RSSJ.H. Thornwell, Covenanter? W.H. Chellis Ok, not …
J.H. Thornwell, Covenanter?
W.H. Chellis
Ok, not a covenanter but Tony Cowley has posted a reminder that it was Thornwell who offered the Christian amendment to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America. This reminds me of another quote from Thornwell taken from his collected writings:
“Our standard of right is that eternal law which God proclaimed from Sinai, and which Jesus expounded on the Mount. We recognize our responsibility to Jesus Christ. He is Head over all things to the Church, and the nation that will not serve Him is doomed to perish” The Collected Writings of James Henley Thomwell, Vol. IV, p. 517f.]
This is interesting for our purpose because Southern Presbyterians like Thornwell, champions of the spirituality of the Church, were also defenders of Christ’s mediatorial Kingship over the nations.
Katsu
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:30 am
Bill,
Someone told me that the Constitution of the Confederacy
acknowledged Jesus as the King.
Is that right?
Katsunori
p.s.
Bill, in jurisprudence is there
any significant difference between
yours (Scottish camp) and Roman
Catholicism in term of “the Narutal
Law”?
Richard C. Gamble
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:04 am
Bill,
I did not know that it failed by one vote. Heard that it passed. Got some references for me?
W.H. Chellis
June 23rd, 2006 at 4:20 pm
This is the Preamble to the Constitution of the Confederate States of America:
“We, the Deputies of the Sovereign and Independent States of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, invoking the favor of
Almighty God, do hereby, in behalf of these States, ordain and establish this Constitution for the Provisional Government of the same: to continue one year from the inauguration of the President, or until a permanent Constitution or Confederation between the said States shall be put in operation, whichsoever shall first occur.”
Later, in 1861, a more permanent Constitution was drafted with this preamble:
“We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity-invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God-do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.”
Not bad… interesting.
David Steele (not the RP Steelite David Steele said:
“The whole substance of what we [the people of these Confederate States] desire may be expressed in the following or equivalent terms, to be added to the section providing for liberty of conscience:
‘Nevertheless we, the people of these Confederate States, distinctly acknowledge our responsibility to God, and the supremacy of His Son, Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords; and hereby ordain that no law shall be passed by the Congress of these Confederate States inconsistent with the will of God, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures’.”
As for the one vote thing. That is in my head but I cannot find it on paper. Maybe Tony C. knows something more concrete (or one of our other readers).
20 February 1860
W.H. Chellis
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Hi Katsnori,
I am going to wait to answer your question about natural law as it will be one of the major topic we discuss here and I do not want to jump the gun.