The General Assembly [pp. 536-562]

554 The General Assembly. [July,
spirit in which this action is taken, be adopted by this Assembly, viz.
'In order to show our disposition to remove on our part all real or
seemrng hindrance to friendly feeling, the Assembly explicitly declares
that, white condemning certain acts and deliverances of the Southern
General Assembly, no acts or deliverances of the Northern Assembly,
or of the historic bodies of which the present Assembly is the successor, are to be construed or admitted as impugning in any way the
Christian character of the Southern General Assembly, or of the
historic body or bodies of which it is the successor,' "; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved, By this Assembly, that we cannot regard this communication as satisfactory, because we can discover in it no reference whatever
to the first and main part of the paper adopted by our Assembly at
Savannah and communicated to the Brooklyn Assembly. This Assembly can add nothing on this subject to the action of the Assembly at
St. Louis adopting the basis proposed by our Committee of Conference
at Baltimore and reaffirmed by the Assembly at Savannah.
If our brethren of the Northern Church can meet us on these terms,
which truth and righteousness seem to us to require, then we are ready
to establish such relations with them during the present sessions of the
Assemblies.
Adopted in General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the
United States, in session at New Orleans, La., May 22, i877.
C. A. STILLMAN, Moderator.
JOsEPH R. WILSON, Stated Clerk.
WILLIAM BROWN, Permanent Clerk.
To the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America, in session at Chicago, Ill.
This was referred to the Committee on Correspondence,
which reported through its chairman, Dr. Marquis, in favor of
the Assembly's passing resolutions expressing regret that the
terms "heresy," " schism" and "blasphemy" had ever been
applied to any proceedings or declarations of the Southern
Church or Assembly by any body to which this Assembly is
the successor. After long debate, this recommendation was
rejected by the Assembly, which, by a large majority, adopted
the following substitute:
Whereas, The General Assemblies of I870 and 1873 have solemnly
decreed that all the de'-iverances of the General Assemblies during the
late war, so far as they impeach the Christian character and doctrinal
soundness of the body known as the Southern Presbyterian Church,
are null and void; and