Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-01-30
The Clergy and the Crisis.

1
The Clergy and the Crisis.
NEW York, January ], 1861.
To tie Gergydnd Lately of the Carisfian Churches In
the Southern States OF TIE Union:
We would salute you, brethren, in the spirit of
the apostolic formula: "Grace, mercy and peace"
As fellow heirs of kingdom that "endureth for
ever" we have common interests and relations
superior to all political bonds, furnishing basis
OF fraterna intercourse even in seasons of greatest
civil commOtion. Faith in God would seem to be
the only alternative in a crisis which reveals the
impotence and short-sightedness of man. Ii is
with profound conviction of the imminence of
national perils and with deep sense of the So
lemnity and decacy of this humble attempt to
avert them, that venture few suggestions to
our dear brethren, touching some of the immedi-
ate causes of our danger, and the probable conse-
quences to great moral and religious interests of
the threatened disruption of our civil ties.
dispassionate view of public affairs con-
strains the belief that system of gross and
persistent Misrepresentation has had much to do |
with leading the nation TO the verge of revolu- |
ton. The South has been slandered at the North, |
and the North grossly misrepresented at the |
South. The extreme sentiments of unworthy acts |
of individuals, and the passionate utterances of |
inconsiderate bodies, political or ecclesiastical |
have been heralded through the land as the de |
iberate xpiession of opinion of great parties, |
denominations or sections of country; whereas !
authors, and should have been consigned to the
oblivion they merited. Too much of this fratri
cidal work has undeniably been done by the pull.
pit but far more by the press A distinguished
Senator, when recently asserting i'll bis place that
'nne tenths of the complaints as to the supposed
grievance care unfounded," added this deserved
rebuke of an INSCRIPTIONS press:
where there is sectional strife and excitement
there seems to be proneness on the part of the
newspaper press in both sections to collect and
give every fact which would infame the passions
and prejudices of one section against another. In
that way partial and unfair statements are given,
which make each section act under an appre-
hensOn of the other"
If this view of the question be accepted, does it
not vitality effect relations and the duty of
good citizens, North and South? Do not truth
justice and self-respeet demand extreme delibera-
ton in the adoption of measures the redress of
grievances, which, on this hypothesis, may prove
to be partly unreal, and, at best, are greatly ex-
aggeratedg Mutual misunderstanding has been
often enough the occasion of domestic or national
calamity to induce the utmost patience and for
bearance before irrevOcable action involving the
honor and the interests Of thirty millions of souls.
In our judgment, dear brethren, the time has
come for more calm, discriminating investiga-
ton of the causes of impending perils, and for
manly, Christian effort, under God, to avert them.
1t is not true that intelligent Christian patriotism
has succumbed to fanaticism and demagogism.
1t may be disheartened or stfed for the time by
the misguided passions of men in one locality or
another. but it lives and glows in millions of
hearts all the land and in them all it is loyal
to the Constitution, the Union, and the Bible
We should hazard nothing in thus plcdgDg the
great body of the people in these Northern States
we do not, will not dstrust the great body of the
people in this behalf in the Southern States.
| Why, then, should we not seek to put an end to
the existing spirit of mstrust and alienation, to
stay the progress of groundless ordinations and
recrimnation, and join hands, according to the
grace and wisdom God may bestow, in the blessed
office of peace makers for our distracted cOuntryI
1t is our appropriate work. Beside the interest
| common to all citizens, we have vital stake in
the perpetuation of our Federal Union on other
| and higher grounds. The honor and prosperity
| of Protestant Christianity involved in the
issue. failure in our great experiment of self
government, beside affording sad proof of recre-
ancy on the part of American Christians would
be interpreted in all lands as evidence of the pow
erlessness of the only system of religion that
claims TO furnish an adequate basis for self gov
! erning institutions. Disunion, too, would involve
the rupture of cherished ecclesiastical ties, and
the abandonment of cooperative benevolence at
home and abroad. The noble example of Amer
lean Christian enterprise, and the rising influence
| of our Christian civilization must wane and re-
act, the lifecurrents of charity dry up and the
night OF our brief and brilliant day gathers gloom.
And should prevalent apprehensions ripen into
fact, that armed strife should essay the adjust
ment of difficulties insoluble to reason patriot
ism, and religion, and thus pave the way for pop
ular infdelity, sabbath breaking, lcentiousness-
| all the terrible concomitants of civil war-how
| justly would the guilty authors and abettors of
this misery be visited with the maedictions of
Christendom. and how bitter must be the self
reproaches of those who neglected any part of
their duty in arresting or ayertng the dire
tastrophe.
We cannot doubt that a spirit of candor and
forbearance. such as our religion prompts and
the exigencies of the times demand, would rem
der the speedy adjustment of our difficulties pos
sble, consistently with every constitutional right.
| answering fealty to the Constitution, Justly in
terpreted, and prompt return 10 its spirit and
quirements, wherever there may have been di
vergence from either. would seem to be the first
duty of citizens and Legislators. 1t is our firm,
and, we think, intelligent conviction that only a
very inconsiderable fraction of the people of the
North will hesitate in the discharge of their con.
stitutional obligations; and that whatever enact
ments are found to be in conflict Herewith, will
/ be amended.
And it is our further belief that an instructed
and corrected public sentiment will constrain
stricter regard for truth and for the rights and
feelings of men, the part alike of the press and
the pulpit, in the popular discussion of polisical
and moral questions. Thus will themore imme
date causes of alenated feeling be suppressed,
and the healing touch of time, the seasonable ex-
ertions of patriotic men, the peace inspiring infu-
of religion, the spirit of fervent prayer, and
the favoring providence OF the True God, will
| cement anew the bonds that unite the North and
the South, the East and the West, in one thrice
blessed American brotherhood.
To this end, dear brethren, and for the sake Of
those spiritual gifts so impe.atively needed by our
American Zion, let increasingly implore the
outpouring Of the Holy Spirit on the rulers and
people of the United States
| Gardiner Spring, pastor of Brick Presbyterian
Church, New York.
W. W. Phillips, pastor of First Presbyterian
| Church, New York.
George Potts, University Place Presbyterian
Church, New York.
J. McElroy, Fourteenth street Presbyterian
| Church, New York.
John NJ. Krebs, Rutgers street Presbyterian
Church, New York.
Charles p. McIlvaine, bishop of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in Ohio, Cincinnati.
Francis l.. Hawks, rector of Calvary Protestant
Episcopal Church, New York.
Thos. House Taylor, rector of Grace Protestant
Episcopal Church, New York.
VIM. f Morgan, rector of st. Thomas Protest
ant Episcopal Church, New York.
John Cotton Smith, rector of Church of the
Ascension, New York
ii. Dyer, Secretary Evangelical knowledge So
ciety, New York.
N. Bangs, Methodist Episcopal Church, New
York
il Durbin, Methodist Episcopal Church, New
York.
Joseph Holdich, Secretary American Bible So
ciety, New York.
Abel Stevens, Methodist Episcopal Church
New York.
Edward Lathrop. pastor of Baptist Tabernacle
New York
A. D. Gillette, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church
New York
Thomas Dewitt, senior pastor of Collegiate
Reformed Dutch Church, New York.
George W. Bethune, pastor of Twenty first
street, Reformed Dutch Church, New York.
Isaac Ferris, chancellor of New York Univer-
sity.
Tkoc,as III Cl-;roor Ivn;or Tbaoioo;coi c.;