The Ecclesiastical Disruption of 1861 [pp. 321-351]

334 THE ECCLESIASTICAL DISkUi?TION OF' i86i. [Apri~r
"The Church and the Confederate States of America," which
the editor indorses as "written by a gentleman occupying a
high civil position in the Confederacy, and an elder in the Presbyterian Church," and in which it is said: "This revolution
has been accomplished mainly by the churches. I do not undervalue the name and position and ability of politicians; still,
I am sure that our success is chiefly attributable to the support
which they derived from the cboperation of the moral sentiment of the coultry. Without that, embodying, as it obviously
did, the will of God, the enterprise would have been a f~ilure.
As a mere fact, it is already historical, that the Christian com —
munity sustained it with remarkable unanimity." "The reason
is, that our church, being sound, has the confidence of the irreligious world. Let the church know this, and realize her
strength. She should not now abandon her own grand creation. She should not leave the creature of her prayers and
labors to the contingencies of the times, or the tender mercies
of less conscientious patriots. She should consummate what
she has begun." To this the editor responds, saying: "We
have no fears but that the Christian people of the land wilt
prove faithful to their country, in this day of trial, to the very
last. As our correspondent suggests, this present revolution is
the result of their uprising. Much as is due to many of our
sagacious and gifted politicians, they could effect nothing untit
the religious union of the North and South was dissolved, nor
until they received the moral support and cboperation of'
Southern Christians." This same journal, at an earlier date,
March i6, i86i, says, editorially: "As Christian citizens, the
whole heart of ministers and people is in this matter," and that
"the churches of all dencminations and the State are as oneon the questions involved." These corroborative testimonies
will suffice.*
* ~Ve might greatly extend these corroborative testimonies. ~Ve add but a single
example: It is-well known that several of the Southern States hesitated to "secede
from the Union," until it was known what course the State of Virginia would take.
Her action, it was believed, would be decisive upon Tennessee and Kentucky, an~i
other border slave States. Hence, it was deemed esseiitial to bring as much popular
influence as possible to bear upon the Virginia Convention in favor of secession. F~
this purpose, public meetings were called in various places. One was held at Prince
Edward Court House, Va. (the seat of Hampden Sidney College and of the Unic~~