THE WAR OF THE SOUTH VINDICATED.

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 Assembly adopt the following resolutions:

Resolved, 1. That in view of the present agitated and unhappy condition of this country, the fourth day 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 confess and bewail our national sins; to offer our thanks to the Father of lights 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 the then assembled Congress of the United States; and to implore him, in the name of Jesus Christ, the great Head of the christian profession, to turn away his anger from us, and speedily restore to us the blessings of a safe and honourable peace.

Resolved, 2. That in the judgment of this Assembly, it is the duty of ministers 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.

We are informed that the following paper is in circulation among the Presbyterians of Virginia, and is rapidly obtaining signatures. We cordially commend the manly and patriotic spirit, and the devotion to christian principle and duty in which the movement has its origin:

Whereas the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, O. S. with which we have heretofore been in cordial connection, has, by the vote of a large majority of its members, as reported to us, sustained the Government of the United States in waging the most unchristian, criminal and atrocious warfare of modern times, upon the free and sovereign States known as the Confederate States of America, thereby violating the first principles of our holy religion, in its injunction of "peace on earth and good will to men," and in its prohibition of aggressive war upon any people struggling for its independence and liberties.

Therefore, the ministers and elders of the churches in said. Confederate States are hereby invited to assemble in advisory Convention in such ratio of representation as may seem to them advisable, at Richmond, Virginia, on the 24th day of July next, to advise and recommend measures to ascertain the sense of the Presbyterians in regard to the formation of a General

Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America.

Ministers and members of the Presbyterian Church throughout the Confederate States are requested to give circulation to this paper, obtain signatures, and forward to Rev. M. D. Hodge, Richmond, Va.

[Newspapers throughout the requested to copy.]

Confederate States are

Dr. Thomas, of Ohio: Now, sir, what is the purport of this resolution? It is simply a declaration of our steadfast loyalty to the Government. It is a declaration of our confidence in that Government. It is a covenant that we will pray for the Divine guidance and blessing upon our rulers; that we will render to the Government that support which, as citizens and christians, we are bound to render to that Government which God hath ordained over us. Let me ask whether there is anything in that resolution that transgresses the bound which has been imposed upon this Church by this Assembly? Let no man say that we are called upon here to effect that which we have no right to do. Surely, in regard to that first resolution, there cannot be a doubt in any man's mind, or even in the second resolution. Now, sir, when we are called upon to meet upon a question of this kind, that is presented to us to-day, it is said that we are intruding upon matters not committed to our care. But, sir, is it not the duty of ministers and members of Churches to promote the interest and integrity of these United States, by a faithful adherence to the laws of our country? We are undoubtedly called upon to strengthen the Administration-to uphold the Federal Government and the Constitution of the United States-the Constitution under which we have so long lived, and whose blessings we have so long enjoyed that Constitution under which all the blessings of civil and religious liberty have been insured to us. Sir, let it be remembered that we are the Presbyterian Church of these United States-not of the Confederate States, not of the South American States, but we are the Presbyterian Church of the United States. It is so written in the bond, sir-so written in our Covenant of Faith-the book of our discipline. When the question was raised to the Master, "Shall we render tribute to Cæsar?" what was the simple and beautiful answer?— "Show me a penny." And he looked upon it and said, "Whose image and whose superscription is this?" And they answered, "It is Cæsar's." Then said the Master, "Render unto Cæsar the things that belong unto Cæsar, and to God the things that are God's." I ask this Assembly, sir, to look upon the image. and superscription of our Board of Publication, entered upon

our own Book-upon the Bible, by which we are known in all the Churches of the land; and when you see the Presbyterian Church of the United States written thereon, will you say that that Church has no right in its highest Assembly-has no right to discharge its duty through its ministers, by its power to strengthen, to uphold and encourage the Federal Government? Sir, if there be anything due to Cæsar it is loyalty;-anything due to Cæsar it is that in the hour of his darkness we, as God's people, should pray for him-should hold up his hand, as it were should gather around the standard of our country's glory, and render to Cæsar at least the tribute of our loyalty. We have been protected by its power; and now, our blood is demanded for the maintenance of this government, we, as the people of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, should freely pour it out for its support. [Applause.]

[The Moderator here interrupted, and remarked that no such manifestation could be permitted.]

Dr. Hodge then moved the following as a substitute for Dr. Spring's resolution.

In view of the present distracted condition of the country, the Assembly adopt the following:

First. We gratefully acknowledge the signal goodness of God to us in all our past history, especially in the formation of our republican Government, and in the manifold blessings, civil and religious, which He has continued to bestow upon us from the War of the Revolution until now.

Second. With no less sincerity do we reverently recognize his hand in the great calamity which has now overtaken us. We feel that our sins have drawn down the Divine displeasure upon us, and that it becomes us as a people, to humble ourselves before Him, and to return from our backslidings, if peradventure it may please God to visit us with His mercy, that we perish not as a nation on the face of the earth.

Third. The Presbyterian Church in this land has ever been distinguished for its devotion to the cause of constitutional liberty. No history of the American Revolution can be deemed complete, which fails to record the constancy and zeal of its ministers and people in maintaining the rights of the Colonies in that memorable struggle. And in the various issues through which we have been called to pass, our Church has nobly sustained the country with generous sympathies and with its prayers.

Fourth. The unhappy contest which is now involved, has brought both the Church and the State face to face with questions of patriotism and of morals, which are without a parallel in the annals of this or of any other land. True to their heredi

tary principles, the Ministers and Elders present in this Assembly, have met the emergency by the most decisive proofs in their respective social and civil relations of their devotion to the Constitution and Laws under which they live, and that they are ready at all suitable times, and at whatever personal sacrifice, to testify their loyalty to that Constitution under the shelter of which this goodly vine has "sent out her boughs into the sea, and her branches into the river."

Fifth. With these acknowledged facts in view, the Assembly would humbly and trustfully recommend our country in her day of trial, to the care and protection of the God of our fathers; and we call upon all our churches and people North and South, East and West, to make continual intercessions with Him "Who heareth prayer," that he may graciously sanctify to us, as a nation, this fearful visitation, and that if it consist with His sovereign will, He may cause it to issue in a speedy, just and honorable peace, and the restoration of our beloved Union.

Sixth. For the following reasons the Assembly deem it impossible to put forth at the present time a more extended and emphatic deliverance upon this subject:

(1.) The General Assembly is neither a Northern nor Southern body; it comprehends the entire Presbyterian Church irrespective of geographical lines or political opinions; and had it met this year as it does with marked uniformity, one half the time in some Southern city, no one it is believed, would have presumed to ask of it a fuller declaration of its views upon the subject than it has embodied in this minute.

(2.) Owing to Providential hindrances the South is not represented at this meeting. We feel that christian courtesy not only, but 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 absentmost of them from 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 position of a national Church. We are happily united among ourselves on 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 sacred bond which holds the North and South together in the fellowship of the Gospel. Should an all-wise Providence hereafter exact this sacrifice, we trust that 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 yet be a powerful and beneficial means of re-uniting the broken links of our political Union, and spreading peace and joy over a grateful land.

Rev. Dr. Gillespie, of Tennessee, was the next speaker. He opened by saying that he was here to try and save this Church. He valued unity and brotherly love in the highest degree. If the Saviour were here he would say, "Let the dead bury the dead; follow thou me; iove one another." He claimed to be a friend to slavery. His great-grandfather was a patriot and his grandfather fought the battles of Pennsylvania; his brothers fought the battles of their country, and one of them fell. Our devotion to Cæsar should be manifested at the ballot box, in the battle field if you choose. As a citizen, he had done all he could to arrest the evils now upon us; but he had never introduced the subject into the pulpit, for he was God's and not Cæsar's ambassador there. He opposed the bringing this subject into Synods and Presbyteries. He would be willing to sacrifice his life to bring back the Union of our fathers unbroken. He loved Cæsar, but he loved the God of Cæsar and the Church more than Cæsar. He wished to save the "body of Jesus Christ." When he left home he heard that Philadelphia was full of mobs and it would be dangerous to come here. The female members of my church implored me not to go. But I came, danger or not, for I will follow my duty everywhere.

Rev. Mr. Hastings, (Pa.,) was, out-and-out for the resolutions of Dr. Spring, and opposed to those of Dr. Hodge. He had heard more to day about the unity of the Church than he had heard for the last ten years. But while so much has been said, nothing has been said about that which will endanger the unity. He admitted the propriety of conciliating the South, but the sentiments of twenty millions of freemen should not be disregarded. Sentiments which have mastered every consideration of material interests. They are sentiments which we ought to respect. The necessity is upon us. The times call upon us for a decided stand. We cannot assume indifference.

A letter was read from a gentleman of Pittsburg, stating that if the resolutions of Dr. Spring did not pass, the church there would be broken up.

The Rev. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, took the floor. He said that if there was anything that had marked the history of the Presbyterian Church it was its truth to principle, against popular feeling and passion. It was his opinion that even yet the Church could pause and act on principle, discarding passion. He did not think this Old School Church could be frightened. The brother who assumes that the Old School Presbyterian