The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-03-22
DRs. HAYS AND CLELAND ONCE MORE

The Herald and PIE s5ytsr of last week
faithfully published, acf .ording to agreement,
our reply to Drs- Hays and Cleland, except
the PREDATORY State ment" This, however,
was substantially embodied in an article of
the EditOr--which answered quite as well.
The same paper contains, "a last Word
Nth DR.. BrOwn on Fraternal Relations"
from DR.. Hays. The article is about half a
column in length, and presents hardly any
thing calling for much farther discussion.
When the light that is in some people be-
comes dark, how great is that darkness!-
Take the following sen tence, which the au
thor puts in italics:
at turns ont at last that the Chairman of
the Southern Committee at Baltimore, does
not, and WiU not deny that he himself pre-
pared, and he Southern Assembly adopted,
paper ia 1865, iR Which the very terms are
applied to the Northern Church and ats deliv-
eraRees, that aere cited By said committee
from the dellVeranees of said Church, as the
reason the Southern Church refused tratsT
nal relations a0ith as. -
Now this we say The Northern Assem-
bly,, among other things accused ours of
"6lasp6emy," " wicked schism," "s0ieked
conduct, &" SINFUL reVilngs," and vari-
Gus other things; these are specimens.-
The words itahcised contain some of their
most grieyous accusations. We cited them
and expressly denied that our Assembly had
ever used such bad 100raS towards the North
ern. DR., Hays, however, says of US, that
we " DO not and a0iU not deny it. Nothing
could possibly be more explicit than was our
denial. Such amazing dizziness of vision
might be accounted for in the case of an in
animate idol; for "eyes have they, but they
see not" These gentlemen, in the most en-
phatic manner pledged themselves before the
Christian public to prove that "she Southern
Church did use the very same language to-
ward the Northern that you complain of in
the Baltimore Conference, &C." We'll, here
are more than half of those accusations,
and among the most Objectionable, all of
which these gentlemen pass over in absolute
silence not an intimatiOn do they give that
oar Assembly ever uttered one of them. Yet
with an air of triumph very aTausing because
seemingly of such infantile TnnOcence) they
expect the public to agree To at their pledge
is quite redeemed
Another point: Dr.. Hays says of US
"Moreover, be does not and will not deny
that that same Assembly, and of which he
was member, did apply the term, 'schismst-
ioal intruders to our Board and its mission
aries.
Worse and worse The Professor of Ec-
clesiastical History in Dangille Theological
Seminary must have had his ideas deplorably
mixed when be wrote this. IF we did not
deny that very thing then words cannot
express a denial. Why, how could that
STERN be so applied when it is admitted
by Drs. Hays and Cleland that the Northern
Assembly, its Boards and its missionaries
were neither "nanaed nor alluded to-" We
only declined to answer the question whether
their Assembly was not meant by cur As,
sembly, a question which, after the admis
sion Just referred to, they had no right to
ask, and which we had no authority or power |
or ability to answer. We know tbis-that
when our Assembly met in December, 1865, |
the outrageous and wantOn aggressiOns made
upon US BY the Northern Assembly six
months before, might we'll have provoked
severe retort. But from beginning to end, /
in no document or speech was there mention
or even allusion to that Church, except in
connection with this one instance: an inquiry
was sent up from AN elder in one of our
churches as to what is the duty and Chris
tan course Of a Church Session when min
lister or agent of the Old School General As
sembly North presents himself amongst US,
with a request to labor in our churches, or
to occupy one Of our vacant houses of wOr-
ship" The reply (which may be found in
Minutes for 1865, p. 359,) is very prudent,
forbearing, and courteous, and is to the eff
feet that the ministers and agents of said
Church are to be treated in the same way as