The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-04-05

"a, of Vol. & Day6 ta9Fe ls " no warrant II
Scripture for eging that the unity ther
/ predicsted az y Church of Christ neces
sarily implies + all the societies claiming
to be regard J churches of Christ mus
be included ia az external visible commun
: ion, and subjec % one external visible gov
ernment." Al in other places he intimate
pretty clearly, that this demand contains, il
his view, the foundation principle of Popery
: Let the notions which the advocates of thil
Pan Presbyterian Alliance desire, through
it, to propagate, once become current, anC
we shall soon learn practically that there ii
little difference between a pope in the singular
and in the plural number. The essential
doctrines of Popery will reappear; the ne
cessity of outward uniformity; the damning
nature of outward schism (so called; the
confoundipg of the attributes of the visible
and invisible Churches. Again, the same
argument which demands that the Presbyte-
rian Churches must be unified in a visible
centre, will necessarily be extended to all
others recognised as true Churches though
non PresbyterinsI such as the Wesleyan, Lu.
theran, Ca ional Thus will come
ebouA Anal suferation, not Pan. Pres
byterian, b Protestant; and the ne
cessary conditions of it's existence will be
! precisely that combination Of loose, unfaith-
full, doctrinal Broad Churchism, With tyran-
nical enforcement of outward union and uni.
formity, which now characteristics Popery.-
The Protestant world will be soon educated
to set inordinste store by that Of which God
makes least account-formal union; at the
expense Of that which he regards as of gu
preme value-doctrinal fidelity. He who
does not see that the Evangelical Alliance
has already begun to produce this disastrous
result, must be blind indeed. 1t is obvious
ly the " tidal wave" of modern sentiment,
the +" giet geist" of our day, as truly as it was
of the days of Leo the Great; and it is as
vital to the life of Christianity now, as it
was then, that it be exposed and resisted.
The theory of real Presbyterianism is as
plain as it is scriptural. 1t recognises the
subordination of courts, and of smaller
part of one communion to the whole thereof,
Tin the Lord, as represented in the higher or
highest church court. 1t proposes to extend
the communion thus unified, so far as hearty
and thorough agreement upon doctrines and
church order ertends, and no farther. This
subordination, affected beyond this, can lead
only to tyranny, or latitudiarianism, or both.
Our Fathers gave notable illustration of
this acriptural view in 1887. Finding under
the nominal jurisdiction of our Assembly,
two schools of conviction as to both doctrine
and order, they persistently destroyed the pre-.
tended unity, and compelled separation
into two communions. Did they attempt to
exclude the New School from the pale of the
visible Church catholic? Not at all. They
continued to recognize their ordination, sac
raments, and church-rights. But they in-
sisted that it must be separate church order ::
so separate, that they would not even enter
into "fraternal correspondence. This was
the Presbyterianism of the Bible-of the Re
formers Now, so far as real and hearty
unity of doctrinal belief and church order
extends, so far may supreme presbyterial
court extend it's common jurisdiction. Does
such real unity exist among the Presbyte
rian Churches of the world Will it ever
exist this side of the millennium ? Differ
ences of race, language, geographical posi-
ton, national custems, and interests, will in,
evitably perpetuate such differences as will
render it impossible to unite them all in one
jurisdiction until "there shall be no more
sea" and until the curse of Babel shall be
repaired. Would the old Assembly, in the
glorious days of 1845, have permitted the
Presbyterian Churches of Scotland and Ire
land, then so much sounder than they are
now, to legisate for US, or even to claim the
moral force of their recommendations over
as Nay, verify! Even to the latter, our
Assemblies sternly demurred-and rightly.
They refused to allow the abolition diatribes
of the Scotch and Irish to be obtruded on our
people; knowing that the local and nation
al differences of Great Britain disqualified
them for understanding or handling our
rights and duties in this matter. Our AS
semblies did right. Slavery has been vio-
lently and wckedly abolished, partly through
the mischievous influences of those very dia.
tribes. Have all the grounds Of social and
national difference an the future been abol
ished 2 He must be soft and childish U TO-
plan indeed, who fatters his hopes with this.
"That which hath been is that which shall
be-" But men exclaim: Is not Christianity
to make these things better :? We reply
Yes; in that unknown future day, when
Christ shall, by his own secret power, 10y
that kingdom which is within US, and not by
mems exclaiming, Lo here, and 10 there J
have made the churches " first pure; then
peaceable." But the writer, for one, con-
fesses that he fails to see single hopeful
sign that this blessing is to be brought to
man by the hands of a generation of Chris
tians who are now generally dominated by q
truculent and in6del abolitionism who con-
found with the Protestant theory of consti.
tutional republican right, the insane Level.
lers' theorX,aithe frantic Lilburn of Crom'
wells day he atheistc radcalism of the
Reign of Terror, and impudently call then
by the same name; who immerse modern 80
ciety in the most lavish and luxurious sensu
GUS indulgencoS ever known to any age;
who revel everywhere in an atmosphere O.
ritualism and wil-worship; and whose evan
gelical reign is signalised by this moderI
outbreak of social and political corruption
threatening, according to their own confes
sion, to dissolve our social order in genera
moral putrescence.
7. The crowning objection to our repre-
sentation in this Alliance is, that our Owl
Constitution forbids it. We hold that, &C
, cording to that Constitution, our Assembl.
had precisely as much right to appoint com
missioners to such body, as to appoint
Grand Lama for Thibet. "The Assembl,
only appointed committee, with powers t.
appoint delegates" This evasion serves N
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