Monday, June 29, 2015

Dr. John Leighton Wilson to Dr. Charles Hodge, December 19, 1860


23 Centre Street, N. Y., December 19, 1860.
Dr. Hodge:

My Dear Brother, — Your article on the “State of the Country” did not reach me until yesterday. I have read it and re-read it, and I do not regard it as a “fire-brand,” as Dr. Boardman does. If it contains some things that would irritate the Southern people, it also contains much to soothe and command their respect. Dr. Thornwell, I understand, is preparing an article on the same subject, and I would not, if I could, abridge your liberty. [Then follow many pages.] But I will not pursue this subject further. Perhaps I have already said a great deal more than you bargained for, or are ready to read. I desire and pray most earnestly for the preservation of the whole Union. If the North will concede what is just, and what the South imperatively needs, the Union may be saved. Otherwise, we go to pieces. There are certain things in your article which the North ought to hear, and there are others which the South ought to hear. But whether upon the whole it will do more good or harm, I am not prepared to say. One thing I know, if my heart and your arm were united, and we could carry out our desires, the North would soon be compelled to relinquish some of her unjustifiable positions. As it is, my only hope is in God, and I love to lay the matter before him.

Yours as ever, truly and affectionately,
J. Leighton Wilson.

SOURCE: Hampden C. DuBose, Memoirs of Rev. John Leighton Wilson, D.D., p. 243-4

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