The following is the official record touching this subject:

BARDSTOWN, KY., September 2, 1865. Rev. SAMUEL R. WILSON, D.D., asked and obtained leave to introduce for the consideration of Presbytery a document, entitled Declaration and Testimony.

It was read, received, and, on motion of D.
McCulloch, Ruling Elder, to adopt, the yeas and
nays were called. The following was the vote:
Yeas.
Yeas.
Nays.
MINISTERS.
Cosby, Isaac V.
Crowe, G. C.

RULING ELDERS. MINISTER.
Brooks, D. L. J.P.McMillan.
Brown, J. C.

Cassoday, S. RULING ELDERS.
Glass, G.
None.
Total, 1.

McPheeters,D.D.,S.B. Johnson, J.

Hopkins, D.D., H. H.

McElroy, W. T.

Nourse, W. L.

McCulloch, D.

Saunders, J. N.

McKinley, J. T.

Thornton, F.

Shannon, S. B.

Wilson, D.D., S. R.

A true extract from the Minutes.

Total, 19.

ROBERT MORRISON, Stated Clerk of Louisville Presbytery. The title-page of the pamphlet is as follows: DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY AGAINST THE ERROKEOUS AND HERETICAL DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES WHICH HAVE OBTAINED AND BEEN PROPAGATED IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE PAST FIVE YEARS. 1865.

A notice is also given that "Those Ministers and Ruling Elders who concur in this Testimony, are requested to send their names to the Rev. James II. Brookes, D.D., St. Louis, Mo., or to the Rev. Samuel R. Wilson, D.D., Louisville, Ky."

DECLARATION AND TESTIMONY.

To the Ministers and Ruling Elders and Members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, Greeting: "GRACE BE UNTO YOU, AND PRACE FROM GOD OUR FA THER, AND FROM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST."

BELOVED BRETHREN:-The occasion upon which we address you is one of no ordinary interest to the Church of our Lord Jesus. For several years past that Church in this country has been doparting farther and farther from both the spirit and the plain letter of her commission to "preach the GOSPEL to every creature," and her charter as a "Kingdom not of this world." The Presbyterian branch of the Church-that which we stand immediately connected with-for which our fathers labored, and suffered and prayed, and whose doctrine and order we have loved above all things else on earth, sadly disappointing our most sanguine hopes, and recreant to her principles and ancient testimonies, has assayed to take the lead in this grievons departure from the faith and practice enjoined by her King and Head, and Bolemnly professed in her confession and cate chisms and symbols. Step by step she has gone away from the old paths, despite every warning and entreaty addressed to her by those who have still remained faithful, until we have reason to fear it will be in vain to attempt to bring her

back again to the way of truth from which she has departed. From year to year, as the General Assembly has come together, we have cherished still the hope that it would reconsider those acts which have been the occasion of distrust and alarm, and, recalling the Church to the true spiritual and, divine nature of her calling and work, would restore the ancient landmarks, and thus reassure the hearts of those who have trembled for the safety of the Ark of God. But these hopes have again and again been doomed to disappointment, until, by the decisions of the Supreme Judicatory of the Church at its recent meeting in Pittsburg, the consummation seems to have been reached, and the seal finally set upon all previous unconstitutional and unscriptural acts of the body, and the full purpose declared, to compel our ministers, elders, and members to approve of those acts, under the pain of exclusion from the communion and fellowship of the Church.

Such is the crisis which is now upon us, and which we are compelled to meet. There is left to us no alternative, if we would not prove ourselves unworthy of the trust which has been committed to our hands by our Divine Master, handed down from our fathers, baptized with their tears and prayers and blood. Fidelity in our lot requires that we should give utterance to no equivocal testimony, and hesitate in no uncertain posture at such a moment. To remain silent, or to stand inactive, must alike be fatal to ourselves and to the Church. To suffer ourselves to be cajoled by "good words and fair speeches," or intimidated by threats, into acquiescence in, or a feeble, compromising opposition to, the unscriptural doctrines and unconstitutional measures now maintained in the Church, will most assuredly make us partakers in the sin of those who have corrupted and betrayed her. It is, therefore, under a deep conviction of the imperative call made upon us, to bear a clear and unequivocal testimony against this departure of the Church from her ancient faith and order, that we have drawn up and do now publish to the world this solemn DECLARATION and TESTIMONY, that so we may acquit ourselves of all complicity with that subversion of the law of Christ's kingdom, and surrender of the Crown Rights of Zion's King, on account of which the name and honor of our Lord are this day everywhere blasphemed. If we can do nothing more than clear ourselves from the guilt of so great a crime, we shall have thereby secured ourselves from a participation in its punishment. Yet, by the blessing of God upon our efforts in this behalf, we shall not despair of so rallying the faithful friends of a pure and free Church around the banner which God has given us "to be displayed because of the truth," as to be able to defeat in great measure the schemes of those who seem by their acts to be saying, concerning the beautiful and holy temple of our fathers, "Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof."

THE ERRORS AGAINST WHICH WE TESTIFY.

In the name, therefore, of the living God, the Holy One of Israel, we do solemnly testify I. Against the assumption on the part of the

courts of the Church of the right to decide ques tims of State policy. This right has been assumed by all the courts of the Church. But we shall here only speak particularly of what has been done by our court of highest judicature. That the General Assembly has claimed and exercised this right of jurisdiction, over questions of State policy, for the past five years, and that to the fullest extent, certainly no one at all acquainted with the acts of that body can deny. We cite in proof only the so-called "Spring Resolutions" of '61; the papers on the state of the country in '62 and '63; the Act on the subject of slavery in '64; and the ordinances on "Loyalty" and "the Southern Churches" in '65. The discussion of these several acts occupied a very large part of the time, and absorbed nearly the whole attention, of the respective Assemblies by which they were passed. In all of them the substantial questions at issue, and about which the Assembly gave its decisions, were questions touching the policy of the State in regard to its citizens, and the duty of the citizens in respect to the policy of the State. Concerning the first of these acts, namely, that entitled the "Spring Resolutions," the following judgment was expressed in a protest against the passage of those resolutions, drawn up by Rev. Dr. Hodge, and signed by about sixty others. Let their language be attended to: "That the paper adopted by the Assembly does decide the political question just stated (viz.: To what Government the allegiance of Presbyterians as citizens is due') is in our judgment undeniable. It asserts not only the loyalty of this body to the Constitution and the Union, but it promises, in the name of all the churches and ministers whom it represents, to do all that in them lies to strengthen, uphold, and encourage the Federal Government. It is, however, a notorious fact, that many of our ministers and members conscientiously believe that the allegiance of the citizens of this country is primarily due to the States to which they respectively belong, and therefore, that when a State renounces its connection with the United States and its allegiance to the Constitution, the citizens of that State are bound by the laws of God to continue loyal to their State and obedient to its laws. The paper adopted by the Assembly virtually declares, on the other hand, that the allegiance of the citizen is due to the United States, anything in the Constitution, or ordinances, or laws of the several States to the contrary notwithstanding. *** In adopting this paper, therefore, the Assembly does decide the great political question which agitates and divides the country. *** It is not a question which this Assembly has a right to decide."

"A man may conscientiously believe that he owes allegiance to one government or another, and yet possess all the qualifications which the word of God and the standards of the Church authorize us to demand in our members and ministers."***

"It is the allegiance of the Old School Presbyterian Church to the Constitution, the Union and the Federal Government, which this paper is intended to profess and proclaim. It does, therefore, of necessity, decide the political question

which agitates the country. It pronounces or assumes a particular interpretation of the Constitution. This is a matter clearly beyond the jurisdiction of the Assembly."

"That the action of the Assembly in the premises does not only decide the political question referred to, but makes that decision a term of membership in our Church, is no less clear." ***

"The General Assembly in thus deciding a political question, and in making that decision practically a condition of membership to the Church, has, in our judgment, riolated the Comstitution of the Church and usurped the prerogative of its Divine Master." (Minutes, 1861, pp. 339, 340.)

In answering this protest the Assembly does not deny, but admits, the allegations contained in it, and argues in defence of the right of the Assembly to make the decisions objected to. The action of subsequent Assemblies has still further asserted and exercised this usurped power, until the highest court of the Church, once so venerated for its apostolic character, has become transformed in the eye of the world into a political convention, the chief occupation of which is to debate and determine matters of a partisan political character, and to anathematize all who claim the right of private judgment on such matters.

II. We testify against the doctrine that the Church, as such, owes allegiance to human rulers or governments. Allegiance or loyalty in respect to human governments is alone predicable of persons as citizens. The Church owes her allegiance alone to Jesus Christ, who is sole King in Zion. To no earthly power can she yield subjection, without being unfaithful to her Lord and husband, and being guilty of that spiritual harlotry on account of which the most fearful plagues are denounced against her in the prophets.

III. We testify against the sanction given by the Church to the perversion of the teachings of Christ and his apostles upon the subject of the duty of Christians, as citizens, “to render to Casar the things that are Cesar's," and to “be subject unto the higher powers." These and similar Scriptures are cited to sustain the claim of the Assembly, and other church courts, to decide upon political questions; to prove that the allegiance of a Christian, as such, is due to a particular government; to warrant the exclusion of a minister from his office or a member from his church privileges, because he does not believe his allegiance is due to this or that particular administration, or that he is bound to obey every decreo or law on the government under which he may chance to live; and to bind the citizen, as a Christian, by the law of Christ "to uphold, strengthen and encourage" a particular form of government, or a present administration of that government, or the acting ruler by whom it may chance to be administered, in antagonism to other existing governments or rulers, as though the one were of Divine right rather than the others; and as if such particular government, or administration, or ruler were so "the ordinance of God" and "ordained" of him, as to make it, for that reason, obligatory upon the Christian, as such, "as far as in him lies, to promote and perpetuate" its existence and power, and to sustain

and pray for the success of whatever measures it may see fit from time to time to adopt for the accomplishment of its particular ends, or to give effect to its peculiar schemes at home or abroad. We deny that these Scriptures, or any others, when fairly interpreted, give any sanction to the doctrines just stated. These doctrines are contrary to the teaching of the word of God, and are virtually the doctrines of despotism and unquestioning, unconditional submission and obedience to the commands of any actual ruler, no matter what those commands may be. This is to make Christianity the tool of tyrants and its teachings the bulwark of unlimited arbitrary power.

IV. We testify against the action of the Assembly on the subject of slavery aud emancipation in 1864, and as confirmed in '65. In that action the Assembly has laid itself justly liable to the charge of disingenuousness, in that it does not quote fairly from former utterances upon the same subject. It omits altogether all reference to the uniform and most important declaration contained in its previous expressions of opinion, that immediate, indiscriminate emancipation of the negro slaves amongst us would be unjust and injurious to both master and slave. And then it leaves entirely unnoticed the Act of 1845, and treats it as a nullity, although precisely the one only act ever passed by the Assembly which is sustained and enforced by an appeal to the only authority to which the Church has any right to appeal for the support and sanction of her decisions, to wit-the word of God. And then, upon this basis of suppression and perversion, there is laid down a new doctrine upon this subject of slavery, unknown to the apostolic and primitive Church-a doctrine which has its origin in infidelity and fanaticism; a doctrine which the Presbyterian Church had before uniformly treated as a dangerous error, and which the Assembly of 1845 solemnly declared they could not sanction "without contradicting some of the plainest declarations of the word of God," and "charging the apostles of Christ with conniving at sin, introducing into the Church such sinners, and thus bringing upon them the curse of the Almighty." And further, that Assembly declared that should they affirm the doctrine which the Assembly in '64 did affirm, it would be "to dissolve itself," and "abandon the organization under which, by the Divine blessing, it has so long prospered." Nor has the Assembly been content with merely affirming these new doctrines upon slavery and emancipation, but has required a cordial belief and ap probation of them as a condition of membership to the Church and of the exercise of their official functions to the ministry. (Acts of Assembly of 1865, passim.)

V. We testify against the unjust and scandalous contradiction of their own recorded testimony and the well-known facts, in regard to the labors of the Presbyterian Church and ministry for the Christianizing of the slaves of the South, and the preaching to them of the Gospel of Christ. On this subject the Assembly of 1847 speaks thus: "In reviewing the past, we find that notice has been taken by several previous Assemblies of the interest manifested in the religious instruction of the colored population of our country. The re

ports received this year, justify the belief that this interest has greatly increased since the meeting of the last Assembly. Almost all the Presbyteries covering the ground where this portion of our population are found in the greatest numbers refer to the subject, and speak of efforts to supply them with the means of grace as being decidedly on the advance." (Minutes, 1847, pages 403, 408.) Again, in 1854, this testimony is borne by the Assembly: "The reports sent to us from the Presbyteries covering the portion of the Church in which there is a large slave population reveal the gratifying fact that the zeal hitherto manifested on behalf of the religious welfare of this class, instead of abating, is evidently growing more ardent and active. In their houses of worship provision at once special and liberal is made for the accommodation of the colored people, so that they may enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary in common with the whites. Besides this, nearly all our ministers hold a service in the afternoon of the Sabbath, in which the exercises are particularly adapted to their capacities and wants. In some instances, ministers are engaged in their exclusive service-not ministers of inferior ability, but such as would be an ornament and a blessing to the intelligent, cultivated congregations of the land. In a still larger number of instances the pastor of a church composed of the two classes, inasmuch as the blacks form the more numerous portion, devotes to them the greater share of his labors, and finds among them the most pleasing tokens of God's smiles upon his work. Besides the preaching of the word to which they have free access, in many cases a regular system of catechetical instruction, for their benefit, is pursued, either on the Sabbath at the house of worship, or during the week on the plantations where they reside. Thus we give thanks unto God, our common Father, that he has inspired the hearts of our brethren in the parts of our Church referred to with love to the souls of this numerous race, and that he has opened among them a wide and effectual door of usefulness." (Minutes, 1854, page 484).

But in contradiction of all this the Assembly now affirm that "the removal of the shackles of bondage" has brought this race "within the reach of missionary effort, as objects of Christian benevolence." They rejoice in the fact that God has, in the midst of the desolation of so much of our country, "opened a way for the instruction and elevation of this long-degraded people;" that the slaves are "inspired with the fact that they are now called by God to conquer for their people a position among the races of mankind." It is affirmed that in their condition of servitude they were degraded and brutalized; that their masters were also brutalized; slavery being the cause of rebellion and cruelty, and the natural root of assassination and murder. That whilst in a state of servitude they were deprived of the means of becoming acquainted with the Christian religion, and that the Presbyterian Church could not heretoforo carry to them a pure gospel. (Minutes of Assem bly, 1864, 65-Reports of Freedmen's Committee to the General Assembly).

VI. We testify against the doctrine widely

taught in the Church, and even countenanced by the Assembly, that the acts and deliverances of the courts of Christ's commonwealth may properly be based upon and shaped in accordance with the ordinances and laws of State Legislatures, the orders and proclamations of military chieftains, and even the results of popular votes given at the elections. That before a court of Christ ought to take action upon important questions brought before them, it is right and fitting they should inquire "what the Cabinet at Washiington may wish them to do," and ascertain what effect their action may likely to have upon the mind of the President and the army, or upon the price of Government stocks abroad. (Assemblies of 1861 and '64).

VII. We testify against the doctrine that the will of God as to the duty of the Church and of his people is to be learned from particular providential events, and that the teachings of the Scrip tures are to be interpreted by these providences. Thus the word of God is subjected to the mere caprice of man's own fancy, and its supreme authority, as the only infallible rule of faith and duty, is subordinated to the blind and ever-crring interpretations which may be put upon certain isolated occurrences by human ignorance, passion, pride, prejudices, superstition, and selfishness. And the more false and subversive of the divinely-given foundations of faith and duty does this doctrine become, when amongst the special providences, from which the will of God is to be learned, are enumerated by the Assembly, such as these: "The organization of a bloody rebellion;"" the proclamations of the highest executive authority:" "the declared policy of the President" concerning certain measures of doubtful result, and over which he himself has only partial control: the "enlisting of slaves as soldiers in the national armies," and "the setting on foot of measures of emancipation in the loyal States; which measures are near their consummation." A more total abandonment of God's written word for the uncertain light of dark and mysterious and yet undeveloped providences, and these to be expounded by men, it may be "hav ing their understandings darkened," and, for not obeying the truth," perchance "given up to believe a lie," can scarcely be conceived of. As well go back to the simpler superstitions of the Greek and Roman priesthood, and regard the flight of the vulture or the cackling of a goose as indications of the will of God. For these are not less providential events than the marshaling of negro soldiers or the declared policy of the highest executive authorities. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."

VIII. We testify against the sanction which has been given, both directly and indirectly, to the usurpation, by the secular and military power, of authority in and over the worship and government of the Church. This usurpation has been sanctioned by Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and the General Assembly, directly, by various acts, which are fully known to the world. As, for example, in the case of the Pine Street Church and Dr. McPheeters of St. Louis, in 1863, '64; and in the

case of the St. Charles' Church and Messrs. Farris and Watson in 1864, '65. By the endorsement in word and act of such usurpation, as perfectly right, by the Seminaries at Princeton and Danville, as witness the doctrine laid down by the Princeton Professor of Theology, and the doctrine and practice of the Danville Professor in the same department. Indirectly, this usurpation of the kingly rights of Jesus Christ in his own kingdom has been sanctioned by the persistent neglect and refusal of the Assembly and almost all other Church courts, as also the seminaries and pulpit, to condemn such usurpation, or to assert in any way the rights and liberties of God's people in all things pertaining to the worship and government of his house.

IX. We testify against that alliance which has been virtually formed by the Church with the State; by which the State has been encouraged and even invited to use the Church as an instrument for giving effect to its various schemes of a political character. And, on the other hand, the Church has become a subordinate agent, to enforce with ecclesiastical pains and penalties the demands of the State. This alliance and subordination are shown in the clearest manner in the appointing and enforced observance, by the secular power, of days of fasting and thanksgiving; in the attempt, in varions ways, to prescribe what shall be or what shall not be "said and sung" in the prayers and hymns and sermons upon those days, as also on the Sabbath. In the issuance of orders, directed to certain ministers and committees, and accepted by them, giving them authority to preach the gospel in certain places and to take possession of churches, to the exclusion of other ministers and their congregations. In the setting up and prescribing as tests of ministerial standing and membership in the Church, certain political dogmas, and these, too, necessarily of a purely partisan character; so that no man may preach the gospel, or enjoy the fellowship of the sanctuary, unless he can say he holds these dogmas, and renounces ex animo as sin and heresy the contrary opinions.

X. We testify against that persecution, which has been carried on for these five years past, and with increasing malignity, toward all those who have steadfastly refused to sanction or acquiesce in these departures of the Church from the foundations of truth and righteousness. This spirit of persecution seems to have broken over all bounds in the late meeting of the Assembly. The testimony of one of its most influential members-one too who acted in perfect harmony with the great mass of that body--is, that "he had been in many political conventions, yet he must say he never anywhere had seen such relentless persecution as is manifested by this General Assembly."* This testimony is true. The deliberate and avowed purpose of that body, as its several acts most unequivocally show, was to distract and destroy churches all over the land (but especially in the Southern and Border States) who do not and will not submit to the unconsti

Hon. Judge J. K. Ewing, (Ruling Elder, Redstone Presbytery, in the Assembly of 1865.)

tutional acts and unscriptural doctrines, put forth by the Assembly during the past five years. Every minister is to be ostracised and driven away, and every congregation to be scattered, that will not subscribe the new tests. Schools, Seminaries, Church Edifices, and Manses, are to be seized and appropriated to the use of those who are willing to become heralds of this new evangel of" freedom and loyalty," who think that gain is godliness, and who appear fully prepared to lead on the Dragonuades of another crusade, in the name of God and the State, against Christian women and children whom they have first branded as rebels. Thus the persecution which began in 1861, when the Assembly "violated the Constitution of the Church and usurped the prerogative of its Divine Master" by "action *** unjust and cruel in its bearing on our Southern brethren;" (Dr. Hodge)-which was carried out more fully in '64 when the Assembly cast Dr. McPheeters "out of the synagogue," was consummated in '65, when the Assembly virtually excommunicated the whole Southern Presbyterian Church, and in effect ordained that they should be treated as heathen and outcasts. as in all former times, so now this persecution is sought to be justified, by false statements and misrepresentations, and is carried on under professed zeal for the glory of God, abhorrence of the wickedness of those against whom it is aimed, and a most profound and unselfish regard for the rights and prerogatives of Cæsar.

And

XI. We testify against the widespread and destructive perversion of the commission of the ministry and the province of Church courts. The commission of the Christian ministry is plain and simple. To preach the gospel; to persuade men to be reconciled to God; to teach all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. As heralds and ambassadors, they are required to confine themselves within the exact limits of their commission. They are to know no man after the flesh. With them, in the discharge of their ministerial functions, there is to be no difference between Jew and Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. As ministers, they owe and can hold allegiance to no human government, nor can they give their influence to the support of any without violating their commission. They are to know nothing in, the pulpit but Christ and him crucified. Neither North nor South; neither Secessionist nor Unionist; neither Loyalist nor Rebel; neither Whig nor Tory; neither Republican for Democrat. And so of Church courts. Their authority is only ministerial and declarative. It is spiritual. It has nothing to do with matters which do belong unto the civil magistrata. These courts can only speak when Christ has spoken and declare what he has said. Anything beyond this is USURPATION, and of no binding force.

Yet how entirely the ministry has ceased to execute their commission, and to how great an extent the ecclesiastical courts have transcended their jurisdiction, is so notorious that both have become a by-word and reproach amongst unbelievers. Topics of a secular and political character are ordinary and favorite themes of the pulpit. Ministers are become the fiercest of political partisans and cry loudest for blood. And even the

mercy-seat is profaned by the outpourings of hatred and revenge, by those who alike profess to be sinners saved by grace, children of the same heavenly family, and subjects of one Prince of Peace. When Church courts meet, it is to pass resolutions and listen to harangues," to strengthen and encourage the Government," and to "fire the popular heart" with patriotism. The house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, as it is in Jesus, designed to be "a house of prayer for all people," has thus, to an alarming extent, become transformed into a mere earthly forum, where the spirit of this world usurps the seat of the Spirit of truth and mercy and love.

XII. We testify against the action of the Assembly in reference to the Churches in the Seceded and Border States, and against the basing of that action upon an assertion of what the Assembly had the clearest evidence was not true.

The Assembly affirm that the "General Assembly of the Confederate States was organized in order to render their aid in the attempt to establish by means of the rebellion a separate natiomal existence, and to conserve and perpetuate the system of slavery." (Minutes of the General Assembly, 1865, p. 560.) And it is upon the assumption of the truth of this assertion, that the whole action of the Assembly touching the Southern Presbyteries, Ministers, and Churches is founded. Yet the evidence was distinctly and repeatedly brought before that body, both by oral testimony and public documents, that the assertion was contrary to fact. That so far from this, the Assembly of the so-called Confederate States, in the most solemn and explicit manner, denied and disavowed any such objects in their organization, and assigned other reasons for their action-reasons having their origin in the enactments of the General Assembly itself, touching those political questions which had agitated and divided the country. The first thing," says that Assembly, "which roused our Presbyteries to look the question of separation seriously in the face, was the course of the Assembly in venturing to deter mine, as a court of Jesus Christ, which it did by necessary implication, the true interpretation of the Constitution of the United States as to the kind of government it intended to form.” * * * "We would have it distinctly understood that in our eclcesiastical capacity we are neither the friends nor the foes of slavery; that is to say, we have no commission either to propagate or abolish it. We have no right, as a Church, to enjoin it as a duty, or to condemn it as a sin. The social, civil, and political problems connected with this great subject transcend our sphere, as God has not entrusted to his Church the organization of society, the construction of governments, nor the allotment of individuals to their various stations."

This ordinance of the Assembly, thus unjust, in that it is founded upon the assertion of what is untrue, is equally unrighteous and inequitable, and contrary to the fundamental principles of the Presbyterian Church, in that it establishes a law concerning ministers and Church members

Address of the General Assembly of the Confederate States. (See Presbyterian Historical Almanac for 1863, pp. 427-436.)