The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-10-27

ence between the truth as so interpreted and
the errors of New England is not worth a
struggle.
If any one should read this suggestion
with surprise, let him ponder the significance
of one cons; icuous fact. For almost half a
century, the present senior Professor of
Theology in the oldest seminary of the
Chureh,-the architect and champion of
that system of which we speak,-a man ven
cradle, not by position Of age only, but for
learning, piety, and many virtues,-has been
sedulously engaged. in training ministry
for the Presbyterian Church, until he now
counts perhaps two-thirds of that entire
ministry among his pupils. And yet, as he
stands in the midst of the General Assem-
bly,, the gray hairs that crown his brows, the
glory of age that robes his person, the trick
ling tears which flow on his cheeks, and the
suFoeating emotions which force him to his
seat, appeal iu vain to his pupils, as he
pleads on behalf ef-tha- = C.huESAs =
loves and its testimony, about to be silenced.
His arguments are heard with impatience,
and his suggestion of doctrinal diversities
treated with derision, and the graduates of
its halls, rush eagerly on to consummate
measure which is declared by its professors
tc be the ruin of Princeton! What means
all this ? We say it with the utmost respect
and sympathy for the afliction of that ven
Grated father, but with the profoundest con-
viction long since intimated,-the clue to
the mystery is to be found in the principles
of theology, the logic of which is much
clearer in the practical deductions of the
scholars than in the appreciation of their
teacher,-the theology sound in its forms
and terms, but hollow and heartless, devoid
of vital force to discriminate and sustain
it, in the presence of speciOus error. The
writer is happy to recognize growing SAVIOR
of the old theology, in the writings of the
younger Hodge.
On the contrary, in the New School
Church, the very presence of the errors al
lowed in her bosom, in connection with the
teachings of its standards, and the complex
influences surrounding it, has resulted in the
rise of school of orthodoxy of vigorous
growth, which promises to be aggressive and
thorough in its antagonism to error, and is
imbued with spirit of fervid evangelism,
from which the most blessed results may yet
be realized, for the cause of truth and of
God. There may be more of positive and
serious error in the New School body than
in the Old. But, on the other hand, there
is perhaps more of positive living and ro-
bust orthodoxy, ready to grapple with it, and
overcome it in the end.
The condition of things thus indicated,
may, in the end involve results, now httlo
expected by the actors in these matters. 1t
is not impossible that the blessed Head of
the hurch,-passing by those who, in the
current transactions, have counted them
selves unworthy of that witnessing office to
which they and their fathers were Called
may raise up from the New School element
of the united Church, the leaders of new
cloud of witnesses to purge and regenerate
the entire body.
And now, what is the voice of her Head,
to our Church in the South, speaking in the
developments of these events? That many
of our brethren of the Northern Church are
hoping to see her united with it, that many
of them are, in good faith, laboring to con-
summate the union with the New School, as
an effectual means of forwarding reunion
with US, is unquestionable. That the divi-
sions which run through the Presbyterian
Church and divide it into so many opposing
sects, are to her shame, and enfeebling, and
the dishonor of her Master, we must pain
fully acknowledge. That the prevalence of
infdehty and the portentous strategy of
Rome indicate day of struggle, in which
the very life of the Church will be at stake,
and concert and unity in her plans and poll
cy, of the utmost Importance, even the blind
may see. And, in fine, no true heart, that
loves Christ and his cause, can, in present
circumstances, remember that pI aver which
arose, in the silence of the upper room, on
the night of the betrayal l,-'that they all
may be one, that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me, without the deepest
and teuderest emotions.
But, do any of these considerations, or all
of them combined, indicate the duty of our
Church as lying in the direction of early
adolescence in the overtures for union with
the Church at the North as newly constituted,
which we may soon expect to receive? AS
to the injuries and wrongs incurred at the
hands of our northern brethren, in the mat
ters sketched in my last article, it may well
become us to bring their memory in oblivion,
as soon as our brethren give evidence of a
better mind. But our Church too stands
planted on the basis of that same faith which
the Old School have heretofore defended,
and upholds the same banner of testimony
which she has sustained, d,-that banner in
scribed-" JEHOVAH TsIDKENU." Let ev-
cry eye of faith gaze upon it And be-
cause it has sunk out of sight in yonder
mart of the feld.-because, there. it is su.