The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-06-11
their revolutionary and wicked schemes 1

the guilty party; in their ordination to God,
they promised 'subjection to their brethren
in the Lord )" also, to be Jealous and faith
full in maintaining the truths of the gospel
and the purity and peace of the church,"
Chap. 15, Sec. 12. Instead of subection to
their brethren in the Lord" they have REBEL
ed against the lawfully constituted authority
of the church, and rent it in twain; instead
of studying the purity and peace" of the
church, they have broken its peace, and
greatly marred its purity. In doing these
things, have they not violated the solemn
covenant engagement they made with God,
when they assumed the Office of the holy
ministry Inpudent, reckless and unscru-
pulous. as l know them to be, hardly think
they will deny it. have never resisted
any lawful authority, or the exercise of it.
neither civil or ecclesiastical, Book of Dis
| cipline, Chap. 90, Sec. 4. They have done
both they have resisted the civil powers of
the land, and the lawful exercise of that
power, by giving aid and comfort to one of
the most reasonable and wicked rebellions
that ever was waged for the overthrow of
any government; they have resisted the
lawful power" of the church, and {" the
lawful exercise of that power" by commit
ting the sin of schism, in doing which they
have violated the constitution of tue church,
and their ordination VOWS
| Now, Mr.. Editor: You have a plain and
candid statement of the whole affair." NV
letter contained some wholesome truths, and
as matter of course was deemed d" deliber-
ately disrespectful and offensive" For four
long years of tears and suffering and blood,
we were compelled to submit to the civil
and ecclesiastical despotism which was exer-
| cised over us; resistance, or even apparent
| RI ticfo ,,,irrbf horo
lives Even now, when the rebellion is
crushed, this Sanhedrim of traitors issues its
6rutuna fulnaen, its pOwerless eClicts, against
all those who dare to he free men, and exer-
else the rights which God and nature has
| given them. In the dark hour of the rebel
| lion, in heart and soul was true to the flag
of my Countrywide glorious old Stars and
| Stripes-whi.e these apOStates of Ii Ferty were
straining every nerve 10 trail it in the dust
and while they have plotted treason against
the church and violated their ordination VOWS,
by resisting its authority and disturbing its
peace l have tried to he true to both. Yes,
Mr.. Editor. for this fidelity these disturbers
of the public peace, these traitors TO their
country and their church, would stab me to
the vitals aud clothe me with infamy. Not
one drop of the blood that has stained our
soil, rests upon my skirts: l am not respon-
sible for single scalding tear that has
bleached the cheek, or a single pang that
has rent the bosom. Can they lift their pol
luted hands to God, and say as much Ah
can they While they with traitorous hands
and hearts were plotting the division of our
glorious church, was battling for its pre-
servation-its unity; for that they would de-
grade me, and publish me to the world as
bad man and gross offender; for that they
have inflicted the highest penalty known to
the church-deposition from the gospel min
istry. Had been debauchee, they could
not have acted with greater violence.
protest, Mr.. Editor. that never belong
| ed to them in their present organization.
During the dark days of the rebellion our
connection with the mother church was sus-
pended, without our agency or consent, but
not broken off. The intense pressure being
removed, amidst the general apostacy of the
South, we have unwaveringly adhered to our
good old mother church-the church of our
fathers. We are in her service and in her
confidence and with the blessing of God, the
illumination pronounced by her enemies will
fall harmless at our feet. We were opposed
to the rebellion in all its features, and ex-
pect to oppose its friends and supporters in
all time to come No class of men in the
South has greater responsibility resting On it
than the ministry, and none more than the
so-called rebel Presbytery of Concord. They
possible way for the rebellion. Verify, the
blood of our slaughtered fathers, brothers
and sons, rests upon their guilty souls. And
yet, with this fearful responsibility resting
on them, they dare to sit in judgment ON,
and defame the character of better men,
When our unhappy country was bleeding at
every PORE and its true friends pleading for
peace, the cry of these blood stained traitors
was eve are not ready for peace YETI No,
Mr.. Editor, they were not sufficiently satia-
ted with blood. Like the horse leech, their
cry was give, q ive," while the fathers,
brothers and sons of the land were falling in
battle and by disease, by thousands and tens
of thousands. And now, these arch-traitors
to their country and their God, dare to sit in
Judgment on, and detame the character of
those, who oppose their hel-born and wick
ed conduct. l appeal from their unrighteous
and wicked edict, to the decision of a fair
minded and impartial public sentiment. BY
that decision, am willing to abide. I am
not the first man who has fallen into wicked
hands. The Jews crucifed The Man Christ
Jesus, the Lord of life and glory. Paul
"was in peril among false brethren" and
" five times of the Jews received forty stripes
anathematized by the Pope. And hundreds
and thousands Of others have been called to
die at the martyrs stake, for truths not more
vital and Important than these for which
we have been called to contend, and to suf-
fer We trust, we are sincerely and truly
thankful to God, for the tokens of his love,
as manifested in his blessings upon our Ia
bors, and in the gift of many friends, in
whose estimation We stand higher to-day,
than we ever did before.
And now, Mr.. Editor am done with the
subject, at least for the present. have
nothing to retract [ have used strong, and,
what may seem to your readers, severe Ian
guage. l trust they will recollect that 1
have been extremely and severely dealt with,
by body having no constitutional right to
direct or control me in any particular; a
body endeavoring to enforce kind of eccle- |
siasticaf conscription over me, and then, as
far as their eensures will do it, they degrade /
me because defy and resist their assumed
and unrighteous authority. Such body of |
men is not entitled to the courtesies awarded |
an honorable foe. The language have used |
falls far short of expressing the depth OF !
their dcpravity, as exhibited in their action |
in my case. Reckless of the rules of decen-
- a., dad