1= lie Unite! Sinai jf^lSTlD THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY THE WILLIAM R. PERKINS LIBRARY OF DUKE UNIVERSITY Rare Books THE POSITION. RELATIONS AND PROSPECTS UNITED SYNOD IN - RBVKnf'.NCK TO Till gtai Issues pwlieb in tbt present 8Sar. Adopted by the Synod of Virginia October 25th, 18e2. Published by Order of the Synod at trie Office of trie Ohri.Kti.an Observer." RICHMOND: PRINTED BY CHARLES H. WYNNE 1863. PREFATORY NOTE. The following report was adopted by the Synod of Virginia during its sessions in October, 1862, and published soon after, and extensively circulated in the "Christian Observer" and the political papers of this city. At the reading of the Minutes at the opening of the meeting of Synod in 1863, a desire was expressed that this paper, on account of its historical interest, should be issued in a form convenient for its preservation. The Synod, therefore, ordered its publication in pamphlet. Richmond, Dec. lltlu 1863. POSITION, RELATIONS AND PROSPECTS OF THE UNITED SYNOD. Report of the Committee appointed to prepare a paper upon " The Position, Relations and Prospects of our branch of the Church, etc., in reference to the moral issues involved in the present war." The organization of the UNITED SYNOD— with which the Presbyteries constituting the Synod of Virginia are con- nected, and by which this branch of the Presbyterian Church assumed its 2^osition in the South — was felt by many, at the time of its consummation, to be in itself a fact of much im- portance, and significant of other possible, if not probable, divisions and new combinations, in ecclesiastical and political relations. This organization was initiated by a representative Conven- tion of Churches in the Southern States, held in the city of Richmond in August, 1857, and perfected by Commissioners from the Presbyteries, at a meeting held in Knoxville, Tenn., in April, 1858. The reasons for this organization were, in brief, the inva- sions upon our rights of conscience, and the violation of the Constitution and Form of Government under which we had for years been associated with Northern Churches, in the General Assembly of the United States. On various occasions, prior to the year 1853, the Commis- sioners from our Southern Presbyteries had protested solemnly and distinctly against these invasions and violations, and we were pained to find that these protests were disregarded, and that our conscientious convictions and feelings were treated with increasing disrespect. In 185G, the Southern delegates to the General Assembly, held in New York, issued from that city, a circular letter to our churches, apprising them of the condition of things, as it was. then apprehended, with such suggestions as were deemed prudent, with a view to preserve unity of sentiment and har- mony of action among them in anticipation of a crisis which might demand a separation from that Assembly. In May, 1857, our delegates to the General Assembly, at Cleveland, Ohio, felt themselves constrained, for truth and conscience sake, to withdraw together from that body, and to recommend the Convention which was held in the United Pres- byterian Church, in Richmond, in August following. The doings of that Convention, and of the United Synod, which was formally organized at Knoxville, ia 1858, are matters of record and history, which are worthy of present notice. There ■were thinking men who, then, regarded those doings as, in a sense, prophetic ; and those who now review them will not fail to discover some striking parallels and realizations in the de- velopments and events now transpiring in ecclesiastical and political affairs. The following extracts from the published minutes of the Convention and United Synod, referred to, may here be ap- propriately introduced. In the RICHMOND CONVENTION, after full and free discussion, the following preamble and resolutions were unani- mously adopted : Whereas, all acts, resolutions and testimonies of past General Assemblies, and especially the action of the last General Assembly, whereby suspicions and doubts of the good standing and equal rights and privileges of slaveholding members of the Church, or imputa- tions or charges against their Christian character, have been either implied or expressed, are contrary to the example and teachings of Christ and his Apostles, and are a violation of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church : And, whereas, the relation of master and servant, in itself con- sidered, or further than the relative duties arising therefrom, and slavery, as an institution of the State, do not properly belong to the Church judicatories as subjects for discussion and inquiry: And, whereas, in the judgment of this Convention, there is no prospect of the cessation of this agitation of slavery in the General Assembly so long as there are slaveholders in connection with the Church : therefore, 1. Resolved, That we recommend to the Presbyteries in connec- tion with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, to withdraw from said body. 2. Resolved, That in the judgment of this Convention, nothing can be made the basis for discipline in the Presbyterian Church which is not specifically referred to in the Constitution, as crime or 3. Resolved, That the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church have no power to pronounce a sentence of condemnation on a lower judicatory or individuals for any cause, unless they have been brought before the Assembly in the way prescribed by the Constitu- tion. 4. Resolved, That the Convention recommend to all the Presbyte- ries in the Presbyterian Church, which are opposed to the agitation of slavery in the highest judicatory of the Church, to appoint delegates, in the proportion prescribed by our Form of Government for the ap- pointment of Commissioners to the Assembly, to meet at Knoxville, Tenn., on the First Thursday in April, 1858, for the purpose of organizing a general Synod under the name of " The United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America." 5. Resolved, That the members of this Convention adhere to and abide by the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, as con- taining the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and that we adhere to the Form of Government and Rook of Discipline of said Church. In the UNITED SYNOD, as first regularly organized, at Knoxville, a "DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES" was unanimously adopted, from which the following extracts are taken : Whereas, In the Providence of God, we, the representatives of Presbyteries heretofore in connection with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, have been constrained by a regard to our convictions of duty to ourselves, to the Church of Christ, and to our entire country, to withdraw from said General Assembly, and to form a separate ecclesiastical judicatory, under the name of "The United Synod of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America," to be possessed of powers similar to those recognized in the Confession of Faith, as belonging to the Gen- eral Assembly: and whereas, it seems to be necessary, in order to avoid misapprehensions of our position, both now and hereafter, that we should place upon permanent record, a statement of the princi- ples which have governed us in forming a separate organization; therefore, Resolved, That, this " United Synod" make the following Decla- ration of Principles, as, in their judgment, in accordance with the Word of God, and the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, and as essential to the peace, unity and permanent prosperity of the Presbyterian Church in this land. 1. We declare our agreement in, and approbation of, the West- minster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures ; and also our adherence to the Form of Government and Book of Discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United States. * * * * - * * 2. It is a fundamental principle of the Constitution of the Pres- byterian Church, that no judicatory, or minister, or private member, can be censured or condemned, or excluded from church privileges, by any court of the church, for doctrinal sentiments expressed, or for practices that the court may regard as sinful and inconsistent with the requirements of the Confession of Faith, without a process of trial, such as is prescribed in said Constitution. * * * 3. According to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, the General Assembly is an advisory and judicial body. It possesses no legislative power in the proper acceptation of the term. It cannot enact laws that are binding upon the lower judicatories. The Consti- tution expressly provides that all ecclesiastical rules or changes in the Constitution shall receive the approval of a majority of the Presby- teries before they can be obligatory upon the churches. This " United Synod," therefore, disclaims the right to legislate, or to make laws upon any subject that will be binding upon the lower judicatories, or upon any portion of the Presbyterian Church. * * * The Westminster Confession of Faith, with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, contains what we believe to be essential to truth and mo- rality. Presbyterians profess to be governed by Constitutional Laav as it is developed in the Confession of Faith, and not by the opinions of a Session, or Presbytery, or Synod, or General Assembly, further than they act in a judicial capacity with respect to matters distinctly referred to in said Confession. A departure from this prin- ciple, and a recognition of the right of an ecclesiastical judicatory to decide what is heresy or crime, when there is no allusion in the Con- fession of Faith to that which is so regarded, would be tantamount to making the judicatory, instead of the Confession of Faith, the stand- ard of truth and morality, and as the decision of one judicatory cannot bind another, there might be as many different opinions in re- ference to the supposed heresy or crime, as there are judicatories in the Church. This "United Synod,' 7 therefore, deny the right of any judicatory of the Presbyterian Church to make anything a sub- ject of discipline, which, according to the usual mode of interpreting language, and the manifest intent of the framers of the Confession, is not specifically referred to in the Constitution of the Church. 6. As slaveholding, or the relation between master and slave, is not referred to in the Confession of Faith, either directly or indi- rectly, as an offence, it cannot, in itself considered, in any case, be made the basis of discipline in the Presbyterian Church. At the same time, we declare the right of the Church Courts to take cogni- zance, in their judicial capacity, of cruelties practiced in this and other relations in life. The Confession of Faith gives to Church ju- dicatories the power to discipline members of the Church for cruel- ties, whether they occur in the parental or any other relation, im- plied, in the language of the Confession, "superiors and inferiors." ***** 8. Inasmuch as neither the Saviour nor his Apostles intimated that the slaveholding relation was sinful, and as they did not attempt to remove slaveholders from the church by legislation or by testifying against it ; and further, as the system of slavery is an institution of the State, its continuance or abolition depending entirely upon the 10 will of the State, irrespective of the views and decisions of church courts, it is the opinion of this Synod that the discussion or agitation of slavery in the judicatories of the Church, except so far as respects the moral and religious duties growing out of the relation of master and slave, is inappropriate to said judicatories. This Synod repre- senting Presbyteries that have withdrawn from their former ecclesias- tical connection, because of the repeated and unconstitutional ac- tion on slavery by the General Assembly, therefore declares, that, under the present Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, the agi- tation of slavery in any of our judicatories, further than pertains to the moral and religious duties arising from the relation, would be in- consistent with the design of our withdrawal from our former connec- tion, and in forming a separate organization. Whilst, then, we pro- pose no alteration of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, believing that as it now stands the spirit of it is against the agitation of slaveholding in the Church, we express the opinion that those who unite with us, or who may come after us, will be under a moral obligation, so long as the Constitution remains as it is, to exclude slavery, the agitation of which has already divided three large deno- minations in this country, as a subject of discussion, from the Church Courts. From this rehearsal it will appear that our act of secession from the Northern Assembly and the -process of new organiza- tion were in advance, and not in the wake of political dissolu- tion and military coercion. The position assumed and made public in 1857-'8, by a formal and solemn act of withdrawal from our Northern Connections and a formal and solemn act of organization and utterance of principles, is our position still, in which we have enjoyed peace among ourselves and some good measure of prosperity under God's blessing upon our efforts to preach the Gospel and preserve a pure Christianity in our churches. The developments of the last four years — the fanati- cism and sectionalism at the North, the grasp for power and its centralization, in violation of express constitutional princi- ples and limitations, and the purpose to coerce compliance with the decisions of arbitrary majorities, in ijolitical as well as in 11 ecclesiastical affairs — these developments would seem abundantly to justify the position taken and resolutely maintained by our branch of the church, and to prove that it was not taken too soon, or too firmly maintained. Our relation to the moral issues involved in the present war are obvious. Prominent among these issues are : 1st. The "Higher Laiv" doctrines, proclaimed and insisted upon by our calumniators and persecutors, before which written consti- tutions, both in Church and State, have been openly violated ; and 2d. The coercive policy, by which conscientious and legal rights are invaded and despoiled, without appeal or redress, thus making separation and self-government the only possible alternative. In opposition to these cardinal errors, and as- sumptions of power, our Presbyteries then acted, as the South- ern States have since done, in the assertion of independence, and in the establishment of a Government upon the basis of affinity and consent. Our testimony, by p?'otest, by patience, whilst patience was a virtue, and by solemn assertion of our principles, rights and freedom to worship God after the dic- tates of our own judgment and conscience, so far as human authority is concerned, very plainly exhibits our relation to these and kindred other moral issues involved in this war — be- tween the Confederate States of America and Mr. Lincoln's government — and our hearty sympathy with these States in their present struggle for independence. Our prospects are, to us, hopeful. God has not left us without some decided and encouraging tokens of His gracious recognition as a Church, in the comforts of the Gospel to be- lievers, and in the power of His Spirit, by which the preach- ing of the Word and other Christian efforts have been made effectual to the salvation of sinners. We have reason to hope and believe that the conviction is a growing one in the minds of candid and observing people, generally, that the stand which we have been called, in the Providence of God, to take, the testimony which we have borne, and the sacrifices endured in the defence of the Constitutional principles of the Presby- 12 terian Church — of its old doctrines and paths, and of our civil rights — have been of use to the cause of religion and the inte- rests of society at large in this part of the land. We have churches to care for and nourish, and open fields to occupy in the service of Christ and of souls. The Provi- dence of God seems plainly to say to us, Go forward! We see a great work to be prosecuted in this Confederacy by the various Evangelical Churches. We desire to take part in this -work, co-operating, so far as we may, with sister churches, wishing them God-speed and enlarging success in their efforts to honor the Saviour ; praying that all Christians may, by a growing conformity and resemblance to Jesus Christ, become daily more and more like each other in all the essen- tials of doctrine and piety; so that, if they shall continue to move and act in different spheres, as organized bodies, their spheres, and lives, and- efforts to glorify God and do good to men shall be harmonious. In grateful recognition of Divine Mercy in the past, and commending our cause to God, this Synod would here, and now, set up a Stone of Memorial, for hitherto hath the Lord helped us. We would extend to the several Synods, Presbyte- ries, Churches, and private members of our body, and to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, our salutation in the blessed bonds, labors and hopes of the Gospel- Charles H. Read, ") Thos. D. Bell, A. Converse, ^Committee. J. D. Mitchell, W. F. Gaines, J