view of the present condition of our country, beg leave to recommend the following resolutions:

"1. Resolved, That inasmuch as the Presbyterian Church, in her past history, has frequently lifted up her voice against oppression, has shown herself a champion of constitutional liberty, as against both despotism and anarchy, throughout the civilized world, we should be recreant to our high trust were we to withhold our earnest protest against all such unlawful and treasonable acts.

"2. Resolved, That this Assembly and the Churches which it represents, cherish an undiminished attachment to the great principles of civil and religious freedom on which our National Government is based; under the influence of which our fathers prayed, and fought, and bled; which issued in the establishment of our independence, and by the preservation of which we believe that the common interests of evangelical religion and civil liberty will be most effectively sustained.

"3. Resolved, That inasmuch as we believe, according to our Form of Government, that 'God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be, under him, over the people, for his own glory and the public good, and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword for the defense and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evildoers, there is, in the judgment of the Assembly, no blood or treasure too precious to be devoted to the defense and perpetuity of the Government in all its constitutional authority.

"4. Resolved, That all those who are endeavoring to uphold the Constitution and maintain the Government of these United States in the exercise of its lawful prerogatives, are entitled to the sympathy and support of all Christians and law-abiding citizens.

"5. Resolved, That it be recommended to all our pastors and churches to be instant and fervent in prayer for the President of the United States, and all in authority under him, that wisdom and strength may be given them in the discharge of their arduous duties; for the Congress of the United States; for the Lieutenant-General commanding the army-in-chief, and all our soldiers, that God may shield them from danger in the hour of peril, and, by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the army and navy, renew and sanctify them, so that whether living or dying, they may be servants of the Most High.

"6. Resolved, That in the countenance which many ministers of

the Gospel, and other professing Christians, are now giving to treason and rebellion against the Government, we have great occasion to mourn for the injury thus done to the kingdom of the Redeemer; and that, though we have nothing to add to our former significant and explicit testimonies on the subject of slavery, we yet recommend our people to pray more fervently than ever for the removal of this evil, and all others, both social and political, which lie at the foundation of our present national difficulties.

7. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the officers of the General Assembly, be forwarded to His Excellency, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States."

SECTION IV.-REMARKS ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESBYTERIANS.

Attention is called to a few points in the legislation of the General Assembly Presbyterians.

(1) The Presbyterian ministers, at the time our republic was founded, had no belief that mere personal freedom possessed any great advantages to mankind. (2) This is apparent from the emphatic manner in which they urge the "instruction of the negroes, whether bond or free." And, besides, while their people were exhorted to do every thing in their power to promote the abolition of slavery, they were to act consistently with the rights of civil society. (3) While approving the general principles in favor of universal liberty, and the interest which many of the States had taken in promoting the abolition of slavery, they yet believed that men introduced from a servile state to a participation of all the privileges of civil society, without proper education, and without previous habits of industry, may be in many respects dangerous to the community; and they earnestly recommended, therefore, to all the members belonging to their communion to give those persons, who were held in servitude, such good education as would prepare them for the better enjoyment of freedom. Such was the position of the Presbyterian Church in 1787.

(4) While taking higher ground, in 1816, and more strongly urging the duty of promoting emancipation, the Assembly still

gave paramount importance to the question of securing to the colored people the blessings of the Gospel. The duty of immediate and unconditional emancipation was not urged.

(5) In 1845, the Assembly (Old School,) had to meet the question whether slaveholding, without regard to circumstances, is a sin? This was a test question, designed to determine whether the General Assembly Presbyterians should take abolition ground, or maintain their former conservative position. They decided to maintain their old ground, and thus gave a rebuke to the abolition members of the Church, who had kept up the agitation of the slavery question; at the same time, however, the Assembly expressed the opinion, that the abuses of the relation of master and slave were suitable subjects for discipline, and called for action on the part of their people in applying the proper remedy. The Assembly further expressed the opinion, that it is only by the influence of the Gospel upon both masters and slaves, and the proper discharge of the relative duties of each to the other, that the condition of the slaves can be improved.

(6) But there is here one important declaration that must not be overlooked. The Assembly give it as their deliberate judgment, that the tendency of the abolition movements, by agitating the slavery question in the Church, was to promote the dissolution of the Union. Alas, this fear was but too well founded!

(7) It will be seen, that the action of the Assembly, (New School) after the separation in 1838, was more anti-slavery in its character than that of the Old School. While, however, it has been considered at the South as bearing the abolition stamp, we believe the Assembly itself did not contemplate taking abolition grounds.

The legislation here presented affords no adequate idea of the excitements which preceded and accompanied it. The documents going out to the public after 1830, are only an embodiment of the conservative element existing within the bosom of the Church. We refer especially to the Old School Assembly. Had nothing else appeared but the resolutions agreed upon, there would have been no grounds for alarm at the South, that

the Presbyterians North were determined upon the overthrow of slavery. But, unfortunately, the violent men found means and ways of putting into circulation their high-toned abolition sentiments; and conservative men, taking no steps to counteract the effects of such productions, allowed them full sway in creating a public opinion at the South that was wholly unsupported by the real facts in the case. In this matter conservative men greatly erred. They should never have yielded to the abolition storm; but have spoken out boldly in reprobation of the fanaticism that has worked out its ruinous consequences upon both Church and State. There. has no good, but much ill, resulted from the ecclesiastical legislation of the Presbyterian General Assemblies on the subject of slavery. This must be the conclusion of every right-minded Christian.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SCOTTISH AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES AND SLAVERY.

THE Churches classed under this head are the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, the Associate Synod, the Associate Reformed Synod of the West, and the United Presbyterian General Assembly.

SECTION I.-THE LEGISLATION OF THE ASSOCIATE SYNOD OF NORTH AMERICA ON SLAVERY.

This Church, originally, was an off-shoot of the Seceders in Scotland. The subject of slavery was agitated by the mother Church as early as 1788. One of the original Presbyteries of the Associate Church in the United States had its location in Kentucky, and, as early as the year 1808, sent up an address to the Presbytery of Pennsylvania, asking that a warning might be issued against the sin of slaveholding. With this request the Presbytery complied, and in their warning declare slaveholding to be a moral evil and unjustifiable. Another memorial, of a similar character, was sent to the Synod the same year, 1808, from Green County, Ohio, asking ecclesiastical action for the exclusion of slaveholders from the communion of the Church. This led, in the end, to the adoption of an act, in 1811, which reads as follows:

"1. That it is a moral evil to hold negroes or their children in perpetual slavery; or to claim the right of buying or selling them; or of bequeathing them as transferable property.

"2. That all persons belonging to our communion, having slaves in possession, be directed to set them at liberty, unless prohibited from doing so by the civil law; and that in those States where the