellowship
are laid down in the word of God, and are embodied in our standards.
It is competent to this court to interpret and apply the doctrines
of the word; to warn men against prevailing sins; and to urge the
performance of neglected duties. We regard the action, against which
these protest are leveled, simply as a faithful declaration, by
the Assembly, of Christian duty towards those in authority over
us; which adds nothing to the terms of communion already recognized.
Surely the idea of the obligation of loyalty to our Federal Government
is no new thing to Presbyterians.
And this is a sufficient reply, also, to the second
article of this protest. Having established no new term of membership,
this Assembly is not liable to the charge of having departed from
the old paths.
A third ground of protest is the allegation that
this action of the Assembly is uncalled for and unnecessary. Yet,
on the admission of these protestants themselves, it is "a
notorious fact," that many of our ministers and members believe
themselves absolved from all obligations of loyalty to our National
Government, -- believe, in contradiction to the Princeton Reviewer,
that disunion is morally right; and some are already in arms to
vindicate these opinions. What, when "a crime, the heinousness
of which can only be imperfectly estimated" -- "striking
as dreadful a blow at the Church as at the State," is already
committed; when thousands of Presbyterians are likely to be seduced
from their allegiance by the machinations of wicked men; when our
national prosperity is overclouded; when every materials interest
is in jeopardy, and every spiritual energy paralyzed; when armed
rebellion joins issue with armed authority on battle-fields, where
tens of thousands must perish; when it remains a question whether
our national life survives the conflict, or whether our sun sets
in anarchy and blood, -- is it uncalled for, unnecessary, for this
Christian Assembly to renew, in the memories and hearts of a Christian
people, respect for the majesty of law, and a sense of the obligation
of loyalty? Let posterity decide between us.
That this decision of the Assembly is unjust to
a portion of our Church, not now fully represented in this body,
is a fourth reason of protest. We need only reply, that the roll
of this Assembly shows delegates from Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. All might have been
as easily represented. Besides, this action has no local or sectional
character. The subject is of national relations, as well as of such
pressing urgency, that to have waited for a full Southern representation,
in a future Assembly, would have been to loose for ever the critical
moment when action would be productive of good.
As to the final ground of protest, it is enough
to record our simple denial of the opinions expressed. We sincerely
believe that this action of the General Assembly will increase the
power of the Church for good; securing, as we humbly trust it will,
the favour of her exalted Head, in behalf of those who testify for
a suffering truth.
[Excerpted from pages 69 - 79 of The Presbyterian
Historical Almanac and Annual Remembrancer of the Church for 1862, by Joseph M. Wilson (Philadelphia: Joseph M. Wilson, 1862). |
