Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-01-16
A Pastoral Letter,

The General Assem- bly, of the Southern Pres
byterian Churches, which recently concluded it,
session at ; aeon, Ca, issued pastoral letter
to the churches under It's care. This letter in
structs the Southern churches in their relations
to the civil government of the country" OF the
war it says: As TO its particular causes, or upon
which party rests the blame, chiefly or wholly
these are questions which the church of Christ
has no commission to decide. Beyond doubt
however, is great root Is to be found IN those
lusts which in the members. OF these it be-
comes US to own our full share, and because OF
them, To humble ourselves under the mighty hand
of God" This IS conveniently non-committal.
The letter lusti6es the recognition OF the Southern
confederacy by the Southern church, tecause trea-
son was then one of Z" the higher powers " to
which they required to be subject" and it
was none of their business whether it was "right
and good, wrong and wicked" the church
owing 1t the same allegiance in either case. For
the same reason { advises the churches to now
recognize the United States as "the higher pow
err"
Having thus concluded that it is no concern OF
the church whether government be right ard
good, or wrong and wicked, 1t proves its faith in
the declaration by assailing the government of
the United States, because its {" civil magistrates
and military rulers" have " restr-i1ed the free
dom of the church by excluding its chosen pastors,
and imposing others closing it. houses Of wor-
ship" Ii thus shows that what it means by
"subjection to the higher power " is, that it will
~be subject when " the highe. power " per-
mits it to do i; pleases.
The letter proceeds to give the status Of the
Southern Presbyterian assembly on the vexed
question OF the negfO. Promising that il has
hitherto had no opinion respecting the right or
wrong Of slavery, that it wss neither the friends
nor foes" of the institution, that it had no
right as church, to erJoin it duty, or con-
denim It sin that " the social, civil, politi-
cal problems connected with this great SUI ect
transcend our sphere, God has not entrusted
to His church the organization of society, the
construction of Government, nor the allotment
OF individuals to their various stations; =" it an
nounces the fact thai this relation IS now over
thrown, suddenly, violently whether Justly OF
unjust!y, in wrath or in mercy, for veal or for
wee. let history ard the Judge OF all the earth
decide" Having thus RENTED the whole inqui-
ry to the "Judge of all the earth" ore would
infer that this assembly would afterwards have
be n diffident about expressing its own opinion,
especially IS j; had just intimate cd that it
had MT any opinion But the pastoral imme i
ately proceeds to enlighten the inches, and
the Judge of all the earth,' by the following
enuncation of belief and doctrine:
The lawfuness Of the relation as a question of
social morality, and of scriptural truth, mss lost
nothing Of It's importance hen We solemnly
declare to you, brethren, that the dogma which
asserts the inherent snfulnt of this relation Is
unscrIplural and fanatcal, that 1t is condemned
not only by the word Cf God, but by the voice of
the church in all ages that il is Of the mos
pernici0us heTssies o. modern times that its
countenance by any church, Is Just Cause of sep
arAtioa from it. Tim. Vi. l5)
The assembly. after having thus, il legal
phrase, " handed up It's brief" exonerates itself
from all responsibility for abolition, in this
gloomy paragraph:
We may righteously protects that with their
wretchedness, already intellectually great, that
with their prospects, TO human view, dismal as
the grave, our church Is not chargeable, thar il
may hold up It's hands before heaven and earth,
washed of the tremendous respons biiy involved
10 this C ange in the condI ion of nearly 4,0O0,-
600 bond-servants, and for which it mas hitherto
been generally conceded they unprepared.
We are OF the opinion that there need
for this assembly thus Indignantly to wash its
hands Of this business of emancipation, for no
at all familiar with It's past history would
have suspected it of having contributed in the
slightest degree towards accomplishing the result
Tine remaining Pharisaism of this pastoral, on
the subJec of the duties of the church to the
freedmen, must be rt ad TO be appreciated, and
we here transcribe it:
But this dispensaIion of Providence which has
beiaIen the negroe, of the southern states and
mainly without their age ncy, your obligations to
promote their welfare, though dininis he'd, have
not ceased. Debtor before TO them when bound
you still debtors to them when free y gu are
bound 10 them rot only by the ties of common
nature, a common sin, but common REDEEM pton
also. They have gToHn up around and in your
households, have toed tor your benefit, miuistered
To Your comforts and your wants, and have cfen
tenGerly, faithfully nursed You In sickness. They
still around your doors and in the bosom OF
your community. Many of them are Your fell
low-heirs OF salvation Together with you they
need II, greatly need 1t, for time-for eternity.
We are persuaded you will not turn away from
them IN this day OF their imagined millennium
We lear oil Terrible Calamity DO ali you can tor
their best welfare, aad do it quickly, for they al
ready begin to pass RAPIDLY away. by pureness,
oy knowledge, by loos suffering, by kindness, by
tie sio!y Ghost, by love unieigned by The word
u God, by the arnor Of righteousness the
a.. ut hand and the 1T, by honor and dishon-
OF, by evil report and good reoc II, let it be shown
70 all men that Ioihiby sh4li Withdraw the sym
p4ny OF your heart or the labor of your hand
ircm a work when must of necessity and ever
rest chiefly upon those who dive in the land, not
upon the strangers Who visit ii. Ii their condi-
ton Is made better, II sous Llucked brands
from The burning, you vii the comfort OF
knowing that you were, under God, instrumental
IN such hspPy results Should your worst fears
be real zed and their doom be sealed you will have
a pure Conscience 81 The BAR Of the fnal Judge
How this assembly mourns That slavery, as an
agency in plucking brands from the burning is
70 lon,er left 10 the Southern Presbyterian
Church, and its members Can no more have bond
servants born in their houses, who would thus be
entitled to salvation by sort of primogeniture,
but must nov labor for them as for the outside
gentle and heather world And how cheerfully
AID hopefully, and with Christian resignation and