THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH AS SEEN BY GENERAL CONFERENCE ACTION.
It was not enough that the General Conference had repeatedly stood forth the friend of the Union, but individual conferences gave no uncertain sound at that time. It is almost literally true that the hitherto unmistakable factional lines within the Church faded so much that the anti-slavery, conservative, and radical elements united in some sort, for the purpose of rallying to the national standard to find shelter beneath “the Star-spangled Banner.”
The New York East Conference in April, 1861, led by Rev. J. S. Inskip, unanimously declared its unqualified sympathy and support of the government in its defense of the Constitution. In June of the same year the New York Conference followed, led on by the manly report submitted through Rev. J. B. Wakeley, on the State of the Country. In that report was delineated, in unmistakable language, “the formation of the Southern Confederacy ... its seizure of the forts, mints, custom-houses, vessels, and arms of the United States, ... and unnatural war against the government.” And the report went on and patriotically declared: “No treasure is too costly, no sacrifice too great, no time too long, to put down treason and traitors, and to place our Union on a rock so solid that neither enemies abroad nor traitors at home can move it.” Indeed, so arrogant and flagrant had the unpunished crimes of the slave oligarchy become, that the East Baltimore Conference in March, 1862, by a vote of 132 yeas to 15 nays—led on by Revs. A. A. Reese and G. D. Chenoweth—not only expressed its “abhorrence of the rebellion,” but declared, “We approve and indorse the present wise and patriotic Administration, and in the inculcation of loyal principles and sentiments we recognize the pulpit and press as legitimate instrumentalities.” Not only so, but the Philadelphia Conference, in March of that same year, received and unanimously adopted the report of their Committee on the State of the Country as presented by the chairman, Rev. Charles Cook, which affirmed: “We do hereby express our utter abhorrence and opposition to the present rebellion, being the offspring of treason, ... and that we pledge our influence to encourage and assist the army and navy, to protect the honor of our flag, the integrity of the Constitution, and the maintenance of our glorious Union.” The New Jersey Conference followed with equally patriotic resolutions.