Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1866-02-24
Pastoral ddress.

. The pa tordl address oil Tue baltimore W. L..
Conference, lately held at.Alexandria, Va, sets
forth the reasons why the body chose 10 unite
with the Nj. E. Church South. 1t declares that
in taking this important step the great and sin
gle argument in favor of their sincerity is in
the fact that all the world could give, and much
that i had given, solicited them to an opposite
Of conduct from the one they had chosen. "By
submitting to the Northern ilethodistsn they
say:
"Our churches would not only be secured 10
us, but exuberant boupty would repair them
from the injuries OF war, and fill them with ey-
erythng necessary to worship-except the
presence Of The Lord. Our parsonages, from
which soldiers, led on by Methodist preachers,
are e1lrIdlng our wives and our little ones,
woulo Ds made sure to US. Missionary money,
ostenslbly appropriated for the christianizAtion
oi The south, would be the gracious reward OF
our conversion, and prostration before a North
tfn Bishop would be accepted as full cOmpen-
Isation for imputed hostility to the nation. For
in the long absence and uncertain return of
charity, il is loyalty to Methodist Church
that covers multitude of sins. BY union with
the Northern Church we save everything but
nothing else "
Abiding to the trials and sufferings of the
ministers of the conference during the past four
years of war, the address declares that many Of
them are now so poor that they will not be able
TO reach their places of appointment to labor
unless they 60 on foot, and says:
"In other denominations old kindness has sur
viyed the shock OF war. How ever violent have
been the political attitudes of their ecclesiasti-
cal bodies, charity did net die; aud from that
greatest Of the virtues, their suffering brethren
in the South are receiving cheerful and impor
tant aid"
But in looking over the blood stained border
"to denomination the largest and wealthiest,"
whose "cofers are filed with millions, and who
are consciously and actively great political
power, to whose demands il is perilious for au-
thority to denIur &c had most to expect from
them who bear common name, teach COM
mon creed, and have formerly constitute with
us one Christian family" The address adds:
But there was no charity for Us. On the
contrary our former brethren are our bitter
and Implying enemies. They indeed offer US
their cottage; but for it they will have our birth
right Their love or hate, their benIfCence or
hostility are determined by our reception or
rejection Of their ecclesiastical supremacy.
TINS demand for subsection is not based upon
any spiritual consideration. They are content
that we shall remain here, aud preach as We
now preach, and live as we now live, and guide
as we now guide. 1t is not conversion of
mind or heart that they require, but cession
of territory 1t is not as part Of Christ's king
dom that they approach us: but as the Metho- |
dist Episcopal Church in the United States Be-
cause we will not determine our relations SIM |
ply upon consideration of their desires, they /
have arrayed themselves, and, as far as possl- /
bic, the government and ration against US, for
a war avow eddy of determination. They take
our churches by lorce, and install their minisle-
rial agents by files Of soldiers. They imper-
ously order our families from their homes, and !
bring Strangers TO occupy them. They ex.
tIude congreg ations, and force them 10 comfort !
less rooms and to the woods aud heds. Only, |
OF all ministers in the South, we find ourselves |
without sympathy from our ecclesiastical kin- :
dred. On the other hand, the church South, |
has no material benefit 10 brstOw, because, /,
they, too, are as poor as we are
The address denies that political sympathy
them to leave the United States
Methodist Church, and claims tn at the "Church,
South, is in this respect, noble monument OF
Christian consistency. Neither her general
conference, or her annual conferences, nor her /
Bishops have presumed in the name of God TO
cheer on resistance TO the Federal Union. Not
one word ofthat church has committed her as
a party to merely secular strife. 1t was her
ain TO hold up the Cross in the midst Of the
war Of human passions--to keep burning
Of revolutionary deluge, aud to exalt the crown
of Christ, the higher, as popular idols were
lifted up. This we also, IN our lot, ever es-
ayed TO do-Baltimore Sun.