The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-05-08

ceSSiIy OF an enllre SCI dl dIioH vi Ohui 0ii
and State, in order to the highest pros
perity of both. The very men who have
been constrained by sense of duty to
Christ to withdraw from the Church es-
tablished by law, insist as strenuously as
any and as ever, on the obligation of the
State to lend its direct aid to the main
tenance and extension of the Church,
and on the right of the Church to coun-
sci and advise the State. Warned by
the experience of Churches in other
lands, and compelled too by imperative
necessity, the trainers of our Church
standards, for the first time in the histo-
ry of modern Presbyterianism, resolved
to realize the great doctrine of the text,
"My Kingdom is not of this world.
They erased from the Westminster STAN
dards whatever empowered the civil
magistrate to interfere in the affairs of
the Church, or in. matters religious,
while they inserted the explicit doctrine,
"Synods and Councils are to handle, or
conclude, nothing but that which is &C.
clesiastical; and are not to intermeddle
with civil affairs, which concern the Com
monwealth, unless by way of humble pc
tition inscases Extraordinary, or by way
of advice for satisfaction of conscience,
if they be thereunto required by the civil
magistrate.
In the practical recognition of this
truth the Church of our fathers prosecu-
ted its mission for nearly eighty years, and
its external growth, and its internal pros
perty, proved to the world that lions King
needs not the alliance of earthly poten-
tates; and that his Kingdom will best
flourish when its affairs are kept most
distinct from mere secular interests.
The powers of the State, too, were as
little disposed to NEEDLE with the Church,
as the Church had been to interfere with
the State.
The last six years have witnessed an
alarming reaction from what had been
deemed the settled policy both of Church
and State. In defiance of the explicit
prohibition of its standards, the Church
has not only undertaken to "handle and
conclude " questions strictly political,
but so far to intermeddle with civil af-
fairs" as to impose upon her members
political tests, as terms of communion.
She has ventured, unsolicited, to pre-
scribe to the civil government what
particular policy it was bound to pursue.
She has enjoined on her members, as a
sacred duty to Christ, the support of a
particular policy, and threatened them
with ecclesiastical penalties, if they re-
fuse obedience to her mandates.
After SO palpable Reputation Of her
own Constitutional doctrine, we need not
be surprised to find the State intruding
into the province of the Church, by pre-
scribing to Church courts rules for their
procedure, and by virtually declaring
who are, and who are not qualified to
serve Christ in the ministry of the Cos
pei.
In keeping with these defections from
what we had deemed the unalterable
principles recognized in our land, are the
efforts now made so to amend the Fede-
raj Constitution, as to convert it into a
Christian document, and so to alter our
form of government, that none but Chris
tan men shall fill its offices. The civil
Constitution is virtually to become a
Christian Confession of Faith, by pro-
claiming Jesus Christ the rightful Sow
ereign of this nation, and his Gospel the
supreme law of the land.
AS we review the history of the Church
and of European nations for fifteen hun
dred years, it is hard to decide, whether
Church or State has most suffered by
the interference of each with the affairs
of the other. States have been ravaged
by successive wars, under the pretext of
helping the Church. Diplomacy and
craftsmanship have been employed in
settling the affairs of Christ's Kingdom,
when they should have been devoted to
the material interests of the State. The
Church, in turn, has been more or less
secularized in her spirit and aims. Her
energies have been divided between Sec
ular and spiritual affairs. Her ministers
have lost much of that moral power,
which can only invest such as are known
to be devoted to the sacred interests of
holy and spiritual Kingdom. We can
readily discover this in the histories of
foreign Churches; not only Romish, but
Protestant, not only Prelatical, but Pres
byterian. We may not so clearly dis
cover like fruits in our country, because
the seeds of evil have scarce had time to
produce their fruit. But this we do know,
and this we should know, that no small
portion of the time spent by the last five
General Assemblies of the Church, was
devoted to the consideration of matters
which their Constitution has declared to
be pertinent to the State alone; that, as
result of its political deliverances, the
unity of the body has been destroyed, a
lamentable schism has been effected, and
an alarming disintegration threatened !;
that by allying itself to political par
ty, and proclaiming its adhesion to po-
litical tenets,-as to which the people of
the land are nearly equally divided
multitudes within the pale of the Church
have become alienated from its ministry,
and not few have withdrawn from its
ministrations, while multitudes outside of
the Church, who might otherwise have
been drawn within its fold, have learned
to view with suspicion and dislike body,
which has virtually proclaimed itself an
adjunct to mere political faction.