federate States, met accordingly in the city of Augusta (Georgia), on the 4th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1861, and then and there proceeded to constitute the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, that is to say, *** were unanimously and solemnly declared to be the Constitution of the Church in the Confederate States, with no other change than the substitution of "Confederate" for "United," wherever the country is mentioned in the standards. The Church, therefore, in these seceded States, presents now the spectacle of a separate, independent, and complete organization, under the style and title of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. In thus taking its place among sister Churches of this and other countries, it seems proper that it should set forth the causes which have impelled it to separate from the Church of the North, and to indicate a general view of the course which it feels it incumbent upon it to pursue in the new circumstances in which it is placed. *** A political theory was, to all intents and purposes, propounded, which made secession a crime, the seceding States rebellious, and the citizens who obeyed them truitors. *** The Presbyterians of these Confederate States need no apology for boving to the decree of Providence, which, IN WITHDRAWING THEIR COUNTRY FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, has at the same time determined that they should withdraw from the Church of their fathers.

THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Another instance is seen in the action of the Episcopal Church, in the form of a "Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to the Clergy and Laity of the Church in the Confederate States of America," issued from Augusta, Georgia, November 22, 1862, in which the Bishops say:

Forced by the Providence of God to separate ourselves from the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States,-a Church with whose doctrine, discipline, and worship, we are in entire harmony, and with whose action, up to the time of that separation, we were abundantly satisfied,-at a moment when civil strife had dipped its foot in blood, and cruel war was desolating our homes and firesides, we required a double measure of grace to preserve the accustomed moderation of the Church, &c. The Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the

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CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

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Confederate States, under which we have been exercising our legislative functions, is the same as that from which we have been providentially separated, &c. The Prayer Book we have left untouched in every particular, save where a change of our Civil Government and the formation of a new nation have made alteration essentially requisite. Three words comprise all the amendment which has been deemed ne cessary in the present emergency. [Among several "sources of encouragement," this is given:] In our case, we go forward with the leading minds of our new Republic cheering us on by their communion with us, and with no prejudications to overcome, save those which arise from a lack of acquaintance with our doctrine and worship. * * *

Another source of encouragement is, that there has been no division in the Church in the Confederate States. Believing, with a wonderful unanimity, that the providence of God had guided our footsteps, and for His own inscrutable purposes had forced us into a separate organization, there has been nothing to embarrass us in the preliminary movements which have conducted us to our present position. * ** Many of the States of this Confederacy are missionary. ***Hitherto has their scanty subsistence been eked out by the common treasury of our united Church. Cut off from that resource by our political action, in which they have heartily acquiesced, they turn to us and pray us to do at least as much for them, as we have been accustomed to do for the Church from

which they have been separated by a civil necessity. * * * It is likewise the duty of the Church to press upon the masters of the country their obligation, as Christian men, so to arrange this institution (slavery) as not to necessitate the violation of those sacred relations which God has created, and which man cannot, consistently with Christian duty, annul. The systems of labor which prevail in Europe, and which are, in many respects, more severe than ours, are so arranged as to prevent all necessity for the separation of parents and children, and of husbands and wives; and a very little care upon our part, would rid THE SYSTEM UPON WHICH WE ARE ABOUT TO PLANT OUR NATIONAL LIFE, of these unchristian features.

CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

The Young Men's Christian Association of New Orleans, under date of May 22, 1861, issued an Address "to the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America," in which they say, in their Circular Letter:

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We wish you to feel with us, that there is a terrible responsibility now resting upon us all as Christians, in this trying time of our country. We in the South are satisfied in our judgments, AND IN OUR HEARTS [their own capitals], that the political severance of the Southern from the Northern States is permanent, and SHOULD BE SATISFACTORY. We believe that reason, history, and knowledge of human nature, will suggest the folly and futility of a war to re-establish a political union between the severed sections. * * * Has it not occurred to you, brethren, that the hand of God MAY BE in this political division, that both Governments may more effectually work out His designs in the regeneration of the world? While such a possibility may exist, let His people be careful not to war against His will. It is not pretended that the war is to maintain religious freedom, or extend the kingdom of Christ. Then, God's people should beware how they wage or encourage it. In the name of Christ and His divine teachings, we protest against the war which the Government at Washington is waging against the territory and people of the Southern States; and we call upon all the Young Men's Christian Associations, in the North, to unite with us in this solemn protest.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH.

The Southern Baptist Convention, a body representing 'a constituency of six or seven hundred thousand Christians," in session at Savannah, Georgia, May 13, 1861, "unanimously" adopted resolutions, in which the following sentences are found:

In view of such premises, this Convention cannot keep silence. Recognizing the necessity that the whole moral influence of the people, in whatever capacity or organization, should be enlisted in aid of the rulers, who, by their suffrages, have been called to defend the endangered interests of person and property, of honor and liberty, it is bound to utter its voice distinctly, decidedly, emphatically, &c. * * * Resolved, That we most cordially approve of the formation of the Government of the Confederate States of America, and admire and applaud the noble course of that Government up to the present time. * * * Resolved, That we most cordially tender to the President of the Confederate States, to his Cabinet, and to the members of the Congress now convened at Montgomery, the assurances of our sympathy and entire confidence.

OTHER CHURCHES.

With them are our hearts, and our hearty co-operation.

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principle of religion, of patriotism, and of humanity, calls upon us to pledge our fortunes and lives in the good work.

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That these resolutions be communicated to the Congress of the Confederate States at Montgomery, with the signatures of the President and Secretaries of the Convention.

METHODISTS, BAPTISTS, EPISCOPALIANS, PRESBYTERIANS, LUTHERANS, GERMAN REFORMED, AND OTHER CHURCHES.

In April, 1863, all the leading religious bodies of the South, as above named, united in putting forth "An Address to Christians throughout the World," declaring the causes of the revolt, and intended to justify their course in sustaining the rebellion and the war against the Government of the United States. The Address is signed, on behalf of these various branches of the Church, by ninety-six ministers. It is a very long document, going fully into the religious and political "situation," and takes substantially the same views as are found in the extracts from other Addresses, above given.

Among other things, they set forth that "the war is forced upon us—we have always desired peace ;" that "the Union cannot be restored;" that the "Confederate Government is a fixed fact;" and, assuming that the President's Proclamation of freedom to the slaves was designed to provoke an insurrection, and that it would result in "the slaughter of tens of thousands of poor, deluded insurrectionists," they thus speak further of this document, and what may result from it:

The recent Proclamation of the President of the United States, seeking the emancipation of the slaves of the South, is, in our judgment, a suitable occasion for solemn protest on the part of the people of God throughout the world. * * * Make it absolutely necessary for the public safety that the slaves be slaughtered, and he who should write the history of that event would record the darkest chapter of human woe yet written.

They argue at length to show the grounds on which all Christians in the world should unite with them in a solemn protest against this Proclamation, and yet, like other Southern writers, pretend to regard it, after all, but a brutum fulmen, a "mere political document." They heartily approve of and sustain the "Confederate Government," and the war it is prosecuting against the lawful Government of the United States, and they highly compliment the Christian character of their rulers, generals, soldiers, and people; and, in a word, throw the whole power of the Southern Church, in all its denominations, into the scale of treason, rebellion, and war.

SOUTHERN RELIGIOUS PRESS ON THE REBELLION.

One of the most efficient aids of the rebellion, early and late, has been the religious press of the South, conducted by leading clergymen. We have given long citations from Southern quarterlies. We give a sample of the weekly religious press.

AT NEW ORLEANS.

The New Orleans True Witness, long before the Presidential election in November, 1860, warned its readers at the North, that, in case of Mr. Lincoln's election, there would be great trouble, and disunion would be the result. Immediately upon the issue being joined between Unionists and Secessionists in New Orleans, soon after the elec tion, it openly espoused the rebel fortunes, and from that day until New Orleans surrendered to the Union arms, it battled heartily in the cause. A single paragraph from its issue of April 27, 1861, upon the attack made upon the Massachusetts troops in Baltimore, on the 19th of that month, will serve to show its spirit, and the means used by a religious journal to "fire the Southern heart."