THANKSGIVING SERMON. 39 The action of the last General Assembly meant to decide the question to what government the allegiance of Presbyterians as citizens is due. They meant to decide the question that, in this land, it is primarily due to the United States. When it called upon the churches. under its care to strengthen and uphold the federal government, they knew what they were about; and if they did not mean to decide this question, they decided nothing. They rightly called upon the churches even in the rebellious states to protest against wickedness, and to lift their voices against rebellion. It is puerile to say that they should hesitate in so doing because their action exposed the Southern churches to the frowns of the so- called government of the South. The simple question is, Is the pseudo-government of the South a government which is the ordinance of God, or is it a wicked revolt from the “ powers that be, and are ordained of God ?” If the latter, it was the sacred and most religious duty of Southern ministers to discountenance it, be the consequences what they may. What if it did expose them to peril in the cause of truth and righteousness ? Is this an anomaly in the history of the Church of God, as though
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