The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-02-02


pleased to witness the diligence, fidelity an
disinterestedness with which these men pei
form the duties of their Office, and the rev
erence with which they recall the memory o
the worthies by whom they were preceded Ii
the ministry. In looking over the Who'll
gallery of the Synod, l might send to m.
correspondent some individual pictures; bu
comparisons are said to be inVidiOus whel
living men are the subjects of remark. Th'
deceased worthless are too numerous to b'
specified. One might be excepted, because
he was totally blind, and blindness always
awakens our slumbering sympathy. We
feel this emotion when we think of Homer
Milton, and even the blind Mary of Bunyan
in all her visits to the Bedford prison. WhC
does not regret that James Waddell should
have lost all the rich cOlors of Virginia. But
we will send you the letters of the British
Spy, and piece called the "0range Manse,
which appeared in the Christian World, al
Philadelphia.
Shall l enter into the differences which a
present divide the Northern from the South
ern Presbyterian Church? Wehave great
notion to decline the subject. Be content
with bare allusion, for all the documents
connected with the causes of the alienation
and negotiations will make part and parcel
of Presbyterian History. The Northern
Kirk began the schism by passing political
resolutions. This was equivalent to the ex-
pulsiou of all the Southern delegates to the
General Assembly. They had no right ac-
cording to the Book of Discipline to issue
any but Church questions. The nature Of
Federative Government was such that
clergymen were utterly incompetent to look
into the subject, unless they had all been
Calhouns. Whereas many of those who
voted had never read the Constitution of the
United States. But strange passions were
at work in celestial minds, and such minds
should not have cherished such odious pas
sions. The Southrons were called here
tics; but Christendom cannot show body
of more orthodox men. In the triple
charges against the SOuthrons there was one
we forbear to name. This paper shall not
be stained by its presence. Who then, we
ask, rent the peace of the Church? And
these charges, though devoid of every par
ticle of truth, remain on the books like the
laws of the Medes and Persians.
After the loss of the Southern Church,
the two branches of Northern Presbyterian
ism began to see eye to eye. The Old
School all of sudden discovered that they
had done injustice to their New School broth
rem. Their soundness in the faith was no
longer question, or if unsOundness were
detected it must be kept sab rosa. On such
terms a reunion took place, and at the great
marriage festival she rose was hung up in
the saloons of Aud Reekie, Pittsburg, for
the queen of flowers has for ages been the
symbol of nOndivulgency. The old form Of
eldership has been put down, and the reVis-
ion of the articles has led to many signii-
can't hints, so that the Junkin party may at
no distant day unite with the Southern Kirk.
They will be welcomed, for there are many
sound divines still left in the Northern
Church. But space will not allow me to
thread the tangled skeins, or analyse the
spider webs of heterodoxy which may be the
result Of the present state of things; but a
ScOtchman never despairs of the final tri-
umph of the Church. Oar own has passed
through troubles enough to inspire US with
confidence as to the final result. We have
been drenched in persecution, and frozen in
Moderatism; but evangelical truth is kind
of Phoenix. 1t may de, but from its dis
honored ashes, Phoenix will arise all glow
ing in its purple plumes, and perching on the
monument of Knox, or on the kindred cairns
of Melville and Rutherford, and invite our
people to the same feaStS on which our sires
were regaled.
We could hnger on this subject to the
time of evening dew, but the South is per-
fectly satisfied with the late fruitless effort
to restore fraternal relations. To effect the
restoration, its commissioners went as far as
they could possibly go, and now the negotia-
tion is laid aside.
The spring and summer brought on the
days in which Virginians decorate the graves
of those who fell in the late war. Gardens
are searched for their ripest flowers, woods
are secured for their widest plants, and
brooks are visited to pull their willow leaves
as offerings of remembrance from the living
60 the dead. In 1905 Wallace met with g
death so brutal that his grave cannot be
found; but could it be, where is the Scotch
man who would withhold his sprig of heather
Palestine Colonization.
A deputation from the Palestine Society