Morning journal and courier., 1882-05-31
EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY
Wednesday Morning, May 31, 1SS.a
PREsBYTERIAN REBELS.

The southern Presbyterians are evidently not yet thoroughly reconstructed. In their l Assembly at Atlanta the other day there was
 an interesting and significant discussion of a l proposal to establish friendly relations with | the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States by sending a delegate or delegates to that body. An ad- verse report was made. Mir. Tenny of Tex as made sensible and forcible speech against the acceptance of the report. He ac- 1 knowledged that the difference between | northern Presbyterians and southern Presby- l terians is based upon a political difference. l On this point he said: ''We at the South honestly and conscientiously thought that our States had the constitutional right to se- cede. And when the States seeded we Pres l byterians conscientiously thought we were doing right and 'obeying the powers that be- l when we followed our political leaders in se- l eession. We did not think we were traitors Nor do we think so yet. And probably our views will not change until the judgment day. We were conscientious in this. But are we to suppose that are the only ones
 that are conscientious Are there not some yes, in all probability at least majority
 among our brethren of the northern Presby-
 terian church-who are just as conscientious
 as we are in holding their opinions? It is absurd to suppose that we only are conscientious in this controversy, and that our northern brethren are not. This Assembly do not believe will take this ground" Mir. Tenny also expressed him. self as satisfied with the ''apology' of the northern Presbyterians for the hard things, they had said of the southern Presbyterians.
 But Mir. Tenny's sensible and soothing remarks were not well received. Dr. Brown, the chairman of the committee which made the report, declared that the North would take willingness to fraternize as a surren- der, and that, he said will never do. Have we any rights" he asked, that a white man is bound to respect?" The northern As sembly had accused the southern Assembly of being guilty of ''damnable blasphemy'' and is still waving the bloody shirt. He would never bury the question in dishon. ored grave. Dr. Girardeau spoke as plainly Dr. Brown. He said: We have been SOLoGA NJ OI uIC 1OICO lO SlNo IF lAO Ill., stitution of slavery, but are we to give up the doctrines because of that? They pro- nounced traitors who deserved to be hanged. Dead our confederacy may be, but are we prepared to stand upon the graves of our dead boys and admit they were traitors ?" A voice replied "Never," and the Doctor went on to say: ''The principles of 1861 we hold now as then. Our present character is
 our past. If We send delegates north they will take it as an indication that we are ready to be engulfed in northern sentiment. It has been said that politicians are shaking hands over the bloody chasm-why not the Church? Will the Church be the last to yield in the fight !? The confederacy is dead, and tnen will not stand up for dead issue there are living causes to attend to- Is our Church dead Is the cause of our Church, too, lost cause2 Are we to act as if she had no life ?''
 This is nice pious talk. If Bob Ingersoll comes across it he can use it in support of his assertion that the Church is behind the times, and has not as much sense and good feeling as the outside world.