Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-01


Missionary OperatiOns-The Removal
Of the Theological Seminary from
Columbia, south Carolina, 10 Men,
phis-
NINTH DAY.
The General Assembly met at o'clock,
and proceeded to business. The form Of
government" was taken up and acted upon,
until the report of the Standing Committee
on Domestic Missions was taken up, when
DR.. Jno. II. Rice offered the following
amendment, which was adopted:
But ifany presbytery should insist upon
managing the funds collected within its
bounds, as well as all other parts of the
work of sustentation, the Assembly will
not enjoin upon such presbyteries to send
all the monies to the treasury of the Cen
trail Committee, provided that collection
shall be taken in all its churches for the
work committed to the Sustentation Com
mittee and, also, that the presbytery
shall report TO the General Assembly,
through the Committee of Sustentation,
what amount Of money has been raised
and expended within It's own bounds. 50
that the General Assembly may see, at one
view, what the whole Church has done in
this great work. ..-...-
The Rev. DIR. Palmer submitted the fol-
lowing report on behalf of the Committee
on Foreign Correspondence: -'"
The Committee on Foreign Correspond
ence would respectfully submit to the As
sembly the following minute for its adop-
ton:
This Assembly has received with the
iveliest satisfaction, and reciprocates with
the utmost cordially, the Christian greet
ings of the Associate Reformed Synod of
the South through Its representative, the
Rev. III. L. Murphy, and Of the General
Assembly of the Cumberland PRESBYTERIAN
Church, through its representative, the
Rev. c. A. Davis, ID. d. If nothing more
were gained by this fraternal correspond
ence than the expressions before the world
of the spiritual unity and fellowship of the
Lords people amidst seeming diversity and
separation, the Assembly would for this
reason alone desire its continuance. But
especially is this interchange to be perpetu-
ated, in the hope that it may lead, at no
distant day, 10 a closer union. These cor
responding delegates have both unofhcially
expressed their conviction that many, in
their respective eommunions, are ready for
this contamination, and this declaration is
made in face of the fact that no oyertures
for such union have as yet originated in
the Assembly of the Cumberland Presby-
terrain Church. This Assembly would,
therefore, seize this opportunity to open its
heart and to put on record formal deliv-
erance tending this whole matter of consol-
dation into one body all who can stand to-
gether upon the same platform of doctrine
and order.
The spiritual body of Christ is undenia-
bly, one, having zone Lord, one faith, one
baptism :" and whilst, from infrmity of
our unsanctifed nature, differences emerge
between those who cannot, upon all points,
see eve 10 eye, yet must this spiritual unity
struggle TO realize itself before the world
by bringing into visible fellowship and
candor one discipline all who fundament-
ally agree and by subordinating minor diff
ferences of opinion to the cardinal doctrines
of the gospel. The High-Priestly prayer
of our blessed Redeemer finds a response
in every Christians heart-''that they all
may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me,
and / in Thee, that they also may be one
hast sent me-" Ii is, however, the mature
judgment of the Assembly that this union
of true believers, in its outward and visible
expressions, must begin by approximating
those bodies of Christians who agree in
their symbols Of doctrine and order, and
who are separated only by shades Of opinion
which call for unnatural federation and in
dulgences, leaving to the nearer approach
of the millennial glory the obliteration of
those broader and deeper denOminational
lines which may still break the visible unity
of the Church.
In practically carrying out this idea, the
Assembly, laying aside ecclesiastical eti-
Quette, would affectionately say to their
brethren of the Associate Reformed Synod
that they may pull the latch-string Of our
dwelling whenever they may choose, and
may be incorporated with us upon the sim
pie adoption Of our standards whenever
those may happen 10 differ from their own;
and 10 our brethren of the Cumberland
PresbyteriSn Church, we respectfully sug-
gest whether the time has not come to con-
slider the great Importance to the Kingdom
Of our common Master, of their union with
us by the adoption of the time honOred
standards to which we adhere.
This argument of visibly realizing the
spiritual wants of the Lords people, IS i'm.
posed by the peculiar circumstances of the
times in which we live, and by the nature
of the controversies which now agitate the
Church. The old conflict for the spiritual
ity and independence of the Church is, to
the amazement of many, renewed in our
day and upon our own continent. The
battle fought generations ago by the Mel
villes, Gillespies and Hendersons of Scot
land, is rO-opened with singular violence;
and the old banner is again floating overus
with its historic inscription, For Christ's
Covenant and Crown" Upon no subject
is the mind Of this Assembly more
clearly ascertained-upon no one doc
trine is there a more solid or perfect agree
ment amongst those whom this Assembly
represent, than the nOn-secular and non
political character Of the Church of Jesus
Christ. Whatever ambiguous or indiscreet