was established. The glad tidings flew across the ocean, and a remarkable "Year of Grace" was vouchsafed to the churches of Great Britain and Ireland. But, before these had felt the Spirit's breath, our sur viving missionaries in Northern India had been aroused by the good news from America; and after much prayer and a blessed refreshing, they had recommended the devotion, in every land, of a week in January, 1860, to united supplication for a lost world. The Evangelical Alliance heartily endorsed the suggestion, and hence the "Week of Prayer" since so generally observed. Thus again became the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church. The gracious revivals mentioned, which but little prevailed south of what are now known as the Border States, were a merciful preparation for the dread lifestruggle which followed. And already, in both church and state, the mutterings of the fearful storm were heard. The southern commissioners to the New School General Assembly of 1857, offended by its anti-slavery action, called a convention, the result of which was the subsequent organization of the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Such men as Dr. F. A. Ross and Dr. A. H. H. Boyd were opposed to a proffer of union with the Old School, against which various reasons were urged; among these, the "exscinding acts" unrepented of; the examination of applicants to presbytery; very serious doctrinal differences as to original sin, the atonement, and other points; the denial of each one's right to interpret the Confession of Faith for himself; and, above all, blind persistence in the "toleration theory" as to slave-holders, in spite of the discovery by certain southern illuminati that slavery was a permanent divine ordinance. The proffer, nevertheless, was at length unanimously made, upon certain "indispensable terms," which, however, the Old School Assembly of 1858 decided, did "not afford a basis of conference" promising the advancement of the Presbyterian Church or of the Redeemer's kingdom. In 1863, the Synod was invited by the General Assembly of the Presby terian Church in the Confederate. States to a negotia tion, which resulted, the next year, in a union between the two bodies, under the name of the latter. Extreme southern opinions were now overbearingly urged upon the Old School. In the Assemblies of 1859 and 1860, Dr. Thornwell, a man of lovely character but inexorable in debate, maintained, in the interest, of course, of slavery, that the church is so purely spiritual, so completely restricted to the simple busi ness of saving men, so absolutely limited to what the Bible in express words commanded or permitted, that all ecclesiastical action in regard to Bible Societies, Temperance, Colonization, Slavery, or the Slave-trade, and all church boards is unlawful. This new and startling doctrine, contrary to the whole current of Presbyterian usage and tradition, was, of course, not accepted by the Assembly, although, at first, some feared the eloquent Southron would prevail. In April, 1861, the storm of civil war, which had been for months, in visible blackness, hanging over the country, burst upon it with the thunder of the bom bardment of Fort Sumter. On the sixteenth of May, the General Assembly met in the city of Philadelphia. It met, of course, in the midst of unparalleled excitement, and when public opinion, if not evident duty, required from every man and every organized body of men, an open declaration of principles as to the terrible conflict already commenced, and soon widely and fearfully to rage. Only some thirteen commissioners appeared from the seceding states, seven of whom were from within the bounds of the Synod of Mississippi. A very large part of the time of the Assembly was taken up in the warm and able discussion of several papers offered upon the state of the country. It was evident that a majority, in the beginning, would have been glad to avoid the subject altogether; but now that it was forced upon them, would not silence, or a refusal to express loyal sentiments, be misconstrued? In the end, a decision was made simply between two papers in substance not unlike, but in form a declaration, one of them by the Assembly, the other by the members of the Assembly; a difference which many regarded as distinguishing between an authoritative act and a mere opinion of certain individuals. The venerable Dr. Spring had offered the former, as in substance it was at length adopted by a vote of one hundred and fifty-six to sixty-six, the minority protesting. It recommended a day of prayer, professed loyalty to the Federal Government, and declared it a duty to support that government and preserve the Union. Several inferior judicatories at the North, pronounced this deliv erance inconsistent with the constitution, and with the word of God. Some who viewed it thus, did not object, however, to similar declarations made by subsequent Assemblies after the southern churches had withdrawn. Their idea was, that a judicatory representing Christians in states that had seceded had no right to decide for them the political questions, whether secession was lawful, and whether allegiance was due primarily to the individual state or to the United States. But it was asked, Does not a judicatory representing only Christians in states that have not seceded, decide virtually the same questions, in pledging themselves to assist in a war to prevent secession, a war utterly unjust if secession be lawful, and the people of the South be suffering persecution for righteousness' sake? In the fall of 1861, met the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States. This secession drew off, first and last, about seven hundred ministers and twelve hundred churches. It is not probable that it was precipitated by the action in Philadelphia, although that action was made in part to bear the blame. How could Christians remain united in the church, while fiercely fighting against one another along the whole dividing line of their respective territories? Every subsequent Assembly during the war added something to the church's testimony on the subject of all-absorbing interest, the state of the country. Once and again regret was manifested that it was further pressed; many thought that enough had been said and done to establish a character for loyalty, and to satisfy even the popular demand for an outspoken declaration of principles; but each new body of commissioners found, in ever-fresh zeal for the country, and current soul-stirring events, abundant reason for new deliver ances. Especially when enthusiastic men had introduced the subject, it was sufficient to plead that hesitation would imply indifference, a refusal sympathy with the South; and discussion having once commenced, feelings were soon aroused which carried the body away captive in the chains of patriotic emotion. The deliverances of the Assembly on this subject after 1861, so far as they added any material idea to the testimony of that year, condemned most unequivocally the rebellion for the perpetuation of negro bondage, as a monstrous iniquity, to be earnestly resisted and "force crushed by force;" yet called upon the loyal people of the country to humble themselves before God, confessing both national and individual sins, that the divine anger might be turned away; and declared that the time had come, when every vestige of slavery should be swept from the land, and when every Christian should address himself earnestly to the accomplishment of that work. Then, the war having abruptly terminated, thanks were returned, the whole Assembly in the vote rising to its feet, for the conduct and issue of the struggle, and the emancipation of four millions of slaves; Abraham Lincoln was eulogized, his sad death deplored, and a blessing invoked upon his successor in the chief magistracy; the Board of Domestic Missions, which has always exercised a full discretion as to the character of its missionaries, was directed to aid no disloyal minister, nor any one not in cordial sympathy with the Assembly in its "testimony on doctrine, loyalty, and freedom;" churches and judicatories were forbidden to receive from the South |