that is to be enforced only in certain localities and upon particular persons. There is no reason nor justice in requiring ministers and members in the Southern and Border States to repudiate opinions and feelings in regard to Secession, State Rights, Slavery, &c., &c., whilst ministers and members in the Northern States are allowed to hold unquestioned those same opinions and feelings, or others equally contrary to the new doctrines of the Assembly upon these subjects. Against so gross a violation of that equality in God's house, which has always distinguished a pure Presbyterianism, we do most earnestly bear our testimony, as a palpable violation of that principle of the Divine law enjoined in both the Old and New Testaments: "Thou shalt not respect persons in judgment."

XIII. We testify against that act of the Assembly by which the Board of Domestic Missions (that is, the Executive Committee at Philadelphin, or its Corresponding Secretary), are constituled a court of final and superior jurisdiction, to judge of the orthodoxy of the ministry and the soundness of their views touching the nature of the government of the United States, the doctrine of State Rights, the freedom of the negroes, and the various important questions touching their social and civil status now and prospective.

XIV. We testify against all and every movement in the Church, however cautiously or plausi. bly veiled, which looks to a union of the State with the Church, or subordination of the one to the other, or the interference of either with the jurisdic tion of the other. We testify against any test of a religious character in order to the exercise of the rights of citizenship, and against any political test whatever as a qualification for membership in the Church, or the exercise of the functions of the gospel ministry.

REASONS FOR THIS TESTIMONY.

Against each and all these errors in doctrine and practice we testify:

I. Because they are contrary to the Word of God and subversive of its inspiration and supreme authority as the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

The Scriptures constantly assert their own completeness, sufficiency, infallibility and supreme authority as the only rule by which man is to be guided in his belief and duty. The setting up of any other guide or rule is everywhere condemned both by prophets and apostles speaking in the name of God. To add to these complete oracles or take from them is pronounced a heinous crime. To pervert, or make void, or handle deceitfully, or shun to declare any part of this written Word, is to expose oneself to the severest punishment. And it is an abomination for any one, but especially for the Church, to leave these living oracles and follow the voice of false prophets, who undertake to tell what is the will of God by reading the signs of the times and interpreting the meaning of passing events. "To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow." (See also 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; 2 Peter

i. 16-21.) And our Lord specifically rebuked those in his day who were so ready to interpret the will of God as they supposed it to be made known in particular acts of providence, when he said to some who told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, "Suppose ye that these Galileans were Binners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Whatever the uses to be made of the providential events passing around us, they neither furnish us a rule of duty, nor a key to the interpretation of the written Word, nor a basis of judgment concerning our fellow-men.

II. Because they are contrary to the doctrine of the Presbyterian Church as taught in her Confession, Catechisms and Constitution. On this point a few citations will suffice: "The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or, by good and necessary consequence, may be deduced from Scripture, into which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men." The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and, therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold but one) it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.

"The Supreme Judge, by whom all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture." (Conf. Faith, c. ii.. sec. 6, 9, 10.)

"There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ." "The Lord Jesus, as King and head of his Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of church-officers distinct from the civil magistrate." "To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have power, &c." (Conf. Faith, c. xxv., sec. 6; also c. XXX., sec. 1, 2.)

"For the better government and further edification of the Church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called Synods or Councils; and it belongeth to the overseers and other rulers of the particular churches, by virtue of their office and the power which Christ hath given them for edification, and not for destruction, to appoint such assemblies, end to convene together in them as often as they shull judge it expedient for the good of the Church."

"Synods and Councils are to handle or conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical, and are not to intermeddle with civil affairs which concern the commonwealth.” (Conf. Faith, c. xxxi., sec. 1, 4.)

"These assemblies ought not to possess any civil jurisdiction, nor to inflict any civil penalties. Their power is wholly moral or spiritual, and that only ministerial and declarative."

"Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves the administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, or in the least interfere in matters of faith. * *It is the duty of the civil magis

trate to protect the Church of our common Lord, in such a manner that all ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free and unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their sacred functions without violence or danger. And as Jesus Christ hath appointed a regular government and discipline in his Church, no law of any Commonwealth should interfere with, let or hinder the due exercise thereof among the voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, according to their own profession and belief." (Conf. Faith, c. xxiii., sec. 3.)

In the Second Book of Discipline of the Scotch Church we find the principles, which are embodied in the later standards, thus briefly and clearly laid down:

This power ecclesiastical is different and distinct in its own nature from that power and policy which is called the civil power, and appertains to the civil government of the commonwealth: albeit they be both of God and tend to one end, if they be rightly used, to wit: to advance the glory of God, and to have godly and good subjects.

"For this power ecclesiastical flows immediately from God and the Mediator Jesus Christ, and is spiritual, not having a temporal head on earth, but only Christ the spiritual King and Governor of his Kirk. Therefore this power and policy of the Kirk should lean upon the Word immediately as the only ground thereof, and should be taken from the pure fountains of the Scriptures (the Kirk), hearing the voice of Christ, the only spiritual King, and being ruled by his laws." (Second Book of Discipline, c. i., sec. 9, 10, 11.)

III. Because they tend to obliterate all the lines of separation between the civil and ecclesiastical powers, to confound their jurisdictions, to identify them with each other and so to destroy the freedom of both. If the Church may adjudicate upon civil affairs which do concern the commonwealth" on the pretence that these affairs "rise up into the regions of morals," and the State may assume to regulate the worship and teaching and discipline of the Church, and control her courts under the pretence of “maintaining the authority of the government and preserving the life of the nation," then there is a practical union of Church and State and an end of civil and religious liberty, and the establishment of a meretricious politico- ecclesiastical despotism.

To render our views upon this point still clearer, we quote the language of another: "Nothing in the history of society is more remarkable than the strength of that tendency to confound and identify its civil and religious institutions which has manifested itself in all ages. And yet from the moment that the tribal form of society was superseded by what may be properly called the State, and the Church became visible and separate, nothing would be more illogical and nothing has been more disastrous."

*

**

"The Church of Christ, though in the world, is not of it. The kingdoms of this world are exclusively both in it and of it." * "The State is for things temporal, things local, things visible and transitory." "In that spiritual kingdom manifested in the visible Church, and whose true seat is within us, neither time, nor place, nor condition, nor race, has any vital significance; nor can flesh and blood inherit it; nor does anything avail but the new creature. Its union with the civil power is the highest aggravation of confounding it with the

world-for the State is the highest form in which the world appears. So that neither the visible Church, nor the civil power, can have any duty either toward God or itself, or each other, more clear and transcendent, than that each should confine itself, with respect to the other, to its own obvious sphere each regarding the other as the ordinance of the common Father and God of both."***"This spiritual independence of the kingdom of God in this world is a necessity so fundamental that no portion of the visible Church has surrendered it without surrendering, in an equal degree, the spirit of its divine vocation. And all corrupt Churches which have sought the closest union with the civil power have done so, not in order to submit themselves to the dominion of the State, but rather to sulject it to a tyranny as relentless as that which they made it the instrument of inflicting. To plead for the freedom of the Church is, therefore, to plead, at the same time, for the independence of States, and for the security of mankind against the cruelties of all false religions." * *

"The crown and kingdom of Jesus Christ appertain to him as exclusively as his cross. He alone is King in Zion as really as he alone is the Redeemer of Israel. He is the King, the Lawgiver, the Judge, the Lord in Zion. It is precisely in this absolute and exclusive headship of Christ, and the consecration of his Church to him responsive thereto, that the root of her inward freedom lies; just as it is on her entire separation from the world that her outward freedom is grounded and can be made manifest." (Knowledge of God Subjectively Considered, by Robert J. Breckinridge, D.D., chap. xxii.)

IV. Because they have brought the ministry and the ordinances of religion and the authority of the Church into public disrepute. Multitudes who once frequented the sanctuary, finding the gospel no longer preached there, have ceased to attend. Those who were once listened to with reverence, as they held forth the word of truth as it is in Jesus, are now despised as mere political demagogues who have degraded their calling and become the worst panders to the passions of the unthinking mob. Our Synods and Assemblies, whose utterances in former years were received with veneration as coming with the sanction of a divine warrant, have ceased to command even ordinary respect. Thus, by reason of the grievous departures of the ministry and councils of the Church from the law of their divine commission, the way of truth is evil spoken of and the name of God and his doctrine are blasphemed. Infidelity, in all its various and subtle forms, is undermining the faith of not a few who once gloried in the Christian name and esteemed it a privilege to be numbered amongst the children of Presbyterians. Pure Protestantism has been arrested in its growth, and is rapidly losing its power to retard the advance of error and superstition, of rationalism and formalism.

V. Because they tend to keep up strife and alienation among brethren of a common faith, and thus delay the pacification of the country. Is there one act of the General Assembly, for these years, that has breathed the spirit of peace and good will? Is there one that has seemed to be actuated by the spirit of brotherly-kindness and charity? Alas! which one is not the reverse of all this? Which one that does not bear the impress of bitterness and wrath and anger? Which does not necessarily tend to perpetuate hostility be tween the alienated sections and parties of the

by the civil and military powers, has been not only allowed but approved. The right of the secular power thus to interfere in the affairs of Christ's kingdom has been admitted, and the duty of submitting cheerfully to the exercise of this right enforced upon ministers and churchmembers. Thus the crown-rights of Prince Immanuel have been surrendered to his enemies. The honor and glory of Zion is trailed in the dust. No longer can it be said that our Church serves another king, one Jesus." As by the Jewish Church of old, so it seems to be again proclaimed, with loud and angry vociferations, by priest and people, "We have no king but Cæsar!"

The whole mediatorial glory and dignity of the Messiah has been thus tarnished; and all the offices of Prophet, Priest and King, which he executes for the salvation of his people, are subverted and surrendered. If this, then, be not an apostasy, surely it needs but little to make it so, clearly, unmistakably, fatally. Nothing can prevent this but the blessing of Almighty God upon the efforts which his faithful witnesses may make to arouse the people to the reality and extent of the evil and danger; and to bring them, by prompt and decided action, to purge the Church of the evil influence which has corrupted and betrayed her.

Against this corruption and betrayal, therefore, we testify in the sight of God and angels and men. We wash our hands of all participation in its guilt. We declare our deliberate purpose, trusting in God, who can save by few as well as by many, to use our best endeavors to bring back the Church of our fathers to her ancient purity and integrity, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and under the banner of our only King, Priest and Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this endeavor we pledge ourselves to assist and co-operate with each other. And, by the grace of God, we will never abandon the effort, no matter what sacrifices it may require us to make, until we shall either have succeeded in reforming the Church and restoring her tarnished glory; or, failing in this, necessity shall be laid upon us, in obedience to the apostolic command, to "withdraw" from those who have departed from the truth. Compelled to this course, we will go, bearing with us the true Presbyterian Church with her doctrine, order, worship and freedom, as they have been given her by her divine Head, and transmitted from generation to generation by the hands of saints and confessors and martyrs.

ACTION PROPOSED.

And now, dear brethren in Christ, that without delay we may begin this arduous and most important work, to you who, like ourselves, are servants of the Lord Christ, "who adhere to the plain doctrines of the cross as taught in the Standards of the Westminster Assembly:" to all of you who love your ancient and pure Constitntion; to you who are grieved for the afflictions of Jacob, and desire to restore our abused and corrupt Church to her simplicity, purity and liberty; we, a portion of yourselves, ministers and elders of your churches, would propose, most respectfully and kindly, and yet most earnestly:

1. "That we refuse to give our support to ministers, elders, agents, editors, teachers, or to those who are in any other capacity engaged in religious instruction or effort, who hold the preceding or similar heresies."

2. That we refuse to take any part in the dis

cussion or decision, by any ecclesiastical court, of those questions touching the policy and measures which do properly pertain to the civil commonwealth.

3. That we will recognize no authority in the decision of questions of Christian doctrine or morals, or concerning the rights of the Church or the duties of its members, other than the written word of God.

4. That we will not take any oath, prescribed by civil or military authority, as a qualification for sitting in a Church court, or for worshiping God, or for preaching the gospel, or exercising any of the functions of the ministry. Nor will we sit in any judicatory thus constituted.

5. That we will extend our sympathy and aid, as we may have opportunity, to all who in any way are subjected to ecclesiastical censure or civil disabilities or penalties for their adherence to the principles we maintain and the repudiation of the errors, in doctrine and practice, against which we bear this our testimony.

6. That we will not sustain, or execute, or in any manner assist in the execution, of the orders passed at the last two Assemblies on the subject of slavery and loyalty; and with reference to the conducting of missions in the Southern States; and with regard to the ministers, members and churches in the seceded and Border States.

7. That we will withhold our contributions from the Boards of the Church (with the excep tion of the Board of Foreign Missions), and from the Theological Seminaries, until the institutions are rescued from the hands of those who are perverting them to the teaching and promulgation of principles subversive of the system they were founded and organized to uphold and disseminate. And we will appropriate the moneys thus withheld in aid of those instrumentalities which may be employed for maintaining and defending the principles affirmed in this Declaration, against the errors herein rejected; and in assisting the impoverished ministers and churches, anywhere throughout the country, who agree with us in these essential doctrines, in restoring and building up their congregations and houses of worship.

8. "We recommend that all ministers, elders, Church Sessions, Presbyteries and Synods, who approve of this Declaration and Testimony, give their public adherence thereto in such manner as they shall prefer, and communicate their names, and when a Church court, a copy of their adhering act."

9. "That inasmuch as our only hope of improvement and reformation in the affairs of our Church depends upon the interposition of him who is King in Zion, that we will unceasingly and importunately supplicate a Throne of Grace, for the return of that purity and peace, the absence of which we now sorrowfully deplore." 10. We do earnestly recommend that on the day of A. D. 1865, a convention be held in the city of composed of all such ministers and ruling elders as may concur in the views and sentiments of this testimony, to deliberate and consult on the present state of our Church; and to adopt such further measures as may seem best suited to restore her prostrated Standards, and vindicate the pure and peaceful religion of Jesus from the reproach which has been brought upon it through the faithlessness and corruption of its ministers and professors.

"And now, brethren, our whole heart is laid open to you and to the world. If a majority of our Church are against us (as we have too much