The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-11-05

that denomination, as is well known, made
common cause with Mr.. Stuart, and have by
their Withdrawal seriously reduced the size
and yet more weakened the influence and inn
portance of that denomination Several con-
gregations of these have already gone clean
over to the bodies now uniting, but more,
perhaps, are waiting to see their way clearly.
The reunion can hardly fail TO bring good to
this dismembered portion of the Presbyterian
family.
In the United Presbyterian Church the war
of Scotch orthodoxy and American fellow
ships has also waged severely; and some have
already come from the communion, too, to
the Old or the New School. AS for the demo-
mination whom we used to know as the
Clutch, now ''the Reformed Churchin Anne
RIGA, there is q decided though still quiet
tendency on the part of some of the best min
listers toward the general reunion. The dis
affected of course, stand aloof and do not
fully rejoice in the prospect of the Old and
New reunion. There remain in this category
only the ''Plan-of Union" churches; unless we
consider also the few Welsh Calvinistic Me-
transatlantic brethren by-and-by, though
they have not begun yet They are really
and to all intents Presbyterians. The Plan
of-Union churches are not numerous, being
still, as of old, chiefly on those common or
neutral grounds where harmony helps Con-
gregationalism and Presbyterianism better
than separation Such as do still remain will,
it is anticipated, either become fully
Presbyterian, or else go altogether over to
the Congregationalists. Of course, the reader
will understand that these mixed churches
are all New, and none Old School. The Pres
bytery IN. S. of Huron did, indeed, express
a somewhat resolute opinion to Assembly last
spring, denying the right of Assembly to in
terfere with those churches so constituted.
There will, however, probably be no difficult
ties upon this ground. Such is the relation
which the pending reunion of Old and New
Schools bears to the various branches of the
Presbyterian family with which there is any
present hope of union. The Presbyterian
Church South is understood to feel itself more
alienated than ever from its ancient associate
the Old School branch, now that the latter
has taken the slavery hating New branch to its
heart.
The work of practical reunion has not
been left entirely to the judicatories. The
organs of the two branches in Cincinnati
Tile PreS6yter edited by J. G.. Monfort.
d. D., Old School, and TIE Ctristjaa HeraJd,
the Rev. Clement E. Babb, New School
having long been on terms of warm intimacy,
particularly in the cause of reunion for
which DR.. Monfort has been a leading advo-
cate) have within a month united in one
under the title PresJyter and Herdld, and are
endeavoring, with marked success already, to
give the Church q better PRESBYTERIAN
(weekly) newspaper than the West has ever
had before. Tile NOIth- Western Presbyterian,
a Chicago journal of the Mccormick or
Southern type, has been merged into that
venerable bulwark of the faith co. S. in
Pennsylvania, Tie Pres6yterian, with which
some expect, though perhaps prematurely, to
see the Philadelphia New School organ, THE
411p11cnm BJpSDDfT1HnD- nnitn1 IWP
Egangey5St On. s. and Tile Observer 60. s.,
both in this city, do not give any indications
of fusion, while both have from the first
been cordial advocates of reunion. Tile Pres
6yte7'jdD has been cautious friend, but The
american Presbyterian has been the repre-
sentative of the Northwest opposition (pre-
vious to this year) in the New School.
Not a few churches, in towns where an
| Old and New Church have been neighbors,
have undertaken formal reunion on their own
account, and after the ordinary work of joint
committees, plans of reunion, etc., have
actually come together in advance of presby-
terial or synodical fusion. One of the most
recent cases of this is that of the Church On
| S. } of Traverse des Sioux, Mimi, As mem
bers, and that of st. Peters 60. S.. 4:
] members.
An interesting feature in connection will
the reunion will be the invalidation of sucl
| precedents as have formerly been established
| in one branch and not the other. In eithe
| General Assembly there have been ''de
liverances" upon many subjects which affort
precedent for subsequent cases of likC
nature. By the fourth of the "Concurren
Declarations appended to the Plan (of 1869
all such precedents fall to the ground unless
they have been established not in one, bu
in both Assemblies. There are, of course,
great number of these; but the following viii
| cIfxy fha haarino pf tho tsHaa1aratinnN III
some matters in the future polity of tn
united Church,
/. The Old School decided, in 1S42, thai
marriage with a deceased wifes sister wa
unscriptural This has never been bjec
of New School action, and the reunion viii
therefore relieve that considerable ma jorit
of Old School people who have long sine
ceased to believe in this curious doctrine. 2
Roman Catholic baptism was declared invali
by the Old School Assembly in 1915; an in
definite postponement of the subject in tn
New School in 1854 will leave this undecide
in the united body. 3. The Old School con
demned the practice of sitting in time O
public prayer, and that of the reading of ser
mons in church by laymen in the absence @
clergymen, in 1S49, both of which are com
mon usages never discountenanced in tn
New School. 4. But most interesting an
important of all are certain "deliverances' i
which the former spirit of the Old toward
the New School had its effect, and other
concerning the Southern churches Tha
action of the Old School majority in 1S37-3e
which ruled out the commissioners from fv
synods, will, of course, necessarily and pul
poGely become invalid under this plan, thu
making the reunion, in its strictest and mos
legal aspect, consist in the mere repeal of tn
Exscinding act of 1887. The action of tn
Old School Assembly in 1866, too, by whic