Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-02-02
From the Wilmington Journal.l
ADDRESS:
To the Clergy and Laity Of the
Christian Churches of The

To the Clergy and Laity of the
So Christian Churches of the Country:
DEAR BRETHREN When evils so great impend
over our beloved country, every citizen should do
his utmost to avert them; and especially should
Christians seek the good of their native land be-
cause of the house of the Lord their God which in
it. We have therefore presumed, humbly, but ear
nestly to beseech your favorable attention to the
following views touching the duties appropriate to
the people of God in this day of rebuke.
The great sectional questions which divide the
opinions OF the North and the South seem at length
to have reached the crisis One State has formally
retracted its allegiance to the Union others
preparing to follow, and tempest Of excitement
shakes the nation. ave are in the midst of a rev.
olution only bloolless as yet" But every day the
complications assume more angry aspect; fatal
current drifting all parties with frightful
pidity towards the bloody arbitrament of the sword
Daily the public heart stands STILL expecting lest
the next breeze which sweeps from the South, come
freighted with the resoundng crash of civil war,
which may be re-echoed from all other quarters
The counseS of our rulers seem to be turned into
disappointment, and the lover of his country knows
not whittier to look for refuge, except to God. But
in this extremity, n cheering voice reaches us from
the great city of New York. in the form of Chris
tan appeal to the people of God in tie South, and
signed by twenty-sx of the most beloved and ven
cradle names among the clergy of various Christian
denominations.
similar appeal is also issued by most revered
and influential Christians from Chicago, in the great
North West. The object of both is to summon Gods
people to the rescue of their country, and to the
blessed work Of peace makers to hold out to us the
right hand of love and sympathy, across the chasm
which threatens 70 divide our country; to give US
their solemn assurances that sectionalism and ana
icsm not dominant at the North; and to pledge
themselves to the noble work of breaking the rising
power, and restoring to US rights in the Union.
Stating the solemn conviction that the victory of
truth and right over error can yet be secured, if
time and favorable auspices allowed for the dis
cusSiOn there they implore the South not to precp
itate the rupture Of the Confederation before they
are allowed to 60 behind the heated or interested
partizans. who have instructed public opinion, and
make the appeal to the honest and patriotic people.
Every Christian at the South will concur in meeting
these fraernal and generous advances in the spirit
in which they made. We know that we may
bid our Northern brethren God speed in their work.
in behalf of the Southern Christians. We ioyfully
recprocate their atfectonate greeting, and pray
God that they may be successful in moderating ami
moSitieS in removing misconceptions in dispelling
fanaticism and we enreat them to lose no time in
work urgently needed to allay the just appre-
tensions of our people. But now does it not he
come us, Christian brethren of the South to COOP
crate in orr sphere in the same peaceful work?
Have we no anmoSitieS TO moderate, no misappre
tensions to repudiate. eXaggeratiOnS of feeling
and language to confess, and no advances to make
towards renewed fraternity?
All Southern Christians would deplore an unne
ceSSary rupture of the Federal Union hequeathed
to lis by heroic SireS, marring their glorious
work and showing ourselves unworthy of their in
heritance; bringing the gorgeous promise of the
Empire Republic to early and gnomnous
close; as plunging the country into the inevitable
evils Of financial distress, and bat too probably into
the horrors of frequent wars; as inaugurating
this hitherto peaceful continent the jealous political
system of Europe, with its balance of power, its
aud, ultimately, its despotc governments; as
ing the claims Of american Christianity and RepuI-
licaniSm with failure AMI disgrace before the world;
as destroying orr national weight and glory and
thus our personal security abroad; as disappointing
the hopes of SelEgnvernment throughout the nations,
and uStifving the claims Of tyranny; as bringing
innumcrable con(usions. descriptions and disasters
upon the churches of Christ and as arreSting the
hcneicent labors Of onethrd Of the missionaries and
teachers, and driving up similar portion of the
charities which carry life to the perishng souls
of the Heather. Surely, he who would risk even
the possibility Of result dire unless impeed to
it by absolute and memorable, hath not the
heart OF Christian, nor even OF a man.
Do these causes then exist? We would distinct
Is saw to avoid creating miSchievOus mistake that
if the Southern States of this Union are persistent
" refused their full rights i'll the confederation and
its territories. ard the protection granted
bv the Constitution to their peculiar property them
in our opinion, the Southern people must conclude
that these causes do exist and that the catastrophe,
however lamentathc, must he met, Sorrowfully IN
deed and yet with the resolution Of freemen. But
on the other hand cordially appreciate the hon
orable sincerity of the reverend brethren of the
North, who that in their opinion, the ne
ceS<itv for this ultimate does not yet exist;
and aSSurcllv. every motive should prompt us to
hope till hope becomes impossible. that they Judge
correctly. We rejoice TO see grounds for such hope
in the large and patriotic minority, approaching so
b,lr bo thorn nit yhn in he
late Presidential election, cast their SuffrageS with
so much manncSS in favor of our rights; in the eX-
tensive reaction which has since appeared in public
sentiment there in the pcrScvcring hopes and ef-
forts of wScst anil most patriotic legislators to
concilate and in the force of truth and right when
fairly presented. Mr. can we permit this hope to
be extnguiShcd by the pcrtnacity of the leaders of
that misguided party which asSaS our rights when
their conduct NAV he so fully explained by the per-
sona cxaspcratonS Of former political collisions, 10y
their confident expectation that the imprudent haste
Of some part of the Southern people would cOmpro-
mise the Justice of their before the nation, and
bv their full CONSCIOUSNESS that the peaceful triumph
of constitutional right would be the final downfall of
their selfish ambition
We can easily believe that these considerations
may prompt them TO deny us justice, and yet that
their constituents would be more Just to us than
these leaders who misrepresent them. Moreover, if
sectional differences. long and so kcenly contest
ed had not produced many misconceptions on both
sides we should have been more or less than hu-
man. and our party history would be different from
that of all other free nations May no: patience and
serious discussion in the presence of interests so
solemn and tremendous, dissipate those misconcep-
tions Is there not still ground TO hope that if the
Southern people would carefully avoid complcating
their righteous cause, by any undue haste or by in
iringng upon existing laws, or even prcudices,
more than the absolute necessities of sefdefencc
quire; if the great issue carried back from en-
Uttered party leaders, to the body of the citizens
disencumbered of all questions, of change of ad-
miniStration, and of public wealth, which were re-
Gently mixed with it; if the North asked
whether she would yield to us generous and fair
construction of equal rights, and in the future
punctually observe it, or whether she would force