Year: 1865




from who one has long held no mean place in
the confidence Of the Church. One who
not long since occupied the important post
Of Corresponding Secretary Of that Board
which is to sit in judgment, as is proposed,
upon the loyalty" Of the Presbyterian min.
istry. Though no longer Secretary, he
lives in Philadelphia, where this inquest is
to sit, and his opinions may therefore be
considered as in harmony with the ideas of
loyalty there predominant. In giving his
judgement at the last Assembly, in the case
of DIR. McPheeters, DR.. Musgrave said:


"He futy justified tie Government IN all
they Ind done IN the nay Of milttory orrests,
orders and restraints


A member-Dr. Musgrave's opinions
are not my standard of loyalty.


! DR.. Wilson-Exactly 30, and am glad
to hear it. But this only illustrates and
confirms what have been endeavoring to
show, and what have now by most irrcf.
ragable proof, shown, that the notions of
men on the subject of loyalty are vague and
inconsistent and contradictory; and that
this Assembly, with all its wisdom and learn
ing, has not fixed, and indeed, can not fix
any satisfactory or clearly defined standard
/ by which the Committee Of Missions can
Judge of the loyalty of its missionaries.


The objection, therefore, of my colleague
MIR. Morrison) / deem to have been well
taken, as it certainl ly was well put.


But there are other reasons, Mr. Modera-
tor, why this resolution ought not to re-
ccive the sanction of this body-reasons far
more important than that which has lust
been adverted to. To some of these | ask
the serious and candid attention Of the AS
sembly.


And, in the first place, it is proposed,
by the adoption of this act, to establish an
entirely new rule respecting the appoint
ment of missionaries by the Board The
rule which has, in all times past, governed
In this matter, is one which commends it.
self to the judgement of the whole Church.
1t Is that the Board shall appoint all mis-
slonares who may be recommended by their
Presbyteries, provided there are funds in
the treasury to warrant them in so doing.
But now a new and widely different order
is demanded. A rules asked forwhich is not
to be equally applicable to all portions of
equality are to be established between the
missionaries of the Church, under the di-
rection Of the Board that is, to say the
least, exceedingly invidious. And this
without any adequate reason. For if it is
| proper and necessary to require ''satisfacto-
ry evidence of the possession of the quail
fcations herein described in respect to our
missionaries who are to go into one part of
| the country, surely it is equally proper and
necessary in regard to those who may be
sent to every other part These qualifca-
tions, if demanded at all, are certainly not
less demandeded in those who are to instruct
the people Of the north than they are in
those who are to be the teachers of the
South. New England ought surely not to
| be neglected in the operation OF this rule
any more than Missouri and Virginia. i
the South and West need guarantee, tina
the men who come to preach the Gospe
there are sound on the points named in thi.
resolution, no less do the North and the
East need the like guarantee.


But again, this order does not stop with
merely oyerpowering the Board to require
evidence of loyalty to the National Gov
ernment" on the part Of missionaries ap
poined by it olabor in the Southern States
and OF their acquicscence in the testimony
Of the Presbyterian Church on 'loyalty and
freedom;' it requires more than this. II
empowers and require the Board to make
inquisition into the inmost thoughts and
feelings Of these missionaries. 1t demands
that they will examine concerning the hid
den sympathies Of their hearts 1t forbids
them to appoint any man to preach the
Gospel to the scattered and stricken Chris
tians or sinners of the seeded or border
States; no matter how sound he may be in
the faith, or devoted to the order of the
Church, or unimpeachable in his conduct as
a Christian and citizen, until they have OBJ
tanned what they may be pleased to regard
as satisfactory evidence of his cordial
yL,,' i
utterances of the Presbyterian Church on
rights. Is this General Assembly thus pre-
pared to bring back from the dead past tn the
spirit of Inquisition, with its rack and its
iron boot, and its thumb-screw? But how
else are we to wiring from men confession
of their cordial sympathies," or a renun-
citation of their inmost hidden feelings?


Nor is this all. Fatal as the objections
already urged ought to be this proposition,
there is yet, if possible, an objection still
stronger against its adoption. Sir, by this
act, if it should pass this house, the Board
which practically means in such connection,
the committee at Philadelphia, will be con-
stituted into an Ecclesiastico-Politi Privy
Council, or, as might say, sort OF Pro-
vost Marshal Guard for the Church, with
unlimited authority over her ministers to
decide upon their orthodoxy as ministers
and their character as citizens. 1t puts this
Privy Council above the Church and the
State both. 1t vests with them the right
nay, it orders them to go behind the GER
tifcate of recommendation of the Presbyte-
ry, and if they are not satisfied respecting
the cordial sympathies' of the man, to
treat that recommendation as valueless and
refuse to appoint as missionary the minis
ter who may bring it. That is to say, Mr..
Moderator, this Privy Council may in effect,
pass sentence of condemnation upon min
lister, as not sound in doctrine; as not 10Y
al' to the National Government; or, as not
in cordial sympathy with the testimony of
the Church on loyalty and freedom" and
thus virtually shut him out of the pulpit
and utterly destroy his influence as a minis
ter Of Christ 1t is not enough that man
should be in good and regular standing in
his Presbytery; it is not enough that he
should be an American citizen unimpeach-
ed and uncondemned; it is not enough that
he should have the appreciation of his
peers, to whom, by the Constitution of the
Church, he is alone amenable. Something
more is required. He must pass the inqui-
siion of the Board" that is, the Com
mittee" of Missions, composed ofsome half
dozen gentleman sitting in Chestnut street,
Philadelphia, who, by this act, are to be
exalted above all that are called Presbyteries
or Synobs in the Church, and all that are
Ordained in the State m administer the laws