The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-02-03
PROGRESS OF REUNION.

The Banner Of Peace Cumberland Pres
byterian Church. published at Nashville,
Tenn, has some appropriate thoughts upon
the contemplated union of the Old and New
School Presbyterian Church. 1t says:
eve are not mistaken, but for the life of us we
cannot see how this union is to result in good Ii
Is historical fact that those two Churches prior
zsnSte war, and especially to the time when
General Assemblies in st. Louis
5Iz s. 10 found that they were a unit POLITICAL
Fr6feSSed to entertain very different theological
tenets, aud just hOao they happened to find out so
suddenly that their long and bitter controversies
had been kept up over t'oeededuns and tl0eedledee
Is point that has never been explained. The
master spirits of each Church wrote heavy octavos
in order to prove the heresy of the others and
those works have been sent forth to the world by
thousands yea, have almost been cdROaizpd (it
such an expression were permissible in reference
to books by the respective parties Is this
Church literature to share the fate of the great
Alexandrian Library? If not, which party is to
be triumphant?
The mere bringing together of diScOrdant ele
mentS does not OF necessity, produce union in
deed, the juXtapoStion may only serve to develop
the repulSive forces inherent in the bodies them
selves, but which have remained comparatively
dormant and harmless had they not been forced
into direct contact. There is, however, sort of
Juror on the subject of reunion with the multitude
in the two Churches, and we have no doubt, from
present indications, that the experiment will be
made, although some of the greatest intellectS in
both denominations look upon the whole affair
with fear and trembling. We have heretofore Civ.
en- some of the utterances of the Old School
against reunion, and to show that there is strong
opposition from the New School, we give para
graph from a recent issue of the american Pres
| 6yteriaa. a leading paper in that Church The
editor says:
Shall the reunion of Old and New School be
only another indication of this general tendency
of our Churches back to doetrinal rigor and en-
slavement to man. made systems? Most solemn
is the duty laid upon in this aspect of the case
We deem it morally certain that a reunion in which
the well known liberal orthodox tone of our BODY
is quietly ignored or deliberately sacrificed, will
turn out in the end one of the most important re-
Inducements yet made to the backward movement
in the Church. If the wholesome and scriptural
liberty which has ever ShOne like a star of promise
upon the forehead of our Church, be removed
ever so gently and buried ever so decently and if
thus deSpOiled and dScrOwned we consent to enter
into the reunion, we shall be gnty of aiding in a
retrograde movement, against which our whole
history is protest.
On the other hand the Princeton Revtew,
for January, 1869, which has Just come to
hand says: This basis, according to the in
depreciation of the New School, of which it
was honestly capable, provided for the tole-
ration in the united Church of whatever
had been allowed in either branch That the
adherents of DR.. Taylor and his system had
been so allowed is past all question, What
their views and feelings are towards the
doctrines of our Church is now placed be-
youd controversy The two systems cannot
cohere. They are so autagonistic that they
must breed incessant and divisive conflict,
wherever they come face to face. Reunion
on such basis would have within itself an
explosive force which would insure disrup,
ton