il k :k.pirripu rqsligirrriii New Series, Vol. VI, No. i j din'Aweir 15j uly 69 Strictly in Advance $2.50, Otherwise $3. Postage 20cts, to be paid where delivered. J- 3iltitiratt Irtst(gtfrialt, THURSDAY, APRIL I, 1869. THE RE-UNION MOVEMENT, The policy of our branch of the church on re union has been straightforward; consistent, and substantially unanimous. The Joint Committee's last plan, as adopted by both Assemblies last May, was rapidly receiving the approval of our Presbyteries, and would have been unanimously adopted, if it had not early appeared that the Presbyteries of the other branch would defeat it by a very heavy vote. The Presbyteries whose delegates at Harrisburg voted with the minoritY, being content with the explanations of the As sembly, contributed their votes now to 'swell the harmonious expression of sentiment of our body. The editors of all our papers were unanimously upon the same side. We believe if a poll of the entire ministry, office-bearers and members of our church had been taken, there would scarcely have been a dissenting voice, from deem to ocean. Very different has been, the case with the bre thren of the other branch. In the very adoption of the Basis at Albany they dispensed with the explanation of the Joint Committee accompany ing it, and so left themselves without any au thoritative interpretation of its terms. Voting to approve the Joint Committee's Basis by a large majority, they, in the same breath, voted unanimously that they would prefer something different; and all will remember the visit of their delegation to Harrisburg to persuade our Assembly to a similar, expression of opinion. We will not follow the history of the discus sions and transactions, the circulars and confer ences; and the variety of plans, with which the ministry, the press, and the subordinate judica tories of the other body have occupied them selves. After nearly one-half of our Presbyte ries had voted to approve the Basis, it became clear that the plan had utterly failed in the other branch, and that some other course must betaken to secure the end propoed. Whereupon, a num ber of our Presbyteries, not easily disconcerted, voted their readiness so to amend the Basis as to meet the wished of the dissentients on the other side. As many es a diiteo364ietieltllla • course, before the recent meeting er,.o;ll:.pertion of the Re-union Committee, At that .meeting, it was agreed to recommend' to the Presbyteries, of both branches to unite on.the 'old Basis, ainen ded by omitting the " Smith" and " Gurley" clauses of the First article, and the Tenth arti cle entire. But so far was their. action from giving satisfaction to our Old School brethren, that the ink could scarcely have ' dried on the public announcement of the fact, when a leading Presbytery of the other branch came furward, with still further apd more sweeping •amend ments, which were at'once taken up .and urged with zeal by the leading journal of the body. A few weeks after, we heard again of a conference in Pittsburg, which issued a " fraternal address," approaching very nearly the spirit of that of our committee, and recommending similar action upon the two articles named, but suggesting further action and recommendations from the Presbyteries to the Assemblies, not contemplated by our Com mittee. So that harmony could not be very con fidently expected as the result of these new de- liberations in Pittsburg. Besides, the meeting was informal, the public does not know who was there, hut it knows that not a single Professor of Allegheny Seminary took part in the proceedings. The action of the Pastors' Association of this city, taken last week, proceeded upon the suppo sition that practically, the proposal of our Re: union Committee had failed; that no , sign of a response on the part of the 0. S. Presbyteries appeared, and that, therefore, a proper degree of self respect and of respect for our own Commit tee and our General Assembly called for a with drawal to our former position. Perhaps the As soclation was somewhat hasty in its decision, as almost' no Presbytery of the other branch has been beard from on the subject. Let but a rea sonablorprobability appear that a sufficient num ber of those Presbyteries will endorse the amend meets of our Committee, and nearly, if not quite all of the pastors and others belonging to the Association, will gladly meet them there. This is the position taken by ourselves, and we stand to it. There are those we believe, in both branches, who still expect to see the two bodies united by the action of the coming General Assembly. It is hoped by such, that'the coming six weeks will be sufficient to bring abont:thn necessary chtpges, of Presbyterial action, and to put three-fourths of the Presbyteries in both the bodies upon a common platform, with authorisation, to the Gen eral Asscmbly to consummate the' unintivaccor dingly. Much will have to be 40 t ii , l 'lunch undone in these brief six weeks. No less than four plans, not counting that of the Joint Com mittee adopted by the two Assemblies last May, will be before the Presbyteries ; three of them without a show of authority, and one recommen ded by the Re union Committee of our body. They are as follows : 1. Tbe • proposal of the Synod of Wheeling, (0. S.) to omit the Smith and Gurley clauses 113 the First Article of the Joint Committee's - Ba_. sis, leaving all the rest as adopted by the Assem-' blies. 2. The proposal of the Central Presbytery, of Philadelphia (0. S.) to set aside the 'Basis al: together.and unite on the standards alohe. 3. The proposal of our Re=union 'Committee to omit the, Smith and Gurley clauses of the First article and the Tenth article entire.- 4. The proposal of the Pittsburg Conference which corresponds to that of our Committee, but adds a recommendation that the Presbyteries au thorize the Assemblies 'to make - any other altera tions in the Basis Which three<fouiths of both: of them may agree upon,,and to unite without trans mitting such changes in overture to the Presby ries. r'rOposals 3 and 4 are alike, in that; in both, there is a candid recognition of the comprehen sive ileetrinal position Which has hitherto been restrietedto one branch of the church. °Had the Pittsburg brethren omitted the recommenda tion in regard to further changes, besides those suggested by our Committee, theie plan would have been coincident with our own. It is matter of regret that there should be any difference. Out of , these four plans, it is plain that one and'one' nly must be chosen and approved by . three-fourths of the Presbyteries on each side, before the Assemblies have the semblance of a' constitutional right to consummate the Re-unidn —they certainly will-`not follow• the' precedent set in the disunion, of constituting themselves a legislative body, and attempt to •undo one coup d'eglise, one revolttion, by another.- We say, One of these four plans must be adopted by three fourths of the Presbyteries on each side; or Re union fails thie Spring. • And , we'say farther, that in our judgment, the recent recommendation of our Re:union Com mittee is•the ultim,atum beyond which 'it will be impossible to bring any. such number as 'three=' 'fourths 'of' ow Presbyteries Those . zrecottnenl clations,l-with Nthe , lelear minderstanding , itated by the leonunittivthat our ch arch adheres toi its liberal-orthodox' policy, should be aocepted by the requisite numbei of the Presbytericd of the other branch,' if they desire Te:nriloti Wiiih•our body. These Offers of the boiernittee we'do% riot now intend to recommend. We" only -think 'it proper that the other branch should bet fully ad vised as to the exact point where they , will find us. They as albedy have 'refused to 'accept 'the plan adopted by both Assemblies, and which -has been ratified , 'unanimously- brour , Presbyteries: Instead of holding stubbornly to our edvantitge-' ous position, which was also that of their , own Assembly, we, through our committee,' have •ad vanced amicably towards their new' position. Will they meet' us or not Will they not, through their leading journals, give us some in timation, more decided and general than' that of the recent, very informal, act of the Pittsburg Conference, that such is their purpose ? • If not, we fear others- of our . Presbyteries will follow the example of that of lowa City, and the - ad vice of the Philadelphia. Pastors' Association, and our body will be found concentrated upon the pure alld simple Basis of the Commit- tee, while of our brethren of the other branch it will, be said, every one hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation on the subject of Re-union, , Let the press of the other branch say as much es they ple.aan of other plans, but let themmake it a matter of ,co,nscience,, at least., to inform „their • readers upon what one of all the five ; proposed lines of action they will meet our Presbyteries, so that those really desirng ;mien with us may not go blindly in ,every other direction And then let God, and the Christian worldijudoo as to the result. . The Presbyterian of last week says : It is the opinion •of some, that 'the union,cif the ,Old and'. New School. Presbyterian churches is to be the beginning of the strife and debate.... We do not share these fears, inasmuch as we do not accept many of the, statements ou which they rest. But it is on statements made by the Presbyte rian itself, that some of these " fears" rest. Are we to understand that it repudiates for example, that quoted in our columns'last week, as , follows: " We are but giving fair warning to our breth mu of the•other Branch, when we say that there are many jn.our Church, who will immediately demand that the right of examination shall be acknowledged as an inherent right of the Pres bytery and will carry this claim of right up through all 'the Courts of the Church until it is• recognized by tthe highest tribunal and •made: thus. the law of the Church" PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1869. WHERE, WHAT NOW AND WHITHERI Propositions and counter propositions concern ing Reunion are the order of the day. Almost every week heralds some new phase of the move ment. We are in a maze of conflicting sug gestions. Amidst the general confusion there are some things that may be, and that ought to be, understood. - . It ought to be understood that the Old School Church trst'afficially propoied reunion, and ap pointed a Committee to confer with 'a similar Committee . from our own branch in regard to the:desirableness and practicability ofthe move ment. It ought to be understood that this Joint Committee, iepr t esenting equally the two 6rcinehes of the Chizreh; franied'and adopted and reported for consideration and approval both:the basis . of '67 and the basis of t6B: It ought to be underitood ihat theie: two bases thus unanimously adopied in Joint Committee, and submitted for Presbyterial actiOn,'hiave been" accepted in each ciiie - bj the N." S. Presbyteries, and rejected-in ,each case by the'o. S: Pxesby- aeries. ought to .I),e understood that the proposition to unite upon ," the basis, of the Standards pure and, simp,le,", the spigostion, of Old School men alone, made unofficially, without conference with our branch, and after . a.plan • of• union had been regularly submitted = for action by : their own Assembly. , It ought to ,bp understood ; that while the Old School Presbyterieshave overwhelmingly rejected their own Committee's basis, they have acted up on this unofficial 'and one.sided suggestion,. and have voted for the first article withflic,the„§mith and , ; Gurley amendments—or for t'te Standards pure and,simple, as to doctrine. • It ought to be understood: that_ this action of the Old. School Presbyteries eithersittnwyzrily le r feated rennion, or necessitated some new , recom mendation to our own Presbyteries, and shah ad-. ditional action ,by theM,aB should lead to har- It peght to be understood -that the Committee on Reunion . in connection witil our branch of the Church, h!tive met thislCrllkTl In t#e spirit c't; 134,041991WPWIPalrersi*,-.04411.4c4bus shown., fpy i tileLq.ANrd time, a,wkllingnessalo, shape a basis ) 04; shall,, ~passible,; , commend itself do the vviews of ,°F - 91d B ehgPlitTPtke n • ' The . nape, i hsye,,unanirnously, recommendedto t our .Preellteries,that a.regular i pectingarcced ing ,the, next , General,Assetn . bly they• express their assent. ; to, the :arneOplent, adopted by . the other ,branek and also ~!o, the .omissim of the Tenth ,Article., And,the cpmpittee " cannot but trust that our Old School brethren will concede this aaditional pmission,,sinceit is but the. ap plicatiOniof the same IpFieeijile_to the polity, of the Church, wjaieb they-have applied to its. doc trine." We earnestly hope, and we confidently. :belieye, that three-fourths of the New ,School Presbyteries will carry, put thisrecommendation 'of our Committee, arid. give, 'Abeir assent totbe two, amendments , at the re;ular, sprinc , meetings.. Of, course we, regret last, week's action of the Philadelphia ..Pastoral Association, and should have sought its modification, or indefinite post ponement had we been present. This is the" Whence " and the. ; ", What Now." What the "Whither" shall be, will depend very much "upon the manner of response given to the address and suggestio ‘ ns ,of our Reunion Com. mittee by the Presbyteries of the other branch at their spring meetings. It ought to be understood, bolever--let it be kindly but distinctly and deoisiveV,asid— it ought to be,understoocl tha4 9}o right of,reaf, °nal* liberty in,docSal exposition,•such .as is conceded by the Gurley clause, ; is relinquished !or ,denied by our Presbyteries in. agreeing to the amendment to the Tenth , Article. , This, our Committee clearly state. This we belieye to be the- unalterable sentiment of. the great body of, our Church. In deed, we are fully satisfied that not a Presbytery in our whole connection would favor that amend men,tt if it wa's supposed that reunion on the basis thus.amended, involved the relinquishme n t or denial of such right and liberty. " Truth," in The Piesbyterian •saya our [N. S.] proposi., tion, "is to unite on the baiis , of the Standards pure and pimple', plus the whole liberty of inter pretation guaranteed by theCrurley amendment." That is jtist our proposition exactly, if there is any ".plus "-about it., We think,, however, the " plus " . is involved in ,: atty, reasonable and de- fensible acceptance of the. Standards as a basis of doctrine. It is precisely at this point.that we should un derstand each other. It is due to. Christian courtesy and candor. The amendment to the First Artiele was proposed by, the Old School Assembly. only as a matter of ": _ preference," and because "the basis would. be more , simple and more expressive of mutual confidence." For this reason we are willing to assent to it. But " H" in The Presbyterian says the 0. S. Presby teries " votedlk against the Smith and Gurley ..t amendmente because they were utterly unwilling to admit ,any such understanding." Who is " H 7" And does, he fairly represent the bodies for whom he speaks ? And did the 0. S. la'sem bly mean one thing by their proposition and the O: S. Presbyteries an altogether different thing by their vote? Again : The Presbyterian manifestly takes ex ception to , the clause concerning liberty in the address of our Committee, and says, "This is re introducing the Gurley amendment, which had just been handsomely bowed out," or a This is practically saying that they omit what they do not omit,that they surrender what they mean co - retain." Well, does The Presbyterian mean to deny the liberty referred to ? What is that lib erty ? A lihertyof interpretation "which, does not impair 'the integrity' of the Reformed or Cat vin istic system." Is The Presbyter' ian, are our 0 S. brethren, opposed to that ? They are cer tainly iecord in opposition to the irlissima veqta theory of interpretation. Says Muse grtiVe,'"l . doubt whether a dozen men in our branch of the Church can be found who hold it." Says 'The Presbyterian, "We emphatically denylhe purpose to hold them to the ipsissima verba theory.""' Tell us then, what the liberty is, and what ground it covers, which is untrammeled by the fpsis.sima" verba theory; and yet which lies between* that and the liberty a which does not im pair the integrity of the Reformed or Calmnistic ' system." This last is the liberty of the Gurley clause, a nd we understand The Presbyte r i an as objecting to it. It denies the purpose to hold us to the' ipsis,sima verba theory. We ask in all kindness and solely for the purpose of mutual understanding, to what liberty of interpretation are we invited in the proposed reunion ? GREW CHURCHES OF THE WORLD. The great churches of the world' are, first, the Roman Catholici numbering 195,434,000 ; and the Russian Greek, numbering about 40,000,000; the' remaiiiing portions of the Greek - and Eaateri churches;' probably' 40,000;000 more, toeing too mueh i bPoieti up' into sects and riva national churches to be here enumerated. There ate about twenty million Lutherans in Europe,-but they are divided into• as many na tional churches as there are petty German prin cipalities or Scandinavian countries. From this vast poPulation the Lutheran Church in Atherica , . is' receiving great .accessions just now, by immi gratiOn, their increase last year having been eighteen' 'thousand. The United Evangelical Church of Prossia, composed of the''Refiiiined and'Lutheran ChurChei united by the State, has a pOpulation of over eleven and a half millions . . of nominal adherents, besides two and a half millioni in other German territories. The Church of England, zilihough nominally comprising the entire population, and' supported by tithes drawn from the whole, now holds but a divided empire over the twenty millions of the population. None of the dissenting. denomina dons can compare with her, however, in 'num berS, wealth, and influence. Her church-accom modations are 5,b1.7,91.5, and her estimated church-attendants are 3,773,475, while the ac conimodations.of all the others combined amount to 4,894,64:8, and their estimated aggregate at tendants to 3,487,556. Her membership is pro bably twelve to fifteen million, and her revenue from twenty-five to thirty millions of dollars in gold. The Presbyterian Church stands 'among the great churches of the world, both , in the number an d character of the populations nominally em beaci'ng it. ~ T here are three 'and a half millions in Great Britain, principally in . Scotland' .and Ircland, taro millions in Holland, one and a half million, in France, one and a half million in Pro testant'Switzerland, and two millions in Austria and Russia. In Canada, Australia, and the Dutch Colonies, there are possibly half a million more, and in this country fairly three millions of 'the population may be reckoned to the different Presbyterian branches ; making a Presbyterian pOpulation in The world of fonrteen nearly one seventh of the entire Protestant po pulation. If to these are added the fourteen _millions of the United Evangelical Church of Prussia and the German States, which is Presby terian 'in form;.we should have a total of twenty eight millions—the greatest numerical following of any of the Protestant forms of polity and be lief. In the Established Church of Prussia, it is second to the Anglican; among organized de nominations. A Budhist reformer,-has been • crucified, Burmah, by his enraged co-religionists. Genesee Evangelist, No. 1193. Home & Foreign Miss. $2.00. Address :-1334 Chestnut Street —A Wisconsin legislative committee has re ported unanimously in favor of the re-enactment of the death penalty for murder. —Only six of the seventy-two columns of last week's Independent can be called distinctively re ligious, these six being mainly items of intelli genCe. Mrs. Lydia M. Child and Wm. Lloyd Garrison are the leading contributors, between whom Rev. Ray Palmer's short article is sand wiched. There is no remote allusion to aby reli gious topic in any one of the six editorials. —The N. W. Presbyterian declares our Chi cago correspondent's item about that paper being for sale, an " unauthorized statement!' This is not the first " unauthorized statemeat" in regard to the sale of newspapers which has got abroad, as the columns of the N. W. Presbyterian itself will bear witness. —The Pastors' Association, N. S., of this city, have appointed "Church Temperance Meet ings" as the next topic for discussion, to be open. ed by. Rev. Dr. Shepherd. Dr. S.'s church, on Buttonwood St., has kept up such a meeting every week for a year, with remarkable success, and it is hoped that as the result of the discus sion, other churches will be induced to make a Temperance meeting part of their regular weekly or monthly services. • —The mayor and common council of the De mocratic city of Detroit attended the funeral of the. Romanist Bishop Lc Fevreoand ordered the city offices closed in honor of the occasion. Did they do as much last summer on the occasion of the death of the eminently worthy and right re verend Presbyterian Bishop Duffield ?—bidepen dent. What they did at the funeral of the good Presbyterian bishop we have fOrgotten; but on the occasion of his golden wedding, they passed congratulatory resolutions and were present in a body at theAreception in the evening. —Among the most marked indications of the advance of public sentiment, in Italy beyond the dark and unscriptural positions of the dominant church, is the proposal of a young priest of Sa lerno to enter the marriage relation, and the man ner in which the proposal was received ,by the people. laying priest, without layin aside his hier archical character", had entered upon an engage ment with a young lady; but heifather interfered and procured an order from the loCal magistrates, forbidding any civil officer from celebrating the marriage, on the ground that the man was in priests' orders. An appeal was taken to the Nea politan Court, February 17th, where it excited the most intense interest. The government, it seems, through the Attorney general, took the side of the young priest, and the correspondent of the London Times sayi thtit the sPee'cli of this officer.was "full of eloquente, and diitinguished by the most liberal ipirit. The acclamations were so frequent and fervid that it was difficult to follow the thread of the speebh. At the end hats were lifted, vivas were shouted, and a uni versal clapping of hands ensued such as I have seen only in the, enthusiastic audience of a thea tre. Long and. loud it continued; the demon stration was beyond the power of the priests to stop it, and numbers came up to congratulate and thank the Attorney-General." The Court has since declared that the opposition to the priest's marriage is inadmissible, and directs that the ceremony shall be prciceeded with according to law. In. Mexico, we learn from the correspondence of the :Tribune of last month, an 'ex-prieit has been married by the civil magistrates to an ex nun of Puebla. —The translators of the Received Version, in 1 Cor. 14, 16 have omitted before " Amen " the definite article, which it has in the original. The passage reads : "How shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned, say ' Amen' at thy giv ing of thanks," instead of, How shall he say "the Amen ;" not an unimportant, difference. The article conveys the idea of a prevalent ens , • "tom, an established and recognized part of the worship of the primitive church. In Stanley's note on the verse, quoted by Dr. Poor, in his re vision of Lange, we are told that in the early Christian liturgies it was regarded as a marked point in the service ; it is spoken of as on a level with the thanksgiving, " the President having given thanks and the whole people having shouted their approbation. In, latter times, the Amen was only repeated once by the congregation, and always after the. great thanksgiving, and with a shout like a. peal of thunder." Very tame does our participation in public worship appear in con trast with this thrilling outburst of manly devo tion; very timorous the suppressed and decorous murmurs of an Episcopal congregation. Let us have "the Amen ":'back again, but let us have it is the •stitring style of 'the prinaitiire.chiiidh. CURRENT TOPICS.
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